Archive for the ‘Best Song Ever’ Category

Behold My Awesome

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

I am in a good mood. I don’t know what to make of it. I’m sure it will pass soon enough. April is fast approaching after all. However I will celebrate my new found lack of surliness by posting a variation on my third favorite song of all time, and two decent remixes of a decent tune by a decent band.

Ian Dury & The Seven Sea Players
Spasticus Autisticus (Version)
In case you didn’t know, Spasticus (Autisticus) is one of the greatest songs of all time. It’s definitely the greatest song ever written by a man with polio angry at the patronizing views of the disabled. The song originally appeared on Dury’s 1981 album Lord Upminster, which you can download right here (it’s still out of print in America so I have no qualms in sharing this vinyl rip). This version is not as good as the original, it’s very dub-like and cuts down on the lyrics, which is what made the song so damn good in the first place. However, this version is freakishly rare, and was only ever released as the b-side to the single, which is where I got it. How this UK-only 12” single ended up in Pittsburgh is beyond me. But I’m happy as hell it did.

For more information on the awesomeness of Ian Dury and Spasticus, watch this video. Also, did you know they made a movie about Ian Dury? They did! It stars Gollum! Seriously! Any of my UK readers get to watch it yet? I’m stoked about it. Ian Dury is my hero.

Cibo Matto
Moonchild (D’s Funky Space Reincarnation)
Moonchild (Jazzy Dub #1)
I’m sure there are many interesting things to say about Cibo Matto. I, however, know nothing about them. Instead I will direct you to this video, which was how I was first exposed to them some 16 years ago (Holy shit that was 16 years ago!?!?! I’m old!). Are there remixes of “Know Your Chicken?” I must have them now!!

Posted in Best Song Ever, Cibo Matto, Ian Dury, remixes | 5 Comments »

Whites Lines! Snort this post!

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

I’m stoked.

Duran Duran
White Lines (Junior’s House Mix)
White Lines (Sound Factory Dub)
White Lines (70s Club Mix)
White Lines (Oakland Funk Mix)
White Lines (Freestyle Mix)
White Lines (Sound Factory Dub 2)
White Lines (Global Groove Mix)
White Lines (Rif Raf Mix)
Today whilst browsing the selection at The Greatest Store In The World I found a blank white label promo with a pink Duran Duran sticker on it. Curious, I picked it up and discovered that it was the 2×12” promo single for “White Lines!”

Most people would be all “meh” but “White Lines” is totally one of my favorite songs of all time, fitting somewhere between Prince “Erotic City”, Sugarcubes “Fucking in Rhythm and Sorrow (Live)” and George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog.” It’s the only real reason I bought the 86-95 singles box set that Duran Duran put out a few years back (that and some cool versions of “Ordinary World”) because that box set had two remixes of the (should-be) classic tune, the “70s Club Mix” and Junior Vasquez’s House Mix. In addition to those two versions, this 2×12” promo had six additional ones! I nearly wet myself. The 2 LPs of happiness cost me a scant 6 bucks, I ran (drove) home and immediately put them on my turntable. I was nervous. I’ve had a bad run of luck lately with records, and have lost several mixes to scratchy, skip-filled LPs over the past few weeks. Thankfully both of these records were crystal clear, with nary a skip nor scratch to be found. Awesome.

This song has a bad rep I just don’t get it. It’s one of the best party tracks of the nineties, and is probably the best cover of a rap song by a non-rap group in the history of the planet (not including the P.E./Anthrax version of “Bring the Noise”). I think its lack of credibility comes from the fact that its on Thank You, which didn’t exactly light the world on fire when it came out. Sure, that album has some pretty big problems (“911 is a Joke”) but it has a few choice cuts on it, including their beautiful version of “Perfect Day” and a damn good cover of “Ball Of Confusion.”

At least I know I’m not the only person that likes the song.

Posted in Best Song Ever, Duran Duran, remixes | 5 Comments »

Blogging in Rhythm & Sorrow

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

To the person that wanted “Party Animal,” sorry, I couldn’t fit it and I can’t find the record either. Trust me, I’m more upset about that than you are.

This might be my only post this week, so I am definitely making up for that with quantity and quality.

The Sugarcubes
Birthday (Icelandic)
Regina (Icelandic)
Regina (Propellor Mix)
Regina (Jet Mix)
Dragon
Traitor (Icelandic)
Birthday (Demo)
Polo
Organic Prankster – This is just another version of “Delicious Demon”
Fucking In Rhythm & Sorrow (Live)
Cowboy (Live)
Coldsweat (Live)
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
Christmas Present
Petrol (live)
Coldsweat (Meat Mix)
Coldsweat (instrumental)
Motorcrash (Live)
Blue Eyed Pop (2nd Mix)

Yay early Bjork! All of these are from one massive box set that I picked up last week. The front cover calls it 12-11 (since it features 11 12” singles), while the spine and back cover call it The Box. I stuck with that title on the ID3 tags mostly because I like it better. The back also has the following notice: “Contains all the 12” recordings by The Sugarcubes from October 1986 to October 1989. This catalogue is now deleted.”

They leave out that it also includes a 10” single. But that’s the least of this box’s typos. The tracklisting is riddled with massive fuck ups. For example, the back of the “Cowboy” single says that an Icelandic version of “Traitor,” but it’s really a “Polo”. The tracklisting for “Motorcrash” is fucked too, listing “Polo” when in reality the track is the English version of “Traitor.” Then there’s the intentional clusterfuck of the “Christmas” single, which features a double-grooved side, so you don’t know which version you’re going to get whenever you put the needle down (pray it doesn’t skip.) I posted that single a while ago, but I was not aware of the double groove, so everything was fucked up and mislabeled. I also previously posted the songs from the “Cowboy” single, but I’m posting them again since this rip is better and “Fucking In Rhythm & Sorrow (Live)” is one of the best performance of any song you’ll ever fucking hear. I want that song played at my funeral.

Basically my point in all of this is that you shouldn’t blame any fuck ups or mislabeled tracks on me, instead blame Einar (that’s the dude who “sings” with Bjork). Also, there were more tracks on this set than I’m posting tonight, but I’m not posting them because they were album cuts or are now on greatest hits/deluxe editions that are easily available.

This is very rare box set, after I bought it I wanted to compare the price I paid with what it was going for on Amazon and eBay, but I couldn’t freaking find it. That tells me that it’s pretty obscure and that my $65 was money well spent. I couldn’t even find good pictures of the thing, so I took some, enjoy the day-glo.

Posted in B-sides, Best Song Ever, Bjork, live, Sugarcubes | 7 Comments »