Touched by the hand of SAW (Scott,Aitken & Waterman) for the Euro 1988 Championship this is pretty dire. No soloists, no rapping, no sampled commentary, it sounds just like every other SAW record, programmed synth pop; Pete Hammond even gives it a remix !
BTW England’s main sponsor for this was Trebor’s Extra Strong Mints!
I’ve included the promo vid that includes the baby faced , Gary Linekar along with the not so baby faced Peter Beardsley, oh and Tony Adams drink driving!
From 1987 and very early House music this has a nice load of samples thrown in over both tracks. The 2 men in question being Fine Young Cannibals members, Andy Cox and David Steele with the trumpet by Graeme Hamilton. Cox and Steele were ex-members of The Beat or The English Beat as they were known in America. A short lived side project by the duo whilst Roland Gift went off acting (Sammy & Rosie Get Laid, Out Of Order and Tin Men). The main tune has that over used guitar chord and keeps a Jazz feel throughout. Robert Mitchum, from the Western film “Out Of The Past” , is the main sample source, reciting the title. The B-side is just as good with spoken rap by Deadly X, in fact I prefer it to the A side. Pop House in its finest form.
From 1988 and the debut release from Londonbeat who had a massive hit with “Been Thinking About You” in 1990. Made up of Jimmy Chambers, Jimmy Helms, George Chandler, all from the USA plus Willy M (William Henshall) from England, they used their harmonies to the full.The main track is a powerful ballad and reminds me of Paul Young! “Jerk” comes on like the Brothers Johnson with uptempo pop funk. They dabbled with the latest dance sounds on their early releases, “Over The Speed Limit” has acid house overtones thanks to a remix by Doc Savage, although it takes time to build.
A small experiment using the medium of the silver disc (Soon to be obsolete) and the choice of 2 uploads!
First up are an industrial band from Sydney, Australia that do a good impression of NIN but on the lighter side.Brainchild of Dan Sutherland, who was also in the Industrial band Many Machine On Nine. Expect melodies and lyrics you can hear, mixing acoustica with electronica. The album was a promo I picked up from 2006 and has a some tracks that later appeared on their official CD “17102” on the Phantom Records label. It’s a good mix of stuff, plenty of variety over the 9 tracks getting more industrial as you go, starting from the excellent “With Red Hands” , hence I thought I’d post it up for you. (I will deny that I shut my eyes and pulled it out from a mountain of CD’s!) The more radio friendly “Drown” is on a youtube clip below.
Feedback always more than welcome , especially regarding the ease of download and quality of the rip! I’m not used to dealing with things without static!
I have very few vinyl records left, in fact I have to go for the occasional dig to records shops provide to new stuff for this blog!!
Ethically I am against the idea of ripping a pure version off CD, for sharing. One, it could get me into a lot of trouble with copyright, this blog is on it’s 3rd reincarnation due to complaints. Two, it’s kind of fun to record from vinyl (although it does have its pitfalls) Three, there is still a lot of rare stuff out there that would never see the light of day otherwise.
So I’m after your views, please do the poll below and I’ll peruse the findings.
I still don’t get Record Day, I’ve never managed to get what I originally set out to buy! In fact, I’ve been a bit rubbish with it! This is a 4AD release from 2010 (the newest thing on this blog!) and features demoes from the likes of Blonde Redhead and The Big Pink (remember them!) on a nice fat slab of quite clear sounding vinyl (Hurrah!)
Most is obscure, experimental and sparse. Ariel Pink’s track talks of castration over a psychedelic backing, Tune-Yards is acoustica with laptop loops. Blonde Redhead is all whispering synths. Gang Gang Dance doesn’t really dance but meanders along, The Big Pink does shoegaze via stoner rock vocals. Someone will want a listen. Glad I only paid a £1 for it!
Onwards with some ambient Orb, their debut release from 1990 remixed and called Orbital () Most fans saw them as a solely ambient/experimental band so the idea of a commercial dance mix horrified some. KLF’s Jimmy Cauty was involved at the time and the Minnie Ripperton sample of “Loving You” was re-recorded for the general realise, somewhere there is a sample of “Slave To Rhythm” by Grace Jones but it isn’t immediately recognisable. So you get the tribal, the ambient, the horses and the cockeral in what is a quite a rare mix. On the flip you get a shortened “Radio Mix” of the main track plus a more Orb-like Aubrey beatless mix.
In which he teams up with ex-Soft Cell companion Dave Ball on this rather wonderful Grid remix. From 1990 and off the album “Enchanted” this harks back to synthpop sound of Soft Cell but with added strings by original producer Bob Kraushaar. You even get Parisian accordion in there. B-side is more of an instrumental and is very chilled.
From 1989 and remixed from the ground breaking and brilliant album “Raw Like Sushi.” Neneh Cherry mixes rap and soul into what is essentially today’s R&B but wha ground breaking for the time. Produced by The Dynamik Duo, Phil Chill and Booga Bear. (Phil Legg and Cameron McVey) The “Next Generation” also gets the assistance of a young DJ Mushroom ,(from Massive Attack) whilst American producer, Bryan “Chuck” New, has a hand in “So Here I Come” Four top tracks on this 12″. The main track samples Kool & The Gang’s “N.T.” and is much tighter sounding with a deeper bass than the album version. Other single “Kisses….” also gets a rework as well with more overdubs and genuine static (!) “The Next Generation” is off the album, quality hip hop about errrr looking after your babies. Finally , “So Here I Come” is more classic hip hop with the theme of school. Good to see she is back with a new album and hasn’t lost it.
From 1991 and the much maligned Tin Machine (Bowie’s mid-life crisis Rock Band) with an okay track! Yes, it’s not bad at all! Co-written with guitarist Reeves Gabrels it comes over as a classic slice of Bowie, not rocky like the early Tin Machine stuff but ever so slightly commercial, although with some interesting sounds, particularly in the Tim Palmer & Gabrels remixed extended version. The LP version is here as well as the unusual experience of hearing Bowie sing in Indonesian on “Amlapura” , plus a cheeky, live thrash at Johnny Kid’s “Shakin’ All Over”
Getting into the World Cup spirit!
