41Rooms

This playlist is 63% vinyl friendly. Very poor.

The Vertere DG-1 Dynamic Groove.

One commentator queried whether ‘the design wandered in the direction of form over function‘, but this, the company’s entry level version, was voted in What Hi-Fi‘s updated 2025 ‘20 very best turntables of (the magazine’s) lifetime‘… but it had detractors elsewhere.

My first thought was ‘sandwich’ and lo and behold the review mentions the plinth’s ‘three layers of acrylic reinforced with a steel chassis to give a rigid yet well-damped structure‘ with that middle layer, from a distance, reminding me of some marbled cheese. Near £2k for one standard version spotted on eBay and £3550 for a DG-1S updated model, with a bullet pointed spec to match. When you get up to these prices (and way, way beyond) manufacturers are duty bound to work overtime to justify their prices.

NB: Apologies. A bit of a glitch in recording my parts for this show but they just about do the job.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 149

On another day and in another frame of mind it could have gone to Baby Rose but much aided by a gorgeous key change backdrop, the gold star sticker goes to Banderas! It’s hard to tell though if their ‘There is no rehearsal. No second chance. No false start. No better circumstances… ‘ words of wisdom would change much with the type of peeps in their video.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Doubts Even Here (Instrumental) (Cargo Demo) (2019 Remaster) – Movement, Definitive Edition Boxset – Warner Music – 2023

Doubts Even Hear? I should coco, and if you want ‘tentative’ in your music then this has it in shed loads. My guess is this maybe wasn’t Hooky’s first stab at the track in the band’s rehearsal room but you can nearly hear him finding his way into and over the ARP Quadra’s strings.

05.15

COCTEAU TWINS – Road River and Rail (Live) – Stream only – 2026

Live in 1991 but only very recently uploaded to the net, a mixing desk recording from The Warfield, in San Francisco and a rare treat to hear Liz this clear in a gig setting. At your leisure, search out the rest of the gig.

There’s no visual from the above show, so here’s a barely rescued – but previously unseen/unpublished – photo of mine. Liz and Simon soundchecking at Newcastle’s Tiffany’s, 19.4.84.

Photo credit / copyright: Dec Hickey

08.37

JOHN CALE – Thoughtless Kind (M:FANS) – M:FANS, 2LP – Double Six – 2016

A pedestrian, sledgehammer beat and a more forceful take on the lyrics than found in the ex-Velvet Underground man’s original. To my ears, they’re better suited here.

13.59

EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER – Take A Pebble * – Emerson, Lake & Palmer, LP – Island – 1970

I bought this album maybe four or five years after release and without doubt after having heard maybe just one of the three tracks on it I had taken to. I wouldn’t have been listening to any radio that might have played this album, so I’m guessing I borrowed it from a mate – very likely Phil Harris or Tom Locke (RIP). Greg Lake’s vocals were the thing for me back then and on my National Panasonic SG-1070L I’d have skipped Keith Emerson’s often lengthy rock-orchestral leaning keyboard workouts from all three… and likewise it’s a massive edit on the show for Take A Pebble.

17.33

BABY ROSE – Stop The Bleeding – Through And Through, LP – Secretly Canadian – 2023

If I thought the vibrato in Baby Rose’s vocal on the last 41 Rooms’ show entry (‘Go’) reminded me of Anonhi/Antony and the Johnsons then this does so with knobs on… as it maybe sounds even more of a song and arrangement the latter could have penned.

21.17

A RACE OF ANGELS – Golden – Broadcast No. 1, CD only – Luv Classics – 2005

It’s not often a CD gets a visual look in on 41 Rooms but the majority of Broadcast No. 1’s tracks have been or are on course for inclusion… and there was no vinyl. A 21st century left field folk soul beaut. Saluting Yeofi Andoh once again.

23.56

KRAFTWERK – Boing Boom Tschak * – Electric Cafe, LP – Kling Klang / EMI – 1986

The German maestros with some playful mid ’80s electro. Who else could it be?

27.01

BESIDE (with BERNARD FOWLER) – Odeon (Dance Mix) – 12″ – Celluloid – 1984

In 1984 the only place I’d have heard this was on John Peel’s radio shows – and he was partial to some electro. With the other side playlisted on 41 Rooms years ago, that would make this Afrika Bambaataa-produced 12″ a bargain to me these days, at less than the price of a pint on Discogs. Back in 1984, ordering it on import from Bedford’s HMV (as I did) its £5.29 price tag would seemingly have between five and ten pints plus worth!

32.37

MIDNIGHT STAR – Midas Touch (Vocal Extended Remix) – 12″ – Solar – 1986

With Electro roots, some breezy mid ’80s glitzy dance which has aged far better than – ‘Look away now’ (or don’t look at all) – the clothes and hair in the video.

38.42

ROZALLA – Born To Luv Ya – 12″ – Pulse-8 – 1990

At some point, when I do get to wade through the Record Mirror‘s I have from the the late ’80s/early ’90s I’d put a quiet fiver on the late James Hamilton having used ‘bubbling’ in a review of this particular mix of the tune. Par for the course lyrics but given some decent beats Rozalla has a voice that more than matches.

43.00

THOMAS LEER – Forgive and Forget – 1982, CD only – Klanggalerie – 2015

When I first happened on the 1982 CD recordings I thought Leer had re-found his youthful energy in the ‘now’. It’s in the title, Dec… so, a ‘series of tracks for unreleased album circa 1982‘ states the man himself. That would put them around the time of his Letter From America and Contradictions EPs but way before the ‘pop’ album, The Scale Of Ten. Forgive and Forget is though definitely a dry run for that album’s belter, Control Yourself.

