Sometimes things don’t need to be overly clever or thematic or for a particular reason. A playlist might be simply because it has been far too long since we have posted one and because… Oh, I don’t know, because I’ve spent the last couple of hours baking and cleaning the kitchen.
So, here is a little trip through what I spent a chunk of today listening to. Somehow we start out with De La Soul, move through a little jazziness, some Motown, The Decemberists, a liberal smattering of electropop and end up with The Stone Roses.
Personally I have had a lot of fun, dancing and singing around the kitchen without anyone noticing. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did.
This page is lovely but you can also listen as a playlist on our Spotify* and YouTube channels
* Not all tracks on Spotify
Royalty Capes – De La Soul
What better way to start a mixtape than with a fanfare?
Frontin’ – Jamie Cullum
This is a great song, both Pharrell’s original and Jamie Cullum’s piano based cover. This version just fits my mood and follows Royalty Capes better.
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
This song always makes me smile. To start with it just sounds fantastic, soulful and a bit funky. On top of that is the lyrical message: Understand things and make decisions instead of just following like a sheep.
Love Child – The Supremes
Interesting note, Diana Ross sang lead vocals but Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong, the other Supremes members at the time do not appear on the recorded version of Love Child.
O Valencia! – The Decemberists
It’s Romeo & Juliet by Colin Meloy which makes it pretty unlikely that it will be anything but great, and it is.
Venus as a Boy – Björk
Sometimes you forget how much you liked something, so it is with Debut by Björk. The whole album is just a pleasure to listen including Venus as a Boy.
Sylvie – Saint Etienne
I just read a YouTube comment on this song, which describes Syvlie as “basically Jolene for the dinner party class”. Quite.
I Know Enough (I Don’t Get Enough) – The Audience
Strangely absent from Spotify, I don’t know why. Also not entirely sure why I like this song but I really truly do.
Rent – Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are one of those groups I just take for granted. They seem to have existed forever and everyone knows lyrics to at least one of their songs even if they don’t realise they do. Despite that I hardly ever listen to them which is a mistake because they have created a whole library of beautifully crafted pop songs.
Suburbia – Pet Shop Boys
The other things about the Pet Shop Boys is that it is very difficult to just listen to one track without feeling like playing a second…
Get the Message – Electronic
The obvious leap from Pet Shop Boys is that Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe collaborated with Electronic on several early tracks. Not this one though, this all Sumner and Marr, with a vocal cameo at the end from Denise Johnson of Primal Scream
Fools Gold – The Stone Roses
The full almost 10 minute version because the single cut just isn’t as much fun and this never really seems that long anway.