Hellish week ahead.

Not in a great mood after yesterday's result, so let's hope that the healing power of soul music can help.

Jackie Lee & Dolores Hall - Whether It Is Right Or Wrong

Diamonds ARE Forever

In just under 4 hours the most important football match of the weekend will take place, forget about your Champions League Final or your Scottish Cup, the real drama of the weekend will take place at New Broomfield in Airdrie, where Airdrie United take on Dumbarton in the second leg of the Division Two play-offs. At stake,  a place in the Scottish First Division where the Diamonds rightly deserve to be.

Airdrie go into this match with a slight disadvantage; we are two one down from the first leg but both Stiff and myself are confident that we can overcome this position and win the match (that's just put the death knell on any chance the team had!).

I sort of fell out of love with football in 2002, when David Murray called in a debt which put Airdrieonians out of business at the time Murray said :

“I apologise to Airdrie’s supporters but something had to be done about this debt. Business is business and Carnegie Sports also have wages to pay,”

I hope the irony of that statement isn't lost on the true blue loyal who have found themselves in a similar situation recently.

Airdrie rose again in the form of Airdrie Utd after the Chairman bought over another club in financial trouble,  Clydebank and relocated them to Airdrie and changed the name. But I just couldn't get that enthusiastic about the team and only ever went to the ocassional match but still checked the results every Saturday night.

But that is all history now, as over the last six months of taking Max to the home matches my passion for the team and football in general has been re-ignited and as I type this I find myself as nervous and excited by the prospect of today's game as I was when my team played Rangers and Celtic in two Scottish Cup finals in the nineties or when subsequent to the Rangers final my dad and I found ourselves walking down Gartlea Hill to the sight of the UEFA flag flying above Broomfield when we took on Sparta Prague in the Cup Winners Cup.

So if you are at a loss for something to do today and fancy some drama and 'real' football tune in to BBC Alba at 4pm and cheer on the Diamonds.

Arctic Monkeys - Diamonds Are Forever (Live At Glastonbury)

Update 
We got royally humped. Second Division football again next season.

The Beautiful Music.Com

Around the middle of October last year I received an email from a guy called Wally on the back of the Roddy Frame review I had posted. He said that he ran a small independent label in Canada and had an artist on the label Armstrong, who if I liked Roddy Frame I may be interested in and if so he would send me a copy of the Armstrong cd to listen to.

A few weeks later I received a package from Canada that contained a plethora of releases from the label including two cds from Armstrong, Skytone,  Roy Moller and the recent release by Dot Dash that I know Swiss Adam and Ed over at 17 Seconds had reviewed.

The Armstrong cds were good but really not for me as in my opinion it was to close to Roddy Frame which kind of put me off. Don't get me wrong the songs were good and not a simple pastiche of Frame's material but when listening to the cd I had the overwhelming urge to take it off and listen to Surf or Frestonia.

Also included in Wally's package were three cds which really interested me. These cds are part of what can only be termed as a labour of love -

" to gather some of the greatest names in music to record for a label so small that it is practically non-existent and convince them to cover one of your favourite songs by one of your all time favourite bands . . . a 10 volume tribute to the Television Personalities to be released over the course of the next ten years and to feature some 200 covers of TVP songs both old and new."


I first became aware of the TV Personalities when I was about fourteen or fifteen. A couple of friends older brothers, the ones with the quiffs, that got their gear from Flip and talked about The Velvet Underground and Josef K were into the TV Personalities. But when I listened to the the music, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, to me the music was under produced which I suppose was part of the charm for some and the singer's voice really got on my nerves, so I never got into them but loved the covers!

In my mid twenties I tried again to get into them, when somebody gave me a couple of singles and I bought a compilation cd but sadly I still didn't get it and to this day after buying a few other things I still don't. I do however, recognise Daniel Treacy as a good/great lyricist and have often wondered how something like If I Could Write Poetry or The Prettiest Girl In The World would sound performed by say David Gedge or Roddy Frame. For this reason I was intrigued by these cds and although, neither Gedge or Frame appear in the series so far and most of the bands are not household names I have listened to the cds a fair bit and have gained a different perspective on the music of the TVPs.

If you are a fan of The Television Personalities then you will be interested to hear how contemporaries of Treacy such as Nikki Sudden and Duglas T Stewart interpret the songs they have chosen. But if you have never heard of Treacy or the band and have the most fleeting interest in leftfield music you will find plenty in these cd to hold your attention and possible jump around the room like an edjit to.

