41Rooms

This playlist is 78% vinyl friendly. Not bad. 

An early 1970s BSR P195, courtesy of Birmingham (UK) Sound Reproducers – with an eye maybe on reel to reel tape machines they would then make a decade later? They were more bullish with their turntables though, having grown the company in the 1960s to employing 2,600(!) and at one point further along they cornered 87% of the market in supplying turntables and autochangers to record player manufacturers worldwide. In my eternal search to identify the first record player I had (it’s extremely dim in the memory) there’s something about the handle and speaker grill on this lad I think I ‘recognise’… but if I ever actually see a version of mine I’m hoping I’ll instantly know.  

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 126…

It’s a tie between Lambrini Girls and Marv. Polar opposites in their eras, ages, ‘approach’ etc but their subject matters are connected. Elsewhere and on a less serious note, there’s a nod also to Norman Singh and his track title ‘Rain, it very rarely goes up‘.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Mission Impossible – Unreleased – 1999

I can take or leave the film franchise but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone of a certain age that doesn’t recognise the brand’s signature tune, and New Order’s stab at it – recorded somewhere in the ’98 The Beach soundtrack and ’99 Get Ready album sessions – is damn fine.

“We had been told Tom Cruise was a huge New Order fan and that supplying the track beforerhand was just a formality. It was fun to record, turning out a lot better than I expected. I was able to really let rip on the bass sound. Unfortunately we lost out to Limp Bizkit, who were huge at the time.” Peter Hook, Substance : Inside New Order.

03.49

LAMBRINI GIRLS – Gods Country – Download only – 2024

As this show uploads, this is likely though to make it to vinyl via their record label, Big Scary Monsters sometime soon. Smart words out of Brighton, UK, which sort of brings to mind Marlon Brando’s Johnny Strabler character’s response in The Wild Ones to the question, ‘What are you ranting against’?… ‘Whadda you got?’ I get the feeling there could easily have been another few verses.

6.03

THE STRANGLERS – Burning Up Time – No More Heroes, LP – United Artists – 1977

They were no spring chickens when they emerged out of the punk scene but memories of a couple of great nights watching them in this era, in Cambridge and Dunstable, and my mate, Gary F strutting air guitar (in his case, a left-handed bass) and drawling Hugh Cornwell’s words in my bedroom to this album.

08.19

PENETRATION – Nostalgia – Moving Targets, LP – Virgin – 1978

Glow in the dark vinyl that I seem to remember being less than impressed with at the time – the glowing that is, not the sounds. I really took to Pauline Murray’s voice early on. Still in my ‘rock’ years I went along June 29, ’77 to London’s Marquee, purely to chat with Ian Gillan who I knew was going to what was a (Mike) Heron headlining gig. I remember being at the bar and hearing this screech of a voice coming from the stage. Enough to get me to go have a look, I found Penetration as support, at their first ever London gig. Murray was maybe trying to grab the attention of what might have been a crowd apathetic to the punk onslaught… and Nostalgia was very likely on their playlist.

11.44

SIOUXSIE and THE BANSHEES – Jigsaw Feeling – The Scream, LP – Polydor – 1978

Class punk. Is that some sort of paradox?

16.09

NASMAK – Me Rex – 7″ b-side – Aura – 1983

Loping, plodding sounds out of Holland that are definitely in the post punk bag. Maybe even akin to some of the no wave sounds coming out of New York in these early ’80s years?

20.29

NORMAN SINGH – Rain, It Very Rarely Goes Up – The Suck & The Blow, self-released cassette – 1985

Norman’s third playlisting at 41 Rooms. In reality, one Martin Shouler, the bass player for early ’80s Bedford band, Actors & Famous People. Seemingly he had too much sonic stuff going on inside to be restrained by the band’s output alone and he produced at least three (I have three, anyway) C60 cassettes worth of outpourings, so tracks from Stop Talking To The Pig (1984, his first) and Some Geese Have All The Luck (1985) could also be coming your way at some point – if only to namecheck the ‘album’ titles again. There’s a lot going on in the recordings but all managed via maybe a Tascam 4-track Portastudio?

23.20

THE SHINS – Sealegs – Wincing The Night Away, LP – Sub Pop – 2007

The more melodic side of Sub Pop’s thinking.

27.43

VALERIE ETIENNE – Wasteland – For What It Is, CD only – Clean Up – 1999

Or a cassette version… out of Indonesia only! Maybe best known for fronting Galliano or (more for me) Two Banks Of Four, For What It Is has to date been her only solo album release.

31.25

INCOGNITO – Keep The Fires Burning – Positivity, LP – Talkin’ Loud – 1993

Looking indeed for some positivity, main man, Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick co-writing and producing here with Ray Hayden, another prominent player on the soul, jazz, Straight No Chaser scene of the time and a previous 41 Rooms playlister in his own right.

36.17

JAZZ THE GLASS – Welcome Home WJ (Mash Up) – Unreleased – 2020

Walter spotting…

39.48

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE – Comin’ Back To Me – Surrealistic Pillow, LP – RCA – 1967

Maybe better recognised when fronted by the Grace Slick’s vocals but here it’s some Marty Balin introspection and reminiscing.

45.03

THE BEAUTY ROOM – Shadows Falling – II, LP – Far Out Recordings – 2012

DJ/Producer, Kirk Degiorgio’s crew, sounding like they lived just down the road from the above West Coasters – when it might have been nearer Ipswich, UK and a few years further down the line.

49.25

RAYMOND LEFEVRE – Soul Coaxing (Âme Caline) * – 7″ – Major Minor – 1968

French singer/songwriter, Michel Polnareff’s Âme Caline (Cuddly Soul) turned into an international, instrumental hit by Lefevre – and the way I constantly heard it as a kid, on the BBC airwaves; World Wide Family Favourites (soundtracking the Hickey family Sunday lunch, like so many) and Mum’s fave, Radio 2.

51.55

PEGGY MARCH – Losin’ My Touch * – 7″ – RCA – 1965

And on to a lady who coincidentally turned the previous track into a vocal that’s either oddly charming or a slightly awkward mismatch (I’m still not sure which). Here though, she created a cracker and my copy is yet another to go in the extra suitcase returning from the next trip to Los Altos Hills, California. A more wistful, laid back version (but never released at the time?) by Maxine Brown sounds as if it was recorded in the same era.

54.44

ELISA – Come Speak To Me – Asile’s World , CD only – Sugar – 2001

Only surfaced as an extra track a year later on the album’s re-promotion but I first heard this song via 4 Hero’s shuffling vocal remix. For me, the vocals sit better on the latter, already 41 Rooms playlisted version but the original still gets a nod here.

58.54

HOODLUM PRIEST – Deep Dance – Heart Of Darkness, LP – ZTT – 1990

Industrial rap and hippety, trippety-hop.

01.02.13

AGENT PROVOCATEUR – Kicks (Album version) – Where The Wld Things Are, 2LP – Wall Of Sound/Epic – 1997

I think I may have first heard this via a session the band did for a Robert Elms, BBC London radio show of the time.

01.06.30

TALIZMAN – Only You (Original Mix?) – 12″ – Cowboy – 1993

‘ ‘Only You’ is exceedingly different to all previous quality musical ministrations from our partners down at the ranch. For a start, it’s not a banging’ house track as you may have expected. There’s a lot more to it than that. It’s a ‘real’ song, with verse, chorus and middle eight structure that bounces along with acoustic strumming, gated electric guitars, banjos, violins, shimmering sitars, hoedown pianos and some smashing vocals that lie somewhere between Robert Wyatt and Stone Roses’ Ian Brown for style. As it’s not your regular 125+bpm-er, some may find it hard to programme, but the more innovative DJs will drop it somehow. For those who can’t make the barndance, there’s a rather superb house mix on the flip‘. – Gordon Kaye, Mixmag Update, 11.2.93

‘What a heady hydrid with, in order of appearance: a wonderful spacey guitar riff; big beats as funky as they are chunky; rough and ready synths; a cery catchy anthemic male vocal; a percussion-laden dub section leading into a disco chant; and a totally wild banjo picking funky intro. All in all, this is a balearic beauty that’s more refreshing than a cold Budweiser on a summer’s day in Death Valley‘. – Andy Beevers, Record Mirror (Music Week), 20.2.92  

‘Unusual bumpily rumbled jiggling clever pure pop 101.7bpm Original… ‘ – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 3.4.93

A bit Flowered Up, a bit Happy Mondays, a bit Ibiza? a bit oooh and a bit aaahhh? All in all, a bit of carefree, bonkers skanking around a dancefloor! The Cowboy club promo dept rightly flagged up the original mix, albeit with some slight over confidence, as this sounds to me like it was made by chancers who found themselves in a mate’s studio after a night down the pub… and you might not be surprised to learn this was their only release.

01.10.35

THE COACHOUSE RHYTHM SECTION – Nobody’s Got Time – 12″ – Ice Records – 1977

I’m not sure whether it’s the same version split over two sides on the 7″ release or not but it is the work of Eddie ‘Electric Avenue’ Grant – not forgetting his time in The Equals. This punk disco/proto house workout maybe unsurprisingly went down well with New York’s Paradise Garage crowd of the time – courtesy of DJ, Larry Levan – and maybe for that reason alone, in the 2020s 12″ copies sell for anywhere between £25 and £100 plus, depending on nothing obvious, it appears. I’d nearly guarantee that in the hundreds of thousands of 12″s I flicked through in my younger days I’d have been able to pick this up for a fiver or less :), apart from the fact the ICE label was just one of those I took zero notice of and skipped by. With Nobody’s Got Time there are a bunch of sounds I imagine you wouldn’t have heard on any other track of the time that Grant was maybe trying to align it with/feed off at the time… and maybe (in a punk style way) he didn’t care! ‘I need a synth/snare/backing vocal/etc on this‘… It sounds like he just used the first of each he could program or get together.

01.16.08

ARTHUR RUSSELL – See My Brother, He’s Jumping Out (Let’s Go Swimming #2) – Corn, LP compilation – Audika – 2015

Not unlike the above Eddie Grant tune, to my ears this is more off kilter/left field production values but given Russell’s life was cut short at the age of 41 I’d question whether some of the subsequent releases under his name weren’t in fact just demos. Whatever, some of the people he rubbed shoulders with in his musical journey has done his legacy no harm with the later generations.

