"What I Did On My Summer Holidays" By Khayem, Age 35 ½

I have a much-needed week off work next week. No plans, other than to have some fun... well, apart from the long 'to do' list of chores pinned to the wall...! But mostly fun.

In that spirit, I came across this dusty old post, recounting a similar week off, twenty years ago. What was floating my boat in July 2006? Read on!

Saturday 15th July 2006

I attempted to paint a couple of coffee tables in my back garden, with primer that had the consistency of tar thanks to the excessive heat. 

Why do I ever decide to do these jobs? 

I’m crap at DIY!

Sunday 16th July 2006

Mrs. K and I tried and failed to rent Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl – or anything else for that matter – on DVD. Spent an inordinate amount of time in The Lounge café bar, getting drunk instead.

[2026 P.S. in July 2006, The Lounge was singiular, a cosy little place in a former opticians, less then 5 mins walk from our home. These days, there are approx. 250 Lounge bars across England and Wales]

Monday 17th July 2006

Left England, entered Wales, left Wales, re-entered England. Arrived at Mallards Pike Lake, the Forest of Dean, to Go Ape in the treetops. 

Severe doubts about my judgement kicked in when I saw people thirty feet up flinging themselves onto cargo nets, balancing on precarious platforms and screaming as they descended the ‘zip slides’ (hey, we know they’re really called ‘death slides’!). 

A faltering start at the briefing session as I put the harness on inside out, but I was determined to show both the slew of hyperactive teens and the inconceivably elderly gent in our group that I had what it takes. I felt adrenalin hitting hitherto unexplored parts of my bloodsystem… as I travelled the ten-foot practice zip slide, a few feet above ground level. 

Three hours later, Mrs. K and I completed our final ‘death slide’ descent, pumped up and ready to take on the world! That said, it’s unlikely that next month I’ll be writing of rap jumping down the side of a skyscraper. Small steps, small steps... 

We stopped off at the appropriately named The Gr(ape) in Chepstow for a bite to eat. Mrs. K ordered feta and vine tomato salad, which was lovely despite the fact that the feta became brie, the vine tomatoes were clearly the common-or-garden variety and the salad was largely conspicuous by it’s absence. 

My choice – black pudding and chorizo on a bed of rocket – uncovered the AWOL vine tomatoes, though the rocket seemed to have launched into the stratosphere, in pursuit of Mrs. K’s salad. However, the combination of meats was surprisingly effective, and ably assisted by full-bodied local beer, the Reverend James.

[2026 P.S. The Grape is sadly no more] 

Tuesday 18th July 2006

Mrs. K and I joined our close friend Jason at the local mutiplex to see Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest 

A tad overlong, but great fun. If you’ve not seen the first film, no problem: as there’s no ‘plot’ to speak of, there’s no chance of feeling ill informed. Bill Nighy delivers a star turn, despite having an octopus for a head throughout; likewise, barnacles proved no obstacle to Geoffrey Rush’s sterling performance. 

It’s easy to understand that Johnny Depp has been likened to Keith Richards in this film, but I’ll admit to a slight disappointment that Depp didn’t fully realise this by taking a tumble from a coconut tree. 

We’re both looking forward to Pirates 3, and may even get around to seeing the first one someday…

Wednesday 19th July 2006

I received an outline of my pre-job interview assignment: to prepare a briefing paper for a presentation/discussion with a panel. 

I successfully avoided soiling myself and dealt with my nervous anxiety by spending the day clothes shopping at Cribbs Causeway with Mrs. K.

[2026 P.S. Twenty years later, the self-proclaimed "South West's premier shopping centre" has dropped 'Causeway', settling for the mononym 'Cribbs'] 

Thursday 20th July 2006

A lazy day at The Relaxation Centre in Clifton, a first-time experience for the two of us. 

We sampled the outdoor hot tub, steam room, the indoor hot tub, sauna and floatation room and felt unbelievably great afterwards. 

I then blew it all that evening as my oldest friend Stuart was in town (check out his film Outlaw in 2007). Mandatory ale quaffing in The Three Sugar Loaves and The White Lion ensued, including pints of the prophetically named Doom.

Friday 21st July 2006

The hangover from hell, accompanied by the obligatory depression and lack of motivation. 

Mrs. K and I started watching a fascinating documentary on Blondie but I passed out before they’d even reached ‘The Tide Is High’ era.

Saturday 22nd July 2006

I spent the morning sitting in Queen Square whilst Mrs. K was having her hair styled by either Toni or Guy, I’m not sure which. I wrote some prep notes for my interview briefing paper, some of them even forming coherent comments. And that was about it.

Sunday 23rd July 2006

As it was a blazingly hot day, we put off going to the Ashton Court Festival until the last minute. 

