planet mondo

Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:30:00 +0000

So what's new on the Big Boss Menu? Full English Beat Breakfast, that's what. An all you can eat buffet of gut-busting beats, full fat fruggery, hot footed floor-fillers and continental flavours from the Latin vibes of Full Brazilian to the Riveria cool of Black Eye and C'est Moi's . FEBB is an urelenting rush of concorde riffing, jazz percussion and neatly-trousered, swish-hipped shakedowns, served spry, crisp 'n dry from the deep funk fryer.

But, more than this, it's almost a soundtrack for tomorrow's world where sci-fi goes spy-fi and the Men from U.N.C.L.E boogie down with Booker T on Beat Breakfast, while Clown Face comes across like George Clinton jamming with George Jetson.

If retro-futurist flavours and finery tickle your taste buds you really must have a munch on Big Boss Man's Full English Beat Breakfast. It's an album that's been sizzling away on my stereo since being released, and, being the cheeky blogger I am, thought I'd fire a few questions BBM's way.

How would you describe Full English Beat Breakfast and the Big Boss Man sound to anyone who hasn't heard the band.
The Big Boss Man’s sound is a cauldron mix of a Bongo-Hammond-Fuzz-Boogaloo Party in Timothy Leary’s head.

The new album has an inter-continental flavour and a menu of Latino tempos, Euro-vintage synth shufflers and sci-fi meets spy-fi. Was there a masterplan of varying the vibes - and how do you write, as a band or does someone bring in a riff or fully formed track.
No master plan, but we do have many influences the world over; 60’s Funk, ye-ye, Psyche, cool movies, anything groovy! Some of the tracks on 'Full English Beat Breakfast' are written by Nass on his own, some with Trev, and some with Trev and the Hawk. For a few tracks we had a band party – filled the place with grog and set up the 8-track recorder.

I read there were scenes of Big Bossmania in Russia - what's the story
The first time we went to Russia, to Moscow, we were invited by Art Troitsky – the Russian John Peel. Then more recently we did a mini-tour of Tinkoff Brewery/music venues which was mental, the kids had never heard our sort of Hammond-groovyness so it freaked them out. We had to take quite a few internal flights on very historic aeroplanes – which was not for the faint hearted!

Fantasy jam band. If you could jam with anyone (dead or alive), who would you choose and why.
Here’s who we want in our fantasy jam band and crew:
Jimmy McGriff & James Brown (playing avant-garde)at the Hammond Organ,
Ray Barreto : Congas
Buddy Miles: Drums, Bernard Purdey: Drums
Tito Puente: Timbales
James Jameson: Bass
Jimmy Smith: Vocals
Cissy Houston and The Sweet Inspirations: Backing Vocals
Lee Perry: Sound
G Fawkes: Lighting
Billy Idol: Tour Bus Driver
Bob Marley: Catering
Pussy-Cat Dolls: Roadies
Bez: Runner
G Haystacks + B Daddy : Security
Peter Grant : Management
Shakira: General Assistance

Any favourite fry-up cafes, and are you a brown or red sauce person
Sauce: both+ English mustard
Cafes: Tasty Shop – Bristol, Tasty Plate-Newbury, Tasties – St. Paul’s,
Bristol.

Vampyros Twist is a cracker - have BBM ever considered covering an entire soundtrack and which would you choose : The Italian Job, Vampyros Lesbos, Get Carter or something else of your choice..
Vampiros Lesbos would be good, but we have been working on our own film 'Get the Vampiros Italian Lesbos Job'

Have you ever DJ'd and what are your banker tracks
We all DJ a bit (except Des)
Hawk: Tainted Love – Gloria Jones
Nass: Any Meatloaf or All About my Girl – Jimmy McGriff
Trev: Charge! –Dreams Band

Are you purist about equipment - is vintage best, and have you bagged any ebay bargains, or own a cherished or collectable piece of gear.
Hawk – I just cover everything in Leopard skin to hide any disgrace.
Nass: Hammond D100, Yamaha L45, Farfisa Compact Duo, Wurlitzer EP200
(electric piano) Hofner Clavinet, Korg Mono-polly, Yamaha CS15, Leslie 122, Roland 101,
Rhodes 73, Elka Rotary cabinet X 2, Leslie 147, + 825, I could go on!

