L'art De La Discothèque, Volume 2

A 90 minute revision class in the art of the remix, courtesy of François Kevorkian.

When compiling yesterday's "Volume 1", I'd used half of my shortlist of 24 songs. More by luck than planning, the remaining 12 also clocked in at an hour and a half, so sequencing a "Volume 2" seemed a no-brainer.

This selection has a tighter time period, focusing on 1983 to 2000, but no less a collection of top tunes for that. 

From this century (just), there are 9-minute mixes of Bent and Moloko, featuring the vocal talents of Zoё Johnston and Róisín Murphy respectively. From the 1990s, Soho and Yellow Magic Orchestra. The rest are from the 1980s, points along the spectrum including Cabaret Voltaire, Scritti Politti and That Petrol Emotion. 

Perhaps a surprise for some, but even Lou Reed and King Crimson got in on the extended 12" remix lark back in the day. Not sure how often these vinyl platters were tearing up dancefloors across the globe, but François Kevorkian does a good job with both.

More a production than a remix, Snake Charmer was the opening and title track of a 5-track EP/mini-album by Jah Wobble, The Edge and Holger Czukay in 1983.

Ol' Dave Evans pops up twice here, reuniting with his regular workmates in U2 for an FK remix of Wire the following year. This track originally appeared on the NME Readers' Poll Winners '84, a cover-mounted freebie 7" EP. And being the Celtic Dub Mix, those of you with allergies can rest assured that this version of Wire contains approx. 65% less Bono Vox.

Combined, the two volumes represent a fraction of François Kevorkian's prodigious output since an uncredited 12" remix of Happy Song by Rare Earth in 1975. 

It's inevitable that a Kevorkian remix will crop up on pretty much every 1980s 12" mix selection that I compile from here on, but I will come back to a bespoke FK mixtape or two in the future.

For now, revel in the brilliance.

1) Swollen (Francois K Vocal Mix By François Kevorkian & Eric Kupper): Bent ft. Zoё Johnston (2000)

2) Perfect Way (Way Perfect Mix By François Kevorkian, Alan Meyerson & Josh Abbey) (Full Length): Scritti Politti (1985)

3) Big Decision (Jet Fuel Mix By François Kevorkian): That Petrol Emotion (1987)

4) Snake Charmer (Full Length Version By François Kevorkian): Jah Wobble, The Edge & Holger Czukay (1983)

5) Here To Go (Extended Mix By François Kevorkian): Cabaret Voltaire (1987)

6) Nostalgia (Jeux De Mixage) (Remix By François Kevorkian & Goh Hotoda): Yellow Magic Orchestra (1993)

7) My Red Joystick (Remixed Version By François Kevorkian & Jay Mark): Lou Reed (1984)

8) Don't Look Any Further (Extended Mix By François Kevorkian, Alan Friedman & Alan Gregorie) (Cover of Dennis Edwards): The Kane Gang (1987)

9) The Time Is Now (Francois K Main Vocal Mix By François Kevorkian & Rob Rives): Moloko (2000)

10) Sleepless (Dance Mix By François Kevorkian & John Potoker): King Crimson (1984)

11) Freaky (Francois' Mix By François Kevorkian): Soho (1990)

12) Wire (Celtic Dub Mix By François Kevorkian): U2 (1984)

L'art De La Discothèque, Volume 2 (1:30:18) (KF) (Mega)

It's Nicer In The Dark Anyway

Lou Reed with six songs from his performance at L'Olympia Bruno Coquatrix in Paris, France on Sunday 26th May 1974. I missed a trick by not posting this on Sunday 26th May 2024, exactly 40 years on, but I hope you'll overlook this and just revel in the performance.

 

Lou's band comprises Danny Weiss (guitar), Prakash John (bass), Michael Fonfara (keyboards) and Pentti 'Whitey' Glan (drums). A slightly different line-up and six months on from the New York concerts that birthed the live albums Lou Reed Live and Rock n Roll Animal, it continues Lou's reworking (some may have argued mangling) of his back catalogue. The band are more than up to the task.

