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Archive 06
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126 - 150
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Here
you will gain exclusive access to my own personal record collection! I
try to bring you mp3s of rare tracks, deleted material, long forgotten
artists, total flops and down right obscure shit. Often, my choices were
only available on vinyl or were just plain unreleased, the aim being to
indulge an old fan or inspire a new one. I try not to post up
forthcoming releases or anything that's too readily available. Honest,
Gov!
There's a tenuous thread running through the tracks but
your requests are always welcome and I'll try and squeeze them in amongst my
own fancies... eventually.
Do read all the blurb, as there's often links to extra tracks lurking in
there... ; )
Tracks are only available for a 'limited
time' folks (sometimes months!), so get them while you can!
Now for the science bit! To access the music, please click on 'Download' and
you'll be whisked off to those nice people over at Sharebee.
Tracks are ripped at 192 kbps and wherever possible taken from the
highest quality source available. All of the music offered here has been
purchased by myself and is part of my own collection. Tracks are for
evaluation purposes only and wherever possible, purchasing is always
encouraged. If you own any of the material posted here or anywhere else
on this site and are very cross with me, please
email me with threats and such like...
Isn't this just beautiful? This short piece of magic is taken from an album called 'La Debutante' by Japanese artist
Sonoko. Originally released on Crammed Discs in 1987, the album is a sumptuous collection of music box melodies, sugary samples and girlie vocal textures. A bit like a little girl's scrapbook, only in audio form.
'Sunny Day' is so sickly-sweet, it actually becomes ever so slightly creepy... almost like a leftover from a
'Poltergeist' movie soundtrack.
Sonoko has a little website
Not renowned for her dance floor smashes, cheery old
Yoko
had a bit of a surprise 'underground club hit' on her hands when this re-edited version of her 1980 single 'Walking On Thin Ice'
started packing in the trendy New York clubs. It's one of my all-time favourite tracks.
Fuzzbox did a pretty cool cover of it in 1989 but it barely troubled the top 40. Trivia! Queen of Perv,
Peaches, performed a cover of
Yoko Ono's
'Kiss Kiss Kiss'
(probably her only other decent recording) on her last European tour in 2004. She introduced the track as being 'new' and 'taken from the forthcoming
Yoko Ono remix album'. Where is that then? We emailed
Yoko's people and they don't know anything about it...
Arse.
Feisty new dance-poppet
Juliet has had a crack at this pop lark before! She was the saucy madam fronting U.S. dance act
1 Plus 1. This was their 'hit', a big beat cover of nasty girl rockers
The
Runaways' 'Cherry Bomb'. Apparently,
Juliet wasn't too happy being in a manufactured band so she bailed out. Then she had a bash at being a more earnest singer-songwriter by shaving off her locks and doing the angry rock thing in a touring band called
MNQNN (Mannequin). Don't think they released any records though. Anyway, she met
Stuart Price A.K.A.
Jacques Lu Cont
(Les Rhythmes Digitales,
Zoot
Woman, Madonna's live sound mixer) somewhere down the line and they wrote 'Avalon'
and now, on the eve of her debut album 'Random Order' and follow up single
'Ride The Pain', Juliet
finally looks set for stardom. But back to the dodgy past... although, actually, it's not that bad!
It's
Kim's
brother/Marty's son! Before he penned
all his little sister's pop records, he was a child pop star in his own cute right! This kooky little pop nugget is now readily available on
Pastel Vespa
is a gorgeous, Brazilian beauty! And she makes records! She takes a pop
classic, does beautiful things with it and makes it sound like her very own
easy listening masterpiece. Check out her two albums and one EP to date, some
of the highlights of which include her unique takes on
Chumbawamba's
'Tubthumping',
The Cure's
'Let's Go To Bed' and this,
Wheatus'
'Teenage
Dirtbag'. Trivia! She used to sing with Australian comedian and
renowned polyester-sporting homosexual
Bob Downe! Please visit
her
Bond themes are usually pretty good, maybe not the
Lulu one, but on the whole, pretty good.
