Martha and the Muffins Women around the world at work

You can blame 'Echo Beach' (naturally) for kickstarting my Martha and the Muffins period. Possibly because they are a Canadian post punk band, and because the post punk revival didn't kick off until about 1998 (and then it was mostly UK post punk), I didn't hear 'Echo Beach' until 2005. On Radio 2 on a Bank Holiday Monday afternoon of all places/moments.

I wasn't downloading at that point, so the best way to buy 'Echo Beach' seemed to be to buy a 'Best of' CD of the band, and I'm really glad I did. Especially as it contained songs from LP's which have yet to be re-issued, specifically This Is The Ice Age, which is very expensive to buy second hand.

'Women Around The World At Work', which I featured during the F-Word's Song of the Day series in 2012, feels very timely today in a world of Equal Pay disputes, #MeToo and what feel like constant daily outrages and transgressions. Despite being concerned with gender inequality, it's a really upbeat, inspiring song with a long historical narrative sweep. Well worth hearing.