The Soundr Hour - Yachtify

Soundr-Crowders: an hour of AOR vintage funk and new smooth-cruising tunes - Diana Ross, Johnny Mathis and Loyal Carner are all aboard the yacht - with a rare Toto demo and an early doors cameo from Nik Kershaw. There's also news of an exciting Soundr team-up due coming soon Stream away below

Soundr DJ · The Soundr Hour: Yachtify - cruising through new yacht and vintage smooth grooves

Podrophenia Lockdown Listens..

The latest Podrophenia is up for download. where Piley, self and Lord Hastings spin in a playlist of lockdown listens: from Peaches to Public Service Broadcasting, newbie tunes from Bob Dylan and The Damned, Southern soul from Elvis and The Everlys. And two quizzes Nut or No Nut and Rotten Film Songs. Dig in and DL below

Podrophenia Lockdown Listens..

And behold a play of the new single from m'self and Mrs Mond' (Buskr - Back in this Place out 4th December Hottwerk) as heard on Janice Long last week ...

Snap, Crackle & Bastard Pop: Spliced Krispies 2

When I first fired up this blog, almost seven years ago - one of the earliest entries was a Fabtastic bootleg remix Jet Lady Joe - leaked from the lab of DJ and remixer Mark Vidler - aka Go Home Productions...

A few months on, and we were lucky enough to bag a world exclusive on GHP's hat-popping, bastard pop compendium - Spliced Krispes, which bolted together The Supremes with TV themes, the Beach Boys with school boys

So huzzah and hats in the air - as the Willy Wonka of soundwaves, returns with booming new batch of disco biscuits, where scraps and shrapnel from R 'n' B, punk, 80s funk, new wave and new bands are whisked and whirled into newly minted mashups and sonic screen prints.

You can grab the entire collection for free here - but first load up on a triple whammy taste test with a few words from GHP HQ..

My Paperback Sharona 
The Beatles 'Paperback Writer' vs The Knack 'My Sharona'

I've always loved 'My Sharona' with a passion that borders on the ridiculous...seriously *cough.. and always wanted to pair it up with something decent. Along come them Beatles (again) and Paperback Writer (again) but what the hell, these two tracks were made for each other. Lot's of editing went into this one but I won't bore you with technical details....for long.

The Beatles 'guitar riff' was cut to match the Sharona riff and plays with it the majority of the time. Had to edit down the long version of Sharona to match the 'single' version...easy...and had lots of fun finding relevant dub delays & reverbs. There you go...that's as boringly techy as I can be bothered with.

 


Rude Peaches 
Rihanna 'Rude Boy' vs The Stranglers 'Peaches'

Had a Stranglers fixation for a month or so earlier this year. Was hoping to do something with 'Nuclear Device' but Peaches is much easier to plunder riffage and stuff from. Listening back to this it reminds me of early GHP bootlegs...in the way that I used to pair all those 'R 'n B female vocals with rock songs...mainly due to the fact that in those heady days of 2002-2004, those were the only readily available acapellas I suppose.

Anyway, Rihanna complements the bump & grind of Peaches pretty well. Check the video! I plundered lots of the footage from The Stranglers gig at Battersea Park '78 when they brought on 10 strippers for Nice 'n Sleazy.

 


Whatever My Tears
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles 'Tracks Of My Tears' vs Oasis 'Whatever'

A cheeky little match. Was originally wanting to have Smokey's vocals with strings only from 'Whatever' but alas the strings in the verses aren't available, so had to make do with the full Oasis instrumental until the very end where the strings play out. An odd mix but the Oasis track is very 60's in structure and a handful of Motown tracks would probably work with it. Smokey got the short
straw

A Crash Course For The Ravers

"Your flashy clothes are your pride and joy " David Bowie - The London Boys

Ahead of Sunday's Bowie by the Sea bank holiday shakedown (more on that later) - expect to see a Bo' post or two in your feed of a lunchtime this week, Starting at the beginning - with a re-up from November 2008

Bowie, Bolan, Bryan Ferry, Eno (and Rod Stewart) all made the breakthough from cult undergrounders to interstellar superstars as variants on the star-spangled glitterkid theme. They may have had stars in/on their eyes, but those platform boots were firmly grounded in Mod roots. The look-sharp and look-ahead apprenticeship of Mod, with it's made to measure mix of American soul and Italian style, Ivy League look meets British dandyism - an eye for the detail and an ear for a tune, was probably why Bowie (and the other moonage mods mentioned) endured beyond the best-before date and lipstick-brickie chic of their patent leather peers.