I remember my earliest visits, when it was a sprawling, seemingly shambolic free community festival. Overflowing with pub bands, cheap lager, variations on goat curry and spicy noodles, and volunteers circulating with buckets to collect money for the following year’s event, the stumble out of the estate grounds in pitch blackness was a veritable rite of passage. 

How things have changed. 

Now, the entire event has been fenced in, lit up and corralled into submission. The £9.00 per day entry fee now offers you the likes of Simple Minds, The Go! Team and Dreadzone, though ‘pub bands’ still dominate. 

The latter two had headlined the previous day, so Mrs. K and I experienced the mighty ‘Juan’ Kerr and co. I only recognised about half of Simple Minds’ songs and those that I did – Don’t You Forget About Me, a dire cover of Van Morrison’s Gloria and the closing third encore (!) of Alive And Kicking - were little more than extended karaoke tracks, with Kerr preferring the audience to do the work on the choruses. 

The sole redeeming moment was a rendition of New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) seemingly inspired by Utah Saints’ rousing mid-1990s cover version. Apart from that, neither of us were sorry to see Simple Minds return to the ‘where are they now?’ file. 

Still, the walk home was fun, as we dove into the stream of human traffic heading south of the river. Along the way, pockets of inebriated male violence broke out, causing the occasional log jam. Perhaps the festival is still a rites of passage for some, but my feelings towards Ashton Court were aptly personified by Jim Kerr: over priced, over the hill, out of touch and with an inflated sense of self-importance.

[2026 P.S. Bit harsh, eh? I've a lot of love for Simple Minds' first few albums and they have admittedly come back stronger with some good songs in the last twenty years. But this still ranks as one of the worst gigs I have ever experienced.]

Holiday Reading:

Feeding Frenzy: Will Self (2002)

Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid On Earth: Chris Ware (2000)

Black Hole: Charles Burns (2005)

Planet Karen: Karen Ellis (2006)

Holiday Music:

Time Boom X De Devil Dead: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry + Dub Syndicate (1987)

Live In London: The Go-Betweens (2004)

Scary Monsters ('Sound + Vision' Expanded Edition): David Bowie (1980/1992)

Pure: The Times (1991)

69 Love Songs: The Magnetic Fields (1999)

Riot City Blues: Primal Scream (2006)

The Infotainment Scan (Expanded Edition): The Fall (1993/2006)

Holiday TV:

Lost

Big Brother’s Big Mouth

Saxondale

Nathan Barley

Grumpy Old Holidays

Dog The Bounty Hunter

Shriekin' And Dancing 'Til 4am

As a post-script to the David Bowie selections, 46 minutes of Tin Machine, featuring David, Reeves Gabrels and brothers Tony Fox Sales and Hunt Sales.

In his comment on Friday's Bowie post, The Swede (of Unthought Of, Though, Somehow) described Tin Machine as "oft derided". Personally, I'd go so far as to say that I was largely indifferent and had pretty much dismissed them before I'd heard a single note.

I was out of love with David at this point - well, the new music he was making, at least - so the prospect of Bowie as just another guy in a rock band did absolutely nothing for me, at a time when I getting deeper and deeper into dance music.

As it happens, one thing David and I did agree on in 1989 was a love of Pixies. I was obsessed with Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa and it appears that their music was hugely influential on Tin Machine's initial sound and album.

Tin Machine pretty much passed me by for the best part of three decades, until I discovered a bootleg of outtakes and unreleased recordings, which encouraged me to go back and actually listen to their music for the first time. I mean, properly listen.

Neither Tin Machine nor Tin Machine II will be up there with the best of Bowie, but they're also not nearly as bad as I'd somewhat sniffily assumed back in the day. I agree with The Swede's reflection that Tin Machine "gave Bowie a much needed kick up the artistic backside, clearing a path for the burst of solo creativity that followed." 

That, and the Sound + Vision tour and album reissues, both of which served as a palette cleanser, an objective reappraisal of what make Bowie tick as a songwriter and performer, and a chance to fall back in love with the creative process of making music. 

Like The Swede, I also prefer Tin Machine II to it's predecessor, it's more melodic leanings apparently being the trigger for the Sales brothers not wanting to continue with Tin Machine, though for Reeves Gabrels, it was the beginning of a long and productive partnership with Bowie.

Today's selection draws from both studio albums, slightly favouring the latter and bolstered with single versions and a BBC Radio 1 session. I've included a trio of outtakes, including Hunt Sales' vocals on the aptly-titled You Better Stop, a 10-second snippet called It's A Hit, and David taking the lead on It's Tough But It's OK. 

