Dub '96

An hour of dub not dub today, with a 10-song selection of remixes circa 1996.

Dub '96 follows the tradition of previous Dubhed excursions to 1983 and 1985 (twice), with a varied (re)mix of indie and electronic music, all put through the club/dub filter.

Everything But The Girl were partying like it was, er, 1999, teaming up with Spring Hill Jack for the drum and bass-infused title track of their Walking Wounded album. 

Dubstar called Mother... no, not theirs, the DJ/producer duo of Jools Brettle & Lee Fisher... to take their single Stars into space, a dub oddity if you will.

18 Wheeler on the other hand stayed on terra firma, getting Greg Hunter in to dub their single, transforming it into Beyond The Valley Of The Hours And The Times, in homage to Russ Meyer's 1970 film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls.

Inspired by Dubstar, The Beloved were visited by one half of Deep Dish, the fortuitously named Dubfire (Ali to his ioved ones) to go even further with Three Steps To Heaven. Unfortunately, the record label didn't approve and the remix remained unreleased for many years.

Alter Ego proposed getting out of their heads on Mescal, or should that be Mezcal? You may be interested to know that all tequila is a type of mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila. Two Lone Swordsmen create a suitably out of body dub.

From out of their heads to Out Of This World by Republica. This remix was originally released as a promo 12" in 1994, back when The Chemical Brothers were still blagging it as The Dust Brothers, until The Dust Brothers found out and told them to stop. The dub remix turned up on a single in 1996... at least that's what it said on the sleeve. Turns out it was actually April 1997. Ooops!

Grace was a project for Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, who recorded Not Over Yet in 1993. It wasn't a major hit until 1995, by which time original vocalist Patti Low had departed. Subsequent singles were led by Dominique Atkins, although it was "all over" for Grace by 1997.

Innerzone Orchestra is a collective pulled together by electronic music pioneer Carl Craig. Bug In The Bassbin is perhaps their most well-known track, with a slew of remixes. I only released after I'd completed this selection that the Graphic Dub included here is supposed to be 5 minutes long. My CD rip is a smidge over 1 minute. Ooops!

It's that guy Steve Osborne again, this time remixing indie legends Lush. Again, another quirk in my digital music collection. The original running time was listed as 10:51, until I realised that the file was corrupted. One refresh later and the track is 6:31 as it should be. Housekeeping, eh?

To finish, The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown, Primal Scream teaming up with Denise Johnson and Irvine Welsh, for one of the best football related songs of all. This dub is about as close to the dub genre as you'll get today, no surprise when it's Adrian Sherwood at the controls.

Continuing the tradition of the previous Dub '80s posts, I've resurrected my shameless rip off of Rol's far more inspired Saturday morning quiz over at My Top Ten.

The only prize for participating is the knowledge that somehow you have made it to the end of the five questions (and this post) with your sanity intact. 

Answers will be posted in the Comments below on Monday morning.

1) Which band member, now an acclaimed author, denounced The Beatles as “the absolute curse of modern Indie music”, citing their favourite Beatle as Yoko Ono?

2) When asked what they would do when their music career slowed down, who said that they would take a 6-month course in dry stone walling and set up a 24-hour emergency repair service, using a 3-wheeled motor trike?

3) Whose autobiography is titled Patient?

4) Which song had three videos made, one in a disused swimming pool in Hackney, another in Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, and the third and final one in a London studio, for it's re-release as a single?

5) Who appeared in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice whilst still in the womb?

1) Walking Wounded (Spring Heel Jack Dub Mix By Ashley Wales & John Coxon): Everything But The Girl (Walking Wounded EP)

2) Stars (Mother Dub Mix By Jools Brettle & Lee Fisher) (Extended Album Version): Dubstar (Disgraceful/The Mixes (Expanded 2CD Edition))

3) Beyond The Valley Of The Hours And The Times (Greg Hunter In Dub Mix): 18 Wheeler (The Hours And The Times EP)

4) Three Steps To Heaven (Dubfire's Paradise Dub) (Remix By Ali Shirazinia): The Beloved (X Remixed (unreleased promo mixes))

5) Mescal (2 Lone Swordsmen Dub) (Remix By Andrew Weatherall & Keith Tenniswood) (Full Length): Alter Ego (Peppered With Spastic Magic: A Collection Of Two Lone Swordsmen Remixes)

