Life Begins At The Hop byXTC
XTC is a band whose output I am woefully unfamiliar with. They’re like the Rush of power pop, with a modest yet fiercely devoted (and mostly male) fan base. Of the songs of theirs I do know, however, this is my favorite. It takes the already antiquated idea of a sock hop and reflects it through the oddball, angular lens of late ’70s punk and new wave.
The guitar riff that plays through the entire song is my favorite part. It’s a twisted and upside down version of so many classic Motown bass riffs, as if someone tried to describe what a Four Tops record sounded like to the unfamiliar guitar player and he gave it his best shot.
I love this kind of thing.
250 recordings of interviews and songs made by oral history pioneer George Ewart Evans between 1956 and 1977, many in Suffolk, with a smaller number in Wales, Ireland and Scotland. The recordings document rural life and agricultural work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, folk beliefs about animals, medicine and witchcraft, folk and popular songs.
