Mix Club January Reviews

[dgs]

My compilation this month cane from Bristle, cheers Bhoy.

I have listened to this a number of times over now and I have enjoyed the disc, some tracks more than others.

1. Opening track is akin to a middle Eastern mantra or chant. I am going to guess that this is actually Tinariwen. Good stuff though short, sharp and sets a tone.

2. Track two moves into the post-orch or indeed may even be classical territory. Lovely piece of music, don’t know why but it seems to shout out David Lloyd George and Ennio Morricone?

3. Next up is a more home brew instrumental with loads of haunting theramin and fx before it shifts into a waltzesque style. Nice one Bhoy, liked this one a lot.

4. All latin next, horns, samba and a very Buena Vista Social feel to it. Another winner.

5. Hammond organ start for no. 5 before more horns and short Hammond stabs. This one mooches
along at a nice downbeat tempo and has enough going on to keep the attention tuned in. Five tracks in and no MBV yet?

6. The Bhoy got soul. No idea who this is but I was expecting some soul on any comp from the bhoy and here it is. I am not that familiar with soul.

7. 60’s girl harmonies, I know the song but don’t have a clue as to who it is.

8. This one is a nice, “judge sympathy” passing judegment on some bloke to a reggae tune, nice harmonies again. Liked this, I assume its from Trojan Records, I stand accused?

9. Bjork, the voice is unmistakable. Orchestral backing. This is either a remix or from one of the albums that I haven’t listened to that much as I know that I will have this. I like Bjork.

10. Slow Club (I think). I haven’t given this album much of a listen to be honest, outside of the opening track but I know that the bhoy raves about it. This one has a very bossa nova beat, I could actually see this as a stereolab cover on the basis of the boy/girl harmony.

11. Singer songwriter for track 11. I have a feeling that I should know who this is……

12. Keeping with the singer songwriter, the next track is a very fragile female vocal compared with the previous one. Much more picked, is this Rozi? Nice sequence of two songs though.

13. Lovely downbeat start to track thirteen. Fabulous tortured vocal to accompany this track.

14. This sounds like one of the queens of souls. The acoustic accompaniment is very low in the mix so the focus is on the vocal. Very nice really liked this one, dripping in melancholy!

15. This sounds like the king, though of course it isn’t. Another corking melancholy track, could be Ray Charles. Lovely sequence of tracks from 12 through to 15.

16. Not sure what to make of this mix, its one of the phased demos of LAGWAFIS, the only song of the album that I actually liked. It certainly removes some of the bombast and brings things a bit more close to the first few albums. I will mull this one over some more.

17. Now I expected some MBV at this point but rather we get 16 minutes of sonic architecture. This one pulses with a mix of what sounds like white noise and a treated collage of instruments. Liked this a lot. It’s not someones warped mix on Mogwai fear Satan is it?

18. Cool little instrumental to finish.

Cheers Bhoy, as ever an exploration into some of the areas that I don’t often venture.

[dgs]

My Mix Club disc this month arrived with a somewhat sinister "Gen Probe" return address . But once I overcame my initial fear, I was rewarded with a fine batch of (mostly) electro-club hits, with a few other detours along the way. Usually, this type of music wears me out after a few tracks, but my mixer definitely has an ear for ultra-interesting production, and what the tracks may have occasionally lacked in songwriting was more than made up for by an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of pure sonic fun. Extra kudos go to El Mixer for a crisply-paced and professionally-presented disc, filled with nicely-done cross-fades and cool segues... all timed with the accuracy of an expert DJ. I appreciate the extra effort. It's a real keeper. SALUTE!

1- starts with electronic bloops and bleeps and a monologue about trust... so far so good. Develops a very Orb-like club beat with shreds of ambient sound crisscrossing the rhythm. It has a 90s electronic sound like The Orb or Air Liquide... pretty good track. Sensibly fades after about 4 minutes.

2- very strange version of what, at first, sounds like Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" with some really piercing stabs of organ and great guitar... but then the vocals come in and it turns into a crazy gospel track... "How great thou art". Cognitive dissonance!! Help me, Jeebus!!! What in Sam Hill is going on here?

3- weird, poppy mashup track using Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?" as a backing sample mixed with the words to "Freak Like Me". Made me laugh. I would've danced too, but the warden doesn't let me do the boogie in the exercise yard. Fun stuff.

4- a very 80s-sounding approach to the fourth track. I'm a little "meh" on this one....The chorus wants to blast off, but it really doesn't. Probably a good "broken heart/ crying in yer beer at 3 AM" tune, though. I'd call it "northern moaning bollocks" but I'm not sure it's northern. Not really my kind of thing.

5-I like this pretty well. Hypnotic electronic music. I like the way the beat develops out of the backbeat, the suddenly-thundering drums, sounding sort of "wrong" at first but then it "snaps in" and sounds totally propulsive (I love it when that happens). Kind of lengthy at 9 minutes, but there's a lot developing here all the time, so I didn't get bored. Thumbs up.

6-Great production here, really sets up a sinister atmosphere... supports a pretty cool rap tinged with some electronic filter effects. I bet this sounds awesome coming out of big speakers in a club... good use of dynamics keeps it interesting for home listening too. Second listen reveals that the rap is pretty funny- references to Judge Dredd and Papa Smurf and I like the line "anybody with a heart votes love".

7- Cool-sounding keyboards. Dub-style vocals echo around before the beat kicks in. I'm getting a little tired of the dance beat, but the rest of the track is so good that it doesn't matter and they keep things switched up and interesting from a sonic standpoint. "Where's your head at?" is a question for the ages. Any track with ring modulator sounds is always cool with me.

8- A change-up to a different feel here. This is my fave so far...Lots of cheesy/cool bells and an 80s-sounding vintage electronic atmosphere. The chord change is pure "Louie Louie/Soul Limbo" cheese, but these folks do a lot with it. Great production which uses a lot of different samples and effects in a dub fashion... perfect music for someone like me who has a shattered attention span. Look! Butterflies! Time for my cookie?

9- nice deep-bass electronic dance track with a hiphop flavor... like RZA meets Stockhausen. Like it. The middle part has some major stereo noise-goofs that sound like Kraftwerk if they were Jamaicans who were influenced by Kraftwerk. Or something like that. Elecro-dub bass breakdown in the middle is an extra plus. Good one.

10- LCD Soundsystem "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House". I like these guys okay. I never noticed how much the bass on this (during the "set them up" part) sounds like Can's "One More Night" until just now.

11- Nice fast segue into a short, very cool instrumental. A real colorful sound. If this track was a food, it would be a tasty assortment of fruit-flavored candy. I like.

12- Top-notch electro-hiphop track with good rap skittering over the top. Production is terrific. Whoever this is deserves kudos for not depending on the same ol' plug-ins every other producer uses. Good use of some original electronic sounds. And even the samples are fresh and cliche-busting, some seriously deep crate-digging goin' on here...for instance, that one-note guitar definitely comes from an old Residents disc ("Sinister Exaggerator"). Ace!

13- I've heard this one before. It sounds like Spacemen 3's Playing With Fire album, but I know it isn't from that. It might be some post-S3 solo stuff... I sorta lost track of them when the band split (I'm sure it's not Spiritualized though). A sad track, railing at the sky over a friend who died... it's really long, but keeps a nice drony feel throughout. A bit more restrained and less exuberant than the rest of the disc, a great way to close things out.

This was me! Full reveal once I get home tonight.

Cheers

[Moleskin]

A pretty mixed bag this month.

1. Starts off with some jazz-rock that I feel sure is probably Miles, and moreover I'll probably discover I have it. Fuzz guitar, rock drumming and funky bass with trumpet over the top. Bracing.

2. Took a couple of listens to realise this was Jarvis Cocker. Nice tone on the guitar but I don't think this stands up next to his Pulp stuff.

3. Fuzzy guitars over synths with a vaguely shoegazey vibe. Probably called 'Not Sure What I Want'. A warm bath of sound.

4. Something more 70s. Acoustic guitar, rolling cymbals and a very clear female voice, joined in the second verse by a male. About a clipper called 'Charity'.

5. Glitchy sound bed with plinky keyboard, then way tremeloed guitar leads into a slight instrumental. Some nice developments and some lovely guitar feedback in here.

6. Throat singing? Several drums. Opens out into a nice piece. Indian? I think I'd like to hear more of this.

7. And then something much more rock - nay, even shoegazey with it's buried vocals and distorted guitars.

8. Dennis Wilson, I'm sure. Is this 'I Love You'? I haven't listened to the second disk of Pacific Ocean Blue so much as I ought.

9. The very opening sounds like Godspeed You! or similar with those distant guitars, but then the main song isn't. This is another piece with the vocals low(ish) in the mix and with plenty of distortion. Electronic squiggles all over the top too.

10. Another crystalline female vocal over acoustic guitar. Might be called 'Come Away'.

11. Going for a sort of sub-Cure sound circa 'A Forest'. Meanwhile the singer is reminiscent of the Beta Band.

12. Another dip into the folky well. This time in German.

13. This sounds like the sort of thing you might hear over the end titles of a film. Rising and rousing and hopeful instrumental.

