...Everybody Listen! Something Exciting Is About To Happen!

Side 2 of a cassette compilation recorded 22nd January 1997.

 

Ditching the pumpkins and the 21st Century for some banging 90s beats. Across the 14 mixes and two sides of the original cassette, 1993 is heavily represented. I'm not quite sure why this year was resonating quite so much with me in early 1997, but it was clearly a good year for club music.

Not that any of the other selections are sloppy seconds. 

Traci Lords successfully made a career switch from the US porn industry to the UK club scene, teaming up with Juno Reactor for the 1995 album 1000 Fires and getting Paul Oakenfold in to remix her single Fallen Angel. The song was apparently inspired by her childhood journals and Kurt Cobain's suicide the previous year. 

Fluke seemed to be everywhere in 1996, including the video games market. Even to non-gamers like me, the soundtrack to Wipeout 2097 was pretty amazing and Fluke's single Atom Bomb was all over it. There were 8 versions across 2 CD singles, which was enough to push it into the UK Top 20.

The Source aka John Truelove aka John Rush hit the motherlode when he paired a 1986 Candi Station with Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle's Your Love to create You Got The Love. Initially a bootleg in 1989, further variations cracked the UK Top 10 in 1991, 1997 and 2006. Unfortunately, it kind of threw everything else into the shade, including 1993 single Sanctuary Of Love.

 

Sanctuary Of Love follows a simple plan, taking an underground club track by US artist Zhana Saunders and transforming into a hard house anthem. Tall Paul's remix ramps up the epic feel, but it remained one for the clubs, making no impact whatsoever on the UK singles chart.

Mark Moore had the unenviable task of following up a smash hit debut album with S'Express. Eschewing the previous rotating cast of vocalists for a single artist, Mark's pairing with Sonia Clarke aka Sonique was inspired, even if it didn't bring the same commercial success. Personally, I think the follow up album Intercourse is hugely underappreciated and lead single Nothing To Lose is as good as anything that had come before. 

Usura was an Italian combo who enjoyed a UK #7 hit in January 1993 with Open Your Mind. I don't think follow up single Tear It Up even dented the charts, which is a shame as it's an equally compelling track, with an earthy, compelling vocal. Tear It Up was a co-write with Rollo, yet to find global fame with Faithless, but renowned for his remixes and he really delivers the goods on this one.

Apollo 440 was birthed in 1990 by brothers Howard Gray and Trevor Gray, along with James Gardner and Noko aka Norman Fisher-Jones. Building a reputation though remixes and singles in the early 1990s, they released Millennium Fever, the first of five albums, in 1994. Noko was previously one half of Luxuria with Howard Devoto, who contributed lyrics to Apollo 440's debut album. The pair were reunited when Noko joined the reformed Magazine in 2009.

Closing side 2 and the mixtape is a remix of Culture Club's Miss Me Blind by Ramp aka Shem McCauley and Simon Rogers. Originally released on the Colour By Numbers album in 1983, and as a single outside of the UK, this remix first appeared on US editions of Boy George's single Everything I Own in 1993. I got my mitts on it via The Devil In Sister George EP, which featured updated versions of 5 old songs, aimed squarely at the dancefloor. This one knocks the Culture Club original out of the park.

 

1) Fallen Angel (Perfecto Mix By Paul Oakenfold) (Single Edit): Traci Lords (1995)

2) Atom Bomb (Atomix 6): Fluke (1996)

3) Sanctuary Of Love (Tall Paul's Jiant Revamp) (Remix By Paul Newman): The Source ft. Zhana Saunders (1993)

4) Nothing To Lose (Original Mix By Mark Moore): S'Express ft. Sonique (1990)

5) Tear It Up (Big, Bold And Sassy Mix By Rollo): Usura (1993)

6) Rumble (12” Version): Apollo 440 (1993)

7) Miss Me Blind (Return To Gender Mix By Ramp): Culture Club (1993)

Side Two (46:19) (KF) (Mega)

Goin' In, Out, Goin' In, Not Out

I know it's Friday but pre-empting the week ahead, here's the Happy Mondays with - what else? - Hallelujah.

