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#1230: Bloc Party – So Here We Are

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I was around when Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm was the brand-new debut album released by the band….. 20 years ago. It creeps up on you, doesn’t it. It wasn’t like I was following the group’s every move, ’cause I was nine at the time and was probably thinking about cartoons and football more than anything else. But I knew of the band as I’d seen the video for ‘Helicopter’ on MTV2, months before the album was out. But as 2005 went on, it was difficult to go onto MTV again, or any other alternative music television channel for that matter, and not see Bloc Party in some sort of capacity.

Every site and streaming platform will tell you that the album was released on the 2nd February 2005, but at least in the UK it came out on Valentine’s Day. ‘So Here We Are’, released alongside ‘Positive Tension’ as a double A-side single, was the first track to be unveiled in the proper run up to Silent Alarm, two weeks before. And it’s a song that I completely missed initially. I remember seeing ‘Banquet’ and ‘The Pioneers’ on a much more frequent basis at that time. I’ve a feeling ‘Two More Years’ was even out as a single before I knew about ‘So Here We Are”s existence. But its video came on TV one day, I was thinking if it was a new song. It definitely wasn’t. But I ended up liking it all the same.

Even if this song were to be an instrumental piece, its effect would be just as strong. The twinkling arpeggiated guitar intro, which extends into the verses and beyond, between Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack is enough to put anyone into a kind of meditative trance. But what I’ve always found to be the highlight of it, along with many other Silent Alarm numbers, is drummer Matt Tong’s performance. Among the serene guitars comes this bustling source of rhythm that adds a huge rush of energy to the track. The drums sound like a loop of a sample or something, they’re done that well. The song has no chorus – made up more of one long verse and the coda – all of which concern how people feel after taking ectasy. And it’s during the coda that Okereke sings about having that MDMA-induced epiphany over a glorious solo. It’s beautiful stuff.

#1141: Ween – Roses Are Free

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Ween’s 1994 album Chocolate and Cheese is considered to be one of the band’s best albums among Ween fans. I’m partial to it, myself. There are a couple others I think are better. That’s neither here nor there. After acquiring a huge bonus via signing to the Elektra Entertainment record label, the band used it to rent out a proper studio and carefully construct the tracks that would become the 16 available on Chocolate…. A huge contrast to the 4-track, pretty-much-demo-releases of The Pod and Pure Guava that came before. It would sound like Gene and Dean Ween were taking things truly seriously this time, but the album contains just as much absurdity and humour, although packaged with tighter songs, slicker production and with some underboob on the front cover.

‘Roses Are Free’ is a song that can be found on that album and is one of the big, big highlights on there. Again, a much-beloved song in the Ween fandom, ‘Roses…’ is a massive tribute to Prince. It would apparently baffle Dean Ween that no one would ever point out the icon’s influence on the track; it seemed so obvious to him. And once you read that and listen to it, you can kind of tell. The subtly provocative way Gene Ween sings the song, the chord progression that occur throughout… that rockin’ guitar solo. All out of the Prince guidebook. The lyrics aren’t meant to mean anything in particular and were written mainly to fill the spaces in the grooves. Even so, they are known to get some of the biggest cheers at a Ween show, particularly the “Get in your car and cruise the land of the brave and free” and “Resist all the urges that make you want to go out and kill” lines. Two very poignant statements that come out of nowhere in this song about nothing.

As much as the version on the album is cool and everything, the song takes on another life when performed live. Although the song benefits from being recorded in a bright and shiny studio, its studio recording is still very much a two-man job with Gene on vocals and guitar and Dean on guitar accompanied by a drum machine and synthesized bass guitar. Could say it somewhat restricted. Though with the five-piece band that Ween eventually developed into, the track morphs into a true monster. The keyboards further fill the soundspace, the drum performance hits harder thanks to Claude Coleman Jr., and the guitar solo handled by both Gene and Dean goes on for another minute or so because they both get so into it. It’s a sight to see. It’s a marvel to hear. I’ll embed a well-known performance of it below.

