#45sUnder3

I wouldn't say I put 100% into maintaining a presence on Twitter (or X or whatever Ego Musk is calling it these days, but I have participated in a couple of themed series, inviting people to share music. 

The first was a month-long celebration of 12" mixes from the 1980s and it was a lot of fun, sharing some old favourites and criminally forgotten or underrated tunes. This month (July), the theme has been singles that come in at 3 minutes or less. I didn't have a particular plan and was pretty much selecting a song at random on a daily basis. This in turn frequently informed many of my posts this month, more often than not leading me to get carried away with my "research" and deviating significantly from the song that prompted it.

Again, it's been good fun to see what other people would come up with each day. Needless to say, some stone cold classics have been well represented through the month: Boys Don't Cry by The Cure, Destroy The Heart by The House Of Love, Outdoor Miner by Wire, Monkey Gone To Heaven by Pixies, Reward by The Teardrop Explodes, Town Called Malice by The Jam, pretty much everything by Buzzcocks. Most genres have also been served well: reggae, soul, pop, punk, dance; not much prog, but to be fair 3 mins would be barely enough for the intro.

So, the series ends today and I chopped and changed my mind about what to include, mindful that I'd not yet included anything by Pixies, Julian Cope and dozens of other favourites. In the end, the choice was obvious: a band that has informed my love of music ever since I was a toddler, was a highlight of this year's Glastonbury (on TV) experience and who have released yet another brilliant album, up there in my 2023 'best of'. Oh, and with a great video to boot. Yes, of course, it's Sparks.

Despite being a daunting 31 song selection, the #45sUnder3 theme means that the entire thing comes in at under an hour and a half. The opening track is a bit of a red herring, but then where else would you heard Nine Inch Nails followed by Sub Sub featuring Melanie Williams?! The remaining selection is eclectic, jumping decades and genres with gleeful abandon and yet... I quite it. I hope you do too.

1) March Of The Pigs (Album Version): Nine Inch Nails (1994)

2) Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use) (Original Edit): Sub Sub ft. Melanie Williams (1993)

3) Sign Of The Times (Album Version): The Belle Stars (1983)

4) Nothing To Worry About (Album Version): Peter, Björn & John (2009)

5) Bizarre Love Triangle (Cover of New Order): Devine & Statton (1989)

6) The Pictures On My Wall (Single Version): Echo & The Bunnymen (1979)

7) Hyper Lust (Album Version): MOTOR ft. Billie Ray Martin (2012)

8) You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It!): The Undertones (1979)

9) Dusk Till Dawn (Album Version): Ladyhawke (2008)

10) Souleater: Clouds (1991)

11) Simply Thrilled Honey (Single Version): Orange Juice (1980)

12) D-Days (Single Mix): Hazel O'Connor (1981)

13) The Ugly Bug Ball: Burl Ives (1963)

14) Heart It Races (Album Version): Architecture In Helsinki (2007)

15) Action Time Vision: Alternative TV (1978)

16) Blue Boot (Single Version): Eric Donaldson (1972)

17) Hot Fun In The Summertime (Single Version): Sly & The Family Stone (1969)

18) Cybele's Reverie (Single Version): Stereolab (1996)

19) White Knuckle Ride (Single Version): Danielle Dax (1988)

20) I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape (Album Version): The Times (1982)

21) (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman: Aretha Franklin (1967)

22) The Music (Single Version): Hifi Sean ft. Celeda (2018)

23) Mellow Doubt (Album Version): Teenage Fanclub (1995)

24) I Want Everything: The Godfathers (1986)

25) Thinking 'Bout You (Album Version): Dua Lipa (2017)

26) Lava (Album Version): Silver Sun (1996)

27) She’s A Fighter: Robert Forster (2023)

28) Triple Trouble (Album Version): Beastie Boys (2004)

29) Beak: HANN (2019)

30) Backwards Dog (Single Version): The Soup Dragons (1989)

31) The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte: Sparks (2023)

 

#45sUnder3 (1:23:12) (KF) (Mega)

Memories Change Me In These Times

On Sunday 23rd July 2006, Mrs. K and I saw Simple Minds live in concert for the first and last time.

