Here's another one that's slightly less bonkers...only slightly mind you...a number 2 hit in 1966 as well.
Whatever his origin, his stuff's really floating my musical boat at the moment. Here's another one, just ripe for a festival field this summer...
For dub heads here's a little Zion In Dub from 1980...
...and we've got to have a Grace Jones track (Sly played on this and numerous other Jones classics)...
and apparently this is the first track he played on, not a bad way to kick off your career eh?
Every day's a school day eh?
2026 sees several notable anniversaries including the passing of Black (aka Colin Vearncombe) and David Bowie, who sadly both passed away on the same day ten years ago (okay, I know Colin technically died on January 26th but the injuries he received in a car crash on January 10th effectively ended his life) and the tenth anniversary of the death of Prince in April. On a slightly lighter note this year sees the twentieth birthday of this blog in August. Plans are already being made for a huge celebration...so that'll be an Ivor Dewdney pasty and a couple of pints of cider at Ye Olde Cider Barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr in Newton Abbot. I'm a simple soul, as you'll have noted if you've read any of this jibber jabber over the past couple of decades.
As is also usual I'm off for my annual digital detox now, so have yourselves a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
You know you're getting on in years when the people from the bands you grew up with start popping off to that great gig in the sky. A few weeks ago we lost Dave Ball and now Mani's gone at just 63...I say 'just' 63...I suppose that's not a bad age all things considered and, let's face it, the dude fitted a lot more into his life than most of us.
In my humble opinion The Stone Roses' self titled debut album is one of the top 20 albums of all time. Of course it all went a bit tits up after that but I was lucky enough to see the reformed Roses play V Festival (they were supposed to play Glasto '95 but Squire broke his collar bone, so we saw some band called Pulp instead...I wonder what happened to them?).
Between the split and the resurrection Mani went on to play with Primal Scream during arguably their best and most experimental period.
It's his work with the Roses that people are quite rightly looking back on today though and here are a pair of absolute 24ct gold bangers...
I Wanna Be Adored? Mission accomplished I reckon Mani. RIP.
What does 11quid buy you these days eh? Not a fat lot sadly. Unless you happened to be one of the lucky ones in The Folklore Rooms, Brighton (cracking venue too by the way) last Friday when they dished up three top notch bands kicking off with Leeds’ finest, Suckle. Bluesy, rocky, garagey, Captain Beefhearty…Suckle’s the kind of ultra cool underground band you wished you’d been around to see back in the 60s and 70s (except that would make you…I dunno…70 or something and that’s gotta hurt…good grief being 55’s knackering enough). If you’re looking for a great night out Suckle’s pretty much un-teat-able (see what I did there?).
Pick of the pops (or set, if you will, and you really should) Beef Pudding and Hollow Legs.
We’d barely got our breath back (to be fair that takes a while these days) before Pigeon Wigs flew in. They’d had a ‘mare driving down from Wales in the sodding rain but it didn’t show. Indie garage rock superstars in waiting…if Jack White’s reading this snap ‘em up for Third Man Records and you’ll make a bob or two.
Crucially the world will get a much-needed kick in the musical crotch as well. And boy does it need it. Pick of the pops…Plumpy and All Your Fun.
PS: Some tidy facial hair going on in the band too.
Last up Room Service, celebrating the launch of new EP The Plastic Cosmic Fantastic Hotel, delivered some of the greatest jazz tinged groovers this side of the Atlantic. They can rock out with the best of ‘em too though courtesy of Hot Dog and, quite possibly one of the finest tracks I’ve heard this millennium, JCVD (Jean Claude Van Damme). Loved the Love Shack cover as well. Pick of the pops…JCVD of course.
Why the chuff hasn’t this been a number one smash hit yet eh? The world’s gone mad.
So there you go, at less than £4 per band tonight’s gig
was proof that the grassroot live music scene’s still capable of giving you one
hell of a night out without breaking the bank. Cheers to each and every member
of each and every band, plus whoever set up and put on the show, you made an
old bloke’s ears very happy indeed. All together now, "J...C...J C V D!"
Having worked behind the counter in a convenience store (7-Eleven in Hove...1990-1991) I know that some people can treat you with, let's say, less than a modicum of respect, courtesy or even human decency. I imagine it's got a lot worse over the past 30 years or so and it never ceases to amaze me when you see some people fail to even acknowledge the poor sod serving them. Personally I welcome a quick chat with the person behind the counter/bar/bullet proof glass and that's how I got to know Jake. I knew he played music (he's just left the joys of the Co-op to study music in Cornwall) but I've only just found out that he's recently recorded and released a whole album too. Darn fine it is as well, with hints of Billy Joel at his Piano Man-tastic best.
You can stream the whole thing on Spotify (and no doubt various other streaming 'platforms' that old duffers like me know bugger all about) but please also share it with, well, anyone who'll listen and help give a new artist the break they deserve.
I loved the stuff he did with Psychic TV in the Acid House era but, of course, it's Soft Cell where Dave Ball obsession began. Bear in mind the group started in 1977 when synths were still a relatively new thing that could cost as much as a house and you'll appreciate just how ground breaking they were, as their first EP Mutant Moments shows.
File under 'Uneasy Listening'.
