Decayed Prelude

Exactly eight months ago, I posted Decadance V: 1999, the final year in my mixtape series covering the 1990s, itself a follow on from Decade, the original cassette compilations I had recorded to sum up the 1980s.

In an attempt to create some (pre-millennial) tension, I concluded my post with a portentous - many (me included) would say pretentious - statement

I suspect that when I get around to a series on the Noughties, 

the gulf between my singles selections and the UK charts will be vast, 

yet I know that like Decadance and Decade, 

there will be many gems to be uncovered and shared. 

I'm not planning on doing it any time soon, 

possibly not even this year, though I have come up with the series name. 

Decayed. 

Well, it proved to be a scratch that I needed to itch sooner rather than later, it seems!

And so, here we are again, with a prelude to a series that will start properly next Saturday (8th) and run for the next 5 weekends.

As before, each mixtape will cover a single year via a dozen songs to fit on, in old money, one side of a C90 cassette, just like the original Decade series managed back in the day.

It turned out that "the gulf between my singles selections and the UK charts" was not as vast as I suspected and there are a fair share of UK hits, number ones even, throughout. That said, I've reserved the right to include songs that spectacularly failed to dent the Top 100, just because I think they're great songs and should've had more love at the time. Especially when you consider some of the inexorable crap polluting the upper regions of the Top 40 in this decade.

This was a decade of significant changes in my life: becoming a homeowner, a husband, a father; I gained friends and lost friends; soaring highs and deep, deep lows. And always music to discover or rediscover and rejoice in.

Today's prelude selection features ten songs, each charting in the UK in respective years from 2000 to 2009, starting and ending with a #1 hit. None of the artists featured today will appear in the main series. Yep, this is the only time that you'll hear The White Stripes or Massive Attack in the next five weeks. 

Much as I'd like to make an exception, Julian Cope will be absent from proceedings, as The Arch Drude didn't release any singles in the 2000s. Some might argue that he didn't release any decent albums either, but I will stick my fingers in my ears and sing ba ba ba ba ba if I see any of this nonsense.

A feature (gimmck, you say?) of the Decadance series was my efforts to shoehorn in a MAW (Mandatory Andrew Weatherall) track into every year, mostly remixes of other artists, which proved to be less difficult than I first thought.

No such studio trickery this time, though I can reveal that The Guv'nor will be making an appearance in this series, with a surprise Top 30 single.

But what of the ten that have made the cut?

Groovejet by Spiller was a ubiquitous tune in the summer of 2000, although in terms of chart action, it followed the growing trend of singles debuting at #1 then dropping out immediately after. In fairness, Groovejet dropped to #2, then #3, and spent 12 weeks in the Top 40, 30 weeks in the Top 100, which clearly reflected it's popularity. 

It also proved to be a relaunch for Sophie Ellis-Bextor, fresh from the break up of theaudience and about to launch a solo career that, a quarter of a century later, has seen her elevated to National Treasure status.

In 2001, The Avalanches came out of nowhere (well, Australia) with an approach to sampling and cut-ups that as dizzying as it was unsustainable. Since I Left You sounds as magical now as it did then and the album of the same name that followed was a breathtaking piece of work. I don't know the full story of the  'extended alternate version' featured here, and discovered on YouTube in 2016, but I reckon it's a DIY cut and edit job by the poster, the wonderfully named Chungus Bungus.

From two seven-minute songs to one that comes in at under two minutes, it can only be The White Stripes. It took me a while to catch on to Jack and Meg's back-to-basics music and whilst I don't love everything they did, singles like Fell In Love With A Girl were spot on, retro yet sounding fresh and exciting. I'm surprised that this stalled just outside the Top 20 in March 2002.

Massive Attack returned in 2003 with 100th Window, and lead single Special Cases, featuring Sinéad O'Connor. Only four albums in, yet a world apart from the Blue Lines album just over a decade before. I finally got to see Massive Attack live in concert the following year, appropriately enough in our shared birthplace, Bristol.

Reign was originally released on the UNKLE album Never, Never Land in 2003, then as a single, peaking at #40 in November 2004. The song features Ian Brown, at this point half a decade into his solo career, with no hope of The Stone Roses getting back together again. 

