Lone Justice

Lone Justice have featured on this blog before with their cover of Sweet Jane. The couple of tracks posted today come from their self titled first album, which is an absolute gem, very rough with Maria McKee's vocal delivery not dissimilar to Janis Joplin's.

I first saw Lone Justice on the Whistle Test and something about them got me interested. I can't remember just what it was, as country rock or cowpunk as some music journalist labelled them was not the sort of thing that I was listening to at the time ( I think I spent much of 1985 with Psychocandy on repeat). Something made my go to Glasgow in search of the album which did not disappoint on first listen and still sounded good at the weekend when I played it again for the first time in ages. It doesn't sound quite as raw now as I thought it did but McKee's vocal sounds as good as ever, she really can belt it out.

Lone Justice went on to make a second album which was not a patch on the first, it sounded too smooth, too well produced. I blame Bonzo, I blame him for a lot of things but this time with some justification. After the critical success of the first album Lone Justice went on tour with the Irish band and McKee started hanging about with them, then they go into the studio and produce a bland soulless album, coincidence? I think not.

Shortly after the release of the second album, McKee broke up the band and embarked on a solo career. The first 2 albums of which are excellent, however the following 2 I couldn't get into at all and haven't bothered with anything since.

Interesting fact or possibly not, Ricky Ross wrote Real Gone Kid about McKee after Deacon Blue supported Lone Justice.

Lone Justice - After The Flood

Lone Justice - Ways To Be Wicked

Back To Pit Boots and Purridge

I'm back to work today after 2 weeks rest and recuperation. It won't be that bad, I just wonder how many efficiency and cost saving measures have been implemented in my absence, it is a given that there will be at least one.

Spare a thought for L though as today is also her first day back after a little longer than myself, six and a half months to be exact. It is going to to be a bit of a culture shock for both her and our youngest, who will be packed off with his brother to their Gran's.

Here's one of L's favorite tracks and another which may very well sum up her mood tomorrow night.

Ted Hawkins - Bring It On Home To Me

Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum

FYI - "back to pit boots and purridge on Monday, Sarah", were the immortal words which my uncle Jimmy would say with a deep sigh every time it was back to work after a holiday, when I was wee I never understood why he would talk about pit boots when he worked in the steelworks.

The Power Of Advertising

I was watching the telly the other night and during the break Hannibal Lecter was banging on about the scene in Blade Runner where Rutger Hauer was on the rooftop and does the tears in the rain speech, in the vain attempt to get me to subscribe to Rupert Murdoch's Shit TV.

I haven't seen Blade Runner for quite a few years, it used to be essential post pub/club viewing with a few spliffs in one of my mates flat, when the debates would start over whether Deckard was a replicant himself or which of the 7 versions was actually the best. Personally I liked the voice over on the original release but I know most folk don't.

One thing that was never argued about was the soundtrack and how good it was. There was the odd gripe about the inferior New American Orchestra recording which was released in 1982 but when Vangelis' score was finally available on CD in 1994 this was no longer an issue. Since then there have been several bootleg soundtracks slipped out and Vangelis released a 3 disc version containing the original score, unreleased tracks and a third disc of music inspired by Blade Runner, none of which I have heard as having the 1994 version this package is very low on the wants list.

Due to Dr Lecter and Murdoch's advert i decided it was about time that I watched Blade Runner again, so headed to Amazon where it can be picked up in the "final" cut for a very reasonable £4.96 quite a bit cheaper than a subscription to satellite tv.

Here are two of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack.

Vangelis - Memories of Green

Vangelis - Tears In Rain

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance.

After a week of rather frenzied Rave and Techno, I think that it is time for some for soulful dance floor fodder. The tracks posted today are probably 2 of the best known northern soul tracks and are number 23 and 24 in the Northern Soul Top 500. They are songs that I flogged to death when I was younger but don't get played very often these days which is a shame as they are excellent dancers and great tunes. Marc Almond must have thought so too as Soft Cell covered both of these.

First up and at number 23 in the a fore mentioned tome is Judy Clay with a track released on the Strider label in 1966 and almost charted in the UK. What is on the poppier side of northern soul but no less a track for it.

Judy Street - What

At number 24 we find Gloria Jones with the tune that started my obsession with this genre of music over 25 years ago when I found out that the Soft Cell version was a cover and invested in couple of compilation albums, Casino Classics Chapters one. The track was released in the US in 1965 on the Champion Records label and as is the norm in northern soul failed to chart. It was picked up by the Wigan Djs in late 1973 and the rest as they say is history.

Gloria Jones - Tainted Love

More Powerful Than You Could Possibly Imagine

Not a lot needs to said about this track. My favorite early Rave anthem it's got everything from the Italian house like piano to the Obi Wan sample this has to be one of the best tracks of 1990. Never got sick of hearing the intro when out clubbing and it still sounds fresh to these ears at least today.

I've posted the original and the Raid At Dawn mix from the remix twelve.

Together - Hardcore Uproar

Together - Hardcore Uproar ( Raid At Dawn)

Kettles, Don't Get The Stripey Stuff, It Nips My Gums

The holy grail of 80's TV comedy drama dropped through my letterbox this morning.

