Discs - actual discs! real tunes!

Actual TUNES!

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BEACH BOYS - 'SMILE' ...this website used to host a good version of the original Beach Boys 1967 Smile, and doubtless there are still many search engines to still bring you here - click the link to find out why this has changed..

*NEW* Horace Andy - Nice And Easy Version From the b-side of a 7" single on Attack that probably cost me at least 30p in Bradford's John Street Market, this has a considerable swing to it. Horace's sweet voice floats over a tough rhythm leavened with phased guitar and rocking drums... "do it, do it girl" as he would say. Two variations on this dub are on Niney The Observer Meets King Tubby In Dub: Bring The Dub Come on Heartbeat Records.

Barrington Levy - Deep In The Dark My copy is a seven inch Jamaican single on B.L. Sounds, presumably Barrington's own label, and it's a lovely tune and song. Sensual and special.

A Certain Ratio - Won't Stop Loving You (Norman Cook Mix) Eee, that Norman Cook - after he was a Housemartin and before he became Fat Boy Slim he got seriously into remixing and was right good at it. This tune is ok in the original, bit flat but alright. Norman pumps it full of specialness in an indescribable way as only someone who loves music can do. ACR started in Manchester and took their name from a lyric on Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).

Gregory Isaacs - Happy Anniversary Dub Happy Anniversary opens Gregory's Lonely Lover album on the British PRE label. The dub is only available on the b-side of the Jamaican Cash & Carry seven inch and has a lovely floaty feel, whilst keeping the bass pumping away. The Lonely Lover album is currently unavailable, which is a shame as it's one of his best, though many of the tracks appear on the Virgin Frontline compilation of Gregory's PRE material, Once Ago. Puzzlingly it omits Happy Anniversary and the equally great Tune In.

Fire Engines - Candyskin The Fire Engines were Scottish, and this was a single on the Pop Aural label from 1981. It defies categorisation, and should have been top twenty. Given my ignorance of the charts it may well have been.

Leggo Dub - Ready Dub The title used to be a guess, because all I had was the original vinyl white label on the Jamaican Cash and Carry label issued around 1977, which supposedly fetched inflated sums. The tune is Smokey Robinson's Get Ready, initially composed for the Temptations.
Leggo Dub is largely a dub version of Gregory Isaacs' album Mr Isaacs (now available on Blood & Fire), and a correspondent describes it as 'a milestone of mid 70s old skool dub'.
The Revolutionaries aka Sly & Robbie and their mates provide most of the backing, and it has some of the typical sound samples of the time such as dogs barking, gunshots, and toilets flushing.
Now available on Hot Pot Records, put together by Steve Barrow of Blood & Fire and including extra tracks.

Ethiopian - Everything Crash The Ethiopian is Leonard Dillon, and this is the title track of his 1978 album from Studio One, Jamaica's legendary record label and studio. Leonard formerly led the Ethiopians, with Steven Taylor and others. Train To Skaville was their big hit, but there were many greater tunes - see the Reggae page - recorded by the group around the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies. This 1978 album is only available on vinyl as a Jamaican pressing.

Docteur Nico - Boujie Ya Moutema from the album Derniere Memoire, which is sadly impossible to find. Sparkling, rippling, uplifting - everyone loves Dr Nico. Boujie Ya Motema translates as 'light of my heart'.
Recorded in Cotonou, Benin, in 1981 when Dr Nico and band stopped on their way to Paris, and sold as Dr Nico's last recording, but apparently it's not. Drum programming added later.
Dr Nico - born Nicolas Kasanda - was one of the guitar heroes of the music emanating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (now known as Zaire) during the early 1960s. According to influential soukous guitarist Diblo Dibala, Dr. Nico was "the school of Zairean guitar". Although he fell into obscurity in the late 1960s and '70s Dr. Nico recorded his final tracks in the 80s, shortly before he died in a Brussels hospital in 1985. Gary Stewart's book 'Rumba On The River' has more on the Congolese sound (Verso Books, 2000).

