Distraction... Video Alphabet "N"

Alright... back to this vast endeavour I started! Also I'm going to take a minute here and apologise that I don't edit and proof read my posts enough. Late night postings and early morning postings seem to be my weakness. I suppose it's difficult to type through the bleary eyes, but I'll improve this. Anyways...

N is for Ned's Atomic Dustbin - "Grey Cell Green"



I liked this band a bit when I was in high school, but feared if I went down this road too far with one false move I could have ended up listening to Jesus Jones and EMF. But I confess a particular soft spot for this band, largely due to this super cool girl that used to pick me up and let me ride to high school with her, sparing me the hell of riding the bus. So Becky Balog, this song goes out to you wherever you are! You were a very good friend and I haven't forgotten you for it!

N is for New Order - A Perfect Kiss



I had the good fortune of seeing New Order in concert years ago and it's my second best concert experience just losing out to seeing the Cure the first time. I think what I recall the most is how diligently the band performed their songs. Their attention reached out to the audience, but I think we were the secondary concern to the work they were doing to perform. I don't mean this observation as any detraction against them... it rather impressed me at the time. I picked this video because you can see them at work so well here, feel how labour intense their songs are, and dig Hook's bass in this song... amazing! One of my all time favouite bands, for sure!

In fact, here's live New Order! "Crystal" from The Glastonbury Festival June 25th, 2005, in Somserset, England.



And for anyone needing a reminder of where this band came from, New Order playing Joy Division -"She's Lost Control" for the John Peel Day 2005.



Note to self... I really need to do a post about John Peel one of these days.

That's all for tonight though... off to try this thing people do called "going to bed at a reasonable hour".

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".