It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

I'm going clubbing with my nephew tomorrow! I know, I should know better. When I say clubbing, I mean I'm taking Lewis to see the Orb perform Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld in full and also stuff from Chill Out World in a club in the town and I'm right looking forward to it. Stiff and I went to see them in the same venue last year for the first time in 10 - 15 years and both of us didn't really know if we were up to it anymore but we had a rare time although decided that the club needed arm chairs and tea served to us as we sat and soaked up the vibes. There will be no such behaviour tomorrow as Lewis is a bit of a bevy merchant (ie likes his alcohol). I'm not sure he quite realises what he's in for as his usual haunts are Pressure and the Subby but we will see. Due to this I am going to have to miss tomorrow's Scottish Cup Round Three encounter with Livingston, who sit one point ahead of us at the top of League 1! No, you did not read that wrong, Airdrie are second in League 1 and I think that we are all a bit shell shocked about that. Not sure how long we can stay there and I'm not sure either Bat, Stiff or myself's nerves will be able to take, (Leo on the other hand is very cool about the situation) but I have to admit that it is a very good feeling.

Have a good weekend people.

The Orb - Suburban Smog

And Yet It Moves

Do you remember the Amazing Snakeheads, responsible for one of the best albums of  2014? Well the lead singer Dale Barclay has returned with a new project which if the track below is anything to go by is a very interesting project. The track " Make America Great Again", nothing if not topical,  was recorded live at Glasgow's Green Door Studio. If you like what you hear and I had gotten off my arse quicker you could have caught them at various places in the UK on their second tour which finished a couple of days ago. If you are in London all is not lost as they are playing Unit 30 in the Bow Triangle Business Estate on the 10th of December and I am hoping to catch them at the Kinning Park Complex in Glasgow on 16th. The Snakeheads were always very exciting live and so I will be hoping for more of the same from this mob.

Garden

I hadn't listened to Perverted By Language  in ages and had sort of forgotten just how brilliant and original album it is. Nobody else sounded like the gruppe sounded back in 1983. This was the Fall's 6th studio album and the first to feature Brix Smith but due to the fact that the majority of the album was recorded prior to her joining the group it isn't quite as, for want of a better word, accessible as the next few albums would be. I don't think there is a bad track on the record but one  for me towers above the rest and that is Garden. I have no idea what Smith is going on about in the song and don't really want to know but the repetitive nature of the music always sucks me in and if it went on for a further ten minutes it would still grip my attention. I have stated before and I know that quite a few disagree with me, but the Peel session versions of Fall tracks tend to be superior and that is no different here it feels fresher and is over a minute longer. It comes from the 6th session broadcast on 23/03/83.

Marvelous stuff.

The Fall - Garden (Peel session)

I'm Movin' On

Today's slice of garage rock again comes from that vintage year of 1966. Not strictly true as I'm Movin' On was never released and languished on acetate for years eventually being unearthed by a garage music historian Miami Jeff who released it on his own Florida Archive Recordings/Limestone Records.

Evil hailed from the Miami area and were active from 1965 to 1967. In 1966 the won a local Battle of the Bands competition and their prize was some studio time where they recorded I'm Movin' On and a few other songs, which were cut onto an acetate and then forgotten about. The band did release one single, a cover of the Small Faces Whatcha Gonna Do which was released in 1967 on another local label which came to the attention of Capitol Records who signed them up and re-released the single and the group duly imploded before they released anything else.

Miami Jeff deserves some sort of award for unearthing this absolute stormer of a track where the influence of the Who and The Small Faces looms large. No bad thing in my book.

Evil - I'm Movin' On 

Spellbound

Not the same song as the Azie Mortimer one that has featured here on more than one occasion at Halloween on this blog, Tamiko Jones* release from 1966 on the same label, which surprisingly hasn't featured here. Spellbound was originally supposed to be released on Ed Wingate's Golden World label but was shelved when Berry Gordy bought the label and only saw the light of day. until recently  as an album track on the first Grapevine compilation album, Talk of The Grapevine in 1978. Betty Boo's real name is Betty Winston who along with her sister Jackie and Pat and Diane Lewis recorded three singles as the Adorables for Wingate's label.