6) Out Of This World (Chemical Brothers Dub) (Remix By Ed Simons & Tom Rowlands): Republica (Drop Dead Gorgeous EP)

7) Not Over Yet (BT's Peyote Dub) (Remix By Brian Transeau): Grace (Not Over Yet EP)

8) Bug In The Bassbin (Graphic Dub) (Remix By Claude Young): Innerzone Orchestra (Bug In The Bassbin EP)

9) Last Night (Hexadecimal Dub Mix By Steve Osborne): Lush (Last Night EP)

10) The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown (Full Strength Fortified Dub) (Remix By Adrian Sherwood): Primal Scream ft. Denise Johnson & Irvine Welsh (The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown EP)

Dub '96 (1:01:38) (GD) (M)

And if that's not enough dub for one day, here are my three '80s dub selections to date:

Dub '83 (September 2023)

Dub '85 (January 2025)

Double Dub '85 (April 2025)

Reversion To The Aversion To The Version

Here's a novel idea. I've been listening to a lot of music circa 1995-1997, so I've picked 10 songs, found the official video on YT, then looked for a cover version or remix on Bandcamp or, failing that, an alternate version from the original release. For the latter, click on the link in the artist's name.

It's thrown up some interesting results and, of course, it's great to revisit the original videos.

I'm not sure that this has legs for repeat posts, but who knows?

First up is Where It's At by Beck, covered by Miiraposa in 2024, whose other songs include Creature Feature (It'sEatingMeAlive!), Slutt Money, Aussie Lemonade and Sprite Bitch.

Bluebeard by Combustible Edison vs. Buddy Mikro Mix by Saint Etienne

Novocaine For The Soul by Eels vs. DJ Gizmo Redrum from 2023.

Missing (Todd Terry Remix) by Everything But The Girl vs. Sad Girls Club from 2015

 

Don't Leave by Faithless vs. 2MeterSessies Version by Faithless, circa 1999.

Naked Eye by Luscious Jackson vs. IXΘΥΣ Edit from 2025.

 

Woman by Neneh Cherry vs. La Funk Mob Remix

Breathe by The Prodigy vs. Koi Child, circa 2017.

Something Changed by Pulp vs. National Death Industry from 2025.

1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins vs. The Bilinda Butchers (great name!) from 2020.

I'm Not Immune, I Love This Tune

Five Fathoms by Everything But The Girl appears on their 1999 album Temperamental and was the lead single, released a couple of weeks beforehand.

Tracey Thorn later reflected that recording Temperamental following the birth of their twin daughters, in some respects she "ended up being guest vocalist on someone else's album", 

And yet, the songwriting partnership is inextricably Tracey and Ben Watt, the combination of words, beats, voice and music that had continually evolved over many years and culminated in their tenth album. 

Temperamental often feels like an overlooked and under appreciated record and there was a near two-and-a-half decade gap between this and Everything But The Girl's unexpected and brilliant return in 2023 with Fuse.

I love Five Fathoms and this random shuffle is a reminder to go back to the source and give Temperamental a long overdue airing.

 

I walk the city late at night

Does everyone here do the same?

I want to be the things I see

Give every face and place my name

I cross the street, take a right

Pick up the pace, pass a fight

Did I grow up just to stay home?

I'm not immune, I love this tune

I wanna love more

I just wanna love more

I wanna love more

I just wanna love more

I wanna love more

I just wanna love more

I wanna love more

I just wanna love more

I drag the city late at night

It's in my mouth, it's in my hair

And the people fill the city

Because the city fills the people, oh yeah

I cross the street avoid the freeze

A city's warmer by a couple of degrees

The smell of food the smell of rain

I'm not immune, I love this tune

I wanna love more

(There's a river in my head)

I just wanna love more

(There's a river in my head)

I wanna love more

(There's a river in my head)

I just wanna love more

I wanna love more

(There's a river in my head)

I just wanna love more

(There's a river in my head)

I wanna love more

(There's a river in my head)

I just wanna love more

Only way out is down

Only way up is down

The day's roll by like thunder

Like a storm that's never breaking

All my time and space compressed

In the low pressure of proceedings

And they beat against the sides of my life

Like fist against inside, in my life

And the roads all lead behind me

So I wrap the wheel around me

And I go out

(There's a river in my head)

(There's a river in my head)

(There's a river in my head)

I'll take you home

(There's a river in my head)

And make it easy

(There's a river in my head)

I'll take you home

(There's a river in my head)

And make it easy

Blue, Gene

Remembering Gene Hackman, 30th January 1930 to 26th February 2025.

