let the spirits move you

A couple of year ago I decided that I’d not buy as many albums due to an ever increasing collection and only a limited time to listen to them. I had a great idea. I’d just buy seven inches instead. They don’t take up half as much room and they’re much quicker to listen to. What started out as a nice lunchtime shopping distraction has turned into a full-blown addiction. I’m now running out of shelf and box space for the little blighters. All my talk of getting some bespoke shelves made has amounted to nothing. It was all bluff and bluster. I’ve not bothered my arse doing anything about it. It’s now at the point where I’m buying seven inches that I’d forgotten I already owned. What will become of all this?

After lamenting the lack of seven inches out there I decided that maybe I should just try harder to find some. Like a junkie looking for a fix (but slightly better dressed and a little more handsome) I steeled myself late last week to venture forth into the various record stores of Dublin. And as it turns out I had a highly successful trip. I picked up nine little beauties and took them back home to take their place in the vinyl vault. Here they will gather dust until my kids reach their teenage years and thank me for the collection I amassed on their behalf. Or something like that!

The Smiths released ‘Hand in Glove’ as their first single and it failed to chart. Not to be outdone both Morrissey and Johnny Marr entreated the then retired Sandie Shaw to do a cover of it. Hey presto it’s a hit. Next thing you know she’s writhing on the floor during an appearance on Top of the Pops. Behind her are Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, all barefoot, in homage to the great woman herself. I don’t think it’s as good as the original but I’m glad to have a copy of it for posterity.

So too was there gladness when I picked up a copy of Joe Jackson’s ‘Is she really going out with him’. I’ll put it beside my recently acquired copy of ‘Stepping Out’ by the same artist. I don’t really know much of his other stuff and to be honest I’m afraid to listen to it in case I’m disappointed. I like those two tunes so much that I find it hard to believe he could have equalled or bettered them. I remember he appeared on 'Later' a few years back and I think he might have performed this tune. That only leads me to believe that he hasn't done anything better.

I got both of the aforementioned seven inches in Spindizzy Records in the Georges Street Arcade. They’d also got a couple of boxes of second-hand reggaes sevens in so I had to have a look through them too. There was loads of stuff there that I was kind of interested in but as I say, space is at a premium in Chez Vinyl these days. As such I settled for the following three tunes. ‘Fally Ranking’ by Johnny Osborne was released on the Greensleeves label in 1980. This seven-inch of the tune is a repressing from 2001 and delightfully features a b-side by Black Uhuru of a top reggae tune called ‘I love King Selassie’. The next couple of reggae sevens look like they’re represses on the Trojan subsidiary label, Jackpot. The first is the well-known Ken Boothe version of The Abyssinians classic ‘Satta Massa Gana’ and has the accompanying Satta Riddim on the flip side. Likewise with the next tune. It’s another Abyssinians tune ‘Declaration of Rights’, this time by Johnny Clarke and it too has the version on the flip. Animal tune!

A trip down to All City Records was equally, if not more, successful. I bagged the new seven-inch by Mike Slott on the All City label. It’s hard to describe but I’m going to attempt it anyway. I was listening to it over the shop speakers when some teenage kids came in to buy some spray paint. One of them asked if the shop sold dance music and proceeded to treat me to some happy hardcore that he had on his phone. I told him that he was in fact listening to some cutting edge leftfield hip-hop over the shop speakers but he couldn’t reconcile my description with what he was hearing. Therein lies the problem with describing ‘Flunky’ by Mike Slott. It really is going to have limited appeal to most people. Like Guinness you have to acquire a taste for this. I think it’s great.

