So I have a new project on The Daily Growl. One that was precipitated by last week’s project – that of decorating my lounge. As part of the clearing-out process prior to painting, I moved all my CDs upstairs, and now I have several cases and baskets of them lying around. One of these is a storage tower containing all of my CD singles. Now I really don’t like CD singles. They’ve always seemed a bit of a rubbish format – just a bit light and disposable, and certainly not with the aesthetic appeal of a nice piece of 7 inch or 12 inch vinyl.Anyway, I have this heap of CD singles which I’m wondering what to do with. I’m probably going to go through them, decide which ones I want to keep and the rest will end up on ebay or down the local second hand shop. But not before I’ve brought you some of the contents of said discs. It’s a perfect opportunity to revisit a forgotten part of my music collection, some of which has remained untouched for years. It may even be a bit nostalgic.
As this is going to be roughly alphabetical, I’m kicking off with Air, from the first single off their now classic Moon Safari album. This is a record that has stood the test of time, though it has been a bit tarnished by appearing on so many adverts and TV shows. It began to be derided as one of the typical ‘coffee table’ albums, but it’s definitely worth revisiting – it’s much better than the denigrators might suggest.
The single Sexy Boy is one Air’s most archetypal songs, and a true gem. Though I’m not posting the normal version. Instead here’s a remix by Etienne De Crecy (of Super Discount fame), which wisely leaves the bulk of the original intact. And also one of Air’s loveliest songs which never made it onto an album – Jeanne, sung by legendary French chanteuse Francoise Hardy.Download: Air – Sexy Boy (Etienne de Crecy et Les Flower Pistols remix)
Download: Air – Jeanne (avec Francoise Hardy)
Although I’ve consistently enjoyed Air’s material since these songs, they’ve never really advanced their template or produced anything much better than these. Their new record Pocket Symphony is out now, but I don’t really care that much. I just can’t see the point in buying it. Maybe someone can convince me otherwise.
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5 comments:
I disagree with you - I absolutely love CD singles. Many are a waste of money, but lots of bands sneak all sort of gems away on these little things, and they are such a time-stamp too. I can never be bothered playing CD singles after the album comes out so I almost always end up associating them with a particular time even more strongly than I do with albums, as I play them far less afterwards.
I lost a huge pile of old CD singles when my flat got broken into in Glasgow years ago and I still have a little sniffle to myself when I mourn all the lost b-sides!
Maybe the more I look at these, I have a certain attachment to more of them than I don't. So perhaps not that many will end up on eBay after all. In particular, all the original Belle & Sebastian EPs (which were never on albums), and a heap of other stuff including my faithfully collected Teenage Fanclub singles. I still think vinyl is better, but there was a long period in my life when I didn't have a record player and I bought a heap of really great CD singles.
Ah right. Well I've never had a turntable so it's always been CD singles or nowt.
Thanks for posting "Jeanne." I love Francoise Hardy but had never heard this before.
can you please correct the path for Sexy Boy w/ etienne de crecy!! i would really like to download it!!! many many thanks
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