Might as well face it, you're addicted to sPaz

1. 9th November 2007
   Yes, I enjoyed it so much, I did it again the same day.
   1 The Mountain Goats – Dinu Lipatti’s Bones
   No idea who Dinu Lipatti is/was or quite what John Darnielle was doing with her bones but this is an exquisite example of what the Mountain Goats do best. Classy. (Addendum – Dinu Lipatti was a Romanian pianist who died of Leukaemia, aged 33, so clearly, her bones were a little poorly.)
   2 Pearl Jam – Insignificance
   How did you avoid them thus far sPazAmp? And then you leave us with one of the latterly, slightly less impressive tracks. I know it isn’t cool to like Pearl Jam (keep wanting to refer to them as The ‘jam but that would just confuse) but I love ‘em and I’m proud of it. This is still good despite being only about the 98th best Pearl Jam track ever.
   3 The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?
   The best Smiths song ever and the best riffs never to feature on a heavy metal album. This was the moment I realised Motley Crue knew nothing about how to write a tune (I know, that puts me some way behind most people, but I had strange delusions about them during the 80s).
   4 Gogol Bordello – Underdog World Strike
   The punky travellers (come on guys, get with the politically correct programme). I’m bizarrely reminded of Space during this track (the band, not the place) and that can’t be good. Relatively entertaining but there is only so much of it I can take. Don’t bring them around again any time soon, sPazAmp.
   5 Arctic Monkeys – View From The Afternoon
   Down with the kids, me. I get the Monkeys. Entertaining chart fodder and indisputably full of energy.
   6 Gomez – In Our Gun
   Ah, Gomez, where did it all go wrong? Do you know what, it didn’t really go that wrong, they carried on making good stuff (latest album, ‘How We Operate’, is a peach) but just carelessly lost an entire fanbase. This is pretty good, too. I think sPazAmping might be the best way to hear them because they tend to stand out when in company, more so than when surrounded by more Gomez.
   7 Immaculate Machine – Don’t Leave Without Us
   Canadians. But don’t let that put you off. A band I’m growing to like quite a lot at the moment. Not their strongest moment, but one to hum to yourself unknowingly for hours after you’ve heard it.
   8 Smog – Revanchism
   He’s married to Joanna Newsome, and you should hold that against him. She can be as critically acclaimed as she likes, you’ll not catch me anywhere near the dirges she produces. Poor Bill is now caught in the crossfire. Some of his stuff is excellent. This is ordinary, however. Onwards.
   9 Beck – Sing It Again
   You see, anyone who knows me will never have heard me utter a word about Beck, good or bad, because I’ve never listened to enough to form an opinion. Best start now then. It’s, er, quite, er…do you know, I can’t be bothered. Just can’t muster enough interest. Don’t know why.
   10 Nina Simone – Love Me Or Leave Me
   An unmatchable voice and unique phrasing that sets her apart. Mad as a brush by all accounts. A lifeless backing arrangement lets this down (the piano in the middle goes on for ages and makes you think she nipped out to powder her nose during the recording), but marvel at Nina. I hope she washed her hands.
   11 Queensryche – Electric Requiem (Live)
   Strange bedfellows are made on sPazAmp. Nina Simone and Queensryche – only here. This is from the LIVE version of the epic concept album, ‘Operation:Mindcrime’. If that sounds like too many scary prog metal combinations for you to handle at once, hold on to the fact that it ends after 1 minute and 16 seconds.
   12 The Automatic – You Shout You Shout You Shout
   I’m guessing this is about the mad keyboard player then, because that’s all he does. I thought it was endearing at first, until I realised he does it on every song. Imagine if Justin Hawkins had broken out into that daft falsetto on every Darkness song…oh, wait a minute, never mind. Please stop please stop please stop.
   13 Suede – Animal Nitrate
   I guess I should be saying “Classis Suede” at this point. It’s ok but there was always something missing from the Suede sound and I still don’t know what it is. You enjoy the songs down the disco but you never want to take them home and cherish them in the privacy of your own bedroom. Actually, now I’m thinking it’s quite a dull track, I’m really fed up of it now and it’s only been on for a minute and a half.
   14 Black Lab – Weightless
   Some of my more recent stuff (let’s call it the eMusic era) has arrived after listening to snippets on the eMusic website and being suitably impressed enough to download an album (always the whole album, mind you, none of this ‘hot track’ nonsense). Sometimes, this method works well, sometimes the snippets flatter to deceive. Such deception came from Black Lab, who sounded all interesting and moody, but ended up being dull American dross.
   15 Madonna – Borderline
   Now this isn’t mine. It belongs to my good wife, Sue. Clearly, I’ll be deleting it immediately but felt obliged to leave it in here, at the very least just so I can remind you to check out Madonna’s eyebrows on her early videos (such as this) and compare and contrast them from that point onwards. Great big hairy caterpillars they were. Admire the woman for her determination to succeed and remember that every morning she must spend at least 2 hours plucking the bastards to make them look the way they look now. Either that or she had some Duncan Goodhew-esque accident that affected only the eyebrows. The song is garbage, but you knew that already.
   16 Pink Floyd – Goodbye Blue Sky
   “Hi, my name’s Ian and I’ve been enjoying The Wall for 25 years. This is the first time I’ve been able to talk openly about my affliction.” I like The Wall. I know that isn’t the right thing to say, but I do. I know Roger Waters is a self-centred, egotistical tosspot. I know the album is pompous beyond words. But it is good and I enjoy listening to it. I like this song, too. What you gonna do about it?
   17 Reef- Don’t You Like It?
   No. No I don’t. You’re rubbish. Even your most popular song sounds rubbish now. And it reminds everyone of Chris Evans. You are synonymous with Chris Evans. What kind of career move was that?
   18 Pearl Jam – Sad
   Anything but. A glorious track – the highlight of Lost Dogs (and that’s a fine album to be the highlight of) – and you have to marvel at the fact that they kept it hidden away for so long. One of their best songs ever.
   19 Murder By Death – Steam Rising
   Oddball, rock/country/noir/blues stuff and mightily enjoyable it is too. I like.
   20 Brad – Sheepish
   Hey, sPazAmp, that’s the ticket. Great Pearl Jam tracks and side-projects slipping in as well now, too. Not their strongest track (it isn’t on ‘Shame’, so how can it be) but always politely engaging. If I threw parties I’d put Brad on as things were slowing to an end, when only your best friends were left and were starting to slide into sofas and chairs whilst mumbling drunkenly to each other about things they only ever talk about when they’re drunk. I tend not to throw those parties though, which is a shame, because I’d like to go to a party where they played Brad at the end of the evening.