"A Few Faves From 1979 - 1981 ..."

Hello friends,

long time no see, ey? Hope you have all been alright. Me? Well, having run out of bright ideas, really, that's the plain and simple truth behind the hiatus of this blog ... and if you think this status has now been rectified, you'll be dead wrong! Thing is, our friend Brian commented on a comment I left, saying he'd appreciate another go here at Sexyloser, and as his will is my command, I tried to think of a little bit to post here for him ... and for the other four of you rest of you as well, of course. I'm afraid though it's nothing spectacular, no revolutionary new idea, it's just some songs from 1979 - 1981 I really like. They're from 1979 - 1981 because over the years I found that especially this period provided us with some really fantastic tunes, punk was dead and wave just came into being. Perhaps it was a perfect time for something new, who knows? I don't and I certainly won't even try to explain why it is that I like the songs from this era so much.

The bulk of them are rather uncommon and you might not know them by heart, but I always think: "if even one of those blighters hears something for the first time on this site, and he really likes it, then this has made my day and I'm a happy chap, 'cos that's all I want". Of course there are some songs you know - or should know if you have at least some taste - being included 'cos I know how important it is to offer something with some recognition value as well. Yes, I know how easily pissed off you all are!

But what makes this compilation so worthy is, at least in my humble opinion, the tunes that you don't hear all that often, some real killers are included, if you ask me. Another worthy aspect is that you get quantity for your money today, 'cos - as we all know - size DOES count (and it's only lads with very small penises who tell you otherwise!). Enough of that, enjoy, friends (links to be found behind the title numbers, but you knew that all along, right?):

01 - Blondie - 'Die Young Stay Pretty' (live in the Apollo, Glasgow 31.12.79)
02 - Marching Girls - 'True Love' ('80)
03 - Laurel Aitken - 'Rudi Got Married' (Peel Session '80)
04 - Undertones - 'Rock 'n' Roll' (Peel Session Version '80)
05 - Damned - 'Billy Bad Breaks' ('81)
06 - Jags -  'Back Of My Hand' ('79)
07 - Silicon Teens - 'Memphis Tennessee' ('80)
08 - Any Trouble - 'Second Choice' ('80)
09 - Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died ('80)
10 - Monochrome Set - 'He's Frank' ('79)
11 - Dr. Feelgood - 'No Mo Do Yakamo' ('80)
12 - Mental As Anything - 'The Nips Are Getting Bigger' ('79)
13 - Cockney Rejects - 'Power And The Glory' ('81)
14 - Toy Dolls - Tommy Kowey's Car ('80)
15 - Arthur Kay and The Originals - 'Play My Record' ('80)
16 - Moondogs - 'Ya Don´t Do Ya' ('79)
17 - Buzzcocks - 'You Say You Don't Love Me' ('79)
18 - Smirks - 'To You' ('79)
19 - Akrylyks - 'Spyderman' ('80)
20 - Sussed - 'I've Got Me Parka' ('80)
21 - Golinksi Brothers - 'Bloody' ('80)
22 - Approved Men - 'Quite Like You' ('80)
23 - TV21 - 'On The Run' ('81)
24 - Monitors - 'Telegram' ('79)
25 - Girls At Our Best -  'Getting Nowhere Fast' ('80)
26 - Letters - 'Nobody Loves Me' ('80)
27 - Vibrators - 'Judy Says' ('79)
28 - Raincoats - 'Lola' ('79)
29 - New York Gong - 'Much Too Old' ('79)
30 - Tearjerkers - 'Love Affair' ('79)
31 - They Must Be Russians - 'Don't Try To Cure Yourself' ('80)
32 - Bodysnatchers - 'Ruder Than You' ('80)
33 - Freshies - 'I'm In Love With The Girl On The Virgin Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk' ('80)
34 - Pink Boyz - 'Put Your Hands On The Radio' ('79)
35 - Beat - 'Jackpot' ('80)
36 - Boys - 'Poor Little Rich Girl' ('80)
37 - Invaders - 'Best Thing I Ever Did' ('79)
38 - Notsensibles - '(I'm In Love With) Margaret Thatcher' ('79)
39 - Merton Parkas - 'Face In The Crowd' ('79)
40 - Selecter - 'The Whisper' ('80)
41 - Chords - 'Maybe Tomorrow' ('80)
42 - Xdreamysts - 'I Dont Wanna Go' ('80)
43 - Outcasts - 'Self Conscious Over You' ('79)
44 - Glass Torpedoes - 'Morning, Noon And Night' ('79)
45 - Television Personalities - 'Geoffrey Ingram' ('81)
46 - Leyton Buzzards - 'Saturday Night Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees' ('79)
47 - Department S - 'Is Vic There' (French Version '80)
48 - Fay Ray - Family Affairs ('81)
49 - Photos - 'I'm So Attractive' ('79)
50 - Slickee Boys - 'Gotta Tell Me Why' ('79)
51 - Radio Stars  - 'No Russians In Russia' ('79)
52 - Wipers - 'Mystery' ('79)
53 - Garage Class - 'Terminal Tokyo' ('80)
54 - Motels -'Total Control' ('79)
55 - Wire - 'Map Ref. 41N 93W' ('79)
56 - Vapors - 'Spring Collection' ('80)
57 - Embryo - 'I'm Different' ('80)
58 - Peter Dayton Band - 'Perfect Wave' ('81)