14. Soulful. It's about someone called 'Eli' which makes me think it might be 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession' by Laura Nyro, who I know made an album with LaBelle which might fit the sound of this track. Of course now it will be something entirely different.

15. This is the least interesting song here for me. Lo-fi thrash with apologetic vocals presumably called 'I Look Back in Anger'.

16. The disc finishes with a dance track. Clattering drums, whistles, and keyboard set to plonky, with various interjections in one of the romance languages. Not sure if the vocal that appears some 5 minutes in really qualifies this as a song as it's more a chant. There is something hypnotic about it's 8 odd minutes.

Overall an interesting collection. I'd be most interested in hearing who tracks 4, 6, 10, 12 are by.

[harvey k-tel]

A pretty decent disc this month. I'm guessing Jumper k, but don't know for sure....

Anyhoo...

1 - This sounds like the Grifters, but I'm unfamiliar with it. Good stuff.

2 - Thrashy garbage punk. Reminds me Crunt. Another good one.

3 - A Question Of Temperature. Pretty fantastic Troggs-y garage rock with some nice touches. The organ swells and Theremin bits are particularly cool.

4 - This one is fantastic! Girl group with some really questionable harmonies, but I love it!

5 - Ah, some good ol' Thinly Veiled Double Entendre jazz. He wants to play with his baby's poodle, but he keeps calling it a 'he'. Weird.

6 - Wang Dang Doodle. It's John Lee Hooker, isn't it? I don't know who the chick is, but she's got a great voice.

7 - Darling, Be Home Soon. Not a patch on the live Slade version, which is my favourite.

8 - The intro sound like some good dirty Detroit rock'n'roll, but it turns into a Mersey-style tune. Cool guitar sound.

9 - Not really my thing, French gypsy-style stuff. The choruses are really cool sounding, though, with that big droning double bass and wailing vocals. Not bad, I guess and it could be a grower.

10 - This is something I would have really dug in the 90's, but I don't have a lot of time for it these days.

11 - This sounds like it could be a Flying Nun special. Nice Velvets-y tune.

12 - The voice is really familiar, but I don't recognise the song, or the sound for that matter. 80's indie-ish thing. Not too shabby.

13 - Shambolic country punk. Really odd sounding to me, almost as if the band were learning it as they recorded it.

Well, thanks Mr. or Mrs. Compiler. It was an enjoyable ride.

[The Fish]

Mix this month from Penk.

1) Real old time blood and thunder, though possibly newer. Not Congregation is it ? Wonderful, but way dark. Feel like you need some Archies after this.
2) And on to the soul section. The intro screams Stax (or contemporary Atlantic). I could hear any given snatch of this and you could tell me I was listening to In The Midnight Hour or Knock on Wood and I’d believe you. Tremendous of course and I’d lay money I own this somewhere.
3) This is good too, but the groove sounds a bit cheesy compared to the last one. Cheesy probably isn’t the right word, but serviceable sounds like damning with faint praise. Just compare the brass. Anyway the playing is fine. It’s bright and slightly poppy and no problems with the vocals. Another winner.
4) Closer to track 2. Energy to spare on this one and a great organ riff.
5) Is this The Meters ? It sounds just like a first cousin to Cissy Strut. Almost identical and yet totally different (see Soul Finger/Last Night for other examples of this phenomenon). In any case it’s a monster groove and it’s nailed down tight. Yay!!
6) And so moving on full speed out of my comfort zone.... Good intro promised much. Unfortunately the vocals are a style that annoys me intensely (The” I’m so cool that I don’t actually have to sing as such”) Chugged along OK and I liked the mad guitar.
7) Carbon copy really. Liked the smooth intro. Hated the vocal. Loved the mad guitar.
8) This is better. A kind of raga jam with layered vocals. In the Byrds vein but not as good.
9) Fuck NO. This started off promising to be the best yet. A great slow dirty laid back guitar and drums but then..... I really can’t listen to the vocal for more than two seconds.
10) This is a weird one. A terrific bit of power pop rifferama gives way to a strangled angsty vocal. I thought there was a pattern developing here, but the guitar breaks come back in over the vocal and it works. A real grower this and I liked this a lot on repeated listens.
11) Liked this OK without being knocked out.
12) Possibly my favourite here. A simple song with gorgeous simple acoustic guitar accompaniment.
13) Peter Broderick ? This is great. I like his vocal stuff a lot more than his instrumental “mood” stuff.
14) ... and right on cue, we have some er, instrumental “mood” music. This is rather lovely, but I find it hard to distance myself from a view I’m listening to TV/film/ or worse still ad music. Maybe you need to supply your own imaginary video track. I can listen anytime to stuff like this, but not sure I’d last a whole album. It always seems hard for me for a track like this to work in a mix context, although that’s probably just me.
15) & 16) Hard to separate these. So comments apply equally to both. Two more instrumentals, both dense and light at the same time. On an intellectual level I can certainly admire the level of “Musicality” here, although this is so far from being “my thing”. I was in no rush to take them off, but I'd be in no rush to put them on. I guess the listening circumstances need to be right. Ultimately moments of intense beauty and intense tedium, in equal measures,
17) A folky thing, with a high pitched vocal, sort of Django’d up if you will. It works.
18) And a good one to finish.

Cheers Ed. Some good stuff there and I tried to give a fair listen to the things outside my usual zone. It was certainly challenging at times.

[Penk!]

1) Real old time blood and thunder, though possibly newer. Not Congregation is it ? Wonderful, but way dark. Feel like you need some Archies after this.

Rev Roger L Worthy and His Sister Bonnie Woodstock - Get Back Satan
The kind of name that could only be one of two things: either a tiresomely hip New York electroclash combo having a big novelty pop hit, or some old-timey gospel types. Fortunately it's the latter: the track comes from last year's Fire in My Bones collection of weirdy gospel stuff from the last sixty or seventy years and, while much of the three-disc set is made up of standard scratchy blues guitar and monotone vocals, there are some real wonders like this on there too.

2) And on to the soul section. The intro screams Stax (or contemporary Atlantic). I could hear any given snatch of this and you could tell me I was listening to In The Midnight Hour or Knock on Wood and I’d believe you. Tremendous of course and I’d lay money I own this somewhere.

Eddie and Ernie - Doggone It
They're all over all those Kent compilations, so much so that they even got their own, Lost Friends, which is full of neat little things like this.

3) This is good too, but the groove sounds a bit cheesy compared to the last one. Cheesy probably isn’t the right word, but serviceable sounds like damning with faint praise. Just compare the brass. Anyway the playing is fine. It’s bright and slightly poppy and no problems with the vocals. Another winner.

Paul Kelly - Chills and Fever
One of those "no idea who he is, but his song's cool" selections.

4) Closer to track 2. Energy to spare on this one and a great organ riff.

Ronnie Taylor - I Can't Take It
I found this one on one of those Eccentric Soul compilations that you occasionally see knocking around. There are two or three tracks by Taylor on there and they're all endearingly amateurish full-pelt belters like this.

5) Is this The Meters ? It sounds just like a first cousin to Cissy Strut. Almost identical and yet totally different (see Soul Finger/Last Night for other examples of this phenomenon). In any case it’s a monster groove and it’s nailed down tight. Yay!!

The Invaders - Look a Py Py
As discovered on my December disc from Feeb: one of those things that was impossible to find before the advent of internet piracy.

6) And so moving on full speed out of my comfort zone.... Good intro promised much. Unfortunately the vocals are a style that annoys me intensely (The” I’m so cool that I don’t actually have to sing as such”) Chugged along OK and I liked the mad guitar.

Pugh Rogefeldt - Love Love Love
I don't like it much myself, no idea why I put it on here - especially as you're probably not one of the people who would spot the intro as having been sampled in DJ Shadow's 'Mutual Slump'. From his "classic" late-60s album Ja, Dä Ä Dä, which means something it's not worth translating.

7) Carbon copy really. Liked the smooth intro. Hated the vocal. Loved the mad guitar.

Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
Or 'Take It Easy', advice the guitarist is clearly ignoring. One of the current decade's best (Swedish) bands with the title track from the album that made them briefly hip a few years ago. The vocals took me a long time to warm to as well... but they're great once you really get into them.

8) This is better. A kind of raga jam with layered vocals. In the Byrds vein but not as good.

The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - Kolob Canyon
They usually have a bit more mad guitar too, but I wasn't sure if you'd appreciate that so much. Along the same lines as Dungen - modern-day psych-prog rock jams.

9) Fuck NO. This started off promising to be the best yet. A great slow dirty laid back guitar and drums but then..... I really can’t listen to the vocal for more than two seconds.

Dead Meadow - Dragonfly
Oh well. Can't say I'd ever noticed that the vocals might be offputting, but they're not particularly close to my heart so I'm not going to get too upset.

10) This is a weird one. A terrific bit of power pop rifferama gives way to a strangled angsty vocal. I thought there was a pattern developing here, but the guitar breaks come back in over the vocal and it works. A real grower this and I liked this a lot on repeated listens.

bob hund - Rundgång, Gräslök, Fågelsång
I am of course pleased you liked this, though. A nice little song called 'Feedback, Chives, Birdsong', about having an argument on a summer's day, from their self-titled mini-album debut way back in 1993.

