BRILLIANT SONGS Series 3

BRILLIANT SONGS

Series 3

Welcome to another series of Brilliant Songs. While the 80s & 90s rule supreme here, Robert Smith's War Song with Simon Gallop on bass once again is from recent days. The previous series saw Robert Smith & the fellas from New Order thank me for their inclusion, and both bands also make the cut for this 2025 series. As you can see here I love that sultry sonic 90s dreamwave allure, while 80s punk & Oz-n-Kiwi post-punk will always be treasured. These articles have travelled the globe, landing on international music forums and FB fanzine sites for the bands themselves. I do this as a hobby, not-for-profit, as I want to give back to the artists while nurturing nostalgia to spice up the senses.

ENJOY , Ian Browne Shamrock News Music

Brilliant Songs -SURF PUNK– Pixies & Suicidal Tendencies (80’s into 90’s). www.shamrocknewsmusic.com  Welcome to the first of Series 3 for Brilliant Songs! Facebook is where these music posts first land, but they also travel to music and entertainment forums, while popular on band fanzine sites.

When I think of ‘surf punk’ I do think California, but also good ol Sydney town where I grew up. Yes, Radio Birdman were a powerhouse in the early punk scene of Sydney, while in time bands like the Hard-ons, the Hellmenn, and of course The Celibate Rifles, all demanded time on the minds of the punkers, skaters & surfers alike. But today, let’s move along into the late 80’s & early 90’s US, to enjoy some surf sounds that inspired.

Both numbers are instrumentals, so no need for highlighting lyrical genius today. I have to say that both of these bands sit within the top 10 of my all-time favs. And with the challenging, controlling times there in the US at present, who knows what creative quagmire will arrive with modern punk & hip hop in response. As for ‘surf sound’ it was ignited by Dick Dale from Massachusetts during the 50s into 60s, whose rapid picking style (the pulsation), employment of alternative scales and use of reverb, was influenced by his Lebanese ancestry and Arabic music. As the Sixties mossied up to the Seventies, proto-punk, and with the dawn of punk itself, the earlier California surf sound was definitely part of the genre’s genetics.

PIXIES: CECILIA ANN Well, with album titles like Surfer Rosa showing the band’s interest in surf vibes, this is a powerful number which really takes the moment! As seen on Surfguitar101.com (2018) Steve Hoffman wrote this number with Charles ‘Frosty’ Horton for The Surftones, the Pixies later asking to borrow it. It is a heavy surf sound emanating from a Pixies 1990 album of sonic genius. I love this album Bossanover for many reasons. Announcing the beginning of the album the six strings are strum stridently with purpose, the drums shatter the air, and we are off on a journey amongst the waves. The main chorus is clear and nicely nostalgic, the heavy power chuggas are a real winner with that impressive drum roll between chorus, a brain chemistry tickler! The tempo does rise further as we hit midway, and into the exit lane such a big and all-encompassing instrumental…this is nothing short of sonic surf punk royalty!

The Pixies ‘Cecilia Ann’ https://tinyurl.com/3tmw4s8w

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES: SURF & SLAM from How Will I Laugh Tomorrow (1988). Not dissimilar to the above, clear sonics are complemented by powerful chugga chords sending us along on a ride along the salty Californian coast. Interwoven, into the fray beautiful acoustic guitar tinkers away while skate-punk-metal master Rocky George lets fly with whinnying horses. Time is forced to stall and return with drum stabs and bass, while Rocky’s lead arrives wonderfully enrapturing, and within all this, time woven nostalgia sizzles in amongst with that gloriously old surf sound. Rocky also ignites the airwaves with a fast-flickering surf bee-buzz …while his guitar bend-screams aloud before sounding out an eerie sombre moment in theme with the album’s title as the number heads towards its finality. This is a clever track, and one sure to please any crowd live, I’m sure!