47.23

MINT ROYALE – I Don’t Care – See You In The Morning, CD only – Faith & Hope Records Limited – 2005

Aagghh, it’s another CD… but needs must, as no vinyl surfaced and by this point Neil Claxton was flying solo as Mint Royale.

51.48

OSCAR FARRELL (feat SAMPHA) – Dream Therapy (George FitzGerald remix) – Download only – ? – 2026

The So Far South EP original rightly has many admirers but I’m more with this moodier take.

Screenshot

55.22

NOSTALGIX – Mess With Me – Download only – Confession – 2019

Out of Vancouver, British Columbia, she seems through the years to have occasionally just digitally floated singular tracks out there.

58.32

SUICIDE – Ghost Rider – Self-titled, LP – Red Star Records – 1977

There’d be a bunch of my early ’80s mates who’d have gone for the album but it’s only this track that grabbed me.

01.01.01

CABARET VOLTAIRE – Nag Nag Nag (Live 2025 Single Edit) – Download only (for now) – Mute – 2026

‘Updating’ and then capturing – just ‘right’ – this classic track’s first live outing in forty five or so years could have gone wrong but all involved nailed it, and seeing as I caught four of the Cabs’ six gigs last year there’s a good chance I was in on this actual recording. In fact, given the advances in sound technology Nag is likely sounding better in the room than it would have done live back in 1979-82… something I never witnessed.

01.05.10

THE SOUND – Heartland (Mike Read session, 1980) – The BBC Recordings – 2CD only – Renascent – 2004

If Adrian Borland and crew were pushing for a radio session in their early throws (who wasn’t) I’d have thought John Peel would have got in there first. The band did subsequently do a Peel session but here Mike Read edged it and the band were firing.

01.08.19

JOY DIVISION – Warsaw – An Ideal For Living, 7″ EP – Enigma – 1978

I never owned this original 7″ but somewhere around 1980-81 and through the back pages of the inkie press I bought the subsequent 12″ from an ‘MJ’ in Crewe who reckoned in an enclosed note he’d leant Steve Morris £60 to pay for the sleeves. When I sold the single years later I thought I’d kept the note… but if I did, it then went AWOL.

01.10.40

TURNSTILE – Dreaming – Never Enough, LP – Roadrunner – 2025

They’ve eased up here on their early hardcore leanings which might go some way to why this tune gets a thumbs up from me and those who take occasionally take a punt on an album because of the sleeve could still be in for a shock.

01.13.00

TV21 – Ideal Way Of Life – A Thin Red Line, LP – Deram – 1981

Other tracks on the album have already graced 41 Rooms as indeed they did back in Winkles in 1981-82.

01.15.27

THE TEARDROP EXPLODES – Went Crazy – Kilimanjaro, LP – Mercury – 1980

Julian in 1980. Sounding ‘quirky pop’ in 2026?

01.18.03

NATURAL SCIENTIST – See Through You – 7″ – Dental Records – 1982

Even though I bought their Terminal Velocity debut 12″ at the time, this their follow up somehow by-passed me for four decades

01.22.07

IRMA THOMAS – My Heart’s In Memphis – My Heart’s In Memphis – The Songs Of Dan Penn, CD only – Rounder Records – 2000

Criminally, only seven thousand plus peeps have ever viewed the fan video online of Irma on an outside stage, live in New Orleans from 2003 and I nearly went with its muffled sound here, as the more she gets in to the song the more she really lives it.

01.25.53

STEVIE WONDER – (I) Don’t Know Why (I Love You) – 7″ – Tamla Motown – 1968-9

For the UK release Motown couldn’t quite make up there mind on the title – but this stark outpouring and arrangement is still a killer, even though it was maybe trumped for radio play by the lusher, romantic appeal of the b-side, My Cherie Amour.

01.28.25

MT JONES – I Don’t Understand – Joy, LP – ? – 2026

New(ish) blue-eyed retro soul with as much effort on the visual. A fab single but I’ve got a feeling an album of his accentuated vocal might be too much for me. We’ll see.

01.31.49

WILLIE HUTCH – Hurt So Bad – Season For Love, LP – RCA – 1970

Before his switch to maybe his more spiritual Brother’s Gonna Work It Out home of Motown.

01.34.39

BANDERAS – This Is Your Life (PanoΣigma Edit) – Stream only – ? – 2019

Just the one album, squarely aimed at the mainstream, and some cerebral tunes from these two shaven-headed girls. I’m not sure how much the decent lyrics and sumptuous key change helped but this was their biggest UK hit. Even in the sometimes throwaway nature of ‘pop’ charts, quality will out.

01.39.36

DIANA BROWN & BARRIE K SHARPE – Eating Me Alive * – 12″ – FFRR – 1992

‘Weaving together many different dance music sounds of the late sixties/early seventies, including such as vintage Jackson 5 and Norman Whitfield era Temptations, Timmy Thomas beats and Chicago Transit Authority guitar chords (“I’m a man, yes I am, and I love you so”), this brilliant intensely driving jiggly chugger has been promoed as a twinpack with 0-104.7-0bpm Undisputed Mix Part 1 & Part II, 0-104.7bpm Original Groundbeat, 0-105.25-0bpm Funky Funky Sugar Heavy Groundbeat Mix, 0-105.4bpm One Trip Too Many Mix, more recently influenced grooving 115.8-0bpm Groundbeat House Ensemble/Instrumental, hi-hat hustled 118.7bpm Undercover Dub Mix 1 and 118.6bpm Undercover Dub Mix 2, Dianamite!‘ – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 20.6.92

Any time I re-edit etc I really should remember the source of the original… and there’s a heavy 41 Rooms re-edit going on here. Whatever. James Hamilton’s ‘vintage Jackson 5’ reference is spot on and the bridges and chorus are so strong they make the verses sound absolutely tepid. Weird.