'You Only Live Twice' was originally sung by
Nancy Sinatra, but give it to the enigmatic
Natacha Atlas with
David Arnold at the production helm and it becomes a thing of exotic beauty, swirling sandstorms, deep longing, silks and jewels and Turkish Delight... Mmmm. Anyway, I'm guessing this track was actually intended for
David Arnold's 'Shaken But Not Stirred'
album of Bond Theme cover versions but it actually ended up as a B-Side to
Natacha's 'One Brief Moment'
single. I also have a version by
Bjork, in fact, but for whatever reason, he didn't use either of the recordings, although
Natacha did show up with 'From Russia With Love'
instead. Natacha has just issued a fine collection of her best bits which you can hear clips from and buy
Woah! This is the bomb!
Betty Davis is one wild laydee and although her feisty reputation proceeds her, her music is just as legendary. Too hot to handle for brief husband
Miles Davis, Betty had her own ideas about music and her debut album is a funk-fest of black feminine attitude and raw sexuality.
'If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up' is her signature tune, her pulling track
(Crazy Girl has done a cover of it - watch this space!), wherein she goes to a bar and, er, puts out. There's a very good compilation of Betty's music
Who was
Meja? I don't really know. I just remember
The Box playing her video a lot, an awful lot, so much so that I went and bought the single. Doesn't look like anybody else did, like, but listening to it again, it is a pretty nice tune. Pitched somewhere between
Jewel
and
Alanis Morissette,
'All 'Bout The Money' is a sugary sweet pop moment lost in the bargain bin of time. The album isn't much to
write home about mind you. We just had a rake round the old WWW and found
Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss
Sandra
Bernhard! A woman who has spent a lifetime straddling the worlds of comedy, music, film and commentary, and who often tosses the whole lot together to produce stunning results on stage, screen and record.
Sandra Bernhard is a unique woman who refuses to shut up and holds court on the sensational spectacle that is the world today. Her trademark bitchin' and genuine vocal talent always produce electric results and in this case, thank
God it was captured on a recording!
Sandra
is no stranger to charity benefit gigs and when
PETA asked her for a anthem, she delivered... damn it!
'Undressed' appeared as a limited CD given away to guests of
PETA's 20th anniversary party and thus makes it terribly rare. We bring it to you today because it is, quite frankly, fabulous.
Sandra
has a lovely site over
Don't be afraid!
Nico seems to scare some people but here's some entry-level
Nico for you, if you're new to her. Basically, if you have heard
Nico's three vocal contributions to 'The Velvet Underground & Nico'
(aka the banana album), two of them are delicate, sugary little numbers
('Femme Fatale', 'I'll Be Your Mirror') and the other
('All Tomorrows Parties') is a crescendo of whaling, moaning and monotone droning.
Nico's solo output tends to stick for the most part to the later. It's an acquired taste, what with that ceaseless accordion and all, that's for sure. It took me awhile to adjust but approached the right way, you and
Nico can have a healthy artist-listener relationship. This is
Nico's most covered track of recent times (Auf Der
Maur, Mercury Rev) and expresses her genuine deep sadness as she drops the Germanic, angel of death vocal attack and embraces the little girl lost inside. Teary and special. Buy the perfect introduction to
Nico and hear more clips
Here's a pinch of beatnik, garage, day-glo wig rock for you courtesy of the illustrious
B-52's! '53 Miles West Of Venus'
is essentially 'Planet Claire'
part two, with some 'Star Trek'-esque coos and a lot of bacofoil glinting in the background, I expect. It's not particularly rare and is actually still in print on the bands second album, 1979's
'Wild Planet'. Not as instantaneous as the groups perfect quirky debut, the follow up set none the less includes the classics
'Strobe Light' and 'Dirty Back Road'. I wish Kate Pearson was my aunt. She's is so cool...
At the start of 2005,
Curve announced they had went their separate creative ways. Sad news indeed but admittedly, it's not the first time they have said that, right? But assuming it's for ever and ever amen this time, let us reflect on what a force they were on the indie-dance crossover trail back in the day. I have long proclaimed their finest track to be this B-side,
'Falling Free'. It's from the 'Horror Head' single, from 1992. I was understandably gutted when last years 'Best Of Curve'
2CD career retrospective and rarities set included the highly in demand, yet sonically inferior,
Aphex Twin remix of the very same track! So, for anyone vaguely interested yet lacking the original single, here it is coz it's not actually available on anything anymore - and it rocks! Please enjoy this while we all await the masterpiece that is to be
Toni Halliday's (second) solo album...
