Every Day So Wonderful

Jungle released the video for Dominoes last Tuesday (23rd) as a precursor to new album Volcano, out on 11th August. 

 

I've read a bit about Jungle and heard even less, but I have been playing this song on repeat since I first heard it. 

According to Iffypedia, Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland formed Jungle in 2013 and Volcano is in fact their fourth album.

 

And the video is choreographed to perfection. One-shot dance videos, directed by Josh, are apparently Jungle's trademark so I'm looking forward to sampling more sounds and vision if it's as good as this. 

 

Sometimes it's not so bad being a Johnny-Come-Lately when you get hooked by a song and realise that there's a whole back catalogue to dive into.

 

More summery stuff coming your way tomorrow. 

Molten Creative Energy

Ushering in the summer are James Alexander Bright and Flying Mojito Bros, aka Ben Chetwood and Jack Sellen, with a beauty of a collaboration titled Mirage In The Mojave.

A 7-track album of new tracks and handpicked "Refritos" of songs from James' back catalogue, it's 40 minutes of aural sunshine from start to finish. 

 

Let's Get Lost, as previewed above, is a new song whilst Gold originally appeared on James' debut album Headroom in 2020. 

 

  

The album version (and video) of Gold is also a delight.

And here's James and band performing Gold in the basement of the Abbey Road Institute (pre-lockdown, I presume).

 

Flying Mojito Bros describe the meeting of minds brilliantly

 

"James entered El Mondo FMB burning up through our atmosphere like a white-light-bright ball of molten creative energy. Shades on, we looked up and awaited his inevitable impact. Smiling."

 

James also collaborated with Groove Armada on their 2020 album Edge Of The Horizon and has teamed up again with Tom Findlay. Slow Dance was released as a single in 2021 and a full length Bright & Findlay album, Everything Is Slow, due out on 9th June.

 

Mirage In The Mojave is available along with James' full catalogue in all the usual places, including Bandcamp. Whilst there, you can also check out the Flying Mojito Bros' "Refritos" of other classic rock artists, the most recent being Down On The Farm by Little Feat.

The Doors Of Perception

Side 1 of a cassette compilation of The Doors, recorded sometime during the spring/summer of 1992.

 

During "The Blockbuster Years" of video shops from the mid-late 1980s, I had managed to rent and watch Dance On Fire, a VHS compilation of short films, live and TV performances. It was brilliant and cemented my love of The Doors. I bought secondhand copies of the first two albums from Replay Records in Bristol. Much as I loved the self-titled debut, Strange Days was - and remains - my favourite album by The Doors. The front and back sleeve, featuring a fascinating array of carny characters with the band themselves relegated to a poster pasted to a wall was a real snapshot in time. 

In 1992, I was in a relationship with someone else who loved The Doors. She was quite open in that her main interest was Jim Morrison in leather trousers and to a lesser extent Val Kilmer in leather trousers and wig (Oliver Stone's biopic of The Doors had been released the previous year). 

 

To be honest, most of the overlaps in musical taste was usually predicated on how hot the front person was, particularly in leather trousers, but I managed to resist the subliminal encouragement to purchase a pair of my own. I remembered nights spent kipping on the floors of friends' bedsits, often next to someone's discarded pair of leather trews with the lasting impression of how much they stank after months, years even, of sweaty club nights and gigs. I mean, you could hardly stick them in for a service wash at the local launderette, could you? So, I saved my meagre pennies for feeding my record habit and socialising.

I digress. My ever-reliable friend Stuart had the rest of The Doors' albums, including the rather stingily short Live At The Hollywood Bowl highlights album and excellent out-takes compilation Alive She Cried. So, one weekend I borrowed them and set about creating a mixtape of my favourite songs.

The live version of Light My Fire preceded by Jim's reading of Wake Up from their Hollywood Bowl appearance is about as good as it gets and far superior to the studio take in my opinion. 

 

Strange Days was the opening song on their second album but makes a second appearance as a second song on one of my mixtapes, here following Do It, the penultimate song on Side 1 of The Soft Parade. 

 

I have a lot of time for The Soft Parade, though it doesn't appear to be a much-loved album for its surfeit of strings, allegedly masking a troubled production, and Jim clearly struggling to deliver a decent, committed vocal in places. And yet...and yet. I wrote a few words about the album - and more specifically Touch Me - last March.

