A Pleasant Megaphone to the Dome

The Girl with the Sun in Her Head
Orbital
In Sides [1996]
[Listen] [Purchase]

After
The dZihan & Kamien Orchestra
Live in Vienna [2004]
[Listen] [Purchase]

FeedMeGoodTunes presents a pair of tracks from a duo of select, ahem, duos hailing from electronic's best. If you find it hard to wake in the morning and listen to Jungle beats right away, this path will better prepare you for that trip to school, work or the local arcade.

Through a brotherhood of blood, beeps & beats - Paul & Phil Hartnoll - have a long time reign as the premiere sound of the electronic. Orbital has never had to 'upgrade' their sound in order to stay current - they are one of the few electronic teams that have continued to pump out quality tunes while staying true to their original sound - it just goes to show that although few work to keep the sound alive, Techno sure ain't dead. One could argue that they are more on the Trance side of the spectrum - I still consider the bulk of their work to be in the Techno camp because they've been making tunes since before 1990 and although, at that point, Techno was alive and well, Trance had yet to see it's true conception and explosion which arguably didn't take place until at least 1997. Orbital's best known track, 'Halycon + on + on' (most well recognised from the Hackers OST) is truly the cornerstone of Techno and helped pave the way for Trance. 'The Girl with the Sun in Her Head' is another great composition that starts with a heart-beat, followed by rain drop-notes in reverse grounded with a sinister bass-line and a natural snare drum beat. In-Sides, as a whole, is a great introduction to their sound, but their entire previous back catalogue is all worthy of a listen - though that could take you a while. The brothers did however decide to stop making music under the Orbital moniker early last year and are now working individually. Paul's most recent work is part of the OST to the PSP game: Wipeout Pure.

dZihan & Kamien, though lacking the historical fan base of the aforementioned, are quite the accomplished duo - more than worthy of a pod play list. Vlado dZihan & Mario Kamien have a sound that combines Downtempo, Acid Jazz, Bosanova, Middle-Eastern Soul with an obvious electronic angle on production. The entire Live in Vienna album features live versions of tracks that have already seen studio-mixed releases on previous Z&K albums. 'After,' originally featured on 2000's Freaks & Icons, has a great slap-bass sound accompanied by piano and a set of vocals that are distorted and scratched where appropriate. You could relax or dance to this track - it surely has a nightclub feel to it - but you don't have to bask in mojitos and perfume to enjoy this one.

Leaning Back

Evolution [Versao Portuense]
The Cinematic Orchestra
Man with the Movie Camera [2002]
[Listen] [Buy]

Spirits in Transit
4 Hero
2 Pages [1999]
[Listen] [Buy]

Pluck
Ananda Shankar & State of Bengal
Walking On [2000]
[Listen] [Buy]

Today's special is a chill trio of Acid Jazz and Asian Underground. Sit back, relax and enjoy this one, word-free. Itadakimasu!

Kohee o nomimasu

Fortress
Pinback
Summer in Abaddon [2004]
[Listen on Repeat] [Consume]

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but Pinback's 'Fortress' has been the only song on my Winamp playlist for the last 24 hours. At first it was simply a catchy tune that played while I concentrated on other things. Only hours later did I notice that I still had the same song playing. So I've let it continue to play in order to see how long it takes until I draw that line. It's still playing as I type.

Pinback originally started as a side project by Smith and Crow who were involved in other bands. Quickly, however, their main projects were put on the side burner and Pinback entered the spotlight as the two worked hard through deal term negotiation hell. Their radio-rock meets left field-emo-alt is easily accessible from the beginning. The sound is friendly and minimalistic but displays that a lot of work has been put into it. It's definitely made of the stuff that your good buddy recorded on his computer.

'Fortress' was written about a summer spent sick in bed. It sounds as if it's holding back it's rage with incredible vigor and about to break out into a scream at any moment, but it never does. The bass and guitar weave in and out of each other in a repetitive and predictable path, but it's quite catchy, especially at the chorus. Pinback have released 3 proper albums, Summer in Abaddon, being the most recent, is the best introduction to their work as it's the most refined and tuned in to what they've been after for the last few years: something that can be played over and over and over again.

