Well, we seem to have made it to Friday Night again, which means it’s time for the next session of Music Club mixes, and speifically, Volume 5.3.
And you’ll be surprised to learn that, despite that dancing Darth gif up there, I haven’t included Can You Feel The Force? or any other Star Wars related tunes, nor anything by The Beautiful Sith in this one. Trust me though, had I stumbled across the gif earlier than I did, I would probably have redone the mix to include any and all of them.
“So what have I got lined up for you this time?” I sense you yawn.
Oh you know, just the usual mish-mash carefully crafted mix of house classics, unforgiveable Europop, a bunch of truly great 60s and 70s cover versions by 60s and 70s artists, followed by a veritable deluge of indie classics before rounding things off with an utterly filthy (even by their standards) tune by GLC which definitely deserves one of these:
Sounds good, no? No? What do you mean “no”?
*Sits in the corner, arms folded, glowering*
Right, let’s crack on then shall we? Off we pop with 19 songs and 2 guest vocalists in 62 minutes:
Friday Night Music Club Vol 5.3
And here’s your track-listing and sleeve notes:
- Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk feat. Darryl Pandy – Love Can’t Turn Around
Eschewing my usual slow-burner start for this House classic, and part of a two-header of songs with guest vocalists. I hated this when I first heard it, on an edition of Top of the Pops back in 1986, which is no surprise given my aversion to any record which didn’t feature guitars. At the time I considered it just a fat sweaty bloke bellowing over some synths. How wrong is it possible to be?
2. Bran Van 3000 – Astounded
And that’s none other than Curtis Mayfield providing the vocals. OK, strictly speaking it’s a sample, but it’s not quite as straight-forwards as that; this explanation from wiki: “Bran Van 3000 member James Di Salvio approached Curtis Mayfield with the idea of collaborating months before his death in 1999. Mayfield was too ill to contribute a vocal, but weeks before his death, he gave Di Salvio permission to pull through his archives, which is where he discovered an unused vocal Mayfield recorded in the 1980s. With Mayfield’s permission, that vocal was incorporated into “Astounded.”
3. Moony – Dove [I’ll Be Loving You] (T&F vs Moltosugo Radio Mix)
Cheesy Europop ahoy! Actually, I really like this one, especially this mix, which is the bestest of all the mixes, with the possible exception of the Almighty Records remix, which I definitely didn’t try and blag a free copy of from Hel when she used to work there.
4. DB Boulevard – Point of View
Ok, you could argue that this is a tad on the Europop side too, but it contains a sample from ultra-cool French band Phoenix’s Heatwave, which lifts it above other songs which fall into that category.
5. Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out
On to some cover versions, and a bit of class. This is from Wonder’s wonderful 1970 Signed, Sealed, Delivered album, which also contains a song called Never Had a Dream Come True, which is definitely not the same song as the one S Club 7 had a hit with in 2000.
6. Nancy Sinatra – Day Tripper
Nancy turned 83 this week. And this sassy, parping version of The Beatles tune is just fabulous. So there.
7. Yvonne Elliman – I Can’t Explain
If ever a singer needed to have her career written about, then it’s Elliman. Born in Honalulu, she moved to London and began singing in bars and clubs in 1969. She was discovered by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who asked her to sing Mary Magdalene’s part for the original audio recording of Jesus Christ Superstar which featured Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan singing as Jesus. She later joined the stage show’s traveling cast, and moved to New York in 1971 for the Broadway production of Jesus Christ, Superstar, and sang backing vocals on Eric Clapton’s version of Bob Marley’s I Shot the Sheriff, went on to tour as part of Clapton’s band and appears on four of his albums. In 1977, the Bee Gees wrote How Deep is Your Love for her, but they were over-ruled by record boss Robert Stigwood who wanted the Gibb brothers to record it. Instead, she was given If I Can’t Have You; both songs appear on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, and her song went to #1.
This cover of The Who song features on her 1973 album Food of Love, and you can spot the influence of living in early 70s New York; Fatboy Slim certainly could, sampling it on his single Going Out of My Head, which was the third and final single from his ruddy-brilliant debut album Better Living Through Chemistry.
8. Clout – Substitute
I bloody love this record so much. And it’s a cover of a song by The Righteous Brothers. No, really.
9. Erasure – Stop!
What were/are Erasure, the fourth or fifth stage (after Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly…did I miss anything from his highly prolific career…?) in Vince Clarke’s plan for world domination? Of course, his most succesful and enduring collaboration came when he paired up with flamboyant son of Peterborough Andy Bell (not to be confused with the Ride/Oasis/Hurricane #1 guitarist of the same name, of course). I did a search to see how many other famous people come from Peterborough, and namaged to track down about 15 of them. My name was not included (yet).
10. The Flaming Lips – The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
American psyche-rock group in political song shocker! The main thrust of this seems to be: you think politicians are all corrupt, power-mad warmongers? How well would you do in their position?
11. Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun
Opening track from an actually perfect debut album. But you knew that already, right? Gawd knows I’ve mentioned it enought times on these pages.
12. Idlewild – You Held The World In Your Arms
The biggest hit from these Scottish indie scallywags (not that it’s up against much competition…)
13. Pixies – Allison
You don’t need me to tell you why this is ace, do you? (Part 1)
14. Primal Scream – Ivy Ivy Ivy
Should you ever need confirming just how influential Andrew Weatherall was on the Scream’s 1991 classic Screamadelica, then just cock an ear in the direction of the albums they released before it, like their eponymously-titled second album, relesed two years earlier, from wnce this is lifted.
15. The Jesus & Mary Chain – Taste of Cindy
You don’t need me to tell you why this is ace, do you? (Part 2)
16. Manic Street Preachers – Faster
When they burst onto the scene with their feather-boas and eyeliner back in 1992, they announced their debut album Generation Terrorists would be their only record. The idea of making one great record and then disappearing completely seemed impossibly cool. Thank goodness they resisted the temptation, or we would never have got the utterly brilliant in-your-face The Holy Bible two years later, and by extension, this.
17. The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make
Still gives me goose-bumps and makes me want to whirl my cardigan around the room all these years later, irrespective of what a twat he is these days.
18. Echo & The Bunnymen – The Cutter
Ditto, only substitue whirling my cardigan for standing in a raincoat looking dour.
19. Goldie Lookin Chain – Sister
Utter filth. You’ve been warned.
That’s yer lot for another week. Next time, I’ll be polishing off the admin that is posting these split down Volume 5’s, and we can get back to normal again.
By which I mean: more soon.