So Hurried, So Tomorrow, No Today...I Can't Keep Up

As we're heading to the last Bandcamp Friday of 2025, I'm going to spotlight an A-Z of artist releases from this year that are at least on my shopping list, even if they don't quite make it final check out.

Today covers artists A-F, namely

Alex Kassian x Spooky x Placid Angles

Burial

Coyote

Deeply Armed remixed by Andrew Innes & Brendan Lynch and Keith Tenniswood

Eddie Chacon

Fatboy Slim vs. The Rolling Stones

Alex Kassian has taken Orange Coloured Liquid, a lush, languid track from Spooky's 1993 debut album Gargantuan, on a trip through time. Part I is upbeat, Part II is closer to the shimmering original, whilst Placid Angels aka John Beltran lands somewhere between the two. You also get Spooky's version to round out a satisfying EP.

 

Burial returned in August with the 2-track single Comafields / Imaginary Festival. As usual, I find both tracks simultaneously soothing and disconcerting, which are even more effective as I listen to this on a cold, dark, wet November morning...thankfully, not alone at Casa K.

Coyote aka Richard Hampson and Timm Sure have been successfully creating an immersive Balearic environment for many years now, and it shows no sign of running out of space to grow. This year has so far seen a trio of releases: 6-track EP/mini-album Wailing To The Yellow Dawn in April, one-off track Battle Weary in October; today's pick, also October, is the 3-track Escape Pattern EP.

Deeply Armed is Belfast trio Michael McKeown (vocals, guitar, synth, percussion), Aaron O’Neill (electronics, synth, engineering), and Kenny Whaley (bass, synth). 

The Healing is the first song that I've (knowingly) heard by them and there's a real David Holmes vibe, circa The Holy Pictures. No surprise that he and Andrew Weatherall were early supporters. Andrew Innes and Brendan Lynch offer a rousing 3-minute remix that sounds like (good) Primal Scream, but the pick of the bunch is Keith Tenniswood's down low mix that sounds like you're listening to the party next door, ear pressed up against the wall, wishing you there. Great stuff.

Eddie Chacon's solo catalogue has been a revelation. Lay Low is I think Eddie's third album, released at the end of January this year. The previous two were made with John Carroll Kirby; this time Eddie has collaborated with Nick Hakim and the results are phenomenal.

I could have picked any of the eight songs so, if you like Let The Devil In, you will love Lay Low.

Back in 2003, Fatboy Slim aka Norman Cook remixed The Rolling Stones' classic Sympathy For The Devil. Fast forward twenty two years, and this time he's mashed up (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (1965) with his own The Rockafeller Skank (1998)... and it works for me.

 

 

More tomorrow.

Summer's End Gathered In The Dampened Grass

Even further back today, with some heavy hitters from 1967 to 1969. Aretha! Beatles! Stones! Marvin! Bowie! Byrds! Monkees! Scott! Jimi! And more, much more.

 

Before I go into that though, a few words about today's photo, which was taken during a visit to Oceanogràfic València on day 2 of the recent Clan K tour. Billed as the largest aquarium in Europe, we spent a full seven or eight hours there and even that wasn't enough. I have mixed feelings about places such as these. I recognise the important conservation work and protection of endangered species. At the same, I feel utterly heartbroken that there are sentient creatures who, no matter how 'big' the space or millions of gallons of water used are still confined and caged. It was simultaneously an enlightening and enervating experience. In an ideal world, places like this wouldn't need to exist.

Back to today's selection, I originally had in mind a relaxed, acoustic heavy set but that kind of went off track as soon as I picked the delightfully unsettling Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong by Kevin Ayers as the opening song. Choosing to follow it up with Aretha Franklin's cover of I Say A Little Prayer and there was no turning back.

 

Most of these songs will be familiar by virtue of being stone cold classics but I've lobbed a few rarities in to spice things up. 

Get Behind Me is lifted from Scott 4, Mr. Engel's first album entirely featuring his own songs and one which I only heard for the first time in 2018. Very, very late to discovering this but wow, what an album.

 

Time And Time Again by The Monkees was a 'lost' song originally recorded for the album Changes but unused and unreleased until the Missing Links compilation in 1988. I first heard it tucked away on the limited edition 2CD of The Definitive Monkees, a 60-track budget price treasure trove released in 2001. Time And Time Again is essentially Davy Jones solo with a team of session musicians. Peter Tork had left at this stage and the three remaining Monkees were recording their own songs separately.

