- Hols

Well everyone, it's the end of Ramadan and the kind folks I work for have given me all this week off work, which is nice. I'll be back with more K-Tel classics next week.

- Roast Fish on the Menu: Podcast 4

Well, after a mere 3 months of inactivity I've already finished podcast 4.


I'll update this post even more when I have time, but for now you can download the reggae special here (only 31 mb for 45 minutes).

01 - POLICE and THIEVES - JUNIOR MURVIN
02 - ROAST FISH and CORNBREAD - LEE PERRY
03 - WAR INA BABYLON - MAX ROMEO and THE UPSETTERS
04 - NATTY TAKEOVER - JUSTIN HINES
05 - COLUMBIA COLLY - JAH LION
06 - MAN IN THE HILLS - BURNING SPEAR
07 - CROAKING LIZARD - PRINCE JAZZBO and THE UPSETTERS
08 - RASTAMAN - BUNNY WAILER
09 - NO SYMPATHY - PETER TOSH
10 - THREE BABYLON - ASWAD


Alternatively, listen below...



As I said, more details to follow when I get a chance.

- 1978 Shows

There seem to be shows coming left right and center these days, which is only a good thing, of course. It's getting hard even trying to find the time to download them all, never mind liten to them. Here's a selection of the latest 1978 offerings from the fabled 400 box:

1978-07-31 (Patrik Fitzgerald, Magazine)

1978-08-04 (Adam & The Ants, The Fall sessions)

1978-08-08 (All records show, Robin Tower album)

1978-08-15 (Tyla Gang session)

Thanks as ever to those doing the ripping.

- 7th April, 1995

Thanks again to the increasingly legendary Steve for this complete 1995 show, featuring sessions from Black Star Liner and Mug.

Download links:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Tracklisting is available here.

- When I were a lad...

Firstly, I'm from Yorkshire so I'm allowed bad subject verb agreement. When I were a lad football was much better than it is now. I think we can all agree on that fact. The fact alone that football managers used to dress like this should seal the argument...

70s man in full effect

For those of you who haven't wasted as much of your lives following this bloody game as I have, Malcolm Allison, pictured above on his way to a fancy dress party as a pimp, was a fairly successful manager of newly-crowned 'world's richest club' Manchester City. City have, for my lifetime at least, been total crap. Americans among you may understand if I draw an analogy with the LA Clippers. They have had what can only be described as an anti-midas touch, everything they touch turns to shit. they haven't won a trophy since 1976, although they have recently been acquired by the Dubai royal family and have the benefit of a 200 billion family fortune behind them. There was a time, however, when they were just another poorly run club, stumbling from one disastrous signing and managerial appointment to the next.

The documentary you're about to download hails from the early 80s, when Malcolm Allison was sacked and the club taken over by John Bond. Obviously it's mostly of interest to City fans, but I recommend it to anyone who has forgotten what English football was like before it was taken over by the world's dodgiest gangsters and ne'erdowells.

A greedy Brazilian, yesterday

File size: 123mb

- 25 years of the Festive 50

Peel's commemorative shows from 19th ;December, 2000. Thanks to big Ken Garner for these beauties:

"25 Years of the Festive 50" Special, pt 1

142.9 MB
1 02' 27"


"25 Years of the Festive 50" special, pt 2

137.9 MB
1 00' 14"

- New Peel Shows

Just a quick summary of some of the new Peel shows that are now available in digital format. Thanks to all those who have put in the time and effort to make these available...


1: Monday 26 September, 1988

Session artist is Four Brothers, an mp3 @ 320 kbps
 
Tracklisting available here and more information on the '500 box' here.

2: Peel on daytime radio

Peel's complete first lunchtime show from Easter Monday 1993, 5th April.

PEEL stands in for  BRAMBLES

part 1: 1993-04-05a, 12.45-1.30pm

part 2, 1993-04-05b, 1.30-2.15pm

part 3, 1993-04-05c, 2.15-3pm

3: Peel's 50th birthday gig

Recorded at Subteranea London the night before Wednesday 30th August 1989, and broadcast on that evening (24 hrs later).

