Sep 5: 'The Rain is on the Mountainside'

This song by Jake Thackray is described by Stuart Maconie as "maybe the best song about the northern landscape ever written, and one that expresses the link between us and the "hard beautiful indifference" of the countryside we grew up in."

My mum loves Jake's music and saw him play live several times, going back many years... there are plenty of songs that benefit from his lugubrious (I like that word) singing voice.... 'Bantam Cock' is another...

The rain is on the mountainside,
The beast is in the silent meadow,
The north countryside is patiently waiting again.
Blackbird is dumb in the juniper,
Lapwing shivers in the dripping thicket,
Down in the stone-faced town, one door opens.

In a similar vein, check out the often-humorous songs of Bernard Wrigley, who has done a bit of acting too.... Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Phoenix Nights, Dinnerladies, Alan Bennett films, Brassed Off etc.

He has a Bandcamp page where you can check out all of his music.

And this one's a bit 'saucy'...... and slightly non-PC... 

Here's the introduction

And the song... the final line when he gets to Scunthorpe is the 'twist'... 

Aug 26: Stockport

I was reading the new book by Chris Moss earlier. It's called 'Where tourists seldom tread' and started life as a series of travel writing pieces written for The Guardian.

He visits places which you would not expect tourists to visit.

One of the places that he visits is Stockport. 

He mentions that Grace Jones once visited to work with A Certain Ratio.

Frankie Vaughan released a song in 1983 in response to a newspaper competition. 

Details are here.

Believed to have been recorded as a bit of a wink and a nod by Vaughan and lyricist Geoff Morrow, a songwriter and businessman from London, the tune came about as a response to an article by the Mail on Sunday which essentially dragged Stockport’s name through the dirt.

While the details surrounding exactly how that article led to this collaboration are equally muddy, it’s thought that the Mail set up a competition for someone to write about how great the area was as a kind of apology — i.e. giving the locals a chance to paint it in a better light like no one else could.

It was recorded by a studio that worked with other Manchester bands: Strawberry Studios.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10155833808585871&set=pcb.10155833819075871

Here's the song...

This reminds me of the radio series 'In Town' by Mark Steel, where he visits a place and crafts a stand-up routine referencing familiar landmarks and people which get a cheer of recognition from the local people. He always does a good job.

He visited Stockport in 2021.

Do you know of similar songs themed around other places?

May 7: Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

This 'band' is one person, who crafts the soundscapes with electronic instruments. 

"Gordon Chapman-Fox impeccably soundtracks the construction and growth of a northern English community from the mid 1970’s to early 1980’s, rendered in shimmering arpeggios and soaring, euphoric leads."

As with several small labels, music is released through Bandcamp, where you can see the variety of releases, many of which have titles themed around a period of house building, when new towns, housing estates and tower blocks were springing up - a period written about by John Grindrod.

There are also some tracks featuring archive audio from a time of great promise and change in urban areas.

Here's a track called Renewal and Regeneration.