The BBC finally decided to release Tuttu Frutti on DVD. I have been waiting for this event for nearly 20 years, it will be that long since I lost my VHS copy of this brilliant show. It has never been explained as to why this show was only repeated once, later the same year as first released. When interviewed John Byrne only comment was that he intended it to be a one off.


The story revolves around a washed up covers band the Majestics who need to find a new singer after the death of theirs in an road traffic accident involving a kebab. The younger brother of the dead singer is drafted in to fulfill their obligations around a 25th anniversary tour and a documentary.

The series made stars out of Robbie Coltraine, Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson the devious, conniving manager, Eddie Clockerty.

Posted is the original of a track that Coltraine and Thompson duet on to great effect in the series.

Mickey and Sylvia - Love Is Strange

Guess what I will be watching tonight?

Just Because

Davy H over at the Ghost of Electricity has a post about the wonderful Candi Staton and mentions that the tracks come from a split album with Staton on one side and Bettye Swann on the other. On reading this I thought I would post 2 tracks from the only split LP that I own and it is a belter Hendrix and Otis Live at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Jimi Hendrix - Like A Rolling Stone

Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness

The Baron Of Techno

Dave Clarke started off as as hip hop / electro dj in the mid 80's and changed to acid house in the late 8os and by the early 90s was an influential Face on the Techno scene.

His dj sets as you would expect from someone who started in hip hop are full of cut ups and scratching, the music being predominately from the darker end of the dance spectrum.

He first came to prominence with the Red series of 3 rather brilliant 12" singles on the Bush and deConstruction label. Clarke also recorded a session and 2 live mixes for John Peel who gave him the moniker of "The Baron of Techno".

Dave Clarke - Protective Custody

Rave - Scots Style

Around about the end of 1991 beginning of 1992, 2 distinct camps were forming amongst my friends into dance music some of us were embracing progressive house and the slower bpms while others were getting into the much harder sounds coming out of the Rave scene and stuff coming from the continent and the Netherlands in particular. I think that a lot of this had to do with the less pure MDMA and the greater use of speed within this group.

As I've said before I was generally not into this type of music. One track however that I did quite like was Energy Rush by Suburban Delay which I bought at the time as it was the first release on Clubscene records an off shoot from a free club listing and review magazine distributed around Central Scotland. This track was first released in 1992 and was later re-released with a terrible vocal track over the top.

Please forgive the crackles on the rip, this was a track which I used to stick on to placate the cheesy quavers in the pub where I worked at the time and ended up having to be played at least once every night.

Suburban Delay - Energy Rush

Shame

I think that a couple of days of not too serious,  early 90's oldskool Rave is in order. After posting Acen yesterday, I decided to dig through my twelves and find some tunes in a similar vein. There aren't that many as at this time I was mostly buying Boy's Own, Cowboy, Guerilla and similar stuff. Of those that I found very few have stood the test of time and a couple are just plain pish, however I have found some that are worth listening to again.

Although seen as a joke by a lot of people due to the face masks and NBC suits Altern-8 produced some really good singles and were leading figures in the Rave scene. Can't really tell you that much about them, although I seem to remember that they got up to quite a few scams, like turning up outside Shelley's nightclub and performing on the back of a flatbed truck, not in the same league as the KLF but entertaining.

I think that this is the best thing that they produced.

Altern-8 vs Evelyn king - Shame

Better Late Than Never

Just back. Had a great week up north and it only rained once, granted it lasted all day but still it was only one day out of seven which must be some kind of record for Scotland during the month of July.

I meant to do a post on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing the other week and schedule it for last Monday but never got round to it. I don't know whether I believe that Armstrong, Aldrin and the other ten astronauts have set foot on the moon, I would like to believe that they did, however the sceptic in me thinks that it is all a little to convenient and also with Tricky Dickie in the White House at the time anything is possible.

Anyway, here is a nice bit of breakbeat to celebrate with.

Acen - Trip To The Moon (the darkness)

BTW I also saw Elvis last week, he is working in a chippy in Inverness

Go North, Middle aged man.

Nothing to see here for the next week.

It is the Glasgow Fair and I have decided that it's about time that I revived the family tradition of all getting in the car and going South for a couple of weeks, although I have decided to put my own slant on it, we are going away for a week and up North rather than down South.

So I will leave you with a track from a criminally under represented form of music on this blog, hip hop, something I will strive to sort out in the coming months.

The Ultramagnetic MC's - Travelling At The Speed Of Thought

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Back to the heady days of progressive house during the early nineties when leather trousers and long hair were de rigueur in clubbing circles for today's offering.

Rejuvination were Glen Gibbons and Jim Muotune who along with the Slam boys and Dave Clarke founded probably the best label out of Glasgow since Postcard, Soma Quality Recordings. In fact they shared the billing with Slam on the first ever Soma release Eterna/IBO. This track was their second single from 1993, so probably after the leather trousers had been thrown to the back of the wardrobe by the uber trendies.

This track reminds me of the Arches in Glasgow and I especially love the breakdown about half way through.

