Cocteau Twins - Pink Orange Red

As I mentioned in the previous post, 1985 was somewhat of a musical watershed for me. It was the year I threw off the shackles of a somewhat narrow field of vision (audio?) when it came to music.

Once I had determined my new course of musical exploration I just couldn't stop. My musical journey was assisted from a number of sources in the form of John Peel, NME and Melody maker,  a TV programme called the Chart show which trailed 'Indie' bands and most famously the Tube a TV programme which would hardly register in todays world but in the mid-80's was a really anathema to the formulaic, staid and somewhat tired formats of programmes like Top of the Pops.

Each episode had 3 or 4 live bands and many of may favourite bands of the era New Order, The Fall, The Smiths all appeared during this period. However, it was the ability to discover new bands that drew me in - that and the prospect of someone swearing on live TV which they often did.

I vividly remember tuning in to the Tube one Friday night, probably as I was getting ready to go out on a night of dancing, cavorting and illicit alcohol fuelled bufooning at the local underage drinking den 'Ye Olde Boot and Shoe' in Rossendale.

I remember being mesmerised by a song from The Cocteau twins whose singer Elizabeth Fraser who appeared to sing in tongues, mouthing gibberish which through the medium of her amazing vocal range sounded like the kind of noise heaven might make if it existed.

I love this song as much if not more today than I did back then. It triggered a fascination with the Cocteau Twins and a general love of the ethereal that I still pursue with gusto when I'm in the mood.

The Cocteau twins had a somewhat turbulent existence due to drug abuse, psychotherapy and inter-band relationships but that all seems to drive them to new heights for me.

In more recent times, Elizabeth Frasier has been responsible for providing vocals on other favourite songs of mine like 'Teardrop' by Massive Attack, 'Life-forms'' by the Future Sound of London and 'Candleland' with Ian McCulloch from Echo and the Bunnymen. She was also involved in the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings and has recently returned tentatively to life stage from her personal recluse.

There are certain moments in my life I'd love to revisit and hearing her perform this song on the Tub aged 15 is one of them.

Depeche Mode - Shake the disease

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_0sL_SQYvw

in August 1985, I went on a school trip to France to a place called Quiberon, a small place in Brittany. The trip was an activity holiday involving canoeing, windsurfing, sailing and a range of other pursuits that I was and still am throughly unsuitable for.

Aquatic duress wasn't the reason I wanted to go though, it was more about finding the time and space to chase girls, smoke fags and drink cheap alcohol. Aged just fifteen, I'd realised I was quite good at these things and I was fit and active enough to the sporty activities without dying so I was determined to make the trip.

The expedition - and it really was an expedition, involving an 11 hour coach journey each way -  was led by the male and female heads of PE who just happened to be married, francophiles and didn't mind their spending their summer holidays herding cats. The minute we landed we were off exploring and getting into trouble, wading into cheap cider and the packets of Rothmans fags (Paul Wellers favourite brand naturally) that we had bought on the ferry.

Initially, we would be collared on a regular basis by Mr and Mrs McIan but after a couple of days they realise it was a futile exercise and as long as we turned up for that days nautical activities we were pretty much given a free reign.

We found a cafe tucked away with a Galaxian machine, endless supplies of Orangina and an owner who was utterly unflustered by kids smoking in his establishment. He also happened to own a jukebox that had several half decent records on.

At his point in my life I was emerging from my Mod/Northern Soul phase and had just discovered Joy Division/New Order and was developing a taste for electronic music. In order to avoid a punch in the face and merciless ribbing from pals, it was extremely important to ensure that a high degree of caution was taken when choosing a song from the Jukebox and at one Franc for two songs it was was an expensive exercise if you got it wrong.

I didn't particularly like Depeche Mode (and still don't). For me they were tied into that whole new romantic, dandy fop thing that I despised and any music that provoked people into growing long fringes and waving their hands about in the air like they were platting piss was never going to sit well with me.

However, the group of girls in our group who were the target of our affections had a taste for this song that seemingly couldn't be quenched. It came on every other song and whilst annoying at first, it soon lodged itself in my ear and has occupied a space in my brain that it's never really left. Listening to it now, I still like it. It evokes memories of pouting and acting cool, trying not cough when inhaling and slugging as much cheap white wine as I could get my hands on (which wasn't much).

So began my love of France, something else that has never left me.

Self-indulgent Top 100 soundtrack of my life blog.......

This page has been quieter than Old Trafford for the last year and that in itself is an achievement worth noting, or perhaps even an achievement worth nothing. 

It's not that there hasn't been much going on in my life - quite the opposite in fact. I have a baby girl on the way in July, have moved house, bounced from pillar to post at work, travelled to New York, San Francisco, Barcelona (twice) and had our first successful season renting the Gite in France and yet I have not felt the urge to write a single syllable.

I have been writing elsewhere, for work mainly and the odd article here and there along with my usual social media nonsense but could not muster a single DNA molecule of enthusiasm for writing here. But I have finally arisen from my slumber but with an urge to write a blog based around a single idea. Every now and again - hopefully fairly regularly - I intend to write about a song from my recently composed Spotify playlist - the Top 100 songs that soundtrack my life.

I do of course realise that this is self-indulgent but then so is writing any blog about your own life and I've done that for so long that I probably don't need to apologise for that.

Each entry will describe a song and whilst I will try and include some information on the song and the artist that wrote it, my intention is mainly to capture the reason for it's inclusion and what point the song takes me back to in my life.

Before I start, it's worth capturing a few of the principles I decided on when I built my playlist:-

1. Only one song per artist (though derivative acts are allowed...)
2. The song isn't necessarily the best by a particular act but the one that resonates the loudest with me.
3. The songs are in no particular order - that would change the list every week and I can't be arsed with that. 
4. Occasional changes to my list are allowed but only when I realise I've missed an absolute classic from my list and then I face the agonising choice of which song to drop. 
5. My Spotify list has a couple of rubbish mixes of a particular song because the best mix isn't available but I'll try and post the Youtube link to the best mix here......

That's probably it. Oh, one other thing, my playlist is available to follow on Spotify to follow if you have either the inclination or the technical knowhow to do that......