It's Friday . . . Let's Dance.

After a week of rather frenzied Rave and Techno, I think that it is time for some for soulful dance floor fodder. The tracks posted today are probably 2 of the best known northern soul tracks and are number 23 and 24 in the Northern Soul Top 500. They are songs that I flogged to death when I was younger but don't get played very often these days which is a shame as they are excellent dancers and great tunes. Marc Almond must have thought so too as Soft Cell covered both of these.

First up and at number 23 in the a fore mentioned tome is Judy Clay with a track released on the Strider label in 1966 and almost charted in the UK. What is on the poppier side of northern soul but no less a track for it.

Judy Street - What

At number 24 we find Gloria Jones with the tune that started my obsession with this genre of music over 25 years ago when I found out that the Soft Cell version was a cover and invested in couple of compilation albums, Casino Classics Chapters one. The track was released in the US in 1965 on the Champion Records label and as is the norm in northern soul failed to chart. It was picked up by the Wigan Djs in late 1973 and the rest as they say is history.

Gloria Jones - Tainted Love

More Powerful Than You Could Possibly Imagine

Not a lot needs to said about this track. My favorite early Rave anthem it's got everything from the Italian house like piano to the Obi Wan sample this has to be one of the best tracks of 1990. Never got sick of hearing the intro when out clubbing and it still sounds fresh to these ears at least today.

I've posted the original and the Raid At Dawn mix from the remix twelve.

Together - Hardcore Uproar

Together - Hardcore Uproar ( Raid At Dawn)

Kettles, Don't Get The Stripey Stuff, It Nips My Gums

The holy grail of 80's TV comedy drama dropped through my letterbox this morning.

The BBC finally decided to release Tuttu Frutti on DVD. I have been waiting for this event for nearly 20 years, it will be that long since I lost my VHS copy of this brilliant show. It has never been explained as to why this show was only repeated once, later the same year as first released. When interviewed John Byrne only comment was that he intended it to be a one off.


The story revolves around a washed up covers band the Majestics who need to find a new singer after the death of theirs in an road traffic accident involving a kebab. The younger brother of the dead singer is drafted in to fulfill their obligations around a 25th anniversary tour and a documentary.

The series made stars out of Robbie Coltraine, Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson the devious, conniving manager, Eddie Clockerty.

Posted is the original of a track that Coltraine and Thompson duet on to great effect in the series.

Mickey and Sylvia - Love Is Strange

Guess what I will be watching tonight?

Just Because

Davy H over at the Ghost of Electricity has a post about the wonderful Candi Staton and mentions that the tracks come from a split album with Staton on one side and Bettye Swann on the other. On reading this I thought I would post 2 tracks from the only split LP that I own and it is a belter Hendrix and Otis Live at the Monterey Pop Festival.

Jimi Hendrix - Like A Rolling Stone

Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness

The Baron Of Techno

Dave Clarke started off as as hip hop / electro dj in the mid 80's and changed to acid house in the late 8os and by the early 90s was an influential Face on the Techno scene.

His dj sets as you would expect from someone who started in hip hop are full of cut ups and scratching, the music being predominately from the darker end of the dance spectrum.

He first came to prominence with the Red series of 3 rather brilliant 12" singles on the Bush and deConstruction label. Clarke also recorded a session and 2 live mixes for John Peel who gave him the moniker of "The Baron of Techno".

Dave Clarke - Protective Custody

Rave - Scots Style

Around about the end of 1991 beginning of 1992, 2 distinct camps were forming amongst my friends into dance music some of us were embracing progressive house and the slower bpms while others were getting into the much harder sounds coming out of the Rave scene and stuff coming from the continent and the Netherlands in particular. I think that a lot of this had to do with the less pure MDMA and the greater use of speed within this group.

