Testcard

Think Inside The Box

This came in via an email and I'm glad I followed the link- nice uptempo, funky house from veteran German producer Boris Dlugosch and Joe Goddard with some very silky vocals exhorting people to abandon social media and step together. I especially like being advised to 'think inside the box'- let's have more jargon busting songs please.

For the first time ever, I have not exceeded my Boxnet bandwidth this month. Small achievements are still achievements. Either I've posted stuff people don't want or I've made far greater use of Soundcloud.

The Return Of Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 110

I haven't got any tattoos- never seen one I really liked enough to make me want to get it done. I'm not saying I don't like them, I just never got the bug. Plus, when I were a lad, they were very much an outsider thing. You wouldn't have one done in a visible place if you ever wanted gainful employment. Hence, they were very much an outsider thing. I was never that much an outsider. Now, everyone has one, all over the place. Overexposed and from top to bottom. I was once in a busy swimming pool with my kids and I think we were the only  three people in the water without tattoos. A much younger colleague has her niece and nephew's names on her the tops of her feet. On a school trip she asked if I ever thought about having my kids names tattooed on me, to which I replied 'Nope. I can remember my kid's names.' Also, having them scrawled on my inner forearms won't make them mean any more to me. But occasionally a proper 50s style rockabilly tattoo can be appealing.

Tonight's Friday night song is a real swinging, bluesy rockabilly song from Jimmy Dempsey in 1960. He woke up this morning and she done moved- gone, left, skidaddled, real gone.

Think I might go for a pint.

She Done Moved

The Mekons

George, a regular commenter and Friday night rockabilly enthusiast has been having a clear out and found a book he thought I might be interested in- I was- so he sent it to me. Isn't the internet great? These connections we make sat in our homes with like minded souls around the globe (Glasgow Wolverhampton in George's case). The book is a collection of paintings and thoughts of Jon Langford, founder and foremost man of The Mekons. Jon Langford came from Wales and went to study art at Leeds University just as punk hit the provinces. Armed with some art criticism, some Marxist ideology, friendship with Gang Of Four and a complete inability to play their instruments The Mekons made the classic debut single Never Been In A Riot. A later version of The Mekons made country-punk, fired up by the real attitude of old country 'n' western, hard-living songs about love, loss, death, drinking and smoking. They toured the world in the 1980s leaving a trail of fiddles and guitars behind them and a small army of followers.

Where Were You is one of my favourite Mekons songs but I don't seem to have it on the hard drive any more. I do have this one...

Hello Cruel World

I've long liked this one, Memphis Egypt, about the redemptive power of rock 'n' roll...

The Strange Art

Today I have withdrawn my labour in protest against Michael Gove and his plans to further alienate the teaching profession. The Secretary of State for Education seems to have the view that teachers are the enemy and that the education system must be destroyed. Unfortunately striking will achieve precisely nothing- but when asked to strike I believe we should.

I don't know who FK Club are but this song/remix package is ace, in an Asphodells and A Love From Outer Space vein. The original mix is fairly full on, drums and an up-in-the-mix hi hat, an insistent piano riff, a bassline like a rubber band being repeatedly twanged just inches from your earhole, nicely repetitive. Of the remixes Richard Sen's is the one for me, adding bongos and a new, whopping great big bassline, although the others are no slouches. The In Flagrante one is a free download, the rest were released on vinyl a little while ago.

Never There When You Want Me

Andrew Weatherall and Timothy J Fairplay's Asphodells album has been remixed by various folk and is due for release this September. So far Record Shop Day saw a cracking 12" single with remixes by Wooden Shjips and Daniel Avery, a Justin Robertson  Deadstock 33s remix of Beglammered was aired on Weatherall's last 6 Mix radio show, Ivan Smagghe's doing One Minute's Silence and there's a Mugwump remix of A Love From Outer Space up on Youtube which I posted here on Lord Sabre's birthday (April 6th). This one by Sean Johnston's Hardway Bros has been up at Soundcloud for a while...



I'm hoping that the whole Ruled By Passion, Destroyed By Lust album will have been remixed by someone or other, and that the remixed lp will be sequenced in the order that they appear on the original. But maybe that's just me.