The band have played at Blow Up's new location 4 Denmark St - where you aware of the venues Rock pedigree - (formerly Regent Sound Studios where the Stones, Hendrix, and Stevie Wonder recorded)
We rocked out the last time we played there, maybe it was the spirit of Hendrix jamming with Lil’ Stevie and the Stones that took us over

Where and when can we expect to see BBM on tour and any plans for Southend dates...
We play Camden Zoo on 13th Nov, Mr Wolf’s in Bristol on 21st Nov, Maybe New Years eve in Moscow (to be confirmed) then in February we tour France and March 1 to 14th we tour Spain. Paul from Blow Up was thinking about having a new Club night in Southend, so hopefully we’ll make it there next year if not before.

And how about a taste test of Full English Beat Breakfast?

Big Boss Man - Clown Face

Full English Beat Breakfast is available from Blow Up Records or for download via Amazon or iTunes

Big Boss Man Official Website

Big Boss Man on Myspace

Come On Baby, Light My Bonfire

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:06:00 +0000

Did you have a favourite firework? I'm wobbling between the Roman Candle and Traffic Light. Not the Catherine Wheel though, which for all it's hi-propulsion promise, typically stopped-started, spluttered about-a-bit at random angles, eventually fizzling out for a flat tyre finale.

And What's your preference for bonfire fun?

The organised outdoor event, with it's inevitable delays (concerned silhouettes with tabards and torches, a'pointing and a'poking), that oohing-aahing collective of cold feet, dayglo do-dahs, and mob-scale shuffling and shivering. Soundtracked, God forbid, by the local radio OB unit counting down to blast off.

Or, an ad hoc back garden affair? Although home based high jinks with high explosives has the potential to end in a blackened bugle or fingers flying freestyle over the fence with match still clenched between thumb and forefinger.

Whatever you're doing, wrap up warm and why not try these three regroovings of a popular classic.

Erma Franklin - Light My Fire

Mae West - Light My Fire

Spanky Wilson - Light My Fire

The Shirley Bassey version can be grabbed over at Ally's place.

And you must, must, must have a peep at the UK Firework Museum site..with it's virtual box of seventies explosives here

Here's One I Made Earlier

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:17:00 +0000

I don't usually post home made tunes, in fact I've only tried it once before. But, given last minute glimmers of gold and green leaves can still be glimpsed before all fades to grey, and this autumn inspired acoustic tune popped into play on my Creative Zen last week, it seems appropriate to give it an airing.

Should you choose to lend an ear, a couple of things to point out on the playing: It's a very rough sketch of an idea, recorded about four years ago using one guitar.

The guitar is tuned to DADGAD. A tuning popularised by Davey Graham

It's a first or second take recording, so prepare for clunkiness in places

Typically I tend to play too fast, so it's a shade speedier than it needs to be

For a full bodied recording, the following would need to be added ; Second guitar (12 string see above), acoustic bass, some sort of soft shuffle rhythm and a lead acoustic for the skippity riff.

Country Acoustic

Freaky Friday - Podroscreamia

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:57:00 +0000

A grab-bag of ghoulish goodies feature in the Halloween Podcast from Piley and I. Local tales of terror from chilling urban myths to Essex hauntings, Southend werewolves to estuary based vampirism (did you know Dracula was an Essex boy – yes really!) Along with some recommended reads, fright night viewing and a playlist summoning up Nina Simone, Donovan, The King and a mystery band in their pre-glam period .

Oh and after being truly spooked by an electrical failure (two actually, I’ve found out since) thanks to that Eno/Byrne track, I forgot to credit Alma Cogan's Snakes and Snails, a Love Potion Number 9 meets Fortune Teller type stomper.

So draw the curtains, light the candles, form a circle and grab hands to make contact with our late night whisperings

Repeat after me... 'It’s only a podcast! It’s only a podcast!'

Podrophenia 5 - Halloween Special

Or on evil iTunes

Don't forget ghouls and gals last year's Halloween Mondo Mania Mix can be grabbed here

Variants cards are available at the Cobwebbed Room
or see the full set here

Wristory

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:22:00 +0000

One autumnal number I'd been hoping to place in last Sunday's Autumn Falls mix was Humble Pie's Wrist Job. An oddly titled outtake from As Safe As Yesterday Is. A performance rumbling along on a slow-shifting tidal swell of heavy Hammond, roof-raising gospel vocals and one runaway bass, all of which come crashing together in heady perfection between 3:00 and 3:30

As much as I love the track, it's just too, well, potent and powerful to sit alongside the soft footfall required for last Sunday's mix.

Humble Pie - Wrist Job

However, a Wrist Job-lite can be traced back to a track from Steve Marriot's previous band The Small Faces, where it had an instrumental run out under the title of The Pig's Trotters.

The Small Faces - The Pig's Trotters

Oh, and the tweety-bird samples bookending Autumn Falls come from this and this.

