The C90 Challenge

Been playing the Desert Island C90 challenge from Scott's blog. This harks back to the teenage(ish) days of creating C90 compilations of appropriate songs for the Walkman. The Challenge - one C90 to take to your desert island. The "A List" selection was:

Side 1              45:00

The Verve - Bittersuite Symphony - 5:58      

Obeys rule 1 of my own 1980's C90s, namely that track1 / side 1 has to start slow with a growing tempo. Great, great song and a shit-cool video

Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness - 6:09

Would have been easy to go for A Design For Life by this lot, but this has always been my favourite, with some top lines trying to sound like they fit together to make a song. Original video unavailable for embedding, but this is from their Millennium Stadium bash on 31/12/99 - this was the last song of the "Old Millenium"

David Lee Roth - Just A Gigolo - 4:39

Always a top, top entertainer. You'd want something like this to bring a smile to your face on your desert island. Outrageous video...

The Darkness - Friday Night - 2:55

More "smile on your face" stuff. They should probably have stopped after this album, but what's not to like about the teenage-crush sentiments about doing stuff you hate just to be with the one you love...  

 

Rainy Day - I'll Keep It With Mine - 3:24

One of my favourite albums, a collection of luminaries from the likes of the Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade and The Bangles. Susanna Hoffs' voice never sounded better than on this Dylan cover.

Pet Shop Boys - Liberation - 3:24

Another less than obvious choice - Always on my Mind or Go West would get more play, and It's A Sin nearly made the cut, but I love the feel and lyrics of this one

The Waterboys - The Whole Of The Moon - 5:01

Never really been a huge Mike Scott fan, but this is epic. The music, the sentiment, the everything

Michael Schenker Group - Into The Arena - 4:14

Rule 2 of the Thomas C90's was "there must be an instrumental on each side". And this is the best.

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir - 8:34

Never a doubt as to which Zep song would make it. One of my great life-moments was driving through the Draa in Morocco with this blaring - perfect accompaniment. Also complies with Rule 3 - last track on side 1 must be an epic

                  

Side 2              44:59

Michael Schenker Group - Looking For Love - 4:06

Rule 4 - first track on side 2 must be a genuine hard rocker. Am breaching the "one track per artist" law, but a little-known subclause allows you to duplicate where the other track is an instrumental. Schenker was always my favourite guitarist and this is his purest rock (albeit without one of his trademark solos). No really decent videos kicking around, so audio only.

Rush - The Spirit Of Radio - 4:59

Long-time favourite band, and a disappointingly obvious choice. They've done much, much better, but in this context it had to be this one...

 

Fish - Internal Exile - 4:41

The Dalkeith woodcutter at his best. Could have gone for a Marillion effort, but I like the observation and anger in this. The official video had a "no embed" tag on YouTube, so here's the audio version only - search for the official one if you want a prime piece of mid-80's fashion gone horribly wrong.

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run - 4:30

Probably the best album of the 70's, and a perfectly crafted piece of music. Possibly the best driving song ever, too. Another one where the preferred video had a "no embed" tag, so here's a couple of minutes taken from almost exactly where I was standing at The Emirates in May.

The Coral - Dreaming of You - 2:21

Chirpy scousers are not particularly high on my like-list, but this 2.21 of superb pop almost perfectly filled a 2.22 hole in the playlist

The Music - Guide - 4:14

An utterly brilliant rock / dance band from Leeds who put on a superb set at Edinburgh this year. Just love this song - "I love this mess" - but I have no idea where the Manga video came from! It is, however, just about the only link around for this...

Runrig - Tuireadh Iain Ruaidh (Instrumental) - 2:42

Sadly, not a link to be found anywhere to this Instrumental from Heartland. Just a haunting and beautiful piece of music.

Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul - Out Of The Darkness - 3:54

Broooooce's partner in crime, and Silvio Dante from the Sopranos. Love this, although the video's horrific - more Whitesnake in blond-dye days than Little Steven

 

The Killers - All These Things That I've Done - 5:02

Time for the current fave band, and brilliant though this song is in any guise, it works best in a festival context

 
Headway - Finish What We Started - 4:41

Favourite new band of 2008, this comes from their 5-track EP - an item last seen when C90s were still on the shelves. Not many videos around, this being a short viral release by the record company

Radiohead - No Surprises - 3:49

The last of the Thomas rules is "last track is a quiet one". Just before they lost the plot, this is just about the perfect end to 90 minutes of music.

Had loads of fun putting this together - even though less that half of the songs on here are my favourite by the artist in question, they still seemed to be the right ones in the compromise of what to include and what to exclude. There's also 2 more 89 minute lists of options being saved for next year...

And so that was Christmas

A quiet family affair, with the now traditional pesto-stuffed mushrooms followed by the always traditional roast turkey avec tout les trimmings. 

This year Amy was working from 12-5 at the Golf Club and MA had been working on Xmas eve and was in bed, so Matthew and I went out for a 6 mile walk over the top of town. As always, when it's just the two of us, there's plenty of Top Gear-esque dicking around and taking the piss, which seems to vanish in female oversight. Listen: boys (and men) just love to arse around and think that Growin' Up is a decent Springsteen song, but not a lifestyle aspiration.

Boxing Day was going to be a "go and enjoy the leisure club at Cameron House day"; gym for me and Amy and lounging for Matthew and MA, but little sign of life by 1100, so I decide that I'm bored and a run is in order

Through the woods, along to Cross Keys, turn left into Glen Fruin and loop back round to Helensburgh and home. 8 miles and about 500ft elevation change made it officially "a challenge". But rewarding and on a still, cold day, almost enjoyable.

God, it really has been a while

I guess, like new year's resolutions and the dodgy cappuccinos in the new deli at work, blogs are better started and not finished. This notwithstanding, it's time to get this road back on the show with a brief run through the highlights of 2008. And yes, despite the earlier concerns, there have been some...

Main amonst which is fitness / weight. A year of pretty intensive gym and running has left me leaving 2008 over a stone lighter than I entered it, and running 4-5 miles at 7.10 to 7.30 pace. Which for a man of my age is respectable. My gym, at Cameron House hotel on Loch Lomondside, has just reopened and is looking good value for the pile of money spent on the refit.

Work has been surprisingly OK; periods of underutilisation interspersed with some interesting and challenging new stuff. As always the best thing is the people. Some good ones left, some good ones joined, but they're what makes it tolerable. Special vote of thanks as ever at this time of year to the customers who think it's big and clever to issue tenders with submission dates in early January. It's not big OR clever to feck up the Christmas of the people who work for your potential supplies, you wankers.

Sporting highlight was taking in Barcelona v Valencia at the Camp Nou - 4-0 and a Henri hat-trick. On my wife's 40th birthday. I know how to show a girl a good time, and no mistake...

Some good musical stuff as well; albums by The Music, Headway, Kings of Leon and OneRepublic deserve mention, but Day & Age by The Killers stands out miles above anything else. Derivative, yes, but clever, lively, challenging and occasionally beautiful. The Glasvegas album was a delight (if that's the right word) too - difficult themes set against an amazing sound; I remain to be convinced how much is them and how much is manufactured, but the basic songwriting seems sound enough to make you hope it's mainly them. 

The Music in Edinburgh was an awesome gig, full of energy and quality, and would have been gig of the year any other year - but seeing Springsteen from 8 rows back at the Emirates, with all the enthusiasm, craft and setlist opportunites that he still brings was awesome. And with the full E-Street set-up (less, sadly, Danny Federici who passed away this year) it was a highlight of the decade. Until The Killers in March, of course...

The real highlight of the year, of course was team General Ignorance's Sucata Run extravaganza, three men in an aging Volvo having a hoot raising a decent pile of dosh for a deserving charity. Read all about it on the blog, and prepare for next year's multi-media extravaganza on Sucata Split. Note the Justgiving widget on this page - you know what you need to do...

There have been some downsides, but I won't dwell, because who knows what's around the corner. I hereby resolve to blog more next year, even if this year's blank has probably made more sense and been a more entertaining read...