Watching How The Other Half Lives

Having posted an Adrian Sherwood mix earlier this week, fate, coincidence, serendipity, whatever you wish to call it, determined that this would not be the only Sherwood/ON-U Sound post this week.

 

Idling on BBC4 last night, watching Island At The BBC, a compilation of Island Records artist performances, I then drifted on to the Top Of The Pops repeat, this time from 28th March 1991. I was in Australia at the time so I didn't see the original broadcast, though I'm not sure I was particularly watching the show in the early 1990s. It was much as to be expected: Dannii Minogue, Bee Gees, The Rolling Stones, Chesney Hawkes, effing Jive Bunny, but there were some saving moments from James, Definition Of Sound and Scritti Politti featuring Shabba Ranks (the latter nowhere to be seen in the video).

 

And 'live' in the studio, making his debut at #25, was Gary Clail / On-U Sound System with this song:

 

Human Nature (Live On TOTP): Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Alan Lanah Pillay

 

Bruno Brookes, atop the studio scaffold, introduces Clail as only he can: "Here's a guy who started his career as a scaffolder in Bristol and is certainly somebody who's got a head for heights..." I'm guessing he was predicting the song's Top 10 placing and nine weeks in the charts. 

 

The song originally appeared as a promo 12" on Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto label, heavily featuring samples of American evangelist Billy Graham. It's a great version as it was, but clearance issues meant that Clail adapted the lyrics based on Graham's speech and recorded them himself, to the song's benefit. However, what really lifts the song to another level is the appearance of unexpected guest vocalist, Alan Lanah Pillay. With Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne on the mix, it's a perfect combination of social commentary that you can dance to. And, having been born in Bristol, hearing Clail's West Country burr on a Top 10 hit still prompts a happy smile.

 

An added bonus of Human Nature's success was that it meant that the mighty Bim Sherman also achieved a UK Top 10 hit, albeit featuring on the single's B-side, Rumours.

All of which has prompted me to ditch another planned post this morning in favour of a Gary Clail / On-U Sound playlist, mainly focusing on the 1989-1991 singles.

 

1) Human Nature (On The Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (DJ Promo ft. Billy Graham) (1991) 

2) False Leader (Pay It All Back Version By Adrian Sherwood & Doug Wimbish) (ft. Big Youth) (1991)

3) Another Hard Dub (Remix By Adrian Sherwood) (1995)

4) Beef (The Future Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (ft. Bim Sherman) (1990)

5) Rumours (ft. Bim Sherman) (1991)

6) Two Thieves And A Liar (ft. Bim Sherman) (1989)

7) The Emotional Hooligan (Dubwize Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (1991)

8) Human Nature (On The Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (ft. Alan Lanah Pillay) (1991)

 

To complete the On-U connection, Alan Pillay appeared solo on Volume 3 of the excellent Pay It All Back compilation series with this song:

Spirit Soul: Alan Pillay (1991)

And many years later, when crate digging at Plastic Wax Records in Bristol, I discovered this brilliant song on 12":

Pistol In My Pocket: Lana PIllay (1986)

 

Lanah P is still very much an active artist and performer and she was interviewed earlier this year in the Camden New Journal. 

Gary Clail gave a short interview for Bristol Archive Records in 2014, around the time that he released his last album, Nail It To The Mast. Gary Clail Soundsystem was due to appear at Springkell 2021 in Lockerbie, though I believe this is has now been moved to 2022. Hopefully still on will be his 30 Years Of Human Nature show in Manchester in September. 

 

Following their 2018 collaborative single, Electric Skies/Twisted Love, Gary Clail has also been recording new material with Tony Rafter (Glaxo Babies, Maximum Joy) and plans to play "the whole new album from start to finish. Including the dub outtakes" at the Dublin Castle in London on August 20th.

Watching How The Other Half Lives (46:17)

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