Alphabet Soup Week 37: Artists Filed Under S

After a not so restful few days in London we've now arrived in the Isle of Man for eight days of hiking. Step inside for another entry in the Alphabet Soup series covering the S Artists in ten tracks.

This week's installment of Alphabet Soup comes to you from Douglas, the capital city of the Isle of Man. Tina and I arrived here yesterday on a twin prop ATR 72-600 from Heathrow before settling in to a lovely apartment by the harbor, where we'll be based for the next ten days.

What was supposed to be three days of downtime in London proved to be much busier than expected. We did squeeze in a lovely massage one morning, which was much needed medicine for our aching bodies. As a surprise for Tina (okay, also for me! maybe mostly for me?!?) we spent the better part of a day at the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studio tour, which was fantastic; I loved the films and I very much remain a kid at heart.

We also had to restock from a kit and tech perspective. As we're moving into colder weather hiking we had to pull our piece of luggage out of storage and extract some of the longer and warmer clothing layers. We also both needed new phones; mine died on the last week of our South West Coast Path hike and Tina's is no longer able to maintain a charge for a full day. With the days beginning to get cooler and shorter we'll need reliable phones both for navigation and communication.

Long story short, we were on the move most days and didn't perhaps get all the rest our bodies may have appreciated. But such is life, we're on to the next adventure which will see us tackling 25 of the 28 Manx 1000-foot summits over the course of eight separate walks.

Let's jump into the playlist for week 37 which covers a selection of tunes from S artists whose albums were in my physical CD collection.

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ALPHABET SOUP WEEK 37: Artists Filed Under S

This week’s selections:

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ARTIST: Smashing Pumpkins

TRACK: “Landslide” from Pisces Iscariot (1994)

I vividly recall the first time I heard the Smashing Pumpkins rendition of Landslide. I was sitting on the porch of my parents' house in Bermuda in the late summer of 1994, listening to the recently purchased Pisces Iscariot on my dad's stereo. I was newly sober and still extremely fragile emotionally. When I heard this track it split me open and by the end of the song I found myself sobbing. As a 23-year old who had been abusing alcohol and drugs for the better part of a decade, the  line "Well, I've been afraid of changin' / 'Cause I've built my life around you" hit me hard. I'd dug myself such a deep hole by that point and wasn't sure I'd ever be able to pull myself out. Looking back now I recognize that the digging had brought me to the rock bottom upon which I could begin building a new life. That summer turned out to be the turning point of my life. I'm not sure I'd be here today if I hadn't been able to white knuckle my way through those first 3-6 months of early sobriety.

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ARTIST: Spirit Of The West

TRACK: “And If Venice Is Sinking” from Faithlift (1993)

For a band that hailed from Canada's west coast, this track always sounded suspiciously east coast Canadian. Spirit of the West, from Vancouver, British Columbia, released ten albums between 1984 and 2004. I purchased their sixth album, 1993's Faithlift, on the back of the successful single And If Venice Is Sinking which peaked at number 30 on RPM's Singles Chart and was in heavy rotation on Canada's music video channel MuchMusic. The rest of the album turned out to be largely forgettable and was rarely played outside of the single track.

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ARTIST: Spookey Ruben

TRACK: “These Days Are Old” from Modes of Transportation Vol. 1 (1995)

Eccentric Canadian musician Alan F. Deli has released a total of seven albums as Spookey Ruben including his 1996 debut Modes of Transportation Vol. I on which These Days Are Old appears. This was yet another purchase, driven by a single popular track and accompanying music video, that turned out to be a one-track pony. Honestly, listening to it today, I don't think it’s a very good song (it possibly probably never was). But it does take me back to a very specific place and time, bringing with it memories of a new and exciting period in my life.

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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?

Please click the button below to leave a comment.

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ARTIST: Stereolab

TRACK: “Miss Modular” from Dots And Loops (1997)

I discovered Stereolab in 1997, discovered in the same way that Columbus "discovered" America in that they'd already been around for five years and four albums by that point. This is another addition to my CD library that can be chalked up to CMJ New Music Monthly as this track, Miss Modular, appeared on the CD sampler that accompanied the October 1997 edition. The single saw modest success in the UK, peaking at number 60 on the UK Singles Chart with the album, Dots And Loops, reaching number 19 on the UK Albums Chart.

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ARTIST: Splashdown

TRACK: “Ironspy” from Halfworld (1998)

Splashdown was a short lived band from Allston, Massachusetts that released two albums and two EPs between 1996 and 2001. Ironspy, which appeared on the 1998 EP Halfworld and also on the widely available but officially unreleased 2000 album Blueshift, was right in my musical wheelhouse. I would have really preferred to hear more from Splashdown but challenges with their label led to the band going on indefinite hiatus in 2001.

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ARTIST: Spacehog

TRACK: “In The Meantime” from Resident Alien (1995)

In The Meantime is the best known track by the New York-based British band Spacehog. The debut single from their debut album, 1995's Resident Alien, was hugely successful, topping Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and the UK Rock chart. While Spacehog would go on to release a total of four albums, this was a one and done album for me as, outside of the single, there was nothing remarkable about the album to interest me in coming back for more.

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ARTIST: Staind

TRACK: “It's Been A While” from Break The Cycle (2001)

It's Been A While was the lead single from Staind's third album, 2001's Break The Cycle, an album that broke the band into the mainstream. This is the band's most commercially successful song, making the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending 20 weeks and 16 weeks respectively at the number one spot on Billboard's Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. The album topped the charts in half a dozen countries and would go on to be certified 5x platinum in the US.

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ARTIST: Social Distortion

TRACK: “I Was Wrong” from White Light White Heat White Trash (1996)

Although the band had been around in some form since the late 70s, I only heard of Social Distortion for the first time via the 1996 track I Was Wrong from the punk band's fifth studio album White Heat White Trash. The song's opening lines, speaking of growing up full of fear and hiding behind anger, resonated deeply with me and I found an instant connection with the track. I've never been a huge fan of punk and so this album didn't have the staying power for me. Having said that, this song has definitely stood the test of time.

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ARTIST: She Wants Revenge

TRACK: “Tear You Apart” from She Wants Revenge (2006)

For much of 2006 I was absolutely in love with She Wants Revenge's self-titled debut album, an album very poorly received by critics who considered it derivative and unoriginal. It's hard to argue against the fact that they were borrowing very heavily from 80s goth and darkwave classics. But sometimes, when it comes to music, I'm not necessarily looking for originality and derivative isn't always a four letter word to me. The band did go on to release two more albums (they didn't do much for me) before disbanding in 2012.

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ARTIST: Skunk Anansie

TRACK: “Weak” from Paranoid & Sunburnt (1995)

Paranoid & Sunburnt, the 1995 debut from British rock band Skunk Anansie is one of two albums I owned by the band. Weak was the fourth and final single from the album and may well be the band's best known track. The single would make it into the top 40 in several European countries and peaked at number 20 on the singles chart in the UK where the album peaked at number 8. I completely lost track with this band and didn't realize they'd continued making music with an additional four albums released since 1999's Stoosh.

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Harry Potter and The Isle of Man

No this isn’t a new Harry Potter movie! Here are a few “snapshots” (do we even say that anymore) from our visit to the Harry Potter studio tour north of London and our first day of hiking on the Isle of Man:

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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)

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