Jukebox Junior: Playing records to a girl called Junior
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Singles Of The Year 1998
[1] Super Furry Animals, 'Ice Hockey Hair EP'
So I bought Fuzzy Logic and Radiator and there was definitely some appeal, but something bugged me about Super Furry Animals: they couldn’t follow it through. They could pen a hook and they could start a catchy chorus, then the problems would surface. They couldn’t wrap it up – good ideas were left hanging, songs sounded bitty; flashes of inspiration would give way to meandering around, waiting for the next one to strike. They weren’t as good as everyone wanted them to be.
‘Ice Hockey Hair’ was where everything fell into place, and how. It’s an epic because it has to be. The chorus works, then the next one does too, then the Beach Boys breakdown takes it higher before a fuzzed-up classic guitar solo has you wondering if it can possibly get any better. Expectations are answered with a final cracking chorus before the ad-lib-to-fade throws in a new one for good measure. It’s bursting at the seams.
“She’s got ice hockey hair – it’s systematic and it has such flair”. Junior’s hair has flair, but it’s far from systematic. It’s chaotic. She marked the song by feeding her dad plastic food. Gruff and the boys would have liked this psychedelic touch.
That’s the year - and the year – done. All that remains is to count down Jukebox Junior’s Top 20 Singles of 2007. We’ll try to get cracking this week, but a) I haven’t worked it out yet and b) I’ve still got 21,000 words of the novel to write before November 30. Ambition’s a curse.
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[2] The Beta Band, 'The Patty Patty Sound EP'
Remember The Beta Band? They changed the face of British rock in the late 90s with – I can barely believe it – samples and odd time signatures and shuffling chaos. Their influence was so profound that Oasis put a little loop at the start of the disgraceful ‘Go Let It Out’.
So The Beta Band didn’t really change anything, and in the end they knew it. In one of the saddest band splits of recent memory they called it a day because, when all was said and done, no one really cared. And when they split up, no one really cared. There’s a happy ending – two of them reunited with original BB member, and nuthouse alumnus, Gordon Anderson to create the wonderful Aliens, who add big brave pop tunes to the Beta mix. Mind you, no one cares.
Where were we? ‘The Patty Patty Sound’ is the middle of the legendary three EPs that made the band’s name (the first came out in 1997) and gets the nod over the third for the fantastic ‘Inner Meet Me’, that Junior greeted with a funny little groovy arm-swinging bustle. You can see how that might work. The song works its way in slowly, building layer upon layer, until you’re in beardy folk-dance nirvana. A nice place to be.
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[3] Lauryn Hill, 'Doo Wop (That Thing)'
As Mad Lauryn warbled, rapped and half-sung her cautionary tale, Junior treated us to a long monologue about the fireworks outside the living room window. It involved various exclamations about the colours and the bangs, and incomprehensible expositions about the effect on the environment and local pets, probably. Coincidentally, her speech consisted of the exact lyrics of the record Batty Lauryn’s working on right now. Probably.
I shouldn’t be harsh about Lauryn Hill, but I’m still rather bitter about buying The Score, the last Fugees album. What a con trick they pulled there. In mitigation, I can’t quite remember what I was expecting, but it must have been more than that lazy, formless rag bag. And for all its dizzy plaudits, her own Miseducation Of wasn’t a great deal better.
So there’s no reason to get maudlin about Lost Lauryn, unless to regret that someone who could occasionally turn out a bold, skipping, thrilling, hip-hop-soul dazzler like ‘Doo Wop’ was too irretrievably tainted by working with Wyclef Jean.
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[4] Catatonia, 'Road Rage'
It’s the return of dribbling Cerys who, since we started this year, seems to have made a “triumphant” return to the public eye. I don’t watch the thing. Seriously, I don’t – I only have time for Heroes and University Challenge now, somehow. This is a huge pop record, buckling under the strain of rolling ‘r’s, with an earworm of a chorus. It’s let down by a middle eight that they don’t know how to finish, so it clunks back into a final verse at the wrong point. But then the chorus comes back, with its obviousness and its vexing staying power, and saves the day.
Junior spent the seesawing minutes shuffling her little plastic chair around, creatively avoiding her food. I don’t suppose she noticed this record at all, which must be a first. Unavoidable, it enriched or blighted the lives of everyone in the country.
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[5] Spiritualized, 'I Think I'm In Love'
I think I love Spiritualized – you’d think so, looking at all the records of theirs I own, but if I’m honest I know I rarely play them. I’m in love with the idea. And this song. And ‘Medication’. And ‘Do It All Over Again’. But mainly this, and most of the others on Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space with its brilliant pill box packaging that Junior tore to bits a year ago. She’s more sympathetic this time, rolling around on the rug as the initial ambience washes over her, before dashing off down the hall at the first mention of “dinner”.
I stuck around and bathed in the endless groove, as Jason Pierce listed his half-clever lyrics. The lushness is the thing. The record is deep and full.
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[6] Pulp, 'A Little Soul'
We had a bit of air guitar from Junior on this one, although I can’t recall whether she was just copying me. Probably was. It’s a good solo. I don’t suppose she could relate to the lyric about a ne’er-do-well estranged father; she’s more used to a father who just won’t get out of her, subjecting her to all manner of ancient records. Funnily enough, Jarvis himself tried the same trick with his son Albert, in last year’s Great Observer Music Monthly Jukebox Junior Rip-Off Scandal. I can’t say much more, as it’s still working its way through the law courts.
‘A Little Soul’ is quite beautiful, with one of Pulp’s best choruses – all hooks and sluggish hand claps. As I said before, they were on the commercial slide, with the follow-up album sealing their demise in stately, majestic fashion, but Cocker and co weren’t letting the quality slip one notch. The protagonist here shouldn’t be a sympathetic character, but then his remorse carries it to another level. Should’ve carried it higher than six here too.
Hold onto your hats – I’m clearing the decks…
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[7] Air, 'Sexy Boy'
More damned Frenchies. These ones are a little more relaxed, but there’s groove in their hidden beats. The best Air track was, of course, the Moog Cookbook mix of ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’ – all frantic funky guitars, massive drums and blinding glitterball disco – but it was tucked away on the b-side of ‘All I Need’ and thus, my friends, doesn’t count. ‘Sexy Boy’ and its gorgeous Gallicisms will suffice.
Show of hands, please: who doesn’t have a copy of Moon Safari? See? None of you. And who does have a copy of this year’s Pocket Symphony? Just you, Junior, but it was a freebie so, again, doesn’t count. It’s another fall from grace then, this time for 1998’s premier dinner party dance crew. Did anyone get out of this year unscathed?
Junior wore devil horns for this one, did some more spinning, brushed her hair and sang along. Well, perhaps she’s bilingual. Not understanding French didn’t stand in the way of people enjoying Air – that, and most of the album being in English. They were pegged as ‘chill-out’, but I can’t stand that label, so let’s call them ‘louche’.
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