I hardly ever buy records or CDs by new (or newish) artists. My overwhelming fear is that I won’t hear any banging tunes for my twelve quid. Tunes of the kind people like Ronnie Lane or Bolan or any of the other seventies heroes whom I loved used to boot out with seeming ease. So I was intrigued at the weekend to read a five star review of a band called King Lizard (or some such) saying that they couldn’t avoid a tune if they tried. Wow. The last ‘new’ band I liked was Jellyfish. They wrote proper tunes. Tunes you could hum. So I took a deep breath and braved a tenner on this King Gizzard (or some such) CD in Cardiff’s HMV today. On arriving home I loaded it in my CD tray with no small sense of expectation and sat back to be engulfed by melodious wonders.
Yeah right. It was shit. So shit in fact that I did something I’ve never done before with a disappointing CD purchase. I chucked it in the recycling bin.
Maybe it’s me. Maybe the world is actually tuneful and I’m actually not. But maybe not. Whatever, I’d be grateful for any examples of newish bands or artists (of the last five years or so) who you reckon can write proper tunes. I don’t give a hoot about ‘interesting’ or ‘challenging’ or ‘experimental’. Anyone can draw a ghost, as Turner once said, it takes skill to draw a horse. Give me tunes. Tunes I can hum…
Uncle Mick says
My go to is a local band, The Ragamuffins. There are tunes a plenty and live have fair bit of muscle. As they are an unsigned band, if you buy via their bandcamp page, all the cash goes straight into their pockets. Enjoy!
eddie g says
Like the chorus. Less keen on the slightly rambling verse. They remind me a bit of the Style Council.
Rigid Digit says
Block 33 from a couple of years ago.
They had the unfortunate moment of releasing their debut album and organising the launch party at to 100 Club just as thee UK went into lockdown.
Eye Of The Hurricane
eddie g says
Nice. Bit too shouty for my taste. Again, Weller overtones.
Rigid Digit says
A recent one – as recommended on these very pages by the venerable Colin H – The Minnows.
This one may not be short and snappy, but it is a sort of Lloyd Cole meets Prog Rock 9 minute epic thing
Rigid Digit says
But if you want short and snappy, try this one:
eddie g says
Both very pleasant. My favourites so far. And yet I don’t think I’d particularly care if I never heard either again.
Kjwilly says
I always think Gruff Rhys is one of our most tuneful songwriters. If you are based in Cardiff, you may have absorbed his work via osmosis. Here is the lead single from his latest album
eddie g says
Yes. I’ll give you Gruff. He lives up the road from me. I also give you The Coral. They don’t.
Kjwilly says
There you go then, there are still tunes in this discordant world.
eddie g says
So few though. I am sure the world used to be more melodious.
Bingo Little says
Lodestone of Wrongness says
You bought a CD for £12 on the strength of a good review? What is this, 1979?
At the very least get the free version of Spotify/Amazon. Even if there are annoying ads in there you can sample before spending your hard-earned cash on a CD (whatever a CD is?)
eddie g says
I like to live dangerously I suppose. That air of suspense I had when spending pocket money on albums NME wrote about but I hadn’t heard. Some were rubbish. But when they connected it was so exciting. Old habits die hard. Things like Spotify are no doubt useful but they take the thrill out of it all.
Kjwilly says
I don’t see how Spotify takes the thrill away. There is still the moment of “press play”:when you wonder if this new record might become a firm favourite for the years ahead. The only difference with Spotify is I don’t have to spend £12 to find out. Hence I listen to more music than ever.
eddie g says
I’m just ridiculously old fashioned. I like to think that artists get at least a modicum of cash for their efforts. Even if I hate it and it ends up being recycled.
Kjwilly says
I agree on that but like to target my budget to stuff I have given a once over to via Spotify.
Alias says
I’m the same , but listening to an album on Spotify which I had heard good things about more often than not puts me off buying it
Kaisfatdad says
But were those listening booths really better @Alias.
The photographs for this article are stupendous. Hipsters having a cig while clustered round a grammophone!
https://mashable.com/2016/03/30/vinyl-listening-booths/?europe=true
SteveT says
I think Spotify takes the thrill away too plus they do not recompense the artists properly Likely outcome is that there will be even less tunes around because artists will do a ‘proper job’ as Rishi Sunak has urged them to do
Lodestone of Wrongness says
What – takes away the thrill of spending £12 on a CD you chuck in the bin? Especially in the days when I had little dosh there were far too many records I forced myself to like simply cos I had paid money for the bastard thing. And let’s be clear about this – it’s not Spotify which is ripping artists off, it’s the general public most of whom don’t want to pay any more than a tenner a month to hear all the music in the world. The moment that Napster was launched, the music world changed forever.
“In 2020, global music streaming service Spotify reported an operating loss of 293 million euros, up from a loss of 73 million in the previous year.”
Diddley Farquar says
Quite so. It’s also the record companies determining how the Spotify cake is distributed among artists, according to their status (as it were). In the past very few acts made money in terms of royalties (as now) but were paid by record companies because record companies made a lot more money in those heady days when CDs cost a fortune and the few acts that made big dosh subsidised the rest that didn’t (thanks Simon Cowell).