01.45.08

RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM – Strings Of Life (‘Original Piano Mix’) – 12″ – Transmat – 1987

‘So enduringly popular and still steadily selling that it could follow A Guy Called Gerald up the chart, Derrick ‘Mayday’ May’s synthetic strings stabbed and sawed techno pioneeringly jerky instrumental leaper is now out here in its frantic acidic 130/129 1/5-130-0bpm Exclusive Remix, more scrubbingly hustling organ accented 128 1/5-127 4/5-128-128 1/5bpm Flam-boy-ant Mix, and piano emphasising jerkier 122 1/5-122-121 2/5-121 1/5bpm Piano Mix, flipped by the washing machine ‘sizzled’ 129-129 1/3bpm ‘Kaos’ plus the ‘Magic Juan’ Atkins created jiggly wriggling Model 500 ‘Off To Battle’ in its 125 2/3-126 1/5bpm 2emix and 126 1/5-126 2/3bpm Original Version‘. – James Hamilton, Jocks, 3.89

‘Based on a piano sequence by May’s friend Michael James. He dropped in for a visit at May’s house and sat down to play a piano ballad he had been working on called, “Lightning Strikes Twice”. This piece went into May’s sequencer and was kept there until May decided to listen to it all the way through. He found some portions which interested him, and he started to work with it. The song was originally at 80 BPM before May increased the tempo, chopped it up into loops, and added percussion and string samples’. Wikipedia

The history of this stark track is interesting. I called this ‘near punk like, house / techno’ on the show, what with its crude/rough arrangement feeling like it nearly takes four minutes to settle… just in time for it to sound like it’s breaking down on the outro! And it’s become a classic! Enough to warrant a bunch of remixes and the mighty ‘live with orchestra’ version that follows.

01.52.18

RHYTHIM IS RHYTHIM – Strings Of Life (Live, Weather Festival, Paris, France) – Stream only – 2015

Derrick May, with Francesco Tristano (ex-Aufgang) loving it big time on extra keyboards, with the weight of the full Philharmonic Orchestra Lamoureux, under the direction of Dzijan Emin… and all beautifully captured by ‘producer, Amos Rozenberg and Paramax Films in 4K with 9 Cinema cameras by Samuel Petit for Arte TV‘… it says somewhere. Strings Of Life, indeed. Catch the video in the usual places.

Show 150 will upload April 5.

Dec x

The post Post Punk Plus Podcast Playlist 149 – Original upload 1.3.26 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 72% vinyl friendly. Not bad.

The SL-1300G in 2025. Technics keeping it simple with the design, if not with the spec trying to convince punters they need one.

‘Coreless Direct Drive Motor Achieving Stable Rotation

The use of a coreless direct-drive motor with no iron core eliminates uneven rotation of the turntable known as cogging. Also, the twin-rotor construction reduces the bearing load while maintaining high torque and reduces minute vibrations during rotation. Furthermore, the SL-1300G’s motor was redesigned to eliminate subtle vibrations that could affect sound quality. To improve rigidity, the same reinforcement pattern as the Reference Class SL-1000R/SP-10R was used for the coil mounting base‘.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

NB: THIS PLAYLIST INCLUDES EXPLETIVES.

Lyric of Playlist 148

For the reality…

Courtesy of Crooked Man, Jarvis’ by a country mile, but…

For the idyll…John Sebastian.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Turn – Waiting For The Sirens’ Call, 2LP – London – 2005

With Barney’s lilting, slightly forlorn vocal, a little gem nearly lost on one of the band’s least successful albums.

05.02

LITTLE NEMO – A Day Out Of Time – Past And Future, LP – Domestica – 2013

Though the track originally surfaced in 1987 on the 500 run, cassette-only format of the (debut) album. Even back then it could have been seen as yet another ‘sound’ out of Europe that seemed to echo the UK alternative/new wave scene of a few years earlier.

08.48

KIM GORDON – Not Today – Play Me, LP – Matador – 2026

Get past the intro – where it very momentarily sounds (to my ears anyway) like the batteries ran out – and Kim Gordon drifts nicely across the wash of sound.

12.03

THE COMSAT ANGELS – The Eye Dance – Sleep No More, LP – Polydor – 1981

Judging by a known set list for late Nov ’81 and the fact the band were then promoting the recently released, above album, this track was likely in the set list for my Bedford Corn Exchange gig promotion earlier that month. Big smiles when I hear them… though I’ve sadly never heard a tape of the Bedford night.

15.40

BUNNYDRUMS – Holy Moly – Holy Moly, LP – Fundamental – 1984

The short-lived, mid ’80s Philadelphian band with a quirky mix of ‘new wave’ vocal and a belting soul vocal bv in the backdrop of a low slung, punk country’ish workout. Maybe it’s the ‘yippee-ki-yay’ and pseudo peddle steel guitar? The band have been here before – and will be again.

21.30

COSTUME – Once I Loved (Original Mix) – Download only – 2021

Claudia Placanica’s slightly disconcerting delivery is always the thing for me!