Jeepers Creepers

You might have thought that by 1988 Siouxsie and The Banshees were past their best but this No. 16 hit would suggest otherwise. There's still some good ole gothic melodrama and sexiness combined some genuine pop and a nod to late 80s hip hop as well. And an ascending and descending accordion riff that carries the whole thing along with Gallic flair. Peek-A-Boo began life as a B-side based around a John Cale sample but soon turned into a potential A-side and took a year to record, partly due to Siouxsie singing each line through a different mic.

Peek-A-Boo

The video is dead late 80s...

Dubhouse

This Hollie Cook and Prince Fatty cover version has got everything needed to make a great little dubby reggae song- snaking melodica, dub bass, some echo, sound effects and a lovely vocal. All the boxes ticked. I could listen to this all day.

You Know I'm No Good

Hang My Head

I've long had a soft spot for the recorded output of Pete Molinari, who I think I first discovered via his Billy Childish connections (Chatham, first album recorded in a day in Billy's kitchen). Then with a single off his second album, Sweet Louise, which I love to bits. So imagine my excitement when I read some time ago that Pete had recorded some songs with Andrew Weatherall- the song above is produced and mixed by him, and features guitar by Little Barrie from Little Barrie and Primal Scream. I've just listened to this for the first time (despite it being on Youtube since January- well publicised then) and think it bodes well for the soon to be released fourth lp Theosophy. He's contributed a song to the new Lone Ranger film too. Pete also spent part of an evening once a few years back chatting my sister up. Don't think he got anywhere.

Dub Fi Gwan

This King Tubby track is what dub should sound like (to my ears anyhow). Tubby mixing it live at the desk, The Aggrovators supplying the tick-ticka-tick-ticka-tick rhythm and excerpts of dub-a-dub-dub-dub bass with some spacey FX and phased guitar chords.  One of the first dub tracks I ever heard (via the Blood and Fire comp King Tubby: Evolution of Dub 1975-1979, essential). Out of this world.

Dub Fi Gwan

The Fatty Fatty Sound

Bagging Area loves the reggae and dub of Prince Fatty. He's currently in the States with Hollie Cook (whose album from two years ago was a joy, as was the offspring dub version lp). Prince Fatty has a ton of stuff up at Soundcloud, including a stream of the full ska/surf/spaghetti Western lp he did with The Mutant HiFi, The Return Of Gringo. It is as good as that sounds, chock full of skank, twang and samples...



There's also this, a mixtape by Dave Bongo, to celebrate the release of Fatty's Supersize album back in 2010, including the man himself, Danny Ray, Dennis Brown, Barrngton Levy and Cutty Ranks and others...



Or how about this one, highly recommended, a recent 45 minute live set- amongst it all you get Hollie Cook singing reggae versions of Kraftwerk's The Model and Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good, a cover of Cypress Hill's Insane In the Brain and Eric B and Rakim chucked in the mix as well, free download...



There's loads more at Soundcloud. Get searching, get skanking.

Eh Oh

In a similarly deep and funky vein to yesterday's Four Walls/Craig Bratley track comes this remix of Femi Kuti and it is tip top. Big on the beats, with funky guitar, a massive and uplifting Afrobeat vocal and a horn led breakdown at just after five minutes that is worth the price of entry alone. Just been released on vinyl apparently. Hence you get a low quality mp3 rip to tempt you into parting company with cash.



Eh Oh (Liza Richardson Remix)

The Return Of Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 109

I've posted this song before but it bears repeating- Sparkle Moore (born Barbara Morgan) was a pioneer of 50s rockabilly. She toured with Gene Vincent and dressed in men's leathers. Caused quite a stir I imagine. Sparkle only recorded seven songs, four released across a pair of 7" singles (in 1956 and '57) and three left unreleased. In 1957 she retired from the music industry to raise a family. And that's it. But what a tune.

'You should be labelled with a skull and cross bones
You're a jinx on my soul'

Skull And Cross Bones

Just Bob Our Heads To This Groove Right Here

This is a delightfully deep, dark Craig Bratley remix of Four Walls from back in 2011, featuring a man talking about going nightclubbing; not there for the smoke or the VIP section or the champagne, just the music. Craig Bratley has recently contributed a 10" single to Andrew Weatherall's Bird Scarer vinyl only series.