Baron Harkonnen says
I can`t wait for the day when Spotify and their ilk all go bust.
“And let’s be clear about this – it’s not Spotify which is ripping artists off” – biggest load of bollocks I`ve read today.
MC Escher says
Spotify is the medium, not the message. It would not exist without the complicity of record companies.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Dear God, Baron. Spotify exists purely because the great unwashed public refused to pay more than a tenner a month for, as regards most peoples’ musical tastes, everything ever recorded anywhere. Spotify fills that need, that desire. If the general public wanted to pay £12 for a CD to throw in the bin then Spotify would not exist.
Twang says
I think of it as being like the radio with more choice and no babbling idiot.
Mike_H says
If the record companies hadn’t licensed the music to them, Spotify, Amazon & Apple’s streaming services would have all been stillborn.
The fact that the record companies could do that without first consulting the artists tells you all you need to know about recording contracts.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Never thought I would be an apologist for money-grabbing capitalistic shysters but did you ever expect them record companies to sit down and say “Tell you what, let’s stop making zillions and instead distribute revenue equally, especially to all those acts who sell 14 records a year but, you know, are really important?”
Lodestone of Wrongness says
And I should have added all this was going on whilst the money-grabbing capitalistic shysters were looking at the figures as to how many people were illegally downloading through Napster & Co. “Tell you what, let’s help set up a “legal” streaming service and we can keep our penthouses and all our wives”
Kaisfatdad says
I really like King Lizzard who are a stupendous live band.
But I would not go around recommending them as great tunesmiths.
I
But would put n a good word for ….
Men I trust – Dream pop from Quebec.
Lizzo – Good as Hell
Kings of Convenience – Rocky Trail
Minako Yoshida – Midnight Driver
Martha Marlowe – All of my days
eddie g says
Thanks. Nice stuff. Not for me though.
Diddley Farquar says
I recall the OP thinks there are no tunes on Exile On Main Street apart from Tumbling Dice. I don’t know why I remember these things. Anyway, one can have a too rigid idea of what a tune is.
eddie g says
Did I say that? I was probably drunk. There’s also Sweet Virginia. That on the b side would have made a great single. Flattered that you remember these things though.
Diddley Farquar says
You tend to be pithy, which is a strength I think.
eddie g says
Its probably self pithy
Mike_H says
They call him Mr Pithyful.
Bogart says
L A Salami can turn out some darn good tunes
And Ezra to my ears anyway has a hint of Bolan…
eddie g says
Appreciate it. Like them both. But I probably wouldn’t put them on a second time. It’s like the restaurant test when someone asks you if your meal is nice. You say yeah. Then they ask you if you’d order it again. And you say nah.
dai says
You need to get Spotify
Kaisfatdad says
I am constantly impressed by the suggestions that YouTube come up with for me.
So why not try this?
Play three or four of your tuneful faves on YT so that it gets to know you and then wait and see that it suggests. Fingers crossed that you will be pleasantly surprised.
eddie g says
Thanks for these suggestions. I do actually have both Spotify and you tube. I don’t tend to use Spotify much but I go on you tube quite often- although usually to find non-musical items. Perhaps the problem (if it is a problem) is that music is not so central to my life as it used to be and I can happily live without any new additions to what I already know and love although I sometimes like to dip my toe in the cold waters of newdom just to see if I can re-live the thrill pop music once gave me as a kid and adolescent. I’m disappointed more often than not but sometimes there are unexpected jolts of joy. My basic template for a decent tune (although it needn’t be adhered to strictly) is this-
Verse
Verse 2
Half chorus
Verse 3
Full chorus
Middle eight
Solo
Full chorus
Fade.
Kaisfatdad says
I like it when a new song sneaks up on when you aren’t actually looking for. it.
On the radio. At a party. on TV or in a film. At a record shop. At a gig.
I very rarely listen to the radio now. There used to be a radio DJ , Lennart Wretlind, and I would constantly find new favourite on his show, Klingan.
Here’s another current favourite that YouTube slyly left on my doormat and then ran away……
eddie g says
I was nodding when I should be dancing.
But only because I can’t dance. Lady G has ballroom trophies from her younger days (she even danced in Blackpool’s hallowed venue) but whenever she’s tried to teach me I just end up treading on her toes and making her scream.
Leffe Gin says
Something like “Who Do You Want For Your Love” by the Icicle Works I guess? That’s obviously a million years old, but they were knocking out songs with this template back in the day.
Arthur Cowslip says
It sounds like you are striving for something impossible. I’ve been there as well, I think. I too am constantly disappointed by any new music and always want to recapture the thrill of hearing the kind of music that thrilled me in my youth. Nothing hits the spot.
I know what you mean about Spotify as well. It’s just excess, and it colours everything you hear. I like…. say, drinking Merlot. But if someone arranged for me to have Merlot on tap instead of having to go and physically buy a bottle every time, I would quickly tire of it. I think music on tap is the same.
Anyway, I don’t have a solution for you. Sorry! Personally, I just pretty much gave up trying to find new music I liked.
