Showing posts with label Rilo Kiley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rilo Kiley. Show all posts

Sunday, 18 February 2024

Snapshots #332: A Hit Record Top Ten

Here's a man who knows a thing or two about making hit records... unfortunately.

I think it's fair to say that all these songs are better than anything Simon Cowell ever had a hand in... but that's just, like, my opinion, man.


10. Pinball champion becomes Superman.

Tommy was the pinball wizard... Superman is the Man of Steel.

Tommy Steele - Hit Record

9. He's a pro trembler... 

"A pro trembler" was an anagram...

Robert Palmer - Top 40

When I make my Top 40
Smash hit
Rock ‘n’ roll record
Everything’s gonna be just fine

8. Short-lived fellas.

They were all done in a minute.

The Minutemen - #1 Hit Song

7. Sexy sandwich fish.

Wow, that's some hot tuna!

Hot Tuna - Hit Single #1

6. Fired The Gun in a Three Man Army.

He was in The Gun, and one man in the Three Man Army. But he'll most be remembered (in dodgy easy listening circles) for penning this badly-rhyming "classic"...

Adrian Gurvitz - Classic

My first boss hated that song with a passion. "Classic does not rhyme with attic!" he used to scream. Ah, the good old days...

5. Piper known for luck and law.

Peter Piper has Murphy's Luck and suffers Murphy's Law.

Peter Murphy - Hit Song

4. She was an O, and smelled of an Irish river.

Jackie was an O, as in Eau d'Shannon... it's all there if you think about it.

Jackie DeShannon - (If You Never Have a Big Hit Record) You’re Still Gonna Be My Star

3. Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices that you can't get out of your head.

The Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices are known as RILO (google it if you don't believe me). Kyle can't get you out of her head.

Rilo Kiley - It's A Hit

2. The prettiest pole, according to penguins.

Penguins live at the Beautiful South Pole.

The Beautiful South - Song For Whoever

And I love the PRS cheques that you bring...

Still one of the greatest lines ever written.

1. The awards nobody in Hollywood wants.

Nobody wants a Razzie...

The Raspberries - Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)

Thanks for playing. More hits (and misses) next Saturday...


Sunday, 21 March 2021

Snapshots #181 - A Top Ten Silver Songs


Yesterday's link was Silver Songs... so here's Phil!


And here are the answers...


10. Total Landscaping.




9. The only way.


...is Essex, apparently.


8. Rock hard.


Diamonds are very hard rocks.


7. Risk getting muddled up twice when the offers are on.


Muddle up risk and you get Kris, twice, with the Offers On.


6. Lil' Yorkie.


Anagram for...


5. Con charm.


Another anagram...


4. I was born pretty much slap bang in the middle...


According to the interweb, to be part of Generation X, you must have been born between 1965 and 1980. 1972 is pretty much slap bang in the middle of that.


3. Where Band Aid came from.


From the First Aid Kit, of course!


That is gorgeous.

2. Once upon a time, a home for rabbits.


Once upon a time, he was Hutch. (Not Warren.)


1. Donnie's Frank. (Frank, Frank.)


This is Frank, from the movie Donnie Darko. (Is there an echo in here?)




More next week.


Tuesday, 24 March 2020

Hot 100 #15


A quieter week on the countdown than last week, thankfully, and the only band I could find with 15 in the name was the one above. I'm guessing they're Spanish, but beyond that.... no idea. Here's a tune from them anyway...

Grupo 15 - El Ole

Let's start with Lynchie, who straight away grabbed two of the most obvious choices. First this...

The Cure - 10:15 Saturday Night (The Peel session version!)

That's a pretty good version. Not heard that before. Here's the original to contrast...

The Cure - 10:15 Saturday Night

And then this...

The Who - 5.15 (Outta my brain on the train!)

Not surprised to find both Martin & C seconding those.

Martin carried on with these...

