Midweek Music Thread

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

I think it's my week now after channonite subbed in last week.

As I alluded to last week, this one might not be to everyone's taste, but I've felt there's genres that have been missing and it's all been a bit guitary (not that I have an issue with that, but variety is the spice etc.), so this week I'm going to play something dancey. Bearing in mind that "proper" dance music rarely translates well from the club to the seat (and tbh a lot of it is hard to find and/or I can't remember what they're called), I've tried to look at the tunes which I've picked up for listening to at home from gigs and festivals, and featuring acts/gigs I've seen live.

I thought I'd easy you in gently with something that does have guitars, but is dance adjacent. Ozric Tentacles have been going since the 80s, but I've seen them quite a few times from the early 90s onward (and most recently at Beautiful Days last summer, which was a nice throwback), and while I have a number of albums, including this quickly banned and relatively rare boxset, it's definitely one that's better live, but decent vids are hard to find.


So I'll go with this one, which isn't the tune I wanted to pick, but I couldn't find that... if you're so minded, give it a couple of mins to properly kick in

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

Next submission in the week noone asked for 

As alluded to in my albums' post and earlier (in reggae week), this album prompted a seismic shift in my music listening when it came out. Having largely stuck to traditional rock in the past, I'd never considered dance music worth a listen (didn't get exposed to much in rural Hampshire) but this started me down a different path.

Obviously everyone knows a couple of Prodigy tracks, but the ones from their first album, Experience will always be my favourites and I'm going to pick the same one trailed in the reggae thread as it introduced me to Max Romeo. I've seen Prodigy a fair few times, sometimes they're great, sometimes terrible (notably one gig in Brixton where they turned up an hour late, said something inflammatory and then a massive fight kicked off after 2 songs and everyone got chucked out!). This one (as far as I recall) was one of the good gigs (quality's not the best, but as I was there I feel it should be the pick)

[channonite]

Oct 15, 2024 12:30:52 GMT Furry Frank The Combat Wombat said:

Next submission in the week noone asked for 

As alluded to in my albums' post and earlier (in reggae week), this album prompted a seismic shift in my music listening when it came out. Having largely stuck to traditional rock in the past, I'd never considered dance music worth a listen (didn't get exposed to much in rural Hampshire) but this started me down a different path.

Obviously everyone knows a couple of Prodigy tracks, but the ones from their first album, Experience will always be my favourites and I'm going to pick the same one trailed in the reggae thread as it introduced me to Max Romeo. I've seen Prodigy a fair few times, sometimes they're great, sometimes terrible (notably one gig in Brixton where they turned up an hour late, said something inflammatory and then a massive fight kicked off after 2 songs and everyone got chucked out!). This one (as far as I recall) was one of the good gigs (quality's not the best, but as I was there I feel it should be the pick)

I miss Keith Flint...

[channonite]

Oct 14, 2024 11:34:31 GMT Furry Frank The Combat Wombat said:

I think it's my week now after channonite subbed in last week.

As I alluded to last week, this one might not be to everyone's taste, but I've felt there's genres that have been missing and it's all been a bit guitary (not that I have an issue with that, but variety is the spice etc.), so this week I'm going to play something dancey. Bearing in mind that "proper" dance music rarely translates well from the club to the seat (and tbh a lot of it is hard to find and/or I can't remember what they're called), I've tried to look at the tunes which I've picked up for listening to at home from gigs and festivals, and featuring acts/gigs I've seen live.

I thought I'd easy you in gently with something that does have guitars, but is dance adjacent. Ozric Tentacles have been going since the 80s, but I've seen them quite a few times from the early 90s onward (and most recently at Beautiful Days last summer, which was a nice throwback), and while I have a number of albums, including this quickly banned and relatively rare boxset, it's definitely one that's better live, but decent vids are hard to find.


So I'll go with this one, which isn't the tune I wanted to pick, but I couldn't find that... if you're so minded, give it a couple of mins to properly kick in

That was a first for me — the first time I have listened to an Ozric Tentacles track all the way through!

A true tale about the band: back in the day when Punk had first sprung upon the world, and Prog Rock was as unfashionable as it could possibly be, one of my customers ran a bi-monthly Prog Rock magazine. Probably, "magazine" is a bit of an overstatement. It was basically an audio cassette with around 12 tracks, sometimes less, with an A4 colour-printed backing card with a track listing and brief details. Each time an issue came out, he always came in and gave me a free copy, which was fair enough, as we were basically funding him at the time! The thing was, I no longer had a cassette player, so I never listened to one. I always looked at the track listings and marvelled at the strange names of the bands. It soon dawned on me that a regular fixture, either first or second on the cassette, was Ozric Tentacles. It turned out that he was related to a sometime band member (the band lineup was "fluid" at best!), and he was trying to give them publicity and make a few bob at the same time. He didn't make any money to my knowledge, but was losing money hand over fist...