Antony & The Johnsons caused a stir in 2005 when they won the Mercury Music Prize with debut album I Am A Bird Now, qualifying in part as Antony Hegarty (now Anonhi) had been born in Chichester, West Sussex. You Are My Sister features a beautiful duet with Boy George, who also enjoyed an artistic renaissance in the 2000s.

The Automatic had a monster hit with, er. Monster in June 2006. It looks like the band called it a day in 2010, after three albums. I can confidently say that I have never knowingly heard another song by The Automatic and, much as I like Monster, I don't feel a strong urge to check out their catalogue. 

Asobi Seksu, on the other hand, were a band that I feel for as soon as I heard the single Strawberries in 2007. Clearly the record buying public didn't agree, as Strawberries managed only one week at #54 before disappearing without trace. Sadly, Asobi Seksu have been on 'indefinite hiatus' since 2013, though I hold hope of a musical reunion one day.

When I started accessing loads of free MP3s via the RCRD LBL in 2007, I discovered loads of new artists and songs as a result. Paper Planes by M.I.A. is a good example, with a plethora of official and unofficial remixes offering up for download. Roughly a year later, it was released as a physical single in the UK, cracking the Top 20 in September 2008. The mix I've picked here, by then-partner Diplo, retains The Clash sample and adds raps from Big Bun and Rich Boy. Whatever happened to them?!

Another RCRD LBL freebie in 2008 was Just Dance by Lady Gaga, remixed by the RAC (that's the Remix Artist Collective, not the motoring services company!) Just Dance subsequently scored Lady Gaga her first UK #1 in January 2009, followed a couple of months later by Poker Face. Her debut album was appropriately titled The Fame.

As with previous series, for all those info heads, I've listed the parent EP or album, and the single's peak position in the UK charts. I've also included the date it got there which sometimes, but not always, is the same week that it debuted.

If you're thinking, as I did back in March, that the 2000s was the decade that your music tastes acrimoniously parted from the UK Top 100, stick around for the next five weeks, you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

1) Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (Spiller's Extended Vocal Mix): Spiller ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor (2000) 

2) Since I Left You (Extended Alternate Version By Chungus Bungus): The Avalanches (2016)

3) Fell In Love With A Girl: The White Stripes (2002)

4) Special Cases (Album Version): Massive Attack ft. Sinéad O'Connor (2003)

5) Reign (Album Version): UNKLE ft. Ian Brown (2004)

6) You Are My Sister: Antony & The Johnsons ft. Boy George (2005)

7) Monster (Album Version): The Automatic (2006)

8) Strawberries (Album Version): Asobi Seksu (2007)

9) Paper Planes (Diplo Street Remix): M.I.A. ft. Big Bun & Rich Boy (2008)

10) Just Dance (RAC Mix By André Allen Anjos): Lady Gaga ft. Colby O'Donis (2008)

20th August 2000: Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) EP (#1): 1

1st April 2001: Since I Left You (#16): 2

3rd March 2002: White Blood Cells (#21): 3

2nd March 2003: 100th Window (#15): 4

21st November 2004: Never, Never, Land (#40): 5

4th December 2005: I Am A Bird Now (#39): 6

11th June 2006: Not Accepted Anywhere (#4): 7

12th November 2007: Citrus (# 54): 8

28th September 2008: Kala (#19): 9

11th January 2009: The Fame (#1): 10

 

Decayed Prelude (45:37) (GD) (M)

Covered Dub

Back in April, I posted Under Dub Covers, a selection of reggae and dub cover versions and it was well received, so here's the follow up!

Fourteen tracks this time, a 50/50 split between reggae and dub, 60s-90s and 21st Century, but 100% certified excellent. Well, the tunes, if not the sequencing!

Some of my all-time favourite singers are featured, opening with Pat Kelly and Marcia Griffiths, taking in Horace Andy, Dennis Brown and Jackie Edwards and, more recently, Shniece McMenamin.

Sly & Robbie, Adrian Sherwood and Lee 'Scratch' Perry feature heavily throughout, whether up front or in the studio.