23.54

THE IRONSIDES – The Web – Changing Light, LP – Colemine – 2023

Cinematically soundtracking the ’70s like a good’un! The Streets of San Francisco and its like… which is apt… as that’s where The Ironsides are from.

28.57

BABY ROSE – Go – Through and Through, LP – Secretly Canadian – 2023

My fave 21st century track of the show, Jasmine Rose Wilson (to her mum and dad) with a quivering/vibrato indie soul vocal – on this tune anyway – that Anonhi/Antony and the Johnsons could have penned and rolled out, albeit with a slightly different sound, no doubt. And that really is the sleeve, honest. I could be wrong but I reckon it’s a photographer’s dud that someone subsequently had a weird liking for. I struggle to actually look at it!

31.56

THE DRIFTERS – Like Sister and Brother – 7″ – Bell – 1973

I had this single in the mid ’70s but with the years since maybe ‘softening’ the senses, this made-to-measure ballad (with lead vocalist, Bill Fredericks sounding more like Johnny Mathis than I’d have remembered) sounds better now than it did back then but in the world we now live in there will be few if any songs written like this again.

I had to run the idea past one of my teenage years mates but I reckon that, along with Jimmy Ruffin’s What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted (and others, no doubt), this was a last-dance-of-the-night/grab-a-girl-type tune at Bedford Rugby Club’s Saturday night ‘discos’. I’m making this actually sound like the ’40s but it was the era and I was in my late teens… and until I find my membership card, this’ll have to do.

‘Swing to Boomerang’ indeed. I don’t think they came back.

34.52

EYELESS IN GAZA – Flight Of Swallows – Back From The Rains, LP – Cherry Red – 1986

The intro to my 1984 Rorschach Testing article below sums up my thinking on Flight back then – and though the track was being played live at the time it was a couple of years before it surfaced on the above album.

EIG article, Rorschach Testing, 1984

39.22

JONI MITCHELL – Eastern Rain – Archives – Volume 1: The Early Years 1963-1967, 5CD – Rhino – 2020

Truly a legend, such is the quality of the lady’s songwriting this beaut – from a Folklore Radio broadcast, of March 19, 1967 – never even made it to an official album and though it was covered by others and turned up in Joni live appearances of the time it took until the above retrospective to be released officially. And she’ll be back here quicker than you might be expecting.

43.13

SÓLEY – I Will Find You (Live, at the KEX Hostel in Reykjavik: 30.10.13) – Stream only – 2013

With a whole different tone to Liam Neeson’s ‘I Will Find You’ :), a production from the classy KEXP and a song only found on Sóley’s 5 track, 10″ EP, Don’t Ever Listen. This take however is a far more endearing version.

45.54

NORMA TANEGA – Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog – 7″ – Stateside – 1966

Was Norma ‘indie’ before there was such a thing? Sadly, she died in 2019 but search out a short Youtube interview and snippets piece (and the comments that followed) from a decade or so earlier. It was meant to be included in a proposed documentary that never then got going.

48.06

THE ELECTRIC FLAG – Look Into My Eyes – A Long Time Comin’, CD only – Columbia – 2003

From a handful of tracks that possibly didn’t make the cut for the initial 1968 release of the Chicago soul rock band’s second album, this is one of two that were first added to the above reissue.

50.52

LOVIN’ SPOONFUL – Summer In The City – 7″ – Kama Sutra – 1966

Maybe the best known tune on the show, with a forceful sounding John Sebastian and his/their ‘city’ being New York and its Greenwich Village hub back then.

53.13

THE FORTUNES – Here It Comes Again – 7″ – Decca – 1965

Innocent ’60s ‘pop’ with a classy arrangement, and another the likes of which will never be made again… and certainly not by anybody aiming for the charts.

56.09

THE MINDBENDERS – Groovy Kind Of Love – 7″ – Fontana – 1965

Wayne Fontana at the helm (and co-written by a pre-Sager Carol Bayer, I’ve just noted) I think this might have subconsciously stuck with me enough in its chart days (I was 8), to then make it to my record collection in the early ’70s. It felt then like a great many happily got rid of their records (certainly singles) after just a few years coz every second hand record shop had loads of chart stuff from just the 5-10 years prior. I was too young to have been buying the height of ’60s ‘pop’ during its time but picking it up a decade later was dead easy. Bet this cost me 10p or thereabouts.

58.05

SPUDDHA – Ton – Unreleased demo – 2014

‘Recorded in a single take with a pair of £100 analog groove boxes (Korg Volcas) and there’s no multi tracking, effects or post processing. One of the boxes is a three voice paraphonic synth and the other is an analogue drum machine.

‘At the time I was interested in making big, immersive music with an organic quality with sparse loops and a minimal setup. There’s a lot of live tweaking and you will notice that the limitations of the synth mean that 1) only 3 notes can sound simultaneously and 2) the voices interrupt each other. Also presets couldn’t be saved… if I didn’t record what I was doing I couldn’t move onto making something else without losing it all‘. – Spuddha.

‘Spud’ to me.

