On My IPod

the lady is a tramp - frank sinatra wave - alejandro escovedo forever no more - mary j blige cocaine blues - johnny cash you still believe in me - beach boys hand in glove - the smiths lines around your eyes - lucinda williams teenage witch - eels fittier happer - radiohead barstow - jay farrar

1. 'Caribou' by Black Francis from Frank Black Francis Demo recording of the first track from 'Come On Pilgrim' by the Pixies. Much like the eventual finished version, but great because it's one bloke trying to make the music in his head and actually managing. It's like the song came from out of the ether and was just waiting for someone to play it. 2. 'Theme from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana)' by Wendy Carlos from the full Wendy Carlos Soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange. Ah! The great sex change pioneer of electronic music soundtracks the great perfectionists advert for Thamesmead. Quietly haunting, suggests that the future might have a kind of baroque feel to it, all concrete alienation mixing with decadent fading culture. 3. 'Fiery Jack' by The Fall from 50000 Fall Fans can't be Wrong Early Fall, wonky tale of the North, like rockabilly played by people trapped on an industrial estate with only coffee and Special Brew to eat. Mark is pithy, sarky, funny and touching. Poor old Fiery Jack "just thinks, thinks, thinks, too fast to write, too fast to work". It's the Fall, it couldn't be better or more intriguing. 4. 'The Meaning of Sound', part of 'Blue Veils and Golden Sands' a BBC Radio 4 play about the life of Delia Derbyshire It's about Delia Derbyshire, one of the pioneers of electronic music. I'm fascinated by Delia and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, so it's great to get a bit more info about her life. It features Sonic Boom from Spaceman 3, ringing up all of the Delia Derbyshire's in Coventry to try to find Delia after she disappeared into drink and obscurity after she left the Radiophonic Workshop. 5. 'Chivalry' by The Mekons from Fear and Whisky Post punks escape into country music during the miner's strike, with Marxism instead of christianity as an underpinning. Chivalry is a song of regret which features the brilliant line 'I was out late the other night, fear and whisky kept me going'. Makes the north west of England into the new frontier. 6. 'Bad Girl' by the New York Dolls from New York Dolls Some men in New York cross dress, invent punk by accident, make one immortal album and then decline. Glam meets Stones meets Stooges, 'Bad Girl' is one of the wonderful songs from New York Dolls. They were Morrissey's favourite band you know. He wrote a book about them. I didn't, but I played my vinyl copy to death as a teenager. They sounded filthy, and probably were. 7. 'Floreat Inertia' by Half Man Half Biscuit from This Leaden Pall Nigel from Half Man Half Biscuit is one of the UK's national treasures. Poignant, daft, pop-literate, Half Man Half Biscuit make life better. "Increasing doubt, decreasing hope, even my imaginary friend changed his mind". 4AD3DCD is my favourite on This Leaden Pall, but this one is a lovely tune and makes me want to hug Nigel. 8. 'If Your Poison Gets You' by Frank Black from Fast Man/Raider Man Another showing from Frank Black/Black Francis. It's Frank plus various men from Stax records. Fast Man/Raider Man was a bit of a struggle to be honest, recorded in one 24 hour session it's got about a million songs, about seven of them good enough to be blinking in the hard bright gaze of the public. This is quite nice and soothing, but no more. 9. 'Everything is New' by Frank Black & The Catholics from Show Me Your Tears Again! This is more like it though. From a great return to form, this is a bit heavy but uplifting. It manages to sound very ordinary and weird at the same time. I like to listen to it at night, when everyone else has gone to bed and the pampas grass in our front garden waves like seaweed. 10. 'I Zimbra' by Talking Heads from Fear of Music Hugo Ball sound poem set to weird poly rhythms by a band going from quirky to funky. I love Talking Heads and would swoon if I met David Byrne. It's not the best song on Fear of Music, but it does put a spring in your step. Brian Eno's producing, and makes everything sound like a scifi collage world music party dream. Well, there you go. There are more recent things on my mp3 player. There are women on my mp3 player. And less atonal records. God, my mp3 player has certainly shown me up. Your mp3 player sounded very boring Ralph. Cheers, Mark

1-Back in Black by ACDC 2-Overkill by Colin Hay 3-Knights of Cydonia by Muse 4-Summer Wind by Frank Sinatra 5-Unforgiven by Metallica 6-Red Flag by Billy Talent 7-Good Riddance by Green Day 8-Hash Pipe by Weezer 9-Down Under by Men At Work 10-Waiting For My Real Life to Begin by Colin Hay

Don't have an iPod... :( Bothered?... :) pe ps oid Blogs! "the art of tea" "that's an odd courgette"

I don't have an iPod either. I have a Zune. See? I've run rings around you logically.