Even if you have no interest in The Television Personalities tribute check out www.thebeautfulmusic.com as you will probably find something there that you will like, if you like the music posted on here.

Semion - The Prettiest Girl In The World

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Twenty years ago if I was out clubbing I would be found at The Arches or occasionally the Sub Club. There was as much chance of me going to the likes of Resurrection or Fantasia as there was me going to see Take That. All that turbo nutter stuff was not for me. Did fancy going to one Street Rave Do at Prestwick Airport for the sheer novelty value.

So,  I haven't a clue where I first heard Let Me Be Your Fantasy. Probably from one of my cheesy quaver friends who did frequent clubs specialising in the madder end of dance culture. It was one of the few hardcore tracks that I heard and did not dismiss instantly as rubbish. Don't know what it is about the track but like Sweet Harmony it has the piano sample and the breakbeats, so maybe I was a closet breakbeat fan and didn't realise it.

The track was released on the  Production House label and was remixed by Acen, a mix I'm not aware of ever hearing but imagine will be even more hardcore than the original. It was bastardised and re-released in 2000 in a Garage stylee which is absolutely pish and should be avoided at all costs.

Have a good weekend people

Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy

Sweeping The Nation

Here's a track I featured way back in the early days of the blog. Then I was looking for a little bit of positivity at a time when all was doom and gloom, how things stay the same eh?

Sweeping The Nation was released in 1997 and first came to my attention due to the rather effective use of a sample from Dobie Gray's Out On The Floor Tonight but the song as a whole is a rather splendid piece of pop.

Spearmint - Sweeping The Nation

Welt Am Draht

Here's a bit of upbeat, minimal techno. Yes I know minimal techno is not renowned for being upbeat. But Hendrik Weber doesn't really conform to the rules. I'm not sure if Welt Am Draht was inspired by the Fassbinder film of the same title; not having seen the film or even knowing of it's existence until I just googled the phrase, in translation it is World on a Wire by the way.

The track comes from the third album, Black Noise released on Rough Trade a couple of years ago.

Pantha Du Prince - Welt Am Draht

Another Brilliant Deadboy Remix

This is magic

Come See About Me

Let's kick of the week with a lovely version of a Holland-Dosier-Holland song better know in it's Supremes version.

Nella Dodds interpretation came out on the Wand label in 1964 and is as good as the better known version.

Nella Dodds - Come See About Me

Donald "Duck" Dunn RIP

Sad news

Booker T & The MGs - Time Is Tight

Daydreaming

A few weeks ago I confessed that I wasn't really up on my UK Garage but posted a track by Paleface featuring Kyla that I really liked. Since then I have investigated a little and to be honest still don't know that much about the genre but have decided that I really quite like Kyla.

So here is the follow-up to Do You Mind which I think is actually better.

Kyla - Daydreaming (extended mix)

Koolaid (Global Tyranny)

This is another of those records that I decided to take a punt on after reading a review of the album somewhere as I had never heard of the band..

The review went as follows -

"So, we get a tape of this in the post, yes, a tape, and thought it was pretty wild, then heard nothing...then we get a CDR, well two of them, some mix cassette, and a CD containing some OTT modern day Pop Art sleeve design that is retina rubbling!....with a scrawled note claiming, "when you put the record out, you have to limit it to 500 LPs with a bonus free CD version that has a different mix of the music on it, NO Downloads whatsoever, and while your are at it, make some giveaway cassettes up of the mixtape we sent to go with it, and the sleeve has to be wrap-around, like it could be a poster, on thicker card too, full colour mind!...we are Koolaid (Global Tyranny) on this record...send us some copies when its done".

So with no mention of what the music would be like I decided that I would take a chance on it and am very glad that I did so. I'm not sure how to describe the music, my first thoughts were that it was a more fucked up and trippy version of the Fuck Buttons with the layering of noise and samples but that doesn't really do the sound justice as that just covers the first track I think for the most part it is like not much else that I own but has lots of elements of other stuff all mashed together.  There is a live feel to the recording, I may be totally wrong but I get the kind of feeling that this was put down in one take.

