Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 23

No-one did more to keep the rockabilly flame alive than The Cramps. From their wonderful 1990 Stay Sick album, turn it up, turn it loose, and everything goes.

Everything Goes.mp3

Manic Street Preachers 'Motorcycle Emptiness'

We're off to Wales for a few days, to live in a cabin. I've set up a couple of posts for while I'm away, including Friday's rockabilly action but there won't be daily ones. See you on Monday.

I was never an all out, all the records, gigs and t-shirts Manics fan but this is one of the most sublime pieces of guitar rock from the 90s.

Motorcycle_Emptiness.mp3

The Creation 'How Does It Feel To Feel?'

The Creation famously described their music as 'red- with purple flashes'. Like a lot of the mod-psyche groups from the mid-to-late 60s they have a few belters, a pile of covers and some duff moments too. How Does It Feel To Feel? is one of the belters, and they obviously had an influence on Alan McGee who named his record label (Creation) and first band after them (Biff! Bang! Pow!). Think Ride may have either covered this song or nicked the title as well. The Creation pioneered using the violin bow on the guitar, did some souped up r'n'b/garage stuff, and as you can see from the photo were sharply dressed men with good haircuts.

How Does It Feel To Feel.mp3

Sandals 'Feet' (Dust Brothers Beatapella)

Enough is enough. I have too many shoes. They are spilling out of every available bedroom space. I am culling my shoes. So far the Going Pile contains five pairs of Clarks (different styles, some in poor condition, but including two pairs of desert boots), a pair of Adidas Stan Smiths, a beaten up pair of Adidas Gazelle, some DM shoes and a pair of black DM boots from years ago (always a little too small if truth be told), a pair of black boots that look like orthapedic boots (TK Maxx mistake), a pair of white (!) basketweave (!!) shoes, three pairs of shoes worn for work but now beyond hope, a pair of red Nike Air (no idea why I bought them), some Dunlop Green Flash (in blue, not very comfortable), a pair of hiking boot things, two pairs of Converse, one pair of black Nike Cortez (older than both of my children), a pair of dark brown wing tip Dr Marten's brogues (much loved but past their best) and a pair of Caterpillar boots (hardly worn). All this is causing me some distress.

I won't describe the Staying Pile (it's bigger).

The Sandals were a post-house acid jazz/beat poetry combo. Very good in parts.

Feet (Dust Brothers Beatapella).mp3 - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

Sub Sub 'Space Face'

Before they were Doves they were Sub Sub, and released this superb piece of dance music- Space Face.

In other bird related news, the kids found an injured young bird outside our house yesterday, several cats were prowling around, and an older bird was squawking from the rooftop. The kids wanted to try to save it. A neighbour said the RSPCA etc wouldn't be interested and that saving it from being mauled by cats might be the best we could do. Mrs Swiss asked me 'How do you pick up a bird?'. 'Buy it a couple of drinks and try to make it laugh?' I suggested.

We got it in a cardboard box and put it in our shed, with some water and bread. Then we noticed the mother bird with worms and grubs in it's beak, trying to get in the shed. All very upsetting. We opened the shed door, to let the mother bird feed it's baby with it's broken wing. ET, 7 years old, was by now very concerned. I checked on it later last night and things didn't look good- Giggsy (as it was now known) couldn't feed itself and mother had vanished. We got up this morning and went to the shed, and alas Giggsy had died. We've also found Giggsy's brother or sister, dead, in the alleyway behind the house. I guess leaving the nest is a bit do or die. Everyone's bearing up pretty well though.

SubSub-SpaceFace.mp3

Sub Sub Ft. Bernard Sumner 'This Time I'm Not Wrong'

A Joy Division/New Order rarity/oddity for you, following the earlier Jah Division piece. In 1997 Bernard co-wrote and sang (and presumably played guitar) with Sub Sub, who would shortly afterwards go on to become Doves. Sub Sub hit the charts with the rather ace Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use) and also had the ravey Space Face, which as Doves they still encore with from time to time. This song is more Doves than Sub Sub, being full of guitars and drums, and featuring a typical Bernard vocal and lyric. The end came for Sub Sub when their Cheetham Hill studio burnt down on the Williams twins' birthday, but judging by this 12" they were heading in a different direction anyway. The B-side features an early version of Fire Suite which also cropped up on the first Doves lp. Bernard Sumner in 1997 was on extended leave from New Order and in between Electronic activities. I got this in Oxfam in Altrincham for a fiver some time ago, a bargain judging by some online prices I've seen. This was the last single to come out on Rob Gretton's Rob's records label, also home to Manchester legends A Certain Ratio and Mr. Scruff amongst others.

