Alphabet Soup Week 33: Artists Filed Under Q
Upon reaching the artists beginning with Q, a compromise (bending of the rules?) was required to help maintain my sanity long enough to pull a decent playlist together.
I'm writing this intro in the quaint village of Looe in Cornwall where my wife and I are enjoying our fifth rest day of the trip so far. We've now been hiking for a total of 39 days and have walked just over 382 miles with almost 68,000 feet of elevation gain. For context, that's about 2.5 times the elevation gained when climbing Mount Everest, although obviously we're not dealing with altitude (our highest point on the entire trail is a little over 1,000 feet). We have 23 days of walking left before we reach Poole in Dorset, the end point of our South West Coast Path journey.
Although I'm very much enjoying the hike, over the last couple weeks I've been experiencing a level of weariness, both physically and emotionally, that I've not dealt with on a walk before. Unsurprisingly perhaps, I'm finding that undertaking such a long distance walk is taking more of a toll than the shorter walks we normally do. While I'm not wishing the hike to be over, I'm definitely looking forward to the few days off that we have in London in early September and I'm grateful that the next stage of our adventures are more centre-based trips where we don't have to be ready with our bags packed before breakfast every morning. Having the space and time to relax, unpack, and spread out a little bit, while still getting amazing hiking in every day, will be wonderful.
If I'm being totally honest, I've found that keeping up with the Alphabet Soup series over the last six weeks has been a little bit of a burden. On some days, quite frankly, I feel like I have very little left in the tank to spend any time writing. As a result, I feel like the quality of my writing has tailed of. I'm certainly not beating myself up about it, and I'm committed to staying on track with the series and finishing out the year. But I'm also looking forward to being freed from the constraints of this series in 2025. Having more time, space and freedom will be liberating and I'm excited to see where my writing goes in the new year (I know, I know, it's only August!).
We've reached week 33, which brings us to the artists beginning with Q. When I scanned the spreadsheet of artists/tracks from my digitized CD library, I found only four artists in my entire collection beginning with Q. There weren't even any albums by Queen! I was sure I must have had their Greatest Hits album, but apparently not. I know I have some Queen tracks in my 70s and 80s compilations and I wouldn't be surprised if Silent Lucidity by Queensryche (fantastic song) appeared somewhere in my collection. In any event, it soon became apparent that I was gonna struggle to compile a complete ten-track playlist of artists beginning with Q.
My solution? A playlist comprising artists that have Q somewhere in their name! That felt like a fair compromise and a much easier (and enjoyable) playlist to compile. But what of you, Dear Reader? What are your favorite tracks by artists beginning with Q? Please go ahead and let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear!
ALPHABET SOUP WEEK 33: Artists Filed Under Q
This week’s selections:
ARTIST: Vitamin String Quartet
TRACK: “In The End” from In The Chamber: VSQ Performs Linkin Park (2003)
I have no idea how I ended up with the Vitamin String Quartet release In The Chamber: VSQ Performs Linkin Park in my collection. As I began compiling the blurb for this track I was wondering how I was gonna find any information on what I assumed was a one-off flash in the plan cheesy string-based tribute album. How wrong I was! And apologies to anyone that stans for VSQ, no disrespect intended! It turns out that the Vitamin String Quartet has, in various guises, released over 400 albums (yes, that’s a four followed by TWO zeroes !!) since 1999.
ARTIST: Squarepusher
TRACK: “Iambic 5 Poetry” from Budakhan Microphone (1999)
During a brief period in the late 90s in which I was delving into different forms of electronic music, I happened upon Squarepusher, the professional name of Essex-based British electronic musician Thomas Jenkinson. While I had a brief dalliance with a handful of his albums and EPs, the 1999 "mini album" Budakhan Microphone was probably my favorite. The atmospheric opener Iambic 5 Poetry is the highlight and the only track that really stands the test of time for me given the shifts in my musical tastes over the last couple decades.
ARTIST: Tranquility Bass
TRACK: “La La La” from Let The Freak Flag Fly (1997)
Born and raised in Chicago, Mike Kandel, who performed as Tranquility Bass, formed a record label and began crafting a series of ambient-house singles after moving to Los Angeles in the early 90s. After the success of his initial singles, Kandel decamped to British Columbia to work on his debut album, Let The Freak Flag Fly, which was released in 1997. Fusing elements of psychedelia, folk and trip hop, the album produced a few gems, my favorite of which is La La La. After the album received mixed reviews, Kandel went on a long hiatus during which he struggled with drug abuse before releasing a second album in 2012. Sadly Kandel passed way at the young age of 47 in 2015.
As you make your way through this week’s playlist, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do any of these tracks really stand out for you? What do you like? What don’t you like?
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ARTIST: Finley Quaye
TRACK: “Your Love Gets Sweeter” from Maverick A Strike (1997)
Finley Quaye appeared in the week 11 installment of Alphabet Soup with Sunday Shining, his reworking of the classic Marley song Sun Is Shining. We dip back into that same release, 1997's Maverick A Strike for Your Love Gets Sweeter, the fourth single released from the album. The track would spend 5 weeks on the UK Single chart in March 1998, peaking at number 16.
ARTIST: Jamiroquai
TRACK: “Virtual Insanity” from Travelling without Moving (1996)
I was introduced to Jamiroquai by way of the stunning music video for Virtual Insanity, the second single from the band's third album, 1996's Travelling Without Moving. This was surely one of the best music videos of the entire decade - if you haven't watched it, check it out below. The impressively prolific music Substacker Matt Fish (Best Music of All Time) also agreed, including it in his top music videos of the 90s post which is definitely worth your time.
The single made it to number three on the UK Singles Chart and also saw success in the US, peaking at number 38 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and earning the band a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. The music video itself, directed by Jonathan Glazer, won several awards including Video of the Year at the 1997 MTV Music Video Awards.
