Bag o' Choons

As usual, another Bandcamp Friday lands and I'm faced with an overwhelming number of singles, EPs and albums vying for my hard-earned moolah.

In no particular order, the following dozen will be dead certs for the checkout and dominating my playlists over the weekend*

1) Once Around The Block (Cover of Badly Drawn Boy): Ellen Beth Abdi (single)

2) North Sixteen: Jo Bartlett & Neil Haydock (album)

3) Easy EP: Smerz (EP)

4) End Of The Trail: 100 Poems (album)

5) A Drop In The Ocean: Peace & Dub Soundsystem (aka Dan Wainwright) (album)

6) Butt Sex: Mykki Blanco (single)

7) Spellbound (Yves Schopin Remixes): Rae & Christian ft. Veba (single)

8) AngieAngieAngie: spill tab (album)

9) Little to Lovers: HANN (single)

10) Unsteady: Jezebell (single)

11) Ghost Rider Remixes (Cover of Suicide): Blavatsky & Tolley (EP)

12) My Heart Is A Room With No Cameras In It: Victoryland (album)

* I may have said this about the some of these artists and releases in previous posts, but this time I really mean it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decadance V: 1999

After five week(end)s and ten posts, the Decadance series ends inevitably with 1999. 

Unlike my previous look at the 1980s, which largely recreated existing mixtapes, each one of these posts started completely from scratch and tried to imagine what my 20-something self would have tried to cram onto each side of a C90.

It's been a lot of fun, but a lot more time consuming. Even compared to my usual posts containing a Dubhed selection, each one has taken about three times longer to complete, sometimes at the expense of other planned posts (like gig reviews, with apologies to Mike...it's coming!)

I'm really glad I did it though, not least because it's enabled to me to revisit lots of artists and tunes that I haven't heard in ages. I also had the impression going into this that, unlike the Decade series, this one would be largely comprised of outlier music that only rarely troubled the UK singles charts. 

I decided to track the highest chart placings for each post and it turns out that my latter assumption was way off. Despite being subjected to some of the most dire, bland, identikit pop pap throughout the 90s, the decade also delivered some great music that made more of an impression (however briefly) with the record buying public. There are way more Top 10 hits than non-charting singles throughout, for example.

Decadance has delivered 120 songs by 110 individual artists, meaning that some - but not many - appeared more than once.  No surprise perhaps to find that Julian Cope and Massive Attack were the only to have three bites of the cherry, though the revelation that the former had at least 3 hits in the 1990s may.

Honorable mentions for those who managed two appearances: Fluke, Lionrock, The Sabres Of Paradise, Saint Etienne, Suede and, just under the wire with today's selection, The Chemical Brothers. Likewise, Dot Allison, by dint of her previous outing with One Dove.

So, let's have a look at who made the final dozen of the millennium.

1999 starts off with The Chemical Brothers and Hey Boy Hey Girl. I had assumed that like Block Rockin' Beats before it, this song had gone straight in at #1, but no. Keeping Ed and Tom off the top spot were Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann and the previous week's #1, Sweet Like Chocolate by Shanks & Bigfoot (more of which later).

As with most singles at this time, it was all about first week sales, usually bolstered by multiple formats offering slightly different B-sides and versions. Unfortunately, the following week Hey Boy Hey Girl dropped to #6 and it was downhill from there.

A song that deserved far better than its peak of #54 was Honey by Billie Ray Martin. A great pop song, produced by Dave Ball, remixed by Chicane and Deep Dish, it didn't get the love (or radio play) that it deserved. Time to address that injustice here.

It's hard to comprehend that it's been more than a quarter of a century since Dot Allison released her debut solo single (Mo' Pop) and album (Afterglow). Again, how was Mo' Pop not at least Top 40, higher even? Thankfully, Dot has continued to record and release wonderful music ever since.

I know, I know, there are many other and arguably better James songs that should have seen them appear earlier in the series. That said, I have a real soft spot for I Know What I'm Here For. I didn't buy the single or album but obtained it via Q magazine's 'best albums of 1999' freebie CD at the end of the year and it's remained a much-loved song since.

The Stone Roses made their sole appearance in my Decade mixtape series in 1989, with Fool's Gold. It seems fitting therefore that Ian Brown should make a solo appearance in 1999 with Love Like A Fountain. Never one for modesty, this song was a precursor to Ian's second album, titled Golden Greats. 

