It's Fish And Hits!

A day early, but I found this old gem featuring Badly Drawn Boy on my old blog, from 27th February 2007:

I spotted this in my local free paper this weekend. Badly Drawn Boy played live in a Bedminster chippy just down the road from my house last Saturday? I wouldn't have believed it if you'd told me. Damn, and I thought spotting Simon MacCorkindale in The Tobacco Factory couldn't be beat...

The chippy in question - The Magnet Fish Bar on Dean Lane - was pretty good, as I recall. Sadly, it doesn't seem to have had a website or social media presence since 2017 so I fear it's gone the way of many old school fish and chip shops.

Thankfully, Badly Drawn Boy is still on the road, playing gigs and festivals, although it's been over five years since his last album, Banana Skin Shoes. 

Decayed II: 2002

Side 1 of a made up mixtape series, bounding through the first decade of the 21st century.

In the year 2000, Robbie Williams duetted with Kylie Minogue on the phenomenal crowd pleasing single Kids. in 2001, Kylie pushed the envelope further with the brilliant Can't Get You Out Of My Head. But what about Robbie?

2001 was pretty good to Robbie too, with three singles, two of which hit the top spot. 2002 saw just the one single, Feel, reaching #4 at the end of the year. Not that I was really all that bothered. 

What interested me more with his guest spot on My Culture by 1 Giant Leap. It's a really good song and deserved to be a hit, but would it have been a Top 10 hit without Robbie and Maxi Jazz from Faithless on it? 

Well... follow-up single Braided Hair featuring Neneh Cherry and Speech from Arrested Development managed one week at #78, whilst the eponymous debut album fared slightly better at #51. Which is a shame as 1 Giant Leap is a really good album. People were sadly more interested in buying the latest steaming slop by Blue and Celine Dion. 

Likewise, Cornershop had followed up a #1 hit single and Top 20 album in 1998 with a great album, Handcream For A Generation, and a rifftastic lead single in Lessons Learned From Rocky I To Rocky III. Although neither could be considered a flop, with a Top 30 and Top 40 placing respectively, Cornershop never again  enjoyed the UK chart success of the 1990s,. Didn't stop them making fantastic music, though.

Another legendary artist that consistently delivered wonderful music for frustratingly little reward is Edwyn Collins. His 2002 album Dr. Syntax is chock full of tunes that his contemporaries would sell their souls for, and Johnny Teardrop is in my Top 5 favourite Edwyn Collins songs. It's the perfect distillation of everything that makes Edwyn such a superb songwriter. And it got to bloody #192! Were there really 191 better singles on sale in the UK that week?!

The previous week, Sugababes were back with a vengeance - and their first UK #1 - with Freak Like Me. Having just watched the excellent Girlbands Forever documentary series on BBC2, I appreciated just how much was on the line for the group. Founder member and childhood friend Siobhan Donaghy had left, and Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan were teamed up with new member Heidi Range. Sugababes had been successful, but without a #1 single or album to date, it was make or break time.

DJ and producer Richard X has gained notoriety, not least for his bootleg mash-up of Freak Like Me by Adina Howard and Are 'Friends' Electric? by Tubeway Army. Sugababes and Richard X were paired up in the studio to record a commercial version for single release. It turned out to be a smart move for them both. 

Another mash-up artist who exploded in 2002 was Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions. The Weather Episode is a glorious melding of The Next Episode by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Weather With You by Crowded House. When a mash-up works, it really hits the spot and this is a prime example.

I am completely disregarding the rules here, as The Weather Episode was released as a free bootleg MP3 download and therefore ineligible for the Official Chart in the UK. I'm applying the "played by Zane Lowe on his XFM On-Air radio show" rule to sneak this one into its rightful place in today's selection.

Other great songs in 2002 by Radio 4, Badly Drawn Boy and Amorphous Androgynous also gave a nod to producers that were gaining recognition in their own right, namely The DFA aka James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy, Four Tet aka Kieran Hebden, and Jacknife Lee aka Garret Lee.

Another remix that I loved was by dub legend Scientist aka Hopeton Brown, taking the title track of Death In Vegas' third album, Scorpio Rising. The second Top 20 single for Richard Fearless and co, their previous #9 hit had a guest spot from Iggy Pop and Scorpio Rising repeated the formula by featuring a certain Liam Gallagher.

I'm not a fan of Oasis or, generally speaking, the exploits of the Gallagher brothers in or out of the studio, so I was bought this single purely because it was Death In Vegas and Scientist. I don't think even a diehard Liam fanatic would deny that this is far from his best vocal performance, but I love Scientist's game attempt to wrestle it into a dubtastic shape.