Suicidal Tendencies ‘Surf & Slam’ https://tinyurl.com/ayh4nzmj

Brilliant Songs-TOUCHED-Vast (1998) www.shamrocknewsmusic.com …I'll never find someone quite like you, Again”  VAST, or Visual Audio Sensory Theatre were a Seattle based outfit that captured the hearts of many during the late 90’s. It could be easy to box in this splendour to genre dark wave, and it certainly has exciting elements of this. But alt.electro-rock and industrial metal is the main theme for VAST, with an array of many experiences through time cursing through its veins. Seriously, hit the video link below, this is a unique number that baits the soul.  

…the razors and the dying roses”  From the outset peaceful almost hippy folk acoustics and calming repose begins this tale of sadness, of reflection. A chance meeting where the vacuum of time steals us from one another, we can all relate to this simple message of course. But with Touched it arrives steeped in mysticism. Many sounds, emotions, draw one to this flame of intrigue, but in the end, it is that delicious feminine hollering that steals me dumfounded. This divinity is in fact a Bulgarian women’s choir: Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares. Ten or so years after I first heard this song I was driving along the Darwin foreshore before sunset. Under the coconut palms and banyan trees the J’s were sending out this potion to the airways. That old, unified women’s voice was just magical - it is viciously nostalgic - yet seemingly out of reach to the exotic. The flute on the outro, brilliant!

…the demi-gods and hungry ghosts”   The metal chords attack, leaping from the calm, it is a fusion both exciting and ‘lamentful’. The elements within, the structure of this song, too is unique. It doesn’t seem to follow the usual pattern between gentle to loud, verse to chorus. That is part of its magic of course. While each allurement has its light of day before moving onto the next in pace, this teases your brain when trying to keep up, while earnestly divulging the ancient sounds rushing through your memories.

…I looked into your eyes and Saw a world that does not exist”  Hailing from Humboldt, California, singer John Cosby is an interesting cat who has been stalked by the music industry since he was 13. His love of variety in music has feathered his passions. Noticeable is John’s interest in Dead Can Dance and world music for this number. In an interview suitably titled ‘Sensory Overload’ with Steve Gray for Westword (1999) Jon Cosby shares, "One day I bought this Tibetan music and they had all these really ritualistic things, and at the end there was this horn thing, and it was crazy. And so I started playing. I was walking around with my acoustic guitar. And I started listening to more and buying more, and then one day I had a little drum-machine beat going on and some chords for 'Touched,' and then I sampled the Bulgarian women's choir.”

….I'll never find someone quite as touched as you I'll never love someone quite the way that I loved you.”

Touched https://tinyurl.com/ynjzm3d9

Brilliant Songs-CRYSTAL-New Order (2001) www.shamrocknewsmusic.com

….. Here comes love It's like honey You can't buy it with money” I was happily surprised recently when Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook from both Joy Division & New Order sent me a thanks for including the latter band in the last series of Brilliant Songs. I have been a fan of both bands for an age, many have. New Order’s Blue Monday remains the world’s number one 12-inch single. While past New Order albums explored moody post-punk electronica, this more recent album is of the indie alt. rock-n-pop essence, while thankfully remaining moody. Get Ready has accompanied me on many a road trip.

…. We’re like crystal. We break easy”  There are some fascinating sounds arriving to this song. It incorporates alternative pop nostalgia with 90’s dream-wave supersonic fuzz! On the cusp of late 90’s into the New Millenium there were some regal tunes on the go. But I feel that the legitimacy, the originality of the previous eras in alternative music, began to wane post-early-2000’s. Crystal is such a monumental soundscape! That beautiful rise of keys leaving the midsection behind, smashed to pieces by that massive avalanche of sizzling haze; well, the piano loop somehow manages to hold out to tickle through from beneath the wave at the song’s finality. From the get go, we are drawn into that solid beat, that edgy distortion in rhythm somehow calming, initially, where in time that fierce synth leaps out to throttle us! There are plenty of background sounds the keys share which intrigue, while those gorgeous Hook bass interludes send us back to Joy Division and early times New Order.  It doesn’t matter how old you are, if Crystal was sounding out in a club, or live from the stage, it would be impossible not to let loose to. It is overwhelming!

