Reply to Nancy

I've been listening to this CD repeatedly for over a week now, and I've really enjoyed it! Some of the songs that weren't instant hits have had a chance to grow on me. Much of it was new to me, so that was great! And I loved the geographic theme. The sounds of Lancashire are very different from those of Athens.

All my Mix Club offerings so far have been random selections of things I like, however quirky or uncool they may seem to others. This time I wanted to do a theme, and as Nancy lives in a place of pilgrimage for music fans, I thought I'd fly the red rose flag for Lancashire. This would be traditional Lancashire, which always included two places of pilgrimage and also included my home town of Barrow, to which I have returned. I did struggle to find a representative of Barrow but... Well, we shall see!

1. I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles

Great opener! This is one of my top two or three favorite Beatles songs. I had it on a mixed tape I used to listen constantly my junior year in college. Good memories. This song still rocks.

Any Lancashire mix has to include the Beatles and where better to start than the first track on the first album, when they were still raw rock 'n' rollers but bending the rules even then.

2. All Woman - Lisa Stansfield

Ooooh, sultry. I like this woman's voice, and this classic-sounding piece of r&b.

Who said Brits can't do soul?

3. Enola Gay - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Quintessential 80s pop, with the synthesizer - you can actually hear the shoulder pads. More good memories from college days came along with this one. Actually I never knew the name of this song was "Enola Gay" or that it was about the plane that dropped the bomb. A much more serious theme than the music suggests.

Stretching a point here - OMD were from the Wirral, in Cheshire (but an appendage of Liverpool all the same)

4. Starry Eyed - Michael Holliday

This one was a nice surprise. A catchy little tune with cute backing vocals. The singer's voice is in the style of the crooners of the fifties, Bing Crosby et al., very pleasant.

Michael Holliday has fascinated me for a long time, to the point that once I attempted to write a radio play about him. He was a Liverpool schoolteacher in the 1950s, in the days when we had to have Brit versions of all things American. He was discovered for his lovely velvety voice and pitched as the British Bing Crosby. He couldn't hack it, poor chap, and killed himself. This song was a number one in 1960.

5. Every Day Hurts - Sad Cafe

This is one of my top two favorites of this mix. It begins with long, melodic lines, telling a story, but then the chorus just takes off, irresistably catchy. This is also from 1980, but it doesn't feel dated to me at all. I really love it, and will definitely look for more from this group.

Always a much better band than they were given credit for, I think. One of the best things about the 1980s. Also, for the alert, a connection to Georgia!

6. Daydream Believer - The Monkees

The Monkees was in reruns in the fifth grade and I would watch it every day when I came home from school. I had a huge crush on Davy Jones, and there is no obsession like the obsession of a ten-year-old girl for her first celebrity crush. This is a sweet, upbeat song with good harmonies. It wasn't my favorite Monkees song, but it's nice to hear it again.

Pretty damned close to my favourite Monkees song. Singer Davy Jones was of course from Lancashire. He's an American citizen these days, and Mickey Dolenz is the honorary Brit!

7. The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen

I used to hear people complain about our college radio station: "All they ever play is Echo and the Bunnymen." Anyway, they seemed to typify college radio in those days. The lyrics are a bit mysterious and haunting, definitely the darkest song in the mix. And I like that you can hear the singer's accent when he sings. Thumbs up!

I very much like this kind of dark and haunting song. I did see Echo and the Bunnymen at WOMAD a few years ago and they were disappointing. Past their sell-by date, perhaps? Or just competing in awesome comapny.

8. Can You Feel The Force - The Real Thing

This is a fun disco tune - simple and monotonous, but it's got a great beat.

I, um, thought they were American for years! Great for dancing to and probably driving to.

9. You're A Lady - Peter Skellern.

He appeared on a previous mix, and I think he's grown on me since then. Generally, I don't like big productions of things, anything, and this song has a full orchestra and what sounds like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing backup. But it moves me.

I have a big thing about Peter Skellern, as you know. Apart from being the campest show on earth, he's deliciously uncool and milks his Lancashireness for all it's worth. And a good brass band is always welcome (even if this one is from enemy territory). This is one of his own songs.

10. Teach Your Children Well - Crosby Stills Nash & Young

This is a band I've always felt I should listen to more, but I've never really sought them out. This one is familiar, of course, from radio play, and it's a great little song. I really like layered harmonies like this. I should get an album - any suggestions?

I might have guessed that this would be a staple of American AOR radio. Not much heard here, actually. Written and sung by Blackpool-born Graham Nash.

