Dr And Spaceman

Dr John, the Night Tripper, released Gris Gris back in 1968, still the spookiest New Orleans, gumbo voodoo rock album ever. Not rock music at all really, more a bad but funky r'n'b trip. Walk On Gilded Splinters is in a field of it's own. He's got a new album out called Locked Down, recorded with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, which I haven't got but am tempted by come payday. Which is today. Hurrah!

This song Gris Gris was given away on an NME cd in the late 90s, remixed by another psychedelic explorer J Spaceman of Spiritualized (who also have a new album out, which I don't have but am tempted by). I'm sure I've got the cd somewhere but couldn't find it. I found the remix at ireallylikemusic and I hope the original poster doesn't mind me re-presenting it.

Gris Gris (J Spaceman Mix)

If I Can Shoot Rabbits

There aren't very many number one songs about the Spanish Civil War.

There's a copy of this poster in the Manchester Peoples' History Museum, worth a visit if you're kicking your heels this weekend and in the North West of England.

I've never shot a rabbit incidentally.

If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

Acid Brass And (Man Ray)

One more Man Ray portrait, this time of poet and celebrity fascist Ezra Pound, looking as cool as a cucumber while contemplating a move to Italy and the policies of Mussolini. Possibly. To be fair, Ezra did say he regretted his pro-fascist words and actions later in life. Spending several weeks locked in a cage by US forces at the end of World War Two didn't help his mental state either.

Some unrelated dance music (or dance music inspired music) from Jeremy Deller's acid brass album from ages ago. Here the Williams Fairey Brass Band tackle techno classic Strings Of Life, Derrick May's Rhythim Is Rhythim masterpiece.

Strings Of Life

The Return Of Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 56

Some modern rockabilly tonight from Justin Townes Earle, who's made four albums of acoustic based Americana. The latest one, Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now, expands a bit with a little bit of Memphis soul here, some horns there, a bit of fiddle in the middle, and this song which is a good stab at old time rockabilly. And he looks the part.

I'm in the snug. Pint anyone?

Baby's Got A Bad Idea

Repetitive Beats 2 (And Man Ray)

Also from the Repetitive Beats remixes e.p. came this offering from The Lords Of Afford (Weatherall and Dave Hedger). From the techno end of Weatherall's output. They don't call 'em repetitive beats for nothing.

Repetitive Beats (Wasteland Britain- Lords Of Afford)

Today's Man Ray portrait is celebrated Catalan sculptor and painter Joan Miro, sporting a haircut that might have got him sent home from school until it grew out a bit.

My monthly Boxnet bandwidth is now over limit so I've sneaked back to mediafire for the next couple of days.

Repetitive Beats (And Man Ray)

In 1994 the Conservative government attempted to crack down on rave culture by bringing in a piece of legislation making it illegal to hold a gathering of a people listening to music characterised by repetitive beats. That's right- they were looking to outlaw drum patterns when played in public. This led to various protests including a pair of e.p.s by a collective called Retribution (The Drum Club and Steve Hillage mainly, with Sabrettes' Nina Walsh). The track- called Repetitive Beats obviously, released on Sabrettes - was then remixed by a variety of repetitive beat offenders, including Andrew Weatherall, Adrian Sherwood and On U Sound, Secret Knowledge, and Primal Scream (who turned in a somewhat lazy, drug-rock cover version of The Clash's Know Your Rights). Adrian Sherwood's dubbed up remix here features the talents of vocalists Little Axe and Bim Sherman and is probably the pick of the bunch.

Repetitive Beats (Mind And Movement On U Sound)

Man Ray picture- Lee Miller, photographed here in 1930s Paris, who led an extraordinary life. Lee moved from the US to Paris, having modelled for Vogue in the early 20s, becoming a photographer after inventing solarisation with Man Ray (by accident), leaving him to become a fine art and fashion photographer and then becoming Vogue's European war correspondent during World War II, accompanying the US army across France and into Germany after D-Day. She was the only female photographer at the liberation of Dachau and Buchenwald. She also found time before the war to hang about with Picasso and Jean Cocteau. Not your average CV.

Boxnet bandwidth was at 95% last night so will shortly be exceeded I reckon. Get you d/ls quick if you want them.

Jah Wobble (And Man Ray)

We love the bass here at Bagging Area Towers and never moreso than when being played by Jah Wobble. After a spell out of the music industry (partly spent giving gnomic announcements to commuters on the London Underground's tannoy system) Jah came back with post-acid house outfit, The Invaders Of The Heart, resulting in the epic Visions Of You single and then in 1994 Becoming More Like God. What you have here is Secret Knowledge's remix which clocks in at a nifty fourteen minutes and one second. A 12" single where Kris Needs redefines expansive and epic. Hope it doesn't wipe out the rest of my Boxnet bandwidth for this month.

Today's Man Ray portrait is of another American lost in Paris, painter Karin Van Leyden. Well, you didn't want a picture of Jah did you? Or Kris Needs?

Becoming More Like God (Secret Knowledge To Hell And Back Mix)

The 14th Minute (And Man Ray)

CTel at Acid Ted blog is having a month off, and having posted several thousand dance music posts in the last few years who can blame him? Since exhausting the A-Z of his record collection he has mainly focused on new dance music for the last two years, often posting several times a day. I discovered this through him- The 14th Minute, who make upbeat disco-house, not big room, pump-yer-fist stuff, just uncomplicated, smiley-face dance music. Lovely.

