Vinyl #44 - Blondie

"Heart of Glass" (12" single)

I'd liked Blondie since their first album and their brilliant early singles. But when this came along it was a step up and it gained them (and Debbie Harry especially) superstardom.

It's just a perfect slice of Moroderesque disco, and this is the full near-six minute version. What I've always loved about this record - and still love - is Clem Burke's brilliant drumming - especially on the extended outro. Quite simply superb.

Here's the music - enjoy!

https://youtu.be/VtEu_SKE1Gc

Vinyl #43 - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

"The Message" (12" single extended remix)

It was July 1982 and I'd moved out of my parent's home, and was a 19 year-old sharing a house with some lads in central Portsmouth when this came out, I remember buying it and then realising I'd have to carry it to Fratton Park to watch Pompey play, hoping that it would survive the crush on the terraces (in those days the Fratton End was a terrace and we all swayed around rather a lot!). Thankfully it did survive.

It's safe to say that this is an all-time classic - the first rap song with a social message - THE message - it made a massive impact at the time and it's been sampled and copied ever since. The music is secondary, it's not particularly inspiring but the lyrics - printed in full on the FRONT of the picture sleeve - were what mattered. A huge slice of reality for America and on the 12" you got a full 7 minutes plus.

Although credited to the Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five the song was c0-written and sung by only two of them - Duke Bootee and Melle Mel. It's on the brilliant Sugar Hill label which at the time could do no wrong and was a guarantee of quality (it's biggest hit being "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang)  

Listening to it again today, it still sounds fresh and the Message still resonates. Here's the music:

https://youtu.be/vsmp-TYjxp4

Vinyl #42 - Womack & Womack

"Love Wars" (12" single, extended remix)

New year, slightly new approach. I've decided to delve into my 12" single stock - and certainly in the early 1980s I bought a lot of 12" singles, after all this was the time of the remix and extended versions, with possible bonus tracks not on the 7" version.

I'm starting with this super slick slice on 1983 American disco-funk (I went slightly soul boy at this time of my life as you will discover over the coming months). This is just a fantastic song which is impossible to keep still to or not sing along to. Listening to it again it now, it does get slightly repetitive over the 12" format and probably works better over 7", but back in the day you HAD to have the extended remix.

Womack & Womack were husband and wife duo Linda and Cecil Womack and they were steeped in American musical history  - Linda was Sam Cooke's daughter and Cecil had previously been married to Mary Wells of The Supremes. Before singing their own material they had worked with people like James Brown and as a songwriting duo had written hit songs for many artists.

When I bought this single I was working in a bank in central Portsmouth and my mate Ian and I would spend every - and I mean every - lunch hour in the local record shops looking for the latest releases. We were lucky to have a large HMV store, plus a Virgin Megastore in the (now gone) Tricorn Centre and a local independent store Subway Records. Heaven!! Getting our fix of buying a new vinyl record certainly helped the afternoon go quicker, and the boring commute home felt better knowing that I had some new vinyl to whack onto the turntable as soon as I got home.

Here's the music:

 https://youtu.be/fajfqEgj9BI

Vinyl #41 - The Pretenders

I Go To Sleep - 7" single

I've always had a soft spot for The Pretenders, but usually their rockier stuff.

This is at the other end of the spectrum completely, not like their usual stuff. The clue is that it's a cover of a Ray Davies song who, of course, was Chrissie Hynde's partner at the time. It's a powerful and intense ballad.

Interestingly The Kinks never released a version, it was originally released by a band called The Applejacks (never heard of them!)

Here's the music: https://youtu.be/uIpfsMdf0LQ

Vinyl #40 - Sheila Hylton

"The Bed's Too Big Without You" (7" inch single)

I always liked The Police song "Bed's Too Big Without You" but in 1980 - a year after the original - this version was released on the always-reliable Island Records and I fell in love with it. 