Mike_H says
I’ve given up TRYING to find new music. I let it find me these days and that seems to work OK.
Diddley Farquar says
Well it probably doesn’t work if one (not you necessarily) takes the position that new music will probably be shit but go on see if you can entertain me while I sit here po-faced with my arms folded dreaming of days gone by.
eddie g says
Uh oh. I think he means me folks… I feel the wrath. The hot breath. The mounting fury.
Diddley Farquar says
Not fury or wrath, just that I don’t think it works this way. But don’t mind me.
eddie g says
A mild diversion in the waiting room of life whilst we twiddle our thumbs and await that inevitable black train which rumbles in the distance.
Mike_H says
I do seem to discover enough good new music, but it tends to be within a few specific niches right now. None of which necessarily fit the O.P.
I do find Spotify’s Discover Weekly automated playlists useful for that.
The “Old” that I’m simultaneously discovering tends to be outside of what I was interested in at the time of it’s release. A lot of that comes from shows on BBC Sounds.
Black Type says
They help you breath more easily, don’tcha know?
eddie g says
However glorious a lovely melody line may be I would never venture so far as to recommend one in a medical emergency. Take care out there.
retropath2 says
i’m guessing you possibly aren’t of a folkie persuasion…
Ray Cooper (Chopper):
Saint Sister:
William the Conqueror:
eddie g says
Thank you retropath. I do like folk actually. Early Denny-period Fairport, Martin Carthy, early Dylan, Donovan (who actually invented the notion of a ‘tune’ as we know) together with bluegrass, cajun and various other forms of stompy stuff. With these I couldn’t get past Ray Cooper’s rather limited vocal abilities. The second one was all a bit too breathy for me and took far too long to get going. The last one had a nice intro but, again, the vocals were flat and I didn’t get as far as the chorus.
Guiri says
30+ years in Norman Blake still has a way with a classic tune. Euros Child’s backing vocals turn the fade-out into a thing of beauty.
eddie g says
Thanks Guiri. Numerous people over the years have nudged me in the direction of Teenage Fanclub as the possible antidote to my overall weariness and, on paper, they really should be the answer. They write nice tunes. They have lovely harmonies. The songs kick in beautifully and they are lovingly constructed.
And yet…
I bought a few albums of theirs, listened, thought ‘yeah, this is nice’. And never played them again.
Agree re Euros though. He can turn out a nice quirky tune and I have listened to his stuff more than once on many occasions. Hell, I even produced a BBC session for him five years ago…
moseleymoles says
I was going to post this, the one track from their new album which could be ripped straight from Grand Prix or Songs From… an absolute gem.
Leffe Gin says
I also thought of this song when I read the OP.
Guiri says
I suppose Teenage Fanclub are one of those groups who, due to context or circumstance you absolutely adore (as is the case with me) or you think yes, that’s nice. But they are surely impossible to hate.
eddie g says
I agree. I don’t hate them and never said I did. I respect them greatly despite their not plucking my heartstrings like a twelve-string Rickenbacker. It’s not their fault. I take full responsibility…
Guiri says
Sorry, no of course you didn’t and didn’t mean to imply that! Completely understand your ‘nice’ reaction. Happens to me too with any group that gets described as TFC-like. It’s so often about when, where and how you first encountered certain music.
eddie g says
I suppose I should, at this point, supply one or two examples of what I consider to be benchmarks of great tunedom. This one from the master to begin with. Effortless melody. Joyously executed. And over in less than two minutes.
eddie g says
This from one of his latter day disciples. Perfect in every way.
eddie g says
This is a cover obviously but I happen to think that it is even better than the original. Gloriously sung. Yes, I know he’s a bit of a git but it is heavenly…
eddie g says
And then there’s always this….
eddie g says
One of my favourite albums of this year has been the mega 20-track effort by US country star Alan Jackson. I just melt when I hear this guy’s voice and I’m a sucker for that rich Nashville sound. I like most kinds of country. But I like this kind of country best. So does he by the sound of it…
fentonsteve says
Well, if you like XTC, you might like Field Music.
Here’s No Pressure from the latest album, live on Later…
The song that inspired it:
And an older one; The Noisy Days Are Over:
eddie g says
Thanks for the nudge fentonsteve. I saw them on Later and wasn’t swayed. Would it be cruel to say that the songs remind me of some of those bonus tracks XTC used to put on the b-sides of singles? Oops. Probably.
Ducks for cover.
(Address withheld).
fentonsteve says
I know what you mean. They’ve done some cracking singles and they’re great live, but they’ve made (too) many good-but-not-great self-produced albums.
A pal has professional links to them. I told him to tell them “Get a producer!”
Nick L says
Completely agree with that. I want to like Field Music a lot more, but they do sound a bit flat at times. That live clip sounds a bit more ballsy though.
fentonsteve says
This is great. They need to do a best of or a live-in-the-studio.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p05tjkts/the-quay-sessions-field-music
Black Type says
That whole album is rather marvellous. Talk about ‘guilty pleasures’…
eddie g says
Indeed, he’s been a guilty pleasure of mine for years.
eddie g says
We’re talking ’bout Alan Jackson here ^…just in case it’s not clear!