The Doors cassette was played to death during the summer of 1992...sadly, literally. I had a fairly reliable secondhand car which had come with a ropey old cassette deck that had been bolted to the underside of the passenger glove compartment with wires trailing here and there and crappy speakers positioned at the rear of the vehicle. It had an unpredictable habit of chewing up or forcibly ejecting cassette tapes, so I tended to only play homemade mixtapes as a result. However, it could just about pass muster for a drive with the windows down, volume up, my girlfriend next to me and friends in the back as we drove around listening to music.

On one sorry occasion, I pulled the car over to drop off my passengers before heading off to find somewhere to park, Light My Fire in full effect, Ray Manzarek giving it his all on the keyboards. As my girlfriend got out of the car, the tape deck decided to violently regurgitate The Doors cassette, projecting it through the still-open passenger door and on a short arc to the ground, smashing to pieces on the kerbside. We were gobsmacked for a split second, then we all started laughing. To be honest, whilst I was laughing on the outside, a little part of me was crying on the inside.

For some reason, I didn't ever get around to recording a new version of The Doors mixtape so here, for the first time in over three decades, is that original Side 1. I've listened to the parent albums many, many times since. I bought all of The Doors albums on CD - Live At the Hollywood Bowl twice, as I got the subsequent expanded 2CD reissue - but I'm pretty happy with the choices and sequencing of this 1992 time capsule. 

I'll take care when playing this selection in the car though, in case the spirit of my long-deceased cassette deck possesses my vehicle and launches my phone out of the window, midway through Manzarek's keyboard frenzy on Light My Fire...

 

1) Do It (1969)

2) Strange Days (Album Version) (1967)

3) Waiting For The Sun (Album Version) (1970)

4) Soul Kitchen (Album Version) (1967)

5) Love Me Two Times (Album Version) (1967)

6) Wake Up / Light My Fire (Live @ The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles) (1968)

7) People Are Strange (Album Version) (1967)

8) End Of The Night (Album Version) (1967)

9) The Unknown Soldier (Album Version) (1968)

10) Wishful Sinful (Album Version) (1969)

11) Riders On The Storm (Album Version) (1971)

Side One (45:45) (Box) (Mega)

 

 

This isn't the first selection of The Doors on this blog. Back in August 2021, in a post inspired by watching a Patrick Swayze film (!), I created a selection of 21st Century remixes of The Doors by the likes of Nightmares On Wax, Adam Freeland, Thievery Corporation, The Reflex and Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions. You can find it here.

Love Comes In

I can't think of anything better for a beautifully sunny weekend than A Man Called Adam. 

After a number of teasers and singles in the past few months, their latest album, The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart, was fully released on Friday (26th) and it's a beauty. I've only given it a few listens so far and I'll come here back later with some words but suffice to say it's wonderful from start to finish. 

As it's a bank holiday in the UK and the Monday blues won't kick in until Tuesday, I've pulled together a selection that includes a couple of snippets from The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart and goes back 34 years to a couple of their earliest singles. Perhaps inevitably, Barefoot In The Head, Estelle and Easter Song make an appearance though hopefully a few unexpected deeper cuts and remixes too.

Last year, Swiss Adam managed to curate a brilliant Bagging Area AMCA mix that came in just at just over 30 minutes. No such luck here, I'm afraid: of a shortlist that ran to nearly two and a half hours, I just about managed to whittle it down to 15 songs and 90 minutes; even then, I've had to leave out some tracks that I really wanted to include.

Find a nice spot with a cool drink, stick on your shades and your headphones and bathe in the music.

 

1) All My Favourite People (Stay With Me) (12" Vocal Mix) (1999)

2) Techno Powers (Remix Of 'Earthly Powers') (1989)

3) Stars Festoon (A Man Called Adam Remix): B.J. Smith (2015)

4) Frankie's Theme (2023)

5) Estelle (1998)

6) Musica De Amor (1989)

7) Mountains And Waterfalls (Felipé Gordon The Moody Remix) (2019)

8) Everytime (A Man Called Adam's Balearic Remix Dub): Lustral (1999)

9) I Want To Know (7") (1991)

10) Superman (Sebasstian Edit) (2021)

11) Barefoot In The Head (Return To Pacha Mix By Terry Farley & Pete Heller) (1990)

12) Over The Border (Album Version) (2023)

13) Easter Song (North Star Dub) (1999)

14) Alegría (A Man Called Adam's Magical Mix): Cirque Du Soleil (2003)

15) Automatic Sexomatic (1998)

 

Love Comes In (1:28:59) (Box) (Mega)

Lucky Bastard

Responding to absolutely no demand whatsoever, here's another trip back twenty years to the sounds of 2003.

