Funky Friday - Warp Factor Funk Mr Sulu

I am very tempted with new Star Trek film. But I'm not a Trekkie. Alright I had a mad buzz for the show when the BBC aired their five year mission of interplanetery hullabaloos during the seventies (or repeated them during school holidays) even going so far as tucking my school trousers into zip-up boots trying to replicate that 'Enterprise' look - but I loved all things space-shaped back then.

And some supplementary material may have been collected while sprouting from tot-to-teen - Annuals (73-78), fold-out poster mag's, Letraset Action Transfers,View Master reels, an Airfix-style model, and Mego action figures (Kirk and Scotty) - but I'm over it now. See!

*Remembers he has the communicator tone for txt messages on his phone - reacts with this style of a face then faints..*

The Geoff Love Orchestra - Star Trek
Scanners indicate an easy-listening orchestra giving the opening theme a disco dressage


Nichelle Nichols - Feeling Good
Proto-blue toother, Uhuru takes almost one full minute to get up to soul speed, but it's well worth the wait


Leonard Nimoy - The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins
Bones to Bridge. Jim, that song of Spock's isn't actually as excruciating as we'd expected - although the video could cause some sort of a reaction I guess

*Cue offstage screams of 'Cap'n,I canna take any more '*



Kirk to Enterprise. Beam down The Beasties Boys...



Communicator Beeps



PS did you know Chekov's hairstyle was based on a Beatle cut

A Big Brassy Beehive Of A Ballad

That's what I'm all of a buzz for today...

Think Of You Baby - Liz Christian



PS - that's not Liz Christian in the pic - couldn't find one of her. So Martin Parr 'Union Hotel Manchester 1976' it is then.

Funky Friday - Come Spy With Me

Midnight. A private members club on the Rue Saint-Vincent, Montmartre. In an empty Louis XVI style drawing room, a selection of spirits in cut crystal decanters have been arranged with miltary precision and placed on polished silver tray to the left hand side of a Belote table. To the right stands a single glass and a Roberts transistor radio concealing a reel-to-reel recorder.

Welcome Agent Blogger - please, fix yourself a drink and take a seat. The paperwork and 'special items' required for your new assigment 'The Omega Affair' have been prepared and primed in advance of your acceptance. In a briefcase below your chair you will find ....

A selection of continental passports - check
Walther PPK (with silencer) - check
Large LED downcount device - check
Camera cuff-links - check
The latest Interpol reports and microfiches on 'Omega'- check
One Bulgari watch with piano-wire pullout - check
A fountian pen Laser/communicator - check
Swiss bank account details - check
Bugging and tracking systems - check
Poisoned stamps and cigarettes - check

Our man in Trieste 'Chester Moonlight ' will collect you at the airport and provide a pre-briefing. SCORPIO agents will no doubt attempt TO intercept any communications. So keep channel D open but scrambled.

This message will self destruct after the following tunes.....

Henry Mancini - A Shot In The Dark



Herbie Mann - Our Man Flint.



Randy's Allstars - Mission Impossible



Hugo Montenegro - The Man From Uncle



Agent Blogger will return in ...'And They Call Her 'Code Zodiac' '

A Gallery of Goodies

Rewind your mind by a few months and you may remember some home-made, hand-drawn artwork that appeared on the PM blog - here and here.

Creator of these pieces of amazingness and Odd Sock blogger Paul McDonald has launched a website showcasing his wares. He's an all-round good guy and honorary Southender (being Basildon based) so why not pop on over and have a peep...

www.oddsockillustration.com

Another extract from Paul's portfolio is 'Birds in The Park' pictured above, which Mrs PM instantly fell in love with (a copy now hangs framed and signed in our kitchen). While it's early morning mood popped these two tunes a'playing in my mind's ear



Vashti Bunyan - Wayward Hum

Funky Friday - Spin The Wheel Of Four-Tunes

My trusty ol' Creative Zen Xtra (otherwise known as the iBlock), currently runs to a total of 11220 tracks and 1889 albums. So what would happen if I cued up three FF friendly 'genres' - Funk - Northern Soul - Disco hit the shuffle button then retired to a safe distance to catalogue the first four tunes as they fire off? Well, this I suppose....

Nina Simone - Some Say

Oh yes this is good, we're kicking off with a cork-popper, an unknown nugget, which, I've never heard before, but am loving more by the minute. It's swishy, swinging and just right for Friday.Premier Cru funk.





D'oh!

Other Brothers - Hole In The Wall

Phew the fizz went flaccid for a moment but we're back on track. Thank God for the OB's whoever they are (add a bonus point for a Batman reference in the lyrics - nice). Another oddity and obscurity I never knew was tucked away on the player.



Shirley Ellis - Sugar, Let's Shing-A-Ling

Fantistico - just the sort crash, bang, wallop-big brassy finish you want, but could never plan. And taken from the very same album as the Nina Simon opener - really,what are the chances?



Yes these are the actual tracks captured as they happened, no selective skipping or stealthy swerving occurred at any point in this experiment.