John Walters says
OK. Not in the last 5 years. Let’s say 10 ( which is still very much new music to me ).
You want tunes ? Try John Grant’s debut album “Queen of Denmark”.
Pulling forth the spirit of Harry Nilsson with great singing and gorgeous melodies.
You will not go wrong listening to this terrific record.
John Walters says
eddie g says
Thanks John. I see what you mean about Nilsson (whom I love). Like this a lot although it tends to take off and stay at the same altitude and I got a bit bored after three minutes. Made me want to listen to more Nilsson though, which is no bad thing.
eddie g says
Another newish one which I would happily nominate to the Tunefulness Hall of Fame…
moseleymoles says
I am surprised no-one has posted Phoebe Bridgers yet in terms of modern folk who can lay their finger on a tune. Here’s my favourite track from her debut album – still sends a shiver down my spine every time I hear it. She gets a lot from a little and a great build, the way the refrain kicks in 3/4 of the way through is genius. Do listen all the way through.
And here’s her in more rattling rocky form, last track from second album, again she’s an absolute master of the build here.
eddie g says
Mmm. Not for me. I listened for longer than I would have normally out of courtesy to your post. For me a tune has to get me from ‘hello’ (a la Ian Hunter) otherwise my attention drifts.
fitterstoke says
Now there’s a tune and a half! Once Bitten Twice Shy…everybody knows it so I won’t take up bandwidth with a YT post…
moseleymoles says
Ever-dependable Canadian scenesters with a banger from their last album. You like choruses you say? Often slip them into a mix as they fly under the radar but they’ve never made a bad album.
eddie g says
Good stuff. Nothing wrong with that. Good verse. Good hook. Although it falls into the restaurant meal bracket for me. (See above)
moseleymoles says
I’m now taking ‘good verse, good hook’ as a win.
eddie g says
Another example of what I would refer to happily as a banging tune with no frills and no filler
eddie g says
I discovered the Turtles later in life. When it comes to yer actual banging tune they take some beating. This is a golden nugget the size of Tasmania.
eddie g says
I loved this as a child. I love it even more now. The template of a perfect pop tune for me.
eddie g says
The Monkees foolishly turned it down because they wanted to hang out with Zappa and become hippies.
Slug says
I absolutely loathed Sugar Sugar as a seven year old child, probably because of its ubiquity. But even then I thought it was whiney and insufferable.
I clearly remember my dad taking me to a local fun fair, and asking him repeatedly if we could go home after they played it while we were on the dodgems and couldn’t escape.
eddie g says
As this thread has proved…one person’s idea of whiney and insufferable is another person’s idea of pop perfection.
eddie g says
And this…perfect…
fitterstoke says
…or whiney and insufferable…
hedgepig says
Eddie, I’m sorry, but if Young At Heart and Sugar Sugar are your idea of pop perfection, next to nothing anyone suggests is going to please you. It’s not that they’re more insipid than the most thoughtless Kidz Bop cover of a Bieber song – that’s a matter of opinion (albeit mine). It’s that nobody makes songs like that any more because the form has moved on. Pop doesn’t sound like that any more, and anyone making pop that *does* sound like that is buried somewhere in the furthest reaches of Bandcamp. You’re asking for music hall in the age of bebop. You’re asking for Buxtehude in the age of Bach.
Thing is, I also think you know that full well.
Diddley Farquar says
The inclusion of Young At Heart just says to me that a catchy tune is not necessarily worth that much.
eddie g says
And yet catchiness is everything in popular music. If it ain’t catchy it ain’t popular. And if it ain’t popular it ain’t pop.
Diddley Farquar says
Well a great pop song ought to be catchy among other things but a catchy song isn’t necessarily a great pop song.
eddie g says
Can’t think of a great pop song that isn’t catchy. Perhaps you can?
hedgepig says
And yet many catchy songs aren’t great. Sets and subsets.
hedgepig says
Exactly. Who Let The Dogs Out is unbelievably catchy but I doubt it’d make that many people’s lists of great songs. Young At Heart isn’t far removed from that in my view: it’s Barbie Girl with the “right” instruments and shirts.
eddie g says
“Many people’s list of great songs” is surely the charts? That’s pop for you. I don’t always agree with it either. But my agreement is irrelevant when faced with popularity- however its measured. Be it sales or downloads or streams. That’s the nature of popular music.A hit is irrefutable. All else is mere opinion.
Junior Wells says
King Gizzard are an incredibly prolific Aussie band. Up to 5 albums a year in a range of styles. Last time I checked they were in a heavy metal phase. I find the comment that drew you to them hard to reconcile with what I know of them.
eddie g says
I used to like Ween who did similar things. They had better tunes though in my opinion. And were reviled by critics for some reason. Probably because they were childish and often politically incorrect. But this should have been as massive a hit with the real world as it was in my private one…
Lodestone of Wrongness says
There’s a guy on Vancouver Island muttering something about “One Rule”
Kaisfatdad says
“One Rule?” Isn’t that a quote from the Lord of the Rings?
I suspect the Man from Vancouver is singing this very catchy tune to himself.