When Pigs Fly

This week's Joe Strummer/Clash obscurity is from the soundtrack of a 1993 film, When Pigs Fly, that ran out of cash. Joe wrote eight songs for the soundtrack of the film, directed by Sara Driver (partner of Joe's friend Jim Jarmusch). The soundtrack was never released, the film couldn't get a distributor, it was only shown at a few festivals, problems problems problems. The songs Joe wrote for it, in the depths of his wilderness years, are all rather good- as is a lot of Joe's soundtrack work- and have a laid back Latin vibe.

When Pigs Fly

Express Yourself

Drew's running a series of hip hop tracks from 1988, over at Across The Kitchen Table. By brilliant coincidence I heard both Express Yourself and Straight Outta Compton last night (at our local pub, not a hip hop hotspot it has to be said. And don't tut, it was a school night, I only had two pints). I was never particularly an NWA fan back in the day, but both songs sounded- clears throat- totally fresh and dope; Express Yourself especially with its lyrics about enslavement and censorship, and that Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band sample. Incredibly, no swearing either.

Express Yourself

Bloods

From the B-side of Primal Scream's 2006 single Dolls (largely glammed up riff-nonsense) was this little gem, a remix of Bloods by Weatherall and Tenniswood. It was at this point that TLS were moving away from minimal techno towards a live garage/dub/rockabilly band sound and were doing the same with their remixes- see also the X-Press 2 Witchi Tai To and the Villalobos remixes from around the same time. Keith Tenniswood plays guitar and bass, Martin Duffy supplies melodica and organ and if I'm not mistaken the drum beat gets borrowed from or for the TLS Wrong Meeting album a year later.

Bloods (Two Lone Swordsmen Mix)

La Yegros

I read a review of La Yegros in the Sunday paper from the World Music section, probably not more than eighty words in length, and decided to have a look. I am now enjoying some fine Cumbia. Cumbia is a style I've read about and heard about before, once from Bez of all places, but never really investigated, apart from hearing bits and bobs on Strummer's World Service radio shows. It is the folk music of Columbia but with a side order of reggae in it- the music originated from a fusion of the local Indians' culture with that of imported Caribbean slaves creating 'raw rhythm and dance music from Columbia's Caribbean coast....the Columbian equivalent of early Delta blues'. To boil it down, you get bongo percussion and shakers, accordions and squeezeboxes, acoustic cat-gut strung guitars and a reggae lilt. La Yegros, resident in Buenos Aires, had a single out in April with some remixes and an album out now, combining Cumbia with electronica.

Viene De Mi (Captain Planet Remix)

The original mix sounds like this...



And this is another one I'm enjoying- in fact I think I like this one the most- Trocitos...

212

I keep bumping into Azealia Bank's epic filth-fest 212- most recently in the hairdressers my daughter and wife go to when I took young ET for a haircut on Saturday. Over the din of hairdryers and phones and chat the key lines in this were still unmistakable. No-one seemed to notice- just background noise. Azealia keeps running into arguments and Twitter feuds and what-not, which keeps things interesting I suppose. If she records nothing of interest ever again this song, featuring Lazy Jay, will still be enough. It is as they say NSFW.

212

Often, When I'm On The Fridge, People Tell Me To Get Off The Fridge

Mark Wynn, York's own machine-gun lyricist and chronicler of the absurdities of 21st century life, is back with not one but two new e.p.s and a brace of videos too. As he said in his email to me 'I make too much stuff'. I'm glad he does.

Mark gets called things like 'spoken word acoustic punk' and 'York based mumbler of  song and spiel'. Its determinedly lo-fi, done quickly and homemade. The cds come with handwritten booklets. This type of cottage industry thing is good so more power to Mark's elbow.

Bill Burroughs Was My Baby (one minute twenty two of lyrical gems- 'Bill Burroughs was an intellectual, he looked good in a full length coat, he wore spectacles and he knew a lot about stuff')...



And Dave Went Mental, which references Lauren Laverne and her playlist...



You can download either or both e.p.s, naming your own price, at Bandcamp, The Polar Bear Blah and Get Off The Fridge.

Shoehorning

You could do worse than spend part of your Saturday evening with this superb 66 minute mix of 'domestic disco' from Prins Thomas. Low key but with plenty of bounce, not really disco-disco at all but a modernist, minimalist, Scandinavian version thereof.

