Follow on TwitterWatch: From 1980 — Boomtown Rats Perform Hit ‘Banana Republic’
Here’s a fabulous song by Bob Geldof’s old band — from Dublin, Ireland — The Boomtown Rats. For those unfamiliar with this track, it’s got a great reggae-infused melody that will leave you humming it over and over again, all day and night. Songs like these make me miss the 80s something terrible:
Enjoy!:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2IwOemnjbI[/youtube]
The Boomtown Rats’ ‘Banana Republic’ can be downloaded here: 
Watch: Paul Weller Covers Sister Sledge’s “Thinking of You”
Probably no artist has left as big a mark on my adolescent years as Paul Weller. From huge Jam fan / Style Council fan — to playing in bands heavily influenced by his writing. There’s probably millions of those who share similar stories as mine across the Atlantic, but over here in America, I’d guess there’s maybe a baker’s dozen of us — tops.
He didn’t seem to feel compelled to make the effort over here. Very few tours — and as a result he was generally relegated to alternative radio stations and his vinyl got stocked mostly just in the big urban areas.
As a college student studying abroad, I was fortunate enough to see him perform twice in London as The Paul Weller Movement (this was the period in 1991 after the Style Council split, when he’d released the ‘Into Tomorrow’ EP on his own indie label — Freedom High Records). Fabulous shows: one in a small venue off of Portobello Road (Morrissey was rumored in the tabloids that week to have been in the audience, but I didn’t see him — and seriously — who’s going to miss seeing Morrissey wallowing around 🙂 ), and at Brixton Academy — a show which I believe is or was available on DVD in the UK.
I saw him play again when I was living in New York City — probably in 1992 or 1993. Any fond memories of your own seeing Paul Weller live in one of his various incarnations? Please share …
Anyways, here’s an amazing cover of a Nile Rodgers song (Sister Sledge/Chic) that Paul did on his 2004 album Studio 150. The single is entitled, “Thinking of You”. If you have a pulse, you will love this.
ENJOY!:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHjCWVEd7C4[/youtube]
If you’d like to download “Thinking of You,” you can find the single here:
Note: It appears Paul didn’t bother to make his excellent Studio 150 — an album of covers — available for download on iTunes. Paul, Paul, Paul … technology has finally made it easy for you to get your music to Americans — unlike in the old vinyl days when I’d have to make pilgrimages to find your stuff. Get with the program already …
Watch: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros “Tony Adams”
In the name of disclosure, I’ll just say that The Clash are one of my all-time favorite bands.
I sense that quite a few out there have shied away from Joe Strummer’s post-Clash efforts. For those of you who loved The Clash, but haven’t yet delved into this part of Strummer’s career, a word to the wise: “there’s gold in them there hills.”
Here’s one of my favorite Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros songs. Off the Rock Art and the X-Ray Style album — it could fit nicely on Sandinista — Here’s ‘Tony Adams’. Enjoy!:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arhfQLJNZE8[/youtube]
You can download ‘Tony Adams’ or the entire Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros album, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, here:
David Byrne and Brian Eno “Strange Overtones” Live in Paris
Here’s a song for fellow Roxy Music and Talking Heads fans. Over a year ago, when I first learned Byrne and Eno were releasing an album together, I googled their site, Everything That Happens. I was both shocked and delighted to learn they were giving away the album’s first single, “Strange Overtones,” as a […]
Follow AlterPolitics on Twitter
