The Veneer Of Democracy Has Been Stripped Away

Remembering Mark Stewart, 10th August 1960 to 21st April 2023.

I posted a hastily compiled Dubhed selection as a tribute the morning after news broke of Mark's passing. In closing, I promised that  

"There will be a follow up post, 

where I try to articulate just why Mark Stewart 

is such an important figure [...]

I just can't find the words right now."

This is that follow-up post, marking two years since Mark died. I'm still not sure I have the words, but Mark's stepped up and done it for me by releasing a brilliant new single, Memory Of You.

Memory Of You is the opening track of The Fateful Symmetry, out in July and completed before Mark's untimely passing. No compromise, even in death.

I discovered Mark's music in the late 1980s via my interest in Adrian Sherwood and ON-U Sound and the Mute label, the channels leading me to his solo albums with Maffia aka Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc and Skip McDonald. 

At this point, I had no idea of Mark's links to my birthplace Bristol, and was largely ignorant of The Pop Group, their significance and legacy. The past thirty-odd years have been a voyage of discovery and learning, revealing the complexity and contradictions through a career of challenge and non-conformity.

I've had a little more time to compile today's selection, compared to the ad-hoc tribute in 2023. Even so, this remains a surface-scratching exercise; there are so many layers, and Mark's work goes way beyond that with The Pop Group, Maffia and solo. The good news is that much of it is available in digital and physical formats via Mute, Bandcamp or your friendly local record shop.

Mark's music remains as crucial now as it ever has done.

1) Deep Time Dub (Mark Stewart Mix): Nohumaneye vs Mark Stewart (2022)

2) Hysteria (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Adrian Sherwood): Mark Stewart + Maffia (1990)

3) Death Trip To Tulsa ('Mark Stewart’s Exopolitix Demix'): Mark Lanegan Band (2015)

4) Where There's A Will There's A Way (Single Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

5) Shame And Pain (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Jim Sclavunos): Mark Stewart & Jeffrey Lee Pierce ft. Thurston Moore (2014)

6) Gustav Says (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Keith Levene & Achim Treu (2012)

7) Toxic Waste (Mark Stewart & Uncle Fester On Acid Remix By Mark Stewart & Patrick Dokter): Lampredonto (2022)

8) Babycino (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart (2012)

9) Forces Of Oppression (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

10) 'Ndrangheta Allotmen (Mark Stewart's Spectrum Remix): Meatraffle (2018)

11) Gang War (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Keith Levene (2012)

12) A4 ####### (Mallarmé Read By Mark): Nun Gun ft. Mark Stewart (2021)

13) (Amnesty Report II) (Album Version By Dennis Bovell): The Pop Group (1979)

14) Method To The Madness (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Youth): Mark Stewart ft. Nik Void (2012)

15) Rob A Bank (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dave Anderson): The Pop Group (1980)

16) The Last Enemy (Mark Stewart Black Mix): Consolidated (2021)

17) Simulacra (Album Version By Mark Stewart & Adrian Sherwood): Mark Stewart (1995)

18) Struggle (Adrian Sherwood / Mark Stewart Mutant Disco Vocal Mix): Radio 4 (2003)

19) Savage Sea (Album Version By The Pop Group & Dennis Bovell): The Pop Group (1979)

1979: Y: 19

1980: For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?: 9, 15

1980: In The Beginning There Was Rhythm / Where There's A Will.. EP (split 7" w/ The Slits): 4

1980: We Are Time: 13

1990: Metatron: 2

1995: Control Data: 17

2003: Eyes Wide Open / Struggle EP: 18

2012: The Politics Of Envy: 6, 11, 14

2012: Exorcism Of Envy: 8

2014: Axels & Sockets: The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project: 5

2015: A Thousand Miles Of Midnight: Phantom Radio Remixes: 3

2018: Revenge Of An 'Ndrangheta Cell, On An Allotment, In Norbury, South London EP: 10

2021: Stealth Empire In Dub: 12

2021: We're Already There (Remixes): 16

2022: King Of The Zombies EP: 1

2022: !Wasted!: 7

The Veneer Of Democracy Has Been Stripped Away (1:14:41) (KF) (Mega)

You can find Out Here On The Perimeter, Nobody Can Hear You Scream, my previous Mark Stewart tribute selection, here

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)

Like Ground Up Diamonds Fired Through A High Pressure Hose

Celebrating Keith Levene, 18th July 1957 to 11th November 2022.

I returned home yesterday afternoon to news of Keith Levene's passing, sad news in what has been a pretty awful week, both in respect of losses to music and life in general.

I've pulled this post and selection together early on Sunday morning, so I'm still processing how much Keith Levene meant to me and I can't find words to articulate this better than the hundreds of posts, Tweets and tributes that I've read in the past 12 hours or so. 

 

From the first time I heard Public Image by PiL in the mid-1980s through to his reunion with Jah Wobble on 2020's A Very British Coup, Keith Levene has featured on so much of the music that has influenced and shaped my interest and fuelled my passion, whether on guitar, keyboards, as a songwriter, collaborator or occasionally singer.

Keith Levene's guitar playing was like something transmitted from another universe. Andy Bell described it beautifully in his Tweet tribute, my clumsy paraphrase providing the title for today's selection.

 

As with pretty much all of my cobbled-together-at-short-notice selections, the ten songs featured don't begin to do justice to the breadth and sheer jaw-dropping wonder of Keith Levine's contribution to music. I've inadvertently not included anything from the 1990s and 2000s, so the selection is roughly split 50/50 into 1970s/80s and 21st century music. There's a lot missing that I would have liked to include but it would have made for a 4-hour plus selection! Instead, here's just under an hour of music to celebrate a true genius.

RIP Keith.

 

1) Dark Matter (Keith Levene Remix): The Membranes (2016)

2) No Birds Do Sing: Public Image Ltd. (1979)

3) Yin & Yang: Jah Wobble & Keith Levene (2012)

4) Gang War: Mark Stewart ft. Lee 'Scratch' Perry & Keith Levene (2012)

5) Bit Of Prague Comp: Keith Levene (2014)

6) A Very British Coup (Video Edit): Jah Wobble ft. Keith Levene, Richard Dudanski, Mark Stewart & Youth (2020)

7) Nuclear Zulu (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood): New Age Steppers (1981)

8) Beef (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood): Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Bim Sherman, Jah Wobble & Keith Levene (1989)

9) Wish: Cowboys International ft. Keith Levene (1979)

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

1978: Steel Leg v The Electric Dread EP: 10

1979: Metal Box: 2

1979: The Original Sin: 9

1981: Action Battlefield: 7

1989: End Of The Century Party: 8

2012: The Politics Of Envy: 4

2012: Yin & Yang: 3

2014: CZ2014: 5

2016: Inner Space/Outer Space: 1

2020: A Very British Coup EP: 6

Like Ground Up Diamonds Fired Through A High Pressure Hose (52:49) (Box) (Mega)

I Hear A Voice Beyond The Veil

I was very late to discovering Psychic Life by Jah Wobble and Julie Campbell, but have listened to it lots ever since. Tightrope is the opening track, arguably unrepresentative of the album that follows, but an absolute cracker. Keith Levene also appears on guitar and in the video. Hard to believe this song is now 10 years old.

Julie Campbell has released a couple of albums as LoneLady - Nerve Up (2010) and Hinterland (2015) - and following another couple of singles in the intervening years, launched an excellent new song, (There Is) No Logic at the end of March.

Tightrope: Jah Wobble & Julie Campbell (2011)

(There Is) No Logic: LoneLady (2021)