Lazy Sunday - Autumn Falls

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:49:00 +0000

Did you put your clocks back - and what are your plans for that extra hour? If you've nothing doing, lend an ear to one last blast of autumn colour by way of this homemade seasonal stew. A soft, smoky mellow blend harvested from autumnal acoustics, outtakes, alt.takes, oddities and obscurities. You could cosy up around a crackling fireside with a glass of something fruity to suit the tone of the tunes. Or perhaps stow it away red squirrel style for a splash of russet colur to brighten up the grey-day gloom of a bleak mid winter.

Autumn Falls

PS - the track list is in the comms to avoid being blog-whacked

PPS - In case you've missed them, the other seasonal Sunday sessions can be collected here : Winter, Spring and Summer

Freaky Friday - Lift Up Your Skirt And Fly

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:17:00 +0000

It's a Pop Quiz - 'lift up your skirt and fly' is the last line of single, banned by the BBC for this saucy sounding statement (although in reality, it was actually reference to witches). But who were the band that recorded it, and the soon-to-be glammer wot wrote it?

We've had Wolfmen doing dark duets, tales of terror, spiders, snakes (and a Halloween podcast Podroscreamia is on it's way), but today as move nearer to All Hallows' Eve, and those final witching hours it's time to bubble and boil a couple of numbers in the cauldron for today's Freak Friday..

The master blaster himself Tom Jones lung-busting, head-shrinking and doing the voodoo and gumbo a-go-go with...

The Witch Queen Of New Orleans

Sharon Tandy goes Snow White's Wicked Queen meets Hammer Glamour - backed by last week's Tick Tockers Les Fleur De Lys on..

Daughter Of The Sun

Guitar geek alert - watch out for the axe at 1:18 Tele body/Strat neck?

Like the Cocteau Twins at Christmas

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:10:00 +0000

That's what The Wolfmen's new single Jackie, Is It My Birthday? sounds like to me.

A swirling dervish of ghostly notes, Marco's guitars arpeggiating like the midnight chimes of church bells and snowfalls of slow-shifting synth washes swaddling Sinéad O'Connor and Chris Constantinou as they waltz-in-black through this dark duet like ghost-dancers at the Overlook Hotel.

But don't just take my word for it, have a blast below. The 2 min's(half of the single) you'll hear is ripped from my own copy of Jackie - but you can get your own copy on 7 inch , CD or digital download

And don't you think Jackie would make a perfect Christmas single? A fresh airing and alternative to the overplayed Pogues, that Wham song or some one-shot winner from a TV 'talent' show

Freaky Friday - T is for.....

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:31:00 +0000

Tales From The Crypt - if you've never seen an Amicus anthology horror 'Tales' is the place to dip in. All the codes and conventions of a classic Amicus production(seventies contemporary styling, a repertory of British screen icons) are in place over the five portmanteau set pieces - Joan Collins and the psycho Santa, Ian Hendry doing the loop of terror and Peter Cushing at his most ghostly. A few years after it's release, late night TV repeats of Tales From The Crypt were discussed in mythical whispers at school, and the fearless few who stayed up watch them were instantly awarded the heavyweight status of Playground Legend..

Tell us you're fave TV Thrillers, fright-night films recommended reads, scariest kids shows, urban myths or other spooky doings - Piley and I are recording the Podrophenia Halloween Special next week so any ghostly gubbins pass it on here - planetmondo@gmail.com

Tick Tock - Les Fleurs De Lys
A pre-Zep Jimmy Page was involved with session work and production duties for LFDL, and seems to have refitted Tick Tock's riff for this Zep ztomper

Tarot - Andrew Bown
A delightfully sunny slice of polite psych pop

T is also for - try a peep at these

Bitter Andrew's always excellent autumn almanac.
The Halloween Countdown

Blogger-my-neighour Coops new venture...recreate your favourite cover art - Sleevie Wonders

Podrophenia 4 - Rock 'n' Roll Animals

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:20:00 +0000

The fourth Podrophenia is uncaged today with 'animals' being the theme. Sixty minutes of music and muddling where Piley and I release a few pet sounds - birds, cats, elephants and monkeys into the wild.

We've also got two special guest appearances with animal related tracks from..

Mr Martin Gordon - ex Sparks, Jet and Radio Stars, who introduces us to Elephantasy from his latest album Time Gentlemen Please

And Mr Chris Constantinou from The Wolfmen, who release their minty new single today Jackie, Is It My Birthday (a duet with Sinéad O'Connor). But for Podrophenia Chris gives us an exclusive blast of The Wolfmen's next single Cat Green Eyes

Amongst our usual rabbit and jabber , you'll hear which rocker we think looks like a crow crossbred with a chimney brush, celebs spotted in unlikely places, low-level rock 'n' roll memorials and rasher related randomness (the patron saint of bacon?) .