01 This Time I'm Not Wrong.mp3

Jah Division 'Dub Will Tear Us Apart'

Several months ago A North Country Bhoy posted an e.p. by New York based reggae band Jah Division. The band do exactly what it says on the tin- play dub versions of Joy Division songs. The e.p. had four tracks, and this is the best- Dub Will Tear Us Apart, much better than you might think it could be. Thanks to ANCB for this lovely piece of laid back post-punk dubbery.

Dub Will Tear Us Apart.mp3

Caspar

I have a hangover.

Another American band making skew-wiff, bouncy guitar music, following recent bagging Area postees Wounded Lion, Woods and Warpaint. It's hard to resist a song that starts with frantic drumming, fast acoustic guitars and the line 'I live in the graveyard, I want to go out but it's too hot'.

Not sure it'll help my head though.

Edit Post removed by Blogger, reposted without track.

Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 22

Bagging Area is featuring updated rockabilly sounds now at the Friday night rave-up, and we can't get more updated than this. This song is from this year's Fall album, Your Future Our Clutter. One online review I read recently praised MES for writing a song with verses and a chorus, that could be played on the radio. Not quite- it's a Wanda Jackson cover from 1961, one of the rockabilly greats, Funnel Of Love. The Fall's rockabilly covers are always fun (see also White Lightning amongst others). This is great Mancabilly action. Thumbs in belt loops, quiffs drenched by the rain.

08 Funnel Of Love.mp3

Primal Scream 'Swastika Eyes Remix'

I'm dj-ing tonight at a 40th birthday. I say dj-ing; playing records is a more accurate description. It'd be great to play records like this one all night. This is the remix of Swastika Eyes, Mani's bass well to the fore, by a Belfast based dj, producer and musician. DH are his initials but we dare not type his name due to our DMCA friends. I shall be probably be besieged by requests for Michael Jackson, Girls Aloud, Amy Winehouse and Wham! We'll settle our differences somewhere in the middle.

SwastikaEyesRemix.mp3

The Psychedelic Furs 'Pretty In Pink'

We've been on a post-punk/indie guitar trip this week at Bagging Area, so let's have this marvelous early 80s moment, a song that even that Molly Ringwold (sigh) film can't completely destroy. Hairspray, back-combing and fingerless gloves at the ready. This is the original version from 1981, with our friend Martin Hannett at the controls, rather than the re-recorded version for the film of the same name, which had some unpleasantly 1986ish keyboards and drums. That second version and the film Pretty In Pink made them big in the USA, big on college radio, top 40 in the UK, and sent them on a commercial hit chasing journey. This one is much, much better.

15 Pretty in Pink.wma

Felt 'Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow'

Felt were almost the archetypal 80s indie (in the true sense of the word) band. Led by eccentric Lawrence they released ten singles and ten albums in ten years, on either Cherry Red or Creation, and then split up. Future Primal Scream-er Martin Duffy joined them on keyboards and organ. Before that, in 1984 with guitarist Maurice Deebank they recorded this classic single- Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow. Not a note or word out of place, 80s indie perfection.

Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow.mp3

Warpaint 'Elephants'

Warpaint are my new favourite band as of today, or my favourite new band. I read a reference to them somewhere over the weekend, can't remember where, and had a look on Youtube. Three girls from Los Angeles who play beautiful, fluid guitar music, lots of post-punk influences, with not a little melodrama. As far as I can tell they've released one e.p., and have their debut out on Rough Trade in the Autumn. The video for this one, Elephants, is on Youtube, and is top stuff- if three dark-haired indie girls playing guitars, dancing under dramatic lighting, with a wind machine, in slow motion appeals to you at all.

02 Elephants.mp3

Wreckless Eric 'Whole Wide World'

This single, also released in 1977 like yesterday's Boredom, is regularly voted as one of the best punk singles of all time (by Mojo), and one of the top 40 singles of the 'alternative era 1975-2000', and so on. In truth it's just a great record, regardless of time, period or era. Punk opened the floodgates for people with half an idea and a couple of chords, gave them the means to do it, and a sound/style, but this would still be great if it had been recorded in 1961, 1987 or 2008.

whole wide world.mp3

Buzzcocks 'Boredom'

A 7" single from January 1977 called Spiral Scratch gave us this song, Boredom, and in no particular order, Buzzcocks, Howard Devoto, the production career of Martin Hannett, the northern punk scene, the birth of the British independent record labels, D.I.Y. punk, the return of the Sex Pistols to Manchester, and provided the inspiration for dozens of other bands, not least Orange Juice (Rip It Up quotes it and copies it's one note guitar solo). Not bad going.