The sixties scene was an era Bowie referenced from his earliest recordings (London Boys) and one of the motifs and influences that's remained a constant throughout his peacock career - mentions of Lennon, Beatles and Stones on various singles. Twiggy and Jagger getting name checked on Aladdin Sane (along with a Stones cover), Pin Up's set of swinging London standards and Young Americans (covering classics like 'Knock On Wood' and 'Footstomping' during live shows), and pitching in with 'Pictures of Lily' on The Who tribute album through to the slim-fit suit on 'Reality' being almost a homecoming to the Lord John look pictured above...

For some strange reason all tracks are playing - Silver Tree Top track, but DLs should be ok

David Bowie and The Lower Third - Can't Help Thinking About Me

(There's a clip of Bowie on his mod days, Steve Marriot and a 1999 version of 'CHTAM'here)




David Bowie - In The Heat Of The Morning - (BBC version)

(The Last Shadow Puppets made a healthy go of 'INTHOTM')




Davie Jones and the King Bees - Louie Louie Go Home

(LLGH was the B-side of Bowie's first single "Liza Jane")

Ziggy Stardust - The Mod Who Fell To Earth

A note on the tunes....and a Bowie Bonus

Can't Help Thinking About Me (1965)
The first recording to feature the newly named David 'Bowie', and almost a blueprint of Bowieness the outsider lyrics and ambiguous angst of "my head's bowed in shame" "blackened the family name" to the set piece template of semi-spoken verse and Bowie-bellow on the chorus, it's a tune that wouldn't seem out of place on any album since Scary Monsters.

In The Heat Of The Morning (1970)
For my earth pounds the BBC take of this tune is superior to the official album version, and benefits from being enhanced by the extra bounce of Alan Hawkshaw's fantastically funky keyboard coda.

The Beatstalkers (touted as the Scottish Beatles), were under Ken Pitt's management at the same time as Bowie (and also signed to Decca). They were offered first refusal on any unused Bowie compositions or offcuts, 'Silver Tree Top School For Boys' is one of these, and a Bowie penned 'Penny Lane ' sound-a-like from 1967.

The Beatstalkers (1967)- Silver Tree Top School For Boys



I am on something of a Bowie buzz lately (two Bo' posts in two weeks) brought on by reading the Fantistico Dave Thompson book To Major Tom - a gem and a joy of a read if you're into any type of music or movement from Bowie's catchment era

Fruity Friday: something for the weekend sir?

I say, this is a fruity ol' tune - crackling with swish, sass and sparkle

Sugarman 3 & Co - Down to It

And zip to 17 mins in, for the infamous sauce and scatter cushions gyrations

 

Funk Friday - Live: covers, floor shakers and samples

Crate expectations

Remember backawhiles, before the music nattering masses migrated to Twitter. Facebook and whatnot - we used to get on some sort of a goodly foot by cueing up a few funky tunes of a Friday...

Well, if you're any stripe of drinker or dancer - wander your way to Southend's Railway Hotel tonight - where I'll be winging in a few fleet-footed frisky discs from 7 30 (ish). No bands - just you know who and a crateful of soul, funk, hammond, motown, northern, glam, garage and godknowswhatelse.

Playlist-free, (that's too prescriptive) - I'll be winging in sizzlers and scorchers to fit the mood of the room. Funky nuggets such as ...

