Wedding Bells

My brother (the next one down from me in age, there are five of us pus two sisters) is getting married today in Manchester Cathedral, the building behind Joy Division in the picture. He lives in the centre of town so it is his local church. Good luck to the pair of you Z and C, may you be very happy together.

Back in 1987 LL Cool J released the single I Need Love. For hip hop loving B Boys like my brother I think this was the moment they parted company with Cool James. Have the intervening twenty nine years been kind to the song?

Nope.



If you want a much earthier, slinkier and more streetsmart rap love song you could do worse than Method Man and Mary J Blige's 1995 hit I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By, a reworking of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's from 1968. Headnodding beats and Method Man's delivery ('I got mad love to give') matched by Mary J Blige's chorus. Does this still sound good in 2016?



Yes it does.

Bring The Pain

I was never too  fussed about Wu Tang Clan. Nothing against them, I just fell out with hip hop around this time. And it seemed like I needed a wallchart to keep track of all the members and their offshoots and solo projects. But I bought a 12" of Method Man and Mary J Blige doing You're All I Need (To Get By) and the B-side was this Chemical Brothers remix of Bring The Pain. When I mentioned this remix to my hip hop obsessed sibling he said 'What the fuck's a chemical brother?'

Bring The Pain (Chemical Brothers Remix)