11) Liked this OK without being knocked out.

Grizzly Bear - Knife
From their other album (before they got famous), Yellow House. That album's not a patch on the new one, but I like this track a hell of a lot.

12) Possibly my favourite here. A simple song with gorgeous simple acoustic guitar accompaniment.

Richard Youngs - Bloom of All
And here's this month's token Youngs track, from his album May, which was a Mojo Buried Treasure a few years ago. To be fair, that was probably a token pick as well as he's released about 500 albums, mostly top quality one-man-and-his-guitar-and-sometimes-an-effects-pedal stuff.

13) Peter Broderick ? This is great. I like his vocal stuff a lot more than his instrumental “mood” stuff.

Peter Broderick - Below It
Yep, it's the standout track from the wonderful Home album. This one really blew me away when I saw him play it live in Gothenburg last year, in a church, a gig for which he was accompanied by...

14) ... and right on cue, we have some er, instrumental “mood” music. This is rather lovely, but I find it hard to distance myself from a view I’m listening to TV/film/ or worse still ad music. Maybe you need to supply your own imaginary video track. I can listen anytime to stuff like this, but not sure I’d last a whole album. It always seems hard for me for a track like this to work in a mix context, although that’s probably just me.

Nils Frahm - Nue
His best mate Nils Frahm, who tinkles his own stuff out now and again too, which is nice as it's also mostly very pleasant.

15) & 16) Hard to separate these. So comments apply equally to both. Two more instrumentals, both dense and light at the same time. On an intellectual level I can certainly admire the level of “Musicality” here, although this is so far from being “my thing”. I was in no rush to take them off, but I'd be in no rush to put them on. I guess the listening circumstances need to be right. Ultimately moments of intense beauty and intense tedium, in equal measures,

Arve Henriksen - Black Mountain
I find it hard to describe Henriksen's music - it's a kind of ambient jazz with electronic and "ethnic" sounds, but I think it works despite their being a pretty high risk of that kind of thing being unspeakable toss.

Leyland Kirby - And Nothing Comes Between the Sadness and the Scream
Kirby has worked under a number of aliases and released a lot of stuff. I'm not familiar with most of it, but last year's three-disc set of music that could have come straight from the Twin Peaks soundtrack was quite interesting.

17) A folky thing, with a high pitched vocal, sort of Django’d up if you will. It works.

Nico Muhly - The Only Tune
Muhly normally works as a contemporary composer and arranger, but a couple of years ago found the time to put together Mothertongue, a startling album of songs built of collages of voices and instruments. This is perhaps its most accessible moment; compared to the standard Bon Iver one-man-and-his-beard school of alt-folk it's incredibly complex and fascinating.

18) And a good one to finish.

Gravenhurst - Hopechapel Hill
One of the decade's great disappointments was that no one ever paid any attention to Gravenhurst. Flashlight Seasons is one of the last ten years' finest records.

Cheers Ed. Some good stuff there and I tried to give a fair listen to the things outside my usual zone. It was certainly challenging at times.

I don't know that I really aimed to challenge... but I'm glad that you saw it in a positive light anyway! As always, anything you fancy more of, just ask.

Rev Roger L Worthy and His Sister Bonnie Woodstock - Get Back Satan
Eddie and Ernie - Doggone It
Paul Kelly - Chills and Fever
Ronnie Taylor - I Can't Take It
The Invaders - Look a Py Py
Pugh Rogefeldt - Love, Love, Love
Dungen - Ta Det Lugnt
The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - Kolob Canyon
Dead Meadow - Dragonfly
bob hund - Rundgång, Gräslök, Fågelsång
Grizzly Bear - Knife
Richard Youngs - Bloom of All
Peter Broderick - Below It
Nils Frahm - Nue
Arve Henriksen - Black Mountain
Leyland Kirby - And Nothing Comes Between the Sadness and the Scream
Nico Muhly - The Only Tune
Gravenhurst - Hopechapel Hill

[The Fish]

Cheers Ed.

This months round up of things I own but didn't spot - Grizzly Bear and Eric & Ernie

I almost guessed that was the Bob Hund track. I knew there'd be one somewhere and Gravenhurst have been on my radar to check out for some while.

[bhoywonder]

My compilation this month cane from Bristle, cheers Bhoy.

I have listened to this a number of times over now and I have enjoyed the disc, some tracks more than others.

Good man, glad you liked it. Sorry for the delay getting the reveal up, but i had yon pesky olos and piddy-t to accommodate.

1. Opening track is akin to a middle Eastern mantra or chant. I am going to guess that this is actually Tinariwen. Good stuff though short, sharp and sets a tone.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the king of the sufi singers, from Pakistan (I think). This is Funeral Pyres (From "Bandit Queen") and I'm thinking I should have gone for a longer track. He's something of a legend in his territory and made over 100 albums. Tinariwen is a different continent.

2. Track two moves into the post-orch or indeed may even be classical territory. Lovely piece of music, don’t know why but it seems to shout out David Lloyd George and Ennio Morricone?

Morricone is right. This is Deborah's Theme from his wonderful soundtrack to Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In America, a real pearl of film and one of my favourites. The soundtrack is really special, and one of my favourite movie scores – if not my number 1.

3. Next up is a more home brew instrumental with loads of haunting theramin and fx before it shifts into a waltzesque style. Nice one Bhoy, liked this one a lot.

Another film song, this time the theme from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by the wonderful Jack Nitzsche. Good, int it? I have this one a wonderful Nitzsche collection on Ace called Hearing Is Believing. The guy did everything. HIghly recommended.

4. All latin next, horns, samba and a very Buena Vista Social feel to it. Another winner.

Ska Cubano, who I saw putting in a stellar performance at Womad a few years back, are, as their name suggests, a ska-influenced band from Cuba. This is Istanbul (Not Constantinople), which is an old song that mimicked Puttin' On the Ritz with lyrics about the name-change of Turkey's capital, obviously. There's an even better version of this by the Muppets somewhere, if you can find it.

5. Hammond organ start for no. 5 before more horns and short Hammond stabs. This one mooches along at a nice downbeat tempo and has enough going on to keep the attention tuned in. Five tracks in and no MBV yet?

Stax house band The Bar-Kays, with their classic In The Hole, a b-side from 1968, after the original line-up had almost all died in the plane crash that killed Otis Redding. Any hip hop fans will know this track.

6. The Bhoy got soul. No idea who this is but I was expecting some soul on any comp from the bhoy and here it is. I am not that familiar with soul.

Howard Tate – I Learned It All The Hard Way. Almost certainly one of my desert island discs. Amazing guy, he saw some real depths of darkness and tragedy and somehow came back and is now singing again. One of the real great southern soul singers.

7. 60’s girl harmonies, I know the song but don’t have a clue as to who it is.

I Met Him On A Sunday (Ronde-Ronde) – the Shirelles. Nice, isn't it? It just sounds like it should be in a film. This is from a recent Cherry Red teen heaven collection. It's a shame people can't make records this good any more, as the world has since become too vulgar and cynical. I could happily listen to this all day.

8. This one is a nice, “judge sympathy” passing judegment on some bloke to a reggae tune, nice harmonies again. Liked this, I assume its from Trojan Records, I stand accused?

Indeed, it's Duke Reid's All Stars with Judge Sympathy. This is from a great 4-disc box set you can pick up for about £15 called Muzik City:The Story Of Trojan. A really great collection.

9. Bjork, the voice is unmistakable. Orchestral backing. This is either a remix or from one of the albums that I haven’t listened to that much as I know that I will have this. I like Bjork.

Batchelorette, which was from 1997's Homogenic. This version is accompanied by the legendary Brodsky Quartet, and is the only version of it I have and came on a freebie disc with the Observer years ago.

10. Slow Club (I think). I haven’t given this album much of a listen to be honest, outside of the opening track but I know that the bhoy raves about it. This one has a very bossa nova beat, I could actually see this as a stereolab cover on the basis of the boy/girl harmony.

Nope, this is Sean Lennon, with the title track of his 1998 Grand royal album Into The Sun. Unlike with his half-brother, the Lennon surname has been something of a hinderance to Sean. It's a fine record. I certainly agree your Stereolab comment, there's a lot of similarity. I seem to recall that Money Mark had something to do with this album too.

11. Singer songwriter for track 11. I have a feeling that I should know who this is……

You should, although I'll forgive you for hearing him out of context This is William Reid with a track called Kissaround, from his first solo EP, Tired of Fucking, around 1999. It's a shame that the rest of his solo stuff was so bloody awful! This ep a lost gem.

12. Keeping with the singer songwriter, the next track is a very fragile female vocal compared with the previous one. Much more picked, is this Rozi? Nice sequence of two songs though.

Not Rozi, no, but a pal of hers and fellow Cleaner collectee, This Is The Kit, with a fabulous song called We Need Our Knees, from her eponymous EP on Microbe. If you've not got her album Krulle Bol, you're really missing out on something special.