 

I have a stupidly early start for work, and slightly more so this morning, as I'm typing this post whilst it's still dark (& raining outside) so I didn't stay up all night to watch the election results coming in.

Even so, it was hard to imagine waking up to a nightmare scenario where somehow, impossibly, the Tories had managed to cling onto government. At the time of writing, we're still some way to go but it's clear that the reality and long-held hope is that they are out, out, out. Labour have a lot to do, and to prove, especially in the next year or so, but at the very least we have change and we have hope.

Thankfully, my patch is no longer blue and we have a Lib Dem MP for the first time since 2015. In a marked contrast to scenes elsewhere shown on TV, when I arrived at my local polling station on my way home from work, there was one other person at a voting booth, so we were outnumbered 3:1 by the election volunteers. Numbers of voters who turned up yesterday was 2% up on 2019.

A more worrying statistic - yet, having lived here long enough, not entirely surprising - is that a large chunk of the Tory vote appears to have shifted to the Reform candidate, who comfortably came in third with nearly 50% more votes than Labour (though their candidate did improve on 2019). Farage is now an MP, so we'll no doubt be subject to even more of his smug mug and hate-filled hyperbole on screen, but...we also have change and we have hope of something better.

Back to Happy Mondays, I was always tickled by the video for the single, mostly Shaun, Bez and the band in slo mo, with a hint of the chaos that underpinned pretty much everything that they did. 

 

Given the song is two minutes and forty three seconds long, I have to feel for the video directors and editor, who I suspect may have had a substantial amount of footage yet very little that they could actually use! Opting for slow motion to eke out the precious few seconds may have been a reactive measure out of necessity perhaps, but somehow it works.

What I hadn't realised before now was that Richard Heslop and the Bailey Brothers (Phil Shotton & Keith Jobling) were in fact sent the extended Club Mix by Andrew Weatherall and Paul Oakenfold to shoot the video too, so in fact they had nearly seven minutes of music to work with. I think they did a pretty good job.

When Ewan Pearson remixed the song in 2020, a couple of official videos were commissioned to assist with promotion. I've opted here for the Dub Remix version, which stretches the song out to nine and half minutes of mind-bending bliss, with video director Glenn Kitson pushing elements of the original video through a psychedelic rinser.

And I think it's a mandatory requirement (or if it's not, it should be) that any post about Hallelujah must include Happy Mondays appearance on Top Of The Pops, joined on stage by the wonderful and much-missed Kirsty MacColl. 

What Power Do You Bring Back Here?

Side 1 of a cassette compilation recorded as a gift from my brother, sometime around March-April 1991. 

 

Some New Beat and some not-so-new beat, generally speaking. As mentioned when I posted Side 2 last year, two key albums for this mixtape are the compilations New Beat, Made In Belgium (1989) and The Third Mind (1990). I might go so far as to say that my brother was either getting bored or tired towards the end of this side and opted to lift the latter's closing two songs on Side 1 to complete his own Side 1 of this compilation. I don't have a copy of The Third Mind and haven't been able to source the Son Of Sam track St. Augustine Said online, so I've instead plumped for a previous 12" aside, which I think sits reasonably well with the music on either side.

The selection kicks off with Psychic TV with the (kind of title track) from their acid house album Towards The Infinite Beat (released with a remix companion titled Beyond The Infinite Beat). From there a brace of classic Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne remixes, followed by Paris Angels' finest moment (from the original 1990 12", not the subsequent major label remix and re-release).

 

I guess you could describe English Boy On The Loveranch as a 'supergroup in reverse', comprising Dave Ball, Jamie Fry and Nick Sanderson. Dave of course had found fame and notoriety with Soft Cell and would again with The Grid. Jamie and Nick later co-founded World Of Twist and Earl Brutus. English Boy On The Loveranch only released a couple of singles in 1987 and 1988, but they're both worth tracking down.

