Fuck!

This was supposed to be posted this morning. Looks as though my hair is not the only thing I'm losing.

I'm not liking this at all.

Fine Young Cannibals - I'm Not The Man I Used To Be

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Today's blotter of acid is one of my favourite of the UK acid sounds from 1988. Psychic TV featuring Jack The Tab was in fact Genesis P-Orridge and Richard Norris. On the Temple re-release of the DC Records original there are 4 mixes of Tune In (Turn On To Thee Acid House Sound) all of which are worth having, my favourite is the one posted, the Mister Love Acidisco Northern Soul mix.

Last week's football was not pretty but it did result in a two nil win for Airdrie, Tomorrow they take on Arbroath away, let's hope it's not a repeat of the 7 - 1 thrashing the Diamonds received last October when they were last at Gayfield. The highest the club can finish is 6th but even if the team lose the last two games they will still finish 7th not bad considering the first half of the season.

Have a good weekend people.

Pyschic TV feat Jack The Tab - Tune In (Turn On To Thee Acid House Sound) Mister Love Acidicso Northern Soul mix

John Coltrane Stereo Blues

At the tail end of last week over at The Bagging Area, SA featured a rather splendid mix from a festival in Italy by a dj that some of you might be familiar with, a certain Mr Weatherall. Well known for his eclectic mixes  on this mix he had the young Italians jigging along to the some top tunes including a track that I have not played, I'm ashamed to say,  in what must be a decade but which I used to love, John Coltrane Stereo Blues by The Drean Syndicate. So I thought that I would post it unmixed here but I didn't get round to ripping it from the 1984 album Medicine Show but I did remember seeing a KEXP clip on Youtube a couple of years back where the reformed band did an absolutely belting epic version of the song which just so happens to break into a verse or two of a Doors song just over half way through which is quite funny as I found myself reapraising the Doors a few weeks ago and to my surprise actually quite enjoying the experience, they weren't as wanky as I remember them being. This version of John Coltrance Stereo Blues is the business but the band sadly these days look like a bunch of Maths and Physics teachers trying their hardest to be cool but boy can they play!

I'm In Luton for the next couple of days, which is nice!

Step Into My Heart

I know nothing about Ronnie and Robyn other than they recorded four singles between 1966 and 1967 three of which were released on the Detroit label Sidra. Step Into My Heart is the best of the tracks that I have heard by the duo, it's just a really lovely piece of soul. It was the flip side to as far as I can find out the couple's final single,  As Long As You Love me which doesn't really do it for me, it could have something to do with the harps at the beginning.

Not a bad way to start what will be a busy week.

Ronnie & Robyn - As Long As I Have You

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Bet you thought thast you had seen the back of this feature?

Unfortunately not.

I'm still sticking with the acid which seems to be totally underwhelming you all. Today's track comes from SLF, no not Jake Burns' mob, although they did do that terrible Beastie Boys parody, No Sleep Til Belfast, as far as I'm aware they did not jump on the Acieeeed bandwagon as well. No this SLF were Street Level Funk and I know absolutely fuck all about them apart from the fact that in 1988 on their only release, Show Me What You Got they included two rather good acid mixes of the track on the b-side, part 2 being the better of the two.

You will be as relieved as I am to hear the the Diamonds place as a Scottish League One side is assured as of last week, something that even at the start of March could not be taken for granted and which at Christmas looked highly unlikely. It is just as well as the side that will take on local rivals Albion Rovers at the Excelsior tomorrw could be fully comprised of second team players with the exception of the goalkeeper, what with injuries and suspensions. I suspect that the football will not be pretty but let's hope it is as entertaining as last week's narow defeat by Ayr United.

Have a good weekend people.

SLF - Show Me What You Got (Acid mix pt 1)
SLF - Show Me What You Got (Acid mix pt 2)

The Other Half

Most peoople who know of The Other Half, the San Franscisco garage band, not to be confused with the other garage band from Chicago who recorded The Girl With The Black Hair, because of the excellent rare as hens teeth single Mr Pharmacist which would later be covered so well by the Fall. The group actually recorded a whole album a rare thing wwith the garage bands of the mid 60s who either disintegrated after one or two great singles or whose members were drafted to Vietnam which understandably put an end to their recording careers. The eponymously titled The Other Half is a different beast entirely from Mr Pharmacist,  being recorded in 1967 in Frisco the sound is much more blues rock which is no bad thing in my book. There are still some tracks that would fit with the garage/psych sound such as The Flight Of The Dragon Woman but mostly it is more rock focused, their sound has been likened to the Yardbirds and it is therefore unsurprising that the guitarist Randy Holman was offered tthe job or replacing Jeff Beck in that band prior to joining the Other Half. I have posted posted both parts of What Can I Do For You. Part one sounds a lot like the Doors without Ray Manzarek's keyboards. Part Two is the one that does it for me, much more of a stoner jam with some loud distorted guitar soloing which I love but I know some of you fought the punk wars to get rid of this kind of thing but I love it.

The Other Half - What Can I Do For You (Part One)

The Other Half - What Can I Do For You (Part Two)

Masterpiece

WARNING - CONTAINS A LOT OF SAX - JC should maybe avoid this one.

