Those of you of a certain vintage may recognise Norman "Gripper" Stebson, Grange Hill wrong 'un from 1980, expelled in 1983.
Nothing wrong about this line-up, however. The Vinyl Villain's posting Lambchop's superb cover of This Corrosion by The Sisters Of Mercy on Tuesday got me thinking of today's opening song and from there a Dubhed selection was born.
The similarly-titled song by A Certain Ratio gets a stunning synth rinse by Maps, whilst Thomas Leer dusts off his song of the same name, recorded in 2004 and languishing in the vaults until finally released in 2022.
Amateur Night In The Big Top was essentially a duo of Shaun Ryder and Shane Norton, with one self-titled (and hugely underrated) album and a few singles. Clowns was co-written and co-produced by Pete Carroll and Stephen Mallinder and gets a shoo in here courtesy of the remix artist Gripper.
The selection closes with a 12" remix of The Stranglers' classic, released in 1989 as far as I can recall to promote a greatest hits collection. The remix is an odd, welding the percussion track from The Sound Of The Crowd by The Human League to the undercarriage and generally making the song sound more lightweight. Not a patch on the original version, obviously, but an oddity that I think would have sounded as out of place in 1989 as it does now.
Come back here tomorrow for a tale of raffle tickets, home made marmalade and sweet, sweet music.
1) (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) (Cover of The Stranglers): Lambchop (2004)
2) Devil's Grip: The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown (1967)
3) Get A Grip (Maps Remix By James Chapman): A Certain Ratio ft. Maria Uzor (2021)
4) Kick It (Hippy Grip) (Remix By Randy Wilson): Nitzer Ebb (1995)
5) Get A Grip: Thomas Leer (2004)
6) Drums In A Grip (Wax Doctor Mix By Paul Saunders): Frank De Wulf (1996)
7) Clowns (Gripper Mix By Alan Gubby): Amateur Night In The Big Top (2003)
8) Grip Like A Vice (Black Affair Mix By Steve Mason): The Go! Team (2007)
9) Phantom Grip: Rival Consoles (2018)
10) Elektro (He Held The World In His Iron Grip) (Part Two): Stereolab (1992)
11) Grip '89 (Grippin' Stuff Mix By Barry Cooder & Taff B. Dylan): The Stranglers (1989)
Excellent mix. Poor old Gripper. I still remember when he finally came a cropper and Bullet Baxter marched him off to Mrs McClusky's office to have him expelled.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how I've managed to go the last 20 years without hearing Amateur Night In The Big Top. I thought I had all Shaun's various identities sussed.
I'll throw a few more grips your way...
Meat Whiplash - Losing Your Grip
Golden Echoes - Packing A Grip
Bog Shed - Uncle Death Grip
Tom Verlaine - The Grip Of Love
Brinsley Schwartz - Don't Lose Your Grip On Love
Thanks for the additional suggestions, Rol, all of which were sadly missing from my collection and - Verlaine aside - mostly unfamiliar. The Golden Echoes song is great!
DeleteI envy your ability to hear one tune and, almost in the blink of an eye, come up with something as smart and superbly-curated as this. Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, JC. Not quite as clever as you might think. I've had 4 of these songs (or versions of) rotating on my playlist recently so they were easily brought to mind. The few others were 'helped' by a quick search of my music app. All I really did was stir the pot, simmer for a while and serve it up!
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