The Cosmic Dancer and Cilla

Marc and Cilla

It seems appropriate to bookend this 30th anniversary weekend with another Marc Bolan moment, and only the seventies could bring you a moment like this.

Light Entertainment meets Glam Rock, as Marc Bolan and Cilla Black duet on Cosmic Dancer from the Cilla Show. Unfortunately the old spoilsport who uploaded this video hasn't allowed embedding so you'll gave to click on the "Marc and Cilla" link above to view it.

And if you've got time why not have a peep at this mini documentary. A six minute summary of Bolan and Glam with contributions from Sandie Shaw, Captain Sensible, Mick Rock, Johnny Marr and Marc Almond




One of the things I've noticed over the 3Oth anniversary of his death is how many blogs and bloggers with impeccable record collections, impossibly rare or tastefully trendy downloads haven't just written about Marc Bolan, but have written enthusically about Marc and his music without irony or Rock Snobbery, as Marc Bolan and T.Rex fans.

Two of the best pieces I've come across are below, and both are based around visits to the Memorial site yesterday.

Piley

The Ghost of Electricity


It seems even 30 Years after his death, Marc Bolan is still as cool as ever.

"Me I funk but I don't care
I ain't no square with my corkscrew hair " - Telegram Sam

It Was 30 Years Ago Today Pt. 2 - The Rex Factor

"Goodbye from all the boys in the band, David (Bowie),everybody,all the cats you know who they are" were his final words on TV.

I won't blab on about Marc Bolan, there'll be stacks of facts flying around this anniversary weekend. Instead I've picked 2 clips that show why, at just over five feet tall he towers above any of todays pop pretenders.

I've also popped a couple of T. Rextra bonus rarities/obscurities at the bottom for download. Slider or Tanx are my recommended Albums if you enjoyed these T.Rex treats and fancy digging deeper.


20th Century Boy - from Beat Club

This is the best version EVER!!!! of 20th Century Boy, where Marc swishes like a star,and struts like champ. Grinding his guitar all the way





Next To You - from The Marc Show

Bowie and Bolan (the Dynamic Duo of Glam) duetting on a some demolition riffery in Marc's final TV appearance. This is one of only 2 songs that Bowie and Bolan wrote togther. Bolan had to be stood on a box to get in shot with Bowie, but he takes a tumble at the end.

Look out for Herbie (who wrote the bass line for Walk on The Wild Side)Flowers on Bass he also played with Bowie and Lou Reed. Tony Newman on drums, who'll be on Funky Friday soon. And spot the Raleigh Stryker T Shirt.




T. Rextras - offline at the moment

Get It On
- rocking version, of a work in progress studio run through as Bolan gives directions to the band

Sunken Rags - an .alt version slightly punchier take of Sunken Rags

Raw Ramp - brilliant overlooked B side

Thunderwing - should've been a single.

Les Paul - He's a Real Person and He's Still Alive

The phrase "Les Paul" is regularly bounced around like a brand name, but unless you're a guitar player, music anorak or Jazz fan - you may not have realised there is a real life Mr Les Paul.

This 2 minute mini clip is Les in action, and shows all you need to know about modern guitar playing in under 3 minutes - rocking riffs & rythms, cool chords, bouncing bass and shredding lead.



Les Paul is the Leonardo Da Vinci of modern music. He invented multi track recording, but most importantly designed and built the solid body electric guitar as we know it today. Guitars which, as Nik Cohn says in Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom "Came on like space age musical monsters and, immediately, wiped out all of the politeness that had gone before".

Les is a Jazzer rather than a Rocker, and if he'd have known that Jimmy Page's Gibson Les Paul would be wacked with a violin bow, Pete Townsend's would be smashed to smoke and splinters, or seen what Bowie would do to Mick Ronson's - he may well have burnt the blueprint.


Les Paul is 92 and still plays once a week at Iridium Jazz Club in New York.

Randomiser number 2 - Never Mind The Balearics

Every time an unexpected winner, a long lost favourite or previously unheard nugget shuffles it’s way into play on my mp3 player. I log it in the blog. This time its;

Los Punkrockers – Pretty Vacant.mp3







Imagine if Manuel from Fawlty Towers had gone giddy with the Punky spirit of 77, jacked in his job at the hotel and started a Spanish punk band (perhaps called The Siberian Hamsters) that only played Sex Pistols songs. It wouldn't sound unlike Los Punkrockers.

This cover of Pretty Vacant comes from the album Exitos de Sex Pistols. Which is a complete track for track, straight ahead (no flamenco guitars,castanets or handclaps) rework of The Sex Pistols NMTB.

