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My iPod #394: Faith No More – From Out of Nowhere

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I don’t listen to Faith No More. Not because I don’t like the group’s music. More because I’ve never really tried to listen to it. Though the three songs I know by them are ones that are actually very good. The cover of ‘Easy’‘s astoundingly smooth, and “Epic” is the complete opposite. It lives up to its name. Though the video confused me a bit when I first saw it. What did that poor fish do to deserve such treatment?

Though “From Out of Nowhere” is the track that I’ll really go into. It is the opener, and was the first single, from the band’s third album “The Real Thing” in 1989. And what a way to start things off to. Barely a second goes before a charging power chord surrounds your ears and gets the track’s momentum going. Honestly, that introduction feels like a unstoppable train thundering down a track at a tremendous speed which then pummels through a solid brick wall when the drums kick in.

The track seems to be about a brief encounter between Patton and a perfect stranger, though the brevity of the meeting hurts him deeply. The song’s music written by the group’s bassist, Bill Gould, and keyboard player, Roddy Bottum seem to perfectly fit the lyrics’ theme of wonderment and incredulity.

Its booming rhythm section, roaring guitars, glorious synthesizer and not to mention Mike Patton’s passionate vocal delivery  got to me quite a bit when I watched the video on MTV2 a few years ago. It’s easy to understand why it is a popular one amongst Faith No More followers. Great track.

My iPod #393: The Zombies – Friends of Mine

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“Friends of Mine” is a track from The Zombies’ album “Odessey and Oracle”. Unlike every other love song where the narrator tells a listener how happy and lucky they are to be in a relationship themselves, “Friends of Mine” flips the idea around, instead detailing how much joy they feel seeing so many of their friends in love. That is a subject you would rarely come across nowadays in music. Even in real life, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere with without people seeing you as the ‘third wheel’ of the group. What’s the world coming to?

A pacy track filled with bright guitars, jubilant backing vocal harmonies and general catchy melodies “Friends of Mine” is a song that will get your spirits up when times are bad. Especially if you’re a person who cares a lot about their mates.

My iPod #370: Gorillaz – Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head

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Looking through my iPod before I started this I found that, to my embarrassment, I have accidentally missed out a song. Silly me. I thought I had the order sussed out too. I’ll get to it one day. For now, the series must continue.

“Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head” begins the “End of the World” track trilogy at the end of the “Demon Days” album with “Don’t Get Lost in Heaven” and the title track coming after. Listen to those three songs in succession. I also don’t think they have an official name together, “End of the World” just seems like the most appropriate thing to call it.

The track is essentially a story, narrated by the late and great Dennis Hopper, about the ‘Happyfolk’ who live under the great mountain called Monkey. Monkey eventually explodes, consuming the Earth in a great wave of fire after the ‘Strangefolk’ dig deep into its centre, stealing the jewels that lie within it. A menacing, repetitive bassline plays with deep humming backing vocals and clicking guitar licks setting the tracks mysterious and creepy tone during the verses. Damon Albarn (2D) comes in with a few verses too, accompanied by a sole acoustic guitar.

I read an interesting comment on there that suggested that this track was the main track of the entire album. Every track preceding has essentially been parts of the narrative that is told in this one song where everything comes together. Kinda makes sense. The happyfolk being the “Last Living Souls” and everything, and “Feel Good Inc.” being that point where the happy people seem to realise that something is going amiss but try and block it out to all they’re might. It’s very long to describe. But I can see it. Can’t remember where I saw that comment though, must have been years ago. Oh well.

My iPod #353: Arctic Monkeys – Fake Tales of San Francisco

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Let me just specify that the “Fake Tales of San Francisco” that I regularly listen to that is the version on Arctic Monkeys’ first EP “Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys”, an EP that is apparently very rare and released before the band had a record deal. The version of the song on that is basically the same as the one on the band’s debut album, except for a change of words in one particular line, but I generally prefer this version. It was the first song I heard by Arctic Monkeys when its video played on MTV2, it was good new music (in 2005) which was nice to see, but I don’t think I expect them to achieve the great success that was coming their way very soon. A few months later, I think.

The song is Alex Turner observing all these things going on around him, possibly at a gig he is attending, but the emphasis of the track is on the band who chat shit and tell stories that are very hard to believe. Alex is not having any of it, and coins phrases that are probably used on a daily basis by many other people who find themselves in the same situation. How many of you have always wanted to call someone out on their bullshit by saying something along the lines of “You’re not from New York City, you’re from Rotherham”. Some very clever lyrics on this track that’s for sure.

Seems to me that Turner would like to be from New York City with that accent he’s got on nowadays. “AM”‘s alright, but I’ll stick with the band’s early material.

My iPod #332: Supergrass – Evening of the Day

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While being a fantastic bass player, probably one of the most underrated during the Britpop era, Mick Quinn of Supergrass was also a decent singer. He did occasionally take on lead vocal duties on many Supergrass songs such as “You Can See Me” and “Sometimes I Make You Sad” from “In It for the Money“, “Beautiful People” and co-lead vocals on “Mary” from their self-titled album. But it is on the 2002 album “Life on Other Planets” where fans get to hear a lot more of his singing, as he takes on lead vocals on four of the twelve songs on there including today’s track “Evening of the Day”. I asked the man himself if he did take the lead on this one, thinking that he wouldn’t reply……. and to my surprise he did only a few hours later.

Positioned right in the middle of the album, “Evening” begins with some smooth bass and piano. Sounds really laidback, and cool. There’s a very lounge-y/jazzy tone about it all. Quinn enters with his lower register vocal (which is what got me confused about who was singing it in the first place) and goes on to sing about how, during the evening of the day, he waits somewhere (possibly a location of a high altitude) for a person who is very important to him. While he looks at the view, all he can think about is that person. The song’s chorus is a line from a Spinal Tap track “All the Way Home” which is as follows: “If she’s not on that 3:15, then I’m gonna know what sorrow means.”

It is at 3:15 of “Evening of the Day” when what I have described to you above finishes in a minor and rather messy fashion. I can’t tell whether it was supposed to be a different song altogether and the band decided combine it with the first three minutes or if it was all planned. But in this particular part, the band members sing about someone being stoned and not knowing what they’re talking about. Whether they’re referring to the ‘narrator’ of the first part of the song, I’m not sure, but it does bring a light and comedic end to a very good song.