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.

More Looney Tunes

A couple of weeks ago, on Halloween, I posted a tune from a compilation album I had been given as a child, and I happened to mention a couple of the other songs on the same album.

These attracted a little attention, so I promised I’d post the stuff you’d asked about. And here I am. Man of my word and all that.

So, Track One Side One (remember those days, folks?) is by Napoleon XIV (it’s not really: if you don’t already know the record, you’ll understand why the singer claims to be that historical figure soon enough).

Anyway, for narrative purposes, Track One Side One is by someone claiming to be Napoleon XIV.

And it goes like this:

Napoleon XIV – They’re Coming To Take Me Away

Now. Do you like The Stone Roses? In which case, like me, you’ll consider their debut album to be one of the finest records ever made. Even that sort-of backwards version of the gorgeous “Waterfall” they called “Don’t Stop” just so they could claim it was a different song, rather than write an actual tune as majestic as the rest of the album.

Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean:

The Stone Roses – Waterfall

The Stone Roses – Don’t Stop

Now, as I said, I love that album, it’s one that bonds people of a certain age. A few years ago, I went to a barbeque at a friend’s place and someone put that album on. Nobody spoke of it but everybody sang along, not in a rousing, communal “we all know this” way, more in an under your breath “this is my record” kind of way. To the whole album. It was odd but lovely that we all had a shared love of this one record.

But there are many who would call it derivative, and I would fight those people…well, not to the death, but I might offer to buy them a pint and have a chat about it.

The Stone Roses were not, of course, the first people to release a backwards version of a song. I don’t doubt there are earlier examples of the Devil’s work, but here, from 1966, is Napoleon XIV doing just that, the B-side to the properly enunciated, mental but not quite as mental as this version:

Napoleon XIV – !aaaH !aH yawA eM ekaT ot gnimoC er’yehT

I guarantee you won’t listen to that more than once, if that.

Now, just to prove that not everybody who calls themselves Napoleon is a bit of a head case, here’s a bloke I saw supporting the ever wonderful Los Campesinos! back when I lived in  Cardiff. This is unusual, but brilliant and well worth three and a half minutes of your time. Give it a listen:

Napoleon IIIrd – Hit Schmooze For Me

More soon.