WARMER MIXTAPES #89 | by Ylva Lindberg and Niklas Gustafsson of Friday Bridge
SIDE A: Outrageous | by Ylva Lindberg
1. Tori Amos | Take To The Sky (Russia)
A song of defiance, to be put on repeat when the world doesn't think much of you. It once saved a Friday Bridge show by being played on my iPod repeatedly after I had read a very unfavourable unrecommendation of the gig in the local paper. I went on stage and was, by the way, VERY GOOD, possibly the best I've ever been. This is the magic of Take To The Sky.
2. Bryan Ferry | Zamba
Mid-80s Bryan Ferry might be a controversial choice. Ferry's smooth seediness, at this point completely unhinged after the dissolution of Roxy Music, isn't for everyone. But the magic of Bête Noire (1987) should be obvious for anyone who gives it a fair chance. Stay clear of the Johnny Marr contribution The Right Stuff (pushing The Smiths' worst song Money Changes Everything further down the drain). Instead go for Zamba; it's basically meeting Bryan Ferry in a bar of questionable reputation, letting him whisper obvious half-truths in your ear around three am, and then suddenly you're in his hotel room dancing with him humming seductively as your only soundtrack. Tomorrow, you'll regret everything.
3. Kylie Minogue | In My Arms
The brutality of an uncompromising super maxed production slaps you in the face - but not too hard, just hard enough - and then suddenly the doors open and you float out into pop chorus heaven together with a shiny, well made-up and scantily dressed Kylie. She smells of tropical fruit, or possibly cherries.
4. ABBA | Our Last Summer
One of the least known ABBA songs, and with good reason. The lyrics, an idiot's account of a French romance with a banker called Harry, are seemingly written by an eleven-old - and not a particularly talented child at that. But the melody is simply wonderful from start to finish (skip through guitar solo). In fact, melody-wise, this is probably one of the songs I heard in my early childhood that still influences Friday Bridge's output. In Horror Of Horrors from our latest album, there's a small tribute to this song: the line it was a fine and true romance is slightly subverted into It's a fine and false romance.
5. Étienne Daho | Weekend À Rome
For years, I thought that Saint Etienne's best song was He's On The Phone. Oh WELL.
6. Françoise Hardy | Je Changerais D'Avis
I first heard the Italian original to this song, Se Telefonando, by the wonderful Mina, as a child. It is, of course, the Melody of Melodies, the Song of Songs. I've tried to recreate this brilliant continuous flow of constant building up and breaking down, but have never gotten even close to this Morricone masterpiece. (While on the subject, let's speak freely for a moment: isn't Morricone, generally, quite boring? Come on, admit it. He's boring. He is.) In this French version by Françoise, who hangs as a much-hated-by-boyfriend poster over my piano, an additional layer of brilliance is added by the lyrics. Basically, a tale of ambivalence; F is with someone, but is quite open to changing if this other fellow would actually make up his mind (oh, boys). Unstable states of mind make the best pop lyrics.
7. The Sex Pistols | Anarchy In The UK
An embarrassing choice, perhaps, considering the unanimous punk glorification of self-pleased middle-aged rockumentary junkies everywhere. Still, the power of the first verse cannot be tainted by even the most persistent of Rock Man associations. You see, it’s just perfect.
8. Katerine | Borderline
I lived in Paris, France. I didn’t have all that much to do, or all that many people to see, or all that many places to be, so I walked. Which was fine with me, because wandering in cities without a place to be is my favourite pastime. Anyway, so I used to walk along the Grand Boulevards, and step into the Virgin store on Boulevard Montmartre at night (it was open until 11pm) and read a little. One night they had a Katerine CD on one of those displays with headphones. This song just stopped me in my tracks. From the insanely catchy synth riff, to the cheerfully lunatic lyrics, to K's trademark whiny weirdo vocals; it’s madness at its absolute finest.
9. Britney Spears | Outrageous
Like all the best Brit songs, a fuck you to moralists, hypocrites and others of their ilk. Outrageous: my sex drive. Outrageous: my shopping spree, she coos. Brilliant.
10. The Walker Brothers | Make It Easy On Yourself
My parents’ record collection wasn’t all that impressive, popwise. A bit of ABBA here, Imagine there. In fact, my only recollection of an addition to it in the eighties was when they bought a Suzanne Vega LP. But it contained a treasure of giant proportions - a ten-cassette low price collection of Hits Of The Sixties. It was contained in a box with a giant jukebox on it, and steered towards the softer side of the decade, to put it mildly. Swooned by Love Is Blue, infatuated with Hey Paula, charmed by Fox On The Run by Manfred Mann, my young heart was eventually stolen by Scott Walker. It still is.
1. Richard Lloyd | Get Off Of My Cloud
I start this off with a brilliant version of a Stones classic. A one off seven inch from 1981. Wonderfully skewed! Drugs involved. Even makes me a vivid air guitarist. This is what I play between 7 and 10 pm Saturday nights. Then I take a break and return to it by 11 O'Clock again.
2. The Sonics | Maintaining My Cool
I ain't no fool...Maintaining my cool...Oh, I wish I could!