13. Lovely downbeat start to track thirteen. Fabulous tortured vocal to accompany this track.

Lucinda WIlliams, with a really emotive reading of the traditional Irish ballad Bonnie Portmore, lamenting the destruction by the British of the ancient Irish oak forests in order to build weapons. Really quite a powerful song, I think. It's from Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys, which featured Martin Carthy, Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Jarvis Cocker and many more singing old sea shanties.

14. This sounds like one of the queens of souls. The acoustic accompaniment is very low in the mix so the focus is on the vocal. Very nice really liked this one, dripping in melancholy!

Bettye LaVette – Just Say So, from her 2005 album I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, which was a collection of covers of songs by female songwriters. Oh, and it's one of the best albums of the decade. Every song is as good as this. Remarkable singing from a 60 year old soul legend who never got the recognition or success her talent warranted. I adore this.

15. This sounds like the king, though of course it isn’t. Another corking melancholy track, could be Ray Charles. Lovely sequence of tracks from 12 through to 15.

Is There Anyone In Heaven That You Know by the Dixie Hummingbirds, one of the all-time great southern gospel quartets singing groups. They're actually still going, although not many of the original members who formed the group in 1928 are still singing with them. If you're interested in gospel singing, you'll want to get yourself some Soul Stirrers, Blind Boys of Alabama, Golden Gate Quartet and Dixie Hummingbirds. Really special and hugely important music.

16. Not sure what to make of this mix, its one of the phased demos of LAGWAFIS, the only song of the album that I actually liked. It certainly removes some of the bombast and brings things a bit more close to the first few albums. I will mull this one over some more.

From the recent reissue, which i really do think you'd love. It makes the album make a bit more sense and is a really top listen.

17. Now I expected some MBV at this point but rather we get 16 minutes of sonic architecture. This one pulses with a mix of what sounds like white noise and a treated collage of instruments. Liked this a lot. It’s not someones warped mix on Mogwai fear Satan is it?

Yup, it's MBV's mix of Mogwai Fear Satan, from the two-disc edition of Kicking a Dead Pig. The was the fist song I knew I'd pit on your mix. Bloody brilliant, eh? Completely absurd, and I often start laughing around 10 minutes in, but then when it comes back with the brightness it all makes sense. How you of all people cannot like MBV is one of life's eternal mysteries.

18. Cool little instrumental to finish.

Deegers, likes Blur, deegers likes Blur! Optigan 1, from their superb 13 LP. A fabulous band.

Cheers Bhoy, as ever an exploration into some of the areas that I don’t often venture.

My pleasure deegers, and as always, do let me know if you need any pointers!

Funeral Pyres (From "Bandit Queen") Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Deborah's theme Ennio Morricone
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (Closing Theme) Jack Nitzsche
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) Ska Cubano
In The Whole The Bar-Kays
I Learned It All The Hard Way Howard Tate
I Met Him On A Sunday (Ronde-Ronde) The Shirelles
Judge Sympathy Duke Reid's All Stars
Bachelorette (with the Brodsky Quartet) Björk
Into The Sun Sean Lennon
Kissaround William Reid
We need our knees This Is The Kit
Bonnie Portmore Lucinda Williams
Just Say So Bettye LaVette
Is There Anyone In Heaven That You Know The Dixie Hummingbirds
Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (early vocals) – Spiritualized
Mogwai Fear Satan [My Bloody Valentine Remix] Mogwai
Optigan 1 Blur

[dgs]

My Mix Club disc this month arrived with a somewhat sinister "Gen Probe" return address . But once I overcame my initial fear, I was rewarded with a fine batch of (mostly) electro-club hits, with a few other detours along the way. Usually, this type of music wears me out after a few tracks, but my mixer definitely has an ear for ultra-interesting production, and what the tracks may have occasionally lacked in songwriting was more than made up for by an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of pure sonic fun. Extra kudos go to El Mixer for a crisply-paced and professionally-presented disc, filled with nicely-done cross-fades and cool segues... all timed with the accuracy of an expert DJ. I appreciate the extra effort. It's a real keeper. SALUTE!

Hi Tony

Glad to see that your fear of the Gen-Probe logo was overcome and that it didn't stop you from enjoying the mix. So this month the mix was created around the big beat concept, with a couple of excursions! I was playing Rez and this drove me to thinking about some of the tracks that I was listening to around the early to mid 90's.

So, here we go -

1- starts with electronic bloops and bleeps and a monologue about trust... so far so good. Develops a very Orb-like club beat with shreds of ambient sound crisscrossing the rhythm. It has a 90s electronic sound like The Orb or Air Liquide... pretty good track. Sensibly fades after about 4 minutes.

1. Leftfield - Shallow Grave - Wanted to start with something which set the scene and the title track from the movie with the monologue by Christopher Eccelston worked just great. Leftfield spanned the electronica genre from ambient to dub but always with dance orientated sensibilities. If you watch the first 4 minutes of this film you get a pretty fair tour of my old haunts in central Edinburgh.....without the hiding of a dead body in the loft and of course a million quid.

2- very strange version of what, at first, sounds like Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" with some really piercing stabs of organ and great guitar... but then the vocals come in and it turns into a crazy gospel track... "How great thou art". Cognitive dissonance!! Help me, Jeebus!!! What in Sam Hill is going on here?

2. Sensational Saints - How great thou art - Chance find this one from a fantastic psych compilation called
Forge your own chains: Heavy Psychadelic ballads and dirges 68-74. Does what it says on the tin and would I imagine be a grade A, bcb approved compilation.

3- weird, poppy mashup track using Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?" as a backing sample mixed with the words to "Freak Like Me". Made me laugh. I would've danced too, but the warden doesn't let me do the boogie in the exercise yard. Fun stuff.

3. The Sugababes - Freak Like Me - A great tune is a great tune even if it gets a noughties mash up. Friends rocks and I love the over dubs and the added vocals on this. It was a massive hit in the UK.

4- a very 80s-sounding approach to the fourth track. I'm a little "meh" on this one....The chorus wants to blast off, but it really doesn't. Probably a good "broken heart/ crying in yer beer at 3 AM" tune, though. I'd call it "northern moaning bollocks" but I'm not sure it's northern. Not really my kind of thing.

4. OMD - Silent Running - Taken from the dazzle ships album, northern moaning bollocks just about sums it up.

5-I like this pretty well. Hypnotic electronic music. I like the way the beat develops out of the backbeat, the suddenly-thundering drums, sounding sort of "wrong" at first but then it "snaps in" and sounds totally propulsive (I love it when that happens). Kind of lengthy at 9 minutes, but there's a lot developing here all the time, so I didn't get bored. Thumbs up.

5. Underworld - Rez - I am of the opinion that this is the finest tune that underworld have laid down. The way in which it builds to the full on mad for it middle section before the come down again is classic club style. A tune that you don't have to be monged off your face to enjoy, though it probably adds to the feeling in a club.

6-Great production here, really sets up a sinister atmosphere... supports a pretty cool rap tinged with some electronic filter effects. I bet this sounds awesome coming out of big speakers in a club... good use of dynamics keeps it interesting for home listening too. Second listen reveals that the rap is pretty funny- references to Judge Dredd and Papa Smurf and I like the line "anybody with a heart votes love".

6. Fluke - Absurd - massively underrated in my opinion. Put together some great dance music which was always a big hit with film producers and the like.

7- Cool-sounding keyboards. Dub-style vocals echo around before the beat kicks in. I'm getting a little tired of the dance beat, but the rest of the track is so good that it doesn't matter and they keep things switched up and interesting from a sonic standpoint. "Where's your head at?" is a question for the ages. Any track with ring modulator sounds is always cool with me.

7. Basement Jaxx - Where's your head at? - This was a massive single in 2002 and had a video which had human and monkey faces transposed in some weird science experiment. Weird but the track rocks.

8- A change-up to a different feel here. This is my fave so far...Lots of cheesy/cool bells and an 80s-sounding vintage electronic atmosphere. The chord change is pure "Louie Louie/Soul Limbo" cheese, but these folks do a lot with it. Great production which uses a lot of different samples and effects in a dub fashion... perfect music for someone like me who has a shattered attention span. Look! Butterflies! Time for my cookie?

8. Pierre Henry - Psyche Rock (Fatboy Slim Malpaso mix) - This one has been bastardized by Norman Cook but I am surprised that you didn't get this one. The french man given the brighton mix treatment and of course Norman Cook doing what he does so well.

9- nice deep-bass electronic dance track with a hiphop flavor... like RZA meets Stockhausen. Like it. The middle part has some major stereo noise-goofs that sound like Kraftwerk if they were Jamaicans who were influenced by Kraftwerk. Or something like that. Elecro-dub bass breakdown in the middle is an extra plus. Good one.

9. Chemical Brothers - Chicco's Groove - Taken form the first album this is a different mix from the one on the album but it does what it says on the tin. Grooves.

10- LCD Soundsystem "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House". I like these guys okay. I never noticed how much the bass on this (during the "set them up" part) sounds like Can's "One More Night" until just now.

10. LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is playing at my house - yep. Took me a while to get into this.

