Showing posts with label Shaun Ryder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shaun Ryder. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 November 2019

Take The Skinheads Bowling


Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I walked to and from work. Both walks were in the dark as it's autumn and the days are still getting shorter as we are still on the way to the Winter Solstice and the shortest day. I did about 18.5K steps which at 2.5K steps per mile is about 7.5 miles. I don't think I will do that today as I need to be at work a bit longer today but I will definitely be walking in , and my step cout is ahead of schedule for the month.

I got to listen to the excellent "Dirty Computer" by Janelle Monáe, my favourite album of the last two years, repeating a couple of songs as I played it then finishing off with Marcel King's "Reach For Love" , one of my favourite singles and Shaun Ryder's favourite Factory single. That's the great thing about walking, these days (and really since the dawn of the compact cassette) we have the ability to listen to music on the move. Although cassettes are having a revival, the problem has always been their fragility, but they did combine that with convenience. A friend of mine had a cassette player that allowed you to program the playing order, but the fact that it had to fast forward and rewind between songs sort of negated the convenience, but an impressive piece of technology none the less.

The blog is now eight posts away from the annual record (last year I hit 316) so that will be easily surpassed this year and that will probably be it for posting records.

One of the points of this blog is to share music with friends and I was thinking of something by Janelle Monáe or Marcel King, but Chris Hawkins on 6Music has just put on "Take The Skinheads Bowling" by Camper Van Beethoven who once retired to a cabin and recorded Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" (my favourite Fleetwood Mac album and even got album of the week from NME despite being a double album by "dinosaur rockers" in the middle of the UK punk explosion, and the CVB one is good as well). So we will go with "Take The Skinheads Bowling".

Just as I was writing this , my tablet box somehow fell out of my pocket. It is round. I looked down it was nowhere to be seen. I guessed right and it had rolled under the chest of drawers. C'est la vie.

Sunday, 19 May 2019

FactoryZoo


Just shoved together two of my most liked record labels Factory from Manchester and Zoo from Liverpool because I do  have a book called "Factory".

Factory was the imprint of Tony / Anthony Wilson and brought us among others Joy Division , Happy Mondays , New Order and lots more as well as lots of iconic design ideas. The Hacienda Club used the black and yellow warning stripes , now every time I see it I don't think WARNING I thing HACIENDA or FACTORY . A brilliant idea. The film "24 Hour Party People" is about Tony Wilson and the lasting enigma of Factory Records. It was also responsible for releasing "Reach For Love" by Marcel King, one of my favourite records ever. It's also Shaun Ryder's favourite Factory single.

Everything on Factory had a catalogue number (The Hacienda was FAC51)

Zoo Records from Liverpool was nowhere near as influential as Factory but I remember getting a compilation (Street To Street: A Liverpool Album - 1978) and loving "Match of The Day" by Big In Japan, who featured Holly Johnson, Ian Broudie , Bill Drummond and Budgie. The label also featured Echo and The Bunnymen , Teardrop Explodes and lots more so still very important.

It is quite surprising that Zoo Records are almost impossible to track down these days and a lot of the Factory compilations are similar. Discogs seems to be the best way of sourcing them.

So it's Sunday , the weather is gorgeous , so I may relax and enjoy it or possibly nip out for a walk, but either way I am going to have a relaxing day. Hope you do too.


Wednesday, 26 December 2018

Steam Quake Goofle


I was going to write a Christmas Day Free post yesterday but in the end couldn't be bothered. This morning I realised that I had no games on my PC although I had back up disk images of Quake, Hexen and Doom but the inherent laziness of finding putting a disk in the drive kicked in as well as trying to get the daamned things to run on Windows 10.

So a quick Google search and I find that a whole Quake collection is available on Steam for £8.49. It was really a no brainer. I just saw that I mistakenly spelt Google as Goofle. Isn't Goofle just a great word.

I also realised I hadn't played a game on this computer since I got it over a year ago, so booted up Quake in Nightmare mode and got killed almost immediately , I then retried in normal mode and the machine froze when I was half way through Level 1, but I'm not too bothered, I think it will sort itself out. I also got Civilization III for 74p.

I decided to listen to some of my favourite Punk compilation 1-2-3-4, five disks of brilliance and the first compilation that The Clash allowed themselves to be included on. I was playing from my network set up and then got sidetracked and was playing Marcel King's "Reach For Love" from the Factory Records box about six times. It really is one of the best records ever, and is Shaun Ryder's favourite Factory single.

I posted on Facebook that at the moment it's my favourite record ever, so obviously it has to be the Boxing Day song although I am up to "Anarchy In The UK" on the 1-2-3-4 album and every song on that box could probably feature in my posts.

Have a fantastic Boxing Day folks.

Sunday, 25 December 2016

On Christmas Day Reach For Love


I really wasn't expecting to post today but so far I've had a brilliant relaxing Christmas. I've managed to talk to some friends and family, got some lovely presents, and am listening to one of them , The Rolling Stones "Blue & Lonesome" , Mick Jagger sounding bluesier than ever almost like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters or, dare I say it Captain Beefheart, and that is just one of the wonderful albums I received today , which I am now transferring to my music server.

There's no snow so it's not going to be a White Christmas I don't think although there's parts of the sky that are black while others are blue and sunny. So really who knows what the weather is going to decide to do.

Be Like Frank
I am sort of wondering what song to play on this one , and though I haven't posted in the #LikeNoOther sequence for ages, which makes me think of Wild Man Fischer but I don't think that's one for today. I remember Frank Zappa telling a story about Larry Fischer meeting his brother one day:

"Larry had the axe, his brother had the bad luck" , which made me chuckle, though I hope his brother was not too traumatized







Just looking out the window and it looks like one of my neighbours has got a new drill for Christmas, I so detest getting or buying anything practical for Christmas and Birthdays, this should be a time of getting something pleasurable and out of the ordinary. I know that is not an option for a lot of people but if you need something you should get it immediately as soon as you can afford it, not wait for Christmas or a Birthday.