A couple of New Beat contributions from 101 and Moments Of Ecstasy, featuring Jos Borremans, Maurice Engelen, Nikkie Van Lierop and Oliver Adams, who also variously recorded as Praga Khan, Lords Of Acid, etc. I was bit unkind about the latter last time, but there's no denying New Beat's allure.

I know next to nothing about Faction but according to Discogs they appear to be the same Faction that backed Nico on her 1985 album Camera Obscura. A nice way to come down from the relentless beats that have preceded it. 

I've no idea how my brother crammed all of this onto one side of a C90, but this is more or less as he originally intended.

 

1) Infinite Beat: Psychic TV (1990)

2) Pro>Gen (Land Of Oz) (Remix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (Album Edit): The Shamen (1990)

3) Human Nature (On The Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (12" Version): Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Alan Pillay (1991)

4) All On You (Perfume) (12" Version): Paris Angels (1990)

5) Rock To The Beat (Original Mix) (Cover of Reese aka Kevin Saunderson): 101 (1989)

6) Sex Vigilante (Deadly Weapons Mix By Flood): English Boy On The Loveranch (1988)

7) You And Me (Edit By Maurice Engelen): Moments Of Ecstasy (1989)

8) One Thousand Beats Per Minute (Deejay's Edit): Son Of Sam (1987)

9) Noa Noa: Faction (1990)

Side One (47:58) (KF) (Mega) 

Side Two here

The (Not So) New Creation

Side 2 of a loved up cassette compilation, recorded 7th September 1997.

Rounding up the rest of a mixtape that brings together a bunch of my favourite songs from that glorious period from 1989 to 1991 when the indie/dance crossover really was on fire.

 

Looking back, it was such an exciting time for music and whilst at the ridiculous end of the spectrum, there was a lot of bandwagon jumping with lots of mediocre artists having a funky drummer sample strapped onto their MOR dirge in an attempt to get with it, it was also a period of rebirth and reinvention for many other artists.

Side 2 starts off with one such example, Zodiac Youth being Youth and Mark Manning. At the time, Youth aka Martin Glover was the former bassist with Killing Joke who had carved out a new reputation as a remixer and producer. Mark Manning was better known as the front person of Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction. Fast Forward The Future is an exhilarating collaboration featuring rapper T-Love and riding on a sample from Faith Healer by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. 

 

Stephen Duffy, an 80s pop star as Tin Tin, found a new path with The Lilac Time, forging a more pastoral, folk-infused path whilst retaining the wonderful wordplay of his finest songs. Stephen was reportedly quite dismissive of Creation label mate Hypnotone aka Tony Martin's remixes of Dreaming. Whilst Hypnotone's remix of Sheer Taft's Cascades is the high water mark, personally I think this one comes pretty close.

Pleasure* was a duo of Barry Maguire and Steven Gallifent, signed to David A. Stewart's Anxious Records. They released a single, self-titled album in 1989 and Please was the fourth and final single to be lifted, with a trio of remixes by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. The CD single was beautifully designed, with a card sleeve housed in an outer red plastic sleeve with button and stenciled logo, the cost of which alone likely landed them in even greater debt when the single didn't achieve global success. It's a shame, as the mixes are pretty good.

Bonita Applebum was my introduction to A Tribe Called Quest, specifically the 7" and 12" mixes built around the sample of Why? by Carly Simon. CJ Mackintosh was the go-to remixer for labels seeking to open up US hip-hop and rap to a wider UK audience and you can see why on the strength of this track. Blew me away at the time and still does, to be honest.

Both New Atlantic and Love Decade shone very briefly in the early 1990s but neither bettered I Know. This collaborative effort samples the Candi Staton vocal used in full - and to brilliant effect - by The Source on You Got The Love several times, including 1991 when I Know was also riding the charts. Add some further pan pipe samples, Italo piano chords and propulsive beats and the remix had hit written all over it.

According to the small print on the cassette sleeve, the original mixtape used the Loved Up remix of Paris Angels' Perfume from the 1991 reissue. I haven't been able to track down the CD single in question so I've used the 1990 single version. It's pretty much the same running time and there may be little difference apart from a slight remix and buff up for the second go ahead. Either way, it's an absolute classic of the period and genre. The original, full length All On You version is the essential but this'll do very nicely, thank you.

