track 1, side 1 - "Stereo Love"

It's all gone pretty well: some people have bought the record, no-one's said anything really horrible about it so there have been zero strops in the house and all the crockery has survived, and it's been fun to do the blog. Now we're getting to the last few days, for anybody who might've missed it before, here again is a reminder of what this “Think Bubble” thing sounds like. (Apparently, this one is supposed to be The Troggs doing Pilot’s “Magic” as “Tobacco Road”. No, really.)

There's possibly going to be a "Think Bubble Volume 2" next year, which I'm told would be a kinda 'proposed singles and B-sides' thing. Unlike this 'white' record, it'd be 'rust-coloured with primary-splodges', apparently! I don't know, I really don't... he has his own little reality, pretty much. Anyway, we'll see.

Back to the top 50 countdown tomorrow.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 5. Boston - "More Than A Feeling"

I don’t know: is it me, or is "More Than A Feeling" actually the only good Boston song? Could it be that Tom Scholz’s deal with the devil was for just one single, and then Satan declined to pick up the option? Cos, I don’t know, this one has it all – like, it literally seems to have it all, at least in Boston terms. It’s got the wistful “Walk Away Renee” verse with loss and the radio, and then it’s got the big power-chorus with, er, the loss and the radio. Apart from a guitar sound which I’m sure is really good, I don’t know, that’s sorta it, isn’t it? Which, to be fair, in Pooh Sticks land, is more or less all we really cared about, loss and the radio. (Sound like fun?? Look, I’m over-egging it a bit, don’t listen to me.) Anyway, I don’t think I could point to any one particular Pooh Sticks song which has extra amounts of “More Than A Feeling” going on: it was more like oxygen – always there and necessary but invisible, I suppose.

Here's some thinkings about the actual recording, and that.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 6. Pilot - "Magic"

There aren’t that many out-and-out feelgood songs in this list, so it says something, you know, a lot, about "Magic" that’s in the top ten. I mean, really, there can’t be many songs more uplifting than this one, what with the “ho ho ho” and the handclaps and everything. Cut from the same cloth (a Beatle jacket, obviously) as The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe In Magic?”, it’s basically pretty much what we thought about pop music: at its best, it’s more than the sum of its parts and, yes, it’s magic. Not that fake kinda ‘magic’ where you can see the ropes and the pulleys and it’s all smoke and mirrors, but real magic, something that’s handed down from the gods and skips around with no gravity, something that’s impossible to plan for and impossible to bottle when it happens. Pilot had a couple of other great hits, sure, but this one captured the lightning.

There’s a review somewhere which describes “The Great White Wonder” as our ‘valentine to rock’n’roll’, and it is, of course… but then all our records were. Thing is, not sure any of them hit that sweet spot quite as well as “Magic”. This one was in our hearts and in our heads from opening night to close.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

"Rainbow Rider" - 1992 'rock version' idea demo

There was a brief moment during the recording of “Million Seller” when we nearly upped-Sticks and moved our main recording from Utrecht to Los Angeles. Well, it was considered, and there were phone-calls, but it was a think-phase that didn’t last long and the idea was quickly forgotten. I wasn’t really party to much of it (other room, cats, etc) but it was likely to have involved musicians from The Four Horsemen, apparently. Anyway, with this in mind, over at Esther’s house where we staying at the time, Steve recorded this ‘rock version’ demo of “Rainbow Rider”: this is how it would’ve been done in LA, so he says. As far as I know, it’s the only one of the “Million Seller” tracks which would’ve been ‘different’ in the LA version. Why this one? Don’t know. Do you want me to ask?

The photo above of Apollo, who co-wrote "Rainbow Rider" and is pictured here modelling the "Back In The USA" T-shirt, was taken in Rick Rubin's apartment in New York where we stayed for a few days March 1988.

This one:

... is Apollo's bottom, from the inside of the "Million Seller" sleeve.




