If you haven't already...

[morgaine_x]

pshtaku's post on musicians originating from Scotland: here, but f-locked, and who/why you love them, originally inspired by this website and BBC2 is a great head-scratcher's way to lose a few hours.



Personal and idiosyncratic, then... (not necessarily in order, or even otherwise organized)

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy (I was volunteering at the uni radio station when that came in. And listening to Jim Reid solo on my iPod today at work. I'd marry him. And I say that about very few people...)

Del Amitri - Waking Hours (Not because it's necessarily my favourite, but because "Nothing Ever Happens" summed up exactly how I felt about England when I first heard it. And "Here and Now" has one of the most plaintive lines in existence. On another album, of course.)

Big Country - Big Country (Because I remember listening to it on cassette, and it was Canada & Scotland having loads in common, and they had a Canadian drummer, and oh loads of things) (Or have I confused them with Runrig once again? as I have before.)

Nazareth - Greatest Hits (Because I heard it so many times as a teeneger that it's been burnt into my head, and Dan McCafferty's voice is quintessential, and they covered Joni, and their version of the Bryants' "Love Hurts" is unsurpassed; even though artists I love more individually have also covered it, they still put me back on a teenager's dancefloor at the end of the night.)

Martyn Bennett - Bothy Culture (Because he was magical at Cambridge, but by the time I remembered that and who he was, he was dead. And he'd lived in Newfoundland. I always have this album on the iPod, and may prevail upon some of you on the right-hand side of the Atlantic to source his other recordings for me.)

Lloyd Cole - Rattlesnakes (Because - wry. and it still sounds like it used to.)

ah... Simple Minds - for reasons much like Big Country...

Many others - Texas - only for "I don't want a lover"; Gerry Rafferty for "Baker Street", which owned a summer of lost innocence, along with "Sultans of Swing"; Eddi Reader, for being such an angel at Cambridge; The Waterboys, if their nationality can only be settled! Primal Scream, for their Stones period and my lost weekend; John Martyn, who has a few lost weekends to answer for, in more ways than one; Aztec Camera, who belong here, with Edwyn Collins, and so many more...


ETA: I missed out the Bay City Rollers, the only boy band I ever loved, evah. wingedelf, do you know Martyn Bennett's work? I bet you do... and he was born here in St John's, to my surprise. And I left out Ian Anderson, and Midge Ure, and Deacon Blue, and the Blue Nile... and god knows who else...