Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #38 – special guest BILL BREWSTER

This week we were joined by journalist, author and djhistory.com founder Bill Brewster, who brought with him a fine selection of tracks by artists both known and obscure for your delectation. It has to be said, Bill is very much a man on our wavelength; a true music fan with catholic tastes, it transpired he also shared our love of “double take” tracks, i.e. great tracks by well-known artists most people write off as rubbish. Ever think you’d hear a Jamiroquai track on the show? Neither did we but trust us, the one Bill selects is amazing.

If we’re honest, these kind of shows are manna from heaven for us, as they represent a chance to have someone else make the selections and potentially switch us on to both classic tracks and artists we may have slept on. Bill brought that in droves, airing killer songs from artists we knew of whilst turning us onto the likes of Kevin Hewick, Magazine 60 and The Feelies, one of Stiff Records’ lesser-known signings who -- on the basis of the awesome track Bill aired -- are to be sought out immediately.

Or, as listener JedB put it in a mid-show message, “these track selections are even more eccentric than usual!”… which we’re taking to be a good thing!

Be sure to check out the treasure trove that is Bill’s djhistory.com website, and if you’ve not already we strongly recommend you buy his excellent work with DJHistory co-founder Frank Broughton, “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life”

Tracklisting:
1. The Utmost -- Whole Lotta Loving
2. David Essex -- Rock On
3. Kevin Hewick -- Haystack
4. Jamiroquai -- Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing
5. Donovan -- Well Known Has-Been
6. The Feelies -- The Boy With Perpetual Nervousness
7. The Phenomenal Handclap Band -- Fifteen To Twenty
8. Magazine 60 -- Don Quixote
9. Etta James -- You Give Me What I Want

Soundbed: Indeep -- DJ Delight

Click here to download the show! (256k MP3, 113Mb)

Oh, and this was our featured video for this show -- Mark the 45 King rocking a pair of Vestax Handytrax turntables, which Bill told us about after I’d mentioned how I’d found that Utmost 45 at a fair thanks to me having the Handytrax with me…

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #37 (May’09)

Join us this week as we take in the usual rather wide-ranging selections including midwestern indie/country pop, mento, a fine alter-ego of the Portishead chaps and -- woo-haa! -- Galt McDermott, among others… Also worthy of note is the inclusion of a track that Tom rated as “possibly the best thing you’ve ever brought in”, courtesy of Swiss industrial Doors-channellers Young Gods….

As ever the rant factor is in full swing on Trick’s part, with just about all new releases coming in for some serious wrath. We can only be glad he didn’t make good on his threat to air something from Kiss’ “Music from The Elder” album as some kind of spiteful revenge move. Well, not this week anyway…*evil grin*

Tracklisting:
1. The WLS Band -- Simply Funky
2. The Jimi Entley Sound -- Charlie’s Theme
3. Galt McDermott -- Space
4. The Meat Puppers -- Never To Be Found
5. Pantyraid -- Beba
6. The Young Gods -- Summer Eyes (excerpt)
7. Count Zebra and the Seasiders -- Bedbug
8. Chin’s Sextet -- Honeybee

Soundbed for the show was Manu Chao’s “Mr Bobby”.

Click to download the show! (256k MP3, 115Mb)

Featured Video for this week’s show was a curious YouTube find; Young Gods doing an awesome acoustic rendition of their “Our House” track, which was the 2nd track from them that Trick played on the show, briefly:

Smiley Culture – Junglist Police Officer

On this week’s show Tom played a fastchat track from Papa San, which led to mention of Smiley Culture and his Police Officer track. With me mentioning the quickly made junglist remix I did of that track, it seems like a perfect excuse to re-post it up here for you all to enjoy. I seem to have done myself a disservice in that I thought the remix got slated when I posted it on my blog back in 2005; from the comments, it was actually complimented a fair bit so thanks to all those who did take time to say something nice. The track was only ever made as a DJ tool to use when playing out, in the same vein as the Marilyn Manson/Titch mashup thing I did – something to roll out as a “you can’t buy this version” track at gigs and suchlike. (Sidenote: for some reason I still laugh when I read that first comment on the Manson remix post…)

Anyway – here’s the track; feel free to comment in the positive or negative below. Best played very loud on a very bass-capable system.

Smiley Culture vs Mr Trick – Police Officer (MP3, 4.3Mb)

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #36 (May’09)

It has to be said, when it comes to special guests we have all the luck of Spinal Tap’s drummers. This week we were meant to be joined by Sean and Finny from Pama Intl, currently supporting The Specials on tour… but sadly things weren’t going our way (again!) and the lads couldn’t make it in. Hence, we hastily put together a show which, in hindsight, turned out pretty damn well if we do say so ourselves.