Wot's an IPOD?

I don't have a Zune and I don't know what the Mekons are. pe ps oid Blogs! "the art of tea" "that's an odd courgette"

I know who the Mekons are, but I don't have an iPod.

I thought I'd have another bash, because I enjoyed it so much the first time (in another world, in another universe, I am a hack on the NME) 1. 'The Amorous Humphrey Plugg' by Scott Walker from Boy Child: The Best of Scott Walker 1967-1970 Scott! A posh American falls in love with Europe, writes some of the best kitchen-existential big band music in English ever. 'Humphrey' is the best lonely autumnal afternoon you'll ever spend alone looking out of a window. That voice gives me goose-pimples. "Screaming kids on my knee and the telly swallowing me." And, to carry on the sex change / cross dress theme of yesterday, Wally Scott who arranged most of Scott's really good stuff now lives as a women. 2. 'Searching for Mr Right' by Young Marble Giants from Colossal Youth It is Wales. It is 1978/1979. It is Winter. In front of a three bar fire, three people make music that sounds frozen and emaciated. Tiny electronic sounds, guitar and bass picked at with cold fingers I imagine to be wearing fingerless gloves. The vocals are quiet, Alison Statton close to the mic as if they were afraid to wake the neighbours. In fact, that's what this sounds like, rock 'n' roll recorded under occupation, in secret. In fact, rock 'n' roll with all of the adolescent banging and clattering taken out. 3. 'Two People in A Room' by Wire from 154 Short, angular art play post punk. Colin Newman is a lyrical genius, making lyrics for sound, mucking about. I always imagine two smug people under a single light-bulb being barracked by Wire when I hear this. 4. 'The Only Lovers Left Alive (demo) by The Long Blondes Not much different from the album version. I had a crush on this band, a British New Wave film vision of me and them at kitchen sinks and in cramped attics. It hits various buttons: it's got a scornful, vengeful girl persona, it mentions supermarkets, it's dramatic like a seventies BBC play is dramatic. I saw video of them performing in Lancaster central library, which was one of the sexiest bits of rock and pop excitement I'd see for ages. 5. 'So Many Men, So Little Time' by Miquel Brown from the compilation Ultimate Hi-NRG Hi-NRG! Like disco but gayer and more synthetic. 'So Many Men, So Little Time' is one of my favourites. There's something about gay music that suggests an equality of sexuality. Straight relationship music always suggests a kind of gruff violence with one person doing sex to the other who is beaten into submission. This is literally a pro-promiscuity song, which makes me happy. There are so many men, there is so little time, how can Miquel choose? She can't is the short answer, and the song is the bright, shiny, pumping sound of her, and us, not giving a fig. I believe this was produced by Ian Levine, one of the inventors of Hi-NRG, and once the UK's self-proclaimed No. 1 Doctor Who fan, ascending to the dizzy heights of curating montages of archive footage for episodes where the Doctor thought about stuff. It was Hi-NRG that was the basis for the colossus of pop that was Stock Aitken and Waterman. There was to be another four songs, but I had to take a delivery of 10,000 magazines and hit the button on my mp3 player by accident. Cheers, Mark

It's Wally Stott, Mark. He is now a she and she's called Angela Morley. Fans of the Goon Show will remember Wally Stott and his orchestra with affection.

