If Mark Vidler/GHP is the Mozart of mashups, then Soundhog is the Beethoven of bootleg remixes, with a darker dynamic to his fast and furious bastard pop.
This 8 minute extract from his 'Superchunk' mix is a collection of component parts that really shouldn't fit together, but have been pieced into pick n' mix musical mosiac so stunning that it outshines any of the originals. The shift from Destiny's Child/'Old Grey Whistle Test' theme to Liberty X by way of Primal Scream and onto Breakbeats backing the retro riff from 'John Craven's Newsround' is pure mashup magic.
Here's the track list for this clip
Area Code 615 - Stone Fox Chase Destiny's Child - Bootylicious Primal Scream - Loaded Liberty X - Got To Have Your Love Donovan - Barabajagl Elizabeth Knight - excerpt from 'How To Give Yourself A Stereo Checkout' John Baker (BBC Radiophonic Workshop) - New Worlds Martin Rushent - excerpt from 1985 'Micro File' interview Renegade Soundwave - Biting My Nails
Photo by Bleech - he's in today's Observer you know
So as this year's chill begins to fizzle, perhaps it's time to take a reflective look at that was the winter that was - by way of a mix that's perhaps more downtempo, frosted - and some may even stretch to bleak, than the usual mondo mania. With a collection of cool jewels and crystal melts, from mainly Northern European icy climes.. Get Carter(Newcastle), Serge, Yves Montand and Air (France) John Martyn (Scotland), Baltic Fleet (Liverpool) and Stina Nordenstam (Sweden) ...threaded together by a motif of movment and travel - which I'd like to claim was planned, but in truth, is entirely random...
Roy Budd - Carter Takes A Train John Martyn - Smiling Stranger Yves Montand - Pour Faire le Portrait d´un Oiseau Serge Gainsbourg - Melody Minnie Riperton - Take A Little Trip Dennis Hoppers Choppers - Ballad Of Fu Manchu and The Red Bride Harsh Reality - How Do You Feel Money Mark - Cry Gather Round Children - Yoko In Idaho (Sufjan Stevens and Beatles mashup) The Beatles - Flying Stina Nordenstam - On Falling Air - Soldissimo Ian Brown - F.E.A.R Easy All Stars - Karma Police Baltic Fleet - 48 Hour Drive (Boston) Boards Of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy Soundhog - The Doves Are Mine
Soundhog's booty of Brandy & Monica meet The Doves is a thing of such slow shifting pure beauty it really does deserve a solo posting..
31 Beatles tunes are buried in this illustration by Paul McDonald - how many can you spot?
Because a couple of the regular threads in my cyberspace scrapbook are The Beatles and Bootleg Remixes - it seems high time for the two to come together by digging out and polishing up a selection of the shiniest Beatle boots in my cellarful of noise for an FF post..
Including a fab four from Mark Vidler/Go Home Productions (the George Martin of mashups) where Annie Lennox, Jacko, The Monkees, and Blur all get bolted on to The Beatles, and Soundhog's (the George Harrison of hybrid-pop) uptempo edit of Eleanor Rigby and Soulsearcher's - 'Just Can't Get Enough'
So as the Hamburg audiences were given to shouting... "Mak Shau!,Mak Shau!"
And if you fancy grabbing a couple of mellow moptop mashups which blend The Beat's with The Beach Boys, Mogwai and Kid Loco - just click your Cuban heels
Yes it's a re-up as they say, but with good reason - I haven't had a chance to whisk together some new winter-drifters and fireside warmers yet- a playlist that would include Neu!, Ulrich Schnauss and Jon Hopkins - so whether your cosy-toes and tucked up in your pit, or like me, some poor gump schleping your way to work (late start, early finish I reck') lend a reflective and frozen ear to this mix of frosty favourites..you know where to find the T-list.
