Sharia Don't Like It, But Then There Is No Accounting For Taste

I am starting to get a bit of demob fever and I still have, officially, 2 days left to work. This evening I have been listening to old tunes which get me in the party spirit and I suspect that nothing except more upbeat, dancey tunes will feature around here for the next week or so.

Thee first time I heard Mustapha Dance, would probably have been in the Mudd Club in Aberdeen around 1987, it was certainly Aberdeen. I thought that somebody had remixed the Clash, as in 1982  I didn't buy 12" singles and neither did anybody else I knew, so I was unaware that the track had been the b-side of Rock The Casbah, a single which I had bought but to be truthful was never that fond of. From the singles released from Combat Rock I much prefer straight to hell.

But this dubby, dancey,  b-side mix is a different story I love it and it always gets me in the mood for a good jig although there won't be much chance of that this Christmas. The reality will be more like me spending my days helping M build Lego creations. Still there is the prospect of playing with a rather large Millenium Falcon to look forward to.

The Clash - Mustapha  Dance

Oh, Okay Then

Just for chocolategirl64

Amazon II - King Of The Beats

From This Day On

I was first introduced to the song posted today when it was used in Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow's live mix of exclusively 7 inch singles, Brainfreeze.  Being a lover of all things Shadow I searched for the cd everywhere, eventually tracking down  a copy in Fopp on Cockburn Street of all places. After considerable research ie looking up Wikki,  I have ascertained that my copy is in fact one of 1000 repressed bootlegs which were sold to local record shops in California, so how a copy wound its way to Edinburgh is anyone's guess..

The cd is a mix of mainly old soul and R&B records, more than a few of which I had never heard of before and which I had great difficulty in identifying as there was no track listing.

A couple of months later I came across a cd called Brainfreeze Breaks in the same shop. Someone had the clever idea of compiling a cd with 26 of the tracks in the mix, in complete form and releasing it, illegally I think, which begs the question as to why it was on the shelves in Fopp.  This is when I learned that the outstanding song for me on the mix was called From This Day On by Eddie Bo.

Eddie Bo was a musician from New Orleans, whose career started in 1955. Over the years he recorded for over forty labels, knocks the Fall into the shade. He was so popular in his hometown, that the Mayor Of New Orleans decreed May 22nd 1997 "Eddie Bo day".

Bo died of a heart attack on March 18th this year.

Eddie Bo - From This Day On

And The Christmas #1 2009 Goes To . . .

SONY BMG

Congratulations,  all those who paid their 79 pence to stick it to the Man. Feel happy, satisfied in the knowledge that you helped to more than double the profits that Sony thought they would make off of the Christmas number 1?

Still, we have a song with the word fuck in the lyrics at number one, radical!

Merry Christmas

Chumbawamba - Revolution (HMV side)

Chumbawamba - Revolution ( Fence side)

Just Because . . .

I think that this is the finest thing that Paul Weller ever wrote, tucked away on side two track three of The Jam's second album This Is The Modern World. I have no explanation why I like this more than say Down At The Tubestation, Going Underground or That's Entertainmet, I just do. Every time I hear the opening bars I get goose pimples and I never get sick of hearing it.

The Jam - I Need You (For Someone)

Last Festive Tunes, I Promise

Here we have a couple of festive tracks that I've not seen posted anywhere and I really like.

Weather Update - Mental snow up hear with thunder & lightning. Supposed to be going to friends for dinner tonight but they live in the back of beyond, the chances are looking slim at the moment.

Klaus Says Buy The Record & Josie Vanders - Winter Wear

The Wedding Present - Holly Jolly Hollywood

Wasn't I Your Babysitter?

Sitting in the dentist yesterday morning, I was asked "Are you . . . ., I used to babysit you?" Very strange moment. I thought that I recognised the girl opposite when I walked in but couldn't place her. It must have been nearly twenty years since I last saw her.

Back then I had just turned a teenager I had a major crush on her for a good couple of years.

Jesse Malin - Wendy

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

I've been in a bit  of a dilemma over this Friday's post. It being Christmas party season, (L is away to another one tonight), do I post a banging house track which hopefully people will like or do I go for something cheesy which will definitely put a smile of folks coupons? Or play it straight with an out and out northern dancer.

I really couldn't decide, so I've decided to give you a choice, well it is Christmas after all.

Firstly, a bit of cheese. This is another of those Oxfam Music finds. It is a white label in a plain white sleeve, with the words "Kenny Dope Gonzalez mix of Shirley Bassey Light My Fire, Tune!!!" scrawled on it. I got it home and played the Gonzalez mix, which is good but the belter is on the other side. Not beingt hat familiar with Dame Shirl's back catalogue I consulted the oracle that is Discogs where I discovered the song is called Where Do I Begin and the remix is by The Away Team, echoes of The Day Before You Came for me.

