What Are You Thinking Of?

Side 2 of a mixtape, compiled October 1996 and featuring Secret Knowledge aka Kris Needs and Wonder Schneider.

 

Kris Needs is a journalist and author who edited legendary music magazine ZigZag from 1977 to 1981, contributed to numerous other publications and has written several biographies and music history tomes, including 2021's Babble On An' Ting: Alex Paterson's Incredible Journey Beyond the Ultraworld With The Orb. Wonder is an American singer/songwriter, fittingly born on 4th July (Kris was born on 3rd July) and currently based in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Secret Knowledge debuted with the 12" single Your Worst Nightmare/Make Me Scream, in 1992 before releasing a couple of 12"s on Andrew Weatherall & Nina Walsh's Sabres Of Paradise label, including the legendary Sugar Daddy. A move to Deconstruction saw the sole Secret Knowledge album, So Hard, in 1996. Needs was also a prolific remixer in the mid-late 1990s, transforming tracks by The Boo Radleys, Primal Scream, Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart, The Prodigy, The Grid, Alabama 3, Transglobal Underground and Hurricane #1, to name a very few.

 

This selection manages to squeeze a mere 5 tracks onto one side of a cassette, but they are personal favourites. Hug My Soul is underpinned by the inspired use of a sample from Reach Out I'll Be There by Four Tops and ends with someone blowing a raspberry. Breakdown was released as a standalone 12" featuring 'light' and 'dark' Secret Knowledge remixes, both excellent. The Nitzer Ebb and Love And Rockets remixes vastly improve on the originals. The Afterworld was originally submitted for inclusion on the Volume compilation, Trance Europe Express², and resulted in conflict when the wrong version was used. The press release accompanying the subsequent 12" release of Afterworld tells the story. It was only when reading the press release again that I realised The Afterworld 12" was issued on 4th July 1994, Wonder's birthday.

Kris and Wonder reconvened Secret Knowledge in 2019, in a collaborative single with Sendelica, with remixes by The Orb. Windmill was written as a tribute to Kris Needs' soul mate Helen Donlon, who passed in 2018. A digital version of the EP is still available on Bandcamp.

Kris also collaborated on a remix for The Orb's excellent Abolition Of The Royal Familia (Guillotine Mixes) album in 2021 and is currently writing a Silver Apples biography. Wonder continues to perform and collaborate on musical projects. There's a great interview with Kris from May 2021 on the Strange Brew website.

1) Kick It (The Secret Knowledge Velvet DM's Mix): Nitzer Ebb (1995)

2) This Heaven (Secret Knowledge Mix): Love And Rockets (1994)

3) Hug My Soul (Secret Knowledge Limbo Mix): Saint Etienne (1994)

4) The Afterworld (Backing Track For PAs): Secret Knowledge (1994)

5) Breakdown (Secret Knowledge Dark Mix): One Dove (1993)

 

Side Two (46:06)

Gardening At Night

Side 1 of an R.E.M. mixtape, recorded by my friend Stuart on 31st December 1991.

I'll admit to a degree of trepidation when thinking about an R.E.M. post. The Vinyl Villain and Is This The Life? blogs have both produced jaw-droppingly brilliant R.E.M. series that on a personal level were an education and delight, feats of astonishing research and passion for the band and, for all that followed them, a chance to revisit one of the greatest bands of all time.

All that said, this cassette is very important to me, not least because it was compiled by my lifelong friend, who I first met at primary school and has been there through thick and thin ever since. I was familiar with R.E.M., but this was my first fully immersive experience of their music, encompassing all of their albums to date, from Murmur to Out Of Time. These songs themselves are now like old friends and just listening to the sequence of songs takes me back to a special time in our lives. We were both in further education (different colleges) at the end of 1991 , having had a couple of years out working, and were at a point where our lives were taking us in different directions. 

Music isn't our only connection, of course, but there's still a thrill when we share something that we think the other may like or not have heard. Mixtapes were always an integral part of that and this is one of the best.

Reckoning was one of the last IRS albums that I added to my personal collection. For years, I thought the opening track on the mixtape was solely (Don't Go Back To) Rockville and I was disappointed that my copy of the Eponymous compilation appeared to have an edited version. When I eventually got Reckoning, the penny finally dropped and I realised that Stuart had included the tail end of preceding track Camera, which was essentially a bit of R.E.M. mucking about in the studio. It's an ingrained musical memory, so I've kept the opening track of this selection, as he intended. Closing track, Shiny Happy People B-side Forty Second Song, is a curio; I suspect it was there to fill the blank space at the end of a C90 cassette. However, it's less of a throwaway instrumental than some of their other B-sides and after many, many plays over the years, I couldn't listen to this side without it.