This week in 1985, I Got You Babe by UB40 "with guest vocals by" Chrissie Hynde first entered the UK singles chart at a modest #22. It was Top 5 a couple of weeks later and #1 a couple of weeks after that. 

There was a dub version on the flip side but no extended version on the 12", so I've taken the liberty of creating my own edit for this selection. I've literally spliced the dub intro and outro with (most of) the vocal version. A dub sandwich, if you will, crackles and all.

1) Stoned In Love (Cover of 'I'm Stone In Love With You' by The Stylistics): Pat Kelly (1979)

2) It's Too Late (Cover of Carole King): Marcia Griffiths (1974)

3) A Wonderful Version (Cover of Louis Armstrong): Rhoda Dakar ft. Natty Campbell (2023)

4) Safe From Harm (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood) (Cover of Massive Attack): Horace Andy (2022)

5) Night Nurse (Dub With Vocal) (Remix By Mick Hucknall) (Cover of Gregory Isaacs): Sly & Robbie ft. Simply Red (1997)

6) To Love Somebody (Album Version By Lee 'Scratch' Perry) (Cover of Bee Gees): Busty Brown (1969)

7) The Model Dub (Cover of 'Das Modell' by Kraftwerk): Prince Fatty ft. Shniece McMenamin (2020)

8) Chase The Devil (Adrian Sherwood Dub) (Cover of Max Romeo): Dubblestandart ft. Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Coshiva & Emch (2014)

9) I Got You Babe (Dub Sandwich Re-Edit By Khayem) (Cover of Sonny & Cher): UB40 ft. Chrissie Hynde (2025)

10) Long As I Can See The Light (Adrian Sherwood's Dub Lighting) (Cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival): Monkey Mafia ft. Shirzelle (1998)

11) Dock Of The Bay (Cover of '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of Tthe Bay' by Otis Redding): Dennis Brown (1972)

12) Everything I Own (Dub Version By Stewart Levine) (Cover of Bread): Boy George (1987)

13) All Shook Up (Cover of Elvis Presley): Jackie Edwards (1979)

14) Exodus (Dubvisionist Dub) (Remix By Felix Wolter) (Cover of Bob Marley & The Wailers): Tackhead (2011) 

1969: The Upsetter: 6

1972: Superstar: 11

1979: So Proud: 1

1980: All Shook Up EP: 13

1987: Everything I Own EP: 12

1997: Night Nurse EP: 5

1998: Long As I Can See The Light EP: 10

2011: Exodus EP: 14

2014: Dubblestandart In Dub: 8

2015: Play Me / Sweet And Nice (Expanded Edition): 2

2020: Disco Deception Dubplate LP: 7

2022: Midnight Rocker: 4

2023: What A Wonderful World EP: 3

2025: I Got You Babe (bootleg MP3): 9

Covered Dub (59:23) (GD) (M)

You can find Under Dub Covers here

A few cover versions that didn't make today's final selection were produced by the legend that is Dennis Bovell. That didn't sit right with me so, as compensation, I've restored links to the two DB-themed selections that I've previously posted. With the above, that's pretty much four hours of dub nutrition!

Weakened/Weekend In Dub (August 2023)

From Conception To The Grave (October 2021)

Summer Fun, Big Fun, Funtime, Wang Chung, Well Hung

Why should fun wait until the weekend?!

Four videos that are bursting with fun, tight jeans, glow in the dark dresses, the spirit of Iggy, choppy 80s editing, one new/old classic Cope song and, if you stay to the end, a cool Breeze. Emily Breeze, that is. 

1) Summer Fun: Barracudas (1980)

2) Big Fun: Inner City (1988)

3) Funtime (Cover of Iggy Pop): Boy George (1995)

4) Everybody Have Fun Tonight: Wang Chung (1986)

5) Well Hung At Dawn: Julian Cope (recorded 2005, released 2025)

6) Fun: Emily Breeze (2025)

 

 

 

 

 

You Can Take The Boy Out Of Bauhaus, But You Cannot Take Bauhaus Out Of The Boy

An unexpected treat, Peter Murphy and Boy George teaming up for a single, Let The Flowers Grow, co-written and produced by Youth aka Martin Glover.