Mo Horizons - Hit The Road Jack





If you're around or about tonight - why not pop in for bop

Funk Friday: Old Favourites - New Versions

It's been  a couple of Sundays since, the boy Marmite and myself were last parked up at Southend's Railway Hotel, winging in tunes and tracks to fill the gaps between the bands. During the downtime,  I've bagged, bought and bookmarked (for future use) several cracking comps that include: Willie Mitchell, Roaring Blue, a Stax/Volt selection hand-picked by Jukebox Jimmy from his own vinyl vaults - a rediscovery of Motown Connoisseurs and Return of the Instro-Hipsters Vol.2.

Pulling a handful of songs from the newbie music selection will get you......

'Classics Recovered'

Willie Mitchell - Wade In The Water



Marvin Gaye - Sunny



And 'Roaring Instrumentals'





Marmite and I are back next week (25th) for our regular Sunday Sessions

But who's a hootin' and a tootin' of a Sunday in the downstairs bar this weekend? Back for his every-third-week residency - it's Martin McNeill and the revolving line up of the Bottletop Blues Band. The last set JJ Zarbo (bass), Tim Huskisson (keys) Ben (drums) - Martin (guitar) was an absolute roof raiser, with a swell of jiving types swirling and swishing around and about The Railway at the last session

The Funky Friday Sessions: Theoretical girl and an explosive soul obscurity

Honey & The Bees - Love Addict must be one of the grooviest tunes ever posted on this ol' blog - in almost five years of posting tunes on this ol' blog. A nifty fit of soul with an opening riff that sounds distantly familiar leading to a soaring chorus that rises and shines like the midsummer sun.

It's a track that at some point, will be spun in during my DJ set at The Railway Hotel tonight - where oddities, obscurities,  soul stompers and funky covers will be popped onto the playlist before during and after the bands. I'm not sure who support comes from, but headlining are electro-mod-poppers Theoretical Girl.

 Headlining tonight - Theoretical Girl

So if you're Southend based or bound and with a spare Friday - night rally yourself round to The Railway and shake a lively leg...

Due to Divshare agg' (read: not allowing uploads) - I can't cross your palm with a copy - but you can lend Love Addict an ear here. 

Funky Friday - Sitting on the Soul Step

One for the Surprisingly Funky file that had a run out on Tuedsay's Podrophonic doings was Gene Pitney's supremely stompy She's a Heartbreaker - all northern beats, swooping strings and electric sitar. And I do love an electric sitar...

It fits the riffs and runs of unexpected  thumpers we've pulled from the Podrophenia Record Library in  proceeding weeks, pacy takes from those you may not expect to step out on such a stealthily good foot - light entertainment bods that we've now sat on the Soul Step: Russ Abbott (on drums), Peters and Lee , Bruce Forsyth, and Cliff Richard,

Gene Pitney - She's a Heartbreaker



For an alt.trim on the track lend an ear to Dave Hunters shindig

Dave Hunter - She's A Heartbreaker




Most of these - quite possibly all of these, will be popped onto the playlist when Piley and I are dabbing about with the decks for the Len Price 3 gig, at The Railway next Saturday - which is a FREE!! gig...

Funky Friday - The Salsa Davis Group

Aye Carumba amigos - how about this for a for two-fisted find - not uno, but dos Spencer Davies ditties given a hot tropical going over by way of this collection of samba stompers and shakers.


Feeling Alright - usually known to these ears via Lulu's lung-busting belter.


I'm a Man - of all the frisky refits, Wynder K Frog's take is the one I'll typically reach for first.

But for a pan-continental combo try these for sizzlers..

Feelin Alright - Mongo Santamaria



Spiteri - I'm A Man



And if you missed our Top Tunes of 2011 Radio Podrophenia - fill your boots below

Radio Podrophenia - New Year's Honours List

Funky Friday - Bongo a go-go

The picture Birds in the Park can be spotted here

Hurrah for Mrs M and her list of infinite invention. I am a fussy bugger to buy for when it comes to Christmas and birthdays - yet on every occasion she comes up with some kind of wonderful. 

The lumpy bundle I guessed may have been a crate of booze, was unwrapped and revealed to be - bongos hurrah! (again). And I've been tip-tapping away, lost in the crazy rhythms on an almost daily basis since. A couple of patterns getting cribbed and copied have been from these found videos...