Earlier that day, we made what would turn out to be our last visit to the Ashton Court Festival in Bristol. The signs of decline were already there, but the final nail in the coffin came the following year when torrential rain aborted the festival after the first day, at great financial cost from which the organisers didn't recover.

The festival was a staple of my teenage years, the annual rendezvous of friends at a city centre or Clifton pub before a stop at an off licence to load up on alcohol then our steady (already unsteady in some cases) walk to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, into the Ashton Court estate and towards the cluster of stages, performance tents, food stalls and sprawling mass of bodies in various states of intoxication, exhilaration and/or sunburn. 

 

The last leg, entering the estate and arriving at the festival always seemed far longer than I expected, even though I'd been going for years. On arrival, we'd grab a patch of ground and the size of the group would grow and diminish over the hours, from day to night, as some of us would wander off to check out other performances, meet up with other people, pass out or have a piss. For some, the last two occasionally happened simultaneously. At some point, we'd remember to eat and portions of goat curry or tasty noodles would duly be bought to soak up the alcohol.

 

It was an open festival so people would be turning up throughout the day, families, individuals, couples; generally, it was a great opportunity to bump into people you hadn't seen for ages. As it was free of charge - volunteers would wander round with collection buckets - Saturday was generally the main day to go but, hangover and hair of the dog permitting, a Sunday visit was generally on the cards too.

By 2006, the festival was a much different beast. Corporate sponsorship (Orange that year), a move towards "big name" headliners that had started a few years previously and, most controversially, the erection of a fenced boundary and admission fees meant that a different vibe from the carefree days of my youth. 

 

There was still a predominance of performers on the local circuit during the day and, looking back, the admission price of £7.00 (advance) or £9.00 (on the gate) per day was bloody amazing, given the range of artists and performers on offer. I don't know what the going price for Simple Minds was at the time, but I suspect rather more for what was a relatively intimate festival gig.

 

I think Mrs. K and I stayed on to see Simple Minds because, well why not? we were there already but I can't say that either of us were particularly bothered about seeing them. It might be my ropey memory - my days of getting blotto at Ashton Court were far behind me - but I don't recall the crowd being especially huge, so maybe many felt the same way. 

 

Despite being compos mentis for the entirety of the gig, I remember little of it and had to turn to Concert Archives website for Simple Minds setlist that night. It was clearly a solid, hits-packed show, with a sprinkling of tracks from then-current album Black & White 050505 but I can also see why it left me rather cold...and no, that wasn't just down to the setting sun and rapid temperature drop as day turned to night.

 

My favourite Simple Minds' albums at the time were Sons And Fascination and Sister Feelings Call, plus New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84). It subsequently expanded backwards to include the first three albums, but I was less familiar with them at the time. I was less bothered by what came after and my apathy grew into annoyance in the late 1980s/early 1990s. By the 21st Century, I had no idea what Simple Minds even sounded like.

 

From what I can remember of the gig, not very good. I wasn't necessarily going to be won over by either the new material or a set that was drew heavily on the excesses of 1985's Once Upon A Time, but I also recall being irked by the fact that Jim Kerr seemed overly reliant on "audience participation" for the big choruses. And, let's face it, Simple Minds songs circa 1985 were mostly big choruses.  "Just sing the bloody song!" I probably thought but was too cowardly to shout out loud. 

 

Sound at the festival was always a bit hit-and-miss and I don't recall the band sounding at their best either. Messrs. Kerr and Burchill may have been equally frustrated by this, especially as the Bristol appearance was in the midst of a worldwide tour where, frankly, the quality and audience energy might have been higher on any other night. It was all grist for my mill, of course.