 

Whereas Rock n Roll Animal features a Steve Hunter solo intro to a cover of The Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane, here it's a full-band funk workout for the first minute and a half before switching to the more familiar rhythm, Lou watching from the sidelines before sauntering onto stage a minute later.

Peroxide cropped hair, shades, chiselled cheekbones, flashy jacket and slim black jeans, Lou's image here alone is the springboard for post-punk and every iteration and reimagining since. The sad reality is that Lou was increasingly in the grip of meth and alcohol but in this moment, his performance is red hot. Never mind the vocals, feel the swagger.

 

00:00 Intro / Sweet Jane (Cover of The Velvet Underground)

07:02 I'm Waiting For The Man (Cover of The Velvet Underground) 

12:28 Lady Day  

15:55 Vicious  

22:13 Sally Can't Dance  

26:13 Ride Sally Ride

 

This selection is taken from a VHS transfer and you can see, especially in the prolonged close ups of Lou's face, that songs have been edited and spliced together out of sequence. Here's the 12-song setlist as performed on the night.  

1) Intro / Sweet Jane (Cover of The Velvet Underground)

2) Vicious

3) Ride Sally Ride

4) Heroin (Cover of The Velvet Underground)

5) Sally Can't Dance

6) Lady Day

7) I'm Waiting For The Man (Cover of The Velvet Underground)

8) Oh, Jim

9) Walk On The Wild Side

10) White Light/White Heat (Cover of The Velvet Underground)

11) Goodnight Ladies

12) Rock & Roll (Cover of The Velvet Underground)

Always Your Cassette Pet!

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded September 1991. 

 

My brother used to buy a lot of albums on cassette. Needs must: there was one family turntable in the lounge and both of us had cassette decks of varying quality in our bedrooms to soundtrack our teenage angst. My brother had gone to university, I'd just returned from a year in Australia, and this was a last opportunity to trawl through the boxes of tapes at our parents' house, before they were shipped off to join him or get stuck up in the loft for some undetermined period.

There was obviously some haste involved and/or a lack of blank cassettes as I didn't copy many albums in their entirety, but I did manage to pull together this compilation, a hybrid of my brother's tapes and the odd cassingle that I'd added to my collection. As with Side 2, posted last November, a varied and quite dark mix overall.

 

Laibach are, er, back with, er, Get Back. Clearly, they were were a big favourite at the time, with 3 out of the 21 songs in total. The previous selections were from Opus Dei, this one is the opener of their track-by-track cover of The Beatles' Let It Be. Both albums were available as a 'double play' cassette back in the day and I remember my brother blasting Laibach out of the car stereo, windows down, as we drove through the centre of Bristol, to the bemusement of most. Solid times.

It'll End In Tears by This Mortal Coil is also represented by 3 songs on this compilation. Fortunately, unlike Lisa Gerrard who was subject to a harsh edit on Side 2, both Howard Devoto and Elizabeth Fraser get to finish their songs. Covers of Big Star and Roy Harper, these were the first versions I heard and remain the definitive takes for me.

The The gets another excerpt from the unreleased album The Pornography Of Despair, one of 6 songs tacked on as a bonus side to the cassette version of the Soul Mining album. Like many of these songs, Waitin' For The Upturn was also released as a B-side.

In the mid-late 1980s, I had no idea really about Alison Statton, or her history with Young Marble Giants. To me, she was the voice of Weekend, who were kind of jazzy; they recorded an album with Keith Tippet live at Ronnie Scott's. Weekend were also capable of some really dark indie pop like Red Planes, featured here. I was inevitably drawn to the latter. Alison's voice still sends a shiver down my spine.

Troubling my sphincter was The Prisoner by Tears For Fears. The Hurting - which I still love - was a bleak, soul-searching debut that explored concepts that were completely over my head in 1983. The Prisoner was originally a B-side to second single Pale Shelter (a chart flop the first time around). Both were re-recorded for The Hurting to great effect, The Prisoner particularly benefiting from some screaming synth stabs.

Both Tears For Fears and The Icicle Works have covered Robert Wyatt's Sea Song. The latter is the better of the two, though neither really come close to the plaintive beauty of Wyatt's own version.