Memorabilia sanded off some of the rougher edges but, blimey, it still sounds futuristic to me.
After making it bigger than...well...pretty much anyone in 1981 with their cover of Tainted Love the Cell spent much of the next three years confounding expectations with one brilliant but - for the majority of the record buying public - ever so slightly odd album after another. Take this little beauty from This Last Night In Sodom for instance. Punk goth synth pop anyone?
Amongst other things Dave then went on to form The Grid who helped the define the 90s dance scene with tracks like A Beat Called Love.
I could go on...and on...and on...but trust me, anything and everything that Dave Ball had a hand in is well worth a listen. My musical world would have been much poorer without him but apparently he'd just completed the final mix of a brand new Soft Cell album days before he passed away, so it's not quite time to 'wave goodbye' forever.
RIP Dave.
A very welcome chance to see Bis again (having seen
them way back in 1999 at The Flapper in Brum and 2013 at the much-missed
Indietracks Festival in Derbyshire) and EMF and Jesus Jones for the very first
time. Bis kicked things off with 30 minutes of the best pop tunes your ears
have ever had the pleasure of hearing including their breakout track Kandy Pop
and a joyous Eurodisco. Action and Drama still being well and truly delivered.
You have to feel for Jesus Jones trying to follow that.
But it was great to hear the likes of Real Real Real, International Bright Young Thing and Right Here, Right Now again.
Headliners EMF were a rave riot from start to finish, with a hits packed set, including a slower version of their cover of I’m A Believer (which gave a bit of a nod to Robert Wyatt’s interpretation, albeit with 90s indie disco vibe) and a couple of new classics in waiting including recent release LGBTQ+ Lover.
Next a rawer, rockier Roxy live on The Old Grey Whistle Test from 1973.
And who can forget Brian's short lived eye infection inspired pirate scout leader look....
This is what it sounds like when one band puts more thought into a single track than some do into their entire career. Sure, it's gloriously OTT in places but why not eh? And the track's title...it couldn't be more appropriate for the times we're living in. Play it loud and give the neighbours a treat. Possibly.
I'm so used to the album version of Sunday Sunday that the Partridge one's taking some getting used to but it's turning out to be a bit of a grower...
Our eighth Beautiful Days and goodness knows how many camping festivals and…miracle of miracles…the sun shone. Non-stop. For all three flipping days. Not since our first festival, Glastonbury 1995, has this ever happened. Hurrah!
Music wise the outlook was every bit as sunny and we somehow managed to catch…deep breath…The Deadlians, Millie Manders and the Shut Up, Misty In Roots (pictured below)
Terrorvision, The Mary Wallopers, Penguin Café, Peter Doherty (pictured below)
The Kairos, Girlband!, Panic Shack, a bit of Kid Kapichi, a bit of Sleeper, Kula Shaker (pictured below)
John Grant, Shed Seven, Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter, Grandma’s House, Heavy Lungs, Young Knives, The Meffs, The Bluetones, a bit of Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, Fantastic Negrito (pictured below)...who well and truly lived up to his name...
and The Levellers (from outside our tent and then up at the Tiny Tea Tent, as is traditional for the best view of the fireworks...and 'cos by then we were knackered with a capital K).
Peter Doherty was in fine form, fitter and happier
than he’s seemed in a long time and joined, on drums, by none other that Mike
Joyce from t’Smiths. Panic Shack were a riot (grrrl), John Grant really is the
Greatest Mother Fucker, Frank Carter’s settled into the shoes of Johnny Rotten brilliantly
and Fantastic Negrito more than justified the cost of the ticket on his own
(think the lovechild of Sly Stone and Prince raised by Ozzy in a blues club…sort
of). As always the entire weekend was pretty much a twat free experience (if only the rest of the world was eh?) and we even
managed a little sleep (an inflatable mattress and decent tent have proved to
be lifesavers over the past few years).
Given how many festivals have folded over the past few
years it’s heartening to see that BD still sells out year after year, even
before the line-up’s announced, but I reckon the combination of letting punters take in
their own food and drink coupled with decent, sensibly priced booze on offer at
the bars, toilets that are cleaned regularly (shout out to Andy Loos) and a sponsorship
free environment has a lot to do with it. As The Levs are behind the whole shebang too I wouldn't be surprised if they propped it up with some of their own dosh too.
PS: Sad to see that the bloke who normally has the hanging bar thingy wasn't there this year, nor were The Curry Shed (although I believe they've retired).
PPS: Getting onto the site seemed to have been a nightmare for most people. It took us over three hours instead of 35 minutes. That's something the organisers need to watch if they don't want to lose their licence. Having traffic backed up all the way to Exeter can't have gone unnoticed...
PS: Brian's latest project is a band called DAME, there's not a lot of material out there yet but here's a little teaser...
Had the great pleasure of catching this band on our mini break in Bristol (quite possibly my favourite city in the world right now) at a place called The Canteen. It was hotter than the surface of the sun in there but they played a blinder, sweating up a soulful storm of self penned belters and culminating in a truly gloria-ous cover version of the Them classic. I got the impression that the band's been on hiatus for a while and some of the members have changed since this video was recorded but on tonight's form this current line-up's got 'the makings' of something pretty special.