Ernie Goggins at 27 Leggies posted Too Many RIPs on Thursday, noting the recent losses of Jerry Butler, Gwen McCrae, Ken Parker, Bill Fay and Roberta Flack (with Rick Buckler from The Jam also noted). "This has got to stop", pleaded Ernie.

Sadly, later the same day, news emerged that Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa and one of the family dogs had all been discovered dead at the home on the Old Sunset Trail in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. 

I will add some words to this post at a later date, as there is a greater understanding of the tragic circumstances that led to this discovery, and to reflect on the impact of Gene's immense and varied acting career.

In the meantime, in time-honoured knee jerk tradition, I've responded by collating an hour-long Dubhed selection, all song titles drawn from Gene's film and TV career. With over 100 credits, there were no shortage of quality contenders, but I think the final 14 hit the spot.

No apologies for tracks 11 and 14, which shoehorn in the film via the subtitle, they were too good to ignore. Likewise, who will argue that the opening song drops the definite article when it's Joni Mitchell?

Farewell, Gene and Betsy.

1) Conversation: Joni Mitchell (1970)

2) Route 66 (Single Version) (Cover of Nat King Cole & The King Cole Trio): Depeche Mode (1987)

3) Bonnie And Clyde (Cover of Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot): Mick Harvey ft. Anita Lane (1995)

4) Misunderstood (Album Version): Leila ft. Donna Paul (1998)

5) Two Of A Kind: Superstar (1998)

6) The Mexican (Short Version): Jellybean ft. Jenny Haan (1987)

7) Downhill Racer (Kenny Dope Remix): Everything But The Girl (2004)

8) The Quick & The Dead: Ladyhawke (2012)

9) Twilight (Album Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (2025)

10) Superman (Album Version) (Cover of The Clique): R.E.M. (1986)

11) Wish You Were Here... (Postcards From The Edge) (Remix By Ashley Beedle): The Aloof (1996)

12) Another Woman (Album Version): Moby ft. Barbara Lynn (2000)

13) Crimson Tide: Destroyer (2020)

14) Plug Me In (The French Connection) (Remix By Rick Phylip-Jones): Scarlet Fantastic (1987)

Blue, Gene (1:01:08) (KF) (Mega)

Decadance III: 1995

Side 2 of a time-travel mixtape, crashing in at 1995.

This series is whizzing by, more than half way through already and exactly 30 years ago. My brain cannot compute, so much of this music still feels 'recent' to me!

Very little evidence in this selection of Britpop, Trip Hop or Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop, although I think Scatman John was the sole proponent of the latter, anyway. 

However, in 1995 everything was big: the beats, the brass, the strings, the voices. And so were the hits: all but one of the songs in today's selection made the Top 30, four the Top 10, though the #1 position proved elusive for all.

Pulp nearly made it, with Common People getting all the way to #2, held off the top spot by effing Robson and effing Jerome, whose risible cover of Unchained Melody floated at the top like a turd in a toilet bowl for a mind-boggling seven weeks.

Several artists from Decade, my previous series of 80s mixtapes, make a welcome reappearance here: Marc Almond, Julian Cope and, perhaps the most surprising, Edwyn Collins. 

A Girl Like You was first released in December 1994 and didn't make much of a dent in the UK charts, but there was a groundswell of interest in Europe, leading to re-release here in June 1995. A month later and it was at #4. It also boosted the accompanying album Gorgeous George to #8 in July 1995, twelve months after it came out.

Leftfield had been tied up in contractual hell with their former label, which meant that they could little more than remix other artists for several years. Finally free to release their own material, their monumental debut album Leftism crashed in at #3 in February 1995. 

Leftism contained a version of Open Up, their 1993 comeback single with John Lydon, and collaborations with Djum Djum and Lemn Sissay. Leftfield's first single of 1995 was another collaboration, this time time with Toni Halliday of Curve on the sublime Original. Thirty years on, both it and the album sound as fresh and exciting as they did back then.