The original version of  Masterpiece was recorded by the Temptations but was really more a vehicle to show the abilities of Norman Whitfield as a writer and producer as it only contained 3 minutes worth of vocal in it's thirteen and a half minute running time. The track was the title track of the Temptations 1973 album released on the Gordy label and the final album by vocal the group to be recorded in Detroit. I much prefer the version by the Jazz-Funk saxophonist Groover Washington Jr from hos excellent 1973 album Soul Box 1 from the same year as the original and which also contains an amazing extended cover of Trouble Man.

Groover Washington Jr - Masterpiece

Crackin' Up Over You

I can't believe that I have not featured this absolute classic northern soul sound which has been a huge track with the allniter crowd since 1971 and still sounds great. This was no small obscure label release either being released on RCA Victor in 1966 albeit on the flip side of  Walk Hand In Hand. Roy Hamilton had been making records since 1948  when he started out as part of a gospel act and had hits with Unchained Melody and You'll Never Walk Alone. Everything about this record is huge from the dramatic intro, the driving beat and the emotional vocal delivery, They don't get much better than this.

Roy Hamilton - Crackin' Up Over You

A Past Gone Mad

I have been on annual leave this week, I say annual leave but I have mostly been trying to referee the boxing matches between two spoilt little gits! Due to the inclement weather we have been mostly stuck in the house and with no painting required, (that's not quite true there are a couple of rooms that could do with being "freshened up" but I haven't been instructed to do so yet), I have been looking for something to do and decided to listen to all of the Fall studio albums , on vinyl when possible, all 32 of them in order. A task that I took to with gusto, although I know at least one person, thanks for the records btw Ctel, who could think of nothing worse. Sixteen albums in and some have been a revelation. The Frenz Experiment which I have always been rather ambivalent towards sounded a couple of nights ago,  Bremen Nacht and Carry Bag Man sounding especially good. The album which I have enjoyed the most and had to play again was 1993's The Infotainment Scan an album that I duck into now and then but mostly to listen to the best cover version ever, the gruppe's cover of Lost In Music which really is astounding and may hint at why in the early 80s Motown were interested in signing the Fall.  But the whole album is actually a tour de force from a group that had just been let go from their major label contract, Smith deciding to walk before becoming one of the next round of casualties in the Phonogram restructuring.

The album was recorded using Smith's own money at Hooky's Studio 16 in Rochdale and only when complete did MES go looking for a label to put it out.

The album has a techno feel about it without sounding like Techno, if you get what I mean. At the time there was a lot of talk about the song Glam Racket being a sideswipe at Suede, Smith however in his own inimitable way set the record straight when he told a journalist "The song has fuck all to do with the group Suede, and they shouldn't flatter themselves to think it is" The album as a whole I think focuses on the that feeling of getting older with songs like, It's A Curse, The League of Bald-Headed Men and A Past Gone Mad where Smith rallies against the nostalgia industry which had yet to really get established reminding us that Spangles and the 70s were shit and disparages his own older Fall fans with the first use of the phrase "look back bores".  Even I'm Going To Spain, a cover of a song by someone who won New Faces, Steve Bent and was considered to be one of the worst songs ever sounds very good with Smith actually trying to sing and sounding quite wistful, if you can believe it.

This is an album that if you haven't heard you really need to give a go even if it is just to hear the castanets at the end of I'm Going To Spain. I have posted A Past Gone Mad which contains the unforgettable lyric, "and if I ever end up like U2 slit my throat with a garden vegetable.

The Fall - A Past Gone Mad

15/01/1929 - 04/04/1968

Moodswings - Spiritual High (moodfood megamix)

Marvin Smith

A lovely slab of  smooth soul that is unmistakably from the Windy City. The song was penned by Curtis Mayfield and released on his Mayfield label in 1969. Marvin Smith  was also the lead singer of the Artistics who released records on th Okeh and Brunswick labels and featured here a couple of years ago.

Marvin Smith - Who Will Do Your Running Now

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Here's a belter of an Easter egg for you. courtesy of Invernesian,  James MacDonald who is obsessed by all things egg like and is better known as Ege Bam Yasi. It is also fortunate that James also has a love of the 303 and is responsible for his own sub genre of dance music, MacAcid which fits right in with the theme for the past few weeks on a Friday .  Today's track from 1994 was released on SOMA Quality Recordings and contains a sample from a scene in a film that has been simulated the world over.

Tomorrow Leo ventures to our national stadium, Hampden, I have not been there since Airdrie's one nil defeat to Celtic in the 1995 Scottish Cup final. Tomorrow's game will be somewhat different but still an important one for the Diamonds as a win would see them safe in the first division with no prospect of finishing in the 9th place play off position. Queen's Park however need to get something from the game if they want to get out of the automatic relegation position. With only one win in the past for Airdrie I expect that it will be a pretty fraught affair.

Have a good weekend people.

Ege Bam Yasi - Acid Nation

Reformation!