There were a bunch of other seven inches behind the counter so I picked them up and starting listening to them. I picked out an eighties nu-soul/funk tune by, wait for it, Wynd Chymes. The track is pure cheese. Now don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not talking Galtee Easi Singles here. I’m talking good cheese. A finely aged Stilton. A nice Camembert even. It’s called ‘Baby you’re the one’ and it really is a cracker. All bass and hairspray. The other tune that I picked out was by German dubstepper Phokus and it’s called ‘Police in Helicopter’. The tune is called Inta and the flip side has a remix by Wadadda on it. The pressing is limited to 400 copies and that makes me feel pretty bad. It turns out that Olan had ordered the pile of records I’d picked up for himself. Nevertheless being the consummate professional he still sold me the two tunes I wanted. Now that’s service for you.

Finally I also chanced upon the latest seven inch release from the latest Roots Manuva album Slime and Reason. It’s called ‘Let the Spirit’ and I hadn’t really given it much thought when listening to the album. Then I saw it performed on ‘Later’ and I was hooked. It’s sparse and simple and it’s beautiful. I have the kids singing the chorus all day. I think that they’re hooked too. Here he is on Later.

long players galore

I came into possession of three albums over the last couple of days. All shiny and new in their sleeves and waiting for a rinse out on the turntable. Two of them came courtesy of the shindig I had in the back garden the other night. In order to guard against the inclement weather, a friend offered a gazebo that was in their house. Rather than it being one of those fold-up crappy jobs it turned out to be a full blown marquee about 10 metres long. It was a bit of a bollix to put up in the rain but the resulting structure was the business. It fully covered the garden shed housing the sounds as played by Galafari, The Mullet and grandpa Naphta. It was a roaring success by my unexacting standards. Anyhow, I was gifted two sweet albums on the night. The first is by Mulatu Astatke and is called Ethio Jazz. Astatke has also featured in the Ethiopiques series of albums released on the Buda Musique label. If you haven't checked out a bit of Ethiopian Jazz from the 1960's and 1970's then you simply haven't lived. These dudes know how to funk it up big styles. I was going to tell you to go and check Ethiopiques out this weekend at the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire but the gig is sold out. Ah well!

The other album that I was gifted is by Innocent Youths and is called 'Earth, Roots & Water'. As you might guess by the name of both the album and the band, it's a reggae album. Not just any reggae album though. It was released in 1977 on the Toronto based Summer Records. The original pressing is as rare as hens teeth so luckily they went and repressed it earlier this year. Its available once more, courtesy of the people in Light in the Attic. Its reminiscent of The Lovejoys in parts and is dub-space-tastic in others. Once again its a rare sonic treat.

The last album for today is one that I've been meaning to get for bleedin ages. I picked up the Neon Neon 'I lust you' seven inch ages ago and I meant to go and buy the album, Stainless Style. It was only when I saw that they're playing in Tripod on the 4th of November that I thought I'd better follow up on my earlier plans. It's a nicely packaged piece of vinyl and although I've only listened to it once, it reeks of eighties synthesiser pop. To some people that might be a bad thing but to me that's just great. I'm loving it. I might just have to go and see them play.

Finally, I bumped into Exile Eye yesterday and Sie Milligan today and both told me about a short tour they're embarking on to promote Exile's new Melodica Deathship project. They're playing the Bierhaus in Galway on the 21st August, the Pavillion in Cork the following night, The Trinity Rooms in Limerick the night after and wind their way back to Anseo here in Dublin on the 25th August. And they're doing the whole journey on miniature bicycles. Actually that's a lie.

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

reggae reggae to the maximum

A week is a long time in politics. In the world of blogging it must be a fortnight. In my world its just seven days. Which brings me nicely to the purchases over the last seven days. As the post's title suggests there may be some reggae involved.

I'd like to herald the arrival of a new seven inch from All City Records that has just hit the shelves. It's a new tune by T-Woc called 'Warning' and it features Brother Culture on vocals. It's a proper stepper and there's a great dub version excursion on the flip. Check it out.

