6/28/2009

Prepsterous 2





1. Pink Industry - The Raft
2. Todd Rundgren - International Feel
3. Michel Polnareff - Ring-a-Ding
4. The Vaselines - Son of a Gun
5. Legendary Pink Dots - Frosty
6. Todd Rundgren - Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off
7. The Pooh Sticks - On Tape
8. The Pastels - I Wonder Why
9. Martin Newell - She Rings the Changes
10. Marine Girls - In Love
11. Phil Wilson - Better Days
12. Pink Military - Did You See Her
13. The Pale Fountains - You’ll Start A War
14. Todd Rundgren - Breathless
15. Bourgie Bourgie - Breaking Point
16. Peter Hammill - The Institute of Mental Health, Burning
17. The Would-Be-Goods - The Camera Loves Me
18. The Only Ones - Peter & the Pets
19. Brian Eno - Seven Deadly Finns
20. Those Naughty Lumps - Iggy Pop’s Jacket
21. And Also The Trees - The House of the Heart
22. The Wolfhounds - Me
23. How To Get To Hue Pooh Stick
24. The Pooh Sticks - Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution
25. 14 Iced Bears - Coming Down
26. Northern Picture Library - Love Song For the Dead Che no. 2
27. Eno - Moebius - Roedelius - The Belldog
28. Preposterous Outro

mp3 Download Part 1 (songs 1-15) / Part 2 (songs 16-28)

6/21/2009

I Fell In Love With A Cleaner - Greatest Wits


featuring Wivenhoe's The Cleaners From Venus

Martin Newell (left) & Giles Smith circa 1986 (i think)



My "greatest wits" of the group. Hopefully this will shine some light on this overlooked band.

Download songs 1 - 14 / songs 15 - 27 in mp3 format

1. The Mercury Girl
2. Only A Shadow
3. Victoria Grey
4. The Winter Palace
5. Lukewarm Lovesong
6. Illya Kuryakin Looked At Me
7. Drowning Butterflies
8. Ghosts in Doorways
9. Golden Age Saturday
10. This Rainy Decade
11. Renee (who's driving your car?)
12. A Blue Wave
13. Song For Syd Barrett
14. Girl On A Swing
15. Only Cardboard Town
16. Red Guitars and Silver Tambourines
17. Summer In A Small Town
18. Follow the Plough
19. Armistice Day
20. Julie Profumo
21. Sunday Afternoons
22. F.U.N.
23. Night Starvation
24. Living On Nerve Ends
25. North Of My Heart
26. Johnny The Moondog Is Dead
27. Clara Bow


sampling of covers from the original cassette only albums


Martin Newell with bunny friend

discography
interview with Martin by Richie Unterberger here
Cherry Red TV interviewed Martin Newell, seek it out!
Giles Smith (member of Cleaners From Venus) wrote a book called Lost In Music. I hear it's really great, maybe you can borrow my copy after I read it :)

1 1 5 6 4 8 2

Newell retraces the band's beginnings: "Lol Elliott and I became firm friends with much in common: psychedelic music, Beatles, Bonzos, Small Faces, XTC, Teardrop Explodes and Todd Rundgren. In November of 1980 we set to work in my cottage doing music on a hand-cranked, mud-cooled, reel-to-reel, sound-on-sound tape recorder. Lol played drums and banged and twanged things. I played guitar and we started doing these marvelous ersatz pop songs. The rule was two songs had to be written and recorded every Monday before my miserable girlfriend (at the time) got home from work and told us to stop. We both worked in a restaurant as part-timers. He was the cleaner and I was the washer-up. Round about March of 1981, we found we'd got about 40 songs, so we picked 18 of them and sent them to Sounds magazine, who said they were really good. We said anyone who wanted a copy had to send a blank tape or 50 pence (about a dollar). This tape was called Blow Away Your Troubles. It was in flawed mono with dropouts and hiss... but very good fun.
Lots of people sent in for the tape, so we kind of came into existence by default really," admits Newell. "At this point we had to think of a name. We called ourselves the Soft Humans for about a month before we became the Cleaners From Venus (we nearly chose the Brotherhood of Lizards and the Peach Wellingtons). We chose that name partly because we were 'cleaners,' partly because it rhymed and was silly (we'd hate to come on too serious), and the 'Venus' thing. Lol and I were brought up on sixties TV as kids and still had a Twilight Zone idea of aliens being green with special powers, etc. It's sort of a hangover from acid/deviant/comic book humor."