A
Blondie
cover! From the B-side to
Voice Of The Beehive's greatest single
release, 'I Say Nothing', from 1988. Short and
sweet, and far from their defining moment, I just thought I'd give it a wee
airing. The girls reformed 2 years back for some live dates and even released
a limited CD of demos and outtakes which was pretty damn good. I have all my
digits crossed for a release of a nice precise collection of singles, B-Sides
and videos but I'm not sure what the chances are. Anyone? They were bloody
good!
Not sure why exactly, but this lost
Shakespear's Sister
track only popped up on the B-side of the 12" promo of debut single 'Break My Heart'
and not on the regular release (I stand corrected - apparently, it also made it onto the USA
cassette single of 'You're History'...). Anyway, listening to it now, it brings the
Shakespear's Sister
sound full circle.
'Pretty Boy' is a glam slam rocker that seems to be the long distant cousin of
'Excuse Me John' (from the recently freed 1996 album, '#3').
Siobhan Fahey
has a
What's better than a cheesy 80's movie? Yes, a cheesy 80's movie soundtrack!
'Mannequin' was not to be blessed with such a luxury however, despite some top songs which music fans are foaming at the mouth for still today. In the movie, there's an unreleased
Belinda Carlisle
track, 'In My Wildest Dreams', which is cool, and even a huge number one hit from
Starship
(you know the one). The best of the bunch though, is this gem.
Alisha's
'Do You Dream About Me?' is the one that's played when Emmy the mannequin (a very young 'Sex In The
City's Kim Cattrall) and Jonathan
(Andrew McCarthy) are dressing up and dancing around in the closed department store.
Alisha
herself was a lesser version of
Debbie Gibson/Tiffany, but this 1987 album
'Nightwalkin' is actually of a decent quality. Even
Madonna-esque in places. This is taken from the original CD and not ripped from a VHS/DVD copy of the film so if you've downloaded it off some file sharing site, it's probably shitty quality. Replace it with this one please. Check out
This chaps, is the B-side to tired old 80's hit
'Stand & Deliver'. It sounds much better than the A-side these days (curse
Reflex - The 80s Bar). It doesn't turn up much on
Ant
compilations and wasn't even in the 'Antbox'. Tsk! So here it is. Trivia! As a child of four years, my then-babysitter took me to a fancy dress Halloween party as...
Adam Ant! The highlight of my costume was white electrician's tape, three stripes of it, across the bridge of my nose. No photos, sadly, but I'm sure I looked cute.
Electronic soul diva extraordinaire
Billie Ray Martin released a gorgeous EP called
'Four Ambient Tales' in 1993. This is my favourite track on it. The release was a collaboration with
The Grid (featuring
Soft Cell's
David Ball) and the original pressing has been out of print and rather collectable ever since. Fear not, however, because not only am I giving you a quarter of it for free here, but
Billie has also re-released it with new artwork and 4 bonus instrumentals and is flogging it on
I got into
Bobby O through the
Pet Shop Boys (as a lot of people probably did) due to their constant name-dropping. He was responsible for records by
The Flirts
(I'll get round to them soon) and
Divine (and him, as well). Is this what they call Hi N-R-G? Well, it's pretty hot.
Felix Da Housecat seems to have based his entire sound on
Bobby O's blue print. He's still around I believe. I like the story that he shagged every member of
The Flirts (and there were many over the years) and that the group was just a ruse to get pretty girls into bed. Makes sense. This is one of his own records, on his own
O Records label, and like all his songs, it's about sex. The gays love this. Pass the Amyl Nitrate, bitch!
One of my own personal all time favourite pop singles in the world ever! In twelve inch form!