Another single by The Sabres Of Paradise for the MAW selection. Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns had previously remixed Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons music as The Dust Brothers. When the original Dust Brothers required Tom and Ed to cease and desist nicking their name, The Chemical Brothers were born.  

 

The Sabres Of Paradise remixed their debut single Leave Home, itself a Top 20 hit in June 1995. The previous month, the favour was (p)repaid when The Chemical Brothers refashioned Tow Truck, one of several tracks from Haunted Dancehall reworked for the Versus EP. When I say 'refashioned', it's basically a Chemical Brothers track, but the original Sabres components shine through.

 

Describing Fluke's beats as big and bouncy sounds smuttier than it's supposed to, but that's what always springs to mind when I think of their music. Ironically, The Dust Brothers (the original, that is, not Tom & Ed's knock off) remixed today's featured single Bullet, though nothing tops Fluke's own versions. In a box somewhere in the loft, I have Fluke promo plastic bag, which itself ripped off the Tesco carriers of the time. Never used it.

 

Thirty years before he released possibly the best album of 2025 with Hifi Sean, David McAlmont launched another wildly creative and successful partnership, with Bernard Butler. Yes was the perfect introduction, all Wall-of-Sound meets Sylvester meets Suede and a deserved Top 10 smash. 

 

Bernard of course used to be in Suede with Brett Anderson, who co-founded the band with Justine Frischmann, who went on to form Elastica. You'd almost believe I wasn't winging it and had some kind of plan, wouldn't you? 

Elastica were brilliant, even if they did have a habit of getting old rockers riled up and litigious over their songs. Waking Up is a case in point: who cares if it's reminiscent of No More Heroes by The Stranglers? Well, The Stranglers did obviously.

 

The music press were already getting into a lather about Radiohead, though The Bends was the album that hooked me in. There were tons of singles from the album, though admittedly it so full of great songs, that it was difficult to argue that none of them were worthy picks. It all started off with a double A-single of High And Dry and Planet Telex, the latter's abrasive squall offset by the former's soft-yet-brittle side. 

There was very nearly two helpings of Tracey Thorn. Reluctantly, Massive Attack's Protection had to go, justified by the fact that they appeared in the 1994 selection. Of the two picks, in the end it just had to be the Todd Terry remix of Missing by Everything But The Girl. 

I loved the original and the remixes that accompanied the single's original release in 1994. Todd Terry gave the song a whole new lease of life - and audience - when his remix rocketed Missing to #3 in the UK in November 1995. And with that, the confidence for Everything But The Girl to take a divergent musical path that led to a run of great albums in subsequent years.

 

Given the three decade anniversary, I was keen to include something from the UK Top 40 as at 16th February 1995. But jeez, the record buying public didn't half make it difficult.

 

Celine Dion and Annie Lennox at #1 and #2 respectively. Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex and cover of Total Eclipse Of The Heart (I mean, why?) by Nicki French in the Top 10. A few places down, Jimmy Nail and Sting both with songs about cowboys (though at least Jimmy's was written by Paddy McAloon). It's not until #20 that the first half decent song appears, with Mansize Rooster by Supergrass. 

Thankfully, a new entry that week at #38 saved the day. Down By The Water by Polly Jean Harvey was the first single from third album To Bring You My Love and ends this 1995 mixtape on a suitably sinister note.

 

It's no spoiler to say that next weekend will look at 1996 and 1997. Life-changing in so many ways...but was the music any good?

 

Well, if I mention Spice Girls, Babylon Zoo, Gina G, Elton John, Aqua and Teletubbies, you'll no doubt be thrilled to know that none of them will be appearing here!

 

1) Original (Radio Edit): Leftfield ft. Toni Halliday

2) Tow Truck (Chemical Brothers Mix): The Sabres Of Paradise

3) Bullet (Bitten 7"): Fluke

4) Adored And Explored (7" Edit By The Beatmasters): Marc Almond

5) Waking Up (Album Version): Elastica

6) Yes (Edit): McAlmont & Butler

7) High And Dry (Album Version): Radiohead

8) Missing (Todd Terry Club Mix) (Blanco/Eternal Radio Edit): Everything But The Girl