Great is a word I'd use to describe GusGus, the unlikely 4AD signing from Iceland, who brought a glacial cool to the dancefloor. Again, many other worthy contenders throughout the mid- to late-90s, but the opening seconds of Starlovers make me want to move every time. And Daníel Ágúst's voice is just sublime.

Lovefool did nothing for me, if I'm honest, and I figured The Cardigans to be just another band that were quickly in and out of favour. Then I heard Your Favourite Game and Erase/Rewind and really liked them both. By sheer coincidence, I'd placed the latter at track 7 in this selection before discovering it's peak UK singles chart placing was...7. 

I remember Sweet Like Chocolate by Shanks & Bigfoot as much for it's crap video, which I haven't seen since but which probably looks even more horribly dated now. Nothing to detract from what was quite a clever dance/pop crossover hit (it was #1 in May 1999). I normally avoided generically titled CD compilations like the plague, but I succumbed to the appeal of The Best Ibiza Anthems...Ever!, which included the Ruff Driverz remix of Sweet Like Chocolate featured here. It remains the only version of the song in my music collection.

Beck was back in 1999, although he'd never really been away, having released his previous album the year before. Sexx Laws was a bit different though, offering up a (retro)poppier take that I found quite appealing, as I did the rest of the Midnite Vultures album. I've know idea what esteem or place in the canon this holds with Beck fans. For me, it was the right music at the right time. Did it appear in the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me? If it didn't, it could have.

The final Mandatory Andrew Weatherall (MAW) appearance didn't present the same challenges as 1998. Another Two Lone Swordsmen remix, though this time included on the official CD single release with full vocals and a smidge under five minutes. That the song happens to be Swansong by Rae & Christian featuring the wonderful vocals of Veba aka Beverley Green is just icing on the cake. Andrew and Keith Tenniswood excelled themselves with this one.

Despite being their most commercially successful decade, R.E.M. make their one and only appearance as the penultimate song in the very last post of the series. What a song, though. At My Most Beautiful is a thing of, well, beauty although the jingle bell backing always had me thinking that it must have been released in time to exploit the Christmas market. Not so, it was March! 

I bought the CD single in the bargain bins, many moons later. I'd not heard the lead song at this point and got it solely for the bonus live versions of Country Feedback and The Passenger (Iggy Pop), performed on Later...With Jools Holland. At My Most Beautiful has since become a personal favourite.

How to follow that and close out the series and the decade? By going back to January 1999 and Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp by Mercury Rev, that's how. The album edit here comes in at just over 3 minutes, stretching my imaginary C90 tape to almost breaking point, though there was no question of ending this selection in any other way. Just a joy from start to finish, which then inspired me to dig out the full length version and remix by The Chemical Brothers to keep it going on and on.

Thank you for sticking with me for the last few weekends. I hope that, as it did for me, these weekly trips have been a reminder of some great music and artists, many of whom are still going in some shape or form today, continuing to add to their rich and varied history.

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. 

1) Hey Boy Hey Girl (Radio Edit): The Chemical Brothers

2) Honey (Chicane Radio Edit): Billie Ray Martin

3) Mo' Pop (Album Version): Dot Allison

4) I Know What I'm Here For (Album Version): James

5) Love Like A Fountain (Radio Version): Ian Brown

6) Starlovers (Edit): GusGus

7) Erase/Rewind (Cut La Roc Vocal Mix): The Cardigans

8) Sweet Like Chocolate (Ruff Driverz Vocal): Shanks & Bigfoot ft. Sharon Woolf

9) Sexx Laws (Album Version): Beck

10) Swansong (Two Lone Swordsmen Vocal): Rae & Christian ft. Veba

11) At My Most Beautiful (Radio Remix): R.E.M.

12) Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp (Album Version Edit): Mercury Rev

31st January 1999: Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp EP (#26): 12

28th February 1999: Erase/Rewind EP (#7): 7

14th March 1999: At My Most Beautiful EP (#10): 11

28th March 1999: Afterglow (#81): 3

18th April 1999: Starlovers EP (#62): 6

23rd May 1999: Sweet Like Chocolate EP (#1): 8

6th June 1999: Hey Boy Hey Girl EP (#3): 1

13th June 1999: Swansong EP (#17): 10

25th July 1999: Millionaires (#22): 4

15th August 1999: Honey EP (#54): 2

31st October 1999: Love Like A Fountain EP (#23): 5

14th November 1999: Midnite Vultures (#27): 9

Side Two (47:01) (GD) (M)

Caught In A Spell That Never Ends

I've been listening again to Rae & Christian's debut album Northern Sulphuric Soul in the past week. Hard to believe listening to it that the album came out 25 years ago, it still sounds so fresh.

