Raise Your View Of Heaven

There's nothing like coming back to a grey northern English August to bring a holiday abruptly to an end but as people say, 'don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened'. Italy was a delight in every way from the busy streets of Napoli to the epic nature and scale of Pompeii, the Bay of Naples and everything around overshadowed by Mount Vesuvius, to the beauty of the Amalfi Coast and its seaside towns. The picture at the top of the post was our view for five days, across the valley from or accommodation on the hillside in Pukara, Tramonti, the road to Maori way below us. 

Naples is a busy city with an energy very much its own. It's also filled with reminders that their football club, SSC Napoli, won Serie A in June, only the fourth time they've done so. Two of the previous championships were in the 1980s and due to the feet and brains of Diego Maradona, a man who has attained the status of deity in Napoli. 

Rock Section (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

In 2014 Julian Cope wrote some music to go with the fictional bands in his novel One Three One, 'a time shifting, Gnostic hooligan, road novel', set partly at the Italia '90 World Cup. It's a brilliant and wild read. The fullest realisation of the music came with the track named after the book's main character, Rock Section, which came with an Andrew Weatherall remix as a result of Weatherall's status as artist in residence at Faber and Faber, a post created for him by Lee Brackstone. Weatherall and Cope- what's not to like?

Rock Section was credited to Dayglo Maradona (a cover of a 1979 song by the also fictional Skin Patrol). For that name alone, Cope is a genius. The remix is one of those ones from his purple patch in the 2010s with Tim Fairplay as assistant knob twiddler and engineer. Faber and Faber released 250 copies on white vinyl. It's very rare but there's a copy on Discogs currently priced at £164.95 (plus shipping). Synth arpeggios, motorik drum machine beats, endless forward progression.

I could write about Pompeii and Herculaneum at length- maybe at some point soon I will. Both are awe inspiring places and to stand in their streets, at the shop counters, in the entrance halls and rooms of the villas and houses, to walk up the steps of the theatre and stand in the Forum, is to feel a direct link with the people of two thousand years ago who were surely just like us in many ways. They worked, they went to the shops to buy bread, spent their money on entertainment and wine, and if they could afford it bought paintings and pictures for their walls. The sheer scale of Pompeii is on its own mind blowing. We spent four hours there, wandering round the streets of the city and found something to discover on every corner. 

After a couple of days on the outskirts of Napoli we rented a car and after a stop off at the two Roman sites drove south to the Amalfi coast. Driving in Italy is not for the faint hearted and the roads over the mountains to Amalfi are an experience in themselves. Maiori and Minori are seaside towns, popular with the Italians as holiday destinations and we loved both (Maiori was closest to us and our main base for five days). I could have stayed longer- much longer. Italy is a beautiful country. 

More to follow. In the meantime this record celebrated thirty five years since its release this week in 1990. Thirty five years is ridiculous isn't it? It sounds too modern, too recent, to be three and a half decades old. And if you want to really fry your head thirty five years before that, it was 1955- the dawn of rock 'n' roll. 

Raise was the debut release by Bocca Juniors (and there's another Napoli/ Maradona link- Bocca Juniors are the Argentinian club Diego played for before his move to Europe in 1982, first to Barcelona and then to Napoli). The musical Bocca Juniors were Andrew Weatherall, Terry Farley, Pete Heller and Hugo Nicholson with vocals by Anna Haigh and a rap by Protege. 

Raise (63 Steps To Heaven) (Redskin Rock Mix)

Raise is summer of 1990 writ large, a huge dance tune with massive piano riff (cribbed from Jesus On The Payroll by Thrashing Doves but I think that that riff was re- purposed and beefed up from elsewhere, a house record whose name I've temporarily forgotten). Weatherall wrote the lyrics, partly borrowing from Aleister Crowley- 'do what they wilt shall be the whole of the law'- and partly a stand up and be counted throw down, 'Raise your hands if you think you understand/ Raise your standards if you don't'. It's a fantastic, huge sounding, grin inducing record. Bocca Juniors would go on to make another single, Substance, in 1991 and then Andrew split, deciding to go it alone and 'not make records by committee', choosing a different, less well trod and less well lit path. Not the last time he did that.