Oh No He Loves Us

Tim Burgess' still-really-good-sounding album from last year Oh No! I Love You, co-written and recorded with Kurt Wagner from Lambchop, has already had some remixes released. I posted the Factory Floor and Andy Votel ones and there was a Django Django one I might have done too. Memory fails me at times. There are a few more just floating about the internet at the moment, and cos Tim loves us, they're free downloads. I'm still trying to convince people that Tim's solo album is worth their time- go on, give it a go.

Seahawks have done this slow, stately, ambientish one which hangs around very pleasantly for eleven minutes plus. Anton Newcombe from top underground rockers Brian Jonestown Massacre has done two, one of which- The Doors Of Then- is here. It is on a psychedelic tip.

The Return Of Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 108

Mystery Gang (or The Mystery Gang Rock 'n' Roll Trio) are my favourite Hungarian neo-rockabilly band. And Voodoo Doll is their best song (Woodoo Doll in Hungarian I think, though admittedly I'm no expert). There is no reason why you shouldn't start playing this right now and play it back-to-back until your family/housemates lock you in the garden and leave you out there. Rip it up.

Woodoo Doll

Our youngest child E.T. is ten years old today. Ten! Back in 2003 she looked like this...

Happy birthday Eliza.

Comical Little Geezer- You'll Look Funny When You're Fifty

'You know, I don't think I'm going to let you stay in the film business'

Big Audio Dynamite's E=MC2 is a big Bagging Area favourite, with it's guitar riffs, drum machine, samples and lyrics all piling up on each other. Inspired by the films of Nicolas Roeg (Performance, Walkabout, Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Insignificance) the song is littered with vocal samples from Performance (provided by Don Letts' primitive sampler) and lyrics that reference those films (provided by Mick Jones). Albert Einstein pops up (from Insignificance) the 'scientist eats bubblegum' and gives the song its title. BAD had other great moments but this is up among them as their best.

E=MC2 (Extended Mix)

The line giving this post its title is from Performance, said by Chas (James Fox) to Turner (Mick Jagger). Jagger was at his counter-cultural peak when Performance was filmed in 1968- freed from jail the year before on drugs charges, a Street Fighting Man, shagging Anita Pallenberg (then Keith's girlfriend) in the opening sequence of the film, all long hair, lips and Sarf London drawl. In 2013 he's just a wanker who says he liked Margaret Thatcher and couldn't understand why anybody wouldn't. Enjoy 'Glasto' Mick.

Warming Up With Kosmische Laufer

This is a bit of a find- some super cool kosmische music from the 1970s, recorded by Martin Zeichnete with the intention of providing the ideal soundtrack for a runner to do 5k at a reasonable pace, with music for the warm-up and warm-down as well. The East German sports authorities appropriated it but now over thirty years later it's been made available at Bandcamp for the princely sum of £3.49. Lots of lovely warm washes of cosmic synths and motorikisms.

This post is for Mr Davy H, who I think will love this music- hope today goes as well as it can.

The Bandcamp player should be embedded in the gap above but is a bit temperamental.

Edit: this is apparently a hoax, which is a bit disappointing (but better informed people than me fell for it as well). It was made recently in Scotland. It still sounds really good, it's just not long lost kosmische music made for East German athletes. Ho hum.

Boy's Own Stuff

Compilation albums are ace- I don't mean a single band's Greatest Hits or Best Of (although they can be ace too) but compilations of a theme, time period, genre or record label- and cd suits this type of compilation perfectly. You get one disc of 80 minutes worth of music pulling together a range of releases that together make some kind of thematic sense and that soundtrack a time, place, mood, whatever.  Recently I've been listening to the pair of Junior Boy's Own Collection comps- the first one mainly, the one with the mock cigarette cards cover, the second one less so (the one done to look like The Eagle comic). I've had the first one on vinyl for years but found both on cd in a charity shop last week for a pound each and couldn't help myself. The first one has eleven early 90s dance tracks all of which have merit. Some are bona fide classics- Lemon Interrupt's harmonica-house epic Bigmouth, X Press 2 (appearing twice), Underworld's definitive pairing of Dirty Guitar and Rez (their best song? I think so), The Dust Brothers' Song To The Siren. The others have aged well, much better than I'd expected- Farley and Heller's Fire Island project (two songs including Paradise Factory anthem There But For The Grace Of God), Roach Motel's Movin' On, 3rd Eye and Outrage. This JBO compilation is a document of a time and place, or several places, and of ephemeral music, made quickly to be played in clubs to make people dance, but has actually stood the test of time. So, picking one at random, let's have X-Press 2 (Rocky, Diesel and Ashley Beedle) with some four to the floor action.

