Karen

I had nearly forgotten about Chew Lips when the other week I saw somewhere that they had a new single. I first came across them one very wet and windy night in March 2009 when they were third on the bill at the Classic Grand  in Glasgow. I was there to see The Joy Formidable but was pleasantly surprised by Chew Lips although the singer did get on my nerves. At that point they were a three piece but from what I can see they are now a duo.

Their debut album, Unicorn was released in 2010 and it is rather good without being groundbreaking or anything. It has that sort of harking back to the 80s sound that was all the rage that year with the likes of La Roux and Little Boots. Here is the band's third single and first from the album.

Still a bloody awful name.

Chew Lips - Karen

Ha Fucking Ha

If you haven't bought this album yet, you really should, it is absolutely beautiful.

The reason why I haven't mentioned this album before is I hadn't heard it until the end of last week due to some thieving bastards at the Royal Mail. I had ordered one of the special boxset editions from Song By Toad and had been eagerly awaiting the arrival but as the time progressed I emailed Mathew who then sent on another set which also didn't arrive! The third one eventually arrived only because it was sent recorded delivery which was duly left inside the storm doors without a signature being obtained.

Anyway it was worth the wait not only does the album look gorgeous I'm a sucker for coloured vinyl but it sounds damn near perfect, lovely clear production and some of the best tunes I have heard this year. I was a bit worried that due to the fact that the album was recorded in a proper studio I would not warm to it like the previous offerings as part of the appeal of Meursault for me was the lo-fi diy feel to the music. I need not have worried the production just makes the music fuller but it is still unmistakeably Meursault.

So get your arse over here and order the album, you know it makes sense.

You Can Hide Your Love Forever

Here is a great piece of Indie Pop from 2001. It's quite scary to think that Comet Gain released there first album, Casino Classics seventeen years ago! Tempus Fugit as absolutely nobody I know says.

Comet Gain - You Can Hide Your Love Forever

You Don't Know

From one great songwriter from a bygone age to another also sadly no longer with us.

Ellie Greenwich in partnership with her husband Jeff Barry must have been in competition with Bacharach and David during the 60s I suppose. It would be hard to say who were the better partnership, if it weren't for the fact that Greenwich and Barry along with Phil Spector were responsible for the best pop song ever and by default are therefor the greatest pop songwriters ever. There is no need to start the debate again, I think that Mr H and myself conclusively dealt with that one at the end of last year here.

Anyway, Greenwich was responsible for so many absolute belters but even though she could more than hold a tune she didn't go into the studio very often but in 1965 she did  with Shadow  Morton and produced an absolutely gorgeous song, You Don't Know, the production of which is nothing less than perfection, those drums, strings and breath taking vocals that give me goosebumps every time I hear the song.

It is backed by Baby which over the years has found favour amongst the northern soul fraternity, the song is good but nothing in comparison to the a side. The single was released on Morton's Red Bird label and inexplicably bombed! Why?

A word of warning, the only other thing that I know of that she released was the album Let It Be Written, Let It Be Sung in 1973. On this album she sings twelve of the best songs she had penned including I hear Music, Be My Baby and  And Then He Kissed Me and I hate to say it, it is woeful, the 70s arrangements and production murder the songs and it is best to be avoided.

Ellie Greewich - You Don't Know

Hal David R.I.P.

One of the finest lyricists in pop.

I could have picked any number of songs that I love that he was responsible for but here's one that surprised me at the time. Did I Imagine You was written by David and Dot Alison and  appeared on her wonderful first solo album

 Dot Alison - Did I Imagine You

Just Sittin' There Rippin' The Pish

I don't know what it was like then you were sixteen or seventeen but in deepest darkest Lanarkshire organising your fun of a weekend wasn't the easiest thing to do. There wasn't that much to do in Lanark during the mid eighties if you were at that certain age when playing  football just didn't do it any longer,  you had a baby face and couldn't get into Blondes or Foxes,  the two pubs where under-agers stood a chance of getting served or didn't have a steady girlfriend. Once a month there was the YM disco but most of the time that ended early due to fighting or the calling of  an ambulance for some poor unfortunate, who had drunk too much and needed his/her stomach pumped, and besides the sounds pumped out by "Purple Rain Disco" were pure pish anyway.

