Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon

A little Friday fun and not to be taken too seriously...

Six Degrees Of Separation is the idea that a person can have six or less connections to any other person in the world. Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon jokingly took the idea further, positing that any actor could be linked to the Hollywood legend in six or fewer steps.

I thought I'd have a go at applying it to my music collection. How hard could it be? Surprisingly easy, it turned out (although purists may disagree). Here goes...

1) Neneh Cherry's debut solo single in 1988 was Buffalo Stance, produced by Tim Simenon aka Bomb The Bass.

2) Bomb The Bass released Bug Powder Dust in 1994 as the lead single for third album Clear, featuring Justin Warfield and a slew of remixes, including one from DJ Muggs.

3) DJ Muggs aka Lawrence Muggerud first came to prominence as a founder member of Cypress Hill. In 1992, he also formed The Soul Assassins collective. That same year, Muggs used the Soul Assassin alias to remix Beastie Boys, aka Ad Rock, MCA and Mike D.

4) Mike D. aka Michael Diamond has provided his unique vocals and raps to many other artists' songs over the years. In 2016, he teamed up with Cat Power to appear on Action, a single by French duo Cassius aka Philippe Zdar Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard.

5) Hubert Blanc-Francard's father is Dominique Blanc-Francard, who has also enjoyed a long and varied career in music production. In 1983, Dominique mixed Robert Palmer's cover version of You Are In My System and returned to remix it in 1992.

6) Robert Palmer was apparently a fan of The Comsat Angels and facilitated their signing to Island Records in the mid-80s, executive producing sixth album Chasing Shadows and providing vocals on the closing track of today's selection. And the bass player and founding member of The Comsat Angels is of course... Kevin Bacon.

This may be #1 in a series of one but it was fun to do. 

Happy Friday, everyone!

1) Buffalo Stance (Extended Mix By Bomb The Bass aka Tim Simenon): Neneh Cherry (1988)

2) Bug Powder Dust (DJ Muggs Remix): Bomb The Bass ft. Justin Warfield (1994)

3) So What' Cha Want (Soul Assassin Remix Version By DJ Muggs): Beastie Boys (1992)

4) Action (Video Version): Cassius ft. Cat Power & Mike D. (2016)

5) You Are In My System (Addictions Mix By Dominique Blanc-Francard) (Cover of The System): Robert Palmer (1992)

6) You'll Never Know: The Comsat Angels ft. Robert Palmer (1986)

 

Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon (28:20) (KF) (Mega)

Sometimes You Get Nowhere

Half a dozen cover versions in a little under half an hour. The springboard for this (again) was the Love Is.... guest mix posted last week on The Vinyl Villain. The gift that keeps on giving and another excuse to plug Jez's own music blog, A History Of Dubious Taste.

The mix included Little Boots' cover of Love Kills (originally by Freddie Mercury), which appeared on the gargantuan 89-track compilation Buffetlibre DJ's Rewind Mixtape 2 back in 2009. And no, I don't have the complete album. 

 

Originally available as an MP3-only download via the Buffetlibre website, it's long since gone but a trawl around the internet should unearth a good selection of the track list. It's pretty much 1980s songs covered or remixed and I've plumped for an unexpectedly delicate cover of Whitesnake's hairsprayed middle-aged pomp rock hit. 

 

This selection opens with a song that Roger Waters wrote for Pink Floyd in 1969, but never recorded. Crystal Kerr sings and plays piano, Ken Langford provides guitar and backing vocals and that's about as much as I know about either of them. Beautiful song, though.

 

Likewise, I'm pretty unfamiliar with Richard Walters, although Discogs tells me he's recorded more recently as LYR, a three-piece including current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. Faultline aka David Kosten was already on my radar, after picking up 2002 album Your Love Means Everything in a Bristol record shop bargain bin and being pleasantly surprised, despite the inclusion of Chris Martin from Coldplay. I like this version of the David Bowie classic. 

The closing half of the selection takes in songs by Lou Reed, Nick Cave and, in a last ditch attempt to swerve away from an exclusively male singer/songwriter focus, the wonderful Martina Topley-Bird. The latter, courtesy of Neneh Cherry & The Thing, bucks the gentle themes of the preceding songs with a raucous, jazzy vibe, with Cherry sounding like she's punching her way out of a cardboard box. I love the original, but this version takes it in an interesting and different direction.

 

I did initially think about carrying on, as I'd sidetracked into listening to several potential inclusions by Micah P. Hinson, but that's a selection for another day. and this is as good a point as any to hop off. Happy Wednesday!

1) Seabirds (Cover of Roger Waters): Kerr & Langford (1991)

2) Here I Go Again (Cover of Whitesnake): The Botticellis (2009)

3) Be My Wife (Cover of David Bowie): Richard Walters & Faultline (2008) 

4) Pale Blue Eyes (12" Version) (Cover of The Velvet Underground): Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins (1984)

5) Breathless (Cover of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds): Cat Power (2008)

6) Too Tough To Die (Cover of Martina Topley-Bird): Neneh Cherry & The Thing (2012)

1984: Pale Blue Eyes EP / Punk Rock Hotel OST: 4

1991: Moving Soundtracks: 1

2008: Jukebox: 5

2008: Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered: 3

2009: Buffetlibre DJ's Rewind Mixtape 2: 2

2012: Neneh Cherry & The Thing: 6

 

Sometimes You Get Nowhere (25:03)