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CMU Playlists
Playlist: Jim Gellatly
By CMU Editorial | Published on Saturday 19 June 2010
Scottish radio presenter Jim Gellatly will be a familiar face (or at least voice) to many of you, thanks to his reputation for being the man to go to if you want to know what the next big thing in Scottish music is going to be. And if there was any doubt, you only have to look at the list of artists Jim is credited with giving first radio play to, including KT Tunstall, Glasvegas, Biffy Clyro, The Fratellis, The Enemy and The View.
Jim previously appeared on Xfm Scotland, presenting the now defunct station’s local edition of ‘X-Posure’, and subsequently on BBC Radio Scotland. He currently presents a weekly podcast, ‘Jim Gellatly’s New Music’, which features new, mainly unsigned, bands with a Scottish bias, and contributes to ‘The Sunday Late Show’ on Aberdeen’s Original 106. Over the summer he’s also handling Saturday afternoons from 2-6pm on Clyde 1 in Glasgow, with a show called ‘Jim Gellatly’s A-Z Of Rock & Pop’. Aand, as if that little lot didn’t keep him busy enough already, from 4 Jul he begins a new hour long show on Amazing Radio from 3pm.
We asked Jim to delve into his brain (and Spotify) to pull out ten tracks for a Powers Of Ten playlist. Having done just that, Jim told us: “For starters, I hadn’t been on Spotify for a while as I’ve been getting a bit obsessed with mFlow! I do love how these music platforms are now integrating with the social networks. I sort of fear that a tweet about a particular slice of exciting new music may actually have more impact now than playing a track on a specialist radio show”.
He continued: ” Most of the stuff I’d normally have chosen is just a bit too new to have found its way onto Spotify, but it was actually quite nice dipping in and selecting a bunch of tunes from the past that helped shape my tastes. Hopefully I’ve balanced the old stuff nicely with new stuff. Doing this was good practice for my new show on Amazing Radio, as I’m effectively going to be creating a weekly playlist from what’s on offer at amazingtunes.com. It goes without saying that if I was to do this playlist again tomorrow it would be totally different”.
JIM GELLATLY’S TEN
Click here to listen to Jim’s playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about his selections.
01 Time Zone feat John Lydon & Afrika Bambaataa – World Destruction
This takes me back to the days when singles had a proper chart life. I used to cut out the chart position from Record Mirror and stick it in a scrapbook. I think I was genuinely gutted it never really breeched the Top 40. It was Lydon’s involvement that drew me to the track, but it was probably the tune that first drew me towards hip hop as well. Contender for best record EVER!
02 Frightened Rabbit – Swim Until You Can’t See Land
Frightened Rabbit are fast developing into the most important Scottish band around. Dealing with so many up and coming acts, you notice the same names cropping up in terms of influence/inspiration. It used to be bands from the States and south of the border, but now the Scottish music scene seems to be discovering its own voice. Biffy have certainly played a major part, but I’m spotting more and more bands now citing the Frabbits as a key influence.
03 Pearl And The Puppets – Mango Tree
I love Pearl… but am I alone in thinking Lena (the German Eurovision winner) sounds a bit like her?
04 The Redskins – Kick Over The Statues
It was probably the height of rebellion to have a copy of The Redskins’ ‘Neither Washington Nor Moscow’ at a Scottish public school in the 80s, but it certainly opened my ears to a lot of the soul music that influenced them.
05 Tommy Reilly – Take Me Away For The Night
Like Pearl, Tommy’s an artist I’ve known for a while now. This one’s a total slice of pop heaven, and proof that there is life after the TV competition and doomed record deal.
06 That Petrol Emotion – Big Decision
I genuinely thought, at one time, that they were better than The Undertones (the O’Neill brothers’ previous band). Saw them back together at T In The Park last year which was a bit of a (manic pop) thrill.
07 Billy Bragg – Shirley
I cried when he played this last year at the Wickerman Festival… maybe not too cool to later tell him that.
08 Phil Campbell – Boom Town Rats
Phil’s been around for ages, but after signing to EMI (and getting dropped) on TWO occasions he’s released a wonderful new album under his own steam.
09 Grum – Can’t Shake This Feeling
I know Leeds claims him as well as Scotland, but either way, Grum is the new Calvin in the same way Calvin was once the new Mylo.
10 Age Of Chance – Kiss
Talking of Leeds… the best cover version ever.
