In ‘The Wild One’, Marlon Brando’s character is asked ;”What are you rebelling against Johnny ?” Johnny replies “Whaddaya got ?”

There’s always something for people to rally against, issues and situations that divide people, there’s always a ‘right’ side and more often than not, that side is the loudest one. There has been, and always will be, dissent. The New Seekers once claimed to want to teach the whole world to sing in perfect harmony, but let’s face it, if they had, it’d be a pretty boring place, and we’d have missed out on a shitload of good tunes.

Throughout musical history, there’s been no shortage of folk willing to stick their head above the parapet in order to stand up for their rights or for the rights of others. Occasionally there’s a misfire, but for every ‘Earth Song’, there’s a ‘What’s Goin’ On ?’.

01 A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

02 Vietnam – Jimmy Cliff

03 Star – Primal Scream

04 Anarchy In The UK – Sex Pistols

05 This Land Is Your Land – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

06 War – Edwin Starr

07 Hurricane – Bob Dylan

08 Redemption Song – Bob Marley

09 What’s Goin’ On – Marvin Gaye

10 Abraham, Martin And John – Dion

11 The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott-Heron

12 Fight The Power – Public Enemy

13 Diamonds From Sierra Leone – Kanye West

14 Ohio – Crosby Stills, Nash & Young

15 White Riot – The Clash

16 Free Nelson Mandela – Special AKA

17 Killing In The Name Of – Rage Against The Machine

18 Illegal Attacks – Ian Brown & Sinead O’Conner

19 For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield

20 Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell

21 Swimsuit Issue – Sonic Youth

22 Get Together – The Youngbloods

23 Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival

24 Sign ‘O’ The Times – Prince

25 Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday

find something to rally against here

“Shit, a bio… Ok.

Rusty Sheriff, 31, Male, single but taken.

Collector of records and cameras, DJ for the One Eyed Dog, drummer for Aeroplane Attack, regular noise participant at Shndg, does bits of art and circuit bending on the side… No I won’t fix your broken headphones.

I’ve always thought of the flute as a true pioneering instrument for crossover in music genres. From 70′s prog, folk and rock to funk and hip hop. A couple of years ago I wanted to see if I could lay down a mix of tracks that featured the flute as a key instrument. The deal here was to pick some of the best ones available on Spotify.”

Thanks Rusty, one I tried to do myself before and failed miserably, you’re a better man than I. So here goes with a magnificent compilation of tunes…

‘The Flute’

01 Mogwai Fear Satan – Mogwai

02 Cross Eyed Mary – Jethro Tull

03 Evil Woman, Don’t Play Your Games With Me – Black Sabbath

04 Anonymous – Focus

05 Going Up The Country – Canned Heat

06 40,000 Headmen – Traffic

07 California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & The Papas

08 Ruby Tuesday – The Rolling Stones

09 Howling For Judy – Jeremy Steig

10 Pick Up – Bonobo

11 3 Kilos – The Prodigy

12 Flute Loop – The Beastie Boys

13 Jayou – Jurassic 5

14 Jenny From The Block – Jennifer Lopez

15 Gett Off – Prince

get it here…

This week, folks immortalized in song, surely there’s no greater accolade ?

Special note must go to the roots of this playlist, suggested by a nice young lady, Jack Lemmon by Saint Etienne, unfortunately, Spotify didn’t want to play ball so it’s not present, but look it up, great tune.

nb I please, please look up the lyrics to Rasputin, they are quite possibly the best I’ve ever come across.

nb II Do you know what actually did happen to Corey Haim ? Very sad story…

Enjoy !

01 Steve McQueen – Lambchop

02 Gary Gilmore’s Eyes – The Adverts

03 Christian Dior – Morrissey

04 Lighten Up, Morrissey – Sparks

05 Whatever Happened To Corey Haim? – The Thrills

06 Jackie Wilson Said – Van Morrison

07 Alexander Graham Bell – Sweet

08 Buddy Holly – Weezer

09 I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives – Television Personalities

10 Song For Bob Dylan – David Bowie

11 Brian Eno – MGMT

12 Rasputin – Boney M

13 Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz

14 Robert De Niro’s Waiting – Bananarama

15 Bela Lugosi’s Dead – Bauhaus

16 Michael Caine – Madness

17 John Wayne – Seals and Crofts

18 Geno – Dexy’s Midnight Runners

19 Sweet Gene Vincent – Ian Dury

20 Roll Over Beethoven – Chuck Berry

Find it here.

The concept for this week’s playlist comes from a bet. A very good friend and I were talking some time ago about ideas for themes and how eventually they’d become tenuous, the ‘bearded heroes’ one being one of our favourites. After actually trying to come up with plausible ideas for a while, they jokingly suggested a playlist made up entirely of songs by people called Steve. Naturally I rose to the challenge.

This playlist is dedicated to her and all the Steve’s out there that make lovely music for us.