… I'm a man in a rage With a girl I betrayed” So what is the message behind these lyrics, I hear you ask? Well firstly, Sumner’s hypnotic voice fits this saga perfectly. Named by her parents after this song, unknown author Crystal sums it up nicely for morrisassey.blogspot.com (2014) “Love is symbolized as being something that illuminates the soul and keeps it from dying out. Although we might think we have unconditional love for someone, that can quickly change because life gets in the way. Maybe one person's feelings remain the same, but the other might slowly drift away from those emotions they once had.”

The clip here is fun in that they have young actors from a fake band, The Killers, hitting the stage in place of New Order themselves. It’s funny as this was the inspiration for the name of the real band The Killers, and in later times Las Vegas 2016, K’s-frontman Brandon Flowers performed Crystal with New Order. 

…you shock me to the core”

Crystal https://tinyurl.com/v9ssrtwe

Live 2018 https://tinyurl.com/73jwn29a

Brilliant Songs -MESSAGE TO MY GIRL – Split Enz (1984)

….I don't want to say I love you That would give away too much” This is beautiful song from a band thriving within the New Zealand & Oz post-punk scene during the late 70s into 80s. A fun, quirky band that brightened our lives, Split Enz were just as well known in the Antipodeans & Canada than the band that formed in Melbourne after their fateful ‘split’… Crowded House.

….it's wrapped up in conversation It's whispered in a hush” This song remains embedded in my childhood memories: from its time on radio, on Count Down. The clip here does look ‘aged’, but that is certainly not a negative. With so much angst around this planet of ours at present it is refreshing to return to what makes us human. Sure, we do need to protect what is important to us, but a deep love for another human is utmost and this song, drifting back as tonic for our times, is a sincere and honourable communication…. Oh, there's nothing quite as real As the touch of your sweet hand. ”

...so I sing it to the world Simple message to my girl” Popular artist Neil Finn sings, plays piano, and guitar, on this number. It’s a song duelling between keys and piano sharing the mission, while the keys too reminiscent of the calm of violins. Otherwise, it all pretty casual, it is a dreamy ambience throughout while it stalls nearing the end - before rising emotionally to a release - an admittance that if ‘he’ doesn’t approach this woman seriously he will end up with the “rest of my life buried in the sand.”

…no more empty self-possession Vision swept under the mat”  New Zealand has long supported indie music. Bands like Joy Division charted as high as mainstream bands back in the day. Being half-Kiwi myself, I have been lucky to have an insight into this connection. Split Enz were wonderfully creative and socially engaging while also calling Australia their home for a time. But what is this song all about? Well, it seems simple enough, right? Community thoughts on songmeanings.com suggested by alleyghOst, “At the end of the day, his message is really like a dream, a life he envisions, where real love can bloom. He just hopes she can pick up the meaning of his vision, which is too grand for words.” While kooswillem has a go: “I think the singer has some superficial objections to say 'I love you' and other 'corny statements he first feels too 'hip' for. But as the pressure becomes higher, he decides the time has come to tell his girl he loves her and no longer cares as much for his earlier objections.” In reply Jefro2 examines, “I agree with this, but do you see the irony in the fact that he doesn’t actually say the word he is frightened by?”

From Neill Finn himself:

“It is very hard to write a love song that doesn’t sound a bit contrived, these days. Every angle of love’s been covered a thousand times before, so the best thing you can do is make it relate to you personally as much as possible. That song does relate to me personally. It’s also partly about the fact that I found it difficult to write an out and out love song, and most people find it difficult to express love in any sort of way, which is a shame.”

— Neil Finn, Conflicting Emotions promo interview, 1983 in Nelifinn.com

….it's no new years resolution It's more than that”

From their home in Melbourne Message to My Girl https://tinyurl.com/4umhjzr7

Brilliant Songs -ALSO SPRACH THE KING OF EURO DISCO– Ed Kuepper (1986)…well I bought a ribbon to tie your hair We were almost there When the sun shone thru your window”   I was in the back lane entrance to the Lansdowne Hotel on a Friday night early 90’s Sydney, loading in and getting ready to do the lightshow for Succotash. Standing alongside us was none other than Ed Kuepper himself. All of us were ex-punks and of course being the Saints’ guitarist, Ed was someone to admire. Succotash also went on to play with The Aints at Paddington RSL. Anyway, a few years later I was off to live in the UK for a spell and joining me for my long walks around Brighton etc, my headphones with ‘The Butterfly Net’ et al. That remains special to me and this number would have to be my favourite!