Rejuvination - Requiem

A Couple of Songs of Love and Longing

It's been nearly a couple of weeks since we've had any soul posted here, can't quite believe that I could go that long without a bit of motown or something similar.

Here are two classic songs of lost love and longing which Motown do so well.

First up is Martha Reeves with a single from the early 70's which did nothing at the time but has been heard regularly at soul nights over the past decade.

Martha Reeves - No One There.

Next we have the Blue Sharks version of a tune made famous by the Velvelettes one of whom Sandra Tille joined Martha Reeves as a Vandella. I prefer this version by a band that I know nothing about and have never even seen a copy of this single.

The Blue Sharks - These Things Will Keep Me Lovin' You

Graceland

I don't really know that much about The Bible (the band, don't know that much about the book either to be honest), I suppose you could wiki them if you wanted. The track Graceland is quite a typical mid eighties sounding indie tune which I flogged to death at the time of release and doesn't sound too shabby today either.

Wonder why I never bought anything else by them other than this single?

The version posted is the re-recording from 1989 and not the original mix which is far too crackly to inflict upon you.

The Bible - Graceland

I Knew These People

Today's track is a bit of a curiosity. I say track but it is really a scene from one of my favorite films which was included in it's entirety on the soundtrack album.

Paris Texas was a film directed by Wim Wenders from a story written by Sam Shepherd and starring Harry Dean Stanton. At it's basics it is the story of an amnesiac who has reappeared after 4 years and of his attempt to make sense of what happened and try to reconcile his family on his return. The film is beautifully shot and has some wonderful performances notably Harry Dean Stanton and Dean Stockwell. Or as one of my less discerning friends once said, "self indulgent, chin stroking pish".

I've never been a great fan of Ry Cooder's music but I don't think that this film would have half the impact without the harsh, jarring sound of his steel guitar and especially the acoustic Spanish guitar which breaks in half way through the track posted and which turns an already emotional scene into a heartbreaking one.

Enjoy.

Ry Cooder - I Knew These People

Long White Car

From a band with one ex member of Altered Images yesterday to another today.

Hipsway were formed by ex Altered Images guitarist Johnny McElhone in 1984 with Harry Travers and and Graham Skinner both from the band White Savages who had supported Altered Images on tour. During the formative days of the band James Grant who had left Friends Again and had yet to form Love And Money helped out on guitar and this may explain the slight similarity between a couple of Hipsway numbers and the songs of Grant's previous band.

Hipsway's eponymous album was released in 1986 and did fairly well in the UK. Their biggest chart success was the Honeythief which reached #17 in the UK charts. However in Scotland they are probably better know for the track Tinder which was used in the ad campaign for a certain Scottish Lager which doesn't start with a T.

McElhone frustrated by the lack of success and a split which had appeared in the band left in 1986 to form the rock then blue eyed soul band Texas. The band continued and released a 2nd album in 1989 called Scratch The Surface which I have no knowledge of as by this time I had found house music and had little time for anything else.

The track posted, is in my opinion the best thing that Hipsway ever did and was also the final single from the first album and reached the giddy heights of # 55.

Hipsway - Long White Car

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)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Today's number comes courtesy of Amsterdam in the early 1990's.

Get Down Tonight is by Fierce Ruling Diva and is basically a techno track built round a KC and the Sunshine Band sample. The track is tucked away on side c of the double pack 12" Anarchic Adjustments by the duo.

For the life of me I cannot understand what possessed me to buy this 12" as after pulling it out and listening to it last night, this track is the only redeeming feature on an otherwise piss poor, in my opinion, couple of records. The music is not the sort of thing that I was listening to back then, it is the sort of thing that a lot of people I knew were listening to but I couldn't stand. The tunes that the Clubscene label up here in Scotland tried to emulate and which were very popular in the Central Belt and the North East of England.

Fierce Ruling Diva are probably best remembered for the track You Gotta Believe, which I also possess for some reason. I'm not sure that the drugs were ever good enough to make me want these singles.

A few years later, I do remember an add for crap American beer using another track built around the same sample.

Fierce Ruling Diva - Get Down Tonight

just because

The Fall - Lost In Music

Touched By The Hand Of God VI

It has been well over a week since his lordship made an appearance here. Although you will have a hard time finding the post as Blogger have done to me as they have done many times before to others and just pulled the post regarding the XX Teens. No more from them or Mute, here, I fear.

Anyway today's cut from remixer extraordinaire is also the first single of the duo then known as the Dust Brothers laterly the Chemical Brothers. It is from the period when Weatherall could do no wrong, every mix better than the one before. This one still sounds as good to these ears as it did 16 years ago.

The Dust Brothers - Song To The Siren (Full Sabre mix)

BTW - C give M my best.

Faking The Books

No it's not either Ralph Madoff or Fred the Shed's theme tune but a rather good album of electronica by Lali Puna from Weilhiem, Germany.

On first listen the album sound very cold and soulless however after repeated listens it begins to feel less stark and minimal, warmer and somewhat more human than it did at first. The album has been compared to Radiohead but I think that that is just because both Johnny Greenwood and Thom York have mentioned them in interviews. They remind me of a less dancier Ladytron but that may have more to do with Valerie Trebeljahr's vocal delivery more than anything else.

