start the week right

we're a winner

the contrast podcast crew have traveled back to 1967 this week without ,thank gawd, the merest hint of moptop and only a drop or two of pachouli.
for me it was the easiest one to pick a tune for for a while. the impressions 'we're a winner' has been somewhere very near the top of my singles pile since my pal richard first introduced me to the glorious pleasures of curtis mayfield and suffers terribly from being played at pretty much every do i've ever played records at.can you imagine this being practically banned by radio at the time. idiots. it's only competition came from the wish to remember john coltrane, who died that year, even though it's really the piano beauty of mccoy tyner that makes me melt, and the village hall disco floor filler of my youth 'there's a ghost in my house'. it's tunes like this that make me want to flatten every idiot that still spouts the tragic drivel about the beadles inventing music...


so freedom sounds, northern floorshakers and modal madness it is then

the impressions - we're a winner

r dean taylor - there's a ghost in my house

wet wednesday torment tuesday siddeleys special

i'm ever so glad that the siddeleys are finally held in the high regard they deserve. perhaps the end of the eighties just wasn't their time. still it's a shame they never got chance to make the records they could've and i shall feel forever guilty that i couldn't do more with the dumb little label i ran extremely shoddily to blast them into all the hearts that needed them most. they were after all in glorious flight a timely reminder that pop music can be instant, effortless and intensely exciting and still possess depths which leave you dizzy...


they still manage to leave their mark on the streets of west london. i don't know why the streets were closed in their name. a parade maybe, or new stock of the lp in rough trade...


a million years ago in some godforsaken camden back room i was given a tape by a gang with the best haircuts in the place and am stunned that it hasn't fallen apart after a gazillion plays. almost all the stuff the siddeleys ever recorded is on slum clearance but a couple of the oldest gems got lost. this was one of my favourites.

the siddeleys - things will be different (original demo)


thankyou uncle john peel. i know it's on the sombrero doodah but i'm very proud of the dear thing, so here's

the siddeleys - sunshine thuggery

to give you an idea of the bizarre madness and crappiness of the music industry at bug level in 1987 peter powell or some other stuntkiting daytime radio one dj apparently whispered that he would play sunshine thuggery on his show if we could get him a seven inch copy. imagine that - daytime radio only played sevens but the independent manufacturers and distributors would only stump up the cash for us to release twelve inch eps and by the time i'd begged and scraped the loot to do it ourselves together they insisted the moment had passed and a huge opportunity went the way of all things. bugger.
at least they're cult heroes now...



competition time

you can win your very own siddeleys flexi disc also featuring those butch and bona omis reserve by simply answering the following worthy of richard and judy brain buster...

gang leader johnny johnson was keen on scrawling the names of her heroes on the back of her hand. who would you most likely find printed large on her clenched fist?

a - alf quiet

b - joe meek

c - ted shy

get it right and a bunch of you will wondering how the hell you're supposed to play the bloody thing.
just leave your answer in the comments bit below and check back soon to see if you've won.
easy.



there are properly written siddeleys celebrations and more tunes to be had here...
the roaring machine whoa whoa, love grows
indie mp3 track of the week
sweeping the nation more songs to learn and sing
medium cool jukebox

photo courtesy of acb

we love les

the day just feels better if i start it laughing. i hope this works for you too.
x

goodbye new piccadilly

so another of london's greatest treasures is to be lost. by the 23rd of september that most classic of classic cafes the new piccadilly will close and, along with every other shabby but wonderful bit of that chunk of denman street, will get bulldozed.
i didn't get down there anything like as often as i should, the holborn tea rooms was more my spot for double egg on toast and paintstripper tea, and it was always just outside my own personal bit of london. (my london is ridiculously little when i think about it and the self imposed by years of habit borders are harder to cross than you'd think - i'd rarely get down brewer st further than walkers court, even piccadilly seeming to far west...) anyway i'm always far too easily tempted by a drop of what killed auntie in the french house, or the coach, or the blue posts or gawd knows how many other boozers along the way.



but i shall miss the old place, despite the classic fm and posters for terrible shows, and i urge you to pop in if you happen to be down that way.
you'll like it i'm sure.


and when i rule the world this will be required listening for every architect and evil developer in the land

chairmen of the board - working on a building of love

photos courtesy of mizzy*
more cafe loveliness at classic cafes

contrast podcast goes elvis (sort of)

there are poor sad souls out there who live half lives in the shadows untouched by the blinding light and burning love of elvis. can you imagine such horror? we can only pity them. or laugh and throw stuff.
some of these bizarre creatures have contributed to this weeks elvis themed contrast podcast turning what should clearly've been an enormous outpouring of love into something quite weird and frightening. you can hear it all here.
maybe this will show them the light...