Faith #3, 2001 article. Words: Chris Menist

01.21.28

THOMAS LEER – Control Yourself (Demo) – 1982, CD only – Klanggalerie – 2018

With the whole of Leer’s (all demos) 1982 album previously available as downloads, this version of Control Yourself seems to differ from that of the already 41 Rooms playlisted b-side take on his 1984 Heartbeat 7″ in one very small but significant way. Come inclusion on the single, Leer must have realised the synth stabs after some of the verses sounded too… ‘limp’, so he switched to a far more uplifting sound. In having heard and loved the 7″ version first, the said synth stabs here – in what is still a great tune – are indeed glaringly ‘drab’. It’s the little things…

01.27.29

A CERTAIN RATIO – Yo Yo Gi – Loco Live at Hope Mill Studios, LP – Mute – 2022

With some of this session’s other tracks catchable on uuutuuube, here the modern ACR hark back to the edgy unease of their early days. And just the 43 years after I tried and failed, props to mate and Bedford Esquires promoter, Kev Bailey for getting the band to my old home town on May 3. I’ll be crossing the sea to see whoever there!

01.31.42

ECHO and THE BUNNYMEN – Villiers Terrace (John Peel session) – cassette – Korova/WEA – 1983

Below I went with the first time their Aug ’79, debut session for Peel got an official release – on a cassette, free with the Cutter 7″, though it did surface on vinyl five years later via the Strange Fruit label.

01.35.51

JOE COCKER – Delta Lady – 7″ – Regal Zonophone – 1969

The ex-Sheffield gasfitter’s flailing arms, Top Of The Pops appearances were a bit eye catching back in the day.

01.38.33

JETHRO TULL – My Sunday Feeling * – Living In The Past, EP – Fontana – 1969

More readily available as the lead off track to the band’s debut album, This Was (and before my ‘JT years’, as such) but as I try to favour 7″ vinyl in these playlists I went for this Portuguese EP, especially as it seems to have been the only territory to house My Sunday Feeling on the single format. Surprisingly, once heard by me on a radio show of Acid Jazz head honcho, Eddie Piller, as it happens… but then, we all have our musical pasts.

01.41.44

LULU – Morning Dew – 7″ – Epic – 1968

The third version of the song to make to 41 Rooms and that’s without the original or the most famous versions. My demo copy of this one is yet another to go in the extra suitcase returning from the next trip to Los Altos Hills, California.

01.44.19

LIME GARDEN – Popstar – One More Thing, LP – So Young Records – 2024

2024 Brighton, UK in the area once again, this time with some indie cheeriness.

01.47.11

PETULA CLARK – You’re The One * – 7″ – Pye – 1965

Helping Petula and the song to soar, the sort of chorus backing vocals that were particular to the ’60s.

And because it’s from my old home town, let’s here it for the girl backstage at Bedford Granada in 1962. Photo credit: Gloria Saunders.

01.49.29

SHAWN PHILLIPS – Lost Horizon – 7″ – A&M – 1973

Sounded to me like a soundtrack tune years before I got the record and realised it was just that! Doh!

01.51.28

ENGLAND DAN and JOHN FORD COLEY – Love Is The Answer – 7″ – Big Tree – 1979

When it came to these two recording Todd Rundgren’s tune, whoever decided to move the title/chorus line more upfront and proud than on the original was definitely looking to the charts. By 1979 my head was generally a world away from these gentle swayers but this did grab me. Love Is The Answer? Workable in small groups but forget it on a global basis. We’re doomed.

01.55.58

MARVIN GAYE – Inner CIty Blues – 7″ – Tamla Motown – 1971

Unintentionally, there was a sort of theme with these last few tracks and the twist the show’s ending took brought Marv in to play well before I realised the 40th anniversary of his passing was just rolling by. Back in the ’70s when I had a bunch of these beautiful green UK Motown demo 7″s if this one had been in there I’d have kept it.

Hopefully May 5, 2024 for show 127.

Dec x

The post Episode 126 – Original Upload 7.4.24 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 79% vinyl friendly. Not bad. 

From 2022, with this being the Pro-ject Metallica Limited Edition turntable – though I have the band, Kiss in my head for some reason – it’s the only time you’ll see either group mentioned on 41 Rooms. This set up came in at around $1600 and I can’t help thinking that as soon as you put the needle to the vinyl, the record would stay still, with the turntable then doing the spinning. You could even play 78s on it as well… but who would?

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 125…

‘As the veneer of democracy starts to fade… ‘

Is there a country on this planet run by something other than true democracy that can be trusted?

Not closely followed by ‘Doo-doo-wop, hey-hey-hey, doo-doo-wop, whoa-whoa-whoa… ‘

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Spooky * – Republic, LP – London – 1993

The fourth single from its parent album, this is fab in my world but possibly one of the band’s own least favourite friends? I’ve never clocked it having been played live (though I could be wrong) and it was also to be eight years before they put out another, so maybe when you live and breathe the actual making of music some of it maybe later on reminds you too much of tough times – and in New Orderland these were. I often get the same feeling with my library shuffle throwing up sounds I had zero to do with in creating but straight off remind me of ‘uncomfortable’ times. Time to shuffle, indeed.

05.16

LONDON GRAMMAR – Hey Now (Bonobo Remix) – 10″ – Metal & Dust Recordings – 2014

A limited edition Record Store Day single from 2014, in ‘Transparent Black & Blue Marbled’ versions, with this Bonobo remix definitely on the mark.

10.13

W. H. Lung – High Pressure Days – Download only (for now?) – Melodic – 2023

I mistakenly mention on the show this was from 2022, which would have seemed a bit of a large’ish gap for a band still building an audience. An album later in the year?

14.01

MIEKO SHIMIZU – Tobira Ga Akanai – 桃天夢-Totem-, CD only – Wolf Records – 1988

A thirty year or so disconnect between the sound and the photo here but the former was only on CD and their visuals pretty much get given short shrift round these parts.

17.43

Vee VV – Keepbeat – Boomslump, 12″ EP – Vinyl Drip – 1986

Mid ’80s indie from Blackpool; with a nod to some Bristol sounds from a year or five earlier, plus the Gang of Four?

21.46

GNAG OF FOUR – Why Theory? – Solid Gold, LP – EMI – 1981

Speaking of the daddies of them all?

24.17

LONDON POSSE – Jump Around – Gangster Chronicle, LP – Mango / Island – 1990

Some dubious imagery, lyrics and testosterone flying around, but groundbreaking UK rap all the same. I maybe first heard this on London’s KISS FM a couple of years later, with a DJ live mixing in a bunch of the station’s jingles. Did a fine job, too.

29.17

MARXMAN – Dark Are The Days – 12″ EP – Talkin’ Loud – 1993

Faith in the rap lyric quickly restored here…

34.17

STEVE MILLER BAND – Fly Like An Eagle – 7″ – Mercury – 1976

Heard and bought at the time, a sound you just knew hadn’t been made in any rain swept UK city.

38.48

STEVIE WONDER – You Haven’t Done Nothin’ – 7″ – Tamla Motown – 1974

At this point in time he was on a roll and I was buying pretty much every single he released in the UK.

42.09

EYELESS IN GAZA – Twilight – Back From The Rains, LP – Cherry Red – 1986

Even within their canon of material this was a big EIG tune with me and an image that springs to mind is it blasting from my headphones as I walked my dog, Flanagan around Bedford Park back in the day.

So, one for her. Here back in the time and place.

46.01

BETH GIBBONS – Floating On A Moment – Download only (for now) – 2024

Leading off her forthcoming debut (deluxe edition, vinyl) solo album, Lives Outgrown, on Domino and ‘housed in a tip-on sleeve with 4-page booklet and 12-page scrapbook booklet’ to boot.

51.23

DR. ROBERT – Circular Quay – 10″ – Heavenly – 1993

There was a time in the ’90s that you couldn’t avoid Blow Monkeys RCA label 12″ promos in the 50p racks of the various Music & Video stores in London’s Notting Hill and I was never a fan but let’s hear it for the 10″ and this subsequent, more introspective, solo tune. Thinking about it, I’m pretty sure he was in front of me in a London post office queue one time a few years later… as you do.

55.08

THE DURUTTI COLUMN – Madeleine – Lips That Would Kiss, 12″ – Factory Benelux – 1980

This Vini Reilly tune always invokes a memory of summer for me, and weirdly, more so than his already 41 Rooms playlisted Sketch For Summer.

58.07

JORDAN RAKEI – Freedom – Download only (for now) – Decca – 2024

Another of those artists that appeared on my radar, only for me to find out he’s been around for years. There’s just too much ‘stuff’ out there. His new album, The Loop will be out in May.

01.02.15

JON LUCIEN – The War Song – Rashida, LP – RCA – 1973

A tip-toe’ing Caribbean groove, the backdrop to a protest song? It was the Lucien way.

01.05.26

CURTIS MAYFIELD – Freddie’s Dead * – 7″ – Curtom – 1972

Theme from the film, ‘Superfly’ and lifted from Mayfield’s album of the score.

Faith (mag/fanzine) #2, Summer 2000 and Dr. Bob Jones and Ashley Beedle reminiscing on Mayfield’s then recent passing.

01.10.41

BUDDY MILES EXPRESS – Train – 7″ – Mercury – 1968

Very likely unknown to me when bought in (I think) a job lot of singles in my late teens… but I then thought it was good enough to make it to the singles shelf in my bedroom. Full track split over the two sides.

01.15.08

MISS(?) – East India(?) – ??? – Early 90s?

Well, if you know… you know… and I don’t… so the tumbleweed is back. Heard on a Jo Whiley Radio 1 show sometime in the ’90s, where she was possibly heard saying ‘Miss’ and definitely heard saying ‘East India’ but attributing any of that to a title, artist and maybe the label have been beyond me to date. Squelchy beats underpinning an atmospheric, dense feel… in a progressive, trip hop sort of way.

01.18.07

LUKE SLATER’S 7TH PLAIN – Forest – radio session only – 1994

A track that seemed to only ever feature in leading off Slater’s Sept ’94 lone session for John Peel’s radio show.

01.23.19

KIM GORDON – Bye Bye – The Collective, LP – Matador – 2024

Is this a Gordon check list for travel? I keep one but there’s no soundtrack to mine. An ever present member of the defunkt-since-2011 Sonic Youth it’s Ms G with a new album, as of right now. A coke bottle green vinyl edition plus signed poster via selective routes has been and gone but clear vinyl and black editions are still available. Bye Bye.

01.27.24

JOY DIVISION – Candidate – Unknown Pleasures, LP – Factory – 1979

Well, my copy of the album was looking this knackered by the early ’80s but besides provenance, I wonder when some enterprising record dealer will start bringing ‘petina’ into the mix to sell such shagged relics.

And she’s back. Flanagan possibly listening to the album, in Feb ’80.

01.30.02

MARK STEWART – As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade – 7″ b-side – Mute – 1985

He smacked a verbal punch. RIP Mark Stewart.

01.35.39

8UP – Not Cometh Nor Goest – Lay Down And Stay Calm, LP – Soul Jazz – 1994

Often fairly anonymous in personel terms, there were a lot of leftfield, slow beats merchants in the ’90s.