9) Common People (7" Edit): Pulp

10) Try, Try, Try (Album Version): Julian Cope

11) A Girl Like You (Album Version): Edwyn Collins

12) Down By The Water (Album Version): PJ Harvey

12th February 1995: To Bring You My Love (#38): 12

19th February 1995: Elastica (#13): 5

5th March 1995: The Bends (#17): 7

19th March 1995: Original EP (#18): 1

7th May 1995: Fantastic Star (#25): 4

7th May 1995: Versus EP (#77): 2

28th May 1995: Common People EP (#2): 9

28th May 1995: Yes EP (#8): 6

16th July 1995: Gorgeous George (#4): 11

23rd July 1995: Bullet EP (#23): 3

6th August 1995: 20 Mothers (#24): 10

19th November 1995: Missing EP (#3): 8

Side Two (46:11) (GD) (M)

No One Gets Off Without Paying The Ride

A very happy birthday to Tracey Thorn, born 26th September 1962.

It's impossible to describe how much Tracey's voice, words and music have had over the years. Her body of work with husband Ben Watt as Everything But The Girl is immense and, as this year's Fuse album proved, unsullied by time.

Tracey's five solo albums are little treasures in their own right, each one offering something new and unique to that release, from 1982's A Distant Shore to 2018's Record.

Tracey's also been a superlative collaborator and interpreter of others' songs. This selection includes both, from John Grant and Massive Attack to covers of Pet Shop Boys, The Marvelettes and Kate Bush, the last seemingly untouchable and yet Tracey completely inhabits the song.

I'd been thinking about this post and had started pulling together a potential selection. On Sunday, Swiss Adam posted a frankly brilliant 40-minute mix of Tracey Thorn songs at Bagging Area that included quite a few overlaps with mine. Necessity being the mother of invention and all that, I started again from scratch and came up with a 30-minute selection that I hope acts as a decent companion piece to Adam's and taken together shines a light on Tracey's magnificence. 

And I haven't even mentioned Tracey's books. Buy them, read them, love them.

 

1) By Piccadilly Station I Sat Down And Wept: Tracey Thorn (2007)

2) King's Cross (Hot Chip Remix) (Cover of Pet Shop Boys): Tracey Thorn (2007)

3) Disappointing: John Grant ft. Tracey Thorn (2015)

4) Oh, The Divorces!: Tracey Thorn (2010)

5) The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game (Cover of The Marvelettes): Massive Attack ft. Tracey Thorn (1995)

6) Run A Red Light (Album Version): Everything But The Girl (2023)

7) Under The Ivy (Cover of Kate Bush): Tracey Thorn (2014)

8) Guitar (Album Version): Tracey Thorn (2018)

1995: Batman Forever OST: 5

2007: King's Cross EP: 2

2007: Out Of The Woods: 1

2010: Love And Its Opposite: 4

2015: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure: 3

2015: Solo: Songs And Collaborations 1982-2015: 7 

2018: Record: 8

2023: Fuse: 6

No One Gets Off Without Paying The Ride (30:18) (KF) (Mega)

Forget The Morning

On Tuesday, Everything But The Girl released another single and video from their upcoming album, Fuse. Both are, quite frankly, stunning.

The skittering beats and oscillating bass of opening track Nothing Left To Lose are followed (literally) by the second song on the album, Run A Red Light. It's a complete volte-face, musically speaking, a downtempo tune built upon minimal piano chords and soaring backing vocals and synth lines. Sonically, it provides a neat juxtaposition to what has gone before, a bold move so early into the album.

Lyrically, it's a perfect follow on and a theme begins to emerge. Nothing Left To Lose's narrator reflects that they "need a thicker skin [as] this pain keeps getting in" and resignedly asks "Tell me what to do / Cause nothing works without you". 

 

In Run A Red Light, the character is more assertive, urging the person they're with to

"Forget the losers, forget the morning 

Put a tune on, and put your feet up 

It was my idea, I hope you know that 

We’re gonna have this, I’m the one now"

 

The third song on Fuse, Caution To The Window, is available as a lyric video and completes the thematic trilogy, the voice of the song "Coming home to be with you / Coming home to be near you", imploring "Let me in, let me in, let me in", a note that all is not as it seems.

The beauty of Tracey Thorn's lyrics and her skill as a writer is in creating narratives and characters that are open to multiple, layered interpretations which inevitably means that the songs appeal to and resonate with a much wider audience.

Ben Watt is a perfect foil for this, providing a musical environment that is both sympathetic to the words and vocals but also transports them to an unexpected and interesting place. 