Kaisfatdad says
Tune? Aldous is your girl!
eddie g says
Gave it a minute. Loved the hat.
moseleymoles says
We will keep pushing the bangers at you and you will crack….
eddie g says
Got bored after 39 seconds precisely.
TrypF says
It’s not up-to-the-minute new, but I always recommend The Davenports:
Or for a more Jellyfish/MOR vibe, The Sonic Executive Sessions:
TrypF says
Or there’s the Nines, which involves XTC/ex-Jellyfish alumni and is very McCartney:
This one is an Andy Partridge co-write:
eddie g says
Both very pleasant. Thank you for nudging them in my direction. I can see what you mean about the second one channelling Jellyfish (who, in turn, channelled the Beach Boys- among others- of course). Neither managed to fully float HMS Eddie out of dry dock however.
Turtleface says
Hamish Hawk?
eddie g says
Nice and eccentric. Can’t imagine I’d ever want to hear either track twice though.
fentonsteve says
I got that album – signed by the man himself – as a birthday present. I liked it but haven’t played it for a year.
bobness says
I bought this album a bit on spec (I too like to live on the edge now and again) as she’d curated a “Tweet of the Week” on Radio 4.
I think it’s quite wonderful.
salwarpe says
Luke Howard, one of my Quaker ancestors.
eddie g says
Lovely voice. Reminds me of Sandy Denny on ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’. The song itself didn’t really live up to the singing of it in my book. But hey. It’s probably me. It usually is.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Suggestion for Eddie. Get an internet radio. Tune in to a decent european station; FIP from France, say, or Radio Tres from Spain. Have your phone at hand with Shazam installed. Listen. You’ll here better music than that pushed at you by Spotify, and a quick Shaz will reveal the artist and title when your ears prick up at the arrival of a choon. In under an hour you’ll have a list to investigate, plus one or two that Shazam can’t identify, and they will drive you nuts for a while. Random tuneful music discovery is alive and well, you just need to cast your ears a bit wider.
eddie g says
I have Internet radio and regularly listen to KTIC which broadcasts out of Lincoln in Nebraska. It’s a rural station playing great old time country. You also get the latest grain and hog prices.
dai says
Best thing I find is to employ a teenager, my 14 yr old daughter introduces me to a bewildering amount of new pop music every time we are in the car together. Rex Orange County, Billie Eilish,Shawn Mendez, 5 Seconds of Summer, Dua Lipa, Tyler the Creator, Harry Styles and many many others that I can’t recall.I don’t like all of it, but I think this could actually be a golden period for pop music right now. Loads of great tunes out there.
moseleymoles says
No good with my teenager (one of two) unless you are after top tunes from the forties and fifties. Currently we are marvelling at Oscar Peterson.
dai says
Weird kids ;)My daughter’s playlists (Spotify naturally) also include Beatles, The Zombies, Monkees, Sound of Music and Grease soundtracks and er … Arctic Monkeys.
eddie g says
My stepdaughter just listens to something horrendous called dubstep. A veritable- and almost wilful- Sahara of tunedom.
Kaisfatdad says
Sahara of Tunedom! That’s a wonderful description of it.
Here it is all trap, grime and dubstep and it is very he’ll deign to share tune
But it does happen. Here are a couple..
Bugzy Malone
Les Nelson feat Yxng Bane
Tunes are pretty conspicuos by their absence.
fitterstoke says
A remarkably tasteful teenager, @moseleymoles – if you don’t mind my saying so. You must be proud…
Mike_H says
I’m currently part-way through an Oscar Peterson binge. I bought two cheap 10-CD box sets a little while back. 26 albums, in total.
moseleymoles says
He is torn between Oscar and Art Tatum for the jazz piano GOAT title. I find Tatum a bit hard to listen to, especially solo, while Oscar is just perfectly balanced.
duco01 says
Re: the jazz piano GOAT title:
Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans would like a word, as well!
moseleymoles says
We were listening to Brilliant Corners last night while making lasagne, he wasn’t blown away. And Bill Evans like Dave Brubeck he puts in the ‘not really jazz’ category. Those young people, such puritans. Composers yes, but as pianists he won’t have it…
In HMV he will take the Kenny G albums out of the jazz section and put them somewhere else…
Moose the Mooche says
In a sealed concrete box twenty metres below the ground?
fitterstoke says
@Mike_H – I’ve been listening to a 10-disc set called Songbooks +, 14 albums on 10 CDs. I suspect it might have been your recommendation…it’s damn’ fine…
Mike_H says
Yes. That’s one of them. The other one is Oscar Peterson And Friends.
12 albums on 10 CDs:
Tenderly
Keyboard
Lester Young with The Oscar Peterson Trio
Stan Getz and The Oscar Peterson Trio
The Oscar Peterson Trio with Roy Eldridge, Sonny Stitt & Jo Jones at Newport
Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson Plays Count Basie
Buddy DeFranco & Oscar Peterson Play George Gershwin
Buddy DeFranco & The Oscar Peterson Quartet
Soft Sands
Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson
Ella & Louis
fitterstoke says
Think I need to get that as well…some cracking titles on that list.
fitterstoke says
@Mike_H
Don’t know if this might appeal…
bobness says
And while we’re on the subject of “tunes”, any excuse to post this. Possibly the greatest tune of the 80s. (Not strictly within the spirit of the OP, but others have gone off piste a touch)
eddie g says
Yes I always quite liked The Adventures. Although I would humbly propose that others such as The Smiths and The Waterboys had a more muscular shout for greatest song of the decade.