01.40.54

RAE & CHRISTIAN – Anything U Want (Inst) – 12″ b-side – Grand Central – 1998

I’m not a rap fan but that’s not why I go for the instrumental of this. It just seems to work with the occasional vocals.

01.44.30

NATASHA KMETO – Eyes * – Download only – Future Archive Recordings – 2019

This would not sound out of place on some mega selling kindred spirit artist’s album. Belting…

01.47.02

READY MADE (F.C.) (feat DAVID SYLVIAN) – Sugar Fuel * – Bold, 2LP – F Communications – 2001

I reckon the queue of peeps wanting Sylvian guesting on a track would have been a long one down the years but maybe Jean-Philippe Verdin’s film soundtrack work helped sway the deal here.

01.51.31

LUSCIOUS JACKSON – Radiating – City Song, 12″ EP – Grand Royal – 1994

I first heard this track on a UK Radio 1 session they did, no doubt around the time of this release.

01.54.51

BETH ORTON – Stars All Seem To Weep – Central Reservation, 2LP – Heavenly – 1999

Her name will always bring to mind her unannounced appearance on stage at London’s Jazz Cafe duetting with Terry Callier on Fred Neil’s Dolphins. I got lucky that night.

April 7, 2024 – show 126.

Dec

The post Episode 125 – Original Upload 3.3.24 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 79% vinyl friendly. Not bad. 

As you can see, the Electric Banana Stereo Phono had some bold claims made on it back in the ’70s. Originally costing $40, these days you might have to pay nearer $900 if you’re daft enough to want one, with the above version residing in the International Banana Museum (yep, it does exist), Mecca, California. You can’t though currently go marvel at their 25, 000 items, as it seems to be closed.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 124…

Ian Curtis may not be singing them here but it’s still his prize.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – We All Stand (Kilkenny, 23.4.83) * – Power, Corruption and Lies, Definitive Edition boxset – Warner Music – 2020

I’m amazed how little I noticed the road crew capturing the action via a video camera on a lot of the band’s early ’80s gigs… but then again I swore blind to Steve Morris that I hadn’t taken any photos at this gig, until he sent me some with my writing on the back… all further reinforced by me cropping up with a camera in my hand, stage side, in the Kilkenny video. For a couple of reasons it was a night like very few others. You’d have to understand something about Ireland’s musical history and to a lesser extent, their culture to get to grips with how and why Big Tom (and the Mainliners?) playing in town the same night would play a part in this being one of the smallest crowds I’d ever see New Order in front of… but they were privy to an ‘onstage approach’ the band never adopted anywhere else. We All Stand? One of their finest and their ‘Riders Of The Storm’.

05.43

CHRIS WICKHAM – Snake Eyes (Ishmael Ensemble Remix) – Shamal Wind Remixed 12″ EP – Lovemonk – 2018

It only takes a jazz chord to enter the fray and I’m gone – as in off and out the door – but this moody remix gets my vote for taking some choice elements to go somewhere else completely. Incidentally, I nearly used the sleeve here for the show’s ad but it would have been a tad too much on the eyes. Give it a shake to see what I mean.  

13.31

KRAFTWERK – The Robots (2009 Remaster) – Download only? –

Originally a single in 1978, not only will it never age, it’ll always sound ‘now’.

18.56

COSEY FANNI TUTTI – Tutti – Tutti, LP – Conspiracy International – 2019

Rumbling and a rolling, with enough quietly entering and exiting to keep it interesting.

23.13

CABARET VOLTAIRE – (Shakedown) The Whole Thing (Dub) – The Drain Train, 2×12″ – Doublevision – 1986

Stuttering electro disco dub funk…

30.39

TALKING HEADS – Once In A Lifetime * – 7″ – Sire – 1981

Released and charting around the time our Bedford, Winkles’ club nights started, in Jan 1981… and the video helped the single’s trajectory in no small measure. The first of six (I just checked) UK top 30 hits in this show. Not likely to happen again, if I’m consciously aware of these things.

34.36

STEVE JANSEN – Impossible Until It Happens – Yukihiro Takahashi and Marco Machera – Soundcloud only – 2024

Well, the obvious vocal to look to put on this track would have been Jansen’s brother, David Sylvian but that didn’t transpire, for whatever reason. Maybe it was a bit too ‘jaunty’. Anyway, here’s Jansen’s full storyline.

‘Recently I mentioned that I had a cassette tape from over 40 years ago when The Takahashi Band of 82 made a demo track for a potential TV commercial. The track was only worked on for a day or two and then abandoned. I think we all had a busy year and for whatever reason this recording was discarded.

I also talked about sharing the recording one day just for nostalgic reasons, however the mix was a very basic end-of-day progress mix and no vocal part was conceived. Sharing it in this form would not do the potential of the work any justice.

The track began with chords and synths that Yukihiro Takahashi recorded, the basic building blocks of his composition. I added the drum part. Having been intensively rehearsing and performing Takahashi material this triggered a distinct blend of my own style as might appear on tracks such as ‘The Art of Parties’ and Yukihiro’s style on tracks such as ‘Glass’. Haruomi Hosono added his brilliance on bass, as well as Masami Tsuchiya overlaying guitar parts and Hajime Tachibana adding a saxophone solo.

Fast forward over 40 years….

At the end of 2023 I sent the demo to singer/songwriter Marco Machera, someone I’ve collaborated with a few times in the past and whose vocal style I felt would compliment the music. Yukihiro also enjoyed Marco’s music, including it on his own radio show. I asked Marco to consider adding a vocal which he was happy to do, also composing lyrics too.

I used an AI program to break down the stereo mix of the original cassette recording into individual tracks (this is a relatively new technology and although the quality struggled it allowed for a little bit more flexibility with the mixing and blending of new overdubs). The performed parts were retained, and to which I recorded some additional instrumentation as well as joining Marco on the chorus vocals. I made a new mix of the track. So what we have here is the finished piece: “Impossible Until It Happens”.

Marco and I share this as an homage to Yukihiro who passed away this time last year and is greatly missed. We can feel the essence of Yukihiro’s writing style in this track and we hope that you enjoy it‘. – Steve Jansen, Soundcloud.

Music by Yukihiro Takahashi / Song & Lyrics by Marco Machera

Yukihiro Takahashi – Keyboards
Haruomi Hosono – Electric Bass
Steve Jansen – Drums & Percussion, Additional Sequencers & Synthesisers, Chorus Vocals
Masami Tsuchiya – Electric Guitar
Hajime Tachibana – Saxophone
Marco Machera – Lead Vocals, Samples, Additional Synthesiser
(for more information www.marcomachera.com)

39.22

MOBY – Sandpaper – Destroyed, bonus track on one or two (inc Japan) CD versions – EMI – 2011

It’s a long standing trait that Japanese record companies like to include extra (and particular to their territory alone) tracks on their releases. So, Moby obliged.

42.28

NAKED ROOMMATE – Mad Love – Do The Duvet, LP – Trouble In Mind – 2020

‘Naked Roommate is a desiring-machine that embodies the union of opposites pointing towards the ever-becoming, ever-real utopia of flows. We are not symbol or representation. We are imaginary, we are real, we are virtual and we are impossible.‘ Bandcamp

All duly noted… the band are/were from Berkeley, California and as it happens my Do The Duvet album is currently just an hour away and yet another that will be in a large case full of vinyl coming back with me the next time I’m over at my sister’s. She’ll be glad of the space.

46.35

SUBURBAN LAWNS – Cowboy – Baby, 12″ EP – I.R.S. – 1983

Very coincidentally we’re still in California but just the near forty years earlier… and maybe with a lean to what was coming out of the UK in those years?

50.35

THE JUNE BRIDES – Comfort – There Are Eight Million Stories, LP – The Pink Label – 1985

Jangly stuff! A band that very good mate, Nigel put on in Bedford, upstairs at the George & Dragon… and one that might have had John Peel in attendance. I’ve have gone too but I was holidaying where I now live, in Ireland.

52.51

HELEN McCOOKERYBOOK – Let’s Make Up – ‘Songs From The Kitchen’ version, Youtube only – 2018

A lovely lady, I worked with Helen at the Uni of Westminster for a while in the late 90s and here with one of her old songs from her younger days fronting The Chefs.

55.43

THE AUBERGINES – Traffic Warden (demo) * – Unreleased – Mid ’80s

Bedford’s finest… could have been a contender, etc etc… and very good mates of mine. For the line-up of this demo and pictured here (during a Lazy Sunday, Bedford gig) – Kev Taylor, Phil Wright, Andy MacKechnie, Karl Bergin (RIP) and Jem Noble.

59.27

SWANS – Love Will Tear Us Apart – 7″ – Product Inc – 1988

‘Certainly better than Paul Young’s version, yet adds little to the original apart from a delightful late-Iggy Pop drawl and some pleasant harmonies. A pleasant enough version, powerful even, but I still cling to the notion that LWTUA was of less interest as a song (despite its classy melodies and so forth) than as a sound and clutch of emotions. In this it differs from your average coverable song. It should either be desecrated or left alone, for it cannot be improved upon‘. – David Quantick, The Catalogue #58, Apr ’88.

The ‘Swans featuring Jarboe on vocals’ version (black vinyl) made it to an earlier 41 Rooms’ show but here (red, transparent vinyl version) it’s main man Michael Gira leading the way.

01.02.53

BRENDA RAY – Take Me In Your Car (Original Full-Length Version) – D’Ya Hear Me! : Naffi Years, 1979-83, LP – EM Records – 2012

And because she can, in the ’20s she’s still knocking out her slightly left field recordings (with some on vinyl) and possibly with no great expectations. I wonder if she still has all that old skool analogue gear… or she’s now doing it all of a laptop?

01.05.29

RECIPE – Waterglide – 7″ – Inertial Records – 1984

Very far removed from Douglas Benford’s stark minimalist electronic releases from a few years previous under the moniker, Inertia, this is ‘charming pop’, but adrift of the production values/record label/£££ weight that propelled Aztec Camera and Prefab Sprout in the same era. Maybe though, all these years down the line it’s now sounding ‘cuter’.

01.08.23

NICK LOWE – Cruel To Be Kind * – 7″ – Radar – 1979

I bet Lowe (a quality songwriter) knew that a well worn turn of phrase – as a song title – was no bad starting place for moulding together some catchy pop in the late ’70s, and even though my general tastes were then mostly coming from John Peel’s world I’d have been humming along to this on TOTP.

01.11.39

WAYNE FONTANA – Pamela, Pamela – 7″ – Fontana – 1966

I could most probably put together an hour playlist that if you’re of a certain age might bring back memories of summers long gone… that maybe we never actually lived… but would at least neatly soundtrack them if we had. I hope Pamela actually existed. Writer, pre-10CC Graham Gouldman will know. He recounts, ‘While we were playing back this track Steve Marriot came into our control room. He had a lovely smile on his face while listening and when it finished he turned to me and just said “nice” ‘.

