Showing posts with label before they were famous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label before they were famous. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Radio Podrophenia - No Theme, No Scene
No Theme No Scene: Piley, Popeapedia and Mondo go freestyle for the March Podrophenia, pinging in random tracks. Expect singles from Action Man (yes he of the eagle eyes and gripping hands), a disco refit of Tubular Bells, streaker-glam, TV Themes, a mod-stomping Elvis cover, Bob Seger then and now and a pop quiz! Load up your lugholes here....
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Labels:
before they were famous,
Cover Versions,
disco,
new music,
podcast,
podrophenia,
post punk,
Punk,
radio podrophenia,
reggae,
yarbles
Monday, May 20, 2013
A Crash Course For The Ravers
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")
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

Labels:
60's,
BBC Sessions,
before they were famous,
books,
bowie,
Funky Friday,
historock,
mod
Friday, October 12, 2012
I'll name that (out of) tune in three...
Is that Eno - back row, far right?
In the niche genre: songs with ear-cringing out of tune arrangements.. this, with it's 'clang, clang, clang went the trolley' horn riff has to be one of the finest..
Behold: the Les Dawson of the mod scene. It couldn't be Rod could it? He was a Shotgun Expresser
Shotgun Express - Curtains
And oh Bow, who did you drag in for acoustic duties at 2:46
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Disco Dolly

It's Mrs Mond's birthday today - she's loves a bit of disco and a little spot of Dolly. So what say we fuse the two in one camp and funky bundle topped with a big blonde bow. Take your partners for some 12" disco-jiggery and a special dedi' to my endlessly patient, ever-glowin' birthday lovely...
Dolly Parton - Baby I'm Burnin
Dolly Parton - I Wanna Fall In Love
Dolly's roots are showing and they're Northern - one of her earliest singles from 1965...
Dolly Parton - Busy signal
Labels:
70s,
before they were famous,
Birthday Treat,
camp,
country,
disco,
northern soul,
surprisingly funky
Monday, September 13, 2010
Podrophenia 10 - Originals Uncovered
He's written two garage classics, but who is he and what are they - find out in Podrophenia
Elvis, Madonna, Bowie and Blondie are just some of the glittering legends and heavy-hitters NOT appearing in the latest edition of Podrophenia. But pod-pickers, listen in and lend an ear as Piley and I lay bare, unwrap and unearth the low-level source material supplying these high flyers with smash hit songs and singles. All is revealed in Podrophenia 10. Along with Piley's tale of a tooth-brightening, eye-widening electric enema.
Podrophenia 10 (DL link is at the bottom of the page)
Or try via iTunes
With only five tunes a'piece something had to give, so Superstar got the 11th hour bounce from my Podrophenia playlist. Mainly famous as a Carpenters classic (with retweaked lyrics sleep with you swapped for be with you) the original versh can be found tucked away on Delaney and Bonnie B Side - a gorgeous serving of blue-eyed soul.
Delaney and Bonnie - Groupie (Superstar)
Cher's affair is more of a stoner-rock spin on the theme.
Cher - Superstar
PS The album I mention but forget to name is here..
Labels:
50s,
60s,
70s,
before they were famous,
Elvis Presley,
new wave,
podcast,
podrophenia,
Punk,
you heard it here first
Friday, April 23, 2010
Punky Friday - Cash From Chaos

"My name is Malcolm McLaren, I have brought you many things in my time" Malcom introduces himself in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
Given a multiple choice of Malcom McLaren's talent and character, where do you place a tick: genius or jinx, myth-maker or manipulator, situationist or self publicist? The correct answer is - all of the above.
McLaren's early history is one of fractured families, student riots and art college sit-ins. In 1971 he opened a profitable outlet for his outsider stance through the most English of institutions - shopkeeping. Kicking against the trends of glam, hot pants and heavy rock, McLaren, and girlfriend Vivienne Westwood, sold fifties outfits and rock 'n' roll accessories to Teddy Boys and bikers at the wrong end of King's Road (430: formerly the site of Hung On You, Mr Freedom and Paradise Garage) nestling like a neighbour from hell next to the Chelsea Conservative Club.