Peel 50th Birthday show 1989-08-30a (part 1)

Peel 50th Birthday show 1989-08-30a (part 2)

- The K-Tel Hit Machine (1976)

The Summer of 1976 was considered, by many who lived through it to be the best and longest summer within in recent memory. Throughout Europe a large area of High Pressure dominated the majority of Europe for all of the Summer months. The Pressure system moved into place in late May 1976 and remained until the first traces of rain were recorded on August 27th and continued into the Bank Holiday weekend.

Rainfall throughout the July-August period was down by half the annual average. During this spell of hot weather temperatures exceeded 32 °C at several weather stations within in the UK every day, and Cheltenham had 11, including seven successive days from 1 July - recording 35.9 °C on the 3rd. For that entire period, much of Europe was bathed in continual sunshine with the UK seeing an average of more than 14 hours of bright sunshine. 1976 was dubbed 'the year of the Ladybird' in the UK due to mass numbers of Ladybirds brought on by the long hot period. I myself was three years old and don't remember a bloody thing about it. While all this was going on, K-Tel saw fit to churn out this chart busting compilation.

I'll be honest, boys and girls, voting for the all-new 1976 Festive 50 has been a bit slow so far. I haven't even received enough votes to put together a full fifty yet. So.... in order to entice to get your voting boots on, I've uncovered this truly spectacular compilation contemporary to the new chart.

Back in the days before 'Now that's what I call music' (do they still make those?), you had the likes of this little gem, the K-Tel Hit Machine. If this doesn't get you in the voting mood, just wait until next week when I hit you head on with the K-Tel Music Machine: that's right, it gets even worse.

Side 1

01 - (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty - K.C. & The Sunshine Band (1976)
02 - Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale (1975)
03 - Moonlight Feels Right - Starbuck (1975)
04 - Summer - War (1976)
05 - When Will I Be Loved - Linda Ronstadt (1974)
06 - Happy Days - Pratt & McClain (1976)
07 - Our Day Will Come - Frankie Valli (1975)
08 - (You're) Having My Baby - Paul Anka (1974)
09 - Love Really Hurts Without You - Billy Ocean (1976)
10 - Disco Duck (Part 1) - Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots (1976)

Side 2

11 - Island Girl - Elton John (1975)
12 - A Fifth Of Beethoven - Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band (1976)
13 - Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers (1975)
14 - Welcome Back - John Sebastian (1976)
15 - Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra (1975)
16 - Take A Hand - Rick Springfield (1976)
17 - Rock And Roll All Nite - Kiss (1975)
18 - I'm Not Lisa - Jessi Colter (1975)
19 - Who Loves You - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (1975)
20 - Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor (1976)

Remember, you're being punished for having not voted, so the quicker you get the votes in, the quicker I can return to decent music. I don't think I need comment on what will happen if any of you choose bloody 'disco duck'.



File size:93mb

- 54-46

'Put your hands in the air sir
And you will get no hurt mister'

Fred Toots Hibbert

I don't use marijuana but I consider the continued illegality of the substance to be, quite frankly, ridiculous. everyone and their dog knows that alcohol is much worse for you. Just let people get on with it if that's what they enjoy. Getting imprisoned for marijuana possession takes the piss, although it did lead to two of the greatest songs ever made.

Imagine if someone like the Beatles or Stones were still performing...

The lyrics of Fred Toots Hibbert's '54-46 that's my number' and '54-46 was my number' describe Toots' time in prison for an arrest for possession of said drug. 54-46 was Toots' prisoner ID number during his servitude, and the original recording was made shortly after his release.

If you're not completely overwhelmed by these two tracks then there's something wrong with you.

Toots and the Maytals - 54-46 that's my number

Toots and the Maytals - 54-46 was my number

- HD Radio breathes life into local radio stations

A lot of us fans of old JP radio shows are fairly used to the sound of tinny, wishy-washy distortion, which can come as quite a shock to those of us from the, ahem, younger generations, who are used to all things digital. High Definition is a real buzzword at the moment and not without good reason. Just as you'll be finding with your TVs round about now, a lot of stations are gradually making the switch over to the HD format. The same is also true for radio, eventually we'll all need to get ourselves a HD radio receiver. Imagine how good those Peel shows would have sounded had we been able to tune in via HD for all those years?

