So, in reverse order:
TWENTY ONE Ute Freudenberg & Elefant 'Jugendliebe' (from Das Beste Aus Der DDR)
Slightly forgettable, perhaps, but it is the kind of thing I like to listen to on the way to Krautschule. The acoustic guitar line is nice, and I enjoy the "ha-ha" bit in the middle.
TWENTY Shakira 'Suerte' (from 'Wherever, Whenever' single)
I love you Shakira! Truly you are the flower of Colombian womanhood.
NINETEEN Dresden-Sextett 'Am Einem Tag In September' (from Amiga-a-go-go Vol 2.)
This is that DDR psych cover of 'She's Not There'. I may have mentioned this before, but I don't know if I have made fully clear how awesome it is.
EIGHTEEN Kate Bush 'Suspended in Gaffa' (from The Dreaming)It is astonishing to think that only a couple of years ago had I never heard this song, one that shows off wonderfully Bush's range and songwriting capability.
SEVENTEEN Dexy's Midnight Runners 'I Couldn't Help It If I Tried' (from Searching For The Young Soul Rebels)
It was probably this song showing up on a magazine compilation that convinced me of the amazing majesty of the Dexy's.
SIXTEEN Electrelane 'Gone Darker' (from Axes)
The train song. Feel the power of the train.
FIFTEEN Ladytron 'True Mathematics' (from Light & Magic)The opener to that album, which is probably why it pips so many of the other tracks therefrom here. It has that endearing robotic beat one loves about the Tron.
FOURTEEN Asha Bhosle & Chorus 'Dum Maro Dum' (from Beginner's Guide to Bollywood)
This has a crazy Hare Krishna style chorus, and comes from some film called Hare Rama Hare Krishna.
THIRTEEN Asha Bhosle 'Yeh Mera Dil Yaar Ka Diwana' (from Beginner's Guide to Bollywood)
This song is a psych-disco-funk explosion. Someone asked me who Asha Bhosle was the other day, and I said "the most famous Indian singer in the world". I felt a bit like a know-all.
TWELVE Joe Meek 'I Hear A New World' (from I Hear A New World)Meek produces some geezer singing about how he hears a new world, with backing vocals by squeaky voiced aliens.
ELEVEN Shakira 'Wherever, Whenever'
Imagine if she was at your feet.
TEN Ladytron 'Seventeen'
There is something great about songs where the lyrics just repeat the same slightly sinister phrases over and over, especially when accompanied by a brutalist electropop backing.
NINE The Fall 'Totally Wired' (from 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong) HI DERE I R TOTALLY TEH WIRED
EIGHT Oktoberklub 'Was Wollen Wir Trinken' (from Das Beste)
Oktoberklub were this regime approved folk-rock outfit in the DDR. Their main lyricist was some senior enough figure in the apparatus, and wrote lyrics for most Ost-Rock bands under a variety of pseudonyms. My beloved maintains that this song uses an old Breton folk tune. The lyrics are new - the usual staring into a bright socialist future stuff. I like it, but a capitalist friend revealed himself to be a true son of the manse by rejecting its forward thinking tones on a recent visit to Carwash Mansions.
SEVEN Sandow 'Born In The GDR' (from Das Beste Aus Der DDR)I think this was written after the Wall came down. It is an elegy to a lost country.
SIX Berluc 'Hallo Erde – Hier Ist Alpha' (from Das Beste Aus Der DDR)
Berluc seem to have been East German spacerockers. In this track they salute Sigismund Jahn, the first German cosmonaut.
FIVE Talking Heads 'Born Under Punches' (from Remain In Light)
The first track on an album I have been listening to a lot lately. You probably know this song. I had my interest in Remain In Light spiked big time by the description of its recording in Rip It Up And Start Again.
FOUR Roxy Music 'Do The Strand' (from For Your Pleasure)
I wonder sometimes if music might perhaps have peaked with the first three Roxy albums.
THREE Aktuelle Kamera 'A-Musik' (from Das Beste Aus Der DDR)
The East German TV news music.
TWO Public Image Limited 'Public Image' (from Public Image)
PiL's storming first single.
ONE Oktoberklub 'Sag Mir Wo Du Stehst' (from Das Beste and Das Beste Aus Der DDR)My Favourite Song In The World! In this one Oktoberklub informally ask you where you stand – are you going forwards or back, are you with us or with them? You must choose, brother, you must choose. It is a wonderfully uplifting tune, with very cheery lyrics, so long as you forget they are about drumming up compliance with a nasty dictatorship.
So yeah, this is available as a CD-R to anyone weird enough to want it. I would be interested in hearing what iTunes or its equivalent thinks are YOUR most liked tunes. If you have a blog, post this information there and leave a comment here linking to it.
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