Tones

It never rains eh? We had  a positive test for Covid within our household yesterday so are all now isolating for fourteen days- it's made all the more difficult by the fact our eldest is clinically extremely vulnerable so we're having to be extra- isolated within the house as far as possible (with only one bathroom) and extra- careful with the risks of cross infection. It's all it of a nightmare. 

As a distraction, here's some music- in 1990 Love Corporation released an acid house infused album called Tones. Love Corporation were Ed Ball's one man band, an side project from his music made as The Times. Tones is a six track record with Palatial as the stand out, a song later remixed by Danny Rampling, but the rest of the album is worth spending some time with too- a lesser known but rather good slice of 1990.

Palatial

Lovetones

Focus Your Attention On A Spot

Today's post accidentally fits in really well with David Byrne's ideas about finding vocals and using them in new musical places (see yesterday's My Life In the Bush Of Ghosts post). A while ago someone somewhere, sorry I can't remember who, posted two Orbital tracks both released in 1990, one the B-side to Chime and the other a remix of that B- side from the Omen 12". Deeper and 2 Deep take the voice from a relaxation tape, designed to help people who were unable to relax or get to sleep, calm down and chill the fuck out. A warm, calming voice appropriated by the Hartnoll brothers and laid over some techno. Knowing, ironic, a bit trippy. 'Close your eyes and relax...'

2 Deep

I put both versions onto a compilation CD along with other similar stuff and found that they sounded really good driving to and from work. Thankfully they didn't cause me to relax so much that I fell asleep at the wheel. That would not have been relaxing.

Also from 1990 and in the same ballpark is this from Ed Ball's Love Corporation- sparkling, inventive acid house with a vocal found on a New Age, meditation tape, remixed by the King of Shoom Danny Rampling. 'Close your eyes and begin to breathe slowly and deeply...'

Palatial (Danny Rampling Remix)

'Revel in this sleep and I will return in a minute'

Bleu Bandulu

In the second hand record shop the other day I picked up a 12" of Lundi Bleu by The Times. The Times was Ed Ball's (note NOT Ed Balls) acid house project and Lundi Bleu was his cover version of Blue Monday which I posted here several years ago. The 12" had two remixes of the track by The Grid which were what caught my eye and at £2.00 I decided it was worth a punt, having heard none of the remixes before. The two Grid remixes are both good, dubby with vocal samples, chugging away nicely. Here's The Grid's World Communications remix. It's a Youtube video only I'm afraid- my computer issues continue and ripping anything is a bridge too far at the moment.



I enjoyed both The Grid remixes, especially as being off this week I had the house to myself and could turn it up loud enough and sit back with a cup of tea. But the real treat is on the flipside with Bandulu's remix. Bandulu were from London, also on Creation and made reggae influenced dub/techno. Their remix of Lundi Bleu is a delight which defies description really- bubbling sounds and bouncing bass with an otherworldly, underwater groove. Futuristic in '92 and still sounding so today. Properly making something wonderful and new out of a track.

Give Me Some Love

Good morning lovebirds.

Love Corporation was the acid house alter ego of Ed Ball (of The Times, Creation Records etc). This is a long, loved up Weatherall remix with bells and whistles and breathy vocals.

Give Me Some Love (Andrew Weatherall Remix 2)

Palatial Creation

Watching the documentary on Creation Records on BBC4 on Friday night reminded me of just how many great bands and how many great records Alan McGee's label released, certainly in the period before signing Oasis (after which it all went wrong). It was a little flawed as a documentary, and full of 'we were so crazy, we took so many drugs' but overall the music and the misfits in the bands shone through. So I thought we'd have a few Creation inspired posts starting with Love Corporation, Ed Ball's dance project, included on the still magnificent 1991 compilation Keeping The Fath. Alan McGee invented acid house, didn't you know?

Palatial (Danny Rampling Mix)

Thanks Everyone

Thanks to everyone who's left messages here over the last few days and to Ctel for the post over at Acid Ted. Sunday morning seems a long time ago now. I.T. went down to theatre at 9.20 on Monday morning and was in for five hours. The consultant said the cochlear implant was tricky to get into place due to I.T.'s 'abnormal cranium' (funny shaped skull in layman's terms), but after getting an x-ray last night he told us it was 'a perfect insertion'. A phrase you might want to consider using at some point. Maybe. He had a ridiculously big bandage on his head which only just lasted until this morning, and three courses of IV antibiotics during the night to protect his immune system (I.T.'s immune system has never fully recovered from chemo during his two bone marrow transplants in 2000). Anyway, we're home now with a bag full of medicines and a boy asking if his new ear is ready to be switched on. It won't be for a few weeks, so he must be wondering why he's had an operation at all.

Since writing that paragraph I've had to drive him back to the hospital. He'd pulled his dressing off when no-one was looking. We've been sent home with enough steri-strips to patch up an army.


While blocking out the outside world this song came up on the mp3 player- Manchester by The Times (and thanks to Tedloaf for reminding me about it via the comment box recently after I posted their French language cover of Blue Monday last week). I may have been in a slightly emotional state but this track brought a tear to my eyes and a lump to my throat, with it's then zeitgeisty tribute to and celebration of Manchester in 1989-90. Twenty years on it sounds impossibly nostalgic, the lyrics coming across as nicely naive (or gauche even, is that the right word?). There are some other mixes of this song that couldn't sound more New Orderish if they came wrapped in tracing paper and added onto the end of Lowlife. At this exact moment in time, this is my favourite song.

The Times - Manchester (Radio Edit).mp3

Version Francoise

Ed Ball co-formed Television Personalities with Dan Treacy during the punk period, set about Bill Grundy, Part Time Punks, Syd Barratt amongst others and set up their own record label. Ball also formed The Times who released records regularly between 1980 and 1999. While finding a home at Creation in the 80s and 90s Ball found the time to record various (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) celebrations of acid house, drug culture and Manchester/London at the time. This is Lundi Bleu, his version of New Order's Blue Monday with Bernard Sumner's lyrics translated into French. It's a post-acid house, 8 minute monster which finds time to turn into Neil Young's After The Goldrush at the end. Very lovely and very of it's time. Art Dept IAMT, currently in Nuremburg, this one's for you.

The Times - Lundi Bleu (Man New Age Mod Mix).mp3