Good correction Tom. I love the 'established-band-leader-meets-existential-crooner' then years later changes gender story. I was reading that book of interviews with Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry and he was saying that amongst trannies, there's a significant number who are men after retirement, who finally make the leap into being full-time women. There's something brilliant about the idea of getting to that age and just thinking 'f**k it, I'll be whatever gender I want to be'. Those Scott (1-4) records sound astounding. Astounding. Astounding. Cheers, Mark

He's living as women? Which ones? I stood next to him and the other Walker brother, in a music shop just off the 'Dilly' in '67 as they bought guitar strings. Oooh I've lived I 'ave.

Searching for Mr Right' by Young Marble Giants from Colossal Youth mark, mrs_t has just bought this, she remembers them from the early 80s and even though i was a teenager, i'd never heard of them it's about to go on my ipod

1 . Boys of Summer. DJ Sammy. This is where I realise I am going to have a book published by Random House and realise that everybody's music is cooler than mine. (I do have Rufus, and Tom Waits - the group in the book is named after a film that Tom Waits is in.) I also realise there is a lot of pressure to be cool. 2. Musclebound. Spandau Ballet. Mum and dad had a pub in the 80s. I danced with Melanie Yorke to Gold. Carol Daniels came round to see me when I was poorly and mum and dad showed her our light show. 3. Shine On. Alcazar. It's not getting any better. My ex was a scientist. His company is based in Sweden and a colleague bought him this because she knew he likes pop. We saw Kylie together and went to see that play with ex Steps and ex other pop groups. 4. No Love Lost. Joy Division At college. I was a goth then. Eyeliner. Black duster coat. New Order were doing well. I bought this on vinyl. 5. Sparks. Coldplay. Borrowed from my current boyfriend. He has more music than anyone I've ever met. CDs are stacked to heaven in his bedroom. This song is nice. 6. Like it or Not. Madonna. What can I say? I love this album. I listened to Hung Up 50 times in one day. 7. I Think We're Alone Now. Tiffany. Haha. 8. Naked. David Sedaris. I like his voice. Check these out on the internet. 9. Waiting to Happen. Marillion I've become a fan. My boyfriend is obsessed. I've seen them 5 times this year, went to the Marillion convention at Port Zeland. 10. The Bunting Song. The Good, The Bad and the Queen Oh. I loved this album from Blur singer.

Ten songs? Let it Be - Beatles All These Things That I've Done - Killers Love, Reign O'er Me - The Who/Pearl Jam Folksom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash Hotel California - Eagles Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Hey Jude - Beatles Sweet Home Alabama - Lynerd Skinner All Star - SmashMouth Bridge Over Troubled Waters- Simond and Garfunkel

Yeah, Drew's warts and all approach has persuaded me to do this. So I'm at work, I've got my iPod, I'm going to hit shuffle and write down each song as I go... 1. Going Out by Supergrass. I'm not a big fan but I do really like the album this is from, 'In it for the money' 2. Fly Me to the Moon - Sinatra. I don't like this song very much. But I do like a bit of Sinatra generally. My faves are "That's Life" and "Should I". 3. First Boy in this town - Scritti Politti Ok um... that's embarrassing. 4. The World has turned - Weezer I do like a bit of Weezer, I must say, I used to *love* these guys. 5. Corre - Bebe Bebe is a Spanish lady who I am a massive fan of. Because of her I've got into some other foreign stuff. She's a proper feminist, but I don't understand much of it so that's okay 6. Digging for Fire - Pixies Yay for the pixies. 7. Inside - Stiltskin Perhaps that's a bit embarrasing too. I don't know. I like it. 8. Best Imitation of Myself - Ben Folds Five Ooh I do like this song. Good lyrics, even if he does sound a little like kermit when he sings them. 9. Nikita - Elton John oh ffs 10. Bailey's Walking - Pixies Yay for more pixies For what it's worth, I swear I *found* nothing. Those are concecutive shuffle choices.

