Listening to the new Late Night Tales, selected by Nouvelle Vague. I think it's gradually taking over from Back to Mine as my favourite of the mix tape compilations. BTM went very quiet last year, and after very strong sets from Pet Shop Boys and Adam Freedland in 2005, followed up with fairly dull selections from Liam from Prodigy - including a totally pointless new Prodigy track, and a 10 month wait for a disappointing disc from Mercury Rev.
Late Night Tales, whilst having pretty much the same brief, has now put out three excellent selections in a row, from Belle and Sebastian and Air, before this new one. Equal parts New Wave, French, Latin and Country, it hangs together well, although it does seem a bit samey towards the end. Late Night Tales' USP is a new cover track from the artist making the selection. In this case, with the artists concerned being a covers band, it's easy, and the Nouvelle Vagues have gone for a cast off from the Bande a Part release, with a very different take on Come on Eileen (which made me realise that I've never really heard the lyrics before). So I've also listened to a lot of Dexys this weekend too, including the recently released Projected Passion Review - a lot of previusly unreleased immediately post Young Soul Rebels stuff. Too-Rye-Ay may have been the big commercial breakthrough, but the first album is a classic.
Also listening to: Grinderman - one of those times when a spin-off band seems to reach the heights of the main event very quickly indeed. Songs for the Young at Heart - a strange mixture of dark nostalgia and tweeness. The girls really enjoyed it. Kurt Wagner's take on Inch Worm is one of the highlights for me, but there are other dimmer memories of childhood here too - Uncle Sigmund's Clockwork Storybook, which I first heard on a Spinners album, and the themes to White Horses and Mary, Mungo & Midge. New LCD Soundsystem is also very strong.
Reading: The Damned Utd
Watching: Heroes (very silly, but enjoyable), Ugly Betty Had a bit of a Betty fest last night, watched episodes 13-15. I got bored towards the middle of the series, but the twists in the tale have been good. Gentle feel good comedy. Bit annoyed to find that Life on Mars took a weird break due to the football when I was away last week. And they re-ran S02E01 on BBC 4. Then instead of showing S02E04 on BBC4 tomorrow, they're going to re-run the 2nd episode. By next week it will be three weeks since S02E03 was first shown. Irritating.
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I think it's a shame that Late Junction from Radio 3 don't look like following up their compilation which was out 4 years ago. That was a really late night listen, and was perfectly sequenced.
interesting to see you are listening to Dexys; I have discovered them through Searching For The Young Soul Rebels - a cheeky download - but I've orderd Don't Stand Me Down from Amazon for £4. For the same price I also ordered More Specials, and Entertainment by Go4.
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