Hindsight is a great thing, and the Tin Machine concept arguably remains a soft target for lazy criticism. However, experienced from a distance, it was a vital and necessary step on David Bowie's voyage of (re)discovery and rejuvenation which prevented him becoming just another has-been on the nostalgia circuit. The music that he created in the 1990s and 2000s, culminating in the incredible Blackstar, is testament to that.

1) Bus Stop (Album Version) (1989)

2) You Better Stop (Outtake) (1991)

3) Amlapura (Album Version) (1991)

4) You Belong In Rock 'n Roll (Edit) (1991)

5) Sacrifice Yourself (Album Version) (1989)

6) Baby Universal (Mark Goodier Session) (1991)

7) If There Is Something (Album Version) (Cover of Roxy Music) (1991)

8) Run (Album Version) (1989)

9) Hammerhead (Single Version) (1991)

10) It's A Hit (Outtake) (1991)

11) Working Class Hero (Album Version) (Cover of John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band) (1989)

12) It's Tough But It's OK (Outtake Version 2) (1991)

13) I Can't Read (Album Version) (1989)

14) You Can't Talk (Album Version) (1991)

1989: Tin Machine: 1, 5, 8, 11, 13

1991: Baby Universal EP: 6

1991: Tin Machine II: 3, 7. 14

1991: You Belong In Rock 'n Roll EP: 4, 9

2018: Tin Machine III (bootleg MP3): 2, 10, 12

Shriekin' And Dancing 'Til 4am (46:19) (GD) (M)

Lost In Streams Of Sound

Celebrating David Robert Jones aka David Bowie, 8th January 1947 to 10th January 2016.

Ten years.

Hard to believe, isn't it?

On a personal level, it's hard to believe as I don't think that there's been a week since where a Bowie song or album hasn't popped up on my playlist. Although there has been no new music as such, there have been multiple releases, anthologies, live collections and previously unreleased outtakes that have expanded the legend, without demystifying the man.

There's still so much to discover, rediscover or experience in a whole new way. As Mike put it in his comment on Thursday, Bowie is the gift that keeps on giving.

But I miss him so much. There's been no-one else like him, before or after. 

The third and final of my selections enters the 21st century, beginning with the end. No Plan is one of four new songs that David recorded for the musical Lazarus, the original cast recording receiving a posthumous release nine months after his passing.

There are examples from each of the four albums that Bowie made in this century: Heathen (2002), Reality (2003), The Next Day (2013) and Blackstar, the latter released in 2016 on David's 69th birthday and two days before his passing. Steering his own course, right to the end.

I've also included a couple of songs from Toy, the album that David recorded in 2000 and intended to release in 2001. Record label shenanigans contributed to his departure from Virgin Records and the album remained unreleased until 2022.

A bootleg was leaked online in 2011 and this is the version I have in my collection. My first pick is Afraid, which was revisited and redone for the subsequent follow-up album, Heathen.

My other choice, and bringing this collection full circle, is Conversation Piece. The original 1969 B-side opened the first of my Bowie selections, and it felt right that it should also close the third and final compilation. 

Conversation Piece was one of many from David's 1960s Sixties songbook that he re-recorded for inclusion on Toy, and which did see the light of day on the bonus EP accompanying the limited edition CD of Heathen in 2002.

The bootleg version is an earlier, less polished mix, the drums a little lower, the voice just as wonderful. It's a beautiful remake and a fitting end to my 35 song cycle. 

Bless you, Bowie. Danke, David. 

1) No Plan (2016)

2) Try Some, Buy Some (Cover of Ronnie Spector) (2003)

3) I'd Rather Be High (Venetian Mix) (2013)

4) Safe (2002)

5) Afraid ('Toy' Version) (2000)

6) Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) (Album Version) (2016)

7) Sunday (Tony Visconti Mix) (2002)

8) The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (2013)

9) I Would Be Your Slave (2002)

10) Never Get Old (Album Version) (2003)

11) Conversation Piece (Re-Recorded Version / Early Mix) (2000)

2002: Everyone Says 'Hi' EP: 4, 7

2002: Heathen: 9

2003: Reality: 2, 10

2011: Toy (bootleg MP3): 5, 11

2013: The Next Day: 8

2013: The Next Day Extra: 3

2016: Blackstar: 6

2016: Lazarus (Original Cast Recording): 1 

Lost In Streams Of Sound (46:54) (GD) (M)

In celebration of the genius of Mr. Jones, I've resurrected links to my previous David Bowie mixtapes so that you can make a weekend playlist, if you wish...

16th May 1999: Femme Fatale Side One / Side Two

9th January 2021: Live Live Live 1974-2000 *

9th January 2024: Love You Till Tuesday

13th April 2025: Worlds Without Words 

* This originally featured as my 11th post on the Dubhed blog, less than a month since it's launch and with no concept that I might still be doing this thing five years later.