The version of Little Doll by The Stooges featured here is the original mix by John Cale featured as a compare-and-contrast re-release of their eponymous debut album in 2005. Much as a I love the original, there's a charm and grit to these alternate versions too.

 

Dandelion by The Rolling Stones was originally the B-side of We Love You. The original single version featured an outro of the latter A-side, which has been edited from most of it's subsequent compilation appearances, including the one I own. None of that detracts from the song's general brilliance, though. And a mere B-side!!

The Innocence was the studio creation of songwriters Pete Andreoli (Pete Anders) and Vini Poncia, who released a handful of singles and a self-titled album in 1967. Vini co-wrote and appeared on five of Ringo Starr's solo albums in the 1970s and co-wrote Kiss' disco-rock classic, I Was Made For Lovin' You.

The Beatles and David Bowie seemed liked obvious companions and a natural way to close this selection, which ventured way off from my original idea but hey, that was the Sixties man, go with the flow.

More attempts to fake that I have a clue what I'm doing tomorrow. Stay tuned!

 

1) Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong (Album Version By Kevin Ayers & Peter Jenner): Kevin Ayers (1969)

2) I Say A Little Prayer (Album Version By Burt Bacharach & Hal David) (Cover of Dionne Warwick): Aretha Franklin (1968)

3) Get Behind Me (Album Version By John Franz): Scott Walker (1969)

4) Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Album Version By Harvey Fuqua & Johnny Bristol): Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (1967)

5) Time And Time Again ('Changes' Session Outtake): The Monkees (1969)

6) This Wheel's On Fire (Cover of Bob Dylan & The Band): The Byrds (1969)

7) Little Doll (Original John Cale Mix): The Stooges (1969)

8) Come On (Let The Good Times Roll): The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)

9) Dandelion (Single Version By Andrew Loog Oldham) (Edit): The Rolling Stones (1967)

10) All I Do Is Think Of You: The Innocence (1967)

11) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Album Version By George Martin): The Beatles (1967)

12) Memory Of A Free Festival (Album Version By Tony Visconti): David Bowie (1969)

 

1967: The Innocence: 10

1967: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 11

1967: United: 4

1968: Aretha Now: 2 

1968: Electric Ladyland: 8

1969: Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde: 6

1969: Joy Of A Toy: 1

1969: Scott 4: 3

1969: Space Oddity: 12

1988: Missing Links: 5

2005: The Stooges (Expanded Edition): 7

2007: Rolled Gold +: The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones (Expanded Edition): 9

 

Summer's End (45:05) (KF) (Mega)

Just A Kiss Away

My friend Stuart bought a great condition double vinyl album Rolled Gold: The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones. He owned one other Stones album - also a double vinyl in good nick - in 1972's Exile On Main Street. 

 

Although the former was released on the Decca label, it had the appearance of a K-Tel or Ronco production line compilation with a truly awful cover and typeface. It was no surprise to learn in later years that Decca was the Stones' former label by 1975 and had released the album without the band's authorisation as a cash in on their continued success. And it paid off with the general public, reaching #7 in the chart.

And you can see why. The collection highlights 28 songs from 1963 to 1969, over 90 minutes of all killer, no filler, to be honest. Exile On Main Street was an 18 song, one hour plus behemoth that took a while to grow on me but made a couple of deep impressions from the outset.

I originally thought that I'd compiled this as one of a bunch of tapes to take with me traveling overseas in 1990. However, the opening one-two of We Love You and She's A Rainbow must have been inspired by the cover versions of each by JBC (Jazz Butcher Collective) and World Of Twist, the latter not appearing until November 1990 by which time I was on the other side of the world. My revised dating would therefore place this mixtape around late 1991, when I was back home and perhaps stocking up on car stereo staples.

When it came to home taping, the biggest challenge was that The Rolling Stones would end up sharing a C90 cassette with The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the flipside. So, how do you condense two and a half hours of music into 45 minutes?

I'm quite pleased with the end result. Obviously, it's bursting with big hits, but I like the non-chronological flow of the selection, the opening quartet of songs and the couple of inclusions from Exile...

Describing closing song Midnight Rambler as a reprise roughly translates as I had a couple of minutes left at the end of the tape, there is a convenient break and final section to the song itself and I just faded out towards the end before the spool ran out. I've retained this DIY edit for today's selection.

in 2007, an expanded edition of Rolled Gold was released and I finally had a copy of my own on CD. A testament to the quality of Jagger and Richards' songs that the additional dozen songs on the reissue included I'm Free, No Expectations, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Brown Sugar and Wild Horses.