How could a song called Boredom be so exciting?

Boredom.mp3

The Beloved 'It's Alright Now' (7inch Mix)

The Beloved started life as an indie guitar band, but in the late 80s something changed, and they became rave evangelists, throwing away their guitars and some band members and embracing samplers and drum machines, and synths. Their album Happiness was in tune with the times, and featured several hits, including the daft but funny list song Hello, the blissed out The Sun Rising and the fake orgasmic Your Love Takes Me Higher. Good stuff all told.

This song, It's Alright Now, was released at the end of 1990, and failed to make the top 40. I wrote a good few months back that sometimes dance singles work best on 7", and gave Little Fluffy Clouds as an example. It's Alright Now is another one. There are a variety of mixes and versions but this is the only one I need. It's got a great start, doesn't outstay it's welcome and bounces along. Underneath the 90s positivity of the lyric there's some regret, some ruefulness, which makes it do that thing that dance music can do so well: happy-sad.

It's Alright Now (7inch Mix).mp3 - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

Misty In Roots 'Introduction'

This is fifty four seconds of righteous vocal introduction live on stage in 1979, from Southall reggae band Misty In Roots. If you've listened to the Weatherall remix of The Orb's Perpetual Dawn posted this morning, you might like to hear where Lord Sabre got the samples from. Thanks to Davy H from the Ghost Of Electricity blog for the tip. To my shame I knew nothing of Misty In Roots, something I've put right today. When I get round to listening to the rest of the album I'll stick something else from it up.

01. Introduction - Misty In Roots.mp3

The Orb 'Perpetual Dawn'(Ultrabass 2)

More Orb vicar? Yes please Church Warden.

Reggae inspired Perpetual Dawn (Ultrabass 2) from 1991, remixed by Weatherall. 'Music that tells about the future, music that explains history', the vocal declares, and then 'Roots music', repeatedly. Dub-house brilliance from all involved.

Perpetual Dawn(Ultrabass 2).mp3

Cabaret Voltaire 'Yashar' (John Robie Mix 1)

Cabaret Voltaire were a pair of serious, doomy, Sheffield men who made serious, industrial, doomy, scary, sinister, electronic, bass heavy music in the late 70s and early 80s, and then forged early house/electronica. Records like Sensoria and Nag Nag Nag have regularly been held up as influential. On last year's BBC4 Synth Britannia programme they came across as likeable, down-to-earth blokes who liked a pint and a bit of Ballard. In 1982 they released this on Factory- Yashar (Fac 82 Fac fans). It's a spooky record with a Cold War-ish vocal sample ('There's 70 billion people out there, where are they hiding?'), mixed in with Eastern drones and early drum machines. On the B-side of the 12" John Robie remixed it, doubling the length, and adding synths and that early 80s Fact-ness, to send it in the direction of the dancefloor. Although most dancefloors in most clubs at the time would clear pretty quickly once it got going I would imagine. Brilliant record, and although I could be corrected on this, an early example of the art of the remix.

02 Yashar (John Robie Mix 1).mp3

UNKLE ft. Ian Brown 'Be There'

As I've written before I loved The Stone Roses. A lot. I've also stated my opinion of their solo careers- not much cop. Sum of the parts greater etc.

I've tried really hard with Ian Brown's solo records. I was as excited as anyone when Unfinished Monkey Business came out, loved My Star and Corpses In Their Mouths. He made his point- I can do this on my own. Since then he's gone on to make and remake solo albums, which have interested me less and less. Golden Greats was OK, I bought Solarised but I couldn't tell you what any of it sounded like, and doubt I've played it more than a couple of times. The 2001 single everyone raves about, F.E.A.R., is, I'm afraid, utter cobblers. Stoned, pseudo-profound, lightweight nonsense, and not in a good way. I fully expect people will disagree with me. There are members of my own family who would, and strongly. Ian has increasingly comes across as a bit, well, daft. Looking for a picture for this post it was difficult to find one where he wasn't doing that thing with his hands, wearing silly sunglasses or jeans that are a little too youth for him, or proudly showing off an international sportswear company's freebies, and usually a combination of all of the above. I do like the picture here though. He looks like he's wearing a tracksuit based on a pair of child's pyjamas and either offering a tambourine out for a fight or about to kiss it, which isn't something you see pop stars do very often.

