He's A Complicated Man, But No-one Understands Him

Theme From "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes was released as a single in the USA on 30th September 1971.

The original, full length 4:39 vocal version was the opener of the double album soundtrack to the blaxploitation film, out in July the same year.

The single was edited to a more radio-friendly 3:15, whilst retaining the almost two-minute instrumental introduction. As an aside, I've love to see Richard Osman have the balls to include this in the 'Win When They're Singing' round on his House Of Games.

Theme From "Shaft" got to #1 in the Billboard Hot 100, and spent two weeks at #4 in the UK from 12th to 25th December 1971.  

Isaac deservedly won an Oscar for "Theme from Shaft" in 1972 for Best Original Song, itself becoming a historic moment. Hayes was not only the first recipient who had both written and performed the winning song, but he was also the first African American to win any Academy Award in a non-acting category. 

Apart from a slew of cover versions released around the same time as the single and film soundtrack, there have been relatively few since, and even fewer of note.

However, there are two in my collection that rate amongst my personal favourite covers, not least because given the artists involved, they are both surprisingly faithful versions.

Cabaret Voltaire are believed to have recorded their take on the Theme From 'Shaft" around 1981, though it didn't appear on an official release until the Eight Crépuscule Tracks collection in 1987.

The Wedding Present included their version of Theme From 'Shaft" as the B-side of Boing!, the eighth of twelve singles released every month during 1992, spending one week at #19 in the UK.

I've uncovered another couple of gems on t'internet, firstly a 1999 cover in Arabic by Malik Adouane, which adds a whole new layer of thrills, with a video that allows Malik to live his Richard Roundtree moment.

And lastly, an interpretive dance like no other by Lola Falana. You have never seen cops like this before... It's been recorded off the telly, so has the expected sound and vision glitches, but the arresting sight of Lola and her police squad provide ample distraction.

Did I say lastly? The last word has to be Isaac Hayes, naturally. If the 4:39 album still feels too short - DJDiscoCat clearly thought so - then how about his 2019 'Soul Purrfection' re-edit, all nine minutes of it?

I can dig it.

Peel The Layers

Watching late night BBC4 recently offered up Top Of The Pops presented by John Peel and Janice Long.

As good an excuse as any then to collate a selection of John Peel sessions and repost my tribute to Janice Long from December 2021.

Only a couple of crossovers with The Fall and Julian Cope, with the John Peel selection focusing in more on the alternative/indie side of things and keeping under forty-five minutes. 

 

Good times.

 

1) Cut Dead: The Jesus & Mary Chain (29th October 1985) 

2) Ladybird (Green Grass): The Fall (13th March 1993)

3) DoubtBeat: Scritti Politti (13th December 1978)

4) Через Річку, Через (Cherez Richku, Cherez Hai): The Wedding Present (15th May 1989)

5) Turn The Heater On (Cover of Keith Hudson): New Order (1st June 1982)

6) The Sin Of Pride: The Undertones (7th December 1982)

7) The Awful Flute Song (First Part): The Bambi Slam (1st March 1987)

8) Suffer The Children: Tears For Fears (10th October 1982)

9) Suicide High Lie: Big In Japan (12th February 1979)

10) Oh Lucinda (Love Becomes A Habit): The Only Ones (2nd June 1980)

11) After Murder Park: The Auteurs (8th March 1996)

12) Search Party: Julian Cope (11th June 1984)

13) Waves: Blancmange (13th February 1982)

Peel The Layers (44:14) (KF) (Mega)

Not intentionally trying to be contrary, but whilst the recording dates were listed for each of the songs on the Janice Long selection, the dates for the John Peel sessions relate to when the songs were first broadcast...I think!

Recorded By Steve Albini

Celebrating Steve Albini, 22nd July 1962 to 7th May 2024.

I was hours behind everyone with the unwelcome news, only chancing upon it because I checked my phone just before I put my head down for the night. There was no doubt waking up this morning that I'd focus today's post on the merest hint of Steve's genius. He didn't like to be labelled as a producer, frequently credited as 'recorded by' but he was obviously so, so much more, which is clear from the transformative effect his presence in the studio has had on the hundreds of artists he has worked with. 

 

There are already many thousands of words out there paying tribute to his hugely important and influential career, his kindness and generosity, side-by-side with a no-bullshit attitude and a lifetime dedicated to music and being authentic, an overused term but you'll know what I mean when applied to Steve Albini.

 

Steve was only 61. Gone far too soon.

