Tag Archives: it

#1232: The BPA ft. Olly Hite – So It Goes

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It’s been a while since Norman Cook, mostly known to you and me as Fatboy Slim, released an album. The producer’s fourth LP Palookaville was released back in 2004, and that’s still his most recent one to this day. Under the Fatboy Slim name that is. What I don’t think a lot of people know is that in 2008, he and good friend Simon Thorton got together, recruited a number of artists and musicians and made an album with ’em entitled I Think We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat, under the moniker of ‘The Brighton Port Authority’. The BPA for short. But to make the whole affair a little more interesting, the story was invented that the album was actually a compilation of recordings made in the ’70s that had been long-lost until they were found in a box next to a warehouse that was in development. Quite funny when you realise most of the guests on there probably weren’t born until a decade after.

…Bigger Boat is bookended by two covers. As it begins with Iggy Pop singing The Monochrome Set’s ‘He’s Frank’, it goes on to end with ‘So It Goes’, a take on the Nick Lowe original, sung by Olly Hite. While that Lowe original contains more of a rollicking, swinging ’70s power pop feel, the ‘So It Goes’ by the BPA and Olly Hite goes for the warm and intimate approach, similar to that you’d find in an NPR Tiny Desk concert or something. Hite sings alongside a tastefully played Rhodes piano that mirrors the chord progression of Lowe’s guitar in the original. The idea that it’s being performed live is reinforced by the cheering, handclaps and adlibbing by various people in the background, who then go on to applaud Hite as he sings the final words and steps away from the microphone. Other Norman Cook/Simon Thornton production tricks occur throughout, but not so much that they get in the way of the bittersweet end-of-the-night, time-to-go-home mood the track gives out.

According to Lowe, the song isn’t about anything much and is just a bunch of interesting words strung together, though was influenced by Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’. Though if you want to try and get something out of it, the three verses respectively describe scenes at a music show, a political meeting in the Twin Towers, and I think the embrace between a couple of some kind. With the chorus stating “And so it goes, but where it’s going no one knows”, maybe the whole track’s a comment on how these things happen in life, life goes on until you die, and what happens after death is anyone’s guess. Whereas the original fades out on the lyric, here Hite turns the words from “no one knows” to “I don’t know”, switching the perspective around to leave the album on a sweet, personal note. It looks more and more unlikely that Norman Cook will make another album again. But if this were to “his” last song… for the time being, I wouldn’t be too mad at it.

#1158: The Pigeon Detectives – Say It Like You Mean It

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Well, the last Pigeon Detectives song I wrote about on here was ‘Everybody Wants Me’, just over ten years ago. In that post I mentioned how I didn’t know whether the band were still together. It’s a sentiment I still have today. They are, according to Wikipedia, and even released an album last year. I’m not sure if anyone, apart from their fans, are wondering what the band are up to these days. But there was a time in those mid/late-2000s where they were sort of the talk of the town. The band’s 2007 debut album Wait for Me was a wildly popular one in the UK, and almost a year to the day of its release came the second album Emergency. It did just all right in comparison. But that’s where you’ll find ‘Everybody Wants Me’ and today’s song, ‘Say It Like You Mean It’.

I only really know this song because it was released as the third and final single from Emergency, and its music video got the obligatory play on MTV2 during the mornings or whatever. But that’s not to say I only came to like it through some sort of Stockholm syndrome situation. When it came to their singles, The Pigeon Detectives usually delivered the goods. Handy with a melody, bursting with energy. They were always fine ones to sing along to. It’s very much the same with ‘Say It Like You Mean It’. I read a comment the other day that said it was their most Strokes-ish song. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t thought of it like that before, because it certainly is, particularly when it comes to the interplay between the rhythm guitar and the lead.

The subject matter isn’t one that I’ve ever heard thought to think to deeply about. The lyrics seem to consist of clichés and typical thoughts ‘n’ feelings that you would find in a song about your standard relationship. And if you like the first minute and 10 seconds of the song, then you’ll certainly like the rest that follows because the verses and refrains never change. But it’s done well. I could never say it’s a bad song. It’s just a shame that it’s the last one by the band that I properly cared about because, after Emergency, the whole UK indie scene kind of died out and everyone, including myself, just moved on to different things. They had us for a while, though. They were all right times.

#1157: Weezer – Say It Ain’t So

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According to my post for ‘Buddy Holly’ years and years back, I properly started getting into Weezer when I was about 10 years old. 29-year-old me can’t remember so well, so I’ll take 18-year-old me’s word. But it does sound about right. 2005 (the year I was 10) was around the time Make Believe was out, and although that’s considered to be one of the band’s worst albums, I think my interest in them stemmed from seeing this video for ‘We Are All on Drugs’ on MTV2 on the regular and other Weezer songs I’d catch on the TV by chance. ‘Buddy Holly’ became a favourite song of young self very quickly, and I think it was through trying to find its music video online that I then came across ‘Say It Ain’t So’, whose video was a lot less gimmicky in comparison but, to me, still impactful nonetheless.

It’s all coming back to me now, actually. I remember spending a lot of time repeating the video at certain points during the song. Not on YouTube (which was busy not being active), but some other vague music video site that probably doesn’t exist now. The “bubbli-hi-hi-hi-hiiing” was unexpected. As was the delivery in the “wrestle with Jiiiimmy”. The string bends in between the power chords during the second chorus. There were all these little quirks and changes within the song that were drawing my attention. And it was through watching the videos for this, ‘Buddy Holly’ and ‘Undone’, not necessarily in that order, that I thought that I had to get The Blue Album in my possession. All the singles were good, so it was a no brainer. Still I have my copy to this day since 2006.

