Friday 29 June 2012

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



When you are reading this I will have embarked upon the long drive to Cornwall for a week of sitting in a different house staring at the rain and moaning. That is if I haven't had enough of the constant bickering from the back seat and turned round and gone home.

Family holidays, you can't beat them.

Anyway, today's track comes from the consistently funky Mr Scruff. Get A Move On was released first in 1999 and again in 2001. If this track dooesn't get your ass moving there is no hope for you.

Mr Scruff had a brilliant tea bar next to where our tent was pitched at Latitude last year. Not only can the Mancunian mix up a storm but he makes a great brew as well. You should check out his shop here for some great music and tea related paraphernalia.

Have a good weekend people.

Mr Scruff - Get A Move On

Thursday 28 June 2012

Flash & Crash



Know absolutley nothing about this track, other than I first became aware of it when it was included on the Instant Garage covermount cd for Mojo. There was probably some info about the track inside the mag which I have long forgotten with no chance of reading again as the mag would have been thrown out in the last great clearout of the cupboard on the half landing.

Just looked it up on Discogs, if you've got a spare eighty quid you couldd own a copy with "scuffs and scratches".

It's a belter.

Rocky & The Riddlers - Flash and Crash.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Jessie Ware



A few weeks ago Gareth over at How Does That One Go Again? posted a Youtube clip from a singer new to me, Jessie Ware which was rather lovely.

I decided to investigate further and found that Miss Ware had released  two collaborations one with SBTRKT and the other with Sampha and a couple of 12" singles under her own name over the last couple of years on some of the hippest labels.

DMCA Police have taken the track down. It's worth the price of the download..

Tuesday 26 June 2012

A Serendipitous Meeting



So,  I get this email from Tank, Stiff eldest brother asking " Do you think this is real?".

The email contained an MP3 pertaining to be a collaboration between The Woodentops and Lee Scratch Perry. I listened to it a few times and recognised Perry's tones but couldn't identify the band's contribution.

Before I had a chance to investigate further I received an email from Bat, Stiff's other brother informing us that it was indeed real and enlightened us with the full story.

Apparently,  Perry found himself abandoned by a taxi driver at the wrong studio. Rolo McGinty found him wandering around the studio and invited him in to where the Woodentops were recording while he waited for another taxi. The producer could not help but get involved in the session and they messed around on three tracks which sadly were never finished. The most complete of these is Back To Work where Perry worked on the backing track and laid down his own vocal using the original lyrics and some freestyling.

Woodentops and Lee Scratch Perry - Back To Work

Monday 25 June 2012

Tell Mama



I don't think that I have ever heard anything that was recorded at the Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama that has been any less than very, very good if not excellent and today's track just reinforces that opinion.

In 1967 Leonard Chess arrived at the studios with a pregnant Etta James and to record Tell Mama, possibly my favourite James song which turned out to be the singer's final top ten R&B hit. The flip side of the single, I'd Rather Go Blind,  was also none too shabby either.

Tell Mama also ended up being the title track of the album which was the result of Etta James four trips to Muscle Shoals, released in 1968.

Etta James - Tell Mama

Friday 22 June 2012

Turning Rebellion Into Money!!




Well it has happened.

When Stiff and I discussed the prospect over a year ago, I truly believed that it couldn't possibly happen that it was just plane (sic) wrong but Stiff said "mark my words before August next year London Calling will be used to advertise something and it will be totally inappropriate".

And so it has come to pass! B fucking A of all people, B bloody A. I hope you are fucking happy Jones, I hope it was worth it. For one of yours and Joe's finest moments to be devalued in such a way and forever to be associated with Willie fucking Walsh, that most enlightened of CEOs.

I could have coped with hearing it all over the BBC's trailers for the games, just but would probably not played the record for six months maybe a year, however now I feel that it is tainted just another product for sale at the right price. Maybe I am being ridiculous but that is how I feel.

As Stiff said, it was inevitable but it does not make it right.

If you have not seen the advert yet, here for one last time before it becomes soiled forever is one of the Clash's no bugger that rock music's finest three and a bit minutes.

Fuck you Mick Jones!

The Clash - London Calling

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



It has been a really hellish week, especially yesterday, left the house at 04:30 and eventually got home at 22:50 in less than the best of moods but did manage to to get a litre of Bulldog gin at the airport for twenty five quid which may eleviate some of the pain this evening.

What I need is some in your face drum and bass and their is no more in your face than the remix of Shadow Boxing by Nasty Habits possible my favourite piece of music in that genre.

Have a good weekend people.

Nasty Habits - Shadow Boxing (remix)

Thursday 21 June 2012

What's On The Flip Side?



A couple of nights ago as there was bugger all on the TV I decided to spin some northern soul singles and had an urge to play  'They're Talking About Me' by Johnny Bragg. I have had the good fortune to have had this single for a considerable number of years but last night was the first time that I have ever wondered what was on the flip side. I duly played it and although not a patch on the a-side, not many tracks are,  I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard.

See what you think. Apologies for the crackles etc, for something that I have never played it is in quite a bit of a worse state than the other side.

Johnny Bragg - Is It True

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Rehab



Here is another one of those mash-ups from The Reflex on the G.A.M.M. label.

I had my reservations of this mix of Amy Winehouse's best song with the backing track to the Velvelettes' Really Saying Something as Rehab is one of my favourtite tracks of the last decade, a song if ever there was one that should have been pressed on 7" but that's by the by.

When I listerned to the mash-up I was pleasantly surprised as the Reflex had opened up the track and if anything using that familiar backing track had made the lyrics even more prominent or maybe that's just me.

The line about Donny Hathaway troubles me though, as that soul singer jumped from a hotel window at the age of 33 after battling with depression. Having Hathaway as a mentor suggests that it was always going to end badly for possibly the outstanding  female singer/songwriter of the last decade. Sad really.

The Reflex - Rehab

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Wrote For Luck



It seems no matter where I go these days, someone is talking about the re-formed Stone Roses.

I would just like to take this opportunity to highlight just how brilliant that other band from Manchester, well Salford really,  kicking about at the time could be when they put their minds to it.

Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck

Monday 18 June 2012

It's Over

 

Here is a smouldering piece of soul to start the week off with.

It's Over was written by Jimmy Rogers and released on the President label in 1969 and that's about all I know about the record.

Terry Lindsey - It's Over

Sunday 17 June 2012

Tarred and Feathered



The dulcet toned of Johnny Cooke and Dogs have featured here a few times in the past. Here is the acoustic version of Tarred and Feathered which was on the b-side of the Tarred and Feathered single, the fourth single released by the band.

Still think that Dogs is a terrible name for a band.

Dogs - Tarred and Feathered (acoustic)

Saturday 16 June 2012

Wherever You Were



I really quite like Holly Golightly don't know that much about her and don't own that much by her but what I do have get's played quite often.

Here is a track from a very good compilation, My First Holly Golightly Album, which contains tracks from Miss Golightly's first thirteen albums, so is as good a starting point as anywhere. I assure you that if you buy this it won't be long before you are delving deeper into her back catalogue.

Holly Golightly - Wherever You Were

Friday 15 June 2012

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



This week Danny Boyle unveiled his plans for the opening ceremony for the London Olympics and his representation of England as a rural idyll. Today we will return to his less than lovely picture of Scotland and Edinburgh in particular in the 1980s in the form of Renton's rant on modern life from Boyle's film version of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting.

Choose Life by PF Project, for me is a rather pedestrian piece of not very original trance but what makes it memorable is the afore mentioned vitriol courtesy of Ewen McGregor, which is probably why I got asked for it all the time in the pub where I djed at the time.

Have a good weekend people.

PF Project - Choose Life

Thursday 14 June 2012

Love See No Colour



Here is my favourite track from the band Roy Boulter, mentioned yesterday was previously the drummer in. I think that this just edges it over All Together Now due to that single's ubiquity at the time and the fact that it was used to advertise the Clydesdale Bank and also totally inappropriately for me anyway, as the song for the England Euro 2004 campaign.

Love See No Colour was released in 1991 and went to the dizzying heights of number 58 in the UK charts.

The Farm - Love See No Colour 


Wednesday 13 June 2012

Of Time And The City



We don't really do high kultchur over the kitchen table, I leave that to people who know about such things such as Adam at Pretending Life Is Like A Song and Mr H, you know where. But I was reading this really good article in An Antidote To Indifference, a publication by the lovely people behind Caught By The River and decided to delve deeper into some of the music mentioned.

Anyway the article written by Roy Boulter, the former drummer of The Farm was about the Terence Davies feature film Of Time And The City a documentary about Liverpool.

By all accounts the most moving section is the one below, it certainly stopped me in my tracks and made me concentrate. A lovely piece of music even although I can't understand a word of it. It really seems to fit perfectly with the images. I played it four or five times on the bounce.

You can purchase An Antidote To Indifference and lots of other interesting things here.

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Here



Here is a rather lively piece of housed up Garage courtesy of Deadboy. I featured his remix of Fireworks by Drake the other week. Here was the producer's second single and was released in May last year.

Deadboy - Here

Monday 11 June 2012

I'm Seventeen Again!





Forgot about the need to run a new scooter in. It took a while to get back from Glasgow, using no more than half throttle.

The Who - The Real Me

Crackin' Up Over You



You really don't expect a heavyweight Golden Gloves boxer to be responsible for two of the biggest ballads ever in the history of popular music. But that is what Roy Hamilton will be remembered for, being the singer ewho first charted You'll Never Walk Alone and Unchained Melody in the US Charts.

In the north of England and among the northern soul fraternity he will forever be remembered for one of the best floor fillers on the scene.

Roy Hamilton - Crackin' Up Over You

Not a bad way to start a Monday after a week off.

Sunday 10 June 2012

I Started A Joke



I love the album that this track comes from.  Every single interpretation on the album is beautifully done. I once got into an argument with a very pretentious (aren't we all), in my opinion, blogger about the merits off Kathryn Williams' version of Hallelujah and was accused of only citing the version due to it being obscure. It is hardly obscure and I stand by the claim that it is far superior to the Jeff Buckley rendition.

Anyway, personal opinions aside, it is very clear from the album Relations that Kathryn can not only sing but has exquisite taste in the songs she choses to cover.

I saw here support someone, I think it may have been Isobel Campbell at the ABC in Glasgow, years ago. Her opening remarks were "fuck me there are a lot of you out there" in a lovely Geordie accent.

If you haven't already checked her out I think that you probably should. Apart from the album of covers she has also recorded a further eight albums.

Kathryn Williams - I Started A Joke

Saturday 9 June 2012

To Be A Lover



The other week we had Delroy Wilson doing Have Some Mercy. Here is his version of the George Faith classic, To Be A Lover set to the tune of  Have Some Mercy.

Brilliant stuff

Delroy Wilson - To Be A Lover

Friday 8 June 2012

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



Thank fuck all of that Jubilee and Lanimer nonsense is all over with and I can get back to normal for a few months before the Olympics. I will rant about the inclusion of Saudi Arabia and the corrupt body that is the IOC at another juncture.

Today's treat comes courtesy of Kenny Dope Gonzalez and his opening salvo in his war against all of the crap Eurodance sounds that he heard all around him in 1994.

And what an incredibly funky opening shot it was. Clocking in at almost fifteen minutes and built on samples from the track Street Player by Chicago, The Bomb really is a brilliant piece of dance music.

Have a good if not dry,  weekend.

The Bucketheads - The Bomb (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)

Thursday 7 June 2012

Masquerade



It has been a wee while since we have had anything from the gruppe. To be honest with you I think I have been resting them for a while.

Here is the Peel session version of the only single to be released from the Levitate album.

The Fall - Masquerade (Peel session)

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Midweek Repeat



Some typically bonkers but brilliant stuff from the KLF.

In July 1993 adverts started appearing in the UK press announcing that the K Foundation would be making available on no format their interpretation of Que Sera Sera/ Happy Christmas War Is Over.

On the 10th July an advert was placed in the NME for The K. Foundation presents the The Red Army Choir performing K. Cera Cera (War Is Over If You Want It). A statement followed saying that the record would only be released if a state of world peace was achieved, however it would be available for broadcast at certain major events. It was to be heard at that year's Phoenix Festival much to the bemusement of festival goers.

The track was eventually released as a limited edition in November of 1993. It was not the easiest release to get a hold of as it was released in Israel, in recognition of the peace accord signed by the PLO and Israel, and to obtain one of the 3000 copies first you would have to fill in a mail order form in one of two Israeli papers, one Israeli and the other Palestinian.

You have got to hand it to Rockman Rock and King Boy D, they definitely knew how to market product.

The K. Foundation Presents The Red Army Choir - K. Cera Cera (War Is Over If You Want It)


First posted March 2009

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Ron Hardy Edit



What with all the talk of  Disco over the last few weeks I have been on a bit of 70/early 80s dance tip recently and not just Donna Summer and The Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack either, incidently how good a track is If I Can't Have You by Yvonne Elliman?

I've been listening on repeat to Bettye Lavette Doing The Best I Can, Loleatta Holloway's Love Sensation and the Ron Hardy's edit of probably my favourite disco track, although being released in 1983 after the death of disco maybe we should call it post disco.

Whatever it is a belter.

First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Ron Hardy edit)

Monday 4 June 2012

No Rest For The Worried



It's amazing how you never get round to things when you really have bugger all else to do. This post should have been completed this morning,. Instead I was hanging out my 'tasteful' Skull and Crossbones bunting and  flag. Then I ventured into Glasgow to get a first look at the scooter, however Davie at the Lambretta Centre had decided to take the day off. Will have to wait until Wednesday now!

This tune is for Mr H who is having a day of northern soul at his gaff. Can't think of a better way to spend a bank holiday than listening to some frantic soul sides.

Clarence Williams - No Rest For The Worried.

Sunday 3 June 2012

It's The Twenty First Century, For Fuck's Sake!



While the rest of the country celebrates Elizabeth I's sixty years of benign rule. The good subjects of Lanark will be indulging in forelock tugging and the nostalgic celebration of Feudalism for other reasons this week. It is Lanimer week in Lanark which I have written about in very little detail here before. This miserable git, some would say misanthrope,  will be endeavouring to avoid as much of both as is humanly possible.

Right, that's my little rant over for today but as the title suggests, shouldn't we be passed all of this deference and shit by now!

Sex Pistols - Just Me (I Wanna Be Me)

Friday 1 June 2012

The Return Of Sturdy Girl



Since it's a holiday weekend in the UK and Dirk keeps banging on and on about her .

Ran out of songs mentioning beer but here's a guy who goes by the name of Beerjacket with a particularly fine cover of a Springsteen song.

Beerjacket - Dancing In The Dark

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



I'm not big on Royalty, Jubilees or Street Parties so the prospect of seeing me waving a Union Jack, sitting at a tressle table and amiably drinking Pimms with the neighbours this weekend is less than zero.

But if you wanted to have a wee jig around  the living room in celebration of a woman who by accident of birth has reigned o'er you and had the best of everything for 88 years then this track would be as good as any other.

Big Love was Pete Heller's first solo single released on Junior Recordings in 1999. It is a big, smiley, hopeful tune guaranteed to put a smile on the most miserable of gits.

Have a good weekend, no matter what you do and if you do decide to celebrate the Jubilee good luck to you just remember it isn't compulsory.

Pete Heller - Big Love