As I've said before I was generally not into this type of music. One track however that I did quite like was Energy Rush by Suburban Delay which I bought at the time as it was the first release on Clubscene records an off shoot from a free club listing and review magazine distributed around Central Scotland. This track was first released in 1992 and was later re-released with a terrible vocal track over the top.

Please forgive the crackles on the rip, this was a track which I used to stick on to placate the cheesy quavers in the pub where I worked at the time and ended up having to be played at least once every night.

Suburban Delay - Energy Rush

Shame

I think that a couple of days of not too serious,  early 90's oldskool Rave is in order. After posting Acen yesterday, I decided to dig through my twelves and find some tunes in a similar vein. There aren't that many as at this time I was mostly buying Boy's Own, Cowboy, Guerilla and similar stuff. Of those that I found very few have stood the test of time and a couple are just plain pish, however I have found some that are worth listening to again.

Although seen as a joke by a lot of people due to the face masks and NBC suits Altern-8 produced some really good singles and were leading figures in the Rave scene. Can't really tell you that much about them, although I seem to remember that they got up to quite a few scams, like turning up outside Shelley's nightclub and performing on the back of a flatbed truck, not in the same league as the KLF but entertaining.

I think that this is the best thing that they produced.

Altern-8 vs Evelyn king - Shame

Better Late Than Never

Just back. Had a great week up north and it only rained once, granted it lasted all day but still it was only one day out of seven which must be some kind of record for Scotland during the month of July.

I meant to do a post on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing the other week and schedule it for last Monday but never got round to it. I don't know whether I believe that Armstrong, Aldrin and the other ten astronauts have set foot on the moon, I would like to believe that they did, however the sceptic in me thinks that it is all a little to convenient and also with Tricky Dickie in the White House at the time anything is possible.

Anyway, here is a nice bit of breakbeat to celebrate with.

Acen - Trip To The Moon (the darkness)

BTW I also saw Elvis last week, he is working in a chippy in Inverness

Go North, Middle aged man.

Nothing to see here for the next week.

It is the Glasgow Fair and I have decided that it's about time that I revived the family tradition of all getting in the car and going South for a couple of weeks, although I have decided to put my own slant on it, we are going away for a week and up North rather than down South.

So I will leave you with a track from a criminally under represented form of music on this blog, hip hop, something I will strive to sort out in the coming months.

The Ultramagnetic MC's - Travelling At The Speed Of Thought

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Back to the heady days of progressive house during the early nineties when leather trousers and long hair were de rigueur in clubbing circles for today's offering.

Rejuvination were Glen Gibbons and Jim Muotune who along with the Slam boys and Dave Clarke founded probably the best label out of Glasgow since Postcard, Soma Quality Recordings. In fact they shared the billing with Slam on the first ever Soma release Eterna/IBO. This track was their second single from 1993, so probably after the leather trousers had been thrown to the back of the wardrobe by the uber trendies.

This track reminds me of the Arches in Glasgow and I especially love the breakdown about half way through.

Rejuvination - Requiem

A Couple of Songs of Love and Longing

It's been nearly a couple of weeks since we've had any soul posted here, can't quite believe that I could go that long without a bit of motown or something similar.

Here are two classic songs of lost love and longing which Motown do so well.

First up is Martha Reeves with a single from the early 70's which did nothing at the time but has been heard regularly at soul nights over the past decade.

Martha Reeves - No One There.

Next we have the Blue Sharks version of a tune made famous by the Velvelettes one of whom Sandra Tille joined Martha Reeves as a Vandella. I prefer this version by a band that I know nothing about and have never even seen a copy of this single.

The Blue Sharks - These Things Will Keep Me Lovin' You

Graceland

I don't really know that much about The Bible (the band, don't know that much about the book either to be honest), I suppose you could wiki them if you wanted. The track Graceland is quite a typical mid eighties sounding indie tune which I flogged to death at the time of release and doesn't sound too shabby today either.

Wonder why I never bought anything else by them other than this single?

The version posted is the re-recording from 1989 and not the original mix which is far too crackly to inflict upon you.