And I don't particularly enjoy typing these words because for a long time I loved him and his band. Anyway, to get to some kind of point, this record is amongst the best things he's been involved with since going solo. The backing track was from James Lavelle's painfully hip Psyence Fiction era UNKLE, and Ian's vocals added later, to massive effect. This is a really good, out there, post-dance music record. I wish he'd turned in more like this.

be_there.mp3

The Orb 'A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld'

It's all been a bit guitary round here recently. Not that that's a bad thing but to balance it up a bit here's some wonderful ambient house from The Orb. There were myriad versions of this, including the first batch of singles that included Minnie Ripperton's vocal sample (subsequently removed by lawyers), and versions across 7", 12" and cd that stretched from three minutes thirty four seconds to nineteen minutes seven seconds, and also different mixes and remixes. There were Peel Session versions and the lovely Aubrey Mixes (the Aubrey Mixes album was deleted on the day it was released). This version is five minutes twelve seconds long, and from a dance compilation album. I'm not entirely sure which version it is off the top of my head, and I'm resisting the trainspotter tendencies within me to figure it out. Surely if this ambient house business is going to work we can't get all twitchy over versions and mixes can we? I'm sure someone can enlighten us.

Edit- OK. I defeated myself. It's the Why Is Six Scared Of Seven? Mix.

a huge ever-growing pulsating brain.mp3

Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 21

Over the last twenty weeks Friday night has been rockabilly night at Bagging Area, with a selection of records from the 1950s end of rockabilly. It's beginning to feel like a bit of a drag somehow, and I'm getting a bit bored with it, so Bagging Area is going to update the Friday night sessions to feature bands and records from more recent times that were/are rockabilly inspired or revived. Hey, it's my blog and I'll make the rules.

To kick off we'll start with this- The Tall Boys' Final Kick. Nigel Lewis left psychobilly band The Meteorz and formed The Tall Boys, with this single coming out in the mid-1980s. Fired up, cranked up, post-punked up.

Final Kick.mp3

The Small Faces 'Get Yourself Together'

The Small Faces must be one of the most under-rated of the 1960s bands, despite their influence on Weller and all things Britpop in the mid-90s. Their early stuff is great pop, and the records they released on Immediate are flawless. We'll even gloss over M-People's butchering of Itchycoo Park, which has so scarred me I can no longer listen to the original. They were also very natty dressers. There's some particularly fine footwear on display in our picture above. On Youtube there's some amazing footage of them doing Tin Soldier on a German (I think) TV show, with P.P.Arnold on lead-backing vocals. You should go and look for it now. This is Get Yourself Together, a cracker of a song from 1967.

01 Get Yourself Together.wma

Thee Headcoatees 'Have Love Will Travel'

Moggieboy from the excellent Ripped In Glasgow blog posted Thee Headcoatees' Davey Crockett yesterday, so I'm following suit (probably a natty tweed suit) with this one, Have Love Will Travel. Thee Headcoatees were a Billy Childish Thee Headcoats spin-off, and featured recent Bagging Area postee Holly Golightly. This is an indie-garage-60s-beat-pop-girlgroup dancefloor smash. Also just noticed this is my 300th post.

Edit- a reader has left a comment to point out the black and white picture is not Thee Headcoatees, but Ipso Facto. To be honest I had my doubts about the picture but was rushing. Thanks anonymous. The colour picture is Thee Headcoatees. I can't seem to remove the other one, so we're stuck with both.

Have Love Will Travel.mp3

James Luther Dickinson 'O How She Dances'

James Luther Dickinson, Southern rock 'n' roll and country-soul background guy, worked with The Stones, Big Star, and Sam and Dave amongst others, and more recently Spiritualized and Primal Scream sought him out. His solo stuff was 'wasted white boy music' and fits in with records like Dr. John's Walk On Gilded Splinters; voodoo, tribal, woozy, Southern US rock 'n' roll. This isn't irritating boogie-woogie though. This record is an off-kilter, voodoo, drum heavy, Southern gothic celebration of a travelling freak show, and specifically a dancing girl who 'shimmies just like jelly on the plate'. Dickinson's carnival man vocal advises the men in the audience that they'd all stay at home if they could teach the dance to their wives. Download it folks, you won't regret it.

