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 #34 (April’09)

Its the last show of the month, meaning its time once again for our Theme Special. This month’s is entitled “In Praise Of The Upright Bass”, and casts an ear over various tracks that feature the fine, resonant, deep and warm sound of the mighty double bass.

The premise for this show began when I was listening to Roberta Flack’s “First Take” album -- a truly mesmerising record that Tom rightly described as sounding “like you’re right there in the room with them”. Whilst Roberta’s voice is doubtless the star attraction of this record, Ron Carter’s effortless bass work is astonishing and summarises to me all that is sublime about the double bass as an instrument. With that in mind, I texted Tom suggesting we do a special celebrating the double bass, and now here we are, selecting our favourite tracks for your delectation. Sadly, some tracks had to get left out due to our one-hour running time, and we even had some great suggestions from friends, one of which will be making an appearance on our blog shortly. However in those 60 minutes we take in the sublime Ms. Flack, the twin-bass weaving of Cecil McBee and Stanley Clarke, the legendary Mr Carter’s appearance with Tribe Called Quest, the modern sound of bass courtesy of The Heliocentrics and naturally a piece featuring arguably Britain’s most legendary double bass player, session legend Danny Thompson.

Here’s the tracklisting in full:

Lee Arnold Trio -- “Funky Chimes”
Pharoah Sanders -- “Black Unity Part One”
The Heliocentrics -- “Distant Star”
Unknown -- “Halfcrown Skit”
A Tribe Called Quest feat Ron Carter -- “Verses From The Abstract”
McCoy Tyner -- “Survival Blues”
Donovan -- “Get Thy Bearings”
Soul Coughing -- “How Many Cans”
Roberta Flack -- “Trying Times”

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

Here is the Featured Video for this show -- Ron Carter’s rather odd coffee advert he made for Japan. Tom actually tried to find the ads he did for some pipe brand, but sadly he couldn’t find them:

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #4 (Jan. 08)

So, our first show of 2008, and what a fine show it is too. Recorded and aired last Friday (the 1st Feb) on Resonance FM, this show took in anything from Mush Records’ Pedro to Dennis Bovell, Donovan to This Heat, we played tunes and speculated on such pressing issues as whether we should do a themed show based on the musicians who had slept with Winona Ryder, what the hell that accent was that Donovan spoke with on Atlantis and whether house music was actually good or not… all augmented by text messages from our honourable listeners. And John Amino.

Best show yet? Damn right.

Get listening!

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