I realized recently that I missed having a weekly mix in honour of St. Andrew's Day in the midst of the year-end wrap-up hullabaloo, and since I did ones for both St. David's Day and St. Patrick's Day last year, I figure it's only fair to compile a Scottish mix for this week in a belated fashion. At the very least, this was one of the easiest compilations I've ever made because a large percentage of the music I own is Scottish - it's been a natural gravitation towards both Scottish music and Scottish people. Several people that I consider my friends live in Scotland; in fact, I think they're the second largest group after friends in my home city.
Of course in my many travels overseas, I've managed to visit Scotland twice - the first time was in 2000 when my friends and I did a day trip to Edinburgh while living in Teeside and the second time was three years later on my backpacking trip when my friend and I spent a couple of days in Glasgow. On the latter trip, despite being in the midst of a raging sinus infection that had nearly taken me out whilst in Ireland, I still only have good memories of Scotland. These good memories include two brilliant acts of kindness. The first came when we disembarked from the ferry in Stranraer and didn't have a clue where our hostel was. When we asked one of the guys that worked on the ferry, he offered to walk with us into town and help us find it; in the end, he wasn't sure himself and ended up paying for our taxi there. Then when we were in Glasgow, I finally opted to see a doctor to ensure that my infection didn't get worse. Though it should have cost me a fair bit to see the doctor, the clinic ended up waiving the fee and I went on my merry way to get my antibiotics. There are two possible explanations for these events: either Scottish people are some of the nicest people in the world or I looked so downtrodden and homeless by this point that they pitied me. My guess is it's a bit of both.
I was further inspired to put together this mix because iamchemist, a Scottish musician that is one of those friends I mentioned earlier, was kind enough to send me links to watch a BBC documentary called Caledonia Dreamin', which tracks the development of the Scottish music scene from Postcard to the present and can be watched starting here. Many of the bands featured in the documentary crop up here, but considering bands like Deacon Blue and Wet Wet Wet give me the willies, there won't be any of that sort here. Postcard heroes Orange Juice, Josef K, and Aztec Camera sit alongside post-punk like Simple Minds, Cocteau Twins and The Associates, C86 bands like The Vaselines, Close Lobsters, and The Pastels, and the newest slew of bands continuing the impressive Scottish tradition, including Frightened Rabbit, Camera Obscura, and Sons and Daughters. This one's called The Sound of Young Scotland.
I Travel - Simple Minds
Burning Libraries - Stroszek
Blood In Your Eyes - The Retrosexuals
Number One - Salon Boris
Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain
In the Gold Dust Rush - Cocteau Twins
Party Fears Two - The Associates
Sweet Suburbia - The Skids
The Greys - Frightened Rabbit
Blue Boy - Orange Juice
Sorry For Laughing - Josef K
Gunpowderkeg - Close Lobsters
Profit in Your Poetry - Butcher Boy
Broken Bones - Sons & Daughters
These Wooden Ideas - Idlewild
Pillar to Post - Aztec Camera
Candyskin - The Fire Engines
Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying - Belle & Sebastian
Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken? - Lloyd Cole & the Commotions
Maybe I Should Drive - Trash Can Sinatras
Fields of Fire - Big Country
All the Rage - The Royal We
Son of a Gun - The Vaselines
The Sun on His Back - Camera Obscura
Sidewinder - Teenage Fanclub
Breaking Lines - The Pastels
Real Toys - Altered Images
Cherubs - Arab Strap
4 comments:
And a bloody good mix it is as well.....
Sorry its taken so long to say thanks, but I've not got out and about much this past few days.
I also need to say that Caledonia Dreaming was truly appaling. It was given a huge build-up over here, I plugged it like crazy on The Vinyl Villain and then sat with a mixture of rage and embarassment as it unfolded before me.
http://thevinylvillain.blogspot.com/2008/02/i-am-sorry-for-misleading-you-all.html
Hope you're well.
JC
x
What a great mix - a real blast from the past! It's been far too long since I heard The Pastels, The Skids or The Vaselines, and here they all are! I haven't seen the Caledonia Dreaming documentary, but I remember Postcard records and all the bands from years ago.
I lived in Scotland a few years back (Aberdeenshire) and do think that the Scots are really nice people. I miss the country a lot.
Well, thanks for cheering up my week with your post!
Cheers,
Jeffers
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