07 O How She Dances.wma

Handsome Furs 'Talking Hotel Arbat Blues'

This is the standout track from Handsome Furs' 2009 Face Control album. Alexei Perry and Dan Boeckner are from Canada, and make 'synth-punk indie-rock'. Over the whole album it can get a bit wearing but on their own many of the songs are ace. A trip to Moscow inspired this song, with visits to nightclubs where the doormen could refuse entry to people who had paid upfront, but didn't look right- a practice known as 'face control'. This song is great- hard hitting bass drum, great vocals, spiky guitars, punky energy married to synths. And as you can see, they look good too.

talking hotel arbat blues.mp3

The Selecter 'On My Radio'

I think I've mentioned this before round here- some records are inexplicably good, but when you break them down in words it really doesn't do them justice. I could describe this infectious piece of ska-pop and try to explain what makes it great, but it won't be adequate and will fail to get the joy of the song across. The Selecter's On My Radio is just stupidly good. What's really stunning is that in 1979 this single sold a quarter of a million copies in one format, enough sales that today it would be number one from now until Christmas. Equally, in this song Pauline Black complains about the way all the radio stations sounded the same. If that was the state of radio in 1979 it must be moreso now. So here's to the news last week that Radio 6 has been saved. Hallelujah.

On my radio.mp3

The Flaming Lips 'She Don't Use Jelly'

Some wonderful indie-rock nonsense from Oklahoma's Flaming Lips for your Sunday enjoyment, concerning a girl who spreads vaseline on toast, a guy who sneezes into magazines and a woman who washes her hair using tangerines. The band's own website says 'It's a happy little ditty about strange people and their individual idiosynchrasies... with crunching but still harmonious noise', and I can't describe it any better than that.

Tonights World Cup final? I'm not sure I care that much. The Netherlands are effective and not in the habit of losing. Van Bommel seems to be setting some kind of record for committing fouls and getting away with it, while the undoubtedly talented Robben draws as many fouls as possible and rolls over a lot. Espagna play lots of very nice little passing triangles, have the most talented strikers in Europe, and struggle to win every game One-Nil. Neither are exactly setting my heart racing with anticipation. Who knows, maybe we'll get a Four-Three classic.

She Don't Use Jelly.mp3

Ms. Dynamite 'It Takes More' (Bloodshy Main Mix)

This 2002 song was a big favourite of Mrs Swiss and her Sarf Landan friend P, who is visiting us this weekend. Ms Dynamite was hailed as the new star of British r'n'b/urban/UK garage at the start of the decade and since then she's careered about a bit, disappearing from view a few times, although I've not followed her closely. This song It Takes More and the other hit single Dy-na-mi-tee were both really good, and listening to this again this morning it still sounds good eight years on. This one's for you then ladies.

06 It Takes More [Bloodshy Main Mix].wma

Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 20

I'm not even sure this is rockabilly strictly speaking, it could be garage, jump-blues or who knows what, but J.J. Jackson and the Jackyls have the rockabilly spirit and fire, and as is becoming a feature round Bagging Area this song was covered by our good friends The Cramps. Ooh Ma Liddi...

Oo-Ma-Liddi.mp3

Luke Haines 'Bad Reputation'

One of the best music related books last year was Luke Haines' Bad Vibes- Britpop And My Part In It's Downfall. The tale of the trip abroad with various Britpop bands ending with Luke firing a flare at a fountain being danced around by members of Oasis and The Verve is brilliant, as is his jumping off a high wall breaking both his ankles to specifically get out of a tour, as is him only refering to the detested cellist as The Cellist (who brings depth, gravity and media attention to the records but knows nothing of Lou Reed), as is his physical inability to type the word of the Britpop band who cannot be named (Kula something).

Luke Haines has a deep and wide back catalogue, from The Auteurs to Blackbox Recorder to several solo records. This is one from a solo album, and features a typically barbed dissection of Gary Glitter and The Glitter Band.

'Gary Glitter
He's a bad, bad man
Ruining the reputation of
The Glitter Band'

bad reputation.mp3

RVNG of the NRDS Mock and Toof 'Digit 1'

From the RVNG of the NRDS series of remixes and re-edits this is London duo Mock and Toof getting to grips with post-punk heroes Wire, and their 1978 song Three Girl Rhumba. Not too dissimilar from the original but making the most of that killer riff that 'inspired' Justine Frischman in Elastica's early days, and led to an out-of-court settlement. This re-edit is good stuff.

