How can it be that David Holmes' debut album is over 30 years old?!
This Film's Crap Let's Slash The Seats managed two weeks in the UK album charts in July 1995, peaking in its first week at #51. That said, not bad for a largely instrumental album, soundtracking imaginary movies that you may think twice before watching anyway.
The singles were no less uncompromising: Minus 61 In Detroit coming in at over nine minutes and album opener No Mans Land pushing the envelope even further, twelve minutes and forty five seconds of nerve tapping twitchiness.
Like Johnny Favourite, the non-album single that preceded them, neither single managed to break out of the Top 80 in their 1-2 week stay in the charts.
Record label Go! Beat played what I guess they thought was their trump card by following up with a third and final single the following April, with Gone. Another lengthy album track at just over eight minutes, Gone at least got a radio edit for the single release, although whether it could be described as 'radio friendly' is another matter.
Propelled by bass, guitar (courtesy of Keith Tenniswood) and a shuffling percussion, the key selling point is the guest vocal from Sarah Cracknell of Saint Etienne.
The lyrics are confined to a mere eighteen words
I'm gonna hide
She don't even know
I'm gonna run away
And you can never go on anymore
And you can never go on anymore
...although I'd always heard that final refrain as
And you can never go home anymore
...which I prefer, but what do I know?
Gone fared slightly better than the previous three singles, although by 'better' I mean that it managed a single week in the chart at #75.
Not that David appeared bothered in the least. Six months later, he was back with My Mate Paul, his first Top 40 hit, and a second album (Let's Get Killed) the following year, which did the same. And then he got properly into soundtracks, which was a game changer.
This Film's Crap Let's Slash The Seats is the David Holmes album I revisit the least, not because it's not much good but more that I need to be in a certain mood/frame of mind to listen to it.
At the weekend, to mark a re-release of the album for Record Store Day, a video (and radio edit!) emerged of the kind-of-title-track Slash The Seats.
As a reminder of David's first album, and Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns' first major (co)production project following the part of The Sabres Of Paradise, it's an astonishing piece of music that still hits hard, three decades on.
To celebrate the deluxe edition reissue of Beastie Boys' 2004 album To The 5 Boroughs, an animated video has been commissioned for It Takes Time To Build.
Track four, side one, twenty two years old and still sounds like it could be a brand new single release.
I was listening to To The 5 Boroughs just last month and it's up there with their best. A response to the 9/11 tragedy, a love letter to New York, a scathing indictment of the US government, it still resonates today. It Takes Time To Build in particular could easily swap out Bush for Trump and remain relevant.
Videos were as much a part of Beastie Boys' world as their music, and Ad Rock, MCA and Mike D always brought their A game. It Takes Time To Build does a good job in it's unavoidable animated format, but I've included the four singles from back in 2004 as a reminder of how each new release was essential viewing.
If you don't like the news then press eject
Baby Davis getting older can't take a rain check
It's time to let'em know what we expect
Stop building SUV's strung out on OPEC
Hold up wait up you know we come correct
You wanna change things up, well hey just get set
It's easier to sit back than stick out your neck
It's easier to break things than build it correct
We've got a president we didn't elect
The Kyoto treaty he decided to neglect
And still the US just wants to flex
Keep doin' that wop we gonna break our necks
It takes a second to wreck it
It takes time to build
You gots to chill
Hate filled people wanna keep us in check
Tearin' down each other is what they expect
If you want love well hey that's a bet
We've got to give before we can get
Waiting like a batter who is on deck
When it's time to wreck shop then shop I'll wreck
So let's calibrate and check our specs
We need a little shift on over towards the left
I don't really know but I suspect
I think it's due time that we inspect
How they get their information and their facts are checked
Another press conference someone's talking out their neck
I was keen to create another long-form piece, three to four tracks, each around the twenty-minute mark. I ended up with a short list of eight, couldn't whittle them down any further, so I used them.
A single, eight-song selection would have clocked in at nearly three hours, so instead I've sequenced the tracks into two separate 'phases', each coming in at 83-84 minutes.
