Mark

I won't claim to big the biggest expert on Mark Lanegan's extensive body of work. I've got a Screaming Trees collection I haven't devoted the right amount of attention to, but I was taken with his solo work whenever I heard it and was especially fond of his collaborations with Isobel Campbell, updating the Lee & Nancy aesthetic for a 21st Century audience.

Still, at only 57, he's another one gone far too soon...

Guest Post Monday: Top Ten Zero Songs

Unable to cope with a Zero edition of the Hot 100 myself, I put the idea out to tender.

First to jump at the opportunity was Charity Chic, who spend a large part of his working week compiling the excellent Top Ten below. He didn't supply a Zero band though, so I chose Remy Zero, who once recorded the theme tune to young-Superman-based TV show Smallville.

Remy Zero - Save Me

I'm running this Guest Post today - rather than on Thursday - because it leads it nicely into the final edition of the Hot 100 tomorrow. Join me then for the full countdown.

In the meantime, take it away, Charity Chic...

Top 10 - Zero Songs

By way of appreciation for Rol’s epic Hot 100 series, I give you a Top 10 of Zero Songs...

10 - The BoomtownRats - Wind Chill Factor (Minus Zero)

Taken from “the difficult third album “ 1979’s The Fine Art of Surfacing, it pre-dates Band Aid, meaning that St Bob was slightly less annoying than he later became.

(Actually, I love that album. - Rol.)

9 - TV 21 - This isZero

TV21 were a post punk band from Edinburgh. Named after a Gerry Anderson comic. Another impressive piece of trivia is that guitarist Ally Palmer is responsible for  curating the Scottish football magazine Nutmeg. I suspect Rol will be aware of the first trivia reference but totally oblivious to the second.

(How right you are. - Rol.)

8 - Bob Dylan - LoveMinus Zero/No Limit

One of the lesser known songs off his 1965 album Bringing it All Back Home.

Described as a hallucinatory allegiance, a poetic turn that exposes the paradoxes of love 

As you would expect, swiftly name checked by The Swede.

7 - Sonny Boy Williamson II - Nine Below Zero

Yes, there were two. The original was John Lee Curtis with number two who is featured here being Alex Miller or Aleck Ford. All very confusing.

(Yeah, you lost me. I'm going to ask George to explain that sentence to me. - Rol.)

Nine Below Zero is also the name of an English Blues band who formed in 1977 and who I saw play on a couple of occasions at Strathclyde Students Union.

6- Isobel Campbell -Below Zero

A lovely song from the album There Is No Other, the first solo album for 14 years from the former Belle and Sebastian chanteuse and Mark Lanegan collaborator. A welcome return.

5 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs -Zero

The opening track from It’s Blitz the third album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from 2010.

It was also the first single from the album.

4 - Jill Jackson -Back to Zero

The title track from the 2011 debut solo album by Paisley lass and former Speedway frontwoman Jill Jackson, an artist who I know that Rol has a bit of a soft spot for.

(Indeed. - Rol.)

3 - Public Enemy  - She Watches Channel Zero ?!

A splendid racket and a splendid diatribe by Public Enemy from their seminal album It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. As topical now as it was on its release in 1988.

In the words of Chuck D...

I don't think I can handle

She goes channel to channel

Cold lookin' for that hero

She watch channel zero

2 - Joan Armatrading  - Down to Zero

A seriously underrated artist . A track from her eponymous 3rd album from 1976 which also contains the brilliant Love and Affection. The compilation album Track Record is an ideal introduction to her work.

1 - Elvis Costello -Less Than Zero 

No shocks, no surprises. None of the others come close.

I suspect that from the get go most of you would have had this down as the number one

The 1977 debut single from the debut album My Aim is True which introduced the world to the prodigious talent that is Elvis Costello.

Thanks for taking up the baton, CC. You get no argument from me on any of those, especially not the worthy (and only!) Number One.

Of course, that's not to stop anyone else coming up with a second list of Zero Songs, if they think they've got 'em. The doors are always open...

Saturday Snapshots #92 - The Answers

It's A Beautiful Day. You're at Home. You're Feeling Good. There's a picture of Michael Bublé on your computer screen and you're trying to pretend you're so cool that you don't even know who he is. Stop trying so hard to be cool and embrace the Bublé. You know you want to.

It was a full-on battle between Charity Chic, Lynchie and Walter first thing yesterday morning. Lynchie looked set to take the trophy with 3 points to CC's 2 and a half... until a last second equalizer from CC clinched the draw. Thanks, as always, for playing.


10. Mucking about leads to romance for sprite-like creature and chess piece.

A sprite-like creature would be elvin. (Elfin or elvish?)

Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around And Fell In Love

9. Outdoor Master of Ceremonies: what a weirdo!

OMC - How Bizarre

8. Repetitive soup and shrieking sycamore wish the day away.

The lady is a Campbell.