 

V.A. Saturday

Boy's Own began in 1987, four friends inspired by records, clubbing and clothes (and football)- they started a fanzine inspired by Peter Hooton's Liverpool based fanzine The End. Andrew Weatherall, Cymon Eckel, Terry Farley and Steven Hall had come together through connections in the Windsor/ Slough area and via Paul Oakenfold began hitting the early acid house clubs. Boy's Own ran for several years as a very funny, sharp and hipper- than- you fanzine, the 'acid house parish magazine'. I never saw a copy at the time but did pick up a few issues of The End. Eventually Boy's Own became a record label too and a band, Bocca Juniors, grew out of it releasing two singles, the first the superb Raise and a second, Substance. Boy's Own Recordings put out a series of the period's defining 12" singles, records by Less Stress, Jah Wobble, One Dove and LSK as well as their own Bocca Juniors singles. Eventually Andrew Weatherall moved on and did something different, as he was wont to do any times over the subsequent decades- he had a knack for knowing when to switch course or change lanes. 

In 1992 Farley and Hall created a spin off label, Junior Boy's Own which stated by putting out a run of essential 12" singles, some of the key dance music/ house/ techno releases of the mid- 1990s and then moving into the brave new world of dance acts making albums. The Chemical Brothers started on Junior Boy's Own and Underworld released their three 90s albums on the label, dubnobasswithmyheadman, Second Toughest In the Infants and Beaucoup Fish. In 1994 they compiled a various artists compilation that pulled together some of the records from those first few years, tracks that in some ways are the sound of the period- if you went clubbing in 1993/ 1994 you would have been dancing at some point in those long nights to some or all of Fire Island, X- Press 2, Underworld, Outrage, Roach Motel and The Dust Brothers. The influence of New York house, gay club culture and UK techno is here. The emerging sound of what would become Big Beat and the Heavenly Sunday Social scene can be found here too, not least in the massive sirens and crashing hip hop drums of Song To The Siren, The Dust Brothers' calling card. 

Song To The Siren

X- Press 2 released London X- Press in 1993, a percussive, relentless house groove and some funky guitar, synth sabs, thumping bass and that 'raise your hands' sample accompanied by sirens. 

London X- Press

Roach Motel were Pete Heller and Terry Farley, funky, early 90s house, deep, soulful, influenced by New York's club sound. Would still rock a dancefloor today. 

Movin' On

Underworld appeared on Junior Boys Own Collection twice, once as themselves (with Rez) and once as Lemon Interrupt. It originally appeared as 1992 12" with Eclipse but Bigmouth eclipsed Eclipse, a huge ten minute long Underworld drum track with head spinning lead harmonica on top, a swampy, chuggy, uplifting, funky, shot of 1992, Darren Emerson pushing Rick Smith and Karl Hyde into new places. 

Big Mouth

The Junior Boy's Own Collection sleeve was a very knowing mid- 90s thing too, portraits of various faces done as 1940s cigarette cards- Michael Caine, Tommy Cooper, Pete Townsend, Phil Daniels in Quadrophenia, Captain Scarlet, Al Pacino, Norman Wisdom, Sid James, Marlon Brando, Travis Bickle, Mick Jagger, Patrick McNee, Sean Connery, Terry Thomas, W.C. Fields and Zachary Smith. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Saint Etienne

When Saint Etienne appeared in 1990 they seemed too good to be true. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs love of 60s pop and kitchen sink drama, 70s TV and films and late 80s dance music blended together into a dizzy, heady style of dance/ pop/ indie- dance, knowing but inclusive, cool but not taking itself too seriously. Their first few singles were all totally loveable and Foxbase Alpha remains one of 1991's best albums- a year stuffed full of great albums. They kept it up into the mid- 90s, So Tough and Tiger Bay, with Sarah Cracknell firmly now part of a trio. This forty five minute mix focusses on those early/ mid 90s records, songs in love with pop music in all its forms, with samples from their extensive record collections and a real sense of joie de vivre. There's nothing wrong with much of what came later but these early songs have a thread running through them that the late 90s ones (and onwards) don't. 

Putting this together made me think of several other things. Firstly, a second Saint Etienne mix pulling a lot of the remixes of their songs together might work (and one dealing with their post- 1998 songs). Secondly, I have a load of Two Lone Swordsmen dubs of Heart Failed (In the Back Of A Taxi) that should show up int he Weatherall Remix Friday series. Thirdly, I've been meaning to go back to 2021's I've Been Meaning To Tell You for some time and promised a post about it here ages. 