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

Oct 15, 2024 18:54:53 GMT channonite said:

Oct 14, 2024 11:34:31 GMT Furry Frank The Combat Wombat said:

I think it's my week now after channonite subbed in last week.

As I alluded to last week, this one might not be to everyone's taste, but I've felt there's genres that have been missing and it's all been a bit guitary (not that I have an issue with that, but variety is the spice etc.), so this week I'm going to play something dancey. Bearing in mind that "proper" dance music rarely translates well from the club to the seat (and tbh a lot of it is hard to find and/or I can't remember what they're called), I've tried to look at the tunes which I've picked up for listening to at home from gigs and festivals, and featuring acts/gigs I've seen live.

I thought I'd easy you in gently with something that does have guitars, but is dance adjacent. Ozric Tentacles have been going since the 80s, but I've seen them quite a few times from the early 90s onward (and most recently at Beautiful Days last summer, which was a nice throwback), and while I have a number of albums, including this quickly banned and relatively rare boxset, it's definitely one that's better live, but decent vids are hard to find.


So I'll go with this one, which isn't the tune I wanted to pick, but I couldn't find that... if you're so minded, give it a couple of mins to properly kick in

That was a first for me — the first time I have listened to an Ozric Tentacles track all the way through!

A true tale about the band: back in the day when Punk had first sprung upon the world, and Prog Rock was as unfashionable as it could possibly be, one of my customers ran a bi-monthly Prog Rock magazine. Probably, "magazine" is a bit of an overstatement. It was basically an audio cassette with around 12 tracks, sometimes less, with an A4 colour-printed backing card with a track listing and brief details. Each time an issue came out, he always came in and gave me a free copy, which was fair enough, as we were basically funding him at the time! The thing was, I no longer had a cassette player, so I never listened to one. I always looked at the track listings and marvelled at the strange names of the bands. It soon dawned on me that a regular fixture, either first or second on the cassette, was Ozric Tentacles. It turned out that he was related to a sometime band member (the band lineup was "fluid" at best!), and he was trying to give them publicity and make a few bob at the same time. He didn't make any money to my knowledge, but was losing money hand over fist...

Yeah, they've been going forever. I would've listened to some prog (Floyd, Yes, ELP) at the time I first got into them, but they also turned up in the clubs we first started going to in London the early 90s, such as Whirl-y-gig, so they seemed a good opener to bridge the gap from rock to dance. I thought it best to spare folks the trance and acid techno that followed, mind.

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

Further down the wormhole now, with the grandmasters of techno. I was split between the two acts I'd seen most (Orbital and Underworld) in that genre, but in the end I went for Orbital as there were a couple of particularly memorable performances that subjectively bookend my seeing them. The latter was the end of their set at Glastonbury 2010 (our gang's grand finale there) and they served up this treat



The first (not the first time I'd seen them, but the first of these performances) I didn't expect to be recorded, but I found it while looking for the other one.. undoubtedly the biggest NYE party I've been to at Alexandra Palace in 96. Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, John Digweed, Chemical Brothers, Orbital (and more), but the pinnacle was at midnight when this happened

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

Something a bit lighter today, that bloke off of the Mousemartins what married Johnny Ball's daughter. As with the others I've seen him a number of times, most notably when wandering the back alleys of Glastonbury (the bits you never see on telly) and noticed there was a party going on in one of the bar tents... inside there was a bloke dressed as a giant bee dj'ing which turned out to be none other than Mr Cook; just playing a dj set completely unbilled and it was rocking.

Anyway, his main-era stuff is all pretty well known, but IMO the early stuff is better:


I quite like Freakpower as well...but that's for another day

[spot51]

Just played all Furry Frank The Combat Wombat 's stuff back to back. 

Still can't get Prodigy and had to abort part way through. 

All the rest I stuck with but (Dr Who apart) it was mostly foreplay but not much shagging. 

Bart was quiet till the Michael Jackson when he began growling and eventually barking till it finished. He has shut up now*. 

What will tomorrow bring? 

*Now it is quiet someone is banging next door. That could have set Bart off. 

[Frankfurt Saint]

Is this where we post gig reviews?

I saw Big Bobby Dyldo last night. He’s so old and mental but I think it was good overall. It was definitely better than when I last saw him as I wasn’t piss wet through and freezing cold in Finsbury Park this time around. Then I walked out near the end of his set, just as he was finally starting to play a song I’d heard of (Blowing In The Wind). This time it only took me about five minutes of Desolation Row before I realised that’s what song he was doing. He also did All Along the Watchtower, as long as you’re working on the basis that him saying “Said the Joker to the Thief” at some point in a song you’ve never heard counts as AATW. He managed to make It Ain’t Me Babe sound shit, which is quite an achievement. It took me a while to get into it but by the end he’d brought me round again.

There was a nice atmosphere and appreciative (except for my wife) crowd. I told her that I’d got tickets again for tonight but she was not amused. Some people were dancing near the stage, which was quite sweet. I never thought you could dance to Bob Dylan but they proved me wrong. No one seemed to break the rule on no mobiles, even though it was based on an honesty system.