Podrophenia 4

Or via iTunes if you prefer

Oh, and see if you can spot my Beatle themed theme technique behind the animals I've selected - the answer's here if you've given up..

No it's not Azlan from Narnia, Parsley The Lion, or even Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion!
It's Hamish Stuart from the Average White Band!

Freaky Friday - I Don't Like Spiders and Snakes

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:12:00 +0000

Not my carpet or spider - but my hand

Throughout October Funky Friday will be seasonally adjusted to Freaky Friday. The tracks and tunes will feature all the usual foot-stomping and leg-shaking shenanigans, but with an added splash of fright-night flavouring until the beckoning bony finger of Halloween finally touches upon us.

Think of today's theme as a prelude for the fourth Piley and Mondo podcast(with you next week)..

I've no fear of the snake, but spiders - yikes alive! Will literally, have me both legs in air the 'Lords-a-leaping' style. And apparently the last two summers (one wet/one dry) have provided the perfect breeding conditions for the little scuttlers *gulps*

Tony Joe White - Stud-Spider
A saucy, plodding slice of Southern Soul meets Gumbo-Funk from the writer of Rainy Night In Georgia and Polk Salad Annie

Al Wilson - The Snake
A classic Northen Soul nugget first heard by me on this Ronco comp (although it actually had this tracklisting)

The Mondo Metal Years - I don't what's scarier the mullet or the Motley Crue tee

And a trick amongst the treats..

Jim Stafford - Spiders and Snakes

So Let Me Introduce To You

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:18:00 +0000

The online democracy that is the internet may have caused the retail music industry to come unglued, but the same levelling effect has created a perfect platform for home recordists and local have-a-go heroes. One of these is Markus Reeves, based in Leicester but with Southend connections, he's active on the buoyant open mic and local festival circuit, and has just released a free 5 track 'analogue only' EP 59 Steps.

59 Steps has it's references, roots and sound shaped by Weller, Strummer and Neil Young on Skyline and Crosswind , but shades them with shadowy small hours close-mic moments of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash on I Know and 59 Steps .

So going back to the beginning - was there an act or artist that made pick up and play - and do you remember the first track you cracked.
Paul Weller without a doubt, I spent my school days listening to The Jam and via that got into The Who, The Faces, 80's mod scene, northern soul, Motown, Stax - the list is endless! But really it was Weller's 'magpie' approach (as some of his critics are happy to point out) that was a musical tipping point for me. The first song of his I worked out was Liza Radley on the B side of START! A beautiful, beautiful song.

Can you/do you still play any of your earliest songs
Funny you should ask that, as I've just rearranged a song called What I'm Thinking,that I wrote at college about fifteen years ago and played live for the first time last week. I'm not bothered about looking back at what I've done. To me it's a totally organic process.. songs NEVER stop evolving and when an artist keeps a song the same for years it's liable to lose it's magic live.

What are the ideas and inspiration behind the 59 Steps EP
It's a very disparate set actually. Some songs are just stories and others are written from stuff that's caught my imagination. Skyline was written at the Summer Sundae Festival- about people being together for one common purpose, that feeling of the common good wraps around you from skyline to skyline.. In my case it was a music festival, but equally it could be a party or demo or even the poll tax riots. The rest range from travelling murderers to getting stood up in the pouring rain, to a rant about consumerism.

Markus Reeves - Skyline

You've gone for strictly analogue recording why is that? - are there any other self enforced rules: no more than 'x 'amount of takes or tracks
Cool question, tape has a quality of sound that I just love, digital recording has its place but it all too often its VERY sterile. I have no problem with surface noise, amp hum or even slightly distorted recordings, I've always been attracted to Lo-Fi because as john peel said "life has surface noise". As far as takes go, I don't hang on every syllable of a take, I'm very very untrained as a singer, so every time I play a songs it comes out slightly different, after two or three takes I'm usually happy with one of them - three seems to be my magic number as it goes.

Why a 5 track EP rather than an album, is there much material left in the tanks
I'm just impatient. Plenty.

The packing is a great touch literally - how did you come up with the 'wrap' design
Someone reintroduced me to Origami earlier this year (thank you, you know who you are) and I came up with this little wrap for the CDs. It's just six folds of an A4 sheet, the great thing is, if you download the full EP package with artwork, then you've everything to make up the exact same physical copies I give away at gigs. Which is one thing I miss about downloading

The internet seems to have caused the downfall of the retail music industry, but has it had the reverse effect for the live/grass-roots music scene
The days of mega-stars are numbered now. I think, more and more music is internet, DIY and as generations mature, the shift to 'found artists' will grow. Personally I love the fact that the emphasis on 'product' has died, I'll give as much away as I can afford, so people can get to my gigs and have a great time as they knowg the songs already. It's never going to be a totally level playing field, there will always be money to pump into publicity for the 'plastic pop stars' but the grass roots and local scenes have really really flourished.

