Pressure

I have never really taken to modern soul, especially the 80s/90s stuff. It was all a bit too slick, overproduced and shiny for me. But every now and again a track came along that grabbed me and today's track is one of those.

In 1994 soul wasn't top of my listening list. At that time I was listening to mainly dance music from labels like Sabres of Paradise, Junior Boy's Own,  Mo Wax and the like. I would still dip into the  northern soul from time to time but I wasn't actively seeking out or buying any. I did take notice when I heard Pressure by Driza Bone and as was my want at the time I bought the 12" single with it's myriad of mixes none of which are any better than the edit that was available on the 7" really, which is really quite hard to get a hold of these days for some reason where is a copy on ebay at the moment with a starting price of 35 quid! Not sure why, as the single must have been manufactured in a decent number. It has even been been bootlegged as can be seen in the picture above, with a Clyde McPhatter track on the flip. Anyway it's a damn fine tune for all it's smoothness and slick production.

Driza Bone - Pressure

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Let's go back to the time of Prog, no not over educated student types singing about lawn mowers while wearing ridiculous costumes playing vast stadiums. No back to an age when leather trousers, long hair and biker boots were thought to be acceptable in clubs and everybody looked like idiots with those huge grins that meant when you woke up your face would be aching.

I think I may have mentioned before that I loved progressive house, the stretched out dubby bass heavy grooves. Anything on labels such Guerilla, Cowboy and Boy's Own were essential purchases.

Today's track is a monster that just builds and builds and was regularly dropped by Sasha at Renaissance. Released on Cowboy Records in 1992 by the Aloof responsible for a couple of my favouite tunes of the period with Never Get Out The Boat and One Night Stand. The version of On A Mission posted is the remix by the Flying dj Fabio Paras.

Have a good weekend people. I will be hoping for a home win tomorrow which will see is leapfrog Stenhousemuir making us third from bottom!

The Aloof - On A Mission (Fabio Paras remix)

Love Is A Wonderful Colour

I had forgotten just how joyous intro Love Is A Wonderful Colour has. I put it on the other week and was transported back to the Grammar and Friday night YM discos, the air thick with the threat of violence and the stench of under age drink induced vomit. Happy days to be sure.

To these ears this classic song from 1983 doesn't sound dated but to fourteen year old today it probably sounds as ancient as Elvis did to me back then, so they are in for a treat when they finally discover this and the likes of the Mighty Wah and the Bunnymen when they are in their twenties.

Icicle Works - Love Is A Wonderful Colour

Like A Bad Girl Should

As I commented over at Swiss Adam's bit last week, you've got to love the Cramps. Sure, they were never in any danger of winning an Ivor Novello or anything and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have thanked you for one. It doesn't mean their music when at its best was anything less than brilliant. I go through phases of listening to them non stop and then my desire satiated I will leave them alone for a little while feeling ever so slightly filthy.

Like a Bad Girl Should was the lead single from the 1997 album Big Beat From Badsville which was pressed in lovely red vinyl completed with a tasteful sleeve with a picture of Ivy dressed in underwear sitting astride a bass drum holding a stiletto switchblade. There is also a video that I'm sure was never aired on Top of the Pops or The Chart Show but just maybe have been put on late at night on Channel 4.

The Cramps - Like A Bad Girl Should

Got My Mo-Jo Working

Here is the original version from 1956 of Preston Foster's much covered classic . You wouldn't b much of a R&B or Blues artist if you hadn't covered this song. Artists from B.B. King through Elvis to Dr Feelgood have recorded versions of the song. There is even a version by Conway Twitty which is a lot better than I thought it would be. I do think that this version is my favourite.

Ann Cole and the Suburbans - Got My Mo-Jo Working

I'm Satisfied

Today's slab of prime soul comes, like so many other brilliant tunes from the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, produced of course and co-written by Rich Hall. It was released on the Atlantic off-shoot Cotillion in 1970.

Otis Clay was born in Mississippi but moved to Chicago as a youngster where started singing in a series of gospel groups. His first secular output was released on One-derful! Records. He moved to Cotillion when One-derful! folded in 1968 where he recorded a handful of singles including the one posted. Since then he has recorded for a few labels including his own label Echo where he recorded The Only Way Is Up. Clay is still performing to this day.

Enjoy.

Otis Clay - I'm Qualified

Mellow Sunday

How about a bit of MES in a reflective mood, not something you find very often  in the output of the gruppe.

The Fall - Bill Is Dead

Happy Anniversary Doll!

Today is mine and L's wedding anniversary. Seventeen years ago we made it all legal and have been taking "the crunchy with the smooth" ever since. There should be some sort of long service award for putting up with my moods and irrational behaviour! Apparently you are supposed to give something made of carnelian, no me neither.