The Inverse of Adversity

CAN WE PRETEND
Bill Withers
?uestlove Presents: Babies Making Babies [2002]
[Download] [Purchase]

MIKE MILLS
Air
Talkie Walkie [2004]
[Download] [Purchase]

GET A ROOM
Jim O’Rourke
Insignificance [2001]
[Download] [Purchase]

30 CENTURY MAN
Scott Walker
Scott 3 [1969]
[Download] [Purchase]



A very gentle day all round. Amidst bouts of work, just enough time to slap some tunes that befit the current mood and Brooklyn weather. A bit o’ Bill Withers, some French electronicists, some Illinois moody guitars, and a neat serving of everyone’s favourite “pop existentialist” Scott Walker.


So the links are updated too! Tomorrow I’ll have a little blurb from us about these sites in particular, and more are sure to follow. In the meantime, they’re places we visit a lot and say a lot about us in not so many words. Until then, huddle up warm with someone you love.


Also, congratulations to Eric over at CYSTSFTS? and his wife, who are celebrating the birth of their first child. We wish you all the best.

For the Moment right in front of us

PATTERNS
Ahmad Jamal
The Awakening! [1970]
[Download] [Purchase]

IN SEARCH OF
Ahmad Jamal
In Search of Momentum [2003]
[Download] [Purchase]

THE FINAL COMEDOWN
Grant Green
The Final Comedown [1972]
[Download] [Purchase]

VISIONS
Yesterday’s New Quintet
Stevie [2004]
[Download] [Purchase]



Life has a funny way of keeping you entertained. Just when you stop waiting for the next big thing, something comes along to take the place of everything that filled you. Waiting around is no fun; life abhors the future. Life cannot take place in the future, or the past, for that matter. Life is now, it consumes the present, it fills every acre and ocean of the here, of the instant, of that air in front of yr face when you exhale.

---

Think of Ahmad Jamal as the space around you while you walk. His jazz piano style dances like the desert dust, keeping you on tenterhooks. Difficult, driving compositions, one after the other, relentless. Born Fritz Jones on July 2, 1930 in Pittsburgh, Jamal found himself and his musical style in the same way he found Islam: examination and careful study. His songs use space to the fullest, much in the way we should use each second before it passes us by. Listen to “Patterns” – his fingers flutter and flip around the keys, set up by a fat beat that shuttles underneath him. Unlike most “future-waiters”, he doesn’t take it for granted; instead, Jamal’s approach is appreciative, rich, airy, letting his backup pulse while he staccatos his way through the time signature. This is damn sexy, no matter how you look at it. Don’t pause for historical context or relativity. Just live it.

“In Search of” maintains that dynamism, just perpetuating it through the full signature of contemporary jazz. It’s more aggressive, it’s more weighty; at points, Ahmad’s fingers slam the ivory like a wrecking ball hitting an abandoned warehouse. The syncopation keeps our dance moves in check, and we bop quietly to ourselves in the corner.

---

What Ahmad Jamal is to the now, Grant Green is to the breath in-between. His guitar chops have always been just a little on the underappreciated tip; while people hyperventilate to George Benson and Wes Montgomery, Grant Green provides the brown paper bag to bring you back from the edge. Born in St. Louis circa 1935, Green’s career has seen him take on any definable style with the same astronomically high results. For Green, don’t begin at the end and work back, as you’ll lose yourself in an over-produced insanity. Start at 1963’s “Idle Moments” (with a stellar Joe Henderson bringing up the rear on tenor sax) and the rest will be simple.

This track is from that later period in his life where things got a little hairy; after struggles with drug addiction and fatigue that deferred the spotlight to Montgomery and Benson, he returned around 1969 with a heavy, Motown/soul/funk-inspired outfit. The solid “Green is Beautiful” was recorded, as well as a soundtrack to the film “The Final Comedown” in 1972, a movie where Billy Dee Williams took a group of black militants out into the vanilla suburbs for some good old-fashioned airing of grievances. While the movie lingers on in relative anonymity, Green’s soundtrack has a pulse to it, and the title track glides along on the wings of Grant’s effortless guitar licks.

---

From then to now, Otis Jackson Jr. is flying the flag at the crossroads of hip-hop and jazz. YNQ is the brainchild of immensely talented and well-known producer Madlib (aka Otis Jackson Jr.). Comprised of four fictional jazz cats – Ahmad Miller, Monk Hughes, Malik Flavors and Joe McDuphrey – YNQ shows Madlib let his jazz side loose. The album “Stevie” is a tribute to the glorious Stevie Wonder (of course), and each song does its part. Uplifting and soulful melodies transcend thick layers of bump-and-smack jazz drums; YNQ is a perfect and gentle footnote to an otherwise exhausting day.

