Friday Night Music Club

Right. Time for an explanation.

Tonight’s mix is not the one I had planned to post.

The one I had prepared was a little too upbeat for such a momentous weekend; whilst I personally won’t be joining in the nation’s mouring, I didn’t want to disrespect those that are.

And so I decided to create a mix “on the fly”; I decided what the first and last track would be, and then started recording as I journeyed from one to the other.

I tell you this instead of offering sleeve notes, as there will doubtless be those who think some of my selections are….disrespectful. That wasn’t the intention. The intention was simply to pick tunes which sounded good next to each other – any which may seem to have been chosen as some sort of comment on any recent high profile passings are entirely coincidental.

Honest.

So let’s crack on, shall we?

(By the way, because this mix is just shy of 2 hours, Google Drive can’t cope and won’t let me upload it, so the link below takes you to my old Soundcloud account. Hope it works ok!)

Friday Night Music Club Vol 18

1. Beastie Boys featuring Miho Hatori – Start
2. Cilla Black – Something Tells Me (Something’s Gonna Happen Tonight)
3. Luther Vandross – Never Too Much
4. Womack & Womack – Teardrops
5. Gary Byrd & The G.B. Experience – The Crown
6. Catatonia – Karaoke Queen
7. Marilyn Monroe – Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend
8. Madonna – Material Girl
9. Annie – I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
10. Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend
11. The B-52’s – Wig
12. David Bowie – Queen Bitch
13. Carole King – I Feel The Earth Move
14. Eddy Arnold – I’m Throwing Rice (At The Girl I Love)
15. Half Man Half Biscuit – Paintballs Coming Home (Andy Kershaw Session)
16. The Ukrainians – Koroleva Ne Polerma
17. Status Quo – Gentleman Joe’s Sidewalk Cafe
18. Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve – Midas Reversed
19. Barry Adamson – Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Pelvis
20. Pulp – Mis-Shapes
21. China Crisis – King in a Catholic Style
22. Doves – Kingdom of Rust
23. Black Grape – Tramazi Parti
24. Beck – E-Pro
25. Nirvana – Lithium
26. PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie
27. Pixies – Planet of Sound
28. Supergrass – Richard III
29. Gene – We Could Be Kings (Single Edit)
30. The Teardrop Explodes – Treason
31. The Stranglers – Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead
32. ? & The Mysterians – 96 Tears
33. Inspiral Carpets – Dragging Me Down
34. The Jam – Town Called Malice

That should keep you occupied for a while.

More soon.

Get Off My Playlist! #6

Last one of these, until I next get it together to do another mix for JC. There’s no point in my continuing the series with reference to the Friday Night Music Club mixes, as invariably if something doesn’t make the cut in one it will turn up sooner or later in another (with the notable exception of a couple of tunes which have been dropped on at least three occasions each now).

Sometimes when you bump one tune from a playlist, there’s a domino effect. Suddenly, the song which would have been next to it seems out of place, an island cut off from the mainland.

And so it is with today’s record, which, once I had decided against including yesterday’s psychedelic swirl by Super Furry Animals, now had no companion piece to anchor it to.

In other words, it stood out like sore thumb, and therefore had to go, which is shame because it’s an absolute beauty:

Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve – Sunday Morning Sun-g

I tried to retrieve the situation, but all I could come up with which both fitted the theme of the mix and sounded good next to it was a record I figured I would be accused of building the playlist around, even if it did come from a time when the band in question sounded very different to the way they sound now, a time before they had ditched the The from their name, when actually the opposite was true: it was considered purely on the basis of thematic and sonic appropriateness.

And so I ditched both.

I still think they make pretty good bed-fellows, mind:

The Status Quo – Ice In The Sun

Yup. All these posts, building up to that.

More soon.

New Mood on Monday

The other week, I posted a pretty ruddy great tune by Midlake which prompted old chum The Swede to get in touch by way of the Comments, asking if I was aware of a remix of a different Midlake song (Roscoe), remixed by Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve.

I wasn’t, I am now (he’s right, it’s amazing) but it led me to dig out the records I do own by Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve.

And which leads me to post this for your Monday morning dose of positive records:

Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve – Don’t Cry Girl

For those not in the know, Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve is long-time favourite of these pages Erol Alkan, along with Richard Norris (of The Grid fame).

As you would expect from that pedigree, this is ace. Listen and love.

More soon.

I’m Not Too Keen on Mondays

Last week’s bit of reggae seemed to hit the spot, and I was tempted to post some more this morning.

But then this came up on shuffle on my iPod the other day, and it immediately forced its way to pole position for this morning’s post.

I’ve mentioned Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve before, a collaboration between Erol Alkan and Richard Norris. Those two names alone should be enough to pique your interest.

This track later reappeared on their first compilation album, Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Ark 1, but this is where I first heard it on a 6-track EP called George. It’s an exhilerating chunk of psychedelic garage rock bound to get your rocks if not off, then certainly moving in that general direction:

Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve – Bubble Burst

More soon.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

It’s not often that I can introduce you to records where the main vocal is provided by former Blue Peter gardener Percy Thrower. In fact, this will be the only time.

I’ll go further: today’s record continues the BBC’s, and by extension Blue Peter’s, remit to both entertain and educate.

Don’t let that put you off though; today’s track is by the saucily titled Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve (google it, but not at work), which, to the uninitiated, is the moniker under which Erol Alkan (who I have eulogised about on these pages before, and doubtless will again) and Richard Norris (of The Grid, and The Time and Space Machine, who I can also recommend) release their psycho-balearic loveliness.

If all of that isn’t enough of an enticement to you to listen to this morning’s tune, then I don’t think I can do much else. You are beyond help.

Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve – Winter in June

Nice that, innit?

More soon.