Happy Birthday Mr Bowie

2012-01-08 by Hal Berstram

David Bowie – John I’m Only Dancing (Again) 1975

Sorry for prolonged absence from this blog… I’ve returned to mark the occasion of David Bowie’s 65th birthday with a little tune from 1975, which (I think) was an outtake from the sessions for Young Americans. It’s essentially a funk remake of the 1972 single “John I’m Only Dancing”, and the basic musical structure was used with different lyrics and an additional main two-chord theme as “Stay” on Bowie’s 1976 Station To Station LP.

“John I’m Only Dancing (Again) 1975” was issued as a single in 1979 (in 7” and 12” versions – the version uploaded here is the 7 inch mix, largely because I didn’t have any mp3 copy of the 12 inch mix to hand, and my old 12 inch single of it is in storage at the moment). The 12” version was also an extra track on the early 90s CD reissues of Bowie’s back catalogue on Rykodisc (sadly the newer EMI reissues don’t have any extra tracks on them). I own it on an early 80s compilation called (strangely enough) “Rare Bowie” from which I might post another oddity soon…) Anyway I am to be more active here this year, so see yon soon.

note: the mp3 file begins with about 5 seconds of silence due to poor editing by me. Sorry.

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New Year Soul (3)

2011-02-09 by The Mighty Alboy

Mayer Hawthorne- “The Ills”

Completing (belatedly) the trio of soul for 2011, is this new school number from Stonesthrow’s Mayer Hawthorne.

Born and raised in Michigan, his sound is rooted in Motown soul. With his falsetto vocals and multiple-instrumental talents, he’s part Smokey, part Curtis and part Stevie, but although he’s real old school, and draws from the same well, he’s got his own style and sensibility too.

I strongly recommend getting his album A Strange Arrangement (see Stonesthrow link below).

He’s also something of a vinyl junkie and purveyor of soul rarities- if you can find it, I also recommend his Soul with a Hole mix.

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New Year Soul (2)

2011-01-10 by The Mighty Alboy

Naomi Shelton and The Gospel Queens – “What Have You Done, My Brother?”

Not much time to write, but wanted to whack this up to keep to my new year’s “once a week, minimum” posting resolution.

Fortunately, this track from Alabama-born gospel veteran Naomi Shelton speaks rousingly for itself- and the pedigree of the artists involved, some of whom performed in the early days with James Brown and Wilson Pickett, is fully evident.

Daptone Records have signed her/them, and the What have you done LP, released in 2009 was their first major release. Get over there and check ‘em out!

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This one goes out to the Pope: welcome to our 3rd world country

2010-09-16 by Hal Berstram

BTSM – (We’ll Arrest You) When You Step Off The Plane

A little something topical for the kids now… those of you not on the Richard Branson space program probably know that the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, is visiting the UK over the next few days.

Last month, three members of the Burning Lodge immersion composition group entered a rehearsal studio in Bermondsey to record a selection of freeform jams, sonic experiments and in-jokes. In other words it was very similar to the recording sessions for Guns’n’Roses’s “Chinese Democracy” album but took about a billionth of the time.

Around 2 and a half hours of material emerged from the sessions – ranging from in the sweet spot to 1-bit unlistenable. This 8-minute effort, excerpted from a longer 34-minute track, was the most topical ‘song’ of the day (with the exception of a track about 25 per cent spending cuts and odes to the late Tony Wilson and Mr Dave Smith, creator of the Evolver synth).

My colleagues Ben and Martin (aka Brothers Buffalo and Sewing Machine) acquit themselves wonderfully. Ben delivers the lyrics with considerable elan: it’s the best delivery since Hunter S Thompson’s story about 1972 presidential candidate George McGovern who went up to a heckler, put his arm round the bastard, and said “I have a secret for you… kiss my ass.”

The music is a fractured groove – a bit messy, but certainly something that could be worked on. I’m particularly proud of the mighty irritating synth arpeggiation that comes in at about 5 minutes in – funky funky. The weird Hawkwind-style background noises are courtesy of the Dave Smith Evolver – a truly untameable beast.

If you want to read a good article about the true purpose of the pope’s visit, Andrew Brown in the Guardian has a go(o)d hypothesis.

I was going to go on the demo this Saturday but not sure if I’ll have enough time. But maybe.