At the time, I tended not to keep my Dubhed selection files in any format, but this is one of the few mixtapes that I simultaneously posted to Mixcloud, albeit as a non-download post. 

With a little bit of villainy - and I'm sure Bowie would have appreciated this - I have bootlegged my own mixtape in order to present this Dubhed selection to you again, for the first time sinvce 2021. Enjoy!

It's Always Time

Celebrating the life of David Bowie with a selection of songs spanning the 80s and 90s.

I was nine years old in 1980, and although I was already aware of David Bowie, the sound and vision of Ashes To Ashes hit me hard and left an indelible mark on this impressionable young boy.

These two decades marked a period when I fell in and out of love with David Bowie. On the one hand, it was my voyage of discovery into his back catalogue, starting with Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), and going back to Bowie's classic albums and cut price compilations of his early recordings.

It was also a time where I dismissed albums such as Tonight, Never Let Me Down, 1. Outside and Earthling as a Bowie emulating rather than innovating, with only the occasional gem of a song to other a ray of light.

It's fair to say that the passage of time - and the time since David's passing - has significantly altered my relationship with all of his albums, these included. Admittedly, I'm always going to reach for Ziggy Stardust... over Tonight, "Heroes" over 1. Outside, but I've found much to love in each and every one.

My dozen choices still include six singles from the twenty year span, though not perhaps the most obvious choices and not the versions that you may be most familiar with. Intersperse these with some album deep cuts and a couple of soundtrack contributions (again, not the obvious choice of Absolute Beginners, classic though it is) and I've come up with a 45-minute selection that I think works pretty well.

By the start of the 21st Century, I was deeply in love with David Bowie again, and he realised some of the best music of his career in this period. Let's hope I manage to do it justice...

1) New Angels Of Promise (Album Version) (1999)

2) Neighborhood Threat (Cover of Iggy Pop) (1984)

3) Black Tie White Noise (Waddell's Mix (Edit) By John Waddell ft. Al B. Sure!) (1993)

4) Telling Lies (Album Version) (1997)

5) Within You (1986)

6) Without You (1983)

7) Fashion (Edited Version) (1980)

8) Blue Jean (MTV Video Version) (1984)

9) Cameras In Brooklyn aka Up The Hill Backwards (Demo) (1980)

10) New York's In Love (Album Version) (1987)

11) I Have Not Been To Oxford Town (Album Version) (1995)

12) When The Wind Blows (Album Version) (1986)

1980: Fashion EP: 7

1983: Let's Dance: 6

1984: Tonight: 2

1986: Labyrinth OST: 5

1986: When The Wind Blows OST: 12

1987: Never Let Me Down: 10

1993: Black Tie White Noise EP: 3

1995: 1. Outside: 11

1997: Earthling: 4

1999: Hours...: 1

2002: Best Of Bowie (DVD): 8

2015: Scary Monsters Sessions (Japanese bootleg): 9

It's Always Time (45:32) (GD) (M)

The World Is Full Of Life

Celebrating David Bowie, born 8th January 1947.

This is the first of three 12-song selections over the next three days, a daunting task when you consider how many superb songs emerged over a five decade career.

I've loosely divided each into a twenty-year span: today is the 60s and 70s; Friday covers the 80s and 90s; Saturday will look at the 00s and 10s.

Rather than attempt (and fail) to cover key songs or albums, I've taken a far more arbitrary approach, picking 12 songs that I simply fancied hearing again and thought might work well together. 

To manage your expectations, there's absolutely nowt from The Man Who Sold The World, The Lodger, Diamond Dogs, Hunky Dory or Low. A third of the selection is from the 1960s, a couple of singles, a third aborted single plus one of my favourite songs from Space Oddity.

A few songs and versions remained undeservedly unreleased until the 1990s/2000s and the extensive curation of Bowie's catalogue. 

And whilst I don't have Netflix and haven't seen a single episode of Stranger Things, apparently "Heroes" was featured in the final episode, so that's my accidental effort to remain relevant to "the kids". Although I plumped for the bilingual version, not the original!

If today's selection courts controversy, tomorrow should be interesting as it arguably covers Bowie's most commercially successful yet most critically panned period. This last statement may be completely inaccurate, but I found much to love in my dozen picks.

