Memorabilia Podcast - Ben Folds Five - Whatever And Ever Amen - 1997 - Ep. 22

Ben Folds Five - Whatever And Ever Amen - 1997 - Ep. 22

Explicit content warning

09/25/22 • 104 min

Memorabilia Podcast

We are delighted to be back with a sublime album from the late 90's to kick-off Season 2! North Carolinan trio, Ben Folds Five, released their second LP on the 18th of March 1997 with much trepidation after a challenging time recording the album, trying to perfect the sound and document 'an event' by shunning the recording studio in favour of Ben's dilapidated house in Chapel Hill. If you've listened to any of our episodes during season one, you'll know we'll cover the origins of the band, each song in turn (both musically and lyrically) and finish by each giving a rating for the record out of 10. You'll discover how an auction bidding war that Kate was involved in is linked to the album opening track...

Before we get stuck in to all things BFF, we look back at 1997. What was in the UK album and single charts at this time, what were we watching at the movies and on the telly, and what was happening in the news? It was a time of political change in the UK, and musically, we were on the downward curve of Britpop, with boy-bands and girl-bands very prominent and dominating the higher reaches of the singles chart in particular. We talk about Bush, Dodgy, Cake, Kula Shaker, Gina G, Sash!, No Doubt, Wet Wet Wet, The Spice Girls, Blur, Mansun, Aqua, Chumbawumba, and Oasis amongst others. It was also the age of the 'hidden track' and we remember some heart stopping moments in discovering this new phenomena.

In the movies, we recall the likes of Bound, Fierce Creatures, Ransom, Jerry Maguire and one of Kate's favourites, Mars Attacks! On the TV, we discuss Sunset Beach, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the launch of Channel 5 (featuring the Spice Girls of course) and The Teletubbies. Halcyon days!

We have a new feature for Season 2 - 'Top 3's'. As we're named after a Marc Almond song, much to Kate's consternation, we started with our Top 3 Marc Almond / Soft Cell songs. She said it would have been easier choosing a favourite child!! Let us know yours...

No surprise that this features: https://youtu.be/XZVpR3Pk-r8
Here's one of Kate's picks: https://youtu.be/0wIhbmC5_KA
Kate's Song of the week - Clarity, Vance Joy: https://youtu.be/7RREsx9lnNI
Rick's Song of the week - 6 Underground, Sneaker Pimps: https://youtu.be/2eBZqmL8ehg

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Cheers!

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Cheers!

Previous Episode

Hue and Cry - Seduced and Abandoned - 1987 - Ep. 21

For our final episode of Season 1, we are back in 1987 to visit the songwriting duo 'Hue and Cry' and their debut album 'Seduced and Abandoned'. Brothers Patrick and Greg Kane were raised in the Scottish town of Coatbridge and were just 22 and 20 years of age respectively when the LP was released on the 1st of November 1987. We take a deep dive in to their journey to unlikely top 10 hitmakers, review the album in detail with a track by track analysis, and find out what's happened to the brothers' post late 80's fame.

We set the scene before discussing all things Hue and Cry by visiting the month of November in 1987 which is a scary 35 years ago years ago as this episode is released in 2022! Chatting about what was happening in our own lives, we also review the top ten album and single charts in the UK, populated by the likes of Billy Idol, George Harrison, Rick Astley, Bronski Beat, U2 and The Bee Gees. The top 10 UK box office movies included some great films starring the likes of Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Bette Midler, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon, and Cher.

We conclude the episode and the season by reviewing Roling Stones Magazine's top 10 songs of all time which not surprisingly features The Beatles; but which position did their sole entry in to the top 10 finish and which song was it? Tune in to find out!

Link to singles of the week for Rick and Kate on YouTube:

Rick - Let her go by Hue & Cry from 2017: https://youtu.be/RoCCiTwOGEM

Kate - Dead Man's Curve by Jan and Dean from 1964: https://youtu.be/S1Cuekbklkg

Thank you to everyone who has listened to, commented on, shared or appeared in any of our podcast episodes from season 1! We'll be back in 3-4 months with season 2, focusing on the albums that we have in our CD collections.
If you haven't already, please subscribe to the podcast and share / follow / like / comment on our social media or send us an email:

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Until the next time (!), Rick and Kate x

Next Episode

Dan Donnelly - Country & Northern - 2011 - Ep.23

A bumper episode for season 2, episode 2 with special guest, current Leveller and all round brilliant human being, the very talented Dan Donelly. As well as focusing on his terrific 2011 album 'Country & Northern', and hearing about the genesis of each song, we have some fun discussions about why drinking pints of Guinness in a music video isn't a great idea, and possibly being the last vanguards of 'the album'. There's also serious chat about depression and suicide, and why Dan feels this record is his 'Blood on the Tracks'. Oh, and we have actual music! There's a taster of each of the songs on the album, which is a good thing as I'm reliably informed that the record isn't on Spotify. However, if you've a spare thirty odd quid, then you can buy the CD on Amazon or eBay. It'll be money very well spent in our humble opinion.

The UK singles and albums charts from May 2011 come under serious scrunity - well as much as we could muster for the singles as we only knew about 3 of the songs between us! As for the albums, Cee Lo Green, Rhianna, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Wombats and Adele all feature. There's much love for Dave Grohl, but not so much for Bruno Mars and Jessie J.

We're delighted that Ian Prowse features heavily in the episode, as Dan tells us about the song from Ian's latest album 'One Hand On The Starry Plough' written about him, aptly entitled, 'Dan'. It's a song that 'Louder than War' commented on their album review: "Dan again sees Prowse deliver a character-led narrative, this time over a sea-shanty song that puts me in mind of The Decemberists, which from me is high praise indeed." Dan Donnelly himself recounts his first hand experience of hearing Ian playing the song live at a recent gig in Sunderland, at the venue that Dan co-owns with Futurehead Barry Hyde.

We finish the episode with each of us picking an Ian Prowse 'Top 3' - a far from easy task with such an extensive back catalogue of brilliant and eclectic music spanning over thirty years. None of us choose his Magnus Opus 'Does This Train Stop On Merseyside' deciding that was a given, but there's some very emotional and personal choices amongst our picks.

Thanks Dan!

You can listen to more of Dan along with wife Kathryn on the quite brilliant 'Now That's What I call Bullshit' podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1756768

Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NowThatsWhatI18 and Dan himself: https://twitter.com/dandinnerlady

Or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nowthatswhatIcallBS and https://www.facebook.com/dansonovagun
Watch Dan's video for the song 'Running' on YouTube: https://youtu.be/luDmoz_xl9U
And more recent release and my song of the week 'Time of Our Lives': https://youtu.be/J9HWYXl8UC8
Kate's Song of The Week is by 'The 1975' entitled 'I'm In Love With You': https://youtu.be/UVzVUDXoi0Y

One of the 9 wonderful Ian Prowse songs from our Top 3's: https://youtu.be/Qf2QNDZpeTw

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