SF0207 The Bicentenary Poll Ep6 #25-11

SF0207 The Bicentenary Poll Ep6 #25-11

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Five of the first seven tracks are from the ‘90s in this rundown and without completing a laborious headcount, that feels a little unusual. My sense is we’ve oscillated between the ‘70s/early ‘80s axis and the 21st century – checking last episode, there was only one ‘90s entry. Which is a bit of a shame, but this episode partially addresses that.

There are three tracks where I’d have strongly preferred an alternative from the artist in question. The first is our opener, ‘Dress Sexy At My Funeral’. I have a big, big love for ‘Bathysphere’ from Bill Callahan’s Smog days, or indeed ‘Teenage Spaceship’ which, as far as I can recall, recorded precisely zero votes. I would have gone for ‘Life During Wartime’ or ‘Crosseyed and Painless’ from Dunfermline Dave’s Talking Heads before ‘Don’t Worry About The Government’, although all three have wonderful titles.

But, most mildly upsetting of all was The Pogues getting ‘Rainy Night in Soho’ up over all the other songs nominated – ‘Thousand Are Sailing’, ‘Dirty Old Town’ and especially ‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’, any one of which I’d have taken. But, the listeners have spoken and I can do no other than play your track. Precious democracy and all that – well, someone’s got to stick up for it right now.

On the other hand, there’s a terrific run of first class choices, as far as I’m concerned at least, in ‘Faraway beach’, ‘Here’, ‘Jogging’ and most especially ‘Ode to the Mets’. Re the latter, I saw The Strokes perform at the John Cain Arena in Melbourne, which was as soulless as its name suggests. The band themselves were shambolic, wandering off on half formed indulgent jams and completely lacking in stagecraft. But their first encore was ‘Mets’ accompanied by its video which instantly rendered the whole evening worthwhile. I know the track means a very great deal for one of our listeners in particular, Luke Finley.

Elsewhere evergreen classics from Pulp (‘Babies’), Neutral Milk Hotel (‘In the aeroplane, over the sea’), Kraftwerk (’Trans Europe Express’), Lemonheads (‘Drug Buddy’), The Go-Betweens (‘Cattle and Cane’) and Nick Drake (‘Northern Sky’). As it happens, I’ve seen all of these performed live, but that’s hardly a coincidence, as they’re songs from my podcast which I’ve curated.

Well, just 10 tracks to go. Care to indulge in some idle speculation as to who might be in it?