01.13.47

SIDI BOU SAID – Twilight Eyes – 7″ – Ultimate – 1993

Around for long enough in the ’90s to make four albums and a bunch of singles, with a dense sound not unlike Throwing Muses.

01.17.38

BIG BLOOD – Everything Is Improving – Radio Valkyrie 1905-1917, 2LP – Feeding Tube Records – 2013

The above was dense… but this is wonderfully more dense.

01.20.46

A CERTAIN RATIO – Forced Laugh (A Factory Video {FACT 56} version) – Factory / Icon – 1982

I cannot hear this without picturing the young ACR wandering lonely as a cloud in the video on this VHS release. It got hammered to death round my house back in the day… as might be guessed by the packaging below. Bring on Esquires, Bedford, UK on May 3!

01.26.10

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS – Sister Europe – Self-titled, LP – CBS – 1980

One of a handful of albums that’s had all or nearly all its tracks played on 41 Rooms… Here, it’s not quite.

01.31.41

DAVID BOWIE – Black Tie White Noise (Speed Mix Version) – Youtube only? – 2021’ish

If not referring to the version above… ‘Moroder-ish twittery synth pulsed scampering fluttery 127.7bpm Club Mix of an otherwise gloomy slow 81bpm roller‘. – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 12.6.93

01.35.47

TUBEWAY ARMY – Are ‘Friends’ Electric? – 7″ – Beggars Banquet – 1979

It’s easy to forget what an impact Gary Numan had on a new wave of electronic music in the late ’70s. With this, a UK No 1 single, he certainly did his bit to bring it to the masses.

01.40.42

THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Blind Youth – Reproduction, LP – Virgin – 1979

Empire State Human was the only single from the album but I’d have gone for this instead.

01.43.44

COLOURBOX – You Keep Me Hanging On (7″ Version) (Remastered) – 7″ b-side – 4AD – 1985

From the outside, Martyn and Steven Young seemed like mavericks within the whole 4AD set up and with Lorita Grahame on vocals just about keeping up with their beats and stuff on the ‘keeping hanging on‘ etc, banging out this very passable electronic take on a Holland/Dozier/Holland classic (to then hide it on a 7″ b-side) was no mean feat. Not for soul purists though, we’ll assume.

01.46.10

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD – I Only Want To Be With You * – 7″ – Philips – 1963

I wouldn’t have guessed at this being Dusty’s debut single as a solo artist but it was. Co-written by Cocteau Twin, Simon Raymonde’s dad, Ivor it would have had the floors of dancehalls full of carefree, arms flailing teens going for it. Quite right, too.

01.48.43

NATASHA KMETO – Pour Down – 7″ – Self released – 2016

My copy is currently in California, so here’s the gal herself with some of hers. Sadly the tune was lost to the wider world (and 99% of us with any sort of record release history have been there) but this is a strident gem that I only happened on recently.

01.52.17

GRACE JONES – Slave To The Rhythm (Hot Blooded Version) – Private Life Sampler, 12″ – Island – 1998

Previewing what was the Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions compilation… A lush production maybe befitting of the Nassau, Bahamas setting it was recorded in. Maybe with a bridge too many here but, hey… it’s Grace Jones!

March 3, 2024 – show 125.

Dec

The post Episode 124 – Original Upload 4.2.24 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 79% vinyl friendly. Not bad. 

What sort of witchcraft is the Mag-Lev ML1? With no moving parts inside, no belt and no motor, its magnets that keep the platter hovering in place and rotating. Balancing on its feet when not in use, once the tonearm is moved into position, the feet retract, leaving the ABS plastic and glass fibre platter suspended in mid-air. £2500 and the magic is yours, though that ‘keeping in place’ thing would worry me.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 123…

‘From where I stand, I see a broken land… ‘ Take your pick.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – 586 * – Power, Corruption & Lies, LP – Factory – 1983

Video 586 made it to the very first 41 Rooms show and here the album take becomes the fourth version of the trackl to get playlisted. As with all original ‘back in the day’ New Order, it’s also most recently available in the Definitive boxsets series of their albums the band are making their way through. As I’ve mentioned before, beyond their debut, Movement, for a few years after, I far preferred hearing most of the new material live (especially the electronic driven tracks), rather than on the subsequently released albums, having very often already heard the tracks live a few times and then played any live tape I had a bunch more. So, having ‘lived’ those moments they were the versions that ‘registered’ with me way more and as such it took me a few decades to grow more accustomed to the album version of 586… but here we are!

06.26

JOHN GRANT – Pale Green Ghosts – 2LP – Bella Union – 2013

Maybe a signpost to his later hooking up with the Wrangler lads as Creep Show. 

12.24

LES AMAZONES d’AFRIQUE – Kuma Fo (What They Want) – Streaming only, for now – ? – 2023

But part of their Musow Danse vinyl LP, available in Feb 2024. I’m a sucker for this sort of mixing and matching of cultures and technology and great voices are everywhere.

15.49

DEMOCRATIQUE ET POPULAIRE DE SAUVAGE (SAVAGE REPUBLIC) – Jamahiriya – Jamahiriya, LP – Fundamental – 1988

Industrial sounds out of Los Angeles and given the era I’m surprised I didn’t hear this at the time.

20.15

DOJOJI – Additief – Meets The Fungle, cassette only – D.J.J. – 1984

Re the cassette’s title, I guess you had to be there… and it’s unlikely a copy will be appearing for sale any time soon.

28.49

POWERMAN – Lost Tribe * – Lost Tribe, 12″ EP – Battery Sound – 1983

With the much lauded Arthur Russell on cello, a bit of a New York no wave type of thing going on. Also, you got lucky with the edit on the show, as the full track is thirteen plus minutes.

36.02

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – 45:33 – Part 3 – 45:33, 2×12″/LP – DFA/EMI – 2007

Funky electronica from Mr. Murphy.

42.49

SIMPLE MINDS – The American – 7″ – Virgin – 1981

This could easily have been included in any of the ‘Winkles hours’ in those early 41 Rooms’ shows that captured the sounds of our Bedford ‘alternative’ club nights in the first half of the ’80s and somewhere around 1980 I actually sounded out (through their agents) getting the band to Bedford. Sadly, the fee guarantees for them, the Bunnymen and (I think) U2 were all around £100 beyond my comfort zone. Tears and laughing emoji.

46.23

THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Seconds – 7″ b-side – 1981

Avoiding the A-side – which I always thought was complete pants – but from the same era and vague ‘style’ as the above, though for no reason I can remember, I hardly spun Seconds on the decks. Should have… could have… but don’t think I did. Someone once mentioned as we were driving by Phil Oakey’s house in Sheffield that at one point you could see a bank of televisions in one room, something maybe akin to Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth?

51.08

THE FALLOUT CLUB – Pedestrian Walkway – 7″ b-side – Happy Birthday Records – 1981

With Thomas Dolby in their ranks at this point, and if there had been any video of the band performing either this or its A-side, Dream Soldiers, I reckon they may well have had a very ‘earnest’ look about them… that maybe wouldn’t now have dated too well. A great couple of tracks but I could have seen Midge Ure in his early days fronting Ultravox hamming it up to the cameras on this.

54.02

DAVID BOWIE – Young Americans – 7″ – RCA – 1975

His best era… if you’re me. And yep, he did his fair share of pouting to the camera too but in these times at least he could maybe blame the drugs.

58.51

FOX – Imagine Me Imagine You – 7″ – GTO – 1975

‘Doo lang doo da lang a lang doo lang‘, indeed. Or maybe not, in 2023. Still, it’s Noosha Fox and I was a fan of her kookie style back then.

01.02.13

MARU & MIKAEL – Portrait Of Sorrow * – Destination Nowhere, LP – Hi-Hat – 1975

Finland calling… with a bit of a Karen Carpenter thing going on in vocalist, Maru. Noticing that there are a handful of guitar solos littering this show I tried editing out this one but there’s only one verse – and it’s repeated(!), so it sort of had to stay in to break up the obvious lacking in the words department. Maybe that’s why Mikael got on the case with his guitar, coz some slacker couldn’t be bothered to write a second verse. Too chilled out in Finland…

01.05.29

PMXPER – Lavender Milk * – Self-titled LP – Smalltown Supersound -2023

And coincidentally, we’re still in the Nordic part of the world. A bit hypnotic, it’s Norway calling!

01.09.44

TIRZAH – No Limit – Trip9love…??? LP – Domino – 2023

Uneasy and jittery wonderfulness from the English artist’s fourth album – all of them on the solid as a rock, Domino label – but to ram home the fact there’s just too much music out there to keep track of, I’d never heard of her. Must do better in 2024.

01.12.41

COSTUME – There Is Only To Live – Unus Spiritus, Vol II, download only – ? – 2020

And another ‘uneasy’ sound, this time with a slow leftfield jazzy backdrop, from the returning to 41 Rooms Italian duo.

01.15.12

MOUNT KIMBIE – Dumb Guitar – 7″ – Warp – 2023

No doubt there’s a strong mailing list with the well established MK, as this 500 run 7″ is already done and sold out before its late Jan ’24 release.

01.19.29

KAETO – No Body – Download only – ? – 2023

Or ‘katieeyo’ if you catch her on Instagram.

01.21.50

CAMPBELL MALLINDER BENGE – Condition Collapsing – Clinker, LP – Les Disques Du Crépuscule – 2021

With both Julie ‘ Lonelady’ Campbell and Stephen ‘Mal’, ex Cabaret Voltaire, Mallinder on vocals.

01.26.41

LAMB – Gold – 12″ promo – Fontana – 1996

‘This track lacks the immediate appeal of the Manchester duo’s debut single Cottinwool but it turns out to be a real grower. The jerky offbeat vibes-based jazz sound of the Original Mix sounds like the Modern Jazz Quartet conducted by Jarvis Cocker. Mr. Scruff takes the song a step forward with his smoother remix which has classical strings, vibes, hip hop snatches and Louise Rhodes’ delightfully distinctive vocals riding on waves of double bass. The Hipoptimist’s remis is a tougher hotchpotch of drum and bass, hip hop and acid twitches that tries a bit too hard at the start but settles into a nice techno-tinged groove in the second half‘. – Andy Beevers, Record Mirror (Music Week), 16.3.96

01.31.27

JOSÉE (HURLOCK) – U Should Be – Lost Souls Dancing, CD only – Inertia – 2004

I’d be confident in saying very few peeps bought this album but it’s one of my faves in having more great tracks (to these ears) than most albums I’ve ever heard. In the world of leftfield soul/jazz/beats that her previous ‘band’ Hefner moved she was gloriously suited and she carried things on well to this album.