11- Nice fast segue into a short, very cool instrumental. A real colorful sound. If this track was a food, it would be a tasty assortment of fruit-flavored candy. I like.

11. Jean Jaques Perrey - EVA - Again, I am a bit surprised that you didn't get this one. Big on the moog was Jean Jaques.

12- Top-notch electro-hiphop track with good rap skittering over the top. Production is terrific. Whoever this is deserves kudos for not depending on the same ol' plug-ins every other producer uses. Good use of some original electronic sounds. And even the samples are fresh and cliche-busting, some seriously deep crate-digging goin' on here...for instance, that one-note guitar definitely comes from an old Residents disc ("Sinister Exaggerator"). Ace!

12. Meat Beat Manifesto - Edge of no Control (Satyriconsolidated - Consolidated Reply) - Jack Dangers remixed by Mark Pistel. A bit more industrial than big beat but this is a good mix of the original track which has a fantastic sample in it.

13- I've heard this one before. It sounds like Spacemen 3's Playing With Fire album, but I know it isn't from that. It might be some post-S3 solo stuff... I sorta lost track of them when the band split (I'm sure it's not Spiritualized though). A sad track, railing at the sky over a friend who died... it's really long, but keeps a nice drony feel throughout. A bit more restrained and less exuberant than the rest of the disc, a great way to close things out.

13. Sonic Boom - Angel (extended) - I have a soft spot for Kember although it is Pierce who has gained all the plaudits since the split. This seemed a nice way to finish a bit of a come down after all the frenetic tracks that precede it. Simplicity on the way it builds and the layering of the tracks on top of each other works for me.

Glad that you enjoyed it.

1. Leftfield - shallow grave
]2. Sensational saints - How great Thou art
3. Sugababes - Freak like me
4. OMD - silent running
5. Underworld - Rez
6. Flue - Absurd
7. Basement jaxx - Where's your head at?
8. Psyche rock - Pierre Henry
9. Chemical Brothers - Chicco's Groove
10. LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is playing on my House
11. Jean Jaques Perrey - EVA
12. Meat Beat Manifesto - Edge of no control
13. Sonic Boom - Angel

[toomanyhatz]

I’ll try to do Disc 2 tomorrow night.

Delayed. Will try to do later in week or weekend at latest.

Still waiting. Forthcoming, I presume?

Enjoyed both discs immensely, by the way, particularly as I now know the theme. Sorry to not "share the love" in all cases, but I like how memories of events can color how we hear things forever more. And it sounds like in some cases, at least, our experience is similar.

[Magilla]

A pretty mixed bag this month.

I'm assuming you mean in terms of variety, not quality... As with most of my mixes, I do tend to put in a variety of genres and acts, rather than sticking to only a few genres.

1. Starts off with some jazz-rock that I feel sure is probably Miles, and moreover I'll probably discover I have it. Fuzz guitar, rock drumming and funky bass with trumpet over the top. Bracing.

Miles Davis, 'The Hen' from The Complete On The Corner Sessions box-set.

2. Took a couple of listens to realise this was Jarvis Cocker. Nice tone on the guitar but I don't think this stands up next to his Pulp stuff.

You'll have to take a couple more listens to realise this wasn't Jarvis Cocker. It's the great, recently-deceased Australian singer-guitar Rowland S Howard, with 'Ave Maria' from his second and last solo album Pop Crimes. (It's not a version of the traditional 'Ave Maria', it just mentions it i the lyrics: "someone sung 'Ave Maria'..."

3. Fuzzy guitars over synths with a vaguely shoegazey vibe. Probably called 'Not Sure What I Want'. A warm bath of sound.

Christchurch electro-pop quartet the L.E.Ds with 'Sound Surrounds' from Still. I just thought a nice bit of synth-pop might interest you.

4. Something more 70s. Acoustic guitar, rolling cymbals and a very clear female voice, joined in the second verse by a male. About a clipper called 'Charity'.

Judy Henke and Jerry Yester, 'Charity' from their remarkable Farewell Aldebaran, a truly unique piece of late '60s psychedelia and then some.

5. Glitchy sound bed with plinky keyboard, then way tremeloed guitar leads into a slight instrumental. Some nice developments and some lovely guitar feedback in here.

Tortoise, 'Blackjack' from Standards. One of the best US bands of the past 15 or so years. Very original and innovative ,these guys.

6. Throat singing? Several drums. Opens out into a nice piece. Indian? I think I'd like to hear more of this.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, 'Taa Deem' from Mustt Mustt. Khan was Pakistan's leading qwalli (sp ?) singer, with the focus on songs of religious devotion. An amazing voice. If you want to check him out, he's one of those rare artists where any album is a good album.

7. And then something much more rock - nay, even shoegazey with it's buried vocals and distorted guitars.

NZ trio Bailter Space, with 'X' from Wammo. They began in the early '80s as landmark post-punk trio The Gordons, before evolving into Bailter Space. They spent most of the '90s in New York, where they released four or five albums on Matador.

8. Dennis Wilson, I'm sure. Is this 'I Love You'? I haven't listened to the second disk of Pacific Ocean Blue so much as I ought.

Yep, good ol' Dennis Wilson with 'Time' from Pacific Ocean Blue. If you like disc 1, there's plenty of good stuff on disc 2, too.

9. The very opening sounds like Godspeed You! or similar with those distant guitars, but then the main song isn't. This is another piece with the vocals low(ish) in the mix and with plenty of distortion. Electronic squiggles all over the top too.

Contemporary US stoner / psych rock freaks Comets on Fire with 'The Swallow's Eye' from Avatar (their album, not the James cameron blockbuster) .

10. Another crystalline female vocal over acoustic guitar. Might be called 'Come Away'.

Linda Perhacs, 'Call Of The River' from Parallelograms, her one album, released way back in 1970 or so. It's a beautiful collection of very delightful, languid singer-songwriter pieces.

11. Going for a sort of sub-Cure sound circa 'A Forest'. Meanwhile the singer is reminiscent of the Beta Band.

Post-punk obscuritiee time, Robert Rental's 'On Location' from the Mute Audio Documents comp of early Mute label singles.

12. Another dip into the folky well. This time in German.

Witthuser & Westrupp, 'Lasst Uns Auf Die Roise Gehn' from Trips Und Traume. You seemed to be into a bit of krautrock, so I just figured I'd let you hear a wee bit of some folk-edged variety of it.

13. This sounds like the sort of thing you might hear over the end titles of a film. Rising and rousing and hopeful instrumental.

Holy Fuck, 'Lovely Allen' from LP. Some metronomic electronica from one of the best bands around at present.

14. Soulful. It's about someone called 'Eli' which makes me think it might be 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession' by Laura Nyro, who I know made an album with LaBelle which might fit the sound of this track. Of course now it will be something entirely different.

No, you're pretty much spot-on: the late, truly great, angelic voice of Laura Nyro with 'Eli's Comin' from Eli And The Thirteenth Confession.

15. This is the least interesting song here for me. Lo-fi thrash with apologetic vocals presumably called 'I Look Back in Anger'.

Indie cult heroes Television Personalities with 'Look Back In Anger' from their debut And Don't the Kids Just Love It.

16. The disc finishes with a dance track. Clattering drums, whistles, and keyboard set to plonky, with various interjections in one of the romance languages. Not sure if the vocal that appears some 5 minutes in really qualifies this as a song as it's more a chant. There is something hypnotic about it's 8 odd minutes.

Yep, very hypnotic, very droney. It's Konono #1 with 'Ungudi Wele Wele' from Congotronics. They play a mixture of Afro-beat, but with a strong electronic flavour, but played on home-made equipment.

Overall an interesting collection. I'd be most interested in hearing who tracks 4, 6, 10, 12 are by.

Glad you generally liked it mate, I probably made it made it a bit too lengthy trying to squeeze in all manner of genres and sounds, so thanks for listening through it.

Track list:

1) Miles Davis - The Hen, 12.55.
2) Rowland S. Howard - Ave Maria, 4.00.
3) L.E.Ds - Sound Surrounds, 3.04.
4) Judy Henske & Jerry Yester - Charity, 3.19.
5) Tortoise - Blackjack, 4.08.
6) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Taa Deem, 4.47.
7) Bailter Space - X, 4.47.
8) Dennis Wilson - Time, 3.32.
9) Comets On Fire - The Swallow's Eye, 6.53.
10) Linda Perhacs - Call Of The River, 3.51.
11) Robert Rental - On Location, 2.52.
12) Witthuser & Westrupp - Lasst Uns Auf Die Roise Gehn, 3.50.
13) Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen, 4.29.
14) Laura Nyro - Eli's Comin', 3.56.
15) Television Personalities - Look Back In Anger, 2.41.
16) Konono #1 - Ungudi Wele Wele, 8.28.

[king feeb]

3- weird, poppy mashup track using Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?" as a backing sample mixed with the words to "Freak Like Me". Made me laugh. I would've danced too, but the warden doesn't let me do the boogie in the exercise yard. Fun stuff.

3. The Sugababes - Freak Like Me - A great tune is a great tune even if it gets a noughties mash up. Friends rocks and I love the over dubs and the added vocals on this. It was a massive hit in the UK.

