Hello Old Thing, Hello New Thing: 25

Archie "Stomp" Gordon: Ride Superman Ride (Savoy, 1956)
Recorded with The Hi-Lites (and Stomp's own orchestra) in New York in September 1956, Ride Superman Ride remains the sort of tune that makes your legs feel a little more energetic and your backbone more supple just by thinking about it. When Stomp howls "Hey Mr Superman, fly like a jet mobile" over a piano that's getting thumped into firewood as the tape runs, you forget that there's no such thing as a jet mobile and simply allow yourself to get caught up in the knocked-out-in-a-teabreak novelty of the whole thing. And Superman and Batman never did fight over a woman, whatever Stomp says. This one's for Scrap, who is convinced he's Superman, Batman or Spiderman (or Daphne Blake from Scooby Doo) depending on which way the wind's blowing.


Like A Fox: A Little (Pronoia Records, 2008)
Things I like about this record: it's not a singer-songwriter mopefest (and I love a singer-songwriter mopefest), there's no acoustic guitar on it (actually, there is, but it's well hidden), it includes the lyric, "Here's hoping that paper can't rust" - which is great, (if baffling), there's no one from Scandanavia involved and it's all carried by this incredibly perky keyboard line despite being, in essence, rather melancholic. That's right, it's the old PSB's, New Order trick and it gets me every time. What a tremendous record. Album's brilliant too...