01.04.46

LONELADY – Hinterland – Hinterland, LP – Warp – 2015

Julie Lonelady groovin’ a tune and lyric that should have been here before now.

c/w Julie ‘helping out’…

01.09.32

JONI MITCHELL – River (acapella)

01.13.30

ATRIC & FRIDA DARKO – Hide & Seek – Download only – 2023

‘Always trying to combine genre fluid compositions, qualitative mixing and to take the whole process with a good sense of humor‘. – Them, via Bandcamp

01.17.26

A CERTAIN RATIO – Knife Slits Water (Peel session, June ’81) – Sextet, 2LP reissue – Factory Benelux – 2013

Yep, with Martha ‘Tilly’ Tilson’s oh-so-right vocal, the slightly epic Knife Slits Water. Very coincidentally, the day ACR recorded the above Peel session (according to the Keeping It Peel site) I saw them live supporting Cabaret Voltaire at Leicester Uni and the day the session was broadcast my diary says I had a long phone chat with Rob Gretton – no idea about what, other than re what New Order were up to at that point.

01.25.11

EARL16 – Changing World (Remix) – Cyber Roots Reggae, LP – Merge Records – 2001

I caught this on a late night KISS FM radio show. His conscious sounds here taken up a few BPM.

01.30.05

COURTNEY BUCHANAN – R U Conscious (Album version) – 12″ – Conscious – 1993

And speaking of ‘conscious’…

‘Courtney has one of the most soulful, spiritual voices to come out of the UK. His music here combines jazzy acoustic sounds with delicate use of technology on a rhythmic, down-paced head nodder. I various mixes, the track’s ‘conscious’ lyrics and impressive vocals are a fine showcase for this British talent.‘ – Ralph Tee, Record Mirror (Music Week), 3.7.93

01.34.42

DELTA HOUSE OF FUNK – Lovers & Losers – 12″ EP – Go! Discs – 1996

Decided to playlist this before I remembered it was another of Ashley Beedle’s works. So, this is with a big nod to a top lad who’s been going through the health ringer in the last few years.

01.39.38

DRAX – Middle Earth – Drax Two, 12″EP – Trope – 1993

Clear vinyl gentle German techno.

01.44.51

CROOKED MAN – Cunts – Crooked Stile, 2LP – Viscous Charm – 2026

The reimagining here courtesy of Richard ‘Parrot’ Barratt.

‘Jarvis Cocker released Running The World in 2006
The line ‘cunts are still running the world’ is more relevant than ever…

20 years on and Crooked Man thought it needed to be said again
His razor-sharp reimagining is a call to arms with added electronic bite
He’s skipped the niceties and titled it CUNTS.
Out today on Vicious Charm today.

The track is accompanied by an Agit-Prop video directed by British contemporary artist Dominic McGill, who, armed with a photocopier and a scalpel, has cut & pasted a perfect accompaniment to the song – breathless and furious.

They are still running the world.

It’s a work of “northern genius”, Jarvis’ words, not ours‘. – Bandcamp.

01.47.21

DESPERATE JOURNALIST – 7 – No Hero, LP – Fierce Panda – 2024

Driving indie rockers ever present on Simon Williams’ Fierce Panda label, with a nod to Jo Bevan’s confident vocals.

01.50.22

GANZHEIT – Motions – ‘Summer Of ’84’ demos cassette, unreleased – 1984

With a couple of this cassette’s tracks now playlisted on 41 Rooms, there are more to come from this lost Bedford-based band.

Show 149 will be here March 1.

Dec x

The post Post Punk Plus Podcast Playlist 148 – Original upload 1.2.26 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 67% vinyl friendly. Poor.

‘In the year 2021, few turntables have captured the essence of that time the way that the Old Future Turntable and Speaker has. The silhouette of the player itself pays homage to ’70s architecture in Seoul. Slanted roofs were common during that era, and when you place the turntable and speaker side-by-side, they look like part of a ’70s city skyline. Some vinyl-lovers may not like this product initially because a flat, horizontal turntable would be preferred for sound quality. For those who care about audio quality over aesthetics, the turntable’s legs are adjustable, so you can make the table more even‘. – yankodesign.com

Looks like it could more readily blow out hot and cold air than music.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 147

‘Observational, not sexist‘ noted Jean-Jacques Burnel.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Face Up – Low-life, LP – Factory – 1985

Face Up? More like Jump up, given the NO audience reaction when the chorus kicks in.

05.25

THE YOUNG GODS – Mes Yeux De Tous – Appear Disappear, 2LP – Two Gentlemen Records – 2025

Given that in the mid ’80s they were initially loosely bandied around in the same ‘industrial’ bag as my ‘charges’ Click Click I’ve heard very little of their lengthy and regular catalogue. This though is a mighty tune.

09.19

BLAWAN – Toast – Dismantled Into Juice, 12″ EP – XL Recordings – 2023

Nicely odd, with a ‘chorus’ that makes me smile.

11.56

BASETANK – Got Some Skills – The New Breed, v/artists promo only CD – Detonation – 1999

If it wasn’t for the 35 year age gap I might have said the vocalist on Got Some Skills and the modern day Microwave Man and his electric dirt bike online ‘Let Me Tell You Something, right?‘ words of wisdom sketches were of the same family.

15.44

9 LAZY 9: Turn Me Loose; UP, BUSTLE & OUT: Nightwalk; DJ FOOD: Klutes Groove; DJ TOOLZ: Rusty Goes GaGa; FUNKI PORCINI: It’s A Long Road – The Morning After The Night Before (one half of a CD free with DJ magazine – 1994

Old skool mixing from Cold Cut. ‘It’s (been) a long road… ‘ indeed.

22.00

HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR (feat HIPS & LIPS) – Someone Else Is Calling, 12″ EP – Stratasonic – 2025

The sort of hypnotic beats that could have fitted in with a Winkles, Bedford set list back in the ’80s… although someone might point a sound or two here didn’t exist back then.