You've been playing festivals and open mic nights do you have to adjust the set for indoor/outdoor performances - and what would the ideal/dream venue be
I have some much quieter songs that just don't get played that often because of noisy venues or lack of a soundcheck, so I tend to play the more shouty tunes as a safety net. However The Musician pub in Leicester is a fantastic place to play the quieter stuff. Ideal venue?
100 Club
End of.

You're doing a Lennon night this Friday - what can we expect to see in the set
Really looking forward to that one, it's his birthday with five acts doing thirty minute sets, I'll be banging out 'Working Class Hero' and maybe a slow version of 'Revolution' mixed in with some of my own tunes, and maybe a reworking of a Jam track 'Away From The Numbers' from in the city. It's at The Shed, Leicester on October 9th with proceeds going to the Donor Foundation - BE THERE OR THE KITTEN GETS IT.

Recorded exclusively for this blog
Markus Reeves - Working Class Hero

Are there any plans for hook ups with other local musicians - either performing, writing or producing
I've got plans for a three piece maybe next year, playing louder stuff ( getting my Jam/Weller head on ) but before that I'm looking to work with a songwriter called Bethia Mitchell who has the most amazing voice I've heard for a long time, doing quite dark twin accoustic/harmony type stuff. I'm amazed at the depth of female singer songwriters in Leicester at the moment, there are probably four or five I'd love to work with such as Nancy Dawkins, Matti, Paula Driver the list goes on ...

What's the story behind the sample closing 59 Steps
It's just a found clip - the song is about self imposed isolation and failed redemption, told in the first person by a convict knowing he won't ever stop whatever grisly thing he does. The clip on the end is about a guy who went beserk on a Greyhound bus and actually hacked a fellow passengers head off with a bowie knife. There's no connection to the song other than it seemed apt, I just had this mad 45 second chord section at the end that needed filling and that fitted perfectly.

Markus Reeves - 59 Steps

Yikes your gig bag's on fire - what piece of kit do you save first
Can't live without my Shubb capo, as for guitars well the trusty 1976 S. Yari accoustic, I'd risk an awful lot to save that baby ... they don't come like that very often.

Finally - any hints or tips for home recorders or starter guitarists
On the recording front, spend as much as you can afford on a good mike, then don't get hung up on the tech side, spend time getting levels right. Just forget the tape/disk is running and do your thing. If you're playing with one eye on the desk you ain't gonna play naturally. If you're thinking of getting out and playing live and don't know where to start try finding out about local open mike nights, it's such a brilliant way to get 'stage miles' in and learn what it's all about.

1 - tune up before you get onstage (basic ,but nerves will get the better of your ears under those lights trust me)

2 - print off your song lyrics (in bold) and take them with you, again nerves play with even the best memory

3 - enjoy! Most of these type of nights the crowd is on YOUR side.

The 59 Steps EP is downloadable with Origami cover art - right here

You can see more Markus on Youtube

And get all the dates details and previews on Myspace or Facebook

Funky Friday - All Girl Action

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:59:00 +0000

You've probably seen these pistol packing mamas cracking skulls, flipping kicks or lassoing the truth out of some rat-grey gump. But, did you know these three killer queens also had a secret musical identity..

Caroline Munro (pictured above) Bond Girl, scream queen and B movie pinup - can also be spotted in this Manikin cigars ad' and duetting with Gary Numan on Pump Me Up - I say!!

Caroline Munro - This Sporting Life

After our 'school's out' bell had rung, I'd hoof home, like a wide-eyed loon hoping to catch any glimpse of ITV'sTara King era Avengers repeats*sighs*

Linda Thorson - Here I Am

I almost went for the Wonder Woman theme, but it had to be ~~Diana Prince~~ Linda Carter giving The (Detroit) Spinners - Rubberband Man a bounce.

And there's a great, great thread on the TV crushes on The Word website here if you fancy putting your hormones into hijinx.

Gather Round For Rumors

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:04:00 +0000

One of the tracks used in this winter collection was Gabe Durham's beautifully blended Beatles and Sufjan Stevens tune Yoko in Idaho a gentle melter that fitted the mood of the mix. Last week Gabe unveiled Rigid Rumors a set of eleven similar remixes that are more musical chairs than mashups and somewhere Radiohead bustle about with Dave Brubeck and Simon and Garfunkel, where The Swell Season, Sufjan Stevens, Biodome 5 get bounced around in bootleg blender. With a rock 'n' roll call which reads like this..