Ruby Andrews - Just Loving You

It's Friday . . . Let's Get Scared Shitless

It's number one son's birthday today. He's eleven, it really doesn't feel that long ago that I was chain smoking JPS outside of  Wishaw General and being scared out of my skin about the prospect of being a faither. L's less than smooth labour not helping the situation but at 09:07 the boy was born who has been scaring me ever since. My latest cause for concern is his apparent liking of Jeremy fucking Clarkson! I'm hopping this is just pre-teenage rebellion and not something much sinister but only time will tell.

Here is a really scary piece of music. When I was young I always found the first Sabbath album quite creepy from the cover onwards and the title track was always an uncomfortable listen but when Venetian Snares gave it a dubstep makeover he took it well on its way to being the soundtrack to one of the circles of hell.

Have a good weekend people.

Snares - Black Sabbath

Freedom Is Just Another Word

Sometimes a little bit of Spiritualized is all you need.

Spiritualized - Soul On Fire

What a Revelation !

I had pre-ordered Complete Surrender the third album by Slow Club ages ago pretty much immediately after I learned of it's upcoming release. I had really enjoyed the previous two albums and singles. When the album arrived mid July I put it in the pile below the stereo but I must admit that I wasn't dying to put it on, so as the weeks passed I duly forgot about it as new releases by Comet Gain, Jamie T and Aphex Twin vied for time on the turntable with the slow burner that was Roddy Frame's latest album.

A few weeks ago I decided to give it an airing and after listening to the first song I had to go back to the turntable and check that I had put on the correct album.  After that I decided that this album was going to require my full attention and once it was finished I was totally,  fucking gobsmacked. I really couldn't get my head round the fact that what I had just listened to was by the same duo that recorded Trophy Room. Where had Rebecca found this astonishingly full voice! The whole sound was totally different, there was a distinct lack of "tweeness".  The album has a moodiness and melancholy that was hinted at previously on Paradise but not as fully formed as on this disc. This doesn't mean that the album is a complete downer, there are enough hooks and upbeat moments to keep you happy, the Motown and Stax influences on the record are quite prominent but the sound doesn't feel contrived or forced.

The record has been played over and over since then and there seems to be  little evidence of me getting sick of it. This pair have made an absolutely outstanding album that deserves to be heard everywhere and be held up as an example of how to make proper pop music without selling your soul to the man,

I am not going to post any tracks for download, if you like what you hear on the Youtube clip below I can guarantee that you will love the album. If you are yet to be convinced check out Pieces or Complete Surrender.

Drive Me Wild

A few months ago I posted a single from Alexia Coley, well her debut album has now been released and very good it is too. There is also a cracking new single available on 7" here . It's well worth it, as along with the vinyl you also get 7 mixes emailed to you, all of which are worth having.

Packing Up

Today's slice of quality northern soul is probably the second shortest 7" single that I own clocking in at 01:45 it is still a full 43 seconds longer than the debut by The Amazing Snakeheads. What this single lacks in length it more than makes up for in style. The tempo is frantic so the duration is probably fortuitous for the least fit on the dance floor.

Packing Up is, as far as I can ascertain the only single released by Damon Fox, it's  on the Fairmont label and was released in 1966. The single in its original form is extremely rare and commands a price of seven grand, it's good but no where near that special. My copy is the Outta Sight repress from 2012.

Enjoy

Damon Fox - Packing Up.

Mellow Sunday

It's that time of the year again when John Martyn starts to spend more and more time on my turntable. Don't get me wrong, I play Martyn's music all the year round but there is just something about the darkening nights and the golds and the reds of the leaves that make me reach for Bless The Weather, Solid Air or One World. There is something about John's vocal delivery that warms the soul and no matter how wet and windy it is outside I feel comfortable and at peace. No more so than when sitting in my "listening" chair sipping a glass of good red with the song posted on the turntable.

I know, I've posted it more than once but show me a man or woman who is sick of Small Hours and I will show you a person who is dead inside.

John Martyn - Small Hours

Keeping It Peel

Ten years. Fucking hell! It doesn't feel anything like that long.

I do remember where I was when I learned of the death of John Peel. I was in a rather nice room with a great view of the castle in the Caledonian hotel in Edinburgh. I was getting ready for one of those incredibly boring corporate evenings when you are supposed to "network" get your face known and climb the greasy pole. I just used to to get pished on the free bar, (there still were such things then),  find some late night eatery and then stoat back to my room but I digress. I heard of the dj's untimely death from Eddie Mair on Radio 4's PM. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

Peel was like an old dependable uncle, sure one you didn't go and see ( or listen to) as often as you used to but you knew that he was still there and would be forever. To be honest I took his presence for granted and over the preceding few years had listened to him a lot less than I had done previously. You see, I had other priorities what with being married, the career and Max, listening to Peel and finding exciting new music had been  pushed right down the list. But every now and again I would tune in,  reassured that he was still fighting the good fight and if I caught wind of a new Fall session,  well I would always listen.

