Wednesday, August 3

#5: seven stonkers and seven honkers.

THE STONKERS.

1. Seven Nation Army - White Stripes.

Featuring that seven-note riff: the one which launched Jack and Meg White into mainstream success, and the one for which they will always be remembered.

2. Seven Seas Of Rhye - Queen.

Unrepentantly baroque to the absolute max, this was Queen's first hit - and, for my money, still their best. It was all downhill from here, you know. (I sense I might have lost the Belgian vote at this juncture.)

3. Seven Seconds - Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry, and nobody had better mention Dido or else there'll be big trouble.

I like that bit near the beginning where it sounds as if Youssou N'Dour is singing "Don't f**k me up" - although he's doubtless trying to tell us something extremely Wise and Important and Universally Significant about the nature of our existence. Actually, come to think of it, I have absolutely no idea what this song is supposed to be about - but hey, it sounds suitably anthemic and meaningful, and that's all that matters, right?

4. Seven Days Too Long - Chuck Wood.

"Seven days is too long without you, baby - come on back to me." A plea which is so compellingly, passionately, fervently delivered that - just this once - I am prepared to overlook the grammatical error. Dexys Midnight Runners also recorded it, but Chuck's "Northern Soul" original is the only one you need.

5. Seven Deadly Finns - Brian Eno.

"The first is a freak with a masochistic streak
And the second is a kitten up a tree.
The third is a flirt with a bottle print skirt
And the fourth is pretending to be me."

"The fifth wears a mac and never turns his back
And the sixth never shows his eye-eye-eyes.
But the seventh deadly Finn is so tall and slim
He should have never been with those guys..."


Also contains yodelling. Which is always to be encouraged, I feel.

6. The Magnificent Seven - The Clash.

Located at the precise co-ordinates where punk met funk, white met black, uptown met downtown, art met street, Kingston met Manhattan via Ladbroke Grove, and revolt bled into style. "Brrrbubbllbrrbll! Cheese boiger!"

7. 007 - Desmond Dekker.

I was so glad that the ska revival came along just at the time that I started dancing in public, as there is no move that is easier to learn than the herky-jerky 2-Tone skank. (At halls of residence discos, even the people who didn't normally dance could muster up a shy little bop to this sort of thing.) I saw Desmond Dekker & The Aces live once, sandwiched between Madness and the Go-Go's. Absolutely no memory of whether they were any good or not. But this was.

THE HONKERS.

1. Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat - Bombalurina featuring Timmy Mallett.

We all remember their immortal rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", but everyone always forgets Bombalurina's other hit. Can't imagine why.

2. 7 - Prince and the New Power Generation.

It was around this point (in 1992) that Prince suddenly stopped being a universally acclaimed genius, and turned almost overnight into a tedious, self-indulgent irrelevance with a bloody stupid symbol instead of a name. (And if I had a pound for every dud album thereafter that purported to be a "major return to form", then I'd have, ooh, about twenty quid by now.)

3. Big Seven - Judge Dread.

With lyrics that were judged too naughty for Radio One, Judge Dread chalked up a whole run of unutterably puerile "comedy ska" hits in the 1970s, which presumably sold on their "scandalous" word-of-mouth reputation alone. Sadly, they were about as funny as the "Confessions" films were erotic. A strange decade, the 1970s.

4. Seven Tears - Goombay Dance Band.

A major hit-making force in Germany, if only a mercifully brief annoyance in the UK, no amount of distracting fire-eating stunts on Top Of The Pops could compensate for the total and utter rankness of the track itself. What were you all thinking, Great British Record Buying Public? A strange decade, the 1980s.

5. 7 Days - Craig David.

From Craig David's Livejournal:

Sunday July 31.
Chilled.
Mood: chilled.

Saturday July 30.
Made love.
Mood: still horny!

Friday July 29.
Made love.
Mood: very, very horny.

Thursday July 28.
Made love.
Mood: very horny.

Wednesday July 27.
Made love.
Mood: horny.

Tuesday July 26.
Took her for a drink.
Mood: mildly inebriated.

Monday July 25.
Met this girl.
Mood: proper bo!

Painful to admit it, but I actually liked this one at the time. Sometimes, perspective can be a bitch.

6. Sailing On The Seven Seas - OMD.

They had stopped being interestingly arty a long, long time before this one creaked out of the starting gates. Forgotten it already, have you? There's a reason for that.

7. Seven And The Ragged Tiger - Duran Duran.

Oh, take those rose-tinted glasses off this instant! Duran Duran were always a bit crap, and you know it. "Union Of The Snake" my arse!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home