Happy Hope

Happy birthday to Hope Sandoval, born 24th June 1966.

I've created a 60 minute selection of songs spanning 1990 to 2019, taking in Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, collaborations with Mercury Rev, Massive Attack and The Chemical Brothers, and a trio of wonderful cover versions.

I've left off arguably her two most well-known performances - Fade Into You by Mazzy Star and Sometimes Always, playing foil to The Jesus & Mary Chain - but honestly, there are so many great songs to pick that I don't think you'll even notice.

Just one selection from each of the Mazzy Star and Warm Inventions albums, to allow room for the EP sides and extra curricular activity, and leading to a dreamy hour to immerse yourself in.

Have a wonderful day, Hope!

1) Under My Car: Mazzy Star (1994)

2) Big Boss Man (Cover of Jimmy Reed): Mercury Rev ft. Hope Sandoval (2019)

3) Golden Hair (Cover of Syd Barrett): Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2009)

4) I Thought You'd Fall For Me: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2002)

5) Paradise Circus (Album Version): Massive Attack ft. Hope Sandoval (2010)

6) Roseblood: Mazzy Star (1996)
7) Be My Angel: Mazzy Star (1990)

8) Bells Ring: Mazzy Star (1993)

9) Cherry Blossom Girl (Cover of Air): Hope Sandoval (2004)

10) Flying Low: Mazzy Star (2013)

11) Asleep From Day: The Chemical Brothers ft. Hope Sandoval (1999)

12) Trouble: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2009)

13) Baby Let Me: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2001)

14) Had A Thought: Mazzy Star (1996)

15) A Wonderful Seed: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2016)

1990: She Hangs Brightly: 7

1993: So Tonight That I Might See: 8

1994: Fade Into You EP: 1

1996: Among My Swan: 6

1996: Flowers In December EP: 14

1999: Surrender: 11

2001: Bavarian Fruit Bread: 13

2002: Suzanne EP: 4

2004: Cherry Blossom Girl EP: 9

2009: Through The Devil Softly: 12

2010: Heligoland: 5

2010: The Madcap Laughs Again!: 3

2013: Seasons Of Your Day: 10

2016: Until The Hunter: 15

2019: Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited: 2

Happy Hope (1:00:57) (GD) (M)

From Paradise Rains To Paradise Circus

Some Massive Attack...kind of.

After yesterday's Paradise Rains by Eartheater, I'm dusting off Paradise Circus, specifically the link to the version used in The Fallen Sun, the Netflix film version of Luther from 2023. The link - not the film - has been languishing in my "must write a post about this one" file for a few weeks and now seemed to be the right time.

A brief diverson/rant before I carry on: Mrs. K and I really enjoyed Luther when it debuted on BBC1 in 2010. Idris Elba and Ruth Wilson were compelling leads, the supporting cast were excellent and Neil Cross' writing was top notch. 

Although the successive series stretched credulity to near breaking point, Luther continued to be 'must watch' viewing right up to the conclusion of series 5 in 2019.

That seemed about the right time to call it a day, but the subsequent announcement that there would be a feature film version of Luther nevertheless was something to look forward to. Except that it was being made by Netflix.

The proliferation of pay-to-view channels has been inversely proportionate to our disposable income and, frankly, whether we can be arsed to spend even more time in front of the gogglebox (as opposed to Gogglebox). So, apart from the occasional 30-day free trial that pops up, Netflix is pretty much out of our reach, and we didn't make it to any of the 'select cinemas' that screened The Fallen Sun in February 2023.

So, I also had no idea that Paradise Circus by Massive Attack had featured in the soundtrack.

Except... this is a different version, credited to Post ft. Ghostpoet. 

Post, as it transpires, is Daddy G aka Grant Marshall, founder member of Massive Attack, and Stew Jackson, who has also worked with Daddy G as Robot Club and been part of the Massive Attack collective since at least 2016.

It's a great version, and Ghostpoet is a spot on pick to provide vocals that provide the necessary grit and gravitas.

However... it's a very hard act to follow, when Massive Attack's version of Paradise Circus was co-written with and featured the incomparable voice of Hope Sandoval (sigh).

So, to reward those of you who stuck with this post to the end, here's the original version from 2010, plus a twelve-and-a-half minute reworking by Massive Attack vs. Burial the following year. 

 

Massive Waits...And Then Boots On The Ground

Massive Attack.

Tom Waits.

Does any more need to be said?

(Post script, Friday 17th)

As it happens, yes, as a few hours later the full length length version and accompanying video was released.