 

Sound wise, it comes over like the closing song from the soundtrack to a Hollywood movie from the mid to late 80s, sweeping synth strings, chugging guitar and steady, muscular beat underpinning two powerhouse vocals. 

 

It took a couple of listens, but (and excuse the pun) it grew on me. Not an obvious pairing, and even if George's tends to dominate on the shared chorus, the voices complement one another well. And of course, new music from Peter Murphy is a very welcome thing.

It's been ten years since Peter's tenth studio album, Lion, also a collaboration with Youth, so we can but hope that Let The Flowers Grow is a teaser for a bigger project, an album even.

In the meantime, here's a chronological run through of Peter's promos, from his debut solo single (and Pere Ubu cover) Final Solution in 1985 through the optimistically titled HIt Song (it wasn't) in 1992, up to Eliza from Lion in 2014. Never a dull visual and those cheekbones could still cut glass over three decades.

From 2019, there's a live performance of second solo single Blue Heart and then the rather beautiful Keep Coming Back by Cheb I Sabbah from 2021, featuring Peter paired with Azam Ali.

Finally, a step back to 2011 and Peter's appearance on What's In My Bag? at Amoeba Music in San Francisco. At under six-and-a-half minutes, it's one of the shorter entries in the long-running series, but it's a lot of fun.

Final Solution (Cover of Pere Ubu) (1985)

All Night Long (1988)

A Strange Kind Of Love (1990)

Cuts You Up (1990)

Hit Song (1992)

The Scarlet Thing In You (1995)

I Spit Roses (2011)

Seesaw Sway (2011)

Eliza (2014)

Blue Heart (Live @ The Chapel, San Francisco) (2019)

Keep Coming Back: Cheb I Sabbah & Peter Murphy ft. Azam Ali (2021)

 

...Everybody Listen! Something Exciting Is About To Happen!

Side 2 of a cassette compilation recorded 22nd January 1997.

 

Ditching the pumpkins and the 21st Century for some banging 90s beats. Across the 14 mixes and two sides of the original cassette, 1993 is heavily represented. I'm not quite sure why this year was resonating quite so much with me in early 1997, but it was clearly a good year for club music.

Not that any of the other selections are sloppy seconds. 

Traci Lords successfully made a career switch from the US porn industry to the UK club scene, teaming up with Juno Reactor for the 1995 album 1000 Fires and getting Paul Oakenfold in to remix her single Fallen Angel. The song was apparently inspired by her childhood journals and Kurt Cobain's suicide the previous year. 

Fluke seemed to be everywhere in 1996, including the video games market. Even to non-gamers like me, the soundtrack to Wipeout 2097 was pretty amazing and Fluke's single Atom Bomb was all over it. There were 8 versions across 2 CD singles, which was enough to push it into the UK Top 20.

The Source aka John Truelove aka John Rush hit the motherlode when he paired a 1986 Candi Station with Frankie Knuckles & Jamie Principle's Your Love to create You Got The Love. Initially a bootleg in 1989, further variations cracked the UK Top 10 in 1991, 1997 and 2006. Unfortunately, it kind of threw everything else into the shade, including 1993 single Sanctuary Of Love.

 

Sanctuary Of Love follows a simple plan, taking an underground club track by US artist Zhana Saunders and transforming into a hard house anthem. Tall Paul's remix ramps up the epic feel, but it remained one for the clubs, making no impact whatsoever on the UK singles chart.

Mark Moore had the unenviable task of following up a smash hit debut album with S'Express. Eschewing the previous rotating cast of vocalists for a single artist, Mark's pairing with Sonia Clarke aka Sonique was inspired, even if it didn't bring the same commercial success. Personally, I think the follow up album Intercourse is hugely underappreciated and lead single Nothing To Lose is as good as anything that had come before. 

Usura was an Italian combo who enjoyed a UK #7 hit in January 1993 with Open Your Mind. I don't think follow up single Tear It Up even dented the charts, which is a shame as it's an equally compelling track, with an earthy, compelling vocal. Tear It Up was a co-write with Rollo, yet to find global fame with Faithless, but renowned for his remixes and he really delivers the goods on this one.

