Thursday 28 February 2019

Make Me Feel



Here's a rather good extended remix of one of my favourite tracks of last year. If this doesn't get you moving then I feel really sorry for you.

Nothing else to say really




Wednesday 27 February 2019

You Had Me Fooled



The northern soul has been a bit thin on the ground around these parts of late a situation I intend to rectify in the coming weeks.

First up then is You Had Me Fooled the debut single from  Danny Wood, released on the Correc-Tone label in 1965 and you won't be surprised to learn that this record is from the Motor City. Wood later found fame when he joined Chairmen of The Board but not before releasing another 6 singles that failed to set the heather on fire at the time, Today a copy of You Had Me fooled, if you could find one would cost around £300.

Danny Woods - You Had Me Fooled

Monday 25 February 2019

Monday's Long Song



Today's track was on the list of long songs to post, although it has been posted a couple of times previously. I didn't intend to post it today but in response to SA's posting of his and Lou Reed's favourite version of Sweet Jane. I thought that I would post mine, When I first posted this Uncle Dave commented that he had actually seen Lone Justice perform this live and Bonzo and the fud with the beanie had joined them on stage to  sing it. I am glad that I have never heard this version as I think it would taint this absolutely wonderful performance that was recorded for the Radio 1 In Concert series on 06/11/1986

Lone Justice - Sweet Jane 

Friday 22 February 2019

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance




SA over at the Bagging Area was going on about Four Tet earlier in the week and today's track sprung to mind. Released, initially as a ridiculously limited 100 copy white label only available from Phonica in London in September 2017. A further run of 300 were released a couple of weeks later and I ended up at one point having three copies as I had ordered it from Piccadilly but when it didn't appear after a week I got a bit twitchy, so when in Monorail the following Saturday and seeing a copy in the racks I bought it as there was no way that I was going to be left without a copy of this absolute stonker of a piece of Garage House with a nagging refrain that gets lodged in your brain. Inevitably when I got home there was a brown cardboard package from Piccadilly waiting for me and when I opened my Monorail bag there were 2 copies of the 12" in the protective plastic sleeve. So from having no copy on Saturday morning I now had three copies. I did take one of the copies back in to Glasgow during the following week and I think that Stephen Pastel was a little incredulous when I handed it back informing him of his earlier mistake. I couldn't be arsed sending the copy back down to Manchester so I still have two copies.

I really can't face talking about the football. The performance last week was mostly pretty good , the Diamonds should have scored at least three goals, if you forget about the sheer comedy of errors below! Seriously watch it, if you see a bigger shambles of defending this season I will be surprised. The season is all but over, unless we keep losing and end up in a relegation battle. Tomorrow it's away to the League leaders Arbroath just the 25 points ahead of Airdrie still surprisingly in 6th spot.

Have a good weekend people.

KH - Question






Thursday 21 February 2019

I Wish I Were That Girl



There are not many artists that could convey yearning and emotion more than Wendy Rene and it is an absolute travesty that this lady was not better known during here life time. Although she only released a handful of singles during her career, three as a solo artist at Stax and two earlier as a member of The Drapels they are all of top quality. Rene was supposed to be flying with Otis Redding, who gave her the stage name Rene, on the fateful flight in December 1967 when he, the pilot, four members off the Bar-Kays and another friend were killed when the plane crashed. The concert in Madison, Wisconsin was to be Rene's final for a while as she had a new child at the time but she never performed again deciding to retire from the music business completely after the tragic event.

I Wish I Were That Girl comes from a great compilation album, After Laughter Comes Tears that gathers together all the singles a sides, b sides and another 10 unreleased tracks which is definitely worth investing in.

Wendy Rene - I Wish I Were That Girl

Wednesday 20 February 2019

Cantaloop



I had forgotten how much I loved the first Us3 album until I dug it out the other week for a change. It was like a breath of fresh air, albeit fresh air that is twenty six years old (ffs!) but not at all fusty, I have played the album a few times since and when I decided to post something from it, it became increasingly difficult. There was a thing for jazz influenced hip-hop at this time  and this album is one of the best with it's extensive use of Blue Note samples, don't ask me what they all are, I'm no expert but according to everything I read at the time the tracks on Hand On The Torch is loaded with them. But I have gone for the first track which was also the first single, Cantaloop which liberally samples Herbie Hancock's 1964 track Cantaloupe Island. The single was released twice in the UK, first time round in 1992 hardly anybody noticed it the rerelease the following year saw it get to a respectable number 23 in the charts.