Now, that was fun, wasn't it? If it was, I would appreciate a comment or two, would be really nice, you see ...

And if you're interested, I'll make up one of those mixes for you, but not tonight, tomorrow evening perhaps. Just let me know ...

Take good care,

Dirk













































 

"This Year's List"

Good day to you, friends!

yes, everyone's doing it, so why can't I, I wondered! Well, the answer is rather simple: I can't do a list of my favorite songs released in 2015, because I'm so far behind in this game that I wouldn't be able to present it before 2017 or thereabouts! I have listened to some new stuff, yes, but only a handful of songs really convinced me. As for the rest, I always tend to rely on your impressive lists, which shows what a lazy bastard I am! The thing is, year ends today and so far I've only briefly gone through Brian's list in its entirety and I've downloaded parts of Walter's list, but the rest of your lists will have to follow. But I haven't found the time to listen to any of these tunes closely so far, although I'm confident they all are wonderful.

So, to cut a long story short: what you will get today is a list of songs I downloaded for various reasons within 2015, although the bulk of them is dead old!!

Reasons why I wanted to have these tunes on my computer were many: some of them I used to have on vinyl, some of them I still have on vinyl but can't be arsed to rip them, some of them I always wanted to have but never got me hands on them so far, some of them I never heard of and just discovered them within last year, some of them I nearly forgot about and thought it would be neat to have them again.

When flickering through them last evening, I thought to myself: hold on, why not do another one of those boring mixes again whilst enjoying the rest of the bottle of Portuguese red, not too much of an effort, isn't it?

And so there you are, in my list of 2015 I have for you a few songs which were indeed released this year (# 01, # 27), including one of the best records in the history of the whole world ever (# 12), two songs The Clash apparently approved of (# 10, # 11), a handful of nice covers (# 05, # 06,  # 13, # 25, # 26), some old punk stuff you don't hear all too often (# 21, # 23), some old punk stuff you hear often enough but has stood the test of time, at least I think it has (# 16, # 19), some tunes new to me - most probably nicked from sites from all of the four readers of this blog, as a matter of fact - (# 02, # 03, # 04, # 07, # 14, # 17), a lot of tunes I knew all along, but am now glad to have in more or less decent mp3-quality (# 08, # 09, #15, # 18, #22), The Raveonettes, because I slacked them off last week and Drew - rightly - complained (# 24), a little bit of Ska (# 20) and a tune with a fitting title to end this mix and sentence (# 28):

I do hope some of you enjoy this compilation. Links to the specific songs are hidden in the brackets above and the aforementioned mix is here.

So, have fun, enjoy whatever your plans may be for tonight and  - most importantly - please stay healthy, so that you can provide me with tons of good stuff and the usual rants within 2016!!

Take good care and have a wonderful New Year!

Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 12"

Good morning,

yes, you made it, congratulations! The final installment in this series and what a gem I have for you today: really, if you don't simply love this song, then something is seriously wrong with you!