So the only other thing to do was drink. Well there were loads of other things to do,  we could have chosen athletics, badminton or any number of other character building pursuits that involved effort and exercise. We however, chose drink.

When partaking of alcohol while not legally allowed to you had  two options open to you.

Firstly if you were in with the heidbangers and local young team you went down the park with a bottle of wine. Invariably this led to having to partake in the athletics mentioned above, particularly the steeplechase while being pursued by Sergeant Slater or other members of Lanark's Finest.

The other option was of course the civilised one where you drank in the comfort of someone else's home. Some were lucky enough to know someone with liberal parents who allowed the drinking of a cargo on their premises. For the rest of us it came down to whose parents were either out for the night, even better for the weekend or the holy grail, they were away on a fortnights holiday!

So from first period on a Friday the question could be heard "Do you know who's got an empty this weekend?" and as soon as you found out who it was then the charm offensive began to get yourself invited to the poor unfortunate's abode. It was not unknown for kids who had a very small circle of friends before the revelation that their parents were in Malaga to become the most popular guy or girl in 5th Year.

Such evenings started off well,  all civilised, folk having a good time, drinking,  listening to music, trying to cop off with members of the opposite sex. But as the night progressed there was always a casualty or two and some projectile produced.  A romance would bloom, another couple ended and things generally degenerated  until the night was ruined when some shady characters turned up, probably from down the park and either wrecked the place or stole the drink or even worse the parents came back early.

Up until recently nobody had captured the trials and tribulations of trying to have a good weekend while under-age in Lanarkshire in song. This situation was rectified earlier this year when the Just Joans released their "concept album" about the last year of school and the first year of Uni away from home,  wonderfully entitled Buckfast Bottles In The Rain. Granted the band are relating their experiences in Motherwell in the mid nineties but things don't change much in the shire and this is the same scenario I found myself in at the same time during the previous decade in Lanark but replace Wonderwall with The Rattler or Dignity

The Just Joans - Coia's Empty

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

What do you get if you pair up Northern Ireland's top DJ and one half of Scotland's finest producers of quality dance music?

One side of ambient noodling which has it's place, I suppose but is nothing special and a quality piece of techno on the other, which at the time I vaguely remember being disappointed with, not sure why now as it sounds the business at the moment,  all driving drums and squelchy noises.

Total Toxic Overload was a collaboration between soon to be film score producer David Holmes and Stuart McMillan one half of Slam and also one of the people responsible for Soma Quality Records. The track along with Total Toxic Tranquility would be the twelfth release on the Soma label .

I have the 12" of this somewhere but can't find it at the moment so you will have to make do with the 6 minute version from the first Soma compilation and not the ten minute version. You could always go here and purchase the full version if you like it.

Have a good weekend people.

Holmes & McMillan - Total Toxic Overload

Just Because . . .

 . . .  well, you know (sigh)

The Ronettes - I Can Hear Music

Live With Me

The first time Max set eyes on Mark Lanegan at Latitude last year he said "who's that scary man dad!" and I have to agree with him, Lanegan is not the sort of fellow that you want to hear utter "did you spill my pint?" in your general direction. L assures me that there is something appealing about the man, can't see it myself but there you go.

Over the past six years or so Lanegan has been a sort of vocalist for hire working on projects with the likes of Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers and Greg Dulli as a member of the Twilight Singers and the Gutter Twins. I have been lucky enough to see him with both of Dulli's bands and on quite a few occasions with Campbell. He is certainly a presence on stage but tends not to get involved in banter with the crowd, I say tends, I really mean doesn't whatsoever.

As I said above Lanegan and Dulli have collaborated on numerous occasions, one of my favourites is an ep released in 2006 where they cover the Massive Attack single from the same year. Where the Terry Callier vocal is soulful and pleading in parts, the Twilight Singers version is far more brooding and menacing, I for one wouldn't be taking him up on his offfer!

Twilight Singers - Live With Me

Come Back Margaret.

No not that one, at least I hope that's not what the song is about.

