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)

No More Crying, Heartaches, Sorrows Or Pain

A "quick" post about Johnny Clarke that inevitably turned into a big detour...

Having been listening to it over the weekend, my intention was simply to post Johnny's 1977 classic Every Knee Shall Bow and a couple of accompanying versions. So, without further ado, here's the original single version, produced by Bunny 'Striker' Lee...

...followed by the self-produced extended version from 1978, featuring U-Roy and a superlative dub from King Tubby on the flipside...

...and last, but certainly not least, U-Roy's own take on the song, one of his last recordings before his untimely passing in 2021. This is huge in every sense, over 15 minutes in length and featuring Big Youth and Mick Jones, with Youth, Zak Starkey and Dave Sardy at the controls. 

And the detour? Right at the top of this post, looking on YouTube for Johnny Clarke clips, I discovered rediscovered a full set from the Mekudeshet Festival in Jerusalem on 19th September 2019, Johnny performing with Dub Asante Band and Matic Horns. Well worth an hour and a quarter of your time.

The Stuff That Cured A Nation

I've been listening to Big Audio Dynamite again recently, the full run of albums, including the reboots as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, before reverting to the original name once more in the mid-1990s.

Of course, the one constant has been Mick Jones and much as I love The Clash, I was a little too young to fully appreciate them at the height of their powers and Big Audio Dynamite landed at just the right time, in my early teens. It's fair to say that Jones' creativity, thirst for mixing up guitars with beats and samples and his lyrical dexterity never faltered.

A Big Audio Dynamite selection is well overdue: I posted the first side of the Bad Attitude cassette compilation of 12" mixes a year ago yesterday; the flip side followed a few months later (links to Side 1 and Side 2). 

 

In the meantime, here's a selection of videos covering each of their albums from debut This Is Big Audio Dynamite in 1985 through to 1997's final album Entering A New Ride, self-released online after then-label Radioactive rejected it. 

I've opted for Medicine Show and C'mon Every Beatbox, not just because they're brilliant songs, but as they also feature the truly magnificent Neneh Cherry. I couldn't find a video for Other 99 so I've used a live performance from BAD's 2011 reunion tour with the original line up, which is great. No official videos from mini-album Kool-Aid by Big Audio Dynamite II as far as I can tell, but I've found what looks to these rheumy eyes like a fan-made clip . Likewise, there were no videos for any of the tracks from Entering A New Ride, but Nice And Easy features Ranking Roger, so it deserves an airing even as an audio-only clip.

I'll try not to leave it a year before the next Big Audio Dynamite post...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Medicine Show: Big Audio Dynamite (from This Is Big Audio Dynamite, 1985)

C'mon Every Beatbox: Big Audio Dynamite (from No. 10, Upping St., 1986)

Other 99 (Live @ The Roxy, Los Angeles, 14th April 2011): Big Audio Dynamite (from Tighten Up Vol. '88, 1988)

James Brown: Big Audio Dynamite (from Megatop Phoenix, 1989)

Kool-Aid: Big Audio Dynamite II (from Kool-Aid, 1990)

Rush: Big Audio Dynamite II (from The Globe, 1991)

Looking For A Song: Big Audio (from Higher Power, 1994)

I Turned Out A Punk: Big Audio Dynamite (from F-Punk, 1995)

Nice & Easy (Remix): Big Audio Dynamite ft. Ranking Roger (from Entering A New Ride, 1997)

(More) Bad Attitude

Side 2 of a mixtape, originally recorded 13th February 2002, featuring Big Audio Dynamite. Although the cassette sleeve is sub-titled "1985-1989", the truth is that I dipped out after V. Thirteen and missed third album Tighten Up Vol. '88 and it's accompanying singles altogether. The same was true of follow up album Megatop Phoenix, though I did buy the 12" of Contact, which I loved, and the Australian 12" of James Brown whilst in - you guessed it - Australia. I'm not sure why I seem to have temporarily fallen out of love with Big Audio Dynamite as, in retrospect, the 1988-89 songs are great. It was probably down to a limited budget for buying new music, considering I spent two years working and saving to travel, so any spare money was going on gigs, substances, clothes, running a car and my then-new obsession with Pixies. 

