Saturday, 31 July 2021

British Reggae (Aquarius LWT 1976)

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ZONAL - Heavy Dub Mix

Tracklist

The Bug - Pressure (ft. Flowdan)

 
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“war on bottoms.”

Hit Run Records Mix

Tracklist: African Melody/Dub From The Ghetto/Jah Will Explain/Wicked Are To Blame (Version)/Righteous Melody/Hunger & Strife (Version)/Trenchtown Dub/Beware/Natty Conscience Free/Love Is Like A Password/Feeling of Reggae/A Field Marshall/The Chosen/A Fe We Jah/Jah Will Lead Us Home/Ten Thousand Lions/North London Thing/No One Can Tell I About Jah/Sweet Reggae Music/Yes Yes Yes/Ivory Girl/Prejudiced Country/Stero Style 79/Long Long Time/Hairdressing Salon/Them Must Fall (Version) 
Above: An 18 year old Adrian With Prince Far I 
Via See Discogs and Skysaw
Mix is most of the releases (dubs) from the label in (mostly) chronological order

Weed, fights and the Honey Monster - how Adrian Sherwood fell in love with the studio

Wednesday, 28 July 2021

Talk Talk Talk Mix

Talk Talk (12"/Dub/Extended Version Excursion) 
Tracklist:
Happiness Is Easy (Dub)
Living In Another World (Curious Dub Mix)
It's My Life (Extended Version)
Such A Shame (Extended Version)
Life's What You Make It (Extended Version)
Dum Dum Girl (12" Mix)
Life's What You Make It (Fluke Remix)
Such A Shame (Dub Mix)
Happiness Is Easy 12" Mix)
It's My Life (Tropical Rainforest Mix)

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Tuesday, 27 July 2021

F*nky As F*ck Mix

Tracklist: 
1 Outa Space Billy Preston 
2 Give Me An Inch Robert Palmer 
3 She's Not Just Another Woman 8th Day 
4 Clean Up Woman Betty Wright 
5 Express Yourself Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band 
6 If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up Betty Davis 
7 The Sly, Slick & The Wicked Lost Generation 
8 That Lady (Part 1) Isley Brothers 
9 Hurts So Good Millie Jackson 
10 Mr Big Stuff Jean Knight 
11 Somebody's Been sleeping In My Bed 100 Proof Aged In Soul 
12 Give Me Just a Little More Time Chairman of The Board 
13 Seven Days Is Too Long Chuck Wood 
14 It's Torture Maxine Brown 
15 Women's Love Rights Laurie Lee 
16 Hey There Lonely Girl Eddie Holman 
17 Use Me Bill Withers 
18 Watcha See is Watcha Get The Dramatics 
19 Let's Straighten It Out O.V. Wright

Monday, 26 July 2021

The Wailers (BBC OGWT 1973)

 
Lineup: 
Bob Marley, vocals, rhythm guitar 
Peter Tosh, vocals, lead guitar 
Bunny Wailer, vocals, percussion 
Aston Barrett, bass 
Carlton Barrett, drums 
Earl 'Wire' Lindo, keyboards
Setlist: 
1 - Stir it up 
2 - Concrete Jungle 
Live at The Sundown, Edmonton London 1973  
Setlist: 
1 - Catch a Fire  
2 - Stop That Train 
3 - Get Up Stand Up