 

So, all in all, one of the most disappointing gigs I have ever been to although I suspect I was predisposed to dislike it. Looking at the setlist with rheumy eyes in 2023, it's actually not as bad as all that. I would have ditched the risible cover of Gloria and swapped out (at least) Ghostdancing and Sanctify Yourself for Promised You A Miracle and Love Song. I would have loved to have heard The American or Sweat In Bullet or some of the other "not hits" but this is clearly not where Simple Minds were at in 2006.

 

It was a sad and slightly anti-climatic end to what had been an annual tradition of going to the Ashton Court Festival. I wish I could remember them all more clearly, but I was clearly off my face most of the time. It might have helped with Simple Minds in 1986...!

 

Note (1): I realise that if I had been a little more organised, I should have written and posted this last Sunday for perfect synchronicity, which was also 23rd July, 17 years on.

 

Note (2): I struggled to find credits for the first two photos, but the third ("Ashton Court throng") was discovered on Canis Major (Steve)'s Flickr site, along with lots of other rather lovely photos of Bristol back in the day. Thanks for the memories, Steve!

 

1) Stay Visible (Album Version) (2005)

2) Home (Video Version) (2005)

3) Speed Your Love To Me (Edit) (1984) 

4) See The Lights (7" Mix) (1991)

5) All The Things She Said (Edit) (1985)

6) Ghostdancing (Album Version) (1985)

7) Gloria (Album Version) (Cover of Them) (2001)

8) Waterfront (Edit) (1984)

9) The Jeweller Part 2 (Album Version) (2005)

10) Glittering Prize (Club Mix) (1982)

11) Don't You (Forget About Me) (Single Version) (1985)

12) Sanctify Yourself (Alternative Edit) (1985)

13) Stranger (Album Version) (2005)

14) New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (Album Version) (1982)

15) Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) (Album Version) (1982)

16) Alive & Kicking (Single Edit) (1985)

1982: Glittering Prize EP: 10

1982: New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84): 14, 15

1983: Waterfront EP: 8

1984: Speed Your Love To Me EP: 3

1985: Alive & Kicking EP: 16

1985: Don't You (Forget About Me) EP: 11

1985: Once Upon A Time: 6

1986: All The Things She Said EP: 5 

1986: Sanctify Yourself EP: 12

1991: See The Lights EP: 4

2001: Neon Lights: 7

2005: Black & White 050505: 1, 2, 9, 13

Memories Change Me In These Times (1:10:50) (KF) (Mega)

These Are The Things That Dreams Are Made Of

I've only recently begun to fully appreciate Neil Hannon's astounding body of work as The Divine Comedy. 

 

I mean, he's been writing, recording, performing and at times the sole member of the band for over three decades now. Although there's a definite peak in the mid-late 1990s, with a degree of commercial success and stack of UK Top 40 singles, The Divine Comedy has released a dozen albums, half of them in the 21st Century. 

In the last year, from owning zero albums, I've been slowly catching up with The Divine Comedy's back catalogue, up to and including the most recent album, 2019's Office Politics. To these ears, there is no dip in the lyrical wit, deceptively dark narratives and sing-a-long tunes throughout.

Here then is a selection of a baker's dozen of tunes. I haven't represented every album but it has a go at spanning The Divine Comedy's history to date. Ironically, the song that provides the post title - Infernal Machines - didn't make the final cut as I'd used it in a previous mix. There's only one "hit" and one "near miss" but they all sound like classics to me. 

 

The penultimate track is from a mammoth boxset released in 2020, secondhand copies of which will set you back nearly £300 on Discogs. I could have left it off to make the selection an even dozen and hit the 45-minute mark, but I couldn't resist the title.

Enjoy!