 

1) We Love You (1967)

2) She's A Rainbow (1967)

3) Get Off Of My Cloud (1965)

4) Let's Spend The Night Together (Single Version) (1967)

5) Ruby Tuesday (1967)

6) Let It Loose (1972)

7) Paint It, Black (Single Version) (1966)

8) I Just Want To See His Face (1972)

9) Jumpin' Jack Flash (1968)

10) Sympathy For The Devil (Album Version) (1968)

11) Gimme Shelter (Album Version) (1969)

12) Midnight Rambler (Reprise) (1969)

1972: Exile On Main Street: 6, 8

1975: Rolled Gold: The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12

Just A Kiss Away (46:47) (KF) (Mega)

As a bonus, you can find The Jimi Hendrix Experience side here.

Junk Garage Clear Out

Side 1 of a cassette compilation recorded by my friend Stuart in late August 1991.

 

This was the closing paragraph when I posted Side 2 in January 2022:

 

Junk Collage (do you see what I did there?) by me, ripped from various magazines and adverts. I can easily spot Buddy Holly and Christian Slater in there. I think the main picture was a toilet wall backdrop to a photo of a music artist, but I've forgotten who.

Some of the typeface has worn away, but you get a sneak preview of what will eventually pop up when I post Side 1. The reason I didn't go with that one today is that the tape opens with an expletive-ridden intro, but one which segues perfectly into a Neil Young & Crazy Horse track. I'm debating whether it stays, goes or is edited in some way before posting. Watch this space...it might be a while.

 

A glance below and a few seconds into today's selection and you'll see and hear that I decided to keep Dumpy's Rusty Nuts in. It's now so ingrained after three decades of listening to this mixtape that it's almost impossible for me to hear Over & Over by Neil Young & Crazy Horse without it.

Many years later, I repaid the 'favour' by including the Dumpy's Rusty Nuts intro on a birthday CD that I compiled for Stuart. One for a future post.

I'd returned to Bristol after a year travelling, so this cassette served as a kind of 'this is what you missed whilst you were away' round up of music in 1991. In addition to a tremendous comeback albums from Julian Cope and Throwing Muses, Teenage Fanclub released the Star Sign EP, a precursor to the mighty Bandwagonesque album later that year.

 

The Fat Lady Sings made two appearances on this compilation, having blown Stuart away when we saw them supporting The Psychedelic Furs in 1990. They didn't - and have never - quite had the same impact on me but I like the B-side featured here, a good example of the quality and quantity of their music at the time.

Stuart had also been delving into some rock classics, this tape probably being my first introduction to Horses by Patti Smith and Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones. I'd taken the Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Mazzy Star albums with me on my travels, so these were already classics, in my opinion.

 

It's another much-loved and much-played cassette, containing songs that have stayed with me over the last thirty-odd years and sound every bit as good now as they did then. 

 

1) Intro / Over & Over (Album Version): Dumpy's Rusty Nuts vs. Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1990)

2) Fall On Me (Album Version): R.E.M. (1986)

3) Free Money: Patti Smith (1975)

4) To Reach Me: The Go-Betweens (1986)

5) Be My Angel: Mazzy Star (1990)

6) Happy: The Rolling Stones (1972)

7) Safesurfer (Album Version): Julian Cope (1991)

8) Momento Mori: The Fat Lady Sings (1991)

9) Counting Backwards: Throwing Muses (1991)

10) Like A Virgin (Cover of Madonna): Teenage Fanclub (1991)

1972: Exile On Main Street: 6

1975: Horses: 3

1986: Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express: 4 

1986: Life's Rich Pageant: 2

1990: bootleg live cassette / Ragged Glory: 1

1990: She Hangs Brightly: 5

1991: Arclight EP: 8

1991: Counting Backwards EP: 9

1991: Peggy Suicide: 7

1991: Star Sign EP: 10

 

Side One (45:07) (Box) (Mega)

Side Two here

Couldn't Drag Me Away

Today's eclectic selection is linked by one thing. According to Apple Music, I last listened to these songs on 16th December in previous years. I'll leave you to surmise which ones got an airing last year and which haven't troubled a playlist since 2015 and which have fallen into varying degrees of neglect in between.