"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 7. Hot Chocolate - "Emma"

Unlike Cud (there, I mentioned Cud!) we never really liked “You Sexy Thing” or, to be honest, a lot of the 'Chocolate: the record company, who always thought it was amusing that so many Pooh Sticks songs used secondhand titles, once challenged us to come up with a song called “Heaven Is In The Back Seat Of My Cadillac”, but I’m happy to say it didn’t happen (at least, it was never presented to the group; maybe it exists in a notebook somewhere, but you’ve got to hope not, right?). But some of their early (‘not funny’) ones were great, and for two years,  1973/4, they came up with “Brother Louie”, “Rumours” and “Emma”, which have a fantastically dark and broodingly melodramatic thing going on. (At the same time, across town, there was David Essex with his holy trinity of “Rock On”, “Stardust” and “America”, doing the same kinda thing.) “Emma” was our favourite, not surprisingly, with its level of doom cranked up to the size of an imagined Sunset Boulevard billboard. This one was front-and-centre for our “Desperado”.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 8. Looking Glass - "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)"

Looking Glass were a one-hit wonder (well, two, if you’re in America, which we aren’t) and this “Brandy” was something-out-of-nothing for them. Apparently, they were pretty popular but their regular fans didn’t like this one, thinking it was too ‘pop’: well, them’s the breaks, your loss is our gain. It has that mysteriousness about it, and maybe part of that is because it really wasn’t what the band ‘did’, so they weren’t following a tried-and-tested. And it’s just the kinda mysteriousness we liked: everything about this one is slightly off-kilter, a bit sea-legs’y, a bit like the record made itself with no human involvement. We especially tried to get some “Brandy” going on in our “The Rhythm Of Love” on “The Great White Wonder”… can you tell? (Well, the bits which weren’t written by The Strangeloves anyway: the verses are theirs, but the chorus and middle eight are homegown. They insisted on 100% of the publishing, though, same as happened with “Who Loves You”.) Anyway, big plus, it’s got a good amount of romantic doom to it which, you know, is always going to be a good thing around here.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 9. mystery track

Remember when some charts refused to acknowledge "God Save The Queen"? Here's the 'Top 50 Countdown!!!' tribute. When we've done number one, if you think you know what's missing here, let me know: there'll be a prize for whoever gets it right (possibly).

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 10. Linda Lewis - "Rock A Doodle Doo"

If I could change things in rock’s rich tapestry, one of the things I’d change is I’d move "Rock A Doodle Doo" from her “Lark” album to her “Not A Little Girl Anymore” album. (Look, that’s what I’d do, right? I mean, what… stop Janis dying? Pull Brian out of the pool? Save Jimi? Tell Jim he didn’t need a bath? Convince the three men Don McLean admires the most that the gig’s off and they can stay another night in the hotel? Maybe later. This Linda Lewis thing first.) “Lark” has a horrible cover. “Not A Little Girl Anymore” has a great cover – she looks fabulous – and it’s already got “Remember The Days Of The Old Schoolyard” on it. This one didn’t really kick in until quite late in the day in Pooh Sticks terms, but the single was propped up on the mixing desk all through “Optimistic Fool” and if any of this “Think Bubble” stuff had actually got as far as Todd then, apparently, it was going to be suggested that he make much of it sound like this. Yeah, I know, I’d like to have heard that conversation too.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 50. to 11. recap

The top-fifty countdown (or ‘Top 50 Countdown!!!’, to give it its full name) of the 'most important' singles in Pooh Sticks world only has the Top 10 to go, so let’s recap on the ones 50-11. Me, I’d be taking issue with at least a couple of these but, what with me being in the other room playing with the cats and everything much of the time, I suppose I’m not best-placed. In the end, though, I think we can rely on it, cos when Steve just looked over this list again I’m sure I saw him go all misty (blue) and he quickly left the room claiming to have something in his eye.