This may be (alright - IS), out of whack with yer typical FF posts, but what with the usual mood of grey, gloom and doom as the new year gets up to speed - a slice of space-age-sparkle-pop could be just what the doctor ordered.
As Marmite rightly posted, there's no shame in dipping into key period Kylie. 'Fever' for example is a scorcher with no duds, blanks or ballast onboard. But, aside from official releases, other golden nuggets can be dug from the early noughties era - pieces like, Soundhog's saxy rework of....
'Slow' Any ideas about the backing track on this mashup, I'm stumped?
PS - this Soundhog/Kylie booty feature as track 2 of a mix that got me blog-walloped last year
'On The Up' (A 'Body Language' outtake, that outshines any other track on the album)
Paul Morley's univeral thesis of pop 'Words and Music', has this perfect piece of pop-swapping spinning (around) at it's centre.
And why hasn't anyone covered this tune. How mighty would a guitar version be?
DJ, producer and the Bruce Lee of bootleg remixing Ben Soundhog has collected some of his most recent reworks and cross-pollinated pop-ups into a glowing collection Music From The Pig Fink.
Blossoming with summer thumpers Fink is a selection box of unlikely bed fellows buddying up and sharing the same personal song-space. A place where the Super Furry Animals, Dave Clarke and Cymande jam side by side
Well I'm off again next week - no plans as such, just a bit of buzzing about, hoofing around and putting the handbrake on so to speak. And, if the evenings heat up, I may even have a stretch out and sip to this 'Lazy Sunday' mix - a medley of modish, acid jazzy, lower tempo beats and bobs - hope you do to.
I've also reloaded the 'Summer Sounds' mix up on the other side if you fancy grabbing that.
Mother Earth - Jesse Patricia Marx & 4Hero - Menino Jackie Mittoo - Stereo Freeze Little Barrie - Just Wanna Play Paul Weller - Always There Corduroy - Ponytail The New Jersey Kings - Dream Waves Beastie Boys - Ricky's Theme Handsome Boy Modeling School - Sunshine Lloyd & Devon - Push Push Pete Jolly - Plummer Park Aim - Original Stuntmaster DJ Z-Trip – 3rd Gear Soundhog - A Day In Tracy's Life
I'm nipping off next week, (back to sunny Stow - again) but while I'm away - on August 15th - this piece of ol' puffery completes it's first year of orbit in the blogosphere (I'm discounting, but not deleting the first three directionless posts) - so to celebrate breaking the one year barrier, I've made a pick 'n' mix buffet of tasty treats and groovy goodies gathered from all around my hat.. err, blogroll.
So, a tip of the titfter and a 'thank you for the music' is due to all those on the '1YS' tracklist for the tip top tunes, and to anyone who's ever contributed or commented on this ol' blog, as well as a ton of cyberchums for chit chat, chippings in, inspiration and ideas like ...
And finally a special mention for all those silent peepers, prowlers and binge bloggers that arrive via random.com and spend around 12 hours necking down every page and piece without a whisper.
So my funky friends tuck in, fill your boots, raise a glass, shake a leg and here's to another fab year . 'One Year Souled Mix'
I Just Want To Celebrate - Rare Earth Ain't Nothing But A Houseparty - The Showstoppers Super Party-The Soul Hustlers - Fufu Vince Watch Your Step - Bobby Parker - Roman Empress You Can’t Go On - Lonnie Lester - Matt Beat Collector Cooking Catfish - Albert King - Larry F16 Corners Take Me - Betty Everett - Devil Dick Maybe I'm Amazed - Sunday's Child - Soul Shower (deleted blog) You're The Fool - The Three Degrees - Fufu Stew Crossword Puzzle (Say No Go)- Sly And The Family Stone Ally Funky Mississippi - Rufus Thomas Davey H 96 Tears - Aretha Franklin - Simon Lady Moogdonna - Soundhog Alive - Beastie Boys/Alan Hawkshaw - Soulwax Molotov Cocktail Party - Vivi Bach Und Dietmar Schoenherr - Rock Mother Soul Sitar - Sohail Rhana - Piley Spinout - Elvis Presley - Diddy Wah Dancin' Pain - Wynder K. Frog I Can't Get Next to You - Mongo Santamaria - Bitter Andrew Vertigo Leitmotiv - Bernard Estardy - Paul Blow Up Quittin Time - Big Maybelle - Mr Double Down Doin’ the Banana Split - The Banana Splits - F16 for track facts Talkin' 'bout Soul - Little Richard Do What You Did - Thurston Harris - Rob Do You Love Me - The Sonics Closing Motif
AND to think I was actually worried about running out of puff and stuff to stick in my cyberspace scrapbook.
