I had a different thirty minute mix in mind for today but then suddenly midweek it occurred to me that the Andrew Weatherall remixes of Jah Wobble in the early 90s would be an ideal way to ease in a Sunday in mid- February. I've left the Weatherall produced, massive dub bassline of Higher Than The Sun from Screamadelica off this, just because that would tip it towards an hour and it's not strictly speaking a remix. What you have here is the Weatherall remixes of Visions Of You from 1991 and the pair of remixes Andrew did with Hugo Nicolson under the Boy's Own banner of Jah's Bomba single from 1990. The 12" of Visions Of You, released as Jah Wobble and The Invaders Of The Heart in 1991 with Sinead O'Connor on vocals, was a real moment for me. I remember vividly buying it in Power Cuts, a massive basement record shop in Manchester just off Oxford Road (behind McDonald's and what used to be Rafters, a legendary venue in Manchester's music history due to its Joy Division connections). Power Cuts sold all sorts of stuff, cheap and piled high, including a lot of import records with either the corner cut off or a hole punched in the top right hand corner. Nothing cost more than a few pounds. The Visions Of You 12" was sitting there waiting for me, 99p I think. I got it back to my rented room and put the AW side on, a twenty minute excursion/ reconstruction, almost half an album in its own right.
The Bomba 12" came out the previous year but I don't recall picking it up until a year or two later in Vinyl Exchange, two remixes, one either side, with Natasha Atlas on vocals. The Miles Away Mix samples Miles Davis and his Sketches Of Spain album from 1960- it was a long time before I twigged the origins of the sample and title. Despite many of you being more than familiar with all the remixes here I hope you'll find them stitched together as one piece- a global, dubby, Balearic, acid house forty minute mix- as a fine way to see Sunday in.
Forty Minutes Of Wobble And Weatherall
- Visions Of You (The Secret Lovechild Of Hank And Johnny Mix)
- Visions Of You (Pick 'n' Mix 1)
- Visions Of You (Pick 'n' Mix 2)
- Bomba (Nonsensicus Maximus Mix)
- Bomba (Miles Away Mix)
No complaints from me, unsurprisingly! I've similarly happy memories of getting the Visions Of You 12". I loved the song the moment I heard it and the Adrian Sherwood remix on side 1 was brilliant. And then, I flipped over to Side 2... three mixes, but which play seamlessly as a whole. I played and played and played it again and again and again.
ReplyDeleteI missed Bomba completely and then couldn't find a copy for love or money. I subsequently ended up with digital versions: firstly, the Nonsonicus Maximus Mix on 1995 compilation 110 Below: No Sleeve Notes Required; the Miles Away mix nearly 15 years later on the 2009 Junior Boy's Own compilation A Boy's Own Odyssey: Acid House Scrapes & Capers. Both excellent collections in their own right, but of course these are the highlights.
Good work, Adam, looking forward to the Sunday mix that would have been, but this was a spot-on call for today.
Power Cuts! Loved that store when I lived in Manchester - remember looking forward to their annual sale and getting up at like 4am to make sure I was one of the first in line!
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