Forty Five Minutes Of Saint Etienne

• Speedwell
• Girl VII
• Everlasting
• Mario's Cafe
• Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness Mix)
• Conchita Martinez
• Like A Motorway
• Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix Of Two Halves by Andrew Weatherall)

Speedwell was the B-side to third single Nothing Can Stop Us from 1991. A lovely deep sound, warm bass, vocal sample from an old gospel record. There were a pair of remixes by Dean Thatcher and Jagz Kooner too, the Flying Mix one of the sounds of summer 1991. 

Girl VII is from Foxbase Alpha- any of the songs from that album could have shown up here, the freshness of the songs, the samples, Sarah's singing, the sheer fun involved in them. In Girl VII Sarah reads out a list of places, 'June 4th, 1989, Primrose Hill, Staten Island, Chalk Farm, Massif Central, Gospel Oak, Sao Paolo, Boston Manor, Costa Rica, Arnos Grove, San Clemente, Tufnell Park, Gracetown, York Way, Videoton, Clerkenwell, Portobello, Maida Vale, Old Ford, Valencia, Kennington, Galveston, Holland Park, Studamer, Dollis Hill, Fougeres, London Fields, Bratislava, Haggerston, Lavinia, Canonbury, Alice Springs, Tooting Graveney, Baffin Island, Pollard's Hill, Winnepeg, Plumstead Common, Hyderabad, Silvertown, Buffalo', one of my favourite lists in any record ever. 

Everlasting was supposed to be a single with You're In A Bad Way as the B-side. THeavenly disagreed and wanted You're In A bad Way as the single and Everlasting was unreleased until the 2009 CD re- issue of the album. 

Mario's Cafe and Conchita Martinez are both from 1992's So Tough. Mario's Cafe is instant 1992 with its KLF references and very located in London, specifically a cafe in Kentish Town. Conchita Martinez samples Rush. 

Kiss And Make Up is a cover of a song by The Field Mice, one of 1990's essential 12" releases, in its EU flag sleeve but in green and white. The remix 12", in reverse coloured sleeve, green stars on a white backdrop, came with two remixes, the Midsummer Madness and midsummer Dubness remixes, both by Pete Heller. 

Like A Motorway is from 1994's Tiger Bay and a single too. The band hid themselves away in the Forest Of Dean to write the album, thinking they'd come back with some pastoral folk songs. They were planning on writing an album of death songs too. Like A Motorway is a sleek gliding rush of Morodor- esque synth- pop, borrowing the melody from a 19th century folk song, Silver Dagger. Once you realise the vocal is about a death not the break up of a relationship it changes it somewhat. The line, 'She said her life/ Was like a motorway/ Dull, grey and long/ Til he came along' is a cracker. The 12" came with a David Holmes remix that can shatter dancefloors, full on acid- techno. 

Only Love Can Break Your Heart was their debut single, a cover of Neil Young's 1970 classic. Saint Etienne turned from a waltz time song into one with a four four house rhythm and changed Neil's major chords to minor ones. Summer 1990 gold. Andrew Weatherall's remix is one of his best, the song turned into a dub with the dub half first and the song half second. Andrew pulls the dubby bassline to the fore, adds an Augustus Pablo inspired melodica line (played by Loft/ Weather Prophet Pete Astor) and the pair of samples from Jean Binta Breeze's Dubwise ('cool and deadly' and 'the DJ eases a spliff from his lyrical lips and smilingly orders... cease' sending sample spotters down a rabbit hole or two, and not for the last time). The song is pre- Sarah, with Moira Lambert on vocals. 

Midsummer

Today, 21st June, is the summer solstice, the midpoint of the year and the time at which it's lighter longer and later than at any other point- something worth celebrating. It therefore also has to be noted that we start crawling back after tonight, we can't have one without the other. Something Rich Lane noted on his chuggy, slow mo Balearic classic from 2020 titled Solstice. 

According to the Christian church midsummer is officially 24th June, six months before/ after Christmas, but given that any midsummer celebration almost certainly pre- dates Christianity let's go with today. 

In 1990 Saint Etienne's glorious second single, their shuffly indie- dance cover of The Field Mice's Kiss And Make Up was remixed twice by Pete Heller, the Midsummer Madness and Midsummer Dubness versions, both versions arguably superior to the original single. They didn't release the remixes until October 1990 which seems a missed opportunity. Both are full of the spirit of the times, that joyous sense of freedom and possibility that the period had- although maybe that's partly because I was just twenty and everything was in front of me. The world was changing though. Thatcher gone, people power across the eastern Europe contributing to the fall of the Eastern Bloc, Nelson Mandela's release. Let's kiss and make up.

Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness Mix)

Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Dubness Mix)

Room for one more? This is Midsummer's Dream by DJ and producer Massimiliano Pagliara, southern Italian by birth but resident of Berlin. This track, seven minutes of thumping drums and trancey synths and acid toplines, came out last year and sounds much more Berlin than Lecce. 

Midsummer's Dream 

Raise

Halfway up the towpath between Sale and Timperley (a nice stroll with the promise of a cup of tea and a sausage sandwich at the cafe at Timperley tram station before returning home) there is a post with a Boy's Own sticker on it (pictured). It's a bit mystifying. Boy's Own was very much a London thing and the sticker must be quite recent given it's not faded at all. It was pleasing to see it though, a little piece of 80s/ 90s culture stuck to a post by the Bridgewater Canal. 

Boy's Own was the collective formed by Andrew Weatherall, Terry Farley, Cymon Eckel and Steve Meyes, bored out in the west of London (Slough, Windsor) in the mid- to- late- 80s but with ideas, enthusiasm, records and an interest in clothes, music, clubs and culture. They started a fanzine, semi- inspired by Liverpool fanzine The End (which was produced by The Farm's Peter Hooton). A mate with a printer ran off 500 copies which they sold at the football (Farley was mainly the football fan, a regular at Chelsea), outside pubs and clubs and in a few shops. Their connections and sense of humour and style ensured the first edition sold out and would go on to produce more issues, covering whatever ticlled their interest. Issue one had an interview with Martin Stephenson (of The Daintees), Weatherall's account of a weekend in Manchester at the Festival Of The Tenth Summer, a review of a Trouble Funk gig and a column titled Uppers and Downers, a list of what's in and what's not. It ran for twelve editions through to spring 1992 when Weatherall called time on it and the others agreed with him.

Boy's Own went on to DJ, to put on club nights and events, set up a record label and briefly became a band/ group/ collective called Bocca Juniors- Weatherall and Farley with Pete Heller, Weatherall's regular right hand production man Hugo Nicolson and singer Anna Haigh. Their debut single released in summer 1990, was a tremendous slice of Balearic house called Raise. It was the first release on Boy's Own Productions record label, catalogue number BOIX1, the logical progression of some young men using Letraset, a typewriter and some photocopied pictures to make a fanzine to sell to a few like minded souls. It is a great record too, a summer of 1990 classic. 

Raise (63 Steps To Heaven) Redskin Rock Mix

The intro, some piano notes, the screech of tyres and a sample saying, 'boy! Am I gonna wake you up', gives way to a huge piano riff, the sort that can silence a field of people and turn an entire dancefloor into a seething mass of arms in the air. The crunching beats kick in and Anna starts singing, 'It's often said, that I want never gets...' as horns parp away behind her. The lyrics, written by Weatherall, quote Aleister Crowley- 'do what you will shall be the whole of the law/ raise your view of heaven keeping both feet on the floor'- and the chorus is about generally not putting up with second best- 'raise your hand if you think you understand/ raise your standards if you don't'. Early 90s positivity but with a very Weatherall edge. 

The piano riff has been the subject of some debate. Largely thought to be a sample from Jesus On The Payroll by Thrashing Doves, a while ago Sean Johnston suggested it was actually taken from this 1989 Italo 12" by The Night- S- Press (although it could be the Thrashing Doves piano riff sampled or re- played I guess- either way, I see no reason to doubt Sean). 

Bocca Juniors were named after the Argentine football club, the home of Diego Maradona. In the summer of Italia 90, No Alla Violenza and World In Motion this was all quite right. The Raise video is a blast too, a sea of faces having fun and the famous 'Drop acid not bombs' graffiti- a proper time capsule. 

 

Across the various formats there were a number of different mixes of Raise. The Piano Hoe Down is a stripped back, largely instrumental version, the riff, bassline and those 1990s drums with extended piano vamping and background voices, very nicely stretched out for maximum dancefloor fun. 