26.12

FUNKY GREEN DOGS – The Way * – 12″ – Twisted – 1997

‘Anyone who ever liked That Sound from the Murk camp will like this just as much, even if they do whinge that it’s very similar to their previous favourite. The original is the heart-winner with its quivering vocal and acid-meets-funk groove, but the mixes are all attractive in their respective ways – Farley & Heller plod sweetly, Canadian Crash Productions do something along the same lines. Dirty White Boy rock and roll and Club 69 kick up a noisy messy rumpus. The best track of all is possibly the excellent FGD way-out beats. **** Daisy & Havoc, Record Mirror (Music Week), 10.5.97

Tough, liquidy goings on from the Murk camp. I was a fan.

32.51

JOY – Fragile Space – 7″ – DB-Low – 2000

‘Isaac Hayes meets Led Zeppelin‘ ran the press release for Joy Jones’ one-off (at the time) dip into music, and there’s something sad about a single of substance that didn’t do enough for the artist to build on.

35.52

TALKING HEADS – Listening Wind – Remain In Light, LP – Sire – 1980

Just checked. This is the last in a near complete run of the album’s tracks making it to 41 Rooms. So, that must make Remain In Light a bit of a classic to my ears.

39.36

THE SOULSAVERS – Rumblefish – Beginning To See The Dark 12″ – Ghost Ride Music – 2002

The sort of drifting beats thing that would crop up late night/early morning on KISS FM or maybe Ross Allen radio shows of the time.

43.28

BETHANY & RUFUS – 900 Miles – 900 Miles, CD only – Little Monster Records – 2005

With Bethany being the daughter of ’60s folk group, Peter Paul and Mary’s Pete Yarrow, an ancient tune reworked. And it’s a cello apparently, not a double bass.

46.48

STARGARD – (Theme Song From) Which Way Is Up – 7″ – MCA -1977

As funky now as the day it was delivered. I was 20… and this would have been hitting someone’s decks at Bedford’s Nite Spot, Spectrum, Pilgrims, The Anglers’ Laird bar and elsewhere out of town I went.

51.29

THE STAPLE SINGERS – I’ll Take You There – 7″ – Stax – 1972

They never let on where exactly ‘there’ is but with their gospel background we can maybe guess. Good luck with it.

55.30

CARLA THOMAS – Things Ya Make Me Do (Summer Mix) – 12″ – Ruff Justice – 1994

Not the ’60s Stax label Carla Thomas but it’d be nice to think this CT’s parents had that lady in mind when naming this lady. What might have been tagged ‘street soul’… and possibly out of Manchester, UK.

59.06

THOMAS DYBDAHL – All’s Not Lost – That Great October Sound, CD only – Checkpoint Charlie Audio Productions – 2001

Delicate sounds from Norway.

01.04.06

PURESSENCE – Don’t Know Any Better – 7″ – Reaction Records – 2008

James Mudriczki’s vocal…

01.07.22

DAVID SYLVIAN – Nostalgia – Brilliant Trees, LP – Virgin – 1994

Post Japan, his first solo album making its mark in fine style. It was unlikely to do otherwise.

01.12.57

JOY DIVISION – Insight – The Peel Sessions, 12″EP – Strange Fruit – 1986

Peel sessions sort of mimicked a live gig recording at its crystal clear best… this one included.

01.16.50

SIOUXSIE and THE BANSHEES – Christine (Warner Chappell demo) – Kaleidoscope, CD only – Polydor – 2006

With everyone and everything here ‘battling’ to be the most understated – and with it all quite possibly recorded in a rehearsal room, on the likes of (say) a 4-track Portastudio – this is as demo’ish as a major act’s demo could sound back then.

01.19.32

THE FLAMINGOS – Shone Like The Sun #3 (unreleased demo) – 1984

With Cliff (Peacock) in Scott Walker-mode there were a few versions of this tune and to these ears it sounds even better now than it did back then – and a link here to the song being performed live when the Flamingos supported New Order at Leicester Palais, May 21, 1984.

In effect the above might have doubled as my 27th birthday party and Shone Like The Sun was very likely on the Flamingos set list.

01.24.12

THE WAKE – Make You Understand – Here Comes Everybody, CD only comp – Factory Benelux – 2015

Recorded for a Feb ’84 BBC Radio 1 session for David/Kid Jensen and played live but the former only ever surfaced on the above.

Stephen, Mac, Carolyn and Caesar: Winkles, Bedford, 13.11.83

Photo credit/copyright: Dec Hickey

01.26.33

LITTLE NEMO – Bed In Summer – La Cassette Froide, split cassette (with Rain Culture) – self released – 1986

Not the first European band in the mid to late ’80s to have sounded as if heavily influenced by UK bands of the early ’80s and with a track only to be found on this cassette. I won’t be acquiring one any time soon.

01.30.27

THE STRANGLERS – London Lady – 7″ – United Artists – 1977

Yep, Jean-Jacques Burnel with a lyric or two (well, one in particular) that we youth most probably laughed through back in the day but now would maybe slightly wince at. The times…

01.32.52

ELVIS COSTELLO – (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea – 7″ – Radar – 1978

I had a brief moment with Declan’s singles around this time… and you had to admire the balls of a musician who wanted to strike out as an Elvis.

01.35.53

THE SUB ENSEMBLE – Faster Than The Sun (Domu Remix) – Download only – 2008

Very short-lived crew aided and abetted here by acclaimed Bedford-based (then, anyway) DJ, producer, remixer, Domu.