01.34.24

HORN – 3 Minutes – Naked @ Westminster, v/artists, promo CD only – 1998-’99’ish

Not often you see a CD visual on 41 Rooms but in being its only evidence of this stylish track (and there are no photos either) this is the second on this show. Students within the Commercial Music course at the Uni of Westminster, Harrow, London getting together for a collective promotion of their talents.

01.38.30

SEAWIND – Free – Light The Light, LP – Horizon -1978

I only first heard this and the following Brainstorm track in more recent years, or if I did hear them back at the time (unlikely, given the radio I was listening to) they could easily have passed me by – as there was too often just too much ‘musicianship’ involved in the ‘fusion’ world for the young me. Front it with a sympathetic vocal, though and you might have me…

01.42.49

BRAINSTORM – Journey To The Light – Journey To The Light, LP – Tabu – 1978

Sea… wind… brain… storm… and from a Light The Light album to a Journey To The Light… in the same genre and year. Who followed who here, I wonder. Everyone’s looking for the light, it seems – and a 7 minutes plus version can actually be grabbed split over two sides of a 2017 7″ ‘re-release’ out of Japan.

01.47.41

DIONNE WARWICK – Much Too Much – Friends Can Be Lovers, LP – Arista – 1995

She was never an ‘Aretha’ but she’s always been class… and she just seems to glide over this. Astoundingly, this wasn’t one of the three singles taken from the album and if you were ever to listen to what Arista decided were those singles you’d be forgiven for thinking someone was in the wrong job.

01.51.24

SYBIL – Make It Easy On Me – 7″ – PWL – 1990

Yep, PWL tunes are unsurprisingly rare at 41 Rooms (second ever, I think), and this one’s itching to get to its belting, ‘size of a planet’ and hands in the air chorus like few do.

01.55.17

THE ADVENTURES – Broken Land * – 7″ – Elektra – 1988

‘The most played song on BBC Radio 1 in 1988’ is a startling fact, but its anthemic feel maybe never graced the festival stages it might have seemed destined for. Broken lands? Ten a penny, these days.

With a bit of luck – Feb 4, 2024 for show 124.

Dec

The post Episode 123 – Original Upload 7.1.24 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 81% vinyl friendly. Not bad. 

The idea of Istanbul, Turkey based industrial designer, Pelin Özbalcı, the ‘Ripple’ turntable surfaced at the end of 2021 and continued what he’s sees as a line of ‘joyful products, experiences, and product-user interactions… ‘ If it had been a 1960s design it wouldn’t have looked out of place next to my mum’s baking tins and pudding bowls during one of her kitchen cake making sessions but Yanko Design towed more along the line: ‘A clever play on how sound emanates from a source like ripples from a single point, t he Ripple Turntable turns audio waves into literal waves, with its surface treatment. The pristine white tur ntable comes with a rippled surface, with waves emanating from the spindle at the center of the platter, as well as from the origin of the swing-arm, and intersecting in the middle to create that perfect bit of visual drama… ‘ Annoyingly, the only place I could find mention of the Ripple is on design websites – and none of them quoted even a manufacturers recommended price. Maybe the public just forgot to put in an order… for even one.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 122…

I’ve never bought in to the sheer ‘hugeness’ of Dylan but purely as a wordsmith he’s definitely ‘up there’ and though Rolling Stone only clocked the song at #48 in their list of Dylan’s 100 Greatest it’s a love song that may well have moved its subject, Dylan’s then wife, especially as she was unwittingly present at its first performance, the one and only take for the recording.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Who’s Joe (Glasgow 2006) – Live In Glasgow, 2DVD – Warner Music Entertainment – 2008

Even with the band’s earliest gigs manager, Rob Gretton made more of a point of getting a cassette tape into the mixing desk than I remember. Caught out, at soundchecks us Bedford crew were present at he once or twice certainly asked if we had any spare tapes but back then it would have been for no more than a reference for the band. No one was thinking, ‘This will be useful in a few years.’ As the years rolled on though and the technology improved every gig became fully recorded, with only the band’s own performance the likely issue in any debate when material is looked at for (in New Order’s case anyway) Definitive boxsets, etc. Here, with Hooky’s departure from the band not too far away, it’s a plaintive song particularly suited to Barney’s vocal.

07.24

MARC ALMOND – Tears Run Rings – 7″ – Some Bizzare / Parlophone – 1988

‘Dramatically orchestrated inoffensive sloothly sung 134bpm canterer‘ – James Hamilton, Jocks, 10.88

Class pop to me. 

10.54

JIMMY SOMERVILLE – Heartbeat (Radio Edit) – 7″ – London Records – 1995

Soaring falsetto pop!

14.24

ICEHOUSE – Hey Little Girl (Extended Version) (but a big edit) – 12″ promo – Chrysalis – 1983

If not quite with this tune, I thought main man Iva Davies had a bit of a Bowie thing going on back then.

17.50

THOMAS LEER – Change Of Heart – 1982, CD only – Klanggalerie – 2018

From a ‘Series of tracks for unreleased album Circa 1982‘ says Bandcamp, so I’ll assume from that, roughly around the time I was lapping up his Contradictions and Letter from America releases and maybe a fertile writing period for the man.

22.09

FRANKIE PAUL – Worries In The Dance – 7″ – Hit Bound – 1983

As with possibly all the roots reggae playlisted on 41 Rooms that emerged in the ’80s, I’d have heard this first via John Peel’s show. Such was the media back then, if there were radio shows airing around the UK purely for the genre the wind wasn’t blowing in the right direction for them to reach me in Bedford. Come the ’90s, when I was in London, David Rodigan’s show on KISS FM came in to play.

28.44

SEN(Y)A (and the WAILERS BAND) – Children Of The Ghetto (Discomix) – 7″ – Impact! – ?????

Yep, Sena or Senya, depending on the pressing… and produced by (and again depending on which pressing) also co artist, Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett. If you know your stuff (and I don’t) you could write long articles attempting to pick the bones out of the chronological release history of reggae singles out of Jamaica, though you’d nearly have to have been in the pressing plants themselves at the time to get it right. In its starker form, ‘Children’ is a tune possibly traceable back to a 1973 release but again it was John Peel spinning this on his radio show that I caught. He’d have fairly quickly spun the pressing he received, so if at some point I dig out the cassette tape and the show that I grabbed it from I might be better able to timeline at least one of its many pressings.

33.14

MORGAN HERITAGE – Exalt Jah – Protect Us Jah, LP – VP Records – 1997

I could be wrong but given their commercial success from the off (a 1994 Grammy award winning debut album) the purists might have slightly ‘mistrusted’ the band? It’s worth noting though that they then relocated from the US to Jamaica, to better soak up the vibe and it’s from there the Protect Us Jah album sprung.

37.53

SALIHA – Moment de Gloire (Compacted Edit) – 12″ – Virgin 1992

Without looking I’ll nearly guarantee I pretty much said the same thing when playlisting another mix of this a few years back – the French language suits rap way better than most.

41.37

ROB BASE & DJ E-Z ROCK – It Takes Two – 12″ – City Beat – 1988

Platinum selling, the beats were so head noddingly infectious you could have got away with spinning the instrumental.

45.31

COLDCUT – Say Kids! (What Time Is It) – 12″ – ‘white label’ – 1987

Slightly less than legal but possibly their earliest vinyl release, and though I never taped it off John Peel’s radio show at the time this would have been a revelation coming out of the UK (as opposed to the US hip hop scene) and I’m sure Peely would have been on this like a shot. I’d have certainly only heard it via him, that’s for sure, rather than any pirate radio set up of the time.

US mag…

53.35

TROUBLE FUNK – Pump Me Up – 12″ – SugarHill Records – 1982

And from where Coldcut took much of their inspiration – and the odd sample – the party music of Trouble Funk’s go-go infused funk.

56.53

JIM CROCE – You Don’t Mess Around With Jim – 7″ – Philips – 1972

Jumping out of daytime Radio One at the time and maybe even Radio 2, if Mum was in control of the dial.

59.10

T. REX – Ride A White Swan * – 7″ – Fly Records – 1970

Solid gold (easy action? pop… and more to the point than My People Were Fair And Had Sky In Their Hair… But Now They’re Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows.

01.01.17

COCTEAU TWINS – From The Flagstones – Sunburst and Snowblind, 12″ EP – 4AD – 1983

A track count suggests Robin, Liz and Simon crop up, on average, every six 41 Rooms shows. Quite right, too.

Simon, soundchecking – Liverpool Uni, Mountford Hall: 18.4.84

Photo copyright/credit: Dec Hickey

01.04.28

JOSE FELICIANO – Nature Boy – 7″ – RCA – 1968

The wider (and very much older) world will know of this Eden Ahbez tune for the massive hit it gave Nat King Cole in the late ’40s but with maybe a huge swathe of bias, this is the version for me, and whatever else that might be in the weighing up, the then 20 year-old Jose’s version certainly has more ‘soul’. Included on his 1966 album, Fantastic Feliciano, the only places you’ll handily find his version on a legal 7″ is either via Turkish (below) or South African singles or a Portuguese EP. Look into Ahbez’ life, it’s an interesting one… and if he was getting his publishing royalties, one maybe cushioned by the regular cheques. Writing just one massive hit can sort a lot in life, and here’s hoping the royalties from this Turkish release did indeed get to him… and not the Swedish four piece… who weren’t actually to be in action for another few years.

01.07.21

BOB DYLAN – Sara – 7″ b-side – CBS – 1977

Well, it was in Spain anyway. Recorded in 1975 but in nearly all vinyl collections it’s best known as a track on the 1976 album, Desire, the one and only Dylan album I’ve ever owned.

01.10.30

THE LOVED DRONES (feat LAETITIA SADIER) – Contact (Live in Brussels) – Soundcloud only – 2011

Yup, the uncredited photo is pretty ropey but it is seemingly from the night. Possibly an unannounced appearance from the Stereolab vocalist?

01.15.39

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS – Flowers – Self-titled, LP – CBS 1980

Most of the album reminds me either of a car journey (girlfriend, Jenny driving, with me looking at the countryside, in the early evening sunshine) to The Paddock in Northampton in Jun ’80 to see the Furs live… or DJ’ing at Winkles in Bedford in 1981.

01.20.25

THE FALL – Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul – 7″ – Kamera Records – 1981

Most of the damage on my copy’s sleeve was done back in my DJ’ing days (again at Winkles), though the vinyl itself is quite easily the worst I own! In between the proper grooves, if the eras and geography had aligned, Tarantino directing a video to these or any Mark E Smith ‘observations’ would have been interesting.

01.23.39

THE SHRUBS – Blackmailer – 12″(EP) – Ron Johnson Records – 1986

Nick Hobbs attacking the mic in his usual style… with the show’s only whistling to boot.