The Fall - 15 Ways (To Leave Your Man) 

The Beta Band - Number 15

ABC - 15 Storey Halo

David Bowie - 5.15 The Angels Have Gone

Hang on, Martin... Brian's got something to say about that one...

TVC 15. 'Nuff said.

David Bowie - TVC15

Although Brian did then self-correct...

Was just singing this to myself in bed this morning. "ONE-FIVE!" Boy, is my face red.

Apologies for the interruption, Martin. You carry on...

Taylor Swift - Fifteen 

Barry Manilow - Fifteen Minutes

...Christ, I'd better stop there...

Good decision. I'm not sure you can top the Bazzer Boogie.

Although I'm rather surprised you didn't suggest this one, Martin... considering it's one of your favourite bands, before they changed their name.

Sp!n - Fifteen Minutes

And even more surprised, you forgot this one...

Gene - Her Fifteen Years

Over to Jim in Dubai...

Tougher than I thought this week, here's all I have...

Wire - The 15th

Evripidis and his Tragedies - Fifteen Again

Standard Fare - Fifteen

That's cool. Thank you, Jim.

Over to Rigid Digit, who also nominated The Who and The Cure...

Radiohead - 15 Step

The Guess Who - 8:15

Inspiral Carpets - 8:15 From Manchester (the theme to a 90s Saturday Morning kids show - it's actually a re-recording of Find Out Why. But it does evoke a memory of late teenage/early 20s hangovers.)

Alyson was up next, with two very fine... if distinctly un-Alyson... suggestions...

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow 

Levellers - 15 Years

Finally this week, it's Swiss Adam...

To what's above I can add...

Ride - Fifteen minutes

...and... 

Beat The Devil - Three fifteen 

Fairly obscure that one.

So obscure, I couldn't find it online. I did find this though...

Beat The Devil - Plea Bargain

OK, so what did I have left over...?

Kirsty MacColl - Fifteen Minutes

John Prine & Lee Ann Womack - 15 Years Ago

Patterson Hood - Fifteen Days (Leaving Time Again)

Johnny Boy - 15 Minutes

Depeche Mode - Little 15

Gilbert O'Sullivan - 15 Times

The Ataris - 1*15*96

Elvis Costello - 15 Petals

Ocean Colour Scene - The Clock Struck 15 Hours Ago

Supergrass - Prophet 15

The Human Beinz - April 15th

Elbow - The Delayed 3:15

Johnny Lloyd - Next Episode Starts In 15 Seconds

Rilo Kiley - 15

Which is Jenny Lewis at her best...

He was deep like a graveyard, wired like T.V.
And how could he have known
That she'd be down for almost anything

But she was only, only, only 15
My, oh my, you pretty thing

It's about that time
For us to meet
Does your daddy have a shotgun?

Oh, wait... I've forgotten to pick a winner, haven't I? Tough one this week as I don't have a clear favourite, although the two that got the most votes are clearly leading the field.

You can choose your own favourite, but for me... although in most matches, Roger Daltrey would defeat Robert Smith... in this one, Bob just edges it. Maybe it's because this song reminds me so much of Saturday nights in my 20s... although I don't remember ever sitting in the kitchen sink.


14?

Go!


Tuesday, 2 April 2019

Hot 100 #46


Welcome back, you know the drill - songs featuring a different number every week, many of them suggested by you, counting down from 100 - 1.

The only band I could find with 46 in their name were acoustic bluesters 46 Long. Here they are playing Arnold's in Cincinatti.

46 proved a tougher number than of late, but you had a go nevertheless. Here's what you came up with...

The Swede set the bar real low, with Lost On Highway 46 by Sham 69... which he describes as "bloody shocking". I've heard worse. Much worse.

Then, since I'd previously announced that Toots & The Maytals - 54 - 46 Was My Number wouldn't be allowed to win a second time (having already claimed a victory in Week 54), The Swede wondered if The Clash - Jail Guitar Doors might stand a chance given that it quotes the above in its closing seconds. Well, anything's possible... particularly this week!

