so tell me, why is Kaputt better or worse than Let England Shake?

clear contender for ilm's 2012 album of the year

maybe the new order cover is bad because he could only reflect a good song through his prism of hesitant yearning and his wistful worship of more talented songwriters.

hahaha, just kidding.

and as much as i love new order - and boy did i ever love new order - i'm not gonna make a huge case for their rhyme schemes or vocal prowess.

what is is with 30+ ilxors and New Order

what is it with 30+ people and the printing press

well, you know, joy division/new order. i was a child of the 80's. they kept me going. JD probably still my 2nd fave band of all time.

and yr fave?

bananarama!

classic algerian goalkeeper

Bananarama recorded some fantastic singles!

i own 30 bananarama singles and lps on vinyl. at least. but no, first would be black sabbath. then joy division. then felt. then whatever.

what is it with 30+ people and the printing press

LOL

actually, FB3/Bananarama would be near the top for me too. bow wow wow as well. all top twenty in my book.

you even like S/A/W era Bananarama? That's when I went off them.

"I Heard a Rumour" is fantastic.

would like to say the things judith has said in this thread are super great

what abt wang chung

Re. Al Stewart + Neil Tennant equation, am listening to "On the Border" right now and wondering if Neil Tennant did not have a little Al Stewart in him anyway?

"wondering if Neil Tennant did not have a little Al Stewart in him anyway?"

those are just rumors.

Year of the Cat has Spanish guitar instead of saxophone.

Oh wait, there's sax too!

Co-written by Peter Wood, "Year of the Cat" is a narrative song written in the second person whose protagonist is a tourist in an exotic market where a mysterious silk-clad woman appears to carry him away for a gauzy romantic adventure.

would like to say the things judith has said in this thread are super great

"These days," she says, "I feel modern life just like a river runnin' thru

I listened to "Time Passages" ten minutes ago!

more like gayzy romantic adventure.

Hey guys, both these albums are alright, but we should really be having a 500 post argument about whether On a Mission or 4 is better instead.

that's easy

"Sounds, Smash Hits, Melody Maker, NME... all sounds like a dream to me..." is like some weird inversion of what Kevin Rowland's doing on Too-Rye-Ay; Rowland's literally singing about being in the band, on stage performing or writing / jamming / creating the song, exhorting the musicians to find something pure, etc etc, and Bejar's fantasising, watching bands (in his imagination, based on the music press), wondering what it's like. Perhaps.

That's an interesting comparison - Bejar to Neil Tennant / Kevin Rowland to Geno Washington

Bejar's also writing very much from the perspective of someone who is NOT a famous successful mega rich musician; he's not chasing cocaine in the back rooms of the world, nor, I suspect, has he ever - he's a low level indie musician who's been plugging away for 15 years on idiosyncratic records which are acclaimed but which have never crossed over. Whereas Rowland actually was as successful as the people he idolised, if not even more successful in some ways.

new pornographers have crossed over, no? they play them on all those npr-ish radio stations. sales-wise, they aren't nearly as big, but they seem to have an audience beyond indie-rock.

"Whereas Rowland actually was as successful as the people he idolised"

one-hit wonder in the states. but remembered fondly for that one hit. NOBODY here knows the name of the singer from dexy's.

i've certainly never seen a low level indie musician chasing cocaine

yeah even in the UK Kevin is idolised more than genuinely massive

OK, maybe Rowland's not famous as an individual, but Eileen and Geno were MASSIVE hits, both #1 in the UK, and Eileen #1 in the US too; Dexys sold a LOT of records. I'd wager as many as Geno Washington and then some.

And yes, low-level indie musicians can be found chasing cocaine, of course, but I get the sense that Bejar's more writing about the kind of people who fly to gigs on learjets than half a squiff in the toilets of Camden Electric Ballroom.

xxpost But then he was idolising all these Northern Soul artists who probably didn't make a huge mark in the US and only had a narrow cult following in the UK. Not that that's important.

"Together is the fifth studio album by Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers. It was released on May 4, 2010[1] and debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200."

that's pretty good! not arcade fire good, probably, but good.

even i bought the 45 of come on eileen. that's how huge it was.

They played "Come On Eileen" at my teen dance club on "progressive night" and all the skinheads would do their weird little dance in a circle.

definitely heard it a bunch on college radio at the time before it got huge. like madonna.

Did the Pet Shop Boys live glamorous playboy lifestyles or just fantasize about this? I seem to imagine them as pretty dour people who always carry a macintosh, but I think I remember Tennant saying in an interview that a lot of his music was inspired by a wish to live the Studio 54 lifestyle but never having the chance to. So this is an imaginary culture being sold back and forth across the Atlantic from decade to decade.

Tennant and Lowe said about twenty years ago that the stereotypes are "largely true." Tennant's apt to stay in with a glass of wine and a Shostakovich CD while Lowe clubs a few nights a week. They're older now though.

Tennant is really a folkie in a not-so-good disguise.

Bejar's not idolising Tennant. He's idolising Ferry, and Screamadelica. These are who he's name checking. We need Mark S to bring the "sounds like" vs "influence" slapdown.

dour people who always carry a macintosh

Usually dour people I see are carrying Dell laptops.

lowe - "i'm a mac"
tennant - "i'm a pc"

lol

I don't think I can answer this poll because my favorite song literally changes with every listen.

Oops. I thought this was the other Kaputt one.

from deep sea skiving to screamadelica. oh england...so much to answer for.