#997: They Might Be Giants – Operators Are Standing By

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This one’s for the phone operators out there. Written and sung by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, ‘Operators Are Standing By’ is the seventh track on the band’s 1999 album Long Tall Weekend. Like ‘Minumum Wage’ nine years earlier, ‘Operators…’ is an upbeat track dedicated to those who work in crappy office jobs on a low income and loathe each day that comes. It’s much more specific than ‘Wage’ however, just because there are actual employees of a specific role involved in the lyrics, rather than the grand statement that ‘Wage’ presents in its bluntness.

The track paints a picture of these phone operators, all assumed to be women if we’re to also go by what the lyrics say, who are doing almost everything except the job they’re supposed to be doing. In order of mention, they smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, bounce their shoes off the end of their feet, wish they could go home, poke holes in the ceiling tiles, make jokes about their old boyfriends and days gone by, talk about their portrayal on the TV, and pass round a picture of a Möbius strip. This is all brought to a halt when the boss comes in with a “That’s enough talking, ladies” warning. Only for a moment though as they resume not working and wishing to be anywhere else.

The song’s a short one, only about a minute and 20 seconds in length, but there’s a lot on here to latch onto. I particularly enjoy Flansburgh’s vocal take. The tone of it and the sort of tape-echo effect on there. The low end throughout sounds massive. Whoever’s decision that was to make it so should get some props. Whenever the kick drum and bass guitar come into, there’s a very booming tone that occurs. Maybe there’s some extra percussion hidden in the mix somewhere that adds to that. And it’s all delivered with this swinging tempo. Can’t help but sway and click my fingers to the beat with this one. Won’t be the first song TMBG fans would recommend to you. But I’m here saying right now that it’s worth a shot.

#694: The Who – The Kids Are Alright

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During the summer of 2010 I began listening to The Who. I was fifteen, heading into my proper GCSE year in secondary school, and thinking that things from that point weren’t going to be the same. I had to get my shit together. I think it was a random choice that I just started searching for The Who songs on YouTube one day, and that just sent me into a spiral. The Beatles had been my new discovery for year 10. In year 11, it was all about The Who.

The video for ‘The Kids Are Alright’ was on YouTube all those years ago. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon are in a park somewhere miming to the song and don’t particularly look like they’re having the greatest of times. Despite this, the song itself sounds very bright and quite cheerful. One of the best melodies that Pete Townshend wrote in the group I think, and its enhanced by the three part vocal harmonies that are present throughout the track.

The lyrics however tell a different story. All this time I thought it was commentary on the hip young groovers of the 60s and somehow saying that the older generation have no need to worry because ‘the kids are alright’. But after actually doing some research, it may be about a man who wants to pursue his dreams and leave his wife at home with the children. She can see other guys and he’ll go crazy if he doesn’t get away, but it doesn’t matter because at least the kids will be okay. That situation does make a lot more sense.

In the end, the interpretation doesn’t alter the way I feel about the music. It’s a great jangle-pop classic. From about 1968 onward, the band didn’t care to make these types of power pop singles again so it’s always great to see and hear how they started out.

My iPod #528: Jakobínarína – His Lyrics Are Disastrous

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Jakobínarína were an Icelandic indie-punk band that pretty much existed for a split second before disappearing and never being heard from again. After three singles came the album The First Crusade in the autumn of 2007. Unfortunately, that would be the only crusade they would embark on as the six members decided to part ways a few months later. What could have accomplished had they continued? Like Test Icicles and Larrikin Love – to name two good bands who never made it out of the 00s – we’ll never know. But we have the music, man. And that’s all that matters, surely?

“His Lyrics Are Disastrous” is the second song on The First Crusade, and is about a person who wishes to rob a bank with someone, leave the country and never return. That is pretty much it. The lyrics don’t expand much upon that situation. The title phrase doesn’t appear within the song itself; I think I remember reading somewhere that it was said by a critic/listener who was at one of their shows. The lyrics on show could appear as their own choruses in two different songs, so the title chosen is rather apt however jokingly self-deprecating it is.

Overall, it is a short and snappy to just get loose to. Nothing philosophical to dwell upon. Those types of songs can sometimes be the best ones.