by Vinyl301 -

MC 900ft Jesus: But If You Go

R-514286-1313004938

American Recordings 1995.   74321 25986 1

Discogs

MC 900ft Jesus isn’t like other rappers.  There’s none of the usual dull subject matter, nor is there anything approaching the delivery you’d expect; he’s mellow and understated.  He sounds more like a narrator telling a story, although there’s usually the sense that he’s not being entirely serious.  The 4 mixes here are a bit unnecessary, but it’s much better than having none.

If you want more, his wonderful first album (with DJ Zero) Hell With The Lid Off isn’t hard to find, and you can download a 1992 live set from his facebook page.

by Vinyl301 -

Various Artists: Sniffin’ Rock #9

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Sniffin Rock 1989.  SR006A7

Discogs

This is another magazine freebie 7″, but since this one (despite what it says on the label) plays at 45 and doesn’t have too much music crammed onto it, it sounds OK.

The music is great too.  There’s an exuberant run-through of Guest Informant by The Fall recorded live in Vienna (Get the original on The Frenz Experiment which has recently been re-issued as part of a very good value 5 CD box).  There’s an insane amount of Fall live material available now, most of which isn’t worth hearing, but this is an exception; it’s sharp and well recorded.  Then there’s the excellent Shamen track, Christopher Mayhew Says which is the true story of a plummy sounding MP taking LSD as an experiment, complete with hilarious samples of the man himself.  I don’t have the regular release of this, so I don’t know whether this version is different.  I know nothing about Silver Chapter, but this is a great organ driven Rock N Roll track – perhaps I should have taken more of an interest in them.

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by Vinyl301 -

Bim Sherman: Across The Red Sea

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On-U Sound 1982.  On-U LP 17

Discogs

It’s been too long since I posted any On-U material, so to remedy that here’s an early release from Bim Sherman.  For me his voice is so beautiful that I’m happy to listen to pretty much anything he recorded, but even without that, this is a strong dub album as you’d expect from the label.  It’s not as experimental as the material they became best known for – sometimes it’s straight up reggae, sometimes pleasing but predictable dub, but this is a solid effort from guys who really know what they’re doing.

My copy looks absolutely mint, but unfortunately crackles in places.  Somehow the crackles remind me of the handful of Jamaican pressed singles I have so it’s not as annoying as it might be.

by Vinyl301 -

The Davidsons: Astronaut

Panorama

Cake 1988. 12 PIECE 6

Discogs

I came across this the other day as I was packing up my vinyl for my impending emigration.  I don’t remember buying it and I know nothing about the band.  There’s nothing on line either, except according to Discogs they did an album.

It’s on Birmingham based Cake records, so I assume, like everyone else they had on their roster, the band were from Birmingham.  I must have bought this because it was cheap and on Cake, or maybe I picked it up at a gig.  I went to so many gigs back then, I struggle to remember many of them.

So is it worth a listen?  Well I quite like it.  Nicely funky, and unlike the far superior Pigbros (also on Cake), reasonably well recorded.  The remixed version is a very odd affair with lots of middle eastern percussion.  The singer unfortunately is pretty awful, but even that fits with the late 80s indie thing.

by Vinyl301 -

Various Artists: The House Sound Of Chicago

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DJ International 1986.  LON LP 22

Discogs

House music was pretty exciting when it first appeared.  The problem though was buying it – there were few “names” to follow and the record shops which stocked it were very intimidating for a geeky indie kid trailing around record shops in a cheap suit in his lunch hour.  I did brave those shops from time to time asking for something I’d heard on the radio, but most of the time it was compilations like this one which made the genre accessible.  This is a very early example and it includes most of the important early movers.  It sounds primitive and not all the tracks work so well nearly 30 years after the event, but the best of them are superb.  Steve “Silk” Hurley’s monumental Jack Your Body charted as I recall, but it’s the thumping bass line which really makes it work.  Mr Fingers has appeared here before.  As as for the rest, Marshall Jefferson’s contribution is a monster and more-or-less defines the genre, while JM Silk and Farley Jackmaster Funk aren’t too shabby either.

by Vinyl301 -

KLF Vs Extreme Noise Terror: 3AM Eternal (Christmas Top Of The Pops 1991)

R-342376-1099592262

KLF Communications 1993.  3AM1

Discogs

I’m endlessly amused by KLF pranks, well the ones that worked anyway.  This was an especially good one – performing their stadium house anthem on that most family orientated of music shows, Christmas TOTP with thrash metal band Extreme Noise Terror.  Music is way too dominated by the marketing men, so it’s really refreshing to see something as stupid as this kick down the doors into the mainstream.  At the end of the performance, Bill Drummond fired a machine gun into the audience, and it was announced that the KLF had left the music business.  They duly split and deleted their lucrative back catalogue, and apart from a handful of fairly low key projects have been true to their word.