I'm not a big fan of The Farm, and seeing them live on stage supporting Madness last year didn't change that drastically, but I do like their cover of The Monkees' Stepping Stone, particularly the 12" version. Continuing the theme of reinvention and rebirth, Madness legend Suggs was managing The Farm at the time and joined Terry Farley for the remix. 

 

Also on a break from his main job at the time was INXS front person Michael Hutchence, here with old pal Ollie Olsen as Max Q. Just the one self-titled album in 1989, with a couple of singles with remixes from Todd Terry, though less dance-oriented than you'd expect. The 12" single(s) to go for featured Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, the Land Of Oz mix featured here being the standout.

1) Fast Forward The Future (Witch-Hunt Mix By Youth & Mark 'Spike' Stent): Zodiac Youth ft. T-Love (1991)

2) Dreaming (12" Mix By Hypnotone): The Lilac Time (1991)

3) Please (Future Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Pleasure* (1990)

4) Bonita Applebum (7" Why? Edit By CJ Mackintosh & Robin Hancock): A Tribe Called Quest (1990)

5) I Know (Love Decade Remix 12"): New Atlantic (1991)

6) Perfume (Single Version): Paris Angels (1990)

7) Stepping Stone (Ghost Dance Mix By Terry Farley & Mr. Suggs) (12" Version) (Cover of '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone' by The Monkees): The Farm (1991)

8) Sometimes (Land Of Oz Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Max Q (1989)

 

Side Two (46:22) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here

P.S. If you visited the Dot Allison post yesterday, you may be interested to know that I’ve since added a link to the hour-long Dubhed selection I originally posted in October 2022.

The New Creation

Side 1 of a mixtape, compiled 7th September 1997.

Does it get much better than this? It's hard to believe that I recorded this cassette over 25 years ago, pulling together tunes that are now over three decades old. From the opening seconds of Farley and Heller's mix of Come Together, I'm transported and that feeling of euphoria continues for the next 45 minutes.

That wonderful moment when indie and dance came together and before the phrase "there's always been a dance element to our music" became something of a joke. Terry Farley and Paul Oakenfold are prominent on both sides of this mixtape, though it will be no surprise that Andrew Weatherall and Youth slightly had the edge for me.

Adam & Eve's remix of Your Love Takes Me Higher, from a freebie Record Mirror 7" single, is perhaps my favourite of the multiple mixes of the song. Adam & Eve are Jon and Helena Marsh, Helena joining Jon in The Beloved following Steve Waddington's departure.

 

The selection closes with World Of Twist covering The Rolling Stones, the second such cover on this selection. The explosion of the indie/dance crossover also meant plundering music history for songs to present to a new generation. The Beatles and The Stones were obvious go to bands, but artists from The Doors to The Monkees to Neil Young to T. Rex to Elvis Presley were all fair game, with variable results.

 

She's A Rainbow was first released as a double A-side with The Storm in November 1990 and scraped to #42 in the UK singles chart. The song was re-released as a standalone single in February 1992 with a pair of gorgeous remixes by Fluke but unfortunately only managed to get to #62. A much underrated band, much missed.

"The New Creation" isn't a nod to Alan McGee's label, although this compilation does feature a couple of Creation label mates (Primal Scream being one, the other's on Side 2). It's an ad-libbed phrase from one of the backing singers on I'm Free by The Soup Dragons. It's definitely there on the acapella version but I might have missed it listening back to the Terry Farley remix featured here. Either way, it felt like an apt title, capturing that feeling as the 1980s became the 1990s that something new and exciting was happening, musically speaking at least.