01.26.52

CLAIRE – Wife Lover Killer – The Hauntings of Lady Anne’s Bed, cassette only – ? – 1985-1986

A bunch of demos, which if I’ve got the order right, followed on from another, untitled cassette’s worth of tracks I was given by the (Milton Keynes-way?) band back around the years above. To my ears, shades of the previous two bands above… or maybe neither, if you happen on either of the Williams’ brothers involved.

01.30.30

LUCY ROSE – Could You Help Me – Streaming only (for now) – 2023

Feels like an indie-topped d&b feel going on here… and likely the only song ever to make it to 41 Rooms written around trying to get a (I think) bad back fixed.

01.32.29

TIGA & HUDSON MOHAWKE (feat JESSE BOYKINS III) – Silence Of Love * – Download only (for now) – 2023

Oh so slightly dark electronic bizniz mixed with a soulful vocal. I’ll take that!

01.35.40

CHEZ DAMIER – I Never Knew Love (MK Club Mix) – 12″ – Network – 1992

‘Mark Kinchen at home and on form with this superb house “love” song, and Chez Damier proves he is no one-hit-wonder. This is very bit as firing as ‘Can U Feel It’. MK Club Mix contains the full vocal with its memorable chorus and beautiful harmonies while the bubbling bass and organ give the track its momentum‘. – Rhythm Doctor, Hot Vinyl, Record Mirror 12.12.92

Yep, the early ’90s was my era for house. Even with the very oft near throw away lyrics, right then I needed its carefree feel.

01.38.17

STEVIE WONDER – Think Of Me As Your Soldier – 7″ b-side – Tamla Motown – 1970

Right around the time I was beginning to hoover up Stevie’s 7″ singles – and he never put duff tracks on b-sides.

01.42.42

THE LOVELITES – How Can I Tell My Mom & Dad – 7″ – Lock Records – 1969

The ‘Help me explain’ is weirdly cute, in a story played out for real a million times.

01.48.25

EDDIE HOLMAN – This Can’t Be True – 7″ – Parkway – 1965

And spotted on the net at 75 still hitting these notes just a couple of years ago.

If the owner of this UK acetate is offloading anytime I’ll happily accept…

01.54.01

MACY GRAY – Do Something (Album Mix) – 12″ promo – Epic – 1999

Sassy and smokey.

01.54.01

ROÍSÍN MURPHY – Sow Into You – 12″ – Echo – 2005

I’ve already spun a couple of versions on 41 Rooms but this got through sort of ‘by default’, as its an unedited version that keeps in a bridge I never liked. Still, it’s some bouncy quirkiness from the Arklow, Wicklow (‘up the road’) born gal.

01.54.01

HEAVEN 17 – The Height Of The Fighting – 7″ – Virgin – 1982

With vocalist, Glenn Gregory sounding ‘serious’ consider the ‘He-La-Hu’ as… optional. The song ‘acts as both a satire of gung-ho militarism and a rallying cry for anti-capitalist insurgency‘ wrote one review… nowhere near Smash Hits.

01.54.01

YAZOO – Don’t Go * – 7″ – Mute – 1982

The sort of snappy synth pop I attach a visual of girls back in the day dancing at our club nights.

Show 123 uploads on Jan 7.

Dec

The post Episode 122 – Original Upload 3.12.23 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 78% vinyl friendly. Not bad. 

From the 1990s and certainly in one sense, solid as a rock! Dual’s Golden Stone turntable was as chiselled as any turntable is likely to be and if you wanted your music centre to blend in with your driveway or patio it was a contender. Checking in at $4000 just a few years back it was also costing nearly as much as a patio but it’s obviously maintained some gravitas.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 121…

‘I tried my hand as a butcher but I cut my hand with a knife. I had a go as a milkman too but I was caught withn the vicker’s wife.’ For those of a certain age this is sounding a bit like a bawdy Robin Askwith sketch from the ’70s.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Hurt (Le Palace, Paris: 17.4.82) – Movement, Definitive Edition boxset – Warner Music – 2019

Though back then, Hurt was still being called Cramp by all in the NO camp. Yep, a gig I was all set to be at… until I had some dislocated shoulder nonsense set in. Things weren’t looking good from an operation three weeks earlier to fix what was a recurring problem as I then got an infection in the wound from the operation and I ended up back in hospital as New Order’s Paris gig was getting nearer. With just three days to go I sign to discharge myself, only to find girlfriend, Viv decides (quite rightly, really) to not entertain having to potentially nurse me on a journey to Paris. I give my guest list slot to mate, Budge… and with my tale between my legs I then check back in at the hospital. The staff most probably thought, ‘What an idiot… ‘ Not one of my cleverest episodes. When Budge gets back to Bedford he has great tales and a tape of the gig, including this version of Hurt/Cramp, sporting a longer ‘intro’ than normal.

07.24

JOY DIVISION – Shadowplay – Unknown Pleasures, LP – Factory – 1979

The New Order trio in their earlier lives entertaining, as it happens, another long intro. Unarguably, an iconic track.

10.54

KILLING JOKE – Wardance – 7″ – Malicious Damage – 1981

At our Bedford club, Winkles this fitted in well with the ‘goth’ crowd who, on a broad level, also got out on the dancefloor to Bauhaus, the Birthday Party and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

14.24

(THE) AGE OF CHANCE – Motor City – 7″ – Riot Bible – 1985

The Leeds band’s second single and maybe around the time mate, Nigel Turner put them on at the George and Dragon in Bedford.

17.50

KOSHEEN – Catch – 12″ – Moksha – 2001

Their own ‘trip hop, breakbeat and rock’ description on Discogs nails it really, with singer, Sian Evans’ stage strut providing the latter element – and maybe this Bristol, UK outfit were another just a hair’s breath away from that foot-on-the-monitor ‘Good evening, Los Angeles!‘ move to ingratiate an audience and ‘rock out’. Evans’ voice really suited, though.

22.09

D*NOTE – Lost and Found – Self-titled, LP – Dorado / VC Recordings – 1997

You usually get the self-titled album out at the start of their journey but D*Note got there with their fifth. Skittering and ‘spiritual’ d&b.

28.44

SILVER PYRE – Born Metallic – AeXE, CD only – Sedgemoor Recordings – 2012
There had been a couple of low key Silver Pyre CDr EPs years earlier but this was from the only album produced… with one Gary Fawle sounding like the bastard son of John Foxx. Born Metamatic, maybe.

33.14

LEWIS TAYLOR – Bittersweet (Album Version) – 12″ (EP?) – Island – 1997

Shades of Marvin Gaye.

Jazid article: Sept-Oct ’96

37.53

BETH GIBBONS & RUSTIN MAN – Sand River – Out Of Season, LP – Go! Beat – 2002

‘Folk soul’ from the Portishead vocalist and Paul Webb, once the bass player with Talk Talk.

41.37

MARY McCASLIN – You Keep Me Hangin’ On * – Goodnight Everybody, LP – Barnaby Records – 1969

Her unique and isolated ‘ Know I Really Love You… holding my sail‘ line might say a lot.

45.31

PLACEBO – Pseudo Silhouette – England’s Trance, LP – Aura – 1982

They weren’t around for long and besides the already spun on 41 Rooms Poppy Dance, this was the only other track on the album I liked.

53.35

FLIP TOP HEAD – Alfred Street – Download only (for now?) – 2023

Their Facebook page is an example of the enthusiasm of youth… maybe helped by them being based in Brighton, UK.

56.53

LIZZY MERCIER DESCLOUX – Wawa – Press Colour, LP – ZE Records – 1979

A singer, musician, writer and painter who passed away through cancer at the too young age of 47.

59.10

THE WOLFHOUNDS – Sandy – Unseen Ripples From A Pebble, LP – The Pink Label – 1987

Still listening to John Peel’s radio show in the mid to late 80s I wasn’t hearing much from the indie side of things that grabbed me but via their second session for JP this track did.

01.01.17

HELP STAMP OUT LONELINESS – Angelyne – Self-titled, CD only – Where It’s At Is Where You Are – 2011

And onwards nearly three decades to more indie. Jaunty sounding, I reckon.

01.04.28

VAUGHAN THOMAS – I Wanna Be Famous Like My Dad – 7″ – DJM – 1971

Without doubt first heard blasting out of BBC Radio One, I bought this around the time of its release. Definitely at the forefront of my buying records years and in the days of a 7″ single costing approx 50p.

01.07.21

TOMMY JAMES – Draggin’ The Line – 7″ – Roulette – 1971

From the same year as the above (but bought a few years further on, I think) and nearly as many ‘la la la la la la la‘sssss’ as Angelyne, two songs above. 41 Rooms isn’t just thrown together.

01.10.30

ALICE SMITH – Love Endeavor (Maurice Fulton Remix) * – 12″ – BBE – 2006

I hint at ‘strangely structured’ on the show but I did throw in again at the end the lone vocal verse Fulton used. Either way, I reckon his approach gives way more punch to her message than her whole full song.

01.15.39

LAMONT DOZIER – Going Back To My Roots – Peddlin’ Music On The Side, LP * – Warner Brothers – 1977

For no greater reason than it fitted better at the time, Richie Haven’s cover made it to 41 Rooms before (here) the writer’s own version. Not much between them, to be honest.

01.20.25

A RACE OF ANGELS – It’s Just Begun (Rework by Theo Parrish, Dego & Akwasi Mensah) (Edit) * – 12″ b-side – Wildheart Recordings – 2014

In reality, a remix of Just Begin, the other side of the 12″ – but a huge (1/3rd) edit at that… and it’s hard to nail down who was involved in each of what are the wildly different ‘thirds’ that make up the complete remix.. No matter, it’s Yeofi Andoh on vocals.

01.23.39

JAZZ THE GLASS – There – Output 2021, download only – 2022

Nine tracks down on 41 Rooms, JTG continue as show faves.

01.26.52

WORKING WEEK – Sweet Nothing – 7″ – Virgin – 1985

‘There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch… ‘ sings Julie Roberts. She ain’t wrong.

01.30.30

BILL WITHERS – Ain’t No Sunshine – 7″ – A&M – 1971

Wayyyyy before its inclusion in the film Notting Hill, this was a nailed on classic of ‘modern’ music… though nobody involved in the song’s initial surfacing seemingly thought so at the time, as it initially surfaced (in the UK anyway) as the b-side to his Harlem 7″. Something tells me that I might though have actually got hold of Michael Jackson’s single version of the song before Withers’. That’s how a 14yr old DH rolled back then.

01.32.29

SLEAFORD MODS – Silly Me – Key Markets, LP – Harbinger Sound – 2015

‘Opaque Mint Green’ vinyl from the Nottingham duo who I’m confidently guessing will never run out of subject matter as long as the society we all live within continues to breakdown.

01.35.40

ESG – Can You Be It? – What More Can You Take?, download only – ESG Records – 2017

Though a CDr or ten (with dreadful artwork, I reckon) may have been floating around Bandcamp at one point.