London X-Press

Joe 88

I seem to be blogging something Clash related on a weekly basis at the moment- which is no bad thing. I found this interview with Joe from back in 1988, a late night Channel 4 affair. The young man interviewing Joe is a little combative- it seems strange now that there was a time when The Clash appearing on cd was seen as a sell out, as was a Clash greatest hits compilation of any kind (The Story Of The Clash in this case- the first of many). But then I was anti-compact disc well into the 90s so I guess I'm not one to talk. Strange too that this interview was in reality only a few years since The Clash had broken up (five years since Mick was fired but The Clash Mk II or The Rump Clash kept going until 1985) so for Joe this stuff was recent history.



Given the smug. self-righteousness of the interviewer Joe did well to be so tolerant throughout this interview.

This song is from Joe's soundtrack to Alex Cox' film Walker, a soundtrack that's well worth picking up second hand if you can. As far as I know it's out of print at the moment

Tennessee Rain

On And On

There are several versions of Orbital's beautiful Halcyon- the one here, the lp version, is a minute or two shorter than the original 12" mix (from the Radiccio single). Let's not be too fussy- I'll take any of the versions, they're all superb. The Halcyon + On + On version is little more upbeat, more up front, less reflective, less sad even than the Radiccio one. It's got a vocal sample, played backwards, from Opus III's It's A Fine Day (sung by Kirsty Hawkshaw). Live the Hartnoll Brothers like to chuck in Belinda Carlisle or Bon Jovi, and even the dreaded Darkness.

That's the technical stuff done. Now enjoy.

Halcyon + On + On

Man Power

I know nothing about Man Power apart from that in one or two small corners of the internet he/they are causing a small stir- and I'm not sure I want to know any more. The music is enough- deep, dark, pumping techno-house, three examples of which can be watched below. Lovely, beguiling repetitive rhythms. Bumpity-bumpity-bump. The visuals are a mixture of hypnotic, bewildering and unsettling.

Flying

Drew reckons giving up smoking has affected my hormones, what with the Dot Allison and Betty Blue posts over the course of last week. I don't know if he's right but I thought I'd post this picture of celebrity shoplifter Winona Ryder anyway.

That Dot Allison album I mentioned (Pioneer, out December last year- did it get any press at all?) is a belter- as well as the Keith Tenniswood song I put up a few days ago there are several others that are as good as anything she's done since the late 90s. This one, dance-pop co-written with Jagz Kooner (Sabres, Aloof), has a killer chorus and makes me throw my hands up in the air involuntarily, and wave them like I just don't care.

Flying

Made Of Love

(I'm in this shot at Parr Hall, somewhere slightly right and above of Ian Brown's hand. You might be able to spot me, the one with his arms in the air.)

I went to see Shane Meadows' film of The Stone Roses re-union on Thursday night. Meadows has himself described it as a love-letter to the band and it's hard to disagree. It's very, very well done, and fantastically put together. The standout moment for me was the section in the middle showing the gig at Warrington's Parr Hall on 22nd of May last year- the footage of band and audience is incredible, gave me goosebumps in fact- and the clips of people running to try to get wristbands are very funny. One man being persued by a small daughter struggling to keep up with him shouting 'go on Dad!' is brilliant. There is some fascinating footage c.1982 of Ian and John on scooter rallies and some highly amusing interview footage from 1989 (some of which has been doing the bootleg/Youtube rounds for twenty years). There is a wonderful bit of the band rehearsing Waterfall in a farmhouse somewhere in Cheshire, with split screen segments showing each man playing. It is incredible and should scotch the view that Ian can't sing (and the version of Waterfall played needs to be released as a soundtrack or ripped from the dvd when it gets released). The film isn't a total love-in either- tensions are shown when Reni sets the internet ablaze with rumours that he's quit. Shane is following the band round a short European tour culminating in the gig in Amsterdam where Reni throws a strop due to malfunctioning gear and refuses to play the encore, disappearing into a people carrier. Ian takes to the stage to tell the crowd there'll be no encore and, in what could possibly not be described as tactful, informs the crowd 'what can I say? The drummer's a cunt'.