 

1) Come Together (12" Version By Terry Farley & Pete Heller): Primal Scream (1990)

2) I'm Free (Terry Farley Remix) (Cover of The Rolling Stones): The Soup Dragons ft. Junior Reid (1990)

3) Your Love Takes Me Higher (Depth & Desire Mix By Adam & Eve): The Beloved (1990)

4) The World According To Sly & Lovechild (Soul Of Europe Mix By Andrew Weatherall): Sly & Lovechild (1990)

5) Rave On (Club Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Terry Farley): Happy Mondays (1989)

6) Kiss Them For Me (Kathak Mix By Youth): Siouxsie & The Banshees (1991)

7) She's A Rainbow (7" Version By Martin Hannett & World Of Twist) (Cover of The Rolling Stones): World Of Twist (1990)

 

1989: Rave On EP: 5

1990: Come Together EP: 1

1990: I'm Free EP: 2

1990: The Fame And Fortune EP: 3

1990: The Storm / She's A Rainbow EP: 7

1990: The World According To Sly & Lovechild EP: 4

1991: Kiss Them For Me EP: 6

Side One (45:20) (Box) (Mega)

Mo' Monday Blues

Today is a public holiday in the UK, the second additional day in 2022. The first, in June, marked Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, the first British Monarch to reign for 70 years. The second, today, observes the funeral of the Queen, a day-long event starting at Westminster Hall, moving to Westminster Abbey then Windsor Castle and culminating in her burial within St. George's Chapel. As has been the case since the Queen's death on 8th September, there will be live coverage throughout the day, should you wish to follow it. Judging by the shelves at a local supermarket, I'm guessing many will be doing so whilst getting blotto on whisky.

 

I've hesitated to post anything about the event to date; this blog is primarily about the music I love, with little bits of my life story popping up here and there. I've been interested by how several fellow music bloggers have acknowledged their own feelings, whilst being aware that it's a potential minefield of trolling and negative comments. 

 

I'm at home at Casa K today. I won't be watching the TV but I will make the most of this opportunity to be with my family and be productive.

 

I've started as I mean to go on with a freshly curated selection of tunes. The theme is very simple and completely unrelated to the Queen's funeral: being Monday, the name of every artist featured begins with 'Mo' (or 'The Mo'). The shortlist was still pretty long - 50 songs - and I reluctantly left off a few that I thought would be a sure thing: Mogwai, The Modern Lovers, Mojave 3, Momus, The Moonlandingz, The Monochrome Set; even The Monkees failed to make the final 11.

However, I do like how the selection has worked out. Moaning and Movement 98 (featuring Carroll Thompson) were dead certs for the opening and closing songs. Mohamed Karzo is another delightful discovery from my Sahel Sounds compilation purchases, whilst Mount Sims first came to my notice in a collaboration with The Knife and planningtorock. Mono were late to the trip hop party but perhaps would have soundtracked Killing Eve in an alternate reality. The two cover versions by Moodswings and Monkey Mafia are sublime. The rest of the selection is made up with Moby, Moloko, The Mock Turtles and Mojave Lords.

 

Any connection that can be made between the song titles and today's events is, I promise you, entirely coincidental.

 

1) Don't Go: Moaning (2018)

2) There's Nothing Wrong With The World There's Something Wrong With Me: Moby & The Void Pacific Choir (2017)

3) C'est La Vie: Mohamed Karzo (2017)

4) Spiritual High (Original Edit) (Cover of 'State Of Independence' by Jon & Vangelis): Moodswings ft. Martin Luther King (1991)

5) Being Is Bewildering: Moloko (2000)

6) Long As I Can See The Light (Adrian Sherwood's Dub Lighting) (Cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival): Monkey Mafia ft. Shirzelle (1998)

7) Strings And Flowers (Single Version): The Mock Turtles (1991)

8) Sweet Little Down & Out: Mojave Lords (2014)

9) Hollywood Bride: Mount Sims (2002)

10) Silicone (Mr. Scruff Remix): Mono (1997)

11) Joy And Heartbreak (Future Mix (Airplay Edit) By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne): Movement 98 ft. Carroll Thompson (1990)

 

1990: Joy And Heartbreak EP: 11

1991: Spiritual High EP: 4

1991: Strings And Flowers EP: 7 

1997: Silicone EP: 10

1998: Long As I Can See The Light EP: 6

2000: Things To Make And Do: 5 

2002: UltraSex: 9

2014: Unfuckwithable: 8

2017: Agrim Agadez: 3

2017: More Fast Songs About The Apocalypse: 2

2018: Moaning: 1

 

Mo' Monday Blues (46:10)

There Is No Sound Other Than My Heartbeat

A change of pace for today's selection, with the long overdue return of Chinese singer/songwriter Sa Dingding aka Zhou Peng (周鹏). Sa Dingding made her first appearance in part 5 of the 50@50 series which kick started the Dubhed blog back in December 2020 and popped up again in 2021 when I featured a remix of her song Capricorn.