01.38.17

SUDETEN CRECHE – Nightlife In Köln – Nothing Is True, 12″ EP – Slow Club Productions – 2019

More prolific with releases in the 21st century than they ever were in the last, but still sounding here like they did on their only other 41 Rooms appearance, 1982’s Are Kisses Out Of Fashion?

01.42.42

INERTIA – Abstain * – Confection, cassette only – Inertial Records – 1981

Having bought the two singles Douglas Benford put out in 1980 I can only guess I didn’t catch wind of this release. Too late and too expensive to get a hard copy now, should one ever turn up for sale.

01.48.25

THE SLITS – In The Beginning There Was Rhythm * – Spilt 7″ – Y Records / Rough Trade – 1980

Ari Up on one side and Mark Stewart on the other – vocalists to take note of.

01.54.01

SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES – Icon – Join Hands, LP – Polydor – 1979

She’s Siouxsie, so she’s always gonna be alright at 41 Rooms… and it’s fairly iconic a post punk track, whether it’s called Icon or not.

Show 122 uploads on Dec 3.

Dec

The post Episode 121 – Original Upload 5.11.23 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 82% vinyl friendly. Impressive. 

Early Technics decks custom coloured, courtesy of digifunktechnics.co.uk. Wasn’t there a colour of Spangle a few decades back that nearly matched the above? Pimping up and beyond also available… and no, I’m not an affiliate for them.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 120…

If I’m honest there are precious few contenders this month. At one end, maybe Mr Callier for the simplicity. At the other? Green Gartside. He’ll never sing his without them laid out in front of him.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – The Game (Mark Reeder Spielt Mit Version) – Music Complete: Remix EP, promo CD only – 2017

Berlin-based but very long time friend of the band from his Manc days, Reeder takes the slower/break down passages of the original as his starting and finishing point.

07.00

THE BEATLES – Come Together – 7″ b-side – Apple – 1969

A bit of a mid ’70s Heronscroft, Putnoe, Bedford ‘sense’ surrounds me when I hear this. A track that led off the Abbey Road album but played second fiddle to Something on the single.

10.57

SCRITTI POLITTI – Lions After Slumber (Single version) – 12″ b-side – Rough Trade – 1981

If you’re a ‘singalong on the chorus’ kind of guy there’s nothing to see/hear here.

15.33

MARIBOU STATE – Blackoak – 12″ – Ninja Tune – 2023

Warm sounds, limited and numbered to 300 pressed on eco-vinyl, white label copies. All hand-stamped and signed by the duo.

20.20

OUTLINES – Listen To The Drums (Clignancourt Edit) – 12″ – Sonar Kollektiv – 2006

Still sounding a very idiosyncratic release.

24.50

KODŌ – Ibuki Reconstruction (DJ Krush – Extended) – Remix 2, 12″ – Columbia – 1998

The Japanese drum troupe’s beats a rolling, courtesy of their hip-hop’er fellow countryman.

27.48

ERIC RANDOM & THE BEDLAMITES – Mad As Mankind – 12″ – Doublevision – 1984

Some won’t be surprised to learn this was recorded at Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio and produced by Richard and Mal.

34.09

ELECTRIBE 101 – You’re Walking (Peeping Tom Mix) – Electribal Memories, LP – Mercury – 1990

Such was the money floating around in the late ’80s, dance music had its fair share thrown at it. Courtesy of every name US house producer/remixer of note, these Birmingham lads and Billie Ray Martin’s class electronic torch pop managed to straddle both the house/club scene and the charts, and along with the latter having kept vocally active ever since, the band’s ‘lost’ second album, Electribal Soul managed to finally surface in 2021, three decades after their first.

39.25

KHERAL – I Loved You First (Rawhouse Mix) – 12″ – Freetown Inc – 1992

‘Kheral’s soaring vocals are driven along by Pierre’s incessant melting and moulding of all the musical elements. A combination guaranteed to send shivers down your spine – one to play from start to finish. Deeper!‘ – Rhythm Doctor, Record Mirror (Music Week), 20.3.93

DJ Pierre at the controls, it sort of plods but it also quietly builds, with the man himself also letting loose. Another first heard back in the day on late night KISS FM – with a nod here to Sarah HB’s show.

44.09

MR FINGERS – Waterfalls – Amnesia, 2LP – Jack Trax – 1989

Hearing this for the first time won’t have been too far from the above – possibly Steve Jackson’s house show.

48.44

SMALL FACES – Tin Soldier – 7″ – Immediate – 1967

‘Pop’ gold! My fave ’60s band when catching up as a teenager a few years later… and they still are. Apologies if I’ve told this one before somewhere on 41 Rooms but in those early collecting days I used to get excited seeing acetates, indeed any acetate… and even after decades they can still have a very distinctive smell. In the mid ’90s I was cratedigging (not called that back then, but… hey) one day in Music & Video Exchange’s London’s Notting Hill stores – in particular the store floor they’d devoted purely to ultra cheap 20p/bargain basement kind of vinyl – and in a cluster of about four racks I could smell an acetate… but the more I couldn’t find it, the more I was confused… until I then started searching inside some picture covers… and for whatever reason, lurking in a children’s 7″ EP sleeve (something like a Pinky & Perky banger) was a one-sided acetate of Tin Soldier – no Pinky & Perky vinyl, just this rarity. It had a slight kink on the edge and it was the single version and not a demo/alternate take, and even though I remember where I later sold it, neither it nor indeed any Tin Soldier acetate has to date made it to Discogs.

52.02

CREAM – N.S.U. – 7″ b-side – Reaction – 1966

Listening to the verses it sounds the sort of song structure idea that started from a dressing room jam… and after a few drinks etc.

54.36

COLLATE – The Product – Generative Systems, LP – Domestic Departure – 2023

Upcoming as we upload, and yet another with the personal touch. 500 copies pressed, recycled chipboard jacket with two paste-on CMYK risograph prints, includes photocopied insert.

‘Portland’s Collate play music that recalls late ’70s/early ’80s minimalist post-punk, and loops through the styles and genres influenced by that music a million times until you end up with a sound that is evocative of the past but also modern—kind of like when you photocopy and re-photocopy something until it distorts and becomes something new and weird. The lyrics are sometimes blatantly political but always wry and clever. There are still plenty of the danceable, catchy bass-forward kind of songs you heard on their previous recordings, but in songs like “Stocks,” there’s a hint of more straightforward punk and it starts to kinda ROCK. Just a bit. But in the end, Collate always handles themselves with cool restraint, even when frustration, anger, and joy are palpably bubbling under the surface.’ – Rachel Courtney (on Bandcamp)

57.21

THE WAKE – Favour – Harmony, LP – Factory – 1982

Enough of a band favourite to have made to the setlist on rare gigs performed nearly thirty years on.

01.01.33

VICE VERSA – Democratic Dancebeat – Electrogenesis 1978-1980, 4LP – Vinyl-on-demand – 2014

Looking to ‘up’ the vinyl numbers on this show I’m slightly cheating here, as the track was originally ‘released’ on a 1980 cassette (two versions)… that I didn’t have… and that looks like it maybe was more of an in house reference point for the label (Neutron) than an actual release. I’d been using blank cassettes myself for a few years by then and I’d have had to have been way more than down on my luck to have used a Compact Cassette or Dictaphone tape. Or maybe the band used decent TDK tapes and stuck the aforementioned labels over them to exude an extra DIY lo-fi feel – all a long way (musically if not time-wise) from the highly polished and chart bound ABC they were to become. The highly valued, out of Germany and everything-and-the-band’s-kitchen-sink 2014 quad LP (again, two versions, totalling 699 copies) looks like the ultimate in the personal touch.

01.04.47

GRACE JONES – Demolition Man – 7″ – Island – 1981

Sting-written… but to these ears, Jones ‘owned’. Nothing that would have worried the Police-man’s publisher, though.

01.08.41

ESG – Dance – ESG Says Dance To The Beat Of Moody – 12″ – 99 Records – 1982

The South Bronx no wave, punk funk, proto indie hip hop, etc etc Scroggins sisters and a release that gathered enough kudos through the years to possibly have been faithfully bootlegged sometime in the ’90s?

01.13.05

LIQUID LIQUID – Rubbermiro – Self-titled 12″ EP – 99 Records – 1981

The soundtrack to (or recreation of?), the bustling traffic of an eerie New York twilight? Seeing as they were label mates on a very bespoke label, maybe not the first time (I won’t check) they have sat next door to ESG on 41 Rooms.

01.16.32

UPSKIBOO – Summer Heat – 12″ – Melting Pot Music – 2006

I’m assuming it’s a sampled vocal. Enchanting, either way.

01.20.21

ROBIN O’BRIEN – Looking For Daniel * – Apple, cassette only – SHM Tapes / KFR – 1988

Three cassette variations of this album in existence and this near-a cappella track was also included a year later on the v/artists compilation cassette, USA Goes Pop (18 Underground Songs). The latter led off with a Daniel Johnston track – so either Robin’s Daniel is one and the same… or the label was being cute. The lyrics don’t give too much away, so I dunno. Some will, though.

01.23.02

SNOWGOOSE – Shifting Sands – Harmony Springs, LP – Open Hearth – 2012

A bow to the world of Pentangle/Fairport Convention/Renaissance?

01.27.23

CURT BOETTCHER (feat MICHELE O’MALLEY) – Sometimes – Misty Mirage, LP – Dreamsville Records – 2001

Soooo mid to late ’60s… unless someone tells me it actually wasn’t. And for a personal post on Boettcher, a nod to an O’Malley-tagged piece from The Gentlebear.

01.30.20

TERRY CALLIER – If I Could Make You (Change Your Mind) – 12″ b-side – Erect Records – 1982

Championed a few years later (1990) by Eddie Piller and his Acid Jazz label, Callier always seemed to sail his vocal effortlessly. A weird use of parentheses on the title though.

01.34.08

? – ‘The Gong’ – ? – ? – ?

Grabbed off maybe KISS FM (and possibly a Dr Bob Jones show?) in the noughties, I didn’t catch enough info to go hunt down the record… and even with Discogs, Shazam etc I’m none the wiser in the ’20s.

01.39.43

‘THE IDIOT’ – ‘Nassau Street’ * – ?

Putting this show together has involved more ‘muddiness’ than most… and here’s some more. Wherever I grabbed this one from, it certainly doesn’t sound like an artist who’d call himself ‘The Idiot’… and the lyrics don’t hint at any reason for the track to be called ‘Nassau St’ either… yet that’s what it’s down as. A decade or two back though, I did have a handful of tracks in my iTunes library (nothing blatantly obvious) that seemed to get ‘retagged/iD’d’ by forces unknown. Whatever, a track that feels like I bumped into something unknown recorded in the ’70s or it’s someone decades later totally at odds with anything then musically around him… who’s wishing he was back in the ’70s, and I mean that as a compliment.  