Three years later they refitted the shop as SEX, retailing rubberwear to suburbanites and creating a catalogue of inflammatory imagery that brought police raids, confiscations and later an arrest for wearing the infamous two cowboys shirt in public. Still at 430 King's Road, Seditionaries: Clothes For Heroes opened in '77, with a collection consolidating all that had gone before: rock 'n' roll and cultural icons reformatted in shock-horror collages, under-the-counter imagery posterised in cartoon colours or stenciled with situationist slogans - and adding spiky new lines: tartan bondage suits, long sleeve muslins, Spider-man boots and parachute shirts.

By the mid-seventies, following a brief period managing the New York Dolls (dressing them in red patent leather and hammer and sickle imagery), slow-shifting whispers about the hate couture on sale at 430 King's Road drew new blood to the shop, becoming something of a club house for a handful of bored teenagers. And, like a dayglo Fagin, McLaren focused and stoked this shapeless momentum into a movement of Molotov cocktail combustibility. When punk, the Pistols and all hell finally broke loose, it was just another chapter from the McLaren scrapbook of anarchy, chaos and controversy, but a chapter that perhaps overshadowed his other hits and highlights..
Designing the costumes for That’ll Be The Day
Recruiting college chum and member of Suburban Press Jamie Reid as punk's graphic designer
Creating the template of historical references and Burundi Beats for Adam Ant
Spotlighting Boy George's potential as frontperson (George performed with a pre-Annabella Bow Wow Wow)
Styling Bow Wow Wow’s pirate chic, which, underwrote the new romantic wardrobe.
Breaking Hip Hop in the UK by way of Channel 4 'Tube' special.
Putting world music on a world stage with his Duck Rock album

Whatever you're take on him is, the fact remains, McLaren was a career subversive, a serial situationist and a repeat offender - before, during and after punk. His real skill was technique more than talent, mixing and matching mediums - film, fashion, politics and Pop Art - although music was always a key ingredient (just lend an ear to the SEX jukebox). Whether dressing New York street-toughs in red leather, London bovver boys in Destroy shirts or discovering adolescents in launderettes and Harlem based break dancers - mixing street level chic with with art school concepts for maximum publicity was his signature style. I'll leave the final word to Barry Cain, who worked with McLaren on his (still unreleased) autobiography.
"He’s the Brian Clough of pop who should’ve managed England. Knowing Malcolm, I think love got in the way – he’s an incurable romantic. But we should all be thankful he turned the world dayglo"
The New York Dolls - Red Patent Leather
Recorded while McLaren was the Dolls manager and taken from a live set that also includes Something Else later covered by Sid Vicious.
Bow Wow Wow - C30, C60, C90 Go
Sun, sea and music piracy
Malcolm McLaren - Buffalo Girls 12"
Arguably the track that sparked hip hop's global explosion.
This really is a marvellous, marvellous piece of footage. Taken from the Dress For Pleasure documentary it uncovers SEX's bread and butter customers. Watch out for the chap who looks like Stanley Unwin, casually chatting at home in his black rubber number.
Recommended Reading...
The Wicked Ways of Malcolm McLaren
England's Dreaming
No Future: Sex,Seditionaries and the Sex Pistols
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
But Boy Could He Play Guitar