The climax is Heaton Park, the last fifteen minutes of the film- shot with multiple cameras the band swagger through a ten minute version of Fool's Gold, John Squire's guitar playing really does have to be seen and heard to be believed, Reni and Mani proving their worth as the funkiest indie-rock rhythm section and Ian walking out to the front row of the crowd, pressing flesh, borrowing a lad's camera phone to snap them and him, and generally being adored. Interspersed with the shots of the band are some helicopter shots of Heaton Park and some incredible footage of the crowd- a man on top of an ice cream van, people dancing, a teenage boy on someone's shoulders, a couple snogging, a girl twirling her shirt round her head. It's beautifully filmed and incredibly dramatic and puts The Roses right there, centre stage, as the best band of their generation.

If you don't like them, or weren't that fussed first time around, you probably won't find much here- haters gonna hate after all. But this is genuinely a brilliant piece of film making, about a man in love with a band (and many other men like him, and a lot of women too- I never really got why The Stone Roses have been portrayed as such a 'lad's band', they always seemed to have a huge female following), a man in love with a band who soundtracked his and our youth and are soundtracking his and our middle age too.

Previously Unheard Backwards Track 3

The Return Of Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 107

Wanda Jackson is the rockabilly queen, the First lady of Rockabilly no less, and still out treading the boards in her 80s. She released an album last year, produced by Justin Townes Earle, going back to her rockabilly and country roots, and in 2009 Oklahoma City renamed an alley in  her honour- Wanda Jackson Way. Any decent Wanda compilation will be packed full of goodies- Fujiyama Mama, Riot In Cell Block 9, Funnel Of Love, Whirlpool, This Gun Don't Care, Baby Loves Him, Honey Bop... and this one...

Hard Headed Woman

Pour me a gin and tonic, it is Friday, I have not smoked since Sunday and I require alcohol. And music.

When You're Young

When You're Young is one of The Jam's finest moments, with Paul Weller dispensing hard-won wisdom (from the grand old age of 22 or something, youth becoming relative the older you get) -'the world is your oyster but your future's a clam, it's got you in it's grip from before you're born, you think you're a king but you're really a pawn'. There's something about the music that's very democratic too- guitar, bass and drums all equal in the mix and the dynamics. Then the hair raising breakdown followed by 'you used to fall in love with everyone..... any guitar and any bass drum'. 



The other thing about it is the video- the kids, passers-by and members of the public, all look pretty much exactly how I remember 1979-80 looking. Except without The Jam miming on a bandstand. Never saw that happen.

I saw a striped blazer just like the one Weller's wearing in this video recently, reduced but still pricey. Was tempted I have to say.

Miss You

No, not Miss You by the hoary old Rolling Stones, Miss You by Liverpool psych-surgeons Clinic. This 2012 remix by Italian pairing Daniele Baldelli and DJ Rocca send the already pretty cosmic Clinic way on up there and out- spaced out on old synths and floating. 'Tranquilize' the man says, 'tranquilize'...

Miss You (Daniele Baldelli and DJ Rocca Remix)

Dot Again

Since writing this morning's post I found a reference to a download only album at the end of last year called Pioneers with Dot and a whole host of electronica artists including Keith Tenniswood, Darren Emerson, Jagz Kooner and her hubby Christian Henson. It's up at emusic, iTunes and at other such digital emporia. I've not listened to anything other than this song yet which sounds very much like Keith Tenniswood in his Radioactiveman guise with Dot singing- it has got a very busy, driving bassline.

Thief Of Me

I was listening to Dot Allison's superb solo debut lp Aftermath the other day, especially the perfect single Mo' Pop which should have been a hit in every country with a chart. Then I listened to the follow up, We Are Science, which had an electro-clash flavour with some assistance from One Lone Swordsman Keith Tenniswood- some cracking songs but less satisfying as a whole album. Then I remembered I also had 2007's An Exaltation Of Larks- a much folkier affair with accordions and fiddles and acoustic guitars. Whispery and wistful music. She also released an album in 2009- Room Seven And A Half- which featured Pete Doherty and Paul Weller but I never got around to getting that one. Think I had Doherty fatigue by 2009. This was the single from An Exaltation Of Larks.

Thief Of Me

It is Day 3 of not smoking. It's been a long three days.