---

Enjoy these 4 songs in the moments and minutes that you listen. Whether you let them linger longer in your mind, that is up to you. Back on Monday with some more popping songs, and also those links/shoutouts I promised you. Damn.

RONINspiration

Yoshimori's Koetsu Battle [1864]

We Don't Know Where We're Going
Gomez
Split the Difference [2004]
[Listen] [Buy-it-Now]

S.O.S.
The Helio Sequence
Love and Distance [2004]
[Listen] [Part with your unwanted cash!]

I tend to keep my articles inside an objective frame, expressing my opinion and musical taste rather than that of my emotions - the problem with this is that music is very emotional by nature. Going against my own principles, as of late, it's not that I have felt un-motivated, but rather lacking in a sense of direction. The current song selection is a reflection of this mental aesthetic .

---

In 1998, Gomez released their first album, Bring It On, and was met with mass acceptance in the United States as well as in their stomping grounds, the United Kingdom. This 5-some came in and kept rock close to the heart by doing nothing to hide the influence of Blues on their style. They developed an undertone of the electronic, probably as an artifact of post production. It's fairly obvious that they were onto something though, they were awarded the Mercury Music Prize for the 1998 album of the year, in England. I recently picked up Split the Difference [2004], which yields today's featured track: 'We Don't Know Where We're Going.' The post production is a little bit heavier than their earlier work, but it's still solid, featuring those signature Gomez raspy vocals and a down-dirty lead guitar that serves as an anthem for those seeking direction. As I am only familiar with Bring It On, Liquid Skin and Split The Difference, I welcome your thoughts on their other albums, if you have them [thoughts that is].

If you're listening to any of our tracks through headphones, then this one will initially sound like an annoying little fruit-fly buzzing around your head. Soon enough though, you'll realize that it's a Morse code S.O.S. signal from The Helio Sequence. The Oregon based duo have a sound that sticks out like a sore thumb, unfortunately for them, we live in a world that is full of sore thumbs. There's a lot of tripped-out space rock flying about, but the reason that you would notice Brandon Summers & Benjamin Weikel is that the talented team pulls off their sound well. As many acts of the 'somber-emo-electronic-tripped-out-rock use automated percussion [which I fully support by the way], these guys retain a sound that at least will trick your ear into thinking that it's a live drum [as far as the actual performance recording was concerned]. This somehow grounds their sound with a little more soul. I'm a big fan of what they have done with the wa-wa petal and the keyboards, creating a trippy-rock sound without sounding too much on the 'stoner' side of the spectrum [b/c we all visit that side of the spectrum from time to time]. The Helio Sequence comes off as a very nice fusion between Air & Modest Mouse, while retaining an individual sound at once.

Enjoy.

Drop it Like it's Not

MAKING PROGRESS
Blackalicious
A2G EP [1999]
[Download] [Spend Cash for It]

ACT LIKE YOU WANT IT
Black Moon
Diggin in Dah Vaults [1996]
[Download] [Drop Twenty on It]

WE LIVE IN BROOKLYN, BABY
Roy Ayers
A Shining Symbol [1993]
[Download] [Indulge Yrself]

BACKPACKER
Sage Francis
Still Sick.... Urine Trouble [2000]
[Download] [Good Luck Finding This One...]


Goddamn. Another long and tiring day. The words aren't flowing as easily as the tunes at this stage, so once again, excuse me for being rude as I keep this shorter than Verne Troyer with no legs. I believe Si1ent K has some hot aural action for tomorrow, so enjoy yr weekends and next week, with luck, I'll have regained my verboseness. Enjoy.

Creepy Feats of Spliced Beats

Radio Caca [FMGT edit]
Jackson and his Computer Band
Smash [2005]
[Hear the Brilliance] [Buy @ Amazon or Warp Records]

Abstract experimentalist electronic beats have never been this easy to consume - not that we want them to be. Fans of intelligent dance music [IDM] commonly pride themselves on a level of taste that's unknown and out of reach for the common [wo]man, who simply doesn't grasp an appreciation for such stuff. Regardless, one can be pleasantly surprised when an act of such brilliance is so easy to digest, not because it's been dumbed down, but because it's simply an enjoyable experience from path to destination.