On January the 1st 1970 Yorkshire folkie Michael Chapman released his second album Fully Qualified Survivor, a record that passed with few fanfares or fireworks (apart from John Peel crowning it 'Album of the Year'). Forty years on, the album pooling all the elements for the post sixties Bowie tone remains an overlooked obscurity.The Velvets, Iggy and Dylan may get the knowing nods for the rise of Ziggy Stardust but the core components are much closer to home.
Produced by Gus Dudgeon, with string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster, both having worked on Chapman's debut Rainmaker - and Bowie's Space Oddity in between - it's Chapman's choice of fretman for 'Fully Qualified Survivor' that's the key ingredient here. Handpicked from Hull, and making his recording debut is - Mick Ronson.
Ronno's glittering riffs and runs electrify the album's open aired fuggyness of acoustic shuffles, lumpen drums and sparkling guitar work. Effectively it's a style that informs The Man Who Sold The World through to Ziggy Stardust. In the the same way Anthony Newley and this chap (no it's not Bowie singing honest!) were borrowed for Bowie's vocal coat of many colours, Chapman's chewed 'S's, fey waywardness and louche-lipped, gin-soaked vocals seem to have been appropriated as the voice of choice for DB's heavy hippy moonage daydreaming.
We've already documented, Bowie's magpie eye for talent, so it's no surprise that shortly after Fully Qualified Survivor's release, Ronson and Hull-based band mates Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey were recruited for Bowie's new band The Hype eventually evolving into The Spiders From Mars until Ziggy broke up the band.
If you're familiar with the Dame's pre-Pinups discography (Pin ups drummer Ansley Dunbar also appears on Rainmaker) Fully Qualified Survivor will get you spotting a references from the off. Build in the space-age mod clobber of a Droog suit, top it off with Vivienne Westwood's feather cut, and all the pieces fall into place.
Michael Chapman - Soulful Lady
Eleven months later Bowie releases The Man Who Sold The World
Micheal Chapman can be visited online at...
Michael Chapman's official website
Michael Chapman on Myspace
Labels:
60s,
70s,
before they were famous,
bowie,
folk,
glam,
guitar,
hippy hippy shakers,
historock,
pop-lifting,
you heard it here first
Friday, October 2, 2009
Funky Friday - All Girl Action

Caroline Munro (pictured above) Bond Girl, scream queen and B movie pinup - can also be spotted in this Manikin cigars ad' and duetting with Gary Numan on Pump Me Up - I say!!
Caroline Munro - This Sporting Life

After our 'school's out' bell had rung, I'd hoof home, like a wide-eyed loon hoping to catch any glimpse of ITV'sTara King era Avengers repeats*sighs*
Linda Thorson - Here I Am

And there's a great, great thread on the TV crushes on The Word website here if you fancy putting your hormones into hijinx.
Labels:
60s,
70s,
before they were famous,
Funky Friday,
mod,
retromania,
tv
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
My First Vinyl Rip!
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...
Head Hands and Feet - Warming Up The Band
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...
Labels:
70s,
before they were famous,
hippy hippy shakers,
pop quiz,
R.O.C.K,
retromania,
vinyl
Friday, February 20, 2009
Funky Friday - The Hair Flare Bunch

I’m guesting over at Devil Dick's blog today with brand new bespoke mix - ’33 and a 3rd Eye’ - that scrapbooks heavy mod, rocking hippy and some swishy sounds of the underground into a 70 minute blitz of grooving guitar based goodies - there’s a taste test below – but the full fat version is available right here..
33 and a 3rd Eye trailer
Two tracks I couldn’t seem to squeeze in - and one that I could, form a trio of early doors appearances, and low key/in disguise numbers featuring some of rock’s heaviest-hitters..
Jeff Beck (with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood)- All Shook Up
And the Magical Mystery Tunage...
Who are the undercover rockers masquerading as The Murgatroyd Band and doing the Jenny Hanley anthem
‘Magpie’
Or the anon' artist lending some welly to this budget comp cover of..
Spirit In The Sky..
I know who the last two are - but do you????
If this a touch too crash, bang, wallop - and you fancy something lighter on it's feet - why not try the confessions of a drummer...it's disco a go-go
Friday, November 14, 2008
Funky Friday - What You Need You Have To Borrow
Popular opinion would have you believe 'Young Americans' was a calculated attempt by Bowie to attract the attention of, a so far, apathetic American audience by dropping the glam rags and reinventing himelf as a seventies soul boy. Realistically it was more of a revert to type. Ziggy only lasted 18 months, and snappily suited dance fan rather than outsider-outfits has been Bowie's default career setting (Mod, Young Americans, The Thin White Duke, Lets Dance, Tin Machine...).
Dig a little deeper and you'll also find he'd started dabbling with Disco a year earlier - alongside pet projects and helping hands for Lou Reed, Iggy and The Stooges, Mott The Hoople during 1973, Bowie had also found time to write and produce one full album 'People From Good Homes' (recognise that line from a later song) for his backing vocalists The Astronettes which was dressed in a disco trim...
The Astronettes - I Am Divine