15 step, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Beck, Ben Folds, Beyonce, Big Poppa, Biggie Smalls, Biodome 5, Bjork, Blind Melon, Cake, Daft Punk, Damien Rice, Dave Brubeck Quartet, David Garza, David Gray, Ella Fitzgerald, Glen Phillips, Going Back To Cali, Goldspot, Idaho, John Lennon, Josh Ritter, Kanye West, The Klaxons, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Madonna, Margot and the Nuclear So & So's, Medulla, Morning Bell, Morris Brown, Not, Notorious B.I.G., Of Montreal, Once Soun, Once Soundtrack, Outkast, Paper Planes, Pavarti Khan, Radiohead, Rilo Kiley, Show Me Forgiveness, Simon and Garfunkel, Sonnets, Spirit of Shackleton, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, The Arcade Fire, The Beatles, The Decemberists, The Mountain Goats, The National, The Proclaimers, The Swell Season, The Travelling Wilburys, The Waifs, The Wrens, They Might Be Giants, This Used To Be My Playground, TV on the Radio, Volcano, Wednesday Night Worship, When Your Mind's Made Up, Wilco

There really is something for everyone, and the cherry on top being - Rigid Rumors is entirely free and available for download at Gabe's blog Gather Round Children..

Yoko in Idaho

First You Reel Me Out

Oh. and don't forget to pick a couple vintage sparklers from Gabe's last batch of booties - here

Funky Friday - A Chip Off The Ol' Blockheads

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:03:00 +0000

Artwork by Peter Blake - yes him of the Sgt Pepper cover

The Blockheads come to sunny Southend this Saturday, heading up a bill that features Camera Obscura and Billy Bragg's Big Busk (I'll be taking my Martin DX1 along for that. Although live music is just one segement of an all day arts festival known as Village Green, taking place in Chalkwell Park - literally a five minute walk from home.

Last time I saw The Blockheads dear ol' Ian Dury was still out front and on his final visit to Southend during the Mr Love Pants tour. For all their punk/pub rock roots and associations the Blockheads are really proto Acid Jazzers (fatback drums, squealy synths, soaraway solos and finger-blistering basslines) twinning the free form flow of Jazz Funk with the sweaty energy of Punk, and able to switch between either without missing a beat. They are simply the finest set of sizzling of musicians you'll ever see live. So if you're round and about Southend way this Saturday why not pop along - the full programme of events is available here.

Ian Dury and the Blockheads
Wake Up And Make Love With Me

Ian Dury and the Blockheads Dance Little Rude Boy

And you can grab Macca's Blockbusting version of I'm Partial To Your Abracadabra right here..

Have a peep at Norman Roy-Watt's incredibly heady bassline for Rythm Stick - stunning stuff.

Some Say

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:18:00 +0000

The Mojo's version of They Say - last spotted on Ebay closing at £21!

One of the earliest vid's logged in the blog was bouncy,bouncy Oddjob-a-like Rodge Martin's 1966 appearance on The Beat with They Say, but some ol' spoiler pulled it within a couple of weeks of my first peep. However, after a two year trawl I've finally tracked Rodge down again, so grab it while you can - a few notes though:

Freddie King on lead
Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown on Rythm
Billy Cox (Hendrix Band of Gypsys) on bass

Rodge martin - They Say

They Say had previously been giving a going over by The Mojo's in 1963

The Mojos They Say

Can you spot the early doors celeb in this 64/65 period Mojo's photo?

Funky Friday - Giant Steps Are What You Take

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:08:00 +0000

ILC made the original moon boots as used on Apollo 11

Well that's Andrew Smith's Moon Dust done and dusted (ouch!)From the book's giddy list of brain-frying facts, fresh perspectives and character analysis, a couple observations still orbiting about my noggin are:

That for the all acid-headed, hippy, other-wordliness of the counter culture running parallel to Apollo Project, it was only the handful of level-headed astronauts flying in and around the lunar orbit between 69 -72, that had a truly trippy, out-of-this-world experience.

That Neil Armstrong is the coolest of cucumbers.

That with even with NASA's 99% safety rate, on a Saturn rocket made from six million components - that 1% still translates as six thousand parts which may fail.

One criticism though, for a book using the Apollo story as it's launchpad, there could have been less of what the author wore to the interviews, the condition of the motel carpet or yet another quote from J G Ballard, and more moon matters - perhaps structured by the sequence of Apollo mission's too?