The gent is a former Screaming Tree.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Saturday's Gone

7. Outlaw sweethearts find stardom with pudding & pie.

Georgie Peorgie, pudding & pie, kissed the girls and made them cry.

Stardom is fame.

Outlaw sweethearts were...

Georgie Fame - The Ballad of  Bonnie & Clyde

6. Pre-arrival dessert.

Blancmange - The Day Before You Came

Here's a question for you.

Why does it take him and hour and a quarter to get to work, but three hours to get home?

(How long does he spend in the Chinese takeaway?)

5. Hot rumours block authority.

Hot gossip, obviously.

Gossip - Standing In The Way of Control

4. Chess champion leaves Gordon a note.

Grandmaster Flash (Gordon's Alive!) leaves a message.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message

It's like a jungle sometimes

It makes me wonder

How I keep from going under

3. Fashionable local authority watches Germany unite.

Well done to C for spotting a not-immediately-recognisable Mr. Weller on the left.

The Style Council - Walls Come Tumbling Down 

2. Southern climbers defy death with sad Spanish bum singer.

Jackie was a singer with a Spanish bum.

Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Jackie Blue

1. Prince's house is the Pitts. All things must end.

Prince lived at Paisley Park, but not with Brad Pitt.

Congrats to Chris for getting "the hard one". (Although Mr. Paisley is a favourite of mine.) I'll have a dig around for some Toby Keith in future week, just for Lynchie. Who says I don't do requests?

This video must be watched right until the end... for the full Hoff.

Saturday Snapshots will be back next week. Michael Bublé may not be.

My Top Ten Shotgun Songs

Lots of songs about guns in my arsenal... here's ten that come with a double-barrelled blast.


Special mention to Shotgun Jimmie.


10. Guns 'n' Roses - Shotgun Blues

One of those GnR stroppy songs where Axl gets all sweary and slags off his critics and anyone who ever let their dog crap on his lawn. But not half as good as Get In The Ring. I like the end though. 

9. Sheryl Crow - Shotgun

Sheryl goes country. See also Carrie Underwood - Cupid's Got A Shotgun & Miranda Lambert - Gunpowder & Lead... but Sheryl still shows them both how to shoot it.

8. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Shotgun Blues

I should be against adding artificial vinyl crackle to a song recorded in 2008, but this just sounds so old, nasty and dirrrrty, I can see why they did it.

7. Superman Revenge Squad -  Joe Concedes Ultimate Defeat By Blowing His Face Skywards With A Shotgun

'Nuff said?

No?

Even The Fonz must be afraid of what lies beyond
Even Steven Seagal must wake up in a cold sweat sometimes
Pondering the nature of time...
How it only seems to disappear
One day you're born 
And the next you're hearing voices from the corner of the old folks home
Was that a burglar?
Or something much more sinister?
Like the ghost of someone you used to know?
Maybe an ex-husband or wife, I dunno
But what they're saying is there's no room for you up there in heaven
You did those ouija boards when you where young
And you brought one or two records by Iron Maiden

6. Carole King - Smackwater Jack

A superb gunslinging western showdown between Smackwater Jack and Big Jim The Chief (not to mention Carole King and her lyrical partner Gerry Goffin), possibly my favourite song from Tapestry... I love a good story.  

You can't talk to a man 
With a shotgun in his hand

5. Elvis Costello - Shot With His Own Gun

Possibly not about a shogun, though it does have both in the title.Wonderful early Costello song though with some amazing piano playing from Steve Nieve.

On your marks, man, ready, set
Let's get loaded and forget

4. Roy C - Shotgun Wedding

Roy C gets marched up the aisle by an angry father when "the baby makes three". Later covered by Rod Stewart, who no doubt has been threatened with similar reprisals once or twice in his life.

3. Willie Nelson - Shotgun Willie

Willie Nelson with a shotgun is one scary prospect... especially if he's sitting around in his underwear.

Written, according to iffypedia, "on the empty packaging of a sanitary napkin while in the bathroom of his hotel room."

Well, you can't make a record if you ain't got nothin' to say...

I dunno about that, Willie... have you heard the Top 40 these days? (Token "sad old man" comment for this week.)

2. Billy Idol - White Wedding Pt. 1

There was a moment when I considered making this Number One. I do love me some classic Billy Idol. And you can't beat the bit in the video where he's singing with a tea towel on his head. Plus, without Billy, we probably would never have had Spike, my favourite character from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Also interesting to see Dexys, Tracey Ullman and the cast of Flash Gordon among the wedding guests. Billy certainly had some interesting friends. Then the bride starts wrecking her lovely red MFI kitchen with her bad dancing and Billy drives a motorbike through a stained glass window. Videos were so much more interesting in the 80s. (Bonus "sad old man" comment for this week.)

Hey, little sister - SHOTGUN!

1. Jr. Walker & the All-Stars - Shotgun

Classic Motown, with a cool Hammond organ and Walker's amazing sax playing. Doesn't get much better than this.





Which one gives you both blasts?