During the Young Americans sessions, Luthor Vandross (in pink above and blue below) had become an almost honorary member of the Astronettes - joining them at recording sessions, and for an appearance on the Dick Cavett show

Luther Vandross - Funky Music
During his Dick Cavett set, Bowie also covered The Flares 'Footstompin', which had been given a seventies style re-riffing by Carlos Alomar. A riff, which one month later became worked up into 'Fame' by Bowie and Lennon (with Alomar getting a composer credit for his contribution).
The Flares - Foot Stompin
As well as having a magpie's eye for bright ideas and what's hot - Bowie also clonked out some cracking compositions of his own - an unreleased original being...
David Bowie - After Today
I will get the Bowie-handbrake on soon, it's just that I've been ploughing through the Tony Visconti biog' this week, and have just hit the 'Young Americans' chapter you see.
However, if you fancy more Bowie business an excellent companion to his mid-seventies period is the excellent Golden Years website

Labels:
70's,
before they were famous,
bowie,
disco,
Funky Friday,
historock,
pop-lifting,
Soul
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Grotbags A-Go-Go

Better know as 'Grotbags' from the Rod Hull and Emu show.
Carol was something of a cabaret legend before crossing over to TV, working with stars like Max Wall, Arthur Askey, Morecambe & Wise, Ella Fitzgerald and Tommy Cooper - there's an cabtastic interview with her here - on the Licorice Soul website. I first picked up on this tune via the mighty Licorice Soul Working Mans Soul album, a cracking comp' of classic cabaret turns.
The final rundown looks like this...
1) Kiki Dee - The Day Will Come Between Sunday And Monday
2) Brotherhood Of Man - Reach Out Your Hand
3) Carol Lee Scott - That Little Bit Of Love
As young Mr Grace used to say "You've all done very well" so here is the Tronik shredit of N.F.Porter's Keep On Keepin' On
Orig' version
Friday, October 24, 2008
Funky Friday - Who The Funk Are You?
Well Pop pickers - it’s something a bit diff’ for this week’s Funky Friday..
Can you work out who’s who on this tricky trio of mystery tunes? Can You do it? Of course you can. The prize of an exclusive ‘Tronik Youth’ shredit of a Northern Soul Classic will go to first past the post(ish)
I ran these three nugg's past Marmite when I bumped into him on the Fenchurch Flyer earlier this week - he managed a healthy crack at it and was certainly in the right territory for all tracks...so I reckon it's doable, but will give one clue for starters.
All artists are British
Mystery Track 1
Mystery Track 2
Mystery Track 3
Now, you could go a’Googling for clues – but do you really want to live with the head-a'hanging shame of knowing you’ve had a dodgy ace up your internetty.
Labels:
60's,
70's,
before they were famous,
Funk,
Funky Friday,
northern soul,
pop quiz,
Soul
Friday, September 12, 2008
Funky Friday - The Groover
Marc Bolan is the archetypal UK rock star - a pop pace setter always several stealthy steps and styles ahead of the rest of rock's runners and riders, including an untimely death 31 years ago - early doors East End proto mod, pre-hippy days Tolkien folksy bloke, gone glam before all other gang bangers and one of the only old wavers inclusive of and included by the new wavers.So, how do you pop, skip and jump from Mod Bolan to Modfather? Like this...
John's Children - Hot Rod Mama (BBC Session)
Which was covered by Marsha Hunt as...
Hot Rod Poppa
Which was sampled by Paul Weller for...
Always There To Fool You
Which is the instrumental version of...
There's also a couple of more up to date, but down tempo T Rex pieces on the other side - including an interview with Marc Bolan just before he died.
Labels:
BBC Sessions,
before they were famous,
Funky Friday,
glam,
historock,
Marc Bolan,
mod,
pop-lifting,
T.Rex
Friday, March 14, 2008
Funky Friday - Before They Were Famous

