GREAT OPENING TRACKS ON LPs (Part 16)

It's been a while since I did anything in this series, so its worth giving a reminder that to qualify, the song in question must not have been released as a single.

Today's post looks at the lead off track from The Repulsion Box, the 2005 LP from Sons & Daughters.

There was a huge amount of expectation on this, the first proper LP after the mini-album that was Love The Cup a year earlier. And this listener wasn't disappointed.

Ten tracks that amount to not much more than 30 minutes in length, every one of the songs is outstanding in its own way. I actually gave the full LP an airing the other night, and for the first time ever I reckognised that it had an awful lot in common with some of the songs of another of my favourite bands - Violent Femmes.

Its full of punky-folky songs that make you feel you should be dancing around the room as if possesed by a demon. Nowadays, you can hardly move for Scottish bands that sing in their own accents and lean on their own celtic (with a hard 'c') culture to make modern, vibrant and meaningful music. But just a few years ago, the boys and girls in Sons & Daughters were trailblazers.

The tone for the whole album is set in the first few seconds, with a short drum intro leading to the sort of guitar burst in terms of speed often associated with early The Wedding Present, before the vocals frantically join in and try and keep up with the pace being set by the instruments:-

Hit me hit me hit me I'm already on the ground
You're asleep in the next room and I'm banging to be found
I cannot feel my body and I'm floating then I'm drowned
And nothing I have taken keeps it down

It's a ride. It's a ride.

Help me help me help me it's a bitter hit to take
When I'm shaking once again this is too long to be awake
With the ignorance of new year
You could save me for your sake
Because I'm falling through the plans that we made

It's a ride. It's a ride.

My medicine, my medicine, my medicine,my medicine, my medicine
My medicine, my medicine, my medicine, my medicine, my medicine

Happy happy happy you can lie behind the eyes
Without telling those around you that you've built your own disguise
Now time can only end it when the remedy's not found
Just wrap it up and never take it out

It's alright, it's alright

My medicine, my medicine. my medicine, my medicine, my medicine
My medicine, my medicine, my medicine, my medicine, my medicine

M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E.

And all of a sudden at 2mins 11 secs its over......but before you can draw breath, we're off immediately into the majestic Red Receiver, a story of a wedding that never was.....

If you dont own this LP, there really is something lacking in your collection. Try here at the official website.

mp3 : Sons & Daughters - Medicine

Happy Listening.