01 - Digit 1.mp3

June Wilkinson and Mamie van Doren 'Bikini With No Top On Top'

I found this bizarre little 1964 song on the Lux and Ivy's Favourites online thing (eleven volumes of songs The Cramps liked). June Wilkinson and Mamie Van Doren were generously built (that's Mamie in the picture above, if you google image June Wilkinson you'll find a load of images I didn't think I should use, for proprieties sake) 1960s starlets of stage, screen, magazine and specialist photography. In this song they recount the time they went down to the beach in their bikini's with no top on top. This has obvious effects on the men on the beach, and their future acquisition of material goods and careers. I make no comment or judgement about any of this. All I do is recommend this fantastic piece of 1960s garage-kitsch to you.

bikini with no top on top.mp3

Public Image Ltd. 'Public Image'

I've noticed over the weekend that John Lydon's reformed Public Image Ltd. are touring again this month. I'm not a massive fan of the re-union business but for P.i.L. I make an exception. I saw them play Manchester back in December last year, in fact I wrote about it for the third ever post at Bagging Area. They're not playing here this time around but if you live within easy distance of London, Leeds, Bristol, Oxford, Liverpool or Glasgow I thoroughly recommend it. Even without Jah Wobble and Keith Levene the new P.i.L. are frighteningly good, and Lydon is the number one rock frontman. You should get to hear all the Metal Box stuff in fine bass heavy style, Rise, This Is Not A Love Song, and if you're lucky Open Up as well. And of course this, P.i.L.'s debut single, calling card, Lydon's lyrical resignation from the role of Rotten, and one of the very best singles of the period. Or any other period too for that matter.

Two note bass intro, Lydon's sarky 'Hello, hello', some vicious guitar and then...'You never listened to a word that I said, you only seen me for the clothes that I wear'. One of the greatest starts to any record, and they keep it up for the length of the single until the final 'Goodbye'.

Public_Image.mp3

The Rolling Stones 'Hitch Hike'

This 1965 Rolling Stones song, a cover of a Marvin Gaye hit from three years earlier, shows a couple of things. Firstly, that the Stones could be a decent little r'n'b/garage/covers band, and secondly that the opening riff has inspired some of our favourite indie guitar heroes, both at the time and later. The Velvet Underground used it to kick off There She Goes Again in 1967, and almost twenty years later Johnny Marr re-used it to open The Smiths' There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

03 Hitch Hike.wma

Orange Juice 'A Sad Lament'

My favourite pair of Levi's jeans are about to die. I'm fussy about jeans so it's a real wrench when they wear out. I've had this pair several years, bought them as dark indigo, the right cut, perfect length, and since then they've faded brilliantly, in all the right places. A while back they started to fray a little around the pockets, but I could live with it. Recently the left knee has thinned, and looking at them now I reckon the next time I kneel down they'll go through. Maybe I should give them a Viking burial, head down to the canal and send them burning on a pallet, floating towards town or Altrincham depending on the wind direction.

This is one of the best tracks from Orange Juice's 1984 e.p. Texas Fever. A sad lament indeed.

05 A Sad Lament.wma

Spiritualized 'Come Together' (The Two Lone Swordsmen Mix)

Bagging Area hasn't had much from Lord Sabre Mr Andrew Weatherall recently although he's featured in more posts directly or indirectly than anyone else round here. So one more can't do any harm can it? This is the Two Lone Swordsmen remix of Spiritualized's Come Together, one of the stand-out tracks from 1997's Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. Needless to say this remix by Weatherall and Tenniswood sounds little like the original. This is fifteen minutes of dubby, scary, smoky brilliance, with an opening vocal sample 'How big are your eyes?' repeated several times, looped drums, discordant horns, strange sounds and noises surfacing and disappearing. On and on it goes, sucking you in. When they finished it and went outside for some air, I'm guessing their heads were swimming a bit.

02. Come Together (The Two Lone Swordsmen Mix).mp3

The Flaming Lips 'The W.A.N.D.'