 

The limited time I've had to pull this selection together (I'm already at risk of being late for work but priorities, right?) means that there's so much more that I could say yet can't include in today's post. However, pop over to The Vinyl Villain as JC pulled a late shift last night to hold the presses and post an incredible Imaginary Compilation Album with superlative sleeve notes. I'm expecting more tributes to follow in this corner of the blogosphere, given how much Steve Albini has populated our respective record collections these past four decades.

At first, I was tempted to exclude all of the more obvious choices of artists, and whilst I managed to drop Nirvana, in all conscience I couldn't ignore The Wedding Present, PJ Harvey or Pixies, whose Surfer Rosa was the first time I'd heard an album recorded by Steve Albini.

I've also tried to include some more unusual song selections and possibly one or two artists that you may not have realised Steve worked with, such as Nina Nastasia and Anni Rossi. 

Cosmia by Joanna Newsom is a bit of a cheat: Steve 'just' recorded the vocals and harp, the other constituent parts worked on by Van Dyke Parks, Jim O'Rourke and Joanna; however, it sits beautifully between Low and Songs: Ohia and couldn't be left out.

 

The selection ends, as it probably should, with a song from PJ Harvey's 1993 album Rid Of Me. Man-Size was - and remains - a hugely important song, but the decision to include two versions on the album was a bold one. I've opted for Man-Size Sextet here as it demonstrated a different side to Polly's and Steve's work that I'd been familiar with up to that point.

 

Rest (and record) in power, Steve, you've left us with so much to treasure.

 

1) We Are The Snare: Spare Snare (2018)

2) Santa Ana Winds: The Wedding Present (2008)

3) Everything You Say Will Destroy You: The Auteurs (1996)

4) Bang On: The Breeders (2008)

5) Where Is My Mind?: Pixies (1988)

6) Quick, Before It Melts: Cinerama (2002)

7) Weight Of Water: Low (1999)

8) Cosmia: Joanna Newsom (2006)

9) Farewell Transmission: Songs: Ohia (2003)

10) Fuckingsong: Jarvis Cocker (2009)

11) Our Day Trip: Nina Nastasia (2006)

12) Leave Me Alone So I Can Rock Again: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (1999)

13) Ecology: Anni Rossi (2009)

14) Man-Size Sextet: PJ Harvey (1993)

1988: Surfer Rosa: 5

1993: Rid Of Me: 14

1996: After Murder Park: 3

1999: Acme-Plus: 12 

1999: Secret Name: 7

2002: Quick, Before It Melts EP: 6 

2003: The Magnolia Electric Co: 9 

2006: On Leaving: 11

2006: Ys: 8

2008: El Rey: 2

2008: Mountain Battles: 4

2009: Further Complications: 10

2009: Rockwell: 13

2018: 'Sounds' Recorded By Steve Albini: 1

Recorded By Steve Albini (50:52) (KF) (Mega)

Indie Incidentally

...or, single word sounds from the indie underground (kind of).

Dusting off a lucky 13 songs that I haven't played in a while, all done in under 45 minutes. Happy Friday, everyone!

1) Ray: The House Of Love (1990)

2) Spangle: The Wedding Present (1994)

3) Mesh: New Order (1981)

4) Seconds: Pulp (1994)

5) Navigator: The Pogues (1985)

6) Kookaburra: Cocteau Twins (1985)

7) Ambition: The Jesus & Mary Chain (1985)

8) Lullaby: James (1993)

9) Babble: The Cure (1989)

10) Split: That Petrol Emotion (1987)

11) Hoverin': The Breeders (1993)

12) Free: Mazzy Star (1990)

13) White: The Field Mice (1989) 

 

1981: Everything's Gone Green EP: 3 

1985: Aikea-Guinea EP: 6 

1985: Never Understand EP: 7

1985: Rum, Sodomy & The Lash: 5

1987: Babble: 10

1989: Lullaby EP: 9

1989: Snowball: 13

1990: A Spy In The House Of Love: 1

1990: She Hangs Brightly: 12

1993: Divine Hammer EP: 11

1993: Laid: 8

1994: The Sisters EP: 4

1994: Watusi: 2

 

Indie Incidentally (44:29) (Box) (Mega)

Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable?

Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable? by Cadeau De Mariage aka Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? by The Wedding Present.

"Pourquoi?" I hear none of you ask. Well, the later-than-usual timing of this post will give a hint that this isn't the one that I'd planned for today. Instead, David Gedge and co. have kindly stepped in to the rescue whilst I try to rescue my failing external hard drive, containing all of my digital music collection. And there's a lot.