As you would expect I have been listening to a lot of Fall output over the past few weeks.  An album that I had not listened to in a while was Reformation TLC ((Traitors, Liars, Cunts), the album that Smith made with his makeshift group of the American "dudes" and members who would then be with him until his death  in January this year.  With the exception of Das Boat which is just pish and the trow away cover of Merle Haggard's White Line Fever , the album hangs together really well. Some have criticised the sound as muddied due to the two bass guitars, however on tracks like Fall Sound, My Door Is Never and above all Reformation it is the bass sound that propels the songs to being some of the strongest tracks from the last two incarnations of the gruppe.

The version of Reformation posted is the "Uncut" version which was released as the lead single from the album.

The Fall - Reformation! (Uncut)

Mona Lisa

There has been a lot of discussion and not all of it complimentary about the change in direction that The Lucid Dream have taken that is evident on SX1000, the first output from their yet untitled 4th album, what with it being full of the sounds of the 303 and the 808, personally I love it. When you listen to the previous albums there is an evolution and change of sound evident from the first, Songs of Lies and Deceit, through The Lucid Source to Compulsion songs released in 2016 granted it is not stark as it is on the new 12" but change there is, something which I always think is healthy.  The track posted is the opener from the second, eponymously titled album and for me is where psych rock and post rock collide in a raucous bass and drum driven epic tour de force full of distortion and phasing. Magic stuff.

I am really looking forward to the release of the new album and eagerly await the 12" single being delivered next week I haven't sickened myself off with it yet. There is also a possibility of seeing them live again , something which seemed unlikely last not so long ago as all of their gear was stolen after a show in Paris.

The Lucid Dream - Mona Lisa

Night Beats

Dr John Cooper Clarke put me onto the Night Beats when he featured them one Sunday on 6Music when he was filling in for Jarvis Cocker. I have played the album Who Sold My Generation loads but apart from The Fuzz Club sessions and a remix by Jona Ma I haven't gotten round to exploring more of the Seattle based threesome's back catalogue which I think will need to be rectified in the near future. Posted is the first track from the third album mentioned above.

Night Beats - Celebration #1

It's Raining

There is not a lot I can say about this sublime piece of Louisiana soul.  You can just imagine a sticky humid night in the French Quarter and hearing the "Soul Queen of New Orleans" belting this out from one of the bars.

Irma Thomas - It's Raining

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

FFS! Not more acid house you say. 

Afraid so , I just can't get myself away from it at the moment, that and the psych/space rock of Psychic Lemon, Rancho Relaxo and the like, not exactly two cheeks of the same arse but similar in many ways. Today's track comes from relatively late in the day for the genre of Acid House, 1990 when a new sub genre of dance music seemed to evolve every fortnight or so.  Make U Scream was released on Chris Westbrook's Westbrook records,  out of Chicago, of course. Chris Westbrook is possibly better known as Bam Bam the man who produced  House classics like Give It To Me  and Feel The Beat. He was also responsible for some excellent remixes for the likes of Ten City and Coldcut.

Unfortunately, I am going to miss the first Saturday afternoon home game in what feels like ages, the last one was 17th February when the Diamonds beat Queen's Park 2-1. The team will have to play a whole lot better than they did in the second half on Tuesday night against Alloa, to get anything from JC's beloved Raith Rovers. Granted won of Airdrie's best players, Daryl Duffy  had to be stretchered off and will now be unavailable for the rest of the season after what looked like assault to me but didn't even see Alloa defender Fleming get a talking to from the ref. All I will say is Jim Goodwin has taught his players well. With six games to go I think, sadly that the play-off for the championships are beyon the Diamonds and a mid table finish is the best we can hope for which would be a hell of a lot better than what we all feared right up until just before Christmas.

Have a good weekend people

Bam Bam - Make U Scream (Original 12" Deep House mix)

Mien

Psych rock supergroup alert. Black Habit is the first track released from the upcoming self titled  album from Mien , a band comprised of Alex Mass (singer with The Black Angels), Tom Furse (Horrors), Rishi Dhir  (Elephant Stone) and John Mark Lapam of the Earlies. The album has been ordered on the strength of this track which is just far too short. The album is out on 6th April and available for pre-order here

Yo! Ma Saint

I haven't been able to get this record out of my head ever since I first heard at on 6Music about a month or so ago. I love the Morricone(esque) guitar , the vocal back and forth between Michael Kiwanuka and the overall feeling of doom of the track.

Yo! Ma Saint is part of a three way arty project incorporating music, film and fashion. To be honest I hadn't even bothered seeking out the video until I decided on this post, since I bought the 7" and it all sounded a bit wanky to me and after watching the video I think that my initial thinking was correct but if you want to watch it click here. But below is the music without the visuals.

I'm Waiting For The Man

A couple of weeks ago 1969 the latest repackaging of the Velvet Underground was delivered. I had been looking forward to the arrival of this as my copies of VU and Another View, which this package basically is with some of the tracks cleaned up and a few other things from the 1969 recording sessions added,  have been around the block a few times. At first I was kind of disappointed with the sound as it is a very quiet pressing but when you turn it up to a reasonable volume you notice the difference from the albums that were released back in the 80s, there is more definition and sounds that I have never heard before or maybe I'm kidding myself on, could be. Anyway, the Velvet Underground recordings have never been held up as examples of high fidelity. Listening to this album inevitably led me back to The Complete Matrix Tapes which really does become more essential with every listen and so I thought that I would share another track from that collection and plumped for the second of four versions of I'm Waiting For The Man, all of which are great but this loose, bluesy version is my favourite which has some great guitar work from Sterling Morrison and a completely different feel to the frantic strung out version from the first album. It would have been something to have been in the audience during the Velvets residency at The Matrix in November1969.