50. Keith West - “Excerpt From A Teenage Opera”
49. Carole King - “It's Too Late”
48. Tin Tin – “Toast And Marmalade For Tea”
47. The Cowsills – “The Rain, The Park & Other Things”
46. Spanky & Our Gang – “Sunday Will Never Be The Same”
45. 10cc – “I'm Mandy Fly Me”
44. Don Henley - “The Boys Of Summer”
43. MC5 – “Tonight”
42. Lesley Gore – “Immortality”
41. Seals & Crofts – “Summer Breeze”
40. Christopher Rainbow – “Give Me What I Cry For”
39. Todd Rundgren – “I Saw The Light”
38. Love Affair - “Rainbow Valley”
37. Blue Swede – “Hooked On A Feeling”
36. Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead Or Alive”
35. Bread - “Guitar Man”
34. Don McLean – “American Pie”
33. The Archies – “Sugar Sugar”
32. Ohio Express – “Yummy Yummy Yummy”
31. The Tams – “Hey Girl, Don't Bother Me”
30. The Fantastics – “Something Old, Something New”
29. The Flying Machine – “Smile A Little Smile For Me”
28. Elton John – “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
27. The Tams – “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy”
26. 1910 Fruitgum Company - “123 Red Light”
25. The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb”
24. Brian Protheroe – “Pinball”
23. King Harvest – “Dancing In The Moonlight”
22. Lenny Williams – “Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ooh”
      and
      William DeVaughn – “Be Thankful For What You Got”
21. Tommy James & The Shondells – “Crystal Blue Persuasion”
20. Harry Chapin – “W.O.L.D.”
19. Michael Murphey - “Wildfire”
18. Bruce Springsteen - “She's The One”
17. Reunion – “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)”
16. Alice Cooper – “Hello, Hooray”
15. Wings – “Jet”
14. The Raspberries - “Overnight Sensation”
13. The Hollies - “Gasoline Alley Bred”
12. Four Seasons – “Who Loves You”
11. Procol Harum – “Pandora's Box”

What’s going to be in the top 10? There’s exciting! Now, I already know – I’ve been given the piece of paper – but even then I still think it’s pretty exciting…

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 11. Procol Harum - "Pandora's Box"

 



























Procol Harum were incapable of writing anything normal. Somehow, even being produced by the old-school trad.’ness of Leiber & Stoller, re-newly hot from doing that Stealers Wheel “Stuck In The Middle With You” thing, didn’t stop "Pandora's Box" being a record which seems to exist in the same semi-world as the Rochdale fairies (which are real, by the way). There’s an uncomfortable spookiness about it: even trad Jerry & Mike were onboard with making things sound shivvery. But more than anything, of course, it’s the words in Procol Harum songs which are always super-mysterious, and we could hire a country cottage for a weekend retreat, drink absinthe (never tried it, sounds good) and discuss them into the night (shall we do that?). 

We shared a taxi with their words-man Keith Reid once, and I tried to ask him what “And though I know the lifeguard’s brave / There is no-one for him to save” meant. He paused for a week, then shrugged. I cornered him later (this was at a Matthew Sweet gig, by the way…) and asked him again: no joy. We tried to give our “Pandora’s Box” that same kinda uneasy queasiness… don’t know if it worked (did it?). There’s a bit of “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” going on in “Five O’Clock Shadow” on the “Think Bubble” record but, really, one way or another, there’s quite a bit of Procol-quoting all through Pooh Sticks stuff, especially from "A Salty Dog" and this one.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

1991 'Great White Wonder' T-shirts

I found five ‘spares’ of these original 1991 “Great White Wonder” mail-order/promo T-shirts. I thought they’d all long-gone, John, but apparently not. It’s a pity I didn’t find them before the summer, but anyway… who wants to buy one?

The good news:
- they’re 100% cotton (me, I like a bit of rayon, but anyway…)
- they’re totally ‘new’/unworn

The bad news:
- they’re from 1991 and so they’re ‘Large’ (not as large as some Inspiral Carpets shirts you frankly could’ve worn as a dress, but not small and skinny like what the kids are all wearing these days)

So anyway, here’s an idea:
“Think Bubble”: 25 Euros
GWW T-shirt: 30 Euros
Total = 55 Euros (plus post)

If you do want to order this delightful package-deal, please have your Paypal payment mention “GWW T-shirt deal” or something, otherwise I won’t know!

