Appreciation... Shed 7

Bit of Brit Pop nostalgia here this afternoon while I enjoy some music as I to some stuff around my apartment. I really loved Shed 7's song, "Chasing Rainbows", in 1998. A very good year for me as I was working both at Media Play and got my first go at Comix Connection!

Oddly enough, this video is how I discovered David Lean's film, A Brief Encounter, after I went looking for the book the guy in the train car's reading. Turned out there really wasn't a book, as the film was personally adapted by Noel Coward from his own screenplay, Still Life. From my experience watching A Brief Encounter, I went on to watch a lot of other British films from the time period, such as Carol Reed's films, The Third Man and Fallen Idol, which then introduced me to writer Graham Greene. Thus my appreciation for Lean, Coward, Reed, and Greene was born out of my affection for a 4 minute pop song.

Distraction... Making an Ultimate Brit Mix!

Back in January, I bought the Brit Box that Rhino Records put out in November and I have really been enjoying the set since I have had it. There's 78 songs I believe and the choices are hard to argue with, but there were still a few sins of omission committed in choosing the tracks. I've been playing around in my spare time taking the basic chronological playlist of the set and filling it in at spots with bands that were missed and allowing artists to appear more than once because of the length of their careers. For example, New Order doesn't appear with the first disc of the set full of Brit Pop bands of the 80s, but show up with the 90s bands with their single "Regret". That's all well and good, but having an early track like "Temptation" show up on a disc is even better! Also more obscure bands from the UK that I really enjoy like The Wild Swans, The Mighty Lemon Drops, The Housemartins, etc weren't included at all!

So yeah, this is one way in which I pass the time and unwind I guess... but seriously, what else am I going to do with the 35GB of music occupying my hard drive?!?

And hey since I now have New Order bouncing through my head, you should too! Here's the video for "Temptation".