The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For The Man (Matrix Tapes Version 2)

You've Been Gone Too Long

As soon as I hear the distinctive intro to this lovely bit of soul I can almost taste the 2 stroke as I'm transported back to the mid to late 80s and more than a few seedy pub "function suites" in Lanarkshire and beyond as this was popular with the Scooterists.

I can't really better what was written in Kev Roberts entry regarding this track in the indispensable Northern Soul Top 500:-

"This delicious 70's play from Blackpool Mecca was yet another of Ian Levine's masterstrokes. Smack in the middle of the customary 'stomper' set comes this easy groover which did sell locally around Tennesee,

Originally released on Impel Ann Sexton's classic was later picked up by Seventy7 records. A relative of Chuck Jackson, Ann went on to become a cult figure in the Southern States, performing at many Soul and Blues concerts"

Ann Sexton - You've Been Gone Too Long

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Back in the Windy City again this week with some deep deep acid. The 303 and the 909 are turned up to 11 on this mad piece of house music. If you are lucky enough to own a copy of  "There Are Dreams and There Is Escape" and you are willing to part with it you could be £500 better off making this probably the most sought piece of vinyl in House music. Jack Rabbit was better know to his mother as James Martin and he only released four 12" singles  all of which are absolutely essential before he sadly died of an asthma exacerbation in 1990. Rabbit TraxI was re-released on 12" single in 2014 with the acid mix of Only Wanted To Be on the flip on the Still Music label.

In football news, Stiff , Bat, Leo and myself and 508 others missed River City on Tuesday night to watch Airdrie scrape a 2 - 1 victory against Stanraer, it wasn't pretty but a win's a win as they say. Tomorrow they are away to forth place Alloa Athletic in the first of a double header which will conclude on Tuesday night.  With only eight games to go the Diamonds still need to amass as many points as possible and with a victory and a defeat against Alloa in the previous two meetings this season I think both games will be tight.

Below you will see the latest recruit to the Airdrie cause. Ross should have given him one to waer cause that tank top is fucking hideous! So far they have raised upwards of 11000  quid for the sensory room  from the auctioning of the signed shirts. Well do to all involved.

Have a good weekend people and keep on jacking.

James "Jack Rabbit" Martin - Rabbit Trax I (The Next Generation)

Higher Than Heaven

Age of Chance are probably best remembered for their brilliant cover version of Kiss, which came out in a myriad of covers and mixes in 1986.

The band first came to the attention of most indie fans due to their inclusion on the infamous C86 NME compilation tape. After a couple of Peel sessions the band signed to FON records and recorded the cover of Kiss and a mini album Crush Collision, the re release of which came with a free single sided 12" featuring another mix of Kiss.

In 1987 the band signed to Virgin and recorded an album, the first by a UK group to incorporate a DJ scratching and sampling. One Thousand Years of Trouble was released in September 1987 and was completely novel, no indie band made sounds like this. I had the good fortune to see them around October/November 1987 in Aberdeen and found the live show absolutely stunning, although I was suffering from concussion at the time. DJ Powercut was an integral part of the set up by then and the live scratching and sampling certainly added to the sonic crush symphony the band produced.

During the following year the original vocalist Steve E left during the recording off the follow up album. A new vocalist was drafted in, Charles Hutchinson to completely re vocal the LP. When I first heard the resulting album Mecca, I was completely dismayed, gone was the sample heavy, beat laden, near industrial sound of old replaced by what I thought at the time was a terribly weak soul lite sound. I have had reason to reappraise this album over the years and now find that it is not as bad as I thought and quite a few of the tracks are actually rather good but completely different from the likes of Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Noise? or Take It from the debut album.

The band eventually split in 1991, after a career that failed to trouble the charts but did earn a No 2 position in the festive 50 of 1986 for Kiss which also hit number one in the indie charts the same year.

Posted is the standout track from the second album, Mecca, the soulful Higher Than Heaven. Which was released as a single in 1990 and reached the giddy heights of #53in the UK.

Age Of Chance - Higher Than Heaven 

If You Loved Me At All

I don't have as much by the Arch Drude, Julian Cope as I think that I should.  I did buy Saint Julian and My Nation Underground but that was about it apart from a couple of singles until we moved to this house when my neighbour over the back leant me a few things before he moved South and I bought some more recent things but I didn't go back and try to back fill as there just seemed to be too much of it. Two albums that have been on my "to buy" list for a long time are Peggy Suicide and Jehovakill which I have cdr's of but realise that I really need to own.  A few weeks ago both of these and another couple including Saint Julian are getting a limited re-release on vinyl on 6th April which saw them rise up to the top of the list. So I thought that I would post one of my favourite tracks from Peggy Suicide here in it's demo form which was available as a 7" single at the 1991 gigs.