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 12. Four Seasons - "Who Loves You"

Obviously. I have no idea how "Who Loves You", and their “Silver Star” from around the same time, both of which just kinda came out of nowhere, really, considering how long it’d been since their 60s heyday, struck such a chord with us. Whatever it was, especially this one, there’s a real strangeness about it… is it some kinda early disco? Or not? I mean, what is it, exactly? Still, anyway, it was a solid touchstone for us and, when someone noticed you could sing the Four Seasons chorus over bits of instrumental in our own “Who Loves You” song, it just seemed kinda churlish not to. As it turned out, this was good for the song… but Bob Gaudio insisted on having 100% of the publishing credit, and we weren’t even allowed to call our song “Who Loves You” anymore (that's why it's “Sweet Baby James” on the Zoo copies). Apparently, “I’m In You” also on “Great White Wonder”, was also based on this one. Hmmm, I don’t know… yeah, I suppose I can see that. Just.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

"Great White Wonder" promo stickers

I found some of those "Great White Wonder" stickers I think I mentioned a few days ago. Here's a picture of the front and back. So here's an idea:
“Think Bubble”: 25 Euros
“The Great White Wonder” (original 1991 UK gatefold-sleeve edition LP): 10 Euros
including one of these promo sticker things
Total = 35 Euros (plus post)

If you do want to order this delightful package-deal, please have your Paypal payment mention “GWW sticker deal” or something, otherwise I won’t know!

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 13. The Hollies - "Gasoline Alley Bred"

It’s that boy Macauley again wot wrote "Gasoline Alley Bred". I mean it’s not like The Hollies couldn’t write a passable tune of their own, sure, but they also knew the value in using a song off someone else’s shelf. (Look, we had to write our own stuff cos Phil Coulter wasn’t returning our calls, obviously; still, at least I was given space on the sleeves to mention all the ‘good’ records, right?) So anyway, “Gasoline Alley Bred”: more doomed rock’n’roll romantic. For us, it was especially central to “Desperado” on “The Great White Wonder”. On the bright side, the idea of somewhere called ‘Gasoline Alley’ has always reminded me of ‘Railway Sidings’ in Hancock’s Half-Hour.

Oh, and if this one had survived and made it onto “Million Seller”, it looks like my sleeve-scrawlings would’ve had a “Gasoline Alley Bred” reference:

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

... final two weeks sale of the album

“Think Bubble” is available (from here, anyway) only for the next two weeks – until the end of September.

Someone asked me how best to describe the demo-ness of it. How about this: if it was a car, it’s just the doings under the bonnet, without all the plush leather interior, chrome wheels and fins. It’s the switch for the sun-roof without the actual sun-roof. It’s the back without the diamond.

Look, what am I talking about? I don’t even drive.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album. See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 14. The Raspberries - "Overnight Sensation"

I wish I could write in increasingly small letters, until it’s almost, almost, not there at all… and then … WRITE IN REALLY BIG LETTERS ALL OF A SUDDEN, WITH EXCLAMATION MARKS! EVERYWHERE!! “Overnight Sensation” was one of the ‘radio’ records we had starting our “Formula One Generation” album cos, really, it says it all, doesn’t it? Well, maybe not all, but it definitely says a lot of it. The Raspberries were great, of course, but I still have the nagging feeling that they would’ve been better if they’d joined up with Alessi in a kinda Sutherland Brothers & Quiver kinda way. It seems to me they had the haircuts, and, really, that’s half the battle right there. I don’t know which of our songs might’ve been most directly influenced by this one, but probably all of them, one way or another. I suppose it’s a bit like “Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ooh” but with an added hopelessness. What do you think about the bit where it drops down to the AM radio sound? I bet youngsters these days don’t even know what that’s supposed to be about. Don’t know what they’re missing. Radio Luxembourg, under the blankets, til the batteries run out... Ah, swoon!

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

"Goodbye Don't Mean I'm Gone" (demo)

Here's the original demo for “Goodbye Don’t Mean I’m Gone” on “Million Seller”. This was done just at that time when Steve started to see himself in some kinda James Taylor mould (er, OK…) and bought himself one of those pluggy-in acoustics (that’s the technical term, right?) to replace an old Eko 12-string which had only (the same) six strings on it since 1984 and which we eventually used as firewood. Apparently this song is supposed to be “Sunny Skies” from “Sweet Baby James”: look, we just nodded and did what we were told.