The Bible - Graceland

I Knew These People

Today's track is a bit of a curiosity. I say track but it is really a scene from one of my favorite films which was included in it's entirety on the soundtrack album.

Paris Texas was a film directed by Wim Wenders from a story written by Sam Shepherd and starring Harry Dean Stanton. At it's basics it is the story of an amnesiac who has reappeared after 4 years and of his attempt to make sense of what happened and try to reconcile his family on his return. The film is beautifully shot and has some wonderful performances notably Harry Dean Stanton and Dean Stockwell. Or as one of my less discerning friends once said, "self indulgent, chin stroking pish".

I've never been a great fan of Ry Cooder's music but I don't think that this film would have half the impact without the harsh, jarring sound of his steel guitar and especially the acoustic Spanish guitar which breaks in half way through the track posted and which turns an already emotional scene into a heartbreaking one.

Enjoy.

Ry Cooder - I Knew These People

Long White Car

From a band with one ex member of Altered Images yesterday to another today.

Hipsway were formed by ex Altered Images guitarist Johnny McElhone in 1984 with Harry Travers and and Graham Skinner both from the band White Savages who had supported Altered Images on tour. During the formative days of the band James Grant who had left Friends Again and had yet to form Love And Money helped out on guitar and this may explain the slight similarity between a couple of Hipsway numbers and the songs of Grant's previous band.

Hipsway's eponymous album was released in 1986 and did fairly well in the UK. Their biggest chart success was the Honeythief which reached #17 in the UK charts. However in Scotland they are probably better know for the track Tinder which was used in the ad campaign for a certain Scottish Lager which doesn't start with a T.

McElhone frustrated by the lack of success and a split which had appeared in the band left in 1986 to form the rock then blue eyed soul band Texas. The band continued and released a 2nd album in 1989 called Scratch The Surface which I have no knowledge of as by this time I had found house music and had little time for anything else.

The track posted, is in my opinion the best thing that Hipsway ever did and was also the final single from the first album and reached the giddy heights of # 55.

Hipsway - Long White Car

Breakdown

Just the thing for a Sunday. Another slice of One Dove, this time the forth track released as a single from the Morning Dove White album. If you don't own this album, why not?. It can be picked up from Amazon Marketplace for the paltry sum of £2.99. You owe it to yourself to have a copy of this album.

I've posted both the album and Weatherall's Squire Black Dove Rides Out mixes.

One Dove - Breakdown

One Dove - Breakdown (Squire Black Dove Rides Out)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Today's number comes courtesy of Amsterdam in the early 1990's.

Get Down Tonight is by Fierce Ruling Diva and is basically a techno track built round a KC and the Sunshine Band sample. The track is tucked away on side c of the double pack 12" Anarchic Adjustments by the duo.

For the life of me I cannot understand what possessed me to buy this 12" as after pulling it out and listening to it last night, this track is the only redeeming feature on an otherwise piss poor, in my opinion, couple of records. The music is not the sort of thing that I was listening to back then, it is the sort of thing that a lot of people I knew were listening to but I couldn't stand. The tunes that the Clubscene label up here in Scotland tried to emulate and which were very popular in the Central Belt and the North East of England.

Fierce Ruling Diva are probably best remembered for the track You Gotta Believe, which I also possess for some reason. I'm not sure that the drugs were ever good enough to make me want these singles.

A few years later, I do remember an add for crap American beer using another track built around the same sample.

Fierce Ruling Diva - Get Down Tonight

just because

The Fall - Lost In Music

Touched By The Hand Of God VI

It has been well over a week since his lordship made an appearance here. Although you will have a hard time finding the post as Blogger have done to me as they have done many times before to others and just pulled the post regarding the XX Teens. No more from them or Mute, here, I fear.