Now, last week I did mention that I had a strong contender in mind for this week's tune, which prompted Martin to wonder...
Are you thinking of 1941 by Nilsson, for the lines:

Well in 1941 a happy father had a son
And by 1944 the father walked right out the door
And in '45, the mom and son were still alive
But who could tell in '46 if the two were to survive


Or The Here and the Now by Loudon Wainwright III, which starts:

The strangest story ever told
Was how I got to be this old
At the close of WWII,
My folks did the deed that the young folks do
In '46 out I came, this world would never be the same!
Both excellent suggestions, by artists who do crop up on this blog relatively often, so either could have been in with a shot... but not this week.

Jim in Dubai was struggling a little this week too, his only suggestion being...

The Tom Robinson Band - 2 46 8 Motorway

...which is a top tune, and one of my son's favourites... but no, sorry Jim, I think that'd be bending the rules a little too much, even for me!

Meanwhile, all Rigid Digit could offer was another hearing from Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow (46 = anechoic), but I'm sure I banned that song last week... but thanks, anyway. A very weird word, anechoic, it means "free from echo", like when snow muffles all the sound. Just in case you were wondering.

Finally, our Canadian correspondent, Douglas McClarlen, dropped by to offer a little more reggae...

Yellowman - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt 

He said he want me to join the army
I ain't gonna do it officer
No way, I ain't gonna do it
Turn out your left pocket
A searching for a Colt automatic
A searching if you have any ratchet
He said what is your number? I didn't answer
What is your number? I still don't answer
What is the number boy? I really don't answer
Him crank up him chopper, Mi momma!
Then me started to answer
Guess wha' me say?
64, 46, BMW!
64, 46, dat a BMW! Lord!

Douglas wasn't sure what all that was about, and I haven't got a clue. Fun though.

All of which makes me most grateful to have had a solid #46 contender in mind from the start, namely the divine Ms. Jenny Lewis (who I'll hopefully be seeing live later in the year) and her former band, Rilo Kiley...



45 next week... which should offer you HUNDREDS of possibilities. I should probably start working on next week's post immediately...



Saturday, 11 November 2017

Saturday Snapshots #8 - The Answers




Far too easy this week.

We went to Manchester today for a special VIP screening of Paddington 2, arranged by Louise's former employers. By the time we got back, the answers were all but sorted...


10. Political liars give Muffet top marks.


Spin Doctors are political liars.

If Little Miss Muffet got top marks, she would be Little Miss Can't Be Wrong.

One of those bands the musos always turn their noses up at, but I always loved this one - more than their bigger hit, Two Princes. At least Martin has no shame.

The Spin Doctors - Little Miss Can't Be Wrong

9. Hank and Lucinda go Scottish in search of Cockney King Tracy's diary.


Hank & Lucinda = Williams.

Scottish would make them McWilliams.

A Cockney King would be Pearly.

Spencer Tracy.

A diary is full of days.

David McWilliams - The Days of Pearly Spencer

I probably over-egged the clue on this one, but I wasn't sure you'd remember it otherwise. Charity Chic probably recognised the picture and didn't even read the clue...

8. Crazy clerics on the road to narcissism.


Way too easy, but I couldn't resist this picture. I'll give this one to Rigid Digit just to stop Martin hoovering up all this week's points.

Manic Street Preachers - You Love Us

7. 64 Captains: well built - no shit!


A Captain in the Navy is one rank below a Commodore (or something... go look it up yourself).

Children of the 80s will remember the Commodore 64 (although I myself had a Spectrum 48K - keeping it British... and crap).

There is a colloquial expression "built like a brick shithouse"... I'm not sure whether they say this in America, but Brian seemed to know what I was talking about.

The Commodores - Brick House

It would probably have been harder if I'd put my thumb over the top right of the camera when I snapped this picture.