Jackson and his Computer Band is something of an anomaly. Jackson Fourgeaud is not doing something drastically new or abrasive. Rather, he's taking a slew of already existing musical elements and techniques then mashing them together with excitable grace. He's got a style that blends pieces House, Electro, Hip-Hop and Rock in what would seem like film pieces on a cutting room floor that simply fell into a harmonious edit. Listeners beware: splicing vocals and break beat in a seamless bounce of anti-rhythmic funk convulsions may leave you with an air of a minimalistic yet soulful aesthetic. It's an adjective laden description for a set of tunes that, at times, transcend any meaning that words could provide, other than "Hey, you should hear this."

There are obvious influences and similarities abound from the likes of Amon Tobin, Autechre, Venetian Snares, Bola, Prefuse 73, Aphex Twin, Le Knight Club, Vitalic and even the edit-master-gone-slightly-lame: Brian Transeau (a.k.a. BT). It's a variable tasty stew.

Jackson stated himself that his music is a reflection of "the constantly chopped-up audiovisual environment we're exposed to in cities through technology..." Think of everything that you've seen in your daily travels, coupled with everything that you've heard within that duration. If you could take it all and have it fluctuate in and out of itself to a beat, you might get an idea of what he's after.

'Radio CaCa' starts with a simple enough beat, but it's not before long that it's stabbed with pieces of keyboard and cymbals that in turn flow on a roller coaster of connect-the-notes. It's not so abstract that you wouldn't hear it at a bar [with taste] - There is a solid melody. If pieces of it were set on the right loops it could be turned into a dance hall break beat banger. But for now we have a track that's progressive [I know, the term is grossly over-used] and easily head-bobby. Jackson's production skill shines like that of a painter, who's mixed all too many colors, but somehow avoids that mash-up of brown, resulting in a refreshingly light piece of work on a foundation of complexity that casual listeners might not initially notice.

The album Smash is a solid listen and then worthy of at least a twice-over. Other notable tracks are the spiritual sounding 'Utopia' and the dark uphill climb that is 'Arpeggio.'

Jackson and his Computer Band are at the heart of today's Eclec-tronic.

Music for Hospitals

Frida Kahlo "Hospital"



PAULO
Savath & Savalas
Folk Songs for Trees, Trains and Honey [2000]
[Download] [Purchase]

CARNIVORES UNITE
Blockhead
Music by Cavelight [2004]
[Download] [Purchase]

BURUNGKAKA TUA
Tony Scott & The Indonesian All-Stars
Djanger Bali [1967]
[Download]

A MAN OF EXPERIENCE AND WISDOM
Yekermo Sew
Ethiopiques Vol. IV - compiled by Mulatu Astatqe [1969]
[Download] [Purchase]



Ehh, maybe I'm getting soft in my young age. Here's a quintet of oddballs, all of which I enjoyed while in various stages of transit to and from the hospital in the last two weeks. I have no time again today for further introspection, but they all make the grade and should keep you entertained until the next volume of FMGT goodness.

Of Ghosts, Outlandos & Really Sweet Album Cover Art...

Bring on the Night
The Police
Reggatta de Blanc [1979]
[Listen] [Contribute to the Economy]

The Police. You know them, I know them. Everyone who has had access to an FM radio within the past 25 years has heard them. Whether it's the twangy guitar outro to 'It's Alright for You', the trouble-shrugging sound of 'When the World is Running Down' or the hilarious lyrics to 'On Any Other Day,' it seems that everyone who has heard The Police has a favorite Police song.

Formed in 1977: Stewart Copeland [on drums], Andy Sumner [on guitar] and [Gordon Sumner] Sting [on bass, vocals and sometimes the sax] laid down the law. At first, attracting legions of fans with their unique brand of 'white reggae,' with songs like 'Roxanne' and 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.' They later upped the anti by reinventing their sound and paving the way for New Wave [at a time when the Punk scene needed a change] with tracks like 'Don't Stand So Close to Me', 'Every Little Thing She Does is Magic' and 'Synchronicity. They have a unique sound and energy that no one could duplicate [though many tried]. Ultimately their success lead to their demise - rough touring schedules and studio time threatened their marriages, mental health and friendships with each other. Once they made it to the top of the mountain, the only way to go from there was down - and they unofficially dissolved in 1984.

Wait, wait, don't be sad ["there's no crying in baseball!"]. It's not like they died or anything, they just split up and decided to work on other projects. Sting went on to do plenty of acting and released more than a few albums on his own, all to great success. Copeland has written a vast library of television and film scores. Summers continues even today as Mr. Guitar. It's just rare that you'll find them Jamming together [unless you were lucky enough to attend their induction into the Rock & Roll hall of fame in 2003 - I at least got to watch it on TV].

