If you fast forward through about 217 songs, this too could be your random 25.'

The return of a long forgotten series on the blog.

Four of the songs are faves of Kara's but only three are strikingly obvious.

Owen stomped his feet to Level 42.

Kara asked, 'Who is this?' when The Delgados came on, which I interpret as a good sign. Maybe I won't have to play their albums in secret in the future.

I'd forgotten how spiky the Long Blondes were. They would play a terrific double bill with Sons & Daughters.

For the life of me I can't remember 'Shaking Through', even though I've played Murmur to death for a period of four months. I guess it suffered from B side syndrome. In the age of mp3s 9/10 songs that self-same fate.

I have to investigate that Steve Earle album further. It's time for me to get past his twenty year old statement that what the United States needed was someone like Neil Kinnock as their President.

For me, The Seeds will always just be another group on a Nuggets compilation but I noted that their lead singer, Sky Saxon, died this week. iTunes Genius obviously noted it as well.

What else makes the 25? Dionne Warwick murders the Cilla Black classic. Franz Ferdinand croon their Brooklyn song. Simple Minds remind us once again what a fucking brilliant band they once were. Wreckless Eric makes a strong case for being the bloke with a thirty five year old career based on one song (but it's a great song). Malcolm Middleton's sounds like he's covering Fatima Mansions but the song lyric doesn't contain half the wit of either Cathal Coughlan or the cover of the album that the song comes from. Tears For Fears get all vaguely political, as was obligatory for pop bands in the eighties after Live Aid. And Jellyfish. Whatever happened to Jellyfish? Did I miss anyone out?