Shirley Bassey - Where Do I Begin (Away Team mix)

Track two is by Jersey Street and was released on the Glasgow Underground label in 2001. An absolute stormer of a deep house tracks with great horns, for some reason it reminds me of the Ballistic Brothers

Jersey Street - Born Again (classic vocal)

To finish with we have a track which is up there with the best northern soul tracks ever. Number 34 in the Northern Soul Top 500. If you've heard it and can't quite place it, it was used last year in a slightly bastardised version in an ad for a credit card. Here it is in its original, should not be tampered with form.

Don Thomas - Come On Train

Now it Feels Like Christmas!

We've had about 4 inches of snow here today which is still lying, yipee.

I took the day off, went into Glasgow and finished my Christmas shopping. I am now in the festive spirit and thus will post probably the most miserable seasonal song I own. I have a certain Mr Peel to thank for bringing this song to my attention quite a few years ago now. One night while I was wrapping presents he played this and I got over emotional, it must have been the rum.

BTW - Has anyone tried Crabbies Alcoholic Ginger Beer?  It is the business.

Okkervil River - Listening to Otis Redding At Home During Christmas

Allo Darlin' - New Single

Elizabeth Morris first came to my attention nearly 2 years ago with her brilliant rendition of You Shook Me All Night Long which unfortunately I was too slow off the mark to acquire a copy of, since then there have been a couple of releases and another great cover, this time of Atlantic City for a Springsteen tribute album earlier this year.

Anyway, her band Allo Darlin' have just released a new single as a free download, which is well worth a listen to, in fact it is worth forking out the 3 quid for it on 7" as well.

http://www.fortunapop.com/

Raveonettes Again

Saw the Raveonettes last night and again they did not fail to meet expectations. The sound was great although due to the venue not quite as loud as usual. I'm still in two minds over the ABC 2 as a venue, after a good few years, sometimes I quite like it, for example when I saw Isobel Campbell there, it was great as I had a seat. However when the music,  like last night is that bit heavier it sort of loses something when the place isn't quite as closed in as King Tut's. One good thing for oldsters like myself is the fact that the main band comes on at 8:30pm a whole 2 hrs before the Wah Wah Hut, meaning you get to your bed at a reasonable hour on a school night.

My fears as far as the live Raveonettes experience losing its bite due to the poppier direction of the new album were unfounded. All of the tracks were still drenched in the reverb and distortion of old. There wasn't a great deal of reliance on the the new material with  tracks spanning all the albums and the first ep being present; including Bowels of the Beast, the first time i've ever heard that track live.

I really like the sound of new line up made, especially the extremely primal Moe Tucker style drumming. A couple of tunes including Little Animals had a really bizarre arrangement, just vocal and extremely distorted guitar which just about worked. My only gripe about it being that the show was too short running at just under an hour and another 10 mins of encores. It is not as if they are lacking in material these days.

Still can't complain too much as got a set of rather fetching Raveonettes mugs from the merchandise stall where I was served by the very lovely Sharin herself.

Walking up Sauchiehall Street, Stiff remarked that we must be getting old, he never thought he would see the day that we would buy souvenir mugs at a concert and be chuffed about the purchase. Changed days indeed.

The Raveonettes - Ode To L.A.

The Raveonettes - Get Lost

Apologies.

It seems that I may have been a little hasty and jumped to some misguided conclusions on my last post regarding the culprit of the complaint to boxnet over my posting of the Withered Hand track. I own Dan an apology, as he was unaware of this blog's existence so was not in a position to complain. I also received rather a nice email from Ed at SL Records, Withered Hand's label, saying that they were happy for me to post the material.

I apologize to Dan unreservedly for jumping to conclusions.

If you haven't already done so, you owe it to yourself to buy the Withered Hand album, it can be purchased here.

I Am Kloot - Proof

Copyright Infringement Again

Seems like Dan from Withered Hand objects to me posting Oldsmobile Car, fair do's really, if I had been informed of this I would have pulled the track right away and apologized most profusley, however I was mailed by  Boxnet, stating that I was in copyright infringement as someone had complained which I suppose is also fair enough, however it may have been a little more civil to have emailed me direct.

No tune or picture as I'm presently in Manchester.

Joe Gibbs

Here is a little bit of dub to brighten up and hopefully warm you up if the weather where you are is anything like what it's been here over the weekend, still could be worse could be in the Mid-West of the States.

Joe Gibbs was an influential Jamaican producer, who started off working with Lee Perry in 1967 until Perry left to start his own Upsetter label. Gibbs was responsible for many rocksteady productions during the early 70's.

In 1973 he released the first of his African Dub series of albums with his in-house band The Professionals which included Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare . A further 3 albums followed in the series. Both tracks posted are taken from these albums.

The first track is from Chapter Two and is a remake of a track by Alton Ellis called I'm Still In love and was later used as the backing to a major hit single.

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - Angola Crisis

The second track is from Chapter 3 and is a remake of Rockfort Rock by Sound Dimension.

Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - Dub Three

Random

L had the girls up for the yearly cack factor final party last night.  For someone who saw the Smiths in the early days, was right into Nirvana and has a very good taste in music, the Killers being an exception, she really has got an unfathomable interest in such pish.

