A Great Big Bundle Of Culture

A debut Dubhed selection for Billy Bragg today, two sides, thirteen songs, forty-four minutes and fifty-nine seconds of music.

On Thursday, I posted the above photo on BlueSky with the comment 

"Compared to the cost of reality, this is starting to look like a bargain…"

Billy is someone who's always provided value for money when it comes to a dose of reality, whether his own songs or covers of other politically-motivated artists. As such, this selection includes Billy's takes on Woody Guthrie (twice, one with Wilco, the other with The Blokes) and Bruce Springsteen.

I've included two of Billy's best known songs, Levi Stubbs' Tears and A New England, as well as a clutch of songs from this century. For some, Bragg went downhill the minute he started adding other musicians and instruments, experimenting with different styles ('baggy' remixes of Sexuality in the 1990s, adopting an American accent in the 2010s) and, well, getting older. Not me.

Whilst I haven't been a committed fan, I remember those appearances on The Tube in the 1980s with fondness and my intermittent and infrequent dips into Billy's catalogue more often than not uncovers gold.

Side One

1) A13, Trunk Road To The Sea (1983)

2) Run Out Of Reasons (1997)

3) Mansion On The Hill (Cover of Bruce Springsteen) (2003)

4) Ingrid Bergman (Cover of Woody Guthrie): Billy Bragg & Wilco (1998)

5) The Marching Song Of The Covert Battalions (1990)

6) Cindy Of A Thousand Lives (1991)

7) A New England (1983)

Side Two

1) England, Half English (7" Remix By The Lobster Boys): Billy Bragg & The Blokes (2002)

2) Levi Stubbs' Tears (1986)

3) Chile Your Waters Run Red Through Soweto (Live) (Cover of Sweet Honey In The Rock) (1988)

4) All You Fascists Bound To Lose (Cover of Woody Guthrie): Billy Bragg & The Blokes (1999)

5) No One Knows Nothing Any More (2013)

6) The Saturday Boy (1984)

1983: Life's A Riot With Spy vs. Spy EP: A7

1984: Brewing Up With Billy Bragg: B6

1986: Talking With The Taxman About Poetry: B2

1988: Help Save The Youth Of America EP: Live & Dubious: B3

1990: The Internationale EP: A5

1991: Don't Try This At Home: A6

1997: The Boy Done Good / Sugar Daddy EP: A2

1998: Mermaid Avenue: A4

1999: Mermaid Avenue Tour / You Can Call Me Cupcake: B4

2002: Take Down The Union Jack EP: B1

2003: Born To Run 2003, Volume 2 (Uncut magazine promo CD): A3

2003: Must I Paint You A Picture?: A1

2013: Tooth & Nail: B5

Side One (22:17) (GD) (M)

Side Two (22:42) (GD) (M)

#SpookyTunesSeason, Volume One

Jumping on the Hallowe'en bandwagon, this is the first half of a month-long bit of fun over on Twitter. I've literally been making it up as I go along, so it's a surprisingly coherent Dubhed selection, all things considered.

Expect some wild swerves from indie to reggae to rap to disco to bubblegum pop to contemporary breakbeats. I've copied and pasted my 'sleevenotes' directly from Musk's manky bird. 

I Walked With A Zombie: R.E.M.

I was going to ‘rest’ for a month, but there’s clearly no rest for the undead… Starting big with this great cover from R.E.M.

 

Ghouls: Wooden Shjips

Ripley Johnson, Dusty Jermier, Nash Whalen & Omar Ahsanuddin R.O.C.K. out!

 

My Beloved Monster: Eels

I suspect this song may have been posted lots already, so here’s a lovely version from the 2 Meter Sessions in 1997.

 

Vampire: Sinéad O'Connor

Cover of the Devon Irons & Dr. Alimantado/Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry classic from 1977. Sinéad produced by Sly & Robbie and absolutely smashing it.  

 

Devil Is A Liar: Kode9 & The Spaceape

Astonishing music and video, sadly released posthumously as The Space Ape aka Stephen Gordon passed far too soon on 2nd Oct 2014.  

 

Horrorworld: Momus

I nearly picked The Hairstyle Of The Devil, but this more recent offering from Mr. Currie also has a suitably creepy video.

Werewolves On Wheels: Don Gere

Forget the "first ever motorcycle horror film", it's the soundtrack & especially the main theme that you need to hunt down. Just remember to bring the silver bullets.

Terror In The Canyons (The Wounded Master): Phosphorescent

Lots of great live performances out there, including this one atop the Studio Brussel tower in Belgium, on 26 May 2013 (like today, also a Tuesday)

I Don't Want To Be A Freak (But I Can't Help Myself): Dynasty

Just a music love affair...  

 

Garghouls (Richard Sen Remix): Funboys

Head straight for the Sen. Old school video, new school vibes courtesy of this Norwegian-Australian-Belgian-Anglo collab.