Six Reasons To Be Thankful

Be Thankful For What You've Got was released as a single in July 1984 by Glasgow soulsters Sunset Gun. 

Featuring the immensely talented Deirdre 'Dee' Rutkowski and Louise Rutkowski and multi-instrumentalist Ross Campbell, and produced by Alan Rankine, it's a bit of a head scratcher why this wasn't a hit.

Fast forward to February 1992 and Massive Attack managed to take the song to #27 in the UK as the lead of their self-titled EP. The week before their chart peak, Massive Attack performed the song on Tonight With Jonathan Ross... well, a version of Massive Attack, at least. 

Whilst vocalist Tony Bryan is up front at the mike, and those in the know will spot guests Luis Jardim and Steve Nieve in the ensemble, there's no sign of 3D, Mushroom or Daddy G.

A couple of 21st Century covers that are new to me, firstly from Sade, performed at the Nakano Sunplaza in Tokyo in May 1986, bootlegged at the time and officially released thirty years later.

In March 2024, Daryl Hall's long running series Live From Daryl’s House welcomed Rumer and the pair duetted on Be Thankful For What You've Got. There are some nice moments of harmony, but personally I would have been happy for Daryl to stick to guitar on this one and let Rumer carry the vocal.

I've never heard of Orgōne before and I only discovered whilst looking for a clip of Massive Attack performing Be Thankful for What You Got. An unintended slight as they've released at least fifteen albums in the last quarter of a century.

Their nine-minute live in the studio take was recorded in Los Angeles a few weeks before the USA went into lockdown due to the COVID pandemic. 

To finish, what else but the original version, written and recorded by William DeVaughn?

The single got to #31 in July 1974, with a new, more uptempo version peaking at #44 in October 1980. Proof that even William himself couldn't top his first go and to emphasise that point, I've gone for the full seven-minute album version from 1974, for which we should all be thankful.

 

Dave Dreaming (For Dave S.)

Celebrating my friend Dave Scantlebury, 11th December 1957 to 20th January 2009.

We shared a birthday and a voracious, genre-defying appetite for music. We knew each other for less than a decade and a half, worked together for less, but those times were crammed full of music swaps, nights out and the occasional gig. Today's selection barely scratches the surface, yet also sums up what connected us.

Dave would have turned 69 on 11th December this year, and I'm sure he would still have been the life of the party, still doing 100-mile charity bike rides and still enthusiastically waving his latest music purchase at me, wanting to know if I'd heard it too.

I wish I'd seen Dave more often, had more days and nights out together, I wish he was still around to share music with. He still inspires.

69 Police is a rather on-the-nose reference to the age that Dave would have reached in 2026, and it's also a nod to the fact that we were both huge fans of David Holmes, pre- and post- his move into big budget Hollywood soundtracks. 

I first heard Bow Down To The Exit Sign via a CD-R rip that Dave gave me, although I bought my own legitimate copy on CD soon after. 69 Police is a joy and we were both particularly taken with Kieran Hebden's remix, then in that transitory period between leaving Fridge and finding his own audience as Four Tet.

Needless to say, we were also obsessed with everything that Andrew Weatherall did, musically speaking. Two Lone Swordsmen was perhaps very niche and bit too much for those that wanted him to repeat Screamadelica ad nauseum. That was never going to happen and we both loved these increasingly harder edged excursions into electro. 2000 album Tiny Reminders (another 'preview' rip from Dave before I got my own CD) is arguably the perfect distillation of this and one we got very excited about when it was released. 

Spiritualized was arguably a group that I liked but really grew to love through our friendship as Dave would wax lyrical in the pub over the genius of Jason Pierce. Amazing Grace in 2003 - and another 'try before you buy' gift from Dave - was an astonishing reaction to the increasingly expansive, densely orchestrated, out there albums that had been built up through the 1990s, a scuzzy, abrasive, quick-and-dirty sounding album that still followed the Spiritualized blueprint to brilliant effect.

A memorable gig that Dave and I went to in 2000 was at Fiddlers, the site of a former prison (c. 1740) in a suburb south of central Bristol. Touring their collaborative album Stop The Panic were electronic wunderkind Luke Vibert and legendary pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole. It was as brilliant a show as it was a joy just to see the expression on their faces, especially B.J.'s, when they realised how much the audience were enjoying it.

Not only that, but the support was a set from Mike Paradinas, better known to us for his association with Aphex Twin and recordings under a plethora of aliases, most notably µ-Ziq. So, a pick from each to commemorate a great night out.