ARTIST: Quantic
TRACK: “Transatlantic” from Apricot Morning (2002)
Finally a track from an artist that actually begins with Q! Quantic is one of only four artists in my entire CD library whose name begins with Q (the others were Qaballah Steppers, Queens of the Stone Age and Quilt). English musician, DJ and record producer Will Holland has been releasing records for over two decades under various pseudonyms, one of which is Quantic, which represents ten of his 18 self-produced studio albums. I owned the first two Quantic albums, 2001's The Fifth Exotic and 2002's Apricot Morning which was my favorite of the two. I've gone with Transatlantic which was the standout track on the album for me.
ARTIST: Sonique
TRACK: “It Feels So Good” from Hear My Cry (2000)
Sonique is the stage name of British singer and DJ Sonia Marina Clarke, originally a member of dance band S'Express before finding greater success as a solo artist in the 2000s. The album Hear My Cry was originally released in 1998 but was re-released in 2000 at which point the single Feels So Good saw major chart success on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK the single would spend 14 weeks on the chart, including three weeks at the top spot; by the end of the year it would be the third best-selling single of the year. In the US, significant radio play in Florida (primarily in the Tampa area) eventually pushed the album to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, leading to Sonique being signed to the Republic Records imprint of Universal.
ARTIST: The Helio Sequence
TRACK: “October” from Negotiations (2012)
This is the second appearance from Oregon's The Helio Sequence after Hall of Mirrors from the same album, 2012's Negotiations, appeared in week 15. October is probably my second favorite track from the album. I hadn't heard anything from the band since 2015's self-titled release until a few weeks ago when the new single Converter popped up on my Spotify Release Radar. It's a lovely track but I've been able to find no evidence of a forthcoming album by the band, so perhaps it's just a one-off; time will tell I suppose.
ARTIST: The Good, The Bad & The Queen
TRACK: “History Song” from The Good, The Bad & The Queen (2007)
While it turned out that I didn't have any Queen in my CD library, I did have one album by The Good, The Bad & The Queen, yet another of Damon Albarn's musical side projects, this time in the form of a supergroup including Albarn, Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Verve guitarist Simon Tony, and legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. The band's self-titled debut, produced by Danger Mouse, was released in 2007 and peaked at number two in the UK album chart while reaching 49 on the US Billboard 200.
ARTIST: Squirrel Nut Zippers
TRACK: “Hell” from Hot (1996)
I had a bit of a love affair with North Carolina's Squirrel Not Zippers, a swing and jazz band founded in 1993 with seven studio albums released between 1995 and 2020. My first introduction to the band came through their sophomore effort, 1996's Hot, which peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and was later certified platinum by the RIAA.
Hell was the first single from the album and generated a lot of buzz, earning heavy airplay on modern rock stations with the video being in heavy rotation on MTV; the single would climb to number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. After filling in my collection with their debut, 1995's The Inevitable I stuck with the band through an additional EP and their third album before losing touch with their music after 1998's Perennial Favorites.
Week 6 on the South West Coast Path
We’ve had five more days of walking since last week’s installment; here’s a photo from each of those days:
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Here’s the link to the running playlist which is updated on a weekly basis as each new installment is published:
ALPHABET SOUP RUNNING PLAYLIST
Tracks missing from the Spotify playlist:
Allegory by Murray Attaway (Week 02)
Face Me and Smile by The Lover Speaks (Week 12)
From Your Mouth by God Lives Underwater (Week 13)
This Can’t Go On! by The Lover Speaks (Week 23)
Thank you for reading Joy in the Journey, I appreciate you being here! If there’s someone in your life you think may enjoy this post, feel free to share it.
It's always good to see some love for Finley Quaye. His 'Maverick A Strike' is still a much-adored album that brings back so many memories for my wife and I. Mainly because our first child was born in 1997, it takes us back to some very special times singing to the album while learning how to be a parent.
And I think I have an interesting story about Jamiroquai. Before getting my first teaching job in London, I worked in a pub in Ealing with a Northern lad named Jay Kay. He was in a band, but I never heard their music as they had yet to record anything (and if they had, he never pushed it on me). However, while working at the pub, we talked music all the time. He eventually invited me to his flat and introduced me to some cool records (the ones I remember in particular were The Wonder Stuff and Ride's 'Nowhere'), and in return, I introduced him to some obscure 60s American psych bands. My life took me back to the States for a bit before I moved permanently to the UK (well, I was there for 14 years), and by then we had lost touch. A year or two later, I saw Jamiroquai on Top of the Pops and was convinced it was the same Jay Kay I had worked with in the pub! To this day, I still believe it was, but it's hard to confirm, as in those early photos, videos, and interviews, he so often wears his big hats, which obscure his face. But it's all too coincidental plus it looks and sounds like him. I also have a photo of us in the pub that was taken on my last night before I returned to the US - I'm pretty sure it is him!
Great photos, and keep on keepin' on, Mark! You are doing great.
I love the honesty in your writing. I hope you can get some well-deserved rest soon. I can relate to what you say about Substack feeling like a bit of a burden sometimes. I feel this with my own writing more often than I'd like to admit. I've realised it has a direct correlation with how tired and drained I feel. Sometimes it's all about making sure you get enough rest. After a good night of sleep, we can often see things from a different perspective.
I enjoy your Alphabet Series and I think it's given you a lot of structure as well as a great platform to grow your publication. I can understand it must feel a bit limiting at times, but this is also a sign of how much you've grown. All my positive energy so you can see it to fruition -- you'll feel much better afterwards!
I'm a huge Queen fan, so I can wholeheartedly recommend A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races and News of the World, my top 3 Queen albums. Jazz is also a favorite.
Have a good Sunday!