The music spans the last five decades, though mostly comes from the 21st century. There are two 'oldies'. Tangerine Dream were properly introduced to me through listening to The Orb in the 1990s. Green Desert was recorded in 1973 but not finished and released until 1986, as part of the vinyl box set In The Beginning...
I read about Les Rallizes Dénudés first, in Julian Cope's absorbing and essential Japrocksampler, and were one of many such bands that I actively tracked down after finishing the book. There are relatively few official Les Rallizes Dénudés releases, and tons of unofficial ones. Enter The Mirror usually clocks in at around ten minutes, but the version here comes in at double that.
The Arch Drude himself follows suit, having put out what seems like dozens of albums , particularly the Rite series, featuring extended jams and/or streams of consciousness. Last year, Julian returned with I Dream The Cosmos Atavistic.
Likewise, Moby has been putting out music like this ever since he put out a 33-minute ambient version of 1994 single Hymn. His Long Ambients/LA series is exactly as the title describes. It may send you to sleep, but then that was Moby's intention all along.
A surprise addition in 2003 was Paddy McAloon's album I Trawl The Megahertz, not least the 22-minute opening song. If you've not heard it, I won't spoil things with a description. Suffice to say it's a radical - and beautiful - departure from his work as Prefab Sprout. When the album was reissued in 2019, it was rebranded as Prefab Sprout, but this is a one-of-a-kind record from a one-of-a-kind artist.
Dungen were recommended to me by my friend John, Swedish prog/psych rock for the modern age. Today's featured song is Midsommarbongen, which you can translate without too much trouble as 'The Midsummer Bong' which probably tells you all you need to know about what the music sounds like.
The first track on Phase 1 and the last track on Phase 2 are courtesy of Richard Norris, who has released 20-minute ambient pieces on a monthly basis for years now, transforming it into an art form.
Spring - Alban Eilir is from Richard's 2023 edition of his Music For Healing series. It not only felt like a timely inclusion, but also features some beautiful trumpet floating throughout. Land by Deep Earth Network is so fresh that it came out in March. An "earth inspired sonic journey" created by Danny Hammond, mastered by Richard and featuring shack- and field-recordings and spoken word, including those inspiring today's post title.
Phase 1
1) Spring - Alban Eilir: Richard Norris (2023)
2) Green Desert: Tangerine Dream (1973)
3) LA3: Moby (2016)
4) I Trawl The Megahertz: Paddy McAloon (2003)
Phase 2
1) Enter The Mirror (Mars Studio Version 2): Les Rallizes Dénudés (1980)
2) Psalm Zero: Julian Cope (2025)
3) Midsommarbongen: Dungen (2001)
4) Land 1: Deep Earth Network (2026)
1986: Green Desert: A2
2003: I Trawl The Megahertz: A4
2005: Dungen 1999-2001: B3
2012: Mars Studio 1980: B1
2016: Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep.: A3
2023: Music For Healing: Equinox 3: A1
2025: I Dream The Cosmos Atavistic: B2
2026: Land: B4
In It's Own Good Time (Phase 1) (1:24:01) (GD) (M)
In It's Own Good Time (Phase 2) (1:23:37) (GD) (M)
If that's not enough and you want to fill your boots/mind/day with more of the same, take your pick!
Or, nine tracks from the tip top NEIN Records label in a fifty-nine minute Dubhed selection.
With the exception of label boss Neil Parnell's automatic inclusion with Tronik Youth, I've tried to pick artists that have rarely if ever featured in previous posts, such as Two Mamarrachos, Cabaret Nocturne and Bit Marten, the latter with the completely on-the-nose First Time.
An eclectic and electric bunch, all dedicated to the beat, mostly from the last two to three years but a few from the last decade to enhance the flavour.
A testament to Neil's vision that NEIN has been a quality label from the outset and maintained that level for over a decade.