My original shortlist was 20 songs, 10 forming yesterday's selection and the remaining 10 (in my mind at least) working well enough to provide another selection, just shy of an hour.

After a bit of a red herring with the opening two tracks, yesterday's turned out to be more of a downtempo, relaxed affair. Not so today. You want beats? You've got them. Well, at least until the closing track. But then, it's a remix by Boards Of Canada. You didn't really expect a gabba rave country crossover, did you?

A few of the big guns brought out for this one: Justin Robertson gets things off to a rousing start, Trevor Jackson ramps it up in his Playgroup guise and Ian Pooley's Solid Dub of a Nick Holder track is, well, solid.

After yesterday's DFA remix of The Rapture, two other bands from that (kind of) dance punk scene in the early 2000s - did it ever have a label? - come together. Dance To The Underground by Radio 4 was originally produced by The DFA and remixed by Trevor Jackson/Playgroup, both versions are personal favourites. The Faint (who also appeared in yesterday's selection) take the song in a different direction yet again and I like it.

 

Dubhed hero Rob Smith gives a shout for Bristol, whilst the rest of the mix variously takes in Bamako, Berlin, Paris, Ravenna, Cincinnati, Toronto, New York and Hull.

Today's title is lifted from a song by French DJ and producer Agoria aka Sébastien Devaud. Don't be fooled by the innocent sounding name, Spinach Girl is pure smut.

Enjoy!

1) Do It Proper (Justin Robertson Remix): Chicken Lips (2003)

2) Strict Machine (Rowan's Remix By Rowan Oliver): Goldfrapp (2003)

3) Bucci Bag (Playgroup Remix By Trevor Jackson): Andrea Doria (2003)

4) Serious (Album Version): Da Lata ft. Mamani Keita & Bémbé Ségué (2003)

5) Spinach Girl (Album Version): Agoria ft. Sylvie Marks & Kofea (2003) 

6) Dance To The Underground (Prance Mix By The Faint): Radio 4 (2003)

7) On My Mind (Ian Pooley's Solid Dub): Nick Holder ft. Sacha Williamson (2003)

8) Dead Again (Shirner Dub) (Remix By Reiner Schirner): Billie Ray Martin (2003)

9) Rock Dope Stupid (R & R Mix): Rob Smith (2003)

10) Last Walk Around Mirror Lake (Boards Of Canada Remix): Boom Bip (2003)

 

Lucky Bastard (59:46) (Box) (Mega)

A Series Of Realisations...

...the first of which was that all of the music on today's selection is twenty years old. Gulp.

In 2003, I was married but Lady K had yet to arrive. Mrs. K and I were living in central Bristol. We lived very close to the Hen & Chicken pub, which hosted the fabulous Comedy Box which we went to a lot. It was (and still is) a fantastic place to catch up-and-coming performers as well as well established names who would use the venue for Edinburgh Festival work-in-progress shows. In 2003, we saw Ed Byrne, Tommy Tiernan and Dara Ó Briain, the latter for the second time having first seen him support (and surpass) Emo Phillips.

Musically speaking, 2003 appears to have been a gig-free desert. However, i listened to and discovered a lot in that year as in any other year since the mid-1980s, although there would have been a bit of culling, trading and adjusting my physical vinyl and CD collection. In 2003, there were already boxes in the loft that would involve specific trips to rummage, retrieve and record for mixtapes to support my daily walk to work.

A fair few of the music here can be tracked back to that period, some I acquired much later, but I'm struck by how fresh it all still sounds. Some are sadly no longer with us, some are still actively recording, performing and arguably producing some of the finest music of their career, all gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside after listening to them again.

