It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

During the late eighties and early nineties, the weekend started on a Thursday and finished in the early hours of a Monday morning. I'm still not sure how much I actually achieved on either a Friday or a Monday. I do actually remember coming back to reality at 11 am one Monday morning and finding myself eleven storey up working on a roof which was quite a sobering moment.

Anyway, during the early 90s on a Thursday evening I would make my way round to my mate, the chef's flat with an armful of 12" inches that had been bought since the previous week. While it took him the two hours or so to get his shit together so we could hit the pub I would play the records and relax with a couple of beers and spliffs. So by the time we eventually got round to going out we were both rather chilled.

If there was a band/act that soundtracked these nights it would probably have been the Orb and especially the first album which was a big favourite of both of us.

What has this got to do with Friday and dancing, I hear you ask. Not a lot really but I'm sure that I 've heard Little Fluffy Clouds out at the start of the weekend and it is the dance mix after all.

Have a good weekend people.

The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds (dance mk2)

500 Miles done!

Well that's the peace shattered and the house back to the default condition of Lego, Star Wars figures and all sorts of other stuff left where they fell.

It was weird but with the kids away I seemed to have even less time than normal. Still the first 500 miles of the marathon run-in is complete, you will be glad to know and I had the Scooter above 50 mph for the first time on Tuesday night, magic. I am already thinking of bigger carbs and expansion kits but have settled on a sports exhaust for the moment which will be fitted next week when I'm in, hopefully sunny Machrahanish.

Here is a brilliant track which was flogged to death at Scooter Club dances in the mid to late 80s.  The Magic Touch was recorded in 1966 but lay gathering dust, unreleased until the mid 80s when it was put out by Ady Croasdell on an anniversary 100 Club single. At just over two minutes the track may be short but it is a perfectly performed dancer.

Melba Moore - The Magic Touch

Come And Get It

Not sure what the purists will think about this but personally I love it.

I first heard Come And Get It when ANCB dropped it during his set at the second Blog Rocking Beats. I immediately saught it out, unfortunately it was only available on a promo cd single or the album. I hadn't heard enough to take a punt on the album so I bought the cd promo.

A few weeks ago while checking the northern 7" singles on Ebay I came across a copy of the single and promptly hit the buy now button. Since then I have seen a few copies of the single crop up on the auction site all for a few quid less then I paid but I'm not complaining as I think that it was worth every penny.

Have checked out a few Youtube clips and think that the album may well be worth investing in.

Eli 'Paperboy' Reed - (If You Want The Love Of A Man) Come And Get It

And here is a clip from Live At Daryl's House that I can't believe I'm posting, as when a mate told me that he watched this I gave him pelters, maybe I have been missing out.

Kicking The Arse Out Of It

So Lynn rocks in about quarter to one this morning with seven equally inebriated women in tow, just as I have gone to bed after having had a pleasant evening playing tunes with just the right amount of Havana Club on board and intending to drift off while watching Grosse Pointe Blank.

My presence was demanded to play "us some of the old tunes". I grudgingly got out of bed, got dressed and went down the stairs. It was not a pretty sight that greeted me. It was apparent that a good time had been had by all and it was blatantly obvious that this would have been an appropriate point for them all to retire for the evening and I told them so to be met with a volley of abuse and a couple of " just get a drink, play some music and shut up".

I lasted about an hour but when one of the rockets seriously suggested playing Screamadelica in it's entirety I decided it was time to call it a night. So as the diehards continued in their quest to see who would have the least braincells today. I made my excuses, told them that they could play any cds they wished but leave the Technics and the vinyl well alone and climbed the stairs and went to bed.

L is really kicking the arse out of this no kids in the house situation.

Here is  Joe and the Mescaleros version of one of the tracks I missed from the film last night and I hope the hangovers are suitably large this afternoon.

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - Rudie Can't Fail

All is quiet

"L, do you hear that?"

"Don't hear anything"

"Exactly"

Very strange unusual Saturday morning across the kitchen table, no bickering, no shouting or throwing of star wars figures across the room. Just the occasional forlorn meaow from a cat missing his pal.

The reason for this is my parents took the boys away for a week to visit my brother and his wife in Colchester, so there will probably be much kerfuffle in their otherwise idylic world this morning.

Not sure I can put up with too much of this, though!

Here is a track for sitting and listening to with no distractions

Spiritualized - Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Well, that was a bit of a week with one thing and another!