3. Kate Bush | Army Dreamers
I am profound in my love of Kate Bush. I have been in love with her since I was a kid and had posters of her on my bedroom wall. The other kids wrote Ramones or Kiss on their notebooks. Some wrote the name of the boy/girl they were in love with. I wrote Kate 4-ever.
4. The Fall | Blindness
My favourite Fall song is often from the latest Fall album. But this one is from the Peel Sessions box. A bit of an exception, to justify the rule maybe...Should go extremely well with a pint of Holt's Bitter.
5. Babyshambles | Killamangiro
For everyone doubting the genious of Pete Doherty I dedicate this one. The single version from 2004. The only single from the 2000s that's essential to me. At least for the moment.
6. The Smiths | Half A Person
I bought The Shoplifters single in 1987 and probably didn't play anything else than that song for about a month. Then I turned it over. AND, OH. MY. GOD. Actually, today I don't really know why I loved this one so much. I think I can understand that there are way better Smiths' songs but Half A Person must have said something about my life that I couldn't express myself. It sort of sucked me in. While in school, me and my friend J used to make year lists of our favourite songs. I think this one topped our list every year from 1987-1990. Call us morbid, call us pale...
7. Kirsty McColl | They Don't Know About Us
My first love was called Gabriela. She looked a bit like Kirsty on the back cover to this single. She had a jacket that was a bit the same, and the same hair. She was every bit as lovely as Kirsty. I bet they smelled the same - like sweet, sweet strawberries and Sun on their skin. Oh, I wish I was nine again.
8. The Only Ones | Another Girl, Another Planet
It's hard getting past this one. It keeps popping up as one of my favourites whatever I do trying to kill it off. At latest we played it at the soundcheck of a Friday Bridge gig this summer as well as in the set for a couple of concerts we've done as This Year's Model and The Higher Elevations. My love for this one goes 25+ years back and that's a habit that's proven unbeatable. Long live Perrett! Expect it live next time.
9. The Cramps | What's Inside A Girl
Dear Lux Interior, no-one has done more for me musically than you have. When I finally got to see you live in a tent on the Roskilde festival you defined everything I believe a performance should be. It's the best concert I have ever been to. I treasure this moment among the dearest in my life. Thank you, you were the best.
10. TVPs | I Was A Mod Before You Was A Mod
This is a bit of a Friday Bridge in-joke, and not really one of my favourites. I usually say this from time to time to the better half of Friday Bridge. And it's completely true: I was a mod long before she ever was. Friday Bridge - the only true mod group of the 2000s.
1. Tori Amos | Take To The Sky (Russia)
A song of defiance, to be put on repeat when the world doesn't think much of you. It once saved a Friday Bridge show by being played on my iPod repeatedly after I had read a very unfavourable unrecommendation of the gig in the local paper. I went on stage and was, by the way, VERY GOOD, possibly the best I've ever been. This is the magic of Take To The Sky.
2. Bryan Ferry | Zamba
Mid-80s Bryan Ferry might be a controversial choice. Ferry's smooth seediness, at this point completely unhinged after the dissolution of Roxy Music, isn't for everyone. But the magic of Bête Noire (1987) should be obvious for anyone who gives it a fair chance. Stay clear of the Johnny Marr contribution The Right Stuff (pushing The Smiths' worst song Money Changes Everything further down the drain). Instead go for Zamba; it's basically meeting Bryan Ferry in a bar of questionable reputation, letting him whisper obvious half-truths in your ear around three am, and then suddenly you're in his hotel room dancing with him humming seductively as your only soundtrack. Tomorrow, you'll regret everything.
3. Kylie Minogue | In My Arms
The brutality of an uncompromising super maxed production slaps you in the face - but not too hard, just hard enough - and then suddenly the doors open and you float out into pop chorus heaven together with a shiny, well made-up and scantily dressed Kylie. She smells of tropical fruit, or possibly cherries.
4. ABBA | Our Last Summer
One of the least known ABBA songs, and with good reason. The lyrics, an idiot's account of a French romance with a banker called Harry, are seemingly written by an eleven-old - and not a particularly talented child at that. But the melody is simply wonderful from start to finish (skip through guitar solo). In fact, melody-wise, this is probably one of the songs I heard in my early childhood that still influences Friday Bridge's output. In Horror Of Horrors from our latest album, there's a small tribute to this song: the line it was a fine and true romance is slightly subverted into It's a fine and false romance.
5. Étienne Daho | Weekend À Rome
For years, I thought that Saint Etienne's best song was He's On The Phone. Oh WELL.
6. Françoise Hardy | Je Changerais D'Avis
I first heard the Italian original to this song, Se Telefonando, by the wonderful Mina, as a child. It is, of course, the Melody of Melodies, the Song of Songs. I've tried to recreate this brilliant continuous flow of constant building up and breaking down, but have never gotten even close to this Morricone masterpiece. (While on the subject, let's speak freely for a moment: isn't Morricone, generally, quite boring? Come on, admit it. He's boring. He is.) In this French version by Françoise, who hangs as a much-hated-by-boyfriend poster over my piano, an additional layer of brilliance is added by the lyrics. Basically, a tale of ambivalence; F is with someone, but is quite open to changing if this other fellow would actually make up his mind (oh, boys). Unstable states of mind make the best pop lyrics.