Scores On The Doors

Funk - 2
Northern Soul - 1
Disco - 1

Man Of The Match - Other Brothers for steering us back to safety

Hello and Good Morning

Hurrah, back at last - after a week spent sampling several nuggets of 'Northerness'

Chips and Gravy (eaten by the Huddersfield canal, and in sight of a Victorian factory chimney - while drinking Dandelion and Burdock)
Yorkshire curd and Yorkshire pud' with sausages and onion gravy
(curd and pud not eaten not at the same time)
A canal boat trip into the Stanedge Tunnel
A bacon butty at Sid's Cafe
The Bronte Museum
Getting to the summit of West Nabb
A windy drive across a blindingly misty Saddlworth Moor
Real Bakewell pudding

Two tunes that turned out to be all-round family favourites, amongst the noshing, sipping and bumbling about were...

Sonic Executive Sessions - Hello



And

Sparks - Good Morning


PS - the ticklist for another Great North Run may include...

Trying a Spam Fritter
Having a portion of Pie and Peas
A revisit to the Riverhead Brewery Tap - with it's luscious beer brewed at the pub

Lazy Sunday - April Flowers

Photo by Bleech

Well I’m off t’north for a few days break – between Holmfirth and Huddersfield in fact. So being the season when buds bloom and blossom and the sap starts to rise, thought it may be time to snapshot the outdoor action by way of a new Lazy Sunday mix ‘April Flowers’. Bedding together a sequence of sunny delights, spring breaks and chirpy numbers for your breezy listening pleasure

April Flowers



Telepopmusik - Genetic World
Moderato - Him
Danmass - Happy Here (Vocal Edit)
Abraham - Magpie
Kinobe - Grass Roots Horizon
Evolved Monkey - Naked Lady
Josh Rouse - Under Your Charms
Kevin Ayers - May I
The Noveltones - Left Bank 2
The Frank Cunimondo Trio - We've Only Just Began
Piero Piccioni - L'italia Vista
Saint Etienne - Sun In My Morning
Mother Earth - Apple Green
Lennie Hibbert - Village Soul
Norma White & Brentford Disco Set - I Want Your Love
Bill Cosby - No One Can Love
Arty Fufkin - All I Need's A Smile (Lily Allen vs Air)
Go Home Productions - Marvins Not In Love (Marvin Gaye vs 10CC)
Jellyfish - Russian Hill
XTC - Chalkhills And Children

See you in a week's time or thereabouts, and I’ll leave with you two other seasonal sounding nugg’s..

The Wolfmen Nothing To Say (Moulder Monitor Mix)
A softly wafting version of the original - you can catch the full basket of Wolfie alt.versions here – including one by ex-Ants producer Merrick/Chris Hughes and Depeche/Numan/Bloody Valentine mixer Alan Moulder



Evolved Monkeys - Like The Tsunami
Something loose and luscious from the Evomons – mixing the taste of sunshine honeycomb harmonies with the Tao of Bruce Lee

Funky Friday - The Prince Of Wails

As it’s a public holiday here in the UK – I’ll keep the jabber and blab to a bare minimum and let Tom’s volume do the talking. If you caught last week’s FF, 'Lonely One' is the Tom tune Eddie Pillar recommended to me as, (and he told Tom himself this) it ‘gets them dancing on the tables’

The Lonely One



I’m afraid I can’t stretch to Hot Cross Buns, but, would a couple of Welsh rare beats do?

Dr Love



Fly Me To The Moon



Tom's new tunes are quiet tasty too...


PS if you happen to be around and about this way on Sunday - why not pop by - I may have a seasonal something for you…

See Monkeys

I've always had something of a sweet tooth. I'm not aware if a related condition of 'sweet ear' exists - but if it does, I've got it. The symptoms being bending and buckling at the knee over honey-coloured chords, Milky Bar harmonies and butterscotch pop - almost entirely the type of confection Evolved Monkey excel at.

Sketching comparisons and contextual references is almost a disservice to Evomons intimate but open air sound and breezy rhythms. Although if pushed - suggesting they've cross-pollinated the slow melting melodies of Macca, Brian Wilson, Andy Partridge, Ben Folds and Jellyfish (with a small echo of The Charlatans) layered them on a bed of trip-pop backbeats and the space-age acoustics of Air or Goldfrapp all of which waft on the gently swelling drift of Yacht Rock - wouldn't be unfair..

There's not many albums I can play several times on the bounce and still want to reach for the repeat button - but weighing in at a perfect 40 minutes of well balanced and buffed quality pop, Project Messy is a selection box that's almost impossible to resist revisiting for a second helping

Evolved Monkey - Naked Lady





Recommended Reading..

Evolved Monkey website

Evolved Monkey MySpace

Funky Friday - On The Jazz

How To Embarrass Yourself and Alienate People

I had a night out tucking a few scoops away at Filthy McNasty's last year and got chatting tunes to a chap with a 'Rooster Cut' roughly along the same lines as mine. Actually it was the day I posted this - as we were talking about Tom Jones and how this mystery mod had met Tom while DJing for Paul Weller, and reminded the Jones of a funky forgotten B-Side from his early doors days. Next up was when he bumped into Roger Daltry backstage somewhere and shifty whispers about a possible Who reunion soon.

"Blimey you're well connected - what do you do then?" I asked

"I'm Eddie Piller I started Acid Jazz records"

*Cue theatrical gulps, the cringing of shoulders and desperate attempts to back-peddle through time*

That'll be the same Eddie Piller then that signed bands like these and....

James Taylor Quartet - Mrs Robinson



Mother Earth - Wham Bam, Thank You Mam



The New Jersey Kings - Spinning Wheel