Ashes fanmix - At Rainbow's End
Yep, never let it be said I'm not a jack of all trades. Being master of none is already known :) This selection of chunes has been rattling about in my head these past few weeks until it's reached a point where I thought throwing them out to an unsuspecting public might help me get shot of it. So bad luck.
There are some excellent, well-considered and informed fanmixes for Ashes out there in LJ Land - tip: join the Ashes to Ashes LJ comm.- but this isn't one of them. If at any stage I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't be fooled; I'm a grade A bullshitter par excellence. The simple truth is that those other mixes are hip and trendy and other things that are way over my head, so I retreated to my untrendy world and found that there were quite a number of tracks in my possession spanning the late 70s and early 80s that just screamed "Ashes" at me. Eventually I whittled them down to nine in a sort of lyric-based stream of nonsense interpretation spanning series one and two. I tried to avoid the most obvious, and with one exception all the tracks would be available to make Alex miserable in 1982.
Life At Rainbow's End - Ultravox!
I suppose I chose a good introduction
From a formerly trusted friend
A good introduction to life at rainbow's end
Ah, those were the days - when Ultravox still had their exclamation mark. This struck me as such an obvious linking track between Sam Tyler in Life On Mars and Alex Drake arriving in Ashes, especially given the repeating rainbows. But not just the lyrics, also the date of release - from their 1977 eponymous album, nicely placed halfway between 1973 and 1981. Everything's significant, right?
Life In a Day - Simple Minds
Life In A Day
The price that you pay
For time that you spent
It's such a fatal event
Take a look at your watch
There is no time to wait
Take a look deep inside
There's no escape from this day
One of the aspects of the Genieverse that I really like is the way time there bears no relation to time in the real world, so Alex could spend a whole lifetime there in just a day. From the 1979 album of the same name.
From Here To Eternity - The Only Ones
I got us into this, I've gotta get us out now
It's you and me all the way
From here to eternity
It's you and me all the way
I can too easily imagine that Alex spends a lot of her time talking to herself a mirror - she was the only one who could ever understand, after all - and that's the POV I've find myself thinking of with this track. From the '79 album, Even Serpents Shine.
Isolation - Joy Division
Mother I tried please believe me,
I'm doing the best that I can.
I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through,
I'm ashamed of the person I am.
A theme through series one, and revisited to good effect in episode seven of series two, was Alex's relationship with her mother. And I really don't think I need to explain how isolated she is in this world. Anyway, got to have some Joy Division, haven't you? From the 1980 album Closer.
A Million Miles Away - Stiv Bators
You must stay behind, I'm sorry it's so
It's nothing personal but you can't go
'Cause I'm with the girl who's got the stuff
It's not real life but it's good enough
And I'm a million miles away
I'm a million miles away
And you can't reach me today
I'm disconnected all the way
It's Gene, innit? The first verse chimes in with his repeated declaration that Alex can't leave until he says so, and he frequently appears to just disconnect himself from events around him. 1980 album Disconnected.
I Got You - Split Enz
I don't know why sometimes I get frightened,
You can see my eyes, can tell that I'm not lying,
I don't know why sometimes I get frightened,
You can see my eyes, can you tell me you're not lying?
Gene Hunt has been turned into a mass of insecurities during series two and this just seems to fit him. And it was either this or I'd have tried to squeeze some Crowded House in here somewhere. From the 1980 album True Colours.
The Room We Sat In Before - Associates
You, you hold out your hand
I draw mine away
I once was in touch
Now I've nothing to say
This time it's for real
We gave now we steal
No tears for I fear
It's much better this way
It's better this way
We can't carry on
As if nothing's happened
As if nothing's wrong
Truth stares in our face
It closes its book
It opens at trust
That's not where we belong
Seems to me this is a perfect a fit for the breakdown in Gene and Alex's relationship in episode eight. This is a version of It's Better This Way from their '82 album Sulk, but the raw combination of guitar and vocals gives it a harshness that works brilliantly in this context. I absolutely love this, in case you can't tell.
Waiting For Time - Sam Sparro
Sorry I lost it
Something came over me
Is there a lesson somewhere in this awful tragedy
You didn't deserve that, nobody does
Maybe we will make it, maybe not
Only time can tell you, what you really got.
What's this? Something from 2008? Well that's where Alex thought she was, wasn't it? And it works; I'd like to think The Powers That Be won't gloss things over and get Gene and Alex back on good terms as if nothing happened, but I have my fears. What? You need more? Sam Sparrow was born in 1982 - will that do? ;) From the album Sam Sparro.
Big Sleep - Simple Minds
So where did you go
When you're in the Big Sleep
Drifting in wild life
And still you're wandering now
Nothing says 1982 to me like a track from New Gold Dream, and this fits in many ways. The phrase "valuable friend" harks back to Ashes To Ashes, again there's a reference to time moving at a different rate, and finally it fades away with the lines "Forever. Coming home in the Big Sleep". Hard to choose which bit of the lyric to quote, but perhaps this is most apt for Alex finding herself in a coma-within-a coma situation at the close of series two.