Lou Reed and John Cale reunited in 1990 for a tribute to departed friend Andy Warhol, a bit of a purple patch for both of them at the time. This is perhaps my favourite song from the Songs For Drella album.

Untitled by Marc & The Mambas is a real curio. The striking cover portrait of Marc Almond by Val Denham, the mix of original songs and covers, possibly my first introduction to Scott Walker and Jacques Brel. And then, on the cassette B-side, just three tracks: a Syd Barrett cover (Terrapin) and Twilights & Lowlifes in two eleven-and-a-half minute versions. I've gone for the first, vocal version here.

When I posted Side 2 last November, I mentioned that Side 1 could take a while due to the inclusion of a track from stalwarts of the 1980s Bristol live circuit, Renegade Flight. Your Cassette Pet! originally featured God Said, a track from one of their DIY cassettes that I picked up at a gig. As there's no immediate prospect of locating and digitising the tapes and God Said is currently unavailable online, I've opted for another song, Automation from roughly the same period. It's twice as long as God Said so the C90 running time is shot to pieces but I felt that Renegade Flight deserved a nod, sandwiched between Tears For Fears, Lou Reed and John Cale. Thanks, lads!

 

1) Get Back (Cover of The Beatles): Laibach (1988)

2) Holocaust (Cover of Big Star): This Mortal Coil ft. Howard Devoto (1984)

3) Red Planes (Album Version): Weekend (1982)

4) Sea Song (Cover of Robert Wyatt): The Icicle Works (1986)

5) The Prisoner (Album Version): Tears For Fears (1983)

6) Automation: Renegade Flight (1986)

7) It Wasn't Me: Lou Reed / John Cale (1990)

8) Waitin' For The Upturn: The The (1982)

9) Twilights & Lowlifes (Album Version): Marc & The Mambas (1982)

10) Another Day (Cover of Roy Harper): This Mortal Coil ft. Elizabeth Fraser (1984)

 

1982: La Varieté: 3 

1982: Untitled: 9

1983: The Hurting: 5

1983: Uncertain Smile EP / Soul Mining (cassette): 8

1984: It'll End In Tears: 2, 10

1986 (?): Renegade Flight (gig-only cassette): 6

1986: Up Here In The North Of England EP: 4

1988: Let It Be: 1 

1990: Songs For Drella: 7

 

Side One (48:08) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two here

Whatever Happened To Reg? Revisited

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded on 2nd December 1989 by my friend Stuart as a 19th birthday gift.

 

Revisiting mixtapes from my teenage years is a reminder of a simpler time, when my friends and I had much smaller music collections - vinyl or cassette, very few CDs at this point - but knew them inside out and loved them deeply. As my head bobs slightly above the surface of a sea of music, when pretty much anything from the last 100 years is accessible with a few taps of a keyboard, clicks of a mouse or a voice instruction, it can be overwhelming. 

I loved this compilation, so much so that it got packed with a bunch of other cassettes and joined me on my travels Down Under in 1990/1991 and was pretty much a staple of the in-car stereo playlist during my second attempt at a college education in the early 1990s. It survived more or less intact throughout that decade and into the 2000s, until years of excessive play and poor storage in a succession of damp flats did for it. Thank goodness for MP3s, Audacity software and music blogs then, eh?

What is immediately apparent (to me, at least) from the track listing of Sides 1 & 2 is that:

1) Stuart was (and still is) a huge fan of R.E.M. and was determined to educate his largely ignorant friend in their brilliance (it worked);

2) We both loved The Doors; I'd got the first two albums, Stuart got the rest, including their final proper album with Jim, the two best-known songs appearing on this C90;

3) We also both loved Talking Heads and between us had all of the albums from 77 to Naked;

4) Architecture & Morality by Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark was also a pretty important album for us both;

5) Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week! by The Sugarcubes was only a few months old at that time and we were both in agreement that it was even better than the debut album;

6) Fools Gold / What The World Is Waiting For had been released a few weeks before I got this cassette. Stuart (& I) clearly blown away by it; I'd heard both on the radio but I think this might have been the first time I'd heard anything by The Stone Roses.