…it was our first night You were dressed in black You had just left home And you lay there on my pillow”   This song begins with gusto, and I just love that rockabilly instrumental. The guitar really has that train like journey movement about it, that tinkling acoustics with lead & slide over the top -of which Ed Kuepper does so well. It so reminds me of travelling up to the Northern Rivers from Sydney in the days before I moved here, you know, as you pass by Kempsey and things begin to feel more folky-tropical. Ed’s music really does lend itself to the alternative folk living between the city and the bush. I’ve always felt that. And even though I’ve worked alongside cowboys on properties over the years, I’m not someone at all interested in ‘country’ or ‘western’. So, this is about as country as I get, and that post punk indie-edge is what facilitates this. I love how with Ed Kuepper you get bursts of energy then harmonised, tranquil episodes with violin and harmonica to calm the nerves. It speaks to your surrounds and allows the ‘streetwise’ in you to applaud the simple things in life. In the meantime, Trouserpress.com (2025) suggests of this brilliant number, “Also Sprach the King of Euro-Disco” mates a faintly “Zarathustroid” chord sequence, a James Bondish guitar lick, cool female backing voices, and a killer horn riff.”

…if you please dear madam Read this book I read it years ago So take a look and follow”  Melanie Oxley arrives to this number in backup vocals, the brass attack towards the end of the clip here, splendid! And while I’d assume it is a romantic reflection about a time with a young woman important in the life of the author, one he was doing his best to mold into his own life, there has been suggestion that it also relates to the play of light during ‘Eurodisco’, an expressive analogy to this in the emotions of that moment in time. Anyway, perhaps you would prefer it to echo your own thoughts of your own young love memories of times since passed.

…and you're still winding windows While I follow

Also Sprach the King of Euro Disco https://tinyurl.com/ebaubvnz 

Brilliant Songs -HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA- Dead Kennedys (1980) www.shamrocknewsmusic.com …so, you've been to school for a year or two And you know you've seen it all In daddy's car, thinkin' you'll go far Back east, your type don't crawl”   It really doesn’t matter what genre you like to feast on most, this song is a masterpiece in anyone’s language! And for those sharing this planet who have never heard of it before, well now, you are in for a treat!

As far as punk is concerned the DKs were original. That surf rock guitar, fast drums, and an endlessly charismatic frontman, they could never be ignored. Some Dead Kennedys songs are chaotic, anarchy! But this is a number that still enthralls with punk angst, but it is decisive in its structure -it’s a well-heeled whiz of excitement! But if you actually pay attention, in true 80’s punk theatre, there is a message against the sheer naivety in mainstream American life. Is it of purely anti-war, anti-totalitarianism rhetoric? Well, it certainly isn’t promoting the ills of such. But it is also having a dig at the comfortable lives of those who haven’t had to endure such a tirade in life…and this also speaks up for those in the black ghettos of the US.

…well, you'll work harder with a gun in your back For a bowl of rice a day”  The emphasis anyway is on the sickening domination of Pol Pot.  I still can’t figure out how he made his way through a life to become an old man while he caused the demise and vast misery of so many. The US Government of the time had something to do with that. The DKs were never one to shy away from any topic really. As described by Songfacts.com (2025), “this song takes aim at privileged American college kids who don't know how good they have it. A secondary target is the US government, which was doing nothing to stop the genocide in Cambodia, where Pol Pot was in power.”

….you're a star-belly sneech, you suck like a leech You want everyone to act like you”  Apparently the entire band had a go at putting this number together. Instrumentally, it is grand! Those squeaky ghostly six-strings wailing before the bass rumbles along, the drums rattle in, and the guitar hollers out like a creature ready to fight. Of course, Jello Biafra demands time in storytelling, his voice unique. And as much as he is one of the great frontmen of all time, the way East Bay Ray’s guitar shrieks out is brilliant! It really sets the scene, while the lead pans out into various dimensions, ending up in some deranged jazz meets punk carnival elope, then growling in low with the chords to let you know just how serious the whole thang is. This just has to be one of the best punk songs of all times, and one of the best songs of the 80s, full stop!