Leffe Gin says
I agree, that’s a very special song. I’ve always thought so.
fitterstoke says
I should have thought of this one before now…a banging tune, ear worm fodder, hits the spot…
In case of YouTube gremlin, it’s Disappointed by Field Music
fitterstoke says
See fentonsteve, wayyyy above this post – oops!
eddie g says
Still not feeling the love. The singer’s out of tune isn’t he??
fitterstoke says
Well, that’s just nit-picking…
DrJ says
Oh I love tunes. To have a new melody in your head is a great feeling.
I’ve mentioned on another thread that Weezer have put out two ridiculously tuneful albums this year, one in a Nilsson style (OK Human) , the other in an 80s pop-metal style (Van Weezer). OK Human is particularly melodic, to my ears anyways, after two listens it was firmly in my head.
I saw a recent interview with Rivers Cuomo, Weezer’s lead man, where he talked about keeping a database of tune fragments and bits of songs so when he’s writing he can pull things together to make them as catchy and as uplifting as possible.
eddie g says
I really like the tunes Cuomo wrote for the recent Monkees albums. Best songs on there I reckon. I didn’t like these two quite as much.
DrJ says
Fair enough, but I request a second listen after 24 hours before a final dismissal!
Twang says
Without giving it too much thought this one springs to mind, and the album from whence it comes is rich in tunes. Possibly a little rawk maybe but I’m fine with that. Video is fun too.
eddie g says
I have a soft spot for power pop. Quite 80s that. Is it more recent?
Twang says
Yes much more recent but clearly a bit of a tribute too hence the Pat Benetar segment. Any you’re quite right, power pop with leather.
Chrisf says
As you state the last ‘new’ band you liked was Jellyfish, the obvious thing that comes to mind is The Lickerish Quartet, who are basically three quarters of the old Jellyfish (minus the guy who went off to write theme tunes for kids cartoons) and have released a couple of EPs in the past year.
A couple of examples…..
eddie g says
Yes, I was aware of these and wanted a copy but at the time they were only available as downloads. And I don’t do downloads I’m afraid. Those funny little download cards that come with new vinyl versions of classic albums always get the recycling treatment or given to friends.
Chrisf says
They are now out on CD…
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=lickerish+quartet+cd&crid=2CQE0UE5ULMT5&sprefix=Lickerish+%2Caps%2C467&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_10
eddie g says
Thanks for that.
eddie g says
Since bought and they are tremendous. So that’s a clear win.
atcf says
Always happy to champion The Coral on here. The new album is really very good, but here’s a track from the last one which is a semi-regular ear worm of mine.
eddie g says
Yes, I acknowledged The Coral fairly early on.
Hamlet says
Yes, the Coral aren’t the most fashionable bunch (and better for it), but they always seem to produce good melodies.
johnw says
Here are two of my favourites from the past 5 years from very different genres:
1. Flat Worms – 11816
2. Esther Rose – How Many Times
BTW, Flat Worms are fabulous live as well.
Matthew Best says
Someone already suggested the Sonic Executive Sessions, so how about this instead?
eddie g says
Interesting…
Matthew Best says
Coming from you, this is high praise indeed!
Matthew Best says
Or This
eddie g says
Like that. Quite Jellyfish-ish. They remind me a bit of another great (and almost wholly ignored in their case) power pop band…
Matthew Best says
That was quite good, and very Jellyfishish – and you are right, I’d never heard of them before. I will investigate further.
Deviant808 says
My definition of a “tune” will often differ from what another person thinks of as one, but this might hit the spot for you. The song is brand new, but the band have been around for ages.
eddie g says
I was rather hoping it would be a cover of the old Bolan tune. But it wasn’t.
retropath2 says
Here’s a good banger, right up your street, oozing with melody and a tuneful singer to boot.
eddie g says
Yeah. Been humming it all night. Hardly the Archies though is it?
Arthur Cowslip says
I love how people are still throwing ideas at Eddie despite his lukewarm response to every suggestion so far! It’s quite entertaining. 🙂
It will be hilarious if one tune comes along that finally excites him!
retropath2 says
Do you think it will be the one above your question, Arthur? I dare him to listen to it all the way through. (I dare anyone to listen to it all the way through. And have a tale to tell if they do.)
Moose the Mooche says
I think he needs Olssen’s Standard Book of Tunes. The one without the gannet.
hubert rawlinson says
I think you’ll find it’s only one s in Olsen, this could explain why the gannet (it wets its nest) isn’t there.
Moose the Mooche says
I suspected that the name was suspicious ly Scandinavian.
dkhbrit says
Time to dust this little beauty off again.
eddie g says
Very pleasant. And if I go through life never hearing it again that’s fine.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
eddie g says
Easily my favourite so far. I loved the debut album but didn’t really bother much with them after that. On the basis of this rather nice tune maybe I should. Mustang is lovely too.