Dave selected Mott The Hoople and Culture to be played at the service celebrating his life, delivered by journalist, news presenter and interfaith minister Susan Osman. I shared the entire list in my post from 2022 and featured Two Sevens Clash by the latter, which reappears today, albeit an alternative version from a John Peel session in 1983.

Although I didn't explicitly mark Dave's passing in 2024, instead posting a 'chart history' selection from 20th January 1974, the latter also featured Mott The Hoople. I am taking this as a sign that following a two-year cycle in 2022 and 2024, Mott The Hoople had to appear again in 2026 and therefore they are also included in this selection. 

Dave and I were both at the Massive Attack gig at Bristol Harbourside in August 2004 and - you guessed it - massive fans, whilst we previously got to have an awkward exchange with Moby in February 2000 as part of the pre-show prize for my winning a pair tickets for his University of Bristol concert, courtesy of local newspaper, the Evening Post.

Dave also switched me on to DJ mix CDs, particularly the Essential Mix, Late Night Tales and Fabric series, the latter boasting an especially fine set from mutual favourites, Glasgow duo Slam. Their dub of Seventeen by Ladytron was a standout selection and I've included the full length version here.

The last gig that Dave and I went to was billed as a Green Gartside solo set, which in fact turned out to be a full band Scritti Politti gig in the intimate surround of the Arnolfini arts centre on Bristol's harbourside. It was an unforgettable experience and the few of us there, including Mrs. K and a couple of friends, knew we had witnessed something special. I had no idea that this would be the final time that I would see live music with Dave, yet it was perfect in every way.

The selection ends inevitably with another act that we both loved, and another album that Dave loaned me. We were both hooked on The Future Sound Of London and when they released The Isness as Amorphous Androgynous in 2002, it was just next-level greatness.

Even the packaging was sublime, what I can only described a Chinese puzzle box-inspired CD flip box that required some thought and effort to unlock the 'secret' drawer to reveal the shiny disc within. No CD-R preview this time, Dave lent me the precious artefact so that I could enjoy the full immersive experience.

I love The Isness and, when I finally managed to get my own copy of the limited edition CD, it became the soundtrack to my and Mrs. K's summer, shared nights sat on the somewhat precarious rooftop terrace of our home at the time, glugging red wine and enjoying the journey from sunset to warm summer night. Admittedly, occasionally interrupted by the sound and light of a police helicopter chasing down the latest car jacker, but otherwise as blissful as you could imagine.

So many happy memories, either directly with or indirectly because of Dave. He was universally loved by everyone that I knew, which I guess is evident by how his presence remains with me, to this day.

Cheers, Dave, and thanks for everything.

1) 69 Police (Kieran's Remix By Kieran Hebden): David Holmes ft. Sean Gullette (2000)

2) Death To All Culture Snitches: Two Lone Swordsmen (2000)

3) She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit): Spiritualized (2003)

4) Roy Castle: µ-Ziq (1995)

5) Hipalong Hop: Luke Vibert & B.J. Cole ft. Mexeena Carlos (2000)

6) Thunderbuck Ram: Mott The Hoople (1970)

7) Two Sevens Clash (John Peel Session): Culture (1983)

8) Daydreaming (Instrumental): Massive Attack (1990)

9) Seventeen (Slam Dub): Ladytron (2002)

10) Porcelain (Torsten Stenzel's Edited Remix): Moby (2000)

11) Robin Hood (Album Version): Scritti Politti (2006)

12) Go Tell It To The Trees Egghead: Amorphous Androgynous (2002)

1970: Mad Shadows: 6

1987: The Peel Sessions EP: 7

1990: Daydreaming EP: 8

1995: Trance Europe Express 3: 4

2000: Porcelain EP: 10

2000: 69 Police EP: 1

2000: Stop The Panic: 5

2000: Tiny Reminders: 2

2002: Seventeen EP: 9

2002: The Isness: 12

2003: Amazing Grace: 3

2006: White Bread Black Beer: 11

Dave Dreaming (For Dave S.) (58:36) (GD) (M)

Decayed Prelude

Exactly eight months ago, I posted Decadance V: 1999, the final year in my mixtape series covering the 1990s, itself a follow on from Decade, the original cassette compilations I had recorded to sum up the 1980s.

In an attempt to create some (pre-millennial) tension, I concluded my post with a portentous - many (me included) would say pretentious - statement

I suspect that when I get around to a series on the Noughties, 

the gulf between my singles selections and the UK charts will be vast, 

yet I know that like Decadance and Decade, 

there will be many gems to be uncovered and shared. 

