Sparks - "Islington N1" CD Single, Special Edition, 2008 (Lil' Beethoven Records)

Perhaps my most prized music object.  The very limited edition of Sparks' "Islington N1."  Not sure how many were made.  I got one because I got the Gold Ticket to their series of concerts that took place in Islington London in 2008.   I wrote all about it in my book "Sparks-Tastic."  Which is more of a memoir of a Sparks' fan than a Sparks bio - but it does cross that line within the book.   Besides having such a special CD, the song is one of the great tunes from Ron Mael and Russell Mael.  It's dramatic, it's funny, and somewhat moving.  Perhaps because it is a song dealing with a real time, with respect to the area around the concert hall where these concerts took place.  It's a snapshot of a time and place, and anyone who received this CD at that particular time, it's very much like watching an event on Live TV.  Listening to it now, it brings back memories of all the shows and even what my mood was like at that time.   On another level, it's a drag that this song is not more available to the masses.   You can find the recording on YouTube, but the time of its release (or giveaway), it seemed no one posted it on the Internet.  Which was unusual, because everything gets posted as soon as possible.  It seemed that the fans who did receive this CD pretty much kept it to themselves.  

The song is brilliant.  Lyrically it's in the Noel Coward/Cole Porter world.   No one writes songs like Sparks.  I often mentioned it (maybe too many times) but their music harks back to a literate world - especially in songwriting.  There is nothing abstract in their writing, nor is it realistic. It's impressionistic that people can tie themselves into the narrative or wordplay.   I have come upon music that is inspired by Sparks, and even some imitated them, yet, their originality is unique and of course, rare.   Sparks is an endless amount of interest for me because what they do is delicate like eating sashimi with chopsticks, not stabbing food with a fork.  It's music that is sensitive and perfectly balanced.  I often wonder how they can keep it up.  In one word: Genius. 

David Bowie - "Thursday's Child" CD, Single, 1999 (Virgin)

This CD single or EP, since it has four songs on it, is Bowie at his most profound and moving.  "Thursday's Child" is a song of aging, and looking back, but at the present as well.  It's one of the handful of Bowie songs that moves me to tears if I'm under the proper cocktail of red wine and depression.   There are two versions of the song on this CD, and it's worth the purchase even if you have the full album.   The 'rock' version of "Thursday's Child" has a stronger guitar presence, but still the ballad that sways than makes one shake your head up and down.  

"We Shall Go To Town" is the end of the evening, and there is nothing more.   A couple hitting the town not for fun, but as in destiny brings you to a certain point or crossroad.  A beautiful mournful melody with vocals that express both honesty (with respect to the situation) and dread.  "1917" is technically an instrumental, although I hear a faint vocal buried in the mix and electronics.  It wouldn't be out of place on an album like "Low."    The underrated Reeves Gabrels co-wrote, co-produced the album "Hours"  and this EP.  

Morrissey & Siouxsie - "Interlude" CD single, 1994, (Parlophone)

When I heard this recording back in 1994, I didn't know the song.  I usually know all of Morrissey's cover songs, because I feel we have a common taste in music.  His obscurity is my front yard.  Nevertheless, "Interlude" was a total mystery.   Not only the source of the song, but the haunting melody and lyrics were dreamlike and didn't seem possible to exist in the waking world.  It was a decade later that I found the original recording by Timi Yuro, and once heard, I couldn't stop playing her recording.  It was the theme song to a film that I never saw, and tough for me to locate.  Yuro has numerous best of albums, but "Interlude" never seemed to be in these collections.  

I'm not a fan of Siouxsie Sioux's voice.  I just never warmed to her goth aesthetic or her band's music.  When I read in the music papers that Morrissey did a recording with her, I thought it was an odd choice for him to do such a recording.  "Interlude" is very goth in its sense of romantic misery and doom.  I immediately loved the record and Morrissey's right-handed musician (to this day) Boz Boorer did the arrangements and production. This was also the first record where I thought of Morrissey as a singer rather than a cultivated pop star.   Now, I think of him as an underrated singer.  Over the years he has gotten better and better as a vocalist.  As he aged, his voice became an instrument that can only be him.  

The original "Interlude" is a much better record, but it's also a  classic piece of song craft written by Georges Delerue.   Timi Yuro's interpretation cannot be made better, yet, Morrissey and Siouxsie do add their magic touch to the song. 

AIR - "Sexy Boy" CD Single

AIR – Sexy Boy

CD Single, 1998

Caroline Records

To this day I have never fully heard the lyrics to “Sexy Boy.” But I always think of it as a children's song, due to the sweet catchy melody. There is nothing menacing about the 'sexy boy' in this context, it is part of nature. But once in awhile while I listen to this song, I sense an urge of evil of some sort. The beauty of a classic pop song or recording is that it conveys different moods, and I think it is more in the head of the listener than anything else. So if I feel sinister that is what I hear. But mostly when I listen to Air's “Sexy Boy” I think of lost innocence of some sort. I imagine an older gentleman singing this song, with some regrets about their life.

The Sex Kino Mix by Beck is also charming. The munching of a carrot in the beginning gives the song a cartoon touch - perhaps Bugs Bunny?