Laughing Out Loud

Happy birthday to Lol Tolhurst, born 3rd February 1959.

Forever associated with The Cure, Lol has lit a creative fire of late, not least a collaborative album with Budgie and Jacknife Lee, but some impressive live performances and unexpected stage shares. For example,

I'd recommend watching the whole of Lol's gig with Gray in France from last April, a composite of two shows in Paris and Lille, but skip to 16:49 and you'll find Miki Berenyi join them on stage for A Strange Day, then the Miki Berenyi Trio in full for Stranger.

Lol also performed with David J and Robyn Hitchcock at the Musack Rock & Roll Carnival in Los Angeles last year, here with a version of Kundalini Express by Love & Rockets.

Unfortunately, the person filming this on their phone were positioned so that Lol remains hidden behind Robyn for most of the song!

Speaking of Los Angeles, aside from being Lol's home for the past three decades, it's also the title track of the 2023 by Lol, Budgie & Jacknife Lee, featuring James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem's unmistakeable vocals.

Los Angeles was also the opening song of Lol and Budgie's KEXP session in 2024. The session closed - as this post opened - with a shimmering version of A Forest by The Cure, Liam Hayden on bass, Lol and Budgie in their element.

Have a good one, Lol.

A Motion Picture You Will Never Forget

The first Barry Adamson solo single was a cover of The Man With The Golden Arm, composed by Elmer Bernstein for the 1955 film of the same name, starring Frank Sinatra.

As a statement of intent for Moss Side Story, the debut album also released in 1988, it was perfect. The quick time tempo of the original is slowed right down to a brooding, rumbling, menacing tune, so that when the dramatic stabs come in, it hits. 

The Man With The Golden Arm is placed at the end of Moss Side Story's flowing narrative of (mostly) imaginary soundtracks and theme tunes, but I recorded the song from my copy of the 12" single as the opening track of several mixtapes over the years. It works every way.

I've rarely if ever seen the video, and whilst it was no surprise to see the film noir story unfold with Barry in the titular role, the remaining cast and crew were. Barry's paramour is played by 18-year old Minnie Driver, in what must have been one of her first professional acting roles, whilst the striptease artist is none other than Marcia Schofield, better known (to me at least) as keyboard player with The Fall.

The video is directed by Angela Conway, a fellow Mute recording artist as A.C. Marias, and who went on to direct videos for The Smashing Pumpkins, Bryan Ferry, Nitzer Ebb, Maria McKee and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, to name a few.

I think I saw The Man With The Golden Arm not long after. Maybe it was included in the Alex Cox-curated Moviedrome series on BBC2 but I also watched it on the big screen at the Watershed in Bristol and, in the early 1990s, bought the film as a budget-price VHS cassette.

Both the VHS tape and player are long gone and I haven't seen the film in years but, along with The Manchurian Candidate, ranks as one of Frank Sinatra's finest moments on celluloid. 

Here's the trailer, with a snippet of Elmer Bernstein's original score.

 

Hold On, I'm Drummin'

Celebrating Sly Dunbar aka Lowell Fillmore Dunbar, 10th May 1952 to 26th January 2026.

As promised in Tuesday's post, which immediately followed the sad news of Sly's passing, I've spent the time since working on a Dubhed selection, which I present today in tribute to the great man.

The thing, Sly contributed to so much incredible music, of which a mere fraction sits in my collection, physically or (mostly) digitally, that fourteen tracks and roughly an hour cannot be anything other that my personal reflection on why there is - and will never be - anyone quite like Sly Dunbar.

I had the same dilemma when compiling a tribute selection for Sly's partner and lifelong friend Robbie Shakespeare, when he died in 2021. 

Whereas that mixtape drew on the vast range of artists that they produced and/or performed with, today's selection sticks to releases by Sly & Robbie, although collaborations are inevitable, as evidenced by the tracklist below.

Again, it's only fourteen songs, so the selection can't even hope to span the whole of Sly's working career. Half the songs cover the 1970s and 1980s; the rest stretch from the 1990s through to 2021.

Echoing a comment by The Swede earlier this week, Western society these days is prone to chronic overuse and misapplication of words like legend and icon. Both can be readily and appropriately applied to Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

There's still so much of their music out there for me to discover, though with the sadness of knowing that it's now a finite amount. Something to treasure with every listen.