Lali Puna have released 3 albums, a compilation of remixes and early singles and 5 singles in their 11years as a band.

The track posted is the title track to their last album first released in 2004. It has one of those melodies that gets lodged in your brain for days after listening to it.

Lali Puna - Faking The Books

Copyright Infringement . . . again

It looks as though Mute records or the XX Teens don't like tracks being posted trying to highlight the band, as I just received another copyright infringement notice from Box.net. Oh well, hope everybody who wanted the track got it and if you liked what you heard please still buy the album, it is as I said rather good.

Lady Sovereign - Public Warning 2

How Festivals Conquered the World

Excellent article from Sylvia Patterson on the state of festivals from the only Sunday paper in Scotland worth reading

How Festivals Conquered the World

Edwyn Collins - The Campaign For Real Rock

Quiet Please!

It's Sunday and I have a hangover. This used to be a fairly regular occurrence but not recently. I should know better that to drink more than 2 glasses of red wine. I always feel like shit if I drink red wine all night.

I need something mellow and soothing which will not tax my brain too much or make it throb more than it all ready is.

This track by Spiritualized fits the bill nicely.

Jason Pierce and Spiritualized get a fair deal of criticism for the themes of God, redemption and drugs in their music which I've never really understood as with the name Spiritualized and Pierce being well known for his drug consumption he is hardly going to sing about picking up girls in a sports car while cruising about New Jersey or somewhere is he?

Spiritualized - Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies)

As an added bonus the original mix of Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space which was blocked from release by the estate of Elvis Presley, something to do with not wanting Presley image being associated with drug taking, as if.

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Original Elvis Mix)

Candi Staton

For those of you who think that all there was to Candi Staton was Young Hearts Run Free or as the featured singer on a rather good house track by The Source, I implore you to check out this album. If you like classic tracks performed by an excellent band and sung with real passion then this album is for you.

The album is a collection of Staton's recordings on Rick Hall's Fame label, out of Muscle Shoals Alabama, from 1969 - 1973. This covers the release of her first 2 albums. If there is a better example of Southern Soul then I would like to hear it. The matrial on this album had been unavailable for nearly thirty years until Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's label decided to release this compilation in 2003, something I will be forever more grateful to him for than anything else he has done.

Since the release of this album, Candi Staton has released 2 further albums of new material and the voice is nearly as impressive as it is on tracks originally recorded nearly 40 years previously. She came to Glasgow in February this year and unfortunatley I couldn't go due to baby L being born a month earlier and asking for 2 passes on the same week may have been seen as kicking the arse out of it from some quarters.

Candi Staton - He Called Me Baby

Candi Staton - Stand By Your Man

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Let's have some soothing, cool Northern Soul today. Don't know much about today's record apart from the fact that it will set you back upwards of 500 quid, if you're lucky enough to find a copy.

Frankly, in this heat I can't be bothered even trying to write anything remotely interesting and lately I have been wondering why bother anyway?

Bobby Kline - Say Something Nice To Me

He Got Game

One of the lesser played singles by the best that hip hop crew ever. With a little help from Buffalo Springfield.

Public Enemy - He Got Game

The First Week Of The Summer Holidays.

Yesterday's post by the Vinyl Villain where he mentions the start of the school holidays got me reminiscing about my own summer holidays all those years ago.

When I was growing up I spent the first week of every summer holiday in a caravan with my mother and younger brother in North Berwick. I used to wonder why my father's mood would lighten as the last week of school approached, I now realise he was looking forward to his week of peace. As he didn't really drink, he was obviously looking forward to a week going from work straight to the golf course and not having to referee the battles between my brother and I.

We were not alone in this , there was always at least 4 or 5 other vans with my mother's friends and their kids.

This was where the problems stemmed from, my mother's friends like my mother were teachers and teachers when they get together have to organise things. Even holidays must be structured and have an itinerary. You would have thought that after organising and teaching children all year long they would like to lighten up, chill out have a kit-kat. Not this lot, if it wasn't rounders, it was long walks, crazy golf and if it was raining (and it did frequently) it was cards. Once in order to stop my brother and I from killing each other it was a walk in the pouring rain to Tantallon Castle, a ruin 3 miles from North Berwick, although it felt like twenty.

If I'm painting a rather bleak picture, I don't mean to as I had some of the best times of my life there I just didn't know it at the time.

As I grew older I started to resent going away for this week.

Could I not stay at home? I asked when I was 16, after all I was old enough to be on my own. No! stated my father, a little too quickly for my mother's liking I think. So once again I was on my way to Mrs Craig's caravan park.

Things started to look up from the moment we arrived. G had brought a friend with her. K was possibly the loveliest girl I had seen since the day before when I had last seen my girlfriend. I made any excuse I could to hang around G's caravan and connived of ways in which G and K could be incorporated in anything that was going on with us. As the week progressed we spent a lot of time together but nothing happened and at the end of the week I went home faithful to I but rather pissed off about it.