 

This one's dedicated back to Stuart. Thanks for everything.

1) Camera (Reprise) / (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (Album Version) (1984)

2) Half A World Away (1991)

3) Turn You Inside-Out (1988)

4) Perfect Circle (1983)

5) Exhuming McCarthy (1987)

6) These Days (1986)

7) Green Grow The Rushes (1985)

8) Second Guessing (1984)

9) Talk About The Passion (Album Version) (1983)

10) Texarkana (1991)

11) Crazy (Cover of Pylon) (1985)

12) Cuyahoga (1986)

13) Forty Second Song (1991)

Side One (44:55)

I'm Feeling Much Stranger 'Bout You

Little Dragon were on the longlist for the Paris-themed selection posted on Monday, but didn't make the final playlist. Another of their tracks surfaced on a random shuffle on the commute to work. I can take the hint, so here's a selection for your listening pleasure. 

Little Dragon hail from Gothenburg in Sweden and were high-school friends who got together as a band and released their first single in 2006. Little Dragon is Yukimi Nagano on vocals & percussion, Fredrik Källgren Wallin on bass, Håkan Wirenstrand on keyboards and Erik Bodin on drums.

My collection is limited to 2007 to 2014, but Little Dragon are still very active, releasing their 6th album, New Me, Same Us, in March 2020. I've just bought their last single, Drifting Out, which snuck out last month and contains three excellent versions, including a remix by Dubhed favourite Kelsey Lu.

 

1) Looking Glass (2009)

2) Brush The Heat (2011) 

3) No Love (2007)

4) Little Man (Album Version) (2011)

5) Twice (Album Version) (2007)

6) Blinking Pigs (2009)

7) Paris (Album Version) (2014)

8) Nightlight (Unknown Mortal Orchestra Remix) (2011)

9) Fortune (2007)

10) A New (Is Tropical Remix) (2010)

11) Shuffle A Dream (Album Version) (2011)

 

2007: Little Dragon: 3, 5, 9 (Japanese bonus track)

2009: Machine Dreams: 1, 6, 9

2010: A New EP: 10

2011: Ritual Union: 2, 4, 11

2011: Ritual Union EP: 8

2014: Nabuma Rubberband: 7

I'm Feeling Much Stranger 'Bout You (42:08)

 

Buy the Drifting Out EP on Bandcamp

Drifting Out (Kelsey Lu Remix): Little Dragon (2021)

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

You can thank/blame John Medd for today's selection. His quite literally stunning post of Elizabeth Taylor photos inspired a playlist of songs named after her movies (I attempted the same trick with Faye Dunaway last year). No clever sequencing here: I started with the earliest match - and Elizabeth Taylor's 2nd film from 1943 - through to her uncredited appearance in a 1979 political conspiracy movie starring Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins and Toshirô Mifune "as Keith". 

 

I think it mostly works, though for 1976 film The Blue Bird I was torn between equally great songs from Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Hope prevailed.

 

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was one of the set texts for my English Literature O Level (too many years ago to count) and we got to watch the 1966 film as part of the study. It's a great play and a great cast, but Elizabeth Taylor transcends all. Arguably her greatest performance, and that's saying something.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have a song named Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? but Jimmy Smith has kindly obliged with this classic from 1964, which I must get hold of.

 

1) Lassie Come Home: Alphaville (1986)

2) A Place In The Sun: Stevie Wonder (1966)

3) Rhapsody: Siouxsie & The Banshees (1988)

4) Giant (Radio Edit) (Cover of The The): DJ Food ft. Matt Johnson (2012)

5) Cleopatra (John Peel Session): Adam & The Ants (1978)

6) The Comedians: Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1984)

7) Ash Wednesday: The Psychedelic Furs (2020)

8) Blue Bird: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions (2009)

9) Winter Kills (Electronic Periodic's Sub / Piano Mix): Yazoo (2008)

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (42:00)

You Gotta Get Some

A welcome treat for 2022 is the release of Electribe 101's 'lost' second album, Electribal Soul, which was recorded circa 1991-1992 but remained unreleased for three decades. Despite a degree of success in the UK with debut album, Electribal Memories, and singles Tell Me When the Fever Ended and Talking With Myself, Electribe 101 were beset by problems. Tom Watkins had successfully managed Pet Shop Boys and Bros., but reportedly found Electribe 101 a more difficult proposition. Likewise, promotion of the band by record label Mercury/Phonogram never quite seemed to hit the mark and Electribe 101 were dropped in late 1991, part way through the album recording sessions. A few more tracks were recorded but Electribe 101 eventually split, Billie Ray Martin going solo and the rest of the band continuing as Groove Corporation.