On the plus side, I only have 136 miles to go before I can open the scooter up to 3/4 throttle, actually get a bit of speed up and stop pissing off drivers who are unfortunate enough to get stuck behind me on the country roads around here.

Today's track is just a baw hair the right side of the progressive house/trance divide, it's the breakbeats that keep it from going completely over to the darkside.

Le Voie Le Soliel was one of those tracks that is synonomous with Cream just when that club was turning into the super club that it became helping the evolution of the superstar dj. It was originaly released on XL and again in 1996. I have posted the original mix and not the Way Out West Summer Of Love mix which is pure trance pish but not quite as bad as the remix Nick Warren produced for the 96 release..

Have a good weekend people.

Subliminal Cuts - Le Voie Le Soliel

A&E

I was never really that into Goldfapp. I do however think that this is a beautiful song.

Taken from the Seventh Tree album, A&E was released as a rather lovely 7" picture disc in 2008.

Goldfrapp - A&E

Jesus, I could do with a drink!

It's been a pretty traumatic day.

First of all the washing machine man tells us that the machine is done in.

Then I had to take Spike, one of the two cats to the vet's to be told that he had heart failure. L and I had to make the decision whether to have him put down or let him struggle on for a few more, days, weeks,  who knows how long. Not the easiest decision in the world to make but we decided on the former course of action as it would have been even more heartbreaking if the kids were to have found him one morning.

Still,  he had a pretty good innings, fourteen, considering about 10 years ago another vet giving him a prognosis of a couple of years at the most due to having an under developed heart or something.

His brother Baxter, they were from the same litter,  is moping about. I'm pretty positive he knows the score.

Didn't think I would have been as upset as I am.

Played this a few times on repeat tonight for no particular reason.

Gillian Welch - Wrecking Ball

Cramp Stomp

Sometimes The Cramps are all you need.

Been having a bit of a Cramps fest over the last couple of days.

Not the most profound song in the world, you say.  But who needs lyrics when you can have Lux a whoopin' and a hollerin'.

The Cramps - Cramp Stomp

Jon Lord R.I.P.

Although I haven't listened to much of their music over the past twenty years I still have a soft spot for Deep Purple,  so I was saddened to hear of the death of Jon Lord.

Here is probably Deep Purple's signature tune and one of the first things any young boy of my era who was into metal learned to play. The version here is from the infamous Last Concert In Japan album. It is said that Lord carried the band through the performance on the night the album was recorded due to the fact Tommy Bolin was unable to do much more than play chords having a dead arm as he had slept on it and injured it or that the damage had been done while injecting class A substances.

Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water 

You and Me

Today's piece of soul is a single that I took a chance on. I came across You and Me in the racks and liked the look of the label so decided to just go for it. I had never heard of Penny and the Quarters before.

Apparently I was not alone, as when I got home and after playing the single three times on the bounce, it's that good, I decided to have a look on the net and see what I could find out about the record, virtually nothing.

What I did discover was that the track was found in a box of tapes at an estate sale in Columbus, Ohio in amongst a load of demos and rehersals. The track is most likely only a rehersal but the Numero Group decided to release it on a limited 7" single. It was also used in a film called Blue Valentine, ?, me neither.

Honestly, if this does not brighten up your Monday morning, then there is no hope for you.

Penny & The Quarters - You And Me

St. Swithin's Day

Just realised what day it is and it hasn't rained , up here anyway.

One of my favourite Billy Bragg tracks, then again there aren't any from the first four albums that I don't love.

Billy Bragg - St Swithin's Day

C'mon Everybody

I received an email last week informing me that the new Raveonettes album had been completed and would be released shortly, news that if the truth be told I greeted with less than fervoured excitement as the last lp had been a bit of a disappointment. Following the link to the first track from said album, She Owns The Streets I found a perfectly acceptable but rather forgettable song. So my expectations for the new album aren't very high. I will buy it as I have every other release by the band except the Evil LA Girls cd which was free to the first 666 people who emailed, I was a bit slow of the mark with that one.

What has got me excited is the prospect of seeing them live again as a European tour is in the offing and they will be at Oran Mor in Glasgow on the 30th November, ya beauty!

It is not the duo's stage presence that I'm looking forward to seeing live again as to be honest they have as much presence as an empty white room but, as I've said before the sound that they produce live is so much better than anything suggested by any of the music they have recorded. And I can but hope that they will have a new range of mugs on the merchandise stand.

Here's a cover of an Eddie Cochran song which came out as a promo cd back in 2003.

