The High Llamas - Checking In, Checking Out (Target, 1994)

Gorgeous, harmony-drenched pop.

The High Llamas is effectively the work of former Microdisney songwriter Sean O'Hagan. Still ploughing a highly melodic furrow now, 'Checking In, Checking Out' was a single from the second High Llamas album 'Gideon Gaye'.

It's a densely arranged song that feels light as air. Sweeping melodies and counter-melodies create a delightful broth of a song that recalls The Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. A classic.

Download The High Llamas 'Checking In, Checking Out' (Beach Boys, mp3) (Divshare)

The Divine Comedy - Your Daddy's Car (Acoustic Version) (Setanta, 1994)

Delightful baroque pop.

The Promenade album was my introduction to the delights of The Divine Comedy. Pre-Britpop loucheness, Neil Hannon was knocking out a stream of arch but heartfelt songs and adorning them with oodles of strings and romantic lyrics.

If I'm honest I probably only bought this because there wasn't much else out that Monday and it came with a free bonus CD. I'm eternally thankful I did - firstly, because Promenade is a splendid album; and, secondly, it led me to his wonderful debut album via the bonus disc's live acoustic takes on four tracks from said album.

'Your Daddy's Car' somehow conjures images of The Great Gatsby, The House Of Eliot and the Famous Five. A sprightly tune, here just acoustic guitar, cello and pizzicato violin, it's smells of cucumber sandwiches, cricket pavilions and unrequited love. Tidy.

Download The Divine Comedy 'Your Daddy's Car (Acoustic Version)' (Setanta, indie, pop, mp3) (Divshare)

Candie Payne - All I Need To Hear (Deltasonic, 2006)

Delightful noirish pop

Candie Payne seems to have disappeared since her ultra-cool post-Foxbase Alpha debut album in 2007. Maybe she's paying some kind of penance for working with Mark Ronson.

Like fellow singles 'I Wish I Could Have Loved You More' and 'Take Me', 'All I Need To Hear' is rollicking 60s girl group dynamism meets Portishead spy theme moodiness whilst hanging out in an Art Deco cafe with Saint Etienne as they hatch a plan to turn Dusty Springfield's 'I Can't Wait To See My Baby's Face' into 'Nothing Can Stop Us'.

Class.

Download Candie Payne 'All I Need To Hear' (Deltasonic, pop, mp3) (Divshare)

Candie Payne - I Wish I Could Have Loved You More (Deltasonic, 2007)

Strident 60s-inspired clattering breakbeat pop

Candie Payne emerged on the back of a handful of killer 7"s that dealt in the breakbeat 60s pop stylings of early Saint Etienne. Moody, strident and full of atmosphere.

This third single was the title track of her debut album and crackles with a certain Portishead/Spy Theme vibe. It's devastatingly good.

Download Candie Payne 'I Wish I Could Have Loved You More' (Deltasonic, indie pop, mp3) (Divshare)

Supermarket - Supermarket (Felt, Lawrence) (Icerink, 1992)

Minimal vocoder pop classic.

Somewhat like 'Around The World' by Daft Punk, this vocal of this record features only the word "Supermarket" repeated ad infinitum. Apparently, "around the world" is repeated 144 times in the Daft Punk classic. I haven't counted how many times "supermarket" is repeated.

Delightful, checkout-friendly spartan pop from the Saint Etienne-curated Icerink label. The story was that Supermarket was two boys from Denmark but it was, allegedly, Lawrence of Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart fame.

Download Supermarket - Supermarket (Icerink, Saint Etienne, mp3) (Divshare)

Included in the 'We Are Icerink' compilation which is featured over on Archive:Live+Rare.

OMD - Genetic Engineering (312mm Version) (Virgin, 1983)

Speak'n'Spell electro pop classic.

Before the advent of widespread sampling, playing a Speak'n'Spell* machine into a track was probably about as clever as it got.

'Genetic Engineering' is my favourite thing by OMD because it blends pop sensibility with a minimal approach to building a track and a degree in sociology.

Download OMD - Genetic Engineering (312mm Version) (Speak'n'Spell, FuturePop, mp3) (Divshare)

Check-out this cool Speak'n'Spell simulator.

Saint Etienne - Wouldn't It Be Nice (Beach Boys Cover) (Mojo, 2012)

Lushly-vocalled tribute to The Beach Boys.

Opening with a long, lush acapella section, this is a cooler, less exultant take on 'Pet Sounds' opening track.

Sections of a layered choir of Sarah Cracknell are interspersed with gentle, dreamy dub pop sections - reminiscent of One Dove - that coo you to sleep before a burst based around what sounds like the Harpsichord Rock setting on their Casio.

Download Saint Etienne 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' (Beach Boys cover, mp3 download) (Divshare)

Air - Alone In Kyoto (Source, 2004)

Gorgeous Satie-esque minimalism.

'Moon Safari' is fun and fresh but, for my money, 'Talkie Walkie' is Air's premier album.

