MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK - PEAKY BLINDERS

I don't know about you, but I've done nothing since mid-December except binge-watch shows. I'm all caught up on all my favourites, and I must admit it's pretty pathetic when you you look at the calendar to count the days before The Walking Dead starts up again.

I'm now reliving my binge moments through soundtrack CD's. You know a series has a great theme song when you never tire of it, and Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" was an awesome choice for Peaky Blinders. It was already a great track of course, and nothing says danger and dark thoughts and actions like Cave and the Bad Seeds. So, a perfect match for this British show about particularly nasty gangsters in post-WW 1 England. There's even a version by Cave's equal in gloom, P.J. Harvey.

Having watched all five seasons of the show to this point (there are at least two more coming), I'm surprised there's enough music to fill two CD's of three LP's, but they've done that, and very well. The music matches the show's considerable edge, with selections from The White Stripes, Dan Auerbach, Arctic Monkeys, Joy Division and Black Sabbath among the many notable names. I find the two Radiohead choices ("You And Whose Army?" and "Pyramid Song") particularly poignant, coming as more thoughtful choices instead of the mayhem moments. Cave, being the living embodiment of the show's mood, could have programmed all the music I suppose, and I'm sure the producers have lots more ideas from his catalogue. There are two more featured here, "Breathless," and a rare one, "The Mercy Seat" live from KCRW.

You don't have to be a collector of such folks to appreciate the sounds here, the collection maintains a high quality right through to the end, when Richard Hawley gives a dark take on "Ballad Of A Thin Man," already a pretty mean-spirited Dylan song. Sprinkled through with bits of dialogue from the notorious Shelby family, it is a fun way to experience the show again, while you're desperate for the next season. Stupid January.