Low come from Minnesota and Minnesotans know a thing or two about harsh winters – and perhaps that’s why this song, while containing the requisite amount of jingle bells, has a decidedly weary quality to it. At its heart it’s very sweet, being about one of those little shared moments that make you feel Christmassy, even though everything around you is telling you otherwise.

And that's exactly why you should listen to it closely .... and fall in love with it. Now!

mp3: Low - 'Just Like Christmas' ('99)

Alright, I hope you enjoyed one or two of my choices. I certainly did. But more than that I hope you had a fantastic Christmas and I hope to find you all back in healthy form in 2016!

Take good care, my friends,

Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 11"

 

Good morning again, friends,

Day 11, and I can imagine that the vast majority of you will be fighting with a nice little hangover after yesterday's Christmas bash or will already be on their way to visit their aunts and uncles in the sunny Midlands or something along those similar lines!

If so, you'll miss another catchy little Christmas tune, for sure:

mp3: E - 'Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas'

That's 'E' out of the Eels, of course, but you'll have spotted that already. From 1998.

I do hope the title of this song is true for all of you and that Christmas - so far - is cool indeed!

See you tomorrow for the final day of Christmas, okay?

Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 10"

Good morning dear friends,

and a very merry Christmas to all of you! I'm not quite sure if you already are allowed to give Christmas greetings on the 24th where you are, but it's my blog and so I'll do it, right?

So the working year is over for me today, and a hell of a year it was, so thank God it's finally done! Looking forward to having a few days off until January 4th, I do hope it will turn out to be more or less relaxing.

And if Santa will bring you nothing else, here's to you one fine tune indeed, one of my all time favorites in fact. Turn the volume up now:



mp3: Basement 5 - 'Last White Christmas' (Peel Session Version '80)

                         

mp3: Basement 5 - 'Last White Christmas' (Peel Session Version '80)

Now, Basement 5 just have to win the award for the most grievously underrated band of all time, I often think! Isn't this song absolutely bloody fantastic?! If only someone could provide me with the full lyrics, I'll be eternally grateful! Here you get the Peel Session Version of 'Last White Christmas', in many ways better than the original version. Vocals no longer by Don Letts, but by Dennis Morris.

Two more days of Christmas to come, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, so you'll get two more great tunes, of course!

See you then, I hope .... party hard!

Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 9"

Good morning,

just one day to go, friends, and if you don't have passed your wishes on to Santa yet, it's nearly too late now!

I know what I want this year:

mp3: Fountains Of Wayne - 'I Want An Alien For Christmas' ('97)

See you tomorrow, perhaps you'll find the time to pop in. Would be highly appreciated!

Take good care,

Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 8"

 

Good morning,

on day 8 I present to you The Raveonettes, a band I have mixed feelings about! Some of their output I can live without at times, but they do have the occasional good tune (well, perhaps that's a bit harsh, the majority of things they issued isn't all too bad) as well.

This one here is really good though, although the lyrics made me smile: "All the lights are coming on now / how i wish that it would snow ..." Jesus, I'm sitting here, typing this whilst wearing nothing but a T-Shirt in the middle of December! (*) No snow in sight whatsoever, in fact I'm contemplating to get the pool ready again!

Either way, here's the song, from 2001:

mp3: Raveonettes - 'The Christmas Song'

See you tomorrow, have a nice time until then!

Dirk

(*): I should add that I am wearing trousers as well, so don't be too aroused alarmed, alright?!

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 7"

Good morning again,

and welcome to day 7 of my little collection of Christmas songs I like very much!

After yesterday's belter I thought you'd perhaps need something more "fragile" and Christmas-related stuff. And exactly this is gonna come up today, but nonetheless it is a very fine tune indeed!

From a Peel Session, and if memory serves correctly, from a Peel Christmas Session held at Peel Acres in Stowmarket in 2002, a place I once had the honour to stay in for a few days with the great man back when I was much much younger!

Here's to you an old Christmas favorite, presented by Belle & Sebastian. Enjoy:

mp3: Belle & Sebastian - 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' (Peel Session)

See you soon, take care,

Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 6"

 

Good morning my lovelies,

day six it is, which means half the fun is already over: what a shame this is, to be sure!

the again Christmas comes nearer and I bet you are all looking forward to it a great deal ... I most certainly am, although I cannot expect big presents this year, we had to buy anew car and Little Loser got a new room as he had grown out of his baby-like furniture, as he likes to call it.

