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#1172: 1990s – See You at the Lights

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1990s. A band I’d be surprised anyone would know. If you were to comment and say, “Hey, don’t be so sure”, then, nice. You’re one of the few. I couldn’t say I have much of an opinion on the band though. First time I’d heard of them was back in 2007 or something. That was the ripe time for indie bands in the UK, those mid-2000s. And watching MTV2 in those days, there was always something new around the corner. 1990s showed up occasionally on the channel with the video, ‘You’re Supposed to Be My Friend’. That tune, I thought, was all right. What struck me was how both old and young the band looked, all at the same time. Then a few months down the line, the video for ‘See You at the Lights’ came round and the song became an instant hit to me. Lot of time was spent trying to figure out the usual time slot that the video was usually shown in. But then YouTube became available and I could watch/listen anytime I wanted.

It all begins with that beginning wordless hook. If that doesn’t get you singing along, then there’s not much point listening to the rest of the song. It always come back to it. But when it doesn’t, the song concerns a narrator who’s going out with a lady and basically has nothing to say but good things about her. She could be the one. He sees the light in her. This time in the relationship appears to be taking place around Christmas time too, hence the references to snow, stepping into the ‘white’ and the obviously clue, the mention of a Christmas tree. I’ve always liked the general tone of the music in this too. I’ve always envisioned a busy city centre at nighttime with all these bright lights everywhere when I hear this song, which I think the song is going for. It all comes from the lyrics, brings about a lot of vivid imagery.

The music video in itself is very endearing too. It’s an animated one. Quite dated in today’s world. It looked quite dated back in 2007 too. But there’s no denying it’s a bit of fun to watch. It features an animated version of the band, sitting on the ledge of a giant building in Glasgow, staring at the moon and lip-syncing to the song. With each verse, they get up to slightly different antics, from bobbing to the music in the first verse to singer Jackie McKeown jumping onto the drummer’s heard during the last one. It’s all pretty simple stuff, but has a lot of charm. I never really followed up with 1990s after this, though. I do know that you can find this song the album Cookies, and they released another record a couple years after. If you happen to like both of them, I’m glad I could be of service.

#984: John Lennon – One Day (At a Time)

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Just a note to take into account before you read this. This track isn’t actually six minutes and 36 seconds long. There are two versions of this song in it, but I’m really only talking about the first 3 minutes in there or so. If you want to carry on listening after, that’s up to you. Cool. That’s out of the way.*

When I was really getting into the Beatles at the beginning of the tail-end of the 00s, I came across this project online called Everyday Chemistry. The website where you could download it provided the backstory. This was an album created in a parallel universe where the Beatles never broke up in 1970 that somehow made its way to our planet. Quite the way to get people interested. Really, it’s just a mashup album created by a fan using solo Beatles work. In the vein of the official Beatles LOVE record. And it wasn’t actually bad. In fact, it was this project that got me thinking about listening to the Beatles solo projects and songs. One track on there that struck my ear immediately was ‘Anybody Else’, which was a mashup of McCartney’s track ‘Somedays’, Ringo Starr’s ‘Monkey See – Monkey Do’, and an alternate take of John Lennon’s ‘One Day (At a Time)’ taken from the 1998 Anthology compilation. The latter was the anchor of this song, providing the bassline and what is essentially the main riff. So it only made sense to seek out the original and see what was going on.

‘One Day (At a Time)’ was written and recorded during a period when John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s marriage was on the rocks, just before they properly separated and Lennon went on an 18-month bender in Los Angeles. I feel the track is meant to act as something of a statement from Lennon to Ono as to why they should stay together. With he being the fish to her sea, the bee to her honey and so on and so forth, he feels they’re two people who complete each other. Any trouble arises then taking things day by day should be the way to right any wrongs. As mentioned before, that route didn’t work out. But man, this track makes for some truly comfortable listening. Probably the coziest recording Lennon ever made. This is bare bones, made up of Lennon’s cool vocal, a keyboard, bass guitar and drums played with brushes rather than sticks, and a twinkling guitar that provides a backdrop during the verses. It’s like the the musicians are playing right in front of you in this dark lounge, smoke in the room, people wearing shades. It’s magic stuff. So relaxing, so warm. You listen to those first three minutes up there. You’d think that take could have been on an official album, right?

