ARCHIVE CLASSICS!!!
ESSENTIAL VIEWING TO GET YOU THROUGH THE LOCKDOWN!!!

These are strange and uncertain times for sure, with the world full of empty streets and socially distant queues for the small number of shops that are remaining open during this never-ending lockdown. Going out to gigs, clubs, cinemas and eateries is something we'll all have to wait a fair while for. Staying at home and filling your days with constant entertainment for yourselves and your families is the new normal. So, in the spirit of keeping everybody busy, here's the first in an occasional series of posts celebrating some of my all-time favourite performances that have been captured on TV screens over the years from some of my all-time favourite acts. All the food groups are going to be represented so indulge yourselves why don't you?

PEARL JAM: BLACK

First up, a band who - in an ideal world - I would have been seeing live in Hyde Park in a few weeks time. Covid-19 has of course put paid to that with the whole of the summer gig schedule - and beyond most likely - being totally decimated. Seattle legends Pearl Jam would have been celebrating their 30th year together with a huge worldwide tour in support of their truly excellent new album 'Gigaton', and their headline appearance in London - supported by the Pixies no less - would have been one of the highlights of my gigular activity for 2020. Instead, I have been making do with some of their classic online performances from the last three decades. This one still tops the lot for me. Recorded in early 92 - a few months after the release of their debut 'Ten' and just as the whole grunge juggernaut was taking over the world, this MTV Unplugged show was utterly compelling from first to last. The band were on sublime form, toning down the heaviness to fit in with the show's parameters, and vocalist Eddie Vedder was on absolutely incendiary form. If you've yet to watch the whole show, I implore you to get involved. In the meantime, just lose yourself in this spine-tingling rendition of one of their greatest ever songs.

TEENAGE FANCLUB: EVERYTHING FLOWS

Another band who I was hoping to see live later this year were Scotland's very own answer to Buffalo Springfield, the gloriously groovesome Teenage Fanclub. As of writing, their November gigs are still going ahead but I'm doubtful they'll happen. I've seen them live many times over the years so it won't be too much of a hardship for me if the gigs are rescheduled but I'll miss my bi-annual get-together with this very special band. They've been thrilling me with their splendidly ramshackle jangle-infused grunge since 1990 and albums like 'Bandwagonesque', 'Grand Prix', 'Songs From Northern Britain' and 2016's delightful 'Here' are as good as modern music gets quite frankly. One of the first times I experienced the band in a live setting was at 1992's magnificently mud-encrusted Reading Festival. This was way back when Reading used to be an essential festival excursion - not like these days - and the weekend was full to bursting with extraordinary sets from the likes of Nirvana, Ride, Public Enemy, Mudhoney, Pavement, Nick Cave, The WonderStuff, The Charlatans, Smashing Pumpkins, Buffalo Tom, L7, Screaming Trees, Therapy and Suede. It was a tremendously enjoyable few days - despite the horrific weather - and, as is obvious from this clip, The Fannies were quite wonderful. (NB: Myself and my two companions are in that filthy throng somewhere..)

MATTHEW SWEET & SUSANNA HOFFS: CINNAMON GIRL

Some years ago, Nebraskan singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet - famed for 1991's utterly superb power-pop confection 'Girlfriend' - hooked up with his old friend Susanna Hoffs - frontwoman of hugely successful 80's pop crew The Bangles - and hunkered down in the studio to record cover versions of all their favourite songs from years gone by. The results were released across three albums - one of 60's tunes, one for the 70's classics and the final one focusing on 80's tracks - which they titled the 'Under The Covers' project. Like most cover versions collections there were hits and misses but in the main the albums were a joy to listen to, with Sweet and Hoffs obviously thoroughly enjoying themselves whilst singing songs by the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Fleetwood Mac, Television, The Ramones, The Smiths, Tom Petty, Echo & The Bunnymen, Prince and a multitude of others. A 2-disc compilation featuring all the best bits has just been released and it's well worth a couple of hours of your time. This clip is an American TV performance from 2008 and shows the duo absolutely owning the Neil Young classic. Storming.

FLEET FOXES: HELPLESSNESS BLUES

During these recent crazy times, I've been rediscovering shed-loads of pastoral folk music and earthy, back to the land type odes to nature and songs that look past the materialistic stance of the modern world and which recall a more innocent and rustic viewpoint. I've been diving into the back catalogues of bands like Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull, Pentangle, Fotheringay and Trees as well as more recent releases from the freak-folk brigade of the last fifteen years or so such as Midlake, Iron & Wine, My Morning Jacket and Tunng. The best of the lot though, for me, were always Seattle's supremely talented Fleet Foxes who burst onto the scene in 2008 with their magisterial self-titled debut album. An astonishing collection of chiming guitars, hushed Americana, dulcet folk stylings and brain-caressing three-part harmony vocals, the band appeared as if fully-formed and for a brief period there in the late noughties they were pretty much my favourite group in the known universe. The constant touring schedule for that first album almost burned them out and it was a full three years before their second opus arrived. Magnificently, it was almost as good as the first. This performance of the extraordinary title track is from an Austin City Limits show from October, 2011 and it quite simply a thing of utter wonder. 

  

LIZA MINNELLI: LOSING MY MIND

Finally, in this little stroll down memory lane, a real curio and and an absolute delight. Back in the late 80's when Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe - AKA the Pet Shop Boys - were ruling the pop roost, they found themselves with a multitude of wondrous songs that they had written that due to their hugely prolific nature at the time, they felt unable to record themselves. Some were fashioned as duets - the superb Dusty Springfield collaboration 'What Have I Done To Deserve This?' being the most obvious example. Some, however, were farmed out to other acts. Reasonably famous 'It Girl' Patsy Kensit and her band Eighth Wonder were the first recipients with their take on the lovely 'I'm Not Scared' which was a big hit in 1988. Tennant and Lowe though felt that the remaining cache of songs they were holding onto needed a more substantial artist to sing them. Someone with real talent and worldwide renown. Enter, if you please, the one and only Liza Minnelli. In truth, Oscar-winner Minnelli had been through a tough decade with most of her film and music projects not really passing muster. But once in the studio with Tennant and Lowe all the old star quality returned to the fore with an absolute vengeance. The album that was released - the still staggering 'Results' - featured a bunch of the finest songs the Pet Shop Boys ever wrote in 'I Want You Now', 'So Sorry, I Said' and 'Don't Drop Bombs', as well as early PSB classics like 'Rent' and 'Tonight Is Forever'. There were also some brilliant cover choices such as a mind-bending version of folk-pop singer Tanita Tikaram's sultry 'Twist In My Sobriety' and this frankly bonkers version of a tune from Stephen Sondheim's early 70's musical 'Follies'. This performance of said track comes from an August 1989 edition of classic UK pop show Top Of The Pops and is about as glorious as you can get. A consummate professional at the top of her game putting all the other popstrels around at that time to shame. 'Losing My Mind' was a real outlier that summer - surrounded as it was by clunky dance tracks, Stock/Aitken/Waterman pop fluff and the horror that was Jive Bunny - but it still managed to reach Number 6 in the charts. The album followed suit and Minnelli was back at the races. (And check out the dramatic chin-rub about halfway through. Fabulous.)
"It's Liza with a Z not Lisa with an S, coz Lisa with an S goes Ssss, not Zzzz..."

Well, that's it for now. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for more classic archive clips from the days of yore that I'll be regaling you with over the next few weeks. 
Lockdown Schmockdown!