I'm surprised it's taken me thirteen weeks to get around to posting this theme but here we are. It's a bank holiday weekend here in the UK (and I'll pass over all the nonsense of the platinum jubilee other than to say I think that democratic nations should elect their leaders, even ones with no real powers). But as a bank holiday bonus I thought we'd have a bumper edition of the Saturday Theme theme with not one, not two, not even three or four but five versions of Theme (or The Theme) by Andrew Weatherall's magnificent 90s dub/ techno outfit The Sabres Of Paradise, all sequenced together in order in one mix.
- Theme
- Theme II
- Theme III
- Theme 4
- Theme (Underdog Vs. Sabres)
Theme was released as a 12" in 1994, a Richard Sen graffiti adorned sleeve housing a massive piece of music, almost eight minutes of crunchy hip hop drums, distorted guitar and a blaring horn sample (which a Discogs user has spotted as being from Yello's Jungle Bill. Weatherall/ Sabres previously remixed Jungle Bill in 1992). There's some clattering percussion halfway through and the repeated build up of bass and horns. The long fade out with sounds twisting round and round themselves, ricocheting round the speakers is very nice.
Theme II came out via a freebie magazine cassette giveaway, the long gone Select Magazine Secret Tracks tape, attached to the front of the magazine in April 1994, a six minute version of the original, taking the less obvious route and with some metallic percussion straight from the Haunted Dancehall sound bank and a load of reverb laden sounds at the back of the mix.
Theme III was on the Theme CD single, a five minute version that starts out like underwater dub, the sound of wire being stretched, a muffled kick drum, percussion distorted and bent so much they're turning in on themselves, the two note bass throb isolated at the fore and a lot of echo and hiss- the drums eventually break through but it's all slower and hazier
Theme 4 was on Haunted Dancehall, and picks up where Theme III left off, a sub- two minute ambient/ dub take, the original completely deconstructd, a version of a version of a version. At the time Weatherall said PiL's Metal Box was a big influence and you can hear that on the multiple versions of Theme, especially II through to 4, the ghosts of Lydon, Wobble, Levene and various drummers making themselves known.
Theme (Underdog Vs. Sabres) is a remix by The Underdog which came out on 10" in 1994, following the release of the original 12". It starts with some uptempo house allowed to run for a few bars before a needle is abruptly pulled off the vinyl and drums burst in, and rapper Dominick takes the mic, South London pirate radio style all over the Sabres, ragga vocal and samples dropped in ('move and groove like a pit bull', 'you could get a slap for that'), gunshots, a grinding bassline, some of the original's horns and guitar surviving the makeover. Apparently Underdog (Trevor Jackson) believed Sabres to be a straight house act (hence the piss take opening section of his remix) and thought the original Theme was a half arsed attempt at hip hop. He sent back a remix which showed them how to do it properly. Weatherall reportedly thought this was hilarious, ensuring that the remix came out as a standalone 10" release.
It was worth the wait, Adam.
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