I'm not planning on doing it any time soon, 

possibly not even this year, though I have come up with the series name. 

Decayed. 

Well, it proved to be a scratch that I needed to itch sooner rather than later, it seems!

And so, here we are again, with a prelude to a series that will start properly next Saturday (8th) and run for the next 5 weekends.

As before, each mixtape will cover a single year via a dozen songs to fit on, in old money, one side of a C90 cassette, just like the original Decade series managed back in the day.

It turned out that "the gulf between my singles selections and the UK charts" was not as vast as I suspected and there are a fair share of UK hits, number ones even, throughout. That said, I've reserved the right to include songs that spectacularly failed to dent the Top 100, just because I think they're great songs and should've had more love at the time. Especially when you consider some of the inexorable crap polluting the upper regions of the Top 40 in this decade.

This was a decade of significant changes in my life: becoming a homeowner, a husband, a father; I gained friends and lost friends; soaring highs and deep, deep lows. And always music to discover or rediscover and rejoice in.

Today's prelude selection features ten songs, each charting in the UK in respective years from 2000 to 2009, starting and ending with a #1 hit. None of the artists featured today will appear in the main series. Yep, this is the only time that you'll hear The White Stripes or Massive Attack in the next five weeks. 

Much as I'd like to make an exception, Julian Cope will be absent from proceedings, as The Arch Drude didn't release any singles in the 2000s. Some might argue that he didn't release any decent albums either, but I will stick my fingers in my ears and sing ba ba ba ba ba if I see any of this nonsense.

A feature (gimmck, you say?) of the Decadance series was my efforts to shoehorn in a MAW (Mandatory Andrew Weatherall) track into every year, mostly remixes of other artists, which proved to be less difficult than I first thought.

No such studio trickery this time, though I can reveal that The Guv'nor will be making an appearance in this series, with a surprise Top 30 single.

But what of the ten that have made the cut?

Groovejet by Spiller was a ubiquitous tune in the summer of 2000, although in terms of chart action, it followed the growing trend of singles debuting at #1 then dropping out immediately after. In fairness, Groovejet dropped to #2, then #3, and spent 12 weeks in the Top 40, 30 weeks in the Top 100, which clearly reflected it's popularity. 

It also proved to be a relaunch for Sophie Ellis-Bextor, fresh from the break up of theaudience and about to launch a solo career that, a quarter of a century later, has seen her elevated to National Treasure status.

In 2001, The Avalanches came out of nowhere (well, Australia) with an approach to sampling and cut-ups that as dizzying as it was unsustainable. Since I Left You sounds as magical now as it did then and the album of the same name that followed was a breathtaking piece of work. I don't know the full story of the  'extended alternate version' featured here, and discovered on YouTube in 2016, but I reckon it's a DIY cut and edit job by the poster, the wonderfully named Chungus Bungus.

From two seven-minute songs to one that comes in at under two minutes, it can only be The White Stripes. It took me a while to catch on to Jack and Meg's back-to-basics music and whilst I don't love everything they did, singles like Fell In Love With A Girl were spot on, retro yet sounding fresh and exciting. I'm surprised that this stalled just outside the Top 20 in March 2002.

Massive Attack returned in 2003 with 100th Window, and lead single Special Cases, featuring Sinéad O'Connor. Only four albums in, yet a world apart from the Blue Lines album just over a decade before. I finally got to see Massive Attack live in concert the following year, appropriately enough in our shared birthplace, Bristol.

Reign was originally released on the UNKLE album Never, Never Land in 2003, then as a single, peaking at #40 in November 2004. The song features Ian Brown, at this point half a decade into his solo career, with no hope of The Stone Roses getting back together again. 

Antony & The Johnsons caused a stir in 2005 when they won the Mercury Music Prize with debut album I Am A Bird Now, qualifying in part as Antony Hegarty (now Anonhi) had been born in Chichester, West Sussex. You Are My Sister features a beautiful duet with Boy George, who also enjoyed an artistic renaissance in the 2000s.

The Automatic had a monster hit with, er. Monster in June 2006. It looks like the band called it a day in 2010, after three albums. I can confidently say that I have never knowingly heard another song by The Automatic and, much as I like Monster, I don't feel a strong urge to check out their catalogue. 