I haven't found much ‘net news about the band or the album, but the general theory seems to be that it was recorded somewhere in Spain around 1978. I'm guessing that the line up may have included Juanny rotten, and Seneor Vicous (who replaced Glen Matador),

Theres some tip top 'lost in translation' lyrics on it

Pretty Vacant " we’re so pretty oh so pretty … wee Will Carter"

Bodies "she was girl from Bimingham - her name was Colin, childhood express"

It's like Channel 9 version of punk, sort of Holidays in the Scorchio

What a gem - Fill your Doc Martens while you can.




Thanks to Agent Paul Cooper giving me the tip off about this peachy piece of punk obscurity.

It Was 30 Years Ago Today Pt. 1 - Elvis

Instead of adding to the flood of anniversary facts, theories and opinions about Elvis on the ‘net - I’m going let the music speak for itself, by listing 5 tracks (and the albums they come from) which really capture the essence of Elvis for me


Hound Dog - A Golden Celebration

This the version where Elvis bump-and-grinds himself into TV history. Stunning.
Can you imagine how shocking this must have been back in the black and white 50’s?????


Baby What Do You Want Me To Do? - Memories-The '68 Comeback Special

While most musicians of the time were becoming strung out stoners. Elvis was back in black leather.


Only The Strong Survive - The Memphis Record

Soul, Gospel, Raw Blues, Bacharach tunes, – Its all here. Elvis goes Northern Soul on this track


I Didn’t Make It On Playing Guitar - Essential Elvis Vol.4: a Hundred Years from Now

Undubbed, and unedited. Elvis and the band tear it up live in the studio, without the usual choir of angels backing vocals or sugary strings.


I've Got A Feelin' In My Body - Essential Elvis Vol 5 Rhythm and Country

Elvis in full funk mode. And there’s country, folk and acoustic - all recorded at Stax studios. He may be a bit wobbly on a couple of tracks. But, Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues, and For Ol’ Times Sake are his best ballads ever.

Randomizer number 1 - A Track Could Get Lost

Following on from the random ramble in my last post, (which was prompted by the track below suddenly being dusted off, cued up and cranked by my Creative Zen player while in shuffle mode) I’ve decided that every time an unexpected winner, a long lost favourite or previously unheard nugget shuffles it’s way into play on my mp3 player. I’m going to log it in the blog.

The first one up is

Soft Cell - A Man Could Get Lost (Instrumental version)




I hadn’t heard this track for at least 20 years, had completely forgotten about it , and didn’t even know it was 1 of the 10,000 tracks on my player until shuffle threw this non stop nugget into the spotlight yesterday

What a winner!! It’s packed full of fat analogue 80’s synths and drums, fizzing, whizzing and clapping away, there's thumping riffs and glossy pop hooks, wrapped in a shadowy, sleazy darkness that Soft Cell did so well. But, the most amazing thing is how clubby and contemporary it sounds. I can’t believe it’s over 25 years old, it’s got such a trendy sparkle that it could be a Tronik Youth
or Mylo remix

How come bootleg remixers, and TV advertisers have let this elctro cracker of track slip through the net

If you’ve got A Man Could Get Lost somewhere spin it up today, if you haven’t treat yourself and download it.

A Man Could Get Lost is available on Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing here

And there’s great feature on the recording of Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing by Mike Thorne here

The Random Button That Changed The World

Who would have thought that one tiny button could have changed the world, the way we listen to, buy and collect music. Who is the anonymous boffin that when they were developing CD players, snapped their fingers and decided (in a Jeff Goldblum voice) “what we need is a randomizer”?

When CD’s were first hyped in the 80’s, all the puff n' promo was about the shiny new Tonka toy technology which was virtually indestructible. Unlike dusty ol’ vinyl, You could cover CD’s in jam (but why would you want to?) and they would still deliver perfect sound. You could gauge them with 6 inch nails (would you do this to vinyl??) and they could still carry on playing. They should last forever -(they wouldn't, and definitely not if you looked after them like that.)

When I got my first Sony CD player in 1986 the new digitized sound was ok - It was louder, the cosy hissy clicks had gone, and I didn't have to get up to turn anything over. But the one thing that totally changed the way I listened to music was the random/shuffle button .

No more mentally cueing up what was coming next on the album. Suddenly everything was non linear and out of context. All my ol’ favourites and not so favourites were randomly popping up like fireworks and going off all over the place. A couple of years laterI got my first multi disc CD player, and was in random mix up meltdown.

