Friday Video #71: Travel Round, Travel Round

Simple Minds may be best remembered by US listeners for their 1985 hit "(Don't You) Forget About Me," but one of my favorite songs of theirs would be "I Travel," which is taken rom their 1980 album Empires and Dance. Here's a clip of the band performing the song live at the Oxford Road Show back in 1983. Notice that in the clip singer Jim Kerr slightly changes a lyric in the second verse--in the original version it goes: "Love songs playing in the restaurants,
Airport playing Brian Eno." Here he changes it to "Aiport playing 'Baby's On Fire!'," which refers to a Brain Eno song released in 1974.

If You're Not Doing Anything This Saturday Night

The Philadelphians MC’s St. Patrick's Day Social will be on Saturday March 15 from 9PM to 1AM on the main floor of the Bike Stop, which is on 206 South Quince Street in Philly. Hopefully I'll be there!

Friday Video #70: Iggy Does Madonna

This past Monday Madonna was one of five new inductees at the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in New York. At first that doesn't seem right given that Madonna is known more as a dance/pop artist rather than a rock one. But there is more than meets the eye; back in the early 80's she cut her teeth perfoming in New York City's rock clubs like Max's Kansas City and CBGB's as a rock act. Plus some of her songs do flirt with rock, like "Burning Up," "Ray Of Light," parts of her American Life album, and "I Love New York" from her last album.

Anyway Madonna herself did not perform at the ceremony, instead she asked the legendary rock star Iggy Pop to perform on her behalf. So here is Iggy and the Stooges doing "Burning Up" and "Ray Of Light."

Friday Video #69: Charms In Limited Supply

Amazing what you can find on YouTube sometimes.

A poignant and obscure synth-pop song from Joe Crow back in 1982 called "Compulsion." Released on the Brit indie label Cherry Red, it can be found on the label's compilation album Pillows & Prayers. "Compulsion" would later be covered by Martin L. Gore of Depeche Mode when he released his first solo record Counterfeit in 1989.

Madonna's Ray Of Light is 10 today

Ten years ago today, Madonna's Ray Of Light album was released in the US (March 3). Here she dabbled with the "electronica" movement by having William Orbit (as well as previous collaborator Patrick Leonard and herself) produce the album. It would be a big commercial success with several hit singles such as "Frozen" and the title track, and it's considered by some to be the artistic high point of her career. And it's my personal favorite album of all time. Happy Birthday, Ray of Light!