The Man, The Medd, The Legend

Today's Dubhed selection is dedicated to John Medd. If you've been following his blog Are We There Yet? (and if not, start today!), you'll know why.

 

I've gone back through all the comments that John has left on this blog in 2024 and curated a 19-song selection from the songs or artists that he's liked, plus some that he suggested I check out and consider for a future post. Well, today's the day and this is that selection.

 

I think (I hope) I've tracked down Frank Sinatra's original take on a Gershwin classic from 1954, he revisited and recorded the song many times in his career, from what I can gather. That's by far the oldest song here, with many fresh out in 2024, including a live version of The Zuton's infectious single Creeping On The Dancefloor.

 

One artist that John hasn't mentioned here this year (so far) is Robyn Hitchcock, But I have John and fellow legend The Swede to thank for their own enthusiasm leading to my belated appreciation of the Robyn's work, so he sneaks in with the penultimate song on this selection.

 

The working titles for this selection were 'Medd in Nottingham' and 'Dear John', but a chance comment on the monthly photo challenge over at John's blog on Sunday sealed the deal. 

All in, just over an hour and a half of eclectic and great music, which I hope will provide some entertainment over the coming days and weeks.

Will be thinking of you tomorrow, John, and sending good vibes and love your way.

 

xx

 

  
1) Only The Best Will Do (Album Version): ABC (1997)

2) Aim High (Aim Higher) (The Amorphous Androgynous Remix): Paul Weller (2010)

3) Teenage Lament '74 (Single Version): Alice Cooper (1974)

4) They Can’t Take That Away From Me (Album Version) (Cover of Fred Astaire): Frank Sinatra (1954)

5) Silently (Album Version): Blonde Redhead (2007)

6) They Don't Know How To Fall In Place (Album Version): The Lemon Twigs (2024)

7) Take You Down: Daniel Pemberton (2017)

8) Creeping On The Dancefloor (Live @ Hertford Corn Exchange): The Zutons (2024)

9) A.L.O.E: Bicep (2024)

10) Unfinished Symphony (Ion Rayne Remix): GusGus (2023)

11) Paper (Single Version): Saint Etienne (1992)

12) Love Plus One (BBC Radio 2 Piano Room): Haircut 100 ft. BBC Concert Orchestra (2023)

13) Transition 2: Joy O & Ben Vince (2018)

14) Aqua Grey (2019 Short Edit): Meditation Y.S. (Yoshihiro Sawasaki) (1994)

15) "Bed Heads": Jezebell (2022)

16) Hallelujah (Ewan Pearson Remix): Happy Mondays (2020)

17) ONE (Extract XI): Noema (2023)

18) Belltown Ramble: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 (2006)

19) The Good Old Human Race: World Party (2012)

 

1954: Songs for Young Lovers: 4

1974: Alice Coopers Greatest Hits: 3 

1992: Avenue EP: 11

1997: Skyscraping: 1

2006: Olé! Tarantula: 18

2007: 23: 5

2010: Wake Up The Nation/Change Up The Nation (Deluxe Edition): 2 

2012: Arkeology: 19

2017: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. OST: 7 

2018: Transition 2 / Systems Align EP: 13

2019: Perfumed Garden Edits EP: 14 

2020: Hallelujah EP: 16

2022: Shelter Me: 15

2023: BBC Radio 2 Piano Room, 16 February 2024 (bootleg): 12 

2023: ONE: 17

2023: Unfinished Symphony EP: 10

2024: A Dream Is All We Know: 6

2024: CHROMA 001-005 EP: 9

2024: Live @ Hertford Corn Exchange, 22 February 2024 (bootleg): 8

The Man, The Medd, The Legend (1:31:39) (KF) (Mega)

Save Me From Tomorrow

Celebrating Karl Wallinger, 19th October 1957 to 10th March 2024.

I woke up to this terribly sad news. Faced with the choice of trying to articulate a few words of tribute and posting a video or two, or pulling together a personal selection, with some words (when I can find them) to follow in an update later on, I chose the latter.

So, here's forty three minutes and thirty seconds of World Party music. Come back later today for some more words and thoughts.

Rest in peace, Karl.