So that night I went to the "do" with even less enthusiasm than normal which was never that much in the first place. I have to admit I got rather angry with the ambivalence that I met with on telling others present of the terrible news. But looking back I'm not sure why I should have been surprised as in the Pharma industry a love for obscure indie, drum & bass,  reggae or death metal isn't the kind of thing that you hear discussed too much, they are all trying to out do each other as to where they went on holiday or the trek that they were just about to embark upon or other equally inane, in my opinion,  topics of conversation. My memory of the evening is a bit hazy but I do remember some fuckwit, at the end of the night hailing a taxi to take him from the Sheraton back to the Cally, all of 200 yards down Lothian fucking road.

Anyway, I have thought long and hard about who to post today and I have decided upon probably my third favourite band and one which I didn't initially discover from listening to Peel but I'm sure Big Mill was listening as he bought the first single which his brother subsequently taped for me, after listening to which I was hooked. I already loved feedback but this was a different kind of feedback a lot more chaotic and threatening than that of  Hendrix or The Who and therefore a lot fucking cooler.

I recently finished reading Zoe Howe's excellent biography of the dysfunctional brothers from East Kilbride, Barbed Wire Kisses" which had me laughing out loud on more than a few occasions but I was totally surprised by the revelation that the brothers hated their Peel sessions, all of which I have always thought to be brilliant. In the book Jim Reid states "The Peel Sessions were the worst. You knew exactly what you wanted to do, but you've got these guys who don't want you to do it"  It is disclosed that they were not allowed to play as they wished and the engineers on the show, for the first session one Mark Radcliffe,  did what they wanted to and made the band sound how they thought they should. This got me thinking, how fucking good would those sessions have sounded if the Reids had been given the freedom to do exactly what they wanted?

For today's tribute to Peel I haven't picked the groundbreaking first session or the astounding curve ball that was the third one which showed that the Mary Chain were not a one trick pony and that below all that attitude and feedback there were subtle and delicate pop songs. I have opted for the 5th session which includes one of my favourite of the band's songs and also a cover version that always makes me smile and which I don't think I am ever likely to get sick of. The session was recorded on 31-05-88 and was aired on 13-06-88.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Side Walking
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Coast To Coast 
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Take It
The Jesus and Mary Chain - My Girl

And here is the great man introducing his favourite band

John Peel - The Fall

Gone With The Wind Is My Love

With a nod to the Northern Soul film which is released on DVD today, here is a track from the excellent soundtrack available on double cd and 14 x 7" box set. Gone With The Wind Is My Love is in my top twenty soul tracks ever. It was released on the Dore label in 1967 and as usual bombed. My copy is on the Kent Select label which was released in 2009.

Rita and The Tiaras - Gone With The Wind Is My Love

Mellow Sunday

Its a bit dreich up here today. I am off to a charity football match today, to see the last great Airdrieonians team play a team from the supporters club. This team under the management of Alex MacDonald  took us to the heady heights of a Scottish Cup Final in 1992 and due to the fact that we were beaten in the final by the league champions the team also qualified for the UEFA cup where we drew Sparta Prague and gave a good account of ourselves over the two legs being beaten 3-1 on aggregate.  Sadly I don't think that I will ever see their likes again.

Chungking - Following

I Can't Let You Go

Here is a lovely piece of Chi-town soul from the Soul Twins released on the Sable label and that's about all I know apart from that the going price for the 7" is around £200.

It's half-term up here so we are away for a few days down to Turnberry on the Ayrshire coast, the caravan park not the 5* hotel and resort I hasten to add, so there will be nothing to see here until Friday.

The Soulful Twins - I Can't Let You Go

Mellow Sunday

Last week's attempt at doing fuck all on a Sunday was only partially successful. L only wore it for so long and then I had to do stuff! Not much point in trying to attempt a similar course of action today, sheds needing cleaned out and cowps to be visited, still I do have five days in Turnberry, on Scotland's west coast to look forward to from tomorrow as it is the "October Week" up here.

A little bit of jazz for your lazy listening. Nice!

Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches (alternate take)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

To an old favourite.

Everywhere I've looked recently there has been something about the 20th birthday of Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Which got me thinking about the first time I heard Rez, shit I thought my head was going to explode it was so fucking good, I couldn't stop grinning and wished that it had gone on twice, three times as long as it did. It was in my head for days, weeks probably even months afterwards.  Even now while typing this and listening to it through my not that shitty computer speakers I have a big grin on my coupon and I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck start to rise. Fuck! It is a truly gorgeous huge tune which for me no other dance tune comes close to even now twenty one years later. Surely not better than Someday or Acid Trax I barely hear you shout over the cascading sounds of the most beautiful machine made music. Oh yes is the reply.