Oh no! A massive hit! I may have to turn in my membership card in the "Elitist Obscuritan Fucks Club"!

8- A change-up to a different feel here. This is my fave so far...Lots of cheesy/cool bells and an 80s-sounding vintage electronic atmosphere. The chord change is pure "Louie Louie/Soul Limbo" cheese, but these folks do a lot with it. Great production which uses a lot of different samples and effects in a dub fashion... perfect music for someone like me who has a shattered attention span. Look! Butterflies! Time for my cookie?

8. Pierre Henry - Psyche Rock (Fatboy Slim Malpaso mix) - This one has been bastardized by Norman Cook but I am surprised that you didn't get this one. The french man given the brighton mix treatment and of course Norman Cook doing what he does so well.

I'm surprised too. I have some of Henry's original recordings (and I may also have this version somewhere), but this one is dressed up real nicely by the Fatboy.

10- LCD Soundsystem "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House". I like these guys okay. I never noticed how much the bass on this (during the "set them up" part) sounds like Can's "One More Night" until just now.

10. LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is playing at my house - yep. Took me a while to get into this.

Me too... It took me a while to get into LCD because of all the hype, but they're really pretty good.

11- Nice fast segue into a short, very cool instrumental. A real colorful sound. If this track was a food, it would be a tasty assortment of fruit-flavored candy. I like.

11. Jean Jaques Perrey - EVA - Again, I am a bit surprised that you didn't get this one. Big on the moog was Jean Jaques.

Well, I have the Perrey & Kingsley discs and his later discs as Hot Butter, but I never checked out his solo work for some reason. I will definitely rectify this oversight now!

Once again, thanks for a solid, well-done and enjoyable mix, D.

[beenieman]

Now for the other disc, which might be AM to the other’s FM. I recognized almost all of this.

The idea for this mix came from here:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=121070

Yep. It’s a Steve Hoffman inspired mix. The thread is “Male singers you thought were female”. Reading the thread I saw a number of tracks I liked and a number of others that seemed worth checking. I gotta say though that while the singers are pretty high overall I don’t know that there’s any I thought were female. Maybe I just hear them too compressed? Those Hoffmanites are an odd bunch.

1) He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands – forgot who did this, but it was like a 12 year old or something like that. Laurie something, maybe? Cute, and NEVER gets played on the radio here any more.

Laurie London He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands. Some songs just vanish don’t they. #1 soul & pop. I’d never heard this before but it’s pretty fine isn’t it?

2) Love Hurts – Nazareth – bit over the top, but a great song. Give me the Gram Parsons version over this.

Nazareth Love Hurts. I’m not sure I ever pick the Parsons versions given a choice. Scottish angst rules. This song keeps turning up in movie soundtracks again & again.

3) Here's one I don’t know. Meh. Sounds a bit like Melissa Etheridge, though it’s probably a male. Not very exciting.

Mr. Big To Be With You. It is a male. That’s the point Another that was not familiar to me. Only hit in the US I guess where it made it all the way to #1 in 1992. I don’t think it’s meant to be exciting. It’s a song.

They are named after the Free song. Apparently this track is one of those cases where the band’s hit has nothing to do with the rest of their stuff. This’ll be the one they have to play every night for the rest of their lives though.

4) The Logical Song – Supertramp. OK, true confessions- I’ve always liked this song. One of their more clever lyrically and musically, though I’m not overly fond of the guy’s voice.

I’ve always enjoyed successful Supertramp. No desire to check out their earlier stuff.

Here’s their secret origin:

Once upon a time in 1969, a young Dutch millionaire by the name of Stanley August Miesegaes gave his acquaintance, vocalist and keyboardist Rick Davies, a "genuine opportunity" to form his own band; he could form the band of his dreams and Miesegaes would pay for it. After placing an ad in Melody Maker, Davies assembled Supertramp alongside co-founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, piano, guitar, cello), Richard Palmer (vocals, guitar, balalaika), and former stage actor Robert Millar (percussion, harmonica). Supertramp released two long-winded progressive rock albums before Miesegaes withdrew his support.

In recognition of his generosity and support, Supertramp in 1974 dedicated its third album, Crime of the Century, “to Sam”.

In his later years and up until his death in 1990, Sam, an accomplished pianist, composer and pilot - led a private and semi-reclusive life.

http://www.bcb-board.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=88986

5) Jackie Blue – Ozark Mountain Daredevils. OK, getting better. Another song I’d never seek out, but like pretty well when I hear it on the radio. Better vocals on this too.

Great great song.

6) Hot Child in the City – Nick Gilder. I'm actually playing on this, for the second time, as part of the Classic Rock Singalong in about a month. I can play the bass line pretty well now. As for the song, well…amusing enough. Pillowz has pointed out that he comes on all sympathetic to the poor girl who’s too young to have lost her innocence, but his solution it to fuck her.

Another #1 (in the US). Pillowz lyrical commentary intrigued me. These are the lyrics:

Danger in the shape of somethin' wild
Stranger dressed in black, she's a hungry child
No one knows who she is or what her name is
I don't know where she came from or what her game is

(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
(Runnin' wild and lookin' pretty)
(Hot child in the city)

So young to be loose and on her own
Young boys, they all want to take her home
She goes downtown, the boys all stop and stare
When she goes downtown, she walks like she just don't care, care

(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
(Runnin' wild and lookin' pretty)
Yeah
(Hot child in the city)

Come on down to my place, baby
We'll talk about love
Come on down to my place, woman
We'll make love!

Hot child in the city
(Hot child in the city)
She's kinda dangerous
(Hot child in the city)
Young child
(Runnin' wild and lookin' pretty)
Young child, runnin' wild
(Hot child in the city)
Hot child in the city
(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
Hot child in the city
(Hot child in the city)
Hot child in the city
(Hot child in the city)

A bit repetitive in the end eh?

Apparently at the time Rolling Stone called Gilder “The Nabokov of the Jukebox”. Another reason not to read Rolling Stone but the most interested I’ve ever been in Nabokov. Actually I read Lolita about 35 years ago but can’t recall it at all other than the blurb.

7) More Today than Yesterday – Forget who does this. It’s OK, but I’ve heard it too many millions of times to ever hear it freshly again.

Spiral Staircase. Actually my least favorite track on the disc, though I like it. You know I’ve never understood how hearing a song too much can ruin it (though I know that’s not quite what you’re saying, this is an aside). If I like a song I can hear it forever. I don’t think there’s a song in my whole life I’ve ever stopped liking. I still like all the stuff I played as a teen and even pre-teen.

8) OK, don’t know this one either, but I’ve heard it. “Love Will Keep Us Alive” or something. Sensitive 70s singer/songwriter stuff. Not my scene, really.

Yo yo yo. It’s the Eagles Timothy Schmidt. Who is now an Eagle employee and is so restricted in his releases, either by his own choice or Eagles dictate. Another fantastic song & another US#1.

9) I’m in Love With a Girl – Big Star. Not sure how it fits in here, but it’s a great song.

Now you know how it fits in. They’re all great songs man.

10) Another I don’t know. Sounds like some boy band from the 90s. Very slick, not very interesting.

Savage Garden Truly Madly Deeply. One of my favourites on the disc. When I saw it on the inspirational thread I almost skipped downloading it (there’s around 70 songs referenced on the thread and I auditioned them all) but so glad I did. I need to see if they did anything else decent.

11) Another 70s thing I’ve definitely heard on soft rock radio, but have no idea who it is. No desire to, either.

Breathe Hands To Heaven. Oh well. Now you know. I like it.

12) Something about riding my bicycle with you on the handlebars. This one’s cute. Jazzy harmony thing, might be Manhattan Transfer or someone like that.

The Alessi Brothers Oh Lori. Another find I’d not heard this before. I’ll check the Brothers out for more stuff.

13) Laughter in the Rain – Neil Sedaka. This is fairly sappy, but I do like it. There’s something friendly about his voice, even though it's slightly effeminate. The kind of 70s soft rock I kind of like.

Another #1 (USA).

What the heck. Here’s the lyrics:

Strolling along country roads with my baby
It starts to rain, it begins to pour
Without an umbrella we're soaked to the skin
I feel a shiver run up my spine
I feel the warmth of her hand in mine

Ooooo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Ooooo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside

After a while we run under a tree
I turn to her and she kisses me
There with the beat of the rain on the leaves
Softly she breathes and I close my eyes
Sharing our love under stormy skies

Ooooo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Ooooo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
I feel the warmth of her hand in mine

[Musical Interlude]

I feel the warmth of her hand in mine
Ooooo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Ooooo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
Ooooh, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Ooooo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside

14) Yet another I recognize but can’t place but don’t care to. Air Supply or some such.

Air Supply Lost In Love. I love their sound. They were big in Jamaica while I was there and they still go there every year where they sell out to enthusiastic crowds. That voice is divine.

15) Toto with “Africa.” Again, very slick and gutless, but not a bad song as these things go. I’ll end up playing this one with CSR eventually I’m sure.

