Music

You Need to Hear this Song #25

Heavy Rotation — Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over, The Charlatans (The Charlatans, 1995)

Heavy Rotation was a music industry term for songs that one way or another got a lot of airplay. It referred to the large amount of rotation that a particular record got on turntables at radio stations. Since, until the 1980s, this was the only way to get new music into the ears and brains of listeners, heavy rotation meant increased sales. These were good for record companies and artists alike.

Today, some of us still put records on at home and give them a spin. Most of us don’t. However, the term still applies, though in a different way. Streaming services like Spotify sell subscriptions to listeners and then pay artists based on listens. At least, that’s the way we think it works.

For me, heavy rotation means a song that is in my head for some reason. Maybe for a moment, maybe for a day, maybe for longer. It’s a song that you come back to from time to time and still feels just as good.

This series of articles is dedicated to these songs.

Here, I aim to highlight a particular song by a particular band or singer. We should know a bit about the band, a bit about where the song fits into its history and where the song fits into what was happening in music at that time. Then there’s the song itself. Who’s playing on it, what are the lyrics getting at and why is it so good? How does it still occupy sonic space in our lives?

I’ll (try to) keep it short. It shouldn’t take you any longer to read than the song itself. To that end, I’ll put a Youtube clip of the original recording at the top of the article so you can listen as you read. Or not. And because a song is often much different live than in the recording studio, I’ll stick a live clip on at the end.

What song is in your head right now? Here’s one that won’t leave mine today:

#25 — Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over, The Charlatans (The Charlatans, 1995)

I start with a full disclosure. The Charlatans have been in my top 3 bands for about 3 decades now (alongside James and the Rolling Stones) and I’ve seen them half a dozen times, the last time most memorably at a music festival in Mexico City in November, 2015. Right after the Psychedelic Furs and before Primal Scream. It was truly one of the best musical days of my life.

And yet, it has taken me until #25 in this series of articles about songs that are in my head to come to them. There are so many ways that I could have gone here because, well, they are always in my head and there are far too many songs for me to choose from — their shambling energy, their hooky melodies, the spirit of the front man, Tim Burgess, and their attempts to create a Stonesy “Exile” vibe on many of their songs. For my money, this is the one that comes closest to that.

A bit of background. The Charlatans were part of the Madchester explosion from Manchester of the late 80s and early 90s, alongside the Stone Roses, the Inspiral Carpets, the Happy Mondays and James, to name a few, and took their cue less from New Order and more from the Smiths. The full Britpop juggernaut came a few years later with Oasis and Blur, but by then the Charlatans were already four albums in.

They burst on the scene as a five piece in 1990 with “Some Friendly” which produced the dance floor hit, “The Only One I Know” and this was followed by two less well received but still excellent albums in “Between 10th and 11th” in 1992 and “Up to Our Hips” in 1993.

A lot of bands of that era burned brightly for a moment and then fizzled after lacklustre follow ups. The music buying public was conditioned to always be looking for the next big thing. By rights, that should probably have been it for the Charlatans.

But it wasn’t.

In 1995, they roared back with their self-titled fourth album that seemed like a welcome antidote to the in your face stadium bombast of Oasis at the time. The biggest song off the album was the seventh track and the one in question here: Just When You’re Thinkin’ Things Over.

The title alone indicated where things were headed. A moment of pensive thought, some alone time, some quiet to catch up with oneself as the madness of the world swirled around. It’s a song for a lazy autumn Sunday afternoon playlist, 4pm sunlight still coming brightly through the curtains, but about to fade into evening. Open a bottle of wine and get that Spaghetti Bolognese going.

Things begin with a bouncy, bluesy piano theme played by Rob Collins. An aside about him is necessary here — he was found guilty and imprisoned in 1992 for his role in an armed robbery and subsequently died in a car crash in 1996, while the band was recording their high water mark fifth album, “Tellin’ Stories”. His was a distinctive style on keys and was the foundation of their sound.

Again, that could have been it for the Charlatans. But it wasn’t and he has very capably been replaced by Tony Rogers on the eight albums they’ve put out since 1997.

Back to the intro. The piano is mirrored by the rhythm guitar of Mark Collins (no relation) and things kick off quickly with Tim Burgess’ distinctive vocal at 0:10, plaintively explaining why he is holding himself back these days, maybe not feeling so social anymore and wanting to be out of the spotlight for a minute.

“Just when you’re thinkin’ things over

And you need a set of vows

And all your friends seem disappointed

To see the sun going down

And all the sweetness you’re saving

Is all the sweetness you doubt”

First verse finished, the full band kicks in at 0:56 with the bass of Martin Blunt and shuffling yet assured drumming of Jon Brookes (who, it also must be noted, passed away of brain cancer in 2013. That should also have been it for the Charlatans. But….etc).

“I see you close up your windows

I see you burn down your throne

Yeah, I’m coming home

You look good when your heart is on fire”

He’s been out on the town this evening, has Tim, and now he just wants to leave it all behind and come home to someone who gets it. Mark Collins has left his rhythm guitar portion of the song behind and now lets it rip with a bright, hopefully guitar solo at 1:55.

The song now is jangling and shambling along, in a full Jagger / Richards / Watts / Wyman / Preston groove at 2:13. My absolute favourite moment in the song comes after a brief interlude in which Burgess sings “I ain’t knockin’ on your door”. It’s either open for me, or it ain’t. Something about the quick drum fill at 2:50 gets really gets the head nodding and sets the tone for the rest of the song.

There’s another similar one at 3:39 and that leads into the best line of the song, “I’m coming home, I wanna build my Rome and get high, but I can’t find my matches”. Big plans frustrated by small details, innit.

Everything combines to groove and shuffle the listener through the glorious last minute of the song.

As I mentioned, this song and album now represents one of the high points of the first third of their career. They look so young in the video and with age, they have made even better albums since. To admit that there have also been one or two along the way that have fallen short, is neither here nor there. They continue to be a force and their last man standing status, alongside James, as Madchester survivors is concerned is firmly in place.

Here they are live on Top of the Pops in 1995, playing a shortened version of the song.

And then, 25 years later. A bit older, same band, same instantly recognizable groove that can only put you in a good mood.

If you have made it this far, it will occur to you if this is #25 in this series, then there must be 24 previous ones. This is a correct assumption and here I will link #24. At the bottom of it, you find a link to #23 and the bottom of it, you can — if you so choose — be taken to #22. This ingenious system that I thought up all by myself continues all the way to #1

I really do hope that you like what you have just read. If you want unlimited access to thousands of writers, consider a subscription to Medium. It will set you back $5 a month and if you use this link, then I get a slice of that and I’ll put it towards a ticket to see this band make my day again.