1) Conversation Piece (Single Version) (1969)

2) Rosalyn (Cover of The Pretty Things) (1973)

3) Let Me Sleep Beside You (Rejected Single Version) (1967)

4) Blackout (Album Version) (1977)

5) It Ain't Easy (Album Version) (1972)

6) Rubber Band (Single Version) (1966)

7) It's Gonna Be Me (Original Version) (1974)

8) God Knows I'm Good (Album Version) (1969)

9) "Heroes" / "Héros" (English / French Version) (1977)

10) Right (Alternative Early Version) (1974)

11) Golden Years (Single Version) (1975)

12) Panic In Detroit (Re-Recorded Version) (1979)

1966: Rubber Band EP: 6

1969: Space Oddity: 8

1970: The Prettiest Star EP: 1

1970: The World Of David Bowie: 3

1972: The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: 5

1973: Pin Ups: 2

1975: Golden Years EP: 11

1977: "Heroes": 4

1982: "Heroes" EP (Germany 12"): 9

1991: Young Americans (Expanded Edition): 7

1992:  Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (Expanded Edition): 12

2016: The Gouster (previously unreleased, 1974) / Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976): 10

The World Is Full Of Life (44:16) (GD) (M)

Wake Up Everybody And Get Down Tonight!

Some funk, soul and disco to enliven your Friday. 

All date from 1975, apart from a Tom Moulton mix, which may have followed a few years later, and every single second oozes with groove!

For those of you interested in such things, some production statistics for today's selection.

90: Minutes from idea to design to creation and upload of this post (all of it!)

12: Number of songs in the '1975' shortlist, arrived at 80 minutes ago; whittled down to the final 6 approx. 5 mins later

6: Times removing cat from keyboard or mouse

5: Minutes to crop and resize cover photo for post and 'sleeve art' (photo of graffiti wall taken last week)

3: Mugs of camomile tea quaffed 

2: Minutes to prepare breakfast

1: Miaowing cat fed and fussed; breakfast eaten; post finished and posted

Enjoy!

1) Wake Up Everybody (Album Version By Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff): Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

2) Get Down Tonight ("A Tom Moulton Mix"): KC & The Sunshine Band

3) Somebody Up There Likes Me (Album Version By Tony Visconti & Harry Maslin): David Bowie

4) I Can't Turn Around (Album Version By Isaac Hayes): Isaac Hayes

5) Fly, Robin, Fly (12" Version By Michael Kunze): Silver Convention

6) Hope You Feel Better Love (Part 1 & 2) (Album Version By Malcolm Cecil & Robert Margouleff): The Isley Brothers

1975: Chocolate Chip: 4

1975: Fly, Robin, Fly EP: 5

1975: The Heat Is On: 6

1975: Wake Up Everybody: 1

1975: Young Americans: 3

1994: Part 3... And More (Expanded Edition) (USA): 2

Wake Up Everybody And Get Down Tonight! (43:14) (KF) (Mega)

You're Welcome Here

A dip into my shopping bag from last week's Bandcamp Friday bonanza, a mix of new releases and 'catch up' purchases.

Heavy Heavy was the first album by Young Fathers that I bought, and I really liked it. I also got to see them perform live (kind of) when they joined Massive Attack on stage for three songs at last year's ACT 1.5 concert in Bristol.

Second album White Men Are Black Men Too has been made available as Name Your Price, so it was straight in the bag on Friday. Get Started is the closing song.

Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation, the 10th album - and first in six years - by Edwyn Collins, was out in March. I enjoyed the singles that preceded it, but this is also a primer for seeing Edwyn live in concert for the first - and last - time in September.

The Bridge Hotel appears two thirds of the way through, a wonderful paean to the real-life guest house in Helmsdale.

For one day only, most of Ibibio Sound Machine's digital catalogue was available as Name Your Price, which was an opportunity for me to plug the gaps in my collection, including the second studio album, Uyai.

I previously had the excellent Richard Norris remixes of side one closer Joy (Idaresit), and the album version is a welcome addition to my collection.

I've been a fan of Los Angeles-based Black Market, with their dub reimagining of iconic artists and music. In my bag this time were EPs by The Clash and Talking Heads and, going back to my entry point, the Thin White Dub EP. 

Posing the question, "What if David Bowie spent the summer of 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica with King Tubby instead of Philadelphia?", the EP recreates four songs: Young Americans, Modern Love, Station To Station and TVC15. 

The attention to detail is impeccable and the dub-infused versions are completely believable.

Another delightful discovery, also hailing from Scotland and released in March, is Things Found In Books by Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine. 

I'll admit that I was very familiar with Boo, having been a fan of his music since first hearing Graceland and Mahalia by The Bible nearly 40 years ago, but I knew next to nothing about Yvonne. 

It's a brisk album - 15 songs in 36 minutes - but does exactly what it set out to do. Vocally, Yvonne and Boo are a great pairing, with delicate acoustic chords and wistful horn elements providing an effective backdrop to their vignettes of imagined lives.

Worlds Without Words

An hour of instrumental music by David Bowie to massage your mind. 

There's at least one commercially released compilation of Bowie instrumentals, and probably dozens of bootlegs out there, so I've tried to avoid creating a selection that just feels like a retread of previous efforts.

