Italian reader Luca has a guest spot over at Acid Ted where he regularly writes about the joys of Italian disco. Recently he bemoaned the lack of the 12" version of Bodybeat Blues by Yargo anywhere on the internet. I left a comment saying I might have it. I don't unfortunately, neither in physical format nor digitally. I do have the album Bodybeat though and the album version of the song. Sorry Luca.
Bodybeat Blues
To summarise, and I'm sure I've typed a paragraph very similar to this before, Yargo were the classic example of an 80s Manchester band who could pull a thousand people to a gig with an M postcode but were virtually unheard of elsewhere. Singer Basil Clarke (the owner of a golden voice that drew comparisons with Marvin Gaye), Phil Kirby and Paddy Steer (drums and bass) had all been in Biting Tongues (the former home of Graham Massey of 808 State and also a man called Eddie, who I know). Yargo played a Mancunian take on jazz, soul, reggae, ska and dub with a bit of rock too. Andy Diagram (trumpet, later in James) also passed through the ranks. Bodybeat, from 1987, is a lost gem, well worth checking out. They also did the theme tune to Anthony H Wilson's late night music show The Other Side Of Midnight, Granada region only, and the source of legendary live appearances by Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. Yargo split in 1991. Basil Clarke has made solo records and sung with Future Sound Of London. Listen to this below (or that above) and you'll see that they should have been much bigger than they were.
4 comments:
Great track and you're right: they should be bigger than they were.
I guess in the late 80's I was sort of a Manchester band mad. Yargo were huge in my world for a few years and it never dawned on me that they didn't really break out of their regional confines. I have to say finding their releases in NYC were pretty easy at the time, but then if I think about it, NYC has always been very welcoming to music from Manchester.
Sorry for leaving a comment this late but I’ve been away, I just got back yesterday, for the last few weeks I’ve had only a mobile web connection and leaving a comment on Blogger by mobile is fucking impossible due to this new image-based anti-spam verifying system. Thank you for sharing this incredibly good tune: the version I have on 12” is an Arthur Baker remix labelled ‘Latin Beat’, with ‘Help (The Stalwart Mix)’ and the album version of ‘Help’ as a double-A side. It’s a little bit shorter than the album version, I think, and with some added percussion. Not better, just as good. Sadly I don’t have any vinyl ripping device, but whenever I find one, I’ll send the result your way.
That'd be great Luca. The new mobile phone Blogger system is a pain the arse.
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