 

Electribal Soul will be released on vinyl, CD & digital formats on 18th February. The vinyl contains 8 songs; the CD (& presumably digital) has 3 additional songs: Conquering Tomorrow, You And I (Keep Holding On) and an alternate version of Deadline For My Memories. Several of the tracks were re-recorded for Billie Ray Martin and Groove Corporation's respective debut albums, and Billie eventually released a re-recorded cover version of Throbbing Gristle's Persuasion with Spooky, which I featured in a previous post.

 

You can buy the physical formats Electribal Soul directly from Billie Ray Martin's website and digital from her Bandcamp page, although it wasn't available for pre-order at the time of this post. Rooting around on Biilie's YouTube page, I found this performance of Moving Downtown (a song dating from her previous mid-80s outfit Billie & The Deep) on BBC TV Show, What's That Noise? introduced by presenter Tony Gregory. 

Moving Downtown (Live in 'What's That Noise?', BBC TV): Electribe 101 (1991)

 

Just Desserts

CD-R compiled 21st July 2005, collecting Blancmange "singles, remixes and side servings", and one of the earliest examples of my newly acquired capacity to rip my vinyl collection. Blancmange aka Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe emerged in 1979 and enjoyed a flush of commercial success between 1982 and 1984, before calling it a day in 1986. 

 

The duo reconvened twenty years later as a live act and a new album, Blanc Burn, was released in 2011. As a consequence of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, Stephen Luscombe left Blancmange shortly after and Neil Arthur continued as the sole remaining member. Arthur's musical output since has been prodigious, more than tripling the original duo's number of album releases, in addition to side projects with producer Ben Edwards aka Benge as Fader and son Joe Arthur aka Kincaid. 

 

During Blancmange's hiatus, Stephen Luscombe released an album in 1989 as West India Company, which featured an updated version of 1983 B-side Vishnu; there was also a 12" single featuring remixes by The Orb and Andrew Weatherall. Neil Arthur released a solo album in 1994, with single remixes by The Grid. Both of these will undoubtedly pop up in future posts.

This pre-revival collection focuses squarely on the extent of my Blancmange vinyl collection at the time. I've had to swap out the version of Game Above My Head. The original CD-R featured the (in my view) superior U.S. remix by Joseph Watt, but my vinyl rip is so crackly that I've replaced it with the extended mix that reappeared on the deluxe CD reissue of 2nd album Mange Tout. Some of the other tracks remain as vinyl rips - and it shows - but it maintains the integrity of the original track listing. 

A memory from 1982 is my 15-year old brother coming back from the hairdressers with a perm. My parents unsurprisingly went apeshit, but he eventually persuaded them it was a tribute to footballer Kevin Keegan. Personally, I was convinced he'd asked for a "Neil Arthur".

1) Feel Me (7" Version By Mike Howlett) (1982)

2) God's Kitchen (12" Version By Mike Howlett) (1982)

3) Blind Vision (Long Version By John Luongo) (1983)

4) Game Above My Head (Extended Remix By Blancmange & John Williams) (1983)

5) Vishnu (Instrumental Version By John Luongo) (1983)

6) Living On The Ceiling (Re-Mixed By Dennis Weinreich) (1982)

7) That's Love, That It Is (New Dance Mix Version By John Luongo) (1983)

8) I Can See It (Extended) (Remix By Greg Walsh) (1986)

9) I've Seen The Word (7" Version By Mike Howlett) (1982)

10) The Day Before You Came (Extended Mix By Chris Porter) (Cover of ABBA) (1984)

11) Don't Tell Me (12" Mix By Peter Collins) (1984)

12) What's Your Problem? (Extended Version By Stewart Levine) (1985)

13) Waves (12" Mix By Dennis Weinreich & John Williams) (1983)

Just Desserts (1:18:37) (GD) (M)

W.O.R.K. Is A Four Letter Word

After what simultaneously seems like a long time and no time at all at home, Christmas and New Year is well and truly over and I'm back at work. I've mixed feelings, but today's selection will get me through the commute, at least.

