Gangsters, Gangsters, Everywhere Gangsters

Gangsters, the latest single from Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke's Tall Tales album has arrived with a mesmerising / fascinating / irritating (delete as applicable) video by Jonathan Zawada.

I haven't yet heard the album, but it's piqued my curiosity and I will check it out at some point. This listen took me down a different - and more obvious - rabbit hole of songs with a gangster...with no prizes for guessing where it ends up.

A few special mentions: 

1) I've never seen the video for Gangsterville by Joe Strummer before, so that was a treat even if the audio quality is a bit hissy;

2) In case you don't already know, The Sinister Ducks were a super group, comprising Max Akropolis, Capt. José da Silva and Translucia Baboon, better known to you and me as Alex Green (Jazz Butcher), David J (Bauhaus) and Alan Moore (comics legend), with visuals by Kevin O'Neill (also a comics legend);

3) Up until about 5 minutes ago, I was convinced that the repeatedly sampled line in Gangster Trippin by Fatboy Slim was not "What we're doin' when a" but "Fluff with the women" and I am greatly disappointed to be corrected.

4) It doesn't get much better than the last song, does it?

Had I more time, I would have presented this as a Dubhed selection. Instead, enjoy the videos (where available) and some rather cracking tunes.

 
1) Gangsters: Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke (2025)

2) Big Time Gangsters: Benjamin Zephaniah (1990)

3) Gangster: Dreadzone (2010)

4) Gangster: Electronic (1992)

5) Gangster Of Love Part I & II: Jimmy Norman (1968)

6) Gangster Of Love: Talking Heads (1991)

7) Gangsterville: Joe Strummer (1989)

8) Old Gangsters Never Die: The Sinister Ducks (1983)

9) Gangster Chronicle (Live @ Green Theatre, Kiev) (Cover of London Posse): Tricky ft. Bella Gotti (2014)

10) Cowboys & Gangsters: Gichy Dan's Beachwood #9 (1981)

11) Gangster Trippin: Fatboy Slim (1998)

12) Gangsters: The Special AKA (1979)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now Is The Time To Lose All Control

The mighty ZE Records today, perhaps most famous (& commercially successful) due to Kid Creole & The Coconuts, but also a key player in the No Wave movement, with artists such as James Siegfried (aka James Chance aka James White) and the label's legendary compilation, Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm. 

 

Partnerships with other labels such as Island, Elektra and Antilles saw releases by musical forebears Alan Vega, Suicide and John Cale. It was all over for ZE Records by 1985, but co-founder Michel Esteban resurrected ZE in 2002 as a reissue label, still active today. 2009 saw the release of ZEvolution: ZE Records Re-Edited, with 11 reworkings by the likes of Idjut Boys, Pilooski, Leo Zero and Richard Sen, in addition to those included in this selection.

 

The only vinyl I own is the 12" of Coati Mundi's Me No Pop I (pictured), which I found at Music & Video Exchange on Smallbrook Queensway in Birmingham about a decade ago. Coati was a member of Kid Creole & The Coconuts and I seem to remember this song having quite a bit of airplay on Radio 1, although it only reached #32 in the UK charts. I didn't pay any attention to the lyrics as a kid, though the refrain of "Me No Popeye / You No Olive Oyl" was an earworm. I'm not quite sure what sense I would have made of the actual narrative of the song, including this choice verse:

When I came from the VD clinic
I thought our love was finished
How could you be so crude
Makin' love to so many dudes

 

Underneath the upbeat tune, it appears that ol' Coati aka Andy Hernandez was feeling somewhat emasculated...

 

Topping and tailing the compilation is the wonderful Cristina Monet Palaci. Cristina was a very belated discovery for me, via the reissued Mutant Disco compilation which I picked up about 10 years ago and which included the 7" version of Drive My Car. However, I only heard her version of Is That All There Is? after reading an excellent tribute by Post-Punk Monk, following her tragic death from COVID-19 in March 2020. 

A great label that shone brightly for a relatively short time, ZE Records continues to illuminate today.

 

1) Drive My Car (Long Version) (Cover of The Beatles): Cristina (1980)

2) My Male Curiosity (Remix Version): Kid Creole & The Coconuts (1984)

3) Que Pasa / Me No Pop I (12" Version): Coati Mundi (1981)

4) Contort Yourself (Album Version): James White & The Blacks (1979)

5) Fast Money Music: Suicide (1980)

6) Hungry For Love: John Cale (1984)

7) On A Day Like Today (Todd Terje 'Friendly Children' Edit): Gichy Dan's Beachwood #9 ft. Beachwood Kids (2009)

8) Out Come The Freaks (Dub Version): Was (Not Was) (1982)

9) Spooks In Space (Filthy & Foolish Edit By Felix Dickinson & Luke Howard): Aural Exciters (2009)

10) Wipeout Beat (Extended / Album Version By Ric Ocasek): Alan Vega (1983)

11) Busting Out (Long Version) (Edit): Material ft. Nona Hendryx (1981)

12) Tell Me That I'm Dreaming (Greg Wilson ZE-Edit): Was (Not Was) (2009)

13) Is That All There Is? (Single Version) (Cover of Georgia Brown): Cristina (1980)

1979: Off White: 4

1980: Cristina: 1

1980: Is That All There Is? (12"): 13

1980: Suicide: Alan Vega · Martin Rev: 5

1981: Me No Pop I (12"): 3

1982: Tell Me That I'm Dreaming (USA 12"): 8 

1983: Saturn Strip: 10

1984: Caribbean Sunset: 6

1984: My Male Curiosity (USA promo 12"): 2

2003: Mutant Disco: A Subtle Discolation Of The Norm (Expanded Edition): 11

2009: ZEvolution: ZE Records Re-Edited: 7, 9, 12

 

Now Is The Time To Lose All Control (1:14:10)