 

The warning signs have been there for a short while: I purchased the hard drive (and a back up drive) in May 2013. The power cable on the latter failed early in the New Year and I've had a run of ordering replacements from Amazon only to find that none of them worked at all. This has meant that I haven't backed up my music collection in a while.

 

It quickly got to a point where I decided that, though the 'main' external drive appeared to be working fine, at 10 years old I should probably replace both with physically smaller drives with larger storage capacity. These arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

 

As if sensing imminent redundancy, the 'main' external drive then started acting up, ejecting without warning, failing to power up or just refusing to be 'found' when connected to the Mac. So, instead of finishing and posting the planned Dubhed selection this morning, I'm copying files to the replacement drive instead. It took several attempts to get the outgoing drive to power up, be 'found' and stop ejecting and I'm nearly - nearly! - at the end, copying the final folder containing all of my Dubhed selections to date. Then it'll be time to create a new back up. Squeaky bum time, indeed.

 

Hopefully, normal service will resume tomorrow and the planned Dubhed selection will be just as apt - if not more so - in it's Friday setting. As a teaser, it includes a track that I've already referenced in a post/comment this week.

 

In the meantime, the opening video is of The Weddoes performing Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? in French at The Boileroom in Guildford in 2018. It seems only reasonable therefore to leap back thirty years and grab the studio version of Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable?, released in 1988 as a 7" single in it's own right alongside the original English language version.

 

Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Gedge!

The Strangest Days I've Ever Seen

Today's selection is a small selection of artists, songs and albums that I've discovered or rediscovered during 2022, either by diving into my vinyl or CD collection, digital purchases from Bandcamp or via the many wonderful posts from fellow travellers in the blogosphere, listed in the sidebar if you're viewing the web version. A special thanks to Charity Chic Music for introducing me to Blaze Foley and reminding me of the brilliance of I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight by Richard & Linda Thompson.

For the second year running, the rather wonderful 5CD New Age Steppers collection, Stepping Into A New Age 1980-2012, gets a look in. There have been some fabulous CD box set reissues in 2022. My favourites have included Satellite Life, collecting Billy Mackenzie's recordings between 1994 and 1996 on 3 CDs. The Times' run of albums from their first incarnation were represented with a ton of bonus tracks on the 6CD set My Picture Gallery: The Artpop! Recordings. It actually came out in 2021, but I didn't buy it until May this year. Ironically, neither artist features in today's selection.

Researching respective posts got me going back to several artists from my teens, notably The Jesus & Mary Chain, Ramones, Orbital and David Sylvian. David Holmes' new album with Unloved this year also prompted me to belatedly buy the soundtrack to Series 1 and 2 of Killing Eve, which includes a fair few 1960s and 1970s nuggets, including out there husband and wife duo Ramases and Selket (Kimberley and Dorothy to their neighbours).

 

There are a couple of artists from my birthplace, Bristol: Babyhead, who I rediscovered when reminiscing about the annual festival at Ashton Court and Emily Breeze, who I heard for the first time this year and have been a huge fan of ever since.

 

To bring things to a close, The Abyssinians with an unreleased 'extended mix' of a 1982 song, courtesy of the 27 Leggies music blog during the summer after yet another postponed gig. Fingers crossed it's sixth time lucky in 2023, Ernie.

 

Today's photo was taken in the Gloucestershire village of Wotton-under-Edge a couple of weeks ago. It's the tried-and-tested hairdresser/barber shop staple of using a bad pun for a business name, but this one made me smile. I've never visited, so please don't take this bit of free advertising as an endorsement. I've also not eaten at the Indian restaurant with the garish orange frontage a few doors down. Parking's a nightmare, though.

 

More 2022 highlights tomorrow.

 

1) Тютюнник (Tiutiunnyk) (John Peel Session): The Wedding Present (1987)

2) Clay Pigeons: Blaze Foley (1977)

3) Move Ya Loin: Roots Manuva ft. Lotek (2005)

4) Pulling Punches (Album Version): David Sylvian (1984)

5) Call In Sick Today (Album Version): Emily Breeze (2019)

6) Good For My Soul: The Jesus & Mary Chain (1992)

7) Drown: Karen O & Danger Mouse (2019)

8) Chime Crime (Remix): Orbital (1992)

9) Distraction (Radioactive Man Remix By Keith Tenniswood): C.A.R. (2020)

10) Good Voodoo (Gaudi Remix By Daniele Gaudi): Ganga Giri (2011)

11) The Bottle (12 Inch): The Tyrrel Corporation (1992)