Us3 - Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)

and the Herbie Hancock track





Monday 18 February 2019

Monday's Long Song



Today's long song comes courtesy of the band that MES plundered for musicians to replace the "traitors, liars and cunts" that left him and Eleni mid way through an American tour, Darker My Love. I don't know the story of how he co-opted Tim Presley (guitar) and Rob Barbato (bass) along with drummer Orpheo McCord into the Fall but he did and brought the musicians back to Britain where I was lucky enough to see them a few times live and they also recorded very good late period Fall record. Today's track is from a set of gigs that Darker MY Love performed during July after the Fall USA tour had been concluded and a couple of weeks before "the dudes" as Smith referred to the Americans as joined the Fall in the UK  to continue the planned dates over here The nights were recorded and released on cd, three of which contain absolutely blistering cover's of Can's Mother Sky, it was a difficult job to pick a version to post today as they are all equally as powerful but I think the the one posted illustrates the incredible sounds that Presley can get out of a guitar and the power of Barbato's bass which both enhanced the sound of the Fall hugely for the brief period when they were in the band and also shaped the future sound that they would take. However there was no way that Tim Presley would have lasted long in the Fall, as he was partial of doing that rockist thing of soloing and looking like a lead guitarist thing that Smith highly disapproved of but jeez, he was good.

Box does not seem to want to upload my music at present so you will have to make do with the YouTube clip, sorry.



Box now working correctly, download below


Darker My Love - Mother Sky (Live at Spaceland)

Wednesday 13 February 2019

Wild And Free



When Donald Tusk last week pondered the "special place in hell" for the liars, charlatans and little Englanders behind the Leave campaign in Britain who promised the earth in 2016 but are now stockpiling body bags and getting the Army ready for the 29th of March, he had  me reaching for Curtis Mayfield's first solo album from 1970.  It was the title of the opening track " (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below Then We're All Going To Go" that immediately sprung to mind. It has been a while since I played this absolutely amazing album, so I sat down and listened to it and then I listened to it again. I had fully intended to post that first track with it's state of the nation for the African American at the turn of the 70s lyrics, which I will eventually get round to posting,  But at the moment with all the negativity around I think we should all take time and listen to something a bit more positive :-

Wild and free is the way I want to Be
Making a new day
Leading in a new way
Respect for those people
Power to the people

Curtis Mayfield - Wild and Free

Tuesday 12 February 2019

Guru Lover



I apologise for the crackle and pops on this record, you would be forgiven for thinking that this record was over twenty years old as opposed to one that was released in 2016. I can only think that it is crap vinyl as it can't have been played more than half a dozen times before it was ripped. But it's one of those clear splattered things. I really do wish that record companies would go back to just pressing on black vinyl.

Anyway, the track is from The Cult of Free Love's as yet only album which apart from the issues with the vinyl is very good. The band or collective hail from North Wales and I was first alerted to them via Swiss Adam's posting of one of Weatherall's radio shows where he played Love Is All There is off their split 10" single. They had a limited single on 5" lathe cut , which I assume is just a small single.

The Cult of Free Love - Guru Lover 

Monday 11 February 2019

Monday's Long Song



This isn't the version of this tune that I was going to post today but I realised too late last might that I hadn't ripped the original version of 1960 What. This is something I have noticed a lot this weekend as I was going to do a garage/psych compilation on Saturday but half of the tracks that I wanted to include weren't in iTunes or on the Rips1 folder either.

Anyway, the lyrics of 1960 What relate to the death of Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis and of the riots in Detroit but I'm not sure if this refers to the major riots of the summer of 1967 when 42 people were killed. 1189 were injured and over 7000 people arrested or the riots that took place after the assassination of Dr King which not only took place in Detroit but many of the major cities in the USA. The lyrics convey the despondency that must have been felt by all black Americans in the racism and turmoil of the late 60s America.