1) Neapolitan Girl (2010)

2) My Imaginary Friend (2004)

3) The Life And Soul Of The Party (Album Version) (2019)

4) To Die A Virgin (Album Version) (2006)

5) Generation Sex (Single Version) (1998)

6) The Dogs And The Horses (Album Version) (1996)

7) Secret Garden (1990)

8) If I Were You (I'd Be Through With Me) (Album Version) (1997)

9) When A Man Cries (Album Version) (2010)

10) Love What You Do (Deadly Avenger Mix) (2001)

11) Queen Of The South (Album Version) (1993)

12) Olivia, New Tron Song (2019)

13) How Can You Leave Me On My Own (Album Version) (2016)

1990: Fanfare For The Comic Muse: 7

1993: Liberation: 11

1996: Casanova: 6

1997: A Short Album About Love: 8

1998: Generation Sex EP: 5

2001: Love What You Do EP: 10

2004: Absent Friends: 2

2006: Victory For The Comic Muse: 4

2010: Bang Goes The Knighthood: 1, 9

2016: Foreverland: 13

2019: Office Politics: 3

2020: Venus, Cupid, Folly And Time: Thirty Years Of The Divine Comedy: 12

These Are The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (47:13) (KF) (Mega)

On a final note...

You may have noticed a slight change to the links. I've had continual headaches with Box, the latest being that I keep getting warnings that I'm nearly at my 10GB limit despite having barely 1.5GB of selections uploaded at any one time. 

 

After numerous attempts to ask Box to fix it and deleting and restoring the files, both to no effect, I've given Box the heave-ho and moved to Kraken Files. I'm also sticking with Mega. I've re-uploaded all of the linked files for the past month, although only 'new' posts so any recent Box links back to previous 'sides' will be dead.

 

I hope this doesn't prevent any of you from accessing my MP3s but feedback would be welcome.

Riding Through The Glen

No sooner had I published last Friday's triumphant return of Julian Cope to this blog with a car-themed selection than I visited the Head Heritage website and discovered that he's only gone and dropped a brand new album without fanfare or warning.

Robin Hood is a 15-track, 42 minute album of all-new songs, with no artist credit anywhere on the cover but, from the opening seconds of Julius Geezer, unmistakably the Arch Drude. As ever, the song titles themselves are nearly worth the price of admission alone.

As you can probably gather from the song-to-running-time ratio, this is a collection of pithy, brisk songs mostly in the 2-3 minute range and only one - a five-song medley - stopping just shy of 5 minutes. Whilst not exactly a return to Droolian/Skellington territory, it does see Cope revisiting his particular brand of Ur-Pop, which is very welcome indeed. He's been on a bit of a roll with his last couple of albums and Robin Hood continues his hot streak.

However, the album's been out barely a week, there aren't (and are unlikely to be) any promos posted on YouTube or streaming platforms, so how do you get a taste of what Robin Hood has in store?

Relax. In the time-honoured tradition of those flexi-discs and filler B-sides from the 1970s and 1980s that used to provide an album preview or greatest hits medley, I've slipped on my oven gloves, grabbed my pinking shears and had a go at condensing the entirety of Robin Hood into a breakneck two minutes and fifty-nine seconds. 

They said it couldn't be done. And, to be honest, they were dead right. But hopefully this will be reason enough to hop over to Head Heritage and buy the CD yourself. Who knows, if enough copies are sold, there'll be enough in the kitty for a tour...

 

1) Julius Geezer

2) Four Mohammeds And A Funeral

3) The Devil's Curse

4) Prophet

5) Drunken Skiers Off Piste

6) The Death Of Death

7) Odin In Lindisfarne

8) Don't You Wanna Just Skin Up?  

9) Time & A New Understanding

10) Charles The Turd

11) Wrong Side Of The Bed

12) An Oral History Of Blow-Jobs (Medley)

i) An Oral History

ii) You Ain't Rock 'n' Roll If You Need To Be Loved

iii) Aided By Robin Hood's Merry Men, The Very Very Early Fall Manoeuvre Una Baines' Barn-Sized E. Piano Through Sherwood

iv) Me & Bill Gates

v) Julius Geezer (Slight Return)

13) Ballad Of Fat Paul

14) Stop Monkeying With My Heart, You Big Gorilla

15) I Was A Punk Before You Was A Hippie

 

Riding Through The Glen (2:59) (KF) (Mega)

Nothing Compares

Celebrating Shuhada Sadaqat aka Sinéad O'Connor, 8th December 1966 to 26th July 2023. 