1) Saturate (Single Version): Jobe (2023)
2) Overlution: Tronik Youth (2023)
3) Teach Me (Damon Jee Remix): Two Mamarrachos ft. Snem K (2017)
4) First Time: Bit Marten (2023)
5) Bird Lagoon (Mordisco Remix): Durand (2020)
6) Open Market: Fabio Kstro (2024)
7) Green Karma (Roe Deers Remix): Cabaret Nocturne (2017)
8) San Pedro (Tayga 90's Feelings Remix): Astroloop (2023)
9) Never Let You Go (Single Version): Ali X & Ximena (2018)
Nine Times NEIN Equals Fifty Nine (59:10) (GD) (M)
Daníel Ágústtoday, a last-minute replacement for my intended post when I discovered that a couple of archive Dubhed selections that I wanted to include have vanished into cyberspace.
Not that Daníel Ágúst is sloppy seconds, by any means. His work with GusGus alone is astonishing but back in April 2006, I discovered that Daníel had released a solo album and this is what I had to say about it on my former blog, twenty years ago today.
Swallowed A Star is the first solo album from the former lead singer with GusGus, whose dancefloor-friendly electronica is immensely popular in their native Iceland, but seems unfairly consigned to the periphery elsewhere.
I fear the same fate for Swallowed A Star: initially available directly from label One Little Indian in September 2005, the album received a commercial release in January 2006; by April, it was lining the Virgin Megastore bargain bins, which is where I rescued my copy.
Like many budget purchases, Swallowed A Star turns out to be a hidden treasure, a lavishly illustrated ‘hardback edition’ CD with delicately crafted music to match. Despite the album’s title, the impression is that Daniel Ágúst has swallowed an orchestra’s string section, as bass, cello, viola and violin provide the framework for his distinctive vocals. Björk is the immediate musical comparison, harking back to the spine-tingling orchestral remix of The Sugarcubes’ Deus way back in the late 1980s.
Swallowed A Star also feels very much like a 4AD label release from that period, evoking both the sleeve and atmospherics of This Mortal Coil’s Blood. Oddly enough, Ágúst’s vocals effortlessly make the transition from GusGus’ (who, ironically, were with 4AD for a time) club-centric sound to this new, largely beatless setting.
The English lyrics are basic, yet effective; the most extreme example of Ágúst’s minimalist approach being Nobody Else, which repeats the single refrain "You don’t want nobody else / ‘cause you got me babe" throughout.
The album’s theme appears to be the struggle to see beyond the mundane and appreciate life’s inherent beauty. Agust sings about an existence "under the mainstream…on the outskirts of life" (The Stingray), noting that "the comforts of my yellow blue and white apartment block / block my vision" (Love And Respect).
However, the narrative optimism seems firmly rooted in companionship: "We can open our eyes / and come to realise / we’re more able in life when we love" (Sparks Fly); or "We’re gonna make a day / and drive away / the gray" (The Gray).
An instrumental 'Intersection' bisects the ten tracks, though there’s no discernible change in mood between the two halves. The songs could easily become overblown or pretentious, but Ágúst maintains a restraint, an intimacy that serves the songs well.
With the music of Embrace (grandiose, pompous) and Sigur Rós (sweepingly epic) currently (back) in vogue, now would seem the perfect opportunity for Daniel Ágúst’s album to emerge - One Little Indian are evidently hoping to repeat the success of Björk’s Debut.
Sadly, I think Swallowed A Star may just miss the boat, through no fault of it’s own. I’ve played it dozens of times since buying it and am convinced it’s an album which, once owned, will be treasured constantly.
Daniel Ágúst has swallowed a star and deserves an opportunity to illuminate people’s lives with his music. Watch the skies.
As a postscript, a year later Daniel returned to the studio with his GusGus compadres to record a new album. The Moss, a standout song on Swallowed A Star, was remade and reborn as the club banger that it was perhaps always meant to be, and it was brilliant.
Even better, GusGus got to perform The Moss at the Icelandic Music Awards in 2009. Like the song, Daniel had also evolved in the intervening years. A compelling watch.
(The) Afghan Whigs' new single and video, House Of I, is just what I needed after three consecutive days of headaches, both literally and metaphorically.