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A combination of the old and the new

2010-04-22 by P Rice

6th Borough Project – Planets

While I’m here, this is a tune I’ve been enjoying recently.

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Campaign tracks (1)

2010-04-14 by Hal Berstram

for the Conservative Party:

Can – Blue Bag (inside paper)

In recognition of the forthcoming UK general election, I thought it would be nice to pick some funky campaign songs for the main parties. First up (for no particular reason), the Tories (for the benefit of non-UK readers of this blog, that is the nickname for the Conservative Party).

I think Can’s “Blue Bag (Inside Paper)”, from their outtakes album Unlimited Edition sums up the Tories’ appeal to the electorate. Once you take away the paper-thin moderate veneer, it’s the same old “blue bag”. I won’t say more than that here, as I’m sure people aren’t reading this blog for a political rant. But feel free to provide one in the comments.

At least three more party-themed songs over the next couple of weeks before polling on May 6th. Kickin’.

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Shatner's Bassoon

2009-07-23 by The Mighty Alboy

Roy Budd – “I Think I’m Being Followed”

Following Squeaker’s Post of Goodbye Carter off Roy Budd’s soundtrack for “Get Carter”, I was reminded of how extremely groovy that soundtrack is, and resolved to check some more Roy Budd soundtracks in the hope of finding some similarly cool music.

This track is off the soundtrack to a sev’s heist movie called Diamonds, and features a nifty bass and strings introduction, followed by a medium heavy samplicious funk break, replete with what sounds like some kind of bassy clarinet, horns, jazz flute and even a harpsichord. Very groovy.

Shame it’s on the short side….

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71 years and still groovin'

2009-05-24 by Hal Berstram

Holger Czukay – Persian Love

This post is as a tribute to the best gig I’ve seen in years – Holger Czukay at the Roundhouse, London on 14 May. It was the best performance I’d ever seen by an artist in the free bus pass age group, and indeed one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by an artist of any age. More details here.

My previous hero in this age group was country star Willie Nelson – largely because Willie had to record an album for the US Internal Revenue Service just because he owed so much unpaid income tax, and also he was busted for possession of mushrooms at age 73. ROCK’N’ROLL! I can’t see Willie Nelson contributing live improvisation over a Schubert string quartet at a gig, though (although I would be pleased to be proved wrong.)

I should say something about the track really… this is from Holger’s 1980 album “Movies” which was a pioneer in fusing Western dance music beats with sounds from “the East” (middle East in this case). “Cool In The Pool” from the same album is better known but I really like this one. One could call it “fusion” except that that particular category is reserved for the frenetic 1970s collision of jazz and rock… I’ve put this in the “funk/weird” category but it defies easy description.

Right, now it’s off to the car boot sale and I may post something that I find there later on (if it’s suitable. Or even better, if it’s not.)

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Papa's got a brand new flu strain

2009-05-03 by Hal Berstram

Pigbag – Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag

The recent outbreak of ‘swine flu’ had me thinking about pig-themed tracks and to be honest, I couldn’t think of many good ones. Pink Floyd’s “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”, despite a welcome dig at Mary Whitehouse, is the weakest track on their Animals lp and the Beatles’ “Piggies” is a similarly duff component of the ridiculously uneven White Album.

Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” is classic heavy metal, but a bit too much for 8.30am on Sunday morning.

And so I was left with Pigbag – a short-lived early 80s British funk outfit who achieved huge success with this single in 1982 before splitting up the year after. The 7” mix of this is reasonably easy to get hold of on umpteen “best of the 80s” compilations, and the reissue of Pigbag’s album Dr Heckle and Mr Jive on BMG in 2000 featured the 7” mix as an extra track. But I’m not sure if the 12” mix is still available elsewhere. Which is a shame, ‘cos it’s great.

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Jungle Dub from 1969!

2009-04-23 by The Double K

Franz Auffray – Sweet Popcorn Part II

I’m not just posting this track because it is so remarkably way ahead of it’s time, but also because it’s a damn funky great listen too.

From a rare & sought-after 1969 psychedelic-funk LP Original Popcorn (although I read somewhere that the recording was actually made in ‘67), here we have breaks that are looped, chopped, twisted and phased in much they same way 90’s Jungle does – putting it around 25 years ahead of its time. Impressive stuff.

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