Julian Cope - If You Loved Me At All

Going All The Way

If someone asked for an example that epitomises the garage/psych sounds of the mid 60s a great record to choose would be Going All The Way by the Squires. So it is very puzzling that I have never posted it before. The Squires who hailed from Bristol Connecticut were originally called the Rogues but when they signed a one-off deal with Atlantic Records to release this single in 1966 they were pressurised to change their name. The jangly guitars on this track are toughened up considerably by the pounding back beat from the rhythm section. The song also reminds me of another of my favourite tunes in the genre, Five Years Ahead Of My Time by the Third Bardo. Unfortunately the single like so many other great records of this time did not do anything nationally which led to the organ and bass players leaving and the band disintegrated when the singer was drafted to Vietnam.

The Squires - Going All The Way 

We Must Be Doing Something Right

I think that Berry Gordy may have said that when he first heard this very very Motown sounding record. We Must Be Doing Something Right was released on Sylvia Records in 1965. The label was set up  by  the tenor saxophonist Al Sears who previously worked for Duke Ellington. I think that may be him playing on this lovely piece of mid 60s soul. As far as I can find out Joan Moody cut another couple of singles between 1965 - 66 which were also played on the Northern scene but nothing else until a further  previously unreleased track, I Can't Stay Away,  was released on a Kent split single a few years ago which is also very good.

Joan Moody - We Must Be Doing Something Right

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

I think I will stick with the acid sounds of Chicago in the late 80s for  the next few weeks, So if you're not a fan of the squidgy sounds of the Roland 303 it might be best to head off somewhere else.  "As Acid Turns" was one of 5 tracks on the "Jack The House " ep released on the Trax label in 1998 by the Chicago artist Liddell Townsend.  A classic piece of Acid House, it does however come to a very abrupt end.

Airdrie are away to East Fife tomorrow, the men from Methil are sitting one place above the Diamonds in the table courtesy of one point so a win would see Airdrie up to sixth place.  It is going to be a busy couple of weeks for the team as they have matches this Tuesday evening and next to clear the backlog due to the bloody snow.

Have a good weekend people

Liddell Townsend - As Acid Turns (Original 12" mix)

Rocky Votolato

Here is another guy that I found courtesy of John in the Morning on KEXP, if you have never listened to it, give it a go.  I have never found another radio station that plays as many records that I like, 6 Music doesn't come close, apart from when Dr John Cooper Clarke is guesting on a
Sunday but that's different.

Rocky Votolato, don't let the name put you off, started playing in a band called Waxwing, a rock band with punk leanings, however he began writing mellower songs which didn't fit in with the band's style and decided to go it alone. To date he has released 10 albums and the track posted today comes from the 2003 album Suicide Medicine, which is the best of the 3 albums I own.

Rocky Votolato - Mix/Tapes

Tell Me Something

The Rancho Relaxo album, White Light Fever was one of my favourite albums of 2015, sure you could pinpoint the influences, a bit of The Jesus and Mary Chain here, the Velvets there, especially the title and cover,  and Spacemen 3 amongst others but the mix of psychedelia, drone and Shoegaze, (I hate that term but it does fit, better than dreampop anyway) really struck a chord with me which should have been no surprise really.

The band released a further 5 track ep last year, Polarized. Very much mining the same seam as previously but why would you change direction when it sounds as good as this does. Tell Me Something is probably my favourite track. A lazy meandering track to ease your midweek blues.

Rancho Relaxo - Tell Me Something

They Don't Know

Monkey of the Monkeypicks blog posted this on Twitter last week and if it hadn't been for the preview of the Lucid Dream's first forays into Acid House revivalism this would have been the record of the week. An unashamed homage to the northern soul from the men from Tel Aviv who are signed to Acid Jazz. "They Don't Know" is a track from the band's second album "This City" from a couple of years ago. If this doesn't put a smile on your face then you must be even more of a "miserable fucker" than I am.

Do Your Thing

I can't think of a better way to start the week than with an extended slow burning funk groove*. Do Your Thing comes from the soundtrack from the film Shaft,  Although this is credited to Isaac Hayes the real stars of this track are the Memphis Strings & Horns and The Bar-Kays, the interplay between the horns and the wah-wah guitar is absolutely sublime, The track lasts for 19:32 and holds the attention til about the 17 and a half minute mark where it could have ended, I could have edited the last couple of minutes out but I think that it should be heard in it's entirety at least once.

Isaac Hayes - Do Your Thing (album cut)

* or it would have been if it had been posted in the morning

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Listening over and over to the forthcoming Lucid Dream track, which is a problem in itself as I may be sick of it by the time it is actually delivered, but I digress, has whetted my appetite to revisit the Acid House sounds of the late 80s. I loved this time, dancing in fields, going out on a Friday night and not knowing where you would end up or if you would be home in time to make work on the Monday morning, it was such an adventure but the main thing was the music, this strange machine made music that seemed to come from another world and appeared to evolve and change on a weekly basis. It was hard to keep up and even harder and more costly to procure the tracks that you had been moving to like a madman the previous weekend as they were mostly hard to find imports.  Thank god for the compilations on FFRR and the like, yes there were some horrible cash-ins but it was the most economic way to buy the music and you always kept enough to get the absolute belters on sometimes very dubious quality vinyl from Trax and DJ international.