 

It was one of those acts and albums where I immediately bought into the hype surrounding it. I think one of my go-to record shops had it on sale at a discount price of £7.99 - chart price CDs being in the £11-13 range back then - so I snapped it up pretty quickly. 

Mark Rae and Steve Christian first met in 1995 and released their debut EP that same year under a different name. Their first releases as Rae & Christian - and featuring vocals from Veba aka Beverley Green - appeared on Grand Central Records compilations and they expanded into remixes for other artists, to some acclaim.

Northern Sulphuric Soul was released in October 1998 on Mark Rae's own Grand Central Records and I saw Rae & Christian live in concert at The Fleece in Bristol in February 1999. A memorable gig, not least because the venue was affected by a power cut which saw the full band gamely continue for a time in the dark with an "unplugged' set for a short time. But that's a story for another post. Suffice to say they were brilliant.

From memory, I would have sworn that Veba was part of the touring band but Iffypedia seems non-committal in its brief reference to their tour and I'll need to do a little more digging online. Oh, if only I'd kept a gig diary...!

Anyway, whilst I mine that particular seam for a future Dubhed nugget of gold, here's the video for standout album track Spellbound featuring Veba's sweet-as-honey voice. It was released as a single in November 1998 entering the UK chart at #77 and dropping out of the Top 100 a couple of weeks later. 

 

I was equally surprised that Northern Sulphuric Soul didn't even break the Top 150 albums, given the quality of the tunes and high profile guest spots from The Jungle Brothers, Jeru The Damaja and Texas. Was it simply that the independent label couldn't produce the supply to meet the demand? Either way, a shame as both Rae & Christian and Veba in her own right deserved to be heard!

Although there's little information about Veba online, I was pleased to read that she has continued to delight audiences with live performances, in recent years as part of Groove Armada's touring band.

You Got Music In Your Step

Hello Lamb aka Louise Rhodes and Andy Barlow. A return to my very infrequent recreation of gig setlists, this time with a mystery to solve.

I saw Lamb live in concert for the first and only time at the Trinity Centre in Bristol with my friend Dave, possibly also with our work colleague Cath, not sure. It was definitely touring Fear Of Fours, so it was either 1999 or 2000. The support act - and, I'll be honest, the real reason I was there - was Smith & Mighty playing a full band set to promote their album Big World Small World, which was promoted in 1999 but not formally released until January 2000.

Unfortunately, I've lost the ticket and trawling the internet hasn't brought up any information on when the gig actually took place. As far as I can tell, Lamb did a few dates in the UK circa May 1999 whilst 2000 was mainly festivals or overseas gigs. So, I'm going to have a stab in the dark and say that the gig I went to was mid to late 1999. If anyone out there was there or can shed any light on the actual dates, I'll be very grateful!

I was a big fan of "The Bristol Sound" (biased, being as it was my birthplace), trip hop and drum and bass in general, but I couldn't quite get into Lamb's music at first. I loved debut single Cotton Wool, though the standout was A Guy Called Gerald's remix and their choice of remixers for the follow up singles was impeccable. 

Something I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it was almost a feeling that Lamb were trying too hard to be cool. Completely my own response but it put me off getting the first album and embracing their music.

Earlier in 1999, my friend Stuart and I went to New York for a short holiday. It was last minute change of plan: we'd originally been planning to go to Reykjavík, with probably some romantic notion of walking the streets of Björk's birthplace. The only snag was it was way out of our budget. Conversely, New York was ridiculously affordable, not least because I only booked accommodation for the first couple of nights and thought we'd wing it for the rest.

 

I won't retell the story of our NYC trip, which I partly touched on in my recreation of the Blondie gig we went to whilst there and the rest of which is best saved for another post. Getting back to the point of this post though, we did a bit of record shopping in New York and one of the CDs that Stuart picked up was Fear Of Fours. It was regularly played for the rest of the holiday and was the turning point in my appreciation of Lamb.