So much has been written about her in the hours since her passing, that I feel that there's nothing meaningful that I can add, other than she was an inspiration, fierce and defiant and passionate in the face of criticism, abuse and attack. I was heartbroken as she endured so many tragedies and low points and I hope she is now at rest, in peace, in power.

Although she changed her name several times, most recently in 2019, she continued to perform as Sinéad O'Connor. I only have a smattering of songs across her long and varied career, which is represented by the possibly more obscure choices on this selection. Twelve songs, half and half solo and collaborations, just over an hour and ending with an epic 13-minute remix of Fire On Babylon.

I have the album version of Nothing Compares 2 U (and a pretty dire Art Of Compilation remix from 1991), but I've included a 2019 performance on Irish TV which is the 'newest' song on this selection. The oldest - Heroine with The Edge from U2 - predates her debut album and appeared on the soundtrack to 1986 film Captive.

 

Shuhada Sadaqat has departed, but Sinéad O'Connor will live on through her music and the comfort, power and joy it's brought to so many.

 

1) What Your Soul Sings (Album Version): Massive Attack ft. Sinéad O'Connor (2003)

2) I Am Stretched On Your Grave (Apple Brightness Mix By Super DJ Dmitry & Jungle DJ Towa Towa) (Cover of 17th century Irish poem): Sinéad O'Connor (1990)

3) The Value Of Ignorance: Sinéad O'Connor (1990)

4)  I Would Die 4 U (Cover of Prince & The Revolution): Radio Riddler ft. Sinéad O'Connor (2014)

5) Dense Water, Deeper Down: Sinéad O'Connor (2014)

6) Empire: Bomb The Bass ft. Sinéad O'Connor & Benjamin Zephaniah (1995)

7) Heroine (Theme From 'Captive'): The Edge & Michael Brook ft. Sinéad O'Connor (1986)

8) I Want Your (Hands On Me) (Street Mix By Audio Two): Sinéad O'Connor ft. MC Lyte (1988)

9) Very Far From Home: Sinéad O'Connor (2012)

10) Nothing Compares 2 U (Live @ The Late Late Show, RTÉ One) (Cover of The Family): Sinéad O'Connor (2019)

11) Kindgom Of Rain: The The ft. Sinéad O'Connor (1989)

12) Fire On Babylon (Remix By John Reynolds): Sinéad O'Connor ft. Abdel Ali Slimani (1994)

1986: Captive OST: 7

1988: I Want Your (Hands On Me) EP: 8

1989: Mind Bomb: 11

1990: The Emperor's New Clothes EP: 2

1990: Three Babies EP: 3

1994: Thank You For Hearing Me EP: 12

1995: Clear: 6

2003: 100th Window: 1

2012: How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?: 9

2014: I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss: 5

2014: Purple Reggae: 4

2019: Live On The Late Late Show: 10

Nothing Compares (1:05:43) (KF) (Mega)

Yes I Knew I Was Gonna Get The Shit Kicked Out Of Me

They'll always be remembered for just that one brilliant song but The Passions were a great band that deserved a bigger break. Apart from the ubiquitous hit, my entry point was the third and final album Sanctuary (1982), but I was later able to track down the first two albums Michael & Miranda (1980) and Thirty Thousand Feet Over China (1981) and, later still, various other rarities thanks to the power of t'internet.

Therefore, plenty of material for a future Dubhed selection but in the meantime, here's a pick of YouTube clips, starting off with a TV performance of Africa Mine and Sanctuary. There's a charming introduction by Barbara Gogan in her flat, feeding the cat and talking about "the next onslaught" that, in commercial terms, sadly never came for The Passions. Roughly six months after this was broadcast in December 1982, the band had gone their separate ways.

My other choices today are Needles And Pills, from the 1979 double A side debut single and sung by original lead vocalist Mitch Barker. Barker left the same year, Gogan stepped up to the front and history should have been made.