Did You Know ? The colours on PM and are inspired by Swizzles Double Lollies and the fact that pink/orange/both seemed to be such a popular pallet in the 70s.
Phew what a slog lumbering back to business-as-usual after two weeks slumbering around in a laid back state of lazy days, lay-ins and beach-bumming. Southwold is an absolute gem, Walberswick is wonderful but windy and Aldeburgh is King's Road on sea (apparently it's become something of summer playground for the Rock, Cowes and Salcombe set)
But to put some gloss on the gloom, after a five year mission of trawling record shops, antique markets and online auction houses, to seek out the early seventies obscurity that is Head Hands and Feet - Warming Up The Band I finally managed to get my ol' mitts on a copy recently.
I've been trying to track down 'Warming', since discovering it through the excellent Old Grey Whistle Test DVDs. Thanks to a tip off from Ben Soundhog, I pipped a copy on ebay. And what a snip too, £4.99 instead of the Collectors Guidebook value - £25 (although I could've grabbed the demo disc version, with a deliciously diff' Island label for an extra 50p half an hour later).
So what better way to celebrate my first vinyl rip, than by uplumping this tricky-to-track nugget in the blog...
It's A Pop Quiz - HHF's bass player is better known as one half of a seventies/eighties light entertainment duo - but who is he? You'll hear him at the tail end of the verses on the 'woah mama' section.. You can lend an ear to Don Everley's refit of Warming Up The Band here...
It's the return of the Roman Empress aka Suzy Norman. Previously Suzy posted a spectacular entry on the motif of 'he' fronted songs with enhanced oomph from 'she' backing vocalists - although this was blog-whacked by the DMCA meanies some while back.. Typically you'll find Suzy parked up at Queen Margot and the Supper Club or twittering hereabouts @suzynorman - today however, she bring us the breakdown on shoulda-been-bigger Brit-funkateers Cymande pronounced (sah-mahn-day)
Not enough people have heard 70s band Cymande and that's a shame but there's a few reasons why they haven't. Here's the rub – they're difficult to categorise.
They're funk - not from America (where funk thrived) - they're British (British West Indian). They're not reggae or dub, so they weren't likely to be chart fodder (as reggae was in the UK) or even play down the speakers as The Clash prepared themselves backstage (The Clash often warmed up the crowd with dub).
So how would they fit into the British contemporary scene? Where Sly and The Family Stone stormed America, our funk outfit - just as good, skimmed under the radar. The band who describe their music as “nyeh-rock” spent years trudging venues in London to unspectacular avail but America welcomed them.
So, the fact that America was more funk-orientated than here aside, why is it that they went down so well over there but not here? A big factor is that in the states they had Bob Schwaid behind them (also responsible for pushing Al Green and he was a member of the production-management team of Astral Weeks). In short, they had good promotion.
Says John Schroeder: “Philly had got 'The Message' and went wild for Cymande.”
Back in Soho, Schroeder rescued them from being a rambling assortment of musicians and hangers-on with great potential, to a well-produced outfit. Originally there to see a band that cancelled, he saw something that night he felt sure could be great with a bit of development. Initially finding the band unfocussed and without a clear inner-management structure, he had
concerns.