12) My Whole World: New Age Steppers (1981)

13) Killing Time: Babyhead (2003)

14) I'm Not Jesus: Ramones (1987)

15) Screw You (Single Version): Ramases & Selket (1970)

16) Withered And Died: Richard & Linda Thompson (1974)

17) Praise Him / Praise Him Dub: The Abyssinians (1982)

 

The Strangest Days I've Ever Seen (1:14:48) (Box) (Mega)

Call In Sick Today: Emily Breeze

When I was young I thought I’d bring the world to its knees
Smoking skunk in the daytime, skim reading Socrates
Please....
Jesus said, I should get out of bed and I replied
Fly me first class to heaven in a neon pink cocktail dress
I don't get up for less

Because these are the strangest days I’ve ever seen
So give me C.B.T and sertraline
As I sashay through the decades on a vast indifferent sea

Lets get high in the cemetery,
Call in sick today
Waste a day with me,
I'm gonna start a cult
And you'll build a time machine
Let's go rob a bank
And go on a killing spree

Because these are the strangest days I’ve ever seen
So give me C.B.T and sertraline
Did you catch my million dollar movie?
It went straight to T.V
But I still believe, I still believe
That it's easy to bury reality
But hard to dispose of your dreams
So I still believe, I still believe
When I was young I thought I'd bring the world to its knees
Call in sick today baby waste a day with me
When I was young I thought I’d bring the world to its knees
And I still believe, I still believe
Call in sick today baby, waste a day with me
Cos I still believe, I still believe.

Now That's What I Still Call Jangly

Side 2 of a compilation tape, originally recorded for me by my girlfriend, circa 1996.

 

When I posted the first side of this mixtape in November last year, I mentioned that I hadn't heard several of these songs in over a decade. It's been a bit less of a gap for most of the songs on this side but even so, I'd forgotten what a great compilation this is. More of The Wedding Present and The Field Mice and a couple by The Jam at their finest. 

 

I had thought about swapping out the Manchester racist for another song by a different artist, but I've decided to leave the sequence as originally intended. The song plays from approx. 19:44 to 23:27 if you want to skip it.

 

I realised as I was recreating this side that several of the artists have recently been featured over at The Vinyl Villain: Kirsty MacColl, The Field Mice and Fade Into You by Mazzy Star; completely coincidental, I'd only really plumped for posting this side today because it featured The Sundays. Yes, that's really as sophisticated as my planning gets sometimes...

 

1) A Small Slice Of Heaven: Lightning Seeds (1992)

2) Tread Lightly: Kirsty MacColl (1989)

3) The Great Depression (Single Version): The Jam (1982)

4) Divine Hammer (Album Version): The Breeders (1992)

5) Sorrow (Album Version) (Cover of The McCoys): David Bowie (1973)

6) Think Of These Things: The Field Mice (1991)

7) Spring-Heeled Jim (Album Version): Morrissey (1994)

8) My Favourite Dress (Single Version): The Wedding Present (1987)

9) But I'm Different Now (Album Version): The Jam (1980)

10) Slide Away (Album Version): The Verve (1993)

11) Fade Into You (Album Version): Mazzy Star (1993)

12) You're Not The Only One I Know (Album Version): The Sundays (1990)

13) Beyond Belief: Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1982)

Side Two (44:44) (GD) (M)

Side One here

Your Smile Was Beautiful

Celebrating Julee Cruise, 1st December 1956 to 9th June 2022.

 

I first heard the sad news in the wee hours of this morning, about to go to bed, but not wanting to go with the original post that I'd planned. At that moment, I couldn't find the words and just posted the videos for Rockin' Back Inside My Heart and arguably one of the greatest cover versions of all time, The Wedding Present's take on Falling.

 

More than twelve hours later, I still don't have the words and, if I've honest, Post Punk Monk's tribute yesterday says it all beautifully. 

 

Like many, I only knew of Julee Cruise because of her musical collaborations with David Lynch and Angelo Badlamenti on the ground-breaking TV series Twin Peaks and the astonishing album Floating Into The Night. The former's use of the latter's music and Cruise's own appearances in the show, the prequel film and 2017's "limited event series" have inextricably bound her with Lynch and Badlamenti. It was a revelation but perhaps shouldn't have been a surprise to read that Julee Cruise was so, so much more.