Betraying my limited B.A.D. vinyl - I only had the first album and an assortment of singles, with No. 10, Upping St. on a badly dubbed cassette, so unusable for my own mixtape - the original featured Medicine Show twice, album version on Side 1, 12" version on Side 2. For this update, I've swapped out the latter with Albert Einstein Meets The Human Beatbox, which originally appeared on the Medicine Show limited double pack 12" single and uses the E=MC² backing track. This also freed up space to include the 12" mix of Contact, which was inexplicably missing from the original track listing. Never mind the sequencing, feel the quality.

 

1) A Party (Dub) (Remix By Paul 'Groucho' Smykle) (Full Length) (1985)

2) James Brown (Remix Edit By Mick Jones & Bill Price) (1989)

3) C'mon Every Beatbox (Beatbox's At Dawn) (Remix By Sam Sever) (1986)

4) Hollywood Boulevard (Dub Mix By Sam Sever) (1986)

5) Contact (12" Mix By Judge Jules & Roy The Roach) (1989)

6) Albert Einstein Meets The Human Beatbox (ft. Sipho & Clement) (1986)

7) Sony (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

8) BAD (12" Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

 

Side Two (46:47)

Find Side One here
 

2882

2882 is the number of days since I last played any of the songs in today's selection, which has been (very) roughly split into a "melody" and "dance" side. Highlights include a rare version from Mick Jones' brief sojourn as the truncated Big Audio, my favourite version of Moonlight Drive from the posthumous odds & sods album Alive She Cried, Jaz Coleman rapping with his cousin JC-001 and of course any song featuring the beautiful voice of Hope Sandoval. I'll try not to leave it so long next time.

 

Side One (21:48)

1) The Good Part: Arab Strap (2003)

2) Help Is Coming: Crowded House (1994)

3) Moonlight Drive / Horse Latitudes (Live @ Felt Forum, New York, 18 January 1970): The Doors (1970)

4) Harrow Road (Ska Mix): Big Audio (1994)

5) Row Fisherman (Dub): Wailing Souls (1979)

 

Side Two (20:45)

1) Stay One Jump Ahead (Extended Mix): Killing Joke ft. JC-001 (1988) 

2) Masterhit (Part III - LP Version): Front 242 (1987)

3) Paradise Circus (Gui Boratto Remix): Massive Attack ft. Hope Sandoval (2010)

 

Side One (21:48)

Side Two (20:45) 

 

 

Bad Attitude

Side 1 of a mixtape, originally recorded 13th February 2002. I was too young for The Clash to be 'my' band at school, but Big Audio Dynamite were a different proposition. This Is Big Audio Dynamite is an incredible album and the 12" mixes were equally thrilling, chock-full with samples, beats and incisive lyrics. The original BAD line up - Mick Jones, Don Letts, Leo Williams, Dan Donovan and Greg Roberts - was unbeatable, but there was an added thrill when Joe Strummer reunited with Mick Jones to co-write and co-produce second album No. 10, Upping St. I never tire of listening to these records.

 

1) This Is Big Audio Dynamite (12" Mix By Mick Jones & Paul 'Groucho' Smykle) (1985)

2) Stone Thames (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

3) V. Thirteen (Extended Remix By Mick Jones & Alan Moulder) (1986) 

4) Medicine Show (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

5) The Bottom Line (12" Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

6) Sudden Impact! (Album Version By Mick Jones) (1985)

7) E=MC² (Extended Remix By Mick Jones & Paul 'Groucho' Smykle) (1985)

Side One (45:53)

 

Fever (Still) Needs A Cure

Side 1 of a 1996 mixtape, rescued from the loft. 

 

1) The Storm (12" Edit By Cliff Bridgen & Hugo Nicholson): World Of Twist (1990)

2) Infected (12" Mix): The The (1986)

3) They're Here (Cenobite Mix): EMF (1992)

4) Oolaa (Meat Beat Manifesto Mutation): Orbital (1992)

5) Lightning Man (The Industry vs The Ebb Mix By Daniel Miller): NItzer Ebb (1990)

6) Hollywood Boulevard (Club Mix By Sam Sever): BIg Audio Dynamite (1986)

7) Make It Mine (V2.2 Evil Ed) (Remix By "Evil" Eddie Richards): The Shamen ft. Rhyme & Reason (1990)

8) Don't Lose Your Dreams (The Cabaret Voltaire Freak Mix): Pete Wylie & Wah! The Mongrel... (1991)

 

Side One (46:00)  

Find Side Two here