The Raveonettes - C'mon Everybody

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

This week we will go back to what for me was one of the best years in dance music, 1991 but I would say that being an old git probably there have been better years but I was probably at the height of my clubbing days in 91/92.

I have mentioned before how you couldn't really go wrong with William Orbit's Guerrilla label as soon I saw the distinctive urban camouflage label I would buy the 12".

React 2 Rhythm only produced one album and a handful of singles, I didn't buy the album but do have all of the singles which I think have stood the test of time reasonably well. Today's track is the Leftfield mix of the band's second release. A lovely piece of throbbing progressive house.

Have a good weekend people.

React 2 Rhythm - Intoxication (Clubfield mix)

Whitechapel

I first became aware of S.C.U.M., bloddy terrible name,  earlier this year when they covered a track by Big Deal on a RSD single. Since then I have bought a couple of 12" singles both of which are pretty good. The band seem to me tyo be ploughing the same furrow as the Horrors and I would certainly not classify them as Shoegaze as I saw somewhere on the net. They have released four singles and one album and I'm sure I read somewhere that the album was being re-released which would be strange since it only came out last year.

Here is title track of their second single.

S.C.U.M. - Whitechapel

We're not terrific but we're competent

I don't listen to Belle and Sebastian all that often., This is due to the fact that when I do play them, it is exclusively and I end up sickening myself off of them for a good wee while.

I do believe that the 3 eps and the single that followed them are some of the best "indie" tracks ever. The music on these releases differs so much, you have the pop brilliance of Lazy Line Painter Jane, the wistfully beautiful Century of Fakers and then there's Dog On Wheels which sounds like something Arthur Lee and Love should have recorded. All showing that the band were a bit special but unfortunately for me they have never been as consistently brilliant since. There have been outstanding moments such as Legal Man and Funny Little Frog but the albums don't really grab me and suck me in the same way these early releases do.

This Is Just A Modern Rock Song from the opening strumming had me hooked the first time I heard it. There is something about the song, it seems so desolate and sad but there is something really hopeful and uplifting about the way the track builds and builds but never really reaches a crescendo and how could you not love that trumpet. And before you know it seven minutes has passed and you play it again as you can't believe that it has gone on that long.

It also contains one of my favourite couplets ever We're four boys in corduroys, we're not terrific but we're competent.

Belle and Sebastian - This Is Just A Modern Rock Song

Two Can Make It Together

Two Can Make It Together is a great piece of blue-eyed soul which became a bit of a classic amongst the Mod fraternity.

Tony and Tandy were Tony Head and Sharon Tandy. Tony Head was the singer with Freakbeat band Fleur De Lys who provide the backing track on the single.  Sharon Tandy who was Head's girlfriend and  is one of the few white singers ever to record tracks at Stax's McLemore Avenue studios, although this is not one. This single was released on Atlantic in 1969.

Tony and Tandy - Two Can Make It Together

I know, let's tag on a concert

There is one thing about family holidays when it's pissing down and you are trying to ignore the kids tearing lumps out of each other and that is it gives you time to think. I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past week. Don't worry I'm not going to get angsty here, I'm not talking about life, the universe and everything and that kind of shit, no something far more important than that,  gigs.

Not gigs in general but the ones that seem to latch themselves onto every other event that is talking place. It seems to me that these days any kind of gathering  must have a huge open air concert with lots of the least relevant artists prancing about the stage singing songs from their past glory days.

Why can't we just have the Olympics doing what it used to do, some folk, running, swimming etc and if they are good enough getting medals, end of story. Why do the organisers have to show just how out of touch they are by getting a load of has-beens and manufactured acts going through the motions on stage to promote the thing.

After giving this  much thought I can now point the blame in the direction of Bob Geldolf, the wee bloke with the funny 'tache & raincoat and Harvey Goldsmith. As their charity not change concert showed would -be promoters and musicians on a downwards trajectory in both sales and talent that all they needed to seize the cash cow would be to get on the bill of some concert or other which would be going out on TV or better still these days organise one for someone else and get yourself on the honours list into the bargain while paying all the proceeds of the subsequent downloads and cds into your off shore account, perfect.

I have never been an advocate for illegally downloading music but any artist involved in one of these concerts I think is fair game. Do you think that they are performing out of altruism or because they really wanted to be Olympians but went down the sex, drugs and rock and roll route instead? No there in it for the money. So if after one of these concerts there was a huge increase in illegal downloads of the artists involved then maybe, just maybe they would think twice about taking part, the promoters profits wouldn't be so certain, so less of them would be be willing to take the risk and we would have less of these pish events,  sporting events  could go back to being sporting events and old women wouldn't have to sit through shit like that Jubilee rubbish. As much as I have no time for the Windsors, I did feel sorry for the old dear having to listen to Cliff Richard and the like that's akin to torture. I think I would rather have had a UTI that sit through that.