Taking in much reggae (thanks in part to my scoring a lovely cache of Jamaican 45s from a dealer), we also swerve into “you know the name but you won’t know this” territory with a discofied re-edit of Mott The Hoople and a truly sublime blues track from the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac. Factor in a fastchat special from Tom and a fine, funky cover of “Sunshine of your Love” and you’ve got much to enjoy, trust us…

Click here to download the show! (117Mb, 256k MP3)

Tracklisting:
Dave “Baby” Cortez -- “Funky Robot pt.1″
Mott The Hoople -- “Bastard (A Mountain Of One re-edit)”
Unknown Beverley’s Records 45
Papa San -- “Big and Bad”
Fleetwood Mac -- “Need Your Love So Bad”
5th Dimension -- “Sunshine of Your Love”
Unknown reggae 45
Roland Alphonso -- “Back Beat”
Pama Intl -- “Hand To Mouth (Wrongtom Version)”

Hot Cool Spice were behind this week’s soundbed with an overly extended version of “Worker’s Bank”.

This was the Featured Video for this week -- Smiley Culture’s “Police Officer” to tie in with Tom’s fastchat, er, chat…

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #35 (May’09)

Its safe to say that this week we weren’t in the best of moods when we rocked up to Resonance HQ. So, this was officially tagged the “cheer us up” special and we proceeded to roll out track after track of music that we were determined would force us out of the doldrums and into a better place. And you know what? It worked too. From Monster Magnet’s acid-soaked rock to Nadsroic’s boot-clappin’ Room Mist, we blasted the tracks louder than ever in the studio and asked you all to contact us with messages to lift our spirits. And, god bless you all, you did. Whether it was the merits of seagulls (and their excrement) or the arrest of Hairy Lewis that never came to be, its safe to say you all put smiles on our faces. Factor in Phantom covering Suicide and Alternative TV dropping dub styles and as ever its the usual broad mix of tracks that you KNOW will make sit up and listen.

Here’s the tracklisting in full:
Phantom – “Ghostrider”
The Eliminators – “Love Your Woman”
Cougar – “Rhinelander”
Sexual Harassment – “If I Gave You A Party”
Nadsroic – “Room Mist”
Roots Manuva – “Do Nuh Bodda Mi”
Roots Manuva – “Do Nuh Bodda Mi (Xrabit Remix)”
Roots Manuva – “Do Nuh Bodda Mi (Red Light Remix)”
Roots Manuva Meets Wrongtom – “Do Bodda Mi”
The Phantom – “Power Dub (Version)”
Alternative TV – “Life After Dub”

Soundbed for the show: Regolith’s “Sap Rising” LP which is FREE download over at Myuzyk. Don’t miss!

Click here to download the show! (115Mb, 256k MP3)

Guest Blogger Adam Sieff’s Double Bass Pick: Serge Chaloff

Mr Trick writes: When I was putting together tracks for the “In Praise of the Upright Bass” theme special, I thought it would be interesting to consult my friend and former colleague Adam Sieff to see what tracks he might recommend. These days, Adam is best know as the Global Director of A&R for Sellaband, but when I worked with him at Sony, he was the Director of Jazz, overseeing no end of sublime releases and reissues from Sony’s awesome jazz catalogue. Adam was the man who single-handedly switched me on to the 70s freakout period of Mile Davis’s career, and I’ve many a fond memory of stopping in his office only to leave with a armful of CDs that I couldn’t wait to check out. If you needed any more testament to Adam’s status, I give you this titbit: when Sony issued Miles’s “Kind of Blue” deluxe boxset not so long ago, it was Adam they called upon to be the golden ears for the vinyl pressings, to confirm that the test pressings were both worthy of release but also reflective of the original work. Does this man know his jazz? You bet your ass he does. He’s also a mean telecaster player, but we’ll save that for another day and maybe another guest blog post. For now though, I shall pass you over to Adam…

Serge Chaloff – ‘The Goof And I’
From the album ‘Blue Serge’
Recorded March 14 & 16, 1956
Capitol Records
Personnel: Serge Chaloff: baritone saxophone; Leroy Vinegar: double bass; Philly Joe Jones: drums; Sonny Clark: piano.

Oh man! Serge Chaloff was a genius baritone sax player and former Woody Herman star who got seriously strung out on smack before cleaning up and dying of cancer in 1957 at only 33 years old! But just before he stepped out forever he recorded the stunning ‘Blue Serge’ in Los Angeles with pianist Sonny Clark and the ‘in demand’ rhythm section of the day, bassist Leroy Vinegar and drummer Philly Joe Jones. This album belongs in the pantheon of cool alongside the best of the era, especially other West Coast gems from Chet Baker and Dave Brubeck.

One of the ingredients that make this album so special is the incredible swing generated by Vinegar and Philly Joe. Although coming from the two opposite coasts, they instantly lock together and create a powerful but warm and gentle groove to give the soloists amazing support. Philly Joe Jones may have been more of a star name, but the players all knew that Leroy Vinegar was the man to have on their session.

A well known tune from the Woody Herman days, ‘The Goof And I’ starts off at a ferocious pace, and after once around the head Sonny plays the kind of solo that would have other pianists deep in shitfingers mode. Serge comes back and starts building through the verses before Leroy and Sonny take off together for a sublime ride. Philly Joe plays a short solo, fours and eights are swapped and the whole thing swings like a bitch and is over in 4 minutes 49 seconds. But the good news is that there are six more incredible songs from the album left to hear.

Click to download Serge Chaloff – The Goof And I (MP3, 4.3Mb)