Betty Boo - Spellbound

* Kindly pointed out by John in the comments, it was late last night when I threw this together.

Sharon Jones RIP

We've lost another one, jeez!

Rest Easy Sharon

Sharon Jones and The Daptones - 100 Day, 100 Nights

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Staying on the up beat with today's bit of disco infused house music. The original version of Free is by Italian singer Marina Conti  and was the second single from her 2012 album. I have no idea what it sounded like but Raj Gupta (Ray Mang to us) liked the vocal so much that he lifted it along with the piano line, fucked about with them a bit, I think he might have been listening to Ten City  at the time and produced this brilliant, uplifting piece of music which would fill any dance floor.

Airdrionians are going through a bit of a purple patch at the moment, although I have probably just put the kibosh on that. They have won four games on the bounce and are sitting fourth in the league!. I know! Last week they were a joy to watch not just because they won but they were playing with a confidence and dare I say it ability that has been lacking for quite some time. Tomorrow we take on Alloa Athletic one place above us in the table,  a win would see us take third and if local rivals, Albion Rovers could do us a favour by beating Brechin we could even be sitting second!

Have a good weekend people.

Mari - Free (Ray Mang extended mix)

This Never Fails

I tweeted on Saturday night that when all else fails I turn to this record to cheer me up. Which wasn't 100% accurate it would be this or Bizarre Love Triangle. I don't think that I need to go into the merits of this tune they become evident from the first note until the last. Play as loud as you possibly can.

The Only Ones - Another Girl Another Planet

Wednesday's Sharing "Up Beat" Tune

SA issued a call to arms yesterday for all of us to counteract the seemingly relentless gloom by the power of music. It would have been churlish not to get in on the act.

We shall see how long I can last on the up beat but at least for today here is a song that if it doesn't make you want to dance, well you might as well go join the meanies.

"Watch me now as I go into action"

Richard Temple - That Beating Rhythm

Part Time Rockstar, Full Time Legend

Stiff and I spent a rather life affirming couple of hours in the company of a few hundred like minded people on Sunday night listening to the music and stories of Pete Wylie and his latest incarnation of The Mighty Wah. It was a bit of a nostalgia fest, sentimental in parts, a lot like preaching to the converted at other points but sometimes you need to be reminded of the past in order to focus on the here and now. And as an added bonus,  for a change Stiff and I weren't the two old gits in the corner.

Pete Wylie - Four Eleven Forty Four

A Weekend for Quiet Reflection, I Think.

I am trying to calm down, get some perspective and find something positive about the week's goings on. Bugger the American election results, did you see the Scotland performance last night? Still tennis is our national sport anyway.

Along with Leonard Cohen I think that I will be mostly playing records with a low bpm count this weekend.

A few years ago I posted the a-side of today's track and dismissed this track as "ambient noodling" to which Ctel disagreed stating that it was a great track and I have to admit that Ctel is correct and I was wrong, it is a very good track.

Holmes & McMillan - Total Toxic Tranquility

Lest We Forget

In Memory Of

Cpl Andrew Wingate

Pvt James Little

Dick Gaughan - Why Old Men Cry

Plagiarism or Eclecticism?

Still finding it hard to focus after yesterday's result. If the UK decision to leave the European Union made me nervous, the realisation of Trump in the White House in a few months for at least four years fills me with dread.

So to the music. Here is a track that will sound familiar to all of the Weatherall acolytes out there. I'm sure that most will be aware that New Age of Faith predates one of Lord Sabre's masterpieces by four years.  Tucked away at the end of side two of a 12" sing;e after a myriad of mixes of The True Story of House Music. For years I have struggled with whether this was a blatant rip-off or an example of making a silk purse, not out of a pigs ear as such but out of a piece of  discarded, unremarkable cloth. I tend to think that although the bare bones of the track is there it takes the Weatherall magic to transform it into a thing of beauty.

LB Bad - New Age of Faith

Aw Fuck, No!

America, I hoped that you were better than that!

At least the brickies will be happy.

Time to stock up on the dried and tinned goods I would suggest.

KLF - America No More

The Housemartins - Heaven Help Us All