Another real treat for you today, and again a combo which I virtually know nothing about, I'm ashamed to say. Apparently the guy hails from Washington D.C., the tune was a 7" back in 1978, and that's all I can tell you. The track though grows on you, so give it a good and loud listen:

mp3: Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band with The Rootettes - 'Xmas At K-Mart'

See you all tomorrow, hopefully!

Dirk

 

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 5"

Good morning friends,

okay, for a change we have a tune today which is a bit older, nevertheless it's a real gem, another real Christmas favorite, at least for me:

John Wilson and John Wessler only cut this one 45 back in 1965 but it’s become one of the key works in that fascinating sub-genre, the soul of Vietnam. Whether it's the powerhouse vocals or the busy guitarist, there are so many things to admire here. A really heartfelt plea from the battlefield this – a superb record! Alas I can't find a picture of Johnny and/or Jon anywhere, so you'll get one of the original 7" instead:

mp3: Johnny & Jon: 'Christmas In Viet Nam'

Leaves you rather speechless upon its brilliance, ey? At least I'm lost for words now and that's why I say:

Goodbye, see you tomorrow!


Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 4"

Good morning my beauties,


as the women who run the bar where I DJ'd in when I was much much younger often said to me: 'Dirk, you gotta play at least sometimes something familiar in order to jolly the guests along', here's something more familiar for you today, a song you can all sing along to. And that's what you really want to do when Christmas is near, isn't it?


A nice version (from 1995) of the old favourite for day 4, I'm sure you agree:

mp3: The Dandy Warhols - 'Little Drummer Boy'

The Dandy Warhols come from Portland, Oregon, and this, basically, is all I know about them. Should I delve deeper into their back catalogue? You tell me ....


See you tomorrow,


Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 3"

Morning my friends,


so yes, here we go again with the next tune in this series of posts! I do hope you enjoy my efforts, it might be the only thing you get for Christmas, who possibly knows?!


DJ Riko is a nice chap, so nice in fact that he provides us with a brilliant Christmas mix each year since 2002 (!): all of them are fantastic and have become frequently played over the festive season in our household, much to the dismay of Mrs Loser. Have a look at Riko's website (http://www.djriko.com/mixmases.htm) and get the 2015 Merry Mixmas - mix (or any of the previous ones as well) whilst it's hot!


Today's choice for day 3 comes from the 2007 - mix and it features Marcie, whom I know nothing at all about. But if she looks at least halfway as good as she sings, I'm sure she is a breathtaking beauty!

mp3: DJ Riko feat. Marcie - 'Hey Mr. Santa'

Great tune, right? Makes you look forward to tomorrow, isn't it? Well, stay tuned!


Cheers,


Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 2"

Good morning, friends,

yes, day 2 in our little series, and I bet most of you thought that I wouldn't get that far, right? Ah, no, you're wrong, and although I admire those of you endlessly who manage to post on daily basis, partly for years, I never could do that.

Nevertheless I'll try my very best to keep up with my aim to give you a little Christmas present, or, if you'd rather, twelve Christmas presents!

Here's number two for you:

mp3: The Killers - 'Don't Shoot Me Santa'

I don't know all too much about The Killers, they come from Las Vegas and apparently they have issued ten of those Christmas - singles over the years. This is but one of those, the second one, from 2007 in fact. Not all of them are killers (ha ha! got it?), but this one is, for sure!

Watch out for more to come tomorrow!

See you,

Dirk

"The Twelve Days Of Christmas ... Day 1"

Morning folks,


in order to get this site running again in one form or another after quite a long hiatus, I thought I shamelessly copy something which other folks do every year, and most probably do much better than me: twelve Christmas anthems on twelve consecutive days.


'What a brilliant idea!', I hear you scream, 'so new and innovative!' Yes, yes, I know, bugger off, but to be honest I couldn't be arsed to think of something better, at least you'll get 12 belters, promised, perhaps there are some Christmas - related tunes amongst them which you don't hear all too often elsewhere, who probably knows?!


This 'twelve days of Christmas' - thingy is, by the way, at least as fas as I know, more or less completely unknown here it Germany, all we have is 'Stille Nacht' and 'Kling Glöckchen, Klingelingeling', so these posts might be something of an educational achievement, if nothing else!