Vid A

Vid B

Two tunes perfect for practicing along to were found on Christmas/birthday CDs

Vid A: Lee Dorsey's voodoo grooves are a snug fit for 

Lee Dorsey — Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further

Vid B: Habanera beat works a treat for

Victor Boa - Ruffles

Funky Friday - Dial F for Funky

Picking up from Tuesday's funky run-out, today, I'm pitching in a 22 track, 70 minute mix whisking together all shades of soul, funk and groovy doings. Heavy-handed Hammond, New Orleans grinders, mod stompers, Jamaican moogie-woogie and Latin flavoured wig-outs. Mostly fitted around the letter 'F' wrapping up with two fast and furious and finishers. And a first in this neck of the blogs - funky country. Literally!
Dial in below to fill your fruity boots....
Dial F for Funky



Or to back track and catch up Tuesday's Radio Podrophenia (the letter F) dig in here..

Radio Podrophenia ~ Podrophonic Alphabet. The Letter F



 Track list can be found in the comments..



Same and Dave. Well overdue for a toot on the blog. And check out the swish~hipped horn section!

Funky Friday - Summer Shakedown Volume 4

How's your luck! After boozing and booming through 3 CDs worth of home mades mixes last Saturday - heading steadily towards the leg-shaker and trouser-rattler that is Volume 4, when it's call finally came - 'No CD' was the unyielding,  naysaying display scrolling across the LCD of doom.

Ho, hum - oh well, at least the raw rooted tunes: R 'n' B, rock 'n' rollers and swinging mod stompers.. won't go to waste. We'll recycle and replay them here instead.

Tracklisting in the comms - vols 1 and 2 coming soon(ish)..

Summer Shakedown Vol 4

Funky Friday: A One off all-soul shakedown

Its been awhiles since we got on the good foot of a weekend. But as we're off to a summer shindig tomorrow night - a garden gathering of scoopy doings and fruity tunes which I've been asked to do the music for - it seems a fine time to fire up some Friday Funk for a one off.

In fact, it was one of these very same get-togethers that partially gave me the push to start sticking tunes into a cyberspace scrapbook, as a way of sharing several CDs worth of home-mixed music comps. Although as it turned out, only this 30 minute snippet has ever been blogged.

Anyhow - tomorrow's collections and compilations span almost 5 hours - give or take a track or two. CDs 1 and 2 tend towards the sunny sounds of Acid Jazz, Studio One, funky covers and world grooves. But set 3 is something strangely I've never pitched in with before - an all out soul-rollercoaster of vintage hits, new bits, covers, northern, Motown, garage, international and instrumental hip swishing funk.

The track-listing is in the comments to swerve a blog-whacking. So tomorrow think of us shaking a Saturday night leg, and perhaps I'll wing in the other 3 CDs during the summer season

Summer Shakedown Volume 3



You'll find a few of these scraps around and about on the blog if you're happy to dig a bit..

Funky Friday - the freewheeling genius of Richie Jackson

Meet Richie Jackson the Australian skateboarder who's more Salvador Dali than 'surfer dude'. His look may be Robert Plant joins Jellyfish. But don't be misled by the Hobbiton hair and 'tache topiary. Richie's a psychedelic skateboarder with the surreal, high-flying fluid moves of the Silver Surfer. An eye-popping eccentric of mentalist inventiveness - think:Wilf Lunn meets Willy Wonka.

Flipping, gliding and grinding over and around the unlikeliest urban furniture. Pavements, pipes, posts, rope chains, escalators - trees even! No boundary or bollard can contain his combustible skateboard combos.


Behold, boggle your eyes and blow your mind at the the screaming genius of Richie Jackson



Sound tracking the vid above is ....
The Attack - Too Old

Sound tracking the vid below is
Pentagram - Be Forewarned



For some homegrown talent - lend an eye to the two wheeled tear-ups of Danny MacAskill (previously seen in the Doves Winter Hill vid')

Funky Friday - Schläger Top

For today's rummage around der Welt of Germanic shenanigans and Teutonic rockers , we won’t be rooting through the well documented and commendable end of sweaty basements and bierkellers - kindergartens to the sixties beat boomers. Or the Vorsprung durch Technik of Kraftwerk, Can and Neu! Not even a peep at one of the finest live music shows ever Beat Club/Music Laden - why did this TOTP meets OGWT format always draw out such punchy performances from the rock aristocracy of Bowie, Roxy Music, T.Rex, Tina Turner and umm The Sweet.

