For the second of our run of geographically themed playlists, we head off to the musical mecca of northwest England - Liverpool.
But this is not the Liverpool of the 1960s - what did that ever produce (only joking mum)?! This time we focus on the wave of fantastic music that came out of the city in my youth (and a bit later). It is a city I enjoyed spending time in when I got older and found myself in college 20 miles to the north. Such is depth of the musical heritage there, that unlike last time, the links of this playlist to the city are a lot less tenuous.
Also - look out for songs by all the members of The Crucial Three, the greatest band that never really was!
1. Echo & The Bunnymen: The Cutter
One of the first Liverpool bands to make some success as they grew out of the post-punk ashes of the late 1970s, the Bunnymen quickly became the masters of the 80s indie scene. Ian McCulloch's dark, throaty vocals countered nicely against Will Sergeant's riffs - sometimes brooding, sometimes bright, always ear-catching. For the record, Echo was their drum machine in the early days, fortunately replaced by the late, great Pete De Freitas before they got too far down the road! The Cutter was the second single from the third album, Porcupine, which provides another great link - as it was produced by Ian Broudie.
2. China Crisis: Working With Fire & Steel
This is the title track of the second China Crisis album, which has the slightly longer (and more pretentious) title of Working With Fire & Steel (Possible Pop Songs Volume 2) - which is still not a patch on the debut, Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun To Entertain. The lads from Kirkby drew strongly on the classic, pure pop sound of bands like Steely Dan (in fact, their third and fifth albums were produced by Walter Becker, no less). This song is seated in the socialist, working class ethos that typified early 80s Liverpool and is driven by Gary Johnson's fantastic bass line and Eddie Lundon's very clean, slightly funky guitar.
3. The Icicle Works: Understanding Jane
On a list of the great underrated / undervalued bands of all time, the Icicle Works must surely sit somewhere near the top? Their four albums (the fifth was pretty much a McNabb solo record), that punctuated the 1980s covered just about every genre imaginable, so you never knew what was coming next! For a three piece, they really packed a punch, propelled by the human whirlwind that was Chris Sharrock on drums. Singer and songwriter, Ian McNabb, wore 101 influences on his sleeve - from Neil Young to Phil Spector, via Johnny Rotten and David Essex. Understanding Jane is three and a half great minutes of garage pop - not one of McNabb's great lyrical masterpieces, but just a great and catchy song.
4. The Teardrop Explodes: Reward
I was going to go for a different song to be 'interesting', but this is surely one of the greatest pop songs of the 80s, so how could I not put it in? Inspired by Alan Gill's great bass line (who had left the band before the song was released in January 1981) and beefed up by a Love-inspired trumpet heavy riff, Reward became the band's biggest hit, reaching number six.
5. OMD: Electricty
While most of the bands in this playlist are rooted in the punk scene of the late 70s, it is incredible how many tangents they went off in. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark are a good example of this, while often derided at the time, they became one of the key synth pioneers, fusing Kraftwerk with new-wave pop. Electricity was their first single, released as a one off on the new Factory label, and it was enough to get them a multi-album deal with Dindisc and also saw them as supporting act for first Joy Division, and then Gary Numan.
6. Half Man Half Biscuit: Joy Division Oven Gloves
A band that most definitely should not be labelled a comedy band - HMHB fuse a classic indie sound with satirical, sardonic lyrics. And yes, those song titles and lyrics can often be amusing, but make no mistake, they are a proper band! Joy Division Oven Gloves has it all - a catchy tune and witty lyrics, full of random cultural references, that you will be humming and trying to remember for the rest of the day - "Nero fiddles, while Gordon Burns."
7. Wah!: The Story Of The Blues
Wah! or The Mighty Wah! as they would later be known, was the vehicle for Pete Wylie, who had cut his musical teeth in The Mystery Girls, a band that included Julian Cope and Pete Burns (Dead or Alive), but only played one gig - supporting Sham 69 at Liverpool's legendary Eric's club. By the time he got to this song in 1982 though, Wylie was more about big, R&B infused anthems, than brooding post-punk. The song is as 80s as it gets, lots of big, chiming synth notes, building to big cinematic peaks - classic tune!
8. The Lightening Seeds: The Life Of Riley
A band that came to the fore in the 1990s, the Lightening Seeds are still rooted back to that same post-punk era as much of this list. Main man, Ian Broudie, was pretty much the emblem and flag bearer of Liverpool music in the 80s. He had been in bands like Big In Japan (with Holly Johnson and Bill Drummond), Care and Original Mirrors - and seemingly had produced just about every other band in the city; including Echo & The Bunnymen, The Icicle Works, The Pale Fountains. The Life Of Riley was an early Seeds single, being a minor hit in 1992 and inspired by his infant son, Riley. But it went on to a whole new life, when Match of the Day used it for programme segments.
9. Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Two Tribes
For about 18 months, FGTH were the British pop band! While Relax had been about the great taboo of sex, Two Tribes seemed to be a celebration of nuclear war, although it was clearly one of the great anti-war songs. The glorious disco-funk bass line and incessant guitar, coupled with Trevor Horn's production (possibly hitting his peak here), means that they had somehow put out two of the all time best 80s pop singles, back-to-back!
10. The Coral: Change Your Mind
Bringing the Playlist a bit more up to date here.... The Coral brought some much needed bright, shiny guitar joy to the early noughties, with tunes like Dreaming Of You and Pass It On - but I have gone even newer, with a track from last year's Coral Island concept double album. Change Your Mind is just a nice slice of sunny, late 60s sounding, melodic pop, to cheer you up on a dreary autumnal day.
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