V.A. Saturday

Boy's Own began in 1987, four friends inspired by records, clubbing and clothes (and football)- they started a fanzine inspired by Peter Hooton's Liverpool based fanzine The End. Andrew Weatherall, Cymon Eckel, Terry Farley and Steven Hall had come together through connections in the Windsor/ Slough area and via Paul Oakenfold began hitting the early acid house clubs. Boy's Own ran for several years as a very funny, sharp and hipper- than- you fanzine, the 'acid house parish magazine'. I never saw a copy at the time but did pick up a few issues of The End. Eventually Boy's Own became a record label too and a band, Bocca Juniors, grew out of it releasing two singles, the first the superb Raise and a second, Substance. Boy's Own Recordings put out a series of the period's defining 12" singles, records by Less Stress, Jah Wobble, One Dove and LSK as well as their own Bocca Juniors singles. Eventually Andrew Weatherall moved on and did something different, as he was wont to do any times over the subsequent decades- he had a knack for knowing when to switch course or change lanes. 

In 1992 Farley and Hall created a spin off label, Junior Boy's Own which stated by putting out a run of essential 12" singles, some of the key dance music/ house/ techno releases of the mid- 1990s and then moving into the brave new world of dance acts making albums. The Chemical Brothers started on Junior Boy's Own and Underworld released their three 90s albums on the label, dubnobasswithmyheadman, Second Toughest In the Infants and Beaucoup Fish. In 1994 they compiled a various artists compilation that pulled together some of the records from those first few years, tracks that in some ways are the sound of the period- if you went clubbing in 1993/ 1994 you would have been dancing at some point in those long nights to some or all of Fire Island, X- Press 2, Underworld, Outrage, Roach Motel and The Dust Brothers. The influence of New York house, gay club culture and UK techno is here. The emerging sound of what would become Big Beat and the Heavenly Sunday Social scene can be found here too, not least in the massive sirens and crashing hip hop drums of Song To The Siren, The Dust Brothers' calling card. 

Song To The Siren

X- Press 2 released London X- Press in 1993, a percussive, relentless house groove and some funky guitar, synth sabs, thumping bass and that 'raise your hands' sample accompanied by sirens. 

London X- Press

Roach Motel were Pete Heller and Terry Farley, funky, early 90s house, deep, soulful, influenced by New York's club sound. Would still rock a dancefloor today. 

Movin' On

Underworld appeared on Junior Boys Own Collection twice, once as themselves (with Rez) and once as Lemon Interrupt. It originally appeared as 1992 12" with Eclipse but Bigmouth eclipsed Eclipse, a huge ten minute long Underworld drum track with head spinning lead harmonica on top, a swampy, chuggy, uplifting, funky, shot of 1992, Darren Emerson pushing Rick Smith and Karl Hyde into new places. 

Big Mouth

The Junior Boy's Own Collection sleeve was a very knowing mid- 90s thing too, portraits of various faces done as 1940s cigarette cards- Michael Caine, Tommy Cooper, Pete Townsend, Phil Daniels in Quadrophenia, Captain Scarlet, Al Pacino, Norman Wisdom, Sid James, Marlon Brando, Travis Bickle, Mick Jagger, Patrick McNee, Sean Connery, Terry Thomas, W.C. Fields and Zachary Smith. 

Nova, Nebulae, Aurora

Let's start the week with something very long, hypnotic and uplifting. In 1992 this single by Lemon Interrupt (aka Underworld) came out on Junior Boys Own, Big Mouth on one side and Eclipse on the other. Eclipse is the pick of the two for me- thirteen minutes starting out with chugging beats, sweeping strings and a voice intoning 'nova, nebulae, aurora'. As it unfolds the Underworld keyboard sound starts to phase in and it becomes progressively more acid, and progressively more absorbing. A bit like shooting through the Channel Tunnel but between planets. Thirteen minutes well spent.

Eclipse

Various Artists

These Various Artists compilations have so far all come from a similar time frame and this one is right in there, the Junior Boys Own Collection from 1994, a round up of singles released on JBO between 1991 and 1994. Heller and Farley appear twice in their Fire Island guise (Fire Island, off Long Island , New York is and was legendary for its gay scene and clubs) and also as Roach Motel. Underworld contribute three songs under two names (Lemon Interrupt and Underworld) and pre-Chemicals Ed and Tom showcase the monstrous Song To the Siren and X-Press 2 are represented by two pieces of essential early 90s house.

This compilation is pretty ubiquitous in 1994, a good round up of a label with its finger near the pulse. All these tracks could be heard in Manchester's clubs- not always the same club but somewhere between the Hacienda, Home, the gay village and various other darkened rooms these tunes would never be far away. There But For The Grace Of God is Fire Island's disco house, a 1979 disco-funk classic from machine updated by Farley and Heller, camp as fluffy bras, crop tops and silver trousers.

There But For The Grace Of God

Rez is one of the greatest records of that period. Or any period. Beyond sheer brilliance, it is in some ways a full stop. The ever circling squiggles, the hi-hats and snare, the rush of the chords, all seem to say 'where else can you go after this?'

Rez

Boy's Own Stuff

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

London X-Press