….a holiday in Cambodia Where the slums got so much soul…POL POT!”

Holiday in Cambodia https://tinyurl.com/3kn7u5v4

Live with footage form Cambodia https://tinyurl.com/2pm2msbz 

Brilliant Songs -SHALLOW-Catherine Wheel (1992) www.shamrocknewsmusic.com

…you always said those things were mine”  I so love the intense psychedelics of this colourful early-90s soundwave. It explodes from the block, the drums in overdrive Madchester mayhem while keeping up! The whole album Ferment is a soul snatcher. Even the slower songs like Black Metallic roll thunder down into every crevice of your being, but I have to say, some songs do make me sad.

…..I'll only take the things that shine”  I love how after the roaring intro, feedback squarks briefly like a whistle, alerting one to even further bluster to follow! It must be one hell of a number to cover live, right? Call it noise pop, ethereal wave, post-punk-indie-rock: the moody seductive sonics and heavy percussion with that tangible pop element make for an interesting potion. I just love that driving percussion! Waves of coiling distortion, wa-wa and fuzzy flange, make for a hearty soup with the bass wrapping itself about it all with vigour! In the meantime, the lead shows itself in harmony within this warzone, showing up with an empathetic reckoning.

It's funny hearing bands trying to excuse themselves from a genre that remains one of my very favourites. So, as for the genre term ‘shoegaze’ CW bassist Dave Hawes in an interview for Bigtakeover.com (2018) reflected on days since passed:

“I’m not big on pigeon-holing bands and/or albums but I’m happy with Ferment being classified as a shoegaze album. It’s cited often enough in top shoegaze albums so it has to be, right? I get where the term came from; bands statue-like on stage, heads down trying to step on the right guitar pedal through the dark and dry ice! We were never like that live but on record, Ferment, has its feet in the shoegaze genre, I suppose.” Hawes also suggested that the following album Chrome was very different to Ferment, and in an interview with radcyberzine (1995) frontman Rob Dickson explained how when playing live people would have been surprised by the band’s vibrancy.

…you know what’s inside”

Shallow https://tinyurl.com/38j53m69

Brilliant Songs -HORROR HEAD-Curve (1992) https://www.shamrocknewsmusic.com/

….from the floor in my castle Where I see the sun from”  Now, this is an original sound by this wonderfully creative 90’s group. In sync between the sonics of dreamwave electronica and wizened within the genetics of post-punk goth, this wall of heavy distortion-meets-wah-fuzz sends the neural pathways into a new realm. Curve still remains one my top five fav groups of all time.

…fireworks, blue and green I can see what they sing”  Yes, Toni Halliday’s voice and hollering are seductive, this number rolls between calm caress to beckoning desire. I love Toni Halliday’s storylines, the best of course being Crystal on the following album, Cuckoo, which arrived to the first of this series, and its message I used in my Myanmar story in relation to a Burmese child slave in Thailand. But what does such a creative, original style in sound communicate literally? To me, there is a sense of loneliness to this story, a relationship once in flourish, then smouldering ─ Toni in rule of the land around her from her castle, but dethroned at the same time, while still allowing that big timber door to remain ajar for fond memories to return.

….there's a horror in my head When the blanket is gone”  As good as this song is on its own, the clip does allow you into this kaleidoscope of emotions, Toni Halliday is gorgeous and magnetic. As far as ‘the horror in my head’ coming to life, in the closing stages of the clip some bad acid arrives with the bending and merging of scenes of Toni’s face, conveying that visual distortion. This clip is a real 90’s moment!

