Fearlessness

After a week of bombarding you with music from this year, time for a trip in the Dubhed time machine (one careless owner, 23 million years on the clock, needs some re-upholstery and an oil change).

Materialising in 1977, your soundtrack today is 15 songs spanning punk, dub, alternative, (Egyptian) reggae, lovers' rock and most definitely not a Christmas song from Neil Young, handily split into two sides for your listening pleasure.

Settle back with a pack of Rowntrees Tots, a can of Blue Raspberry Panda Pop and a copy of 2000AD or Blue Jeans and enjoy the music before the sugar-induced coma hits.

 

Side One

1) Screwed Up: Menace

2) Judgement Dub: Tapper Zukie

3) Nightclubbing: Iggy Pop

4) Cheat: The Clash

5) Rasta Dub: Lee 'Scratch' Perry

6) Bored Teenagers: The Adverts

7) Star Of Bethlehem: Neil Young

8) We Are The One: The Avengers

Side Two

1) Sweet Gene Vincent: Ian Dury

2) Neat Neat Neat: The Damned

3) Zion Gate: Yabby You

4) Alison: Elvis Costello

5) Reuters: Wire

6) Egyptian Reggae: Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers

7) Someone To Love Me: Candy McKenzie

Side One (22:17) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (22:36) (KF) (Mega)

Life's A Well-Thumbed Machine

Back in time half a century (really?!) to a dozen songs from 1972.

 

Most of these I discovered in the 1990s and 2000s. Speed, Glue & Shinki was one of a number of bands that I looked up after reading Julian Cope's 2007 book Japrocksampler. The fabulous Art Decade blog ("specializing in music of the 'long seventies'") was a rich source of new (to me) artists and lost songs in the 2010s, including Israeli singer and actress Esther Ofarim. Gnostic Serenade featured on the brilliant 'double album' Winter-Harvest, posted by one of the regular contrinbutors Emmett, on 11th February 2010. You'll need to scroll down the page to find the post, but amazingly the zip file link is still live. Highly recommended if you enjoy today's selection.

 

Some more obvious choices included: Exile On Main Street and Harvest were a given, classic singles from David Bowie and Hawkwind, along with a should-have-been single from Jonathan Richman & co.

Quite a few of these songs haven't had an airing on my playlists for a while, so I'm pleased to give them a dusting off and present them for your listening pleasure. Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Side One

1) Flat Fret Swing: Speed, Glue & Shinki

2) Loving Cup: The Rolling Stones 

3) Faust '72: Dynastie Crisis

4) She Cracked: The Modern Lovers

5) John, I'm Only Dancing (Single Version): David Bowie

6) Silver Machine (Single Version): Hawkwind

Side Two

1) Gnostic Serenade (Cover of 3's A Crowd): Esther Ofarim

2) Alabama: Neil Young ft. David Crosby, Stephen Stills & The Stray Gators

3) Wishing Well (Single Version): Free

4) Keep On: Bang!

5) Stars (Single Version): Kevin Ayers

6) Listen, Listen: Sandy Denny

Side One (22:39)

Side Two (23:00)