It's a Mod Mod Mod world on Funky Friday this week, and a celebration of the first steps of all things swishy, swinging and sixties...In the red Mini - there's a fistful of early doors appearances from proto popsters performing soul stompers here on Planet Mondo
In the white Mini - 'Cool Britannia' a bespoke 'Funky Mod Mix' - 45 minutes of 45s, rarities, obscurities and cinematic tracks is available for download by way of Fu Fu Stew
And in the blue Mini - a selection of blues boom guitar a go-go goodies and my big bang theory of rock are up for grabs in more guest blogging over on The Axe Victim
So the pre fame fruggery and funkiness comes in the form of light entertainers and lungbusters like...
David Essex - yes him from 'Rock On' 'Tahiti'and 'Nightclubbing' getting all Northern Souly
David Essex - So-Called Loving.mp3
Elkie Brooks - yes her from 'Pearl's A Singer' and 'Lilac Wine' sounding just like a proper Ronette.
Elkie Brooks - The Way You Do.mp3
And the atomic Tom Jones huffing, puffing and bellowing the house down on his first single 'Chills and Fever'
'Chills and Fever' is part of the ''Cool Britannia' mix (available at )Fu Fu Stew which continues the 'Before They Were Famous' theme, with appearances from Quincy Jones, Lulu, Tony Newman (later working with Bolan and Bowie), Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker as the rhythm section of The Graham Bond Organisation.
Here's the full menu and a two minute taste test
Michael Caine on Swinging London
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - Cool Britannia
The Small Faces - Grow Your Own
Georgie Fame - Somebody Stole My Thunder
Graham Bond Organisation - Long Tall Shorty
Tom Jones - Chills And Fever
Loose Ends - Taxman
Bo Street Runners - Drive My Car
Lulu - Feelin' Alright
Jack Bruce – The Ministry Of Bag
Shotgun Express - Curtains
The Shadows - Scotch On The Socks
The Kinks - Brainwashed
Quincy Jones - It's Caper Time
Lord Sitar - I Can See For Miles
The Who - Heatwave
Zoot Money - Uncle Willie
Tony Newman - Let The Good Times Roll
Keith Mansfield - Young Scene (Theme from The Big Match)
The Italian Job -Getta Bloomin' Move On! (The Self Preservation Society)
So get on over and fill your Chelsea boots with 'Cool Britannia'