Jah Wobble's 10 Commandments of Dub Mix

Download

1 KING TUBBY MEETS ROCKERS UPTOWN Augustus Pablo
I first heard this as a pre-release in 1976. Love the sound of Augustus Pablo's melodica; I am also kinky for the sound of the dubbed-up timbale drums that feature on this recording. King Tubby was the king of pure, heavy-duty dub at that time. It was released in this country on Island Records. Hearing 'King Tubby' for the first time had a profound effect on me: it was like hearing music from another cosmos. There are any number of good King Tubby compilations now around - Trojan Records and the Blood & Fire label are good places to look.
2 CONCRETE DUB Bob Marley
I no longer have this record... in fact, I have not heard it for probably 25 years, so I hope it does really exist and is not a figment of my imagination. If memory serves me well, it was the dub version B-side of an Island 7" single; probably of the track called 'Concrete Jungle', from the Catch a Fire album. It must have been one of the first ever domestically released dub singles. It was great to hear a dub version of a Marley track - I nearly always preferred the dub version of a tune. There was more space, and the bass and drums were pushed to the fore.
3 MARCUS GARVEY (DUB VERSION) Burning Spear
One of the very first dub versions I ever heard. I heard it in 1975 on a Friday night on the Capital Radio reggae show. I used to listen to that show religiously - Tommy Vance was the DJ. I now occasionally hear him DJing on heavy-rock stations as I channel-hop.
4 PROMISE IS A COMFORT TO A FOOL Trinity/Yabby You
A classic bassline, with a beautiful vocal refrain, and DJ chat. There are some bass lines that contain the whole mystery of creation within them. This is one of them. Other examples are Roy Budd's bass line to the title track of Mike Hodges Get Carter, and Cecil McBee's line on Lonnie Liston Smith's 'Expansions' are two that come immediately to mind. The crediting of reggae musicians is notoriously lax. There are three possible players, re this particular tune. All giants of the bass - Robbie Shakespeare, Aston 'Family Man' Barrett and Clinton Fearon. If I had to put money down on who it is on this track, I would say it was Mr Fearon.
5 TWO SEVENS CLASH Culture
For a while back in 1977, you could not get away from this tune. It still sounds heavenly. It reminds me of walking back from a party in Hackney on a Sunday morning as the sun was coming up. I couldn't get the tune out of my head.
6 JUJU MUSIC King Sunny Ade
There was a little-known dub version of this classic album, mixed by an engineer that I worked with, called Groucho. What he did was devastating. I would love to hear it again. It was on Island (again!) and was released around 1982.
7 ROWING Dennis Bovell
One of the great musicians of his generation. I used to watch him perform this with his band Matumbi. As with "Juju Music", I hankered after hearing it again. I'm pleased to say that the label Pressure Sounds has released a compilation of Dennis's dub stuff, which includes this track.
8 THE SAME SONG Israel Vibration
Similar to our own late, and very great Ian Dury, 'Skeleton,' 'Apple' and 'Wiss' [Israel Vibration's three members] were stricken by polio in the fifties. This blend of their vocals within a dub context is wonderful. Yet again, there is a great compilation on Pressure Sounds.
9 CONSCIOUS MAN DUB Lee Perry and the Jolly Brothers
You could not have a dub selection without Lee "Scratch" Perry appearing. This is a great example of his idiosyncratic style.
10 SMILING STRANGER John Martyn
This is taken from his 1980 album One World. It was one of the first records outside reggae to utilise dub techniques. Superb.

Notes: 
A 'Baker's Dozen' out of Wobble's top ten dub tracks. I have included the vocal versions of the Culture & Israel Vibration songs and two versions of 'Concrete Jungle'. There was 'Concrete' on the B side of the 'Jah Live' single in 1975 and also an erlier version produced by Lee Perry. Regarding the King Sunny Adé Remix album. I think that may have been a perk of him being signed to Island Records at the time as to my knowledge the only dub cut to have been released was this version of 'Ja Funmi'. Lastly John Martyn spent a long time in Jamaica back around 1976 and also played on some Lee Perry & Burning Spear sessions amongst others. 'Big Muff' from 'One World' was co-written with Lee Perry and Perry's 'underwater swirling' effects are all over the album. The mix has also been tweaked with (hopefully improved) since last posting
 

Friday, 23 July 2021

Let's talk about 'discrimination' Crapton shall we?


Maybe we wll start with this...
Remember that? Onstage in Birmingham 1976? This racist tirade coming from a man who 'was inspired by' nah let's say 'ripped off' black music. We shall call a spade a spade eh Eric.
I could be wrong here Eric but it certainly wasn't fucking green people who came up with the blues was it? Nor indeed that reggae beat that had just given you a big hit single wth your cover of Marley's 'I Shot The Sheriff'. (Maybe you'd convinced yourself that it was Robert Nesta Marley's white half that had written the song eh?) 
It was that outburst that caused this letter to appear in the NME. 
I remember it well and as a sixteen year old in Glasgow I started getting involved in the setting up of the RAR chapter there. 
I, myself had a long, long battle with drugs and alcohol. Forty odd years actually and some of them very odd indeed but you know what? Not once did I come out with some racist crap. Crazy eh? 
And now this vax crap you are coming out with where you actually manage to get the word 'discrimination' in... You should get together with Van Morrison and Ian Brown and Richard Ashcroft and the other numpties and get a super (stupid) group together. Here's a song for you to cover. Written by a black guy but hey that's never stopped you before has it?



The year rock found the power to unite

John Grant - Boy from Michigan (6 Music Live Session)

Mary Anne Hobbs from BBC Radio 6 Music invited John Grant to the Radio Theatre for a very special live session. You can watch the full session on the BBC iPlayer HERE He performs 3 tracks from his new album Boy from Michigan plus tracks form his 2018 album Love Is Magic.