Low (perhaps inevitably) fares best, with three songs; everything else ("Heroes" included), gets just the one. 

I've not been purist about it, so there are also several tracks that are an instrumental version, remix or re-edit of an original vocal song.

And whilst there are a few mood pieces, there are also a fair few uptempo numbers, to provide light and shade.

Sometimes, the music says all that needs to be said.
 

1) A New Career In A New Town (Album Version By David Bowie & Tony Visconti) (1977)

2) Little Wonder (Junior's Club Instrumental) (Remix By Junior Vasquez) (1997)

3) Plan (Album Version By David Bowie & Tony Visconti) (2013)

4) When The Wind Blows (Instrumental) (Remix By David Bowie & David Richards) (1986)

5) Moss Garden (Album Version By David Bowie & Tony Visconti) (1977)

6) Sound And Vision (808 'Lectric Blue Remix Instrumental) (Remix By 808 State) (1991)

7) Young Americans (Dublin Bus Disco Instrumental Edit) (2010)

8) Crystal Japan (Single Version By David Bowie & Tony Visconti) (1980)

9) Speed Of Life (Album Version By David Bowie & Tony Visconti) (1977)

10) Hallo Spaceboy (Instrumental) (Remix By Dave Ball & Ingo Vauk) (1996)

11) Brilliant Adventure (Album Version By David Bowie, Reeves Gabrels & Mark Plati) (1999)

12) Art Decade (Album Version By David Bowie & Tony Visconti) (1977)

13) Pallas Athena (Gone Midnight Mix By Meat Beat Manifesto / Jack Dangers) (1993)

14) The Mysteries (Album Version By David Bowie & David Richards) (1993)

1977: "Heroes": 5

1977: Low: 1, 9, 12

1980: Crystal Japan EP (Japan-only 7"): 8

1986: When The Wind Blows EP: 4

1991: Sound And Vision Remix (David Bowie vs 808 State) EP: 6

1993: Pallas Athena EP: 13

1993: The Buddha Of Suburbia OST: 14

1996: Hallo Spaceboy EP: 10

1997: Little Wonder EP: 2

1999: Hours...: 11

2010: Young Americans EP (bootleg MP3): 7

2013: The Next Day Extra (ltd 2x CD + DVD): 3

Worlds Without Words (1:00:32) (GD) (M)

If all that has left you wanting to hear Bowie's pipes, then I've reposted both sides of my 1999 mixtape here and here.

How To Fall From Grace And Slide With Elegance From A Pedestal

Celebrating Marianne Faithfull, 29th December 1946 to 30th January 2025.

I was talking to Mrs. K, when Marianne's passing was announced on BBC News, so I was admittedly only half-listening as the prepared obituary was delivered, but the snippets I caught made me increasingly upset.

I know obituaries by their very nature frequently celebrate and devalue a life in a few paragraphs or minutes. Even so, the fragments that penetrated my consciousness seemed to focus on Marianne's achievements in the 1960s, living in the shadow of men (including several Rolling Stones) and the drugs. Of course, the drugs.

What I wasn't picking up was Marianne's incredible achievements beyond the 1970s and 1980s and well into the 21st Century, in the face of prejudice, preconception, misogyny, debilitating and near-fatal health challenges (not least COVID) and inevitably the ravages of time from life lived increasingly on her own terms.

I don't have a huge amount of Marianne's music in my collection, but it charts an incredible journey and a fearless confrontation and defiance of convention. Not just as a singer, but a songwriter (for Grace Jones), a collaborator (Bowie, Sly & Robbie, Patrick Wolf) and an interpreter of other's songs (everyone from Sonny & Cher to The Decemberists). 

Marianne released a single written by Serge Gainsbourg in 1967; forty years later, she revisited another of his songs to celebrate his life. Both are very special interpretations by a unique artist.

I've included a version of As Tears Go By, transmitted as part of a David Bowie special on US TV in 1973. The Rolling Stones regretted passing on the song when Marianne had a hit and belatedly recorded their own version. It's good, but not as good.

I've omitted Sister Morphine, the song Marianne subsequently co-wrote with and for the Stones. Likewise, I've not included the original version of Broken English, the title track of Marianne's 1979 album, opting instead for a remix and a cover version, both from the 2000s.

I bought a secondhand CD of Patrick Wolf's 2007 album The Magic Position (which is brilliant, by the way) and discovered halfway through the song Magpie, featuring a surprising and delightful appearance from Marianne. It's a highlight among highlights and just one example of her continuing relevance and inspiration to future generations of musicians.