Asobi Seksu, on the other hand, were a band that I feel for as soon as I heard the single Strawberries in 2007. Clearly the record buying public didn't agree, as Strawberries managed only one week at #54 before disappearing without trace. Sadly, Asobi Seksu have been on 'indefinite hiatus' since 2013, though I hold hope of a musical reunion one day.

When I started accessing loads of free MP3s via the RCRD LBL in 2007, I discovered loads of new artists and songs as a result. Paper Planes by M.I.A. is a good example, with a plethora of official and unofficial remixes offering up for download. Roughly a year later, it was released as a physical single in the UK, cracking the Top 20 in September 2008. The mix I've picked here, by then-partner Diplo, retains The Clash sample and adds raps from Big Bun and Rich Boy. Whatever happened to them?!

Another RCRD LBL freebie in 2008 was Just Dance by Lady Gaga, remixed by the RAC (that's the Remix Artist Collective, not the motoring services company!) Just Dance subsequently scored Lady Gaga her first UK #1 in January 2009, followed a couple of months later by Poker Face. Her debut album was appropriately titled The Fame.

As with previous series, for all those info heads, I've listed the parent EP or album, and the single's peak position in the UK charts. I've also included the date it got there which sometimes, but not always, is the same week that it debuted.

If you're thinking, as I did back in March, that the 2000s was the decade that your music tastes acrimoniously parted from the UK Top 100, stick around for the next five weeks, you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

1) Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (Spiller's Extended Vocal Mix): Spiller ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor (2000) 

2) Since I Left You (Extended Alternate Version By Chungus Bungus): The Avalanches (2016)

3) Fell In Love With A Girl: The White Stripes (2002)

4) Special Cases (Album Version): Massive Attack ft. Sinéad O'Connor (2003)

5) Reign (Album Version): UNKLE ft. Ian Brown (2004)

6) You Are My Sister: Antony & The Johnsons ft. Boy George (2005)

7) Monster (Album Version): The Automatic (2006)

8) Strawberries (Album Version): Asobi Seksu (2007)

9) Paper Planes (Diplo Street Remix): M.I.A. ft. Big Bun & Rich Boy (2008)

10) Just Dance (RAC Mix By André Allen Anjos): Lady Gaga ft. Colby O'Donis (2008)

20th August 2000: Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) EP (#1): 1

1st April 2001: Since I Left You (#16): 2

3rd March 2002: White Blood Cells (#21): 3

2nd March 2003: 100th Window (#15): 4

21st November 2004: Never, Never, Land (#40): 5

4th December 2005: I Am A Bird Now (#39): 6

11th June 2006: Not Accepted Anywhere (#4): 7

12th November 2007: Citrus (# 54): 8

28th September 2008: Kala (#19): 9

11th January 2009: The Fame (#1): 10

 

Decayed Prelude (45:37) (GD) (M)

Two Party System

"Another Gecko Production" compilation CD-R, circa 2004, featuring some seriously heavyweight tunes.

Gecko is one of the aliases used by my brother for his mixtapes and CDs in the early 21st Century. He was living in Japan at the time, and we'd continue to swap DIY compilations with each other as a shorthand musical postcard of where we were at.

Spanning South West England to West Coast America and some wild zig zags in between, it's a reminder of how much exciting new music was coming out in the early 2000s. There are also plenty of nods to what had come in the decade before. Listening to the NaS track for the first time in a long while sent a shiver down my spine.

I've tweaked a couple of the versions included here, either because I don't have the album versions or because the remix alternative is so good. In the mid-2000s, I discovered McSleazy aka Grant Robson, who posted a load of bootleg mash-ups and remixes online. I particularly liked his darker take on the likes of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and today's pick by Kelis. 

Likewise, the version of Dreamy Days by Roots Manuva is a low slung relick by Lotek aka Wayne Bennett that appeared on the Exclusives!, a NME cover-mounted CD in 2001.

Harmonic 33 is one of the many nom de plumes used by Mark Pritchard, after Global Communication and way before he started making music with Thom Yorke. Harmonic 33 is a collaboration with Dave Brinkworth and not to be confused with Harmonic 313, another of Mark's solo ventures. Honestly, you need a sat nav to find your way through his vast body of work...!

Great to hear Definition Of Sound again, who should have been massive beyond the handful of hit singles.  My fact-obsessed brain was fascinated to discover that Pass The Vibes - and second album Experience - was co-produced by Chris Hughes (Adam & The Ants, Tears For Fears) and Jack Hues (Wang Chung). Every day is a learning day!

The mix opens heavy with Massive Attack featuring Mos Def and closes with a Serge Gainsbourg-sampling classic from David Holmes. Not a second wasted from start to finish.

