Swimming Not Skimming

I pulled out Two Lone Swordsmen's 1996 double album Swimming Not Skimming at the weekend, a record I haven't played for a long time. SNS was a mixture of new tracks from Weatherall and Tenniswood and some remixes. The vinyl always confused me- the tracklist and disc labelling was unclear and I wasn't sure what the different tracks were called until I became acquainted with the cd version and then later the internet could confirm which track was which. Additionally the cd had 10 tracks to the vinyl version's 7. Both formats have the same couple of remixes of stand-up bass tour de force Rico's Helly, almost worth the price of admission on their own. I was half tempted to post the whole thing but it is still available to buy digitally so decided against it. Here's a couple of tasters, one from the vinyl/cd and one from the cd alone.

This is the one that grabbed me most at the weekend. Blu Jack And Florence is extremely high quality machine funk, riding in on a mechanical rhythm. The bass hits at fifteen seconds and then the keyboards play around over the top. Wait for the synth strings come in at around 3.30. Hair-raising. The drums double up and it powers forward unrelenting.

Blu Jack And Florence

In The Nursery Visit Glenn Street was only on the cd (along with the lovely ambient opener Azzolini And the Branch Brothers Meet Being), a remix by In The Nursery (who had previously done a lovely, slightly spooky remix of Haunted Dancehall). Klive and Nigel Humberstone pull out the bassline and some ambient bubbling and add sweeping strings, a cinematic and celestial track to counter Blu Jack And Florence's more earthbound, booty shaking appeal.

In The Nursery Visit Glenn Street