This playlist is 76% vinyl friendly. Not bad.

RCA Victor, 1950s. ‘No frills’ would be an understatement. Did the job though, no doubt.

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 142

‘Trigger happy policing. Panic is spreading. God knows where we’re heading… ‘ Marv, via The Flams.

00.00

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

00.41

NEW ORDER – Paradise – Brotherhood, LP – Factory – 1986

The album’s lead track. Played live late ’80s through the ’90s and though I would get the very slightest wiff of c&w with the occasional ‘mid period’ New Order song it’s unlikely Barney’s ‘Jolene’ is the same as Dolly Parton’s.

04.16

ASHNYMPH – Saltspreader – Download only – 2025

A glorious, chugging, fuzzy racket from South London that band member, Jonny sees as ‘service station dance music.’ It’s also a rare example of a(nother) vocal rising from the bottom of a big barrel… that sounds OK!

07.43

CHAKK – No. 3 SOUND (Peel session) – stream only – 1984

‘Industrial funk’ back then and just as much so now. At the time of recording for their one and only John Peel session this track sounded like a sketch of an idea with vocalist, Jake Harries slightly ad-libbing/winging it. So new maybe, it had no title… other than it was the third track recorded for the session. Tough, whatever and hello to anyone else who saw them at London’s Portobello Rd Electric Cinema or supporting The Smiths at Warwick Uni, both in early ’84 I think.

11.04

ZAINICHI FUNK – Bakudan Kowai – 爆弾こわい, CD only – P-Vine Records – 2011

Bonkers Japanese homage to James Brown, with the vocalist throwing in the slightest of Godfather of Funk moves in the video. They do it their own way over there and on the evidence of this alone it’s hard to know whether it’s a deep love of funk, a total spoof or somewhere in between.

15.04

NEW STREET ADVENTURE – Hangin’ On / Hangin’ Up – 7″ – Unmasked Recordings – 2012

Having had a stint as a solo artist Nick Corbin is currently back in 2025 action within his full band moniker. Here though it’s their mod-tastic debut single from back in the day. Sharp, especially with the flip side making it to the mega 7″ Heaven show 100.

17.41

THE STYLE COUNCIL – Money-Go-Round (Part One) – 7″ – Polydor – 1983

Paul Weller’s soul collective knocked out a cracking version of this live on UK TV back in the day (possibly not The Tube?) and though this is a slight cheat on the ‘play only once on 41 Rooms’ rule I set myself (the 12″ was spun about a hundred shows ago) it’s a set of lyrics as on point today as it was those forty plus years ago.

21.19

BOBBY BYRD – I Know You Got Soul (Original Full Album Version) – 12″ – S12 – 2001

If I’m honest, I wasn’t aware of Byrd’s original – either this album version or the original three minutes only 1971, King label 7″ – until after buying Eric B. & Rakim’s slightly slower 1988 cover but it still feels like I heard it a few years before the full version got released on this 12″.

25.46

TROUBLE FUNK – Trouble Funk Express – 12″ – D.E.T.T. Records – 1982

The Washington D.C. Go-Go train chugging along the tracks slightly slower than its Dusseldorf-based inspiration. Suggesting (as it appears to do) that it’s actually a Trouble Funk written track is something Kraftwerk may have had something to say about.

31.54

GURU (feat D. C. LEE) – No Time To Play – 12″ – Cooltempo – 1993

‘Another jem from the ‘Jazzamatazz’ set, this crispy two-stepper boasting a C.J. MacKintosh remix of a chirpy rap tune featuring infectious backgrounds from D C Lee and jazzy guitar licks from Ronnie Jordan. Elsewhere in the proceedings string stabs, a warm bass line and live drum feel add to the joyous nature of the track, DC Lee’s chorus backgrounds definitely being the particularly effective riff that lodges in your grey matter‘. – Ralph Tee, Record Mirror (Music Week), 16.10.93

‘CJ MacKintosh remixed jauntily jiggling 100bpm groove with Guru muttering through D.C. Lee’s mantra-like refrain and Ronny Jordan’s jazz guitar… ‘ – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 6.11.93 

Yep, featuring in no small measure, D. C. Lee and with a big nod to the sounds bubbling underneath, yet another rap that passes me by as my ears wait to pick up on the chorus.

36.36

SOUL II SOUL – Just Right (Video version) – Stream only? – 1992

Not the first version of the song to grace 41 Rooms and it might not be the last, so props to all involved, most notably guest vocalist here, Rick Clarke and his melodies, and I’m wondering if it was nailed on that Jazzie B’s rap had to stay in, no matter who was remixing.

40.14

DONOR LENS – Inside Outside – As Warm As Summer, cassette only – My Pet Flamingo – 2025

Amazing how the kids have taken to a decades old format. The album is also available digitally but as of right now the now sold out cassette version is the only hard copy format out there. Re their ‘Vaporwave’-tagged sound? See their entry on the last show.

43.12

SCALER (feat AKIKO HARUNA) – Salt – Endlessly, LP – Black Acre – 2025

Upcoming in September and we’re in slow beats terrain that you may not be surprised to hear, emanates from Bristol, UK.