Unlikely collaborations were plentiful at his time, yet X-Press 2 teaming up with David Byrne was a real surprise for Lazy A deserved #2 hit in April 2002, I was pleased to see Lazy included in Byrne's stunning American Utopia live set on the Sky Arts channel a while ago.

Another unlikely collaboration, and even more unlikely reunion in 2002, was David McAlmont and Bernard Butler. Bring It Back - album and single - proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the magic that peppered previous hits Yes and You Do was still there. This partnership also holds a special place in my heart as they were the first gig that Mrs. K and I went to together. They were utterly fantastic, of course. 

Concidentally, I saw McAlmont and Butler perform live again in 2025, albeit not together. David was with current musical partner Hifi Sean, Bernard with James Grant and Norman Blake. Sadly, Mrs. K was unable to join me for either as I think she would have loved them.

Another welcome return for the Pet Shop Boys and Johnny Marr, who have both appeared in the previous 'decade' series. Home And Dry signalled a more reflective PSB and one which signalled and embraced their - and their audience's - transition from Radio 1 to Radio 2. Johnny had collaborated with Neil and Chris previously and his trademark guitar lines add class to a classy song.

And so, we've suddenly come to the end of another year and, if you ignored most of the Top 40 most of the time, another great year for music. 

Could 2003 hope to find some gold amongst the grit? Join me on Sunday to find out.

1) Lessons Learned From Rocky I To Rocky III (Radio Edit): Cornershop

2) Freak Like Me (We Don't Give A Damn Mix By Richard X): Sugababes

3) Dance To The Underground (Edit By The DFA aka James Murphy & Tim Goldsworthy): Radio 4

4) Something To Talk About (The Four Tet Convention Remix By Kieran Hebden): Badly Drawn Boy

5) Johnny Teardrop (Remixed & Radio Edited): Edwyn Collins

6) Bring It Back (Album Version By Bernard Butler): McAlmont & Butler

7) Lazy (Radio Edit): X-Press 2 ft. David Byrne

8) Home And Dry (Single Mix): Pet Shop Boys ft. Johnny Marr

9) The Weather Episode (Original Version): Go Home Productions ft. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg & Crowded House

10) My Culture (We Love This Mix (Video Edit)): 1 Giant Leap ft. Maxi Jazz & Robbie Williams

11) The Mello Hippo Disco Show (Jacknife Lee Mix): The Amorphous Androgynous

12) Scorpio Rising (The Scientist Mix): Death In Vegas ft. Liam Gallagher

10th March 2002: Handcream For A Generation (#37): 1

24th March 2002: Release (#14): 8

14th April 2002: Muzikizum (#2): 7

14th April 2002: 1 Giant Leap (#9): 10

28th April 2002: Angels With Dirty Faces (#1): 2

5th May 2002: Doctor Syntax (#192): 5

16th June 2002: About A Boy OST (#28): 4

23rd June 2002: This Was Pop (2002-2007) (# n/a): 9

11th August 2002: The Isness (#68): 11

3rd November 2002: Bring It Back (#36): 6

24th November 2002: Gotham! (#94): 3

22nd December 2002: Scorpio Rising (#14): 12

Side One (46:42) (GD) (M)

If you enjoyed this, you may also wish to check out my previous selections for 1982 and 1992.

Happening

Strange Things Are Happening, Richard Norris' memoir of a frankly incredible life, dropped through my letterbox last weekend. I ordered it back in October 2023 so to say that I have been eagerly awaiting it's arrival is an understatement. 

I ordered the book via Heavenly so not only is it signed by Richard, there's a bonus CD featuring "Mixes and Collaborations 1988-2023". Of the 14 tracks, half are completely new to me, but when the ones I already own include remixes of Floatation by The Grid, Roscoe by Midlake, Disco/Very by Warpaint and Willow's Song by Katy J Pearson, then it's wonderful to have them all together on one shiny disc.

I've not started reading Strange Things Are Happening yet, as I'm (now hurriedly) trying to finish another book that I'd not long started but I'd still have no hesitation in recommending it. Given the sheer breadth and depth of Richard's contribution to music, which has been ever present for more than two thirds of my life, I am looking forward to experiencing those moments through his eyes, memories and words. 

I've tried a few times before to present Richard's music via a Dubhed selection, whether Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, The Grid or an attempt to encapsulate his wider work. An impossible task really but nature loves a trier so I've had another go.

This time, it's a mammoth 22 tracks, clocking in at exactly one hour and forty five minutes. In respect of sequencing and segueways, it's an absolute mess: if you've come here for amateurish crossfades, jarring edits and incongruous tracklist partners, then you've come to the right place. If I tried this in person in a public place, I'd be out on the pavement, my hard drive bouncing off my skull as the proprietor lobbed it after me.