Dennis Cooper, Gisèle Vienne & KTL (Stephen O’Malley and Peter Rehberg)

KTL (Stephen O'Malley and Peter Rehberg) produced a number of works soundtracking Dennis Cooper and Gisèle Vienne's KINDERTOTENLIEDER which sadly has so far never made it to Australia

Peter Rehberg R.I.P.

Man...that is one hell of a shock to take in...

'Y' In Dub (Released October 29)

Info 
I've been waiting 40 and a bit years for this...

Exiled Global Mix One (2008)

Originally made and posted in the (very) early months of EXILE ON MOAN STREET back in 2008 
A mix of musical styles though predominantly North African. After opening aptly on this Sunday morning (sic) with Baaba Maal's 'Call to Prayer' we find ourselves 'tranceported' by music from both the mountains and medinas of Maroc, by the psychedelic sounds coming from the Congo in the mid seventies and by the present-time desert blues of Tinariwen and Group Inerane. From Algeria by way of Paris, London and New York to the Ju-Ju lands of Nigeria 
Tracklist: 
1. Baaba Maal - Call To Prayer 
2. African Head Charge - God Is Great 
3. Okay Temiz - East Breeze 
4. Material (with William Burroughs) - Ineffect 
5. The Invaders of The Heart - Bomba 
6. Rachid Taha - Barra Barra 
7. Group Inerane - Kuni Majagani 
8. Tinariwen - Cler Achel 
9. Joujouka with Ornette Coleman - Snippet #1 
10. Maleem Mahmoud Ghania w/ Pharaoh Sanders - Mahraba 
11. Gnawa Music of Marrakesh - Toura Toura Tour Kelilah No. 2 
12. Joujouka with Ornette Coleman - Snippet #2 
13. Udokotela Shange Namajah - Sobabamba (We Will Get Them) 
14. Le Super Borgou de Parakou - Congolaise Benin Ye 
15. King Sunny Ade - Ja Funmi 
16. Basokin ft. Mi Amor - Malume https://gfycat.com/ordinarycooperativeiberianemeraldlizard

If this mix doesn't want to make you dance barefoot under the sky then you are already dead

Thursday, 22 July 2021

Rickie Lee Jones remembers Chuck E. Weiss: ‘He was a Svengali to Tom Waits and everyone who knew him’

Don't forget to SWIPE

Bob Monkhouse and the 'subversive' peni (1949)

So I learnt from Joe the other day that when Bob Monkhouse worked as a comics artist early in his career; on one title, his superiors complained that he had made the lead female character a little too buxom. So in the next issue, the hero fought killer penises, entirely without editorial objection.

Keef Spaced Out

Low - Disappearing

The Taliban Are Breaking Bad

So I got asked to do a mix


It will be aired in about three weeks on Tales From The Dubside so I better keep the mix under wraps until then but here's a teaser of: Tim Intro/Space Oddity (LSK Sherwood Dub/Dubitron Melodica Version)

Basic Channel Tracks Arranged & Processed by Scion (Pete Kuschnereit aka Substance and Rene Löwe aka Vainqueur)

Mad Mike (Detroit) to Basic Channel (Berlin) 11/3/93

+ A comprehensive history of Basic Channel can be read HERE and I just found out that earlier this year Mark Ernestus released his first disc in four years These are good introductions to Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound

I've signed up

“The Forever War doesn't end with Afghanistan" Joining the Substack parade, Spencer Ackerman wants to reimagine National Security coverage ...and you should read The Attackerman's obit for Rumsfield

Fritz Catlin on Ben Thompson's The London Ear (ResonanceFM 15/7/21)

Ghostwriter and critic Ben Thompson presents a DFS Algonquin Table for the post-thought era. This week: mixing desk enforcer Fritz Catlin steps out from behind the faders with an amazing selection of music
Tracklist: 
Azande - track from Afrique Noir 
Peter Harris with Lee Perry - Tiny Victories 
Carlton and his Shoe - Never Give Your Heart Away 
23 Skidoo - Kundalini 
Jorge Ben - Nasciemento de un principe Africano 
Claret & Blues (featuring Sketch) 
Jimi Hendrix - Up From The Skies 
Grace Jones - Love You Tonight (unreleased) 
Ibrahim Hussein - Sudan tape 
Skintologists - Tomorrow People

Saturday, 17 July 2021

Biz Markie R.I.P.

