It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Here's a track from probably my favourite band from the early nineties. It was a real bloody shame that they only released one album but what an album Morning Dove White was. Even now after nearly twenty years of listening I still don't get bored of it and there isn't a duff track on the album.

I have seen the album compaired with Screamadelica and I think this is due to a certain Mr Weatherall being in charge of production and it does have a similar kind of feel about it but I'm not sure if the comparisons are all that helpful. To be honest I play this album a lot more frequently than I play Screamadelica but I don't think that anything here is as outstanding as either Loaded or Come Together. That is not to say that it doesn't have it's standout tracks, it does and for me those are Breakdown, Transient Truth and Why Don't You Take Me. I am not as keen on Weatherall's mix of Fallen as the Darkest Hour mix that was on the original Soma release but that is due to me completely falling in love with that single when I first heard it and flogging it to death. In fact that statement above about One Dove having nothing to match Loaded or Come Together is pish, they do, it's just that the version that does rival those two is not on the album.

Sadly the band split up before completing the follow-up long player so we will never know what could have been. But although Dot Allison went on to produce one really good solo album and three that have their moments she never produced anything nearly as good as this quite underrated album

Anyway today's dance track is one of the brace of Secret Knowledge mixes of the third single to be released from the album, Breakdown. Most people will already have this but I was in a One Dove mood yesterday so . . .

Have a good weekend people

One Dove - Breakdown (Secret knowledge light mix)

It's Friday . . Let's Dance

When I read in either Mixmag or Update early in 1992 that my favourite DJ and remixer was remixing my favourite track of the previous year I couldn't wait to hear the results. Bit when I eventually got my hands on Weatherall's mix of Fallen by (One) Dove, I wasn't so much disappointed as perplexed as apart from the sax solo which I've been told was lifted from Supertramp there wasn't a great deal of difference from the original Soma release. I'm not sure what I really thought Weatherall could do to improve what in my opinion is a perfect track anyway.

Later when it was disclosed that Weatherall was to become the producer for the band I was more than a little excited at the prospect of the people that had produced Fallen and, well the most consistent remixer in the world at the time collaborating.

This time the pairing did not disappoint, the next single Transient Truth was an absolute belter which was bought on the day of release and flogged to death. There was a rumour that there was a promo of another load of Weatherall mixes out there but I never ever saw a copy let alone got the chance to get my mitts on one.

A few years ago now when I found Discogs, one of the first things I looked up was One Dove and while clicking through the discography found that the fabled Sabres Of Paradise mixes of Transient Truth did exist and that there were a couple of copies for sale the cheapest being £40 which was too steep for me as up to this point I didn't even know if they were any good, I had my suspicions that they would be worth shelling out the money for but still couldn't justify it.

About two years ago at the excellent blog Audio Out, STX posted all 4 of the mixes for download, which I eagerly did and must have played continually for about 2 weeks and was as happy as a pig in shite that I had eventually got these mixes. However it still nagged me that this was the only release by One Dove that I did not have on vinyl and one drunken Friday night not long afterwards the inevitable happened and I bought the copy on Discogs.

One Dove and Weatherall went on to produce one of the best albums of the early 90s and a further three brilliant singles were released with some great mixes by the likes of William Orbit and Underworld before the band sadly went their separate ways. There are rumours that a second album was recorded but as yet this has to be verified.

Here is one of the mixes of Transient Truth that I haven't posted before.

One Dove - Transient Truth (Sabres Of Paradise Death Of A Disco Dancer)

Car and Near Nervous Breakdowns

It all started off so well, the car was loaded early in the morning,  although the addition of a top box to my beloved Saab was offending my eye and forcing me to realise that I am a middle aged family man.

We left the house on time and were making great progress, across the border in just over an hour and M hadn't even asked to go to the toilet or utter that immortal phrase, "are we there yet". We stopped for lunch at Knutsford service station where M decided to take a header off a chair and cut his nose.

Back on the M6 and I decided to take the toll just to keep up the good time we had made. I turned to L and said "at this rate we will be in Canterbury for around 7 pm" and in time to catch the repeat of the final episode of Dr Who we had missed the previous weekend and then just as we rejoined the M6 we encountered a traffic jam, M6 at a standstill due to a breakdown. At this point I was still in good spirits as we had made good time, a short delay wasn't going to make that much of a difference.

After being stationary for half an hour my outlook was beginning to get slightly less rosy and I was starting to get a bit concerned about the kids being cooped up for so long.

And then it happened . . .

a loud POP, followed by everything flashing on the dash, a reading saying engine malfunction and then nothing, the Saab was no more. Fucking Great! I think were the words I muttered under my breath at the time.

So there we were stuck on the outside lane of the M6 and just as luck would have it the traffic started to move, cars behind us started pressing horns and gesticulating.

At this point I was still reasonably calm and decided to phone the AA, who would come to our rescue, right? Wrong. I was informed by a very pleasant operator that they could not assist us until we were out of the traffic and on the hard shoulder. I would need to contact the police and get them to tow me to the side and then phone back!

After around half an hour, the traffic officers turned up and with the assistance of one of them I managed to push the car across the 3 lanes and onto the hard shoulder. At which point I called the AA back to be informed that all of their operatives in the area were busy and it would be an hour or two before they would be able to get a contractor to come and tow us off the motorway.