‘Scaler (Alex Hill, Isaac Jones, James Rushforth and Nick Berthoud, alongside visual artist Jason Baker) are the electrifying Bristol-based band hailed as the city’s “next national breakthrough” thanks to their pulverising live show and meticulous, mind-warping sound. Now they’re back with ‘Endlessly’, a sublime and stylistically expansive new album. 10 potent tracks written and recorded more collaboratively than ever before, as SCALER explore what it means to make music with no ceiling… ‘. – Spindizzy Records

46.32

LEON VYNEHALL (feat POISON ANNA) – Mirror’s Edge – Download only – 2025

Dub… step…

50.28

SANDOZ – Inner Rhythms – Intensely Radioactive, 2LP – Touch – 1994

The late Richard H. Kirk sounding cinematic.

59.34

JOI CARDWELL – What It Feels Like (Quentin Harris Club Mix) * – 12″ – BPM King Street Sounds – 2006

Not an R&B-style track then taken on a remix journey but co-written with and produced by Quentin Harris.

01.05.40

TASHAN – Love Is Forever (Shadow Zone Vocal Dub) – 12″ – Columbia – 1993

‘Now here on import with mixes to suit every persuasion. The three A-side soul-cum-swing versions are certainly reflections of the bum and easily the highlight here, sophistication and subtle urban flavours lending to its potential at an adult rather than street level. The three B-side mixes house it up‘. – Ralph Tee, Record Mirror (Music Week), 4.12.93

‘Soulfully moaning guy’s superb wriggly cantering 123.8bpm David Shaw, lush jiggly swaying 109.8bpm Radio, chunkier rolling 110.2bpm Joe ‘The Butcher’ Mixes‘. – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 4.12.93

I say ‘weirdly tagged’ on the show coz this ‘Vocal Dub’ sounds like a full vocal to me. Back listening to this at the time on KISS FM (London style) it was the clattering snares that caught my ear first.

01.09.51

BULLION – Long Promised – Young Heartache, 12″ EP – One-Handed Music – 2009

Depending on how you’re wired, this juttery approach may not be to everyone’s liking.

01.12.31

EYELESS IN GAZA – John Of Patmos – Photographs As Memories, LP – Cherry Red – 1981

Martyn Bates sounding as like some distant folk style got hijacked by punk with bare bones electronica to hand.

01.16.41

NORRIS MAN – Home And Away * – 7″ – Vertex Productions – 2005

I can’t stand the intro to this, so it got binned for the show. Apologies to Norris Man but after that it sounds great.

01.20.06

MORGAN HERITAGE – Crying Out – 7″ – Firehouse Crew – 1998

Checking out Discogs, you never had long to wait for the next Morgan Heritage single, as there are 230 listed on there – on nearly as many different labels!

01.24.00

COURTNEY BUCHANAN – Heaven – 12″ – Conscious – 1994

Actually this was first out on MCA but then shifted to the above short lived label where gems shone in their few releases.

01.27.49

THE FLAMINGOS – Inner City Blues (Extended Blue) – 12″ b-side – Robs Records – 1994

Maybe not for the soul purists and I can’t remember how we (Cliff, Dave and to a lesser extent myself) decided on having a stab at Marvin Gaye’s catalogue. All of us were fans… and that maybe included Rob(s Records) Gretton, too and it’s another set of lyrics that stands the test of time.

01.32.48

ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO – Agolo – 12″ – Mango – 1994

By total coincidence, the third tune in a row from 1994 but in no way accounts for why this follows The Flamingos so well.

01.37.05

DONOVAN – There Is A Mountain – 7″ – Pye – 1967

A Buddhist saying turned into a cheery poptastic tune and one of a lot of ’60s 7″ singles I as a teenager was belatedly catching up on five to ten years after their release. These days, Donovan sort of lives up the road from me (well, twenty miles of rural Ireland) and the chances are that from home he can actually see a mountain! Mount Leinster, in fact.

01.39.35

GNAG OF FOUR – Damaged Goods – 7″ – Fast Product – 1978

From Donovan to Damaged Goods… a link not often made over the ether. One for Damaged Goods label boss and mate, Ian Ballard (yes, the label was named after Gof4 and the song).

01.43.00

NASMAK – Nothing But The Lyrics – 4our Clicks, LP – Plurex- 1982

I distinctly remember that any Nasmak track I played in our early ’80s Winkles (Bedford) club nights sounded particularly strong ‘sound system’… though I didn’t play this one… as I didn’t have the album.

01.45.50

JOY DIVISION – Transmission – The Peel Sessions, 12″ EP – Strange Fruit – 1986

A shade slower than the Strawberry Studios version but the blending of two greats as the band rolled in here for the first of their two 1979 sessions for Peel. Eventually released with a bunch of other artists’ visits to the Beeb’s Maida Vale studios in Strange Fruit’s first year, this release actually followed the New Order one in the sequencing.

01.49.52

NUYORICAN SOUL – I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun – Nuyorican Soul, 2LP – Talkin’ Loud / Giant Step – 1997

Written in 1971 by Rotary Connection’s Charles Stepney and Richard Rudolph, and featuring Minnie Riperton (the latter’s then husband) but more than confidently taken on here by Jocelyn Brown and Nuyorican Soul’s helmsmen, Louie Vega and Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez. Epic in both camps.

01.54.46

MUCHO MACHO (feat JON LUCIEN) – Easy Living (41 Rooms Radio Edit Extend) * – Nuyorican Soul, 6×12″ box set – Talkin’ Loud / Giant Step – 1986

My ‘Extend’? Somewhere between the only-available-on-CD Radio Mix and the 12″ Full Length Version take… which dawdles a bit too much. Whichever, as minimal as they are, it’s Lucien’s silky tones that are the key within this slinking groove.

Show 143 should be here Sept 7.

Dec x

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