So, without further ado, here comes the tune I chose for "day one", a real gem, I'm sure you'll agree:

mp3: Half Man Half Biscuit — 'It's Clichéd To Be Cynical At Christmas'

What a fine band and what a fine song to start this little rundown with. I'm particularly fond of the line "And you moan at the snow / ‘Cos your car wouldn’t go", how often have I sung this to myself on a freezing cold winter morning since I first heard this tune back in 2000?


From their album 'Trouble Over Bridgwater', which you should buy immediately in case you don't already have it in your collection. Then again this is true for all of the band's albums!


Alright, enough for today, watch out for the next installment tomorrow: same place, same time!


Ta,


Dirk

Lady Loser's Lottery ... Pt. 6

Jesus Christ,

I just realized that the last time I forced Lady Loser to have a pick in my collection was back in 2012!! The reason for that of course is that I persuaded Little Loser to take over her job as soon as he reached an age where he was able to do something else than to crawl around and wet himself! Yes, time flies when you're having fun, ey?

But Little Loser is already asleep and I have to kill a bit of time this evening, because a new series starts on the telly later on which I've read so much good reviews about that I definitely want to see it. Problem is that it only starts at 22:30 hours, and I'm willing to have small bet that I will be asleep at 22:45!

So here's what she found in my folders - with closed eyes, of course - before she went back to bed - eyes opened again, of course - in order to see some nonsense about an American guy who is married to four women at the same time ... a status which gives masochism a completely new definition, if you ask me!

But, as usual, I digress, so here are the tunes she had chosen. Enjoy:

Catherine Wheel - 'Texture'

From their 1992 album 'Ferment', which I don't have. Catherine Wheel were not bad at all in the Nineties, but then again I never could cope all too well with all of those shoegazing bands back then. If memory serves correctly I even saw them live at one of the Bizarre festivals in the early 90's ... but I might be wrong here. Wikipedia says that the singer is a cousin of Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson: now this is something that you didn't know, right?!

OK Go - 'This Too Shall Pass'

A single from 2010 and I'm afraid the sound quality may be a little bit dodgy, but this just shows you that I don't make these things up. I didn't remember this tune at all, but I'm glad Lady Loser picked it: it's really good! But apart from that there isn't pretty much that I can tell you about OK Go. They come from Chicago, moved to L.A. and no, I have no idea who the singer's cousin might probably be!

Smokey Smothers with Freddie King - 'I Ain't Gonna Be No Monkey Man No More'

Also from Chicago, we have Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers with a wonderful blues tune from 1960, a real treat indeed, so if you download nothing else from the five songs in tonight's offering, download this one ... great stuff!! Smokey was rhythm guitarist for Howlin' Wolf. And, to continue with some nice little family entertainment, his younger brother, Abe became known as the bluesman Little Smokey Smothers, with whom he is sometimes confused.

Jonny Cola and The A Grades - 'The Party's Over'

Another one from 2010 (don't ask me how she managed to chose this year twice this, I mean there are folders on the computer from 1923 to 2015, all with thousands of songs!), which might mean a certain lack of variety. All I can do is apologize! But don't you worry, another corker! From an album called 'In Debt', which, again, I don't have. I should though, I think, because this song is outstandingly brilliant, isn't it? I have no idea where they come from, but as I am a friend of the stars I can tell you that singer Jonny Cola underwent a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with advanced kidney failure and going through eight months of treatment, everything had to be put on hold. I'm glad to report though that, after Jonny's girlfriend donated a kidney November 2013, things could happily move on!

Hermine - 'Blue Angel'

Aaah, Hermine! Hermine Demoriane, to give you her full name. From the 'The World On My Plates' - album on Crammed Discs from 1982, and what a nice song to end this little series, that's if you are a sucker for Roy Orbison - songs sung in a Marlene Dietrich style ... I certainly am! Did you know that Hermine was a tightrope walker before she started singing? Well, now you know ...

Hope you enjoyed my little ramblings, I now have to get the tunes up on zippyshare and find some pics before I miss the beginning of this new series ('The Knick', since you ask ... and I do hope it meets with my approval)!