The final realisation (more a reminder, really) came whilst putting this post together. The closing track - and inspiration for today's title - is California Sunshine by Abakus aka Russ Davies, son of Dave Davies and nephew of Ray Davies of The Kinks. This is an earlier/original version of a track that subsequently appeared on his debut album That Much Closer To The Sun in 2004. Beautiful.

 

1) Good Luck (Tim Deluxe Dub) (Remix By Timothy Liken): Basement Jaxx ft. Lisa Kekaula (2003)

2) Sister Saviour (DFA Dub) (Remix By James Murphy & Tim Goldsworthy): The Rapture (2003)

3) Nebulus (Vox): Fluke (2003)

4) Microtronics Five: Broadcast (2003)

5) Blue Room (CocoDaBank Remix By Chris Coco & Rob Da Bank): The Orb ft. Jah Wobble (2003) 

6) The Conductor (Remix By Thin White Duke aka Stuart Price): The Faint (2003)

7) Familiar Feeling (Martin Buttrich Remix Edit): Moloko (2003)

8) Still My World: Andrew Weatherall & Keith Tenniswood (2003)

9) Soul Shakedown Party (Gaudi Dub Remix By Daniele Gaudi): Bob Marley & The Wailers (2003)

10) California Sunshine (Original Version): Abakus ft. Ranajit Sengupta (2003) 

 

2003: Blue Room (promo 12"): 5

2003: Danse Macabre Remixes: 6

2003: Familiar Feeling EP: 7

2003: Good Luck EP: 1

2003: Microtronics Volume 01: 4

2003: Sister Saviour EP: 2

2003: Still My World (Japanese promo CD): 8

2003: Switch EP: 3 

2003: Youth In Dub: Orchestra Mystique: 10

2020: Gaudi: Remixes 1995-2020 (25 Years Special Edition): 9 

 

A Series Of Realisations... (54:48) (Box) (Mega)

Good Or Bad, Happy Or Sad

Celebrating Anna Mae Bullock aka Tina Turner, 26th November 1939 to 24th May 2023.

When I started this blog at the tail end of 2020, it didn't cross my mind that at at some point I would post a Tina Turner selection. I would not describe myself as a Tina Turner fan. Indeed the opening seconds of one of her 1980s videos, seeing her unique approach to dancing, at times the 'dial stuck at 11' vocals would be enough to make me flip to another channel.

But still, that voice. That sheer unstoppable force of nature that was there from her earliest recordings in the 1960s, through the 1970s, rising again (and higher) in the 1980s and then finding a new level in the 1990s and into the 21st century. 

And then, gaining even the merest insight into Tina's story, not least her relationship with Ike Turner, that opened up her talent to the world but at the cost of being subjected to years of horrific abuse. Tina's resilience and strength in not allowing Ike to define her, leaving yet finding herself a single parent, saddled with crippling debt and living on food stamps and low-rent gigs to get by, then finding even greater global success as a solo artist in the mid-1980s. That Tina kept going, that her soul and her voice remained undimmed, is nothing short of miraculous. 

So, I still wouldn't call myself a Tina Turner fan and whilst I wanted to post some words when I read the sad news of her passing, I thought it would be just a few comments and perhaps a video or two. I didn't think I had that many songs in my digital music collection, let alone enough for a Dubhed selection. And yet, here we are with an 18-song cycle a few seconds shy of 90 minutes.

Admittedly, quite a few of these have come from 1980s compilations, music magazine promo CDs and so on. I don't own a physical copy of any of Tina Turner's albums or singles, the closest I came being B.E.F's Music Of Quality And Distinction Volume 1 on vinyl.

I remember loving Nutbush City Limits as a kid, hearing it regularly on Tony Blackburn's Saturday request show on BBC Radio 1. I saw Tina appear with Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware of Heaven 17 on The Tube on Channel 4 in 1983 and was blown away. We had the first four Now That's What I Call Music compilations on cassette and I'm pretty sure Tina's songs appeared in each one. The theme from Mad Max 3 and a co-starring role in the film with Mel Gibson. There was Live Aid, appearing on stage with Mick Jagger (and let's be honest, outperforming him).

 

Tina was also a great interpreter of other people's songs. Her version of Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy can never match Shara Nelson's emotive performance, but I'm glad she had a run at it. Her duet with David Bowie on Tonight, which he originally wrote with and for Iggy Pop, is inspired. And Let's Stay Together is brilliant.