What does all this mean, I hear you ask. Basically, local radio stations will be available to us as ever they have been; the American market seems to be gearing up ahead of schedule if the info I found on the HD radio website is anything to go by.

So, what is the point? Well, I've never had a problem with low quality radio frequencies, but eventually you've got to accept that times are changing, and maybe even for the better. HD radios look like they're going to have some pretty cool functions. Unlike our old mucker JP whoı went to such pains to give us as much info as possible about artists, my experience of hearing new songs on the radio, expecially here in Turkey, usually involves never finding out who the artist is until months later, if ever. HD radios could solve this nightmare with iPod Tagging, which basically means you'll be able to stick your ipod in the radio and tag the songs you like, thus being able to find out who's singing. I'm starting to feel very old all of a sudden! Times they are a certainly changing if this funky Polk iSonic ES2 is anything to go by.

- 3 Track Demo Out Now

So, I finally sent my demo CD to those lovely folks at Dandelion Radio. I thought about this long and hard, after all I abhor the music industry and think it sucks the life out of so many who choose this as a profession. My music has always been solely for my own personal pleasure, I've never sought to gain from it in any way other than in the satisfaction of having produced something that I thought was pretty cool.

I've certainly gone to great lengths not to use this blog as a tool for promoting what is in essence my hobby, not even listing my myspace page anywhere on it. Never the less, a part of me would like others to give my stuff a listen and say, 'hey, that ain't bad', or not of course. So, here's your opportunity to slaughter me and my efforts...

The Entrailicus 3 Track Demo:

- Urban Sprawl
- The Future II
- French Influence



File size.12mb

Comments, as ever, are welcomed.

- Bloody Shoegazers: Moose Session, 1991

Shoegazing was really crap, let's be honest. Were you a shoegazer in the early 90s? If so, I hope you're turning red with shame as you read. I most certainly was not, although I was partial to the music of My Bloody Valentine and Ride in particular. Rumour has it that Moose were the ones who started the whole bloody thing, thanks to vocalist Russell Yates reading lyrics taped to the floor at one of their early gigs. 

A Shoegazer, yesterday

While we're at it, if you've somehow managed to go through life witholut having heard 'Soon' by My Bloody Valentine, stop whatever you're doing right now and click on the video clip below. I won't try and describe how bloody awesome the song is as I'd fail, just be warned that this will make you reevaluate everything you thought you knew about music...

MBV, they don't make 'em like this any more

Anyhows, back to the Moose session, which, according to my no doubt inaccurate sources, was recorded in June, 1991 and broadcast soon after.

TRACKLIST

-Susanne
-In Every Dream Home A Heartache
-Je Reve
-Do You Remember?

LINE UP

Damien Warburton (Drums)
Jeremy Tishler (Bass)
Moose Mckillop (Guitar)
Russell Yates (Guitar, Vocals)
Timbo Gane (Guitar)
Laetitia Sadier (Vocals-Je Reve Only)

File size: 24mb

- 1976 Festive 50 Heartbreak #1: War's 'Low Rider'

So it begins...

Inevitably, asking you to trawl through your memories and choose 3 tracks from 1976 was going to cause problems, i.e. some of yous would end up picking songs from '75. In a rare case of me actually researching for the blog, I've come up with the first such case of 75ism. ın this case, it's War's classic 'Low Rider'. According to this quote which I've lifted blatantly from Wikipedia,

"The lyric takes the cool image of the low rider — the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars — and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle."

November 1975 sadly...

It's a bloody great track, never the less, and so is getting aired now.



If you're one of those select few who chose this, feel free to get back to me with an altyernative.

- My Tiger My Timing

My Tiger My Timing do Myspace

My tiger My Timing are a newish band from London, Anna from whom got in touch with me a while back asking me to give them an airing on the blog. Described as 'helping to usher in a new era of intelligent dance music' and as 'offering a refreshing mix of danceable experimental hypno-pop', they use afro-beat in an appealing and innovative way. I like the cut of their gib and recommend you give 'em a listen.

They have three tracks available for your downloading pleasure:

- This is not a fire

- I cant stop

- Conversation starter

More information on the band is available on their myspace page.

- Most Embrassing Moments

I just received this via email and thought I'd share it with you...