Shit it's finished,  nothing else to do but to put it on again.

What was that L?

Turn it  fucking down!

Never!

Have a good weekend people.

Underworld - Rez 

Circles

There have been more than a few albums this year that I have really got into with the live Dexys album to come and a couple of others I 'm waiting for it's not over yet. Everybody Down by Kate Tempest will be high up my end of the year round up. I don't think I had even heard of her before catching her session for Gilles Peterson in May after which I ordered the album immediately and have played it at least once a week every since. The combination of Tempest's words and Dan Carey's music is just keeps getting better with each listen. It's best to try and listen to the album as a whole so as you can follow the narrative but most of the tracks still sound great when listened to on their own.

Kate Tempest - Circles

Like You Never Heard It Before.

At the beginning of the year I posted a track by Nick Pride and the Pimptones where I mentioned their cover of White Lines. I thought that since I had mentioned it I ought to post it. So here you go. It was on the flip of their version of  Unfinished Sympathy which is very good but I think that this is better.

Nick Pride and the Pimptones - White Lines

"If You're Gonna Play It Out Of Tune. Play It Out of Tune Properly"

Part nine I think.  The last entry in this series was back in August 2011.

This Perfect Day was the third single by Australian punks The Saints. It was released in the UK in July 1977 where it reached the position of 34 in the charts and earned them an appearance on Top of the Pops. I have to confess that I wasn't aware of the song until twenty one years later when it was covered by MES and the latest line-up of the band on the Peel session from November 1998. Up until recently I was not too keen on this version of the song which is very sparse even by Fall standards and much preferred the one released on the following year's The Marshall Suite, however recently I have began to favor the rawness and near rehearsal sound of the Peel session . However neither is a patch on the original which is absolutely magic.

MES as the 13th Doctor, now that would be a perfect day.

The Saints - This Perfect Day

The Fall - This Perfect Day (Peel Session 18/10/1998)

Something Moves Me

Vicki Anderson is probably best known for being the female singer in James Brown's revue from 1965 until 1968 when she was replaced by Martha Whitney only to return to the band the following year for a further three year stint. Prior to this and during this period she released singles under both the name Vicki Anderson and her real name of Myra Barnes. Brown has stated that Anderson was the best singer he ever worked with, high praise indeed and when you hear her sing it's hard to disagree with the man.

(Something Moves Me) Within My Heart was actually the flip side of her version of the Sam Cook song You Send Me. released on King Records in 1966. It's a good version if you happen to like the song but I have to admit it's not one that does much for me. Something Move Me however does push my button, it is a bit poppy with basic lyrics, however the vocal delivery is something else. For further evidence of how good her voice is check out Baby Don't You Know or I'll Work It Out.

Vicki Anderson - (Something Moves Me) Within My Heart

Mellow Sunday

I have decided that today I am going to do fuck all.  I may try and think up some posts for the coming week but at the moment even that seems like a bit too much effort.

This is just magic,  Ha Fucking Ha without the ha fucking ha

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance To A Repeat Posting

Another hectic week and last night I had neither the energy nor the inclination to sit at the laptop and try to think of a track for today, so instead here is a rehash of something that was first posted on the second last day of 2011.

This Friday finds us back in 1993 with a bit of gospel tinged house courtesy of the fifty strong Sounds Of Blackness with a little smattering of the genius that was Sasha before he disappeared up his own arse. I apologise for the crackles but this was played quite a bit and I have a feeling that the quality of the vinyl in 1993 wasn't that great as a lot of the 12" singles I have from then sound worse than they should do.

Have a good weekend people

Sounds Of Blackness - I'm Going All The Way (Sasha's Chuff Chuff mix)

Just Thinking

I sometimes miss being office based, not the office on the outskirts of Edinburgh in the soulless "Business Park" but the one at Logie Mill in the New Town. At least three days a week I would wander up either to Cockburn Street and visit Avalanche and Fopp or at other times park at St Andrews Square and go to the shiny new Fopp on Rose St.

On my way up the road from Manchester I was thinking about this and the money that I should have saved since then from not having to commute through to the capital not to mention the frequent record shop visits but then again I discovered Discogs and Piccadilly Records since then so I'm worse off than I was back then.

Today's track comes from an album I remember buying one Saturday or Sunday  around this time of the year over a decade ago when I went in to do a couple of hours and strangely found myself in Fopp. Back then I didn't resent sometimes working weekends for nowt, possibly because it was only sometimes.

I Am Kloot - Proof

The Rhinohead

Down to Manchester for a couple of days. Not got much to say so here is a track from the MES and Mouse on Mars collaboration remixed by Pilooski.

While on the subject of Smith, doesn't look like there will be any new material from the Fall released this year, alas.

