*This is a companion piece to a similarly-themed article on Karen’s site which, all things being equal, should be published at roughly the same time.*
Usually I write my stunt post (and select the following week’s playlist) on Tuesday evening, but this week I completely forgot. Partly because I’ve had other things pressing on my attention (Bernard’s been poorly, and I’ve also been anticipating the arrival of my new bass rig) and partly because this week’s playlist has actually bored the shit out of me, because I knew half of the songs already, and the other half didn’t impress me much.
1. **Albatross** from English Rose – it’s a fairly pleasant song, but I think that I’ve heard it so many times that it no longer does anything for me. It’s passed the limit.
2. **Black Magic Woman** from English Rose – at the end of the day, it’s just a blues song. A particularly notorious one, yes, but not a particularly good one.
3. **Oh Well** from Then Play On – the first bit is a fairly short and spiky rock thing, which segues into a long and rambly quiet bit that develops at a snail’s pace.
4. **Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)** from 25 Years: The Chain – long and wanky, it reminds me of the lovechild of Cream and Spinal Tap.
5. **Hypnotized** from Mystery To Me – I really enjoyed this song, it’s got a nice summery vibe. It’s got a drawn-out ending, but I suppose that’s unavoidable for a song from this genrera ((portmanteau of genre+era)).
6. **Rhiannon** from Fleetwood Mac – I know that this song holds some significance for Karen, as she included it on one of her three “scrapbook” compilations. For me, I don’t know whether I like it or love it. But I definitely don’t dislike it.
7. **Go Your Own Way** from Rumours – I think I really, really like this song. It’s probably one of my favourite Fleetwood Mac songs. There’s passion in the vocals, and the guitar solo serves the song.
8. **You Make Loving Fun** from Rumours – despite having heard this song countless times, I still like it. Especially the chords in the bridge.
9. **Sisters Of The Moon** from Tusk – it’s all minor key and moody and despairiful. It’s not bad, actually, but I can’t think of anything specific that I like about it.
10. **Brown Eyes** from Tusk – the arrangement is fairly good, the whole song sounds complete and well-formed. But the tempo seems to drag, and it goes on for a fair while.
The next week’s playlist
Random number: 338
Only one playlist on this page – Ska. The book says:
> As Independence fever swept the island at the start of the 1960s, ordinary, working-class Jamaicans rejected US R&B, or what was fed to them on the BBC-based national radio, in favour of a vociferous homegrown sound. This was ska – and as an intrinsic expression of Jamaican-ness, it is music that is always going to be hard to beat.