Songs From The Sabres Tour Bus

Sabres Of Paradise board the tour bus and head out on their UK tour tomorrow, a gig in Bristol first, followed by The White Hotel in Salford on Wednesday, Leeds on Thursday, the Forge warehouse in Sheffield on Friday, Bugged Out at Tramsheds in London on Saturday and then bringing the curtain down in Brighton on Monday. Back in May and June they played Fabric in London and Sydney Opera House and a pair of festival appearances- Primavera in Spain and Dekmantel in The Netherlands. I saw them at Fabric and am going to The White Hotel. I'm sure I can't be the only person who did not start 2025 expecting to see Sabres Of Paradise play live, twice. There are a handful of tickets still available for some of the venues I believe- try here.

Back in the 1994 Sabres Of Paradise played twenty two live shows, on their own and supporting Primal Scream. They finished the year with some dates in Japan. The live band- the Sabres studio pair of Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns along with Rich Thair (percussion and drums, on loan from Red Snapper and The Aloof), Nick Abnett (low slung bass) and Phil Mossman (guitar, later of LCD Soundsystem)- would kick up a storm, a heady stew of programmed drums, samples and live instruments bringing those classic Sabres tracks to life on stage- Smokebelch, Wilmot, Theme, Tow Truck... Andrew Weatherall started out on stage with them, playing some keys, but said he felt like a fraud and preferred to DJ before and after, and skulk around in the crowd watching them play, smoking and enjoying seeing his band play the gig. 

The Sabres re- union comes in part from a night The Flightpath Estate put on at The Golden Lion two years ago, a Q&A with Jagz and Gary (with me in the David Frost hotseat) and then Jagz DJing. Rob Fketcher, of Herbal tea party fame, has a live recording of Sabres playing at the club in 1994 and we played it after the Q&A. Jagz stood by the speakers listening and nodding his head. 'We really pretty good back then', he said. Two years down the line, the Sabres albums re- issued in the summer, rave reviews from the shows they played in the summer and a UK tour imminent, the horses saddled and ready to go, I thought it might be good to get a Bagging Area exclusive, songs from the Sabres Of Paradise tour bus in 1994 and 2025. I asked Jagz and he and the rest of the Sabres were happy to oblige...

Jagz Kooner

1994 tour bus song: Nas feat Az and Olu Dara, Life's A Bitch (from Illmatic in 1994).   

'Remember listening to this on the tour bus and when that chorus landed it was a proper 'damn that's a hook and half!', so much so that Bob G improvised it over a Primal Scream song when we toured with them too'.

Life's A Bitch

2025 tour bus song: Rapture in Blue (Midnight Version) by Daniel Avery with Cecile Believe (from Tremors)

'This whole album is a sonic masterpiece and I love the fact he has an entire full live band with him when he tours too. Respect to Dan!'

  

Gary Burns

1994 tour bus song: Cypress Hill, Hits From The Bong. 

Hits From The Bong

'I remember listening to this (very stoned) on the bus quite a lot. Loved the fact it sampled Son Of A Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield which was always a favourite of mine too'

2025 tour bus song: Bloomy Mulberries by K2W0.

'Downtempo and dirty. Reminds me of old school acid house times'. 

Get Bloomy Mulberries at Bandcamp. 

Rich Thair 

1994 tour bus song: Depth Charge- Bounty Killers.

'For me in the 90s J Saul Kane was a huge influence, an amazing, creative producer and sculptor of beats. Jon produced fantastic remixes for The Sabres & Red Snapper. RIP J Saul Kane x'

Bounty Killers

2025 tour bus song: Snorkel- Sirene

'Frank Byng’s Snorkel deserve more recognition for their inventive rhythm chaos. Check the new album'.

Find Snorkel's Sirene at Bandcamp.

Nick Abnett 

1994 tour bus song: The Beach Boys - God Only Knows. 

'Weirdly enough the only music I ever remember being played on a Sabres bus was the Pet Sounds album! Andrew bought it in a service station and we listened to it on the journey to wherever we were heading'.

God Only Knows

2025 tour bus song: Nia Archives / Clipz- Maia Maia. 

'There’s an exciting new school of jungle producers around at the moment. Nia is a great example of an open minded generation of new artists. Good vibes and killer tunes!'

Get Maia Maia at Bandcamp. 

Adam says- a bang up to date blend of Brazilian sounds and new generation jungle, new to me and very good indeed.  

Phil Mossman 

1994 tour bus song: The Sandals- Feet (Slam remix). 

'The thought of the Sandals always brings a smile to my face and takes me straight back to those days. The Slam remix is a seminal piece of 90s techno'.

Feet (Night Slam VI)

2025 tour bus song: Sunn O))) with Scott Walker, Herod. 

The whole Sunn O))) and Scott Walker album is at Bandcamp. It is, it almost goes without saying, pretty intense. Those miles shuttling round the country this week with Scott Walker and Sunn O))) on the bus sound system are going to be quite a trip. 

I've sequenced those ten tracks into one mix, a Sabres 94/25 tour bus tape- it comes in at just over forty six minutes so with a bit of trimming you could get it on one side of a 1995 friendly c90 cassette. It starts with God Only Knows and ends with Herod so it could be described as Biblical. 