I resent the implication that my shuffles aren't shuffles... Though I'm very happy if 'So Many Men, So Little Time' is now considered 'cool'. I thought Hi-NRG was considered the epitome of naff... Another shuffle: 1. 'Someday' by CeCe Rogers from CeCe Rogers Euphoric Utopian house music. Piano vamps that were nicked by Liquid for 'Sweet Harmony'. I was too young for the second summer of love and rave. It was in the air, but I was too pig ignorant to listen. I love the subgenre of uplifting house that talks about freedom from oppression and the like, because, given the right mood and intake, you do kind of believe, at least for the five minutes the song lasts. 2. 'Glob Waterfall' by Joe Meek & The Blue Men from I Hear a New World Remember Telstar? Joe Meek produced loads of stuff like that, recording it all in his flat. Trumpets in the bathroom, for the acoustics apparently. 'Glob Waterfall' is just kind of Radiophonic Workshop sound effects. 'I Hear a New World' is a sci-fi kitsch extravaganza from the late sixties. Joe Meek wasn't well by the end, descending into paranoia and beating his landlady to death with a hammer. 3. 'End' by Richard X from Richard X presents his X-Factor Volume 1 This is the outro from producer Richard X's debut album. Just some atmospheric burblings. Remember Liberty X and the song that sampled Being Boiled by the Human League. That's on there, plus songs by Jarvis Cocker, Annie, Tiga, Sugababes and others. It's good pop music that's in love with pop music. One song is built around the riff from Chant No. 1 by Spandau Ballet. 4. 'Wear You To The Ball' by U-Roy from Dread Meets Punk Rockers Uptown selected by Don Letts I don't know much about U-Roy. In fact, I've only got a very passing knowledge of Dub and Reggae, though have bought a fair amount of seventies stuff. This is sweet and poppy and you certainly can dance to it. When I was on the dole in Newcastle I used to go to dub nights, which involved some very smelly people sitting in a pub being internally vibrated by some over-sized bass bins. The album this is on is a great compilation of Reggae and Dub stuff that got played out in punk clubs and the like in London. 5. 'Together Song' by The Penelopes from The Arrogance of Simplicity They're French and possibly pretentious. They sound a bit like synthpop put in a blender. At best they sound like New Order, at worst they sound like a million other bands with asymmetrical haircuts. This is okay. It passes the time. I've been questing for a certain kind of synthetic music that is full of energy but melancholy too. This isn't quite it. There are some nice strings about half way through and it warms up a bit in the second half, once they stop trying to sound aloof. 6. 'Psykick Dancehall No. 2' by The Fall from Early Singles Does the classic trick of starting off as one tune and then turning into another. This is from the period of The Fall's career that every says is the best, when they were scratchy and obtuse. I liked them even more when Brix joined and the started to make more poppy records and got on the telly. I don't have any idea about what this about, but I'd visit a psykick dancehall if I came across one. 7. 'Kick Over the Statues!' by Redskins from Neither Washington nor Moscow Mid-eighties miner's strike punk soul from the Socialist Worker's Party. Neither Washington nor Moscow has about 14 tracks, 12 of which have exclamation marks. It's all about having revolutions, but having good tunes doing it. I love this, because people don't make records like this any more. Or indeed have politically righteous gigs anymore. And you can dance to it. Not that I do. 8. 'You're No Good' by ESG from Rough Trade Shops: Post Punk ESG were from New York late seventies and made a kind of minimalist punk funk, while looking a bit like dinner ladies. People rave about them, but I have to admit I've only heard this and it's good, but not life shaking. It sounds like a distant, more art school version of something like 'My Baby Just Cares For Me' by Etta James. That said, I'm liking it more today than I have previously. I love it when that happens. 9. 'Cheated Hearts' by Yeah Yeah Yeahs from Show Your Bones This makes me want to cry, partially because the video for it is made up of edited snippets of people miming to the song, all dressed up, all synced to the music. Teenagers in drag, people titting about in gardens, children dancing... It's great dramatic heart rending pop music. I fell in love with Karen O, the dressy-uppy singer from Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I didn't want to sleep with her though, I think I wanted to be her, or at the very least have the licence to dress up and look however I chose to. Listening to this, it makes me feel that there is another world somewhere, just out of reach. Music's like dreaming really. 10. 'Stephanie Says' by The Velvet Underground from Peel Slowly and See: The Velvet Underground Box set The last of the Velvets songs with John Cale on them. I love this, it's all tinkly and warm/cold. One of Lou Reed's character songs, Stephanie reappears on Berlin in much more unpleasant circumstances. "It's such an icy feeling, it's so cold in Alaska". There you go. Cheers, Mark