Apollo 440 was birthed in 1990 by brothers Howard Gray and Trevor Gray, along with James Gardner and Noko aka Norman Fisher-Jones. Building a reputation though remixes and singles in the early 1990s, they released Millennium Fever, the first of five albums, in 1994. Noko was previously one half of Luxuria with Howard Devoto, who contributed lyrics to Apollo 440's debut album. The pair were reunited when Noko joined the reformed Magazine in 2009.

Closing side 2 and the mixtape is a remix of Culture Club's Miss Me Blind by Ramp aka Shem McCauley and Simon Rogers. Originally released on the Colour By Numbers album in 1983, and as a single outside of the UK, this remix first appeared on US editions of Boy George's single Everything I Own in 1993. I got my mitts on it via The Devil In Sister George EP, which featured updated versions of 5 old songs, aimed squarely at the dancefloor. This one knocks the Culture Club original out of the park.

 

1) Fallen Angel (Perfecto Mix By Paul Oakenfold) (Single Edit): Traci Lords (1995)

2) Atom Bomb (Atomix 6): Fluke (1996)

3) Sanctuary Of Love (Tall Paul's Jiant Revamp) (Remix By Paul Newman): The Source ft. Zhana Saunders (1993)

4) Nothing To Lose (Original Mix By Mark Moore): S'Express ft. Sonique (1990)

5) Tear It Up (Big, Bold And Sassy Mix By Rollo): Usura (1993)

6) Rumble (12” Version): Apollo 440 (1993)

7) Miss Me Blind (Return To Gender Mix By Ramp): Culture Club (1993)

Side Two (46:19) (KF) (Mega)

I Broke The Bolt

Happy birthday, Rolo McGinty... or belated happy birthday, as I'm not 100% sure if it falls on the 14th or 15th June. Call myself a fan?!

 

Well...yes, I do, not least because earlier this year, Rolo gifted the world with a brand new album by The Woodentops, Fruits Of The Deep. Head off to Bandcamp to buy it straight away and later, you can read what I thought of it back in April.

 

To celebrate in slightly different style, I'm not posting a selection of The Woodentops' many indie classics from the 1980s, as you might reasonably have expected seeing as one of them popped up in yesterday's Indie Top 20 post.

 

Instead, I'm focusing on Rolo's beat-heavy excursions, taking in The Woodentops from 1990s and the past couple of years, and squeezing in several tracks from his other projects Pluto and Dogs Deluxe, the latter with Rob Miller. There’s also a collaboration with Andres Y Xavi and a remix for Dubversive, featuring Boy George, who also celebrated his birthday yesterday.

 

Several of the featured tracks have been gifted via Rolo's WebArchive page and remain otherwise unreleased.

 

I've chopped, sequenced, faded and edited tracks together to deliver an hour-long selection that will have you up, down, up, down...then staying down. Consider it your weekend workout!

 

Love and respect to Mr. McGinty, I hope the sun shines and all is fine. Have a good one, Rolo.

 

1) Dream On (Rolo Dub): The Woodentops (2024)

2) Stay Out Of The Light (Midi Mix): The Woodentops (1991)

3) Because Of You (Dub): The Woodentops *

4) Tainted World (Kid Batchelor Rub): The Woodentops vs. Bang The Party (1991)

5) Chainsaw: Ambient Mic **

6) Indian Runner: Pluto (1995)

7) Ambient Filth: Bad Apples ***

8) What Do You See In Me (Max Essa Dub): Andres Y Xavi ft. Rolo McGinty (2022)

9) Smokin' (Original Version): The Woodentops *

10) Police And Thieves (Dog's Deluxe Mix) (Cover of Junior Murvin): Dubversive ft. Boy George (1998)

11) Ride A Cloud (Xavi's Campfire Mix): The Woodentops ft. Kyoko Sato (2023)

12) Ride A Cloud (Rolo's Dub): The Woodentops (2024) 

 

1991: Stay Out Of The Light EP: 2 

1991: Tainted World EP: 4

1995: Rising: 6

1998: Police And Thieves EP: 10

2022: What Do You See In Me EP: 8

2023: Ride A Cloud EP: 11

2024: Dream On EP: 1 

2024: Ride A Cloud (Rolo's Dub) EP: 12

* Because Of You eventually turned up on The Woodentops' 2014 album Granular Tales. This dub and a vocal version date (I think) from the 1990s. The same goes for Smokin’.