The mix posted is by the Italian musician Geraldo Frisina that came out in a limited pressing a few months after the original and I was lucky to get my hands on it.  It isn't earth shatteringly different from the original but is a bit bouncier and latin tinged. There is a further slightly shorter "re-rub" by Swedish producer Opolopo which is even more dancefloor focused.

Gregory Porter - 1960 What? (Geraldo Frisina Cuban Soul mix)

Saturday 9 February 2019

Rough Mix #1




A couple of weeks ago when posting 7 Ways To Love I mentioned a mixtape I had back in the early 90s that was filled with Balearic goodness that I thought that I would try and replicate in some way. I fully intended to make an actual tape using turntable and tape deck but don't have any blank tapes, I could have taped over one of the ones in the cupboard I suppose or paid a fortune on eBay for some but I that would be pointless as then I would have to buy a Walkman if I wanted to listen to the tape anywhere but the dining room. So yesterday once I turned the work laptop off I decided to download some mixing software and give it a go.

Below is the result of my first effort put together in under an hour just using the basics, hopefully I will get better with time and practice although some would say that that never happened when I had two turntables and a mixer a long time ago. The tracks I know are all a bit obvious but it's okay.

Tracklisting:

Dove - Fallen (Darkest Hour)/Orchestra JB - Come Alive (Love In London mix)//The Aloof - Never Get Out Of The Boat (Gosh mix)/Voices of Africa - Hoomba Hoomba/Orchestra JB - Free Spirit (Slow Burn)/Orbital - Belfast/Primal Scream - Come Together (Weatherall)/Saint Etienne - Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness)

Rough Mix #1

Picture is the sun going down over the Sound of Jura as seen from Machrihanish, who needs the Café Del Mar when you can have the Machrihanish Caravan Park

Friday 8 February 2019

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



It was not my intention to post a series of cover versions this week it just sort of happened like that,  one song led to another in my skewed head but yesterday I began to think of dance cover versions and there have been some horrendous techno and hard house interpretations of truly awful songs over the years but thankfully  the first record that popped into my head was the Style Council's cover of Promised Land  from 1989 and from there it wasn't much of a leap to today's track.

Nine year's after Weller's somewhat surprising (for me at least) take on the Joe Smooth classic it was the turn of house music to return the favour when Terry Farley and Pete Heller in their Fire Island guise covered one of the Style Council's finest moments, Shout To The Top, not only that but they enlisted the talents of the disco legend Loleatta Holloway to provide vocals in her distinctive style that resulted in a joyous piece of uptempo bass driven house. The track came with mixes from Club 69, Industry Standard, Roach Motel (Farley and Heller under another moniker) and Frankie Knuckles but for me the extended original Fire Island mix is the one.

After last week's disappointing 2-2 draw against Dumbarton, Airdrie should have been three nil up by half time but threw away the lead on two occasions, One thing that was apparent was that the young (18year old) Declan Glass is a bit special, unfortunately he is just on loan to the end of the season from Dundee United but I look forward to watching him up until then.

Tomorrow the Diamonds head up to Forfar who are two places and 6 points above Airdrie in fourth in the league table,  where Airdrie need to be to get into the play-offs which could be a tall order unless they play a lot more consistently than they have done over recent weeks hopefully some of young Glass's skill may rub off on some of the others. Nothing short of a victory will do tomorrow.

Have a good weekend people.

Fire Island featuring Loleatta Holloway - Shout To The Top (Fire Island extended mix)


Thursday 7 February 2019

Toughet Than The Rest



Another very good proponent of the well chosen cover version are Camera Obscura who are great at taking well known upbeat pop songs and giving them a Glasgow twist, ie making them thoroughly glorious but fucking miserable, check out the covers of Super Trooper, Some Guys Have All The Luck and Modern Girl for examples of this art. However I want to post a particularly despondent version of an already downbeat song.

Tougher Than The Rest was originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen on 1987's Tunnel of Love album and album that doesn't get that much of an airing in this house as regularly as other bits of Springsteen's output, not sure why that is but  Tracyanne and her crew's version was released on the b-side of 2009's single Sweetest Thing.

