A compilation of songs taken from the Golden Age of Pop. To be honest, some of the tracks are, on their own, really quite mediocre and forgettable, but put in an intelligent compilation add up to greater than the sum of their parts.
I have to conclude that after twenty six years of familiarity and careful listening, I still do not have a clue about what Oliver's Army is about. And I will state publicly that this is one of perhaps only three or five songs by Elvis Costello that I actually like. I liked it all the way back when because it has a nice tune and a good beat. I actually like the lyrics, even though I haven't got a clue what they mean. I went through a phase in my teens of thinking maybe they were very right wing, but now I can't remember why.
I Don't Like Mondays is undoubtedly my favourite Boomtown Rats song, coming in a run of bloody good singles that included Rat Trap, Diamond Smiles and Someones Looking at You.. I can definitely understand what the lyrics mean, good tune, good beat. Classic song! Indeed, it was put into my Top Twenty of the 20th Century that I carefully compiled on 30/31 December 1999, and later expanded to Twenty Two. I see no reason to remove it.
Sound of the Suburbs - great tune, great beat, great lyrics. Also responsible, initially, for my suburbaphobia; in the days when I knew nothing else, this song implanted an eternal notion.
Call Me has great lyrics but, actually, the tune and beat are only so-so. At the time it was out I thought it Blondie's best song thus far. Quarter of a century on I think it is weaker than many others. Still pleasant, though.
Happy Birthday is a wonderful feel-good song. Shame that Altered Images were a flame that flickered for just a short period before burning out.
Buzzcocks 'Ever Fallen In Love' is just fabulous, and much better than that awful cover that was done when I was a student...
No More Heroes is one of those Stranglers songs I like. I like some Stranglers songs. My favourite is Duchess. I don't have much Stranglers in my collection. I know somebody who has bought all their albums three times - on LP, cassette and CD. I don't know if he has any Stranglers DVDs.
In fact, I must conclude that all a good pop song needs is a good tune, a good beat and good lyrics. Perhaps I am being slightly disingenuous calling them 'pop'. Pop is light and fluffy; rock is serious with attitude. Yeah, right, protest songs by nice white middle-class boys (except, of course, for Martha Muffin, Clare Grogan and Debbie Harry. Martha Muffin I know nothing about but I think I can safely say that nice white middle-class girls wanted to be Debbie or Clare or maybe a mixture of both...!).