 

This selection draws from five albums: Alive (2007), Harmony (2010), The Coming Ones (2012), remix collection Wonderland (2014) and The Butterfly Dream (2015). It's very hard to track a comprehensive discography, many albums seemingly not formally released outside of Asia. Sa Dingding's debut came out around 1997 and, as far as I can tell, she has not released an album since 2015.

 

Sa Dingding sings in a variety of languages, mostly Mandarin Chinese, Lhasa Tibetan, as well as a self-created language on several songs. Only one of the 13 songs in this selection is in English and provides today's post title.

I've inevitably been listening to a lot of summery, Balearic, upbeat or chilled out music in the past few weeks and Sa Dingding seems to fit right in with what's been on my playlist of late. No surprise then that Paul Oakenfold took an interest, remixing Ha Ha Li Li in 2010 and co-writing Walking Around The Mountain (with a very familiar bassline sample) in 2012.

 

As a late convert in 2019, I'm still dipping in and out of Sa Dingding's music and continually discovering and enjoying new aspects and elements of her music. The fact that I don't understand what she's specifically singing about is irrelevant, the emotional and musical energy is more than enough. I hope that in the next hour you feel the same.

 

1) 飛鳥和花 (Flickering With Blossoms) (Chinese Version) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2007) 

2) 天地记 (Ha Ha Li Li) (Remix By Paul Oakenfold ft. Spitfire) (2010)

3) 转山 (Walking Around The Mountain) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2012)

4) 绿衣女孩 (Girl In A Green Dress) (Mandarin Vocal) (Album Version By Marius De Vries & Sa Dingding) (2010)

5) 任乾坤 (Yin And Yang) (Album Version By Karsh Kale & Gaurav Raina) (2015)

6) 神香 (Holy Incense) (Tibet Version) (Album Version By Sa Dingding & He Xun-Tian) (2007)

7) 反弹琵琶 (Oriental Beauty) (Album Version By Karsh Kale & Gaurav Raina) (2015)

8) 雀神 (Sparrow God) (Album Version By ConRank) (2014)

9) 来者魔蝎 (The Coming Ones) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2012) 

10) 幸运日 (Lucky Day) (English Vocal) (Album Version By Marius De Vries & Sa Dingding) (2010)

11) 如影随形 (Something Like A Shadow Is Following You) (Album Version By Sa Dingding) (2012)

12) 致尚爱 (Dedicated With Love) (ConRank Remix) (2014)

13) 錫林河邊的老人 (Oldster By Xiin River) (Self-Created Language) (Album Version By Sa Dingding & Zhang Hongguang) (2007)

除了我的心跳没有声音 / No Sound Except My Heartbeart (59:08)

Bono On The Fourth Of July

Today's selection is a U2 mixtape, recorded 24th August 1997. Thanks to those of you who didn't click and close as soon as you saw the post title and opening sentence. 

Judging by the date, this compilation tape was most likely recorded in a slightly different form for my friend Stuart as a) his birthday was a few days prior to this and b) he is a lifelong fan of U2. It's a testament to how good a friend Stuart is, that he let me borrow his collection of U2 7" singles to take into school for a class presentation. We weren't even at the same school, let alone in the same class, yet he trusted me enough not to let him down. The look on his face when I told him I'd sold the lot to "Frankie" Stein for five quid and a mega bag of Wotsits was priceless...I'm joking, of course. Or am I?