 

I adore the opening live version of Vicious from Lou Reed's 1975 album, the inspiringly-titled Lou Reed Live. It sets the pace for what is a rollocking ride through music that has since become so important to me. Incredible to believe now, but listening to this cassette was probably the first time that I heard Catapult or Don't Worry About The Government...

 

You might be hard pressed to find anyone who would name Automatic as their favourite album by The Jesus & Mary Chain. The album had been released on 9th October 1989, Stuart and I saw them live in concert at the Studio in Bristol on 14th November 1989 and I got this cassette around 11th December 1989, so Automatic was fresh and new at that time and I loved it. It's not my favourite JaMC album either, but it will always have a special place in my heart for all of the above reasons.

 

Timing issues were always a challenge when compiling cassettes, especially trying not to leave a massive gap at the end, an anathema to being out with friends and a battery-powered ghetto blaster. I might imagine that Stuart may have originally intended to end on a high with track 10, added (arguably) a R.E.M. album filler (which I still love, by the way) and then cursed at seeing a sizeable chunk of reel remaining. Hence, the inclusion of a U2 B-side from a limited edition double 7" of The Unforgettable Fire. For all you Bono fans out there, stand down, it's an instrumental. I like it, and even more in the context of the compilation and the decades of repeat listens that have passed.

Stuart opened the compilation with a cheeky edit of Paul Hardcastle's 19 muscling in on Pixies. Suffice to say, Black Francis gets his revenge - and the last word - at the end of Side 2.

1) Vicious (Live @ Howard Stein's Academy Of Music, New York): Lou Reed (1973)

2) Catapult (Album Version): R.E.M. (1983)

3) L.A. Woman (Album Version): The Doors (1971)

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

5) Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town: Talking Heads (1977)

6) Fools Gold 4.15 (7" Version): The Stone Roses (1989)

7) Tidal Wave (Album Version): The Sugarcubes (1989)

8) Here Comes Alice (Album Version): The Jesus & Mary Chain (1989)

9) She's Leaving (Album Version): O.M.D. (1981)

10) Don't Worry About The Government: Talking Heads (1977)

11) Underneath The Bunker: R.E.M. (1986)

12) Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come / Outro: U2 / Pixies (1985) 

 

1971: L.A. Woman: 3

1975: Lou Reed Live: 1

1977: Talking Heads: 77: 5, 10

1981: Architecture & Morality: 9

1983: Murmur: 2 

1985: The Unforgettable Fire EP: 12

1986: Life's Rich Pageant: 4, 11

1989: Automatic: 8

1989: Fools Gold EP: 6

1989: Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!: 7

 

Side Two (45:11) (KF) (Mega)

Side One here

Fill The Skies

Heading back to the mid-late 1970s today with a clutch of songs that are guaranteed to get me moving or, even worse, singing along. 

Although the music dates from before I started buying records, the songs here by Roxy Music, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, The Boomtown Rats and David Bowie all made an impression on me at an early age. Japan's version of The Velvet Underground came to my attention when it was re-released in the early 1980s and it was probably another couple of years before I even heard the original. James White & The Blacks - and the whole No Wave/Ze Records scene - found their way to me in the late 1980s, although Kid Creole & The Coconuts were popular way before then. I'd explored Lou Reed's early 1970s albums and also the run of albums starting with New York before I went back to his mid-late 1970s work, including Coney Island Baby.

Songs then that don't represent a single period in time for me and instead are scattered through my record buying history, triggering individual and special memories every time I hear them.

1) Angel Eyes (12" Remix): Roxy Music (1979)

2) Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3 (7" Version): Ian Dury & The Blockheads (1978)

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

4) Rat Trap (Album Version): The Boomtown Rats (1978)

5) All Tomorrow's Parties (Album Version) (Cover of The Velvet Underground): Japan (1979)

6) Leave Me Alone (Unreleased Version): Lou Reed (1976)

7) John, I'm Only Dancing (Again) (12" Version): David Bowie (1975)

1978: A Tonic For The Troops: 4

1979: Angel Eyes EP: 1

1979: John, I'm Only Dancing (Again) EP: 7

1979: Off White: 3 

1979: Quiet Life: 5

1979: Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 3 EP: 2

1992: Between Thought And Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology: 6

Fill The Skies (40:37) (Box) (Mega)

Try To Separate Me From My Life

A belated happy birthday to John Cale on 9th March. Last year (and on time), I posted several videos; in November, I then got excited about the prospect of a new JC album (Mercy, which was released at the beginning of 2023. But this is the first John Cale selection I've compiled and posted on this blog.