 

1) Nature Girl (1990)

2) When The Rainbow Comes (1990)

3) She's The One (Live) (2012)

4) S.E.X. (1990)

5) All You Need Is Love (Cover of The Beatles) (2006)

6) Kuwait City (2012)*

7) Ship Of Fools (Live @ Kilburn Empire, London) (1990) 

8) Vanity Fair (1997)

9) I'm So Tired (Cover of The Beatles) (1993)

10) Trouble Down Here (Edit) (1987)

11) Where Are You Going When You Go? (2012)*

 

1987: Ship Of Fools EP: 10

1990: Goodbye Jumbo: 2

1990: Message In The Box EP: 1 

1990: Way Down Now EP: 4

1993: previously unreleased: 5 9

1997: Vanity Fair EP: 8

2006: previously unreleased: 5

2012: Arkeology: 3, 6, 7, 11

* I've no idea when either of these were recorded, but Arkeology was released in 2012.

Save Me From Tomorrow (43:30) (KF) (Mega)

Some More Words And Thoughts (1.30pm GMT)

 

So the first thing I saw was Pete Paphides' tweet from last night. Nothing unusual in Pete picking a song from the archives and sharing it, although his closing thank you to Karl was a little unusual. 

 

But it quickly became clear from the comments that followed that Karl was gone. A few looks around and the tributes had been steadily pouring in overnight. Yet, the usually trusty BBC News website had nothing, right up to the point that I uploaded my post and Dubhed selection earlier this morning.

And then this. 

Note the second sentence: ",,,who also fronted solo project World Party...". 

 

So, the band that Karl formed and led for the best part of 4 decades, which released 5 albums, three of which went Top 40 and one Top 10 in the UK, not forgetting four Top 40 singles and a UK #1 courtesy of a cover version by Robbie Williams, merits little more than a "...who also..." in the opening summary? Much as I recognise The Whole Of The Moon by The Waterboys as a classic, for fuck's sake!

I didn't even know Karl was in The Waterboys at first because frankly I wasn't that bothered by them (or The Whole Of The Moon) at the time. My introduction to Karl was seeing the video for World Party's Private Revolution which had this cool-yet-geeky looking guy in Lennon frames and a shaven headed angel miming along to a retro-future pop song.

Then I heard Ship Of Fools and I was completely sold. I had a white label 12" of this single, though it bore no difference to the standard 12" other than it was missing the cool artwork and labels. But the music was fantastic and, in the flip side's cover of Nowhere Man, the first of a growing number of nods to The Beatles over the course of World Party's recordings. In Oct 2020, the brilliant Albums That Should Exist blog posted an imaginary compilation album (hey, that sounds familiar!) of Karl's takes on 10 Beatles songs. And very good it is too.

Karl's love of The Beatles was never far from the surface but it never felt like pastiche or parody. Although World Party songs were infused with the spirit of Lennon and McCartney, Karl's passion and prodigious talent as a songwriter in his own right always shone through. Other touchstones inevitably included Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys and Kuwait City, Karl's social commentary as surf classic, is jaw-droppingly brilliant.

Which leads to Arkeology, released in 2012. Having taken an enforced break for 5 years due to a brain aneurysm, World Party's run of albums had effectively ground to a halt with Dumbing Up in 2000. Karl was able to resume touring from 2006 but there were sadly to be no more albums of new recordings.

However, Arkeology (subtitled "Diary & Music Collection") was a mammoth 5CD collection housed in a beautiful, ring-bound "any year" diary and containing 70 tracks. Some were previously released on B-sides, some were live versions and covers, many, many had never seen the light of day up to that point. Several examples are included in today's selection.

I was on the fly this morning, wanting to pull together some personal favourites and limited by time to make some very quick choices. That said, I'm very happy with the end result though if I was doing the same tomorrow I would probably come up with an entirely different selection, including Is It Like Today? or World Groove (Do The Mind Guerrilla) for example.

In other words, I felt that the BBC news report - and many others, to be honest - fell far short of capturing just how many hundreds of great songs Karl had written in his lifetime. Not just a few. Hundreds.

Quite the legacy. And from the tributes paid, a wonderfully rich, complex and entertaining human being, to boot.

Bon voyage, Karl.