A subtle, haunting record, for the most part it whispers gently in your ear and wends its way to the closing track 'Alone In Kyoto'.

'Alone In Kyoto' is a strung-out but beautiful instrumental built around a simple tone pattern and augmented with accordian, guitar and washes of sound. The chorus builds a tension over stately piano and chirrups.

The track also featured on the 'Lost In Translation' soundtrack and conjures up that film's sense of dislocation and wistfulness perfectly.

Download Air 'Alone In Kyoto' (Lost In Translation, Eric Satie, mp3) (Divshare)

Roxy Music - Do The Strand (Old Grey Whistle Test, 1973)

Tasty live version.

Of the many things I could've chosen by Roxy Music, I've posted this because of the instrumental break about two minutes in where the piano emerges and leads a brief avant garde tango with the saxophone.

Good song too, of course.

Download Roxy Music - Do The Strand (Old Grey Whistle Test, 1973, Roxy Music mp3) (Divshare)

Stephen AJ Duffy - Unkiss That Kiss (Extended Version) (10, 1985)

Even his over-produced 80s follow-up singles were delightful.

Having dropped the "Tin Tin" at the request of French lawyers, Stephen Duffy rechristened himself Stephen AJ Duffy and set about following-up 'Kiss Me' and 'The Ups And Downs'.

'Unkiss That Kiss' has the clattering, stuttering drum machine of many a mid-80s chart-botherer but, being the man he is, the record still betrays an archness and poise that separates him from the crowd.

Through the scrum of pan pipe DX7 sounds, bangs, synth bass and backing singers, gleams a bittersweet love song. And, boy, does the man know how to write a middle eight!

Vinyl rip.

Download Stephen AJ Duffy - Unkiss That Kiss (Extended Version) (80s Pop mp3) (Box.net)

Thomas Lang - Sons Of (Jacques Brel cover) (Epic, 1987)

Delicious, baroque Jacques Brel cover.

Thomas Lang's 'Scallywag Jaz' is a truly a piece of buried treasure. An album of midnight blue jazz ballads and torch songs, wracked with loss and longing. The acceptable face of fretless bass and just perfect.

'Sons Of' was a b-side to much-re-re-released single 'The Happy Man' which was as close to a breakthrough as Thomas Lang was to have unfortunately. The poise of the Jacques Brel original is perfectly rendered on voice, piano and strings.

As graceful and captivating as Anna Pavlova dancing to the sound of a music box. Made out of lace. On ice.

Download Thomas Lang - Sons Of (Thomas Lang mp3s, Jazz, Jacques Brel cover) (Box.net)

Prince and the Revolution - She's Always In My Hair (Paisley Park, 1985)

Effortless, almost throwaway, slice of brilliant funk-pop.

Prince was probably crapping out great songs in his sleep around this time, a purple (ahem) patch that ran from the end of '1999' era to, IMHO his best album, 'Around The World In A Day'.

'She's Always In My Hair' was the b-side of 'Paisley Park' - a tight, funky piece of psychedelia-tinged pop.

Opening with a phased drum pattern, slap bass, rolling organ stabs underpinning it the track, the same basic beat runs throughout like it's a demo (it probably is), an effortlessly funky guitar wig-out, waves of Prince's vocals across the track.

Just sublime. I defy not to listen to it again and again.

Download Prince and the Revolution - She's Always In My Hair (Psychedelic funk pop, Prince mp3) (Box.net)

British Electric Foundation ft Green Gartside - I Don't Know Why I Love You (10 Records, 1991)

Crystalline pop cover featuring Green Gartside.

The man can do no wrong.

This cover of what is a pretty amazing Stevie Wonder song makes the song levitate. Where the Stevie Wonder original is gritty and simple, based around a broken clavichord sound, British Electric Foundation (BEF) and Green manufacture a synthetic symphony.

A whole different, but equally beautiful, kind of soul music.

Download British Electric Foundation & Green Gartside 'I Don't Know Why I Love You (But I Love You)' (pop mp3) (Divshare)

Pink Floyd - See Emily Play (EMI, 1967) (Pink Floyd mp3)

Classic 60s Pink Floyd whimsy.

Fantastic smorgasbord of sound, noises, psychedlic ephemera, sped-up tapes, searing organ and, at the heart, a song.

Welcome into the world, Emily.

Download Pink Floyd 'See Emily Play' (Psychedelia, Pink Floyd mp3) (Divshare)

Dexys Midnight Runners - The Way You Look Tonight (Mercury, 1984)

In celebration of the idea of a new Dexys album this year...

'Don't Stand Me Down' by Dexys Midnight Runners is one of the greatest records of all time. Bizarrely, it's a catastrophic, career-ending greatest album of all time. Pop is truly a fickle mistress.

This version of the Jerome Kern song was recorded in the sessions for said album but not released until 1988 on the b-side of a Kevin Rowland solo single. And then again on the Creation Records reissue of 'Don't Stand Me Down' in 1997, which is where I discovered it.

