Cops, Robbers and The Holy Grail

How do you make a round trip to France - touring through: biker-rockers, Bash Street punks and the search for The Holy Grail. How? Like this..

Larry Wallis was a one-time guitarist for The Pink Fairies, a band appearing at Mont-de-Marsan's First Europan Punk Festival(20th August 1976). On the same bill were The Damned, whose beret wearing bass player Ray Burns, was rechristened 'Captain Sensible' by The Fairies

Larry Wallis - Police Car



Damned Drummer - Rat Scabies penned Burglar the B-side to the 79 single Smash It Up. Keep 'em peeled for references to Midland Banks and John Peel's record collection in this Peel session version..

The Damned - Burglar (BBC Session)

Sleeve:blogger's own

Rat is now something of a Grailologist, making repeat visits to Rennes le Chateau attempting to untangle the mysteries of The Grail. Blogger-chum Rockmother, has captured Rat's doings, diggings and delvings in a fab new film Rat Scabies and The Holy Grail.

Fin!

Roxy Musician

Why aye man! It's me Paul Thompson from Roxy Music, you may remember us from songs like Virginia Plain, Love Is The Drug, All I want Is You. In fact, did ya knur, It was me what wrote the the B-side to All I Want Is You? A Roxy rocker called Your Application's Failed It's no'roften us drummers get the chance to chip in with a tune like, but the lads even le'rus speak a line as it's me urn compo'.

Roxy Music - Your Application's Failed



Right, I'm off for a couple of Broons and a paradiddle - H'way the Roxy, and I'll see yez when the beat comes in!

Do You Remember Your First Time?

Your first musical post that is - and what the trigger, tune or track was that got you fired up enough to start blogging and cataloging the collection ?

One number did it for me. An instrumental obscurity, that randomly dropped into play by a group, who, ironically, have rarely popped up on my player since, and have never been captured on the blog - apart from my first ever MP3 post that is..

So who was it? Soft Cell, that's who.

Given this, The Cell, seem well overdue for another punt on the PM blog. Tarred forever with the Tainted Love brush, it's too easy to forget what a rabid and devoted following they developed, that they were too shadowy and almost sleazy to sit comfortably alongside other eighties glossy Top of the Poppers. Or what quality pop they produced.

Kings of the 80s 12-inch format. Insecure Me (B-side to Bedsitter) is tick-list of all that the Softies do best

Galloping arpeggios
Grubby glamour
Seedy nightlife
Oh dear, I've overdone the gin (again)
I'm an outsider but a survivor
A proto-rap from Cindy Ecstasy

Soft Cell - Insecure Me (12")

Well I'll Be A Funky Uncle

That's my uncle D in the shades

One of the musical tales rattled around at family gatherings and get-togethers involves  my uncle's sixties band, shrouded in whispers of - 'Hamburg gigs', 'meeting Mick Jagger' and 'having a single out' ..

I met up with Uncle D over Christmas, stumbled into the subject of his band, and decided to do some digging. Turns out he was the singer in a sixties band - called The Habits, whose career highlights include touring with the Stones, gigging with The Yardbirds, supporting John Lee Hooker and making one single 'Need You' produced by Steve Windwood and Spencer Davis. Incredible!

Even more bizarrely the B-Side (Elbow Baby) of their only single is track 20 on a Decca compilation (The Mod Scene), given to me for Christmas 2007 by mum, which has been spinning in my kitchen ever since.

Further to this they've got a micro-entry on AMG, and the single currently has a starting price of £3.95 on ebay.

Next question for Uncle D - how do you do 'The Elbow' (as in the lyric 'do The Elbow baby')

The Habits - Elbow Baby

B Side Babies Pt 2 - Roxy Music - Angel Eyes (original version)

1977 may have been the year the world turned dayglo - but 1978 was the year the world went Disco - Rod stewart, the Rolling Stones and Blondie all got caught with a dose of the Disco fever. Bowie, as always had been years ahead of his peers and got the funk out of his system with Young Americans.

