Put Your Life on It

When I was growing up in the 70s my life was soundtracked from the moment I switched on Radio 1 in the morning till my regular nighttime obsession with Radio Luxembourg - playing FAB 208 under my pillow till I couldn't stay awake any longer. And if you've dipped in and out of my blog over the last ten years or so you'll probably have a feel for the kind of music I consumed (glam, essentially) and the tunes I took onboard (a bit like osmosis, I guess) - tunes that are still lodged firmly in my brain. And if I said my palate mainly comprised Sweet, Slade, T. Rex, David Bowie and Alice Cooper et al you'd probably be able to piece together yourself what a typical day would sound like in my head.

But glam had a younger brother. Bubblegum. Not as brash, not as lairy; but fun nonetheless. For every Slade there was a Rubettes and for every Sweet there was a Racey. Great pop bands both, but no grit; no substance. Which was fine - it was all grist to Radio 1's mill: Tony Blackburn and Diddy David Hamilton lapped it up; well they would, wouldn't they? What's not to like?

And that's kinda how I feel about Kasabian: I have no strong feelings about them one way or the other. But it seems to me that, recently anyway, when they've been trying to write glam anthems (Bless This Acid House anyone?) they come across sounding more like Hello than Mottt the Hoople, more Alvin Stardust than David Bowie. Which, as I've just said, is no bad thing.

Here they are sounding like a cross between Lieutenant Pigeon and the Glitter Band.

Kasabian - Put Your Life on It (2017)

It's driving me insane

The irrepressible Johnny Vaughan has been playing the sh*t out of Kasabian's latest single God Bless This Acid House.  But every time it comes charging out of the speakers, all I can hear is Juke Box Jive by the Rubettes. Seriously. I really think the next time the jesters from Leicester play it on whatever TV show passes for Top of the Pops these days, they should all sport matching white berets; you never know, if could catch on. Well, maybe not in Leicester.
As infectious 45s go, it's almost up there with a cracking little debut single Dean Jackson on BBC Radio Nottingham has had on constant rotation all Summer. 24 Hours a Day by the Shades is a three minute montage of every pop record ever released, from (and including) Rock Around the Clock. Again, when I hear it I can pick out so many nods and winks to classic singles and artists of yore, not least the ghost of Billy Haley whose DNA is still trapped in its rock and roll amber. And it's driving me insane. See what you think:

The Shades: 24 Hours a Day