British 80's giants

Here's a new list for you in WiMP's ongoing 80's celebration. This is a list with songs from five British bands (if you consider U2 British, that is) that put their mark on this fabulous decade. Five songs each from Simple Minds, The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode - and U2. A total of 30 classics then. Below you'll find an article - in Norwegian - with a link to the actual playlist in WiMP. If you're not a subscriber, you still get to hear 30 seconds of each track.

British giants

Tracey Thorn - Joy

"Joy" is the second single from Tracey Thorn's excellent Christmas album Tinsel And Lights that was released a few weeks ago. It is an absolutely brilliantly beautiful song, one of two tracks written by Thorn herself, amongst a collection of christmassy and/or wintery songs by such diverse people as Sufjan Stevens, Dolly Parton, Jack White and Green Gartside. The single will be released on December 10th with an acoustic version featuring hubby and Everything But The Girl partner Ben Watt on guitar. Here's the album version on Soundcloud though. Enjoy!

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Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Redemption Song (No Kwazulu)

South African keyboard wizard Manfred Mann (born Manfred Sepse Lubowitz) moved to London in 1961, strongly opposed to the apartheid system. He became a pop star in the 60's with the group simply named Manfred Mann, and in 1971 he formed the prog rock group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. In 1983 the band released the album Somewhere In Afrika, a strange blend of their progressive past, their increasing pop sensitbility and South African traditional music. Their "expanded" version of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" is one of the album's key tracks, and although both the original and other cover versions may be better, the Earth Band version still may be the most interesting one. Seven and a half minutes of prog-pop strangeness? Here you go!

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Shocking Blue - Venus

Hello, Holland! Here's Dutch band Shocking Blue with their 1969 single "Venus", a fantastically cool song, sort of a pop version of The Doors with a female singer, Mariska Veres. The single amazingly reached the top of the American Billboard chart in February of 1970, a feat I don't think any Dutch artist has accomplished since then. When British girl group Bananarama covered it in 1986, they too took it back to the top of Billboard Hot 100, but the original is of course by far the best version.

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Jane's Addiction - Sympathy For The Devil and full Songs Of Anarchy Vol. 2 soundtrack

Jane's Addiction released a fine version of Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil" on their self-titled live debut album in 1987, and now Perry Farrell and his cohorts have revisited the song and made a proper studio recording for inclusion on the Songs Of Anarchy: Vol. 2 soundtrack compiled for the hit TV show Sons Of Anarchy. But there's more... below you'll find a link to "Sympathy..." and the rest of the soundtrack, including cast renditions of classic songs like Lulu's "To Sir With Love", Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Travelin' Band", Stevie Wonder's "Higher Love" and Iggy Pop's "The Passenger". The album will be released at the end of this month.

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Johnny Marr - The Messenger

Finally former The Smiths guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr is about to release his solo debut. He's been working with a number of artists after The Smiths, becoming a member of American band Modest Mouse and recording a 2003 album with his backing band The Healers, but The Messenger to be released in February 2013 is his first proper solo album. The first single is the title track, a guitar-driven (no surprises there) pop song with a prominent synth theme (a bit more surprising) that gives the song a post-punk, kind of pre-The Smiths vibe. Very good actually.

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Robyn - Criminal Intent

Robyn's trilogy of EP's from 2010, titled Body Talk parts 1, 2 and 3, were a fabulous undertaking by the Swedish artist, with some truly amazing songs spread throughout the records. "Criminal Intent" is lifted from Body Talk Pt 2, a stone hard, minimalist electro funk track, that's cooler than almost anything on any dancefloor anywhere, written and produced by Klas Åhlund. Fabulous!

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Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Adam And Eve

Kasey Chambers is an Australian singer/songwriter who has released a score of good albums, the first of those - 1999's The Captain - a pretty straightforward but excellent country album and the following four albums progressively more rock oriented. However, to date she has released two albums with her husband Shane Nicholson, the latest, Wreck & Ruin, just a few weeks ago. "Adam And Eve" is the lead single off that - a great track, people, and very much a country, or rather, a bluegrass, song. If Kasey does "rock" on her solo albums these days, she certainly does "country" with her husband.

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The Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town

My God, this is such a beautiful song! The Dream Academy suffered an unjust fate as they delivered three excellent albums to little avail, but they did have a huge worldwide hit with debut single "Life In A Northern Town", deservedly so. It was released ahead of their brilliant debut album in 1985, written by singer/guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes and keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel. The band's third member was Kate St. John, the oboe-playing, golden-voiced and very pretty woman who's also been playing with Van Morrison, Tears For Fears, Nigel Kennedy, Bill Nelson, Kirsty MacColl and many others. But as good as the rest of their output was, The Dream Academy never recorded a song as good as "Life In A Northern Town". It's a complex, joyful and experimental pop song that deserves all the praise it has received over the years.

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Neil Finn performs Hobbit theme song - listen to "Song Of The Lonely Mountain"

Wow, this was a nice surprise. Pop genius Neil Finn, of Crowded House and Split Enz fame, has been commisioned by director Peter Jackson to deliver the theme song from the forthcoming Hobbit movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The film, the first of a projected trilogy, opens on December 14th, but Finn's epic ballad "Song Of The Lonely Mountain" is available for streaming now. It's absolutely gorgeous, and by following the link below you can even read a short interview with Finn where he declares that "pop music needs more anvil". You'll understand what he means when you hear the song. It's absolutely brilliant!

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