 

So, I still wouldn't call myself a Tina Turner fan. But bloody hell, she was an amazing woman with an amazing spirit, an amazing voice and some amazing songs.

 

Rest easy, Tina, and thanks for everything. 

1) Private Dancer (Full Length Version):Tina Turner (1984)

2) Ball Of Confusion (That's What The World Is Today) (Album Version) (Cover of The Temptations): B.E.F. ft. Tina Turner (1982)

3) You Got What You Wanted: Ike & Tina Turner (1969)

4) I Can't Stand The Rain (Extended Remix) (Cover of Ann Peebles): Tina Turner (1985)

5) Legs (Live) (Edit) (Cover of ZZ Top):Tina Turner (1987)

6) Let's Stay Together (Live on The Tube) (Cover of Al Green): Tina Turner ft. Glenn Gregory & Martyn Ware (1983)

7) Tonight (Vocal Dance Mix By Steve Thompson) (Cover of Iggy Pop): David Bowie ft. Tina Turner (1984)

8) A Fool In Love: Ike & Tina Turner (1960)

9) (Simply) The Best: Jimmy Barnes ft. Tina Turner (1992)

10) Come Together (Cover of The Beatles): Ike & Tina Turner (1970)

11) State Of Shock / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (Live @ Live Aid, Philadelphia): Mick Jagger ft. Tina Turner (1985) 

12) Mojo Queen: Ike & Tina Turner (1963)

13) Steamy Windows (12" Vocal Mix By Justin Strauss & Daniel Abraham): Tina Turner (1989)

14) Goldeneye (Morales Club Mix By David Morales): Tina Turner (1995)

15) Nutbush City Limits (Full Length Version): Ike & Tina Turner (1973)

16) What's Love Got To Do With It (Extended Version): Tina Turner (1984)

17) We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) (Extended Mix): Tina Turner (1985)

18) Unfinished Sympathy (Cover of Massive Attack): Tina Turner (2007) 

 

Good Or Bad, Happy Or Sad (1:29:23) (Box) (Mega)

The (Not So) New Creation

Side 2 of a loved up cassette compilation, recorded 7th September 1997.

Rounding up the rest of a mixtape that brings together a bunch of my favourite songs from that glorious period from 1989 to 1991 when the indie/dance crossover really was on fire.

 

Looking back, it was such an exciting time for music and whilst at the ridiculous end of the spectrum, there was a lot of bandwagon jumping with lots of mediocre artists having a funky drummer sample strapped onto their MOR dirge in an attempt to get with it, it was also a period of rebirth and reinvention for many other artists.

Side 2 starts off with one such example, Zodiac Youth being Youth and Mark Manning. At the time, Youth aka Martin Glover was the former bassist with Killing Joke who had carved out a new reputation as a remixer and producer. Mark Manning was better known as the front person of Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction. Fast Forward The Future is an exhilarating collaboration featuring rapper T-Love and riding on a sample from Faith Healer by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. 

 

Stephen Duffy, an 80s pop star as Tin Tin, found a new path with The Lilac Time, forging a more pastoral, folk-infused path whilst retaining the wonderful wordplay of his finest songs. Stephen was reportedly quite dismissive of Creation label mate Hypnotone aka Tony Martin's remixes of Dreaming. Whilst Hypnotone's remix of Sheer Taft's Cascades is the high water mark, personally I think this one comes pretty close.

Pleasure* was a duo of Barry Maguire and Steven Gallifent, signed to David A. Stewart's Anxious Records. They released a single, self-titled album in 1989 and Please was the fourth and final single to be lifted, with a trio of remixes by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. The CD single was beautifully designed, with a card sleeve housed in an outer red plastic sleeve with button and stenciled logo, the cost of which alone likely landed them in even greater debt when the single didn't achieve global success. It's a shame, as the mixes are pretty good.

Bonita Applebum was my introduction to A Tribe Called Quest, specifically the 7" and 12" mixes built around the sample of Why? by Carly Simon. CJ Mackintosh was the go-to remixer for labels seeking to open up US hip-hop and rap to a wider UK audience and you can see why on the strength of this track. Blew me away at the time and still does, to be honest.