The picture is a proposal for the cover of “Million Seller” which he actually – no, really! – sent to the record company. I remember the resulting conversation in every fingernails-pressed-into-palm detail. It was only a brief aberration, and the flying-records design was soon back on the table, but it still makes me chuckle.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 15. Paul McCartney & Wings - "Jet"

Look, I can only imagine what kinda nothing we’d’ve come back with if we’d gone to Nigeria to make a record, but there’s sure in hell no way it would’ve been “Band On The Run”. I mean, who goes to Nigeria, gets mugged at gunpoint and has tapes stolen, and still manages one of the greatest albums ever? But wait, even Paul cheated: this one was recorded afterwards, back in London. Well, yeah, sure, we could’ve done that! Anyway, this, “Another Day”, all of “Ram”, at least half of “Venus And Mars”… he still had it, didn’t he? There was supposed to be some kinda “Bluebird” from “Band On The Run” going on with our “Good Times” on “The Great White Wonder”, but this one was big for us on “Baby Wanna Go Round With Me” and “I Saw The Light” on “Million Seller”, with that thick droning bass and saxophone thing (I know, you have to imagine our thick droning bass and saxophone but, trust me, it was in our heads… well, it was in somebody’s head: as you know, I was in the other room playing with the cats). So anyway, I once knew a girl, friend of mine, who was always singing this, known for it, and was often seen careering around Utrecht on her bike, with the wind in her hair of a thousand laces, and then one day she showed up, walking, and totally bald. She refused to talk about it. After a while she didn’t seem to be around anymore and we later found out she’d emigrated. To Nigeria. So I don’t know.





"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

"The World Is Turning On" (original Utrecht mix)

“Million Seller”: I think it was that ‘Trouser Press’ book which suggested that “much of the guitar power”, or something, had been added as an afterthought to mostly-acoustic tracks by hired-hand NYC guitar-slinger Kevin Salem. Now, Kevin – can’t remember, but a good bloke, I’m sure – is definitely on half a dozen tracks, but the Trouser suggestion definitely wildly over-eggs his involvement. Kevin’s pretty much totally inaudible on everything except “The World Is Turning On”, and even then it’s his strumming acoustic in the breakdown that’s his big contribution. Here's the original Utrecht mix.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 16. Alice Cooper - "Hello Hurray"

So, what I was saying about Don Henley’s singing on “The Boys Of Summer”… this beats it. Vince (I call him Vince: I’m allowed, but don’t ask why…) really gives it his all on this one. But it’s everything about this record which makes it a favourite and, whilst it’s a stretch to say he’d been struggling before the “School’s Out” jackpot, there must’ve been times he wondered if he was ever actually going to make it really big. The whole lyric is perfect for a pop-romantic Pooh Sticks playlist. It goes:

“Hello! Hooray!
Let the show begin, I've been ready
Hello! Hooray!
Let the lights grow dim, I've been ready

Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream
Loving every second, every moment, every scream
I've been waiting so long to sing my song
And I've been waiting so long for this thing to come
Yeah, I've been thinking so long I was the only one

Roll out, roll out
With your American dream and its recruits, I've been ready
Roll out, roll out
With your circus freaks and hula hoops, I've been ready

Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream
Loving every second, every moment, every scream
I've been waiting so long to sing my song
And I've been waiting so long for this thing to come
Oh, I've been thinking so long I was the only one

God, I feel so strong
I feel so strong, I'm so strong
I feel so strong
So strong
God, I feel so strong
I am so strong”

That’s euphoria in anybody’s language, right? And when I found out (the information was accompanied by a withering “what, you didn’t know??”, but, well, water off a duck’s back…) that it was basically a cover version of a track first recorded in 1968 by Judy Collins (yes, the poor-man’s Joni Mitchell-lite) it just made even more sense: like, this was something he simply had to sing. No choice. Plus: Bob Ezrin was walking on water at this point, so ‘result’.

(PS: Yes, the UK copy spelled the title differently.)

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

"The Great White Wonder" vs The Paisley Perverts

If this month’s Mojo has got anyone thinking about quite what Beatle Hans And The Paisley Perverts actually, you know, sounded like: try this single. The single was recorded a couple of years after the live “It’s” LP which prompted us to record “The Great White Wonder” with them in Holland, but you get the general idea. Briefly – and people mostly think I’m making this up when I say it – they were the best band in the world.

