Day 6 - A song that reminds you of somewhere

My form classroom in Year 13, singing along with Sufyan (despite the fact neither of us could get anywhere near the high notes)

Just a complete classic.

Day 5 - A song that reminds you of someone

Now this song could also work for an event, but it's a very specific person (as all people tend to be) that it reminds me of. Said person is a huge Smiths fan and in my mind this may well be the best Smiths song. That and the fact that the song was playing in a shop in Camden whilst I was with this person, it just got stuck in my head for days on end - thanks to her.



"If a double decker bus, crashes over us, to die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die"

Day 4 - A song that makes you sad

Sorry, this should have been yesterday, so we shall just pretend it was. I'd put myself in a bad place for this one because the obvious choice is one of the many Elliottt Smith songs that make me sad, but since I've already put two songs of his I'm going to have to change it and go for something different.



This song is playing in one of the saddest scenes ever in one of my favourite shows ever, Scrubs. It's the scene when Dr. Cox realises that his best friend - who seems to have been following him around for the whole episode - has actually died and wasn't really there. This song plays as we see the funeral, it's just heartbreaking.

Day 3 - A song that makes you happy

There are many songs that make me happy, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to go for another Elliott Smith song. Most of his albums and songs are downbeat, some sighingly so, like 'Between The Bars' but some just heartbreakingly so like 'Miss Misery.' Some of his songs are angry, chiefly the ball of rage that is the song 'Roman Candle,' some are self loathing like 'Rose Parade.'

There is only one song in his entire catalogue that is really properly happy, and that's the glorious closer to possibly the best album ever made (Either/Or) that starts and ends with the line:

'I'm in love, with the world, through the eyes, of a girl, who's still around the morning after'



The song isn't a relentless ball of light and optimism, but it has hope, something that a lot of Elliott Smith songs don't.

Day 2 - Your least favourite song

Right, from the heights of brilliance, to the depths of shite.  I had trouble with this at first because I don't often listen to songs I dislike, but after a quick think I realised there was only one real candidate.



Where do I start? 492 million views, yet there are thousands and thousands of struggling artists around, most of them thousands of times better than this pap. I don't violently hate the whole 'Bieber' phenomenon, I just find it so puzzling. Are there really that many idiots in the world?

Album 19 - The Cure - The Head on the Door

After just listening to Pornography I really find it practically impossible to imagine that this is the same band at play here. The album starts with the hook filled 'In Between Days,' an upbeat jangly guitar driven song, and one that is about as different to Pornography as an elephant is to a butterfly.

The rest of the album does display a bit more of what has come before, 'Kyoto Song' is less textured than anything off the album from which now on will be nameless, but 'The Blood' is just tense enough to remind you who this album is by, skipping by on a vaguely flamenco sounding guitar and Robert Smith's echoey voice. There is just something brilliant about this album at times, from the panpipes on 'Six Different Ways' to 'Close To Me' which is another masterpiece, similar to to the first track, and there are enough other quality tracks on this album to make it just a seriously good piece of music.

Album 18 - The Cure - Pornography

If you were to just use one word to describe this album it would be: dense. It's a pity though that despite the dense collection of musical textures that swim throughout the album, it peaks on its very first track 'One Hundred Years.' There the textures all work and Robert Smith's voice is more understated than the rest of the album, where at times such as on 'The Hanging Garden' the lyrics start to become just a little bit annoying.

Still, Pornography is an interesting album, and the penultimate track 'Cold' is one of the most ominous songs I've ever heard, and is a close second with the first track for the best on the album. Although, having written this review before I heard the titular closer, I feel rather stupid, as 'Pornography' the song is just the darkest I've ever heard, and perhaps one of the most brilliant.

Album 17 - The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials (Fall 1)

The reason why it says Fall 1 in brackets is that for some reason or another, concurrent to my listening to a lot of albums (Hopefully by the end of the year 365) I am also for some reason going to listen to all The Fall's studio albums.

So that means I start with 1979's Live at the Witch Trials, a surprisingly tuneful album which shows its punk influences but also a sort of gothic feel to the off kilter, strangely out of key parts. Mark E Smith's lyrics are damn near incomprehensible a lot of the time, and the album does have a very amateur feel about it. The album always feels like it's on the verge of falling out of control and into a rowdy mess of rubbish, but never quite getting there, which makes it fascinating to listen to.