Well, wrong. With some advice on Ono’s part to sing the vocal in a falsetto range, and the addition of backing vocalists and maybe a steel pedal guitar, the track was released in its ‘final form’ on Lennon’s Mind Games album in 1973. I don’t like this version as much. Not a lot, to be honest. With the alternate Anthology take, Lennon singing in his natural range provided so much more sincerity, in my opinion. The decision to go falsetto on the album doesn’t sit right with me. I guess by doing so he’s meant to sound like some innocent child or something. Maybe meant so sound more vulnerable? I don’t know. To me it comes off as if he’s making fun of the entire thing. Considering it was Ono’s idea, he probably didn’t want to do it that way. Think the backing singers and the added instrumentation is a bit extra too. But hey, that’s just me. I’ll stick to the Anthology. Listen to the album version for yourself and decide.

*06/10/24 – This was written at a point where the original video was completely different. Now, with the Mind Games reissue, the actual version I prefer is up.

#763: John Lennon – Look at Me

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‘Look at Me’ comes at the perfect time in John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band album. The last minute of preceding track ‘Well Well Well’ is him screaming the word ‘well’ until he physically can’t anymore. So when the acoustic guitar and soft electric that play throughout on this one come in, you’ve just got to admire the dynamics.

Lennon does a lot of soul-searching on this album. There’s a lot of pointing out how shit the world actually is on his part too. It’s on ‘Look at Me’ that he brings it all to himself though, asking the listener what they see and what they think of him as if he was standing right in front of them. Though giving it another listen, I think he’s singing to Yoko Ono. She is the only other person he believed in after all.

This is probably the only song that sounds remotely like a Beatles track, and there is good reason. He wrote the song at the same time he wrote many others when he was in India for the group’s meditation retreat. The same guitar picking technique he employed on ‘Dear Prudence’ and ‘Julia’, he uses here. The three note introduction is identical to the beginning of ‘I’m So Tired’. These don’t necessarily make the song better. Just thought some people may want to know. It’s a very meditative track, serene, and very easy to listen to. The melodies from both guitar and Lennon’s vocal never really change and repeat themselves so they’re never very hard to forget. I’m not sure it’s considered a highlight by many from this album, but it is to me.

My iPod #310: Paul & Linda McCartney – Eat at Home

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“Eat at Home” is probably one of the cheesiest McCartney tunes. And Paul has written a lot of those. Everything from the cheery melody and the melismatic vocals on the word ‘love’ and all the general gushing on Paul’s part on how great his relationship is with Linda may make a listener want to throw up, gag, annoy or just bring to displeasure for a lot of listeners.

I think it’s quite good, actually. One of the most enjoyable tracks on there. A nice, pleasant, easy-going track…. possibly about oral sex. Yeah.

Musically, it’s pretty easy going. But I think it contains one of Paul’s busiest bass takes. He’s always switching between different notes, ascending and descending scales in the bass line while the other instruments play around it. Paul sounds very happy singing, throwing in his trademark “woos” and “ahhs” and really emphasising syllables, as you hear on the very first line (come on little lllllaaaayu-DUH).

Yes, it’s all a bit silly and shit. It does come after one of the album’s most dramatic tracks, so it’s a good way to relieve the tension.

It’s on “Ram“, by the way. Have a listen. You might enjoy it.

My iPod #246: Guttermouth – A Day at the Office

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“A Day at the Office” is a song from Guttermouth’s third album “Teri Yakimoto”. I didn’t find the track by actually listening to “Teri”, but was listening to my own customised radio station on Launch. I always talk about this site… but I’m not sure if anyone knows what I’m talking about. It looked like this.

When the song came on, it was listed to be on the soundtrack for the film “Godmoney”, a movie that I’ve never bothered to watch after all these years and probably won’t in the near future. I also assume that the site didn’t have “Teri Yakimoto” in its database or something.

The phrase ‘a day at the office’ is defined as ‘an ordinary or typical event’ by thefreedictionary.com. The track details a kid who is electrocuted by the next door neighbour, a guy who falls off a roof while his family go on a trip and eventually the death of everybody when a power plant ‘blows’ unexpectedly and sends deadly toxins into the sky. These are not ordinary or typical events. But obviously that’s the joke.

What also adds to the humour is that the melody is really cheerful, so the lyrics don’t really affect you until you properly read them.

“Pleasant dreams and thanks for listening.”