Friday Night Music Club

Well done to you all, you completed another level in this game that we call life, and got through the week relatively unscathed (I hope).

Your reward this week is yet another all-new mix courtesy of yours truly. I know, I know, I’m too ruddy kind for my own good.

What have we got for you this week? Well, we kick off with John Lydon taking a break from advertising butter, waxing lyrical about Donald Trump and generally being a living, breathing caricature of himself, by popping by to say “Hello!” (although he practically scowls it, rather than saying it), followed by the second best record I own which samples the late great Bill Hicks, then a track by a guy I once saw about 15 years ago supporting Los Campesinos! (he was incredible, all guitar effects pedal, looped beats and other electronic gizmo-ness I can only explain like this: imagine if Ed Sheeran was entertaining and had something to say), then we’re off on a bit of a vegetable tip with Dan le Sac & Scroobius Pip and Kate Nash, followed by a side-swipe at the vacuous world of celebrity, topped off with a couple of classic old garage rock numbers which have been covered with much more success than they managed, a tune by one of the groups who recorded the more famous version of one of them, then a song responsible for probably my most favourite appearance on Top of the Pops ever, then a bit of Julian Cope and his bendy microphone stand, an overlooked rave-era classic before we’re back safely ensconced in the arms of Mr Lydon again.

There’s a modicum of swears on this one, so best I wheel out the ‘Effing and Jeffing Warning Sign’ for an airing:

Admin time: any skips or jumps are down to the mixing software; any mis-timed mixes are down to me; all record selections are mine, all mine, and you can’t take them away from me, okay?

You can, happily, download or just stream this though:

Friday Night Music Club Vol 12

And here’s your track-listing:

1. Public Image – Public Image Limited
2. Freeland – We Want Your Soul
3. Napoleon IIIrd – Hit Schmooze For Me
4. Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip – Cauliflower
5. Kate Nash – Pumpkin Soup
6. Kirsty MacColl – Fifteen Minutes
7. Paris Hilton – Stars Are Blind
8. Saint Etienne – Who Do You Think You Are
9. Lily Allen – The Fear
10. The Bobby Fuller Four – I Fought The Law
11. The Strangeloves – I Want Candy
12. Bow Wow Wow – Go Wild In The Country
13. Adam Ant – Goody Two Shoes (Chris Hughes Single Mix)
14. Julian Cope – World Shut Your Mouth
15. Sunscreem – Pressure
16. Leftfield/Lydon – Open Up (Full Vocal Mix)

Hope you kids have fun with this one.

More soon.

…Please welcome to the stage…

To the sofa surfer (i.e. me), Glastonbury seemed to be a year when surprise guests were the order of the weekend.

Generally, these were young, current artists calling on more established ones, to give their message that pan-generational impact.

(Obviously, I’m not talking about Paul ‘Fab Macca Wacky Thumbs Aloft’ McCartney flying Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen in for his amazing set.)

This saves me having to write a Rant post about the US decision to overturn Roe vs Wade this week, which Olivia Rodrigo covered in her introduction to this:

Olivia Rodrigo (feat. Lily Allen) – F*** You (Live at Glastonbury 2022)

To bring you up to speed, the US Supreme Court voted to strike down the nationwide legal right to abortion on Friday, paving the way for individual states to heavily restrict or even ban the procedure – in fact, it has led to the immediate recriminalisation of abortion in nearly half of the US states.

Women who decide to have an abortion have just made the hardest decision they will ever make. They are not all women who have had unprotected one night stands which they regret.

And even if they were, so what? It’s still their body, the decision about what happens next should still be theirs.

But now, in the US it’s a case of: no matter what the circumstance of your pregnancy, if you live in the wring state, you cannot have an abortion.

Been raped? Sorry, you’ve got to carry that unwanted load through for nine months.

From a strictly medical point of view, the treatment for an ectopic pregnancy, a septic uterus, or a miscarriage that your body won’t release is: an abortion.

What happens if you can’t have those abortions under those circumstances? You die, that’s what.

Actually, THIS saves me having to write a Rant post about the US decision to overturn Roe vs Wade: once the whooping dies down, the late, great George Carlin (RIP) explains it better in this most definitely NSFW clip:

More soon.

Friday Night Music Club

It’s only Friday again, and, even though it’s not actually a Bank Holiday weekend, there’s plenty to celebrate, with the Tories taking an absolute shoeing at yesterday’s local election results, losing hundreds of seats across the country.

Sure, these were local elections rather than a General one, so many of these can probably be seen as ‘protest votes’, a fact that did not escape the attention of Conservative candidates in some regions, who resorted to having their party name listed as “Local Conservatives” on the ballot paper, in an effort to distance themselves from the bunch of crooks, wasters and philanderers currently in Government…

…but there’s been so little to be happy rather than angry about for a good while now, tonight’s mix – entirely non-political, in case you were concerned – lands at just the right time.

For tonight sees the posting of the second and final part of the previously-available-as-one-long-mix which I only made available via Soundcloud (an experiment I soon got bored of), and it’s a beauty. There have been some tweaks in the running order since it’s last incarnation, as well as some changes in the songs included, but it gives y’all the chance to shake your booty to some top-notch pop records.

If I may pinch a title from Drew at the much missed Across the Kitchen Table blog: “It’s Friday….Let’s Dance”! (And if dancing on a Friday night is good enough for Drew and The Dude, then it’s good enough for you too):

Here comes the disclaimer: any skips or jumps are down to the mixing software (and there are a few, sorry!); any mis-timed mixes are down to me; all record selections are mine (and this last bit is especially relevant, for when I say “some top-notch pop records” I mean there’s some cheesy-but-great 70s and 80s stuff in this one…I stand by their inclusion, 100%. You trust me by now, right? Right…..???)

Good. Off we go then:

Friday Night Music Club Vol 2.2

And here’s your track-listing (look away now if you want to avoid spoilers):

• Beck – New Pollution
• Lizzo – Juice
• Basement Jaxx – Oh My Gosh
• Lily Allen – Knock ‘Em Out
• Björk – There’s More To Life Than This
• Cansei De Ser Sexy – Alala
• The Nolans – Attention To Me
• Laura Branigan – Self Control
• Phillip Bailey & Phil Collins – Easy Lover
• The Dooleys – Wanted
• Paris Angels – Perfume (All On You)
• Rihanna Feat. Calvin Harris – We Found Love
• Lene – Paper Bag
• Robyn – Dancing On My Own
• All Saints – Pure Shores
• Guys ‘n’ Dolls – There’s A Whole Lot of Loving

Next week: an entirely new, never been heard before mix, you lucky people.

Or, to put it another way: more soon.

How to Do a Cover Version (That Summer Feeling #20 – #21)

Aww, you guys.

Following on from my post yesterday about Mr Blue Sky, I received two comments nudging me in the direction of two more, very different, cover versions that I wasn’t aware of, both of which are so good, I felt obliged to seek them out and post them.

So, and with thanks to Alex G, first up here’s Lily Allen, who did a version for a French mobile phone network advert (I think) which doesn’t seem to have ever had an official release here in the UK, hence this awful sleeve I found online:

Lily Allen – Mr Blue Sky

Further thanks to julianbadenoch for letting me know about this:

 

Joe Brown – Mr Blue Sky

Joe will be featuring in a future post I have lined up, so I won’t talk about him now, but I have to say, that’s bloody good, isn’t it? It really captures the happy-go-lucky essence not just of the record, but of Joe himself.

Dad – one for you to learn?

More soon.