 

So, whilst they weren't the primary reason for my visit to the Trinity that night, I was more disposed to like Lamb than I had been previously. My vague memory is that Smith & Mighty were unbeatable, but Lamb acquitted themselves pretty well. I've never seen them live in concert since but I would be tempted if Lamb roll into a local venue in future. Their last album was released in 2019, so there is hope.

 

So, in the absence of any gig info whatsoever, I've gone for a composite of three gigs performed in 1999 with very minor variations in songs and running order. Unsurprisingly, the setlist draws heavily on Fear Of Fours, so I've swapped out several album versions with remixes by sympathetic acts such as Klute, The Herbaliser, Fila Brazillia, Rae & Christian and Mr. Scruff.

 

1) Soft Mistake (1999)

2) Little Things (Klute Mix) (1999)

3) B Line (Herbaliser Mix) (1999)

4) Lusty (Album Version) (1996)

5) Cotton Wool (Fila Brazillia Mix - Alternative Version) (1996)

6) All In Your Hands (Rae & Christian Remix) (1999)

7) Ear Parcel (1999)

8) Alien (Album Version) (1999)

9) Softly (Radio Mix) (1999)

10) Fly (1999)

11) Gold (Mr. Scruff Mix) (1996)

12) Górecki (Album Version) (1996)

 

1996: Gold EP: 11

1996: Lamb: 4, 12

1997: Vrooom! Motorcycle Loveliness (Select magazine promo CD): 5

1999: All In Your Hands EP: 2, 6

1999: B Line EP: 3

1999: Fear Of Fours: 1, 7, 8, 10

1999: Softly EP: 9

Music In Your Step (1:05:17) (Box) (Mega)

On The Soul...De La, That Is

A tribute to David Jude Jolicoeur aka Plug 2 aka Trugoy The Dove aka one third of hip hop legends De La Soul, 21st September 1968 to 12th February 2023.

Another sad loss, all the more tragic that Trugoy was 54 years old, barely any time in the scheme of things. But what he achieved in his life cannot be underestimated. 

 

I can't pretend that I was so on it as a teenager that I immediately switched on to hip hop and rap music and got 3 Feet High And Rising as soon as it hit the record shops in 1989. But I really liked De La Soul. Over three decades later, their impact on music as a whole - not just genres - is perhaps only just beginning to be fully appreciated. After many years of legal entanglements, the release of De La Soul's early albums on streaming services next month will bring their music to a new generation.

I'm definitely not qualified to write about De La Soul's influence or Trugoy The Dove's contribution to establishing a new narrative and form of expression, but I can share a selection of songs that I love. In my usual cobbled-together-at-the-last minute style, this 10-track selection mostly draws from the earlier singles, throwing in a few songs from a budget De La Soul compilation I picked up a while ago. 

 

I also had to include their contribution to the Judgement Night film soundtrack, itself made up of collaborations between rap and hip hop artists and guitar bands, be it indie, thrash or grunge. Teenage Fanclub were the unlikely partners with De La Soul, but somehow it works. 

Gorillaz took it to it's logical next step in the 21st Century. Where else would you see De La Soul performing on stage with Damon Albarn, Gruff Rhys, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon?

Rap in power, Dave, Plug 2, Trugoy, all of you.

 

1) Eye Know (7" Mix By Prince Paul): De La Soul (1989)

2) Oooh (Rae & Christian Remix): De La Soul ft. Redman (2000)

3) Superfast Jellyfish: Gorillaz ft. De La Soul & Gruff Rhys (2010)

4) The Magic Number (1-2-3 Mix By Chad Jackson): De La Soul (1989)

5) It's A New Thing (It's Your Thing) (D-Nat & Onda Reconstruction): The Isley Brothers ft. De La Soul (2004)

6) Me Myself And I (Extended Version By Richie Rich): De La Soul (1989)

7) Long Island Degrees: De La Soul (1995)

8) A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays" (Radio Home Mix By David Morales): De La Soul ft. Vinia Mojica (1991)

9) Fallin' (Faded Album Version): Teenage Fanclub & De La Soul (1994)

10) All Good?: De La Soul ft. Chaka Khan (2000)

 

On The Soul...De La, That Is (44:20) (Box) (Mega)

The Sun Has Come Again To Hold You

Today's selection shines a spotlight on guest vocalists. All of the nine tracks have electronic leanings, veering from club to dub along the course of under an hour.

There will be some familiar names - Boy George, Texas, Elizabeth Fraser, Guy Garvey - and some less so, but they all add something unique to the song, even when put through the remix rinse.