1) Side Walk Doctor: Sly & Robbie (1979)

2) Spray Belly: Sly & Robbie (2014)

3) Argentina Dub (Dennis Bovell Meets Sly & Robbie): Sly & Robbie ft. Ken Boothe (2021)

4) Politicians: Sly & Robbie (1984)

5) Livin' It Up Dub: Horace Andy + Sly & Robbie (2006)

6) Yes, We Can Can: Sly & Robbie ft. Bernard Fowler & Gary 'Mudbone' Cooper (1987)

7) Rastafari Prophecy: Horace Andy + Sly & Robbie (2006)

8) Keep That Night: Sly & Robbie (1992)

9) Exodub Implosion: Sly & Robbie (1999)

10) Make 'Em Move (Remix By Paul 'Groucho' Smykle): Sly & Robbie (1985)

11) Space Invaders: Sly & Robbie (1982)

12) Liquidator Dub: Sly & Robbie (2002)

13) Dirty Harry: Sly Dunbar (1979)

14) Dub To My Woman: Sly & Robbie (1982)

1979: Disco Dub: 1

1979: Sly, Wicked And Slick: 13

1982: Dub Rocker's Delight: 14

1982: Syncopation: 11

1984: Hot Dub: 4

1985: Make 'Em Move EP: 10

1987: Rhythm Killers: 6

1992: Remember Precious Times: 8

1999: Drum & Bass Strip To The Bone By Howie B: 9

2002: Sly & Robbie Meet Bunny Lee At Dub Station: 12

2006: Livin' It Up: 7

2006: Dubbin' It Up: 5

2014: Underwater Dub: 2

2021: Sly & Robbie vs. Roots Radics: The Dub Battle: 3

Hold On, I'm Drummin' (1:04:36) (GD) (M)

#70sTop30

A treat for you this morning with not one, not two, but three Dubhed selections. Nearly two hours of top tunes!

I've just completed #70sTop30, the latest musical challenge on BlueSky. If I'd been slightly more organised, I could have stretched thsi out over three posts, but no!

So, here's my 'unranked and random' selection in three rounds, each one running chronologically from 1970 to 1979.

The first selection can loosely be described as 'the hits', in that they all troubled the UK Top 40 singles in their respective year. 8th January could only have been a Bowie pick.

Rounds two and three is half-and-half well known and wilfully obscure, and the very last song is probably the only exception to the 'random rule' as I pretty much knew how I wanted to close the series pretty early on.

Given that I didn't give too much thought in advance about the overall selection and running order, it's not turned out too bad.

In keeping with previous 70s-themed posts, the cover art is a selection of UK Marvel first issues from my collection, most of which have been stored in a box and been unopened for years. As a kid, I loved how busy, loud and dynamic the comic covers were, demanding to be picked up from the newsagent's shelf, bought and read again and again.

Round One

1) Brontosaurus: The Move

2) Tokoloshe Man: John Kongos

3) Jungle Fever: Chakachas

4) Big City: Dandy Livingstone

5) Dance With The Devil: Cozy Powell

6) The Wild One: Suzi Quatro

7) Both Ends Burning: Roxy Music

8) Sound And Vision: David Bowie

9) Punky Reggae Party: Bob Marley & The Wailers

10) I'm Every Woman: Chaka Khan

Round Two

1) Clarence In Wonderland: Kevin Ayers & The Whole World

2) Gimme Shelter (Cover of The Rolling Stones): Ruth Copeland ft. Parliament

3) Sniffin' & Snortin' Pt. 1 (Vitamine C): Speed, Glue & Shinki

4) The Groover: T. Rex

5) At Home, At Work, At Play: Sparks

6) Jive Talkin': Bee Gees

7) Ninety-Nine And A Half: Trammps

8) Funtime: Iggy Pop

9) Dance Like A Star: The Human League

10) Spanish Bombs: The Clash

Round Three

1) Effervescing Elephant: Syd Barrett

2) Beautiful Brother Of Mine: Curtis Mayfield

3) Screaming Target: Big Youth

4) Willow's Song: Magnet

5) Fight Your Revolution: Keith Hudson

6) Koun'Toupack: Godchild

7) I Keep On Loving You: Susan Cadogan

8) Time's Up: Buzzcocks

9) It's The New Thing: The Fall

10) Memories Can't Wait: Talking Heads

Round One (40:43) (GD) (M)

Round Two (40:05) (GD) (M)
Round Three (34:38) (GD) (M)

There are a load of new musical challenges starting on 1st February. Time constraints being what they are, I'll likely only have time to participate in one. But which one?

#OrchestralManoeuvres 

Select your 28 favourite string arrangements in songs. Solo, full orchestra, electric, synthetic or sampled. Singles, b-sides, album tracks, live versions and remixes can all be included.

#Reverberations 

A month-long celebration of all things guitar. From 80s Indie and Alt-Rock, to Shoegaze and Grunge and beyond, up to the present day. Think My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, Hüsker Du, Nirvana, DIIV, Just Mustard…

#StandaloneSingles 

Throughout February choose 28 of your favourite standalone singles. Post one per day, ranked or unranked. Lead tracks on EPs and singles tagged on to Best Of compilations can be selected, the main criteria is that they aren’t on an artist’s studio album.