** One of three "Experiments with video game play sounds" available online, date unknown. 

*** "A bunch of songs written with Richard Thomas and Konrad Kinard", which Rolo recorded with Richard in Somerset. Date unknown, poss. late 1990s/early 2000s.

 

I Broke The Bolt (1:00:13) (KF) (Mega)

Don't Sing

After the runaway success* of my Senza Voce post back in September 2022, it's only taken 532 days for me to produce a sequel. Yep, as the title suggests, today's selection is 45 minutes of instrumental versions of songs you might not have been familiar with in the first place.

Shorn of the distraction of vocal workouts from the likes of Russell Mael, Billy MacKenzie, Boy George, Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, the songs are allowed to breathe and find their own space in the listener's consciousness. 

 

Well, that or the record label needed to pad out a single release and what better than karaoke versions. I mean, I don't know about you but there's nothing better I enjoy of an evening than standing in front of a mirror, hairbrush in hand, belting out Thompson Twins' greatest hits, pretending I'm Tom Bailey.

Oh. 

Just me, then.

 

1) The Rhythm Thief (Instrumental): Sparks (2002)

2) Only One In Your Love (Instrumental Remix): Botany 5 (1991)

3) Breakfast Alone (Instrumental Version): Associates (1985)

4) Komputer Pop (Inst.): Komputer (1998)

5) (Long) Beach Culture (Instrumental): Thompson Twins (1982)

6) Jungleland (Instrumental): Simple Minds (1986)

7) Shine A Light (Instrumental): Beady Eye (2013)

8) Il Adore (Instrumental): Boy George (1995)

 

1982: Lies EP: 5

1984: Breakfast EP: 3 

1986: Ghostdancing EP: 6

1991: Only One In Your Love EP: 2 

1995: Il Adore EP: 8

1998: Terminus EP: 4

2004: Lil' Beethoven (Deluxe Edition): 1

2013: BE Instrumentals (bootleg): 7

 

Don't Sing (45:49) (KF) (Mega) 

You can find Senza Voce here

* Well, Charity Chic and Middle Aged Man seemed to like it, anyway.

Return Of The Karaoke Kings

Side 1 of a cassette compilation of cover versions, recorded sometime around late 1996, possibly early 1997.

Side 2 previously ushered in the weekend at your local spit 'n' sawdust bar with a few bottles of cheap Becks, salt & vinegar crisps, ripped seats, sticky carpets and the landlord's obsessive collection of novelty bottle openers glued to the upper skirt of the bar. 

 

Side 1 therefore must be the other end, when you realise karaoke night has become morning, the lock-in is over and the landlord's kicking you all out, with the grim realisation that the clocks went forward an hour whilst you were slaughtering T.Rex, Sister Sledge and Fat Larry's Band and you're one hour closer to the end of the weekend than you expected. 

 

On the bright side, the greasy spoon across the road is opening soon and may have the cure for the karaoke hangover you're nursing.

Take it away, people!

1) Get Back (Album Version): Laibach vs. The Beatles (1988)

2) Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?: Revolting Cocks vs. Rod Stewart (1993)

3) Know Your Rights (Edit): Primal Scream vs. The Clash (1994)

4) Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight) (Bonus Mix): The Leather Nun vs. ABBA (1986)

5) Tuff Titty Rap / Into The Groove(y) (12" Version): Ciccone Youth vs. Madonna (1986)

6) Kiss (Single Mix); Age Of Chance vs. Prince (1986)

7) Funtime (Album Version): Boy George vs. Iggy Pop (1995)

8) Smells Like Teen Spirit: Tori Amos vs. Nirvana (1992)

9) Lundi Bleu (Version Française De Blue Monday) (Radio Edit): The Times vs. New Order (1991)

10) Rock-A-Hula-Baby (Album Version): Pop Will Eat Itself vs. Elvis Presley (1990)

11) I Put A Spell On You: Marilyn Manson vs. Screamin' Jay Hawkins (1996)

1986: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! EP: 4

1986: Kiss EP: 6

1986: The White(y) Album: 5

1988: Let It Be: 1

1990: The Last Temptation Of Elvis: 10

1992: Lundi Bleu EP: 9

1992: Silent All These Years EP: 8

1993: Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? EP: 2

1995: Cheapness And Beauty: 7 

1996: Lost Highway OST: 11

1997: Kowalski EP: 3

 

Side One (46:12) (Box) (Mega)

Side Two here

There's Something Going Round Inside My Head

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded 23rd July 1994.