‘Say It Ain’t So’ is rightly one of Weezer’s most popular songs. Probably one of the best alternative rock songs of the ’90s, to be fair. It’s weird though nowadays, ’cause Weezer’s a band that lot of people like to joke about or make memes out of, so you never know if people are really listening for the music or whether they want to be in on the joke. But there’s no joking about this song. It’s all straight from the heart. The track sees Cuomo battling a personal demon he faced when he was 16, when he saw a can of beer in the fridge and, from that, assumed his stepfather would be leaving the family because his biological father started drinking when he left his mother. Cuomo said he probably shouldn’t have written the song about trauma like that. But he did. And it’s very, very good.

#1067: Television – Prove It

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Looks like this’ll be the first time I’ve ever written about a Television song on this website. That’s something to note, I guess. My own history/knowledge of the band doesn’t go that far. I believe I listened to Marquee Moon in full, I want to say in late 2012/13, just ’cause it was regarded to be a classic and the whole thing about the New York CBGBs punk scene of the mid-’70s. ‘Course I’ve listened to it over and over again as the years have gone by. Only recently did I go through it again because of its inclusion in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear book, and then not too long after the band’s songwriter Tom Verlaine passed away. I read a comment somewhere that suggested that the album’s first half supersedes its second by a large margin, but I would like to go ahead and respectfully disagree with the statement.

‘Prove It’ is the album’s penultimate track and has for a long time been one of my favourites from Marquee Moon. The record as a whole should be considered any budding guitarist’s dream, filled with memorable riffs, scales, solos, breaks and all sorts, a glowing interplay between rhythm guitarist Verlaine and the lead guitarist Richard Lloyd, present on every single track. It’s mainly the use of those that drew me towards eventually properly appreciating this particular song. Then everything else seemed to follow. Verlaine’s lyricism on the album tends to concern nighttime scenery, nature and the human condition. That’s no different in ‘Prove It’. It’s just that in the chorus, Verlaine appears to take on the perspective of a detective who’s trying desperately to solve their case. What that case is isn’t obviously made within the verses, but I would like to say that’s something that adds to its appeal.

I also appreciate the musical parts that mirror what is being stated in the lyrics at various points. Take when drummer Billy Ficca executes a fast drum roll and cymbal crash after Verlaine sings about leaping about 100 feet in the air, or when he also messes with the track tempo again after Verlaine sings about a rose that slows. Verlaine also whistles after singing about birds chirping. I don’t know, I take delight in those small moments anyway. They add a bit of a quirky element while still remaining effortlessly cool. I don’t think I have much to add past this point. If you’ve read up to here, thank you for your time. Songs from Marquee Moon came quite late to the game on my phone. Had it been different, ‘Elevation’ would have got its own post, for sure. There are a couple more Television tracks to come in this series.

#1049: Super Furry Animals – Play It Cool

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Here’s another one by Welsh band Super Furry Animals and yet another one from their sophomore album Radiator, released back in 1997. I only wrote about the second track on that record the other day, so you can get a bit of background on my experience with it. Unlike ‘The Placid Casual’, I don’t recall ‘Play It Cool’ having much of an effect on me during that first listen through Radiator. I had a mission of listening through SFA’s whole discography in 2014 which had to come to a halt because of second year studies at university. I eventually got round to doing so in 2018 during work hours in my first job after those studies finished. It was a very lax workplace, so I could get away with listening to albums on Spotify for nearly the whole day. It’s all a bit hazy, but I want to say it was around then that ‘Play It Cool’ clicked and went on to become one of my favourite Furry songs.

Essentially the track is made up of little riffs, hooks and catchy scales, all delivered with an earwormy melody that when assembled altogether create such a fun three-minute pop-rock sensation. I mean, that’s essentially what all songs are. But in this case, ‘Play It Cool’ begins with its three-chord riff followed by that sweet ascending keyboard riff which arrives after the opening drum roll. The vocals announce themselves into the mix with a “Buh-bah-buh-baah-baah”, falling to harmonies on the last wordless syllable while an electric guitar plays a downward-scale string bending riff that cascades into Gruff Rhys lead vocal, which also mirrors the initial acoustic guitar riff at the very beginning. All done within the first 19 seconds. It’s a very inviting and warming way to start things off, just sounds nice to the ears in general. Quality and melody abound. All of which carries on for the next three minutes.

Someone please write in and tell me I’m wrong, I’m not the biggest SFA follower and don’t want to make any rash statements on how they would write their songs – but I think this track – a bit like my thoughts on ‘The Placid Casual’, really – was a result of the music and arrangements coming first, with the lyrics being written afterward to fit. And not that the lyrics are bad or are rushed. They truly aren’t. It’s just that the lyrics, particularly in the verses, don’t link to each in other in any type of cohesive narrative, nor do they tell a sort of story from one verse to the next. They are incredibly pleasant to sing along to though. Really, the main message comes in the choruses where Rhys tells the listener that whatever you want to do, do it now and reap the consequences later. And also to be cool instead of acting like a fool. Which to me, is pretty sound advice. I also have a preference to the original mix of the track that was released on the album (below) rather than the remix that was released as the single and used in the music video (above). The former pushes Rhys’s vocals into the back, while the single version does the opposite and adds a few new elements here and there. Which one floats your boat?