A couple of month's later, with that week in North Berwick a distant memory, my girlfriend introduced me to a new girl in her class. I was stunned when I saw that it was K, I think that she was a little surprised too. At that moment I was rather glad that that week had been fruitless.

One of the best things about North Berwick was it had a record shop. Not just a record shop but a record shop that stocked records other than the stuff in the charts. I got some great records there, the only problem being that I bought them all on the Saturday we arrived and could not play them until the following Sunday when we returned home.

Come Back by The Mighty Wah is one of the records that I got in that record shop. Here it is in its full ten and a half minute,12" overblown bombastic glory.


Oh, and the hill in the picture, that's Berwick Law, a hill that we had to climb every bloody year, one year carrying a diabetic poodle (for another day)! Still the view from the top was pretty impressive.

The Mighty Wah! - Come Back (The Story Of The Reds/The Devil In Miss Jones)

Copyright Infringement

Don't bother to try to download Redemption Song from the post a couple of Saturday's ago as it has been deleted by Boxnet for copyright infringement. It seems that Chris Blackwood, like David Bowie before him doesn't have enough money either.

I didn't think that their would be that many folk who didn't have that tune. Still, at least Boxnet don't tear down the whole post which is fair enough

Marathon Man

Last Friday, I stated that I didn't get Glastonbury and that I had only wished that I had been there twice. Well after watching Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band's headlining slot for the 2nd time I've just regretted not being there for the 3rd time. I thought that their set was outstanding. However if you were to read Dorien Lynksey's column on the Guardian's website, it was all self parody, broadway show type tunes and by the end of it all hardly anybody there. I think that I was watching a different gig.

I'm not the biggest Springsteen fan in the world and don't pretend to know his music inside out. I have quite a few of his albums but tend to prefer Nebraska and Devils & Dust to the rockier stuff. But the performance from that band was excellent, from what I could see all of them were having a ball and giving 100 %, which I know is as it should be but it wouldn't be the first time that I have seen headliners just going through the motions. They seemed to be able to anticipate Springsteen's frequent off stage wanderings, although I suppose when you've worked together for so long that would become second nature. Also with a set that was 2 1/2 hours long the crowd certainly got their money's worth.

Anyway, here are a couple of my favourite covers of Springsteen songs and my favourite track of his.

Catherine Feeny - I'm On Fire

Allo Darlin' - Atlantic City

Bruce Springsteen - Highway Patrolman

Ps The worst thing about the Glastonbury coverage, as usual Jo, bloody, Whiley.

New Music or Is It?

I received this single through the post the other week. On first listen, if you didn't know better you would think that this was an oldie from the days of the Casino. It is however from the tail end of last year and what's more comes out of Finland! I would have stuck money on this being from the West Coast of the USA circa 1968/70.

Myron & E, who supply the vocals are indeed from the States and are part of the hiphop/soul scene and have worked with the likes of Blackalicious, Missy Elliot, the Roots and others not the kind of music you would readily think of when you here the sweet, laid back vocals on this track.

The Soul Investigators whio provide the backing track all glorious strings, joyous horns and driving percussion are from Finland and have produced a fine album with Nicole Willis which is worth checking out.

This is just the thing for a suny afternoon at the end of June. Enjoy.

Myron And E With The Soul Investigators - Cold Game.

Glastonbury?

I've never understood the appeal of Glastonbury. Why would you want to fork out a fortune to spend a weekend, filthy, under canvas and see some bands, some of whom formed this century, from half a mile away do half a set?

Sure, in the mid eighties I was up for it but that was because it was still a CND festival and that was the main point, seeing Billy Bragg and others was just incidental. A mate and I even planned our route to Shepton Mallet but decided against it when we realized it would take us about 3 weeks to get their avoiding motorways, 2s up on a Vespa PX125.

Only twice have I ever wished that I had been there. Once was when I heard the Orbital track Impact (live from Glastonbury) on a tape given away free with Select magazine and the second time was when, sitting watching the coverage live on the beeb a few years ago the Chemical Brothers performed The Private Psychedelic Reel.

So good luck to anybody who is there and I wish you godspeed home on Monday hung over and stinking. I will be watching "live" on the beeb with my gin in the cupboard and my ice in the fridge.

Orbital - Impact (The World Is Burning)

The Chemical Brothers - The Private Psychedelic Reel

just because

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Sand

Giant Drag

When the NME tipped Giant Drag as one of the big things in 2006 they put the kiss of death on a promising career for the duo of Annie Hardy and Micah Calabrese. By this time they had already released an ep Lemona and an album Hearts and Unicorns but since then nothing. On their myspace page it says that the Swansong ep will be released soon, however since it was recorded last year I wouldn't hold my breath.

The album reminds me a bit of Belly mixed with elements of My Bloody Valentine especially the opening track Kevin Is Gay, which also illustrates my problem with the duo, the song titles. These include My Dick Sux (sic), You Are Full Of Shit and my favourite Yflmd (You Fuck Like My Dad), are they trying to be provocactive? Probably but to me it just comes across as being brattish. If you can get over this then the music is good, not earth shattering but pleasant enough and the album does contain a rather good cover version of Wicked Game by Chris Isaak.

