And two days later THIS happened too. What a week!

Download: A Father – Virginia Astley (mp3)

This is from Astley’s second solo album Hope In A Darkened Heart which has been out of print for years, so not only is it lovely it’s quite rare too. Enjoy.

15 years from now she is going to be so glad that I took this picture, her street cred with her friends will go up by about a gazillion points. That is, if “the kids” give a shit about The Clash by then or even know who they are, though I’m sure there will be yet another punk revival at some point in the future.

Download: Tommy Gun – The Clash (mp3)

Download: Justify My Love (William Orbit remix) – Madonna (mp3)

Yes, Daddy is being lazy and letting you do all the work today.

The album that probably should have been called No, Thank You! as it bankrupted Factory Records, didn’t sell much and got terrible reviews. My copy is still in mint condition so I guess I haven’t played it a lot, I did always like this track though.

Download: Total Ringo – Happy Mondays (mp3)

Download: Pooh Trilogy – The Divine Comedy (mp3)

We don’t own much in the way of “kids music” — our daughter mostly listens to the same stuff we do — but the CD this comes from is pretty groovy. Perfect for all those Alternadads out there. Not that I’m one you understand (though I did spend part of Father’s Day yesterday at a record shop).

My daughter loves rockets and spaceships and when she saw the sleeve of ELO’s “Out of The Blue” album she went “oooooooooooh!” like a 12-year-old boy who had just seen the mothership in Close Encounters for the first time. Now she refers to it as “the rocket record” which, as a huge ELO fan back in the olden days, makes me very happy indeed.

“The Whale” probably isn’t her cup of apple juice as it’s a very trippy instrumental and she prefers to bop around to the uptempo numbers, but I thought I’d play it anyway as it’s quite an unusual track for ELO. These days they’d call this Chill Out music but back in 1977 I just thought it was a bit odd. Sure is pretty though, I wonder if The Orb ever heard this.

Download: The Whale – Electric Light Orchestra (mp3)

She went for the singles this time

I posted that one a while ago, so how about the b-side instead?

Download: (There’s Always) Something On My Mind – The Pale Fountains (mp3)

Good choice, I think we’ll play both sides of that. Roddy Frame wasn’t much older than you when he wrote these.

Download: Just Like Gold – Aztec Camera (mp3)
Download: We Could Send Letters – Aztec Camera (mp3)

Really? That old chestnut? Oh, go on then.

Download: God Save The Queen – Sex Pistols (mp3)

I was playing some records last Saturday morning when my little girl decided she wanted to pick a record to play next. So she started pulling out albums at random and when she handed me this, saying “I want this one, Daddy!” I had to grab the camera.

I’ve no idea why she chose that particular one, but having her ask me to play a Roxy Music album was one of my proudest moments as a father so far.

Download: Prairie Rose – Roxy Music (mp3)

Sensing a blog post in the making I let her carry on pulling out records — with no prompting from me, I swear. And I think she showed remarkably good taste for a two year old.

Classic choice this one.

Download: Cue Fanfare – Prefab Sprout (mp3)

I don’t think this one has been played in 20 years but it may now have a new life as a kiddie’s favourite.

Download: Forgotten – Altered Images (mp3)

OK, some more Roxy Music then. That’s my girl.

Download: 2HB – Roxy Music (mp3)

Now I know what to do next time I’m stumped for a post idea.