Soul and Fire

When I was 18 I bought a cheap second hand electric guitar and enjoyed making a racket in the garage of my family home. I could play a few chords and that kept me amused for a while. Then I got some lessons and my tutor asked me to make him a tape (this was a while ago!) of songs I would like to learn.

One of the first songs I wanted to learn was the heartbreaking Soul and Fire by Sebadoh. I'm pretty sure I would have discovered this song via my friend Grant Mitchell as we regularly swapped mix tapes and devoured the NME and Melody Maker at school and Grant was heavily into Lou Barlow and Sebadoh.

The chiming guitars that introduce the song melt my heart to this day, Barlow's lyrics are so beautiful and poetic, his delivery is sublime as he reflects on love, infatuation, the thrill of discovery, divine intervention and the cruel change and pain of rejection.

I marvel at how perfect the first verse is. And then we learn that Barlow has been dumped and thinks of his love changing her mind, but wondering if he actually cares, deciding it is he that think their love is coming to an end. It's brilliant songwriting. The line saying goodbye was so much fun gets me every time.

I still tend to stick to the same six chords on the guitar as I didn't take lessons for long, but I do enjoy making the occasional racket.

Anyway, what prompted this short blog is the fact that Sebadoh will play Broadcast in Glasgow on Friday 4th October, tickets are on sale tomorrow.

If you've not heard Soul and Fire then please check it out.

Lyrics, recorded version, acoustic demo version and live video below.

It's all a matter of soul and fire

Infatuation or true desire

The thrill of discovery, divine intervention

Cruel, cruel change, pain of rejection

As you walk away, think of all the joy we shared

If you decide you need me, I'll be wondering if I care

Not there to soothe your soul, friend to tender friend

I think our love is coming to an end

King persuader, congratulations

Share her heart, you bought her soul

Princess confusion, come to me again

Saying goodbye was so much fun

When you walk away, feel the freedom in your heart

There's a joy in letting go, free to find a love apart

When I lose control, I need a kind forgiving friend

But I think our love is coming to an end

I know our love is coming to an end

Never Ending Mixtape Part 21

So my Never Ending Mixtape (Spotify playlist) reaches 500 songs! And it does so by bringing together 27-songs that largely have a very indie guitar vibe to them.

I add songs to my Never Ending Mixtape on a regular basis and do a catch up blog monthly. And I have to confess that I listen to it a lot myself! Even more so now there is so much on it. Shuffle is my preferred option, but if you want to listen to the latest additions back-to-back then you will need to scroll down t near the bottom of the playlist.

In February I discovered Ezra Furman and wondered why I hadn't before now. He comes across as an artist just pouring with imagination, stories, ideas and energy. Like a pilled up Dylan jamming with Springsteen and Arcade Fire. His latest album Transangelic Exodus should feature in many end of 2018 polls/blogs and he plays the ABC Glasgow on Monday 28th May.

Elsewhere Australia is represented by Smudge, Grant McLennan ad The Go-Betweens. We have the purity of Daniel Johnston, the playfulness of the Moldy Peaches, heartfelt indie gems by Sebadoh and a whole lot more; including Spotify discoveries of Sloan, Miracle Legions, Insecure Men and the crazily names Cleaners from Venus!

Dig in and enjoy. All feedback welcome.

Search for Everything Flows Never Ending Mixtape on Spotify or CLICK HERE.

Here are the latest additions.

Suck The Blood From My Wound - Ezra Furman
Take Off Your Sunglasses - Ezra Furman
Are You Gonna Break My Heart - Ezra Furman
Impractical Joke - Smudge
Easy Come, Easy Go - Grant McLennan
Black Autumn - East Village
True Love Will Find You In The End - Daniel Johnston
Anyone Else But You - Moldy Peaches
I Will - Sebadoh
Think (Let Tomorrow Bee) - Sebadoh
Brand New Love - Sebadoh
Rebound - Sebadoh
It's So Hard To Fall In Love - Sebadoh
Everything You've Done Wrong - Sloan
Bout des doigts - Brian Jonestown Massacre
The Ballad of Red Buckets - Yo La Tengo

Psychocandy - Jesus and Mary Chain
Can't Hardly Wait - The Replacements
All For The Best - Miracle Legions
Let's Go - The Feelies
Keep It Surreal - Ride
I Don't Wanna Dance (With My Baby) - Insecure Men
Depreston - Courtney Barnett

Bye Bye Pride - The Go-Betweens
My Favourite Dress - The Wedding Present
Holdin' On - The Clean
Corridor of Dreams - The Cleaners From Venus

Never Ending Mixtape 13

Lou Barlow

Welcome to a second edition of the Never Ending Mixtape for September. I've been travelling by train quite a bit lately and this allows quality time to listen to music. So through August and the start of September I added more songs than normal to the Never Ending Mixtape playlist on Spotify.