Nein! Friday's kitsch and kooky doings are a vier-way variation on the frothy pop option known as Schläger. Now - Mach Schau!

Les Humphries Singers - Mexico



The Les Humphries Singers look like this

Hase Cäsar - Eine Kleine Hasenmusik



Hase Cäsar - looks like this

Hugo Strasser - Paranoid



Above is Hugo from Tuesday's post - below a variant on Paranoid from Cindy und Bert

Funky Friday - In Brightest Day

Warning: this post contains superhero imagery and geeky content from the start.

Typically I’ll try to handbrake most jabber and blab about my comic habits. But with just three posts in three years - hope you can indulge me with one more.

I've been a Bat-fan since the age of three, with some of my earliest reads still in the collection - although, it's a much lower-league legend, mostly unknown to non-comic fans, that I've constantly collected for over thirty years - Green Lantern. I won't bore you with his biog - there's a danger it may reduce down to nerdism - but it's all here should you fancy some backstory.

Almost all superheroes are icons directly or indirectly reflecting the climate of their time: from Superman in the 30s (farm raised immigrant becomes new world power) to Marvel's sixties super-types: Spider-man (the swinging sixties), The Hulk (nuclear mutation) Silver Surfer (space travel). Green Lantern is no exception. A superhero shaped by fifties sci-fi, jet age boom-busting, America's earliest space-racers and a young Paul Newman informing the looks of Lantern's alter ego Hal 'Highball'Jordan. Stylistically Lantern is Dr Who meets David Bowie : a focused, solo player but slight outsider and space cadet blasting through space epics and earthy adventures, kitted out in Gil Kane's glitzy, almost Ziggyish, white gloved jumpsuit.

From it's 1960 debut, The Green Lantern title middled along for almost a decade, until, in an attempt to resuscitate stalling sales and add some contemporary edge, Denny O'Neill (script) and Neal Adams (art) were drafted in from Batman/Detective Comics - having previously repositioned The Dark Knight away from TV's campy trappings, returning him to shadowy artwork, gothic plots and increased credibility and circulation.


O'Neill and Adams literally brought Green Lantern down to earth with a cultural bump. Adams documentary-ish artwork and O'Neill's protest tales teamed GL with the liberal, left-leaning Green Arrow for an Easy Rider style road trip through the America's underclass and dropped-out, drugged-up, counter culture. Alien invaders and space states were scrapped for teen drug addiction, ghetto poverty, political corruption and cult religious leaders - kick-starting the 'relevance era' in comics. Ultimately, these protest tales proved too worthy and weighty for DC's readership and the title was cancelled in 1972. Ironically, it's the O'Neill/Adams 'Hard Travelling Heroes' issues that have become high priced collectibles in the Lantern's back catalogue.

Green Lantern 76: expect to pay anywhere between £1000 - £2000 for a near mint quality copy

It’s a common plot and publicity device for super-types to be killed off only to be reanimated at some later date (in case you didn't know Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne died a year ago). Following three decades of hot runs, restarts, cancellations and the eventual death of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern was brought back from the dead, revived and ready for action in 2004. A reboot that has brought the title it's greatest levels of success and saturation in a fifty year history. Green Lantern The Movie is being filmed as I blog (scheduled for a June 2011 release). More significantly DC publishing clearly have grand plans and great expectations for Green Lantern - for the first time in seventy years, DC are deliberately positioning and putting some promotional focus on a character ahead of their traditional Holy Trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.


Green Lantern has never really crossed over into the same cool, cultural or rock and roll referencing as Spiderman, Batman and Superman. As far as I'm aware the he's only been name-checked in one song. Historically you've probably heard his name countless times without realising. In Donovan's Sunshine Superman...