A radio station in Australia ran a phone-in competition to find the Most embarrassing moment in listener's lives. The final four were:

4th Place
While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release some pent-up energy and started to run amuck. I was finally able to grab hold of her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she didn't start behaving herself, right now, she would be punished. To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening, 'If you don't let me go right now, I will tell Grandma I saw you kissing Daddy's willie last night.' After this enlightening exchange, the silence was deafening. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing. I mustered the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank, with my daughter in tow. The last thing I heard as the door closed behind me were screams of laughter.

3rd Place
It was the day before my 18th birthday. I was living at home, but my parents had gone out for the evening, so I invited my girlfriend over for a romantic night alone. As we lay in bed after making love, we heard the telephone ringing downstairs. I suggested to my girlfriend that I give her a piggyback ride down to the phone, since we didn't want to miss the call & we didn't have time to get dressed. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, the lights suddenly came on as a whole crowd of people yelled 'SURPRISE'. My entire family parents, grand parents, aunts, uncles, cousins as well as my friends, were standing there. My girlfriend and I were frozen on the spot in a state of shock and embarrassment for what seemed like an eternity. Since then, no one in my family has planned any surprise parties.

2nd Place
A lady picked up several items at a discount store. When she finally Got up to the checkout, she learned that one of the items had no price tag.
The checkout girl got on the public address system, which boomed out across the store for everyone to hear, 'Price check for Tampax supersize.'
But it got worse. Someone at the rear of the store apparently misunderstood word 'Tampax' for 'Thumbtacks', and replied in a business like tone, his voice booming over the same public address system: 'Do you want the kind you push in with your thumb or the kind one you belt in with a hammer.

1st Place .
And the winner is…

This happened at a major Australian University , during a biology lecture. A professor was discussing the high glucose levels found in semen. A young woman raised her hand and asked, 'If I understand you correctly, you are saying there is as much glucose in male semen as in sugar?' The professor responded, yes, that's correct adding some statistical data. Raising her hand again, the girl asked, 'Then why doesn't it taste sweet?' After a stunned silence, the whole class burst out laughing. The poor girl turned bright red, and as she realised exactly what she had inadvertently said, she picked up her books, and without another word, walked out of the class. However, as she was heading for the door, the professor's reply was a classic. Totally straight faced, he answered her question. 'It doesn't taste sweet because the taste-buds for sweetness are on the tip of your tongue and not in the back of your throat'.

- Best Videos Ever #5: Dr. Mabuse - Propaganda

It seems shocking but true: at a certain point in history, namely 1984, everyone looked like one of the people in this video...

Go on, admit it, you looked like this, didn't you?

If you love this clip as much as I do, you may wish to download the bugger for continued viewing pleasure, which you can do here (45mb).

- I'm in the wrong Job

I've been off on my internet travels again and this time I've put myself into the mindset of the megarich superstar rock legend. Indulge me, if you will. OK, OK, I know that people don't necessarily have to be rock stars to fall foul of the booze and drugs, but I guess having made it big before sliding down the slippery slope might have its advantages. I remember going to see Crosby, Stills and Nash a few years back (sadly without Young) and one of the most moving moments was Crosby's solo rendition of 'Almost cut my hair' prior to which he described going through a police initiated drug rehab program which basically involved cops laughing at him while he writhed around on the floor in agony. Well, only himself to blame, some would say. I bet he wishes he'd had somewhere like this place to go and clean up his act.

Seriously, though, if you're going to clean up your act then bloody well do it in style, that,'s what I say. This place is the Cliffside Malibu, and be sure it'll be where I'll head next time I'm a rich and famous rock star in need of a drug treatment center. Time for me to get working on this year's festive fifty entry.

If I'm ever in need of addiction treatment, I have to say I couldn't imagine a better place to get it than in the hills of Malibu, overlooking the Pacific.

- Party like it's 1969

The ever lovely, excellent and, indeed, outstanding Kat's Karavan has been busy recently with a plethora of late 60s shows, including this beauty from December, 1969:



With so many of us downloading the shows, the 10gb monthly limit that Divshare places on users is being reached very quickly. therefore you might need to use the alternative of listening online, which you can do with the handy little widget above.