Raise (63 Steps To Heaven) Piano Hoe Down

There was a second 12" with some Tackhead remixes, Adrian Sherwood's outfit with Keith Leblanc, Skip McDonald and Doug Wimbish. The Dubhead remix pulls an extended version of Protege''s rap to the fore. There are two other mixes- the Heavenly Rap and the Philly House Skank- as well as another Tackhead one but I don't have any of those on the hard drive at the moment. These three should be more than enough to be going on with. 

Raise (63 Steps To Heaven) Tackhead Dubhead Remix

I Know As Much As The Day I Was Born

This song has been posted at various blogs recently, many of them friends of this blog, but it seems tailor made for Bagging Area in many ways and it's a feelgood, upbeat dance song for Friday- and we could all do with a bit of feelgood and upbeat for Friday. 

Hifi Sean (Sean Dickson) got hold of the master tapes of Fire Island's 1998 cover version of Shout To The Top. Finding the original vocal part, sung by legend Loleatta Holloway, Sean re-wrote the track from the bottom up, in the end providing three different mixes- house, soul/ disco and orchestral horses for courses. Bassline, four on the floor, lovely late 80s pianos, strings, gospel backing vox and then Loleatta. Hands in the air. Hugging strangers. Lights come up. End of the night. Crowd spills out into the night. Here. 

Hifi Sean was in a former musical life the frontman of The Soup Dragons, the original indie dance crossover band. His journey from there to here shouldn't be too surprising given how enthusiastic he was about dance music back in 1989. The 1998 version of Shout To The Top isn't too shabby either, the work of Fire Island aka Terry Farley and Pete Heller (both men the subject of various posts here in the last eleven years, Boy's Own being one of the cornerstones of my record collection). Fire Island's cover has a more NYC, Salsoul flavour. 

Shout To The Top (Fire Island Radio Edit)

Back in 1984 Shout To The Top was the seventh single released by The Style Council. By this point Paul Weller had put significant distance between his then current band and his previous one. Shout To The Top is a classic Style Council single, the equal of most things The Jam released- those staccato strings, the thumping pace, Weller's vocal, the surge into the chorus. Shout To The Top, then and now, is hugely uplifting dance pop, a message of solidarity and determination and a refusal to beaten down in times of economic and political uncertainty- with a smile on its face. 

Shout To The Top

Midsummer

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day, midsummer. This time last year we were deep into a heat wave and weeks of wall-to-wall sunshine. This year less so. But still, we should have a celebration of midsummer nonetheless.

St Etienne's early singles were so carefree and joyous, hopped up on the spirit of the times and the possibilities that 1990 seemed to offer. Their debut 12" cover of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart and the follow up, their cover of The Field Mice's Kiss And Make Up, are both prized records for me. In a way, if they'd done nothing else I'd have been happy. Obviously they went on to record loads of good songs and several really good albums but there's an innocence and purity about the early days singles that sets them apart.

The Kiss And Make Up 12" came in a green sleeve with the European Union flag stars in white, reversed for the remix 12" where Pete Heller takes the original and makes it even more loved up. The vocals on this are pre- Sarah Cracknell, with Dead Famous People's Donna Savage at the mic. Turn it up a little bit louder and celebrate midsummer as the sun stays around longer than on any other day.

Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness Mix)

Perfect Motion

This record, especially in its 12" remixed form, is exactly what some dance nights sounded like in 1992. Sunscreem were from Essex and were remixed by the great and the good of the scene, in this case by Pete Heller and Terry Farley for Boy's Own. This is long, designed for dancing too and to be mixed into and out of. A long progressive house track which edges towards trance, up and positive with a pumping bass and drums, repeating synth parts and a couple of lines of vocal floating over the top. This samples Simple Minds, their early 80s electronic classic Theme For Great Cities, which I posted here recently. There's a breakdown at 6.40, a moment to pause for breath and raise one's hands in the air, someone would whistle, then some rave hoover bass comes in, and then the keyboard starts to build again. On and on in perfect motion.

Perfect Motion (Boy's Own Mix)

Let The Music Use You

The Summer of Love, 1988 version, is being celebrated in many places at the moment, not least at Mixmag. Two veterans of the scene and Boy's Own alumni, Terry Farley and Pete Heller, have put together a mix of records that were big that summer. This could easily be accused of being a total nostalgia trip if the tune selection from the Boy's Own duo wasn't so great, including This Brutal House, Adonis, Ralph Rosario, Tyree, A Guy Called Gerald, The Night Writers, Turntable Orchestra, The Beloved, Marshall Jefferson and Ce Ce Rogers. Get Farley and Heller's words on the records are here. It is a bank holiday weekend here and this is an ideal soundtrack to three days off.

