Happy New Year

Courtesy of Madder Rose. From one of my favourite albums of the nineties, Panic On.

Hey Rose, Hey Madder

Couldn't find any of the Madder Rose tracks I would've like to have included in my Nineties Alternative playlist on the Spotify database the other day, so cop a load of this beauty. It doesn't get any better than this!

When they met, it was Madder

Back in the mid-nineties I really, really loved Madder Rose. Still do in fact, on the odd occasion I actually get around to remembering how great they were. In a lot of ways they were my Velvet Underground. Which is weird as I bloody hate the Velvet Underground. Anyway, this is magic:




Madder Rose - Madder Rose mp3

Mildly Interesting Pop Fact: This song was later re-recorded and re-christened Swim. It's a bit different. Look!



Panic On may well be my favourite Madder Rose song of all though. They even got around to making a proper promo video for this one.



Oh! And Car Song is absolutely wonderful.



In fact, you can't really go wrong with either of the band's first two long players, 1993's Bring It Down and '94's Panic On, which are two of the best albums of the nineties, for me. The two later albums, Tragic Magic (1997) and Hello June Fool (1999), are a bit trippier and more noodly and slightly less accessible, but are well worth checking out nonetheless. Then there's singer Mary Lorson's subsequent solo project Saint Low, but I think we'll leave that for another day. (What with all the Twittering I've been doing of late, if I have to write anything over 140 characters in length it feels like blinking War & Peace all of a sudden. Must try harder.)

Three of a Kind #77

Valentine's Day was invented in 1927 by executives at Wallmark Cards who saw it as an easy way to fleece money from the lovestruck while simultaneously pissing off and further alienating already embittered singletons the world over. Al Capone hated it so much that he even tried to have Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon bumped off on February the so-called 14th. And all because the lady didn't love Milk Tray. Well really!

On the plus side, Valentine's Day gives modern-day bloggers everywhere the perfect excuse to put up some cheesy old love songs they wouldn't get away with posting during the rest of the year. Which almost makes the whole cynical exercise in shifting overpriced greetings cards and teddy bears with red, heart-shaped "I love you" cushions tied around their necks worthwhile, as far as I'm concerned. Hurrah!

D Train - You're The One For Me mp3

Madder Rose - The Love You Save mp3

Darts - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love mp3

Song Titles You'd Never Guess From Their Lyrics #1

The first in a short series (possibly very short, if I can't think of any others). The idea is pretty simple really and - unlike the song title(s) in question - does exactly what it says on the tin!

Madder Rose - Ultra Anxiety (Teenage Style) mp3

The other thing about Ultra Anxiety is that, good though it undoubtedly is, it's not even one of the best tracks on Panic On, the album it's taken from. The title track, Car Song, Sleep Forever, Drop A Bomb and Margaret are all arguably even better.

Oh sod it, let's have some Panic On as well, to prove the point. Then do yourself a favour - go and buy a copy from Amazon. (it's currently out of print but is easy enough to get hold of reasonably-priced second-hand.) This really is an absolute gem, one of the very best albums of the nineties and well worth a tenner or so of anyone's dosh - ultra anxious teenager or otherwise.

Madder Rose - Panic On mp3