If this is what the first three songs on Fuse are like, then the full album will be very, very special indeed.

 

1) Nothing Left To Lose

2) Run A Red Light

3) Caution To The Wind

4) When You Mess Up

5) Time And Time Again

6) No One Know We're Dancing

7) Lost

8) Forever

9) Interior Space

10) Karaoke

 

Fuse is available to pre-order now, ahead of a full release on 21st April.

Do You Want Me Back? Am I Coming Back?

Which, when applied to Everything But The Girl, can only result in a resounding Yes! and YES!!

 

I was over the moon when Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt announced on Twitter last November that they had made a new EBTG album, their first together in 24 years. Fuse will be out in April and the first single was teased yesterday.

 

Nothing Left To Lose is a spectacular comeback, a familiar fusion of heartache and hard beats. When Tracey comes in with the opening lines "I need a thicker skin / The pain keeps getting in", it's like meeting an old friend for the first time in a long while but feeling the hurt in that separation, as well as the joy of reuniting.

The video, directed by Charlie di Placido and choreographed by Miranda Chambers, is spectacular on an intimate level. No cameos from Tracey or Ben, but the five dancers in a cafe in the depth of night brilliantly captures the essence of the song.

I cannot wait to hear what the rest of Fuse sounds like. This promises to be no nostalgia trip but exactly how Everything But The Girl could and should sound in 2023. 

Today's selection is a nostalgia trip, however, taking you back to the late 1990s and when Tracey and Ben were deeply immersed in club culture. I've avoided the obvious Todd Terry remix of Missing (Chris & James do the honours there) and gone for his rework of Wrong. You also get a healthy dose of BPMs courtesy of Darren Emerson and Peter Rauhofer as well as some pre- and post-club remixes from Brad Wood and Trevor Jackson.

The closing track is an older song, Everything But The Girl's cover of I Don't Want To Talk About It, which they released as a single in 1988, spending 9 weeks in the UK chart and reaching #3. Housemeister 69 put out a bootleg remix of the song in 2005, the same year that Virgin released the Adapt Or Die: Ten Years Of Remixes compilation. At that point, Tracey and Ben were doing their own thing - brilliantly, it has to be said - and six years on from the last EBTG album, even then the prospect of new music seemed remote.

 

It turns out the wait would be four times that but, if Nothing Left To Lose is anything to go by, boy is it worth it.

 

1) Single (Brad Wood Memphis Remix) (1996)

2) Missing (Chris & James Full On Club Mix) (1994)

3) Before Today (Darren Emerson Underwater Remix 2) (Full Length) (1997)

4) Five Fathoms (Club 69 Future Club Mix By Peter Rauhofer) (Full Length) (1999)

5) Wrong (Todd Terry Remix) (Full Length) (1996)

6) Driving (The Underdog Mix By Trevor Jackson) (1996)

7) I Don't Want To Talk About It (Housemeister 69 Mix) (Cover of Crazy Horse) (2005)

 

Coming Back (47:55) (Box) (Mega)

Far Too Much Trouble And Not Enough Time!

Side 1 of a mixtape, originally compiled 8th February 1997 and liberated during lockdown in 2021.

 

As mentioned when I posted Side 2 in July last year, this is possibly the closest I got to a "Now That's What I Call Dance Music" hits compilation, with all of the songs (bar two songs) enjoying success in the UK singles chart.

 

Insomnia by Faithless has troubled the charts multiple times: #27 in December 1995, it's highest placing of #3 in October 1996 and a return at #17 in September 2005. Further remixes and reissues, including a trademark rework by Avicii in 2015, have been less successful commercially speaking, but nothing detracts from the sheer majesty of the song. The album version is essentially a re-edit of the Moody Mix. To get around the cross-fade from the previous track and to align the running time with Side 2's duration, I've spliced the introduction from the single version of the Moody Mix, so you get a slightly extended take on the original mixtape opener.

 

Tori Amos had dabbled with remixes before - I've previously enthused about the epic remix of 1994 single God by The Joy - but it was another radical remix that finally got her to the UK #1 spot in January 1997, this time courtesy of Armand Van Helden. The garage overhaul of Professional Widow actually appeared first as a double A-side with the more characteristic Hey Jupiter, managing a first week peak of #20 in August 1996, before drifting down the charts. However, the growing popularity of the Van Helden remix was enough to convince label EastWest to re-release it in its own right, with additional (good, but not as good) remixes by Mr. Roy. History was made.

