I Still Know What You Did Last Sombre

Side 2 of a mix CD-R, originally compiled for my brother and burned on 4th December 2006.

 

The previous post was described as the 'downtempo side'. Side 2 is definitely more upbeat, musically at least, even if the lyrics poke at the festering sore of humanity on occasion.

Adding to Side 1's sole album release from 2006 (Scritti Politti), there are three more on this side. I don't listen Writer's Block by Peter, Björn & John that often and I probably should as, hype at the time around Young Folks aside, I remember it being a pretty good album. Sparks are in constant rotation so and I have a lot but not all of their albums, so Hello Young Lovers (and Lil' Beethoven, also represented here) get regular airings at Casa K.  

 

Charlotte Gainsbourg's 2006 album 5:55 (her belated second) was already in the bargain bin when I bought it on CD later that year but it was a revelation. The album seemed to have a bit of a Marmite reaction from reviewers at the time as I recall but it was an immediate winner for me. When you've got AIR, Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon working with you on your songs and Nigel Godrich, can you go wrong? I didn't think so. The Swede posted about ten go-to albums on his blog Unthought Of, Though, Somehow last week. Deliberately avoiding the big hitters, it threw up some interesting choices. 5:55 by Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of my go-to album, a "musical comfort blanket", as The Swede so brilliantly describes it.

 

I'd been trying and failing to get hold of Kevin Shields' wonderful remix of Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo for a while, when it became one of my very first internet downloads (dial-up on a custom-made PC, so you can imagine that it took a fair while just to get a nine-minute track. It was a fairly ropy rip as I recall. Thankfully, both Yo La Tengo and their label Matador agreed as it finally got a re-release in 2005 as part of the superb Prisoners Of Love collection...well, the limited edition 3CD set, at least. This is a perfect marriage of artists that makes me wish they had done more together.

The opening pair of songs came from cover mounted cassettes with Select magazine, so will come with some quality limitations given the source. Positive I.D. originally appeared on Renegade Soundwave's second album and was released in multiple remixes as a single. This is my favourite mix of them all, making the most of the Bryan Ferry sample.

Don't Fight It Feel It by Primal Scream is good in any version that I've heard, but this version amply demonstrates their ability to inject the funk and ratchet up the guitar for a live audience. Denise Johnson takes it all in her stride and delivers a powerful vocal. I wish I'd been able to experience her magnificence in person.

Fosbury by Tahiti 80 was another chance bargain bin discovery - I think I paid 50p for this one in the Virgin Megastore in Bristol. The 'special edition' with two bonus songs, no less. It's a great album, and introduction to the band, not least with Big Day. As good a statement of intent as you could wish for. I'm not kept pace with Tahiti 80, to be honest, though I see that they're still a going concern. One for the next Bandcamp Friday shopping list.

I closed things off with Chris Morris, with a one-off release for Warp Records in 2003 and following up their collaboration on the Blue Jam album (2000) and My Wrongs 8245–8249 & 117 short film (2002). Bushwhacked 2 as you might guess, featured chopped up snippets of speech from then-incumbent White House cretin George 'Dubya' Bush. This compilation featured the original 'Raw Feed' version but I've opted to swap it for Adrian Sutton's orchestral rework, which I think works a little better in context. Sadly, with the Orange Baby previously in post and threatening to do so again, no editing and rearranging needed as he says similar stuff of his own volition. What times we live in!

 

1) Positive I.D. (Security Analysis Remix): Renegade Soundwave (1994)

2) Don't Fight It Feel It (Alive In Tokyo): Primal Scream ft. Denise Johnson (1994) 

3) Big Day: Tahiti 80 (2004)

4) Suburban Homeboy: Sparks (2002)

5) AF607105 (Album Version By Nigel Godrich): Charlotte Gainsbourg (2006)

6) Autumn Sweater (Remixed By Kevin Shields): Yo La Tengo (1997)

7) Metaphor: Sparks (2006)

8) Amsterdam: Peter, Björn & John (2006)

9) Bushwhacked 2 (Adrian Sutton Mounting - Orchestral Mix): Chris Morris (2003)

 

1994: Secret Tracks (Select magazine promo cassette): 1

1994: Secret Tracks 2 (Select magazine promo cassette): 2

1997: Autumn Sweater EP: 6

2002: Lil' Beethoven: 4 

2003: Bushwhacked EP: 9

2004: Fosbury: 3 

2006: 5:55: 5

2006: Hello Young Lovers: 7

2006: Writer's Block: 8

 

Side Two (40:07) (KF) (Mega)

Side One here

Car Trouble

My car's currently sitting in the snow outside my house, where it's been for over a week now. I won't bore you with the full story, but it's out of action and, after a garage inspection and service didn't resolve the issue, I now have to wait until 11th January when the nearest Vauxhall garage, north of Bristol, can take a look. It'll require a recovery vehicle to get it there, with an uncertain but undoubtedly expensive outcome. 

