you just tape tape tape

many of you little readers probably don't know what this thing above is - well it once caused the death of the music industry (nearly). i continue to fight that good fight by using them to record downloads.
home taping illegal downloads is killing music.
i worry about a world without obsessed teenagers spending hour after should be doing their homework or hanging around outside the chippy hour hunched over a stereo desperately waiting for the stupid radio to play the song that will make a well trained finger stab at the pause button and capture a never to be repeated treasure. or just tape the whole top forty. hell just tape something. can you do that with all that digital stuff? i bet you can and it's just that i'm an idiot and don't know how. and i bet they can all do it loads easier without the station wandering off or turning into the weather forcast in poland or some taxi rank controller. in that case good riddance you stupid bloody cassette.

anyway... i've dug out some old tapes and found some brilliant stuff. peel sessions are everywhere but the other bbc evening shows don't seem to pop up very often. probably because kid jensen, richard skinner, janice long and whoever else was on before peel were such phonies. and because radio one only went fm late on so the reception was always all over the place.
the quality of most of the stuff on the tapes is awful but there's still things worth hearing.
first up is an orange juice session from kid jensen's show. it's the pre rip it up lp stuff and sounds a billion times better in this muddy, terrible reception state. i got the rip it up lp the day it came out and took it back the next day crushed with disappointment.
it was rubbish.
and they looked hilariously stupid in bad stylist make up.
why did you let them do this to you boys..?
oh yeah. a top ten hit.
well i hope it was worth it.


at least they looked their old selves by the time the bloke from the nme came round. here's a thing from october 1982 to get you in the mood.



so here's your tunes, from a battered radio/cassette player in a northern bedroom
in spite of it all is two hearts together in disguise, i can't help myself is still the hit that should've been, and mud in your eye is transformed into something al green would've been proud of.
orange juice - kid jensen session 24th april 1982
in spite of it all
i can't help myself
mud in your eye

felicity

this tattered old thing lived on my wall for a billion years, and i'm amazed it's survived. i particulary love the 'james usually a cannibal. he can be a bit difficult' bit. 'felicity' is a wonderful record as well you know so i won't go on about it.


i got the felicity flexi with a fanzine from a lovely american called barbara ( i think it came with 'falling and laughing' too) and at the time was truly stunned by it's terribleness. it's a mystery why they chose that rendition to put out. the three people clapping is my favourite bit. nowadays i treasure it as the pretty much unlistenable mess that it is

click on the title at the top to take you there - i'll figure out this link business eventually...

orange juice - felicity flexi

chip wrappers

i don't know if anyone's going to be able to read this hilariously ragged bit of old nme but if you do i hope it makes you laugh as much as i did when i was 17 and again last night when i found it in amongst lots of horrendously embarassing photographs.

there's another one to come where edwyn's got a really rubbish goatee ...