363: LADIES OF THE WORLD

And so we near the end of this ‘thingy’ of ours. Except, dear reader, don’t think you can get rid of us that easily. More on that in the next couple of days. Many to thank for encouragement, criticism, patience, tech support, a laptop, comments, taking dictation, and of course the suggestion of Ray Davies acoustic versions. Much appreciated.

This one’s for the ladies. The last two selections are from ‘Electric Ladyland’ and ‘Electric Landlady’, respectively.

363: LADIES OF THE WORLD

1. Billie Holiday – Lady Sings the Blues
2. The Impressions – Gypsy Woman
3. T. Rex – Lady
4. Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work
5. The Rolling Stones – Lady Jane
6. Stevie Wonder – Boogie On Reggae Woman
7. Richard Hawley – Lady Solitude
8. Grinderman – Go Tell The Women
9. The Divine Comedy – A Woman Of The World
10. Aretha Franklin – (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
11. Neil Young – Such A Woman
12. Urge Overkill – Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon
13. Tom Waits – Warm Beer And Cold Women
14. Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along The Watchtower
15. Kirsty MacColl – Walking Down Madison

59:30

177: SPACE IS THE PLACE

Wasn’t sure what to post today, and with time slipping away, I found myself once again flummoxed. I glanced around my room for ideas and inspiration, but nothing came. I went out in to the backyard, but still nothing. Clearly, I would need to look further afield.

177: SPACE IS THE PLACE

1. The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
2. Thievery Corporation – Shaolin Satellite
3. The Rezillos – Destination Venus
4. Grinderman – Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars)
5. Beastie Boys – Intergalactic
6. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra /Fred Steiner – Star Trek (Main Title and Closing Theme)
7. Spizzenergi – Where’s Captain Kirk
8. A.R. Kane – A Love from Outer Space
9. Animaniacs – Yakko’s Universe
10. Sun Ra – Saturn
11. John Cooper Clarke – (I Married a ) Monster from Outer Space
12. John Coltrane – Jupiter
13. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Mercury
14. The Upsetters – Outer Space
15. Seu Jorge – Life on Mars ?
16. Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band – Big Eyed beans from Venus

59:09

147: THE MAN

Speaking of kvetching…….I may have some of the details wrong, but bear with me. I believe it was Monday Night Football, and Al Michaels had something to say; “I was walking around the city today, and I was struck by how few Redskins jerseys I saw. What I did see was a lot of people wearing Capitals merchandise….” And then he gets interrupted, by his partner in the booth (Madden, I think), who seems to be the only person in the world that doesn’t realise Michaels has a punchline to his story. Madden then goes on to talk tiresome nonsense about some minor injury Clinton Portis may or may not have, and then Michaels tries again….”So I was saying, I was walking around the city today and I couldn’t help but notice……” And it happens again! , this time because Madden has a profound comment to make about fat men dressed as women wearing fake pig noses. Michaels, however, won’t let this one go; “So I was walking around town today and it struck me that people would rather celebrate Ovechkin than kvetch about the Redskins.” Brilliant!!

On to todays choices. We here at Usefulmusic have had girls, women, boys being boys, girls and boys, and the occasional Mr. and Mrs. (Caligula, I tell ya, would have blushed), but sometimes we get rather excited by the mysterious. Namely, the man with no name.

147: THE MAN

1. Benny Profane – Man on the Sauce
2. Nick Drake – Man in a Shed
3. Daniel Johnston – Man at War
4. The Skatalites – Man in the Street
5. Bob Dylan – Man of Constant Sorrow
6. Joni Mitchell – My Old Man
7. Grinderman – Man in the Moon
8. R.E.M. – Man on the Moon
9. The Specials – Man at C&A
10. Stevie Wonder – Black Man
11. The Style Council – A Man of Great Promise
12. John Holt – Man Next Door
13. Elvis Costello and The Attractions – Man out of Time
14. Kate Bush – The Man with the Child in his Eyes
15. David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World
16. Johnny Cash – Man in Black

60:18

39: PARDON MY LANGUAGE

Yes, sometimes it really is clever to swear. And yes, the game of HORSE has turned around.

39: PARDON MY LANGUAGE

1. Jarvis Cocker – Running the World
2. The Libertines – What a Waster
3. Kate Nash – Dickhead
4. Ian Dury – Plaistow Patricia
5. Sex Pistols – Bodies
6. Eminem – Stan
7. Music From the Motion Picture ‘ Team America’ – America, Fuck Yeah
8. The Artist Formerly Known as Prince – Sexy MF
9. Nouvelle Vague – Too Drunk to Fuck
10. John Cooper Clarke – Evidently Chickentown
11. Funkadelic – Get Off Your Ass and Jam
12. Grinderman – Get It On
13. Millie Jackson – Phuck You Symphony
14. Marianne Faithfull – Why’d Ya Do It ?
15. Peaches – Fuck the Pain Away
16. Music from the Motion Picture ‘Team America’ – America, Fuck Yeah (Bummer Remix)

60:25

Quiz Question – Can You (or anyone, actually) tell me which song on your playlist number 32 is not the original version ?

32: Eponymously Self-Titled (Using The Artist’s Name)

Sometimes an artist decides to use nothing more than their name to title an album. Rarely, they even choose to do the same with a song title, on the same album! Rarest of all is for that song to be worth a listen. I have managed to compile 60 minutes of such songs for your listening pleasure.

Cheating disclaimer: Wilco’s song is actually titled “Wilco (The Song)” and the album is “Wilco (The Album),” and The Highwaymen’s song and album is actually titled “Highwayman,” but close enough.

Special credit to Bo Diddley: although not actually using his real name (or even his real nickname — apparently one of the Chess brothers added the “e”), he was the only individual artist I found with the balls to name both a song and album after himself.

1. Black Sabbath
2. Motörhead
3. Iron Maiden
4. Body Count
5. Grinderman
6. Trans Am
7. Porno For Pyros
8. Meat Puppets
9. Wilco
10. The Good, The Bad & The Queen
11. Buena Vista Social Club
12. Mandrill
13. Bo Diddley
14. Book Of Love
15. Highwayman

59:10