A few years ago Harmless brought out a couple of pretty comprehensive box sets, Acid Rain and Acid Thunder, both compiled by Terry Farley which pulled together a lot of the great Chicago sounds  from the late 80s/early 90s, some absolute classics, some forgotten classics and some obscure sounds that should have been classics.

String Free originally came out on the Chicago label Hotmix 5 in 1988. it is the work of legendary Acid Innovator DJ Pierre, responsible for , in most people's eyes the first ever Acid record, Acid Tracks as Phuture. He is ably assisted on String Free by Daryl Ellis who is responsible for the piano melody that will bore into the back of your brain. The bass line supplied by Herb Jackson. This tune is just so so good.

Two Airdrie games this week, Tuesday night's already re-scheduled game with Alloa Athletic and tomorrow's against Stranraer have been abandoned, unlike my work, to the Siberian weather which has afflicted the UK this week, including the Duke (above).  So no football talk and Airdrie remain in 7th place in the table after last week's three - nil defeat at the hand of Ayr United.

Have a good weekend people.

Phortune - String Free

SX1000

It's good to see that the Lucid Dream are back with new material. It was touch and go for a while as to whether the band were going to have to jack it in when all of their gear was nicked in Paris last year. However fans raised 10 grand for new equipment and the band have been in the studio recording their fourth album. SX1000, the first single to be taken from it sees a bit of a change in direction away from the psych rock of the previous three to a late 80s early 90s Acid House sound, I love it. The single can be pre-ordered here.

Does this mean there is going to be an Acid House revival? I do hope so.

Dogs

I had high hopes for Dogs after I first came across them when they were supporting the Raveonettes at the Wah Wah Hut way back in July 2004, however they got lost in the deluge of landfill indie that was all over the airwaves, Myspace and Last.fm at the time. The debut album Turn Against The Land was a favourite of mine from 2005, full of punchy songs, with sing along lyrics, some memorable hooks, the odd literary reference and excellent vocals from Johnny Cooke. None of which led to any of the four singles from the album doing any damage to the charts even though they had the endorsement of Paul Weller and the muscle of Island records behind them who subsequently dropped them. The second album which was equally as good and contained one of my favourite songs from 2007, Winston Smith, which has featured on the blog a couple of times was release on the independent Weekender label did even less business and the band kind of fizzled out releasing only one further ep in 2010 and a live album in 2016.

Here is one of my favourite tracks from the first album,

Dogs - Red 

The Galaxies IV

I don't normally post both sides of these old garage records as usually tone side is far superior but that's not the case with today's single from that golden year of , you guessed it 1966. I really can't decide which one I prefer and usually play both when I dig out this single. Piccadilly Circus was the second single by the Galaxies IV from Trenton New Jersey and was originally released on the Mohawk label. The song is a cover of an instrumental Rolling Stones  tune, 2120 South Michigan Avenue, with added fuzz guitar. The tune came to the attention of an RCA A&R person who picked it up for a national release. The flip side, Don't Lose Your Mind is a furious slab of garage rock that builds and ends in a great furious freak out. The record did grab the attention of radio stations but unfortunately the listeners were unable to get their hands on the record as it's release was halted by a strike at the pressing plant meaning that only the promo copies and a very few of the release were ever in circulation. The record was eventually repressed last year in a limited run of 200 copies.

The Galaxies IV - Piccadilly Circus 

The Galaxies IV - Don't Lose Your Mind

Freddy Butler

That's When I Need You was a track from Freddy Butler's sole album With A Dab of Soul which was released in 1967 on Kapp records. Someone from the north of England must have bought this album or discovered it while crate digging for something else, as the song from the Detroit singer was booted and I assume found favour with the Rare Soul crew or why would it have been bootlegged anyway. I first heard it when it was included on the flip of the re-release of Voodoo Madamoiselle by September Jones on the Ace/Pied Piper label in 2014.

Freddy Butler - That's When I Need You 

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

On my post after the death of M.E.S. I mentioned that he had embraced dance music in the early 90s so when SA posted Follow The Sun yesterday that was enough to send me raking for Drum Club's remix of Middle Class Revolt from the 1994 album of the same name from 1994. I'm not sure that either of these would have gotten much play in the clubs but both mixes are worth a listen and Ctel will be glad to hear that Smith's contribution to these remixes have been kept to a minimum.

Airdrie are away to Ayr tomorrow and Leo was initially up for going to this game against the team placed second in the league. I say initially, as Stiff suggested that I should mention that we would be standing without cover on the terracing and when I told him this he decided that he was not so keen after all. I may still head down to Somerset Park as I have a wee feeling that we may come back with at least a point. I like many supporters have a new found optimism for the club as everything off the field is looking very positive, something we have not been able to say recently and I think that this has led to some confidence on the pitch as well. The latest good news is our captain Scott Stuart has signed a two year extension which is great news as I was sure that he was for the off. Stiff ever the realist pointed out that this may come to pass but if it does at least the club will get some cash.

Have a good weekend people.

