A double celebration today, and an excuse (not that any is needed) for an hour of Andrew Weatherall.
Lady K will see this as further evidence of my ongoing stumble into irrelevance and decrepitude, but somehow another year has passed and I enter my 54th year on this swirling, twirling, constantly confounding and exciting plane of existence.
Also, a slightly belated cheer for this here blog, which first emerged blinking into the artificial light of the blogoverse on 7th December 2020. Thanks to all those who have joined the ride along the way, and continue to inspire and encourage me.
I've created loads of Andrew Weatherall selections in the past four years, and yet there's so much to choose from that it's still relatively easy to come up with a mix of music (or versions) that hasn't featured on this blog before. In fact, I was convinced that several of today's tracks had appeared here, but with one very deliberate exception, as far as I can tell, it's first time for all of the rest.
All eight songs are Andrew remixing other artists, not quite going back to the very beginning but starting relatively early in 1991 and going right to one of the very last remixes that he produced, before his passing in 2020.
By accident not design, I've inadvertantly skipped any of the remixes Andrew did with Keith Tenniswood as Two Lone Swordsmen or Timothy J. Fairplay as The Asphodells, but there are other collaborations here: The Sabres Of Paradise (of course) with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, plus David Harrow and Hugo Nicolson.
David Holmes is another inevitable inclusion; the instrumental mix of I Heard Wonders has previously appeared, here is Weatherall's full vocal version. Holmes has been a key figure in keeping the Weatherall flame burning and embodying the same spirit of curiosity, adventure and inclusion that typified The Guv'nor's approach to his craft.
Andrew previously remixed Jungle Bill by Yello in the early 1990s, and returned over twenty years later to refashion Frautonium.
It was common for Andrew to deliver multiple versions in one go: Ohm's Tribal Tone got three, Sleeper by Audioweb got two, as did Son Sur Son by The Venetians. Value for money would be an understatement, none of the remixes were ever 'dialled in' and each has a character of their own.
One Dove and Andrew Weatherall were inextricably linked on their early singles and monumental debut, Morning Dove White. There are lots of mixes of Fallen, but the Nancy & Lee Mix was so epic that it was adapted for inclusion on the album.
I started this blog in 2020 with 50@50, a series of Dubhed selections, charting key songs from 1970 to 2020, each 'side' covering roughly 5 years. Andrew Weatherall dominated the 1990-1994 selection, with 3 of the 5 tracks being his remixes of Primal Scream, Finitribe and the Nancy & Lee Mix of Fallen by One Dove.
On 11th December 2020, I pulled all of the sides together and sequenced them together into an epic four-hour selection. So, to celebrate four years to the day since Fallen (Nancy & Lee Mix) by One Dove and Andrew Weatherall appeared on this blog, here it is again to close out today's selection.
Less self-promotion and more (of the usual) nonsense tomorrow.
1) The Drum (12" Mix By Andrew Weatherall & Hugo Nicolson) (Cover of Slapp Happy): The Impossibles (1991)
2) Tribal Tone (Sabres Mix #1 By Sabres Of Paradise aka Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner & Gary Burns): Ohm (1993)
3) I Heard Wonders (Andrew Weatherall Vocal Mix): David Holmes (2008)
4) Frautonium (Battery) (Remix by Andrew Weatherall): Yello (2017)
5) Sleeper (Emissions No.5) (Remix By Andrew Weatherall & David Harrow): Audioweb (1995)
6) Son Sur Son (A.W. Edition Due) (Remix By Andrew Weatherall): The Venetians (2020)
7) Sweet Love For Planet Earth (Andrew Weatherall Remix): Fuck Buttons (2008)
8) Fallen (Nancy & Lee Mix By Andrew Weatherall & One Dove): One Dove (1992)