Sliding Through Life On Charm, written with Jarvis Cocker, Mark Webber, Steve Mackey and Nick Banks from Pulp, is a semi-autobiographical rollercoaster and provides the title of today's post and tribute selection. To quote the full verse,

I wonder why the schools don't teach anything useful nowadays 

Like how to fall from grace 

and slide with elegance from a pedestal 

I never asked to be on in the first place

You can read much about Marianne, including much in her own words, but we'll never know the whole story, really know Marianne. But what a legacy she leaves.

Rest in power, Marianne.

1) Broken English (Baron Von Luxxury Light Touch Remix By Blake Robin) (Downtempo): Marianne Faithfull (2008)

2) I Got You Babe (Live @ The Marquee, London) (Cover of Sonny & Cher): David Bowie ft. Marianne Faithfull (1973)

3) I've Done It Again (Album Version): Grace Jones (1981)

4) The Crane Wife 3 (Cover of The Decemberists): Marianne Faithfull ft. Nick Cave (2008)

5) Guilt (Album Version): Marianne Faithfull (1979)

6) As Tears Go By (Live @ The Marquee, London): Marianne Faithfull (1973)

7) Hier Ou Demain: Marianne Faithfull (1967)

8) Lola R. For Ever (Lola Rastaquouère) (Cover of Serge Gainsbourg): Marianne Faithfull & Sly And Robbie (2006)

9) If I Never Get To Love You (Cover of Lou Johnson): Marianne Faithfull (1965)

10) Broken English (Cover of Marianne Faithfull): Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy (2004)

11) Magpie: Patrick Wolf ft. Marianne Faithfull (2007)

12) Sliding Through Life On Charm (Album Version): Marianne Faithfull (2002)

1965: Marianne Faithfull: 9

1979: Broken English: 5

1981: Nightclubbing: 3

2002: Kissin Time: 12

2004: Another Language: 10

2006: Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited: 8

2007: The Magic Position: 11

2008: Easy Come Easy Go: 4

2016: Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970: 7

2017: The 1980 Floorshow: 2, 6

2021: Luxxury Edits Vol. 3: 1

How To Fall From Grace And Slide With Elegance From A Pedestal (46:05) (KF) (Mega)

When I'm By Myself...

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded May 1992.

 

A bit of an oddity in my collection, this one, as it was never recorded by me or for me, but by my brother's then-fiancée. Both the relationship and the cassette were subsequently discarded and, if memory serves, I rescued this and a few other tapes that my brother had binned and intended for landfill.

I think I was curious about this collection in particular because it contains lots of singer/songwriter heavyweights that I recognised by name but was largely ignorant of. So, it was a good opportunity to dip my toe into the waters.

I'd like to say that this was my springboard into the worlds of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne. It wasn't, but it opened my eyes and ears and eventually I started dipping into Bob, Joni and Jackson's respective back catalogues. Although I've yet to own a Sting album and I'm in no particular rush to do so.

 

The collection opens with 80s Dylan, but it's okay, it's one of the good ones. I'm not familiar enough with Joni Mitchell's vast body of work to know if there are similarly certain periods and/or album that should come with their own "enter at your own risk" warning, but Hejira presents no such threat.

On paper, The Cure's debut B-side seems the errant choice, nestled between Sting and Sinéad, but it fits right in and still hits the same sweet spot as it did when I first heard on the double play greatest hits cassette, Standing On A Beach: The Singles (And Unavailable B-Sides), in 1986.

 

My Special Child was a standalone single by Sinéad O'Connor, peaking at #42 in the UK in June 1991. I was still travelling around Australia at the time, which probably explains why I had no recollection of the song. It's an okay song, though with that voice, Sinéad's 'okay' is still way above many other artist's 'excellent'.

The original compilation featured the album version of Airwaves by Thomas Dolby from his 1982 debut, The Golden Age Of Wireless. I've swapped it out here for the earlier demo version, which appeared on the 1980 cassette From Brussels With Love, on the now-legendary label Les Disques Du Crépuscule. I love this pared down, less tech-y version, which sits better with the warmer, organic sounds infusing this collection.

I know The Beautiful South were big back in the day, and had lots of hit records. Even so, I still don't think Paul Heaton gets the level of recognition and appreciation he should, as one of the finest singers and songwriters to emerge in the 1980s. I don't listen to his music as often as I should. Hearing a song like Let Love Speak Up Itself makes me question why.

I heard Cowboy Junkies' cover of Powderfinger before I heard the song as written and recorded by Neil Young. it followed the achingly slow template of the Trinity Sessions album and remains the definitive version for me. 

 

The same month that my brother's girlfriend put I'd Rather Go Blind by Chicken Shack, I also acquired the song via Vox magazine's cover mounted cassette freebie, Radio Daze (The John Peel Sessions). The fact that the opening song was 10.15 Saturday Night makes me think that she included both songs from the very same compilation. 