Anyway, that's the kind of things that go through my head when I'm bored out of my skull.

Here is bit of blissed out balearica which will sound great when the sunshine eventually arrives, when I'm back at work and every other bugger is off. It's the b-side to an even better a-side by Almunia that came out last week on the Claremont 56 label, strangely reminiscent of John Martyn.

Almunia - The Magician

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Well that is our week in Cornwall almost over and it has either been sunny and we have had a great time on the beach, or I have been doing my best in the role of UN Peacekeeper with two very bored boys who have been trying their best to rip each other limb from limb. The joys of parenthood!

Here is a belter of a progressive house chugger from Kris Needs and Wonder. Swamp fever was released on the Leftfield owned imprint Hard Hands in 1994.

Have a good weekend people.

Delta Lady - Swamp Fever (Delta Baptism mix)

What's Happening

Not got a lot to say, as it is 20:39 last Thursday and I've still got loads to do before leaving tomorrow and haven't really got time to work on these posts as you can probably tell.

Here is quite an apt song for how I feel at the moment and the second best single ever released on Creation.

The Jasmine Minks - What's Happening

Just A Touch Of Your Hand

A  gorgeous bit of deep soul to start the week.

Al Gardner wasn't the most prolific of artists, as far as I can acertain he only recorded three singles but by god they are all wonderful pieces of soul.

This is probably my favourite, from possibly 1968

Al Gardner - Just A Touch Of Your Hand

The Cure, Balearic?

I was never the biggest fan of The Cure. I don't own any albums but have bought a fair few singles in my time, the first of which was The Love Cats. My favourite is probably Pictures of You.

A few weeks ago I bought a four track 12" called The Balearic Sound Of The Cure, primarily for the original 12 inch version Close To Me  but all four tracks are brilliant and I suppose sound Balearic whatever that may mean. The real gem is the dub mix of Pictures Of You

The Cure - Pictures Of You

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

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

Family holidays, you can't beat them.

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

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

Have a good weekend people.

Mr Scruff - Get A Move On

Flash & Crash

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

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

It's a belter.

Rocky & The Riddlers - Flash and Crash.

Jessie Ware

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

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

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

A Serendipitous Meeting

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

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

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

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

Woodentops and Lee Scratch Perry - Back To Work

Tell Mama

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

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

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

Etta James - Tell Mama

Turning Rebellion Into Money!!

Well it has happened.

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

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

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

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

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

Fuck you Mick Jones!

The Clash - London Calling

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

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

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

Have a good weekend people.

Nasty Habits - Shadow Boxing (remix)

What's On The Flip Side?

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

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

Johnny Bragg - Is It True

Rehab

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

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

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

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

The Reflex - Rehab

Wrote For Luck

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

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

Happy Mondays - Wrote For Luck

It's Over

 

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

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

Terry Lindsey - It's Over

Tarred and Feathered

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

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

Dogs - Tarred and Feathered (acoustic)

Wherever You Were

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

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

Holly Golightly - Wherever You Were

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

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

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

Have a good weekend people.

PF Project - Choose Life

Love See No Colour

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

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

The Farm - Love See No Colour 

Of Time And The City

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

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

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

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

Here

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

Deadboy - Here

I'm Seventeen Again!

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

The Who - The Real Me

Crackin' Up Over You

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

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

Roy Hamilton - Crackin' Up Over You

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

I Started A Joke

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

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

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

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

Kathryn Williams - I Started A Joke

To Be A Lover

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

Brilliant stuff

Delroy Wilson - To Be A Lover

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

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

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

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

Have a good if not dry,  weekend.

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

Masquerade

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

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

The Fall - Masquerade (Peel session)

Midweek Repeat

Some typically bonkers but brilliant stuff from the KLF.

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

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

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

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

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


First posted March 2009

Ron Hardy Edit

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

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

Whatever it is a belter.

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

No Rest For The Worried

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

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

Clarence Williams - No Rest For The Worried.

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

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

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

Sex Pistols - Just Me (I Wanna Be Me)

The Return Of Sturdy Girl

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

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

Beerjacket - Dancing In The Dark

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

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

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

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

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

Pete Heller - Big Love