After a one-off single on Fiction Records, follow-up The Swimmer was The Passions' first on Polydor and is (for me, at least) a New Wave classic. However, it was fourth single I'm In Love With A German Film Star that captured the world's imagination and unwittingly landed them with one-hit wonder status.

Both songs featured on second album Thirty Thousand Feet Over China, as did Bachelor Girls, which The Passions recorded for a John Peel session on 5th November 1980. I really love this version.

By the time of The Passions' third and final album Sanctuary, the band had been through further line-up changes, including the loss of Clive Timperley and his delicate Echoplex guitar playing. Settled on a trio of founder members Barbara Gogan and drummer Richard Williams, plus David Agar on bass, the album was recorded with guitar from Kevin Armstrong and keyboards Jeff Smith. 

It's brimming with great songs, my favourite being The Letter, which popped up on several of my mixtapes in the late 1980s. 

Further recommended reading is a short but fascinating interview with Barbara in 2020 at Perfect Sound Forever.

Did A Full 180, Crazy

I'll get it straight out there, I think Dua Lipa is pop perfection. At an age where the Top 40 (Top 100, to be honest) is largely meaningless to me, a string of names (plus Ed Sheeran) randomly and repeatedly placed together to adorn the latest hit, chock full of autotune, vocal gymnastics and mangled, uninspired samples, a few artists rise above the effluent.

I wasn't really that familiar with Dua Lipa's singles when I was loaned a copy of her self-titled debut from 2017 so it meant that I heard the album without prejudice as a complete work. I loved it. I loved follow-up Future Nostalgia even more. Released in 2020, it was a full-on party album and just the tonic for a locked down world.

One of my other discoveries during 2020 was NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. Running since 2008 and typically filmed at the titular tiny desk in Washington D.C., lockdown forced a creative left turn and introduced the Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. Often literally in the artist's home, the easing of restrictions allowed some to venture a little further afield, as is the case with Dua Lipa, who performed with her band in a London studio.

There's an added warmth to this set of 4 songs in that this is Dua's first performance with her band since the pandemic put paid to planned rehearsals and a tour of her second album. I've not seen this Tiny Desk set before but it's a cracker. Dua's voice is fantastic, her backing vocalists on point and bass and guitar bring a wonderful live vibe to songs that already sounded great in the studio.

The set features four songs: Levitating, Pretty Please, Love Again and Don't Start Now. All four were released as singles from Future Nostalgia and are largely faithful versions though with a fresh energy from their change of setting. Love Again is markedly different from the album version: the original sampled the sample from White Town's one-hit wonder Your Woman and was a club banger; here it's a stripped back acoustic take, something that Dua does with a lot of her songs and does very well.

Dua Lipa's are also good fun. Not necessarily ground breaking and often very expensive-looking (and no doubt literally) with a cast of unfeasibly beautiful people, but good fun.  Here are the official videos for the four songs from the Tiny Desk Concert. There are two versions of Levitating, the second featuring a rather pointless rap from Da Baby; I've stuck with the first, which transforms Dua into an anime superstar. Great stuff. 

Tiny Desk Concerts have returned to their Washington D.C. home and new sets are uploaded roughly every couple of days. I can't keep up with them all to be honest, but they are well worth a deep dive. And I'm not going to end this post without recommending last week's superb set from Sparks.

 

No More Crying, Heartaches, Sorrows Or Pain

A "quick" post about Johnny Clarke that inevitably turned into a big detour...

Having been listening to it over the weekend, my intention was simply to post Johnny's 1977 classic Every Knee Shall Bow and a couple of accompanying versions. So, without further ado, here's the original single version, produced by Bunny 'Striker' Lee...

...followed by the self-produced extended version from 1978, featuring U-Roy and a superlative dub from King Tubby on the flipside...

...and last, but certainly not least, U-Roy's own take on the song, one of his last recordings before his untimely passing in 2021. This is huge in every sense, over 15 minutes in length and featuring Big Youth and Mick Jones, with Youth, Zak Starkey and Dave Sardy at the controls. 

