Another Year Over...
Friday, December 12th, 2025 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthTrack listing and sleeve notes for this year's festive compilation!
01 - Santa Baby - ugly ozo
I'm not super-keen on the original, but I like the way this cover evolves from saccharine-sweet to thrash.
02 - White Horses - Wolf Alice
First heard this on the radio, driving to the Eastbourne Air Show on a hot summer's day. It therefore reminds me of countryside and green things under a blue sky.
03 - Blue Monday - Lord Horror
Brian Stableford put this on a tape (an actual cassette tape) for me some time in the 90s. I've only recently managed to identify it and buy a copy.
04 - Golden - HUNTR/X
Has been streamed over a billion times on Spotify! I loved K-Pop Demon Hunters and this, for me, was the most instantly-likeable song on the soundtrack album.
05 - Black Christmas - Poly Styrene
Love her voice, and love to listen to a festive song that isn't all sweetness and light.
06 - Renaissance Man - Pop Off, Michelangelo!
From Pop Off, Michelangelo!, one of the funniest shows I saw in Edinburgh this year: features Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci trying to be gay without attracting the attention of the fearsome Savonarola in her -- I mean their -- Temu frock. There's no soundtrack album yet, but the co-creator of the music is releasing occasional tracks on his Soundcloud.
07 - This Is The Killer Speaking - The Last Dinner Party
Happy to report that the second album is very nearly as good as the first. Lots of tone switches in this, too.
08 - The Old Dope Pedlar - Mitch Benn
Another souvenir of Edinburgh: Mitch Benn's show The Lehrer Effect featured a lot of Lehrer's songs, including this one (in the style of Lou Reed).
09 - Hanukkah in Santa Monica - Tom Lehrer
And now for the real thing! RIP Tom Lehrer, died this year (apparently sheer coincidence that Mitch Benn was touring The Lehrer Effect...)
10 - Masquerade - Original Cast
From the play Stereophonic, which is based on the tensions in Fleetwood Mac while they were making Rumours. I highly recommend the play: the music (which has a definite Mac vibe) was composed by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire...
11 - Year Of The Snake - Arcade Fire
...who I saw live at the Albert Hall this year: a splendid show, especially when Regine played the Royal Albert Hall's organ for 'Intervention'. This song is currently my favourite from their latest album, Pink Elephant. It feels like a breakup album, and Win Butler and Régine Chassagne announced in October that they're separating.
12 - Hot in December - Kylie Minogue
Fun pop with a couple of serious lines about the climate emergency.
13 - Drowned In A Sea Of Tears - Sparks
Another band I saw live this year. They are a model for ageing gracefully, and I hope I have their energy in my late seventies...
14 - Gloria In Excelsis Deo - Patti Smith
Best gig of the year: it's far from the first time I've seen Patti Smith live, but (perhaps because it was specifically a 50th anniversary tour for Horses) it resonated with me immensely. I knew all the words, and all the notes, and -- again -- a role model for ageing gracefully. Guest appearance by Johnny Depp was perhaps misjudged but nothing could dim my joy.
15 - God's Gonna Cut You Down - DJ Schmolli vs. Johnny Cash Allstar Band
A technically excellent mashup of some great songs, that almost makes me wish I still went running. Almost.
16 - Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
RIP, Ozzy. Glad to have seen him live with Sabbath a while ago.
17 - Xmas Time Of The Year - Green Day
It's a Christmas song. It's quite short.
18 - Berghain - ROSALIA
[WARNING: Parental Advisory for Mike Tyson being offensive: brief sample]
Absolutely batshit and splendidly OTT song, which I discovered via the Guardian's list of best songs of the year. (Many of which were not to my taste.) I've ordered the album.
19 - Highway Man - The New Eves
A 2025 discovery for me: some of their songs have a definite punk vibe, but I've chosen one of the more mainstream tracks from their debut album.
20 - Merry, Merry Christmas - El Gato Roboto
And some more Christmas to finish with! Discovered via DJ Riko's Merry Mixmas a couple of years ago. May I recommend this year's Merry Mixmas? Even though I haven't listened to all of it yet? [link updated, now points to Youtube version with track listing and lyrics]
NB for those lucky people who come into possession of a physical CD -- my CD writer has had a few hiccups, which you may hear on your copy. Sorry!
download (136MB, zip)
01 - Santa Baby - ugly ozo
I'm not super-keen on the original, but I like the way this cover evolves from saccharine-sweet to thrash.
