45 45s at 45 - ITALIAN STYLE

Back in March 2008, I revealed that in the run-up my 45th birthday which would later in that year I was intending to reveal what were my all time favourite 45s.  As I said at the time, it was an idea inspired by Bill Drummund penning the book 45 to mark him turning the same age...and I also qualified if by saying it wasn't really the definitve list of my favourite singles as there were sertain self-imposed rules ssuch as me having to have needed to bought the single on its release and I wasn't allowing any band/singer to have more than one entry.

In putting the list together I did my best to write as well as I'm able to describe why the particular song means so much to me and in doing so I revealed a fair bit about my life.  Indeed taken together, the 45 posts could almost have been an autobiography covering the 30-year period from around my 15th birthday.

It was a series I thoroughly enjoyed doing and it was one that got TVV more comments and more hits than at any other time in its history  - I certainly havent tried anything as ambitious since and am unlikely to do so again. 

I'm saying all this for a few months ago I got a thoroughly lovely e-mail from Andrea Peviani who lives just outside of Milan in Italy.  As fanatical abput music as I am, he told me he had  had long been waiting to turn 45 so that he too could do a similar sort of rundown on his own blog Conventional Records. 

I've been following Andrea's countdown over the past few months with huge interest.  There's quite a few acts who were on my list that are on his.  Here's his rundown so far:-

44/45 : Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life
43/45 : Doves - Black and White Town
42/45 : Arcade Fire - Wake Up
41/45 : Wilco - Jesus Etc.
40/45 : Ryan Adams - New York, New York
39/45 : Pulp - This Is Hardcore
38/45 : Nuyorican Soul - I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun
37/45 : The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
36/45 : Cake - I Will Survive
35/45 : Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life
34/45 : The Charlatans - Just When You're Thinking Things Over
33/45 : Portishead - Glorybox
32/45 : Oasis - Live Forever
31/45 : Beastie Boys - Sabotage
30/45 : Afghan Wigs - Gentlemen
29/45 : Smashing Pumpkins - Cherbu Rock
28/45 : The The - Slow Emotion Replay
27/45 : The Black Crowes - Remedy
26/45 : PJ Harvey - Dress
25/45 : Nirvana - Come As You Are
24/45 : Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
23/45 : Dinosaur Jr - The Wagon
22/45 : Primal Scream - Loaded
21/45 : The Stone Roses - Fool's Gold
20/45 : The Waterboys - Fishermen's Blues
19/45 : Husker Du - Could You Be The One?
18/45 : R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
17/45 : Billy Bragg - Greetings To The New Brunette
16/45 : The Smiths - Bigmoouth Strikes Again
15/45 : That Petrol Emotion - It's A Good Thing
14/45 : The Jesus & Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
13/45 : John Mellencamp - Small Town
12/45 : Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Lost Weekend
11/45 : Prince - Purple Rain
10/45 : U2 : Pride (In The Name Of Love)
09/45: Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
08/45 : The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods
07/45 : Donald Fagen - New Frontier
06/45 : The Clash - Rock The Casbah
05/45 : Bruce Springsteen - Atlantoc City
04/45 : The Rolling Stones - Start me Ip
03/45 : Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
02/45 : Dire Straits - Tunnel of Love
01/45 : The Knack - My Sharona

The eagle-eyed among you might have spotted that this is a list that has gone in chronological order from The Knack in 1979 through to Bright Eyes in 2006.  All the while Andrea has told his life story and how music has has such a big impact on it including time spent as a DJ.

He begins by saying that what he would have liked to tell you is that in 1979 when he was 12 years old was that he was listening to The Clash and London Calling.  Instead he willingly talks about The Knack in the first post in the series and then goes on to articulate why it had to be popular acts such as Dire Straits, the Stones and Springsteen that had the impact on a young music fan growing up in Italy with little access to what was really happening out there.....

It soon becomes clear, even with the limitations imposed in using Google translator to read what has been posted in Italian, that Andrea is a terrifically talented writer and even if you're not that keen on the song, it's well worth reading what he has to say.  It will take you a while to go through Andrea's story but believe me, it's worth taking the time.  Take this for instance:-

"....the invisible thread that connects Scotland and the United States, New York and Glasgow, the Highlands and Highways, indie bands of the '80s and '90s and the classic songwriters of the 60s and 70s. The songs in the province of Northern Britain and those of Big Nothing of the American suburbs. Follow the thread from here, from the Italian province, was an exciting way to feel less distant from the world."

That's his take on Lost Weekend by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions. I wish I had come up with that paragraph.

Later on in the series Andrea makes a great case for 1991 being the best year for music during his time as a fan....and then much later he writes this:-

"This is the song of expectation of my daughters. My favorite song on the first day of their lives. The song of the privilege of being the first face that they saw"

about this:-

mp3 : Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life
(sadly within hours of the posting a DMCA notice was served...so no mp3 available)

There's now only one song to come in his list and there's six years in which it could come from.   I'm looking forward to finding out.....

And over the coming festive period, when I do a long-overdue re-vamp of TVV you'll find a regular link to Andrea and his blog.