Anyway, here’s an idea:
“Think Bubble”: 25 Euros
“The Great White Wonder” (original 1991 UK gatefold-sleeve edition LP): 10 Euros
+ free Beatle Hans LP
Total = 35 Euros (plus post)

If you do want to order this delightful package-deal, please have your Paypal payment mention “GWW deal” or something, otherwise I won’t know!

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

"The Great Pop Group Strike" ("Optimistic Fool" out-take)

 

















According to the extensively diagram’d and footnote’d worksheet suspended in gaffa in the studio (OK, it was sellotaped to the wall… same thing…), “The Great Pop Group Strike” was supposed to be the last song on side two of “Optimistic Fool”. In the end it was decided that the final song should be “First Of A Million Love Songs” (which was about Take That, by the way: during our brief period working with BMG it had been suggested by some bright spark at the company that the fledgeling-not-yet-smash-hit 'That would benefit if Steve would work with Gary Barlow on a couple of songs!): apparently it was more “contemplative” and had more “slow burn”. Well, yes… OK, whatever  you say, but so much for those gaffa’d (sello’d) notes, right? And as “The Great Pop Group Strike” didn’t fit anywhere else on the album it was abandoned. Here's a version still with Steve's guide vocal. I agree, not enough “slow burn”.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 17. Reunion - "Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)"

It’s that man Joey Levine again, him from The Ohio Express etc.. Sometime after his bubblegum heyday, he came up with this one, which somehow manages to still sound innocent and joyous despite being blatantly dollars-and-cents at the same time (so, much like the best Super K stuff then). My favourite time I heard this on the radio was during the mixing of “Million Seller” in New York: we were in an expensive studio, really posh (the band who’d been in directly before us was the ‘Stones!), high up in some building, and out of the window right next to the Duck Hunt video-game machine (Hue replaced Michael Bolton as the top scorer!) you could look down onto Bryan Ferry’s roof terrace, on which there were always models sunbathing. I should’ve gone down and joined them; I’m sure I’d’ve fit right in. Anyway, whenever I hear this record now, apart from enjoying spotting the breathing-edits, I always think of that studio, and how amazing it was that we’d made it that far from a basement in Swansea. So yeah, I think this might’ve been Levine’s last hit, not sure. He probably didn’t have any puff left to make any more.  

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album. See 'About Me' for details.


 

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 18. Bruce Springsteen - "She's The One"

Coming in a close second to “Tonight” as the greatest ever rock’n’roll title, pretty much most songs you could write called “She’s The One” would be good right there. Obviously, the whole “Born To Run” album is almost faultless (almost: I could pick holes in it, but I’d need time, which I’m sure you have no intention of giving me…), but this is one of the highlights (it was also a B-side, if you’re wondering how it qualifies here… OK, we stretched a point, so…?). It seems strident and grand and triumphant but really it’s desperate and powerless and hopeless: he’s locked into something that’s out of his control, beautiful but doomed (anything ‘doomed’ was always popular, apparently). There’s some “She’s The One” going on in our “When The Girl Wants To Be Free”, and of course we also had our own song called this… which was specially done as a B-side, to be like the Springsteen one! Come to think of it, there’s also another “She’s The One” in the unused “Think Bubble” bunch. But look, honest, if one day he’d walked in and we'd been presented with one called “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” we definitely would’ve drawn the line, I can assure you.  

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album. See 'About Me' for details.


 

1988 "Alan McGee" etc tapebox, plus working mixes

Sometimes it’s worth playing old unlabelled cassettes, it really is! Other times… hmmm, not so much:
“Heartbreak”  - early Steve guide vocal mix
“Alan McGee” – early instrumental mix

What would've been potentially interesting of the stuff which came from this multitrack tape was that “Just Like A Shitbag” was the original version of “Goodbye Don’t Mean I’m Gone” on “Million Seller”, and “Good Times” was the first (punky Bo Diddley) version of the song on “The Great White Wonder”. I say potentially interesting: actually, not really, in the end. This "Heartbreak" with the original guide-vocal, and an unfinished "Alan McGee", was the best on offer.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.