Thursday Night Music #9: Music We Like

At first I couldn't find the video.

I mean, I could FIND a video -- in fact THE video that I've pasted below -- but I searched in vain for several days to find an "official" video of the song "The Last to Know" from Scottish band Del Amitri.

The song, from 1992's album Change Everything, became the band's biggest ever chart success, reaching No. 2 in the UK. The song has a great beat, great harmonies and has significance for me because, like most music, it takes me to a moment in time. In this case, it was my first year of graduate school at Baylor, driving my decrepit Ford Mustang along Lake Waco on a rainy Sunday afternoon with this blaring through the speakers.

"The Last to Know" was the band's second Top 20 UK hit, peaking at No. 13, and again provided them with the aforementioned entry into Top 40 in the U.S. Their increasing success in America led to an appearance on David Letterman which, it turns out, provides us with the video below. To my knowledge, there never was an "official" video of this song, so enjoy this live version.

Del Amitri grew out of Justin Currie's college school band and came together after teenager Currie placed an advertisement in the window of a music store asking for people who could play to contact him.

The band was formed with the original line-up of Currie (bass and vocals), Iain Harvie (lead guitar), BryanTolland (guitar) and Paul Tyagi (drums). Currie and Harvie are the only members of the band to remain present throughout its history – they are also the main songwriters of the group.

The band's other most well-known song came from the 1995 album Twisted, which peaked at No. 3 in the UK and produced the Top 10 hit, "Roll to Me".

Although the band is not currently together, Currie does still play their music in solo live shows. I encourage you to check out a few Del Amitri tunes on iTunes. You will not be disappointed and I think they may become one of  your favorite bands that not many people know about, or remember.

A note about the video. In this performance, Currie, Harvie and Tolland perform with Letterman's four-member house band led by Paul Schaeffer. The Del Amitri drummer, Tyaggi, is not playing here--rather the Letterman house drummer, Anton Figg, sits in. Enjoy!