Bit of trivia - Annie Hardy performed Just Like Honey with the Reid Brothers (no, not the Proclaimers, the other, disfunctional ones) on their reunion tour, let's hope it was better than the piss poor attempt by Scarlett Johanson, posted here a couple of months ago.

Giant Drag - This Isn't It

Giant Drag - Wicked Game

Jam On The Mutha

After 19 years I still don't know whether I like this track or not.

I like the idea of it and most of the time will play the instru-mental mix rather than vocal Ibiza 90 mix. I also loved the fact that when I dropped it in the pub where I djed, I would get some long hair or double denim clad type coming up and calling it sacrelidge and how dare I play this rubbish, which just made me play it all the more.

I bought Jam on The Mutha's cover of Hotel California in the remix format first as it was remixed by the Orb and Orb remixes were always worth the money , it was also in the bargain bin, so I couldn't really lose.

I know very little about Jam on The Mutha, apart from the fact that it seems to be one of Youth's many guises and that Hotel California was released on Wau! Mr Modo, the same label as The Orb at the time.

I will make one statement for the defence in the case for the release of this record, it was 1990 and the E's were very good.

Jam On The Mutha - Hotel California ( Ibiza 90 mix)

Jam On The Mutha - Hotel California (Orb In Cali mix)

Prestwich, So Much To Answer For.

I'm off to Manchester with work.

So here are a couple of tracks from the best band from Prestwich, nay the world, ever.

The Fall - Is This New

The Fall - Wrong Place, Right Time/I Can Hear The Grass Grow (Peel Sessions)

And The Racket They Made.

This is just the thing for a lazy Sunday morning, all brooding and introspective.

And the Racket They Made is taken from the 4th official King Creosote album - Bombshell made during his foray into major label territory.

For those of you not familiar with the King (Kenny Anderson) he is the founder and most prolific member of the Fence Collective , a group of like minded artists who reside mainly in the East Neuk of Fife and produce some of the best, most original music around.

If you get the chance you should visit the East Neuk, as it is a beautiful part of the country and when there go to Anstruther, home of the Fence Collective, where there are 2 chippys serving possibly the best fish suppers in the world. You could then wash it down with a pint in the Ship Tavern where Anderson and his brothers would regularly play on a Sunday night.

King Creosote - And The Racket They Made

As a bonus here is the Withered Hand original of the Meursault track posted a couple of weeks ago. This can be found on the ep You're Not Alone on which King Creosote helps out and which can be purchased from Fence here.

Withered Hand - Oldsmobile Car

No To Trident

I'm going to go on my first anti-trident march in years today.

It's quite depressing to think that the first time I marched against Trident was 25 years ago in Barrow in Furness where they were building the submarines which would launch the missiles. Since then there have been numerous visits to Faslane, Coulport and other places.

It has always seemed like lunacy to me that we posses a first strike weapon in the name of a deterrent and so we can keep our seat at the big table. It's about time that our government realised that having these weapons does not enhance our status in the world but actually encourages other nations in their attempts to get their own nuclear weapons.

In the current economic crisis when the reality is that public services will have to be cut then surely the first thing to go should be the replacement of a weapons system that we will never be able to use without the say so of the good old US of A and more to the point morally should not even entertain the notion of using?

Here are a couple of tracks that stick in my mind from that first anti-trident demo a long time ago.

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes (Carnage)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

A bit of Scottish progressive house from 1992 for you today.

The Slam boys and Soma weren't the only label out of Glasgow that was releasing quality house tunes during the early 90s there was also the 23rd Precinct and Limbo labels both of which were affiliated with the record shop in Glasgow with the same name. The sound of 23rd Precinct/Limbo was always, to me anyway a little more commercial than the edgier more upfront sound of Soma.

The record shop was staffed by c_ _ _s of the first degree. It was a common occurrence to get sneered at if you asked for something that the git behind the counter didn't approve of. They make Jack Black's character in High Fidelity look like the epitome of fair mindedness. If you were trying to get a hold of anything quite rare there was absolutely no point in going to 23rd Precinct unless you were part of their crew. On a few occasions I asked for tunes and could see the vinyl behind the counter only to be told that they didn't have it! Thank God that there were other dance music shops in Glasgow to frequent.

However the labels did release some great tracks by the likes of Havana, Harri and Sublime.

Fight the Feeling was produced by Mathew Brown and Graham Drinnan and came out as a white label only, on the 23rd Precinct label and is pretty typical of the releases around this time fairly progressive with a bit of piano. I remember flogging this to death when it came out. When I pulled it out earlier in the week I initially thought that it had dated badly, however after a couple of plays at volume I have revised my opinion and think that it holds up pretty well.

Sublime - Fight The Feeling

Why?

The other night during the ad break in something I was half watching, an ad for "Now That's What I Call The Best Dadrock, Pub Jukebox, Classic, Driving Anthems Ever, Volume Umpteenth" or some such equally fatuous title caught my attention. Snipets of all the usual suspects were played in the 30 second ad, The Undertones, Oasis, Coldplay etc etc and also things like Free, Elton John and bloody Bachman Turner Overdrive, ffs. This got me thinking what demographic is this compilation aimed at? It can't be aimed at the kind of people who read music blogs, (I'm trying not to use the term "serious music listeners") as I don't think that this group tend to buy mainstream compilations, I could be wrong but don't think so.