Covers don't get much better than this in my book.

Camera Obscura - Tougher Than The Rest

Wednesday 6 February 2019

In The Ghetto



Even in the days when I really didn't like Elvis and conformed to the insane view that he was a joke, a stooge or even a simple, rascist as Chuck D believed I had a soft spot for In The Ghetto, I would never admit it to anyone, well not until I was nineteen and started not giving a fuck what others thought of the music I liked. I was in my late twenties before I heard Candi Staton's version of the Mac Davis penned tale of the short life of  an unnamed "young man" in the projects of Chicago, and it blew me away as I never thought that anybody would ever come close to Elvis's rendition, Certainly the versions I had heard up until that point by Nick Cave, Chris Clark, Beats International or The Blizzard King, one of Bill Drummond's made up Finnish artists on his post KLF Kalevala label couldn't lay a glove on what is the original but the version recorded at Muscle Shoals and released as single in 1972 is as near as it gets.

Candi Staton - In The Ghetto

Tuesday 5 February 2019

Everyone Loves A Cover



Yes Levi Stubbs Tears is Billy Bragg's song and brilliant it is too but this cover from the last ever Redskins gig in Munich in September 1986 takes it to a whole other level. Nothing else needs be said I think.

Redskins - Levi Stubbs Tears (Live)


Monday 4 February 2019

Monday's Long Song



We are on a trip this morning, well the young woman sampled on Everything Is All You've Got" is, as the sampled dialogue is of her description of her experiences on LSD. I love this track, it is the opening track on Minilogue's 2013 album Blomma which contains 5 lengthy tunes only one of which is under 12 minutes, is an absolute joy to listen to and incredibly was laid down live.

Minilogue - Everything Is All You've Got

Saturday 2 February 2019

Sleep Easy My Beautiful Boy



I know that there are a lot worse things happening in the world than the death of a pet. Jez over at A History of Dubious Taste is mourning the death of his little brother, Llyr, for one. But I feel that I need to record and acknowledge somewhere the life and death of Luca as it has had more of an affect upon me than I imagined it would have done, if I had imagined the prospect at all. I keep telling myself, he was only a cat and he wasn't here for that long, pull yourself together. I suspect this is the reason it took me so long to come round to the idea of having more pets after Baxter's final trip to the vet a little over four years ago. But last Monday just after three pm Luca was killed right outside the house after being struck by some vehicle or other. Only minutes before I arrived back with Leo from school. Luckily for us but not for L she had just returned from a funeral just before us.

When I think about it, it was inevitable just the previous morning as I was coming back from getting the Sunday paper  I had to roar at him as he shot across the road when he saw me and followed me back to the house leaping over the walls of the front gardens of the three houses on the way home. Out of our back there are loads of gardens, the extensive chapel grounds and quieter streets but ever since he and his brother could get out,  there was something that attracted him over that busy main road. I hoped that in time he would lose interest or get the road sense that the previous two cats had but it was not to be. He was always reckless, last summer Lynn called me out the back to point him out up on top of next door's roof on the chimney stack being divebombed by pigeons. He had jumped from the garage onto the pitched roof and climbed up to get at them.

He was Leo's cat, if a cat ever really belongs to anyone. Leo was the one that picked him out from the other 12 kittens only 18 months ago, gave him the most attention and fussed over him. Luca was always a bit more aloof with the rest of us, he may have wanted petting but you would be the one that would have to go to him, that was unless you were Leo in which case he plonked himself down either beside you or on your lap.  It is heartbreaking to watch a ten year old grieve for his pet and his "best friend who always cheered me up if I was feeling down or not well". I have been told that it's all part of life for a child but I was hoping he wouldn't have to deal with this for a good few years yet. It was also a first for me as I never had to dig a hole in the garden before and bury a beloved pet, that was my dad's job but that's me now I suppose.

Anyway, farewell Luca you were much loved and brought a lot of joy in your short time with us, especially to one small boy and his dad if I'm being truthful. You are and will continue to be missed not least by your brother (Hugo) who is a bit lost at the moment.

Meursault - He Was A Friend of Mine