90% x 2

I'm a huge fan of the tune '90% of me is you'. I first came across it in London in 1997 when I was over visiting my mate Hamid. The same weekend saw Billy Scurry play a gig in a club that Hamid ran. It was only proper that we hooked up for a drink and for some reason the lot of us ended up watching an outdoor movie in one of the parks in London. There were about 6 of us and at some stage we ended up back in one of Billy's mates house somewhere near Brixton. In order for us all to get there we had to put my mate Brian in the boot of a car. My memory of the specifics aren't great but I'm sure he didn't go in to the boot without a struggle. Thankfully he made it in one piece and we we sitting around listening to an album that Billy had just bought. The album was called 'Strange Games and Things' and was the first in a series of such compilations on the BBE label. Shortly after this I got the album on vinyl and its been a favourite on the turntable ever since. Anyhow that's all a rather long winded way of introducing the following. I picked up two cover versions of the tune on seven inch vinyl in recent days. The first version I picked up is by Amrals Trinidad Cavaliers, and its a West Indian steel drum version from 1976. It's the business. I also picked up a reggae version by The Dynamics. These boys seem to be making a living from reggae cover versions of popular tunes. In any case they have a good stab at it. I still prefer the original though.

On other fronts, i got a copy of a greatest hits by Common that was released late last year. It features a load of tunes from his first three albums. Many will be familiar with his 2005 album 'Be' which seemed to do well for him but he has a moxy load of albums prior to that one including my favourite, but the critics hated it, 'Electric Circus'. What the fuck do critics know?

I also picked up a second hand copy of 'Right On Vol 4' which is one of those compilations that raids the archives of Atlantic and Warner for some old funk and soul gems to sell to saps like me who couldn't be arsed paying a million quid on eBay for them. It's a smashing album. It includes amongst other tunes the fabulous Cherrystones from Eugene McDaniels Outlaw album.

For some insane reason I had to buy a record that I found in a secondhand shop the other day. It's by the owner of the long established Borderline Records in Temple Bar, a gentleman by the name of Derek Larkin. Copies of this album are as rare as hen's teeth and if you heard it you'd know why. It's crap. Funnily enough the name of the album is also 'Crap'. It features an obviously drunk Mr Larkin and a merry band of cohorts murdering such popular favourites as Like a Virgin and Stand by your Man. I'm going to give it to him for Christmas.

Ending the post on sadder note, it appears that once again Sinéad Gleeson bows out from writing her Sigla blog. She's done so before and returned. Hell knows what might happen. It's a lady's prerogative to change her mind. In her post she speaks of readers expecting and deserving posts of a certain quality. If you're that type of reader then you might want to stop reading this blog, unless the sort of quality you desire is the ramshackle variety. Good luck Sinéad.

And finally, Esbjorn Svensson RIP