When I marked Greg Dulli's birthday in May 2023, I reflected that "I wasn't immediately struck by The Afghan Whigs
- or Dulli's voice - when I first heard them, but it's fair to say that
a combination of great tunes, incisive lyrics and sheer swagger won me
over."
I'd go a step further in saying that as a songwriter and performer Greg seems to get better and better with the passage of time, and House Of I is as vital and thrilling as anything in the Whigs' back catalogue.
Speaking of which, a good excuse to roll out some Dulli delectables from both The Afghan Whigs and his other excursions, which in itself offers me an opportunity to include a couple featuring the legendary Mark Lanegan.
I'm a huge fan of The Anchoress aka Catherine Anne Davies and the prospect of a new album, As We Once Were, in the summer makes 2026 a brighter prospect.
In advance of the album release, a new single has just emerged. I Had A Baby Not A Lobotomy is brilliantly titled, even as the lyrics list some of the crass comments that were made to Catherine after the birth of her own child.
Featuring Gwenno on backing vocals, it's The Anchoress at her best (although in my opinion, there is no "average" or "worst" in her entire catalogue).
A lyric video has been posted on YT, which also demonstrates that Catherine possesses more character and storytelling in her facial expressions that some higher profile artists can muster with their entire body.
The EP (available on Bandcamp) includes a radio edit and an instrumental, the latter highlighting the wonderfully complex layers of synthesised sound that underpin the song.
In Catherine's regular mailings, she also writes frankly about having to "play the game" in the music industry to some extent, whilst retaining dignity, identity and everything that makes an artist unique in the first place.
It's been a few weeks since a stark FB post by Thea Gilmore, sharing that she had been told she wasn't worth much "as a proposition" as her social media numbers weren't high enough (which ironically if predictably went viral).
Apart from BlueSky, which I use largely to promote these posts and the music I love, I have very little social media activity so I'm not part of the solution in that respect. I don't subscribe or use Spotify, so I won't be contributing to the pittance that artists receive from streams.
However, I buy a lot of music every month, digitally or physically and The Anchoress' new EP is the latest purchase.
As We Once Were is available to pre-order now in multiple formats from Last Night From Glasgow. I will receive a copy of the double vinyl as a LNFG member, but I have also ordered the deluxe 2CD edition, not just because I value Catherine's music but because I want to do what I can (and can afford) to ensure that she can continue to keep making music.
You know, just like a music lover and record collector. As we once were.
I've rarely if ever dedicated a post to a single song twice, but I've just seen Gorillaz and Sparks' performance of The Happy Dictator on Jimmy Kimmel Live last Friday and it had to be done.
You can find my original post from 12th September 2025 here.
Six months on and the world has gone even more crazy, if possible. Well, when I say 'world'...
Russell Mael is on fine form and whilst I won't be catching any of the Gorillaz live shows, I will have be seeing Sparks live in concert in June. A ray of hope, in more ways than one.
My Sunday gift to you is You. No, not you, Yabby You!
Forty-seven minutes of Vivian Jackson, with The Prophets and solo, in full vocal style and on a dub excursion with King Tubby and, right at the end, Tony Tuff.
I didn't cotton on to Yabby You until Andrew Weatherall sampled him for the intro to the Boy's Own Mix of Abandon by That Petrol Emotion in 1990. I was surprised to find that thirty six years later, having considerably grown my reggae and dub collection (mostly CD and digital), I still have relatively little by Yabby You.
Today's selection was prompted by revisiting Walls Of Jerusalem, the 1976 album by The Prophets, where Yabby You first made a name for himself. One side of vocal songs, dubbed up by King Tubby on the flip side, it's one that I habitually break out each year when the clocks go back and the promise of Spring is in the air.
Three songs are drawn from Deliver Me From My Enemies (1977), credited to The Yabby You Vibration, a formidable studio ensemble including Sly & Robbie, Earl 'Chinna' Smith. Bernard 'Touter' Harvey, Clinton 'Basie' Fearon, Albert Griffiths, Tommy McCook, Bobby Ellis and Ansel Collins.
