Chop, chop,chop. Phooey! There, there, there - ring any bells?
Bit of a mystery for May - references to several songs are scattered about the calendar:Roxanne, Say When, Friggin' in the Rigging, Albert Tatlock (B-side of Into the Valley). But what is Happiness (on the 5th)? I haven’t a clue and there's not a sniff or scrap to be seen in the charts.
In other news - A lost PE bag on the 4th, while Sycos (8th) was our scheme for a Warriors inspired gang (and weren't those Baseball Furies terrifying?). An idea that ran out of puff after buying a Warriors poster magazine.
Beach by bike (13th) - was an icy highlight. Being a glorious, glowing summery Sunday, a mate (birthday on Feb 18th) and I jumped from a seafront jetty into a chilling, winter-temperature Thames. A short, sharp shock topped off with slow-onset cramp as we swam back to shore.
And it's My First Buys for lifelong favourites Bowie and The Damned (although I always wanted the Vanian edition cover really). As well as a vinyl rip, I'm also pitching in two Love Song rarities. The bass-intro free, demo versh and an unreleased alt.mix by Southender Ed Hollis - brother of Mark (Talk Talk) Hollis.
It's a tricolore of treats for this week's Funky Friday, and almost a cyber-style student exchange, wherein Anglo-pop gets the Français translation treatment and a cult Kids TV star (from La Maison de Tu Tu) goes undubbed and au naturel .
You may not recognise the titles - but you'll know the tunes pop pickers..
Un grand merci is due to Will from the wonderful World of Kane for pitching this sprightly slice of French library music onto my wavelength. Two minutes of high-kicking, fast-fizzing riffing, perfect for some sort of explosive show-opener coreographed for that lot atop the page - or someone who lives in a house like this..
Jack Arel is one of France's most prolific library composers, with pieces occasionally making UK TV screens soundtracking The Sweeney and The Prisoner. On the 27th of this month, a double CD set of Arel originals and remixes finally ships to these shores, having been released in France last year - you can test de goût a few and read his full history at the Jack Arel Myspace site
For more sons français, you really must get your mitts on Blow Up's Exclusive Blend Volume 3. A rue-rocking comp of hits, highlights and secoueur de jambe trawled from the vaults of France's Telemusic library, that includes this free-wheeling pépite from Bernard Estardy.
I'm afraid I can't stretch to the belt-busting treat of a Wimpy International Grill (you've got love 'em for still hanging on in there with the 'Wimpy Bender' haven't you), but can serve you up a platter of refried favourites and vintage hits spiced with an international twist
And two tunes suggested by Sour Crout from The Word blogs, via a thread offering the original French lanuage version of Denis (Sylvie), Elbow reworked by The Big Ghana Band and Benny translating Ca Plane Pour Moi into Bin Wieder Frei (although I've a spark of an idea for a future Benny blog-bit)
As an antidote to the shoulder-slumping parade of puppets, poppets and gumps that is the Eurovision Song Contest, May is World Music Month on the PM blog. We start off on the road to Brazil with probably one of the finest tunes ever logged in my cyberspace scrapbook - Não Aguento Você
It may sound like a song reformed from Set Me Free and Sha-na-na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - but bounces and breezes with the sort of tropical waft that the Brazilians do so well. See also Menino
Hurrah for bank holidays and short weeks – in fact, I’m getting in the mood of the moment by giving myself the day off and handing over to Budd Schifrin – who has kindly rattled up an 8 track mix of the zingingest, swingingest selections, as free and easy as a Riveria affair. You can catch all of Budd’s mixes and imagined soundtracks at his blog… Jazz, Funk, Lounge and Library grooves.
Hi! I started my blog in February and this is now my 20th post. The posts relate to my love of jazz, funk, soundtrack, Latin and lounge/library grooves. All have a theme (such as cinematic vocals, electric piano, wah wah Latin grooves, mellow flute etc). When I was asked by Mondo to do a Funky Friday guest spot how could I refuse! I have been following his blog for some time and dig the mix of music and commentary.
For the mix, I have tried to give you a taste of each comp I have done so far (groovy or cinematic vocals, lounge/easy and soundtrack grooves). The theme which links them is ‘time’. (I am a bit obsessive when it comes to this topic being an avid vintage watch collector!)
The first track ‘Funky, how time can change the meaning of the word’ is a hilarious look at what ‘funky’ is/was! The next track ‘Holiday Time’ is a funky mellow lounge classic! It’s performed by Hildegard Knef. If you like this saucy German vocal then look out for the tracks ‘Berlin’ by Heidi Bruhl and ‘Easy Evil’ by Frits Kaatee and Jeanette Corde. However, if you’re not fond of ‘Ze German’ accent (Heaven forbid!), then try the Gian Franco Pienzio tune on my recent ‘Piano Party 2’ comp. It has a similar (but instrumental) vibe to ‘Holiday Time’. The next two tracks , ‘There was a Time’ and ‘Injury Time’ are great piano and sax tunes.
‘Time on my Hands’ is a beautiful cinematic vocal. It feels contemporary, like Tracy Thorn from Everything but the Girl could have sung it. I never would have thought it came from 1972!
Next up is ‘Time’ by the Ju-Par Universal Orchestra. It’s a wonderful breezy vocal track, funky and easy. ‘Time to Love’ is a gentle flute gem with great orchestrations. Finally, ‘A moment in Time’ ends the mix with a great summer sounding orchestral tune with wah wah guitar!
I hope you enjoy the mix, remember - we have all the time in the world!!
It's the return of 'Urcha' - Son of Urcha perhaps? Bit of a dry month entrywise, apart from new jeans, a karate poster (still in my mum's loft: the poster, not the jeans), one lost pound and slow down in the disco business.
Strangely, several of the tunes from this chart were bought but not captured in the calendar (Pop Muzik and Lucky Number were nearly, but not quite bagged too). So what Pick of the Pops should we go for..
Silly Thing - well, we had the Pistols last month I'm an Upstart - too rowdy Cool For Cats - strong possibility of getting blog-whacked (I had a DMCA takedown last week)
Meaning it can only be a reworked theme tune that is an urgent anthem for teenage tear-ups..
If you noticed Chic's I want your love in the chart above, there's a reggae refit right here if you fancy grabbing.
PS the ghost of Malcom McLaren haunts this chart.
Silly Thing - sleeve design by college chum Jamie Reid Pop Muzik - written and performed by college chum Robin Scott Siouxsie And The Banshees - managed by McLaren's assistant Nils Stevenson, whose brother Ray Stevenson was the Pistols first official photographer
"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..
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.
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.
What a week *sighs* of lazy loafing and sunny strolls around Stow-on-the-Wold. Where, bolt-holed away from the usual rush and bustle, a seven day stretch-out feels more like a fortnight. Highlights of this trip (our 9th now) include.
A cross-country ramble to Chastleton House. Sold by Robert Catesby (mastermind of Gunpowder/Parliment plot) to fund Guy Fawkes fireworks.
The Skids - TV Stars
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