01 Love The One You’re With – Stephen Stills

02 Afterglow (Of Your Love) – The Small Faces (Steve Marriott)

03 Lost And Found – Steve Mason

04 Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) – Stevie Wonder

05 Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) – Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

06 Rhiannon – Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks)

07 Higher Love – Steve Winwood

08 Started Out With Nothing – Seasick Steve

09 Don’t Be Shy – Cat Stevens

10 Ouija Board Ouija Board – Morrissey (Steven Patrick Morrissey)

11 Jenny & The Ess-Dog – Stephen Malkmus

12 Sweet Emotion – Aerosmith (Steve Tyler)

13 Fly Like An Eagle – Steve Miller Band

14 Come On ! Feel The Illinoise – Sufjan Stevens

15 Green Door – Shakin Stevens

Find Steve here.

This week, we have a little compilation of tough tunes from people to whom feel meant a lot more than polish. That’s not to say these tracks sound bad, more that energy and fun and urgency took priority over 100 takes and painstaking overdubs. Some you’ll know, hopefully not ruined by the modern beast that is ‘trendy’ advert sound-tracking, some you might think you know, and some will hopefully be new, there’s a whole world of this stuff out there and if it’s your cup of tea you’ll probably know about the comprehensive ‘Nuggets’ compilations that span the decades and the globe, if you don’t, then that’s your next stop !

01 Wooly Bully – Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs

02 I Had Too Much To Dream – The Electric Prunes

03 Can’t Seem To Make You Mine – The Seeds

04 Slip Inside This House – The 13th Floor Elevators

05 Shake – The Shadows Of Knight

06 Gone And Passes By – Chocolate Watchband

07 Take It Or Leave It – The Barbarians

08 Have Love Will Travel – The Sonics

09 Money (That’s What I Want) – The Kingsmen

10 The Letter – The Boxtops

11 Seven And Seven Is – Love

12 Help, I’m A Rock – The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band

13 Time Has Come Today – The Chambers Brothers

14 Liar, Liar – The Castaways

15 96 Tears – Question Mark And The Mysterians

wig out here…

1. Serve The Servants – Nirvana
2. Rearviewmirror – Pearl Jam
3. Star Shaped – Blur
4. Cut Your Hair – Pavement
5. Human Behaviour – Bjork
6. No Rain – Blind Melon
7. Break ‘Em Off Some – Cypress Hill
8. Shame On A Nigga – Wu-Tang Clan
9. Open Up – Leftfield
10. Slide Away – Verve
11. Stutter – Elastica
12. Hang On – Teenage Fanclub
13. Cannonball – The Breeders
14. Lenny Valentino – The Auteurs
15. Ain’t No Fun – Snoop Doggy Dogg

Get this playlist on Spotify here

Sam Richards supports Barcelona, plays bass in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band, claims to be able to busk any Beatles song on demand, enjoys the occasional funky dance, is ginger and has made a fine art out of bumming cigarettes. He also once proclaimed without a hint of irony, that Mick Hucknall was possibly the greatest vocalist ever (understandably, he debates the details of this last point himself).

But there are redeeming qualities, he has a pretty fine taste in music, does a mean impersonation of Rick Danko and for more than a couple of years, I had the pleasure of being in a band with him, throughout that time, as well as becoming pros at our self-invented game of ‘Volley-In-The-Trolley, Yeah ?’, we listened to a lot of tapes and ipods going to and from out of town gigs, and talked a lot about tastes and opinions about that music, it’s never fun to agree on everything, which is kind of the point of these playlists.

A message from Sam…

“We all like songs. To just bunch a load of songs together as a collection of faves and whittle that down to 15 would take over my entire life. It would leave me tossing and turning in my sleep. I would feel guilty for not including every song on every good album by every good artist. What I need is a restriction. I need boundaries. I need rules. When i initially started putting together some songs for Charlie, I noticed a few had the word ‘blue’ in the song title. ‘That’ll do’ I thought. The restriction worked almost too well. I had to include the plural to fill up the quota. Some songs on the list would have been on a top 15 regardless of the theme. Some would not have been on the radar but its nice that they get on a list. My next playlist ; ‘Brown Girl In The Ring’ is progressing, unsurprisingly at snails pace. Anyway, enjoy. Sam”

‘Because The Sky Is Blue, It Makes Me Cry’

• 01 Its All Over Now, Baby Blue – The Byrds
• 02 Powder Blue – Elbow
• 03 Blue – The Verve
• 04 Orange Juice Blues – The Band
• 05 Bluebird – Buffalo Springfield
• 06 Pale Blue Eyes – The Velvet Underground
• 07 Blue Turns To Grey – The Rolling Stones
• 08 Blue Orchid – The White Stripes
• 09 Blues For Meister – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
• 10 Revolution Blues – Neil Young
• 11 Shade Of Blue – B.R.M.C.
• 12 Behind Blue Eyes – The Who
• 13 Runnin Blue – The Doors
• 14 Blue Ridge Mountain – Fleet Foxes
• 15 Way To Blue – Nick Drake

Find it here