Charlie Gordon says
The National are always good for a tune. Boxer, Alligator, High Violet etc are full of them. Here’s a more recent one
eddie g says
If I was A&R I would probably have whisked the cassette out of the machine after the first verse and moved on to the next hopeful. But I was always a lousy judge of what sells. I think this is what happened with Dick Rowe…
eddie g says
I remember liking this very much. Quite recent too (for me). I bought the EP but I discovered that I preferred this ‘full band’ version.
Kjwilly says
Eddie, I think you would have liked writing the singles reviews at NME. Somebody set them up so you can shoot them down. Not convinced you really want to find anything new to listen to.
eddie g says
I think most people get excited by pop music when they are teenagers and adolescents. After that there are so many other things to explore. Nothing will ever match T. Rex for me, not because they were inherently ‘better than anything current, just thst I was at the right age to be fired by pop music. Also, of course, pop was rarer then. You had to seek it out. Now it’s everywhere. And less is more in my book. I still enjoy reading about new music and occasionally (as I mentioned in the original post) I will dip my toe in the waters if sufficiently interested. But I do feel that everything I love has probably already been made. Because I was at the right age to fall in love with it.
Bingo Little says
Patient is displaying classic symptoms of the malaise known as Hepworth’s Ear. We’re going to need forty milligrams of basic human curiosity, the collected recordings of Miley Cyrus and a Spotify account – stat!
Vulpes Vulpes says
That’s not a malaise, it’s a deeply serene state of tuneophilic nirvana, reached only through decades of musical consumption, leading the novice ultimately and inevitably to the profundity that is otherwise known to initiates as ‘Beato’.
Namaste.
Moose the Mooche says
He has reached a realm beyond and above music, where languish the golden cherubim and seraphim in eternal youth and beauty, knowing not the vicissitudes of time, tide and tempest.
Sounds ghastly.
eddie g says
The realm isn’t what it was in 1971. But it’s ok.
Bingo Little says
Regrettably, I get the feeling eddie isn’t listening to much Nirvana at all.
Moose the Mooche says
He should at least try Rainbow Chaser.
eddie g says
I liked ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. And that live version of ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.
So there.
Moose the Mooche says
The David Boo-wie song?
eddie g says
It was on their MTV Unplugged thing.
Moose the Mooche says
Yeee-eees…
Diddley Farquar says
Beato? What Rick Beato? He of what makes that song great? youtube fame? The fella who hails the new fangled hits of Oasis, Colplay, Nirvana and oh so new Billie Eilish? Not sure Eddie would be too impressed.
Kjwilly says
So, why start a thread asking a question that you are so sure you already know the answer to?
fentonsteve says
Well, I’m 51 and still adolescent (in my music choices, anyway).
moseleymoles says
In his defence he has made it a very entertaining thread by replying to most of the posts, not something other posters including me, always do.
Nick L says
I hope he doesn’t take offence at this (I certainly don’t mean to cause any!) but I think he’s coming across in an entertainingly Eeyore-ish fashion. And he did like The Stranglers…
eddie g says
Kjwilly- Because I’m always open to a good tune despite the fact that pop music will never be as important to me as it once was. And I was eager to see if someone could help me find one. I liked one or two of them. Plus it was fun wasn’t it?
Bingo Little says
eddie, I have been away from the blog for a while, but it’s reassuring to know that you are still posting threads bemoaning the emptiness of listening to music from the last 40 years. You are a beacon of constancy in an unpredictable and sometimes disorienting world, and I for one take comfort in that.
Nonetheless, it’s my fervent hope that one day you will hear a newish pop song that has you leap naked from the bathtub and run down the middle of the street, waving your loofer and shouting hosannas to the gods of melody, and it’s my equally fervent hope that the song in question is Let It Go by Idina Menzel, and that you come back here and tell us all about it. That would be magical, on so many levels. Not least in that you would have heeded and obeyed the song’s titular demand.
In the mean-time, this thread has brought to mind the time salwarpe challenged the blog to find a film clip that would help him locate his missing sense of humour, and that’s no bad thing – what a happy trip down memory lane. I chuckled aloud just recalling it – great days.
In the interests of posterity, here’s the best pop song of the last 10 years. Make sure you turn it off after about a minute or there’s a material risk you might accidentally enjoy it more than Sugar Sugar.
Big love.
eddie g says
Hi Bingo. I’ve been away too actually. But the authorities kindly allowed me out for good behaviour. Besides, I drove the other inmates mad with my constant references to Abbey Road and the subsequent demise of Western civilization following the Beatles’ split. I’m grateful for your suggestion in the grim Grimm-like quest to make this princess smile. It didn’t work though. Found it a bit dull to be honest. I remain in my bathtub. Fully clothed.
Bingo Little says
Haha – I expected nothing less! One day, eddie, one day.
salwarpe says
I haven’t posted anything on this thread apart from a bit of ancestor bragging, because I quickly got the sense that Eddie is a power-pop fan, and that is the one genre that runs prog a close second to being my least favourite form of music. If prog is purposely undanceable, power pop is deliberately mainstream generic and vanilla – so boring.