Spoken (Original Mix)

In a completely unrelated way I've been into the photography of Man Ray recently, who more-or-less invented modern photography as an artform, though he denied that photography was art. Man Ray moved to Paris in 1921 and was on the fringes of the surrealist and Dada movements, and hung out with most of the 20s and 30s European movers and shakers. He invented the process of solarization and spent the 1920s creating surrealist photography and taking striking portraits of the great and good, the beautiful and the damned, including the one above of model and muse Nusch Eluard. I might put some more Man Ray portraits up to accompany posts- they beat some of the band pictures I use hands down (such as yesterday's Lemonheads shot).

Confetti

I've not followed the career of Lemonhead Evan Dando very closely. In the late 80s I had Lick on vinyl (one ace song that starts 'Here I am outside your house at 8 am', don't remember the name of it now and no longer have the record). I quite liked some of the early 90s stuff but never bought any apart from the odd single. He lost it publicly several times, claiming he had written a song called Purple Parallelogram with Noel Gallagher and a dalliance with Courtney Love. He probably needs some kind of award for surviving both. This song, Confetti, is a perfectly serviceable piece of early 90s indie-rock. It says it's a remix but I'm guessing this means it was mixed again for the single release rather than remixed as many other records were at that time.

Confetti (Remix)

Guess I'm Dumb

There's something going on with blogger at the moment, things don't work properly- the post scheduling function isn't working, and the line breaks don't break, hence the song link is right next to the end of the last sentence and looks messy; and they've redesigned the dashboard. Unless it's my gas powered computer. Or me. Glen Campbell, immaculate of dress and coiffeur, played and sang this Brian Wilson song in 1965. You'll love it. Sunday morning music.

Guess I'm Dumb

Carry That Weight

The Band's drummer, songwriter, co-singer and multi-instrumentalist Levon Helm died on Friday (he's in the centre in the picture). In 1968 The Band caused almost every rock musician you can think of to give up psychedelia and go stripped down and rural. They looked like they came from 'the old, weird America'.

The Weight

Bus Pass For Osterberg

He's a street walkin' cheetah with a heart full of napalm, the runaway son, the world's forgotten boy, only five foot one with a hard-assed pair of shoulders, the chairman of the bored, the passenger who sees the city's ripped backside, your dog, with a baby who's turned blue, he's gonna have real cool time, he's got a TV eye, down on the street, in the funhouse, in Kill City, on a death trip with a lust for life, he's looking for one new value, but nothing comes his way. He's 65 today. Happy birthday Iggy.

Search And Destroy (in mono)

The Return Of Friday Night Is Rockabilly Night 55

Johnny Cash reckoned Carl Perkins was the King of rockabilly and who are we to disagree with the Man In Black. In this song, a demo recorded for Sun Records, Carl sings of an item of clothing I do not own. And am unlikely to, despite their availability online (see below).

Pink Pedal Pushers

In The Cool Of The Evening

This lovely Dusty Springfield song has been rotating in my head recently. Sometimes I imagine it segueing into Billy Fury's Wondrous Place, just after the bit where there's the pause.

That was interesting wasn't it.

Spooky

Standing At The Sky's Edge

A teaser for Bagging Area's favourite 50s throwback Richard Hawley, where a dollop of deep, rich psychedelia gets added to the pot. Album out May 7th, a single Leave Your Body Behind out Monday (also at Youtube). Another Sheffield reference too.

City Girl

A return to recent postee Kevin Shields and a song from the soundtrack of Lost In Translation (which came out in 2003. It really doesn't seem that long ago). Lost In Translation starred Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray as a pair of Americans marooned in Tokyo. The soundtrack was pretty good, featuring two other Shields songs, Death In Vegas, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Phoenix, Air and Squarepusher. This song is full of overdriven and distorted guitar, sleepy vocals and the sense of waking up very slowly, disorientated, while an amp overloads in a nearby room.

City Girl

Book Of Version

As an afterword for A.N., this is the dub version from the B-side of The Heptones wondrous Book Of Rules, posted yesterday. Get hold of that bass.

Book Of Rules Version

NB. Ripped at a piss poor rate of 128 so you may need to adjust your volume control in the upwards direction.

Common People Like You And Me, We'll Be Builders For Eternity

I saw an old friend over the weekend and we sat up late listening to records and talking nonsense. We finished with this song, Book Of Rules by The Heptones from 1973. I've posted it before but said I'd put it up again for my mate A.N. so here it is.

If you don't like this, there is no hope for you- glorious vocal reggae, soaring chords and voices, a song that is far better than can ever be described.

Book Of Rules

I've Got This Burning, Burning, Yearning

Soft Cell's 1981 hit Tainted Love has so many hooks- that beat, Marc Almond's delivery, its marriage of the new (electro-pop) and the old (Northern Soul), those handclaps, and all the sleaze that went with their image. A massive hit and a groundbreaking record that sold in millions. Those people that bought it on 12" got an added treat- an eight minute plus version with a hissing drum machine segueway and a drop-dead cover of The Supremes hit Where Did Our Love Go? to go with the Gloria Jones cover of the 7". Utter brilliance.

Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go?

She Said 'Love Is Dead'

A cheery love song for Sunday from London 80s band The Godfathers. Love Is Dead was a single from the Birth, School, Work, Death album. Good but not exactly earth-shattering. They reformed a few years back.

Love Is Dead