I didn't know Sheila Hylton, not many people did as she was only a part-time singer when not working as an air hostess for Air Jamaica, but there's something about this version that works for me. The clue to that may be in the credits - arranged by the crack Jamaican rhythm team of Sly & Robbie; I've always loved their work whether it's Black Uhuru or Grace Jones. Produced by Harry J - again a legendary producer (remember 'The Liquidator' by Harry J's Allstars?).

So great song by Sting, no doubt about that, and I love both versions but this one just nips ahead.

Here's the music:  https://youtu.be/MHG-hI5tMbE

Vinyl #39 - The Jam

"The Modern World" (7" single)

One of the Jam's early singles, released in October 1977 (42 years ago!!) the only single off their second album. Already Paul Weller was marked out as a spokesperson for his generation and this song - part of his manifesto for youth over the 'old guard' - cemented that position further. Here's the music:
https://youtu.be/oWrd9XuSKZg

Just looking at the front cover of the picture sleeve underlines how young these guys were - Weller was 18 and still living in Woking with his parents. The maturity of his lyrics and the power of the songs marked The Jam out as something different. I saw The Jam in their prime in 1978 at Portsmouth Guildhall and for a three-piece they blew the place apart.

The Jam didn't really fit into the standard punk categorisation but their attitude was completely punk. Weller drew on all his influences though - soul, motown and mod -especially when shaping the sound and look of the band. Just look at the B-sides to this single, The Jam's live versions of two soul classics but played at break neck punk speed. Well worth a listen and showing that The Jam were never going to be pigeon-holed into a single musical genre. Remember these songs were recorded 11th September 1977 at the 100 Club on Oxford Street - the so-called 'home' of punk rock. Quite brilliant.

https://youtu.be/Hu1X2c3o8YQ

Vinyl #38 - Sex Pistols

"Never Mind The Bollocks" (album)

Decided to do something different this time with an album which I've been re-visiting. Not just any album though - one of my Top 3 albums ever.

It's hard to overstate the impact the Sex Pistols had on changing the face of popular music in the UK (and probably elsewhere). No Pistols - no Nirvana. no Foo Fighters, no Arctic Monkeys, no Idles, no numerous snivelling indie guitar bands that have followed. The Pistols set the future template by pressing 'reset' on the whole fat and overblown rock music industry in the 1970's where success was measured by the length of both the drum solo and the lead singers hair.

The Pistols made this one album before they imploded amongst death, squalor and recriminations and I for one am glad it ended then. They leave a perfect one album legacy. Forget the outtakes, bootlegs, live recordings and fairy tale rubbish subsequently recorded by the rotting corpse of the band - that's just corporate vultures wringing as much money they can out of the Pistols 'brand'. Forget the non-music antics, the swearing on TV, the circus that they became.

Instead let's focus on the one proper album they made. It has certainly lost none of it's edginess and power. It still captures the UK in 1977 but it still remains relevant and immediate. It still smacks you in the face, sonically and lyrically.

What makes it so good? Well it's the combination of Steve Jones's multi-layered power chords and his licks that sit in between the lines (Jones has been a criminally under-rated guitarist); Paul Cook's rocksteady and crashing beat and drum fills, and his unusually clever and frequent use of the ride cymbal; John Lydon's (nee Rotten) snarling, spitting vocals along with his nihilistic lyrics. And last but not least original bassist Glen Matlock's eye for a melody and a hook (the band effectively ceased musically when Matlock was sacked by McLaren for being 'too musical'; McLaren wanted a cartoon punk in the band and got one with Sid Vicious who couldn't even play the bass - the bass parts on 'Never Mind The Bollocks' are played by guitarist Steve Jones).

The production is a total wall of sound but never muddied, listening on headphones you get to hear these constituent parts in all their individual and combined glory.

The iconic album cover by artist Jamie Reid has been much copied but never bettered, it suited the contents perfectly.

The hype and 'notoriety' surrounding the Sex Pistols has unfortunately meant that most people's focus has not been on the music. It's worth revisiting this album which captured the punk zeitgeist in 40 minutes of perfect music and words.

Here's the music:

https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm29866883