Likewise, Common People was the song that broke Pulp, perhaps in more ways than one. Smashing into the singles chart in June 1995, it spent the first 2 weeks at #2 and 10 weeks in the Top 40. Follow up double A-single, Mis-shapes/Sorted For E's & Wizz, achieved a similar first 2 weeks at #2 in October 1995, no doubt bolstered by the controversy surrounding the latter track and "drug wrap instructions" sleeve. By "controversy", I mean the Daily Mirror getting into a ill-informed media frenzy, but that's for another post. This follow up single also included a couple of remixes of Common People for good measure, including the Motiv8 Club Mix featured here. An odd one, in that it didn't seem particularly loved by my indie- or club-centred friends, who preferred the original version if at all. It sounds dated now, but I still like it.

 

Like Going South by The Wolfgang Press on Side 2, Lazarus by The Boo Radleys really should have been their breakthrough hit. Creation obviously believed so too, as they tried twice, first in 1992 and again in June 1994 with a slew of remixes from the likes of Saint Etienne, Secret Knowledge and Augustus Pablo. The record-buying public disagreed: it entered the UK chart at #54 and 3 weeks later dropped out of the Top 100 altogether, never to return. Lazarus is frequently my favourite Boo Radleys song and a key part of the stunning Giant Steps album. I saw them live in Derby around this time and they just couldn't do the song justice. I like all of the remixes, even the Augustus Pablo take. Martin Carr allegedly thought Pablo was taking the piss (& the money) by simply laying some reverb and echo over the original 12" version, but nevertheless it works. Even better is the remix by Ultramarine. I was big fan of theirs and this version did not disappoint. 

Ultramarine also provided an excellent remix of Missing by Everything But The Girl, albeit on the initial "flop" single release in August 1994, which scraped in at #69. Just over a year later, it was a completely different story, as Todd Terry's remix took off and the re-released single got to #3, spending a phenomenal 14 weeks in the Top 10. Great though it is, I prefer the original remixes, especially this one by Ben Watt.

Adored And Explored was the lead single from Marc Almond's 1996 album Fantastic Star. Not one of his better albums, though I've come to appreciate it more in recent years. I tended to buy the singles less for the lead track and more for the generous helpings of B-sides, session versions and remixes. Adored And Explored (#25 in May 1995) remains a Marc Almond highlight, however, and I enjoyed the remixes by Messiah, Beatmasters and X-Press 2. Andy Meecham, fresh from Bizarre Inc and a bright future with Chicken Lips and as The Emperor Machine ahead of him, delivers a brace of excellent remixes. This is my favourite of the two, with a beautiful clash of guitars and beats and an irreverent approach to Marc Almond's vocals, chopping them up and slowing them down. This song also supplies the mixtape's title.

 

Today's photo is another snapshot of my nostalgic wander around Bristol on Tuesday. I used to go to Lakota a lot back in the day, though I pretty sure that I would never have heard any of the songs on this mixtape played there. The club itself had been under threat many times over the years and there was national coverage in April 2020 of plans to close the club and convert it and the surrounding space into offices and flats. As at March 2022, the threatened demolition and further gentrification doesn't appear to have happened, but Lakota itself looks very much dead and gone. As ever, revisiting the past elicits mixed emotions.

1) Insomnia (Moody Mix By Rollo & Sister Bliss) (Album Version w/ Extended Intro): Faithless (1995)

2) Professional Widow (Armand's Star Trunk Funkin' Mix By Armand Van Helden): Tori Amos (1996)

3) Common People (Motiv8 Club Mix By Steve Rodway): Pulp (1995)

4) Lazarus (Ultramarine Mix): The Boo Radleys (1994)

5) Missing (Little Joey Remix By Ben Watt): Everything But The Girl (1994)

6) Adored And Explored (Andy Meecham's Slow Fat Dub): Marc Almond (1995)

Side One (46:32)

Side Two here

I Don't Get Where You're Coming From

Everything But The Girl released their final album, Temperamental, in September 1999 and the title track was the fourth (of five) singles, in February 2000. The album managed #16 in the UK but, at 4 weeks, a fraction of the chart time of it's predecessor, Walking Wounded. The single bounced in at #72 for one week and promptly dropped out. It deserved better.

