The Life And Times (Of A Man Called Terry)

 

Apologies for a typo in yesterday's post. When I wrote "be sure to drop by tomorrow for a Boxing Day special.", what I meant was "Boxing Day Specials". The Specials, that is, who top and tail today's selection.

 

More specifically, this is a nearly hour-long tribute to Terry Hall, who passed on 18th December 2022. It's hard to believe that two years have gone by.

 

Not that Terry's ever really away from my music playlists. Like the Imaginary Compilation Album that I created for The Vinyl Villain in 2021, this 13-song selection draws from Terry's rich history of bands, collaborations and solo releases, some that will be immediately familiar, other deeper cuts that you may not know. 

 

The common thread is Terry's wonderful voice, character and way with words. Every one a winner.

As an added Boxing Day treat, I've reactivated links to the aforementioned Imaginary Compilation Album, plus the companion ICA created by TVV mastermind JC following mine. I recreated the pair as four sides of faux vinyl and posted them as a tribute to Terry, on hearing the awful news of his death.

Terry, you are missed but never forgotten.

 
1) Stereotype: The Specials (1980)

2) Sugar Man (Album Version): Silent Poets ft. Terry Hall (1999)

3) Heart Of America: The Colourfield (1987)

4) Getting Over You (Album Version): Hiroshi Fujiwara ft. Terry Hall (1994)

5) Alone: Fun Boy Three ft. Bananarama (1982)

6) Love Will Keep Us Together: Terry, Blair & Anouchka (1990)

7) Sense (Album Version) (Cover of Lightning Seeds): Terry Hall (1994)

8) Problem Is (Album Version): Dub Pistols ft. Terry Hall (2001)

9) Why Should I?: Leila ft. Terry Hall & Martina Topley-Bird (2008)

10) Poems (Edit): Nearly God ft. Terry Hall & Martina Topley-Bird (1996)

11) Stand Together: Terry Hall & Mushtaq (2003)

12) Walk Into The Wind: Vegas ft. Siobahn Fahey (1992)

13) The Life And Times (Of A Man Called Depression): The Specials (2019)

1980: Stereotype EP: 1

1982: FB3: 5

1987: Deception: 3

1990: Ultra Modern Nursery Rhyme EP: 6 

1992: Walk Into The Wind EP: 12

1994: Home: 7

1994: Nothing Much Better To Do: 4 

1996: Poems EP: 10

1999: To Come...: 2

2001: Six Million Ways To Die: 8

2003: The Hour Of Two Lights: 11

2008: Blood, Looms & Blooms: 9

2019: Encore: 13

The Life And Times (Of A Man Called Terry) (56:36) (KF) (Mega)

Girls +£÷ Girls =$& Girls

Keren! Sarah! Siobahn! Yes, it's Bananarama!

 

My tenuous 'friend to the stars' claim this week is that I went to same secondary school as Keren Woodward and Sarah Dallin. Ignore the fact that they are nine years older than me and therefore long gone by the time I rocked up in my pristine school uniform, wet behind the ears and in for an education in more ways than one. 

 

When I started there, Bananarama were already having hits. Mr. Wagner, the white haired, tweed-jacketed Science teacher who had beehives at home and had a sideline in selling jars of the sweet stuff to kids, would particularly enjoy sharing an occasional reminisce of when Keren and Sarah sat in his Biology class, causing mischief no doubt.

Local connection aside, it wasn't Keren or Sarah but Siobahn Fahey that I was going to marry when I properly grew up. I loathed Dave Stewart of Eurythmics when the two got married in the late 1980s. Bananarama were cool, but Siobahn was the coolest in my opinion. And the strange additional attraction of not knowing at the time how to pronounce her name. I was obviously a little distracted when the band were introduced in the numerous kids' TV show "interviews" that they participated in....

Anyhoo, here's a 10-song, 45-minute bounce through the Bananarama back catalogue. I've intentionally focused on their first five years, avoiding the Stock Aitken Waterman years and the time when Siobahn left and was briefly replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan. Poor Jacquie, she didn't deserve the shit she got... There are some moments of greatness in those later years, to be honest. However, it was the first half of the 1980s when I really liked Bananarama, even if as a proto-indie/Goth/electronic music fan I had to begrudgingly admit that to myself let alone others.

A smattering of covers, including their first single Aie A Mwana, a surprisingly faithful recreation of the the 1975 song by afrobeat/funk/soul/disco outfit Black Blood. It took another couple of covers with Fun Boy Three before Bananarama had a hit, but they replicated the magic with a further cover of Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye), which beat Steam's original UK chart placing of #9 by giving the girls another Top 5 smash. 

The third cover was tucked away on the soundtrack to the 1982 film Party Party, starring Billy from EastEnders and Caroline Quentin. The fact that it's a cover of Sex Pistols is perhaps less surprising than it may seem, as Paul Cook co-produced their debut single.

