Hello and welcome to show 120!! Somewhat delayed, there were some problems with the original transcription of the show. Many thanks go to Mert, who made firstly, a fold down stereo version of it and then a remastered super stereo version that you can hear here!!:-
Connections 120 10th March 2012
So...on with the music...
Heavy Breathing by The Bee Gees (RSO Records 1974) The Bee Gee's started out with a fanfare in the late 1960's, big time..but by the turn of the decade pressure and creative differences had started to take their toll and Barry and Robin Bee Gee fell out about who was getting chosen to sing lead and the principle song writer, it was always assumed to be Barry Bee Gee, but Robin was churning out some potential hits that were relegated to B Sides. In the early 1970's, they went through a creatively bereft period, seemingly lacking direction. Then they turned to producer Arif Mardin, who set them on course for the iconic Bee Gees we tend to remember. This was not a big selling album at the time, but Maurice Bee Gee once cited it as his favourite Bee Gees album...kinda funky!! Music photographer Dennis O'Regan connected us to Pink Floyd...but first we took a detour!!
Speak To Me /Breathe by Easy Star All Stars (Easy Star Records 2003) Reggae, baby, reggae! I think I said 1999 on the show but what's 4 years?! This is a great concept which has been extended since this album to other artistes such as the Beatles Sergeant Pepper in Reggae stylee and it sounds great! The band itself seems to be revolving door of session musicians, but to great effect. This version was effectively used in Channel 4's Nathan Barley series, the 'Breathe' part starting after a particularly challenging Geek Pie hair cut...
...and that connected us very nicely to...
Wot's Uh...The Deal? by Pink Floyd (Harvest Records 1972) Well, it's quite possibly the lamest of the Floyd album covers...Hipgnosis didn't quite deliver, a blurred still of a blok in a tree from the film (Yes! I had to look hard!) but the music was excellent, particularly interesting given that it was recorded during a 2 week hiatus from recording Dark Side Of The Moon, and is often, given the fact it is a 'soundtrack,' is oft overlooked. The music was lilting, but the song title choices were a bit wanting. As far as I know, the title of this song was lifted from a line in the film that was a cue for the song...See Emily Play, the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd song, took us very nicely to...
Always Crashing In The Same Car by David Bowie (RCA Records and Tapes 1977) Berlin Bowie pops his head up in the show every now and then!! So, Bowie went to Berlin and moved in with Iggy Pop, above a green grocer's (Quite a posh green grocer's) in former West Berlin as a way to try and get himself off cocaine...that might work...As you can imagine, it wasn't all plain sailing, and this song alludes to an occasion where Bowie was on a garage forecourt and decided against getting a couple of gallons of 4 star and instead drove his retro Mercedes Benz around in circles at very high speeds...Instant song inspiration...Bowie's work with Luther Vandross connected us to producer Gregg Diamond, who produced...
More, More, More by The Andrea True Connection (Buddah Records 1976) It's effectively porn music...but it's great! Andrea was an adult actress at a loose end in Jamaica, as she had earned some money there, and couldn't leave with it, so she called Gregg Diamond over to record a song!! Genius and an example of time put to good use!. The remixer Tom Moulton, claims he would have never touched it if he realised what it was really about...More More More meant 'Keep playing those great sounds...' right...? The loop of the hook towards the end of this song, was essentially the tune for....
Steal My Sunshine by Len (Work Records 1999) Gregg Diamond even got a co writing credit ob this one! Marc Costanzo had heard Andrea True Connection on holiday (Club 18 30?) and the bit at the end had stuck in his head. He apprached the vocals in a similar way to 'Don't You Want Me Baby' by the Human League, ie male vocal followed by female vocal...Like many of these hits, it wasn't originally intended to be a single...even be on a release at all, until it was needed to fill up the album and the master tape was under his bed or something...et voila...Gregg Diamond, today's Jack-in-The-Box connected us to...
Rock Your Baby by George McCrae (RCA Records and Tapes 1974) George could sing exceptionally high, and this was a positive boom when KC and The Sunshine Band had accidentally written a song for any of them to sing! Enter George!! Legend has it that this Disco masterpiece was laid down in 45 minutes!! George was on RCA, as was Leadbelly, who sang a version of...
Black Betty by Ram Jam (Epic Records 1977) The song really was an American working Man's song, thought to be about anything from some fairly hard core whiskey to a State Penetentiary wagon. What Ram Jam did was to turn it into a power chord jambouree that was seemingly about something a bit more bawdy...there were complaints...but with post modern irony..it rocks...The connection was via Flip Records, which were distributed by Epic, as were IRS...home to...
Black Dog by Dread Zeppelin (IRS Records 1990) 'I know! Let's do Led Zeppelin songs but to a Reggae beat...Oh look, here's a Vegas style Elvis impersonator to sing lead...' That pretty much sums it up. I think the original cover of this album did boast an image of the real Elvis, but there were objections...But hey, it sounds like something out of a strange dream, but it works!! 'I don't much like that kinda talk around here, baby...' A&M Records also distributed IRS Records, which was home to...
White Light by Gene Clark (A&M Records 1971) There was a common misconception that this album was eponymous and people could be forgiven really, because the title 'White Light' was nowhere on the livery!! Gene had been quite possibly the most productive member of The Byrds in their heyday, but his shyness and the fact that Roger McGuinn exuded the Dylanesque vibe that Management seemed to favour made him very unhappy and branch out into his own recordings. These were never really promoted at the time, and sold very few but are now regarded as classics. Session guitar player Sneaky Pete Kleinow connected us back to ...
I've Gotta Get A Message To You by The Bee Gees (Polydor Records 1968) A cheery number all about a bloke who's on Death Row and trying to get in tough with his wife...This was a Robin Gibb song and goes on this week's show as a get well soon message to him!
and that completes today's show...I hope you enjoyed!!
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TimX
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