I listen to new music. Really. I’ll actually dedicate new release day Tuesdays to new music. My 2014 favorites include Big Data, Temples (retro 60s), Tove Lo, New Pornographers, American Authors, Real Estate (singer is a sound-alike for Charlatans UK’s Tim Burgess), and Milky Chance. It is also interesting to note that many artists from the 80s and 90s released albums in 2014.
In the past year, however, I have come to suspect that, like many, I am particularly fond of the music from my teens through 30s, the sweet spot being in the 1990s. (I am also in love with music from the 60s, but that is an exception to the rule.) Is it because so much new music is bereft of character and soul and is just not that interesting? Am I becoming a geezer? (Don’t answer that second one, please.) This is excruciating for me to admit, and I hope this project will help reverse that process of decay.
The Trainspotting Soundtrack throws me back into the middle of a musical highpoint. I was a manager at Newbury Comics, I went to shows all the time and listened to tons of music. I remember seeing this tragic tale of young heroin abuse in the theatre (remember the baby on the ceiling?); Ewan McGregor, and the soundtrack were hot and exciting.
Ironically, Trainspotting provided a shot of adrenaline for Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” (1977). The manic tune also opened the movie, like (I imagine) a desperate search for a fix, followed by Brian Eno’s “Deep Blue Day” washing over you like chemicals flowing through your veins (I imagine). The tempo of the album ebbs and flows. The techno tracks from Bedrock, Leftfield, and Underworld immediately evoke a dark dancefloor packed with sweaty ravers and would provide either a path of techno discovery or a reminder of those clubbing days.
Besides “Lust for Life,” the opening melody and breathless refrains of Underworld’s “Born Slippy,” and Lou Reed’s poignant “Perfect Day” really characterize this album for me. It was also amazing to reconnect with Elastica’s “2:1” and Pulp’s “Mile End.” (I absolutely love Pulp, who, picked up the depiction of British life begun by the Kinks, but with a much dryer sense of humor, and Jarvis Cocker’s dorky swagger.) I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the beautiful, but un-Blur-like Blur track and front man Damon Albarn’s first solo track, “Closet Romantic,” which seems to have been the first glimpse of the real Albarn, if his ballad-filled 2014 release, “Everyday Robots” is any indication.
Trainspotting Soundtrack
- “Lust for Life” – Iggy Pop
- “Deep Blue Day” – Brian Eno
- “Trainspotting” – Primal Scream
- “Atomic” – Sleeper
- “Temptation” – New Order
- “Nightclubbing” – Iggy Pop
- “Sing” – Blur
- “Perfect Day” – Lou Reed
- “Mile End” – Pulp
- “For What You Dream Of” (Full-on Renaissance Mix) – Bedrock (feat. KYO)
- “2:1” – Elastica
- “A Final Hit” – Leftfield
- “Born Slippy .NUXX” – Underworld
- “Closet Romantic” – Damon Albarn
Sandy Lashin-Curewitz 