'Bring on the Night' features that reggae-rock sound, with a very blue attitude. It doesn't tell a story or impose an immediate perception of Sting's psyche nor does it attempt to explain what it is in particular that makes the song so sad, it simply is - very zen indeed. This allows the listener to project their own thoughts into the tune, making it a personal experience, and not necessarily all about Gordon - which far too many of their tracks tend to do [though they still sound great doing it].

It was tough to choose one track by The Police. But, I'm confident that this one is off-beat enough that perhaps not everyone has heard it yet. Also, it's a good way for me to say "Let's get this Monday over with already."

D'oh

POP SHOTS
Ol' Dirty Bastard
Osirus 2005
[Download] [Buy]

WHEN THE NIGHT FEELS MY SONG
Bedouin Soundclash
Sounding a Mosaic 2005
[Download] [Buy]

IT'S ALRIGHT, MA (I'M ONLY BLEEDING)
Hamell on Trial
UNCUT Magazine: Hard Rain - A Tribute to Bob Dylan, Vol. II 2002
[Download] [out of print]

WHAT DOES YOUR SOUL LIKE? (PART II)
DJ Shadow
In Tune and On Time 2004
[Download]


Hey All,

it's not been the best day, so I'm keeping this brief. Shit happens, but damned if I'm not posting some tunes to keep us all ticking over through to next week. Be warned, however: some of these tracks might be a touch miserable!

Regardless, I'll be back on monday. Hope everyone is well.

Cheers, enjoy yr weekends,


JT.

Drum Change

The End is the Beginning is the End
Smashing Pumpkins
The End is the Beginning is the End [EP] 1997
[Earphoria]

Thanks Bro
Filter
Songs in the Key of X [1996]
[Listen] [Purchase]

One
Filter
The X-Files: The Album - Fight the Future OST [1998]
[Listen] [Purchase]

Jurassitol
Filter
The Crow: City of Angels OST [1996]
[Listen] [Purchase]


Smashing Pumpkins just sort of crashed onto my personal scene, in 1995. They were a breath of fresh air for rocker kids: sick of Trent Reznor's whining and refusing to subscribe to the current mainstream filled with blind melons. There was an air of difference and creativity found somewhere between the foursome that garnered a legion of fans and continues to do so even in the wake of their dissolve.

I had tickets to go see the 'Pumkins on tour in 1997. On the date of the show, I was awakened by a phone call from my friend who informed me that the show had been cancelled. The Pumpkin's long time drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, had contributed to the heroin-overdose-induced-death of 'Pumpkins' tour keyboard player, John Melvoin. The tour was cancelled and Chamberlin was given the boot [though to later return after much treatment for the final 'Pumpkins album, Machina]. Our tickets were good for the re-scheduled tour which took place a few months later. When we finally saw the Pumpkins, Chamberlin had been replaced by Matt Walker, a drummer most commonly known for working with Filter. This was a great surprise for me because I was [and am] a Filter fan.

Filter, in the band's original form, was conceived by Richard Patrick & Brian Liesegang. The two met while they were part of the Nine Inch Nails touring band. Matt Walker was Filter's tour drummer for the tour promoting their first album, Short Bus. Filter has changed members a few times, and Lesesgang & Walker are no longer a part of the picture. Patrick, however, remained as the soul and brain of the band. Recently in 2005, Patrick has started a new band; Army of Anyone, featuring guys from STP and aiming to release their first effort in 2006.

When I had first heard of Filter it was via their first public single 'Hey Man Nice Shot.' Filter had a sound that the scene needed. An industrial influenced-rock band that didn't get bogged down with Reznor-style gothic boredom- but churned out an aesthetic that was just as moody. Their music has an exceptionally dark attitude, but it's very accessible at the same time [especially in comparison to Reznor's constant whining]. [I want to note that I was, for quite some time, a very big fan of Nine Inch Nails - up until Halo 10 to be exact, after that it just got old]. Filter, mainly Richard Patrick, did things his way. At a point in time when many musicians (and many of my friends) denounced the use of electronic equipment for production enhancement of their tunes - Filter printed the following message within the liner notes of their first album:

"There is a certain subset of musicians who for reasons unknown adhere to the false premise that 'electronic' music or the tools involved imply a lack of creativity or inspired performance. Technology in the hands of creative, intelligent individuals is a tool for art, not hindrance. Filter, being members of the current millennia, admit freely to use of such devices."