 

Munster Creep: The Munsters

A cash-in single and album on the classic TV show that's actually pretty good. The real musicians apparently include Glen Campbell on guitar and Leon Russell on keys. Spooky! (#1)

 

These Are The Ghosts: The Bees

Their harmonies are the bees' knees, as this 2011 live version amply demonstrates.

 

Plastic Man, You're The Devil: Pink Mountaintops

From The Bees to McBean. Stephen McBean, that is, with a lovely live version from Vienna in 2009. 

 

She's Got A New Spell: Billy Bragg

I'd already chosen the song before fact checking and I have just discovered this was released as a single in the UK on 14th November 1988. Spooky! (#2)

 

Dirty Creature: Split Enz

The video is online but I've gone for this performance on short-lived Australian daytime music show WROK. Health warning: hairy chests from the start.

Skeletons: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Lots of YYY contenders, but I don't think this has made an appearance so far. Great song from a great album.  

 

With Volume Two landing tomorrow, I'll leave it to you to decide if this is 'trick' or 'treat'...!

1) I Walked With A Zombie (Cover of Roky Erickson & The Aliens): R.E.M. (1990)

2) Ghouls: Wooden Shjips (2013)

3) My Beloved Monster (Album Version): Eels (1996)

4) Vampire (Album Version) (Cover of Lee Perry ft. Devon Irons & Dr. Alimantado): Sinéad O'Connor (2005)

5) Devil Is A Liar: Kode9 & The Spaceape (2014)

6) Horrorworld: Momus (2021)

7) Werewolves On Wheels: Don Gere (1971)

8) Terror In The Canyons (The Wounded Master): Phosphorescent (2013)

9) I Don't Want To Be A Freak (But I Can't Help Myself) (Album Version): Dynasty (1979)

10) Garghouls (Richard Sen Remix): Funboys (2021)

11) Munster Creep: The Munsters (1964)

12) These Are The Ghosts (Undead Version): The Bees (2004)

13) Plastic Man, You're The Devil: Pink Mountaintops (2006)

14) She's Got A New Spell: Billy Bragg (1988)

15) Dirty Creature: Split Enz (1982)

16) Skeletons (Album Version): Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2009)

Volume One (1:08:26) (GD) (M)

Three Billy G.O.A.T.s

I've managed to go the whole weekend without watching a single complete set from the Glastonbury Festival. 

 

Admittedly, Lady K and I have caught a few moments whilst channel surfing but it tended to land on acts like Coldplay or Shania Twain, prompting a reflexive prod of the remote control to move swiftly on. 

Billy Nomates performed on the Leftfield stage on Saturday, though perhaps unsurprisingly after last year's appalling trolling and abuse, her set is not available to view on BBC iPlayer. A shame, as Tor Maries was easily one of 2023's highlights for this armchair festival goer and I've no doubt that she was brilliant this weekend too.

Billy Bragg joined Billy Nomates on stage for a version of the Bard of Barking's classic A New England. Sadly, no sign of this live rendition on YouTube either (yet), however Billy has shared her demo of the song, re-titled new ingland, with Billy Fuller (Beak>) on guitar. It's available as a name your price download on Bandcamp and suffice to say, it's rather special.

 

 

As a reminder or introduction, here's a selection from each of Tor's previous mixtapes/albums, tor tapes (2023), CACTI (2023) and Billy Nomates (2020), plus a new song wwid released in May.

I've reactivated the link to the Billy Nomates selection that I compiled in June 2023, which you can find here..

Tor's on tour, joining The Streets at Birmingham Centenary Square in August, then playing around the UK in November and December, culminating in a hometown gig at Strange Brew in Bristol on 5th December. I'll be there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leap Year

I didn't quite have enough song titles and artists featuring the word 'leap' to make a decent sized Dubhed selection, so here's a bunch of videos instead, starting appropriately enough with Leap Year by Port O'Brien from 2009.

 

From there, it's literally 1 Giant Leap with Braided Hair from 2002 featuring Speech (Arrested Development) and Neneh Cherry. I could have picked any song from the album to be honest but (a) this one had an accompanying video and (b) it's got Neneh Cherry on it, what's not to love?

Elbow got in on the act by releasing a new single, Lovers' Leap,  earlier this month with the second video this week featuring lots of running (see PJ Harvey on Tuesday).

Bim Sherman got to Lovers Leap first though, with this classic from 1979.

Elbow and Bim maybe should have listened to Gregory Isaacs' advice back in 1971 to Look Before You Leap...

...Especially if like Sergeant Neil Howie (aka Edward Woodward), you are drawn like a Magnet to the island of Summerisle circa 1973 and encounter the Fire Leap on your way to a meeting with a seemingly bewigged Christopher Lee...

Randolph's Leap obviously tried it fully clothed in 2021 and saw their wardrobe go Up In Smoke...

Again, if only they'd listened to Billy Bragg's advice (and one of his greatest songs) in 1988 and were still Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards...

...though these Mael siblings clearly also got tired of hanging around in 1997 and took The Great Leap Forward.

Tomorrow, a 3-hour Dubhed selection of 'March' songs. No, wait, I'm joking, please come back...!