Tracklisting
1. Joyce - Aldeia de Ogum
2. Vangelis - Let It Happen
3. Delta House of Funk - Harry Coltrane
4. Manu Chao - Mentira
5. Gotan Project - Domingo
6. Dave Samuels - Dance Class
7. Pat Metheny - Are You Coming With Me?
8. Thomas Dolby - I Scare Myself
9. Babe Ruth - The Mexican
10. Bob Seger - Love the One You're With
11. The Band - To Kingdom Come
12. The Sisters Cole - Give Me Your Love (Danny Krivit edit)
13. Azymuth - Dear Limmertz
14. Eddie Hazel - Frantic Moments
15. D.J. Rogers - Bail Out
Orange Juice follow the arc of many of my favourite bands. Energised by punk but stuck in the provinces, they burst out (in this case in Glasgow, Scotland) full of verve, attitude and quirks. They grow out of punk into the 80s with an eye on the wider musical possibilities offered either by funk, hip-hop or reggae. Then things get overly complicated and they implode or fall on their arse with a drug problem and no record deal.
For Orange Juice, things got a little more tragic for lead singer Edwyn Collins. After a reasonably successful solo career (full of interesting sub-Dylan blues and then one massive, rather overrated hit 'A Girl Like You'), he suffered a stroke in 2005 at the age of 44 which led to a massive brain haemorrhage and aphasia. For a time, he was only able to say four phrases - 'Yes', 'No', 'Grace Maxwell' (his wife's name) and 'The possibilities are endless.'
Gradually, with speech and physiotherapy, he fought his way back, re-learnt his songs (the stroke meant he had forgotten them) and now performs live. He is still deeply affected by his incapacity, but his singing remains as strong as ever. You can watch the inspiring (and, at times, frustrating) story of his recovery here.
Two vids of Orange Juice for ya. I love the infectious homegrown funk of this classic in 1983. Orange Juice always made things sound unsophisticated, yet managed to be thoroughly post-modern at the same time. Artless artiness. That could describe the official video too - amateurish, yet somehow fitting. People never use tinfoil any more to simulate the future - shame that . .
Rip It Up
Back in the beginning, though, Collins and his mates were a bunch of fresh-faced college kids full of raw Undertones-like energy. This is their 1980 classic with a video made years later which somehow captures their fey indie spirit.
Blue Boy
Enjoy and I hope you will be "listening to the words being sung . . by little Blue Boy."
A short post tonight. Currently, there's a lot of raving on t'internet about Lady Gaga's new single 'Born This Way'. Apart from being rather tepid and boring (like all Gaga's stuff), the title is clearly a steal of Carl Bean's 1975 disco classic. No, it's not a homage, it's only a homage if Lady Gaga comes out and admits it ('comes out' - geddit?).
Bean was a Motown soul singer who was also a gay activist in the 70s. He founded the Unity Fellowship Church Movement - a denomination which welcomes gay, lesbian and bisexual worshippers. To this day, Bean is a practising priest. So, let's give credit where it's due and acknowledge the chubby gay pastor (and the excellent production skills of legend Tom Moulton), before we go all 'Gaga' over the overrated glittered-up ('OMG, she's so outrageous') glam queen -
Nothing like a little bit of midweek morbidity, so here's three classics from three talents whose lights shined all too briefly.
First, the princely and pallid folkster Nick Drake with his utterly morose 'Black Eyed Dog'. Most of his stuff is more upbeat and orchestrated than this, but there's something about the stripped down austerity of this tune which is equally powerful. Be sure to check out all of Drake's albums - 'Five Leaves Left', 'Bryter Later' and 'Pink Moon'.
BLACK EYED DOG
Next up is a rather obvious choice, but none the worse for it - Joy Division. Ian Curtis' brief life and career has been much documented, most recently in the slightly soap-opera like film 'Control'. I've chosen the song, 'Dead Souls', which I think really showcases not only Curtis' intensity and Joy Division's raw post-punk sound, but also the superb pared-down production of a certain Martin Hannett.
DEAD SOULS
Last up is a lesser light and, admittedly, someone whose work I'm less familiar with - Elliot Smith. By all accounts, he was a bit of an underground star in the US before his untimely demise, and drew inevitable comparisons with another singer who met an early end - Kurt Cobain. Here is 'Let's Get Lost' which I picked up on CD a long time ago. As well as the understated acoustic playing on this, I love the lyrics, where he candidly expresses his self-destructive impulse - "Burning every bridge that I cross, to find some beautiful place to get lost."