There is a real indie-guitar vibe to a lot of the songs listed below. Lou Barlow is represented by Sebadoh and Folk Implosion, The White Stripes have 2 songs - the beautiful We're Going To Be Friends and the raw soulful and brilliantly titled Forever For Her (Is Over For Me), Yo La Tengo have 2, there is a cult fave by Camper Van Beethoven, Creation Records are represented, we have 3 from The Lemonheads, a beauty by The Go-Betweens, a rush of guitar pop brilliance by Sugar, some electro by Miaoux Miaoux and Happy Meals and some great new tunes I discovered by Girl Ray and The Courtneys (video at the end of the blog). Oh and Edwyn Collins is in there and Gerry Love's side project Lightships - and much, much more!

I hope you enjoy these songs. Search for Everything Flows Never Ending Mixtape on Spotify or click on the link HERE. Scroll down to discover these songs, or dive in anywhere.


Skull  - Sebadoh
Insinuation - Folk Implosion
We're Going To Be Friends - The White Stripes
Forever For Her (Is Over For Me) - The White Stripes
I Heard You Looking - Yo La Tengo
Autumn Sweater - Yo La Tengo
Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet
Low - Cracker
Take The Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethoven

Almost Prayed - The Weather Prophets
Cut Me Deep - The Jasmine Minks
Stove - The Lemonheads
Into Your Arms - The Lemonheads
Mallo Cup - The Lemonheads
Crazy Town - Velocity Girl
Spring Rain - The Go-Betweens
If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar

Cannonball - The Breeders
Pacer - The Amps
Don't Shilly Shally - Edwyn Collins
Stop The Clocks - Miaoux Miaoux
Altered Images - Happy Meals
Trouble - Girl Ray
Somebody - Dream Wife
Silver and Gold - Lightships
90210 - The Courtneys

May 2016 podcast

Everything Flows Podcast #8 - May 2016

I don’t tend to put a great deal of thought into what I am going to play on my monthly podcast. I tend to have one song in mind and take it from there. I do try and stick in a couple of Scottish artists.

This months podcast all stemmed from Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution by The Pooh Sticks (great song title, as is I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist) that popped up on my iPod when I stuck it on shuffle. The song appears on a brilliant boxset I bought and blogged about back in January 2014 - Scared To Get Happy - a story of indie pop.

That led on to a couple of other songs from the boxset and some classic indie pop by The Pastels, Sebadoh and The Vaselines, along with a classic by The Beach Boys from their Pet Sounds album that celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Enjoy, LISTEN HERE

Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution - The Pooh Sticks
This Brilliant Evening - In Embrace
I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist - Another Sunny Day
Thank You For Being You - The Pastels
Dusseldorf - Teleman
Hang On To Your Ego - The Beach Boys
Different Drum - Stone Poneys
Soul and Fire - Sebadoh
The Day I Was A Horse - The Vaselines
Inky Spies - The Vaselines

Previous Everything Flows Podcasts

Podcast #1 featuring Teenage Fanclub, David Bowie, Dr Cosmos Tape Lab, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, JR Green, The Undertones

Podcast #2 featuring The Troggs, Happy Meals, Rose McDowall, The Frank Popp Ensemble, Fun Boy Three, Jo Mango and The Pictish Trail, Miaoux Miaoux, Yo La Tengo

Podcast #3 featuring Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Marlena Shaw, Natalie Prass, November Lights, Molly Nilsson

Podcast #4 featuring The Chemical Brothers with Beck, The Charlatans (Brian Jonestown Massacre mix), BMX Bandits, Edwyn Collins, The Parliaments, K-Klass, White

Podcast #5 -Tim Peaks Electric Fields line-up featuring The Charlatans, Yucatan, Blueprint Blue, Documents, TeenCanteen, Horsebeach, Hot Vestry, Riding the Low, Tim Burgess

Podcast #6 featuring JR Green, Hinds, The Groove, Doug Tuttle, Second Hand Marching Band, Emma Pollok, David Bowie, Lesley Gore

Podcast #7 featuring Catholic Action, Primal Scream, Super Furry Animals, The Supremes, George Carrow, Prophets, LCD Soundsystem

Top 10 Teenage Fanclub covers

Cover(s) of the month #5

Teenage Fanclub have never been shy in terms of wearing their influences on their sleeves. The band have released countless cover versions on b-sides or one-off singles and played them regularly at their shows.