By now my mood was beginning to darken, the boys were starting to get restless and L was trying to put a positive slant on things which made my mood even worse. I was beginning to wish that I still smoked.

I am in a company scheme due to the amount of driving I do which is supposed to help in these sort of circumstances and so I called fleet services to inform them of the situation so they could make arrangements for a hire car as I had a feeling that the car was not going to be repaired that day and the next being Saturday not then either. I was then told in possibly the most condescending voice that I have ever heard that it wasn't that simple, I would have to wait for the mechanic to do a diagnostic and they would take it from there.

After an hour an a half the mechanic found us and stated "your not going to France in that, mate" which I had already surmised. So I phoned the unhelpful helpline to inform them of the prognosis for the vehicle to be informed that it was after 5:30 on a Friday and it would not be possible to get a hire car as all of the offices were now closed and I could phone the Barcelona office who may be able to help me get a car from Birmingham airport.

I don't have the vocabulary to describe how this information made me feel but if you follow this link you will get the gist of it.

To cut a long story short, after a further couple of hours of phone calls, being towed to the HQ of the recovery firm, arranging for a taxi big enough to transport the four of us and all or our gear, well all the gear that we would be able to fit in a Peugeot 207 SW, as that is the largest vehicle that the hire company had which had an E103, essential for driving on the continent, we found ourselves at Birmingham Airport trying to cram everything in the car and carry on with our journey.

We eventually made Canterbury at 01:45 hrs.

The rest of the journey was completed without any further drama, however we were a little cramped but the car did have mp3 connectivity which was a bonus.

Some day I may be able to look back at this and laugh but I don't expect it to be anytime soon.

I'm sorry to bore you with all of that crap but I did, indeed find it rather cathartic.

One Dove - Breakdown (William Orbit Stereo Odyssey)

I'm Stunned and Saddened

I often wondered where Ctel would go once he finished his trawl through the ABC of dance music but I never for one moment thought that he would rap it. So I'm stunned today. I suppose it is better to go out on a high. I don't however, think for a minute that the acid ted has exhausted his spare room full of great and sometimes not so good dance tunes (see last Friday's post). I suspect that there is something else that is preoccupying his time.

Acid Ted was one of the first places that I visited when I first got interested in music blogs and very quickly found myself visiting on a daily basis, due to the quality of not just the tracks but also the commentary as well and then there were the obscure Weatherall mixes. Along with The Vinyl Villain and the Ghost of Electricity, Acid Ted became one of my regular distractions from work and also an inspiration for me to give blogging a go myself. So he has the dubious pleasure of being partly responsible for the pish posted here.

I'm not sure that there are many people who visit here that have not also scoured the posts on AcidTed, but if you haven't, you should and if you find some tracks that you like you could do worse than make a small donation to the charity mentioned on the right hand side, a cause  which is close to CTEL's heart and has also become something that many of us who have visited the site have become aware of and supported.

I was going to post a Weatherall mix in honour, however between CTEL, STX from another great, sadly missed blog Audio.Out, Moggieboy, Swiss Adam and myself, I don't think that there are many that have not been posted somewhere. If this has, I apologise but I've only posted the one mix from it before.

All the best CTEL and thanks for all the tunes. To paraphrase Liam Maher, CTel, whatever you do just make sure what you do makes you happy

One Dove - Transient Truth (Paradise mix)

Breakdown

Just the thing for a Sunday. Another slice of One Dove, this time the forth track released as a single from the Morning Dove White album. If you don't own this album, why not?. It can be picked up from Amazon Marketplace for the paltry sum of £2.99. You owe it to yourself to have a copy of this album.

I've posted both the album and Weatherall's Squire Black Dove Rides Out mixes.

One Dove - Breakdown

One Dove - Breakdown (Squire Black Dove Rides Out)

Touched By The Hand Of God III

Andy Weatherall was at his peak, in my opinion in the early 90's, producing the best parts of Screamadelica, Sabres of Paradise label/band and some truly inspired remixes, in fact too many to list here.

When I heard back in 1991 that he was going to produce Dove I nearly creamed myself with excitement. They had been responsible for my favourite track of that year, Fallen, which was no mean feat in a year that spawned so many classic dance tunes.

However the first release from the pairing left me a little deflated. They re-released Fallen after changing their name to One Dove due to legal hassles with another band of the same name. I was somewhat bemused by the release as I didn't think that the reworking added anything to the original. Looking back on it now, it would have been irresponsible for Weatherall to have radically altered what was damn near a perfect record.

The next release Transient Truth is a wonderfully dubby chilled out tune in it's original format and turned into what at the time was referred to as Progressive House in it's Old Toys mix and Old Toys dub.

The mix we are concerned with comes from the almost legendary Sabres Of Paradise Mixes promo, which until I found Discogs thought was a figment of my imagination. I have to thank the wonderful STX from audio.out who posted all 4 of the mixes last year and made me happier than a pig in shite but he also refocused my mind on the quest to get my hands on a reasonably priced copy, there is one on Discogs for sale but at 49 euros out of my price range.

If anybody has a copy and is willing to let it go for a reasonable price, please get in contact.

One Dove - Transient Truth (Sabres of Paradise Death Of A Disco Dancer)

Now, Weatherall remixing The Fall, that is the sort of things dreams are made of.