Superman or Green Lantern ain't got a-nothin' on me

Donovan - Sunshine Superman (full version)



Big Jim Sullivan - Sunshine Superman



Mel Torme - Sunshine Superman

From the sixties to the noughties - one from every decade

Folky Friday - Moonshine and Mudflats.

Staying with this week's rhythm of celebrations, shindigs and leg-shakings, the Leigh Folk Festival reaches it's peak this weekend, with a bulging menu of music and events.

Saturday is nicely polite, Think: Pimm's, picnic blankets and hampers in the Library Gardens. A micro-festival with side-stalls selling real vinyl records and second hand book bargains, a finger-licking veggie barbecue and live bands folking about in the background - all this and a sea view through the trees. Perhaps this year, I'll try Piley's tip and stick to the Festival Strength Cider to avoid a replay of last festival's alcoholic wobbles and cycling home sideways.

Kelli Ali plays the Library Gardens last year

Sunday it's all going on down Old Leigh way, and a the perfect day to wander around the wharfs, pubs and cockle sheds for more music from new bands and old hands. But, if you can't make the Folk-Fest, why not pick up one of the three official Leigh Folk Festival Cd's for a taste test of the event.

If you are coming to town, don't forget - Canvey is literally skimming distance from Leigh, if you fancy some Oil City sight seeing

Today's titbits are taken from the Island Folk Box - a triple CD set that seems to suit the mood of any season. If you only listen to ANY two tracks from this ol' blog - starring the athletic banjo of Bryn Haworth and Bronco's slow-shifting arpeggios.

Bryn Haworth - Darlin' Cory



Bronco - Time Slips Away

Funky Friday - Stratagems and Ruses

I hadn’t planned to start a run of football posts - just chip in with a couple to capture the rush and buzz of the World Cup kick off. But now I'm semi-obsessed with it, weighing up the heavy-hitters and competive form, working out possible options and placings. Even the vuvuzelas ongoing drone has begun to sound hypnotically exotic. If you’re up on events you may want to skip the next bit. If you’re not up on events.

England have to win tonight (Algeria) and next Wednesday (Slovenia)

Finishing second place in their group (C) simply won’t do. Second place means meeting Germany in the next round. That’s us pitched against a great white shark of a squad - prowling and playing a sharp, sleek and lethal form of football.

Forget the soft soap, stoicism and stiff upper lips. If England can gun it and go, hitting their fixtures with the sweaty energy of the MC5, we could breeze it to the next rounds.

MC5 - Kick Out The Jams



For a slightly Algerian feel try Gabe Durham’s excellent Beastie booty

Beastie Boys - How We Gonna Kick It? With A Mandolin, Fiddle, and Guitar!



That's it. I'll shush about football (for now)

Funky Friday - It's All Kicking Off

I've always been slightly agnostic about football. I have tried to see the light - even signing up for a year's membership with Southend United in the early 90s. Although lower-league hoofing and thumping, 8-0 maulings (Crystal Palace) and mid-week aways to Swansea and suchlike would test the faith of a saint.

The World Cup though, is literally a different game. Italia '90 was the tournament that reeled me in with it’s internationally tall tales: Cameroonian stories of snake oil leg-rubs and voodoo doings. Colombia with the fantastically be-afroed Carlos Valderrama and that scorpion kicking-keeper. Eastern European units snapping and nipping about like terriers. Alien dangers unknown in our domestic setting: altitude, heat and humidity - the need to neck down salt tablets?

Don’t worry if you're already suffering from football fatigue, I won't be grinding on about it too much. But as England go up against the USA (formerly Team America if I remember - who I'm sure briefly appeared on TV in the 70s) for perhaps their most public set-to since the Boston Tea Party, I couldn't let the occasion go unblogged could I? For balance I'll fire up something tasty from both nations.

A Manchester band with an instrumental for our national drink and Little Milton's corner shop conundrum (what are grits BTW?)

St Louis Union - English Tea



Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries



And perhaps a combo of UK Sports theme teamed with Motorcity Soul - you can catch Mark Vidler's notes (exclusive to this blog) on his football booty right here