With any luck this link'll work, but if it doesn't give a yell and I'll crank up this steam-powered connection I'm on and see if I can fix it :)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ly05ll
There are some excellent, well-considered and informed fanmixes for Ashes out there in LJ Land - tip: join the Ashes to Ashes LJ comm.- but this isn't one of them. If at any stage I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't be fooled; I'm a grade A bullshitter par excellence. The simple truth is that those other mixes are hip and trendy and other things that are way over my head, so I retreated to my untrendy world and found that there were quite a number of tracks in my possession spanning the late 70s and early 80s that just screamed "Ashes" at me. Eventually I whittled them down to nine in a sort of lyric-based stream of nonsense interpretation spanning series one and two. I tried to avoid the most obvious, and with one exception all the tracks would be available to make Alex miserable in 1982.
Life At Rainbow's End - Ultravox!
I suppose I chose a good introduction
From a formerly trusted friend
A good introduction to life at rainbow's end
Ah, those were the days - when Ultravox still had their exclamation mark. This struck me as such an obvious linking track between Sam Tyler in Life On Mars and Alex Drake arriving in Ashes, especially given the repeating rainbows. But not just the lyrics, also the date of release - from their 1977 eponymous album, nicely placed halfway between 1973 and 1981. Everything's significant, right?
Life In a Day - Simple Minds
Life In A Day
The price that you pay
For time that you spent
It's such a fatal event
Take a look at your watch
There is no time to wait
Take a look deep inside
There's no escape from this day
One of the aspects of the Genieverse that I really like is the way time there bears no relation to time in the real world, so Alex could spend a whole lifetime there in just a day. From the 1979 album of the same name.
From Here To Eternity - The Only Ones
I got us into this, I've gotta get us out now
It's you and me all the way
From here to eternity
It's you and me all the way
I can too easily imagine that Alex spends a lot of her time talking to herself a mirror - she was the only one who could ever understand, after all - and that's the POV I've find myself thinking of with this track. From the '79 album, Even Serpents Shine.
Isolation - Joy Division
Mother I tried please believe me,
I'm doing the best that I can.
I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through,
I'm ashamed of the person I am.
A theme through series one, and revisited to good effect in episode seven of series two, was Alex's relationship with her mother. And I really don't think I need to explain how isolated she is in this world. Anyway, got to have some Joy Division, haven't you? From the 1980 album Closer.
A Million Miles Away - Stiv Bators
You must stay behind, I'm sorry it's so
It's nothing personal but you can't go
'Cause I'm with the girl who's got the stuff
It's not real life but it's good enough
And I'm a million miles away
I'm a million miles away
And you can't reach me today
I'm disconnected all the way
It's Gene, innit? The first verse chimes in with his repeated declaration that Alex can't leave until he says so, and he frequently appears to just disconnect himself from events around him. 1980 album Disconnected.
I Got You - Split Enz
I don't know why sometimes I get frightened,
You can see my eyes, can tell that I'm not lying,
I don't know why sometimes I get frightened,
You can see my eyes, can you tell me you're not lying?
Gene Hunt has been turned into a mass of insecurities during series two and this just seems to fit him. And it was either this or I'd have tried to squeeze some Crowded House in here somewhere. From the 1980 album True Colours.
The Room We Sat In Before - Associates
You, you hold out your hand
I draw mine away
I once was in touch
Now I've nothing to say
This time it's for real
We gave now we steal
No tears for I fear
It's much better this way
It's better this way
We can't carry on
As if nothing's happened
As if nothing's wrong
Truth stares in our face
It closes its book
It opens at trust
That's not where we belong
Seems to me this is a perfect a fit for the breakdown in Gene and Alex's relationship in episode eight. This is a version of It's Better This Way from their '82 album Sulk, but the raw combination of guitar and vocals gives it a harshness that works brilliantly in this context. I absolutely love this, in case you can't tell.
Waiting For Time - Sam Sparro
Sorry I lost it
Something came over me
Is there a lesson somewhere in this awful tragedy
You didn't deserve that, nobody does
Maybe we will make it, maybe not
Only time can tell you, what you really got.
What's this? Something from 2008? Well that's where Alex thought she was, wasn't it? And it works; I'd like to think The Powers That Be won't gloss things over and get Gene and Alex back on good terms as if nothing happened, but I have my fears. What? You need more? Sam Sparrow was born in 1982 - will that do? ;) From the album Sam Sparro.
Big Sleep - Simple Minds
So where did you go
When you're in the Big Sleep
Drifting in wild life
And still you're wandering now
Nothing says 1982 to me like a track from New Gold Dream, and this fits in many ways. The phrase "valuable friend" harks back to Ashes To Ashes, again there's a reference to time moving at a different rate, and finally it fades away with the lines "Forever. Coming home in the Big Sleep". Hard to choose which bit of the lyric to quote, but perhaps this is most apt for Alex finding herself in a coma-within-a coma situation at the close of series two.
With any luck this link'll work, but if it doesn't give a yell and I'll crank up this steam-powered connection I'm on and see if I can fix it :)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ly05ll