 

Heartbreaking to read via NPR that Julee's complex and challenging life included some incredible achievements but a number of health and personal issues, including lupus, depression and substance addiction. Julee "left this world on her own terms", according to a statement by her husband Edward Grinnan, her last moments on this world soundtracked by The B-52's Roam, a band that she joined as touring substitute for Cindy Wilson. But clearly, Julee Cruise was nobody's substitute; she was sui generis. 

 

Post title taken from a lyric in Rockin' Back Inside My Heart. Float on into the night, you beautiful person.

 

Rockin' Back Inside My Heart (Album Version): Julee Cruise (1989)

Falling (Cover of Julee Cruise): The Wedding Present (1992)

Now That's What I Call Jangly

Side 1 of a mixtape, originally compiled for me by my girlfriend, sometime around 1996.

Despite the title, it's not entirely jangly but it is resolutely indie. She was a big fan of The Wedding Present, The House Of Love and James and I was immersed in their music for a few years. 

I haven't heard many of these songs in over a decade: I'd completely forgotten about Bedflowers; there's a lovely post about them on the Cloudberry Cake Proselytism blog, which provides some backstory. 

The David Bowie track closing side 1 feels like a bit of an anachronism, though it may have been added because I loved the song so much. 

We didn't part on the best of terms - my girlfriend, that is, not Bowie and I - but this is a reminder of happier times and some great music.

 

1) Ceremony (1st Version By Martin Hannett): New Order (1981)

2) Road: The House Of Love (1988)

3) My Ex-Lover's Address: Bedflowers (1991)

4) Suck: The Wedding Present (1991)

5) Sensitive: The Field Mice (1989)

6) Push: The Cure (1985)

7) Pink Glove: Pulp (1994)

8) Five-O (Album Version By Brian Eno): James (1993)

9) The Old Main Drag (Album Version By Elvis Costello): The Pogues (1985)

10) Jesus Says: That Petrol Emotion (1986)

11) In The Heat Of The Morning (Mono Single Version): David Bowie (1967)

 

Side One (45:13) (GD) (M)

7 To 10 Inches

Side 1 of a mixtape, originally recorded 4th October 1997, collecting tracks from various 7" and 10" vinyl records, pops and crackles intact on several. Sounds a bit like my take on an indie disco, though in reality the only songs I'm likely to have heard out in Bristol at places like the Kandi Klub or the PIG Club (an acronym for Punk Indie Goth, naturally) would have been the album version of Head Like A Hole and possibly Love Removal Machine. I saw Back To The Planet on the Lime Lizard stage at the first Phoenix Festival in 1993. I don't think we hung around for the whole set as we wanted to get back to the main stage for Faith No More, but they were one of the better crusty bands. The Food Christmas EP saw labelmates Jesus Jones, Crazyhead and Diesel Park West covering each other's songs. Mekons' Rock 'n' Roll and Birth School Work Death by The Godfathers remain firm favourite albums of the 1980s, whilst a production credit by Adrian Sherwood and Flood was a pretty safe bet for a purchase, back in the day. The limited edition double pack 7" single of April Skies is a typical example of how great The Jesus & Mary Chain are as a singles band. Bo Diddley Is Jesus is the last of four excellent songs on the single, but is a perfect opener here. There'll be more J&MC brilliance when I eventually get to posting Side 2...

 

Side One (45:07)

1) Bo Diddley Is Jesus: The Jesus & Mary Chain (April Skies 2x 7") (1987)

2) (I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind (Album Version): Primal Scream ft. Denise Johnson ((I'm Gonna) Cry Myself Blind 10") (1994)

3) It's So Hard: The Godfathers (Sounds Waves 2 promo 7") (1988)

4) Heaven And Back (Album Version): Mekons (The Dream And Lie Of... 10") (1989)

5) Montreal: The Wedding Present (Montreal 7") (1997)

6) Daydream (Dub Mix By Adrian Sherwood): Back To The Planet (Daydream 7") (1993)

7) 2001 Love (Part 1) (Single Version By Adrian Sherwood, Skip McDonald & Style Scott): Dub Syndicate ft. Allen Ginsberg (What Happened? 10") (1993)

8) Head Like A Hole (Copper) (Remix By Trent Reznor & Flood): Nine Inch Nails (Head Like A Hole 10") (1991)

9) Love Removal Machine (Album Version By Rick Rubin & George Drakoulias): The Cult (Love Removal Machine 2x 7") (1987)

10) I Don't Want That Kind Of Love (Cover of Crazyhead): Jesus Jones (The Food Christmas EP 7") (1989)

11) Ascend (Single Mix By Flood): Nitzer Ebb (Ascend 2x 10") (1992)

Side One (45:07)