Tracey Thorn's excellent autobiography, Bedsit Disco Queen, describes how motherhood - she'd given birth to twins not long before work on the album started - significantly impacted on her contribution, literally and lyrically. Personally, I love the juxtaposition of the hedonistic, going-out-clubbing music with the detached and introspective in-character lyrics, mirroring the different experiences of Thorn and partner Ben Watt at the time. 

I'd not seen the video for Temperamental until recently. It's directed by Mike Mills (no, not that one), whose videos for Sexy Boy and Kelly Watch The Stars by Air and Party Hard by Pulp I'd greatly enjoyed. Admittedly, none of these particularly visualise the narrative of the song and go off on their own track but the video for Temperamental seems to be completely at odds with the song, jarring rather than juxtaposing.

I'd recommend sticking with a live performance of Temperamental in London, originally live streamed in November 1999. 

This temperamental side,
The one you say that you can't hide.
Do you ever see yourself,
The way it looks to someone else?
This temperamental trick,
The one you say you can't predict.
You're like an empty cup.
Forgive me if I don't wait up.
I don't get where you're coming from,
What is real and what's put on,
What has stayed and what has gone.
How long will this thing go on and on?

I don't want you to love me.
I don't want you to love me.

You're like an empty cup,
But I can't fill you up.
What planet are you on?
Not the same one I am from.
Do I just waste my time?
You pour your heart on mine.
You say it screws you up.
Forgive me if I don't wait up.
I don't get what you're trying to say,
What is wrong and what's okay.
You beat yourself up one more time.
You trample on this fierce heart of mine.

I don't want you to love me.
I don't want you to love me.

I don't know what you want from me.
All this endless sympathy.
You beat yourself up one more time.
You trample on this fierce heart of mine.

I don't want you to love me.
I don't want you to love me.

Temperamental (Official Video): Everything But The Girl (2000)

Temperamental (Live @ The Kentish Town Forum, London, 18th November 1999): Everything But The Girl (1999)

7 To 10 Inches Longer

Side 2 of a mixtape, originally recorded 5th October 1997, collecting tracks from various 7" and 10" vinyl records, pops and crackles intact on several. Even more than an album or 12" single, there's something special about putting a 7" or 10" single on a turntable and listening to just one or two songs in succession. In the 1980s, music rags like NME, Sounds, Record Mirror and Melody Maker would occasionally tape a free 7" single to the front cover and these were often my first (and sometimes only) experience of an artist's music. 

 

Some tracks inevitably turned up on a subsequent album (Iggy Pop, Tom Waits) or deluxe reissue and/or compilation (The Woodentops, The Jesus & Mary Chain). Some remain rare and wonderful, such as one of the great lost B-sides from Prefab Sprout. The Jack Rubies and Westworld remain highlights, though I bought very little else by either of them afterwards. A quarter of a century on, for such a hotpotch of songs and artists, I quite like this collection as a whole. I hope you do too.

 

1) I Give To You (Elemental) (Remix By Barry Adamson & PK aka Paul Kendall): Nitzer Ebb (I Give To You 10") (1991)

2) Hey! Luciani (Original Version By John Leckie): The Fall (Sounds Showcase 1 7") (1987)

3) Move Me (Long Version) (Remix By Godwin Logie): The Woodentops (Everyday Living ltd 2x 7") (1986) 

4) Hot Meat (Single Version) (aka Coldsweat (Version)): The Sugarcubes (Regina ltd 7") (1989)

5) Vendetta: Prefab Sprout (Cars And Girls 10") (1988)

6) Vegas Throat Stomp: The Jack Rubies (Sonic Sounds 1 7") (1987)

7) F***in' Alone: Iggy Pop (Beside You 10") (1993)

8) Nasty 'n' Cheap (Remix By Mark Ferda): Westworld (Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo ltd 2x 10") (1987)

9) Hallelujah (In Out Mix By Steve Lillywhite): Happy Mondays ft. Kirsty MacColl (Madchester Rave On ltd 7") (1989)

10) Shake: The Jesus & Mary Chain (Happy When It Rains 10") (1987)

11) A Little Rain: Tom Waits (Goin' Out West 10") (1992)

12) Come On Home (Album Version): Everything But The Girl (Come On Home 7") (1986)

Side Two (45:17)

Side One here