I ventured down the back of Tower Records ground floor the other day and a Trojan seven inch box-set was staring me in the eye. It's the 'Haunted House' Skinhead Sevens selection and it features some real skinhead reggae gems on it by the likes of The Upsetters, The Cimarons and The Black Diamonds. It has eight seven inches in the box-set and a great picture on the cover. See above.

I dropped into Oxfam today and came across the third Bstrd Boots seven inch release for one euro. It's the Drums of Death remix of two Roots Manuva tunes, 'Witness' and 'Join the Dots'. I'm really liking it. This means I now have about 8 different remixes of 'Witness'. That could be a future podcast.

I also picked up some other prize gems in the same shop. Three twelve inches from the early nineties. The first is a Sabres of Paradise release that was released to raise awareness in the UK about the Criminal Justice Bill. Its the 'Repetitive Beats' EP and features tunes by Primal Scream and On U Sound. The second record was the seventh release on the Philly Blunt label, an off-shoot of Roni Size's V Recordings. It's called Bass-Switch and its by Firefox and Glamour Gold, who are better known as Roni Size and DJ Krust. It's not a patch on the earlier Philly Blunt releases but it still holds its own considering an awful lot of shite jungle was being released around this time (1996). The final tune from Oxfam is an old Shut Up and Dance release from 1992 by IC3. It was simply called The EP and featured MC Duke. Duke later produced for the jungle label Suburban Base. The tunes on the e.p. veer towards the rap sound that SUAD were into at the time. It still sounds deadly.

Keeping with Shut Up and Dance, I popped into the new premises that Beatfinder are occupying and I think I made the first purchases in the new premises. The first was another SUAD record by PJ and Smiley called The Art of Moving Butts. The second was a Hal Roach comedy album recorded live at Jurys Cabaret. I can't wait to mix those up.

all quiet on this front

Little to report over the last few days and so it continues. I picked up the new double viny; a;bum release from SoulJazz Records. It's titled 'Mojo Rocksteady Beat' and its by Sound Dimension. For those of you not versed in the way of the reggae music, Sound Dimension , were the Studio 1 backing band and featured some of reggaes heavyweights of the period. Amongst its ranks were Jackie Mittoo (can't believe he has a MySpace) and Ernest Ranglin (or this guy). Between the lot of them they produced some of reggaes' most famous riddims, a lot of which are still being used today. Upon listening to the album its surprising how many of them I have as versions by other reggae artists. The album is great, perfect rocksteady reggae that everyone can enjoy except for those people who 'don't get' reggae. Well those people can bugger off if they're not getting it. They're probably busy buying tickets for Eric Clapton and talking about tracker mortgages. If on the other hand you have even the slightest leaning towards reggae music then you should take the leap and buy this. If you don't own any reggae you could do much worse than to buy this as your sonic equivalent of the 'Lonely Planet Guide to Jamaica'.

I also found a peculiar 10" on the 'Funky Forty Fives' label. That's a stupid name if they're doing releases on 10" but that's another topic altogether. It features 'Soul Bossa Nova' the hugely recognisable Quincy Jones (winner of no less than 27 Grammys, nearly as many as The Chiefatins ;0) tune that's been sampled to death. You might not know what its called but you've heard this record before. On the b-side is Green Onions by Booker T & The MG's (1 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award) who like Sound Dimension above were actually a studio band. In their case they used to do a lot of the backing recordings for the Stax label. This version doesn't sound exactly like the original version and it doesn't say that its actually by Booker T on the vinyl so I'm a little suspect about that. Anyhow, they're both top tunes and it throws in Peggy Lee's version of 'Dock of the Bay' for good measure.

reggae vibes in D7

As I lay here in the bed with both a swollen foot and head I can hear the dubtastic sounds of reggae emanating from the Phoenix Park. I'd love to know what's going on down there? Have they started a Notting Hill style carnival without inviting Matt Vinyl? I should hope fucking not or there'll be wigs on the green! There's nothing more for it than to skin one up and enjoy the reggae reverberations. Jah Rastafari indeed!