Uncharacteristically when Roxy Music released Manifesto in 1979 they seem to have been caught on the back foot rather than the good foot with the let's go Disco phonomenon and gave the movement a complete swerve on their album of the moment. The version of Angel Eyes on the early pressings Of Manifesto is an almost textbook Roxy rocker that maintains a cool cocktail gloss while giving a nod to the New Wave movement. All Sax, drums and Rock n Roll it's a world apart from the commercially successful and commonly available Angel Eyes rework which is all high hats and handclaps, and seems to highlight that Disco had almost as much punch as Punk.


Roxy Music - Angel Eyes(original version)


As bonus I'm also including a rare remix of Virginia Plain - the Headman EDT remix made for a rewired and remixed Roxy project which never materialised and has never been commercially released

Roxy Music - Virgina Plain (Headman Remix)


If you're in the mood for even more Roxy why not have a peep at my review of the Roxy Music debut album here

B side babies Pt. 1 - Kelly watch the stars (Moog Cookbook remix)

In keeping with this week’s theme of undercover nuggets and hidden winners here's one of my fave' B side babies ever

Air – ‘Kelly watch the stars’ (Moog Cookbook remix)



Air's ‘Moon Safari’ album has the original version of ‘Kelly’, which is perfectly polished and presentable. The re-tweaked single release even adds some extra snap and sparkle - but the real sizzler is buried on the B side of Air's chill out anthem 'All I Need’.

The Moog Cookbook were a duo featuring Roger Manning Jr (Beck’s keyboard player, ex Jellyfish and Imperial Drag) and Brian Kehew who specialised in taking tunes from contemporary and vintage songbooks and reformatting, rebuilding and rewiring them into bionic rockers.

‘Teen Spirit’, ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Hotel California’ were all given Moogie woogie makeovers - but ‘Kelly’ is the Moog Cookbook's star turn, where they customise,reconstruct and respray Air’s moon buggy into a Starsky and Hutch space hot rod.

Some clever clogs has made a tip top home compiled and edited vid’ for the 'Kelly Watch The Stars'remix - starring Jeff Lynn!,Toto!! and Sid Little on drums !!!?


And as a bonus have a peep at the another home made vid’ for ‘Hotel California’ featuring Rory McGrath on drums! and Ol’ man Branson on double decker axe!! (Great Hot Butter/Popcorn interlude in the middle)

Remake Remodel Pt.1 Lulu - Watch That Man

There's a couple of bits and bobs I've been meaning to log in the blog for an age but have become wrapped up with other bits and bobs until now - so today at last it's all go-go for;

Remake Remodel - obscure, cool or cranky cover versions.

B Side Babies - the ones that got away - B sides, alt takes or outtakes that are too good to be forgotten

Fortunately 'Watch That Man' falls into both categories.
Lulu’s version of ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ seems to pop up on the sort of budget seventies comp’s sold only at newsagents, garages and Woolworths. Glamtastic as the rewired TMWSTW is, the real golden nugget is on the B side, ‘Watch That Man’ which manages to out strut and stomp Aladdin Sane original.

It is an absolute that Bowie was a musical Midas in the seventies and almost everything he touched was left glossed and glittering. (There's a moment of revelation in Ian hunters ‘Diary of a Rock and Roll Star’ where he realises he’ll never be in Bowies league). ‘Watch That Man’ is effectively a Bowie retake with Lulu fronting the band, produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson and featuring rest of the band it captures the distilled essence of the pre ‘Young Americans’ sound with a splash of extra sparkle. The cherry on top being Bowies backing vocals – which swish through the mix adding stardust melodies and space age harmonies.

Lulu - Watch That Man


To set the scene and add some context here's a couple of Youtube treats

This has got to be one of the funkiest ad' songs ever!I posted this on channel mondo last Friday but it's so good I'm posting it here too.

Lulu - Happies Shoes


Lulu - The Man Who Sold the World’