Forty Five Minutes Of Tim Burgess

Tim Burgess is an instantly recognisable figure as frontman, singer and lyricist of The Charlatans, the young man with the pudding bowl haircut of Indian Rope and The Only One I Know who has weathered the fads, phases and storms of the music industry and life and who still looks barely a day older than he did back in 1990. Outside The Charlatans he's written three books (including the brilliantly titled Tim Book Two), all three showing him to be a considered, thoughtful and witty writer. He has made six solo albums, from 2003's countryfied I Believe to the synths and FXed sax of Same Language, Different Worlds with Peter Gordon, with songs written and recorded with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner in between. He has a record label O Genesis which has put out solo albums by members of Factory Floor, by Martin Duffy and by The Membranes, among others. There is, it is fair to say, more to him than met the eye when he first shook his fringe with The Charlatans in January 1989. 

Today's mix is a selection of Tim Burgess solo/ with others/ outside The Charlatans that starts out with some gloriously frazzled, hazy ambient drift and ends with some block rocking beats and industrial thump. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Tim Burgess

• Stoned Alone Again Or (Seahawks Remix)
• Tobacco Fields
• Another Version Of The Truth
• Hours (Tandy Love Remix)
• Begin (Carter Tutti Remix)
• The Economy II (Prince Fatty Remix)
• Life Is Sweet (Album Version)
• White (Factory Floor- Gabe Gurnsey Remix)

Stoned Alone Again Or was a 2012 one off 12" single, remixed by Seahawks as a ten minute ambient epic, indie rock taken as far away from its roots as it can go. Seahawks are ambient/ Balearic duo Jon Tye and Pete Fowler, who have released umpteen albums and singles since 2010- I recommend Escape Hatch, Starways and Paradise Freaks as good starting points. 

Tobacco Fields is from Tim's 2012 solo album Oh No I Love You. It is a beauty, with barroom piano, a frazzled vocal and an ambient backdrop, co- written with Kurt Wagner. 

Another Version Of The Truth was on As I Was Now, a solo album recorded between Christmas and New Year in 2008 but not released until 2018- music that is experimental, krauty and pop. The group for the album consisted of My Bloody Valentine's bassist Debbie Goodge, Josh Haywood from The Horrors, Martin Duffy and Ladyhawke. 

Hours was on Oh No I Love You. Some editions of the CD came with a disc of remixes- the Tandy Love remix is by Andy Votel. Others on the second disc were by Tom Furse of The Horrors and Gabe Gurnsey of Factory Floor, whose remix finishes this mix. At the time Nik Void of Factory Floor was Tim's partner.

Begin is from Same Language, Different Worlds, an album made with New York avant garde composer Peter Gordon, a member of the legendary Love Of Life Orchestra. Begin was remixed by Carter Tutti, Chris Carter and Cosey Tutti of Throbbing Gristle/ Chris and Cosey fame/ infamy. Oh Men, also on the album, was remixed by Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, Peaking Lights, Grumbling Fur and Carter Tutti- that's quite the line up. 

The Economy II is also from Oh No I Love You, dubbed out in 2013 by the superb Prince Fatty.

In 1995 The Chemical Brothers released their debut album Exit Planet Dust. Tim had been a regular at The Social, the Sunday afternoon/ evening party thrown weekly by Heavenly Records and Tom and Ed at The Albany on Great Portland Street. Tim sang on Life Is Sweet, a song which became the album's second single. On an album not short of bangers, Life Is Sweet still stands out- a furious synth riff, crunching beats, whooshes, sirens and a dirty bassline, and Tim's vocal, a celebration of mid- 90s hedonism. The Chemical Brothers returned the favour by working with The Charlatans on 1997's Tellin' Stories, most notably on One To Another.

Bedroom Eyes

I was playing Prince Fatty's Supersize this weekend, an eleven song compilation of some of his best stuff, not very autumnal music admittedly. These two dubs are outstanding- Bedroom Eyes Dub has echo, rimshots, organ and bass.



That Very Night In Dub has the lovely voice of Hollie Cook, a sound that could grace any record.

Politik Kills

I have shamelessly purloined some of this post from a comment thread at Sun Dried Sparrows. The man in the photo above, who looks like he could have been pictured yesterday, is Lewis Powell (or Payne). He was a Confederate soldier who attempted to assassinate William H. Seward and one of four people hanged for their part in the Lincoln assassination conspiracy. Powell, from Alabama, was photographed unwillingly in his cell while awaiting the noose and his stare through the camera is stunning, utterly contemporary and one of the reasons I find portrait photography from the mid 19th century through to circa the 1930s so interesting. The people look out at us, from another time, boxed off in history but still alive and human. There's more if you do an image search.

I've run out of bandwidth at Boxnet- you may have noticed. I did think about getting a second account with a different email but haven't got round to it. Luckily there's tons of stuff on the internet- like this roots reggae style Prince Fatty remix of Manu Chao's of Politik Kills. And politik kills or killed Lewis Powell.

Manu Chao grew up in France after his parents fled from Spain, his grandfather sentenced to death by Franco's regime. Busking led him eventually to Mano Negra, a French group inspired by The Clash. Their hybrid of French, Italian, Arabic and Spanish music along with punk, ska, and rai led to success across Europe (except here pretty much). After Mano Negra he spent several years touring central and south America in a train. Manu's music is punk in spirit and global street sounds in style. Almost any of his albums are worth checking out.



We are off to the Peoples' Republic of Sheffield for a couple of days and I've not set up any posts for while I'm away. Originally we planned to camp but the forecast has dissuaded us. See you in a couple of days.

Twice

Hollie Cook's debut album was one of my favourites from 2011 and she has a new one ready to release in May (fan funded via pledges). This song has appeared ahead of it. A lolloping Prince Fatty reggae beat, some lovely strings and a sultry Lover's Rock vocal from Hollie. Perfect timing too- today is the spring equinox, this is an early taste of summer.



From the dub version of her first lp...

Sugarwater Dub

Shimmy Shimmy

Gif files are one of the greatest things about the internet- just a loop of something or someone moving for a few seconds that is utterly hypnotic.

Shimmy Shimmy Ya was a single by Wu Tanger Ol' Dirty Bastard, possibly the least parent friendly name a rapper ever took ('what you listening to son?' 'Ol' Dirty Bastard'.). Here the ever fantastic Prince Fatty does it over, roots reggae style. The B-side was a cover of Snoop's Gin 'n' Juice.

Shimmy Shimmy Ya

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

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.

You Are Going To Relax

Prince Fatty has dubbed out Tim Burgess in very fine style. I don't know if this has been released, possibly for Record Shop Day (?) but if it hasn't it should be. Summer bottled in a Soundcloud file.

For Me You Are

I'm really into the reggae and dub sounds of Prince Fatty at the moment. He produced Hollie Cook's lovely debut album of last year and the dub version follow up. At his website you can order all kinds of reggae delights, including several singles on 7" vinyl. This is the dub on the B-side to For Me You Are which together with  the A-side, featuring Hollie's sweet vocals, is well worth a fiver of your hard earned.

For Me You Are (Dub)

Dub Cooking

Two of the albums I've listened to most this year are releases that I didn't fully get with last year- The Kills Blood Pressures and Hollie Cook's debut. Hollie is Sex Pistol Paul's daughter and played with the reformed Slits. Her debut is a proper pop-reggae record, full of summery delights even if we ain't got no sunshine. In April Prince Fatty put out a dubbed out version of it. V good it is, go get a copy.

And The Beat Goes On Dub

The picture is the latest in an irregular series of 1920s and 30s aviators. Although this one is an aviatrix, a word sadly underused in the 21st century.