Von Sudenfed - The Rhinohead (Pilooski Edit)

The Queen Is On Her Knees

Not too sure if that's better than purring down the phone, you will have to ask Dave.

I know absolutely nothing about this song apart from it's a belter, a bit rare and came out on the Uptown label in 1967.

Enjoy!

Maria Tynes - The Queen Is On Her Knees

Mellow Sunday

I can't put it off any longer the shed door will have to be made and hung today!

The Broken Family Band - You Get Me

Casse les frontieres, Fou les tetes en l'air"

I've probably regaled you with this story before but during the early nineties I was an avid collector of James Lavelle's Mo Wax label and pretty much collected everything on the label from MW014, Shadow's In Flux up until MW078 , Cavern by Liquid Liquid, with a smattering of the first thirteen and it must be said to diminishing returns. You never knew what you were going to get some of it was astounding a lot of it alright and some absolute pish but it was always worth a listen and the covers always looked as cool as fuck.

Most of the Mo Wax along with the a lot of the Junior Boys Own, Soma and others went in the great iPod funding sell off of  2003, a memory that still brings me out in a cold sweat. Why I kept the Saberettes releases is a mystery to me now but I digress. Anyway along with In Flux, Clubbed to Death and a few others I kept a rather strange 10" double pack single from French musicians La Funk Mob who would later evolve into Cassuis, I'm not quite sure how you would classify the music contained on the two pieces of vinyl and I'm not even going to try, it's just very very good especially through headphones. It has a couple of classy remixes from a couple of the best Techno producers of the time, well of all time really. My intention was to post the Carl Craig mix of Ravers Suck Our Sound but when I listened to the record this morning I decided that the Ritchie Hawtin track was the one I was digging.

It really does do what it says on the cover "breaking boundaries, messing up heads"

La Funk Mob - Motorbass Get Funked Up (Ritchie Hawtin mix)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Let's get back to the dance music with a very old school, ground breaking,  sampletastic piece of vinyl from 1988. Beat Dis could be heard everywhere at the time and spent a lot of time on my turntable although back then I just called it a record player.

The track was the product of a very talented young producer called Tim Simenon who on the back of this record ended up on the front cover of NME a huge feat at that time for someone who wore a baseball cap and didn't play a guitar. The track is supposed to consist of seventy two samples, I wouldn't know as I have never tried to identify them and count them. I think that it still sounds pretty good.

Have a good weekend people.

Bomb The Bass - Beat Dis (Extended Dis)

We Don't Talk Anymore

From 1978 until the release of of Yo Frankie in 1989, Dion Di Mucci released nothing but gospel music. He had recorded an album's worth of secular music which languished unreleased until ACE records released it in 1990 under the title Fire In The Night. It sounds a bit dated now but yesterday for some reason I couldn't get this track out of my head and thought that it was worth an airing.

Warning contains saxophone! Not one for you JC

Dion - We Don't Talk Anymore

Dark Days

Dark Days is a documentary made by British film maker Marc Singer about a group of people who live in an abandoned part of the New York Subway system, a place that has been renamed the Freedom Tunnel. The film is sountracked with music from DJ Shadow's Endtroducing and his UNKLE collaborations. He also wrote and performed the theme for the film. which was released  on 7" and cd single in the US in 2000. For me it is right up there with his best work.

I have posted both sides of the single as the b side with the vocal samples from the documentary is well worth having as well.

DJ Shadow - Dark Days (Main Theme)

DJ Shadow - Dark Days (Spoken For Mix)

Pass The Hatchet

A couple of weeks ago I put up a youtube clip of Nick Waterhouse's live rendition of Pass The Hatchet and said that I would post the original later. So here it is in it's full glory both parts 1 and 2.

Pass The Hatchet was the first record to be released on New Orleans label Seven B. The rather sparse vocals are the dulcet tones of Eddie Bo. The track had already been completed when he added his yelps and exclamations. Roger & the Gypsies  were actually Earl Stanley and The Stereos incognito.

The original single is as rare as hens teeth, my copy comes from the excellent Jazzman 3x7" comp that came out in 2012 which I bought initially for the flip side of this single "From This Day On" also by Eddie Bo that I had first heard on the DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist mix  Brainfreeze. The set is well worth seeking out as all of six tracks are essential.

Roger & The Gypsies - Pass The Hatchet

Mellow Sunday

I have a wee bit of a hangover this morning. Can we just keep it down a bit.

Dexy's Midnight Runners - My National Pride

Can't Do Without You

Time for something a bit uplifting. This was my song of the summer. Released in a limited run as a single sided 12" this sounded very very good, loud through the new speakers. So my advice is play it loud.

Caribou -  Can't Do Without You (Extended mix)

Well That's That Then.

Don't feel too much like dancing today bit gutted if you want to know the truth but I will get over it. As others have said  there should be no bitterness and no recrimination, well apart from at the ballot box next year, possibly.