The only track here not on the Hoffman thread. I just like it. Slick but not gutless!!

I love love love this song and probably have it on a dozen or so mixtapes.

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way,
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, Hurry boy, It's waiting there for you

CHORUS:
It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never have

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become

CHORUS

(Instrumental break)

Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you

It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never have

What’s not to love.

16) “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Best song on the disc by miles, and that includes the Big Star. I’ve probably heard it too much, but what a great song and a great performance. One of my very favorite 50s hits.

You can never hear this too much. This mix is pretty much all soul but the last 5 tracks are black.

17) Hey There, Lonely Girl – I think Eddie Holman is the singer’s name. Like this one, though the voice is a bit…high.

Thematically consistent huh. Lovely song. Someone else I should check out more.

18) Too Late to Turn Back Now – Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose. Beautifully sung. Another one I like quite a bit.

I rediscovered this song a few months ago. Great.

19) You’ll Never Get to Heaven (if you Break My Heart) – I like this a lot, maybe because I haven’t heard it much. The Chi-Lites, maybe? Another high falsetto voice, but I like this one more.

The Stylistics. You were close. So much great soul in the 70’s. This kind of music will endure forever.

20) Cruisin’ – Smokey Robinson. Suffer a BIT from 80s production, but not too badly. A beautiful song, and (needless to say?) beautifully sung.

From early in his solo career. 80’s production still rules.

So there you have it- 2 discs of radio-ready fun! Nothing I really adore, but I like most of it, though I probably prefer the first disc to the second. Cheers, whoever you are!

1. Laurie London He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands 2.21 US#1 UK#2 SOUL#1
2. Nazareth Love Hurts 3.55 US#8
3. Mr. Big To Be With You 3.28 US#1 UK#3
4. Supertramp The Logical Song 4.09 US#6 UK#7
5. Ozark Mountain Daredevils Jackie Blue 4.11 US#3
6. Nick Gilder Hot Child In The City 3.10 US#1
7. Spiral Staircase More Today Than Yesterday 2.50 US#12
8. The Eagles Love Will Keep Us Alive 4.03 US#1 UK#52
9. Big Star I’m In Love With A Girl 1.48
10. Savage Garden Truly Madly Deeply 4.38 US#1 UK#4
11. Breathe Hands To Heaven 4.17 US#2 UK#4
12. The Alessi Brothers Oh Lori 3.19 UK#8
13. Neil Sedaka Laughter In The Rain 2.53 US#1 UK#15
14. Air Supply Lost In Love 3.54 US#3
15. Toto Africa 4.59 US#1 UK#3
16. Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers Why Do Fools Fall In Love 2.20 US#6 UK#1 SOUL#1
17. Eddie Holman Hey There Lonely Girl 3.18 US#2 SOUL#4
18. Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose It’s Too Late To Turn Back Now 3.21 US#2 SOUL#5
19. The Stylistics You’ll Never Get To Heaven 3.39 US#23 UK#24 SOUL#8
20. Smokey Robinson Cruisin’ 5.54 US#4 SOUL#4

Tracks 1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 were discoveries for me.

Glad it gave some pleasure.

[Duncan]

A pretty decent disc this month. I'm guessing Jumper k, but don't know for sure....

Nope, it was me, but I'll take that as a compliment.

1 - This sounds like the Grifters, but I'm unfamiliar with it. Good stuff.

This is a pretty atypical Secret Machines track from their debut EP, before they went a bit dull. It's called Breathe.

2 - Thrashy garbage punk. Reminds me Crunt. Another good one.

The mighty McLusky with Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues. Rarr.

3 - A Question Of Temperature. Pretty fantastic Troggs-y garage rock with some nice touches. The organ swells and Theremin bits are particularly cool.

This is A Question of Temperature by a band called the Balloon Farm. I can't tell you anything else about these guys, but the track is taken from the pretty good garage comp, Ah Feel Like Ahcid.

4 - This one is fantastic! Girl group with some really questionable harmonies, but I love it!

This is my favourite recent nuggetty find. It is fronted by a group simply called Girls but it was produced and performed by Sly Stone in the mid-60s before is Family antics. The track Here I Am In Love Again.

5 - Ah, some good ol' Thinly Veiled Double Entendre jazz. He wants to play with his baby's poodle, but he keeps calling it a 'he'. Weird.

Tampa Red and Big Maceo - Let Me Play With YOur Poodle. I heard Dylan play this on his Theme Time Radio programme and sought it out.

6 - Wang Dang Doodle. It's John Lee Hooker, isn't it? I don't know who the chick is, but she's got a great voice.

The chick is Koko Taylor and this was her big Chess hit, Wang Dang Doodle.

7 - Darling, Be Home Soon. Not a patch on the live Slade version, which is my favourite.

Madness! Um, yeah, so this is Darling Be Home Soon by the Lovin' Spoonful.

8 - The intro sound like some good dirty Detroit rock'n'roll, but it turns into a Mersey-style tune. Cool guitar sound.

This is 60's, post-Buddy Crickets with Now Hear This.

9 - Not really my thing, French gypsy-style stuff. The choruses are really cool sounding, though, with that big droning double bass and wailing vocals. Not bad, I guess and it could be a grower.

This is band called Full Moon Partisans (about whom I know nothing) with a track called Tango. I found it on a random San Fransico comp and was stuck by the oddness.

10 - This is something I would have really dug in the 90's, but I don't have a lot of time for it these days.

Aye, fair enough, my enthusiasm for US alt-rocking isn't what it was either, but this is still fun I think. It's The Wrens with Hats Off To Marraige, Baby.

11 - This sounds like it could be a Flying Nun special. Nice Velvets-y tune.

Yep, special Flying Nun it is. This is the second time I've used this track in the last three months, but I do so unapologetically because it's brilliant. It's Needles & Plastic by DoubleHappys.

12 - The voice is really familiar, but I don't recognise the song, or the sound for that matter. 80's indie-ish thing. Not too shabby.

This is one of my favourite power-pop revivalist bands, The dBs, with Black & White from their debut album Stands For Decibels.

13 - Shambolic country punk. Really odd sounding to me, almost as if the band were learning it as they recorded it.

The shambolic rawness is the big appeal for me, although the records don't really do the band justice. This is Two Gallants with Las Cruces Jail. Definitely a band worth seeing live.

Well, thanks Mr. or Mrs. Compiler. It was an enjoyable ride.

No worries. As always, just shout up for further listening...

[Moleskin]

Track list:

1) Miles Davis - The Hen, 12.55.
2) Rowland S. Howard - Ave Maria, 4.00.
3) L.E.Ds - Sound Surrounds, 3.04.
4) Judy Henske & Jerry Yester - Charity, 3.19.
5) Tortoise - Blackjack, 4.08.
6) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Taa Deem, 4.47.
7) Bailter Space - X, 4.47.
8) Dennis Wilson - Time, 3.32.
9) Comets On Fire - The Swallow's Eye, 6.53.
10) Linda Perhacs - Call Of The River, 3.51.
11) Robert Rental - On Location, 2.52.
12) Witthuser & Westrupp - Lasst Uns Auf Die Roise Gehn, 3.50.
13) Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen, 4.29.
14) Laura Nyro - Eli's Comin', 3.56.
15) Television Personalities - Look Back In Anger, 2.41.
16) Konono #1 - Ungudi Wele Wele, 8.28.

There's some stuff there I've been meaning to check out for a long while (Linda Perhacs, Nusrat), some stuff I'll have to look into now (Henske/Yester, Konono #1 which I even almost bought when it was being raved about) and something I own but haven't listened to nearly enough (Dennis Wilson).

Thanks again. I'll make the family listen to it.

[harvey k-tel]

A pretty decent disc this month. I'm guessing Jumper k, but don't know for sure....

Nope, it was me, but I'll take that as a compliment.

Aha! Thanks, Sgt. Pepper. Perhaps I'll have to return the favour one day. It seems our tastes might collide in a good way.

[the masked man]

Er, is this the right theatre? OK, I've got a good view of the screen from row G...damn, why can't those punk kids keep their feet off the seats? Ah, the curtain's rising on this month's disc:

1) We begin from the old Pearl & Dean music! Instant nostalgia, evoking memories of watching films in the 80s, in smoke-filled cinemas with sticky floors. Proustian stuff.

2) This is good - very cinematic indeed (surely that's the theme of this disc? Music from films?). Low-key funky instrumental with wah-wah guitar, wandering bass and parping horns. If this isn't from a film, it should be!

3) More funky goodness - I definitely need to discover more 70s funk (that's a hint for future mixers...). Slow, loping rhythm with flute fills. The vocal is intriguing - it's a spoken monologue about longing to go back home and be a dancer. This could be taken from a film about urban alienation, and the music, though languid and lush, has just the right undercurrent of menace.

4) Soulful cover of The Doors' 'Light My Fire'; the arrangement is similar to tracks 2 and 3, so it's not the zingy disco cover by Amii Stewart. In fact, it's better than that cover - the song lends itself well to a deep soul interpretation.

5) More soul, this time with more of a 60s feel. It's OK, but sounds a little pale next to the deeper, bass-driven tracks that this disc has contained so far.