Jude Rodgers also has some sixties glossy pop amazingness from a very young Gloria Hunniford
Labels:
before they were famous,
Funky Friday,
guest blogging,
mini mix,
mixes,
mod,
northern soul
Friday, February 1, 2008
Funky Friday - Funky Music, Funky Moves
Blimey O'Riley, it seems like a lifetime since we got on the good foot here on Planet Mondo, but there's plenty of tasty treats on offer today.
Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings franticly funky rework of - 'I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)' - orginally a Psych Rock groover by the First Edition featuring Kenny Rogers - set to a display of spectacular fruggery.
A crazy ace clip of the First Edition, performing 'Condition' with Kenny Rogers looking for all the world like a gripping hands Action Man.
And a stunning bass masterclass, with a home made vid' of a 'have a go hero' playing the bassline along to MVP's Northern Soul stomper 'Turning My Heartbeat Up. If you don't know 'Heartbeat', it's a simmering starter that goes through the gears to an eventual giddy tizz and fireworks finale. I'd never noticed the bass run on 'Heartbeat' until watching this clip, seeing it in almost isolation is stunning.
If you've only got time for one clip, to quote James Brown "please, please, please" watch the bass vid.
In the mood to bust some moves like these? Then get on over James Brown dance class here at the marvellous Landcroft House blog.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).mp3
Doesn't Kenny Rogers looking like one of these ?.
The First Edition - I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).mp3
I really could watch this all day.
The MVP's - Turning My Heartbeat Up.mp3
There's also some footage of a Northern Soul dancer set to 'Heartbeat'
here but I find the over use of slo-mo doesn't really suit the mood.
Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings franticly funky rework of - 'I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)' - orginally a Psych Rock groover by the First Edition featuring Kenny Rogers - set to a display of spectacular fruggery.
A crazy ace clip of the First Edition, performing 'Condition' with Kenny Rogers looking for all the world like a gripping hands Action Man.
And a stunning bass masterclass, with a home made vid' of a 'have a go hero' playing the bassline along to MVP's Northern Soul stomper 'Turning My Heartbeat Up. If you don't know 'Heartbeat', it's a simmering starter that goes through the gears to an eventual giddy tizz and fireworks finale. I'd never noticed the bass run on 'Heartbeat' until watching this clip, seeing it in almost isolation is stunning.
If you've only got time for one clip, to quote James Brown "please, please, please" watch the bass vid.
In the mood to bust some moves like these? Then get on over James Brown dance class here at the marvellous Landcroft House blog.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).mp3
Doesn't Kenny Rogers looking like one of these ?.
The First Edition - I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).mp3
I really could watch this all day.
The MVP's - Turning My Heartbeat Up.mp3
There's also some footage of a Northern Soul dancer set to 'Heartbeat'
here but I find the over use of slo-mo doesn't really suit the mood.
Monday, January 7, 2008
There's Good Rocking

Hurrah for the 8th of January. "Why the 8th of January?" they chorused.
It's the birthday Of Elvis Presley and David Bowie of course. But as well as sharing the same date of birth there are several other Elvis/Bowie connections, here are 8 of them....
1) Bowie is quoted as saying "Elvis was a major hero of mine. I was probably stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something."
2) Both had tragedies with their brothers - Elvis' twin Jesse, died at childbirth. Bowie's half-brother Terry, was a schizophrenic who committed suicide in 1985.
3) They were both comic book fans - Elvis's hair and capes were inspired by Captain Marvel, and both used a 'Shazam' style lighting strike symbol - Elvis for the 'Taking care of Business' logo, Bowie for Aladdin Sane.

4) Bowie's manager Tony DeFries styled himself as a 1970s Colonel Tom Parker (Elvis's notorious cigar smoking Manager) a factor in Bowie signing to RCA also Elvis's label, and the DeFries Mainman Management logo being designed to look a cigar band.

5) The Kubrick Link - Elvis's seventies shows started with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" from '2001: A Space Odyssey'. During the Ziggy period Bowie used the 'Clockwork Orange' version of Beethoven's 'Ninth Symphony' for his intro' music.
6) Apparently Bowie wrote Golden Years for Elvis but recorded it himself after Presley turned it down.
7) The 1972 Thailand reissue of 'Space Oddity' featured as Elvis's 'Fool' as the B-side.

8) They've both recorded Beatles covers which are still in the vaults;
Elvis - Lady Madonna ( with Elvis seemingly 'effing and jeffing' around the 'make ends meet' line).
Bowie - Penny Lane (with an extremely flaky accent on 'customer').
And as if by magic....
Elvis Presley - Lady Madonna.mp3
David Bowie - Penny Lane.mp3
Labels:
70's,
before they were famous,
bowie,
Comics,
Cover Versions,
Elvis,
Elvis Presley,
historock,
rock
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