I have been unable to find out much more about Koolaid (Global Tyrany) which I suppose doesn't really matter when the sounds are as good as they are. Although any info would be appreciated

Worth checking out.

Kool Aid (Global Tyranny) - Intercity Firm (vinyl mix)

It's Friday (only just) . . . Let's Dance

As I've just been reminded on Twitter it's Friday. Apologies for the tardiness of this post, actually wasn't going to bother due to full on week and being in Birmingham yesterday and today but here you go.

Here is a cover version of an Eagles song from 1990 which used to make all of dudes in double denim in the pub where I worked incandescent with rage when I used to put it on. For that reason alone I loved it along with a rather dodgy version of You Can't Always Get What You Want by Roman. But I actually think that it is a rather good track and there are also a couple of really good Orb remixes.

Have a good weekend people.

Jam On The Mutha - Hotel California (Ibiza 90mix)

Just Because . , ,

. . . I am wallowing in the glorious noise that is Psychocandy and the pure pop of Darklands at the moment. Two absolutely brilliant albums that have stood the test of time. I really loved the Mary Chain back then.

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Cherry Came Too

F

Love and Desire

Here is one of my favourite female sung northern tracks. Patrice's sister Brenda is probably better known but this 1966, Capitol release is as good as anything Brenda recorded, well everything apart from Think It Over (Before You Break My Heart) of course and Every Little Bit Hurts.

Patrice Holloway - Love and Desire

Move On Up

It's a bank holiday Monday so you all have some time to spare. I can't think of a better way to spend eight and a half minutes than listening to the sweet vocals, bright brass and funky guitar of Move On Up.

Apologies to those of you working today. I'm off to Kelvingrove Art Gallery with the family and maybe a wee visit to Oxfam Music and then Heart Of Buchanan on Byres Rd. But we won't mention that to L just yet!

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up

Some People Say

Here's a lovely piece of winsome indiepop to brighten up your Sunday. Not that it needs brightening up, up here the sun is shining for a change.

Some People Say is lifted from Europe,  the second album by Allo Darlin'. This release is stylishly much the same as the debut but has a kind of sadder,  ever so slightly darker and dare I say it,  less twee feel to it than it's predecessor. Another very good album released last month.

Allo Darlin' - Some People Say

Jenny Ondioline

I have a somewhat ambivalent relationship with Stereolab some of their stuff I think is absolutely wonderful but a lot of the time I find their output to be rather self indulgent footerings that go nowhere and does nothing for me. None of which ever stopped me from buying their albums as there was always at least two or three tracks which made them worth buying. And seeing them live which was always very entertaining.

Stereolab - Jenny Ondioline

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Let us return to the days of boilersuits, glow sticks, Vicks and all things mental.

N-Joi had been making and performing music at underground Raves for a couple of years before they decided that what they needed was a front women to basically mime all of the diverse vocal samples for their next single and so they were joined by Saffron or Samantha Sprackling to the folk she went to school with, either that or she sounded just like Gwen Guthrie on some of the vocals and a couple of completely different singers at other points on the track. Anyway sod all like she did in Republica.

I still love this track although it does sound a bit tame now.

Have a good weekend, people.

N-Joi - Anthem

Hollie Cook

It's been quite a good month for new albums what with Spiritualized, Alabama Shakes and Nick Waterhouse just to name three.

Here's a track from an album that I bought on the strength of the cover and just to hear a dub of a Reggae version of Walking In The Sand and I'm very glad I did as the whole album is excellent.

Hollie Cook's debut album was released last summer and was championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq. A couple of weeks ago the companion piece Prince Fatty presents Hollie Cook 'In Dub' was released which does exactly what it says in the title, turning the almost pop Reggae original tracks in to late night listening that King Tubby would have been proud to have produced.

Oh and Hollie has a famous dad who has been recently carrying out drumming duties for Edwyn Collins and a member of an influential punk band.

Hollie Cook - Walking In The Sand Dub.

Eighties Fan

I should be in Luton today but due to a last minute decision to hold the meeting by WebEx I'm actually at home, not needing to get the stupid o'clock flight down and the even more ridiculously timed flight home, So I have reasons to be cheerful this morning as it looks as though this will be the norm going forward. Ya Dancer!

In light of this here is a not too miserable track by Camera Obscura originally released as a single in 2001.

Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan

btw - don't know why some files aren't transferring to MP3 in iTunes, sorry.