Both New Atlantic and Love Decade shone very briefly in the early 1990s but neither bettered I Know. This collaborative effort samples the Candi Staton vocal used in full - and to brilliant effect - by The Source on You Got The Love several times, including 1991 when I Know was also riding the charts. Add some further pan pipe samples, Italo piano chords and propulsive beats and the remix had hit written all over it.

According to the small print on the cassette sleeve, the original mixtape used the Loved Up remix of Paris Angels' Perfume from the 1991 reissue. I haven't been able to track down the CD single in question so I've used the 1990 single version. It's pretty much the same running time and there may be little difference apart from a slight remix and buff up for the second go ahead. Either way, it's an absolute classic of the period and genre. The original, full length All On You version is the essential but this'll do very nicely, thank you.

I'm not a big fan of The Farm, and seeing them live on stage supporting Madness last year didn't change that drastically, but I do like their cover of The Monkees' Stepping Stone, particularly the 12" version. Continuing the theme of reinvention and rebirth, Madness legend Suggs was managing The Farm at the time and joined Terry Farley for the remix. 

 

Also on a break from his main job at the time was INXS front person Michael Hutchence, here with old pal Ollie Olsen as Max Q. Just the one self-titled album in 1989, with a couple of singles with remixes from Todd Terry, though less dance-oriented than you'd expect. The 12" single(s) to go for featured Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, the Land Of Oz mix featured here being the standout.

1) Fast Forward The Future (Witch-Hunt Mix By Youth & Mark 'Spike' Stent): Zodiac Youth ft. T-Love (1991)

2) Dreaming (12" Mix By Hypnotone): The Lilac Time (1991)

3) Please (Future Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Pleasure* (1990)

4) Bonita Applebum (7" Why? Edit By CJ Mackintosh & Robin Hancock): A Tribe Called Quest (1990)

5) I Know (Love Decade Remix 12"): New Atlantic (1991)

6) Perfume (Single Version): Paris Angels (1990)

7) Stepping Stone (Ghost Dance Mix By Terry Farley & Mr. Suggs) (12" Version) (Cover of '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone' by The Monkees): The Farm (1991)

8) Sometimes (Land Of Oz Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Max Q (1989)

 

Side Two (46:22) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here

P.S. If you visited the Dot Allison post yesterday, you may be interested to know that I’ve since added a link to the hour-long Dubhed selection I originally posted in October 2022.

If Statues Could Move, Oh The Stories They'd Tell

Dot Allison has a new single out and album coming in July.

I get a lot of email, most of it junk, and it's long since stopped being a channel for communicating with family and loved ones. But...every now and then, something drops into my mailbox that brings a smile to my face and glow to my heart.

 

And so it was with a couple of emails on Monday morning, courtesy of Dot's Bandcamp mailing list, announcing Unchanged as a precursor to seventh album, Consciousology. 

 

The album is released via Sonic Cathedral, home to Mark Peters, who Dot collaborated with to stunning effect last year.

 

In the promo releases, Dot describes Consciousology as "a more psych Heart-Shaped Scars with a far fuller, more immersive sound and so, in that sense, it’s a more wayward, bolder, rule-breaking partner.”.

If that isn't enough (no spoilers, it was for me), fellow label mate Andy Bell guests on a couple of songs including Unchanged, Hannah Peel provides string arrangements and Fiona Cruickshank returns to co-produce the album, which is wrapped in gorgeous art and design by Maria Mochnac. 

 

Unchanged is summed up as "Linda Perhacs-meets-The Velvet Underground" but really, no pitch needed other than to say it's Dot Allison. The general theme is that of "being in a process with someone where you love, lose and grieve the love-bond alone, while the other person appears to remain unchanged throughout”.

 

In what is proving to be another excellent year for albums, in a time when their death has been proclaimed more often than I can keep count, Consciousology promises to be a reminder of why they are still relevant, still needed, maybe more than ever.

 

You can buy the single version of Unchanged via Bandcamp now and take your pick of pre-order options for Consciousology. 

 

Welcome back, Dot.

 

*** Updated P.S. ***

 

Remiss of me, but I should have included a repost of the hour-long Dot Allison selection that appearedlast October. Here you go.

Who Can Define Infinity?