Anyway today's cut from remixer extraordinaire is also the first single of the duo then known as the Dust Brothers laterly the Chemical Brothers. It is from the period when Weatherall could do no wrong, every mix better than the one before. This one still sounds as good to these ears as it did 16 years ago.

The Dust Brothers - Song To The Siren (Full Sabre mix)

BTW - C give M my best.

Faking The Books

No it's not either Ralph Madoff or Fred the Shed's theme tune but a rather good album of electronica by Lali Puna from Weilhiem, Germany.

On first listen the album sound very cold and soulless however after repeated listens it begins to feel less stark and minimal, warmer and somewhat more human than it did at first. The album has been compared to Radiohead but I think that that is just because both Johnny Greenwood and Thom York have mentioned them in interviews. They remind me of a less dancier Ladytron but that may have more to do with Valerie Trebeljahr's vocal delivery more than anything else.

Lali Puna have released 3 albums, a compilation of remixes and early singles and 5 singles in their 11years as a band.

The track posted is the title track to their last album first released in 2004. It has one of those melodies that gets lodged in your brain for days after listening to it.

Lali Puna - Faking The Books

Copyright Infringement . . . again

It looks as though Mute records or the XX Teens don't like tracks being posted trying to highlight the band, as I just received another copyright infringement notice from Box.net. Oh well, hope everybody who wanted the track got it and if you liked what you heard please still buy the album, it is as I said rather good.

Lady Sovereign - Public Warning 2

How Festivals Conquered the World

Excellent article from Sylvia Patterson on the state of festivals from the only Sunday paper in Scotland worth reading

How Festivals Conquered the World

Edwyn Collins - The Campaign For Real Rock

Quiet Please!

It's Sunday and I have a hangover. This used to be a fairly regular occurrence but not recently. I should know better that to drink more than 2 glasses of red wine. I always feel like shit if I drink red wine all night.

I need something mellow and soothing which will not tax my brain too much or make it throb more than it all ready is.

This track by Spiritualized fits the bill nicely.

Jason Pierce and Spiritualized get a fair deal of criticism for the themes of God, redemption and drugs in their music which I've never really understood as with the name Spiritualized and Pierce being well known for his drug consumption he is hardly going to sing about picking up girls in a sports car while cruising about New Jersey or somewhere is he?

Spiritualized - Feel So Sad (Rhapsodies)

As an added bonus the original mix of Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space which was blocked from release by the estate of Elvis Presley, something to do with not wanting Presley image being associated with drug taking, as if.

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Original Elvis Mix)

Candi Staton

For those of you who think that all there was to Candi Staton was Young Hearts Run Free or as the featured singer on a rather good house track by The Source, I implore you to check out this album. If you like classic tracks performed by an excellent band and sung with real passion then this album is for you.

The album is a collection of Staton's recordings on Rick Hall's Fame label, out of Muscle Shoals Alabama, from 1969 - 1973. This covers the release of her first 2 albums. If there is a better example of Southern Soul then I would like to hear it. The matrial on this album had been unavailable for nearly thirty years until Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's label decided to release this compilation in 2003, something I will be forever more grateful to him for than anything else he has done.

Since the release of this album, Candi Staton has released 2 further albums of new material and the voice is nearly as impressive as it is on tracks originally recorded nearly 40 years previously. She came to Glasgow in February this year and unfortunatley I couldn't go due to baby L being born a month earlier and asking for 2 passes on the same week may have been seen as kicking the arse out of it from some quarters.

Candi Staton - He Called Me Baby

Candi Staton - Stand By Your Man

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

Let's have some soothing, cool Northern Soul today. Don't know much about today's record apart from the fact that it will set you back upwards of 500 quid, if you're lucky enough to find a copy.

Frankly, in this heat I can't be bothered even trying to write anything remotely interesting and lately I have been wondering why bother anyway?

Bobby Kline - Say Something Nice To Me

He Got Game

One of the lesser played singles by the best that hip hop crew ever. With a little help from Buffalo Springfield.

Public Enemy - He Got Game