1) I Against I: Massive Attack ft. Mos Def (2002)

2) Where Have They Gone: Harmonic 33 (2002)

3) The Seed (2.0): The Roots ft. Cody ChesnuTT (2002)

4) Trick Me (McSleazy Remix By Grant Robson): Kelis (2004)

5) Dreamy Days (Lotek Bonanza Relick) (Remix By Wayne Bennett): Roots Manuva (2001)

6) What Goes Around (Album Version By Salaam Remi): Nas (2001)

7) Natural Mystic (Ital Mix By Matt Green): Bob Marley (2001)

8) Solid As A Rock (Hexadecimal Edit By Steve Osborne): Bim Sherman (1996)

9) Year 2000: Smith & Mighty ft. Niji 40 & Louise Decordova (1999)

10) Evolution Revolution Love (Album Version): Tricky ft. Ed Kowalczyk & Hawkman (2001)

11) Television, The Drug Of The Nation (Album Version By Jack Dangers & Mark Pistel) (cover of The Beatnigs): The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy (1992)

12) Pass The Vibes (Album Version): Definition Of Sound (1995)

13) California Love (Long Radio Edit): 2Pac ft. Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman (1995)

14) Temple Head (Zenana Mix By Aki Nawaz & Paul Tipler): Transglobal Underground (1991)

15) Don't Die Just Yet (Album Version): David Holmes (1997)

1991: Temple Head EP: 14

1992: Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury: 11

1995: California Love EP: 13

1996: Experience: 12

1996: Solid As A Rock EP: 8

1997: Let's Get Killed: 15

1999: Big World Small World: 9

2001: Blowback: 10

2001: NME Exclusives!: 5

2001: Remixed Hits: 7

2001: Stillmatic: 6

2002: Extraordinary People: 2

2002: Phrenology: 3

2002: Special Cases EP: 1

2004: Trick Me (bootleg MP3): 4

Two Party System (1:13:35) (GD) (M)

Brizzle Kicks

Sticking with my birthplace, and 70 minutes of prime rap cuts from artists born and/or based in beautiful Bristol.

To use the vernacular, I don't know shit about rap but I keep discovering lots of music and artists that I like and so much of it can be found in the city. And hearing someone spitting out rhymes with a Bristolian burr is a singular pleasure.

Here's a 19-song selection, including some local legends - and obvious picks - with Massive Attack, Tricky, Kelz and Smith & Mighty. Others are long established but relatively new to me - Upfront, Res, Bil Next and Paro. And some has dropped brand new tracks in the last few weeks - Baileys Brown, Dizraeli and Viktus. 

And in another one of those happy coincidences, I discovered halfway through writing up this selection that it's Viktus' birthday today. This post was meant to be.

Happy 27th, Viktus, hope it's a good one!

1) Bristol Bullshit (Remix By Samadee): Res (2017)

2) Financial Times: C-Froo (2008)

3) Artets: Baileys Brown (2025)

4) Karmacoma (Album Version): Massive Attack ft. Tricky (1994)

5) Mirrors: Viktus ft. Liv Sangster (2025)

6) 2 Wheelin' It (Single Version By Badhabitz): Joey Paro (2020)

7) Protein (Rob Smith Dub Mix): Ree-Vo (2022)

8) Natures Way (Remix By Samadee): Life MC ft. Fliptrix & Upfront (2017)

9) The Butcher's Ball: Sober & Dribbla (2009)

10) Bristol To London: Tricky ft. Blackman & Marlon Thaws (2010)

11) Hit The Brakes: Res One, Upfront, Badhabitz (2025)

12) Get In Get Out: Rob Smith ft. MC Kelz (2007)

13) Bristol Track: C-Froo (2008)

14) Marvellous (Part Two): Dizraeli & Joy Machine (2025)

15) It's A Bristol Ting: Jinxsta (2006)

16) Danger: Smith & Mighty ft. Kelz & Rudy Lee) (2002)

17) Weedmasons Anthem (Remix By Chris Lucas): Bil Next & Paro ft. Jman & Prime (2018)

18) Black Magic: Viktus (2024)

19) Bristol Is Like: Upfront MC (2012)

