I've developed a something of sweet tooth for sugar puff summer pop over the last couple of weeks (I'm not alone though, Claire Woo' and Five Centres have both had similar cravings) , I can trace mine back to the source when a cosy local BBC radio station played 'Sail On Sailor' as part of a 1973 chart rundown ('S.O.S' got to number 37) - and that was it - the tune was anchored in my head, repeat played several times on the bounce and has left me high, dry and buzzing for candy floss pop ever since.
Now, I've got a complete blind spot for the Beach Boys, I know 'Pet Sounds' is regularly pegged as a classic (not that I've heard it), but otherwise I couldn't tell you the blue flag beauty spots from the red flag danger zones in their back catalogue.
Wherever this tune sits in the ready reckoner of rock - guilty pleasure or buried treasure - 'Sail On Sailor' is a drifty dreamy honey coloured mellow belter, perfect for a summer soundtrack..
The Leigh Folk Festival is taking place, just round the corner from me this weekend. Criminally, considering it's only a twenty minute hoof - this year will be the first time I've actually wandered along. I'm not entirely sure to what to expect, but yelling, yodelling and some polite humored a hootin' and a howlin' are sure to feature on the fixtures list - let's hope some of it's as groovy as these green fingered funky folkies....
Donovan was discovered in Westcliff (about two miles, or two train stops ) down the line from the Leigh Folk Festival by Tin Pan Alley legend Peter Eden who until fairly recently ran an excellent second hand record and book shop in Leigh - 'Barabajagal' features The Jeff Beck Group doing the backing duties - you can smell the Zep' in this track. John Martyn - 'Dreams By The Sea'
I've always felt there's a touch of 'The Sweeney' style stake out texture about JM's snake hips shake down.
Like Bowie, Bolan and Rod Stewart - Robert Plant followed the same hop, skip and jump from Mod to Folk to Hippie before joining the rock aristocracy - you've got to love Zep for tempering their testosterock with both funk and folk.
If you do end up taking a trip to the Leigh Folk Festival( perhaps via the Fenchurch flyer) - keep an eye out for someone in a straw pork pie hat (yes, really!) sitting and sipping down by The 'Billet. ......To Rock God
I'm out and about for a few days - but while I'm on the hoof - riddle me this pop pickers? Why was this cheeky piece of pop perfectness only a mini blip and not a monster hit?
PS - if anyones's got a copy of the Mint Royale remix below (Frank Sinatra 'This Town') - could you do a bloke a flavour and knock me a copy? I'm buzzing for it.
Were you a sucker for seventies police shows ? I was. Although a bit too young to jog along with the plot for most of these shows, each one had it's own unique ingredient that kept me coming back.
Banacek - I liked the 'rowing' intro'. The Magician - Bill Bixby's 'fancy pants' white sports car . Macmillan and Wife - the eye soothing Susan St James *sighs*. Police Woman - Pepper Anderson *goes giddy at the memory*. Kojak - the snappy suits with swishy linings. Lollipops!.
But the the coolest cops on the block were always those wheel screeching, street prowling, thug busting, bonnet bouncing, trendy tog wearing, undercover cruisers Starsky and Hutch...
There's a ready reckoner of 70's detectives right here if you fancy a peep.
Adidas SL76s were worn by Paul Michael Glaser in Starsky and Hutch - luckily I mananged to grab a pair when they ran a limited reissue about 4 years ago.
I don't dislike Coldplay - there's too much motorhome and not enough motorhead about them to get your teeth into a proper huff 'n' puff (it's not like they're U2 or anything is it)? But I just find them a bit ... well - dull dumplings and stodge rock - I suppose. They come across like a grey gaggle of whey faced anonymous bods that would be middle managing if they weren't making million selling albums like 'Viva Lavida'.
As Simply Red are to Soul. As UB40 are to Reggae. As David Gray is to Bob Dylan. So Coldplay are to 'Indie' anthems
But to paraphrase The Troggs Tapes - sprinkle some fairy dust on the bastards - and they switch Cinderella style from John Major into John Travolta.
I'm a terror for a cover, and this selection taken from Spanky Wilson's 1968 album(or '69 - the date seems to switch from site to site) 'Doin It', are all high flying fatback funk-outs.
If you're not familiar with her name, you'll certainly know some of Spanky's musical chums and collaborators - Jazz and Soul heavy hitters like Duke Ellington, Lalo Schifrin, Marvin Gaye, Willie Bobo, Jimmy Smith and Sammy Davis, Jr - and more recently The Quantic Soul Orchestra for her 2006 album 'I'm Thankful'.
I first heard Spanky's re-fitted and re-funked verion of 'Sunshine' by way of Tom Middleton's impeccably eclectic and electrifyingly mixed The Trip (which has the strongest opening run of any comp' ever!)
