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Centuries of Sound

@centuriesofsound.bsky.social

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A mix for every year of recorded sound.
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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Watching England play in the knockout stages of tournaments makes me really anxious, so this year, in fact today, I've decided to stop.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Added to my #LetsDoIt25 playlist today for 1906:

* Bert Williams - Nobody
* United States Marine Band - Maple Leaf Rag

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year ten

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

I was a huge MJ fan in 1989, seems like we all were. His image seemed to be a checklist of everything pre-teen boys thought was cool. Might be the first single I bought by myself.

youtu.be/h_D3VFfhvs4

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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I think "power corrupts" is too often treated as a glib cliche, but it's a real force, celebrities are given everything, especially the benefit of the doubt, and it's a breeding ground for vague instincts to grow into truly fucked behaviour.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Perfect song/performer to finish on there! Have you seen her performing Old Man Mose when she's sth like 18 years old?

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Added to my #LetsDoIt25 playlist today for 1905:

Arthur Pryor's Band - Razzazza Mazzazza
Arthur Collins - The Preacher & The Bear (c/w for racist language)
La Banda De Zapadores De Mexico - La Paloma

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year nine

M|A|R|R|S - Pump Up The Volume

Another record I've never owned, but which had a massive impact in the village and the commune* among us kids, genuinely felt like the arrival of the future.

*for want of a better term

youtu.be/w9gOQgfPW4Y

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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I did a free trial once and it was like wordpress dot com but tied to a limited selection of themes.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Is it wordpress? Their autosave seems to be completely broken now.

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Reposted by Centuries of Sound

Autism Powers's avatar Autism Powers @petervulfranc.bsky.social
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I dunno, maybe “every artist’s body of work is secretly a Da Vinci Code Roman a clef Rubik’s cube” isn’t all that productive

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Every place to buy tickets now has this function where I need to switch between apps to get a code by SMS/email - but my crap phone closes every app to save memory, so switching back means losing the login screen. Genuinely infuriating & impossible.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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We need another death of the author, the old one didn't stick.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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I thought about working backwards, but it's the early stuff that needs more exposure. Curious as to whether anything pre-1916 will receive a single vote from anyone else. Not sure how many tracks per year, later will of course have more than three.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year eight

Mel & Kim - Respectable

youtu.be/ykDsmAqExH8

In truth I have never owned this record, but it feels like the first time I was aware of something being a hit as it happened, and still probably my favourite SAW single.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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The #LetsDoIt25 playlist!

Over the summer I'll be adding, year by year, to this 1904-1953 playlist.

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Added today for 1904:
Bohumir Kryl - Sweet Sixteen Waltz
Vess L Ossman - A Bunch of Rags
J.W. Meyers - Come Take A Trip In My Airship

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Not listened to it in decades but could still recite the whole thing.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year seven

The Young Ones - All The Litte Flowers Are (Happy)

The b-side to their comic relief single, a 7-minute comedy sketch. Had no idea who they were, did not get many of the jokes, but listened to this A LOT at the time all the same.

youtu.be/DRnZmq1mft4

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Yeah, very sad end. He was also working on a new LP at the time and the few tracks I have are great, but after his partner died it seems he just couldn't go on.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year six

Chaka Khan - I Feel For You

How do I own this? Was it from a lucky dip pack? If so then it was a very lucky one. Chaka + Prince + Melle Mel + Stevie Wonder and still more than the sum of its parts.

youtu.be/YW0sxgYAmLM

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year five

Matt Fretton - Dance It Up

I was a small child who loved records, and so was bought lucky dip packs through the 80s. Matt Fretton was nearly a pop star, but not quite. This, well, I assumed this was regular pop music, but it isn't.

youtu.be/YoL6avjtXao

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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This is the same guy that made a speech at the 1996 Brit Awards about how great Tony Blair was and how everyone should go and shake his hand.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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You can walk from Eastbourne to Berwick without going through a single tory seat!

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Oh god Jared O'Mara, now there's a name from the past. Do I dare find out what he's been doing these last five years?

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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With turnout that's going to mean they had less votes than in 2019, isn't it?

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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I don't think the exit poll will be so reliable for Reform or Greens as it works more on a constituency by constituency basis. But we will see.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Should be clear at this point that this is not a list of my favourite singles.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year four

Marillion - Garden Party

The year we moved to Herefordshire & went to Glastonbury, Marillion were playng, this was their new single. Later Nana bought Marillion LPs for my dad, she wrongly thought he was a fan, hence I own this warmed over Genesis

youtu.be/nGMvpPAaAWM

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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It's not just vaguely political but seems to be about an existential crisis she's going through. With all the writers It's impossible to work out whether the core of it is the emptiest most cynical sloganeering or genuine despair.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Ridiculous lyrics but will confess that I've always found the song itself absolutely slaps (apart from the rap)

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Find him to be The Most Insufferable Man in England and there is some incredibly strong competition for that title.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Hi all UK voters, very brief politics, will be back to music/history immediately. * Parties get funded based on votes, your vote is worth about £1 per year, so worth something to them. * Even though a smaller party probably won't win, they can build up support ahead of 2029 or whenever.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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That and the fairly jarring comedy(?) stuff about his impotence.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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It has such an odd vibe, can't think of anything like it.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year three

The Stranglers - Golden Brown

My last year entirely in Liverpool. Think this may be the earliest contemporary song I remember. Obviously I (& parents) did not know it was about heroin. The b-side (Love 30) is also a brilliant piece of sound art

youtu.be/z-GUjA67mdc

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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I've been out canvassing for the first time ever this weekend and it's nice to be able to say "the greens have a real chance of winning here! Your vote actually counts!" - but for most of the country this is unfortunately not at all true and frustrating that most political journalists don't get it.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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I understand the sentiment, but those are very much not the worst guys online, there are much, much worse guys than that online. Guillotine talk in my experience is generally just venting for the completely disenfranchised.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Wonder how much a junior spesh is in 2024, at least £3.50 I reckon.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year two

The Teardrop Explodes - Treason (It's Just A Story)

I do not remember anything about my second year of life, but it was spent in Liverpool, so here's a single from a Liverpool band released at the time.

youtu.be/9Twm68-JNL4

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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The first rule of writing anything about Doctor Who online is "steer clear of Ian Levine" - much as the first rule of writing about pop music online is "steer clear of Jonathan King"

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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I suspect this is a reason John Peel was so good at his job, he always kept his powder dry. His son does too, that's why he's one of the easiest listens on there.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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Later on I will be posting stuff I was into at the time. Not really possible until the late 80s though.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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#Fortyfive45sfor45 year one

The Slits - Typical Girls

Aggressively outsiders, an explosion of different sounds, an evocation of a moment, I will forever think of Regent's Park in this as the world I came into, though I was at this point in Liverpool.

youtu.be/brtGLeNR12g

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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As it's the month of my 45th birthday I've decided to put together a list of 45 singles from every year of my life, one per day, AKA #Fortyfive45sfor45

idea stolen from Tom Ewing, hope he doesn't mind.

Pictured: me aged four or five playing a 45

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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There are a few 6 music DJs that do the "awe at the astounding power of music" thing from time to time, and I don't think they get how off-putting it is if you aren't in exactly the same mood yourself.

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Centuries of Sound's avatar Centuries of Sound @centuriesofsound.bsky.social
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When would you like me to start posting my 1904-1953 playlists?

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