A belated happy birthday to Grace Jones for 19th May who, depending on varying sources, celebrated her 71st, 73rd or 75th year on this planet. Really, who cares? The fact that she's here is all that matters.

I'm of an age where I can't be certain if my first encounter with Grace Jones was her music or the infamous chat show appearance with Russell Harty in 1980, but it's almost certainly the latter. 

 

The song that I really remember making an impression on me was Living My Life, which was included on an Island Records promo cassette, free with Record Mirror circa 1982. I don't remember much about the specific magazine but I guess that it was around this time I would also have seen some of the striking imagery inextricably linked with Grace, not least her album artwork. I also recall seeing the lyrics to her cover version of The Apple Stretching in Smash Hits. The first record that I bought by Grace was the 12" single of Slave To The Rhythm, with it's unforgettable cut-up photo by Jean-Paul Goude and 12" mix by Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson, introduced by actor Ian McShane.

Only the first of these makes it onto today's random selection and even then in a dub version (although with vocals intact). And just the one cover version, not the aforementioned Melvin Van Peebles nor Joy Division nor Iggy Pop but Gordon Sumner's old band (although still very much a going concern in 1981). 

 

The eight songs don't stretch back into disco-era Miss Jones, but there are a few selections from the early 1980s, a couple of oddities from the late 1980s and 1990s and two remixes following her spectacular comeback (and to date most recent album) in 2008...as if Grace Jones ever really went away.

Still a force of nature to be cherished and never underestimated, Grace has a fair few UK festival appearances lined up in June and July, having curated last year's (pandemic delayed) Meltdown Festival. As I enthused last March, any live performance is unlikely to be anything less than spectacular.

 

1) Demolition Man (Long Version By Alex Sadkin & Chris Blackwell) (Cover of The Police) (1981)

2) Victor Should Have Been A Jazz Musician (The Jazzclubmillionminutemix By Ben Liebrand) (1987)

3) Love You To Life (Cagedbaby & Guy Williams Paradise 45 Rework) (2010)

4) Cry Now, Laugh Later (Vocal) (Remix By Steven Stanley) (1983)

5) Corporate Cannibal (Dan Donovan Remix) (2009)

6) Living My Life (Dub Version By Stephen Street) (1983)

7) Love Bites (7" Deep Into The Night Mix By The P.O.D.) (1996)

8) Nipple To The Bottle (Album Version By Alex Sadkin & Chris Blackwell) (1982)

 

Who Can Define Infinity? (44:55) (Box) (Mega)

Monoliths

Four sonic slabs to stir the senses on a Sunday. Rescued from the abandoned shopping trolley of an overstuffed music collection, these are not for the faint hearted - the pieces run between 15 and 23 minutes long - but will hopefully have an energising not enervating effect.

1) When We Return You Won't Recognise Us (Manafon Variation): David Sylvian (2011)

2) III: Taj Mahal Travellers (1974)

3) The Monolith: The Beta Band (1998)

4) Alpha Phase (Retranslated By Global Communication aka Tom Middleton & Mark Pritchard): Chapterhouse (1993)

1975: August 1974: 2

1993: Blood Music: Pentamerous Metamorphosis (Retranslated By Global Communication): 4

1998: The Patty Patty Sound EP / The Three E.P.'s: 3

2011: Died In The Wool: Manafon Variations: 1

Monoliths (1:13:25) (KF) (Mega)

Bass Changes Everything

Celebrating Andy Rourke, 17th January 1964 to 19th May 2023.

 

A career that spanned so much more but Andy's place in history was cemented with The Smiths. I had a strange relationship with the band in as much as my first purchase was the Hatful Of Hollow compilation on cassette, which I became obsessed with and played to death, eventually replacing the worn out tape with a vinyl copy and later still with CD. For me, the definitive versions of many of The Smiths' well-known songs are to be found on Hatful Of Hollow.

Part of the reason for that however is that, during the band's lifetime, I never bought another album by The Smiths. I got a few 7" and 12" singles but not their self-titled debut or Meat Is Murder, neither The Queen Is Dead nor Strangeways, Here We Come. And certainly not live album Rank. I caught up in the 1990s.

 

Actually, I tell a lie: I bought another compilation, Louder Than Bombs, on double vinyl sometime in 1987; the album was released in April 1987 and The Smiths had spilt by September of that year so I might just have snuck that one in before the end. 