And the detour? Right at the top of this post, looking on YouTube for Johnny Clarke clips, I discovered rediscovered a full set from the Mekudeshet Festival in Jerusalem on 19th September 2019, Johnny performing with Dub Asante Band and Matic Horns. Well worth an hour and a quarter of your time.

Sharing A Moment

Less than two weeks after the first Dubhed post dedicated to Teenage Fanclub, here they are again with a sublime selection for Sunday.

Two sides for you today, fourteen songs in total and coming in at vinyl-friendly 20-odd minutes per side. The selection is mainly drawn from the mid-1990s and more specifically the Grand Prix era. This highlights more that I have relatively little of their output beyond the excellent compilation, Four Thousand Seven Hundred And Sixty-Six Seconds, a clutch of singles and quite a lot of orphan tracks that have been culled from numerous music magazine promo CDs over the years. 

 

With that revelation, I will be buying their forthcoming album, Nothing Lasts Forever, out in September, and also working my way through their back catalogue, starting with the first four albums.

In the meantime, I hope this offering does them justice, either as a reminder of how great they are or, if you're hearing most of these for the first time, a prompt to follow me and catch up with Teenage Fanclub.

 

Side One

1) About You (Album Version) (1995)

2) Getting Real (1995)

3) Middle Of The Road (1997)

4) Jesus Christ (Cover of Big Star) (1997)

5) Primary Education (1990)

6) I'm In Love (Album Version) (2016)

7) I Saw The Light (Cover of Todd Rundgren) (1991)

8) Mellow Doubt (Alternative Version) (1995)

Side Two

1) Star Sign (Album Version) (1991)

2) Everything Flows (Single Version) (1990)

3) The World'll Be OK (Album Version) (2002)

4) Answerphone Message 2 (1995)

5) Weird Horses (1993)

6) That's All I Need To Know (1995)

 

1990: Everything Flows EP: A5, B2

1991: Bandwagonesque: B1 

1993: Radio EP: B5

1995: Grand Prix: A1

1995: Grand Prix (limited edition bonus 7"): B4

1995: Mellow Doubt EP: A2, A8

1995: Sparky's Dream EP: B6

1997: Ain't That Enough EP: A4

1997: I Don't Want Control Of You EP: A3 

2003: Four Thousand Seven Hundred And Sixty-Six Seconds: B3

2005: Scotland On Sunday EP (newspaper promo CD): A7

2016: Here: A6

 

Side One (22:13) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (21:51) (KF) (Mega)

Whatcha Gonna Do?

Hifi Sean (aka Sean Dickson) and David McAlmont have announced three UK live dates in February 2024, in Glasgow, Manchester and London. Whilst holding out hope that further dates will follow, particularly in my neck of the woods, I've snapped up tickets for The Big Smoke, so determined am I to see them.

I completely missed Hifi Sean's debut album, Ft., and it's companion. Ft. Excursions, when they were originally released in 2016 and 2017. Lockdown and a greater commitment to the excellent and inspirational music blogs out there meant that I belatedly discovered them courtesy of JC and The Vinyl Villain. 

From David McAlmont's guest appearance on both, a creative partnership was formed and the fruits of this appeared as singles in 2020 and 2021, teasing a full-length album, Happy Ending. The impact of the singles was enough for me to subscribe to Last Night From Glasgow in December 2022 and buy the album on glorious yellow vinyl in a beautifully designed gatefold sleeve. 

 

Although Happy Ending had an official worldwide, multi-format release in February 2023, I used my LNFG membership privilege and early access to the album to cheat and declare Happy Ending my favourite album of 2022.

 

We're 203 days into 2023 and personally, it's still the album to beat for my end of year list. I have lost track now of how many times I've listened to Happy Ending and I cannot express how deeply it moves me on each listen. I run the gamut of emotions, whether enjoying the music on a superficial level, immersing myself in the beautifully constructed soundscapes or forensically poring over the gorgeously designed lyric booklet and finding meaning and nuances in the words of each song. Seriously, everyone needs a Happy Ending. BUY IT NOW!