6) Melodramatic film dialogue featuring a hysterical woman - presumably announcing a fresh section to this disc.

7) Big-sounding 60s ballad, with a strident orchestral arrangement backing a strong female voice. Sounds a bit like Dusty Springfield, though I don't think it is. Whatever, this is the kind of 60s music I can enjoy (who needs guitars anyway?).

8) Ballsy instrumental that sounds like it should be on the soundtrack of a hard-boiled cop show. Similar rhythm, actually, to Duane Eddy's 'Peter Gunn', though this emphasises horns rather than guitars. More good fun.

9) Now we get a twangy guitar with lovelorn male voice. This has grown on me quite a bit, and I like the orchestral flourish which precedes the chorus. This is the kind of record that Richard Hawley tries to recreate today.

10) This must be Scott Walker, though I'm not sure I know this song (generally, I prefer the modern, scary Scott Walker records that followed 'The Electrician'). Still, that stentorian voice is great here, teasing every bit of drama out of the lyric. The backing is fairly standard orchestral fare, though.

11) 60s beat combo music; not so much my thing, though this isn't bad at all. Sinister baritone vocal creates doomy atmospheres, while twisting guitar and organ figures maintain the mood. But what's that word he repeats in the title? Moscow? Must Curl? It's a mystery!

12) More dialogue, this time about drum solos and acid, again indicating a change of mood. I'm wary...

13) This indeed is less impressive. Vaguely hippyish instrumental rock with hackneyed 'eastern' elements. Not exactly unpleasant, but inessential.

14) Liked the guitar figure at the start, but it soon settled into bog-standard 60s rock. Not sure what language this is sung in; is it Portuguese? Another miss, overall.

15) More foreign language music, but I prefer this to 14. A mournful voice over simple strummed acoustic guitar and laid-back keyboards. It sounds barely there, but sometimes minimal music like this can leave an unexpected mark. As indeed it does here.

16) This is quite enjoyable too; a very restrained guitar and organ track that unfolds slowly. Indistinct vocals eventually arrive in unhurried fashion. Slight, but intriguing.

17) Sounds a bit familiar, though I can't place it. Gentle harmonies over patterned guitars; more of a mood piece than a fleshed-out song, but still very refreshing. This is the sort of thing that the 60s-influenced 80s bands I like (such as The Pale Fountains) made reference to in their music.

18) Similar feel to 17, but less interesting to these ears. It should be more ethereal, but the vocal harmonies and occasional instrumental flourishes are too forthright. There are some interesting things in the mix, but it doesn't quite gel.

19) Beguiling, almost childlike, female vocal about a 'pretty fly'. Sounds Scandinavian - is it Stina Nordenstam? This fragment lasts just 75 seconds or so, but is still really lovely.

As the closing credits roll, I'll thank my mixer for an enjoyable step outside my usual comfort zone, which is surely what the Mix Club is all about. If these were all from films, then I can't tell you which films featured these songs. But I liked most of this (particularly in the first section) and even the weaker songs in the last section were at least listenable. So, I'll await the reveal eagerly.

[toomanyhatz]

1. Laurie London He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands 2.21 US#1 UK#2 SOUL#1
2. Nazareth Love Hurts 3.55 US#8
3. Mr. Big To Be With You 3.28 US#1 UK#3
4. Supertramp The Logical Song 4.09 US#6 UK#7
5. Ozark Mountain Daredevils Jackie Blue 4.11 US#3
6. Nick Gilder Hot Child In The City 3.10 US#1
7. Spiral Staircase More Today Than Yesterday 2.50 US#12
8. The Eagles Love Will Keep Us Alive 4.03 US#1 UK#52
9. Big Star I’m In Love With A Girl 1.48
10. Savage Garden Truly Madly Deeply 4.38 US#1 UK#4
11. Breathe Hands To Heaven 4.17 US#2 UK#4
12. The Alessi Brothers Oh Lori 3.19 UK#8
13. Neil Sedaka Laughter In The Rain 2.53 US#1 UK#15
14. Air Supply Lost In Love 3.54 US#3
15. Toto Africa 4.59 US#1 UK#3
16. Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers Why Do Fools Fall In Love 2.20 US#6 UK#1 SOUL#1
17. Eddie Holman Hey There Lonely Girl 3.18 US#2 SOUL#4
18. Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose It’s Too Late To Turn Back Now 3.21 US#2 SOUL#5
19. The Stylistics You’ll Never Get To Heaven 3.39 US#23 UK#24 SOUL#8
20. Smokey Robinson Cruisin’ 5.54 US#4 SOUL#4

Tracks 1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 were discoveries for me.

Glad it gave some pleasure.

Now I get it!

Funny that 1. is sort of a double-whammy- sounds like a woman 'cause it's a pre-pubescent male, but also 'cause his name is Laurie. I particularly like the last few, but the Alessi Brothers is probably my favorite that I didn't know before. Lots of stuff that I hear a lot and like, but didn't have- so now I do! Sounds overall like I'm less accepting of 80s keyboard sounds than you, but at least I don't dislike the Toto as much as many folks you could have sent it to. Thanks again.

[NickC]

Okay, here is the revue of my received mix 'I wanna destroy you'. First off though, I apologise for the lateness. I originally sat down last Wednesday, typed it all out and when I pressed 'submit'....I lost the lot! Needless to say I was very pissed off. Unfortuntey it was the only time available to me before now.

1. I wanna destroy you!. Ok, an odd opener for a mix that really moves along with a trippy phsycadelic soul flavoured vibe...but hey. I have this by the Circle Jerks, which is a lot rougher than this version if memory serves. I know theirs is a cover, so is this the original? Good track.

2. Now we enter the phsycadelic world of the Lemon Pipers with Jungle Jelly. This is ok, but is too close to Green Tambourine in places.

3. He's a factory man. Good song, lyrics that tell a story. Almost Squeezish in style and delivery. Liked its simplicity.

4. Honey Cane with Stick Up!. A great Northern favourite. Classic soul that gets the dancefloor full.
A bit later than the usual fare, almost disco but still great.

5. Good paced organ led thumper, with a soul style vocal. This is a great Saturday night record. Brilliant. Im sure Ive heard this before.

6. Heavier sound now. Not quite droner rock, but heading that way. Dare I say GooGoo Dolls'ish! Shame its only 2 minutes long!

7. Back to the funk soul feel now, and the 100% Proof Aged In Soul with Somebody's Been Sleeping In My Bed.
Cant go wrong with this.

8. A riff that almost segues into London Bridge Is Falling Down. Odd one. Cant make my mind up here. Lyrics are a bit confusing, but the instrumentation is ok.

9. Very 60s Brit sounding group, but with hints of the San Francisco sound. Almost as if someone over here had heard the Peanut Butter Conspiracy and decided to cover them. This grew on me.

10. Folk/hippy thing, all the usual bits. Sitar sounding guitar, tablas and high female vocal. Ok, but similar to many of the same ilk.

11. Clean sounding chord opener, into a bhundi drum. This is excellent. Three wise men and lots of stuff going on the background....but another 2 minuter! shame.

12. I really liked this hammond led gospel tinged track, but that horrible synth/squelched effect ruined it. What was they thinking when the mixed this?

13. Chairmen Of The Board, Working On A Building Of Love. When Gospel/Soul and Funk all come together. Wonderful uplifting stuff.

14. Now we're into a smooth lounge style. A bit too dreamy, but pleasant enough. The marraccas slay me.

15. This could be The Move. When the 60s turned into the 70s. Multi tracked vocal and a reasonably catchy 'pop' song of old.

16. Sorry. Not for me. I tried but just couldnt get on with this.

17. Back to phsycadelia now. A Lennon flavoured slice of Lucy era trip. Reversed guitar and a nice breathy vocal. OK..when im in the right mood.

18. Sparky & Sytronik!!! What a strange ending. Completely at odds with every other track. A synth driven trance style instrumental. Lots of wave effect, korg runs and that Tubular Bells drum sound. I like this.

Ok, there it is. Overall a great disc, that flowed quite nicely. The title threw me a bit after the first track...I thought I was in for a 'punk' fest when I received it, especially after seeing the excellent artwork.
Only track 16. had me hitting the skip button, everything else sits well within my comfort zones. I also received a bonus disc, that has some great funk/soul sounds on it. I will reveiw this when time allows.
Again, sorry for the lateness and many thanks to my compiler.

[beenieman]

Now I get it!

Funny that 1. is sort of a double-whammy- sounds like a woman 'cause it's a pre-pubescent male, but also 'cause his name is Laurie. I particularly like the last few, but the Alessi Brothers is probably my favorite that I didn't know before. Lots of stuff that I hear a lot and like, but didn't have- so now I do! Sounds overall like I'm less accepting of 80s keyboard sounds than you, but at least I don't dislike the Toto as much as many folks you could have sent it to. Thanks again.

There's some stuff there that wouldn't pass the BCB taste test I'm sure. The alessi Brothers intrigued me to and I plan to check them out further.

And yeah I like the 80's. Last decade where I was in touch with the mainstream to be honest.