Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Kate Pierson Edition

She is half of one of the great vocal duos in rock history. She has duetted with Iggy Pop, backed up R.E.M. and worn some of the bitchingest thrift store threads ever. And Kate Pierson has been a major attraction of one of the ultimate party bands, The B-52’s. No one could have predicted that a group playing parties in Athens, Georgia would not just come up with an indelible dance rock classic in “Rock Lobster” but would eventually conquer the charts with “Roam”. No matter where their music has taken them on record, they have never failed to get people dancing at their concerts. Let’s pay tribute to the great Kate by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.

1. The Nils — Up Turns To Down (Green Fields In Daylight): A Canadian punk band that would have fit somewhere on the spectrum between Husker Du and The Replacements. They had a fired up rhythm section and a strong sense of melody. This is energetic, passionate and catchy.
2. Blue Oyster Cult — Baby Ice Dog (Tyranny and Mutation): The verses have a bit of a light views vibe, but then veers a bit more into hard rock. However, the guitars never get heavy. This is a quirky change of pace number with a cool middle eight that makes a great use of dynamics. This verges on prog rock in spots. This is an example of why BOC was such a fascinating band.
3. Ravin’ Seeds — Turn On Your TV (The Violence Inherent In The System): Fiery garage-punk from Finland off an excellent compilation of like minded European bands. This was put together by Steve Gardner, who put out the swell Noise For Heroes fanzine and later wrote for The Big Takeover. This disc is chock full of bands in the vein of The Misfits, The Saints, Radio Birdman, The Cramps, Celibate Rifles and other rockers, with no duds whatsever.
4. The Zipps — Kicks & Chicks (Nuggets II): More foreign garage rock, of a ’60s vintage. These guys are from the Netherlands and have the accents to prove it. This is in the vein of The Seeds, Paul Revere & The Raiders (whose “Kicks” is an obvious inspiration) and The Troggs.
5. Sloan — Your Daddy Will Do (The Double Cross): A slice of AM Gold from the most recent album from this all-time great Canadian power pop band. This is effortlessly melodic, with a sunshine vibe. It also tells an interesting story and has some unusual juxtapositions in melody and time signatures. The production is pretty awesome too. Definitely one of the best songs on yet another fine Sloan album.
6. The Comsat Angels — Always Near (My Mind’s Eye): My Mind’s Eye is probably the best of The Comsat Angels’ albums after their brief stab at commercial radio when they were on Arista in the mid-80’s. This album retains their minor key brooding post-punk style, but the music put a little bit more emphasis on the high end, giving the music some different emotional colors. While not quite as great as their first three albums, My Mind’s Eye is a pretty damned good album and this is one of the better songs from it.
7. Sukilove — Start A Life (You Kill Me): Sukilove was a Belgian band, whose lead singer, Pascal Deweze had a breezy melodic sense, but after some early Aztec Camera-ish work, he explored a dark side. So he melded his strong sweet melodies with heavier guitars and distortion, creating a very compelling sound that put a post-punk/grunge twist on everything. This song is a great example of that approach.
8. The Action — Love Is All (Rolled Gold): The Action were a mod band who were produced by George Martin, with strong songs and fine material. Yet they somehow could not get a foothold in the charts. They eventually recorded an album that showed them, like many of their contemporaries, edging towards a psychedelic pop sound. This album never got released, until it was finally issued decades later. And what a revelation, as it is right up there with similar efforts from The Small Faces, Pretty Things and The Zombies. One of the all-time great lost albums, and this song has some definite Eastern influence, with a great use of the flute and wonderful drumming.
9. Erasure — Chains Of Love (Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure): This was the song that finally got Erasure in the U.S. Top 40. And what a deserving song, from its dramatic beginning, its bouncy rhythm and the bridge to the excellent chorus, with Andy Bell belting out in his best falsetto. This band deserved more U.S. hits than they managed, but it wasn’t for a lack of Vince Clarke’s great facility for hooks and melodies.
10. The Clean — Someone (Anthology): Perhaps the quintessential Flying Nun band, this Kiwi act stitched together a variety of influences, especially The Velvet Underground to make some dazzling indie pop. I love how the bass line is both rhythmic and melodic, establishing a foundation for the simple vocal melody, which is supported by both a jabbing lead guitar part and shimmering chords.