Sadly, I couldn't find a place for this stone cold classic.

1) Welcome To The Working Week: Elvis Costello (1977)

2) Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad: The Clash (1978) 

3) Don't Work That Hard: Scritti Politti (1985)

4) Women Around The World At Work (Album Version): Martha & The Muffins (1981)

5) From Bed To Work: Pony Club (2004)

6) Hard Work: Teitur (2013)

7) Finest Worksong (Album Version): R.E.M. (1987)

8) Model Worker (Live @ The Santa Monica Civic, Santa Monica): Magazine (1980)

9) Barnaby, Hardly Working (Version): Yo La Tengo (1989)

10) All Work And No Play (Extended Mix): Hüsker Dü (1986)

11) I Work In A Health Spa: The Go-Betweens (1986)

12) Right To Work: Chelsea (1977)

13) Birth, School, Work, Death (Extended Mix): The Godfathers (1989)

14) This Woman's Work (Director's Cut Version): Kate Bush (2011)

15) How To Hate The Working Classes: Luke Haines (2001)

16) I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue): Tom Waits (1976)

17) Fit And Working Again: The Fall (1981)

18) Let's Work Together: Canned Heat (1969)

19) At Home, At Work, At Play: Sparks (1974)

 

1969: Let's Work Together 7": 18

1974: Propaganda: 19 

1976: Small Change: 16

1977: My Aim Is True: 1

1978: Give 'Em Enough Rope: 2 

1978: The Outrageous Soundtrack From The Motion Picture "Jubilee": 12

1981: Slates: 17

1981: This Is The Ice Age: 4 

1981: Urgh! A Music War: 8

1985: Cupid & Psyche 85: 3

1986: Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely 12": 10

1987: Document: 7 

1989: Out On The Floor EP: 13

1989: President Yo La Tengo: 9

2001: Christie Malry's Own Double Entry. OST: 15

2004: Family Business: 5

2004: Liberty Belle And The Black Diamond Express (Expanded Edition): 11 

2011: Director's Cut: 14

2013: Story Music: 6

W.O.R.K. Is A Four Letter Word (1:14:19)

I Wanna Go To Paris With You

Inspired by yesterday's French DJ mix, the first Dubhed selection of 2022 features a dozen Paris-themed songs. Along the way, you get two artists genuinely from Paris (Les Negresses Vertes, Anne Pigalle), a couple of would-be tourists (Friendly Fires, Adam & The Ants) and a completely made-up, retro-fitted 1990s band (Brits Abroad aka Julian Cope & chums, which you can read about in a 2015 post by The Vinyl Villain). As you might expect, the latter is not a paean to the questionable 1972 film by Bernardo Bertolucci, but a tribute to the soft drink exploits of a (fictional) touring band, e.g.

 

It was not the penultimate Tizer in Hull,

It was the last Tango in Paris 

 

The selection wraps up inevitably with Adam & The Ants' debut single, which wasn't a hit first time around. However, the song enjoyed 13 weeks in the UK singles chart and a peak of #9 when re-released at the end of 1980 on the back of the success of Antmusic.

1) I Love Paris (Cover of Lilo): Les Negresses Vertes (1990)

2) Paris: Tacks, The Boy Disaster (2006)

3) Paris 1919 (String Mix): John Cale (1973)

4) Souvenir d'Un Paris (French Version): Anne Pigalle (1985)

5) Paris (Album Version): Friendly Fires ft. Au Revoir Simone (2008)

6) Haliod Xerrox Copy 3 (Paris): Alva Noto (2007)

7) Paris Four Hundred (Album Version): Mylo (2003)

8) Last Tango In Paris ("Originally released in 1990"): Brits Abroad (2014)

9) Plaster Of Paris: Pixies (2016)

10) Paris s'enflamme (French Version of Paris Is Burning): Ladyhawke (2008)

11) Paris In Flares: The Housemartins (1987)

12) Young Parisians (Single Version): Adam & The Ants (1978)

I Wanna Go To Paris With You (44:13)

Excuse Me, I Am A French Man

I first discovered the music of Bernard Fevre online via music blogs, freebie downloads and DJ mixes. Andrew Weatherall remixed one of Fevre's tracks as Black Devil Disco Club in 2015. However, it was the Feel My Bicep site that gifted a couple of stunning exclusive mixes in 2011 and 2012 that originally got me hooked. Bicep have of course gone on to create some pretty incredible music of their own, as evidenced by many 2021 'best of' lists.