11. Waterfall - The Stone Roses

This one is beautiful. Definitely one of my favorites.

I can't make up my mind about the Stone Roses. They are an essential component of the 1980s Madchester scene. Some much-hyped poll of recent years had their eponymous debut album (from which this is taken)the best ever made. This is nonsense. It's a fine album but not a classic. IMHO.

12. Fugitive Motel - Elbow

Another hit, and one that really grew on me after repeated listening. Something melancholy, maybe hopeful or at least wishful - it definitely evokes an emotional response in me.

Being largely unaware of what's a hit this last 25 years, I first encountered this on a freebie CD that came with the Guardian a few years ago, and I was smitten. Apparently Elbow arouses strong negative feelings amongst some rock obsessives but what the hell.

13. Lilac Wine - Elkie Brooks

This one is not a dance tune - it sounds like it could be from a musical, since it has a very dramatic feel. I'd never heard it before. The singer's voice has a lot of vibrato, which makes it distinct, but not completely appealing. I don't dislike the song, and it make keep growing on me. But so far, not a fave.

I first encountered Elkie Brooks as half of the front of Vinegar Joe alongside Robert Palmer in the 1970s. I'm sorry I had no Vinegar Joe tracks to include. These days she's a stalwart of the standard provincial tours and a guaranteed sell-out. This old Eartha Kitt song is generally the big set piece of the act.

14. Closer Than Yesterday - Renaissance

Lovely song - particularly like the vocals on this one. So, former Yardbirds?? Would never have guessed!

I can never make up my mind about Renaissance. Sometimes I love to wallow in that big sound. Sometimes I begin to understand why punk had to happen. (I like them best for the sheer chutzpah of, when everybody else was getting into synths, using a full-on symphony orchestra) The best Renaissance tracks are those without the annoying Annie Haslam on vocals but since she's our Lancashire representative this is one of the better ones. I love the multi-tracked Annies in counterpoint.

15. Juliet - The Four Pennies

The only one I tend to skip. It's a slow one, and it just doesn't grab me.

Not quite sure why I included it now I think about it. A surprise number one in 1964, and from Blackburn (of the 4,000 holes). Singer Lionel Morton later found fame as a presenter of Play School, a favourite TV show for tots and the more louche university students.

16. Too Shy - Kajagoogoo

This one is an old favorite, and it's great to hear it again. Very catchy chorus, and that bass intro is the best part.

A staple of the jukebox at the Green Dragon in Cambridge at a difficult time in my life.

17. Bus Stop - The Hollies

Great little pop song. I've known it for years, but never had a copy.

Graham Nash again, of course. The Hollies were best at being upbeat rather than maudlin and were never as good after Nash left. This is my favourite.

18. Living In The Past - Jethro Tull

Hey, this is a treat. I used to listen to someone else's Jethro Tull records, but I never got around to buying my own. I like this song a lot. I love that flute. I wish I'd discovered them earlier, when I was in high school, because it might have inspired me to practice my band instrument with a little more enthusiasm.

Early Tull were a fine band indeed. They did get boring after a while. Most of them from Blackpool but - get this - Glenn Cornick, who plays bass on this, is from Barrow!

19. No Milk Today - Herman's Hermits

AWESOME. This was love at first sight, you know, figuratively. Anthony, my five-year-old, agrees and whenever he gets in the car with me, his first words are, "Can you play number 19?" I can't get this one out of my head most of the time, but I don't mind.

When I was young, being caught in possession of a Herman's Hermit's record was social death. But what's not to love about this one? Peter Noone, like Davy Jones, appeared in Coronation Street.

20. Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis

Gorgeous! I have no idea what any of the lyrics mean, but they sound good with the music.

The first time I heard Oasis I thought I was listening to Beatles outtakes. Until I got to She's Electric when I began to wonder how much Ray Davies was going to sue the Gallaghers for. But before they got really self-indulgent they did some terrific stuff.

I was going to start this mix with the biggest of the Liverpool bands and end it with the biggest of the Manchester bands. But I just couldn't resist finishing with...

21. On The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine - Laurel & Hardy

Oh, wow. When I was a kid, my dad used to sing this song, but with different lyrics. I'd never heard the Laurel & Hardy version with the girl. His had a cow on a railroad track, and it ended badly. "She was a good old cow with eyes so fine, but you can't expect a cow to read a railroad sign. . . " This is a great closer - something completely different.

Stan Laurel, aka Arthur Jefferson, was from Ulverston, just up the road from here.