#StrictlyInstrumental

Just post any instrumental song each day in February.

#WrongDisneySong

All February: for the Disney/Pixar film of the day (calendar provided)

Post a song that fits in some way — title, lyrics, theme, vibe, character — but isn’t from the actual soundtrack.

Don't Mind No Hurricane, I'll Find You

Serenity is a new song by Aime Simone and Peter Doherty.

Typically, my Friday posts are a precursor to the weekend, big beats, 80s mixtapes, that kind of thing. Today is the complete opposite of that, a delicate, beautiful acoustic number with artists of two generations on one page. How could I resist?

I've been aware of Aime Simone for several years, and I receive regular mailshots about their music releases but I'd never really paid much attention. I will admit that visually, the black-dyed mullet and the word 'reckless' tattooed under their left eye, weren't immediately appealing either, but just goes to show that I need to call bullshit on my inner voice sometimes.

I came across another clip where Aime and Peter describe their first meeting, way back in 2012. It's one of those "you couldn't make it up" tales that mix despair and delight and it's heartwarming that this ad-hoc encounter evolved and endured, leading to Serenity.

Not the first time that Aime and Peter have recorded a song though, as I discovered Werewolf which, cannily, was released for Hallowe'en last year.

I've also discovered another Aime Simone collaboration, this time with fellow French artist Waxx aka Benjamin Hekimian, covering a Neil Young classic.

Serenity is available to buy on Bandcamp and I will be digging deeper into Aime's catalogue. Better late than never...

6/6 Beat

The Beat shuffled onto my playlist during my commute to work, a welcome reminder of what a strikingly great band they were when I was a kid. 

Duly inspired, I've picked half a dozen songs, four live, two in the (TV) studio, to underline this point.

Who remembers O.T.T., the late night, 'adult' version of anarchic kids' TV show TISWAS? I do, though I suspect I saw very little of it at the time it was broadcast, being pre-teen, a school night and without a TV in my room. it's hard to imagine to scarcity of screens in an average household in the early 80s, compared to now...!

1) Big Shot (Live @ WDR Studio-B, Cologne, Germany, 23rd July 1980)

2) Doors Of Your Heart (Live @ US Festival, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, California, 3rd September 1982)

3) Jeanette (Live @ US Festival, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, California, 28th May 1983)

4) Mirror In The Bathroom (Top Of The Pops, BBC1, 1st May 1980)

5) Ranking Full Stop (Live @ US Festival, Glen Helen Regional Park, San Bernardino, California, 28th May 1983)

6) Stand Down Margaret (OTT, ITV, 1st November 1982)

 

 

 

 

 

 

View It From Here

On Thursday 28th January 1982, Associates released Party Fears Two.

Wait...what? Forty four years ago?!

Party Fears Two was the tenth Associates single and none of the previous nine had troubled the mainstream UK charts in any way, although they'd enjoyed some success in the indie singles chart.

Party Fears Two was the game changer for the band, a four minute poperetta showcasing Billy MacKennzie and Alan Rankine at the peak of their powers.

I wasn't alone in being completely captivated by Associates' debut performance on Top Of The Pops and Party Fears Two eventually peaked at #9 in the UK Top 40 the week of 21st to 27th March 1982.

Party Fears Two proved to be Associates' sole Top 10 hit; likewise parent album Sulk, which followed in May 1982, and it remains as powerful now as it did then, despite my having heard it thousands of times by now.

Party Fears Two is a song that only the brave or foolhardy have attempted to cover since. Fewer still - The Divine Comedy and Heaven 17 to name two - have had the balls to commit to taking their version into the studio.

I've included live performances by both, and a few more that I've discovered. None can surpass the original, but I think they've all managed to give a personal and affecting spin.

1) Party Fears Two: The Divine Comedy (Live @ The Barbican, London, 3rd September 2022) *

2) Party Fears Two: Heaven 17 (Live @ O2 Academy, Bristol, 1st December 2010)

3) Party Fears Two: Jess Brett (Live @ The Flapper, Birmingham, 12th March 2022) (buy on Bandcamp)

4) Party Fears Two: James Grant (Live @ Tannahill Centre, Paisley, 3rd June 2022)

5) Party Fears Two: Øivind Hånes (Live @ Portåsen, Mjøndalen, Norway, 12th November 2020)

6) Party Fears Two: King Creosote & Session A9 (Live @ Celtic Connections, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, 16th January 2010)

 

 

 

 

 

* There's another clip on YouTube which better captures the majestic 11-piece band accompanying Neil on stage, though be warned, it ends abruptly mid-song!

