Tuesday, 15 April 2014

MM's old mixtape...

Some nice surprises

MM emailed me, reminding me of a mix CD I'd made him, back when he was in primary school.

He sent me links to the songs he remembered me dumping onto a CD for him, but the links did carry clues as to the songs, so hitting them, one by one, produced a series of nice surprises.


Primal Scream: Rocks


I'll bet this was the opening song on the compilation.

Now, we have your full attention...


The Bluetones: Autophillia


But if she's rockin'
Don't come knockin'
For a while

Light of heart, easy feel, good humour song.


Miles Davis: Time After Time


No question, this is absolutely beautiful. Crisp, sparse, clear. Reggae beat guitar, keyboards, drums, and Miles' melancholy horn, carrying enough emotion for a lifetime.

Fantastic. A great way into Miles Davis and jazz for anyone with doubts.


Donald Byrd, Guru, Ronny Jordan: Time is moving on


Like Miles, Donald Byrd refused to stand still. He played jazz in a jazz era, moved through soul, even soft soul, and here, with Guru, and Ronny Jordan on guitar, there's live hip hop.


Roy Ayers: Running Away


There's about three songs harmonically superimposed here, vocally. There's a vibes solo, too. A beautiful, easy groove. Absolutely splendid.


The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: The impression that I get


Give it a listen. You'll be asking the question: how're these guys not huge? Ska – punk, they should be the American Madness. That's my opinion, anyway. Check out as many songs and albums as you like, these guys are all killer, no filler.


John Martyn: May you never


Love is a lesson
To learn in our time

By some incredible quirk of fate, an old neighbour was a massive fan, and he dragged me to see John Martyn at the (honestly) Tolworth Leisure Centre. Late seventies or early eighties, and he was playing solo, with an array of effects pedals, drum machines and the like. It was a fantastic gig by a great, under valued and sadly missed artist.


Not the usual stuff on a junior schoolkid's personal stereo.


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