This is where we get philosophical. Is it a song if it doesn’t have any words? Your author says probably. And it’s my site, my rules, as has previously been established.

I first saw Ozric Tentacles at what was then an actual polytechnic, it was that long ago. The night was a triple bill of Ozric Tentacles, Senser and Eat Static. A clumsy bunch of teenagers, we were probably too young to be there, and up way past our collective bedtimes. But a blast was had by all: I remember the walls visibly shaking when Kick Muck kicked in.

Senser also took the roof off the place, previewing material from their forthcoming debut LP Stacked Up, along with long-time Senser setlist mainstays including covers of Beastie Boys’ Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun, Dead Kennedys’ California Über Alles and Public Enemy’s Channel Zero.

It’s a Hup Ho World is a somewhat different mood: the signature Tentacular space rock guitar is there, but it’s a gentler, more ambient side of it, backed with tremolo-driven synths, exotic, pseudo-ethnic jangles, and obligatory seaside sound effects. It’s all very new age indeed, but a pleasing listen. Is this the genesis of ASMR? You decide.

If we’re in the era of polytechnics, then we’re also in the era of cassettes. The first six Ozrics albums were self-released solely on that venerable medium, and available only via mail order or at the merch stand—typically manned by Blim, Ozrics’ long-term artist-in-residence.

Countless studio and live albums followed, many of them even available on CD. In 2003, Jurassic Shift actually reached no. 11 in the UK album charts, presumably to the collective bewilderment of all onlookers—staunch Ozrics fans and hapless chart-pop aficianados alike. That its packaging was made entirely from hemp may or may not have had some influence in the matter.

In a pleasing turn of events, Ozric Tentacles are still recording and touring to this day. 2023 sees a further series of double-header shows with the legendary Gong.

Of course, of the lineup from 1992, only virtuoso guitarist Ed Wynne remains, but it was always Ed’s band anyway. Ozrics are very much a family affair these days, with Ed’s son Silas on all the electronic noisy bits, and Mrs. Brandi Wynne on bass, all accompanied by a revolving drumstool that would do Spın̈al Tap proud.

Either way, Threehundredsongs will be there, perhaps even wearing my decades-old badges from last time around. Do come and say hello.

As for today’s playlist, there’s obviously a lot of Ozrics, Senser and Gong, plus an Eat Static collaboration with Gong progenitor Steve Hillage. Silas & Saski is Ed’s son Silas and his pal. Their unique combination of space rock, English choral chamber music and reggae seems about right.

Artist:	Ozric Tentacles
Album:	Sliding Gliding Worlds
Writer:	Ed Wynne
Producer:	Unknown. Probably Ed Wynne
Released:	1988; Independent

Lucinda Williams released her first album, Ramblin’ on My Mind, in 1979. Despite plentiful successful as a songwriter—her songs being recorded by country royalty including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Patty Loveless and Emmylou Harris—it took until 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road for Lucinda to garner a great deal of attention as a performer in her own right.

With 2001’s Essence, and in particular its title track, Lucinda’s voice—always magnificent—takes a new turn. This, now, is a grown-ass woman who knows exactly what she wants. And what she wants is for adults only. We all know what this song is about: it’s Lucinda being utterly filthy, and here at Threehundredsongs, we fully approve of that sort of thing.

Baby, sweet baby
You’re my drug
Come on and let me taste your stuff

Perhaps later, Lucinda. Can we just cuddle and talk a little while longer?

I am waiting here for more
I am waiting by your door
I am waiting on your back steps

Apparently not: we appear to have a stalking situation on our hands here. There is a myth that men are predatory, while women are the victims. Let’s see…

I am waiting in my car
I am waiting at this bar
I am waiting for your essence

Lucinda’s aching, incessant sensuality come through in every syllable.

Baby, sweet baby
Can’t get enough
Please come find me and help me get fucked up
…
I am waiting for your essence

By Essence, Lucinda leaves the interpretation open to the reader, as in all good art. I’m pretty sure I know what she means. And, like I said, the lady knows exactly what she wants.

The credits read like an Americana family tree: Ryan Adams, Jim Keltner, Reese Wynans, Gary Louris. But does that matter, when the song is all Lucinda, and is sheer pornography? The passion, the heat and the build-up are tangible in this one. Cold showers all round?

Now in her eighth decade, Lucinda’s fifteenth studio album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart is to be released in June of this year. You can pre-order buy it via lucindawilliams.com.

Artist:	Lucinda Williams
Album:	Essence
Writer:	Lucinda Williams
Producer:	Charlie Sexton, Lucinda Williams
Released:	UMG Recordings, 2001

It isn’t easy to find a lot of information about The Ashtray Hearts, at least here in the UK. I suspect that much of what little attention they have garnered here over the years is thanks to legendary broadcaster Bob Harris, who played them extensively on both his Weekend and Country shows for many years from 2002 onwards, and featured Still Shaking on Volume IV of his rather wonderful Bob Harris Presents… CD series in 2003.

What’s that writing on your hand
A reminder that will take you away
Back to your life, one that I once knew
I’d give anything to be there with you

Hailing from The Ashtray Hearts’ 2002 LP Old Numbers, Still Shaking is far from cheerful music. I don’t think they ever recorded any cheerful music, to be fair. The song draws heavily on the band’s favourite themes of loss, loneliness and rueful nostalgia, interspersed with brief moments of guarded optimism…

Sitting in your backyard
Wasting another night
Let me take your hand
One last time until we get it right

…and half-committal, lump-in-throat confessions:

I’ve done nothing more
Than let the two of us down

It’s all set against a characteristic Ashtray Hearts arrangement, both sparse and lush at the same time, somehow. The song is driven by a rolling banjo figure—which manages to make even that instrument sound musical—and the warm, distant trumpet lament which the band have used so evocatively throughout their works.

The Ashtray Hearts couldn’t really be described as prolific, having released four whole albums in a little over two decades. In a pleasing turn of events, they are still recording though, with 2023’s Golden Century arriving just 10 years after the previous release, The Strangest Light. I note that they’re still on Free Election Records, the tiny Minneapolis label on which they started all those years ago, which is rather heartwarming.

I’d love to tell you more about the band, but there really isn’t that much information about them available. Perhaps that air of mystique is kind of appropriate to their music all the same.

Artist:	The Ashtray Hearts
Album:	Old Numbers
Producer:	Jon Tranberry, Quillan Roe
Released:	Free Election Records, 2002