 I love this song, especially the handclaps and the strings. It's from Camera Obscura's third and for me best album. Let's Get Out Of The Country. There isn't a bad track on the album  from Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken to the final strains of the trumpet of Razzle Dazzle Rose it is just magic and an album that should be present in every household that likes moody Scottish indie pop.

Camera Obscura - Come Back Margaret

Don't Turn Away

Willy McDougal or as he sometimes called himself, Billy Mack was a blind pianist from Greensboro N.C. Best know for his deep soul, in fact the flip-side of Don't Turn Away, I Can't Wait is a particularly fine example. However the side posted today is an out and out R&B belter. If you wished to pick up a 7" of this it would set you back between £200 - £250.

Willy McDougal - Don't Turn Away.

Croatian Surf Pop?

On Friday night over at the Bagging Area in reply to a comment by George about posting some surf guitar sounds I somewhat disingenuously posted that I had a full album of Croatian "surf guitar" bands covering Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western scores, the album actually includes bands from Italy, Sweden, Canada, Australia as well as Croatia but all would fall under the term of "surf music" I suppose.

The album is absolutely wonderful and one which alas I can take no credit in finding. My copy came from Stiff who was given it by his older brother Bat, of the 1977 - 82 tape fame. How he was first put on to it I don't know but will ask next week at the football.

I've had a look on Discogs and there are no copies to be had and on Amazon there are two copies of the cd for sale, the cheaper one being $146, which it is definitely not worth, so I take it it is pretty rare. so if you're lucky enough to find a copy, good on you but I'm sure that a full download can be found if you like what you hear.

Cosmonauti - For A Few Dollars More

The Langhorns - The Vice Of Killing

Eve Of Destruction

When I first heard this song in the early 80s it wasn't just the lyrics that depressed me but also the fact that almost twenty years after it was first recorded the world still seemed to be on the eve of destruction.

Although we no longer seem to have the threat of Mutually Assurred Destruction hanging over our heads there is still far too much bad shit going on for my liking. I despair when this week it appears that the western world is more concerned with one spoilt, rich sponger getting his kit off in a hotel suite in Las Vegas paid for by the taxpayer than the slaughter going on in Syria.

Still, it's a good song, innit!

Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

I  became aware of Soul II Soul in mid 1988  when I bought the Feel Free 12" their second release.  It was not a bad single, very chilled beats but the bpms seemed a bit slow for my liking. There was nothing in it to suggest that by the end of the following year the collective of musicians, DJs, singers etc would have 4 top ten singles in the UK, one of which would go to number 1 for four weeks be the 5th biggest single of the year and a triple platinum album and this was when such things still really meant something.

There was no bigger act in British dance music in 1989 than Jazzie B's crew. Back to Life was everywhere you turned, constantly heard on the radio and when out. But my favourite was the follow-up Get A Life, not sure why maybe due to the ubiquity of it's predecessor but from the moment I heard the strings at the beginning and the laid back groove I was hooked.

Soul II Soul never really did it for me in the same way again and I sort of lost interest the following year. Playing Get A Life again last night for the first time in ages iot still sounded fresh which can't be said for a lot of stuff from that year.

Have a good weekend people

Soul II Soul - Get A Life (Extended mix)

Do You Remember

No matter how hard it is pissing down outside, put this on, close you eyes and I guarantee the sun will be shining.

Taken from the 1977 album Natty Rebel.

U-Roy - Do You Remember

Fried My Little Brains

I've been listening to the first Kills album a lot recently. I love the rawness of it. It is still my favourite of their albums although the last one runs it  a close second. Was lucky enough to catch them live just before the album came out and as I've said before they were brilliant live and a very charismatic duo. Here is a track off of the album and their forth single release.

If you don't own this album, I can highly recommend it and don't think that you will be disappointed.

The Kills - Fried My Little Brains

Resolution Of One

Here is a track that came out last year on the oh so trendy Kitsune Music label but had originally been released in 2010 in a limited run of 500 in the US. It even made my Tracks Of My Year round-up. I'm not quite sure on reflection that it was that good but it is better than a lot of the dross I heard in 2011.

Guards - Resolution Of One

That's Not Love

Here's a track that I used to be tortured over when young and wanting to be seen as  the cool, knowledgeable soul fan with impeccable taste.

