Song of the Week: Five Thirty
Five Thirty
13th Disciple
In one of many ongoing attempts to free up some space in our crowded flat, I recently took the radical (ha!) decision to transfer all of my CD singles to itunes and stash the originals away in the trusty old loft.
Ah, the CD single – what a stupid concept! When I bought this one by Five Thirty back in 1991 I thought I was being pretty cutting edge – a wizzy new music format which was absolutely guaranteed to surpass scratchy old 7″s within the blink of an eye and a trendy new band with cool hair who were due for big, big things.
Well, I was wrong on both accounts.
But ‘13th Disciple’ is a great song. I’ve always thought so and thankfully, in this issue of The Word, Steve Lamacq agrees (well, that’s what I’m reading into his article anyway). Just wish I’d bought the damn thing on vinyl.
‘13th Disciple’, Five Thirty, 1991
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Tags: song of the week
July 21st, 2010 at 11:54 pm
The opening guitar riff reminds me of Fools Gold by the Stone Roses! Same era too (ish).
I’ve got hundreds of CD singles – almost always bought for ‘exclusive’ extras tracks. But do you ever bother to dig them out and play them? nope! I’ve done a similar thing and made up ‘albums’ on my mp3 player just containing these extra tracks, and I play them much more now.
July 21st, 2010 at 11:56 pm
PS – thanks for the tip on Horrible Histories! Watched it on Saturday and loved it! Have even caught a couple more on CBBC since then! Brilliant! Really well done, funny and informative.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:19 am
Whilst CD singles may have been a touch daft – i.e. same space as an LP (remember when we called 33 rpm vinyl that?) I have a small half size CD single in a pack with It Bites Eat Me In St Louis – now that might have worked – but many players (my NAD doens’t) needed an adapter to play them… plus people would have lost them and CD walkmen like things no doubt needed to be the full size didn’t they…
However – I still nearly always buy the CD not the download – I need the physical thing in my hand – I know I’m weird
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I still play my CD singles quite often, but that’s mainly because they are already victims of a clear-out so live in the room with the PC rather than the lounge with the albums. But they are all in the process of getting compiled onto artist specific b-side collections so will eventually get “lofted”.
Of course, what I need to do is stop spotting “missing” ones from my cash-starved periods in charity shops. Or at least stop finding them after I’ve ripped and burned any given artist!
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Piley, yes its those exclusive extra tracks that used to suck me in too. Ha! Unfortunately, there is just something about CDs which stops you from actually playing them as much as you should. I will sit in front of the stereo and play endless singles or go to the computer and compile playlists, but the old CD single is much unloved. And I’m pleased that you like Horrible Histories. But you suggest intelligent, thought provoking comics. I reciprocate with children’s TV… Hmm…
Furtheron, you are not weird in the slightest. I often don’t feel as though I’ve properly listened to or appreciated a piece of music until I’ve held it in my hand, put it on the stereo and then read the liner notes. Things just don’t feel as ‘real’ in mp3 format sometimes do they? (unless you own them and have ripped them yourself!!). I bought several of those ‘mini’ cds when I was in Japan in 1992. They are quite cute really.
SimonB, I know what you mean about spotting things you wish you’d bought in the past. Look on the bright side though, at least you’re seeing them now in charity shops rather than on ebay with a reserve price of £100!
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:12 pm
You know what? I have never even looked on ebay, never mind bought anything.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:44 pm
You’ve never looked at ebay, Simon!!!! That’s really quite astounding. Well, I think its glory days are long behind it so you’re probably not missing very much now.
August 13th, 2010 at 12:32 am
A new one on me and a good song , enjoyed that. I’ve been making compilation CD’s up of my CD singles and flogging the singles or giving them to friends or the charity shop. I’ll play the song i want to hear as part of a compilation but who really digs out a single any more ???. Compilations rule :-).
August 13th, 2010 at 8:42 am
I’m delighted that you liked the song Carl – it’s not just me! And yes, since writing this post I can confirm that compiling all my cd singles into playlists and proper cds was the best thing I’ve ever done with them. Compilations do indeed rule.