He’s a genius but doesn’t make any effort to be liked, which I admire. I don’t think I’ve got any of his post-1978 albums. My Mum said that they had tickets to go and see him at Blackbushe BITD but I think my impending arrival put paid to that. My Dad never bought any Dylan albums after that. I’ll have to tell my Mum that the whole 3 hour gig is on YouTube now so she can catch up.

I think I even saw him crack a smile at the end. He was probably just relieved to have it over with.

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

Oct 17, 2024 11:54:35 GMT spot51 said:

Just played all Furry Frank The Combat Wombat 's stuff back to back. 

Still can't get Prodigy and had to abort part way through. 

All the rest I stuck with but (Dr Who apart) it was mostly foreplay but not much shagging. 

Bart was quiet till the Michael Jackson when he began growling and eventually barking till it finished. He has shut up now*. 

What will tomorrow bring? 

*Now it is quiet someone is banging next door. That could have set Bart off. 

Fair play... I never expected this week to pick up many admirers; it's mostly for jumping around in a dark sweaty room / muddy field in a crowd in a, er, spirit of enthusiasm, and not sitting down with a cuppa tea. But I felt it good for the completeness of the fred to at least have a tilt at the genre that dominated the 90s (at least away from the MSM).

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

Oct 17, 2024 11:57:46 GMT Frankfurt Saint said:

Is this where we post gig reviews?

I saw Big Bobby Dyldo last night. He’s so old and mental but I think it was good overall. It was definitely better than when I last saw him as I wasn’t piss wet through and freezing cold in Finsbury Park this time around. Then I walked out near the end of his set, just as he was finally starting to play a song I’d heard of (Blowing In The Wind). This time it only took me about five minutes of Desolation Row before I realised that’s what song he was doing. He also did All Along the Watchtower, as long as you’re working on the basis that him saying “Said the Joker to the Thief” at some point in a song you’ve never heard counts as AATW. He managed to make It Ain’t Me Babe sound shit, which is quite an achievement. It took me a while to get into it but by the end he’d brought me round again.

There was a nice atmosphere and appreciative (except for my wife) crowd. I told her that I’d got tickets again for tonight but she was not amused. Some people were dancing near the stage, which was quite sweet. I never thought you could dance to Bob Dylan but they proved me wrong. No one seemed to break the rule on no mobiles, even though it was based on an honesty system.

He’s a genius but doesn’t make any effort to be liked, which I admire. I don’t think I’ve got any of his post-1978 albums. My Mum said that they had tickets to go and see him at Blackbushe BITD but I think my impending arrival put paid to that. My Dad never bought any Dylan albums after that. I’ll have to tell my Mum that the whole 3 hour gig is on YouTube now so she can catch up.

I think I even saw him crack a smile at the end. He was probably just relieved to have it over with.

He was pretty decrepit, croaky and undecipherable when I saw him ca 30y ago, so I'm amazed you got anything from it all these years later!

[Furry Frank The Combat Wombat]

Sooo.... finishing up this week with the culmination of the journey. The purpose of this week from my point of view to illustrate how I got from traditional rock to my 2 favourite bands. Both of them I discovered at dance events, but they're a fusion of dance and more traditional bands.. the first we've covered already, being Dub Pistols and the second is Red Snapper, who I hadn't heard of when I first saw them at Creamfields (the first one in the Devil's puncbowl just outside Winch) and they blew me away and have continued to do so for the next 20something years..

For the week's we've come full circle to more traditional instruments as they've managed to combine dance with jazz and Ali Friend's bass is quite something.. again a video doesn't capture the essence of the live experience. First a taste of their more recent lineup for the more live feel:


Followed by the track that really hooked me and is certainly a contender for my favourite track ever, that double bass refrain still gives me the chills...

[spot51]

Oct 18, 2024 13:18:11 GMT Furry Frank The Combat Wombat said:

Sooo.... finishing up this week with the culmination of the journey. The purpose of this week from my point of view to illustrate how I got from traditional rock to my 2 favourite bands. Both of them I discovered at dance events, but they're a fusion of dance and more traditional bands.. the first we've covered already, being Dub Pistols and the second is Red Snapper, who I hadn't heard of when I first saw them at Creamfields (the first one in the Devil's puncbowl just outside Winch) and they blew me away and have continued to do so for the next 20something years..

For the week's we've come full circle to more traditional instruments as they've managed to combine dance with jazz and Ali Friend's bass is quite something.. again a video doesn't capture the essence of the live experience. First a taste of their more recent lineup for the more live feel:


Followed by the track that really hooked me and is certainly a contender for my favourite track ever, that double bass refrain still gives me the chills...

Cheers Frank. Just what this thread is about - getting us listeninmg to new stuff. 

Only really disliked Prodigy and most of the rest was listenable. Quite liked Red Snapper too!

[Sir B3na1i]

I've been largely absent from here recently, but we'll done all on this still excellent thread

[channonite]

Is it emsworthsaint next up??