Good turnout tho', let's hope we keep up the engagement.

Beth Orton - I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine

A New Dawn? Possibly

Well, it's all over bar the crossing of boxes and god knows what the result will be tomorrow. I only hope that whatever the outcome we can all come together again and get on with things . What is certain, and this has become something of a cliche over the past wee while, is that things up here will never be the same again. The last few months has seen engagement the likes of which I have never seen before and not just from the usual suspects, it seems that everybody has thought about it and has an opinion.

One night last week Leo and I were up at the swing park at the Loch and as I watched the boy on the zip wire I heard snippets of the discussion a couple in their mid fifties were having as they walked round the loch and you guessed it they were talking about the pros and cons of independence. Everywhere you go, in the shops, pubs, restaurants and even the play parks it has been the topic of conversation which can only be a good thing.

I just wish that the politicians could have conducted themselves as well as the general public have. Shame on you,  Jim Murphy,  for trying to instill fear in people with your talk of intimidation and threats of violence which Police Scotland have refuted several times. You got egged, get over it. There are heidbangers everywhere and always will be but there has been less violence and threatening behaviour over this than your average hate fest that masquerades as a local football derby in Glasgow. Granted there hasn't been one of those for a while but you get my point.

Up until a few months ago I was a pretty unswithering pro-union person. I always considered myself British first and Scottish a very close second. Growing up I  believed that Westminster wasn't perfect but it was the best of the alternatives and if we could just get the Tories out of power then things would get better. My views began to alter after Blair came to power but his government did give us devolution. Since 2010 my faith in the parliamentary system has been eroded but I was still opposed to Nationalism and to misquote Samuel Johnson I thought that it was the last refuge of the scoundrel.  But, recently things started to change.  With the announcement that  that "nasty piece of work" Johnson would be standing for parliament again in 2015 with a good chance of becoming the next Tory Leader and god forbid PM. Also Nigel Farage may well be on the green benches, soon. Christ!  we have some tossers in Hollyrood but those two and Gideon take the biscuit and I'm not sure I want to be part of a country that elects the likes of them.

The No campaign by definition was always going to be negative, the "better together" title a bit of a misnomer from the start, however over the last weeks of the campaign they sunk to new lows in their negativity and misinformation.  The tone became increasingly condescending and I began to be more than slightly annoyed that my fellow countrymen and women were being told that they just didn't understand what they were saying "yes" to, we didn't understand the consequences and the Westminster nest featherers knew what was best for us along with the bankers and big business none of whom are high up in the trustworthy charts. When you start inferring that people are stupid and threaten them it tends to get their backs up.

As you may have gathered from the previous couple of paragraphs I am now a "turncoat", an "insular", "parochial" , tartan wearing, haggis chomping, Flower of Scotland singing numpty. But I'm not though, well apart from being partial to a bit of offal wrapped in a sheep's stomach. I like to think of myself as a progressive outward looking social democrat who believes in equality for all, not just the ruling classes.

No I haven't had all of my questions answered from the "Yes" campaign but then again we can't really be sure of what will happen if we remain part of the UK. Prior to 2010 nobody would have contemplated the austerity that we have had to endure on this island and since 2008 can you really have faith in anything economic forecasters say. Over the last wee while I have come to the realisation that it is not all about money anyway. Yes we need to have a strong economy but I do believe that we have the people, skills base and industries to flourish.

It finally dawned on me that they just don't get it. We don't want to govern ourselves because we hate the English and we don't just want to give the Tories a good fucking kicking although messers Cameron and Osbourne could probably do with one (that was an attempt at humour not a directive). We want to be grown ups, we want to be taken seriously and we also want a better society for ourserlves, our children our neighbours and every one living in Scotland. Not to have to ask those that hold the purse strings "please can we have some more" of the revenue that we create while being told by the press and others that we are a nation of scroungers. Also we don't want to have that "first strike" weapon of mass destruction, Trident, thirty miles from our largest center of population.

What alternative have we been offered from Better Together?  Frst it was the status quo. We were told "devomax"  was a non starter from the beginning but with less than a fortnight to go we were promised by good old Gordy that we would get all we wanted, a promise neither he nor the party leaders in Westminster are in a position to give us anyway.  As for a vision of the future,  that is sadly lacking at the moment in these isles, if it does exist it seems to me to be "fortress Britian" cutting itself off from those benefit scrounging foreigners or greedy corrupt Europeans while swilling warm beer and singing "Rule Britannia". I for one do not wish to be  part of that.

