I uncovered a box of CDs recently which contained dozens of CDs that came free with magazines, some going back to 1998. Mountains of plastic jewel cases, endless tracklists of samplers from 'this month's latest releases' plus old songs from albums being re- issued, songs from themed CDs (things like '14 Tracks From Madonna's New York', 'Pet Sounds Revisited', and 'Panic: 15 Tracks of Riotous '80s Indie Insurrection'), several volumes of Jockey Slut's Disco Pogo For Punks In Pumps, and loads more besides. A treasure trove and some rubbish too. I've been working my through them, looking for songs I'd previously missed or overlooked. There's a potentially rich vein of blogging inspiration along with some chaff.
Among them all I found a CD from the magazine Uncut titled White Riot Volume Two: A Tribute To The Clash, sixteen covers of Clash songs and a Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros song, Long Shadow. The covers include this one by Joy Zipper of Mick Jones' Hitsville UK from Sandinista!, a six minutes plus slow burning, shimmering, walls of fuzz guitar take on a Clash song that Mick wrote as a tribute to the UK's independent scene.
Joy Zipper were from Long Island, a married couple, Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso. By 2003 (the date of the magazine and the CD) Joy Zipper had already been active for a few years. Their debut release was in 1999 and their second album, American Whip from 2002, had production and mixing courtesy of Kevin Shields and David Holmes. Their cover of Hitsville UK was the B-side to their 2003 single Christmas Song. It reminded me that I had the first two albums and of this song, a woozy piece of late 20th century psychedelia/ shoegaze that comes across like a hymn to slow sunny days, sex and Jesus.
A great track, which I know from the excellent London Xpress XFM mix. Hard not to like a mix by DJ Harvey, David Holmes and somebody called Andrew Weatherall? I particularly like the run of tracks from Family Of God-Chrc Out My New Jesus-Commercial Break-Hey Lisa- Morning Broadway.
ReplyDeleteThe Jockey Slut series of CDs was pretty spot on, I think there was a Joy Zipper track on one (possibly Alzheimer’s?) that was the first thing I heard by them.
ReplyDeleteThat London Xpress CD seems to have been the first encounter with Joy Zipper for quite a few people. What a great CD it is. I may need to post it here shortly.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check the Jockey Slut CDs Khayem, haven't had a proper look at them yet.