Day ten: Leave your man.

The opening song to what seems to me like a summery album, just as the sun has popped out, so has this into my world again. What a song, I insist you have a listen and dare you not to feel a bit better about life.



Song: 15 Ways
Album: Middle Class Revolt
Year: 1994

This sounds perfectly of its time, laid back and jangly, like a lot of the alternative rock of the time, but still with that crack and clatter of drums leading the track while Mark sings some whimsical lyrics about people leading their lives based on advice from lifestyle magazines.

Don't be downhearted! There must be 15 ways to leave your man!

Great stuff, if anyone has or indeed, still does live their life based on the pages of a magazine, then you're a fool, having worked with feature writers, they simply funnel as many non-committals as they can into editorial space with no quality control, so I fully agree with MES here, nonsense!

This video is genuinely brilliant as well, Mark at an office desk one minute, dragging an amp through backstreet puddles the next, not seen this video before, can't wait to see some more. I like the sparse sets of Fall videos, seemingly all filmed on borrowed equipment with hardly any planning, most of them feature Mark sitting in pubs, so this proves he can wander around in the fresh air now and again, even if he is singing about flats and post office boxes.

One other thing to mention, this song features whistling, something missing from modern music no? Its not quite 'Wind Of Change' though is it?

There's a live version of this from Phoenix Festival in the year this came out, they play an amazing set, but the crowd look pretty bored, I am aghast. Also this reminds me this album has two drummers, Simon Wolstencroft and Karl Burns, they play the same thing but are perhaps one iota out, meaning it clatters along satisfyingly.

If you are feeling a little more merry after this song, check out some of the other tracks off this album, Behind The Counter and Hey Student! being particularly upbeat. I spy what's coming tomorrow...