Horror Head arrived at #31 on the UK singles chart. In an interview with amodelofcontrol.com (2017) Curve guitarist and lyricist Dean Garcia, while reminiscing the Curve days, and their most memorable songs: “but others like Horror Head are always a pleasure to the senses. It is certainly a “finest hour” moment as a recorded piece…

…in the comfort of this room The challenge died”

Horror Head https://tinyurl.com/43j3hjy7

Brilliant Songs -I WANT YOU BACK-Hoodoo Gurus (1984) https://www.shamrocknewsmusic.com/  ... That's her: I'll never believe her again”  It’s kinda funny, after all these years of penning stories on bands, on their songs, I really only mentioned Hoodoo Gurus in my ‘punk & hardcore’ series. Yet back in the early-mid-80s, Hoodoo Gurus were amongst my favourite bands. At times they were definitely my favourite. And this song, well it was the very best of em!

As far as bands go, these guys were one that people respected well across the spectrum. Their sound, humour, and easy-going charisma, appealing on so many levels. I was backstage with The Baby Animals & the Hoodoo Gurus at Cronulla Leagues Club during the early 90s, while hangen with my pals in Succotash. Hoodoo Gurus gave da Tash a few runs, which was fantastic for a young-n-upcoming outfit. Down the track while sitting with Dave Faulkner, over an ale I asked him his thoughts on music around punk and post-punk. He was very sharing. And I have to say, songs like this, and other bands at the time like the Sunny Boys, well, this sound does not arrive so willingly nowadays, and I really miss those 80s post-punk days.

….But what's worse: she thinks it's true But that's just her she always was a little bit confused!”   That’s the thing, they had their own sound, their own vibe. And the Hoodoo Gurus really strung melody together well. The lead was always there, but never over the top, just nestling in to signal its understanding of what is being said. During the chorus the six-strings have that sparkling affect, the lead section for this song a winner in all. Seeing them live a few times I found guitarist Brad Shepard a powerful persona, the drums on Wipeout always memorable, and for this number James Baker holds pace well too.

…It's not that she's gone away It's the things I hear she has got to say”  Fine frontman Dave Faulkner wrote this song. With Fred Mills for Harp Magazine (2007) Faulkner explained how the song was not about an ex-lover, but an analogy to the behaviour of a disgruntled one-time band member: “he's acting like the spurned lover!' It made me laugh when Faulkner suggested, in relation to a cover of his song ─which was produced by Billy Idol’s guitarist Steve Severin─ “their (per)version was not a hit, but then neither was ours." (Wayback Machine, 2006).

Well, to me it was definitely a hit!

…She’s not worth the time I had to lose”

 I Want You Back https://tinyurl.com/b492b5hh

Brilliant Songs -WARSONG -The Cure (2024) https://www.shamrocknewsmusic.com/   …oh it’s misery the way we fight to the bitter end” As soon as I heard that *guitar at the beginning of this song I was stolen outright! That is the best of sounds, and asked to describe why, well, it is alluring-enchanting-emotive, all at once! It is great to see that Robert Smith still pens these masterpieces, the album in total all his own doing. And while that mystical flange-n-reverb sends you to exotic lands, the keys’ dark yet comforting melody horn, the sonic chattering somewhere between violin & flute, reminisce a Cure of past days wonderful.

…Poison in our blood” Dark, moody, brooding, dramatic…. you’ve heard it all before, this is a journey into the human condition. Warsong really does send the soul to those places Robert Smith eagerly manifests. Songs Of A Lost World, which sure has its dark moments, was initially meant to be even gloomier. That is until Smith’s wife Mary Poole suggested, "People won't listen to this," thus Smith began taming it down a tad (Songfacts.com). Cure fan, and at times Robert Smith project collaborator, The Deftones’ frontman Chino Moreno covered this song on the remix album version too. Exciting times!