As a record I quite like it.  Yes, it is a joke but it works better than you might think, not that it inspired me to buy any more ENT stuff.

by Vinyl301 -

Rosemary Clooney: Memories Of You

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Philips 1955.  PB428

Not listed on Discogs

My Dad asked me to make a CD from a very damaged 78rpm acetate he made as a child in the 1940s.  It was quite a labour of love getting anything audible from it but I got there in the end.  It meant of course that I had to reconfigure my vinyl rig to play 78s, which takes much longer to do properly than you might think.  Anyway, now it’s done, and it’ll take a similar amount of time to get it back to its usual state, I thought I’d explore a big box of 78s a neighbour gave me years ago.

My neighbour didn’t have great taste in music but I came across a few interesting bits and pieces.  Rosemary Clooney was George Clooney’s aunt, but what’s interesting to me about this disc is that it contains the original version (I think) of a song Robert Wyatt covered on the B side of his goosebump inducing single, Shipbuilding.  It’s a great song, as you’d expect, and predictably, Wyatt performs it much better than gorgeous George’s aunt did, but it’s an interesting listen if you’re a Robert Wyatt obsessive like me.

Get the Wyatt version on the Greatest Misses compilation.

It’s been quite a revelation to me how good 78s sound played on a decent turntable properly set up for the job.  OK there’s some surface noise, but it’s mostly not intrusive, and with most of them, there’s not much wrong with the way they sound.

This is a long way from being the best record I’ve posted on this blog, although by my reckoning, it isn’t the worst either.  At least it gets away from the endless indiepop.  In reality I’m quite the musical magpie; I listen to all manner of genres, but reading this blog you’d be forgiven for thinking that I’m stuck in a late 80s Creation time warp.  Thing is, that was the time I was buying a lot of vinyl – as I moved onto other genres, I also moved to CDs.

by Vinyl301 -

Electribe 101: Tell Me When The Fever Ended (Remix)

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Mercury 1989.  Mercury 876 231-1

Discogs

Electribe 101 were a short-lived project championed by Peel, as was so much on this blog, but which folded due to an unjust lack of commercial success and stupid arguments with their label.

They were, in theory a house music band, composed of 4 electronics geeks from Birmingham and a rather wonderful but improbably named German singer; Billie Ray Martin.  The result was a slick but soulful sound which sounded rather incongruous when Peel played it, but he was spot on about how good they were.

Billie Ray Martin, as befits someone with such a great voice has had a long and interesting career since, but I’m not at all certain what happened top the rest of the band.  By an odd co-incidence this track was written by Larry Heard, aka Mr Fingers.

by Vinyl301 -

Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Stay

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Drag City 2009.  DC422

Discogs

This is a single of covers of occasional Oldham collaborator Susanna Wallumrod’s songs, and while it feels like something of an afterthought, these are captivating songs, delivered as usual with Oldham’s intensity.

The A side is rather sombre, but is a beautifully sung and recorded piece which you’ll love if you’re into BPB.  The B side is live and sounds distinctly rough, but if anything the song works better than the A side and is worth the effort with the murky sound.

by Vinyl301 -

The June Brides: There Are Eight Million Stories

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Pink Records 1985.  PINKY5

Discogs

While it’s true that the June Brides were as successful as they were partly because they were one of the first jangly indie bands, they also made some fine records, of which this is one.  They were very much associated with Creation in their early days, although never recorded for the label – too obvious apparently.  Main man Phil Wilson went on to record solo material for the label though.  They supported the Smiths because Morrissey loved them and they were, for a while, darlings of the music press.

This was their only album and it’s very short, much like their career, but never mind the width, feel the quality.  As I say endlessly on this blog, it’s the songwriting which really shines, and for some reason I’m a total sucker for indiepop songs with trumpet parts, which this has lots of.

The band have jumped on the indiepop revival bandwagon and have reformed.  I have no idea whether their new stuff is any good (it’s well reviewed), but you can get it here.