01.44.13

PATRICK COWLEY – (I Need) Somebody To Love Tonight – Muscle Up, 2LP – Dark Entries – 2015

The demo and ‘tougher’ version of the subsequently Sylvester sung gem (already playlisted on 41 Rooms) and reportedly the only track on this the second compilation of Cowley’s porn film soundtrack work where the machines/instruments actually keep time!

01.51.28

K-9 CORP (feat PRETTY C) – Dog Talk * – 12″ – Capitol – 1983

With George Clinton at the controls, and for 41 Rooms severely edited and chopped around from its full 9 plus mins, no socio-political rant for these guys.

01.56.56 (sort of… )

SOUL II SOUL – A Dreams A Dream (Club Dub) * – 10 Records – 1990

Does an apostrophe ruin the look of a song title? Maybe even more of a 41 Rooms scalpel used on this show ender than most.

Show 121 uploads on Nov 5…

Dec

The post Episode 120 – Original Upload 1.10.23 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 87% vinyl friendly. Impressive. 

‘The Voice of Music’, Model 270-0 looking like Second World War in car entertainment the US Army never had. Would have been a tad bumpy. Currently a $185 eBay Buy It Now, out of Florida, USA but ‘missing needle or wire that allows music to play‘.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms ‘tweak’/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 119…

It has to be Marvin’s legendary query but if he hadn’t turned up on this show his bastard son, Mara TK would have walked it. ‘Some got the good book some got a gun. If they got both, then you probably need to run… ‘ Ain’t that the truth!

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Mesh (Cargo demo) – Movement, LP Definitive Edition boxset – Warner Music – 2019

Later to be heard with Barney on vocals but up to this point – in Rochdale’s Cargo Studios in January, 81 and live, at the time – with Hooky. Either way, it was gone from the set before I caught them for the first time a few weeks later.

03.46

CABARET VOLTAIRE – Twanky Party – Salvation! (soundtrack) LP – Les Disques du Crépuscule – 1987

Could well have been a mood setting gig opener but as far as I know, it was never played live.

07.54

MARASMA – Two Hearts In One Body – 12″ extra track – Freerange Records – 1998

And onwards from a soundtrack sound to a short lived, late ’90s London-based project and some ‘incidental music’… of the edgy sort.

12.56

JAZZ THE GLASS – WanT – Shine, CD only – 2023

Out of Dunbar, Scotland, ‘retro soul’ slow beats and samples grooves of the highest order.

16.28

ERICK SERMON (feat MARVIN GAYE) – (Just Like) Music * – 12″ – Polydor – 2001

I don’t suppose the going $$$ rate for officially sampling Gaye was too shabby, but I’m guessing maybe the a cappella of his I’ve Got My Music was freely floating around the net for all to grab before anyone subsequently concocting a half decent tune with it had to approach the powers that be. For me, it’s worth it for Sermon’s smile-along ‘Marv melding’ alone… with the rap very nearly superfluous.

18.54

MARVIN GAYE – What’s Going On (Original single version) – 7″ – Tamla Motown – 1970

I was thirteen when this iconic song was released but it might have been a couple of years before the pocket money jobs started paying for me to invest in Motown 7″s, occasionally new but most often second hand… and the What’s Going On album is still up there as my fave of all time.

22.32

JALEN NGONDA – Come Around And Love Me – Come Around And Love Me, LP – Daptone – 2023

As this show uploads, upcoming in the next few days. Maryland, USA via Liverpool, UK… or in the case of this particular track, I’d suggest via the aforementioned Marvin Gaye album. One of my tunes of the year, so far.

25.36

GLENN JONES – Open Up Your Heart – Here I Go Again, LP – Atlantic – 1992

US R&B and a single that never was… but should have been.

29.45

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – Block Rockin’ Beats – 12″ – Freestyle Dust – 1997

You have to do some serious searching on 41 Rooms to find certified UK singles chart toppers but this was such a strut. Big beats!

34.37

SIR DREW – Funkin Miss Loader * – 12″ – Kingsize – 1999

One of a constantly passing through the ’90s bunch of head noddin’ but slightly throwaway tracks. I’d already guessed at ‘tooled up studio chancers having a laugh’ before I decided to check out who exactly Sir Drew had been. Discogs says of Andrew Meecham: ‘Producer from Stafford, UK. Got his break when he and Chris Peat answered an ad in the paper looking for sound engineers at Blue Chip Studios. They were keyboard players with no experience of engineering, but they blagged their way in‘. I rest my case.

38.04

SUB SUB – Jaggernath – 12″ b-side – Robs Records – 1995

Doves in their younger dance beats incarnation.

42.06

URBAN SPECIES (feat IMOGEN HEAP) – Blanket (Album version) – promo 12″ – Talkin Loud – 1998

Bristol, the downtempo capital of the UK, where all tunes have seemingly kept below the BPM equivalent of a 30mph speed limit.

46.27

MOVES IN MOTION – Beats and Improvisation – Gestures E.P. 12″ EP – Destination X – 1993

‘There is no creativity without taking risks and Moves In Motion deserve payback for pushing their music just a bit further out. One of the four tracks is called ‘Beats And Improvisations’ which describe sthe three quarters of the EP that deals with pure left field street jazz. Too slow and moody for the dancefloor but well worth a listen. The track with club appeal is ‘Thank You (For That Funky Vibe)’, classy 90s soul jazz featuring the vocals of (amongst others), Outlaw’s Alison Evelyn‘. – Tintin, **** Mixmag Update, 25.2.93

‘Slinky rare groove-style soul with jogging 89.8-89.7bpm ‘Thank You’, muttering 90.1bpm ‘Life Ain’t Always in Dreams’, tranquil tinkling 90.6bpm ‘Beats And Improvisations’, jazz-funkily rolling 80.9-80.8bpm ‘Ultramarine‘. – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 20.2.93

Certainly involving ex-Attica Blues member, Tony Nwachukwu, I first heard this, late night in London on KISS FM. It feels like Patrick Forge’s Cosmic Jam show would have been the likely relayer.

51.24

SUNBURST – Mysterious Vibes – Self-titled, LP – Victor – 1980

See above. Definitely ‘dead of night’ radio airwaves material.

54.49

A CERTAIN RATIO – Forced Laugh – To Each… LP – Factory – 1981

One of ACR’s mightiest moments!

59.55

LALI PUNA – Come Out Your House – Two Windows, LP – Morr Music – 2017

Clattering and ever changing electronic bizniz out of Munich.

01.03.45

HONEYGLAZE – Burglar (Savage Gary’s Robber Dub Dub Remix) – V/artists, Speedy Wunderground The Dubs – Vol 1, 10 x 7″ boxset – Speedy Wunderground – 2023

Dan Carey remixing his label’s 2023 singles and the boxset’s 300 copies run was most probably all bought up before it left the pressing plant… with his Burglar absolutely trouncing the original in the middle of it all.

01.07.20

SILICONE SOUL – Right On! * – 12″ b-side – Soma – 2000

Nothing radical, it should be said, but head noddin’ ‘consciousness’-type vocal snatches to hone in on overlaying the conga pattern.

01.11.57

D*NOTE – The Garden Of Earthly Delights (Ballistic Bario Boom Mix) – 2×12″ – Dorado – 1995

Radically stripped down vocal from the band’s epic in length original and nothing to do with the United States Of America (band)’s already 41 Rooms’ playlisted song of the same name. Both though possibly having borrowed the title from the painter, Bosch? Dunno…

01.17.12

ELECTRIC WIRE HUSTLE – Aeons * – Aeons EP – Download only – 2015

If Marvin Gaye had lived long enough I’d like to think he’d have made music like this. Mara TK take a bow.

01.21.20

SPACEK – How * – Curvatia, 2LP – Blue / Island – 2001

It may be over two decades ago since this album’s release but I still remember Steve Spacek’s vox and beats combo being a head turner… or should that be ears.

01.26.10

TIM HARDIN – Hang On To A Dream – 7″ – Verve Folkways – 1966

The weight of this ‘simple’ tune maybe measured by the breadth of peeps who’ve had a stab at it.

01.28.09

EMILY’S CHAIR – One Thing After Another – Unreleased demo – 1998 approx

I maybe should have playlisted their one and and only proper release before this, the second (but it won’t be the last) of their demos to make it to 41 Rooms. Jeff Kightly, Matt Day and Dave Goldsmith were already a ‘unit’ before finding themselves collectively on a Commercial Music course at the Uni of Westminster out in Harrow, London in the late ’90s and to their absolute credit were the no compromise, complete antithesis of ‘success at any cost’… and as funny as fuck, to boot. Taking a few Emily’s Chair demos they then – over a decade later – became One Mile An Hour, releasing a lone/self-titled (produced at Abbey Road… as you do) album and a big bunch of Jeff’s subsequent work can be found right here.

01.32.41

TIM BUCKLEY – (The) Dolphins – 7″ – Discreet – 1974

Matching Fred Neil’s original? It’s a close call.

01.35.52

EYELESS IN GAZA – Ways Of Rachel – Orange Ice & Wax Crayons, comp LP – Document – 1992

Something tells me I knew of this slightly swirling gem before the above album surfaced. Must ask the man…

01.38.39

NICO – I’m Not Sayin – 7″ – Immediate – 1965

Who knows the path she’d have trodden if this had been any kind of hit.

01.41.26

ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS – Hey Gyp – Hey Gyp 7″ EP – Barclay – 1967

Covering Donovan’s jittery groove.

01.45.08

JOHN MAYALL and THE BLUESBREAKERS – I’m Your Witchdoctor * – 7″ – Immediate – 1965

A bit of a barnstormer and and apart from Tamla Motown UK 7″ singles (TMG 501 to about 800), on very coincidentally from the same label and year as Nico’s above – Immediate being the only other label I half-heartedly endeavoured in my late teens (the mid-late ’70s) to collect the complete set of. I gave up on both and had neither the Nico single above nor this one.

01.46.54

GNAG OF FOUR – It’s Her Factory – 7″ b-side – EMI – 1979

Even their b-side and non-album tracks were worth it.

01.49.58

PYLON – Catch – Chain, LP – Sky Records – 1990

From the second and shortest eras of their three eras of activity but vocalist, Vanessa Briscoe Hay still with some bite.

01.53.29

SCRIMSHIRE – By Hook Or By Crook * – A Free E.P. – Download only – 2009

‘This is a collection of songs that were written before, during and after the making of Along Came The Devil One Night… and just never fitted any release. Some are tracks where the files were lost and couldn’t be retrieved and so I gave up on them. Either way, they are tracks I loved and wanted to share even if they didn’t make it onto a full release. – Adam Scrimshire, Bandcamp

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