'Two Steps Back' is one of the few tracks on the album which drags at all, most of the rest either being shorter than 3 minutes, or feeling the like they were. Still, an album like this has to end with a nearly 8 minute bit of strangeness that leaves me feeling intrigued and looking forward to having a listen to what comes next. Still, I couldn't listen to it all the time.

Album 16 - R.E.M - Collapse Into Now

Right, so it's a new R.E.M album, and just when I was just about to listen to some more old R.E.M albums. Disappointingly this album never quite grabbed me, 'Discoverer' was a pretty good start to the album but after that 'All The Best' is pretty anonymous and 'UBerlin' just annoys me due to its uncanny resemblance to 'Drive,' the opening track of Automatic for the People.

Still, there are good tracks on this album, like 'Oh My Heart' and 'Mine Smell Like Honey,' but the overall impression I get from this album is that of a sequel to Automatic for the People, but unfortunately, the sequel is rarely better than the original.

Day 1 - Your favourite song

Right, so I'm doing the 30 Day Song Challenge and it's time for me to choose a favourite song. I wasn't sure whether this was supposed to be my favourite song at the moment or of all time. If it was the former, it wouldn't mean much because songs flit in and out of my life, one minute I'm loving one like it was the best thing in the world, then I'm not listening to it for months on end.

So that's why I went for the second option, my favourite song of all time...



I really don't know what I can say about this song. There were many other great candidates for my favourite song of all time, many of them also by Elliott, but this just has it.

Not many songs can pack such an emotional punch, be so poetic, sad, and sighingly graceful, yet still be so quiet and almost barely there. It is one of the few songs that can really make me cry.

Album 15 - Those Dancing Days - Daydreams and Nightmares

I loved their first album, the energy about that effort was just overwhelming, melodies bounced into your ears and back and forth through your mind. It was music that you couldn't help wanting to dance to and to sing along to.

Alas their second effort seems to have lost that a bit, the first three tracks are missing something, the bounce has gone. They're trying to go into a slightly different direction on this album and it isn't working, the production is too glossy and the hooks aren't working.

There are positive things though, 'Dream About Me' is similar to the rest of the album but the hook is much better and the song, while not being of the same quality as their earlier work, it's still decent. 'Help Me Close My Eyes' however suffers fromm the same ailment as the rest of the album, detachment. Even as Linnea Jönsson sings "I want to hide where trees are falling down" it just seems empty.

The album does pick up a bit with 'Can't Find Entrance' which sound less detached than previous, and reaches its high point with the jittery 'Fuckarias' which is the only song on the album that in any way matches up to their earlier work. The rest of the album seems to fade out from there, ending with the final song 'One Day Forever' a closer that would have worked better had it been preceded by some better songs.

Album 14 - Zoey Van Goey - Propeller Versus Wings

I know it's only March, but Zoey Van Goey are my find of the year. Their first album was a delightful mix of indie pop melodies and wry, insightful lyrics and the beginning of their second album sees them carrying on in the same way with 'Mountain On Fire' a beautiful lolling ambient masterpiece.

Their second track though is a bit of a change with its more angular rhythms, it's still pretty, but it has a bit more of an edge. The rest of the first half of the album is a self concious attempt to go against type, to prove that they are more than just a pretty little indie pop band. There's a lilting folk number, but with horns (My Aviator) which is deceptively short. This is then followed up with another song that shows of the amazingly expressive voice of Kim Moore with little more than a piano and drums (Escape Maps).

You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate is a rare aberration from Zoey, because despite being just as played musically as the rest of the album the addition of a male vocalist just seems wrong for the album - and besides, his voice isn't that good. Little Islands is a return to form though, and the rest of the album continues along the same lines, evolution not revolution from a band that that I hope just keeps putting out excellent music.

Album 13 - Radiohead - The King of Limbs

It's very easy for Radiohead to begin becoming a parody of themselves, and the King Of Limbs does seem to be in that vein. I've listened to the album at least three or four times and although Radiohead albums often do need multiple listens to become the masterpieces they are - I never liked OK Computer at all to begin with, but slowly began to like in until I realised its mastery - it just doesn't seem like it has anything to reveal.

Along with Kid A, I would say it is their most electronic influenced album to date, but the major difference I see between this and Kid A is that their previous attempt at electronic music seemed so natural - as did the more electronic influenced parts of In Rainbows - yet here is seems forced and the tunes just don't back up the experimentation.

I expect I will grow to like it more with more listens, but for now it's a negative review I'm afraid... but expect some edits...