The working relationship was problematic, not least because of the lack of a clear vocal presence (they swapped singers on numerous occasions) but nonetheless he picked three tracks from the wreckage and polished them up in a Dean Street Studio. This was the beginning for them, although not in Britain and a short-lived American reception - one of rapture, didn't remunerate for many, many years.
Eventually, due to sampling they made some money but in their day they were only a going concern for a few years and by 1974 they disbanded. Much later on they were sampled by knowledgeable and appreciative musicians: 'Dove' was used as the thread in The Fugees' The Score, Def Jef's Give It Here pads out its scratching and rapping with 'Bra' and King Tee launches straight into the smooth groove of 'The Message', using it throughout his short number, On Tha Rox.
In the words of Malachi Trout: 'Underplayed and underrated though they were, Cymande had got 'it'!' And as a newspaper headline crowed: 'Our loss was America's gain' - but only for a time. They were a smooth, accomplished and well-produced motley crew of individuals waiting for that all-important recognition. Deserving the limited but eager reception they did receive, they just tasted it too fleetingly.
See for yourself. Here's 'Brothers On The Slide' from the Renegades of Funk album:
As a bloggy bonus - you can grab Cymande's The Message as part of Soundhog's booty remix - here
Top of the Pips - the infamous nipples edition (Vol 16)
If there's one format that's a precision indicator of 70s pop culture fashions and flavours, it's those bumper bundles of refitted hits at budget prices - Hallmarks' Top of the Pops albums. Omnipresent and affordable, new and updated editons of TOTP repopulated the record racks of Woolworths, Boots and sometimes supermarkets with an industrial efficiency and unrelenting refresh rate of 'every six to eight weeks' according to volume 60's sleeve blurb from ..
It's too easy to raise a purist eyebrow over these popular compilations. Dig about the genre and you'll find it's not all charity shop fodder, some highly prized items are buried in the back catalogue: the 'nipples' cover of Vol 16 , the bondage gatefold (Best of 71) - and the golden nugget I've spent too long scouring cyberspace for - Volume 60, with a playlist pulling together I Feel Love, Oh Lori and Pretty Vacant.
From what was a mostly cottage industry of session musicians and production anono-bods, moments of glowing self-sufficient invention and thrifty studio trickery can be found. Take Bohemian Rap (or Bo Rap to give it's full title) as Ben Soundhog says....
The version of Bohemian Rhapsody is bordering on genius, considering it was done in about a day rather than the seventy million years the original took.
An online goldmine and encyclopedia of all that is TOTP (and TOTP related) is available here at the wonderful - Top of the Pops: The Definitive Website. Did you know TOTP series ran until 1985, that Larry Adler and Tina Charles appear on some editions? That two volumes topped the charts, Find out which models make multiple cover appearances, thumb through a breakdown of acts, tracks, sleeve notes and international variations.
If you have any interest in 70s retro-ology, spin over and browse away - I guarantee TOTP - TDW will be right up your Hit Parade...
PS - wonder if there were ever any outtakes that never made the final edit, perhaps it's time for TOTP expanded or deluxe editions?
So here are a couple of cut and paste cuties both formed from the same Caribbean cloth - using 'Double Barrel' as a musical bed and backdrop, with kittenish girl group vocals smoldering center stage.
As Piley and I head out on the highway, having a run out on the theme of Types of Transport. Edwyn Collins, Jack Hammer, Bo Diddley and an exclusive preview of a new tune from Dennis Hopper Choppers are onboard for the ride. Along with possible topics for some radio pitch and put including:
How many driving tests!
Strange vehicles you've ridden in.
Who to cast in a live action Wacky Races.
Favourite TV only transport: The Banana Splits buggies, the Pink Panther car, Thunderbirds hover jet-skis.
And some new additions to the Morrisey conga. Park yourself here from 9 for a ninety minute radio ride.
It's a re-up, but from four years back - I think we can swing that..