 

I'd Rather Go Blind is another example where I was deeply immersed in the cover long before I heard the original version, in this case Etta James in 1967. The song has been covered many, many times since by the likes of Rod Stewart, Ruby Turner, Janet Kay, Paul Weller, Beyoncé and Dua Lipa. Chicken Shack's version is hard to beat, not least for the sublime vocals by Christine Perfect aka the much-missed Christine McVie.

The Road by Jackson Browne is a bit of an oddity. Taken from his 1977 album Running On Empty, according to Iffypedia, "the entire album was recorded on tour, either live on stage, or in locations associated with touring, such as backstage, on tour buses, or in hotel rooms".

The song itself is a prime example. The first half was recorded in room 301 of the Cross Keys Inn in Columbia, Maryland on 27th August 1977. The second half switches to a live recording at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey on 7th September 1977. The latter pretty much sounds like an entirely different song to the sparse acoustic section that preceded it.

Rounding off the collection is The Manish Boys featuring one David Jones who, like Christine Perfect, changed their name and enjoyed slightly more success as... David Bowie. The session guitar player also went on to greater things, a young whippersnapper by the name of Jimmy Page.

Today's headline photo, nicked from t'internet, is a contemporary photo (April 1992) of the Redcliffe flyover and the George Railway Hotel near Temple Meads station in Bristol. The flyover was a narrow, single-track curved bridge opened as a temporary measure in 1968...which ended up staying there until 1998. As a kid sitting in the back seat of my parents' car, a journey into the city centre via the flyover was the equivalent of a free rollercoaster. Without seat belts. Fearless times, eh?

1) Man In The Long Black Coat: Bob Dylan (1989)  

2) Mad About You: Sting (1991) 

3) 10:15 Saturday Night (Single Version): The Cure (1978)

4) My Special Child: Sinéad O'Connor (1991)

5) Airwaves (Demo): Thomas Dolby (1980)

6) Let Love Speak Up Itself (Album Version): The Beautiful South (1990)

7) Powderfinger (Cover of Neil Young): Cowboy Junkies (1990)

8) Coyote: Joni Mitchell (1976)

9) I'd Rather Go Blind (Cover of Etta James): Chicken Shack (1969)

10) The Road (Cover of Danny O'Keefe): Jackson Browne (1977)

11) I Pity The Fool (Cover of Bobby 'Blue' Bland): The Manish Boys (1965)

1965: I Pity The Fool EP: 11

1969: I'd Rather Go Blind EP: 9

1976: Hejira: 8

1977: Running On Empty: 10

1978: Killing An Arab EP: 3

1980: From Brussels With Love (Les Disques Du Crépuscule): 5

1989: Oh Mercy: 1

1990: Choke: 6 

1990: The Caution Horses: 7

1991: My Special Child EP: 4

1991: The Soul Cages: 2

Side 1 (46:56) (KF) (Mega)

In Amongst The Moshers

January will be a gig-free month for me, so to fill the void I've compiled a imaginary live set featuring some top-notch performances from 1977 to 1979. And imagine the mosh pit!

 

The formidable line-up includes The Fall, Joy Division, Blondie, The Clash, The Specials, Scritti Politti and Magazine with heavyweight appearances from The Police, John Cale and David Bowie.

I even managed to sneak in some John Cooper Clarke.

Enjoy! But no spitting. I don't like spitting.

 

1) Stepping Out (Live @ Electric Circus, Manchester): The Fall (1977) 

2) Detroit 442 (Live @ The Walnut Theatre, Philadelphia): Blondie (1978)

3) Sabotage (Live @ CBGB, New York): John Cale (1979)

4) Armagideon Time (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London): The Clash (1979)

5) Guns Of Navarone (Live @ The Lyceum, London): The Specials (1979)

6) Be My Wife (Live @ Earls Court, London): David Bowie (1978)

7) Persecution Complex (Live @ Electric Circus, Manchester): The Drones (1977)

8) Tomorrow (Live @ University Of California, Riverside, California): Wall Of Voodoo (1979)

9) Bronze Adonis (Live @ Rafters, Manchester): John Cooper Clarke (1978)

10) Miracle Man (Live @ The Nashville Room, London): Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1977)

11) She Can Only Say No (Live): The Undertones (1979)

12) Art Forever (Live @ Acklam Hall, London): Scritti Politti (1979)

13) Time's Up (Live @ Electric Circus, Manchester): Buzzcocks (1977)

14) Message In A Bottle (Live @ Park West, Chicago): The Police (1979)

15) At A Later Date (Live @ Electric Circus, Manchester): Joy Division (1977)

16) Definitive Gaze (Live @ Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester): Magazine (1978)

In Amongst The Moshers (49:49) (KF) (Mega)