However, focus past my ham-fisted attempts at mixing and marvel at the ambition and creativity of the artist at the heart of it all. Whether his own compositions, partnerships with Dave Ball, Erol Alkan, Finnur Bjarnason or more recently with Rachel Thomas and Stuart Carter as The Order Of The 12, Richard has the uncanny knack of tapping into something special. This transcends genres, hitting the sweet spot whether aimed at  club, dub or ambient heads, to name but a few.

Many of these are significantly edited - the original version of Ultramarine is twenty minutes long - but all are worth tracking down in digital or physical formats. A good starting point is Richard's Bandcamp page. I've been a subscriber for over a year and it's worth every penny.

 

1) Couldn't Do (The Time & Space Machine Remix By Richard Norris): Cheval Sombre (2014) 

2) Promises (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Reanimation By Richard Norris & Erol Alkan): Badly Drawn Boy (2007) 

3) Winter In June: Beyond The Wizards Sleeve ft. Percy Thrower (2007)

4) 10 Killer Hurtz More (Remix By Little Annie, Richard Norris & Skip McDonald): Little Annie (1994)

5) Texas Cowboys (Low Plains Prankster Mix By Justin Robertson): The Grid (1993)

6) Ultramarine (Edit): Richard Norris (2023)

7) April (Edit): Richard Norris (2021)

8) Ghost Dance: Richard Norris (2021)

9) This Too Shall Pass Away (Album Version By The Grid): World Of Twist (1991)

10) Morning Velvet Sky (Richard Norris Dub): Gulp (2018)

11) Meet Every Situation Head On (DJ Jackmaster Tab Fitness Mix By Richard Norris): M.E.S.H. (1988)

12) I Love I Hate (Lakeside Mix By The Grid): Neil Arthur (1994)

13) Pagan Dub (Edit): Richard Norris (2024)

14) Inner Communication Dub (Edit): Richard Norris (2024)

15) Find Yourself (Richard Norris Remix): Jacco Gardner (2015)

16) Lundi Bleu (The Grid 'Praise The Lord' Mix By Dave Ball & Richard Norris) (Cover of 'Blue Monday' by New Order): The Times (1992)

17) House Of Love (Single Version By The Grid): Billie Ray Martin (1993)

18) Abide With Me (Holy Dub - Remix By The Grid) (Cover of traditional song): Vic Reeves (1991)

19) Finally (The Time & Space Machine Re-Edit By Richard Norris) (Cover of Ce Ce Peniston): Cherry Ghost (2010) 

20) Somewhere Nearly Gone: The Order Of The 12 (2022)

21) Before Tomorrow (Richard Norris' Avalon Remix): Hollow Hand ft. Tim Smith (2023)

22) Hotel Du Lac 66º N2 (Edit): The Long Now (2018)

 

1988: Meet Every Situation Head On EP: 11 

1991: Abide With Me EP: 18

1991: Quality Street: 9 

1992: Lundi Bleu EP: 16

1993: 4 Ambient Tales EP: 17

1993: Texas Cowboys EP: 5 

1994: I Love I Hate EP: 12

1994: In Dread With Little Annie EP: 4

2007: Promises EP: 2

2007: West EP: 3 

2010: We Sleep On Stones EP: 19

2014: Couldn't Do EP: 1

2015: Find Yourself EP: 15

2018: Morning Velvet Sky EP: 10 

2018: Restoration EP: 22

2021: Music For Healing: January-December: 7

2021: Music For Soundtracks, Vol. 1: 8 

2022: Lore Of The Land: 20

2023: Before Tomorrow EP: 21

2023: Music For Healing: Colours: 6 

2024: Oracle Sound Volume Two: 13

2024: Oracle Sound Volume 3: Dub In Progress: 14

 

Happening (1:45:00) (KF) (Mega)

For your further listening pleasure:

Beyond The Wizards Sleeve: How Do We Start? (23rd July 2021)

The Grid: Think For Yourself And Question Authority (3rd December 2022)

Richard Norris: Clarity (6th August 2023)

One Evening And Another Morning

I think of many of the albums on today's selection as recent, but they're all from 2004. Hard to believe that they - and the ears listening to them - are twenty years older.

One of the things I love about posting a daily blog is that it inspires me to seek out new music as well as diving back into my collection, dusting off and (re)discovering albums, EPs and songs that I haven't heard in a long while. All of the selections today have been languishing too long and their parent albums and singles will be added to the Casa K playlist where I can enjoy them all over again.

