The Housemartins

Murs, “Intro”

As usual, I don’t have a lot to say about intro tracks. This is just setting up the framing device for the album. I will say that if it’s going to come up, it’s fun as the first song in our playlist today.

The Sorcerers, “Cave of Brahma”

Hell yeah, Afro-beat. Nice choice to follow-up! This has a lovely kind of cinematic approach here that sounds sort of like it’s a soundtrack to something, which is a neat trick to pull off. Both Sorcerers records are a good time, I recommend them.

Swingin’ Utters, “Here We Are Nowhere”

A while back, I wrote some code to pull data from Discogs for my collection to see what year albums were released for another project that I was working on. That project might still see the light of day! But I’m wondering if there’s some way I could pull data for genres. Discogs doesn’t have genre tags in their structured data, but I could scrape the band description for specific words, I suppose. It would be neat to see what percentage of my collection is, say, punk.

Polvo, “Bridesmaid Blues”

I just looked and realized that Cor-Crane Secret, the first Polvo album, is missing fromy my library. I’m not sure where it went, I absolutely had the CD back in the day. Lost? Never got ripped? Dropped on the floor during one of the library’s migrations from place to place? Who knows? But thanks to the magic of Bandcamp, I can replace it. And Shapes, which was also missing. It’s Polvo day here!

The Housemartins, “Flag Day”

I don’t want to profane this with my witless scribbling.

Panopticon, “Trauerweide II”

From a split release with Panopticon and Waldgeflüster, where the bands each contributed a long black metal song and a folk cover of a song from the other band. This is Panopticon’s cover, and I’m not familiar with the original, so I can’t really comment on how it differs. But it’s a nice listen, anyway.

Muddy Waters, “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had”

For as much as I joke about not knowing shit about jazz (and I do not), I know even less about blues. I’m clueless! So, I’ll just say that this comes from his 1978 album I’m Ready and get out of the way.

Noisem, “Voices in the Morgue”

Well, that’s jarring. Noisem, a death/thrash act from Baltimore, got some positive press a while back, so I picked up this album. But I don’t know, I think I’m pickier about this end of metal, and this doesn’t do a whole lot for me.

Just missed a Vince Staples song that I’m enjoying very much as I type this intro. But, sorry, rules are rules. Today is solid, though.

The Isley Brothers, “This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) (Alternate Mix)”

Sort of low-key wondering exactly what the longest parenthetical is in a Motown song title. At any rate, we find ourselves in 1966 with this Isley Brothers track. At this point, the Isleys were already veterans, four albums in. And it turns out that their career was really just getting going, with many stylistic changes and lineup changes to come, not to mention just a bunch of great records.

Well, we here at Five Songs Amalgamated managed to go two entire months without missing an entry! Not bad! Our ones of listener/readers must be pleased! Here’s today, and here’s to another complete month!

The Housemartins, “There Is Always Something There To Remind Me”

You know, the Housemartins should really be on my regular rotation of bands to listen to when I’ve got the kids around. I wish I wouldn’t forget this right after I finish this article.

Shuffle’s kind of been killing it lately.

Marvin Gaye, “Your Unchanging Love”

Marvin Gaye, here on a single from 1967. It’s impressive to listen to the difference between this and what he’d make a mere four years later with What’s Going On.

Mephiskapheles, “Plan B”

I went to go compare the hi-hat intro here to the bit in “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” (at 8:01), and then realized the bit I was thinking of wasn’t just on the hi-hat, and then I got caught up listening to that song. And then I kind of got lost for a bit.

Another repeat today, this time that same Dr. Octagon track. The more I do this, the more I think Amazon’s randomization thing is pretty wonky. Oh well. Today’s tunes!

The Housemartins, “I’ll Be Your Shelter”

Speak of the devil! Here’s the Housemartins taking on Luther Ingram’s “I’ll Be Your Shelter”. As with most of their covers, it’s thoroughly enjoyable (as is the original). Basically, soul music rules.

This song appears on both London 0, Hull 4 as well as the rarities/singles roundup Now That’s What I Call Quite Good, which are both outstanding.