This has been a bit of a belated post as I’ve had quite a busy day packing.Īlbum: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (Alternative Tentacles, 1980) Chart pos: N/Aĭespite not being a massive fan of hardcore punk this band has always been a favorite of mine.
All in all this is the perfect soundtrack to a wedding. The song ends off on a repeated refrain of ‘marry me’ with the sound of guitar feedback in the background. The song itself starts of as a straightforward piano ballad where Merritt sing his eternal devotion towards a lover which is saved from mawkishness by Merritt’s dry wit and droll delivery as he exclaims ‘Why would I stop loving you a hundred years from now?/ It's only time, It's only time. Its only time from The Magnetic Fields 2004 album i is possibly one of the finest song in his vast inventory of material. He is a songwriter who is adept at writing songs about romantic disappointment with a dry, mordant Cole Porter-esque wit. Stephin Merritt is one of America’s best kept secret imagine a less sexually ambiguous Morrissey being raised in New York rather than Manchester and living on a diet of Steven Sondheim rather than Sandie Shaw then you probably have something close to Stephin Merritt. And despite the fact that in his lifetime he managed to produce only a few singles they will always be remembered well especially by those with a passion for rare soul. Ray Pollard who sadly died in 2005 managed to capitalize on his success by travelling across the pond to play to the Northern Soul faithful. The track It’s a Sad Thing has always played second fiddle to The Drifter on the Northern Soul scene but in my opinion, the song with its sweeping strings and mariachi horns is much better single. Ray Pollard was one of those as his song The Drifter was a staple of the Northern Soul scene, as well as today’s song which is his 1966 single It’s a Sad Thing. The same happened to forgotten US soul singers when they found their music was popular among the fledgling rare soul scene that was popping up amongst the clubs in the north and the midlands. When the blues went out of fashion in the US, delta bluesmen flocked to the UK and were treated like musical royalty. It’s amazing that in the UK we love to pick up and dust off what Afro-Americans discard. Album: N/A (United Artists, 1966) Chart pos: N/A