The Fall - Middle Class Revolt (The Drum Club Prozac mix)


The Fall - Middle Class Revolt (The Drum Club Orange In The Mouth mix)

45 Revolutions Per Minute,

If you have any love for well constructed early 80s indie then you need to get on this. It's only taken thirty five years to get the album released and it is bloody gorgeous. It can be purchased here. It is the best thing you will buy this month,  at the very least possibly a lot longer.

Roadrunner

I'm over the water for a couple of days. I don't get to go to Belfast as often as I would like these days but I never relish the walk back to Car Park 1 at Glasgow Airport after the return flight as my bag is twice as heavy as it was when I went out as I have to bring back Club Rock Shandy and Tayto Smokey Bacon crisps for the boys whenever I go over.

Here is a song that I never go any more than a fortnight without playing. I used to think that Roadrunner (Twice) was the best version and for a while it was the 8 minute plus version (Thrice) that was the one for me but it always comes back to (Once), one of the definitive tracks of how it feels to be a teenager.

Not sure why I have an affinity with this song as I didn't have a car or had any inclination to drive one when I was a teenager but I did have the scooter which gave me the same sort of freedom that Richman sings about but without having the "radio on". In the mid 80s the technology did not exist  to listen to the radio while riding along dodging the half bricks and the boy racers trying to run you off the road. A couple of the guys did fit speakers to the front of the glove box of their PXs' and have a tape player inside but it was about as much use when riding as an ashtray on the headset. But the lyrics of Roadrunner nailed that feeling of freedom when driving/riding about just because you could and you had nothing better to do. Plus it's the best Velvets song that the VU never did, although you just couldn't imagine Lou Reed singing about something as mundane as driving.

Laura Barton produced a programme years ago for Radio 4 where she went to Massachusettes and drove Route 128 which was one the best things that has ever been on Radio 4.

Anyway, here are Roadrunner (Once) and (Twice)  and the Youtube of (Thrice) as when I dug out my copy to rip as it wasn't in iTunes,  which was strange, until I put it on the turntable and found out my copy is scratched to fuck and sounds absolutely terrible.

Jonathan Richman - Roadrunner (Once)

The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner (Twice)

God I Love This Song

I don't think that any words are necessary.

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - I Second That Emotion

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

We don't tend to feature the Main room bangers here on a Friday but I dug out this 12" single last week when I was searching for something else. The Mighty Ming by Brother Love Dubs which appears to have gone walkabout. and it sounded really good, a breakdown which for the time was quite novel and a powerful vocal and it didn't sound dated at all. Bedrock consisted of John Digweed and Nick Muir and on For What You Dream Of,  the dulcet tones of Carol Leeming alias K.Y.O. This track was the one that got Digweed noticed and it wouldn't be long, for better or worse, before he was all over the dance scene like a rash, with his mix cds with Sasha. I personally hold them 85% responsible for all the pish that came out in the mid 90s under the trance banner and for dance music retreating up it's own arse. But I do like this.

After a highly entertaining but ultimately pointless excursion to Kirkcaldy to take on Raith Rovers last week, Airdrie are at home to Queen's Park tomorrow. The Spiders are currently sitting 9th in the league and will be desperate for a win to try and get them out of the relegation play-off place and therefore it should be a competitive game. If the Diamonds play as well as they did last week and can find someone to put the ball in the back of the net then they should win but this is the third tier of Scottish football where anything can and often does happen.

Have a good weekend people.

Bedrock feat K.Y.O. - For What You Dream Of

Do You Work Hard?

I was watching the Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E Smith on Saturday night on BBC4 and was trying to compile in my head my top twenty Fall tracks, an impossible task but I know for sure that the mighty "Blindness" would be right up there in my top 5. It was recorded by the incarnation of the Fall that would leave Smith in the middle of a tour of the USA and whom he would later immortalise in the title of the next album,  Reformation Post TLC (Traitors, Liars Cunts). I have 24 versions of  Blindness, which was always absolutely immense live, even if Smith himself was not at his best the gruppe always were. The version posted is from The Last Night At The Hammersmith Palais album during which the Fall had two bass players and two guitarists as the Dudes (the Americans he hired to fill in when Elena and he were left high and dry in the States) were yet to go back to their main gig, their band Darker My Love and also two members of the gruppe who would record the previously mentioned Reformation Lp and would be there from 2006 until, sadly the end last month.

The Fall - Blindness (01-04-2007)

Psychic Lemon

I stumbled across Psychic Lemon a couple of months ago. With a name like that you're bound to be curious aren't you,  a lot more so than if they were named Cabbage anyway. And I was not disappointed long instrumental space rock wig outs, the kind of thing that really floats my boat at the moment. So I took the plunge and ordered their second album, Frequency. Rhythm.  Distortion.  Delay.  on purple splatter vinyl and it has had a fair bit of turntable time and yesterday I had it on on the Ipod while checking site files and it sounded absolutely glorious through the headphones. The album can be purchased here along with the first one on either cd or download which although not quite as good as FRDD it is worth a fiver of anybody's money.

Sad Days, Lonely Nights

Jason Pierce has always had exquisite taste in the songs that he covers. Here he takes an absolute classic bit of the blues by legend Junior Kimbrough,  adds the drone and turns it into a piece of mind bending garage rock. This can be found with some other great covers from the likes of Iggy and The Stooges, The Black Keys and Mark Lanegan amongst other of the late Kimbrough's work on the Fat Possum compilation Sunday Nights that was first released in 2005 and then again a couple of years ago.