Betty

There's nothing much that's original in this post, just some internet blogging repetition. I'm pretty sure both Drew and London Lee (and probably others as well, I'd be surprised if Davy H hadn't) have blogged about the late 80s French film Betty Blue and it's beautiful star Beatrice Dalle. And maybe originality is over-rated anyway. Beatrice was the perfect poster-girl for some of us in the late 80s- that dark hair, those deep eyes and full lips, the scant clothing in the film, the life in the beach house, the descent into insanity and assaulting other girls with forks, followed by suicide. She (Betty/Beatrice) was the kind of girl we fancied like mad but were also terrified of. Helpfully an uploader at Youtube has edited some of the more unpleasant parts out and created a seven minute Hommage a Betty, a 'smooth version without the drama' although she still burns down the beach house and covers that man's car with paint.



The soundtrack by Gabriel Yared is a good listen- some of the guitar is a bit too late 80s but it has a very laid back charm. I've got the vinyl lp of this- I don't remember buying it and don't remember anyone giving it to me either. It has just appeared in my record collection at some point over the years.

37.2 Le Matin

Playground Mix

Back to the playground (and the classroom) for me today. Let's start the week with a smashing mix from The Orb, featuring mainly The Orb but also Lee Perry, Madlib, Cypress Hill and Vangelis (from the Bladerunner soundtrack ...'I've seen things you people wouldn't imagine...attack ships on fire off the Shoulder of Orion, C-Beams at the Tannhauser gate...'). A pretty relaxed mix all round.



Baghdad Batteries - THE ORB
Interlude - MADLIB
Outland's (Fountains Of Elisha Mix ) - THE ORB 
Africa - THE ORB Feat LEE SCRATCH PERRY 
Legalise It - CYPRESS HILL
Fussball (Instrumental) - THE ORB 
You're Heard - DAEDELUS & TEEBS 
No Ice Age - THE ORB Feat LEE SCRATCH PERRY 
Majestic 6 - THE ORB UNRELEASED 
Congo - THE ORB Feat LEE SCRATCH PERRY 
Frogtime - SCREEN 
Moon Building Part 3 Ambient - THE ORB UNRELEASED 
Jahara - TEEBS 
Tears In The Rain - VANGELIS

Us '83

There's no doubt that for $20 (even in 1983 prices) that's an interesting line up.

This was the last gig Mick Jones played with The Clash, in front of 250, 000 people. The Clash had truculently refused to play hours before their stage time but relented. There was an argument with Dave Lee Roth about the $1.5 million Van Halen were receiving and Joe insisted the organisers, including Steve Wozniak of Apple fame, pay them more or donate more to Clash approved charities. This led to a pissed off Clash taking the stage and the tensions are evident in the clips- the whole thing was recorded- although some of the tension may be internal. Joe and Mick were barely speaking, Mick and Paul rowed on and off. As a result, Mick was playing his 80 minutes on stage in the band he formed. Topper was gone too by this point, replaced by Nick Howard (who had replaced Terry Chimes/Tory Crimes). During the show Joe repeatedly abused the audience and organisers and on leaving the stage (even more pissed off that the dj began playing songs straight away, denying them an encore) the band got into a scuffle with security. During the brawl, in a last display of band unity, Paul waded in to stop Mick getting a kicking ('cos he's only a skinny bloke Mick isn't he' said Paul). Having said all this, for a band adapting their set and sound to stadiums this is top stuff. Mick, Joe and Paul are tight and the drumming is good enough. Paul looks like the coolest bassist in the world and can clearly play the thing too, without the notes panted on the fretboard like in the early days. However you look at it, it's a long way from Camden Town in 1976.

There's some variable quality clips on Youtube. The whole show is there but a lot of it has been filmed by a man watching it on video on his TV in his front room. The two below are straight from the DVD and are good quality.






There's a new Clash box set in the offing, remastered by Mick and packed in a boom box/ghetto blaster designed by Paul, with demos and extra tracks (that have been available on bootlegs for donkey's years) and accompanied by all manner of trinkets, retailing at somewhere around one hundred pounds. It is ridiculous. Yes, of course I want it.

Walk Evil Talk

It Was The Start Of The Summer

Hello. It's June.

Ash's Oh Yeah is the sound of being seventeen and in love/lust. I heard it yesterday while the sun came out and shone on us up here in the frozen north and it sounded like the summer that Tim Wheeler wrote about in the lyrics. We've just had the coldest spring since 1962 or thereabouts. I think we all need some sun.

Oh Yeah