Even casual music listeners, who would want to play this sort of thing in the car will probably have the majority of these tracks and the ones that they don't, are they likely to fork out 12 quid for the cd when all of the tracks will be available in a digital format from itunes, eMusic or some other e vendor.

If this cd is aimed at kids to buy for Father's Day, I think that the marketeers are seriously deluded. What kid will go out and buy a cd of tracks which they can readily get off the internet for nada?

If in a few years M gave me a compilation cd he had burned I would be much happier than him buying one of these scattergun approach to music compilations at least if he had compiled it then some thought would have gone into it.

I just don't see the point of this type of compilation. A quick search on HMV shows that there are absolutely loads of these things out there. Why?

I do see the need for specialist compilations, such as dance mix cds, obscure Northern Soul or even obscurer indie that was only ever released in limited numbers on 7" vinyl, yes but not this mainstream stuff as it is all available elsewhere and with a little bit of effort you can make yourself a bespoke compilation better than any of these off the shelf

This accessibility to music wasn't always the case. As has been written here before and on many other blogs in the pre internet days it wasn't that easy to get a hold of tracks. even just a couple of years old.

Finally I get to the point of this post.

Pre download days, it wasn't unknown for me to buy a compilation album just for one or two tracks which was quite a costly way of getting hold of music. I would attempt to root out the singles, if the track had been released on that format. This meant a trip to the Barras in Glasgow on a Saturday and searching the 2nd hand record stalls.

On one occasion I asked one of the stall owners, who sort of specialised in soul if he had It Should Have Been Me by Yvonne Fair to which his reply was "What do you want that for, your bird dumped you or something?"

Here are 3 tracks from compilation albums that I bought solely for these songs.

First up is William Bell & Judy Clay - Private Number. It was originally released in 1968 on the Stax label. The copy I own is on a double lp released in 1986 called the Originals an album full of 60s soul staples from the likes of the Isley Brothers, Sam Cooke etc. If I remember rightly this album was released on the back of the retro Levi 501 ads which at the time started us all wearing boxer shorts and lying in the bath in our new jeans.

William Bell & Judy Clay - Private Number

Next we have Bettye Swann with her cover of a Neville Brothers track Tell it Like It Is from What's Happening Stateside a sampler album of artists on the Stateside label. This album was probably the best £2.99 I've ever spent as it introduced me to a whole raft of soul artists I had never heard of before such as Irma Thomas, Z.Z. Hill & Jimmy Holiday.

Bettye Swann - Tell it Like It Is

The third track is from a soundtrack album. I first heard Tipitina by Professor Longhair when I saw The Big Easy with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin and couldn't get it out of my head. The only way to get the song was to buy the rather pricey, at the time soundtrack cd, which is patchy although it does have a live version of the Neville Brothers doing Tell It Like It Is.

Professor Longhair - Tipitina

Dad, Sure Them Cidermen Aren't Real?

A great day was had by all but alas no Rose Tyler. M was particularly scared of the Daleks but was happy that he got to see his favorites, the Sontaran. I don't think that it was the full exhibition though, there was no finale as Mondo mentioned in the previous comments.

I even got to go to Fopp and Oxfam Music.

BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Dr Who Theme

BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Dr Who Theme ( Unreleased U.N.K.L.E Reconstruction)

Orbital - Dr Who

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

I've been a little distracted lately. too much going on in my head, hence the lack of content and the brevity of recent posts. I think that things may get back to normal soon.

I've got a couple of days off, as yesterday was Lanimer Day, our town's equivalent of a Gala Day, I was going to rant on about this and the underlying feudalism of the whole day but I won't bother.

Anyway, I'm taking M to see the Doctor Who exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow today. I think that I may be looking forward to it more than M. "Will Rose be there?" he asked this morning to which I could only reply " If only M, if only".

As it is Friday, it's time for a dance. Today's track Weak Become Heroes by The Streets sums up beautifully how those early days of raving felt, the optimism and positivity of the whole scene before the gangsters and the bad pills took over. Ashley Beadle houses things up somewhat on the remix posted here.

Streets - Weak Become Heroes (Ashley Beadle's Love Bug Vocal)

Touched By The Hand Of God (V)

It has been a while since I featured the talents of Mr Weatherall.

How about some voodoo skank from Lord Sabre along with Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns in the form of the Sabres of Paradise. Wilmot was originally on the excellent Haunted Dancehall album. The version posted is the 12" single version.

Sabres of Paradise - Wilmot

Without Whom

Here are a couple of tunes from the band without whom, my record collection would be a rather sorry state of affairs. As if they had not existed then at least 80% of my favorite bands would never have been formed either.

I have often wondered how my music tastes would have evolved if I hadn't sought out the Velvet Underground. Would I now be listening to a lot more chart friendly music or god forbid ended up not that interested at all?