The rest of the selection spans a couple more of Bananarama's 10 Top 10 singles, 12" versions, album cuts and a B-side, all of which highlight the trio's pop songwriting chops. 

 

Boy Trouble seemed like an appropriate starter and, similarly, the closing song couldn't be anything other than Cheers Then. I was taken about to see that the latter only managed a peak of #45 in the week of my 12th birthday back in 1982. Not Christmassy enough, clearly, but if pushed I may say that it's my favourite Bananarama song.

 

1) Boy Trouble (Album Version) (1983)

2) Aie A Mwana (Extended Version) (Cover of Black Blood) (1981)

3) Shy Boy (Extended Version) (1982)

4) Cruel Summer (Album Version) (1984)

5) The Wild Life (Single Mix) (1984)

6) Na Na Hey Hey Na (Dub) Hey (Cover of 'Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)' by Steam) (1983)

7) No Feelings (Album Version) (Cover of Sex Pistols) (1982)

8) Scarlett (Extended Version) (1986)

9) True Confessions (Razormaid Mix) (1986)

10) Cheers Then (Extended Version) (1982)

1981: Aie A Mwana EP: 2

1982: Cheers Then EP: 10

1982: Party Party OST: 7

1982: Shy Boy EP: 3

1983: Deep Sea Skiving: 1

1983: Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) EP: 6

1984: Cruel Summer: 4

1984: The Wild Life EP: 5

1986: More Than Physical EP: 8 

1986: Razormaid Chapter 10.5: 9

Girls +£÷ Girls =$& Girls (45:06) (KF) (Mega)

 

(with apologies for any Elvis Costello fans expecting a post celebrating the compilation that I shamelessly ripped the title from)

Does Anybody Know Any Jokes?

*** Breaking News ***

Reports emerging of a Fun Boy Three selection this Friday. 

 

Wider impact as yet unconfirmed.

Full story from 9.30am GMT.

*** This story has now been updated ***

You can blame thank Charity Chic Music for this one. On Tuesday, CC wrote about his purchase of Summertime by Fun Boy Three on 7" and it being the first time that he's heard their version of this George Gershwin-written classic. As I typing a reply that, in my opinion, the 12" version of Summertime was even better, a seed had already been planted...

So here we are, loosely keeping with my 'summer' theme of the past few days, here is a selection focusing on Fun Boy Three's excursions on the version via the format of the 12" single. They were pretty consistent in this respect, offering up extended takes that veered off into dub-inflected territory on most of their singles.

 

The only singles that appeared on 12" in unadulterated form (i.e. same as the 7"/album version) were The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum, The Tunnel Of Love and Germany-only release The Farm Yard Connection. 

 

In the late 1980s, when DJs were dusting off and remixing any and every 'old' song they could find, FB3 were no exception, with Dancin' Danny D having a go at album track Faith, Hope & Charity in 1989. It's not included on today's selection but you can listen to it here.

The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum has also proved to be an attractive proposition for 21st century bedroom DJs and a trawl of YouTube will net you a tonne of re-edits and remixes of the song. None as good as the original, of course.

This selection is dedicated to the brilliant Lynval Golding, Neville Staple and of course the peerless and greatly missed Terry Hall. As an additional tribute to the latter, I'm re-posting the previous Terry Hall Imaginary Compilation Albums, previously hosted and co-created by the excellent The Vinyl Villain.

 

1) The Telephone Always Rings (Extended Version) (1982)

2) Really Saying Something (He Was Really Sayin' Somethin') (Remix By John Luongo): Bananarama ft. Fun Boy Three (1982)

3) Our Lips Are Sealed (Special Remix Version) (1983)

4) The Funrama Theme (Extended Version): Fun Boy Three ft. Bananarama (1982)

5) The More I See (The Less I Believe) Parts 1 & 2 (?) (1982)

6) Summertime (Extended Version) (Cover Of Abbie Mitchell) (1982)

7) The Alibi (The Station's Full Of Pipes) (12" Version) (1982)

8) T'Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It) / Just Do It (Extended Version) (Cover of Jimmie Lunceford, Harry James & Ella Fitzgerald): Fun Boy Three ft. Bananarama (1982)

Does Anybody Know Any Jokes? (50:42) (Box) (Mega)

Your Love Will Bring Me Home

Back to the 80s disco for some Saturday fun, with an eclectic mix spanning pop, pap, alternative and ambient in 65 minutes.

Erasure start things off with Blue Savannah, which I wasn't that bothered by when it originally came out in 1989, but grew on me over the years. From there, a B-side from Matt Bianco, who unfortunately are more likely to be remembered for their ill-fated live phone-in on kids' TV show Saturday Superstore than any music they recorded.

Terence Trent D'Arby, now known only as Sananda Maitreya, goes all James Brown (that's not a euphemism) on Dance Little Sister, whilst Eartha Kitt purrs her way through Cha Cha Heels with Bronski Beat. Eartha recorded songs in twelve different languages you know, presumably not counting cat.