1994: Protection: 4

2002: Danger EP: 16

2006: Bristol Fringe 2006 (Venue magazine promo CD): 15

2007: In One Way Or Another: 12

2008: Venue The Album #1 (Venue magazine promo CD): 2, 13

2009: Venue The Album #12(Venue magazine promo CD): 9

2010: Mixed Race: 10

2012: Sound Of Evolution EP: 19

2017: Spilt Prophets Present The Samadee Remixes: 1, 8

2018: Mongrel Melodies (Part 3) SP: Remixes: 17

2020: 2 Wheelin' It EP: 6

2022: The Joyzine Advent Calendar 2022: 7

2024: Black Magic EP: 18

2025: Concorde: 11

2025: Don't Do It EP: 3

2025: Marvellous EP: 14

2025: Mirrors EP: 5

Brizzle Kicks (1:11:44) (KF) (Mega)

All That's Written Is Not So

Sixty-two minutes of Horace Andy for your listening pleasure, proof if needed that I don't need a birth, marriage or untimely passing to celebrate a great artist.

Horace Keith Hinds turned 74 in February and is as vital as ever, not least a stunning live performance with Massive Attack at last year's ACT 1.5 event in Bristol and a brace of Adrian Sherwood-produced albums, Midnight Rockets and Midnight Scorchers.

It was Massive Attack's Blue Lines album that was my proper introduction to Horace Andy's music, and I've been trying to keep pace since, with his extensive back catalogue and prolific contemporary recordings.

This 14-song can't hope to be comprehensive, and leans heavily on collaborations from this century, though it easily demonstrates how consistently brilliant Horace has been throughout his career and why he's considered a giant in the genre.

1) Control Yourself (Single Version By Horace Hinds): Horace Andy (1978)

2) Careful (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood): Horace Andy (2022)

3) Money Money (Remix By Tad A. Dawkins & Sylvan Morris): Horace Andy (1980)

4) (Exchange) (Version): Massive Attack ft. Horace Andy (1998)

5) Just Say Who (Gaudi Rootikal Remix By Daniele Gaudi): Almamegretta ft. Horace Andy (2008)

6) Babylon You Lose: Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle (2008)

7) Airbag (Cover of Radiohead): Easy Star All-Stars ft. Horace Andy (2006)

8) If I (Album Version By Horace Hinds & Everton Da Silva): Horace Andy (1977)

9) Papa Was A Rolling Stone (Album Version By Mad Professor) (Cover of The Temptations): Horace Andy (1997)

10) Girl I Love You (Album Version): Massive Attack ft. Horace Andy (2010)

11) Fly High (Album Version By Howie B.): Two Culture Clash ft. Howie B. & Horace Andy (2004)

12) Skylarking (Album Version): Horace Andy + Sly & Robbie (2006)

13) Racing Away (Album Version By Duncan Bridgeman & Jamie Catto): 1 Giant Leap ft. Grant Lee Phillips & Horace Andy (2002)

14) Hymn Of The Big Wheel (Album Version By Massive Attack & Jonny Dollar): Massive Attack ft. Horace Andy, Mikey General & Neneh Cherry (1991)

1977: In The Light: 8

1980: Showcase: 3

1991: Blue Lines: 14

1997: Good Vibes: 1

1997: Roots And Branches: 9

1998: Mezzanine: 4

2001: 1 Giant Leap: 13

2004: Two Culture Clash: 11

2006: Livin' It Up: 12

2006: Radiodread: 7

2008: Inspiration Information: 6

2008: Vulgus: 5

2010: Heligoland: 10

2022: Midnight Rocker: 2

All That's Written Is Not So (1:02:39) (KF) (Mega)

Decadance V: 1998

Side 1 of an imaginary 90s compilation cassette, spooling out in 1998.

This selection went through several last minute changes as I discovered that several songs, whilst listed as or appearing on albums in 1998, weren't released or charted as singles until 1999. You may see some of those tomorrow, but the short list was already rather long, so maybe not...

Not the substitutes were sloppy seconds and, in what I think is a record for this series, a third of the selection all hit the UK #1 spot. Mind you, this was at a time when new releases would crash into the Top 5 in the first week and promptly disappear without trace the next. I'm not even sure that the guaranteed Top Of The Pops appearance carried all that much weight by then.

This was the first time I struggled to fill the MAW slot in this series. In 1998, Andrew Weatherall and Keith Tenniswood's cuts as Two Lone Swordsmen tended to be glitchy, queasy electro numbers, either very short or very long and with little or no vocals. 

The only real contender for me was their epic remix of Come Together by Spiritualized. The only problems being that it was over fifteen and a half minutes long, with not the faintest trace of Jason Pierce to be found. 

