3 plus 4 equals 7

A quick lap around the record stores today and I had three new sevens to show for it. For any younger readers who've stumbled across this blog for the first time, I'm talking about those pieces of vinyl that your Da might have in his attic. If the record collections that I've seen are anything to go by there should at least be a copy of Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' album, a copy of the original 'Do they know it's Christmas' by Band Aid and the commemorative RTE album of Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland. That aside, when I arrived home from work today a few pieces had arrived from Norman Records in the UK. I opened the package and the four sevens I'd ordered had arrived. It also appears that I'd been sent a small piece of candy for good measure. Nothing special just a little chewy sweet. Still, it's the thought that counts!

The records ordered from Normans were all tunes that I'd missed on 45rpm when they were originally released. First up is a Tunng cover version of Bloc Party's 'The Pioneers' that came on a one-sided seven inch with an etching on the other side. The cover sounds like an electronic skiffle version of the original. Its all acoustic guitar and glitches until the female vocal comes in, then it builds into something resembling Fun Boy Three. Sounds weird. It is. It's still good though. Next up is the 2007 release of 'Province' by current music media favourites TV on the Radio. It features David Bowie guesting on vocals. Now that's all fine if Bowie is guesting on vocals on his own tune somewhere in the Ziggy Stardust era, it is however different when he's being all atmospheric on this tune. The best compliment I can pay him is that he doesn't manage to fuck it up too much. After hearing other stuff by them this wouldn't really rank as good as it in my book. It's all a bit wanky for my tastes. I prefer that 'Golden Age' tune that they did. The third tune from Normans is a 2006 Primal Scream release from their Riot City Blues album called 'Sometimes I feel so Lonely'. It's all a bit dreamy and at times reminds me of that British Airways advertisement from years ago. The b-side is called 'Gamblin' Bar Room Blues' and can best be described as lounge blues. I can just see Jools Holland tinkling the ivories with gusto to this one. The last out of the package was the 2005 release of Lazer Beam by Super Furry Animals. I absolutely love this tune and only bought it in the hope that some day I get to play it out somewhere. Somewhere really loud with laser beams. Maybe somewhere like The Oasis in Carrickmacross or Bozo's in Athlone.

The three new sevens are actually only two new sevens and a seven released earlier this year. The older release is 'I was a man' by Jape. I already have it on album and there were loads of them about town for ages. It was only today that I realised the former abundance was beginning to disappear. It's a great tune but I'm also loving the b-side 'Gimme Some More'. It's all vocoder and farty bass. Or at least that's what it sounds like on the portable turntable I'm playing it on. The first of the newer releases is yet another single from The Ting Tings debut album 'We started nothing'. This one is called 'Be the one' and is probably their most straight down the line, radio friendly, pop tune to date. Shades of Blondie and The Go Go's run through it and to be honest it's pretty good. I only bought it to hear Derry band, Japanese Popstars remix on the b-side but it turns out that that side is a banging techno affair that wouldn't have been out of place in a Francois set at UFO fifteen odd years ago. For any coloured vinyl fans, the release comes on red vinyl. The second of the new tunes is the latest release from a band that seemed to spend more time here last year than most local bands. They are of course CSS and this one is called 'Move'. I bought it for the Cut Copy remix on the flip side. The original tune starts off like its going to be a cover of 'Down Under' by Men at Work or even 'Living on the Ceiling' by Blancmange. It then turns into what might be described as a homage to a filler tune on the first Madonna album. All that said I really like it. It's the best release they've had since 'Off the Hook'. Better still is the funky remix by Cut Copy on the flip side. It's like an old eighties electro remix with lots of original MIDI sounds. Well worth checking out if thats your bag. It'll definitely be going on the next b-side remix podcast, whenever that might be!

I had loads of other things that I was going to write about but then I read lots of other blogs with most of the topics covered. You should check those other blogs out if you get the chance.