02 - White Horses - Wolf Alice
First heard this on the radio, driving to the Eastbourne Air Show on a hot summer's day. It therefore reminds me of countryside and green things under a blue sky.
03 - Blue Monday - Lord Horror
Brian Stableford put this on a tape (an actual cassette tape) for me some time in the 90s. I've only recently managed to identify it and buy a copy.
04 - Golden - HUNTR/X
Has been streamed over a billion times on Spotify! I loved K-Pop Demon Hunters and this, for me, was the most instantly-likeable song on the soundtrack album.
05 - Black Christmas - Poly Styrene
Love her voice, and love to listen to a festive song that isn't all sweetness and light.
06 - Renaissance Man - Pop Off, Michelangelo!
From Pop Off, Michelangelo!, one of the funniest shows I saw in Edinburgh this year: features Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci trying to be gay without attracting the attention of the fearsome Savonarola in her -- I mean their -- Temu frock. There's no soundtrack album yet, but the co-creator of the music is releasing occasional tracks on his Soundcloud.
07 - This Is The Killer Speaking - The Last Dinner Party
Happy to report that the second album is very nearly as good as the first. Lots of tone switches in this, too.
08 - The Old Dope Pedlar - Mitch Benn
Another souvenir of Edinburgh: Mitch Benn's show The Lehrer Effect featured a lot of Lehrer's songs, including this one (in the style of Lou Reed).
09 - Hanukkah in Santa Monica - Tom Lehrer
And now for the real thing! RIP Tom Lehrer, died this year (apparently sheer coincidence that Mitch Benn was touring The Lehrer Effect...)
10 - Masquerade - Original Cast
From the play Stereophonic, which is based on the tensions in Fleetwood Mac while they were making Rumours. I highly recommend the play: the music (which has a definite Mac vibe) was composed by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire...
11 - Year Of The Snake - Arcade Fire
...who I saw live at the Albert Hall this year: a splendid show, especially when Regine played the Royal Albert Hall's organ for 'Intervention'. This song is currently my favourite from their latest album, Pink Elephant. It feels like a breakup album, and Win Butler and Régine Chassagne announced in October that they're separating.
12 - Hot in December - Kylie Minogue
Fun pop with a couple of serious lines about the climate emergency.
13 - Drowned In A Sea Of Tears - Sparks
Another band I saw live this year. They are a model for ageing gracefully, and I hope I have their energy in my late seventies...
14 - Gloria In Excelsis Deo - Patti Smith
Best gig of the year: it's far from the first time I've seen Patti Smith live, but (perhaps because it was specifically a 50th anniversary tour for Horses) it resonated with me immensely. I knew all the words, and all the notes, and -- again -- a role model for ageing gracefully. Guest appearance by Johnny Depp was perhaps misjudged but nothing could dim my joy.
15 - God's Gonna Cut You Down - DJ Schmolli vs. Johnny Cash Allstar Band
A technically excellent mashup of some great songs, that almost makes me wish I still went running. Almost.
16 - Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
RIP, Ozzy. Glad to have seen him live with Sabbath a while ago.
17 - Xmas Time Of The Year - Green Day
It's a Christmas song. It's quite short.
18 - Berghain - ROSALIA
[WARNING: Parental Advisory for Mike Tyson being offensive: brief sample]
Absolutely batshit and splendidly OTT song, which I discovered via the Guardian's list of best songs of the year. (Many of which were not to my taste.) I've ordered the album.
19 - Highway Man - The New Eves
A 2025 discovery for me: some of their songs have a definite punk vibe, but I've chosen one of the more mainstream tracks from their debut album.
20 - Merry, Merry Christmas - El Gato Roboto
And some more Christmas to finish with! Discovered via DJ Riko's Merry Mixmas a couple of years ago. May I recommend this year's Merry Mixmas? Even though I haven't listened to all of it yet? [link updated, now points to Youtube version with track listing and lyrics]
NB for those lucky people who come into possession of a physical CD -- my CD writer has had a few hiccups, which you may hear on your copy. Sorry!
download (136MB, zip)