Anyways I'm two chapters into Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, which hits home, heartbreaks and humanizes the earliest steps of the space racers - right from the opening sentence.

And on the subject of space books this is a must read for the scale, technical detail and timeline of events

But enough of my ol' guff, get your moon boots on and let's start stomping.

Owen Gray - Apollo 12

Derrik Morgan - Moon Hop

The Crystalites - Splash Down

And as a bonus - Rico's reggae remake of the Star Wars theme.

Rico - Ska Wars

Haven't seen this yet - but it's meant to be a corker. And any ideas on the song spun during the trailer?

Apple Source

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:02:00 +0000

Endlessly dedicated Beatles nutter that I am, even I'm starting to slump and feel fabbed-out from the unrelenting ad campaigns, magazine covers and blanket coverage stoked up by the recent remaster releases.

Full marks to the NME* though, for effectively popping off a cribsheet for teens with the last issue (even if 12 cover variations has the specteral money-grabbing fist of Allen Klein about it).

And the principle of £200 per box set (of course you'll need both mono and stereo if you're an avid completist) seems to bruise the purity of the legacy. But let's forgo all that fru-fru and hear The Beatles raw, remix free and topping up their 'studio tan' as Zappa called it by way of some outakes, alt.takes and works in progress.

Paperback Writer (Take 2)

I'm A Loser (Take 3)
A lovely touch of fine-tuning the harmonies, before they kick off

What You're Doing (Take 11)

One After 909 - (Take 3)
A real gem from the 63 Please Please Me sessions - that breaks down at 1:23 as Macca struggles to play without a plectrum - "it's mairdur"

*If anyone finds my left-behind copy of this (Hard Day's Night cover) on the C2C line any chance of handing it in at the lost property dept?

Hirsute You Sir

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:17:00 +0000

This week's Funky Friday brings you, what at first glance appears to be, a hair bear bunch of grizzle-faced ol' rockers and gnarly Catweazle-a-likes who've spent all night a'supping at the soup kitchen. But, have no fear these fuzzy faced funkateers are as gilded with 'the groove' as they are with beards, burns and barnets . Heads, Hands and Little Feat it is then...

Little Feat - Spanish Moon

Head Hands and Feet - The More You Get The More You Want

Followed with two chunks of funk from unlikeliest looking bunch of fatback-packers ever - The Average White Band - Hamish Stuart, he of the Azlan style ginger 'fro, (spottable at 0:05 in the first clip), later went on to work with Paul McCartney. Although he's made some strikingly bizarre claims against Macca since.

Now if these are that type of tunes that tickle your tastebuds, why not try an earful of Axe Victim's AXE FM Radio Download show for one full hour of quality cuts covering all points from hairy rockers to heavy funkers - you can check it right ~~hair~~ here

Surprisingly Disco

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:08:00 +0000

Osmo-disco

A tune that was this close to a spot in the last Podrophenia, comes from The Osmonds of all people, popping off a prime slice of discolicous doo-dah. Released in 1979 it sits alongside other light entertainers from this year (Johnny Mathis, Cliff, Barbara Streisand) who got on the good foot and boogied aboard the disco bandgwagon - PS - it's produced by Maurice Gibb

The Osmonds - I,I,I

And while we're thumbing through the section marked 'Unlikely Disco Biscuits' how about this from 77 - Cat Stevens dropping, beats, bleeps and barks in what's generally regarded as the earliest example of an electro track..

Funky Friday - Podrophenia 3 - Surprisingly Funky

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:56:00 +0000

K-tel's Goofy Greats - now that's what I call music!!

Surprisingly Funky - that's the for theme latest podcast from Piley and I. Ten tunes from players and performers who've stowed away some uncharacteristically fleet footed crackers in the catalogue.

But can you guess who's who before each tune ends - of course you can!

Amongst the usual bumble and banter we touch on - The Basildon Music Festival - 'Basfest', Ron Wood's Southend connections, Piley's Newsround and celebrity lookalikes including: him and him - him and her

All grabbable and listenable right here...

Podrophenia 3

You may notice - the promise of a surprise at one point (a Radio One style Bits and Pieces quiz I'd planned for Piley), but soundwise, this section went a bit wonky . Rather than waste it - I'll embed here in case you fancy a pop at a summer themed Pop Quiz..

Click on the pic for a full-size gawp

Last of the Summer Finds

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:05:00 +0000

How's your blog-list doing? In the two years I've been maintaining my online allotment, (which I was convinced would run out of puff after a few months). I've really not blogged any of my most played faves (Small Faces, The Faces, Rod, Bowie, Bolan, Roxy, The Damned, XTC, John Martyn and countless comps). The trouble is - there's just too many many oldies, oddities, obscurities or tasty tit-bits of newness be logging.