 

Most of the artists will also be well known, with a couple of surprises tucked away. Cabana was a one-off collaboration between superstar DJ Sasha aka Alexander Coe and long-term producer Tom Frederikse. The former went on to global domination whilst the latter swapped music for law in 1999, specialising in Digital Media.

 

Battle Box was also a one-off project, this time for 3D aka Robert Del Naja, who pops up again with Massive Attack later in the selection.

 

The most unexpected pairing is perhaps Paul Weller and Boy George on One Tear in 2017. I haven't fact checked this at all, but was this their first time in the studio together since Band Aid in 1984? Whatever, it was worth the wait...!

 

1) Red Alert (Jaxx Radio Mix): Basement Jaxx ft. Blue James (1999)

2) Music Matters (Axwell Extended): Faithless ft. Cassandra Fox (2007)

3) Bailando Con Lobos (Goodmen Fresh Dub): Cabana ft. Sheila Schwok (1994)

4) Battle Box (Remix): Battle Box ft. Guy Garvey (2012)

5) The Hush (67% Mix): Rae & Christian ft. Texas (1998)

6) One Tear (Club Cut Alternative Version): Paul Weller ft. Boy George (2017)

7) Empire Ants (Miami Horror Remix): Gorillaz ft. Little Dragon (2010)

8) Group Four (Security Forces Dub) (Remix By Mad Professor): Massive Attack ft. Elizabeth Fraser (1998)

9) Strange Addiction (Bud Addiction) (Remix By Charlie May & Duncan Forbes): Spooky ft. Celestine Walcott-Gordon (2005)

The Sun Has Come Again To Hold You (58:22) (Box) (Mega)

Note: After yesterday's fiasco of accidentally leaving off Touch Me by The Doors from the Whatever Happened To Reg? selection, (running) order has been restored and you can now listen to/download the full playlist as intended. If you didn't notice the omission yesterday, please ignore this note and I may just get away with it...

Waiting, Hoping And Longing

Where has the week gone?! It seems like the weekend was only a day or so ago and yet here we are, about to enter another. Is it a summer thing? As a kid, the summer felt properly long; these days, May to September seems to pass by in a blur with little to show for it. Well, apart from this blog, which at least is some evidence that I haven't slept through the last week (except for Tuesday, that is).

In an attempt to break the cycle of inertia let's, as Dame Shirley Bassey once urged, get this party started. Although I think P!NK may have got it started first. 

Today's selection doesn't feature P!NK (Darn the upper case and inverted i... or is it an exclamation mark? But I digress). Stick around though and Dame Shirley does show up for the finale.

The general theme of this mixtape is iconic female singers from the 1940s to the 1970s given the 21st century (mostly) remix treatment. Upbeat, downtempo, scratches, itches, phat beats, flat beats, nothing detracts from the huge voices on show here.

 

1) "Murder" He Says (Remix By James Hardway aka David Harrow): Dinah Shore (2004)

2) Walk On By (Mojo Filter Fly-By Re-Love) (Remix By Ben Zaven Crane): Dionne Warwick (2012)

3) Where Is Love? (Remix By James Hardway aka David Harrow): Lena Horne (2004)

4) Rock Steady (Sure Is Pure Remix By Danny Spencer & Kelvin Andrews): Aretha Franklin (1994)

5) A-Tisket A-Tasket (Remix By James Hardway aka David Harrow): Ella Fitzgerald (2004)

6) O-o-h Child (Nickodemus Remix By Nick DeSimone): Nina Simone (2007)

7) I Cover The Waterfront (Remix By James Hardway aka David Harrow): Billie Holiday (2004)

8) Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby? (Rae & Christian Remix By Mark Rae & Steve Christian): Dinah Washington (2002)

9) Goldfinger (Propellerheads Mix By Alex Gifford & Will White): Shirley Bassey (2000)

10) [applause]* 

* completely out of step with the rest of the selection, the crowd noise has been lifted from a 2014 performance of Sister Ray by John Cale & The Drone Orchestra.

1994: Rock Steady EP: 4

2000: The Remix Album...Diamonds Are Forever: 9

2002: Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby? EP: 8

2004: Ladies Of Jazz Remixed: 1, 3, 5, 7

2007: Remixed & Reimagined: 6

2012: AOR Disco Vintage Edits Vol. 2: 2

Waiting, Hoping And Longing (45:58)