Kevin Rowland takes a familiar song - a 'standard' I suppose - and imbues it with so much pure passion that it's breathtaking.

A true genius.

Allegedly, there's a new Dexys album - 'One Day I'm Going To Soar' - on June 4th. Listen to a snippet on Youtube.

Download Dexys Midnight Runners 'The Way You Look Tonight' (genius, Dexys mp3) (Rapidshare)

Scritti Politti - Faithless (12inch Version) (Rough Trade, 1982)

Expansive version of the Scritti Politti classic that takes in Lovers Rock, Miles Davis and Zapp.

What exactly is Scritti Politti?

From scratchy post-punk beginnings to unashamedly uber-polished machine-tooled pop. And onwards to home-made meta-pop across a journey of 30 years. It's always been hard to comprehend an artist responsible for both 'Skank Bloc Bologna' and 'Oh Patti (Don't Feel Sorry For Loverboy)' but I love them equally.

I came to the 'Songs To Remember' after the future-perfection of 'Cupid & Psyche '85' and it is probably the coolest of all the Scritti albums. A concoction of dub, Lovers Rock and just a hint of the scratchiness of the early records.

Though I wasn't buying Scritti Politti records (or any records at all for that matter) in 1982, you can see that each single release leading up to the album gained an extra lacquer of polish. The sleeves are works of art, modelled on a range of luxury brands, seeming to suggest that Green Gartside was slowly turning Scritti into something similar.

This extended, extended version of 'Faithless' runs to almost ten minutes. It's a luxurious, funk-tinged thing that spins off into instrumental bliss, weaving Miles Davis-esque trumpet and Roger Troutman vocoder into the loose, relaxed extemporisation. Of course, both these influencers would go on to appear on later Scritti records (answers on a postcard...).

Sublime.

Download Scritti Politti 'Faithless (12" Version)' (alternative pop mp3, RT101) (Rapidshare)

Annie - The Greatest Hit (Telle, 1999)

Sumptuous, Madonna-sampling darkpop

Anne Lilia Berge-Strand deals in a delicious strain of moody pop and has released a handful of delightful singles and co-written with the likes of Richard X and Saint Etienne.

'The Greatest Hit' is a bouncing, disco-hand-clapping explosion of day-glo pop with Pigeon Street syndrums, rubbery bass and a sassy strut.

Download Annie 'The Greatest Hit' (dark pop mp3) (Rapidshare)

American Spring - Fallin In Love (United Artists, 1972)

Light-as-air girl group action.

Introduced to me as a b-side cover by Lush, this is from an excellent collection of Brian Wilson's extra-curricular production work.

Rolling piano, soothing waves of vocals, gently unfolding string arrangement, utterly beautiful. A reflective, wistful take on the girl group sound that surely struck a chord with Saint Etienne.

Beach Boys connections through being written by Dennis Wilson and produced by Brian Wilson.

Download American Spring 'Fallin' In Love' (Beach Boys, Produced by Brian Wilson mp3) (Mediafire)

The Human League - The Black Hit Of Space (Virgin, 1980)

It's wasn't all New Romantic handbags and gladrags...

As great a single as 'Don't You Want Me' was, this is pretty great too. A much more amateurish (in a good way) take on cutting edge electronic pop, 1980-style.

The lyrics are incongruous in the extreme. They might be rubbish but they're brilliant, telling of a record so awesome it creates a black hole. A record that's not just climbed to number one in the charts, it's gone "into minus figures".

The music is wobbly like the theme tune from a sci-fi version of Crossroads and it certainly keeps interesting company. Cabaret Voltaire. Kraftwerk. Wendy Carlos. Gary Glitter...

Intriguing and awkwardly funky.

Download The Human League 'The Black Hit Of Space' (electronic pop mp3) (Mediafire)

Saint Etienne 'Pale Movie (Lemonentry Mix)' (Heavenly, 1994)

Spectacular dub epic treatment of Saint Etienne's Flamenco indie disco classic.

The Lemonentry Mix of 'Pale Movie' by Rick Smith of Underworld fame is one of my all-time favourite remixes.

It takes the breathless Latin flavours of the original's pop classicism and re-sets them amid a stately, digital dub spectacular that fits perfectly.

The verses are poised, almost ponderous, riding a magic carpet over a fug of bass and rhythm and, most importantly, lots of space. Sarah Cracknell's vocals still sound sweet and build a tension that is released by the chorus' waves of strings and splashes of percussion.

It's a match for any of Andrew Weatherall's work on One Doves' magnificent 'Morning Dove White' album and makes a perfect come down to Flowered Up's epic indie dance masterpiece of 'Weekender' (mp3) or a companion piece to Weatherall's dub symphony version of Primal Scream's 'Higher Than The Sun' (mp3).

Enjoy.

Download Saint Etienne 'Pale Movie (Lemonentry Mix)' (indie dance, dub symphony mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Download the whole 12" worth of beauty over on The Vinyl Villain's excellent blog.