Take care,


Dirk

"My Old Peel Tapes ... Again!" (Pts. 11 & 12)

Evening friends,


quite a while since the last installment of any of my old Peel Tapes, right? And because it' so long ago, I thought I don't give you one today, no, I'll give you two! See what a noble chap I am? Unbelievable, ey?


We'll have one from late 1984 today (probably early 1985 because of the inclusion of the Killing Joke track, then again this might have been a DJ pre-release, who knows), a real blast if you ask me, plus - for the more contemporary minded amongst you - one from 1988, very fine stuff in that as well. I have no doubt you'll enjoy both of them!




Peel 003:


The Kick - 'Let's Get Back Together'
Cabaret Voltaire - 'James Brown' (12" version)
Stark Raving Mad - 'Chaos'
Fall - 'Fiery Jack'
Government Issue - 'Insomnia'
Les Calamités - 'Le Garcon De New York'
Beatitudes - 'Surfing Psychos'
Crippled Pilgrims - 'Black And White'
Killing Joke - 'Love Like Blood'
Triffids - 'Plaything'
Yard Trauma - 'No Conclusions'


Peel 092:


Fall - 'Big New Prinz'
Acid Angels - 'Speed Speed Ecstasy'
Prayers - 'Sister Goodbye'
Happy Mondays - 'Wrote For Luck'
Sonic Youth - 'Candle'
Pacific - 'Barnoon Hill'
Half Japanese - 'I'll Change My Style'
Inspiral Carpets - 'Butterfly'
Old Lady Drivers - 'Die In Your Beauty Sleep'
Blake Babies - 'Her'
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - 'Aunt's Invasion'
Fall - 'Wrong Place, Right Time'
Last Party - 'Damp'


Also, as usual, you'll get both of them mixed together all by myself in a rather unprofessional fashion, Peel 003 is here whereas Peel 092 is here.


Links to the separate mp3's are above in the tracklist.


Also, I think I haven't mentioned this for quite a while, you can of course find both tapes - but with Peel's introductions and usual bragging along - in the wonderful John Peel Wiki (thanks again, Steve, for taking so much care of my tapes and putting them all up: another 251 tapes and you're finished, mate ... high time you come up with a fresh one, right?).


Hope some of this stuff brings back good memories to you!


Take good care,


Dirk

Links should now work ...

... for the last two posts (The German stuff), as I've just switched to zippyshare and got rid of box net.




The only problem I see today is that they will only be valid for 30 days, then again this just means you gotta be quick!




Please let me know if you still have problems, will you?




Enjoy,




Dirk

Some more decent German tunes, this time for The Swede ...

Good evening friends,


The Swede who runs the fantastic 'Unthought of, though, somehow' - blog seemed to be somewhat delighted by the German stuff posted yesterday and today by Walter and me, so here's a little bit more of it for him to enjoy ... and for the rest of you, as well. Of course. How the hell the links work with 286 % boxnet bandwidth I simply cannot understand, but apparently they do work, otherwise they couldn't have met with The Swede's approval yesterday, right? Then again I have by now realized that there are certain things in life which I simply do not need to understand, computer and women just being two out of many ...


GUZ by the way is Swiss, not German, but hey, it's summer, I'm enjoying my second holiday for this year, so I can't be as pedantic as usual, right? And it's a mighty (!) track, which excuses its' inclusion here ... also, and this one goes out to Brian, Concord is the band Julia Lubcke sang with after Fünf Freunde split in 1995. So, without further ado, please enjoy:

Eight Dayz - 'Running Out Of Time' ('92)

Rockabilly Mafia - 'Die Nacht War Lau' ('95)

Die Doraus und Die Marinas - 'Tulpen Und Narzissen' ('81)

Abwaerts - 'Softly Softly' ('80)

Extrabreit - 'Polizisten' ('81)

F.S.K. - '(I've Got To Get Over) The Wall' ('89)

GUZ - 'Genforscher' ('97)

Concord - 'Both Sides' ('97)

 Ta,


Dirk

Some decent German tunes, for Walter ...