I went out for a few pints with my mate and the two of us moaned about the music, we moaned about the pubs and how they weren't like they used to be etc etc. For years people have been telling me that I'm turning into Victor Meldrew but I just didn't believe it. Unfortunately I think it may be true.

This tune was running through my head all evening.

The Rolling Stones -  Waiting For A Friend.

Mr Pharmacist

If there is one thing that MES likes doing, it's covering, some would say murdering other peoples songs. Everything from rockabilly to heavy metal  to disco is up for grabs. Some of the time it is just a godawful mess for example White Line Fever; more often than not, the re-interpretations are at least interesting if not wholly enjoyable. The list of diverse artists the Fall have covered include, Deep Purple, Gene Vincent, Franki Valli and William Blake.

The Other Half were a psych-rock band from, where else but Southern California who formed in the mid 60s and released one eponymous album in 1968. The track Mr Pharmacist was released as a single that year on GNP Crescendo Records and was later picked up and included on one of the Nuggets lps in the 80s.

The Fall recorded it for the Bend Sinister album and also released it as a single in 1986 and got to the heady heights of number 75 in the charts. I remember this and the gruppe's cover of There's A Ghost In My House being played at many a scooter dance around 86 - 88 both being tracks that could be slammed to.

The Other Half - Mr Pharmacist

And for those who haven't heard it, the pretty faithful cover version.

The Fall - Mr Pharmacist

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Today's track comes courtesy of my latest haul from Oxfam music on Byres Road. Somebody had obviously got sick and tired of the sounds of Mu as there was a job lot of mint KLF twelves all going for a song at 99p each. So I treated myself to 3 that I didn't already have.

There is not a lot for me to add to the myths/facts already published elsewhere regarding the inventors of "Stadium House".

3 AM Eternal was the second single from the KLF and originally came out in 1989, can you believe that it was 20 years ago! The version posted comes from the 1990 remix 12inch and is mixed by the Moody Boys (Tony Thorpe)and is typically spaced out and dubby,  not a million miles away from something the Orb would produce.

KLF - 3A.M. Eternal (Wayward Dub Version)

Not bad for under a quid.

Only Lies

We continue on the northern soul vibe with a single that,  had it been discovered at the height of the scene's popularity in the mid to late 70's would have been a monster due to the stomping beat and incredibly powerful vocal . However the fact that it only came to light in the early 90's means that although popular with those that have heard it, the tune has yet to get the recognition it deserves.

Only Lies by Reatha Reese was released on the Dot label and is as rare as hens teeth as only a few copies have surfaced. I recently saw a copy going for £450. So if by chance you ever see a copy do not hesitate.

I can find out absolutely nothing about Reatha. This single seems to be the only thing she has released which is a pity and a waste of a voice like that.

Reatha Reese - Only Lies

Drew's Concession to Christmas Songs

Contrary to popular belief at my work and amongst my friends I'm not against Christmas songs, I love the Phil Spector Christmas Album, and yes the man is a lunatic and murderer but still produced some amazing music, I'm not making excuses for him but I will still listen to the music but I digress. I just hate the ubiquity of Christmas music, it is fucking everywhere, shops, cafes even piped down our main street on speakers from lamp posts and most of the time not even the original or very good cover versions of the songs but this decade's equivalent of Top Of The Pops does Christmas album, those of you who grew up in the 70s will know what I'm talking about.

The other day over at 17 Seconds, Ed posted my favourite all time festive tune, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Darlene Love,  some rather good covers and also a version by Bonzo and the other 3, that I have not heard and will try to avoid at all costs as I already have enough against the self righteous, short arsed, stupid hat and sunglasses indoor wearing git to be going on with.

I remember last year being excited by the prospect of the Raveonettes covering Baby Please Come Home, I thought that if anyone apart from the Jesus and Mary Chain could do the song justice then it would be them. I was rather disappointed with the lackluster result, judge for yourself but it falls a bit flat to these ears.

The Raveonettes - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

My second favourite christmas song

Tom Waits - Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis

something a bit thought provoking

Simon & Garfunkel - 7 O'clock News, Silent Night

and some nonsense and brilliance from the Fall

The Fall - Jingle Bell Rock

The Fall - (We Wish You) A Protein Christmas

Come Go With Me

I'm back on a soul tip this week, after digging out Frank Beverley last week I have been listening to a lot of the stuff. It had taken a back seat here recently.

Here is Gloria Jones, who is probably best known for Tainted Love, which until recently I didn't realize that she recorded when she was only 18. The track posted today is the title track from her 1966 album recorded for the Uptown label and was originally recorded by the doo-wop group the Del Vikings.

Gloria Jones - Come Go With Me

Thanks to both Davy H and Danny for putting me on to 2 brilliant versions of the song Giving Up which was sampled on yesterday's post. The versions are by the Ad-Libs and Gladys Knight & The Pips.