My solution - Lord Sabre forgive me - was to create my own vocal edit. I found a bootleg MP3 of the filtered vocal of Come Together and with some painstaking cutting, editing and sequencing, ended up with a version that comes in at just over four and a half minutes. The sound quality is shonky. the editing amaterish, but it's not as awful as I thought. Please feel free to disagree, I will not argue!

Cornershop were one the surprise #1s, entirely thanks to Norman Cook who was everywhere at the time as Fatboy Slim. Brimful Of Asha was a (very) modest hit in 1997, but Norman liked it, wanted to include it in his sets but needed to speed it up a bit. Cue the trademark big beats and carousel swirls and a chart topper was born. I still quite get over Tjinder Singh sounding like a member of Alvin & The Chipmunks and I will also prefer the original over the remix, but I'm happy that it gave Cornershop (and their album) a well-deserved boost.

A fair bit of rap here, from the masters Run-D.M.C. to new kids on the block Jurassic 5 and superb homegrown talent in Asian Dub Foundation. 

Roni Size Reprazent, er, represented my birthplace and, fresh off of winning the 1997 Mercury Music Prize, ploughed the prize money straight back into Bristol. Not the only Bristol artist though: Massive Attack return, this time with Elizabeth Fraser for Teardrop. Even the truncated promo edit featured here is phenomenal, and seeing it performed live last year was a real 'pinch me' moment.

Madonna returned with William Orbit at the controls for Frozen, with a Chris Cunningham-created video that had Madge looking her Gothic best. A slew of remixes accompanied the single as you might expect, though Stereo MC's version was head and shoulders above the rest.

Just outside the Top 30 was Don't Die Just Yet by David Holmes, sampling Serge Gainsbourg with aplomb. David remixed Failure by Skinny, label mates with Dido who also provided backing vocals on the song.

Speaking of samples, somehow Italian duo The Tamperer aka Alex Farolfi and Mario Fargetta managed to clear a hefty sample of The Jacksons' 1981 hit Can You Feel It? for their own song. 

Frankly, the sample does all the heavy lifting, but American singer and actor Maya Days gamely adapts lyrics from Urban Discharge's 1995 single Wanna Drop A House (On That Bitch), including the unforgettable line, "What's she gonna look like with a chimney on her?"  They don't write 'em like that anymore...

As a counter to all of the hits, 1998 closes with a 'flop' single from what proved to be one of my favourite albums of the year, by the wonderful Solex aka Elisabeth Esselink. Solex vs. The Hitmeister featured 12 songs, every single one featuring Solex in the title. I hadn't heard any of the music, but was so taken by the review I read that I tracked it down and bought the CD. A fabulously quirky album and a perfect way to round off the year.

Amazingly, sadly (for me at least), Sunday will see the final instalment of this alternative tour of the 1990s. Pre-millennium tension? Not 'arf!

 
1) Black White (Brendan Lynch Mix): Asian Dub Foundation

2) Concrete Schoolyard (Clean Radio Edit): Jurassic 5

3) Failure (Radio Mix): Skinny ft. Lee Stevens, Dido & Pauline Taylor

4) Watching Windows (Roni Size Vocal Remix): Roni Size Reprazent ft. Onallee

5) Brimful Of Asha (Brighton) (Norman Cook Remix Single Version): Cornershop

6) It's Like That (Drop The Break Radio Edit): Run-D.M.C. vs. Jason Nevins

7) Feel It (Blunt Edit): The Tamperer ft. Maya

8) Frozen (Stereo MC's Remix Edit): Madonna

9) Don't Die Just Yet (Radio Edit): David Holmes

10) Teardrop (Edit): Massive Attack ft. Elizabeth Fraser

11) Come Together (Two Lone Swordsmen Meet Khayem Downtown) (Vocal Edit): Spiritualized

12) Solex All Licketysplit (Album Version): Solex

4th January 1998: Don't Die Just Yet EP (#33): 9

22nd February 1998: Brimful Of Asha EP (#1): 5

1st March 1998: Frozen EP (#1): 8

8th March 1998: Watching Windows EP (#28): 4

15th March 1998: It's Like That EP (#1): 6

5th April 1998: Failure EP (#31): 3

12th April 1998: Solex vs. The Hitmeister (#n/a): 12

3rd May 1998: Teardrop EP (#10): 10

24th May 1998: Feel It EP (#1): 7

31st May 1998: The Abbey Road EP (#39): 11

28th June 1998: Black White EP (#52): 1

18th October 1998: Concrete Schoolyard EP (#35): 2

Side One (46:56) (GD) (M)