Nippon Skank and Beirut Massacre were recorded in 1980 and released on the 1982 album African Queen, which was effectively licensed without Vivian's knowledge or consent, a sadly common practice at the time of ripping off the artists, who wouldn't see a penny in revenue.
Yabby You passed in January 2010, age 63, but to paraphrase one of his songs, I can at least give thanks and praise for the incredible music that Yabby You recorded in his lifetime.
1) Tribulation: The Prophets (1976)
2) I Love My Lady / Lady Love Dub: Yabby You & Michael Prophet (1980)
3) Nippon Skank: Yabby You (1980)
4) Conquering Dub: Yabby You & The Prophets (1972)
5) Love In Zimba: The Yabby You Vibration (1977)
6) Firey Dub (Version By King Tubby): The Prophets (1976)
7) Stranger In Love (Cover of John Holt): The Yabby You Vibration (1977)
8) Dub Of Jerusalem (Version By King Tubby): The Prophets (1976)
9) Blood A Go Run Down King Street: The Yabby You Vibration (1977)
10) Dub Plague (Version By King Tubby): The Prophets (1976)
11) Beirut Massacre: Yabby You (1980)
12) Falling Babylon aka Babylon A Fall (Version) (12" Mix By Tony Tuff aka Winston Morris): Yabby U (1979)
The Chemical Brothers light up Saturday with a 46-minute selection drawing on remixes, singles and deep cuts from 1994 to 2010.
Their remix of Voodoo People by The Prodigy was back when they were still trading as The Dust Brothers, but it was subsequently rebranded with their legally-motivated name change and has arguably become one of their best known tunes, remix or not.
The Duke is a previously unreleased outtake that was officially released on the bonus CD accompanying the Singles 93-03 compilation.
Falling Down is late-period Oasis single, featuring Noel on lead vocals. The Chemical Brothers remix first appeared on promo and digital formats, later reappearing as the B-side of follow up The Shock Of The Lightning.
La Tristessa Durera (Scream To A Sigh) is another signature remix, one of many for Manic Preachers, the vocal version ubiquitous on 90s compilations. I've gone for the Dub Mix here, which could originally be found on the CD single of She Is Suffering.
Swoon is the most contemporary track here, itself a decade and a half old, and provides today's post and selection title. Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas deliver nine and a half minutes of piano-tinkling, guitar-riffing excellence.
The Chemical Brothers are still going strong, although I don't keep pace with their new music as I did 20, 30 years ago. And there's so much from that period alone that I'm constantly discovering tracks and remixes that I missed first time around.
1) Voodoo People (Dust Brothers Remix): The Prodigy (1994)
2) The Duke: The Chemical Brothers (2001)
3) Falling Down (The Chemical Brothers Remix): Oasis (2008)
4) Bring The Pain (Chemical Instrumental) (Remix By The Chemical Brothers): Method Man (1995)
5) Music:Response (Radio Edit): The Chemical Brothers (2000)
6) Nine Acre Dust (The Chemical Brothers Remix) (Altered States Edit): The Charlatans (1996)
7) Swoon (Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas Remix): The Chemical Brothers (2010)
8) La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh) (Dub Mix By The Dust Brothers): Manic Street Preachers (1994)
Just Remember To Fall In Love...There's Nothing Else (46:13) (GD) (M)
Continuing yesterday's loose 'trilogy' theme, here are two Dubhed selections featuring Brothers Tom and Ed that I posted previously:
Julian Cope's last two conventional song-based albums (and I use the phrase lightly) were Robin Hood (2023) and Friar Tuck (2024).
Touted as a "Sherwood Forest Trilogy", we've yet to see the third and final album (Maid Marian? Little John?) and as it's been a couple of years, I thought I'd revisit the pair that have emerged via the popular format (in Casa K at least) of the Dubhed selection.