I owe thanks to the people who made this music available online previously on blogs and elsewhere floating about in the web.

6/15/2009

23 (for Alex)

1. Levitation - Nadine
2. Julian Cope - Bill Drummond Said
3. Chrome - TV As Eyes
4. Swell Maps - Let’s Build A Car
5. Arthur Russell - A Little Lost
6. The Waterboys - The Whole Of The Moon
7. Arthur Russell - The Deer In The Forest Part 1
8. Delia Derbyshire - Doctor Who Theme (delaware version)
9. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Vcl Xi
10. Heidi Berry - Up In The Air
11. East River Pipe - My Life Is Wrong
12. Television Personalities - Stop And Smell The Roses
13. Factrix - Ballad Of The Grim Rider
14. Cindytalk - A Song Of Changes
15. His Name Is Alive - Darkest Dreams
16. The Jazz Butcher - Susie
17. The Verlaines - Slow Sad Love Song
18. Cleaners From Venus - Lukewarm Lovesong
19. Cleaners From Venus - Victoria Grey
20. Young Marble Giants - Music For Evening
21. Kendra Smith - Valley Of The Morning Sun
22. Sunset Gun - Can’t Cloud My View
23. R. Stevie Moore - I Wanna Hit You
24. 13th Floor Elevators - May The Circle Remain Unbroken

mp3 Download Part 1 / Part 2





I took the cover photo in Larkspur California. The image with the track listing is of Jupiter.

6/11/2009

Virginia Astley "Love's A Lonely Place To Be"

Virginia Astley recorded one of, if not the most, unique and beautiful albums of the 1980s. Don't be surprised if you've never heard of her. She's buried in obscurity, at least here in the States. Her earlier material made a splash in the indie charts over in England, and I think she's probably bigger in Japan.
I'm posting her first single, "Love's A Lonely Place To Be". I personally feel these are insightful and honest lyrics, and really sad! Detailing a dreary relationship, the lryics are matched with a pretty saccharine piece of music which has often been described as "Christmasy". If you're put off by her voice (I'm not), then do check out her album "From Gardens Where We Feel Secure," the album that I referred to in the first sentence; it's mostly instrumental. I'm certain till my death that I'll regard it as one of my favorites and play it constantly for my children.

a very detailed website www.virginiaastley.com

Virginia Astley - Love's A Lonely Place to Be.mp3







(if you search her name on my blog you can find a song from Gardens)

6/05/2009

you've been invited to the...



Download Part 1 mp3s
The Velvet Underground - We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Wawa
David Bowie - Up The Hill Backwards
Ultramagnetic MC's - Travelling At The Speed Of Thought (Remix)
Arthur Russell - The Platform on the Ocean
Brian - Turn Your Lights On
Close Lobsters - Sewer Pipe Dream
Rote Kapelle - San Francisco Again
New Order - Procession
ESG - Moody
Sly & The Family Stone - Fun
Public Image Ltd. - Careering
Orange Juice - Falling & Laughing
A Certain Ratio - Do the Du
Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
Denim - Bubblehead

Download Part 2 mp3s
Disco Inferno - The Long Dance
Vic Godard & The Subway Sect - Vertical Integration
Associates - Party Fears Two
Donna Summer / Giorgio Moroder - I Feel Love
Roxy Music - Prairie Rose
The Brilliant Corners - Delilah Sands
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Garden City
Silver Apples - Ruby
The Standells - Barracuda

Download Part 3 mp3s
Scars - All About You
Fire Engines - Big Gold Dream
Saint Etienne - Conchita Martinez
Josef K - Heart of Song
Sparks - The No.1 Song in Heaven
Buzzcocks - You Say You Don't Love Me

- - - - - - - - - - - -

dance |dans|
verb [ intrans. ]
move rhythmically to music, typically following a set sequence of steps : their cheeks were pressed together as they danced.
noun
a series of movements that match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music.
PHRASES
dance attendance on do one's utmost to please someone by attending to all possible needs or requests.
dance to someone's tune comply completely with someone's demands and wishes.
lead someone a dance (or a merry dance) Brit. cause someone a great deal of trouble or worry.
DERIVATIVES
danceability noun
danceable |ˈdønsəbəl| adjective
ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French dancer (verb), dance (noun), of unknown origin.