Much is made of the partnership between The Manchester Racist and Johnny Marr but as a band, The Smiths were incredible, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce's rhythm section something out of this world.

So, much as I wanted to pay tribute to Andy by focusing on The Smiths, I debated how to do that without effectively diverting attention to their lyricist and singer, whose increasingly repugnant views do not have a place here.

 

Today's selection therefore is a bit of a fudge and almost entirely Mozza free. As a starting point, there are three bonafide songs intentionally recorded as instrumentals: Money Changes Everything, The Draize Train (the 'Rank' rather than single version here) plus one of my favourite of their songs, the wonderful Oscillate Wildly. I've also obtained a couple of instrumentals from the unofficial and inspiringly-titled 2010 compilation, Unreleased Demos & Instrumentals. 

 

I'm less sure about the provenance of the rest, having sourced them in various places online, but the quality of several suggest that it's been run through filtering software to remove the vocals. I can't stake my life on it, but I'm hoping I haven't fallen into the trap of including one or more instrumentals that have been recorded by a 'soundalike' tribute/cover/pub rock artist. I'm already feeling mortified, just in case...

The idea though was to highlight just how bloody good a bassist Andy Rourke was and how special The Smiths' songs were because of his contribution. I hope this forty-odd minute selection goes some way to conveying this.

 

You'll find lots of superbly written and expressive tributes to Andy online, not least The Vinyl Villain, New Amusements and Bagging Area. 

Thanks, Andy, you were brilliant.

 

1) Barbarism Begins At Home (Instrumental) (1985)

2) This Charming Man (Instrumental) (1983)

3) Money Changes Everything (Single Version) (1986)

4) Hand In Glove (Instrumental) (1984)

5) Still Ill (Instrumental) (1984)

6) Vicar In A Tutu (Instrumental Demo) (1985)

7) Untitled Two (Marr Instrumental) aka Heavy Track (1987)

8) There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (Instrumental) (1986)

9) The Draize Train (Live @ National Ballroom, Kilburn, London) (1986)

10) Untitled One aka I Misses You (Marr Instrumental) (1984)

11) Oscillate Wildly (Single Version) (1985)

 

Bass Changes Everything (42:13) (Box) (Mega)

O.M.D./T.F.C.M.

...or, if you prefer, some Twenty First Century Music from O.M.D.

 

I've not compiled an Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark mixtape covering songs from their second wave but if I did, it might look something like this. There have been enough great singles, B-sides and album tracks to comfortably create another 'Best Of' compilation and there's a new album, Bauhaus Staircase, anticipated in 2023.

 

If all this leaves you hungry for more, I've also reloaded the two 1980s O.M.D. mixtapes that I've posted here in the past couple of years. Is there such a thing as too much O.M.D.? Definitely not!

 

Side One

1) If You Want It (Marsheaux Remix) (2010)

2) VCR (Single Version) (Cover of The XX) (2010)

3) Helen Of Troy (24.02.12) (Demo) (2012)

4) Bomber (One More Time) (16-10-15) (Demo) (2015) 

5) Stay With Me (Album Version) (2013)

6) HAHAHA (2017)

Side Two

1) Please Remain Seated (2013)

2) New Holy Ground (2010)

3) Dresden (John Foxx & The Maths Remix (2013)

4) RFWK (2010)

5) Metroland (Radio Edit) (2013)

6) Isotype (V1.7 23-02-16) (Demo) (2016)

7) What Have We Done (Single Mix) (2017)

2010: History Of Modern: B2, B4

2010: History Of Modern / If You Want It (limited edition 2x CD): A1

2010: Sister Marie Says EP: A2

2013: Dresden EP: B3

2013: English Electric: A5, B1

2013: English Electric (limited edition box set) (USA): A3 

2013: Metroland EP: B5

2017: The Punishment Of Luxury / Demos (deluxe edition 2x CD): A4, B6

2017: The Punishment Of Luxury: B-Sides & Bonus Material: A6, B7

Side One (22:40) (Box) (Mega)

Side Two (22:25) (Box) (Mega)

 

All Wrapped Up Vol. 1 Side One & Side Two

All Wrapped Up Vol. 2 Side One & Side Two