Nothing wrong with any of the songs per se, it's one of the challenges of having so much (too much?) music to listen to, with more new stuff coming in all the time, this year being no exception.

The selection opens with two of 2022's top acts, Working Men's Club and Confidence Man coming together in a remix soundclash. Prince appears in potty-mouthed abusive character from The Black Album, recorded in 1987 but shelved until an official, limited release in 1994. Another Prince - Prince Fatty, that is - pops up twice, firstly with Big Youth and Marcia Griffiths and again at the controls with Horseman. There's also a rematch between The Beatles (courtesy of My Brightest Diamond) and The Stones.

 

As I said, an eclectic selection that starts off in the club, staggers to the late night cafe and then stumbles home, regretting the excess the following morning. Perfect for a Friday going into Saturday, in that case.

1) First Class Bitch (Working Men's Club Remix): Confidence Man (2020)

2) Lararari (Canzone Felice) (Santos Disco) (Edit) (Remix By Sabino Contartese & Davide Marsilio): Santos & Sabino (1998)

3) Bob George: Prince (1987)

4) Gangster Tripping (Long Edit): Fatboy Slim (1998)

5) Of Course I'm Lying (The Truth Is) (Remix By Boris Blank & Dieter Meier): Yello (1989)

6) Steppin' Out Of Babylon: Prince Fatty ft. Big Youth & Marcia Griffiths (2019)

7) Wild Horses (Acoustic): The Rolling Stones (1971)

8) I Sold My Soul On Ebay: Swansea Sound (2020)

9) No In A Dat (Album Version): Horseman (2014)

10) Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (Cover of The Beatles): My Brightest Diamond (2008)

 

1989: Of Course I'm Lying EP: 5

1994: The Black Album: 3

1998: Gangster Tripping EP (USA promo CDS): 4

1998: VC Recordings Summer Sampler EP: 2 

2008: The White Album Recovered (Mojo magazine promo CD): 10

2014: Dawn Of The Dread: 9

2015: Sticky Fingers (Deluxe Edition): 7

2019: In The Viper's Shadow: 6

2020: First Class Bitch EP: 1

2021: Live At The Rum Puncheon: 8

Couldn't Drag Me Away (45:19) (Box) (Mega)

Tough Act To Follow

I wasn't expecting to have to post another celebration so soon after Olivia Newton-John yesterday but here is a modest tribute to Lamont Dozier, who arrived 16th June 1941 and departed 8th August 2022.

I had very little time to prepare this post so, as you might expect, I've avoided the obvious - and frankly overwhelming - route of focusing on the dozens and dozens of original Motown classics that Lamont Dozier wrote with brothers Brian Holland and Eddie Holland. 

 

Instead, I've pulled together a brisk 10-song, 40-minute selection of cover versions, spanning Colourbox to Marcia Griffiths, The Fall to Odyssey and The Rolling Stones to Snuff. I've also included a couple of Lamont Dozier co-writes from the 1980s: Alison Moyet and Simply Red were on the long list but didn't make the cut; Boy George is perhaps a lesser known cut but everyone of a certain age will remember the Four Tops song, particularly if they found themselves at a late 1980s work do...

 

Today's selection is named after a track from Lamont Dozier's 1979 solo album, Bittersweet, and I couldn't think of anything more apt.

1) You Keep Me Hanging On (7" Version) (Cover of The Supremes): Colourbox (1985)

2) Standing In The Shadows Of Love (Cover of Four Tops): Snuff (1996)

3) There's A Ghost In My House (Cover of R. Dean Taylor): The Fall (1987)

4) Going Back To My Roots (Broots Club Mix By John Morales & Sergio Munzibai) (Cover of Lamont Dozier): Odyssey (1987)

5) Can I Get A Witness (Cover of Marvin Gaye): The Rolling Stones (1964)

6) My World Is Empty Without You (Cover of Diana Ross & The Supremes): The Afghan Whigs (1991)

7) Seven Rooms Of Gloom (Live @ The Apollo Theatre, Glasgow) (Cover of Four Tops): Blondie (1979)

8) Sold (12" Version By Les Adams): Boy George (1987)

9) Band Of Gold (Cover of Freda Payne): Marcia Griffiths (1974)

10) Loco In Acapulco (PH Balance Mix By Phil Harding & Ian Curnow): Four Tops (1988)

Tough Act To Follow (40:41)

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)