The week has therefore involved some creative efforts to traverse the county for work. Getting to Gloucester (approx. 25 miles away) took the best part of two hours via bus and train (thankfully on the day when they weren't on strike). Yesterday, I was able to work a bit closer to home (approx. 5 miles) which took about an hour, door to door. It was the same driver on the homeward bound journey. At that point he'd already worked seven hours and had another three to go. He told me he'd been doing this for twelve years and had had enough of rude people, delivery drivers blocking the roads whilst dropping off parcels and the godawful snow and ice. I didn't really know what else to say other than to empathise and thank him for getting me home safe and sound.

Things will be difficult - and expensive - this month and next, but I try to keep a sense of perspective. When employees get to the point where they have to go on strike, you know things are bad. And those who are criticising and vilifying the very same people who they clapped every week during the lockdown, shame on you.

 

Back to cars and music, today's selection has taken my sorry, first-world problem as inspiration, offering up 45 minutes of car-related musings. 

 

Adam & The Ants to start with Cartrouble. I've got the original vinyl issue of the Dirk Wears White Sox album on Do-It from 1979 but here I've plumped from the label's cash-in remix and reissue from 1982 on the Antmusic EP, following Adam & co's commercial success on CBS. Do It cannily drafted Chris Hughes - one of the two CBS-era drummers in the band - to remix Cartrouble. Unsurprisingly, the drums are a lot bigger here. I believe the Antmusic 12" split parts 1 & 2 across the two sides of vinyl but I got the unedited version with 2004's expanded CD edition of Dirk...

 

I couldn't resist including 4ft Car from Chris Morris' incredible Blue Jam radio series, later including in a CD of choice sketches released on Warp Records and then recreated for Channel 4's TV series, simply titled Jam. Kevin Eldon is the irate car owner in both, effing and jeffing all the way through. Seemed apt as the duff car in question is a Vauxhall. "Who do they think I am? Fucking Noddy?!" still makes me laugh out loud.

 

(By the way, the music underpinning 4ft Car is Go Faster by Propellerheads, seguing into Day For Night by Moloko).

 

Cars by Gary Numan is of course one of the greatest songs of all time about the motor vehicle and this demo version from 1979 shows that he was bang on it from the start.

 

And the selection had to end with Prefab Sprout. I bought this as a 10" single back in 1988 and it still holds a special place in my heart, 35 years later. Paddy McAloon is a superlative songwriter, but weren't Wendy Smith, Martin McAloon and Neil Conti fantastic also? Given it's the festive season, maybe it's a good time for a Sprout selection...

 

1) Cartrouble, Pts. 1 & 2 (Remixed By Chris Hughes): Adam & The Ants (1982) 

2) Car Crash: TrIcky ft. Costanza Francavilla (2003)

3) In The Back Of Your Car: Client (2005)

4) The Wrong Car (Single Version): The Twilight Sad (2010)

5) Killy Car Thieves (Special Mix): Band Of Holy Joy (1988)

6) 4ft Car: Chris Morris ft. Kevin Eldon (2000)

7) Cars (Demo Version): Gary Numan (1979)

8) Carwreck (Wagon Christ Mix By Luke Vibert): Funki Porcini (1996)

9) Fast Car / Slow Traffic (Erland & The Carnival Carnivalization): Paul Weller (2010)

10) Car: Built To Spill (1994)

11) Cars And Girls (Album Version): Prefab Sprout (1988)

1988: From Langley Park To Memphis: 11

1988: Gigantic! (Melody Maker magazine promo cassette): 5

1994: There's Nothing Wrong With Love: 10

1996: Carwreck EP: 8

2000: Blue Jam: 6

2003: Vulnerable: 2

2004: Dirk Wears White Sox (Expanded Edition): 1

2005: Pornography EP: 3

2009: The Pleasure Principle (30th Anniversary Edition): 7 

2010: Wake Up The Nation/Change Up The Nation (Deluxe Edition): 9

2010: The Wrong Car EP: 4

Car Trouble (45:09) (Box) (Mega)