I was wondering what to play and it was staring me in the face, Marcel King's "Reach For Love" , it's Shaun Ryder's favourite Factory single, and a truly wonderful uplifting record, from the sadly missed singer , love Marcel's voice. I found this New York Mix which stretches it out to five and a half minutes, and if there's one thing better than a good thing, it's more of a good thing, and this certainly is a wonderfully good thing.



Anyway I hope your day is going brilliantly , I hope that you are going to rest and then kickstart another year of fun, good deeds , enjoyment.

Friday, 26 July 2013

Coincidentally Opencast

New OpenCast  Office
Often things happen and because of some other event we notice stuff that we maybe wouldnt have noticed . This week a number of things happened that are sort of tenuously connected and are sticking in my mind because  of the way things happened. It started with an instagram post by a great friend of mine CEO of Opencast Software referring to the Happy Mondays song . This came about when they were asked to do a cover for Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary album. They loved John Kongos' He's Gonna Step On You Again , and covered that , Shaun Ryder lifting the "Twistin' My Melon Man" from a quote from a Paul Newman film.

 Anyway apparently (and this has been verified by the Guinness Book of Records) , He's Gonna Step On You Again by John Kongos is the first commercial single to use a sample (the Africa Drum Loop). So here is its to listen to:




Tokolshe Stalking a Mad Dog
The band liked their cover , re-titled "Step On" so much they released it as a single and covered another John Kongos song Tokoloshe Man. Now listening to Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie they were talking to a guy about the top record covers , and that included the Happy Mondays "Step On" which most people don't realise is actually a cover. Aparently when Kongos was stuck for inspiration he would ring his mum and one of her suggestion was Tokoloshe Man, and the Tokoloshe appeared as a voodoo dwarf in the last series of Mad Dogs.

So if you want a copy of the Happy Mondays Tokoloshe Man you will have to hunt down the album or get Loaded.

There were many other coincidences that happened this week but that's all they were  , but it is sometimes amazing how many things coincide when you dont expect them to 


Sunday, 17 March 2013

Four And A Half Books



I'm not a fast reader , but am a great advocate of books and reading . As well as paper we also have the option of ereaders such as Kindles and iPads and other tablets. For some reason I've been reading a lot of music related books. One was Bass Culture (When Reggae Was Great) by Lloyd Bradley which was heavy going because of the small type, but nevertheless a great read but an obvious candidate to read on a Kindle.

Next up was Shaun Ryder's "Twistin' My Melon" autobiography , which was much as you myight expect veering between entertaining and annoying. I never regarded him as a style icon so his continual harping on over his designer label clothes became very wearing , but I did eventually hit the final page . The fact that I completed it must mean it's not that bad a book.

Next up was Keith Richard's Life. I think it's remarkable , I was expecting it to be on a par with the Shawn Ryder book , but , it is is coherent , unrepetitive , informative , and has a lot of humour and honesty in there as well as loads of practical tips for guitarists and songwriters , as well a bits by friends and acquaitances of "Keef" . Als the truths behind many of his escapades that found their way into Rolling Stones urban legend , such as Mick , Marianne and the Mars Bar and the fall from the coconut tree. Highly enjoyable and recommended.

Currenty I'm reading Tony Benn: A Biography by Jad Adams . Tony Benn is one of the handful of politicians that I have ever had any respect for , and the book is so well written that it makes politics seem almost interesting , with goodies and baddies and comedic episodes. It's another 500 pages but a great read , and surprising because it is not something I would normally have picked up , but was given it in a Facebook promotion. A brilliant read which I hope to finish this week.

Finally I have to read A Little History Of The World by  , which is my chosen book for World Book Night 2013. This is the first one where I haven't actually read the book , but I intend to have in completed within the next three weeks. It seems similar in scope to Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"  which is what attracted to the book. No doubt when I am finished I will post back here.

Saturday, 2 February 2013

Casualty Blues


I'm writing this in the Casualty Department in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Hospital. I'm using a document producing office suite on my iPad , and like anything new still a bit unsure of how to use it. Text is coming out at a reasonable speed using my blu tooth keyboard and the spell checker is good but unobtrusive.

Anyway last time I was here there seemed a lot less people, but this time I've just turned up because of a possible bone fracture in my left foot. After this I have to go up a ladder to fix a gutter and that has to happen. The two situations however are mutually incompatible. I always criticise people for not following doctor's orders but I have a feeling that today I will be one of those. I've noticed the announcement system is not very in your face so I am slightly worried I may miss my appointment.

I've just had a thought I hope this office suite can do a full cut and paste or I will be more than a bit miffed.

There's no mobile signal in here so I cant even look for outside entertainment though there are plenty of people franticly messing with their phones in the forlorn hope of finding a signal. You shouldn't use your phone in a hospital for similar reasons why you shouldn't use one on an airplane. It could interfere with sensitive equipment. As I say almost everyone here is messing with at least one phone.

It is quiet and I will soon save this and go back to reading Stuart Maconie's Hope and Glory, which is proving more laborious that expected as I zipped through his previous books Cider With Roadies and Pies and Prejudice , but it may be just my current state of mind (exhaustion). I've just read Shaun Ryder's Twisting My Melon and that was a fairly easy if unexpectedly hefty read.

Anyway when I realised I would have another two hours to wait decided to make an appointment with my GP and get myself sorted that way.