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.

 

Trans Global Expression

TRANSA is the latest release from the Red Hot Organisation and it's huge: 46 songs, over 100 artists and nearly four hours in total, available as a digital download, 6 vinyl LPs or 5-track single album.

"Spotlighting the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today" (as the promo blurb), it's no faint claim and the list of collaborations is compelling.

I've only just bought it, so I'm nowhere near all the way through - come on, Andre 3000's contribution alone is over 26 minutes long! - but I have cherry picked a few songs that I was immediately drawn to, creating a more digestible 30-odd minute selection to whet your appetite.

 

An awesome undertaking that so far has delivered and then some. Take a chance.

1) Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand But I'm Happy To Stand For The Understanding (Awakening) (Intro): Andre 3000

2) How Sweet I Roamed: Jeff Tweedy + Claire Rousay

3) Feel So Different: Sharon Van Etten + Ezra Furman

4) Feel Better: Adrianne Lenker

5) Deeper Understanding: Hand Habits + Bill Callahan

6) Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying: Julien Baker + Calvin Lauber ft. SOAK & Quinn Christopherson

7) Point Of Disgust: Perfume Genius + Alan Sparhawk

8) Young Lion: Sade

9) Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand But I'm Happy To Stand For The Understanding (Awakening) (Outro): Andre 3000

 

Trans Global Expression (33:05) (KF) (Mega)

Mad Dub

An hour (more or less) of Mad Professor aka Neil Fraser to dub up your Sunday. 

 

Fourteen collaborations with or dubs for other artists, spanning an incredible four decades and providing a perfect excuse to sit down and chill out. Just like this ring-tailed lemur, that seemed largely indifferent to the agog Clan K standing just a couple of feet away at Wild Place in Bristol a couple of weekends ago.

Sticking with Bristol, the earliest song in this selection is by Restriction from 1983. The band featured Rob Smith (of Smith & Mighty and RSD fame) and came to my attention via the excellent compilations issued by Bristol Archive Records. 

Another Bristol act who really need no introduction is Massive Attack and, to be honest, I could easily have stuck with a Mad Professor selection just focusing on the many top-notch dubs he's produced for them since the 1990s. I have plumped for a Protection-era version but one which didn't appear on the companion album, instead popping up on a compilation to raise money for the charity Shelter. As an added bonus, it's a dub of Better Things, featuring Tracey Thorn. 

Sticking with the more obscure is Mad Professor's dubby vocal mix of Chapterhouse's 1991 song Mesmerise. I think it was one of several remixes of early 1990s indie acts commissioned exclusively for the 1999 film Splendor. I bought the soundtrack CD, I've never seen the film.

 

Slick Sixty make their second appearance this week (a Justin Robertson remix appeared in Friday's selection), not bad for an act who only released three singles, two promos and one album in their lifetime. 

Rather more well known but possibly an unexpected choice are Depeche Mode. Slowblow was a B-side to 1997 single It's No Good but Mad Professor's dub remained unreleased until the Depeche Mode Remixes 81···04 in 2004 and even then only as a limited 'rare tracks' download companion available on their official website. 

The selection draws to a close with Mad Professor's inspired partnership with Xan Tyler on one of my favourite albums of 2022, Clarion Call. This is a dub of their version of Townes Van Zandt's 1969 song Be Here To Love Me and available as a bonus track on the digital edition of Clarion Call. Recommended.

 

1) Love Is Stronger Than Pride (Mad Professor Mix): Sade (1992)

2) Life's A Beach (Mad Professor Dub): Django Django (2022)

3) Restriction (Single Version By Restriction & Mad Professor): Restriction (1983)

4) Jamaica (Mad Professor Dub): Van She (2012)

5) Analógica Dub (Remix By Mad Professor): Frente Cumbiero (2010)

6) Dubbing Home: Bob Andy & Mad Professor (1989)

7) Guilt-Edged (Single Version By Tony McDermott & Mad Professor): Champion Doug Veitch & The Igbira Nation (1984)

8) Margo's B&B (Mad Professor's B&B): Slick Sixty (1998)

9) Slowblow (Mad Professor Mix): Depeche Mode (1997)

10) Marijuana Dub: Mad Professor & Prince Fatty ft. Earl Sixteen (2015)

11) Suck Me Up Dub (Remix By Mad Professor): Massive Attack ft. Tracey Thorn (1995)

12) Mesmerise (The Mesmerising Vocal Mix By Mad Professor): Chapterhouse (1998)

13) Free South Africa (Dub) (Remix By Lindel Lewis & Mad Professor): Benjamin Zephaniah (1983)

14) Be Here To Dub Me (Cover of 'Be Here To Love Me' by Townes Van Zandt): Xan Tyler & Mad Professor (2021)

1984: Not The Heart EP: 7

1989: Bob Andy's Dub Book: As Revealed To Mad Professor: 6

1989: Rasta (bonus tracks) (Switzerland CD): 13

1992: Feel No Pain EP: 1

1997: Foundations: Coming Up From The Streets: 11

1998: The Wrestler EP: 8 

1999: Splendor OST: 12

2004: Depeche Mode Remixes 81···04 (Rare Tracks): 9

2010: Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor: 5

2011: The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983: 3

2013: Modular Presents Modyssey: 4 

2015: Mad Professor Meets Prince Fatty In The Clone Theory: 10

2021: Clarion Call (bonus tracks): 14

2022: Django Django Meets Mad Professor: A Dub Rework: 2

Mad Dub (59:28) (Box) (Mega)