Spiritualized - Sad Days Lonely Nights

It's All Over

This is a gorgeous piece of Northern Soul that was big on the scene, especially in Cleethorpes in 1975 making it very nearly a new release, well a couple of years old only. It's All Over was released on the ABC label in 1973 and is one of those tracks that when I got into the music I kind of dismissed as it was not a four to the floor stomper, it's a lot subtler than that. Thank god that my tastes evolved as this is just so so good.

Charles Mann - It's All Over

Lina

I got this 7" single the other week but haven't gotten round to ripping it yet. Nothing remarkable about it, just a lovely piece of  happy, retro pop soul. Not everything has to be groundbreaking and meaningful. As far is I can find out Dip was the only single released by Lina Loi a Texan living in L.A, that's rubbish she has actually released four albums and a wheen of singles most of it that I have clicked on is a little bit too bland for my tastes. . There are a few other things on Youtube like the excellent My Man that is also worth checking out.

Luton!

I'm down in Luton for a couple of days again for my sins. Mixing with the great and the good within my company and hopefully hearing of some new studies coming my way preferably north of the border but we will see. This song and this version in particular always comes into my head after about two hours in the town that spawned the EDL. I hadn't played this for a wee while and had forgotten about the guitar solo which surely raised a few eyebrows or by 1980 were we far enough away from year zero for such things not to matter.

Angelic Upstarts - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place  

Dennis Edwards

Filling the shoes of David Ruffin as lead vocalist in the Temptations must have seemed at the time to be if not an impossible task then at the very least extremely daunting but that is exactly what Dennis Edwards, up until this point the lead singer with The Contours, did on 28th June 1968 the day after Ruffin was sacked by the other four members of the group after not turning up for one two many gigs. And he did it with aplomb.  It must have been a bit of a pisser for the troubled Ruffin to see the Temptations go from strength to strength with Dennis Edwards up front and Norman Whitfield's change in direction with the  new Psychedelic Soul sound for the group. This led to the group winning the first Grammy for Motown for Best R&B Vocal group in 1969 for the absolutely essential Cloud Nine lp where today's track comes from.

Edwards was the lead vocalist with the Temptations for nine years until he was sacked in 1977  by Otis Williams when he embarked upon an unsuccessful solo career. He returned to the Temptations three years later and stayed until 1984 when he re-launched his solo career on Motown with the hit single Don't Look Any Further, later sampled to great effect by Eric B and Rakim.

He continued touring during the 80s and 90s, firstly with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks until their deaths in the early 90s when he toured under the moniker of  "The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards". Which I suspect was not the greatest thing to see as he was the only Temptation in the band.

Edwards sadly died on the 1st February two days short of his 75th birthday.

Dennis Edwards - I Got Find A Way (To Get You Back)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Last week before the sad death of MES I had a couple of further couple of posts with tenuous Pink Floyd links. Thursday's was going to be a cover of Lucifer Sam by Cat's Eyes which after checking back had already been posted a few years ago. I must make clear that last Monday it wasn't my intention to have 4 days of rock dinosaur related posts it was just turning out like that. Anyway I had a belter of a track for Friday, Open Up by Leftfield. Some of you might have clicked by now what Open Up's got to do with Waters, Gilmour, Mason and Wright. The vocals on the track were supplied  by John Lydon, who if I seem to remember had nothing but disparaging comment to make about dance music prior to this collaboration but  he never was one for consistency.  Lydon famously  walked about sporting a Pink Floyd T-shirt that he had sprayed the words "I hate" onto when in the Sex Pistols, so when Weatherall was asked to provide a remix, he subtitled it the "I Hate Pink Floyd mix" which is great but clocking in at 3.54 is more than a little disappointing. Anyway, last year Leftism was 22 years old and as you do when things reach that anniversary you re-release your album with an extra 11 tracks, remixes of the original album.  I'm not sure what they all sound like as that a ripping the pish too far even for me, besides my original triple album is perfectly fine, the Skream remix of Open Up is a belter and if it had been released as a stand alone 12" single I may have been tempted.

Airdrie are away to Forfar tomorrow and so I will not be in attendance. Last Saturday's nil nil draw with Arbroath was possibly the most frustrating game of the season what with dodgy refereeing decisions, Arbroath's Goalkeeper should have been off the park for handling the ball outside the box and the Diamonds inability to turn four great opportunities into even one goal. You wait three years for a goalless drawn and then you get two in two home games. The team are sitting 7th in the league and could do with an away win, Forfar who are two places below also need the win, so the game should be competitive.

Have a good weekend people

Not To Be Confused With

The Shacks are a duo from NYC who I stumbled across a wee while ago. On Follow Me, the singer sounds like a Brooklyn version of Tracyanne Campbell. Echoes of late 60s grooviness and shades of summer. A little early perhaps but we could do with a little sunshine right now. It is availible as a dinked 45, the best kind. But don't be rash like me if in the UK and buy directly from Big Crown as it will cost you half the price from Juno Records.