Wicked Game

A warning. This post is a personal recount of music infection. It is not a financial post and has very little message other than to infect you with a wonderful song,


Last night I drove 250 miles from the West Country to my home in the south east of England. It was a wet and stormy evening with the journey made all the worse by the collapse of the infamous M25. The journey turned into a road trip in its own right, an epic of Quixotic episodes and out of body experiences as I passed unhindered on cunningly selected B-road bridges over Hieronymus Bosch motorway scenes that I would otherwise have endured, but as usual I found fortitude and vigour with BBC Radio 4. First I was amused with the News Quiz, then shocked by The Archers, then confused with 'Front Row' (seriously I am sure they make up most of the arty things they talk about as a laugh) and then riled to fury by 'Question Time' and the politicians on it who once again reinforced my belief that no one should be allowed into public office unless they have spent at least 10 years working in a real job.

So I switched to Radio 1, normally reserved for the teenage kids. At 10pm Pete Tong kicked off with his dance mixes at which point the large can of Red Bull I had consumed 30 mins earlier (as a prophylactic against pulsing whiteline and rain lashed screen-wiper induced hypnosis) kicked in. The rest of the journey home was a heart thumping beat induced rave of euphoric emotions whilst trying to keep within a reasonably acceptable percentage above the speed limit. And before you ask - No, it was just Red Bull and it didn't give me wings (but I won't be suing because I am not a moron unlike this moron)

So this morning when I got in the car Radio 1 booted up just when I was expecting sensible Radio 4 news.  I was just about to switch over when I heard this, which changed my day. Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game' has always been an all time favourite song but here it was in an awesome  chillout/house female vocal version.



And that was it. It's been in my head all day. On returning I Googled to find out who/what/where had produced it only to find a selection of covers by females that I then felt compelled to sample. And the hands down winner was this, which was a joy to find as it was by another top fave band London Grammar, who I have been following for longer than should be expected due to their Nottingham University origins.  Hannah Ried's range of vocals is so impressive and this must be the most emotionally expressive version I have ever heard.



Having heard that and been blown away, I moved on to Pink's version. Which I endured for about a minute thinking that the guitar drop-tone fades were the record deck playing up.



And then Lana del Ray's overly trying whispered version where the production was poor compensation for a  poor attempt. That didn't last long.



But I was soon rescued by Heather Nova with a homely 'on the ranch' fireside purer version



After a most bizarre Gregorian chant/ house beat mix version which I only include for bizarre amusement -



I was back into the ethereal with celtic version with Karliene (Don't understand why the galleon in the picture has a modern Rib with outboard on the back though)




So I have a day full of Wicked Games and I hope that this odyssey through a song that has stuck in my brain hasn't meant that you are now equally poisoned. But if you are, then let's at least make the last version the one that sticks. The best one, so here again is Hannah Reid and London Grammar's heart melter.