That's Not Love was pop song, not northern soul I was told and should not be taken seriously, but those drums, that beat, the anguished vocals not to mention the Spectorish production what's not to like? It wasn't until about ten years ago or so I felt comfortable enough to admit to myself how much I liked this record. Fucking sad isn't it? But that is another facet of northern soul.

While I'm in such a confessional mood I would also like to put on record that I bloody love Wayne Gibson's cover of Under My Thumb. There I've said it and feel all the better for it.

Holly St. James - That's Not Love

Coldcut Meets The Orb

Swiss Adam over at the Bagging Area mentioned the new Orb album yesterday something that I'm looking forward to as I have really enjoyed the last couple of albums.

It wasn't always thus. During the late 90 early 2000s I found their output somewhat patchy and inconsistent but would still buy most of the stuff.

I once took Stiff to see The Orb live at the Barrowlands in about 92/93 with hilarious results. Stiffs stlye and demenour is not one which fitted in with the stoner/clubber look of that time leading to one very paranoid guy stoned out of his tree, in Bairds, the pub next door being somewhat too apolgetic when he spilt Stiff's pint mistaking him for a local. Round about the Barras you don't mess with the locals.

It also lead to us having a lot more space round us when in the gig as I'm sure that he was being wrongly tagged as being DS as he looked as out of place as a plain clothes Special Branch officer at a CND rally.

Enough rambling, here is a nice wee mix by Coldcut and The Orb given away free by Ninja Tunes a couple of years ago. Just the thing to accompany Sunday brunch.

ColdCut Meets The Orb

While We Are On The Subject . . .

. . . of Soul music. This is rather good. The second single from Jasmine Kara and a cover of Ain't No More Room by The Kittens.  The b-side is a version of Ordinary Joe by Terry Callier. She was on a hiding to nothing with me covering that as it is one of favourite Northern tracks.

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Sort of  sticking with the Soul theme, in as much as today's track samples one of the soul/disco voices of the 70s/80s.

I have posted this track before but it back in 2009 so most people have probably forgotten about it. Shame was one of the later releases by Altern 8 and came out in 1992 as a 10" single. It samples the vocals from Evelyn King's first single, not surprisingly called Shame and drops some wobbly acidy bits in amoungst the breakbeats and plinky plonky piano.

Lovely stuff.

Have a good weekend people.

Altern 8 vs Evelyn King - Shame

Stuck On You

Here's a track by an artist I know absolutely nothing about, apart from she also covered A Little Bit Of Soap which, sadly was a hit single this side of the Atlantic when covered by Showaddywaddy recorded it in their own inimitable fashion.

Stuck On You was written by writer, producer and all round Soul legendVan McCoy. It was the b-side of Gee What A Guy and came out on the Domain label.

Yvonne Carroll - Stuck On You

Bop Bop Soo-Be-Do-Wah

We kicked off the week with a Velvelettes b-side and today we feature an instrumental  cover by "The Earl of Funk" as Earl Van Dyke was known and the legendary Funk Brothers. This track lay languishing in the Motown vaults until 2002 when it was dusted down and given an airing on the excellent "A Cellarful of Motown" Compilation.

Earl Van Dyke - He Was Really Sayin' Something

Tear Stains On My Pillow Case

Think I'm going to stick with the Soul this week.

So here is another belter from 1966, a very good year for soul music.

Mary Love - Lay This Burden Down

Since You've Been Loving Me

It was not a bad weekend. Due to the weather being almost summer like up hear there are only 124 miles to go in the great running in marathon.

In other news Airdrie got of to a cracking start  in their Scottish First Division campaign by gubbing Dumbarton 4-1. If they play all season as they did in the first half of Saturday's game, which I doubt on the evidence of a rather poor second half performance, then my fears of going straight back down to the Second Division may be unfounded.

And while we are on the subject of football, all you supporters of "the club formerly known as Rangers", not as easy as you thought it was going to be, eh!

Anyway, back to the music and here is the b-side of These Things Will Keep Me Loving You, one of my favourite songs ever. Released on the Motown off-shoot Soul in 1966 and again on Motown in  1971, I think that Since You've Been Loving Me could have been a hit as an a-side.