I'd forgotten how much I loved listening to this tape, especially in my car. I owned a Mini Metro with a crappy tape deck that had been bolted to the underside of the glove compartment and wired in a similarly DIY fashion with copious amounts of black electrical tape where there shouldn't be. Windows down, volume up and the morbid thrill of wondering if the crappy tape deck would chew up and spit out the cassette at some point (which happened with alarming frequency).

Thankfully, this one survived both the tape deck and the eventual ditching of the car when I lived sufficiently close to Bristol city centre and with sufficiently awful street parking that I managed without a car for several years. The compilation continued to get regular airings but nothing quite matched those rock and roll lo-fi hi-fi years in the car.

This selection is resolutely and relentlessly upbeat for three quarters of an hour. Even Youth and Thrash's attempts to inject some darkness (sampling the Stones' Gimme Shelter) into Movin' by Marathon cannot suppress it's innate joy de vivre. And World Of Twist's take on another Stones classic remixed by Fluke is about as uplifting as one can get. And that's saying something, coming hot on the heels of another of their remixes, the aptly titled Celebrate.

It all gets off to a euphoric start with The Grid's superb remix of Bow Down Mister by Jesus Loves You, which in my opinion is still a career highlight for Boy George, albeit criminally overlooked and underrated. Messrs Ball and Norris put George in the backseat for this one, letting him back up front with the choir towards the end. For the most part though, it's all about Asha Bosle and it's all the better for it.

 

Another iconic singer gets a look in later on, when the unique presence that is Nina Hagen lends her singular style to Get Your Body! Adamski's bubble of commercial success  and chart hits the previous year had burst by 1992, which is a shame as I think the singles at least were just as good, if not better than what had gone before. I picked up this 12" for pennies in a bargain bin in 1994 and it's a great track that deserved better.

Devo is sadly not a tribute to the American band but the product of progressive house duo Crunch aka Terry Marks and Kevin Brewster-White from the UK. They loved their cheese: the three mixes on the 12" single are named Mozzarella, Red Leicester and Stilton. Nothing cheesy about this song though, which I first discovered on the Welcome To The Future² compilation in 1993.

I was (and still am) a huge fan of Justin Robertson and actively sought out his work as Lionrock and his prolific remixes for other artists. If? were already on my radar due to previous 12" purchases of Open Up Your Head and Everything & More, both featuring stunning remixes by Leftfield. With Saturday's Angels, Justin Robertson is more than up to the challenge, delivering an astonishing eight minutes. Most Excellent was the name of his club night at the time but also fairly sums up his remix and this selection, if I dare say so.

1) Bow Down Mister (Floating In The Ganges - Grid Mix By Dave Ball & Richard Norris): Jesus Loves You ft. Asha Bhosle (1991)

2) Devo (Mozzarella Mix): Crunch (1993)

3) Saturday's Angels (Most Excellent Vocal Remix By Justin Robertson): If? (1992)

4) Movin' (Original) (Translunar Injection Burn Mix By Youth & Thrash): Marathon (1992) 

5) Get Your Body! (12"): Adamski ft. Nina Hagen (1992) 

6) Celebrate (Magimix By Fluke): Horse (1994) 

7) She's A Rainbow (Right Foot Yellow Mix By Fluke): World Of Twist (1991)

 

Side Two (45:01) (KF) (Mega)

The Sun Has Come Again To Hold You

Today's selection shines a spotlight on guest vocalists. All of the nine tracks have electronic leanings, veering from club to dub along the course of under an hour.