As I've mentioned before, when I first heard The Jesus and Mary Chain I was hooked, so much so that I eagerly sought every article I could find on the band. The group that seemed to be referenced in every piece of writing about JAMC was The Velvet Underground whether it was in relation to the music or the look, the black clothing and Ray-Bans. At this point I didn't know much about the Velvet Underground apart from Lou Reed had been in the band and also vaguely, the Andy Warhol connection.

In those pre-internet days and also before everybody's back catalogue was available on cd it was quite difficult and costly to get your hands on records by "cult" bands. I was lucky enough to have a mate who had an older brother who was into The Velvets due to being a huge Orange Juice /Postcard fan. He taped The Velvet Underground And Nico and White Light White Heat for me. I was instantly won over from the opening music box like notes of Sunday Morning to the final thrashes of Sister Ray. From then it was my mission to get all 4 studio albums on vinyl. Since then I have bought all the Velvets stuff I've come across from the necessary Live 1969 double album to the purely exploitative Live at Max's Kansas City.

Screeds have been written about the Velvet Underground over the years and I don't have anything insightful to contribute to what has already been said. The only thing that I can say is that a lot of the music that I have grown to love over the years wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for the influence of Cale, Reed, Morrison and Tucker.

Both of the tunes posted here are from the 1985 released VU album which was a collection of tracks recorded between Feb 1968 and September 1969 which had apparently been lost and the tapes of which were discovered when the record label were preparing to re-release the first 3 albums.

The Velvet Underground - I Can't Stand It

The Velvet Underground - Foggy Notion

The Raveonettes, Again

As I've stated before I love the Raveonettes live and really like the recorded stuff but don't think that it does their live sound justice.

Here are another couple of tracks from previous albums, as it doesn't look as though there will be any new tracks or a tour for that matter in the forseable future.

As others have pointed out there is nothing revolutionary in their sound, yes it is derivative and the lyrics are not deep and meaningful; I think that they are rather good none the less.

The Raveonettes - Remember

The Raveonettes - Somewhere in Texas

CDs You Need To Buy

Everybody should own this CD, it is absolutely fucking wonderful.

Go on you know you want to. At 3 quid it is an absolute bargain.

Withered Hand - I Am Nothing

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

This Friday it's time for a couple of mid tempo northern soul tunes.

First up is my second favorite Northern tune ever, Just Loving You by Ruby Andrews.There are only two words to describe this tune, absolutely and gorgeous; nothing else needs to be said.

Ruby Andrews - Just Loving You

Now for a bit of blue eyed soul. Bobby Paris is well known on the northern scene with the tracks Night Owl, Personally and this track, which I think is his best.

Bobby Paris - I Walked Away.

Not a lot in the way of information on these tracks but when the songs are this good you don't need me pontificating about them.

Use Your Vote!

If you are reading this in the UK , like me you are probably totally switched off by politics and have very little trust in the politicians at Westminster.

No matter how hacked off I am at the moment with politics , I still believe that it is my duty to vote in the European election today and I urge everybody feeling disillusioned to do the same, no matter who you vote for, even the SNP if you must (in Scotland anyway).

If you believe that by not voting you are lodging a protest against the system or the main parties then I think that you are gravely mistaken. By protesting in this manner you may be aiding the odious BNP or the equally ridiculous UKIP to get a foothold in mainstream politics; especially in England where local elections are also taking place.

I have had the arguments with friends as to what is the point of voting, the stock argument being "my vote doesn't make any difference anyway", this is what the BNP and UKIP are hoping for; that enough people think like this and in combination with the lies that they have been peddling to people who are sick of what has been going on and yes, gullible. I wasn't going to say that but to vote for these parties you really have to have either fascistic tendencies or be very stupid to believe the hatred that they spout.

So please use your vote, no matter who you vote for. Apart from either of the jokes mentioned above, if you intend to vote for them fuck off, you're not wanted here.

I know the system isn't ideal but it's what we've got. To quote a famous Tory (I never thought that I would ever be doing that)- Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time

Billy Bragg - An Accident Waiting To Happen

The Men They Couldn't Hang - The Ghosts of Cable Street

"You're a big man, but you're in bad shape"

This came on the iPod the other day and I thought it was worth sharing.

The Deadly Avenger mix is just one of 4 remixes of the Get Carter Theme on a 12" single released in 1999. I have no idea why someone decided to remix the track but a couple of the mixes are quite good, this one and the Lionrock one.

Roy Budd - Get Carter (Deadly Avenger remix)

Ellen Allien

A little bit of teutonic techno to start the week of to a bang.

Ellen Allien is one of the leading lights in the Berlin and European electro/trance scenes. She started djing in 1992 and landed a residency at Tresor, one of the most influential clubs for techno over the last couple of decades. Subsequently she has had her own radio show, organised parties, started 2 labels, the shortlived Brain Candy and BPitch Control on which she has released her six albums and numerous others including Modeselektor and Apparat and one of my favorite albums this year by Moderat.

The track posted was the lead single from the 2005 album Thrills. I first heard this one day when lurking round Fopp looking for something different about 4 years ago. Asked the guy behind the counter what it was, bought the album which turned out to be just the sort of thing I was looking for.

Ellen Allien - Magma