Evening friends,

of course I know that at this time of the year the bulk of you Brits are on holiday in Spain and/or France, which means that most probably you won't be reading this anyway. Brian, who, as far as I know, is the only visitor I have from the States, is a very open-minded chap anyway, so perhaps this post might meet with his approval as well, at least partly (this Fünf Freunde - tune that you posted some time ago, Brian, is still much liked by Little Loser, 6, who heard it in the car a few times and I often find him humming along the opening lines!). Tonight's songs might be a bit bizarre and you won't understand the lyrics, I assume, so bear with me ....

But basically this post is for poor old Walter from the ever fantastic 'A Few Good Times In My Life', who, whilst I'm sitting here typing this, enjoying an ice-cold bottle of Landbier, currently has to endure one of the nastiest things on earth: a German company party, which, to be sure, means he is at this very moment rather having one of the few really bad times in his life. Read about his misery here.

Now, the thing is, for you non-Germans it will be hard to believe how utterly disgusting the music at such events is, because, you know, people drink more and more, it gets later, nothing wrong with that. But it also means that the young people try to get away to a real party somewhere in town so that they can hang around with their friends and the people being left all are of a certain age (45-50) and they want to hear German music they can sing and dance along to, something they heard when they were in their twenties. Now, music in the early or mid Eighties in Germany was utter crap by and large, it all started very well with a certain punk attitude but was soon taken over by the industry. You cannot imagine how many bands made completely shite records under the label 'Neue Deutsche Welle' (New German Wave), and back then you would hear and see nothing else, and I mean nothing, neither on the radio nor on the telly! Those songs were so ludicrous, I cannot describe it. But these are the songs we grew up with and everybody at our age knows them by heart, regardless of the quality the are missing. Still, at such parties, nothing else is being requested. Requested by people, don't forget, who heard nothing else in their life but Genesis, ELO and Pink Floyd until 1981 and were shat on by all those Neue Deutsche Welle bands from 1982 onwards! Jesus Christ, they never heard anything by The Clash up until today and they thought they were hardcore punks because they could shout along to 99 fucking Luftballons ... and tonight, with fifty years of age, they feel the fucking same again ... and still they haven't heard anything by The Clash! ("naah, you're wrong, of course we know The Clash: they only had one single, and that was in this jeans commercial!") But I digress, so I better stop this my ranting ...

But, in order to show you that there was some decent German music as well, here are five killer tunes for you to enjoy, randomly picked. Walter, I hope you still read this before you go to bed tonight, otherwise enjoy the below tomorrow morning with a nice cup of coffee. I hope it helps to make tonight's music disappear out of your head!!





Multicoloured Shades - '(The Ballad Of) The Voodoo Ranger' ('84)

Toxoplasma - '1981' ('83)

Die Lassie Singers - 'Leben In Der Bar' ('92)



S-Chords - 'Voran! Voran!' ('86)



Zeltinger Band - 'Mein Vater War Ein Wandersmann' - 'Müngersdorfer Stadion' (live im Bunker, Köln '79

Take good care,

Dirk



"Is The Peel Session Version Really Better?!" - Part 2

Good evening my beauties,


some of you might remember this 'Is The Peel Session Version Really Better?!" - post I did quite some time ago, if not, don't be all too ashamed! Either way, this post must have struck a chord with some of you, at least judging from the (amount of) comments it did. Then again it is an interesting question, of course, one that is not too easy to answer, I would think. And, obviously, not generally answerable anyway.


Personally, I didn't come to a conclusion on too many of the tracks I featured in the first post. So I thought I'd try to make my mind up with different tracks, again all tunes one knows by heart for many years (or at least you fucking should if you have at least a bit of taste!!), tunes you can easily sing along to, tunes you really love the way they are.  So here are a few more of those for you, friends, albeit in a version you might not be familiar with. Some are rather close to the original, some vary a great deal indeed.


And, again, it's up to you to decide which version you prefer: the comment section is now opened and I do hope that some of you let us know what you think of it all.