There will be some familiar names - Boy George, Texas, Elizabeth Fraser, Guy Garvey - and some less so, but they all add something unique to the song, even when put through the remix rinse.

 

Most of the artists will also be well known, with a couple of surprises tucked away. Cabana was a one-off collaboration between superstar DJ Sasha aka Alexander Coe and long-term producer Tom Frederikse. The former went on to global domination whilst the latter swapped music for law in 1999, specialising in Digital Media.

 

Battle Box was also a one-off project, this time for 3D aka Robert Del Naja, who pops up again with Massive Attack later in the selection.

 

The most unexpected pairing is perhaps Paul Weller and Boy George on One Tear in 2017. I haven't fact checked this at all, but was this their first time in the studio together since Band Aid in 1984? Whatever, it was worth the wait...!

 

1) Red Alert (Jaxx Radio Mix): Basement Jaxx ft. Blue James (1999)

2) Music Matters (Axwell Extended): Faithless ft. Cassandra Fox (2007)

3) Bailando Con Lobos (Goodmen Fresh Dub): Cabana ft. Sheila Schwok (1994)

4) Battle Box (Remix): Battle Box ft. Guy Garvey (2012)

5) The Hush (67% Mix): Rae & Christian ft. Texas (1998)

6) One Tear (Club Cut Alternative Version): Paul Weller ft. Boy George (2017)

7) Empire Ants (Miami Horror Remix): Gorillaz ft. Little Dragon (2010)

8) Group Four (Security Forces Dub) (Remix By Mad Professor): Massive Attack ft. Elizabeth Fraser (1998)

9) Strange Addiction (Bud Addiction) (Remix By Charlie May & Duncan Forbes): Spooky ft. Celestine Walcott-Gordon (2005)

The Sun Has Come Again To Hold You (58:22) (Box) (Mega)

Note: After yesterday's fiasco of accidentally leaving off Touch Me by The Doors from the Whatever Happened To Reg? selection, (running) order has been restored and you can now listen to/download the full playlist as intended. If you didn't notice the omission yesterday, please ignore this note and I may just get away with it...

Tough Act To Follow

I wasn't expecting to have to post another celebration so soon after Olivia Newton-John yesterday but here is a modest tribute to Lamont Dozier, who arrived 16th June 1941 and departed 8th August 2022.

I had very little time to prepare this post so, as you might expect, I've avoided the obvious - and frankly overwhelming - route of focusing on the dozens and dozens of original Motown classics that Lamont Dozier wrote with brothers Brian Holland and Eddie Holland. 

 

Instead, I've pulled together a brisk 10-song, 40-minute selection of cover versions, spanning Colourbox to Marcia Griffiths, The Fall to Odyssey and The Rolling Stones to Snuff. I've also included a couple of Lamont Dozier co-writes from the 1980s: Alison Moyet and Simply Red were on the long list but didn't make the cut; Boy George is perhaps a lesser known cut but everyone of a certain age will remember the Four Tops song, particularly if they found themselves at a late 1980s work do...

 

Today's selection is named after a track from Lamont Dozier's 1979 solo album, Bittersweet, and I couldn't think of anything more apt.

1) You Keep Me Hanging On (7" Version) (Cover of The Supremes): Colourbox (1985)

2) Standing In The Shadows Of Love (Cover of Four Tops): Snuff (1996)

3) There's A Ghost In My House (Cover of R. Dean Taylor): The Fall (1987)

4) Going Back To My Roots (Broots Club Mix By John Morales & Sergio Munzibai) (Cover of Lamont Dozier): Odyssey (1987)

5) Can I Get A Witness (Cover of Marvin Gaye): The Rolling Stones (1964)

6) My World Is Empty Without You (Cover of Diana Ross & The Supremes): The Afghan Whigs (1991)

7) Seven Rooms Of Gloom (Live @ The Apollo Theatre, Glasgow) (Cover of Four Tops): Blondie (1979)

8) Sold (12" Version By Les Adams): Boy George (1987)

9) Band Of Gold (Cover of Freda Payne): Marcia Griffiths (1974)

10) Loco In Acapulco (PH Balance Mix By Phil Harding & Ian Curnow): Four Tops (1988)

Tough Act To Follow (40:41)