Sabres Tour Bus 94/ 25 Mix

• The Beach Boys: God Only Knows
• Cypress Hill: Hits From The Bong
• Nas ft Az and Olu Dara: Life's A Bitch
• Depth Charge: Bounty Killers
• Nia Archives & Clipz: Maia Maia
• Snorkel: Sirene
• K2W0: Bloomy Mulberries
• Daniel Avery ft. Cecile Believe: Rapture In Blue (Midnight Version)
• The Sandals: Feet (Night Slam IV)
• Sunn O))) and Scott Walker: Herod 2014

If you prefer to stream the mix is at The Flightpath Estate's Mixcloud here. Massive thanks to all five Sabres Of Paradise for doing this- see you at The White Hotel on Wednesday Night. Love and Sabres to you all. 

Scott Walker

It seems like it's becoming a weekly occurrence, losing a major star of experimental and groundbreaking pop music. Scott Walker died yesterday aged 76, a man whose career took in more than most, from orchestral 60s tearjerkers to the songs of Jacques Brel, from 70s electronica to recording the sound of a piece of meat being hit repeatedly, and in there, central to the story, four numbered solo albums that redefined what a solo artist could do. RIP Scott Walker- one of those people who we shall not see the like of again.

Here are three Scott songs I've loved, all posted before but not for many years. Firstly, from The Walker Brothers 1975 re-union, a tremendous cabaret song, all self-pity and swelling string sections and that voice. There was a period twenty-odd years ago when I used to got to a pub quiz with a friend and two older blokes, both the age then that I am now. We joined forces to win the quiz one week and then stuck together. One of the older pair was a builder. He'd pick us up in his van and we'd drive to the quiz all singing along to No Regrets, a Best Of The Walker Brothers being the only tape in the van, No Regrets always getting the rewind.

No Regrets

This one, a B-side from 1966, is a small hours classic, a bassline, strings and a ton of reverb on the vocals. A man haunted in the verses and then tormented but alive when the chord change into the chorus hits home. 'Someone called for you, but I hung up the phone, what could I say?'

After The Lights Go Out

This one, from 1978's album of the same name, is a total curveball, funky and disco influenced with a bit of Bowie's Low in there too- a complete commercial failure.

Nite Flights

The Naked And The Dead

I found this again recently, Orbital's The Naked And The Dead, the B-side to their monumental 1992 Halcyon single. The Naked And The Dead samples Scott Walker doing Jacques Brel and borrows the title of Norman Mailer's 1948 World War II novel. It is just shy of seven minutes of pounding, heady, forward thinking techno.

The Naked And The Dead

Nite Time

While we're in The Walker Brothers area here's Nite Flights from a few years after No Regrets. This is a different kettle of fish entirely, more in Bowie's Kraftwerkian experimental central European musical zone. Nite Flights was their last album and each member recorded their own songs separately. This is one of Scott's songs and it's very good indeed.

Nite Flights

For Far Too Long I've Had Nothing New To Show To You

Sometimes you need to wallow in some premium tearjerking schmaltz, and The Walker Brothers 1976 comeback No Regrets ticks all those boxes. Lacking the echo laden drama of their 60s work, the one-man vision of Scott's solo albums and the avant garde nature of his later albums featuring someone punching a side of beef for percussion, this is wide screen, orchestral, Vegas-style pop. But still featuring those killer lines that Scott Walker can deliver- 'I woke last night and spoke to you not thinking you were gone, and it felt so strange to lie awake alone' being just one. Guitarist John Walker died recently aged 67.

Nearly two decades ago me and my then flatmate started going to a pub quiz. We hooked up with a pair of middle aged blokes, a builder and a carpet fitter, when we realised between us we had the required level of general knowledge and useless nonsense (especially for the music round) to win the quiz each Monday. Pete used to pick us up in his van, and we'd drive down to the pub, often with this song belting out. We must have looked pretty ridiculous, two twenty somethings and two forty somethings arriving in a builder's van bellowing Scott's song of lost love. I'm now a forty something, and Pete is a sixty something, and we still get to a pub quiz, despite having lost the other two along the way. Funny how such random encounters can lead to lifelong friendships being made. For the record, we don't win very often anymore. Maybe we need some young blood.

No Regrets

Lights Out

I've returned from a short holiday to find two posts attacked- a DMCA notice and removal for Friendly Ghost by Harlem and the Manics track removed from my Mediafire folder (possibly by Ctel from Acid Ted), so I'm not posting artist's names and song titles as post headings any more, in a cunning bid to foil the DMCA search engine.

Whilst visiting mid-Wales we found out several things. It's very lovely. When it rains, it rains heavily. Aberdovey has a nice beach. Aberystwyth is a great little town, and has many things to do though possibly not 1001. Machynlleth is a funny but great little place, half Welsh speaking, half hippy, left-field community, and is unpronouncable with an English accent. But it does have a record fair, which caused E.T., 7 years old, to say 'here we go again' when I pointed out the signs proclaiming 'Record Fair Here Today' and whooped. Results- the first Scott Walker solo album, 1967 pressing, good nick, £3.99, and the soundtrack to the mucky 70s film Emmanuelle, £3.00. Thought it was worth a shot. Ahem.

I listened to Scott last night, havn't heard it for years since I borrowed it from a friend on cd, and it sent me back to this 1966 Walker Brothers B-side, After The Lights Go Out. A wonderful piece of dramatic 60s pop, with some great lyrical touches that plant it firmly in reality. Cracking song.

Walker Brothers - After The Lights G.mp3