Burning Spear - Bad To Worse This is a seven inch single on the Jamaican Burning Spear label. I've stuck it together with the dub to make a discomix version. I don't believe it's on any of his albums, and it's rather good!

Burning Spear - He Prayed The Smile album above is the one that attracts most visitors to the site, but this Burning Spear track is much more important round our house, especially when heard in the context of the whole album.
It used to be that Miles Davis In A Silent Way album was the best disc in the known universe (round our house), but has slipped into second place behind the piece of vinyl known as Burning Spear or sometimes Studio One Presents Burning Spear. Studio One was the starting block for many reggae careers, including Marley's, and Burning Spear's first album was a rough-edged masterpiece. The Studio One sound was often woolly - they all recorded in the same room - and was complemented by vinyl pressings so awful that sometimes they appeared to be sanded down to produce a matt surface.
Despite that the music shines through and the Spear album is an unrivalled gem. The vocals are warm, soulful and masterful, and the band's grooves are hypnotic in the extreme - like all the best reggae it improves immeasurably when turned up to the point where you can hear the individual instruments, especially the bass. Spear recycled many of these songs during his career, but once you get to know these versions it's impossible not to see them as the originals.
This version of He Prayed is taken from the vinyl album - early issues of the Studio One CD list it but in fact include another track instead. And the Studio One CD versions of almost all the tracks are different to the vinyl, with a sharp unpleasant sound quality that fails to complement the music. A
Much of this Spear at Studio One material has now been issued in good quality on the excellent Sounds From The Burning Spear on Soul Jazz Records in the UK, and Creation Rebel on Heartbeat Records in the US (with some track differences).

The Borrowers - Papa's At Sea Again The Borrowers are my friend Richard Marriott, with his friends Andrea Gibbins and Jane Feather singing harmony. This song is a classic, and should be versioned worldwide. A cautionary tale of drink, relationships and regret. Here in demo version, and yes Richard, I should have asked your permission first.

Mutabaruka - Every Time A Hear De Soun From quite a long time ago, a Jamaican seven inch on the High Times label - very crackly, very atmospheric - 'cool your head, nasty dread'!

Was Not Was - Earth To Doris A b-side from the Wases - am I the only one to find myself saying 'earth to doris' when trying to get someone's attention?

Son House Recorded June 11 1970 by Peel's producer, the late John Walters, when Son House was in his 80s. Rebroadcast 2001.
Son House collects his thoughts, talks the Blues according to Son House, then does this stupendous a capella version of Don't You Mind People Grinning In Your Face.

Glen Brown - Assack Lawn No 1 Dub In the reggae tradition this is a bit of a confusing one. It's a scratchy seven inch Jamaican single on the South East Music imprint, pressed off-centre, with the same label on both sides - nothing unusual so far.
But at least one label has issued a completely different track under the same title, so who knows what it's really called. What I do know is that it's a prime slice of early seventies dub, sparse and heavy.

Mantronix - Who Is It (Dub) I was a bit ambivalent about this one - the seven inch single has such a range of blistering highs and lows that the mp3 format seems a pale imitation. But it's better to hear it than not at all...
Mantronix had two careers - one as a cutting edge sound producer early on, and later as a maker of considerably blander chart hits. This is early, and the range of tricks, somersaults and loop-the-loops is stunning. Almost heavy metal in its attack.

Wailers - Don't Give Up This is the B-side of Rastaman Live Up, a 7-inch Jamaican single on the Tuff Gong label, with Lee Perry getting a co-writing credit, and producing as well if I remember rightly.

Nightmares On Wax - I'm For Real This is a twelve inch from 1990 on Sheffield's Warp label. The mp3 format doesn't do it justice - highs and lows are trimmed - even so I had to put it up.
Snappy, quirky and funky, it defies you to twitch and skank uncontrollably. I think Nightmares On Wax were from Leeds, and I know that George Evelyn was one of them and is still putting out discs. Might take a while to download on dialup.