01.41.01

JAZZ THE GLASS – 16 Seconds – Download only, Soundcloud – 2019

A 41 Rooms regular, with another winner. Dave reminded me it uses a sample from a US boy band. I think it was a white label 12″ with anonymous writing (just initials?), that I took a punt on at no more than 20p.

01.44.47

FPI PROJECT – Come On (And Do It) (TC Funky Mix) – 12″ – Synthetic Records – 1993

‘Tremendous funky Italian offering as ever from those talented members of Ital’s most consistent band. Chocca full of good alternative mixes, including a wicked guitar ladened TC Funky mix… ‘ – Kenny Grogan, Mixmag Update, 28.4.93

‘Everything you love/hate about Italian records in double helpings. Very FPI Project but bang on time with its riffing flamenco-style guitar and a bundle of irresistibly funked up mixes firm Mother-man Lee Fisher, which include a wonderful reinvention of the bouncy original into a big booming beast of a track‘. Matthew Cole, Record Mirror (Music Week), 10.7.93

‘Girl chanted powerful Hamilton Bohannon-ish happy party pounder’s original Gypsy Kings-like guitars strummed 125bpm Official, 125.2bpm Gipsy, TC 1993 wukka-wukked 125.2bpm TC Funky Mixes, new sax squawked jerkily percussive building 124.9bpm Mothers At Work Remix and Dub‘. – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 7.8.93

As mentioned on the show, a one and a bit trick pony but sometimes a funky break and some vocal snippets is all you need for some head nodding bizniz.

01.49.36

CHEZ DAMIER & CO-INSIDE – Give A Little Love (Made In Detroit Mix) – The United States EP, 12″ – t:ime – 1993

‘Nottingham’s Sine boys have always (worn) worthier US influences on their sleeves. This time they make a more permanent connection with two excellent transatlantic collaborations. Their Made In Detroit Mix of Give A Little Love by Chez Damier & Co-Inside is a supremely cool organ-washed garage groove with the repeated title line drifting in and out of the mix. It becomes less mellow and more dubby as it progresses…‘ – Andy Beevers, Record Mirror (Music Week), 4.9.93

And yet another tune with a minimal use of different lyrics… and here you’re not getting the full nine minutes they’re spread over on the 12″. Still, jaunty US house with a bit of a UK ’90s garage’y feel… and I think I edited out some frogs sounds.

01.53.15

THE REESE PROJECT – The Colour of Love (Groove Corporation Trance Mix) * – 12″ – Network – 1992

‘Even by his own standards, Kevin Saunderson is having a good year. With Inner City firmly re-established as one of the world’s leading dance acts, he now takes the limelight under his alter-ego for what will be one of the biggest tunes of the year. The Deep Reese mix (featured on the Network ‘Elixir Vitae’ double pack extravaganza that some might say is their apology for KWS) is still the one for me. The coffee table intro soaring into a menacing groove with the hookiest of vocal samples… bliss. But wait, let us not forget Groove (aka Electribe 101) Corporation’s four mixes full of true British grit and trance appeal… ‘ – Dave Seaman ****1/2 Mixmag Update, July 9, ’92.

‘Kevin ‘Master Reese’ Saunderson’s powerful Rachel Kapp wailed Club Chart topper is now out on one single in brilliant swimming bass pulsed wriggly warbling 121.6bpm Magic Juan Atkins Mix, gospelishly started hypnotically chugging (0-)123.4bpm Deep Reese Mix, piano plonked 121.6-121.5bpm Underground Resistance Mix, repetitively stuttered Kym Sims-ish 122-122.1bpm MK Deep Dub, good insistently rolling 114.7-114.8bpm Groove Corporation Trance Mix and bass bubbled blippy 114.9-114.8bpm Groove Corporation Wobble Dub, while the first of the separate promos had its throbbing somehow then steady 115bpm Vocal (Trance Mix) and 115-114.9bpm Acid Revival (Wobble Dub), plus alternative swirlingly chugging 115bpm Plae Blue Mix and Instrumental Groove Corporation 021 Remixes‘. – James Hamilton, Record Mirror (Music Week), 1.8.92

Slinky Saunderson… and albeit it the same theme, a thousand miles from Terry Callier’s What Colour Is Love in every other way.

Show 148 should surface here Feb 1.

Dec x

The post Post Punk Plus Podcast Playlist 147 – Original upload 4.1.26 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 65% vinyl friendly. Very poor.

Scorchio!

‘1960/1970 Vintage Stereo Design Record Player, in bright orange, the emblematic colour of the 1960 and an example of Mod Ultra Space Age Pop Art Raymond Loewy? France French Designer Museum-worthy‘ says the Etsy seller, adding ‘It has a few cracks, one of the speakers has a small tear in the cloth and may need an overhaul, a full check up to see how and if it works and if it is complete… WE HAVE NEVER TRIED TO USE IT AND I DO NOT KNOW IF IT WORKS OR PLAYS.‘ Thank flip it’s down to
€4600, from €7100.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

And a bit of a croak in my voice here and there. A temporary glitch, hopefully.

Lyric of Playlist 146

Trickery involved but it has to be The Bots!

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Ruined In A Day (Reading Festival, 1993) – In Concert – 577, CD – BBC Transcription – 1993

I and my four-year-old, Alice were there, on what was a triumphant return, with the wonderful ‘Ruined’ in amongst new numbers from the band’s then recently released Republic album nobody would have previously heard in a live setting. BBC Transcription Services recordings – produced to service radio stations and usually for a very limited time frame for broadcast – had moved from vinyl to CD but with runs still only in their low hundreds New Order completists would be struggling to own a copy of this one… and I don’t.

