Unbelievable! Magnificent!

Unexpected treats from EMF and Fluke, to get the weekend off to a great start.

I stumbled across this by accident whilst trawling the internet for something else entirely, but Gaudi and Don Letts have remixed EMF's calling card Unbelievable to frankly stunning effect.

The expletive-teasing, wailing guitar, keyboard-smashing original has been transformed into a downtempo, bassbin-shaking, rumbling, menacing monster that, at 4:30, is tantalisingly short and has had me putting it on a loop just to keep letting it wash over me. A remarkable transformation.

Speaking of remarkable, one of 2024's most joyous moments was Fluke returning out of the blue with the brilliant and wonderful Insanely Beautiful, in a variety of pulse-quickening versions.

Having set the bar so high, the surprise drop of second comeback single Real Magnificent on Friday proves beyond doubt that Jon Fugler and Mike Tournier are back and mean business. 

I thought Insanely Beautiful was a triumphant return; Real Magnificent ups the ante even more and if this is the precursor to a full length album, then bloody hell, it'll be the one to beat in 2025...!

 
Getting Leah Cleaver on board was a masterstroke, her voice a perfect counter to Jon Fugler's vocals, especially so on Real Magnificent. I like the fact that the sound is unmistakably Fluke, without attempting to recreate Philly, Electric Guitar or Bullet, for example. This is the same band (well, two thirds of the original line-up) yet very much 21st century music.

Another set of top notch remixes, too. Another 'All Buttons In' remix by Fluke (is this a subtle reveal of an album title?), but whereas the ABI version of Insanely Beautiful was an instrumental, many of Jon's vocals are retained for Real Magnificent, Leah's ooohs and mmms swooping in and out of the mix, before coming back in for the chorus.

I would love to believe that the JC Remix is by the beloved genius behind The Vinyl Villain blog. However, I'm assuming it's actually Fluke's keeper of the flame Justin Credible, who has been posting unofficial, endorsed mixes on YouTube for severakl years. Either way, it's a banger. 

sLEdger aka Robin Dallison is new to me, though on the strength of the remix and dub provided, someone I need to discover more about. The remix is a near nine minute dancefloor behemoth, whilst the dub ups the bass without compromising the beats. Both incredibly satisfying.

All five versions of Real Magnificent are available to purchase as individual tracks at a quid a pop, though you'd only be cheating yourself if you don't grab the whole lot. 

For all of my enthusiasm and hyperbole though, the song's title provides it's own two word review: Real Magnificent.

'Nuff said.

Wednesday's Child

Happy birthday to Don Letts, born 10th January 1956.

 

It's never a good idea to do a complete U-turn on your intended blog post at the last minute, especially when it involves creating a new mix from scratch. Even more so when your computer/internet collection is on a go slow, presenting you with the spinning wheel of death on screen whilst you jab pointlessly at the keyboard, in tbe vain hope that it might speed things along.

 

So, the original idea was to post some videos by artists who were born on a Wednesday, of which there are quite a few, even when you avoid out the complete wrong turns offered up by your not-so-friendly browser.

 

However, when I realised it was Don's birthday today, there was no way that I wasn't going to focus attention on him instead. And no, Don wasn't born on a Wednesday - it was a Tuesday, if you really need to know - who really cares? He's worth it!

So, when my effing and jeffing at the screen subsides and the files upload, here's just under an hour of music featuring Don Letts, topped and tailed of course by Big Audio Dynamite, a couple each from Basement 5 and Screaming Target, a few rarities and a new(ish) David Holmes remix of the title track from Don's first solo album, Outta Sync, released last year.

 

1) Much Worse (Extended Mix By Paul 'Groucho' Smykle): Big Audio Dynamite (1988)

2) Paranoiaclaustrophobia Dub: Basement 5 (1980)

3) Sumimasen Suite Pt.1: Yasushi Ide ft. Emily Capell & Rebel Dread aka Don Letts (2022)

4) Knowledge 'n' Numbers (Depth Charge Mix By J. Saul Kane): Screaming Target (1991)

5) Beat Down Babylon (Don Letts / Dan Donovan Dub Cartel Remix): Strawberry Blondes (2010)

6) Haile Unlikely By The Electric Dread: Don Letts, Stratetime Keith, Steel Leg, Jah Wobble (1978)

7) Outta Sync (David Holmes Remix): Don Letts (2023)

8) Immigration: Basement 5 (1980)

9) Who Killed King Tubby (Screaming Dub Mix By Paul 'Groucho' Smykle): Screaming Target (1991)

10) BAD (12" Version By Mick Jones): Big Audio Dynamite (1985)

Wednesday's Child (58:03) (KF) (Mega)

Dread Town Boundary

Dreadzone featuring Emily Capell in a video (co)directed by Don Letts? Yes, please!

 

Dread Town featured on last year's Dreadzone Presents Dubwiser Volume Two, which also included Boundary, a collaboration with Italian dub maestro (and thereminist) Gaudi.

On Friday, Gaudi released a remix of Boundary, "adding a sexy dub-tech flavour to amplify the track’s positive heart and give it more of a dancefloor focus". 

 

If that doesn't get your Monday off to a good start, maybe go back to bed and sleep it away.

Emily Capell's debut album Combat Frock is available here

Dreadzone Present Dubwizer Volume Two is available here

Dreadzone is also currently touring the UK

The Stuff That Cured A Nation

I've been listening to Big Audio Dynamite again recently, the full run of albums, including the reboots as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, before reverting to the original name once more in the mid-1990s.