Given that I wasn't particularly a U2 fan and knew much more about other music artists that I did like, made my choice of class presentation a little odd, to say the least. Maybe class 5M wasn't ready to be enlightened about Julian Cope, had little interest in The Sisters Of Mercy and would have raised an eyebrow at Prefab Sprout. This wasn't the oddest thing I did at school, but the reaction of the class to my 10 minute talk on Bono and chums is thankfully lost in the mists of time.

Whilst I was largely indifferent to the appeals of a U2 album, I'll admit that I did enjoy a U2 remix and as the late 1980s turned into the early 1990s, there were plenty to choose from. If nothing else, the band (or their team) got some decent DJs and producers in to increase the BPM and reduce the BS: Paul Oakenfold, Steve Osborne, Terry Farley, Pete Heller, Tim Simenon, David Morales, Trevor Jackson, Dave Dorrell, Stereo MC's, Apollo 440, DJ Muggs, Rollo, Rob Dougan, even Massive Attack.

In 1995, U2's fanzine Propaganda provided members with a special CD release called Melon, compiling nine of the band's best remixes. Melon was heavily bootlegged and I came across a copy in Revolver Records off Clifton Triangle in Bristol. Revolver was a brilliant record shop but an intimidating experience. I fully expected a disdainful stare when I took my clutch of purchases to owner Roger at the counter, the Melon bootleg tucked away between some more worthy purchases. I didn't; perhaps on this occasion he was just relieved to finally be shot of the thing.

This particular CD was a great quality bootleg, but soon a veritable feast of similarly-themed bootlegs began to appear: Kiwi, Orange, Mango, Banana, Grapes, Papaya, More Melon; with diminishing returns in terms of artwork and sound quality. I picked up the first three secondhand from Replay Records to round up some of the rare, promo-only mixes that I was interested in, but skipped the rest. Naming the mixtape Fruit Salad was a nod to the source material of the original compilation.

 

In 2002, U2 released The Best Of 1990-2000, a (not very) limited edition with a bonus disc of B-Sides that included some of the remixes from the bootlegs, albeit in truncated, early fade edits that are best avoided. The remix of Desire is the version from the UK 12" single, but there is a promo 12" out there featuring the full length Hollywood Remix, stretching to over nine minutes. You have been warned.

The original Fruit Salad mixtape closed out Side 2 with a snippet of the Momo's Reprise remix of Lemon by David Morales for no other reason than the tape was running a bit short. I've left it off of today's recreation. Little consolation if you hate Bono and friends' music with a passion (or Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, for that matter, as there's a fair bit of them too). However, if you specifically dislike Larry Mullen Jr's drumming, you're in for a real treat. 

 

Normal service will resume tomorrow.

 

Side One

1) Zooropa (911 Mix By John M. Pillin Jr.) (1993)

2) Lemon (The Perfecto Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (1993)

3) Until The End Of The World (Short Life Mix By Ultra Hot Razor Crew) (1996)

4) Night And Day (Steel String Remix By Youth) (Cover of Fred Astaire) (1990)

5) Stay (Faraway So Close!) (Underdog Mix By Trevor Jackson) (1995)

6) Mysterious Ways (The Perfecto Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (1991)

7) God Part II (The Hard Metal Dance Club Mix By Louis Silas Jr. & David Bianco) (UK 12” Edit) (1988)

Side Two

1) Even Better Than The Real Thing (The Perfecto Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (1992)

2) In The Name Of The Father (Unidare Mix By Tim Simenon): Bono & Gavin Friday (1994)

3) Lady With The Spinning Head (Extended Dance Mix By Alan Moulder) (1992)

4) Desire (Hollywood Remix By Louis Silas Jr. & Taavi Mote) (UK 12" Edit) (1988)

5) Salomé (Zooromancer Remix By Terry Farley & Pete Heller) (Full Length) (1992)

6) Can't Help Falling In Love (Mystery Train Dub Edit By Dave Dorrell) (Cover of Elvis Presley) (1992)

7) Numb (Gimme Some More Dignity Mix By Rollo & Rob Dougan) (Full Length) (1995)

Kiwi: A4, A7, B3, B4

Mango: B2

Melon: A2, A5, A6, B1, B5, B7

Orange: A1, A3, B6

Side One (46:03)

Side Two (45:35)

Watching How The Other Half Lives

Having posted an Adrian Sherwood mix earlier this week, fate, coincidence, serendipity, whatever you wish to call it, determined that this would not be the only Sherwood/ON-U Sound post this week.

