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Quintessence of Old Wave (5 of ??)
I've observed before that Kate Bush - now a national treasure, hip reference point, influence on a whole 21st Century phalanx of fe...
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Okay, let's see how things had shifted, in terms of the canon, slightly more than a decade after the 1974 appraisal by the critics of t... -
Onto the third installment of this series - the NME 's list of the Greatest Albums of All Time, published on October 2 1993. Here, it... -
I have written before about the Drops Away Syndrome... that thing where artists seem supremely relevant and core-canonic at a particular mo...
Always followed Janice Long on a Sunday evening, so you got the painful disjunction between sexless indie wailing and super-slick mating grooves.
ReplyDeleteNo! It was Annie Nightingale, not Janice.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise the comment stands.
I have to say, "mating grooves" is a rather off-putting phrase!
DeleteYou should stay away from carpentry, then.
DeleteOh is it a specialist term?
DeleteOr just what carpenters like to listen to? Slow jams etc
DeleteNo doubt some carpenters did indeed listen to mating grooves while carving mating grooves.
DeleteSeem to remember you being quite dismissive of the whole "light those candles, open that freezer door" vibe in your Blissed Out book. Not being an MM reader, it was probably the first time I'd ever read your stuff. And being a Blues & Soul reader at the time, I was not impressed! This T.P. song is I guess the exemplar of the genre:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbHBazqUkyo
"let's take a shower, a shower together" if I recall the lyrics correctly . . .
Actually I used to enjoy the Robbie Vincent show, when it wasn't too slick. I loved Loose Ends, Cherelle & Alexander O'Neal etc. 'Southern Freez' a bit earlier. Level 42.
DeleteThe side of the whole Southern jazz & soul furry-dice Caister weekend etc etc culture that I couldn't get with was excitement about I dunno Lee Ritenour albums of the 1980s. I remember there was a jazzfunk soul imports shop right near Melody Maker, on the other side of Holborn, and occasionally I would pop my head in there and see all these import albums with very slick, characterless covers, recommendations for deep cuts like track 3 side 2.
Wasn't Maze the absolute totem group of that whole scene in the 1980s? Maze featuring Frankie Beverley.
DeleteI reckon the record shop you mention might've been City Sounds. It went big on house at a later date. Yes, Maze were the totem group of the jazz funk 'n' soul scene, and their appearance at the Hammersmith Odeon in '81 was perhaps the scene's peak moment. I was a little bit young for all this, but I know that the kids in my school who were into Paz, Level 42 etc in '82 were all listening to Man Parrish a year later. As you note, there were a lot of one-track albums around: one tune would have the right boogie or 2-step vibe, but the rest of the LP would be difficult listening for all but those who dug the very plushest sounds. Actually, mention of plush reminds me that there was an outfit called Plush and this was their one track:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0GqlhdiFg8
What was the significance of opening the freezer door? Eating a Vienetta or something?
ReplyDeleteThis is what always puzzled me! "Light the candles" yes, romantic... But open the freezer door.... all your frozen meat and TV dinners would defrost. The room would get chilly.
DeleteI think it had something to do with idea of getting a bottle of champagne out, maybe - but then it should be "open the fridge door", you wouldn't put wine in the freezer.
i was to get hard nipples, robbie liked that
ReplyDelete