6. The tin is on... you'll only get this if you collaborate.


The HEAT is on (R.I.P. Glenn)

Tin = Can

Collaborate = work together.

Canned Heat - Let's Work Together

5. Spector girl in a storm... hope she doesn't lose her coloured contacts.


One of Phil Spector's many era-defining girl groups was The Crystals.

A storm is a gale.

Brian stayed up till 1am to be first in line to guess this one. Now that's what I call dedication!

Lynchie snoozed and losed.

Crystal Gayle - Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue

4. Touch-typing jumpers visit a windy island.


I never learned to touch type. In fact, though I can type pretty damned fast, I only do it with one finger (two if you count the one on the shift key). If I was learning to touch type though, I might use this pangram...

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Mykonos is "The island of the winds" (according to Iffypedia, anyway).

Fleet Foxes - Mykonos

(Conicidentally, I bought the new Fleet Foxes album yesterday. I suspect it may be pretentious bullshit, but the harmonies are still glorious.)

Another one for Martin, I guess.

3. Them stained songs go Welsh... will end up in a comfy prison.


Them sang Gloria.

Jones is originally a Welsh surname.

A stained song would be tainted.

"Will end up in a comfy prison" - this was, of course, more famously covered by Soft Cell.


I didn't know that Gloria Jones was also Marc Bolan's girlfriend until I researched this post.

2. Russian landmark turns 3D because of the U.S.


Red Square is a famous Russian landmark... which would become Red Cube... or Red Box in 3D.

Martin got that too... but couldn't work out the rather obvious song "because of the U.S.". Really Martin? They only had two hits! Luckily, RD came to the rescue.


Gloriously naff 80s video ahoy!

1. Resignation In Lieu Of an old Neighbour. Serving up food for #4.


Really difficult to come up with a clue for this band. I have no idea what Rilo is: the internet tells me it related to the above acronym, but I don't know if that's anything to do with the name of Jenny Lewis's former band... or if Miss Minogue was an inspiration either. But I do love this song, it has one of the best guitar hooks I've ever heard (specifically the bit after she sings "And then there is no mystery left" about 45 seconds in... and it crops up again later). I don't know why it affects me so much; I don't normally get hung up on guitar riffs.

Well done to CC, anyway.


Thank you all for taking part, as always. I'm glad you try to guess them before clicking on the comments section and reading everybody else's answers.


Tuesday, 16 December 2014

My Top Ten Albums of 2014 - #6






6. Jenny Lewis - Voyager

I've been a fan of Jenny Lewis since I first heard Rilo Kiley's Portions For Foxes. So that's ten years now. (Insert your own 'times flies' 'we're all getting old' comment here, I'm tired of writing them.) Anyway, Voyager is her third solo album (not counting the album she did with her boyfriend, Johnathan Rice, which I haven't tracked down yet) and the reviews I read suggested it was a little too pop. Strange for an album produced by Ryan Adams, you'd have thought he'd have given it a bit more edge, but yes, this is a very sunshiny West Coast Fleetwood Mac sounding record. The lyrics still have that wonderful Lewis quirky kick though and although the first two songs could almost be vintage Madonna (before the old dear started knocking around with dance producers half her age in order to keep the portrait in her attic decaying), the rest of the record is storytelling gold...
When I turned 16 I was furious and restless
Got a chancy girl haircut and a plane ticket to Paris
I stayed there with Pansy, he had a studio in the Seventh
Lost his lover to a sickness, I slept beside him in his bed
That's when I met Nancy, she was smoking on a gipsy
She had a ring in her nose and her eyes were changing like moonstones
She said "Open up late bloomer, it will make you smile
I can see that fire burning, in you little child.
Lyrics that good (from the album's centrepiece, Late Bloomer) speak for themselves. That could be the opening paragraph of a classy short story by Raymond Carver or Joyce Carol Oates. And you know you'd have to read on. Because, like many of the tracks on this album, you find yourself speculating how much of it is meticulously crafted fiction... and how much of it might be autobiography. Lewis has certainly led a wild and bohemian life to this point, starting out as a child actress working alongside The Wonder Years' Fred Savage (in 1989 kids' movie The Wizard) before packing in thesping for rock 'n' roll. Although perhaps her biggest regret in all that is revealed on the album's debut single, in which she bemoans the inequality of the rockstar life and the fact that she'll never be Just One Of The Guys...
No matter how hard I try, to be just one of the guys
There's a little something inside that won't let me
No matter how hard I try, to have an open mind
There's a little clock inside that keeps ticking