Tweet o'the day

I just went past the six million number

William Regnery II, Reclusive Millionaire Who Financed American Fascists, Dead At 80

Wrong Speed Record Chat No.48: John Doran

Episode 48 of the Wrong Speed Record Chat. An almost certainly never ending series of chats with music folk, friends, and legends. We will talk records. We will talk CDs. We will talk tapes. It's John Doran, the co-head-honcho/co-owner (along with Luke Turner) of The Quietus. The website of choice for all the out-there buried music of our times, the hidden culture, the books of note, and the films that stray off the path. They shout about gold sounds and all should listen. We talk about this. John's book Jolly Lad is a must read. We talk about this. We talk about the month long (no days off) tour he did with Kjetil of Arabrot fame. We talk about his ambition - it's a walk....a long walk. We talk about the British Masters series he fronted for Noisey/Vice, speaking to Liam Gallagher, speaking to Micheal Head, and going from Cosey Fanni Tutti to Dizzee Rascal via Damon Albarn. And so many more. And then, of course, we talk about records. A couple of bonus subjects get chucked into the mix. Big thanks to John for giving up a couple of precious hours. Hope you dig this chat, it was a total joy to do. + The British Masters Season3EP6: Michael Head

This RSD Clash sleeve wins



U-Roy & Santigold - Man Next Door

It comes to an end...

...and so Dennis Cooper's  George Miles cycle comes to an end with the final book to be published in September. I actually bought the second novel in the series 'Frisk' when it came out in 1991 and was blown away by the writing. (“An electrifying study in carnage” the Sunday Times called it and well how could I pass that by...)  
Sure the story is transgressive but I was very surprised that when I would recommend the book to friends that on explaining the plot they were all seriously appalled.  Never had that happen before. I  was disappointed in the film version sadly but hey make up your own mind.
Here's Dennis talking about the planning for the series 

I had a general sense that the cycle would consist of five novels, but that wasn't set in stone. Within that premise of five novels in mind, I'd decided that each of the middle three books would concentrate on one of the ways in which I viewed my subjects. The second novel (Frisk) would prioritize the libidinal, sexual, erotic appeal. The third novel (Try) would prioritize my emotional response. The fourth novel (Guide) would prioritize the cerebral, intellectual, and analytical. The fifth novel (Period) would present what remained after all of the examination, trickery, and damage of the central three novels, creating Closer's decimated, resolved twin. So the task of writing Closer was to both realize all these predetermined notions while creating a novel with enough material within it to sustain the cycle that would follow.
Dennis very kindly promoted my blog when I first started it for which I shall be forever grateful...
"...Mona, Hey. Oh (...) yeah, I remember. You were in Amsterdam when I was there? That's crazy. Crazy 'cos I had no real friends there, so I wish our paths had crossed. It's great you're going to do something on Mike Hart. I can't remember if I ever met him properly -- probably -- but Compendium was such an important and great place, and even though I don't get to London often, I miss it terribly when I'm there. The last reading I did in London was there. Your new blog is lovely. I'll be a reader, and let me alert the folks around here. Everybody, Mona, friend of and occasional commenter on this blog, has a terrific new blog that brings all kinds of things to the fore, from the great Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Miles Davis, for instance, to decisive backroom stuff on nasty Sarah Palin and much more. Check it out...

 ...and yeah it would have been good to have got to know each other in Amsterdam though we did work out that we both got showered with broken glass when someone obviously had taken offence at William Burroughs' reading at the One World Poetry Festival at the Melkweg and smashed this glass door just after he had gone through it but the next five or six people which included Dennis and myself were not so lucky. I still have a recording of Burroughs reading that night (November 12 1985) and when I finally get it digitised Dennis will be the first to get a copy.


Dennis has just posted over on FB that even Kirkus and Publishers Weekly have given starred reviews for I WISHED, and that these are the "first ever stars from those places. Trippy."  It is also always worth checking out Dennis's blog which is one of the greatest out there. Trust me and here's The New Yorker explaing what happened when Google removed his last blog

Finally to confirm when exactly the Burroughs reading was I found the clipping above from an online Jeffrey Lee Pierce archive where it also says this about his Amsterdam appearance:


Interesting that it doesn't say what he read at this, his second ever reading, isn't it?. Truth be told he was paralytic and after five minutes (if that) of mumbles he was escorted offstage by Simon Vinkenoog. Sadly I'd seen him in worse states before. 

LockDown#5 was getting to them

Friday, 16 July 2021