One last thing, if anybody has bothered to read this rubbish this far, I have been really disappointed in the biased coverage of the BBC. I argued with Billy Bragg and others on Twitter a few months ago that they were being a bit paranoid about the coverage and that it seemed to me to be quite fair but as the weeks have passed I have noticed with alarm just how one sided the coverage has become which has saddened me no end as when you can no longer believe  the reporting of the BBC then you are left with absolutely no broadcaster you can trust

So today I will be putting my cross next to yes and hoping that I will wake up tomorrow in a brave new world full of possibilities and a new nation that I and the other five million residents of Scotland can help shape into something that will be no utopia but will be more inclusive and fair than the one we have left. Just don't ask me to sing "Flower of Scotland", please!

As for those we have left behind, it is for you to organise, lobby  and vote to shape the country that you wish to live in.

Sae come aa ye at hame wi freedom,
Never  heed whit the houdies crock fir doom
In yer hoos aa the barins o Adam
will find breid, barley-bree an paintit rooms

Hamish Henderson 1960

So come all ye who love freedom
Pay no attention to the prophets of doom
In your house all the children of Adam
Will be welcomed with food, drink and clean bright accomodation

Paul Williams - Give A Little Love

Disco Evangelists - A New Dawn (Back To The World)

Tomorrow !

Jake Sniper put this in the comments on yesterday's post but I thought that more people should see this rather than just the few that look at the comments. If any are still unsure . . .

Two Days To Go

Indulge me for a couple of days, this won't happen again in my lifetime.

For the undecided something to ponder.

Dick Gaughan - No Gods and Precious Few Heroes

I Done Got Over It

The Soul Queen of New Orleans has featured here previously. I love Thomas' voice, there is something about her voice that just gets me every time and I'm baffled that she was not more successful than she was. I Done Got Over It was Irma's third single of Minit records and was released in 1962. It has taken me a few years to get a decent copy of this single.

Enjoy.

Irma Thomas - I Done Got Over It

Mellow Sunday

There is a lot to ponder in Scotland this Sunday if you are still one of the undecided. I have come to my decision more of which later in the week. Time for me to brew a pot of tea and read the nonsense propaganda we have been fed over the last couple of weeks especially,  in the knowledge that my mind is made up.

Whiskeytown - My Hometown

New Music Saturday

Yesterday Dougie the postie arrived at the door with a record from the US which I thought was strange as I wasn't waiting for anything from there!

I opened it up and found a record by a band I had never heard of with a note.

"Hi There

You are receiving a copy of the new Lunchbox album titled "Lunchbox Loves You". courtesy of Jigsaw Records and Crashing through publicity. Due to the unorthodox practices of Jigsaw, we do not have a fancy press sheet to show you. Instead, we just have this great record and the links below. Thanks for your time!"

I was curious as I hadn't heard of the band before but Mike at Crashing Through Publicity had sent me the Luxembourg Signal single and a few other albums which I haven't gotten round to reviewing. So last night I put the bright red vinyl on the turntable and gave it a listen.

The music is nothing radical new but if you like lo-fi indie pop, especially of the mid 90s variety then this will be right up your street.

I decided to have a look further into the band and it appears that this is the duo of Tim Brown and Donna McKean's  second album  and first since 1999. Not sure what they have been doing for all of that time but for a part of it the formed a "fuzz-pop supergroup" with Mike Shulman of Slumberland Records and Stewart Anderson of Boyracer fame, called Hard Left.

You should give it a go. Here is the lead track off of the album

Lunchbox - Everybody Knows

It's Friday . .. Let's Pay Our Respects

A few of the blogs that I follow have carried the sad news of the death of Robert Young aka Throb, formerly one of the guitarists of Primal Scream. I didn't know that much about Young but as an integral part of the band from the early days he was responsible for shaping the Scream's sound  from Imperial through to Country Girl and for that reason alone his passing should be acknowledged. I will leave it to those that knew him to comment on his personal life.

It is always sad when people die young and it is particularly affecting when that person was responsible for one of your favourite pieces of music ever, full stop. When I think of Robert Young I immediately think of the cover of  Loaded and that tune! Below is a recording of Loaded from back in 1994 at the Barrowlands, what a night that was!

It was going to be that track,  unfortunately iTunes does not want to import the bootleg for some reason, so instead posted is a version from LA recorded two years before the Glasgow gig  that came in the 20th Anniversary box set of Screamadelica.

Have a good weekend people.

Rest easy Robert.

Primal Scream - Loaded (Hollywood Palladium)

Magnitude Absolue

This is track two from a cracking four track moody electro ep entitled "Planeta De Mujeres" that came out in the most ridiculously limited run of only thirty clear vinyl copies earlier this year. All I know about Umwelt is that he is a French producer who releases stupidly limited releases on his own New Flesh label.

There is exclusivity and there is taking the piss.