But it seems it wasn’t just me that had a buzz for shuffling . Apple achieved global domination and branding, by merging the principal of multi disc CD players, with the random/shuffle button and distilling it into the iPod. Which in turn changed the way people, buy, store and listen to music. Randomizing is so popular that Apple managed to redefine it again with the iPod shuffle. And now Radio stations like Jack FM in the states, that are based around randomizing instead of heavily formatted, playlisted shows are becoming big news. They’re even coming over here, Jack FM is being trialled in Oxford right now.

Whoever it was that came up with the "random" button , should have patented it. They would have made Bill Gates or tetra pack type fortune by now if they had.

Electronic Tagging

I haven't been on the Blog lately as I’ve been mad busy with compiling, mixing, and even DJ’ing for the past few weeks, but will be filling in the blanks and dropping some links to these things soon

Me ol mate Marmite

http://marmiteboy.blogspot.com/

has jump started me into action by tagging me, here are the rules:

Let others know who tagged you. (See above)

Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
Those who are tagged should post these rules and 8 random facts.

Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Random Fact 1
My last foreign holiday was Belgium - where there's loads of luscious food. Cakes, waffles, pancakes, ice cream, chocolate, frittes etc..plus the best beer ever – you can’t beat the Belgians for top trough.

RF 2

If I could go anywhere for my next one it would be Bora Bora

RF 3
My First James Bond film was Live and Let Die

RF 4
My first 18 (X) film was Saturday Night Fever, I was 12 at the time and had to wear platforms to get in.

RF5

I've been playing guitar for 26 years - but only learnt a scale 2 years ago, and my telecaster is always tuned to open G

RF 6

I've got a great idea for a film, and a sitcom. But will probably never get round to doing anything with either

RF 7
I wish someone would bring back these foody bits - Glees, Puffa Puffa Rice, Frys 5 centre chocolate, Buttersnap, Midnight Mint Choc Ice, Lord Toffingham Ice Lolly, The toffee n' mallow one in Black Magic, the Cracknel in quality St.

RF 8
My biggest regret is swapping an original Westwood & McLaren top for a frilly shirt. I would love to still own this great bit of gear for all sorts of reasons. It was an orange and red version of the one in the pic at the top. I bought in 1981 it from Worlds End in Kings Road for £30 while still at school (my part time Co –Op job earned me £15 a week), but swapped if for a frilly shirt while at art college. It would be worth a fortune now, and the frilly shirt would be worth less than it was then. How Gutted?

Myspace Mania

It’s been a week since I set up my Myspace site

and I can’t believe I didn’t do it years ago.

As far as the net goes I’ve been quite ahead of the game with most things Amazon, Ebay, dodgy sites for downloading music - I’ve been doing them all for years. So I don’t understand how Myspace slipped off the radar and has been a black hole in my cyberspace for so long

www.myspace.com/planetmondo

Like all the best web ideas – It’s completely democratic and a great leveler. whether you’re the biggest act in the world or a happy amateur like me, everyone has to strip it down to the same set format of 1 page and 4 songs (how you tweak, customize and put some fairy dust on the format is down to you). And like Ebay’s feedback system, the Myspace add friend idea is genius. It frames the context of your music and gives a bit of added celeb endorsed sparkle at the same time.

Already in the last week, my tracks have had more play, I’ve had more add requests and approvals than I would ever have expected.

Who needs stressy soundchecks, lugging amps around and mumblers at the bar while you’re trying to tear it up on stage for a handful of people. When anyone on the planet with a PC can be your audience 24 hours a day?

I’ve already got the buzz to get a second one up and running for my acoustic stuff, - Mellow Mondo

Watch this cyberspace for more info

21st Century Splashdown

After reading my mate Marmites marvellous blog at http://marmiteboy.blogspot.com/

I've been all inspired and have decided to blast off a blog from Planet Mondo - plus in the last couple of weeks I feel like I’ve finally landed in the 21st century;

I've set up a Myspace site www.myspace.com/planetmondo

Been downloading podcasts.

I’ve started this blog.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not new to the net - far from it. I've been surfing sites, bidding on bits, and downloading music for years. But It’s not the same as owning your own piece of cyberspace to polish, tweak and tinker with.

I’m not sure how this blog will shape up yet, or what I’ll be babbling on about but I imagine it’ll probably based around music related bits and bobs - albums, books, gigs, and guitars

Anyway if you do have 10 minutes to spare why not click here www.myspace.com/planetmondo and check out some of my tunes.