notes
Part 1 by Brad E. Rose
Big legs.. tight skirt.. 'nuff said.


Part 2 by Stephen E. Clover
Some people dislike the Verlaines track for its over-the-top ending; it IS disproportionately bombastic, to be sure, and I always wondered if it was deliberately so in a way that was supposed to metaphorically resemble some real-life love affair - or maybe every love story? The song begins with a BANG and then drops right down to a long slow engagement before winding up and exploding in a shower of sparks - the aforementioned bombast. What a veritable tone poem! Such grand conceit is also not unknown when engaging with The Verlaines - consider the Mahler-esque middle-eight in "Death And The Maiden" with it's East Europe-style polka workout?

That Modern Lovers track is about as unrepresentative as you can get for the Modern Lovers, but I absolutely love it all the same - for its unaffected tenderness and naivetie (ok, so that's fairly representative), for the way that Galaxie 500 absolutely NAIL the motherfucker in their inimitable way, for the way that, if I'm not mistaken, Jonathan Richman appears to suggest to the target of his affection that he drink her menses, as if it is literally some token, some vital essence of their shared love of which he cannot bear to have a drop spent.

"You and your sister" and "Love is a sign" both break my heart, though for different reasons. Grant McLennan's song is a resigned yet wistful look at an unravelling relationship; the defeated benevolence of the couplet "I wish you had a big house / and that your work would start to sell" gets me every time. Chris Bell died tragically young, and in the closet; note how he cleverly avoids ever identifying the gender of the object of the song. His lyric aches with the futility of unrequited love yet elucidates a certain occasional hopefulness.

And "Bill is dead" is my simply favourite love song. Ever. "..but just lately seeing you [...] I am renewed, I am aglow [...] these are the greatest times of my life...".


Part 3 by Jani E. Hellén
You can partly put the blame on me for this triple-feature. I toyed around with an idea of making a Valentine's Day podcast titled "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes - This Is Your Bloody Valentine", but thought it would be more interesting to hear other people's favorite love songs too.

Thus I contacted the two hardest working men behind Digitalis Industries and asked them to put together 15-20 mins of music. So, here's something special from each of us. I hope that you'll enjoy these podcasts.

When I was picking up the tracks, I noticed that many of them told about lost love and relationships coming to an end. Since I didn't wanted to make my 'cast too dark & morbid I dropped my original opening track "The Ghost of Our Love" by Ricocets and added few more positive/lighthearted tunes in the mix.

However if you wish to hear "The Ghost of Our Love", here's the video:



...and another great one by Roky Erickson:



The first record Martin Rev bought was Danny & The Juniors' "At the Hop" and you could view "See Me Ridin'" as a derivative of that single. Sixteen short & sweet tunes sung cutely by The Man Behind The Shades.

And remember, Marty Thau - who produced Suicide's first album - had been knee-deep in the bubblegum back in the day

Lastly, I'd like to thank Stephen and Brad for their contributions. Happy Valentine's Day!