….. The shame, wounded pride, vengeful anger burning deep inside”. Such a commanding grungy guitar riff settles in with over-the-top wah-wah and that virulent splash of symbols. Robert Smith’s voice is stunning in its warning here. It is also great to see my favourite of bass players Simon Gallop return to facilitate the transmundane to this album. A song that slowly drifts down into mayhem, I can really feel time corroding along the way. So, what is this number trying to communicate? Well, while with ‘war’ it does strike true, Smith also explained how it was about a relationship that soured with its ups and downs, and how he sees this storm in other people, yet no one can explain the reason why relationships are so problematic (Absolute Radio, 2024). Not mixing words, Robert Smith announces the sordid angst in the human psyche. In a nicely candid interview with Tim Burgess for Absolute Radio (2024), Smith laments that with age he feels even more certain that it’s a male thing, and the way ‘we’ treat each other has not improved: "it’s so tragic sort of repeating history all the same mistakes by the same people with different names. It’s so wearing and worrying at times." While Stayfreeradioip.com (2024) reflects on how with the lyrics, “And we hate ourselves for everything we do”… reveals a sense of self-loathing that often follows conflict. Smith admits that even though ‘he was raised to believe in humanity's innate goodness, he has found that perspective increasingly hard to maintain’ (Songfacts.com).

….No way for us to find a way to peace”.  This song swims to a depth that only The Cure can craft. And considering the vile nonchalance occurring at present where power hungry men with a thorn in their tail continue to blunt down the lives of the innocent, I feel Robert Smith’s words are nothing but pertinent, and we must continue to chime in the human story on this life on Earth in the hope that one day we might just bother to get it right…

…we are born to war”

Warsong https://tinyurl.com/y79wey33

 Live in London https://tinyurl.com/39m76ttk

*That massively alluring guitar riff I speak about here in the intro I think arrives as a sample, or is replicated on synth.

Brilliant Songs -CALLING OCCUPANTS OF INTERPLANETARY CRAFT- Carpenters (1977) www.shamrocknewsmusic.com ...please come in peace we beseech you” 

By all means welcome, save us from the fruity custard sociopaths currently running this planet of ours! This was a cover of the band Klaatu, a Canadian band inspired by a real event that took place in 1953 when a construction known as the World Contact Day was organised by none other than the International Flying Saucer Bureau. People around the globe were invited to send telepathic messages of goodwill to aliens in outer space (Woloschuk, 2007).

...only of love will we teach you” In musicaficionado (2017) of progressive pop esteem, Richard Carpenter composed this cover a year later. He avoided using the electronica synth sounds to replicate the original number’s outer space, instead incorporating strings, violins, piano, an organ, even a marching band! The Carpenter’s version included no less than 150 musicians via the LA Philharmonic Orchestra, and a choir too.  This song was popular, and at home here in Oz it peaked at 13 on the charts. My parent’s both Carpenters fans and with radio play at the time, I remember this song well as a kid. 

....we are your friends” Karen Carpenter as ever fine of voice. I’m always sad when I think of her. A fine percussionist too, it was actually Ron Tutt as the song’s main drummer though, a session muso popular with the Elvis Presley attire. To me this track is more a nostalgia from the past allure rather than musical feast that blows me away. Karen Carpenter’s gently, sunshiny soothing voice, more a magnet than any inspiration in music structure, regardless of the effort in including such as vast array of soundscapes. In terms of effective song structure though, the mechanics of this number does allow fond variation in Karen Carpenter’s pace and pitch ─ allowing the songstress to weave her magic. 

...so do come, we beg you” 

Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft  https://tinyurl.com/9uaf6uw8

Brilliant Songs - COME AS YOU ARE - Nirvana (1992) www.shamrocknewsmusic.com ...take a rest as a friend like an old memoria”  While I don’t feature Seattle Sound here often, I do appreciate the ‘sound’ itself. Frontrunners to the grunge cause, Mudhoney arrived to the last series. Nirvana had many wonderful songs and their influence in webbing the mainstream’s attention to engaging the alternative, alone, is worthy of brilliance. In the mid-90s while delivering pizza at night, Triple J radio Sydney used to play some awesome music. Nirvana arrived and the lads being not much older than me had a likable groove.  I had ‘lived’ the 80s Sydney punk & hardcore scene, so their music wasn’t exactly groundbreaking, but their sound and charisma were inspiring. This song would have to be one of their best. Chasing off the cock rock hairspray bands (hooray) it was the rough lazy edge of grunge, its divine simplicity that won many a heart, before the pendulum swung back more to that hard rock structure, straying from its punk roots. Anyway, I think I featured this song in my Alternative music series a few years back.