The Velvelettes - Since You've Been Loving Me

Buy This Compilation

Anyone who has read this nonsense for any length of time or who has clicked on the Acid Ted link on the right hand side will be aware of the excellent blog that Ctel produces on a daily basis and may well know about Ctel's previous work where he incredibly eruditely, under what would have to have been the most difficult circumstances at times wrote of the daily trials and tribulations of his family's fight with their son's brain tumour.

For a while now Ctel has been trying to artists to contribute to a compilation, where all of the proceeds will go to two charities who focus on this horrible disease and finally on the 04th of August this labour of love saw the light of day. I would like anybody who has ever downloaded anything from this site to stop by here, read a little bit more and download the album. If the music is not really your cup of tea or you can't really afford to pay for the whole album just click on the link in the posting and give what you can but it would be cool to maybe see the compilation in the iTunes charts.

So at a time when we are all feeling good about ourselves in the wake of the success of the Olympics make yourself feel even better by foregoing a couple of pints this afternoon or not buying that top you don't really need anyway and donate the money instead to something really worrth while like finding a successful treatment for childhood brain tumours.

I have never had the good fortune to have met Ctel but JC tells me that he "is one of us" and I have found no evidence to doubt him, apart from his loathing of the Fall but he is not alone there. I have one thing in common with Ctel and that is an obsession with most of the output of Andrew Weatherall and so thought it fitting to post the only mix of his of One Dove's Transient Truth that I have not previously posted.

One Dove - Transient Truth (Squelch mix)

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

When the Dust Brothers changed their name to The Chemical Brothers, I thought at the time, what a pish name but over the years the name has kind of grown on me and it didn't do Tom and Ed's career any harm into the bargain.

The duo are along with Orbital and Underworld  probably the three best practitioners of "dance music" who became huge but didn't dilute their product to make it accessible to the mass market. Sure, there were the guest vocals by Gallagher, Gillespie, Sumner to mention but three but those didn't feel like conscious attempt  to appeal to those who didn't get dance music.

Okay, they are held responsible for the whole Big Beat fad but a lot of good records did come out of that scene as well as the pish.

My favourite track has to be The Private Psychedelic Reel which has been featured before, so here is a belter of a single from 1999.

Have a good weekend people.

The Chemical Brothers -  Hey Boy, Hey Girl

Version

Nothing to say really. Sun is shinning up here, I certainly picked the wrong week to take off. Here is the Upsetters dub of Hurts So Good.

The Upsetters - Hurts So Good

Lost Your Love Of Life?

My 3 year old has been running about the house for weeks singing this or in the car asking "play too much apple pie, daddy". But he is never sure whether Tommy is running away with Harry's wife, or Harry's walked away with Johnie's wife.

Have to admit that it is one of my favourite songs as well.

The Wedding Present - Kennedy

You'll Have Had Your Summer Holidays Then!

Well that's the summer holidays over for another year. I would love to say that I am back at my desk today, tanned and thoroughly rested but if I did then I would be a liar. I am slightly less pale blue than I was before my trip to the West Coast but the weather was hardly conducive to turning me into a bronze Adonis. Still we made the most of it and the boys had a great time.

In other news, I picked the scooter up on Saturday on my way home from Machrihanish. It is now making a lovely noise thanks to the addition of a Gianelli sports exhaust expertly fitted by John at Glasgow Lambretta, just under 400 miles to go until it can be opened up properly.

Oh,  and to the two fuckwits that decided it would be fun to kick in my back lights on my car left in the drive when we were away. One day, you will realise just how much inconvenience, frustration not to mention anger you caused when someone does something similar to you. Until that day I wish on you both a particularly itchy dose of the crabs or a really fiery case of gonorrhoea or preferably both at the same time.

Here is a rather good version of the Sidney Barnes track 'You'll Always Be In Style' by an unknown female artist found amongst a number of studio demos.

Unknown Female - You'll Always Be In Style

Nothing To See Here

We're off for a week of sun, sand and spam to Machrihanish.

Feel free to empty the fridge and the larder but leave me some rum for my return, I fear I will be needing it if the weather forecast iss correct!

King Creosote - And The Racket They Made

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