I should add that I am not entirely happy with the sound quality of a few of the below tracks, but I'm afraid that's the way things are with the Peel Sessions that are not legally frequently available. Don't let this spoil your enjoyment though, it is a fine selection, to be sure. Enjoy:




01 - Galaxie 500 - 'Blue Thunder' - Peel Session 1989
02 - James - 'Hymn From A Village' - Peel Session 1983
03 - Pulp - 'Common People' - Peel Session 1994
04 - Rezillos - 'My Baby Does Good Sculptures' - Peel Session 1977
05 - Shop Assistants - 'Safety Net' - Peel Session 1985
06 - Quads - 'There Must Be Thousands' - Peel Session 1979
07 - Specials - 'Gangsters' - Peel Session 1979
08 - Blue Orchids - 'No Looking Back' - Peel Session 1982
09 - Pixies - 'Levitate Me' - Peel Session 1988
10 - Cramps - 'What's Inside A Girl'  - Peel Session 1985
11 - Cure - 'Six Different Ways' - Peel Session 1985
12 - Wreckless Eric - 'Semaphore Signals'  - Peel Session 1977
13 - Smiths - 'Reel Around The Fountain' - Peel Session 1983
14 - Buzzcocks  - 'Promises' - Peel Session 1978
15 - Chameleons - 'Looking Inwardly' - Peel Session 1981
16 - Leyton Buzzards - 'Saturday Night Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees' - Peel Session 1978
17 - Altered Images - 'Dead Pop Stars' - Peel Session 1980
18 - A Flock Of Seagulls - 'I Ran' - Peel Session 1981
19 - X-Ray Spex - 'Warrior In Woolworths'  - Peel Session 1978
20 - Primitives - 'Stop Killing Me' - Peel Session 1986
21 - Housemartins - 'Happy Hour' - Peel Session 1986
22 - Magazine - 'The Light Pours Out Of Me' - Peel Session 1978
23 - Inspiral Carpets - 'Directing Traffic' - Peel Session 1989
24 - Selecter - 'Street Feeling'  - Peel Session 1979
25 - Gang Of Four - 'I Found That Essence Rare' - Peel Session 1979
26 - Elastica - 'Vaseline' - Peel Session 1993
27 - Sugarcubes - 'Deus' - Peel Session 1987
28 - Young Marble Giants - 'Final Day' - Peel Session 1980


And for the lazy sods amongst you, those who prefer to have it all in one go, here's another one of my little mixes, all 28 tunes more or less neatly and rather unprofessionally segued into another:


Da Mix


Take good care and let me know what you think of it, alright? Any astonishing favourites? Anything you consider to be absolute crap? Anything new at all?


Have fun,


Dirk

Little Loser's Lottery ... Part 11

Hello friends,

a sunny Sunday morning to you, that's if my automatic timing of this post works out correctly. Apparently I'm writing this on a rainy Saturday evening in a bit of a hurry, because, believe it or not, the wife and me will be going out for dinner and a few drinks afterwards with two good mates: something we haven't been doing for some time really. Little Loser has been picked up by his grandparents a few minutes ago, where he'll spend the night after returning from a "restaurant" as well (I chose inverted commas because they'll visit the Big 'M', as usual, where he'll go for a Happy Meal just because of the included plastic toy, also as usual).

On the other hand, apart from the really bad ones (Thompson Twins and The Stranglers (why the fuck did he go for 'No Mercy' and left out as well the 'Duchess' as the 'Golden Brown' - 7", both of which are still awesome??!!)), he picked two belters as well: Metal Mike (that's Mike Saunders out of The Angry Samoans btw) and PM Dawn. I went for the B-Side of the 'Paper Doll' - 7", because I regard it as being the better tune ... and this one really will grow on you, so listen carefully!

The Psychedelic Furs, well, yes, you can take it or leave it, but don't you forget that the original version is from 1981 and it was really really good back then. They made some money out of the 1986 John Hughes film and I can't blame them for doing so and neither can you, I suppose.

Enough said, I have to shower and dress myself up now, please enjoy Little Loser' picks for today:

mp3: The Stranglers - 'No Mercy' ('84)

mp3: The Psychedelic Furs - 'Pretty In Pink' ('86)

mp3: Metal Mike - 'I'm A Lonesome Fugitive' ('90)

mp3: Thompson Twins - 'Hold Me Now' ('83)

mp3: PM Dawn - 'Ode To A Forgetful Mind' (The More Than Words Mix) ('91)

Don't forget to leave nice comments, as usual I'll pass them on to him (he's always so delighted when I tell him that someone from another part of the world (i.e. England) has something to say about what he picked)!

Ta,

Dirk