I got into the band as a 15-year old, thirsty for discovering all kinds of music. I couldn't have picked a better band than the Fanclub to fall in love with - and they were from Bellshill, just up the road from Carluke! The Byrds, Dylan, Neil Young, Big Star, Alex Chilton, The Beatles, Madonna,  The Velvet Underground, Yo La Tengo, Sebadoh....all artists covered by TFC.

My favourite? - well it is either Free Again which they released on an extremely limited 7-inch (and I have one) or this - an absolute romp through The Byrds Feel A Whole Lot Better on the White Room.

I decided to compile my favourite ten cover versions performed by Teenage Fanclub. Here they are with links to the Fanclub version and also the original.

Unfortunately there were no links to their cover of Association by International Airport (details here) so that isn't included but it is well worth tracking down if you can.

Top 10 Teenage Fanclub covers

1. Feel A Whole Lot Better
Norman and Gerry take turns on lead vocals, the Fanclub at their joyous best. The Byrds released this as the b-side to Mr Tambourine Man - also covered by Teenage Fanclub.

2. Free Again
What a tune, a romp through the Alex Chilton song, an artist truly loved by the band.

Norman on stage with Alex

3. Don't Cry No Tears
A Neil Young song released on the b-side of the Everything Flows CD single. One of the first songs I ever learned to play on the guitar.

4. I Heard You Looking
Absolutely f**king beautiful. Almost 13-minutes of instrumental genius on this cover of a Yo La Tengo song. Released on the Neil Jung (alternate version) CD single.

5. Burned
Multi-format releases in the 90's was the perfect excuse for Teenage Fanclub to record a cover version or three. This, the original was by Buffalo Springfield, was on one of the Sparky's Dream CD's and Gerry Love just sounds like he is loving singing it.

Gerry Love - back in the day

6. He's Be A Diamond
This just flows superbly - perfect for Teenage Fanclub. Originally by The Bevis Frond.

7. Take The Skinheads Bowling
I used to have a couple of Fanclub cassette bootlegs, including a brilliant one from the Reading Festival when the band played this. A cover of a Camper Van Beethoven song. Just brilliant.

8. It's So Hard To Fall In Love
A brilliant Sebadoh song that the Fanclub covered on the bonus disc released with Thirteen. This disc also featured a cheeky romp through Goody Good Gumdrops by The 1910 Fruitgum Company.

9. Mr Tambourine Man
I loved the Reading Festival bootleg I had. Teenage Fanclub came on stage, played an instrumental and then introduced themselves by saying 'Hi we're called Teenage Fanclub and this is a song by The Byrds.' I bought The Byrds greatest hits that week and subsequently discovered Bob Dylan.

10.  Like A Virgin
Guitar pop punk rip through the Madonna classic - what's not to like?!

Five for Friday, 21st October 2011

This week's Five for Friday digs deep into my CD and record collection for some tunes I haven't played in ages.

We start with Looper, fronted by Stuart David the former bassist of Belle and Sebastian. The song was used in the Vanilla Sky movie which has a tremendous soundtrack.

We then head Stateside for the sublime 'Such Great Heights' by The Postal Service, released on that lovely label that is Sub Pop.

Staying with Sub Pop we have the gorgeous harmonies of Beach House and 'Take Care' from their lovely album 'Teen Dream'. I still kick myself for not going to see them at Oran Mor.

Going back a little further and sticking with the Sub Pop vibe, we have one of my favourite tunes. It has been a while since I listened to it. It's one of those tunes I like so much that I have it on CD and vinyl. I remember buying it from the old Missing Records on Oswald Street back in the early 90's. The chiming guitar hooked me from the off and Lou Barlow's lyrics and voice just hooked me further. 'I think our love is coming to an end, I know our love is coming to an end'. Heartbreaking and life affirming at the same time. 'Saying goodbye, was so much fun.'

We go off on a slight tangent with the last tune, originally released on legendary Scottish label 53rd & 3rd, but I didn't get my hands on that EP, although a certain young Kurt Cobain in Seattle somehow did. However later on Sub Pop released the compilation 'The Way Of The Vaselines', another CD I bought from Missing Records. The innocence on this, the sheer sense of fun and the catchiness just brings a smile to my face every time.

Enjoy

'The sun shines in my bedroom, when you play,

and the rain it always starts, when you go away.'

Look out for the ferocious Nirvana cover version on Incesticide.