 

To celebrate the virtual tickets I'm now (virtually) clutching in my (real) hand, a Hifi Sean selection was inevitable today. I've kept it relatively short and snappy, nine songs in just over three quarters of an hour. Three feature the incomparable vocals of David McAlmont, Crystal Waters appears on a couple more whilst Little Annie and Norman Blake make up the other guest spots. There's a standalone Hifi Sean single too, plus one of several collaborations with NY DJ Peter Shalvoy.

 

The selection kicks off with Testify, the song that JC introduced me to back in 2020 and ends with Hurricanes, from Happy Ending, which is just sublime. Just one listen to this selection and my synapses are firing, I'm flooded with endorphins and I just know that this is going to be a good Saturday. I don't need to be psychic to know that Saturday 10th February 2024 is going to be even better.

1) Testify (Album Version): Hifi Sean ft. Crystal Waters (2016)

2) All In The World (Album Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (2022)

3) 18th (Azaxx Late Night Reprise) (Remix By Xavier Jean): Hifi Sean ft. Norman Blake (2017)

4) You're Just Another Song (Album Version): Hifi Sean ft. Little Annie (2016)

5) Like Josephine Baker (Omnichord Excursion) (Remix By Hifi Sean): Hifi Sean ft. David McAlmont (2017)

6) Love Is On The House (Extended Mix): Hifi Sean (2019)

7) Heavy Dub (Remix By Hifi Sean): Hifi Sean ft. Crystal Waters (2019)

8) Charlie: Hifi Sean / Shalvoy (2017)

9) Hurricanes (Album Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (2022)

 

Whatcha Gonna Do? (47:20) (KF) (Mega)

Drude, Where's My Car?

Welcome back, Julian Cope, we've missed ya.

What better way to usher in the (school) holidays than an hour on the road with the Arch Drude behind the wheel? Woden help us.

You'll be hard pressed to find any of these songs on your typical service station driving rock compilation CD box set, nestled between the ice scrapers (in July!) and plastic-wrapped flapjacks with unfathomable toppings. More's the pity, if you ask me.

Unsurprisingly, quite a few from Julian's 1994 magnum opus Autogeddon but as you'll see, it's been a recurring theme in his songs for the past four decades.

Grab a pasty and a sick bag, hop in the passenger seat and don't forget to fasten your seat belt!

First Leg

1) Wreck My Car (Single Version) (1983)

2) Archdrude's Roadtrip (1994)

3) Adam & Eve Hit The Road (1995)

4) White Van (Vindhler) (Album Version): Brain Donor (2003)

5) Road Of Dreams (1995)

6) On The Road North (1990)

7) How Do I Understand My Motorman? (1996)

 

Second Leg

8) Autogeddon Blues (Album Version) (1994)

9) Highway Blues (1992)

10) Don't Drink And Drive (You Might Spill Some) (2017)

11) Kar-Ma-Kanik (Album Version) (1994)

12) Highway To The Sun (1995)

 

Last Leg

13) Drive, She Said (Album Version) (1991)

14) Alexei Sayle Driver Improvement Course (2009)

15) No Hard Shoulder To Cry On (Album Version) (1992)

16) s.t.a.r.c.a.r (Album Version) (1994)

 

1983: Sunshine Playroom EP: 1 

1991: Peggy Suicide: 13 

1992: Jehovahkill: 15

1994: Autogeddon: 2, 8, 11, 16

1995: 20 Mothers: 3, 5, 12

1996: I Come From Another Planet, Baby EP: 7

2000: Floored Genius 3: Julian Cope's Oddicon Of Lost Rarities & Versions 1978-98: 9

2003: Too Freud To Rock 'n' Roll, Too Jung To Die: 4

2009: The Unruly Imagination: 14

2017: Drunken Songs: 10

2021: Droolian's Mother (Copes Notes #2): 6

 

Drude, Where's My Car? (1:05:08) (KF) (Mega)