Like - If This Ain't Love - a track that's been rattling about on my MP3 player for several months now, and a seasonally summery song that I'll squeeze in before the shadows get to long, the wasps get too giddy and grumpy (is it me or has there really been more of them this year?)

I only realised while pulling this post together, it's the same Nicole WillisCocktails posted about some while back

Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators - If This Ain't Love

Funky Friday - Let's Spend Some Time Together

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:55:00 +0000

89 Oakley Street SW3- Bowie's house (73-74) where he and Jagger were ..
well, according to Angie Bowie anyway

So the last bank holiday of the summer season rolls around this weekend, and a three day stretch of local lolloping about is on the menu, with perhaps a trip to St Lawrence Bay, if only for another peep at this place of hi-amazingness...
The Salt House

On the tunes front, I've not been able to put down Muddy Waters retake of 'Let's Spend The Night Together' for several months now - seemingly sculpted from Cream's 'Sunshine of Your Love'. You'll find it on Muddy's walloping, psychedelic blues album Electric Mud

Muddy Waters - Let's Spend The Night Together

Or if you favour some disco swish - have a punt on the Joe Simon version

Joe Simon - Let's Spend The Night Together

The Stones Ed Sullivan appearance features the lyrics rejigged and edited to a more acceptable "Let's spend some time together" It's here if you fancy a nosy - points to peep for include..

The non-stop screamathon
Jagger camping like a champ
Keef's booming backing vox

Finders Groovers

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:11:00 +0000

Had a couple of new-to-me nuggets appear on the radar last week..

Blogger-my-neighbour Coop dropped The Dead Weather (Jack White and new playmates) rewiring of 'Are Friends Electric' into my inbox.

The Dead Weather - Are Friends Electric

And found on Drew's always excellent Across The Kitchen Table, The Third Degree's slick-hipped Mercy. Although don't ask which is the cover and which is the original - Third Degree or Duffy - I couldn't tell you.

In return for The Dead Weather tune, I gave Coop the Third Degree tip off, which, he's now ordered up on 7" - phew it's like a Möbius meltdown.

Funky Friday - 40 Years of Peace & Music

planetmondo@gmail.com (Mondo) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:42:00 +0000

I know I'm a few days out of date with this, but had my own anniversary to do last week.

Two years ago, I had my brain fried, my mind altered and my doors of perception blown to smoke and splinters in one sitting How? By sitting through my first ever viewing of 'Woodstock'.

Partly - as I thought I'd brought home the DVD of that music fest' where Hendrix sets his Fender aflame. It took a few minutes viewing until realised that music fest was actually Monterey! Whoops.

But mainly - still ingrained with 'Never Trust a Hippy' hard-coded punk standards from my teenage days, viewed Woodstock with a sly eye and had it pegged as fuggy aired, fuzzy haired, hair-baring love-in. And a long weekend of Freak Brother freak-outs and whispy women twittering to polite applause from sky-eyed stoners and other-worldly arm wavers. Which in part it is.

However, what I hadn't expected, and left my head spinning like a shell-shocked owl were...

Sly Stone and his rip-roaring funk review
Santana's explosive Soul Sacrifice
Alvin Lee's giddy guitar work
Janis Joplin's ear-bleeding screeching
CSN's layered harmonies and shifting whisper melodies
The 'orrible Who booming in like boot boys (and Pete's white boiler suit and bovver boots look, surely inspired Kubricks Clockwork Orange droog designs)

Captured pitch perfectly with progressively edgy editing, split screen shots, triple screen shots, offstage observations from gig-goers, police, parents and much, much more, make 'Woodstock' the definitive time capsule of that heady weekend and it's place in social history.

If you haven't seen Woodstock yet, you really are doing yourself a disservice. The 'director's cut' DVD regularly sells for as little £3 in some entertainment retailers, so why not treat yourself on the 40th anniversary of the event - here's a couple of clips and cuts to tempt you..

The two tunes are studio takes not live - don't be alarmed by the names they really are lolloping chunks of funk.

Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) - Janis Joplin

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Woodstock

If you can't swing watching the whole clip, skip to the seven minute mark for the tempo change and the way it bursts back into life with the hookiest of hooky horn riffs.

The drummer looks like he's just finished a paper round, the keyboard player looks like Elvis. There's guitar hero gurning and curly cables too - perfect! Watch out for the naked stranger dancing with a sheep, and the ginger stoner at the close - you have been warned