There's only one difference between you and me
When I look at myself all I can see
I'm just another lady without a baby
Name another pop song that's tackles that issue in such forthright fashion and I'll send you a Cadbury's Creme Egg or a box of condoms. (The video guest stars Anne Hathaway and Kristen Stewart in case you're interested in such things.)

It's the little details that make Lewis's songs stick in your mind for days, turning otherwise common lyrical subject matter (She's Not Me: you've left me for another girl) into a page torn from a secret diary...
Remember the night I destroyed it all?
When I told you I cheated
And you punched through the drywall
I took you for granted
When you were all that I needed!
 Or how about this amusing anecdote from Aloha & The Three Johns...?
And John's been avidly reading Slash's bio
There was a TV set smashed out in front of his room
I didn't ask, I led a solo charge down to the sea
Where the fast-food trash and tourists made me fear and loath it
I could go on... hell, I could quote the whole album. But it's really better if you discover these stories for yourself. I'd hate to spoil your fun.





All of which brings us to the Top #5... beginning with a White bloke getting quarantined on the Isle of Man.

Friday, 1 March 2013

My Top Ten Paradise Songs


Ten songs about paradise. Even though the closest most of us will ever get is a Bounty bar...


10. Green Day - Welcome To Paradise

It's hard to believe Green Day were ever this young.

9. Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Paradise

A lovely solo offering from the Rilo Kiley songstress. What a voice.

8. Stevie Wonder - Pastime Paradise

If you were labouring under the mistaken idea that Coolio wrote Gangster's Paradise, you really ought to give this a listen.

7. Billy Fury - Halfway To Paradise

If Billy really wants to be your lover, but all you'll give him is your friendship... you're leaving him halfway to paradise.

6. Coldplay - Paradise

Fair play to 'em. I did my best to keep this song out of this Top Ten, if only because of its sheer ubiquity. That said, I can't deny it's one of the best tunes Coldplay have written in years, and a genuine earworm. I listened to a lot more paradise songs than just the ten listed here, but the only ones that were honestly better than this (in the humble opinion of my ears) are the ones listed below.

5. Amen Corner - (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice

Andy Fairweather Low and co., a timeless classic from 1969.
Who needs paradise? I'd rather have you...
4. Tony Bennett - Stranger In Paradise

In playlisting terms, this is what we call the calm before the storm. One of my dad's favourites.
Take my hand...
Lovely, rare Saint Etienne cover version here. 

All right, enough of the warm-up acts... let's ROCK!

3. David Lee Roth - Just Like Paradise

A record so monumentally awesome, it's hard to believe it only makes #3. Hell, the video's even got DLR poncing about on vertiginous cliffs, surfing a flying canoe and accompanied by a three-necked, heart-shaped guitar.

God, this reminds me of being 16.

2. Guns 'n' Roses - Paradise City
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Gains extra marks for mentioning Captain America in the lyrics... but still doesn't score high enough to beat this:

1. Meat Loaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light

Because nothing succeeds like excess.

Jim Steinman's epic tale of teenage fumblings by the light of a dashboard in which Meat and Ellen Foley play the roles of young lovers who might... or might not... go all the way. Depends how well he sweet-talks her... promises her the earth... or flat-out begs. All that and the terrible consequences of promising to love someone forever...





I reckon this'll be one of my more debatable Top Tens - there were loads of great songs left out. Which one takes you to paradise?


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