"In a case like this I'll get away with it"

Not so long ago, I took part in Swiss Toni's shuffle-a-thon. It was a hoot.
The CD I put together is reviewed here.
I promised that I'd do a little write up about the songs I chose, what they mean to me & why those songs were chosen.
So without further ado...

I have been making compilations since the early 80's. By the 90's I had it down to a fine art. I would regularly make tapes for people. I always put a lot of time & effort into the whole process. I always used to pay special attention to the artwork. Very rare was it that someone would receive a cassette in a plain case with a simple hand written list of songs. No, for me part of making a mixtape for someone was making the "sleeve". Back in the day these would invariably have some sort of photo stuck to the inlay with the title done using Letter-a-set (y'know, those letters that came on a clear sheet & you would rub them off onto the paper using a pencil). I then graduated to using photocopiers &, by the time I had phased tapes out in favour of minidiscs, computers. The inlays were often a talking point & many friends of friends would see them & gasp in admiration, often going on to nag my friend into getting me to make a tape for themselves. Sadly, when I made the shuffle-a-thon CD I didn't make a fancy inlay. I kind of regret that now.
There was always a lot of detail involved too, all tapes had a catalogue number on the side & a logo at the base of the side panel. In the old days this would be the letters BN & the corresponding year; ie.BN86. BN was the abbreviation of the fictional label used by myself & the good old Duke Of Jokes. After leaving Wakefield I carried on with BN for a while before adopting my Flash Logo (yes, I've been using it for years!).

I have always felt that a good compilation was only as good as it's running order. My formula remains the same today: Hit them with 2 or 3 big solid hit-type songs to start with, then some not so obvious choices or less instant tunes. The middle is where it all mellows out, any slow songs would always go here then I would gradually build it back up. The final few songs would always be the big stonking mega tunes, the creme de la creme. I would always save the very best song till last. Go out with a bang. Make them think that they had just listened to the best tape ever.
Reckless has, over the years, been the chief recipient of my work. He & Dream Girl still to this day talk about some of them with a real genuine affection, long after they've died & gone to tape heaven.
Nowadays though I hardly ever practice my "skills". There's little point. Everything's digital, everything gets shuffled (making running orders kind of redundant) & I no longer use any of the formats that lend themselves to such efforts.

So I did very much enjoy flexing my compilation muscles for this CD.
Part of the criteria was that the CD should be compiled before you knew who was going to receive it. With that in mind, I tried to steer fairly clear of the widely known.
I simply titled the disc; 12.

1- Jingle Jangle - Hot Hot Heat
I liked the idea of starting the whole disc with a "naked" vocal. It just seemed like a really good initial punch. Of course it's a rip-roaringly fine tune anyway. It's meaning for me is two-fold. One; the instrumentation & the melody is unstoppably chirpy, which I like & two; the lyrics are so me. Let me give you an example...
"Friday night I'll raise my glass and say"Tomorrow things will change! I can't afford to wait."
But by Monday morning my alarm clock knows
How this story goes and the ending's the same as the start
Another day, another night, another year
Another smile, another lie, another tear
This better not be all I got
I never thought I'd end up here"

2 Bliss - Muse
A song so utterly rampantly joyous that I had to share it. Honestly, I know I've said this before but it really does sound like bliss.
Secretly, I wish that someone would write a lyric about me. I wish the lyrics of "Bliss" were about me.
Egocentric? Moi??

3 A certain romance - Arctic Monkeys
I just had to include something by ver Monkeys. I thought I'd go with this one simply because it's my favourite. I also thought that the Yorkshire accent & phrasing of the lyrics would be quite interesting & quirky if the disc ended up going overseas. Which it did.

4 Lady - Adam & the Ants
I thought I ought to include something from my musical infancy so Adam was the natural choice. Which bloody song though? I didn't want anything too obvious like "Stand & Deliver" or "Antmusic" so I delved into the b-sides. This one had been re-introduced into my consciousness in Lyon when I first spied NakedLady.
I first heard this song when I was 11. The lyrics were like nothing I'd heard before. Partly because I got them wrong though.
"I had a good look through the crack, foot marks up her back, how did they get there?" became "I had a good look at her crack, Fuckmarks up her back..."
Seriously, for years I wondered what a fuckmark was & how one could get them on one's back & if they went away, etc...

5 Tonight we fly - The Divine Comedy
It's just such a perfectly adorable song. It's not very well known either so I thought it deserved sharing. This song always makes me happy when I hear it & I adore singing along to it. I love the sheer optimism of the lyric too. Also as we approach the middle of the disc it brings a little mellowness to the proceedings after the opening salvo of largeness!

6 First day of my life - Bright Eyes
And so to the quiet bit. This song is so lovely but in a broken kind of way that you just want to take it home & shower it with affection. It's also Nice & I's song.
Aaaaw.

7 Somebody - Depeche Mode
Well I had have one on it!
I went for this because it's always been a fine friend to me. I have hardly ever played it to someone & received a negative reaction. Also, over the years, it has proved one of the finest moves I have in my woman-conquering armory. It sure takes a stony heart not to be melted by a lovely voice (such as my own!) crooning this especially for them.
It's never failed me yet, anyway.

8 Tonight - Easyworld
I'm sure most of you by now know that I'm on a mission to bring Easyworld/David Ford to the masses. This song is so heartbreakingly sad. For me personally it shall always remind me of how very, very sad I once was & how good a reason I had to be sad. I cannot hear this song without being moved.

9 Billy - Nik Kershaw
Note how we pick the pace up a little as we leave behind the soft centre of the CD. Like Adam Ant & Depeche Mode, Nik Kershaw had to appear on anything that chronicled the musical me. This song is chirpy sounding & it bounces along quite nicely. It's the lyrics that are crucial though. At the time I got the parent album, 15 minutes, I really identified with poor old Billy. More than any other character I'd ever seen. When I used to sing along to it in the car, my ex-wife would say "You think of you & I when you sing this don't you?". "Don't be daft" I would reply.
She was right though.
"Billy" actually helped me along my way in the end; having shown me what I had become, it made it easier to see what I had to do to come back.
So you can all thank Mr K for the Flash you know & love being here today.

10 Once, A Glimpse - Maximo Park
We're heading into the home straight now. I love this song, the words ring very true for me. It somehow makes me simultaneously think of Lyon & Dream Girl.

11 Mountain People - Super Furry Animals
So I broke with tradition & slowed things down a little again. This a bit of a strange beast. For the first 4 minutes it's a pretty normal kind of song & pretty damn good too. Towards the end though it all goes a bit mental. With an ongoing bassy stomp it builds in tempo & intensity to a crescendo of beeps & electronic squelches. I love it.
And it also leads us neatly into...

12 White Celebration - Gnu Cnu
Save the best till last. That's the rules!

So, there you go.
I really miss the art of the compilation. It was something I always enjoyed doing so I'm grateful to the shuffle-a-thon for giving me the opportunity.

Well, that's me done for now. The Boy is with me until Thursday & I have my last days off work for this year. I've used all my holiday entitlement up & will have to wait till January for some more. Bugger.