 

Idling on BBC4 last night, watching Island At The BBC, a compilation of Island Records artist performances, I then drifted on to the Top Of The Pops repeat, this time from 28th March 1991. I was in Australia at the time so I didn't see the original broadcast, though I'm not sure I was particularly watching the show in the early 1990s. It was much as to be expected: Dannii Minogue, Bee Gees, The Rolling Stones, Chesney Hawkes, effing Jive Bunny, but there were some saving moments from James, Definition Of Sound and Scritti Politti featuring Shabba Ranks (the latter nowhere to be seen in the video).

 

And 'live' in the studio, making his debut at #25, was Gary Clail / On-U Sound System with this song:

 

Human Nature (Live On TOTP): Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Alan Lanah Pillay

 

Bruno Brookes, atop the studio scaffold, introduces Clail as only he can: "Here's a guy who started his career as a scaffolder in Bristol and is certainly somebody who's got a head for heights..." I'm guessing he was predicting the song's Top 10 placing and nine weeks in the charts. 

 

The song originally appeared as a promo 12" on Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto label, heavily featuring samples of American evangelist Billy Graham. It's a great version as it was, but clearance issues meant that Clail adapted the lyrics based on Graham's speech and recorded them himself, to the song's benefit. However, what really lifts the song to another level is the appearance of unexpected guest vocalist, Alan Lanah Pillay. With Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne on the mix, it's a perfect combination of social commentary that you can dance to. And, having been born in Bristol, hearing Clail's West Country burr on a Top 10 hit still prompts a happy smile.

 

An added bonus of Human Nature's success was that it meant that the mighty Bim Sherman also achieved a UK Top 10 hit, albeit featuring on the single's B-side, Rumours.

All of which has prompted me to ditch another planned post this morning in favour of a Gary Clail / On-U Sound playlist, mainly focusing on the 1989-1991 singles.

 

1) Human Nature (On The Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (DJ Promo ft. Billy Graham) (1991) 

2) False Leader (Pay It All Back Version By Adrian Sherwood & Doug Wimbish) (ft. Big Youth) (1991)

3) Another Hard Dub (Remix By Adrian Sherwood) (1995)

4) Beef (The Future Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (ft. Bim Sherman) (1990)

5) Rumours (ft. Bim Sherman) (1991)

6) Two Thieves And A Liar (ft. Bim Sherman) (1989)

7) The Emotional Hooligan (Dubwize Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (1991)

8) Human Nature (On The Mix By Paul Oakenfold & Steve Osborne) (ft. Alan Lanah Pillay) (1991)

 

To complete the On-U connection, Alan Pillay appeared solo on Volume 3 of the excellent Pay It All Back compilation series with this song:

Spirit Soul: Alan Pillay (1991)

And many years later, when crate digging at Plastic Wax Records in Bristol, I discovered this brilliant song on 12":

Pistol In My Pocket: Lana PIllay (1986)

 

Lanah P is still very much an active artist and performer and she was interviewed earlier this year in the Camden New Journal. 

Gary Clail gave a short interview for Bristol Archive Records in 2014, around the time that he released his last album, Nail It To The Mast. Gary Clail Soundsystem was due to appear at Springkell 2021 in Lockerbie, though I believe this is has now been moved to 2022. Hopefully still on will be his 30 Years Of Human Nature show in Manchester in September. 

 

Following their 2018 collaborative single, Electric Skies/Twisted Love, Gary Clail has also been recording new material with Tony Rafter (Glaxo Babies, Maximum Joy) and plans to play "the whole new album from start to finish. Including the dub outtakes" at the Dublin Castle in London on August 20th.

Watching How The Other Half Lives (46:17)

Gary Clail on Facebook