Both map out the cultural earthquake shake up and chain reaction of cluster bomb bands that exploded following the big bang of punk - all documented from a ground zero perspective by bit part players and punk aristocrats.
So some contrast and compare, pre and post '77 tracks then...
An audience recording of the Sex Pistols (who were an unsigned band at the time) live in Burton on Trent from September 24th 1976 - check out Matlock's rubber ball basslines. No Feelings - Live at the 76 Club
Occaisonally you may notice my brother's name Tronik Youth popping up in the Mondo cyberspace scrapbook - well, as if he's not busy enough with gigging all over the globe and reworking and remixing tunes like this for The Gossip, The Rakes, and New Young Pony Club - the ol' clever clogs has also found time to clonk out his own shiny new single, 'Laugh Cry Live Die' it's out now (and available on iTunes from this week)- so why not try before you buy below...
Then perhaps check his MySpace site for mixes,live dates and details of a new piece of electrickery he's working on with Midfield General.
It's guest blogger time again - and today it's the turn of Piley from Start The Revolution Without Me who's testing the cleverness of your clogs by dishing up three mystery chunks of cheese and asking - can you unmask the artists? ....
Before I start, I'd just like to say a big thank you to Planet Mondo for asking me to be guest blogger this week, a great honour, especially on the now legendary Funky Friday…
Although my main music obsessions have always been on an indy/punky kinda vibe, I've always had a soft spot for a bit of the ‘ol easy listening. This is due in no small part to the kind of stuff my parents used to play ‘when I were a lad’.
So back in the early to mid-90s, I was delighted when the 'cheesy listening' phenomenon hit the clubs, and it always brought a smile to my face to see the uber-cool Britpop kids grooving on down to the likes of Alan Hawkshaw, Tony Hatch, Bert Kaempfert and The Button Down Brass (featuring of course, the funky trumpet of Ray Davies). Yet when some of these kids wandered off to the DJ booth to find out what they'd just been dancing to, you could see the disappointment in their faces, which is a shame, coz a quality tune is a quality tune right?
So, with the above in mind, I've selected three tracks from the Piley vaults -- all lovingly brought into the 21st century from my vinyl originals. However, I'm not telling you who these tracks are by… not yet anyway!
For the moment, just enjoy these three cool nuggets - and see if you can guess who the artists are. (Mondo’ll give you the answers in a few days time.
Amazingly pop pickers, this trio of mystery artists has been unmasked in one day (see the comments for the scores on the doors) - so here is the gallery of groovers..
In the meantime, if these tracks have given you the buzz to hear some classic lounge-i-fied cover versions, why not pop over to my place, where 'CHEESE' is very much on the menu this week -- and I've just served up three very big MP3 slices of the stuff!
The 333 Mother Club is not in anyway your typical run of the mill rock venue. The DJ picks 'n' mixes hits and obscurities from Johnny Ray belters to Mark Vidler booties. There's no stage. The room seems to be scattered with lost property oddities - umbrellas, dress maker's mannequins, Chestfield chairs and has the buzz of a bordello disco set dressed by The Munsters - all of which make it the perfect prowling ground for The Wolfmen.
After Molloy's electropoppingindiedisco(more on them soon) and Space Age sitar from Bishi , The Wolfmen were up and at 'em, flooring it from the off and coming at the crowd like greyhounds out of a trap - ripping straight into 'Needles In The Camel's Eye', 'Jackie Says' ,'Cecile' and showing off shiny new tunes like 'Better Days' (a ready made summer single if ever there was one) and 'Whack That Bass' from the due soon album 'Modernity Killed Everynight'. Aside from Eno's 'Needles', other covers included a pre Velvet's Lou Reed track 'Do The Ostrich' (as featured in The Word recently) and a Bollywood Burlesque meets Biker Bar remake/remodel of 'Silver Machine' when Bishi joined The Wolfmen to add some slinky sitar trims to the Space Rock classic.
Despite a monthly residency I haven't seen The Wolfmen in action since their debut gig last November, and this experience was more of an all out 'needles in the red' rocker than the Wolf Gang's first show, with a fistful tunes that compounded the stomp of Glam, the power of Punk and the sugary hooks of Hitsville U.S.A into a bundle as tight and tough as Bruce Lee's 'one inch punch'.
So, see you there next month - same Wolf-time same Wolf-channel.
I've developed a something of sweet tooth for sugar puff summer pop over the last couple of weeks (I'm not alone though, Claire Woo' and Five Centres have both had similar cravings) , I can trace mine back to the source when a cosy local BBC radio station played 'Sail On Sailor' as part of a 1973 chart rundown ('S.O.S' got to number 37) - and that was it - the tune was anchored in my head, repeat played several times on the bounce and has left me high, dry and buzzing for candy floss pop ever since.