Various Artists

These Various Artists compilations have so far all come from a similar time frame and this one is right in there, the Junior Boys Own Collection from 1994, a round up of singles released on JBO between 1991 and 1994. Heller and Farley appear twice in their Fire Island guise (Fire Island, off Long Island , New York is and was legendary for its gay scene and clubs) and also as Roach Motel. Underworld contribute three songs under two names (Lemon Interrupt and Underworld) and pre-Chemicals Ed and Tom showcase the monstrous Song To the Siren and X-Press 2 are represented by two pieces of essential early 90s house.

This compilation is pretty ubiquitous in 1994, a good round up of a label with its finger near the pulse. All these tracks could be heard in Manchester's clubs- not always the same club but somewhere between the Hacienda, Home, the gay village and various other darkened rooms these tunes would never be far away. There But For The Grace Of God is Fire Island's disco house, a 1979 disco-funk classic from machine updated by Farley and Heller, camp as fluffy bras, crop tops and silver trousers.

There But For The Grace Of God

Rez is one of the greatest records of that period. Or any period. Beyond sheer brilliance, it is in some ways a full stop. The ever circling squiggles, the hi-hats and snare, the rush of the chords, all seem to say 'where else can you go after this?'

Rez

I Could Never Hate You

Heavenly Records is twenty five years old this year, founded and run by the seemingly all round good guy Jeff Barratt, and they're running a series of celebrations. Saint Etienne's second single, released in September 1990, is one of the label and group's absolute high points, a cover of a Field Mice song and in the original version with vocals by Donna Savage (this being before Sarah Cracknell joined them). The single was followed by a second 12" with some remixes by Pete Heller, which are just perfect.

Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness Mix)

Boy, Am I Gonna Wake You Up

We drove into town on Saturday and I had a Boys Own compilation on the car stereo which opened with Bocca Juniors' summer of 1990 song Raise. They made a video which features a bunch of kids, gorgeous singer Anna Haigh and the rest of the Boys Own crew (Terry Farley in a hat, Andrew Weatherall with long hair). Very summer 1990. Although what you don't get with this three minute version is the massive Thrashing Doves piano sample...



For that, you need this (and you really do need it)...



The follow up, Substance, wasn't nearly as good unfortunately. Weatherall said what he learnt from Bocca Juniors was that you can't make records by committee. Although this record would seem to show you can do it at least once.

Weathertube

There's been nothing from Lord Sabre here at Bagging Area for well over a week so here's a couple of clips from Youtube to remedy the situation.

First up, Weatherall, Terry Farley and Pete Heller interviewed for the long lost and lamented Snub TV (from BBC2, late 80s). The clip is memorable partly for Weatherall's long, curly hair and biker boots. The trio discuss London's acid house scene and how they helped  invent it. Also features a Bocca Juniors video.



Second up, Weatherall djing in a club in Belgium last year. Somewhat better than your average club clip due to being filmed and put together by someone who seems to know what they're doing rather than a drunkard with a mobile phone, it features a heavily bearded Weatherall playing cds (gasp, shock, horror, not vinyl!) to  a crowd significantly younger than him. Judging from the clip the Belgians haven't banned smoking in clubs yet and there's always a girl dancing on her own right in front of the record cd players. Records played in the clip- his own remix of Fuck Buttons Sweet Love For Planet Earth and Briosky's Radio Anatomy (I think).



Enjoy your Saturday.

Raise Your Hands If You Think You Understand

While we're in the Weatherall area I thought I'd post this for Friday morning. It popped up on the mp3 player the other day driving to work with the sun shining and sounded really good. Bocca Juniors were the inhouse studio band of the Boys Own collective/magazine/cultural trendsetters/ex-football hooligans. In the studio this amounted to Andrew Weatherall, Terry Farley, Pete Heller, Hugo Nicholson and vocalist Anna Haigh, along with for this record a massive piano sample from Thrashing Doves' Jesus On The Payroll. So, it's got those pianos, well-balearic all-roundness, Anna Haigh's Alastair Crowley quoting lyrics, and a rap in the middle as many good songs had back then.

Raise (63 Steps To Heaven)