This statement set forth the foundation for my fandom of the band. It also serves as my own personal battle cry, even today.

'The End is the Beginning is the End' is one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs. It was recorded by the band after Chamberlin was removed and temporarily replaced by Matt Walker. SP fans seem to distance themselves from this track for the same reason that I have come to appreciate it: because of the sheer mathematical perfection contributed by Matt Walker's variable percussive wrecking. Juxtaposed with Chamberlin's relaxed and almost jazz-like approach, TEITBITE can sound quite abrasive. Walker's drumming is so good that it sounds as if it could have been implemented by those machines that Filter [and I] are so very fond of. Personally, I jumped off of the SP fan parade after Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. I don't discount Corgan's artistic integrity or his musical accomplishments - I just think that he went a little too Frankenstein for me.

'Thanks Bro' is a rare Filter track that's not featured on any of their studio albums, rather it's found on the X Files TV series soundtrack, Songs in the Key of X. This is one of the few Filter tracks that takes the gritty, electronic sound to an acoustic level - so much that the casual listening may not notice the effects. It's a dwelling and sad song that's somehow uplifting, especially on the latter half when the drums pick up the beat and add an extra level of emotion, elevating the attitude of the song even more.

I had a tough time choosing which Filter track to host, so I've also included two additional non-album Filter songs. The first is an excellent cover of Three Dog Night's song 'One.' Here they've taken a jingle that some fans might even associate with Sesame Street and added the signature Filter sound. The second track, 'Jurassitol,' is an anger filled song directed at the elderly - or more specifically - old rockers who refuse to accept the fact that their time has come and get off the stage. Richard's screaming permeates each track and gives it that intensity which can often be lost in translation. Both excellent tracks.

Enjoy.

Best British Song Ever

A DAY IN THE LIFE
The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967
[Download] [Buy]


This song was recently voted Best British Song of all Time in the influential Limey music mag Q, and I couldn't agree more. Yeah, so this post is a touch derivative, but there a few better ways to end a protracted British Week other than slapping up the best song of all time that came from the motherland. What follows is what Q Magazine writers had to say about the song, because, frankly, I doubt I could do a better job. I DID NOT WRITE THIS NEXT PART, NOR AM I TRYING TO TAKE CREDIT FOR IT. These are the words of Q Magazine, writer uncredited (as the entire feature was group-written, and it is the ultimate summation of why this song is just that good.

-----
Q Magazine
October 2005

1. A DAY IN THE LIFE. The Beatles.
1000 songs in one. Revolutionized British pop at a stroke.

In January 1967, John Lennon picked up a copy of the Daily Mail. As he flicked, two separate stories sparked his imagination. One was a report on the death of a Beatles friend, Guinness heir Tara Browne, in a car crash in South Kensington, London. The other was a piece about a plan to fill in 4000 potholes in Blackburn, Lancashire. Two months later, this contrast between the tragic and the trivial ended up -- via an unfinished Paul McCartney piano ditty about his childhood, an alarm clock, a 40-piece orchestra, and five people (the four Beatles plus super-roadie Mal Evans) bashing one chord on three pianos -- as a recorded masterpiece and the greatest British pop track ever.

A Day in the Life was also the twist ending to the biggest album of the '60s. Upon its release in June 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was universally acclaimed as the official soundtrack to The Summer of Love, and the harbinger of a brave and better new world. Nevertheless, the most vivid and provocative song on the album ended it all, literally, on a grim note. It was the glassy-eyed mystery of A Day in the Life, stating baldly that life was both violent and mundane, that lent the entire album edge, substance, and a chilly prophecy of the end of '60s optimism.

But, if fatalism drenched the song, then its three most (in)famous elements twisted the meaning of it all yet again. The avant-garde orchestral cacophonies shaped by McCartney and producer George Martin suggested both fury and freedom; the "I'd love to turn you on" line, despite being seen as a drug reference by a ban-happy BBC, was, according to McCartney, "written as a deliberate provocation... to turn you onto the truth"; and the final 53-second piano chord, stretching into what seems like infinity, feels as much about endless future possibilities as crushing finality.

So... that key quality of quiet desperation; occasional rising hysteria, quickly repressed. The subtle tensions between apathy, misery, dreaminess; the search for meaning and the all-important glimmer of hope that keeps us going, A Day in the Life takes "Oh well, mustn't grumble" on a voyage into the realms of high art. Which is why is remains the ultimate sonic rendition of what it means to be British.