Umwelt - Magnitude Absolue

Best Gig Of The Year So Far

Stiff and I went to see Nick Waterhouse and his band at The Wah Wah Hut a couple of Thursday's ago. The best hour and a quarter I have had for a long time. It was slightly disappointing that the gig was not a sell-out, in fact the back of the room behind the sound desk was roped off so it would have been just over half full which really was a shame because the band played an absolutely blinding set which got everybody present grooving along to the cool retro but still incredibly fresh R&B sounds.  Also I have to point out that Miss Paula Henderson has to be the coolest saxophonist this side of John Coltrane.

The track posted is the b-side of the last single and a Ty Segall cover.

Nick Waterhouse - It #3

And below is one of the many highlights of the gig a cover of Pass The Hatchet by Roger and The Gypsies, a rare as hen's teeth 45 released in 1965 on the Seven B label but was available in full for the first time on the Essential Seven B collection released a coupe of years ago. I think that this will nbeed to be posted in the near future.

Go Easy Big Cuz

I thought long and hard about this post and came to the conclusion that although nobody reading this thing will have a clue about the person I'm talking about I decided that I should acknowledge his passing.

On Sunday night I got a phone call from my mother  relaying the news that one of my cousins had died of a heart attack earlier in the day. The news was quite shocking due to the fact that he was only fifty. I hadn't seen him for some time, even though he lived only 7 miles from me . The last time I had actually seen him he walked straight past me not even acknowledging my existence, there had been a fall out a few years previously.

Strangely when I think about him now, I actually didn't know him at all, although when I was young I kind of looked up to him due to the fact that he took me to my first ever gigs and him and his sister had spent a considerable amount of time round our bit when the shit hit the fan at their house. As he grew older we saw less and less of him and eventually only at family things if he even turned up.

I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say that he was a great guy and I have loads of wonderful memories,  over the past few years when I have thought about him at all it made me angry,  not filled me with great memories of the past but he did take me to my first ever gig, Motorhead at the legendary Glasgow Apollo when I was thirteen and a half dozen other concerts and for that I will be forever grateful and in future I will try to remember the generosity of spirit and time he had then towards me more than the angry and at times spiteful person that I witnessed in later life.

Motorhead - Leaving Here

Try Me

Today's track comes courtesy of the man tagged "the hardest working man in showbiz"  and also the "Godfather of Soul". When I decided on this post I looked back to see how many times I had posted songs by James Brown and was quite surprised by how few times he had actually featured. But when I thought about, he hasn't really been a constant over the years in his own right and I have probably listened to more records with samples of his music that I have his records but I have to admit that for a good couple of months at about the turn of the century I was more than slightly obsessed by "Live At The Apollo". At that time it would have been nearly forty years old but still sounded fresh, full of energy and vital to me.

Try Me was released by James Brown and the Famous Flames in 1958 and was Brown's first ever chart topping record early the following year. It is a gorgeous r&b ballad, far removed from the furious funky sounds that he would later be synonymous with. The kind of record you would put on when trying to woo a girl back in the day.

James Brown and the Famous Flames - Try Me

Boom Boom Boom Cha! part 1

A few years ago I had a playlist entitled Boom boom boom cha! which seemed to grow by the week. The title refers to probably the most recognisable drum intro in pop music. I have often wondered if Hal Blaine is as proud of that intro as he should be and being a session musician I don't suppose that he has made a fortune out of it either. But it must feel damned good to hear something you did first being emulated for the next fifty years, although when you have played on over 35 000 pieces of music you must hear your drumming everywhere all the time!

I think that I had something like 25 tracks on the playlist before one of my iTunes crashes wiped it out  and that was by no means a definitive list. So I thought that I would post some of my favourite tracks that, "borrow" the intro,  I think that's I will have to limit myself otherwise this could go on for quite a while.

First up is probably the band that have used the beat the most times on one album at last three times on their debut album.  The Reid brothers definitely wore their influences on their sleeves which was just great for a fifteen year old who had never heard The Velvet Underground, or the Stooges. I had however heard of the Ronettes and loved the music of Phil Spector which the Mary Chain made cool again, well in some quarters anyway. I would think that most people would cite Just Like Honey for the track that employs the drum beat to the best effect but also cut dead uses it but without the cha at the end. Sowing Seeds is basically the same song as Just Like Honey but I for one wasn't caring back in 1985, cos it wasn't Wham, Duran Duran or any of that pish.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Sowing Seeds.

Classy!

Let's kick the working week off with a classy piece of Detroit soul. I Need You Like A Baby was apparently originally recorded by Gigi and the Charmaines but I have never heard that version. Not sure that it would be any better than this one anyway. Andrea Henry's version was recorded and released on the MGM label in 1968 and an original copy would set you back upwards of 150 quid, however the good people at Outtasight repressed this in 2010 and you can pick up a copy from as little as a fiver on Discogs at the moment, well cheap if you ask me.

Enjoy

Andrea Henry - I Need You Like A Baby