 

Bernard Fevre has been releasing music since the late 1970s and this hour-long mix from 2011 liberally dips into that decade, with plenty of (then) contemporary tracks as well as liberal samples of Black Devil Disco Club's album Circus, featuring guests from Afrika Bambaataa to Faris Badwan (The Horrors) to American synth duo YACHT to Nancy Sinatra. It's a surprisingly (electro) funky selection, perfect for a Sunday morning. 

 

Today's post title is taken from the intro of Serge Gainsbourg's none-too-subtle Sea, Sex & Sun.

1) Magnetic Devil: Black Devil Disco Club ft. Afrika Bambaataa (2011)
2) Love & Romance & A Special Person: Joakim (2009)
3) Dating Do (Remix By LeBatman) (aka Dali (Remix)): Bernard Fevre (2011)
4) Crescendolls (Album Version): Daft Punk (2001)
5) The Devil In Us: Black Devil Disco Club (2007)
6) In Crowded Subways (In Flagranti Remix): Paris (2010)
7) Crocodiles In The Sky (Original Version): Parallax Corporation ft. Nancy Fortune & Melvin White (2001)
8) Distrust: Black Devil Disco Club ft. Faris Badwan (2011)

9) Sound Industrial: Roger Roger (1977)
10) Camel: Sauvage (2011)
11) E.V.A.: Jean-Jacques Perrey (1970)
12) Sea, Sex & Sun (Mirror People ‘Cosmic’ Rework By Rui Maia): Serge Gainsbourg (2010)
13) To Ardent (Grovesnor Remix By Robert Smoughton): Black Devil Disco Club ft. Nancy Sinatra (2011)

14) The Way You Make Me Feel (Plaisir De France Re-Edit): Galaxy Birthday (2010)
15) Free For The Girls (Richard Sen's Sumerian Fix): Black Devil Disco Club (2009)
16) Follow Me: Amanda Lear (1978)
17) Stay Insane: Black Devil Disco Club ft. YACHT (2011)
18) Couleurs: Karl-Heinz Schäfer ft. Leoni (1973)*
19) Fantasm: Bernard Fevre (1977)
20) Hello.jpg (Original Version): Logo (2011)
21) Mots: Ruth (1985)

* Note from Bernard Fevre, accompanying the original mix posting: OK, this one is only sung in French, but it’s the OST of ‘Les Gants Blancs du Diable’, which means ‘The Devil’s White Gloves’ 

Feel My Bicep 2:04 2011 (DJ MIx By Bernard Fevre): Black Devil Disco Club (1:05:29)

 

Day One

Happy New Year, everyone! In the interests of avoiding posting any on-the-nose songs by U2 or ABBA, here's a relatively forgotten remix of Deadly Avenger from twenty years ago instead. The "v2" remix is a good one to loop if you're planning a walk/fresh air to clear that fuzzy head. Both v1 & v2 appeared on the 2002 single We Took Pelham, albeit respectively exclusive to the 12" and CD single formats.

The Future Sound Of London only released one other 'Cosmic Jukebox' remix - Paths by Robert Miles, which I featured previously here. I've only discovered from researching this post that there was a planned then scrapped 'Cosmic Jukebox' project, which was subsequently replaced by the long-running A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble series.

The 'Cosmic Jukebox' sideline also pointed the way to the re-emergence of Amorphous Androgynous, with their incredible album The Isness that same year.

Amorphous Androgynous returned last year with We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal, an epic 6-part single/mini-album and remix companion, featuring Peter Hammill on lead vocals and Paul Weller tucked away in the mix, tinkling the ivories. 

A new album, Listening To The Head Chakra, has been promised for a few years now but may finally see the light of day in 2022.  

Day One (FSOL Cosmic Jukebox Mix v2): Deadly Avenger (2002)

Day One (FSOL Cosmic Jukebox Mix v1): Deadly Avenger (2002)

We Persuade Ourselves We Are Immortal (Official Video): The Amorphous Androgynous ft. Peter Hammill (2021)