7. The Sex Pistols | Anarchy In The UK
An embarrassing choice, perhaps, considering the unanimous punk glorification of self-pleased middle-aged rockumentary junkies everywhere. Still, the power of the first verse cannot be tainted by even the most persistent of Rock Man associations. You see, it’s just perfect.
8. Katerine | Borderline
I lived in Paris, France. I didn’t have all that much to do, or all that many people to see, or all that many places to be, so I walked. Which was fine with me, because wandering in cities without a place to be is my favourite pastime. Anyway, so I used to walk along the Grand Boulevards, and step into the Virgin store on Boulevard Montmartre at night (it was open until 11pm) and read a little. One night they had a Katerine CD on one of those displays with headphones. This song just stopped me in my tracks. From the insanely catchy synth riff, to the cheerfully lunatic lyrics, to K's trademark whiny weirdo vocals; it’s madness at its absolute finest.
9. Britney Spears | Outrageous
Like all the best Brit songs, a fuck you to moralists, hypocrites and others of their ilk. Outrageous: my sex drive. Outrageous: my shopping spree, she coos. Brilliant.
10. The Walker Brothers | Make It Easy On Yourself
My parents’ record collection wasn’t all that impressive, popwise. A bit of ABBA here, Imagine there. In fact, my only recollection of an addition to it in the eighties was when they bought a Suzanne Vega LP. But it contained a treasure of giant proportions - a ten-cassette low price collection of Hits Of The Sixties. It was contained in a box with a giant jukebox on it, and steered towards the softer side of the decade, to put it mildly. Swooned by Love Is Blue, infatuated with Hey Paula, charmed by Fox On The Run by Manfred Mann, my young heart was eventually stolen by Scott Walker. It still is.
SIDE B: What's Inside A Girl? | by Niklas Gustafsson
1. Richard Lloyd | Get Off Of My Cloud
I start this off with a brilliant version of a Stones classic. A one off seven inch from 1981. Wonderfully skewed! Drugs involved. Even makes me a vivid air guitarist. This is what I play between 7 and 10 pm Saturday nights. Then I take a break and return to it by 11 O'Clock again.
2. The Sonics | Maintaining My Cool
I ain't no fool...Maintaining my cool...Oh, I wish I could!
3. Kate Bush | Army Dreamers
I am profound in my love of Kate Bush. I have been in love with her since I was a kid and had posters of her on my bedroom wall. The other kids wrote Ramones or Kiss on their notebooks. Some wrote the name of the boy/girl they were in love with. I wrote Kate 4-ever.
4. The Fall | Blindness
My favourite Fall song is often from the latest Fall album. But this one is from the Peel Sessions box. A bit of an exception, to justify the rule maybe...Should go extremely well with a pint of Holt's Bitter.
5. Babyshambles | Killamangiro
For everyone doubting the genious of Pete Doherty I dedicate this one. The single version from 2004. The only single from the 2000s that's essential to me. At least for the moment.
6. The Smiths | Half A Person
I bought The Shoplifters single in 1987 and probably didn't play anything else than that song for about a month. Then I turned it over. AND, OH. MY. GOD. Actually, today I don't really know why I loved this one so much. I think I can understand that there are way better Smiths' songs but Half A Person must have said something about my life that I couldn't express myself. It sort of sucked me in. While in school, me and my friend J used to make year lists of our favourite songs. I think this one topped our list every year from 1987-1990. Call us morbid, call us pale...
7. Kirsty McColl | They Don't Know About Us
My first love was called Gabriela. She looked a bit like Kirsty on the back cover to this single. She had a jacket that was a bit the same, and the same hair. She was every bit as lovely as Kirsty. I bet they smelled the same - like sweet, sweet strawberries and Sun on their skin. Oh, I wish I was nine again.
8. The Only Ones | Another Girl, Another Planet
It's hard getting past this one. It keeps popping up as one of my favourites whatever I do trying to kill it off. At latest we played it at the soundcheck of a Friday Bridge gig this summer as well as in the set for a couple of concerts we've done as This Year's Model and The Higher Elevations. My love for this one goes 25+ years back and that's a habit that's proven unbeatable. Long live Perrett! Expect it live next time.
9. The Cramps | What's Inside A Girl
Dear Lux Interior, no-one has done more for me musically than you have. When I finally got to see you live in a tent on the Roskilde festival you defined everything I believe a performance should be. It's the best concert I have ever been to. I treasure this moment among the dearest in my life. Thank you, you were the best.
10. TVPs | I Was A Mod Before You Was A Mod
This is a bit of a Friday Bridge in-joke, and not really one of my favourites. I usually say this from time to time to the better half of Friday Bridge. And it's completely true: I was a mod long before she ever was. Friday Bridge - the only true mod group of the 2000s.