I've picked ha;f a dozen from the former, eight from the latter, jumbled them up a bit and created two sides, seven songs apiece. If you're familiar with the albums, a fresh way to enjoy some selected highlights. If you've never heard them, then hopefully this is strong evidence that Julian didn't stop writing good songs in the 1990s / 1980s (delete as applicable).
I still hold out hope that Julian will tour again as it would be great to hear these songs performed live. However, the now slower but still steady stream of releases from Head Heritage of new music, archive releases and the excellent Cope's Notes series is enough to feed the soul.
Side One
1) Four Jehovahs In A Volvo Estate (2024)
2) The Devil's Curse (2023)
3) You Gotta Keep Your Halfwits About You (2024)
4) An Oral History Of Blow-Jobs (Medley) (2023)
5) A Shipwrecked Song (2024)
6) I Was A Punk Before You Was A Hippie (2023)
7) Sol Invicto (2024)
Side Two
1) Four Mohammeds And A Funeral (2023)
2) Done Myself A Mischief (2024)
3) Wrong Side Of The Bed (2023)
4) In Spungent Mansions (2024)
5) Charles The Turd (2023)
6) Too Freud To Rock 'n' Roll Too Jung To Die (2024)
Billed as "Australia’s propulsive post-punk" purveyors of scuzz/rock, Body Type is coming up to 10 years since their debut 7" and I've only just heard them for the first time.
With two albums, two EPs and a clutch of singles in the catalogue, I was hooked by new song, And What Else?, when the video was offered up as something I might like. And I do.
Body Type are based in Sydney and comprise Sophie McComish (vocals and guitar), Annabel Blackman (vocals and guitar), Georgia Wilkinson-Derums (vocals and bass) and Cecil Coleman (drums and, er, not credited with vocals).
Despite the references to post-punk and scuzz/rock above, the handful of songs I've heard so far seem to be on the poppier end of the spectrum, and not necessarily ground breaking, but hugely appealing all the same. Their biog on Discogs ends with "just loud enough to annoy the neighbours", which made me smile and is spot on.
I've included below the random selection that I've sampled so far and I will be going back for more, shopping bag at the ready.
Sometimes Love Is All you need, especially is you're thinking about the Swedish indie pop noiseniks that were a burst of energy in the 2000s but seem to have ceased activity following third album Two Thousand And Ten Injuries in 2010.
If you've been following the Bagging Area blog (and if not, today's as good as any to start), then you'll be familiar with the Oblique Saturdays series that's been running for a while. Inspired by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's set of cards, Oblique Strategies (Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas), this Saturday's Oblique Strategy was "Do nothing for as long as possible"
My immediate reaction is often the most obvious and I thought of 4’33" by John Cage as the most extreme and literal expression of ‘do nothing’.
I recalled that Orbital took a similar tack in 1994 with Are We Here? (Criminal Justice Bill?), a reaction to the Tory government's attempts to crack down on dance culture by targeting repetitive beats, taken to it's most ridiculous and reductive conclusion.
Richard Norris’ Music For Healing series is a also a strong contender, a long-running monthly series of 20-minute ambient pieces that provide a great encouragement to relax and do nothing. I posited that the (currently 130+) tracks could be edited into one long sequence of several days… (I've just checked, it's currently just under two days' worth) as long as skipping food, sleep and ablutions for the duration wasn't a concern.
In 2006, Love Is All released the single Busy Doing Nothing which, picking up on their fascination with numbers lists a bunch of things that they could be doing. Instead... well, the title kind of gives it away.
Musically, it's a 215-second burst of energy and a good indication of what Love Is All is generally about, if you enjoy this song.
I actually came into their music via a slightly different route, their 2008 album Love Is All Mixed Up, nine radical reworks of singles and tracks from their debut album Nine Times The Same Song (a line from Busy Doing Nothing).
The list of artists was enough to make me buy the album without having heard a single note by Love Is All up to that point: Hot Chip, Metronomy, Studio, Chicken Lips, Fryars, The Bees and Maps.
Sunday Brunch is frequently on at Casa K, though I'm pretty sure that we've never sat through a show from end to end (it's three hours long!)