John 'Jellybean' Benitez (read the credits on
Madonna's first two albums) was an incredibly popular and influential DJ and producer in the 1980's who turned his hand to making his own records from time to time, drafting in various unknowns to perform vocal duties. In this case,
Adele Bertei, who didn't trouble my record collection again after this so we'll assume she was utterly crap on her own...
maybe. 'Just A Mirage' is one of those singles which sounds better the longer it is and therefore benefits from a 12" version. This was taken from his 2nd album, 1987's 'Just Visiting The
Planet'. His debut, 'Wotupski!?!', came out in 1984 and features underground club hit
'Sidewalk Talk' which was written with then-girlfriend
Madonna and features her on vocals. But everyone knew that already. 'Just A Mirage' includes the line,
"Is this emotion in a lover's camouflage?" which is, like, just fab, right? Check it out! And dance as well please.
'Sleeping Satellite'
has to be one of the all time worst number ones of the 90s. Sorry, it just stank. Dance act
Aurora did revive it a bit a few years back but that never got released in the UK officially which is a shame (future mp3 perhaps?).
Tasmin Archer
was so highly acclaimed that by the time she came to release
'Bloom', the follow up to the best selling 'Great Expectations'
album, there was no way it could be half as popular with critics and record buyers alike. And it wasn't. It was a crashing failure, in fact. However, we believe it's actually better than the debut and then some. Not only does it feature some lovely deep, bluesy vocals, fragile lyrics and top notch tunesmithary, but the artwork is very pretty as well!
'Rain Falling' is a beautiful example of an album which was
sadly overshadowed by it's predecessor. It wears it's
Costello influences
on it's sleeve and perfectly compliments this crazy weather we're enduring
this summer! Oh, and Tasmin's still 'doing something', go
Where was
Peggy at when she recorded this album?! It's barmy.
'Mirrors' is a collection of songs composed by
Leiber & Stoller and was released in 1975. It's no longer in print but turns up on
eBay fairly regularly. 'A Little White Ship' is a haunting lullaby which seems to have much more sinister undertones lurking below the lyrics. The way I see it, it's a love song to a sleeping pill which can take you "to dark and deep places you'll be safe and sound in, to dark and deep places you'll never be found in..." . The rest of the album takes in senile dementia, wigs and false teeth, manic depression and performing dogs. Goodness. So come aboard
'A Little White Ship' - I wont O.D. without it!
It's a poor man's
Garbage! Edgy, rocking, dance pop that came and went in the blink of an eye.
Transister looked the part, courtesy of boy baiting
Keely Hawkes
and one of the blokes hanging around in the background was
ex-Danny Wilson member
Gary Clarks. This track was their second and final single after their vicious debut,
'Look Who's Perfect Now' , and it's not bad at all. The 1997 self-titled album is still
In the early 1990s,
ex-Felt
main man
Lawrence Hayward
stepped out of the indie cult shadow of his former group and offered us
Denim, a 1970s obsessed glam rock revivalist project. Debut album
'Back In Denim' sounds a bit like Pulp only with less media fuss...
'Middle Of The Road' was the single lifted off it and it's pretty great. I really like the female vocals, from one mysterious lass simply known as
Siobhan.
Denim never really got any breaks and after three albums and a couple of singles (not to mention an unreleased album 'Denim Take Over' -
Wasn't this on a
Gap advert? It's utterly funk-tastic and should've been a huge, huge hit! I personally think it sounds like a
Scissor Sisters
track in retrospect, they should definitely think about getting this covered. Anyway,
Nikka is the daughter of highly respected record producer
Don Costa. So what? She's not really very well known in the UK, her debut album 'Everybody Got Their
Something', selling quite modestly. She's about to release her follow up set,
'Can'tneverdidnothin'', but there's no 'Like A Feather'
on it, sadly. Enjoy... 
David Bowie's
'Ashes To Ashes' is pretty much untouchable but the mysterious
LB took the blueprint and (re)made something very beautiful. Minimalist, futuristic and vocodered within an inch of it's life, it's a million miles away from
LB's other cover version loving-moniker,
Senor Coconut. I just found out it's the same bloke! How lovely. Anyway, check out the
LB album
'Pop Artificielle' (on
Trevor Jackson's
Output label), which also features his interpretation of
The Rolling Stones
quiver-fest
'Angie'.