Reverend Robert Wilkins - Prodigal Son Robert Wilkins was born in 1896 near Memphis, with black, white and Cherokee ancestry. As plain Robert Wilkins he has a disc - The Original Rolling Stone - on Yazoo 1077 with an earlier version of this tune called That's No Way To Get Along, and others about women, whisky, cocaine and the jailhouse. All excellent country blues recorded 1928-35. He is believed to have been the first black person to make an appearance on radio in Memphis, around 1928, singing Rolling Stone. Over the years he worked as a Pullman porter and clerk.
When he was rediscovered around 1964 he was a herb medicine specialist and minister. In that year he recorded an album's worth of "traditional and sacred" tunes for Piedmont, issued as Rev. Robert Wilkins. It includes this nine minute version of Prodigal Son, from the Bible story, and on the sleeve he is shown playing the guitar flat on his lap. The rolling playing is hypnotic and gripping and at 66 he hadn't lost his way with a song. If you think you've heard it before the Rolling Stones do it on their Beggars Banquet disc.
I would love to know if this studio version is currently available in any format, as mine was taped from a kindly person connected with the wonderful Ray's Jazz, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. (Ray's has now closed and moved into Foyles Bookshop, somewhere close by).
Thanks to an email from Patrick Daley I've since found a live nine minute version of Prodigal Son, on the album Blues At Newport 1959-64, which must have been recorded a few months after the one here - it's slightly ragged but great nonetheless.

Blowin Jingle this is a trailer - I just can't get used to calling it a sting - for my radio programme on BCB, and there's info about the component parts here. Blowin goes out Sundays 8-10pm GMT.

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Petrified Forest and Peon For a full rundown on these read the WHAT! page. They're from a missing-in-action disc called 'Lick My Decals Off Baby', and should be heard widely.

Bob Marley Rub-A-Dub Style A B-side on the Jamaican Tuff Gong label, the A-side being Bad Card, issued in 1980. Not immediately gripping, this one needs to be played loud when suitably refreshed, and the feel comes through.
Non-reggae fans will look blank and ask where the words are, but that's what dub is - reggae without words, and with some studio manipulations.
For me it's the I Three's harmonies that make it. Probably rare. And probably the only Bob you'll see round here - like the Beatles, over-exposure has dimmed his populist charms.

Veronica Adams - Believe In What You See This is a seven inch Jamaican single I bought at the police auction in Bradford, so apologies to whoever owned it in the first place.
It's scratchy, pressed off-centre, someone's out of tune, and it's totally magic. All I know about it is from the label, which says 1975, produced by G. Maclean, marketed by Black Wax, and it's on the Locks label, LOX 3 to be precise. The b-side is an even scratchier Wiseman Dub, credited to The Mighty Clouds.
I know Veronica Adams has done other discs, and someone was trying to trace her version of Leaving On A Jet Plane, which I eventually found at the bottom of a dusty pile under the table. Anyone got any more info on Veronica?

White Stripes - Lord Send Me An Angel Their first number live at Peel Acres, BBC Radio One, Thursday November 8, 2001. Who did it first? Son House? Blind Willie McTell?

Bonnie Prince Billie - When Thy Song From a Peel session transmitted April 2001, and absolutely sublime. Extra vocals by Laura Lee Bullitt. If you get on with this then you need the Bonnie PB 'Ease Down The Road' disc, Domino Records 2001, carnal sacred music - try After I Made Love To You. More Bonnie Prince Billie/Will Oldham info at The Royal Stable.

Sonny Rollins - Trav'lin' Light From the RCA disc 'The Alternative Rollins'. All tracks recorded New York 1964. This track: Rollins, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Jim Hall, guitar; Dave Izenson and Teddy Smith, bass; Stu Martin, drums.
Over twelve minutes long, so it could take a while to download on dialup.

Steinski & The Mass Media - The Motorcade Sped On Issued on a seven inch vinyl ep, free with the New Musical Express sometime in 1987, this collages beats and sound effects with contemporary news reports and tells of the life and death of President John Kennedy.
There may be people who only know of the assassination through this disc, and think the whole thing a work of fiction. Unreleasable because of the variety of sound samples.
Available at Waxy.org are Double Dee & Steinski's Lessons 1 to 3, also unreleasable - better quality downloads than Motorcade but around 4 or 5 Mb.