...come doused in mud, soaked in bleach like I want you to be”.  I love the start of the song, that uncomplicated riff with chorus effect over the top, pretty darn alluring! Calming, the song builds into a more aggravated distortion as expected by the band, with that unique ...and I swear that I don’t have a gun” coming long to surprise all, well, for those living outside of the smoking barrels of the States at least. That slightly demented lead section is memorable with the return of the tranquillity of chorus, sending the journey into its finality. You can really hear that Groll-Nirvana essence with this feisty percussion. Wasn’t he a grand find! So, ‘soaked in bleach’ is this about heroin ─ like a friend, like an old enemy’? There are contradictions within this piece, life is saturated in them. In discovermusic.com (2025) Simon Harper discusses the heroin connection where bleach was often promoted in California to kill HIV when shooting up. Kurt Cobain himself explained how it is “about people, and what they are expected to act like”. The whole “I don’t have a gun” suggests that he’s not a threat to individuality, but the society that intends conformity.  Well, he should know, as he wrote this song. The band were a tad worried however, as the main riff was close to awesome UK punkers Killing Joke’s hit, ‘Eighties’. KJ were not happy about the whole thing either. Otherwise, it is a song that many became willingly attached to.

 A touching tribute, ‘Welcome to Aberdeen- Come As You Are’ sounds out from a sign along the road in Cobain’s hometown today. The three nations most in love with this song included the US, Australia & New Zealand, charting at the very top of their alternative charts. The band’s Big Day Out 92 Sydney tour was memorable Downunder. To this day fans still announce this.

Come As You Are https://tinyurl.com/mp4d69u6

Brilliant Songs -SHE COMES IN THE FALL – Inspiral Carpets (1990) www.shamrocknewsmusic.com ...Wake up, wake up, this must be some kind of fear”  This is a sound of the early-90s, a song for Autumn that I found very appealing. It had that punk edge, with a cartoon like allure with the group’s Beatles’ bowl–cuts and hypnotic vinyl covers. These guys were from Oldham in Greater Manchester, became suitably tagged as Manchester Sound (Madchester). To match their wall of psychedelic wonderment I loved the shirts the band wore. They were never a fixture of the mainstream in Australia but stations like Triple J who supported alternative movements did showcase them. In some ways their groove reminded me of SKA-punk. That uplifting odyssey with the Farfisa organ, via Clint Boon, though not a SKA sound, it was vibrant, cheeky, while lyrically the band still managed to enter into some pretty morose terrain. A popular single in the UK, ‘this is how it feels to be lonely’ almost arriving here today instead. From the same album, Life, which charted at No. 2 in the UK, our song today came in at No.14. 

...All you feel is the harder edge and the heat”  and that harder edge does arrive to this number. The drumming in that call to war, that splendid rush of six-string flange with the organ getting flustered over top ─ makes for some fine chaos. Tom Hingley’s voice is an urgency while being in command of his alert. It’s the organ too that is front-n-centre of the lead section with that flange curdling around it, lifting the moment even further. It is nothing short of a bold song, the structure, its changes, a fascination: punk as anything but with harmony to boot. It’s a nice fact that Noel Gallager was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets, at least until Oasis kicked off. And Oasis borrowed this very organ which Noel used to set up for Inspiral Carpets, on Oasis’ final album ─ Clint Boon told the Guardian.com in 2023.

…It's just this fear, the fear I have to go about you.”   Lyrically you could suggest that a romantic liaison will arrive in the ‘fall’ and the storyteller is not ready for what is required to support the relationship, with this dance of life... arms dance together in the fall”. While on musicmatch.com, Bedeutung examines how the song “metaphorically portrays the cyclical nature of life's challenges and growth, symbolized by the changing seasons. The lyrics suggest the importance of learning from past experiences and facing obstacles with resilience, emphasizing the idea of progression and development despite the difficulties encountered.” 

...You should learn to walk, should learn to walk before you crawl 

She Comes in the Fall https://tinyurl.com/2mwkszyb