Got To Hear Percussion

I was gutted to read late on Monday that Sly Dunbar has passed. 

I've been unable to pull together a Dubhed selection in time for today's post - it will come this weekend - so for now here's a link to my tribute to partner Robbie Shakespeare in December 2021.

Not only one of the greatest musicians in his chosen discipline but, as Sly & Robbie, one of the most inspirational, genre defining and genre defying musical partnerships there has ever been, and ever will be.

No Room To Move, No Room For Doubt

Feed The Enemy is the opening song of Magazine's second album, Secondhand Daylight. 

The song plays to the band's innate sense of theatre, introducing elements of the band one at a time; it's 1:27 before Barry Adamson's bass kicks in with John Doyle's percussion and two minutes in until Howard Devoto utters his first word.

The sense of anticipation is paid off with the opening couplet,

It's always raining over the border

There's been a plane crash out there

Following the second verse break and a blistering turn from Dave Formula and John McGeoch, the song builds in intensity as Howard comes back in to deliver the final lines, the band moving as one yet ramping up the tension, until it comes to it's inevitable end. 

Feed The Enemy wasn't released as a single, that was track two, the punchier Rhythm Of Cruelty, but a video was made for the song, at 5:29 only twenty seconds or so shorter than the album version.

For Magazine's live shows, a shorter, sped up version in the spirit of their more uptempo numbers was introduced. It may lose the brooding menace of the studio original, but it travels well at this revved up speed.

When Magazine reformed, they also got to perform at the penultimate BBC Electric Proms. Their set on Thursday 22nd October 2009 included the faster version of Feed The Enemy.

I saw Magazine a couple of years later in Birmingham, for what proved to be their final tour in this (re)incarnation. Whilst Feed The Enemy had been dropped by then, the combination of classics and new songs from then-current album No Thyself did not disappoint.

It's always raining over the border

There's been a plane crash out there

In the wheatfields they're picking up the pieces

We could go and look and stare

How many friends have we over there?

The border guards fight unconvincingly

Whatever we do it seems things are arranged

We always have to feed the enemy

You could dance for me

And punch me through

You could dance for me

And punch me through

You could dance for me

And punch me through

You could dance for me

And punch me through

We watched them trash the last camera

Glued to all our TV's

The actors on the replay

Trying again to touch you and me

But they always seem to know

Exactly what they're talking about

They must've got you in a corner

You've got no room to move

You've got no room for doubt

That's exactly what they're talking about

They must've got you in a corner

No room to move

No room for doubt

Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow

I've posted a song this morning by Keith Hudson on BlueSky as part of the #70sTop30 music challenge running this month.

I've been diving deeper into Keith's catalogue recently, as he is an artist that I like, but know relatively little about from landmark albums Pick A Dub and (deep breath) The Black Breast Has Produced Her Best, Flesh Of My Skin Blood Of My Blood, both from 1974.

There is a pick from both, the latter today's #70sTop30 pick, as well as another dozen from 1972 to 1994. Sadly, that's where the story ends, as Keith died on 14th November 1994, aged just 38.

Whilst he doesn't possess the vocal range some of the reggae greats, his songwriting and production skills knew no such limits. I've largely bypassed Keith's formidable dub diversions in favour of his lyrical excursions. The songs mostly travel in familiar reggae territory but include a pleasing though commercially disastrous detour with 1976 album Too Expensive, sounding more like The Fatback Band then King Tubby. 

There's plenty more reggae and dub from Mr. Hudson to furnish future Dubhed selections...

1) Nah Skin Up (12" Mix) (1978)

2) I Know My Rights (Version 2) (1994)

3) Fight Your Revolution (1974)

4) Like I'm Dying (1974)

5) Closer Walk (1972)

6) Healing Up The Line (1982)

7) Misery (1974)

8) Civlization (Album Version) (1976)

9) I'm All Right (1974)

10) Starlight (1994)

11) Satan Side (1972)

12) National Item (1977)

13) Curiosity (1982)

14) (Bad Things) You Teach Me (1979)

1972: Imbidimts Furnace: 5

1972: Satan Side EP: 11

1974: Entering The Dragon: 7

1974: Pick A Dub: 9

1974: The Black Breast Has Produced Her Best, Flesh Of My Skin Blood Of My Blood: 3

1974: Torch Of Freedom: 4

1976: Too Expensive: 8

1977: Brand: 12

1978: Nah Skin Up EP: 1

1979: From One Extreme To Another: 14

1982: Steaming Jungle: 6, 13

2015: Tuff Gong Encounter: 2, 10

Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow (45:27) (GD) (M)