Even though you didn’t tag me, I found you, Bingo – and yes, I still have no sense of humour – I think the only film clip I found funny was the SuperTroopers you posted – but you did try so hard with so many.
I did learn to like that Frozen song after taking an instant dislike to it when you first posted it- but my girls are now so over it – for a time they wore the dresses and watched the YouTube clips, but they never saw the DVD I bought for them (too late). Making stop-motion videos is the new big thing.
That Carly Rae Jepson song’s all right – but it’s no Dua Lipa.
fentonsteve says
If you have to choose a Carly Rae Jespen tune, surely Call Me Maybe is the banger?
For power-pop, David Mead’s Cobra Pumps popped up ont’ Fiio t’other day. I’d forgotten how much I like it.
Bingo Little says
Call Me Maybe is great, but Run Away With Me is the one.
That said, she’s dropped so many classics in recent years that we’re basically spoiled for choice; Cut to the Feeling, Boy Problems, No Drug Like Me, Too Much, etc. Even the B-sides are great, to wit…
hedgepig says
The whole of EMOTION is an embarras des richesses du pop. I know it’s in many ways the most basic of that flawless album’s many disgracefully brilliant bops, but I Really Like You is still the one for me.
If this isn’t your thing, tunes aren’t what you’re after, whatever you claim.
salwarpe says
That strong-willed last statement sounds like the sort of thing someone who used to post on here called Bob would say.
Bingo Little says
Tune!
It’s exactly the kind of music that once upon a time I’d have looked down my nose at, because I was an idiot. Life is about at least trying to have a good time, and her music is about as good a time as is currently available in aural form. I heart her.
hedgepig says
Imagine that. Though, sadly, Chiz and bingo and… probably everyone… were one step ahead of you, Sal. 😉
Not the first nor the last to start again.
hedgepig says
I should add, by the way, that the last sentence isn’t intended combatively at all. I mean it literally: if you’re looking for “tunes”, I Really Like You has them in abundance, at the most demonstrable level.
But if you mean “I’m looking for tunes within very narrow parameters of genre and instrumentation”, that’s quite a different request.
Bingo Little says
Credit where it’s due: I was the first to spot that Bob is, in fact, Danny Baker.
It was his thread: “A Rebuttal of those Pin-Headed Weasels at the Beeb/Me Old Man Was Handy With His Duke Of Yorks/Would You Show Your Whites to the Rest of Britain?” that tipped me off.
salwarpe says
Tbh, you’d been filling a bob-shaped hole for many months now, but I didn’t know if I dared to make the suggestion. It was getting to be a Scarlet Letter kind of thing – radiating out from beneath your top pocket.
Just need to unmask FauxGeordie…
Moose the Mooche says
THEY HATE US!
…oop, whaddagiveaway…
retropath2 says
I was thinking more Disappointing Bob, who got ever so personally affronted if Abba or Alexander “Xander” Armstrong were dissed.
hedgepig says
Blimey retro. Imagine adult men getting affronted because someone says mean things about a cultural figure they like! 😮😉
salwarpe says
No, Retro. Disappointing Bob was a completely different persona. He was a rock star
Bingo Little says
I went back and looked at that thread recently and I got such a kick out of it. Loads of people posting comedy clips and getting an impassive “I did not smile at this”. Absolutely classic.
Dua Lipa is wonderful, but I’m afraid she’s no CRJ. I saw the latter live just before the first lockdown; honestly one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to, would strongly recommend to anyone who has the opportunity in future.
I will always love Let It Go, although I think it needs to be experienced in the context of the movie to really get it.
salwarpe says
I’m not saying I regarded it as a challenge not to enjoy the clips…
In fact, if I bothered to watch the whole films, I would probably find those scenes a lot funnier. Social media has spoiled me.
I will check out CRJ, as I often enjoy your impassioned pleas for what turn out to be pop classics and you seem very impassioned on her behalf. Have to go a long way to meet the high water mark set by Laurie Anderson and Kirsty McGee, mind…
Bingo Little says
Go for it, sal. Stick her stuff on, have a dance round the kitchen and come back and let us know how you got on. Or better yet, start an “I can’t believe I’ve lived this long without CRJ” thread so that we can all percolate collectively.
Billybob Dylan says
You want some tunes? Here’s two of my most favorite melodies ever – Kevin Coyne and Tom Waits:
eddie g says
Yes, I know and love that Tom Waits album. I suppose I just wouldn’t class it as new, but I suppose it is in a way.
The Kevin Coyne track didn’t grab me. Didn’t like his voice.
Billybob Dylan says
I figured if you hadn’t heard it before, it was new to you!
I can that see Kevin Coyne is an acquired taste. Interestingly, I discovered Coyne (and Steve Hillage’s ‘Motivation Radio’) at the height of punk and have loved them ever since.
retropath2 says
Nice bit of Kevin Coyne, an influence, apparently on Silas Hoveley, above.
The Chumba’s may have heard Kevin’s song too: