Tuesday 30 April 2013

Give Me A Muthafuckin' Breakbeat



SA over at the Bagging Area had a post at the weekend about The Face magazine that got me searching the internet for a copy from late 1988 that I missed out being in by about an hour, see here.

Anyway, after a bit of investigation, it turned out that the edition was November 1988. This was also the edition with an article about Neneh Cherry at that time a little known artist. The article stated something like " Buffalo Stance is the best record you will hear this year" and one thing The Face was good at, for me anyhow was that their music reviews tended to be spot on. And so it was with Buffalo Stance, it might not have been the best record of that year but it was up there and I flogged it to death in it's original and remix form.

Here is the remix which doesn't tend to get much of an airing.

Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance (Give Me A Muthafuckin' Breakbeat)

Monday 29 April 2013

Rain




A few weeks ago I finally got my hands on an original copy of one of my favourite northern singles, Lies by Gwen Owens for a more reasonable price than I expected and I suspect that the vinyl may not be an original but a copy but I am not complaining as I would have happily paid double for it then. But now after getting it playing it and discovering what was on the flip I am more than happy.

Rain is a totally different song to that on the other side in that instead of an up beat dancer we have a ballad but what is the same is that marvellous voice of Miss Owens, utterly wonderful stuff.

Gwen Owens - Rain

Sunday 28 April 2013

What's In Yir Box? K



Another letter with not a lot of presence in the box. The two artists who do appear could have had ten singles in the box including split singles between them but for me these are the two best singles by the bands.

Anybody who doesn't know who the Kills are I salute you as you obviously don't read any style. gossip mags. When I first saw the Kills at the Wah Wah Hut not that many people just like the White Stripes. My views on the Kills can be found elsewhere on this blog but in summary, great first album, alright second attempt, third album big yawn, fourth, nearly as good as the first. The single in the box comes from the fourth album and was featured on ATKT at the beginning of last year or end of 2011.

The Kills - Baby Says

Kid Canaveral unlike the Kills don't have any members stepping out with famous people or if they do I don't know about it. The band were formed in St Andrews, Fife in 2003 and have released two albums and six singles. The one in the box is the first one but it could have been any of them really but it is Max's favourite which ensured that it pipped the others to the place in the box. Like the following three singles and first album it was released on the band's own straight to video records label, since then they have released their subsequent two split singles and second album on Fence Records.

Kid Canaveral - Smash Hits


Friday 26 April 2013

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



I never really got into The Shamen, to be honest that Mr C really got on my nerves and also all that cod philosophy bollocks did my head in as well. But I did quite like Progen when I first heard it, enough to buy it anyway.

It's not a track that I play all that often, well ever really but I thought that it could feature here as at the time it went down quite well in the clubs and was huge when re-released the following year re-titled Move Any Mountain. It would be a much better track with the crap rap taken out.

Have a good weekend people.

I will be going to the Excelsior stadium in the hope of seeing Airdrie achieve their first home win of the year at the last home game of the season, I fear that it is a lost cause! Most likely they will be two up with five minutes to go and then get skelped when Livingston score three in the last couple of minutes.

The Shamen - Progen (Land Of Oz mix)

Thursday 25 April 2013

Mosquito



I wish that the Caulfield Sisters had released more than an ep and a split single. I was hooked from the first time I heard them on KEXP covering Some Candy Talking with an accordian, it really is much better than that sounds.

This track is one of five from their debut ep which was available through American Laundromat Records on cd and is on iTunes if you like what you hear.

The Caulfield Sisters - Mosquito

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Big Muff



I have loved this track for years and have played it hunners of times but it wasn't until  last Sunday that I realised that it was co-written by Lee Perry. Makes perfect sense now!

As they say, "every day's a school day".

John Martyn - Big Muff

Tuesday 23 April 2013

RIP Richie Havens



Go easy Richie

Here is a brilliant vocal from the man.

The Groove Armada feat Richie Havens - The Hands Of Time

I'm Not The Man I Used To Be




Forty Fucking Four!, Jesus!

I think I'm past the revitalizing cream stage.

Fine Young Cannibals - I'm Not The Man I Used To Be (Solo Piano Intro/12" Remix)

Monday 22 April 2013

The Girl Across The Street



Frequently within the realm of northern soul some of the best known and best loved tracks have been recorded by people whom nothing much is known about apart from where and when they recorded the track.

Moses Smith is one of those artists, The Girl Across The Street is a superlative song, a great pounding beat and those yearning vocals but apart from the fact he recorded this track in Philadelphia in 1967 and that he released another cracker of a single for Cotillion the Atlantic offshoot (which I just so happened to pick up a splendid 10 single boxset at Monorail on Saturday), nothing else is known of the man which I find sad as he has absolutely no idea of the joy that thousands of people have either listening to or dancing to this classic which he created.

Moses Smith - The Girl Across The Street.

Sunday 21 April 2013

What's In Yir Box? J



Sadly for George there is a Jam single in this group but I had to keep it to a one record to make more room for singles by another band and even when it came to them there was quite a debate as to how many I could reasonably keep in the box. The first nine singles and a further three or four could all have justified a place but in the end I decided upon five Jesus and Mary Chain singles, although two are double packs.

The Js are actually kind of standard indie fare,  very of my age group with the exception of the Jumbonics funky as fuck version of Last Nite. I have posted this track before but it was in the very early days of the blog and think that I can justify another airing.


Chuck Jackson - Any Day Now
The Jags - Back Of My Hand
The Jam - When You're Young
Jasmine Minks - What's Happening
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Upside Down
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Never Understand
The Jesus And Mary Chain - You Trip Me Up
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Just Like Honey (dble)
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Some Candy Talking (dble)
Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
The Jumbonics - Last Nite

The Jumbonics - Last Nite

Friday 19 April 2013

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



What is there to say about this record?

It's Primal Scream remixed by Weatherall that's all you need to know.

I seem to remember waiting for ever for this to come out. When I finally got it home and put on side A I thought, that's good, that's very good. Wonder what side A is like?

Turned it over and fuck me did it not just blow me away.

Have a good weekend people.

I'm up early and into Glasgow to queue for a couple of hours outside Monorail, my favourite record shop and then hopefully get everything on my list. Then it's up to Forbidden Planet with Max and then to Edinburgh with L for an early birthday meal and overnight.

Primal Scream - Come Together (Weatherall)

Wednesday 17 April 2013

No More

Right,  that's it, enough,  lets all move on.

I think that the best thing we can do is draw a line and say chapter closed.

Those of us who believe that we are stronger as an inclusive society who help each other and care what happens to others need to organise, protest and let all of them know, including not so red Ed that things have to change.

Fine Young Cannibals - Blue

The Redskins - The Power Is Yours (MGM mix)

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Get Out Of The Office And Into The Springtime



If we only could.

This is one of these songs that when I play, I think to myself this is brilliant, why do I not play this more often, put it back in the box and then forget about it again for months on end. Not quite sure why.

Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man

Monday 15 April 2013

I'm Moving On



Thought that I would post this as I see that it is another soul track plundered by advertising.

I'm Moving On was written and originally recorded by Hank Snow and has been covered by dozens of folk, from Ray Charles to Roseanne Cash. I think that the Nash version from 1963 version is the best.

Johnny Nash - I'm Moving On

Sunday 14 April 2013

What's In Yir Box? I



"I think you should remember whose side you are on."

Inspiral Carpets feat Mark E Smith - I Want You

Friday 12 April 2013

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



It's been a bit of a week. I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of hearing about the "saviour of the nation". According to some baroness or other on PM last night there wouldn't have been mobile phones or the internet without her, for fuck sake! And if I have to hear Charles Moore going on about left wing bias at the BBC much more I may not be responsible for my actions. What a fucking fud. I know that is not the most erudite of descriptions but it doesn't make it any less apt.

Anyway back to the music and here is one of the best things that the President of Malawi's least favourite pop star has ever done.

Have a good weekend people.

I will be watching Airdrie getting humped by Partick Thistle and then going to see Father Sculptor in Stereo, a gig that if you are anywhere near Glasgow, you should try and get along to.

Madonna - Hung Up (SDP extended vocal)

Thursday 11 April 2013

A Good Soundtrack Is Not Always Necessary, But It Helps.



Max has taken a shine to the works of John Hughes recently . The other week there we watched Uncle Buck which I found a little bit saccharine but the boy thoroughly enjoyed. To be honest until I started watching it again I had forgotten that it was one of Hughes' films.

Max had already purloined my copies of Some Kind Of Wonderful and Pretty In Pink after watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. What most of the John Hughes films had was great soundtracks from artists such as The Smiths, Otis Redding, The Jesus And Mary Chain etc.

As Max liked these films so much I decided to introduce him to the ultimate teen film, Gregory's Girl. I knew that he would enjoy it, as he already had Restless Natives which is put on on a regular basis. So we sat one night and sniggered through the whole film and while watching it, it suddenly struck me the total lack of a soundtrack, there was some incidental music but nothing more. This got me thinking as to what music from 1980/81 I would include in the film and after much consideration decided that the film didn't actually need a soundtrack as it had taken me thirty years to realise that one was missing so it couldn't be that important.

I then thought about the John Hughes films and what they would be like without their soundtracks and decided unlike Gregory's Girl I don't think that many of his would have been as successful without the music.

Here is one of my favourite tracks from my favourite Hughes film, Some Kind Of Wonderful and a couple of  classic scenes from Gregory's Girl

Stephen Duffy - She Loves Me





Wednesday 10 April 2013

Protest Song, Never!




I've been thinking quite a bit about my formative years during the 80s over the past couple of days, like a lot of people I expect. Concentrating on the music that I was listening,  to not all of the music but the stuff with a message, the protest music.

You can relax this isn't going to be an argument that the protest music in the 80s was better than anything that has come long since. No point debating that, it is a given.

I was thinking of all the Billy Bragg, Red Wedge affiliated groups such as the Style Council, Communards etc and also the raging, angry stuff by the likes of Crass, Conflict and Chumbawamba. Most of the music was preaching to the converted I think, I'm not sure too many folk who had been dressing like fannies and listening to the likes of Duran Duran took to heart the lyrics of To Have And To Have Not or Pills and Soap.

A tune by the biggest pop group of  1984 keeps popping into my head when I remember those days when it seemed that every weekend I was marching for something but mostly for an end to the nuclear arms race and the presence on British soil of American Cruise Missiles and the looming deployment of the Trident Submarine, first strike weapon.

The cover version of Born To Run won't seem like a protest song to most but to I have always felt that it fitted right in with the rest of the tunes I would put on my 80s protest compilation tape. Part of the reason must be that the first time I heard it was on the bus going to Barrow In Furness for an anti-Trident demo. Also the snatch of dialogue at the start suggests that the guy getting the bollocking is raging against something. But when you listen to the song their is a definite feeling desperation about it, not the getting your end away suggestion of the original but more a we need to get the fuck out of here as it's shit, which is exactly how I felt in 1984.

I'm probably talking a load of bollocks but I've always felt that there was more to the cover version than a camp tongue in cheek cover of Springsteen. Anyway,  it will be on my 80s rally compilation just after Bob Marley's Redemption Song, another I heard first on that demo in Barrow.

FGTH - Born To Run

Monday 8 April 2013

Well That Will Be That Then




You may think this post crass, inappropriate or in complete bad taste but I would be a liar if I didn't acknowledge the death of one of  few people I would use the word hate for. I am not exactly rejoicing but I will not be shedding a tear. Like many I suppose it will be as if a shadow has now been lifted.

I would rather she had not come to power and decimated the north of Britain and built up the north/south divide into what it is today. And if you are thinking of shedding a tear or after hearing the warm words on the radio or television think "she wasn't all that bad" just take a minute and think the reason why you cannot get a decent council house and are at the mercy of private landlords is that she sold off the housing stock to bribe people to vote for her but didn't bother to build anything like the amount sold off.  We no longer have any industry to speak of because of the policies that she implemented. It is acceptable for bankers to earn huge bonuses and for others to be dependent upon benefits even though working more than forty hours a week because of her belief in the market. And if you look around and don't see much of a society it is because she believed that there was no such thing and did all that she could do to dismantle communities. If that is not enough for you, remember her friendship with a certain General Pinochet.

One of my favourite quotes which kind of sums her up is  “No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well."

Hefner - The Day That Thatcher Dies

Ain't That Love



Here is a rather good cover of a Ray Charles song by Mitty Collier who is probably better known for her version of My Babe.

Mitty Collier - Ain't That Love

Sunday 7 April 2013

What's In Yir Box? H



Slim pickings this week.

I looked through the other boxes and there are quite a few H's including Richard Hawley, more than a few Housmartins singles and curiously enough an Arab Starp remix of David Holmes which back in the day I had to scour the country to find a copy of but none of these was deemed good enough for entry into this box.

So, instead the choice is between Happy Mondays Wrote For Luck and Who Can Say by Horrors. However I may have to take the Happy Mondays single out of the box as the 12" along with The Rave On ep is in the 12" box and there is no room for duplication.

Horrors - Who Can Say

Saturday 6 April 2013

Drew's World



There is a parallel universe somewhere, where a thinner and less "gone to the dogs" version of myself listens to one of those oldies radio stations that only play the highest ranking singles from the past. The alternative version of myself loves this station because in that reality things such as Keep On Keeping On, Stupid Thing, Forest Fire and There She Goes all topped the charts with whole load more that I could list that failed to entertain or inspire the great unwashed in ours.

In that other place in Apil 2004 this record came out of nowhere soared up the charts making it to the top in a fortnight and resided there for twenty four weeks until something equally deserving knocked it off.

Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve

Friday 5 April 2013

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



Just back from the capital and guess what, the trams still aren't running. With all the upheaval at the bottom of Lothian Rd and the end of Princess Street, I am so glad that I no longer have to do that commute. If I ever get all dewy eyed about the city with the castle I just remember the problems trying to get out of it and one on a Friday afternoon, the rage, frustration and the weekly near nervous breakdown. Thank fuck all that shit is well in the past.

Not the cheapest of city's but we had a very good couple of days, must have walked for miles.

You have to salute the antiquated Scottish licensing laws. On Wednesday we were walking up the Grassmarket, L fancied a drink, me a coffee and the kids something full of sugar to keep them hyper. As it was a lovely day we decided to by all European, well according to old fish face we all are anyway, so we sat outside and I went in for the drinks. I ordered beer, two J2Os and a coffee after opening the bottles and pouring the beer the barman said, " are any of these for children?"

"the J2O's" I replied.

"not unless they are eating" was his smart arsed retort"

to which I pointed out that unless the next order was exactly the same as mine he had needlessly poured three drinks and bid my farewell.

See Scotland, See Cafe Culture, only if you can find a bona fide cafe.

Anyway,  today's track comes courtesy of Richard D James and is probably his most danceable, dance track.

Quoth comes from the Polygon Window albun, Surfing the Sine Waves. the 12" single was released in 1993 on lovely clear vinyl.

It i said that the sounds that make up the track are all from recordings that James made on the London Underground and if you concentrate on the track it does sound vaguely like steel clattering along and echoing in a tunnel.

Have a good weekend people.

Polygon Window - Quoth



Wednesday 3 April 2013

A Short Break



I'm off to the capital with L and the weans for a couple of days of quality huffs and family fights in a different location.

It's been a couple of years since I've been in the city center so I'm looking forward to riding in a straight line on the wonderful new tram system which should surely be completed by now.

Ultramagnetic Mc's - Traveling At The Speed of Thought (remix)

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Sugar Man



I've been listening to quite a bit of Kris Kristofferson over the past few days. I needed something a bit more mellow than the weegie kraut/space rock of the Cosmic Dead which hadn't left the turntable for the week after it arrived. Seriously, worth a listen.

I wonder if Kristofferson has ever contemplated writing about sunny days and green lights all the time?

Kris Kristofferson - Sugar Man

Monday 1 April 2013

Sweetheart Things



During the 60s and 70s Ruby Winters recorded a few belters of singles which have been taken on board by the rare soul fraternity. Sweetheart Things isn't one that has ever gained much popularity as far as I'm aware, this may be due to the fact that there are loads of copies out there. You can pick up a vg + copy for around a fiver. It's certainly not due to that quality of the song, this is great slice of soul. Recorded at Muscle Shoals and released in the Diamond label in 1969.

Ruby Winters - Sweetheart Things