Sometimes there is an unexpectedly delightful guest sitting at the table and this week it was the actor Frances Barber. I often wonder if many of the guests have the faintest idea what Sunday Brunch is and whether their agents have failed to convey what's in store for them, should they accept the gig. Such is the look of bemusement and bewilderment flicking across their faces, often barely five minutes in and especially those visiting from outside the UK, but the trick is to lean into it, enjoy the food and drink and don't make plans for immediately afterwards, to leave room for a lie down and a decompression session!
Frances is a renowned star of stage and screen, and I'm admittedly more familiar with the latter, probably starting with Prick Up Your Ears and Sammy And Rosie Get Laid (both 1987) and including a star turn as the eyepatch-wearing villain Madame Kovarian in Doctor Who (2011).
In 2001, Pet Shop Boys teamed up with Jonathan Harvey to produce a musical, Closer To Heaven, starring Frances (by her own admission, a non-singing actor) as lead character Billie Trix. I don't remember much about it, to be honest, but it was apparently panned at the time, then gaining momentum as a cult classic in subsequent years.
A sequel show in 2019, Musik, revisited Billie Trix years later, and it's the latter which is due to make an appearance in UK cinemas later this week. Mostly a recording of Frances' performance in London last year, with some additional elements filmed exclusively for the cinema release, Frances did such a great job of enthusing about the character and the show that I'm tempted to go along. Participating cinemas can be found here.
The post opens up with the song Friendly Fire, performed by Frances for Closer To Heaven in 2001. Pet Shop Boys released their own version as the 'B-side' of the DVD variant of single I Get Along, which got to #18 in July 2002.
And yes, more by accident than design, that's Pet Shop Boys two days in a row. I should really get around to doing a full Dubhed selection, shouldn't I?
This caught my attention: dB Music has a You Tube channel "Remaking songs using isolated vocals"
Uploads at present have largely focused on Boy George and Pet Shop Boys, with associates Dusty Springfield, Liza Minelli and David Bowie (a remix of a PSB remix) appearing. Oh, and Limahl, with The Never Ending Story.
The one that hooked me in was Stranger In This World, a Boy George song written in the late 1990s for an abandoned album project and subsequently featured in his 2002 musical Taboo, albeit performed by the cast. I wasn't familar with any recording of the song, so approached it with fresh ears.
The original demo is a downtempo, acoustic-driven reflective song. The remix is a synth-drenched, ambient affair. George delivers a fine vocal and the remix does it justice. The former possibly edges it, just because it's so fully formed that it could easily have been released 'as is', but dB Music's rework is on a level and if both were paired as a single release, I think it would work well.
From the Pet Shop Boys, I've gone for Can You Forgive Her?, a UK #7 in June 1993 and instantly recognisable from the opening bars.
The album/single version is four minutes of pop brilliance, remixed back in the day by Rollo (Faithless) and MK aka Mark Kinchen. dB has taken the bold step of transforming the song into a 12-minute (synth) orchestral, club-friendly 'monster'.
There are times when I'm sure it's going to collapse under the weight of its own ambition but dB pulls it off. Reminiscent of what Brothers In Rhythm were doing in the 1990s, and that's a compliment as it's on a par.
I will revisit the channel to listen to more of dB's remixes. I'd love to see a spotlight on Billy MacKenzie, for one.
My ears are still ringing from seeing Sugar perform live at Lakota in Bristol on Wednesday 16th December 1992. The loudest gig I've ever been to, and unlikely to be beaten.
It was my college friends, in particular my relatively new girlfriend that talked me into going. I was aware of Bob Mould and Hüsker Dü, but more from their regular appearances and interviews in the music press, more than through familiarity with their music.
I'm not sure that my gig buddies had even that level of awareness of Bob & co's pre-Sugar activity; Sugar were fresh, exciting and loud, and had released their debut album Copper Blue a few months previously, and that's all that mattered.
Sugar arrived at just the right time for me, as there was a Pixies-sized hole in my life and they were a perfect fit. So, there was a certain expectation going in, as Pixies were a phenomenal live act.