Of course, the one constant has been Mick Jones and much as I love The Clash, I was a little too young to fully appreciate them at the height of their powers and Big Audio Dynamite landed at just the right time, in my early teens. It's fair to say that Jones' creativity, thirst for mixing up guitars with beats and samples and his lyrical dexterity never faltered.

A Big Audio Dynamite selection is well overdue: I posted the first side of the Bad Attitude cassette compilation of 12" mixes a year ago yesterday; the flip side followed a few months later (links to Side 1 and Side 2). 

 

In the meantime, here's a selection of videos covering each of their albums from debut This Is Big Audio Dynamite in 1985 through to 1997's final album Entering A New Ride, self-released online after then-label Radioactive rejected it. 

I've opted for Medicine Show and C'mon Every Beatbox, not just because they're brilliant songs, but as they also feature the truly magnificent Neneh Cherry. I couldn't find a video for Other 99 so I've used a live performance from BAD's 2011 reunion tour with the original line up, which is great. No official videos from mini-album Kool-Aid by Big Audio Dynamite II as far as I can tell, but I've found what looks to these rheumy eyes like a fan-made clip . Likewise, there were no videos for any of the tracks from Entering A New Ride, but Nice And Easy features Ranking Roger, so it deserves an airing even as an audio-only clip.

I'll try not to leave it a year before the next Big Audio Dynamite post...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medicine Show: Big Audio Dynamite (from This Is Big Audio Dynamite, 1985)

C'mon Every Beatbox: Big Audio Dynamite (from No. 10, Upping St., 1986)

Other 99 (Live @ The Roxy, Los Angeles, 14th April 2011): Big Audio Dynamite (from Tighten Up Vol. '88, 1988)

James Brown: Big Audio Dynamite (from Megatop Phoenix, 1989)

Kool-Aid: Big Audio Dynamite II (from Kool-Aid, 1990)

Rush: Big Audio Dynamite II (from The Globe, 1991)

Looking For A Song: Big Audio (from Higher Power, 1994)

I Turned Out A Punk: Big Audio Dynamite (from F-Punk, 1995)

Nice & Easy (Remix): Big Audio Dynamite ft. Ranking Roger (from Entering A New Ride, 1997)

(More) Bad Attitude

Side 2 of a mixtape, originally recorded 13th February 2002, featuring Big Audio Dynamite. Although the cassette sleeve is sub-titled "1985-1989", the truth is that I dipped out after V. Thirteen and missed third album Tighten Up Vol. '88 and it's accompanying singles altogether. The same was true of follow up album Megatop Phoenix, though I did buy the 12" of Contact, which I loved, and the Australian 12" of James Brown whilst in - you guessed it - Australia. I'm not sure why I seem to have temporarily fallen out of love with Big Audio Dynamite as, in retrospect, the 1988-89 songs are great. It was probably down to a limited budget for buying new music, considering I spent two years working and saving to travel, so any spare money was going on gigs, substances, clothes, running a car and my then-new obsession with Pixies. 

Betraying my limited B.A.D. vinyl - I only had the first album and an assortment of singles, with No. 10, Upping St. on a badly dubbed cassette, so unusable for my own mixtape - the original featured Medicine Show twice, album version on Side 1, 12" version on Side 2. For this update, I've swapped out the latter with Albert Einstein Meets The Human Beatbox, which originally appeared on the Medicine Show limited double pack 12" single and uses the E=MC² backing track. This also freed up space to include the 12" mix of Contact, which was inexplicably missing from the original track listing. Never mind the sequencing, feel the quality.

 

1) A Party (Dub) (Remix By Paul 'Groucho' Smykle) (Full Length) (1985)

2) James Brown (Remix Edit By Mick Jones & Bill Price) (1989)

3) C'mon Every Beatbox (Beatbox's At Dawn) (Remix By Sam Sever) (1986)

4) Hollywood Boulevard (Dub Mix By Sam Sever) (1986)

5) Contact (12" Mix By Judge Jules & Roy The Roach) (1989)

6) Albert Einstein Meets The Human Beatbox (ft. Sipho & Clement) (1986)

7) Sony (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

8) BAD (12" Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

 

Side Two (46:47)

Find Side One here
 

Bad Attitude

Side 1 of a mixtape, originally recorded 13th February 2002. I was too young for The Clash to be 'my' band at school, but Big Audio Dynamite were a different proposition. This Is Big Audio Dynamite is an incredible album and the 12" mixes were equally thrilling, chock-full with samples, beats and incisive lyrics. The original BAD line up - Mick Jones, Don Letts, Leo Williams, Dan Donovan and Greg Roberts - was unbeatable, but there was an added thrill when Joe Strummer reunited with Mick Jones to co-write and co-produce second album No. 10, Upping St. I never tire of listening to these records.

 

1) This Is Big Audio Dynamite (12" Mix By Mick Jones & Paul 'Groucho' Smykle) (1985)

2) Stone Thames (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

3) V. Thirteen (Extended Remix By Mick Jones & Alan Moulder) (1986) 

4) Medicine Show (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

5) The Bottom Line (12" Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

6) Sudden Impact! (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

7) E=MC² (Extended Remix By Mick Jones & Paul 'Groucho' Smykle) (1985)

Side One (45:53)