For reasons which may become clear soon - but not here - I've been revisiting John Cale's music recently. There is so, so much to immerse yourself in that even trying to distill some of that into an hour long selection is a daunting task.

A couple of rules: The Velvet Underground and other collaborations were fair game but had to include John on lead (or at least prominent) vocals. I also stopped at 2012's Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood, so nothing from M:FANS, Cale's 2016 return to Music For A New Society, or Mercy. 

With seventeen solo studio albums, singles, live performances, collaborations, The Velvet Underground and more, my 12-song selection neither collects all of the 'hits' and even attempts to cover all of the 'important' albums. More by accident than design, I have been able to broadly represent each decade from the 1960s to the 2010s; more importantly, I think these are all just good songs. If you haven't explored John Cale's music in depth before and this inspires you to, then I'll be a very happy person indeed.

1) Save Us (1975)

2) Overture: A Tourist / A Contact / A Prisoner: John Cale & Bob Neuwirth (1994)

3) Secret Corrida (1996)

4) Mercenaries (Ready For War) (Single Version) (1980)

5) Look Horizon (2003)

6) Broken Bird (Album Version) (1982)

7) Forever Changed: Lou Reed / John Cale (1990)

8) Guts (1975)

9) Hemmingway (2012)

10) Whaddya Mean By That? (Single Version) (2011)

11) The Gift (Album Version): The Velvet Underground (1968)

12) The Endless Plain Of Fortune (Album Version) (1973)

 

1968: White Light/White Heat: 11

1973: Paris 1919: 12

1975: Helen Of Troy: 1

1975: Slow Dazzle: 8

1980: Mercenaries (Ready For War) EP: 4 

1982: Music For A New Society: 6

1990: Songs For Drella: 7

1994: Last Day On Earth: 2

1996: Walking On Locusts: 3 

2003: HoboSapiens: 5

2011: Extra Playful EP: 10

2012: Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood: 9

 

Try To Separate Me From My Life (1:00:30) (KF) (Mega)

It's Hard To Settle For Second Best

After last year's tenuous Boxing Day themed selection, here's another to stretch credulity even further, with 10 gift-themed songs. A couple of obvious/inevitable choices with The Jam and Lou Reed, a trio of not-quite-forgotten classics from Cocteau Twins, Way Out West and Calexico and a cheeky Monday Long Song to round things off from Julian Cope, pulling a double shift as frontperson of Brain Donor.

I hope you kept your receipts!

The cover photo was taken in Gloucester city centre a few weeks ago. I was particularly struck by how well they captured the classic Nativity scene of Joseph and Mary's Bethlehem barbecue.

1) It's A Gift: The Kane Gang (1987)

2) The Gift: The Jam (1982)

3) You Can't Steal A Gift: El Perro Del Mar (2008)

4) Gift Horse: Black Box Recorder (2000)

5) Surprise Gift (Fool's Gold vs. N.A.S.A.): Team9 (2009)

6) A Gift: Lou Reed (1976)

7) Half-Gifts: Cocteau Twins (1996)

8) The Gift (Radio Edit): Way Out West ft. Miss Joanna Law (1996)

9) Gift X-Change (Album Version): Calexico (2000)

10) Odin's Gift To His Mother (Album Version): Brain Donor (2001)

 

1976: Coney Island Baby: 6

1982: The Gift: 2

1987: What Time Is It? EP: 1

1996: Milk & Kisses: 7

1996: The Gift EP: 8

2000: It's A Cool, Cool Christmas: 9

2000: The Facts Of Life: 4

2001: Love Peace & Fuck: 10

2008: From The Valley To The Stars: 3

2009: Stereogum & Team9 Present: MySplice 4: 5

It's Hard To Settle For Second Best (45:45) (KF) (Mega)

heartbeatincreasingheartbeat

Side 2 of a mixtape cassette, recorded 25th September 1991.