I was a regular at Lakota, but for it's club nights. I think this was the first - and possoibly last - time that I'd been there for a live music gig. A good location, on the edge of St. Pauls, but maybe unprepared for the decibels that were about to be unleashed inside.
As the ticket (found online, mine lost a long time ago, possibly on the night) shows, there was a support band. It's likely we turned up too late; it was a college day, I had to get home, get changed, pick up my girlfriend and friends (I was the only one with a car at this time) and then zoom along the M32 to the outskirts of the city centre, park up and get in.
If we did make it in time, then I have absolutely no memory of who played and for how long.
When Sugar appeared, they got straight down to business with the opening three songs of Copper Blue, everything dialled up, energy exploding from the stage and bones shaking with the sonic assault.
If that was all to lull the audience into a false sense of security, then it worked. Half of the songs in the set hadn't been released, in some cases, were never recorded in the studio. Ever couple of songs, a Copper Blue track would drop in - Hoover Dam, the (soon-to-be) hit single If I Can't Change Your Mind, Slick - but the majority of songs were completely new to us.
Towards the end, we were treated to a preview of the opening two songs of the upcoming Beaster mini-album, Come Around and Tilted. I was blown away. It was like a transformative experience, lifting me out of my body (although that might have been the sound vibrations). I might have been the designated driver that night, but who needed drink and drugs when the sounds created by Bob Mould, David Barbe and Malcolm Travis were enough to take your mind on a trip?
I don't remember the encore, or indeed if there was one or they just simply kept playing on. There's no setlist online for the Bristol show but, looking at the sets for Leeds and Norwich earlier in the week, it's likely that they played covers of Armenia City In The Sky (The Who) and That's When I Reach For My Revolver (MIssion of Burma). I've found an audience video of the latter, performed in Norwich on 13th December 1992.
The set is likely to have closed - as does Copper Blue - with Man On The Moon, which feels timely, given all of the excitement surrounding the Artemis II mission currently underway, diverting some attention away from the lunacy of SCROTUS, sorry, POTUS on Earth.
Beaster was released on 6th April 1993, ahead of the Easter holiday the following weekend. It's my favourite Sugar record, but Copper Blue is an outstanding debut and it's been good to revisit these three decades later, for Easter 2026.
Despite my tinnitus getting a kick start on that December night in 1992, it's remained relatively mild and I couldn't resist turning the volume up when I played this Dubhed selection back for the first time.
Sugar has reunited and will be playing in Bristol again on 30th May. Tempted though I was, I decided to pass. Nothing could come close to the impact - and volume - of that gig way back when.
1) The Act We Act (Album Version) (1992)
2) A Good Idea (Album Version) (1992)
3) Changes (Album Version) (1992)
4) Running Out Of Time (Live @ Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 22 July 1992)
5) Where Diamonds Are Halos (Live @ Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 22 July 1992)
6) Hoover Dam (Album Version) (1992)
7) The Beer Commercial (Live @ Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 22 July 1992)
8) After All The Roads Have Led To Nowhere (Live @ First Avenue, Minneapolis, 2nd November 1994)
9) If I Can't Change Your Mind (Album Version) (1992)
10) Frustration (Single Version) (1992)
11) Slick (Album Version) (1992)
12) Anyone (Live @ Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 22 July 1992)
13) Clownmaster (Single Version) (1993)
14) Come Around (Single Version) (1993)
15) Tilted (Single Version) (1993)
16) Armenia City In The Sky (Cover of The Who) (Live @ Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 22 July 1992)
17) Man On The Moon (Album Version) (1992)
1992: Copper Blue: 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 11, 17
1992: A Good Idea EP: 5, 16
1993: Beaster: 14, 15
1993: If I Can't Change Your Mind EP: 12, 13
1994: Your Favorite Thing EP: 10
1995: After All The Roads Have Led To Nowhere / Explode And Make Up EP: 8
2012: Copper Blue / Live At The Cabaret Metro, Chicago, Illinois, 22nd July 1992 (Deluxe Edition): 4, 7