Ranking Dread - Shut Me Mouth WHEW!..... it may take a while to download, being over 7 minutes long but is more than worth it. The most humungous dubbed out bass-heavy twelve inch single I've ever heard. Mastered to perfection, the vocal half holds back just enough until the instrumental second half lets it all rip.
Issued by Greensleeves in 1982 - GRED 82 - it's worth snapping up a copy in any reasonable condition. Greensleeves have recently reissued a lot of their discs on CD - if only they would do it for their twelve-inchers. This one, plus Keith Hudson's majestic Nuh Skin Up / Felt We Felt The Strain (Nuh Skin Up 12" available on the Hudson CD Rasta Communication), Doctor Alimantado's Born For A Purpose, and a few more - what a compilation that would be... maybe they don't have the rights...

Marshall Jefferson - Open Our Eyes (Dub) currently noted for his DJ career, this is from 1988. I don't pretend to know the intricacies of Chicago music and how it influenced everyone (try reading Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, Brewster and Broughton, published by Headline in the UK), but this is a stormer. Great bassline and vocal chorus, it takes you up with it.

John Lee Hooker and Van Morrison, sitting on a jetty (hear that heel on the boards? the birds in the background?) - what's the tune? Live On?
This is from a documentary about Van Morrison, and that's his voice at the beginning. At some point in the filming Van decided to get down on the jetty with John Lee, thereby putting all his own work in the shade. This is what happened.

Jackie Wilson - What'cha Gonna Do About Love brassy and flamboyant with a pounding rhythm, Jackie takes this one to the bridge, belting his heart out - impossible to resist singing along to the chorus. Not Tamla, not Northern Soul, but a big upbeat ballad.
Agrovators - So Much Version Just what dub should be - a massive swirling carnival of tough rhythm and glittering colour, with hints of a great song floating to the top of the mix. Recorded sometime around 1975, and available on Dub Jackpot - The Agrovators, on Trojan Records - compiled by Steve Barrow, the man at the heart of reissue specialists nonpareil, Blood and Fire.
Magazine - The Light Pours Out Of Me A career high. Magazine's career went through many phases and their music had many influences. Howard Devoto's vocals were partly influenced by Rotten's sneer, Barry Adamson's bass playing took much from Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone, John McGeoch went on to play guitar for the Cure and the Banshees, plus the proggish keyboards, the obscure and commanding lyrics - it all added up to a lot more than the sum of the parts.
This is a B-side from one of their peaks, around 1980, and is a redone version of a tune from their debut album Real Life.
Aaron Neville - Tell It Like It Is Aaron is one of the Neville Brothers, but this is his solo heartbreaker - just wait for the high pure lead-in to the chorus 'If you want to me to love you, then baby I will' - your limbs will melt and life will never be the same.
Captain Beefheart - Orange Claw Hammer I accept that Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) is an acquired taste, but he's a fundamental stepping stone on from the blues, and manages to be both radical and traditional - just play a few Howling Wolf tunes to see where he's coming from.
This is originally from 'Trout Mask Replica' - an album usually played for the comedy moments ("vast and bulbous" anyone? - does comedy have a place in music? - discuss on one side of a postage stamp only), but actually more notable for the music.
The version here is a little more accessible, partly because you can hear Don's powerfully evocative words, and partly because the only backing is acoustic guitar, sympathetically played by Frank Zappa.
This means you bypass the Magic Band, whose wildly intuitive playing is a big stumbling block to Beefheart novices. It's from a radio broadcast, and can be found on the box set - 'Grow Fins - Rarities 1965-82 - Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band' on Revenant Records - which is mainly for collectors, and rather expensive.
Anyone with any interest in Beefheart should have a browse through The Captain Beefheart Radar Station, a huge collection of Beefheartiana and linked material. Or have a look at What!
Gregory Isaacs - Tune In Just a perfect tune, full of joy and longing and a slinky bassline that wraps itself around the hips. You know, hips, those things that bracket the bits.

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