More melancholy than jolly, possibly reflecting my mood at the time, back in Bristol living with my parents after a year in Australia. You can almost hear the angst and pretension in the virtual cassette hiss between songs.

1) Theme For Great Cities: Simple Minds (1981)
2) Scarlet: Lush (1989)
3) Annexe: John Foxx (1983)
4) California Earthquake: Mama Cass Elliot (1968)
5) Broken Hearted And Beautiful: Marc Almond (1986)
6) The Democratic Circus: Talking Heads (1988)
7) Love Is Just A Word: Gavin Friday & The Man Seezer (1989)
8) World Weary: The Go-Betweens (1981)
9) Nevers End: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions (1985)
10) Head Hang Low: Julian Cope (1984)
11) The Bed: Lou Reed (1972)
12) September Song: The Young Gods (1991)

Side Two (46:37)

50@50, Part One: 1970-1979

Thanks for visiting and welcome!

As I rapidly approach five decades of clinging to this crazy, spinning planet, it seemed like a good time to start a blog. This isn't my first attempt - more on that another time - but here I'll mostly be sharing my love of music, my eclectic and frequently questionable taste and hopefully some treasures along the way.

In the spirit of The Vinyl Villain's Imaginary Compilation Album series, I'm starting off with an imaginary vinyl box set compilation of songs from the last 50 years that have meant something to me. This isn't a personal Top 50: I've ignored and left out many of my favourite artists and songs. The 'albums' are sequenced in chronological order, though I won't pretend that I discovered them in that order, cool though it would be to imagine being inspired by Curtis Mayfield before my 2nd birthday. However, all of the selections here have been important to me in different ways over the years. Enjoy...

Side One (22:19)
1)    Double Barrel: Dave & Ansel Collins (1970)
2)   Move On Up (Full Length Version): Curtis Mayfield (1971)
3)   Satellite Of Love (Album Version): Lou Reed (1972)
4)   Dance With The Devil: Cozy Powell (1973)
5)   Emma: Hot Chocolate (1974)

Side Two (22:50)
6)   Fight The Power (Part 1 & 2) (Album Version): The Isley Brothers (1975)
7)   Disco Inferno (Edit By Khayem): Trammps (1976)
8)   I Feel Love (12" Version): Donna Summer (1977)
9)   Shot By Both Sides (Single Version): Magazine (1978)
10) Twat (Live): John Cooper Clarke (1979)

Side One (22:19)

Side Two (22:50)

My parents' record collection was mostly made up of K-Tel compilations purchased from the local Cash & Carry but on reflection, what an introduction to music they proved to be. The cheap 'n' cheerful, high volume, low quality pressings, cramming 10 songs per side of vinyl proved to be invaluable. The Story Of Pop, 40 Super Greats, Black Explosion, Dynamite, Disco Fever... they - and I - loved them. As a kid, looking at the cover of Dynamite, I always imagined that Kiki Dee and Cozy Powell were happily married. I coveted Keith Moon's purple trousers as displayed on the cover of 40 Super Greats. I marveled at the beauteous illustrations of Elvis Presley and David Bowie on the cover of the Radio One Story Of Pop supplement, whilst wondering why neither of them actually featured on the album of the same name. But my folks weren't K-Tel purists. Amongst the James Last and Music For Pleasure compilations, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack shone brightly, especially the near-11 minute version of Disco Inferno that closed the album. Likewise, I was captivated by the original version of I Feel Love on the radio, but I was forever changed by the 15m 45s remix by Patrick Cowley in 1982. I loved it so much that I bought the 12" as a present for my brother so that I could tape both sides on my parents' hi-tech turntable/cassette deck combo. Magazine came to me slightly belatedly with their posthumous After The Fact compilation in the early 80s, and admittedly John Cooper Clarke most likely made a first impression via his Sugar Puffs ads rather than his poetry, but by this time I was hopelessly addicted to words and music with a capacity to love the camp, the crap, the poetic, the pretentious and the out-and-out pop. It's a love affair that's never ended.