The Listening Club - 7th October 2018

Hallo, chums! @JimMcCauley checking in, minding the shop while @kleptones is off on his South American odyssey. I'll be honest, today I'm mostly killing time until Doctor Who; that and trying to figure out new ways of luring the 16 missing tracks off Eric's new album into the open. People on the internet, eh? They're useless.

Last week it was me on the decks, and I think I did a pretty good job of confusing and delighting you all with my pick of "Fear of Pop Volume 1" by Fear of Pop, a Ben Folds side project with an unexpected helping of William Shatner. So thanks to me for the pick, and for chucking the special spinning thing at @ohmyliver, who will address you now.

"So the frisbee has been flung my way, arching its way over the hills, parks, and discarded takeaway boxes of South London. 

"This time I've picked something for purely personal selfish reasons. My father died 14 years ago last Monday after a long illness. Which is feels simultaneously an age, and yet but a day, ago. He introduced me to so much good music Played me Orgasm Addict by the Buzzcocks when I was 5, although in retrospect I think my mother was probably right to freak out at him about its inappropriateness despite my young unawareness. Inadvertently made me think that Mr Blue Sky by ELO was a portent of the future. Although a future where seeming-robots sing pretentiously overblown orchestrally tinged Beatles influenced pop is surely a better future than the one we have now. Introduced me to the music of Laurie Anderson, Joy Division, and Kurt Weill, amongst many others. In fact one of my fondest recent discoveries was finding his 7 inch single of 'Buzz Buzz Buzz' by Jonathan Richman, a song that me and my daughter used to sing along to when she was a toddler, and realising that he probably had played it to me too.

"So I've picked this album from 1958. I don't doubt that you'll recognise the voices almost immediately. It's a collection of covers of old American folk songs, some dating back to the 19th century, that the two singers grew up on, and their second album. It's arguably one of the first concept albums. Be warned, the darkness of some of the songs is not quite obscured by the sweetness of their crooning, but this juxtaposition works well. My father, a fan since his teenage years even blagged his way backstage when they played the Albert Hall in the late 80s/early 90s.

"So break out the bourbon, preferably something smooth like Woodford Reserve, raise a glass to those now only present in memories, and queue up something mindlessly uplifting like Bizarre Inc's Playing With Knives for afterwards, because despite the crooning harmonies, you might well need it."

Bostin'. Download link is here, and the HearThis (spoilers etc.) stream is below:


See you a quarter of an hour after Doctor Who! (BST)