Bananarama get mostly dubbed out of their own song by PWL's Pete Hammond, with an introductory rhythm track that makes me think I'm going to get The Beloved's Acid Love instead. 

 

A sidestep into the murky world of Siouxsie & The Banshees, with one of their greatest songs, Peek-A-Boo, something of a change of direction for them at the time. The Silver Dollar Mix was edited for the limited edition UK 12" single; this is the full length ten-minute remix which featured in the USA and Canada. Golly Jeepers!

 

Ryuichi Sakamoto teams up with Iggy Pop for Risky, a song Ryuichi co-wrote with Bill Laswell and remixed for this 12" by Julian Mendelsohn. It's an interesting mix of different artists, to which the UK record-buying masses remained largely indifferent.

 

Likewise, White Car In Germany by Associates, one of the best songs that Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine ever wrote, and that's saying something. I've labelled this one as an album edit as it came from my copy of the USA version of Sulk, which remixed and re-sequenced the original album. It might well be the UK single version too, but I've never heard it to compare and contrast. Either way, a wonderful song and a stunning vocal performance from MacKenzie.

At this point, there seems no other way to go than with The Art Of Noise and one of their finest moments. This is the super extended, ten-minute remix as quite frankly, nothing else will do right now.

 

I'm finishing this post early on Saturday morning, with the weather outside seemingly unable to decide whether to be overcast or sunny; it's currently the latter. This selection's sequencing and pacing possibly reflects the mercurial nature of what's happening outside. You might not be able to dance to all of this, but I hope it brings a little ray or two of sunshine into your day.

 

1) Blue Savannah (Out Of The Blue Mix By Shep Pettibone & Goh Hotoda): Erasure (1989)

2) Smooth (Extra Smooth) (Remix By Mark Reilly & Phil Harding): Matt Bianco (1985)

3) Dance Little Sister (Part One & Two) (Remix By Shep Pettibone): Terence Trent D'Arby (1987)

4) Cha Cha Heels (12" Version): Eartha Kitt & Bronski Beat (1989)

5) Ecstasy (Wild Style) (Remix By Pete Hammond): Bananarama (1987)

6) Peek-A-Boo (Silver Dollar Mix By Mike Hedges): Siouxsie & The Banshees (1988)

7) Risky (Extended Mix By Julian Mendelsohn): Ryuichi Sakamoto ft. Iggy Pop (1987)

8) White Car In Germany (Album Version) (Edit): Associates (1982)

9) Moments In Love (Remix): The Art Of Noise ft. Camilla Pilkington (1984)

 

Your Love Will Bring Me Home (1:04:52)

From Conception To The Grave

Today's selection is a nod to the genre-hopping genius that is Dubmaster Dennis Bovell MBE. Lovers Rock, Dub, Post-Punk, Pop, Reggae, Poetry all threaded together by a singular talent.

 

Aside from his legendary work with Janet Kay, The Slits and The Pop Group, Dennis Bovell has been synonymous with Linton Kwesi Johnson's musical career. Another frequent collaborator has been Edwyn Collins, from Orange Juice to Collins solo, and taking in a shared guest spot on Trevor Jackson's Playgroup project along the way. 

 

In the summer, Dennis Bovell released a cover of What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. He has also recently dubbed up The Pop Group's 1979 debut album. Y In Dub is available via Bandcamp and various other outlets on 29th October.
 

1) Surrey With The Fringe On Top (Ska Be Doo Za): Black Beard (1978)

2) You'll Never Know (Dub) (Remix By Dennis Bovell): Edwyn Collins (2007)

3) Reality Poem (Album Version By Linton Kwesi Johnson & Dennis Bovell): Linton Kwesi Johnson (1979)

4) Feel No Way (Album Version By Dennis Bovell): Janet Kay (1980)

5) Forces Of Oppression (Edit By Dennis Bovell): The Pop Group (1980) 

6) Swanky Modes (Dennis Bovell DubMix): JARV IS... (2021)

7) 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (Album Version By Trevor Jackson & Mark 'Spike' Stent) (Cover of Paul Simon): Playgroup ft. Shinehead, Dennis Bovell & Edwyn Collins (2001)

8) Make Believe (Let's Pretend) (Special Extended Version By Dennis Bovell): Thompson Twins (1981)

9) Clichéd Dub Slave: Adrian Sherwood ft. Dennis Bovell (2007)

10) Flesh Of My Flesh (Long Version By Dennis Bovell): Orange Juice (1983)

11) Empire Road: Matumbi (1978)

12) Tell Tale Signs (Extended Version By Dennis Bovell): Bananarama (1983)

13) Dub Her In (Version By Dennis Bovell): Steve Mason (2011)

14) Love Und Romance (Album Version By Dennis Bovell): The Slits (1979)

15) Africa (Is Our Land) (12" Mix By Dennis Bovell): Joshua Moses (1978)

16) Silly Dub: Dennis Bovell ft. Janet Kay (1993)

From Conception To The Grave (1:03:41) (GD) (M)