 

1) This Is That New Song: Badly Drawn Boy (One Plus One Is One)

2) Hummingbird: Wilco (A Ghost Is Born)

3) Another Morning: American Music Club (Love Songs For Patriots)

4) Knees: Pony Club (Family Business)

5) Nimrod's Son (Cover of Pixies): Frank Black ft. Two Pale Boys (Frank Black Francis)

6) You Do (Cover of McAlmont & Butler): Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy (Another Language)

7) One Evening: Feist (Let It Die)

8) Stay Out Of Trouble: Kings Of Convenience (Riot On An Empty Street)

9) Cherry Blossom Girl (Cover of Air): Hope Sandoval (Cherry Blossom Girl EP)

10) Stop, Look & Listen: Belle & Sebastian (I'm A Cuckoo EP)

11) Sleepy California (Super Furry Animals Remix): Her Space Holiday (The Young Machines Remixed)

12) He Gave Us The Wine To Taste: Jonathan Richman (Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love)

One Evening And Another Morning (44:56) (KF) (Mega)

Oh Gosh, Oh Gosh, I'm Juliette Binoche!

Another in my occasional series of song selections named after an actor's films, Juliette Binoche follows in the footsteps of Faye Dunaway and Elizabeth Taylor.

At first, a tougher call than you might think. I mean, who on Earth would record songs called The English Patient, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being or Three Colors: Blue (or Red or White, for that matter)?

Thankfully, there were plenty of other selections to encompass her debut, 1983's Liberty Belle right up to this year's Fire, the latest film by Claire Denis and one that is unlikely to be screening at my nearest cinemas which are currently dominated by Tom effing Cruise.

Perfect timing, with Kate Bush securing her first UK #1 in ages with Running Up That Hill, that her debut single gets a look in here, still as stunning now as when I heard it as a 7 year old. This is followed by Vanessa Contenay-Quiñones, better known in the 1990s as Espiritu, with the only French language song in this selection. A bit of cheat here as Juliette Binoche starred in 2005's singular Caché, but I'm pretending that it was so good that I watched it twice...

 

Juliette is mentioned in the Earthling song 1st Transmission, which also provides today's post title. In a nice touch, the album version and remixes by Plunderphonics and Portishead name check a different location, taking in Ilford, Bombay, Stokes Croft in Bristol and, in the version featured here, stopping off at Woodstock.

 

Diamond Hoo Ha Men and The Magnetic North are both aliases/side projects for other artists. The former are better known as two thirds of Supergrass and this grungier version popped up on the Bad Blood single in 2008. The Magnetic North are a trio comprising Erland Cooper, Hannah Peel and Simon Tong, remixed here to atmospheric effect by White Label, another trio including Steve Aungle, who worked with the late Billy MacKenzie and has done much to keep his musical legacy alive.

 

Quite an eclectic selection again, which includes arguably Binoche's career nadir Damage - the Yo La Tengo song is much better - and several songs that I could easily imagine being used in a film soundtrack, assuming they haven't already. This one's a keeper.

1) Chocolat: Cornershop (1997)

2) Liberty Belle (Remix By Mario Caldato Jr): Super Furry Animals (2004)

3) Wuthering Heights (Album Version): Kate Bush (1978)

4) Cache Cache: Vanessa Contenay-Quiñones (2020)

5) 1st Transmission (Acoustlick) (Remix By Plunderphonics): Earthling (1994)

6) Bad Blood (DHHM Version): Diamond Hoo Ha Men (2008)

7) Let The Sunshine In (Recorded Live @ Maida Vale Studios For Lamacq Live On Radio 1, 4th October 2002) (Cover of The 5th Dimension): Badly Drawn Boy (2002)

8) High Life (White Label Remix By Steve Aungle, Anth Brown & Tom Doyle): The Magnetic North (2017)

9) Rendez-Vu (Album Version): Basement Jaxx (1999)

10) Fire: Black Pumas (2018)

11) Damage: Yo La Tengo (1997)

12) Paris: The Anchoress (2021)

1978: The Kick Inside: 3 

1994: 1st Transmission EP: 5

1997: I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One: 11

1997: When I Was Born For The 7th Time: 1

1999: Remedy: 9

2002: All Possibilities EP: 7

2004: Phantom Phorce: 2

2008: Bad Blood EP (by Supergrass): 6 

2017: Borrowed Voices (by White Label): 8

2018: Black Pumas: 10

2020: Voodoo Girl: 4

2021: The Art Of Losing: 12

Oh Gosh, Oh Gosh, I'm Juliette Binoche! (43:27)