I saw some of Glastonbury on the TV last weekend, most of the Gorillaz and some other bits and bobs. The reviews have all been pretty negative about Gorillaz. It looked fantastic on the telly, but apparently the Top Shop/Hollyoaks Glastonbury massive wanted a band with more hits and couldn't maintain interest in a band featuring the frontman from Blur, half of The Clash, Mos Def, Bobby Womack,Shaun Ryder, Mark E. Smith, Lou Reed and anyone else who was wandering past and fancied a bash at vocals. Does sound a bit rubbish when what you really wanted was U2 doesn't it? Young people today eh?

At some point I saw the end of The Flaming Lips set, where they played a mind-blowingly great version of their greatest song Do You Realise? and I finally got round to watching the rest of The Flaming Lips' set on the BBC's Glastonbury website last night. For a bunch of drug-crazed, leftwing, middle-aged acid-hippies they may be just about the most entertaining band on the planet. Apart from the sheer quality of the songs (Do You Realise?, She Don't Use Jelly, The Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Song, Yoshimi Battles The Giant Robots etc) they have charisma and presence in spades. Wayne Coyne's gigantic beach ball entrance, confetti, projections and films, random dancers wearing orange, aliens, the lot. I can appreciate that they're not everyone's cup of tea but it was very impressive stuff. The W.A.N.D. was a 2006 download single, that later turned up on their slightly disappointing At War With The Mystics album. It's an anti George W. Bush, anti-war lyric set to a huge riff and crashing drums, like Black Sabbath if they'd actually been any good and had a sense of humour.

10 The W.A.N.D.wma

Half Man Half Biscuit 'It Makes The Room Look Bigger'

I couldn't let yesterday's reference to Half Man Half Biscuit go without another post, especially as last month's With Goth On Our Side has become one of the most downloaded tracks from Bagging Area, which was a bit unexpected. In this song, from a 2003 six track e.p., the Poet Laureate of Birkenhead skewers D.I.Y.-

'I've just finished decorating
It was very irritating
And I know they're gonna come around tonight
And I know they're gonna say to me tonight
It makes the room look bigger'

This being HMHB Nigel Blackwell can toss away a line some songwriters would base an entire album around-

'I'm putting up a hook to hang my hopes upon'

And then follows it with...

'There's a fellow coming round to put the gas back on'

And...

'And if truth be told now that Thelma's gone
It makes the room look bigger'.

After ridiculing home improvement, modern Britain's favourite pastime, there's still time for a conversation with an elderly woman at a bus stop concerning poor bus services, Benny Goodman, three thugs, the nu-metal band Korn and a sub-machine gun.

Half Man Half Biscuit_03_It Makes The Room Look Bigger.mp3

Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 19

Friday night this week sees rockabilly's ongoing fixation with motorised vehicles revving up with The Crestones She's A Bad Motorcycle. Isn't she just. The file's not great quality with this one so you'll need to turn it up loud, but for our Friday night greaser sessions I hope you're doing that anyway.

shes a bad motorcycle.mp3

Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk ft. Daryl Pandy 'Love Can't Turn Around'

Rewind a few years before Bassheads' Merseyside take on house music and we get this prime piece of classic house. How quickly did original house music become known as classic? Can't have been more than a few years, which I guess shows how quickly the dance music scene moved on and mutated. Wonder whether Daryl Pandy had a tough time at school with that name? I'm not sure many school registers would be taken with a straight face with Funk, Farley coming halfway down the page either. Great record anyway.

09 Love Can't Turn Around.wma

Bassheads 'Is There Anybody Out There?'

Looking back at last month's random selections from my record collection I noticed that on the first of June I featured Birkenhead's Half Man Half Biscuit, so to celebrate the first of July here's another Birkenhead bunch- Bassheads. This is a first of the month Bagging Area tradition that may not last too long. Other than The Coral and OMD I'm struggling a bit I think.

Bassheads were Nick Murphy and others, and released several club oriented singles for Deconstruction between 1991 and 1993, including Back To The Old School, Who Can Make Me Feel Good? and this one, the stupidly good Is There Anybody Out There? It's a record that if you attempt to, ahem, deconstruct it, it falls apart. Echoes of Pink Floyd, an Afrika Bambaataa sample, part of Talking Heads' Once In A Lifetime, that drum beat, one of those very 1991 rap bits in the middle, crunchy guitar part and huge synth breakdown. See? Doesn't add up to much on paper or screen. But listen to it and I can smell dry ice and Vicks, and see strobes, coloured lights and hands in the air.

Bassheads - Is There Anybody Out The.mp3