04.42

MERIC LONG – A Small Act Of Defiance – Kablooey, LP – Polyvinyl Record Company – 2025 Book-ending a bunch of releases through the years as a member of The Dodos, Kablooey is seemingly Long’s first solo release under his own name since 2006.

07.43

BIOCHEMICAL DREAD – False Kings Of The Earth – 12″ – Pulsolid – 2004

Besides Richard H. Kirk’s work with Cabaret Voltaire this 12″ demonstrates there have been gaps in my knowledge of his lengthy discography elsewhere. RIP, Richard.

13.21

DARKSIDE – One Last Nothing – Download only – Matador – 2025

Including a past member of the 41 Rooms playlist parish, Nicolas Jaar, a US trio currently NOT releasing a 12″, though their Bandcamp visual hints otherwise.

18.32

AGENTS WITH FALSE MEMORIES – Agents With False Memories (extract), CD only – Ash International / Soleilmoon Recordings – 1996

Extract, indeed as Richard H. Kirk promptly returns to show 146 with this four minute snippet from a 53 minute track.

22.34

HUMANIZER – Shinobi – ? – ? – 2000s?

Ignoring the slight Liam Gallagher drawl and with zero connection to any Death Metal band of the same name, this might have been Manchester sourced… and maybe with a Peter Hook connection. That’s what I’m vaguely remembering… from over a decade ago. Dunno… A ‘demo’ version, minus vocals, might also get an outing here at some point.

27.08

DIFFERENT GEAR – A Little Bit Paranoid (Extended Mix) * – 12″ – City Rockers – 2002

Courtesy of a ‘Phil Dirtbox’, the vocal is the winner here.

32.59

MERZ – Sorrow In The Sky (Nightingale Vs The Crow) – 7″ b-side – Lotus Records – 2002

The stuff that people sing about… and here with gusto and passion, to boot!

36.55

LUSCIOUS JACKSON – Why Do I Lie? (Sessions at 54th, 11.97) – Stream only – 1997

Vocalist, Jill Cunniff’s tale of lying sounding best live!

40.13

THE POPPY FAMILY – I Was Wondering – 7″ – London – 1971

A bit of a strange arrangement, this one. Albeit with a key change in there – verses with no choruses! Weird and wonderful… and maybe a bit brave in the pop world of the early ’70s, where the only PF track I remember hearing as a young teen was Which Way Are You Going Billy? That won’t be getting a 41 Rooms spin.

42.43

SOPHIE JAMIESON – Camera – I Still Want To Share, LP – Bella Union – 2025

Being over in Brighton recently it seemed appropriate I buy her clear vinyl album from the Bella Union shop and re Camera? It’s the subtle build in Sophie’s vocal and she’ll be here again at some point.

46.59

MARTYN BATES – The Rhyme Of Miracles – Arriving Fire, CD only – Ambivalent Scale – 2014

Martyn instils presence in a tune like few others for me.

50.28

JOSE FELICIANO – First Of May – 7″ b-side – RCA – 1969

‘Feliciano seems to be on a heavy Bee Gees kick… after ‘Marley Purt Drive,’ he now does ‘First Of May’ and ‘Gotta Get A Message To You.’ And with his highly stylised projection, Jose manages to make them sound totally removed from anything the Gibb brothers originated’. – Disc (edited review of the album, 10 to 23), 15.11.69.

As far as I know the Bee Gees tune was only ever released on a 7″ (my ‘format of choice’) for Jose in Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines and Spain and never as an A-side and arranger, Al Capps most probably winced if he ever got to see the NZ pressing below.

Strangely, Jose’s very rarely performed the song live. I’ve only noted it three times, including two at London’s Jazz Cafe, in 1996 and again in 1998 and at the former it surfaced nearly under duress. With the audience (maybe unsurprisingly) constantly shouting out for past JF favourites Jose countered, ‘You know there’s a lot of songs you people ask me for that unfortunately… and I’m not being rude, a lot of artists are rude, they do it on purpose, but some of the songs that you ask me to sing, do you know that I haven’t sung them in years and I’ve forgotten the words and rather than make an ass out of myself that’s why I don’t sing them, OK? So, don’t take it personal… I don’t sing those songs anymore. But I’ll tell you what though there’s some that you ask for that I do remember, like this one. I hope that this one will satisfy you.’ That rare sighting was even more surprising considering Jose had taken the rare move of including his own recording of the song when guesting on Brian Matthew’s My Top Twelve for BBC Radio 1 back in June 1974.

54.11

JAPAN – Alien – Quiet Life, LP – Ariola Hansa – 1980

Bedford: Heronscroft, Putnoe, 1980 and Winkles, 1981… with a few Japan gigs thrown in at the time.

58.47

JOHN CALE – Chinese Envoy (M:FANS) – M: FANS, 2 LP – Double Six – 2016

‘Approached as a reinterpretation of Cale’s 1982 improvisational album, Music for a New Society… M:FANS is something of a funhouse mirror reflection of that work, using the basic song-structures of the original album as a starting point and using time, experience and the technological advances of the ensuing years to bring a new focus to the tunes. Some selections are comfortably familiar, while others have a significantly different footprint‘. – KCRW

01.02.32

ICEHOUSE – No Promises (Dance Mix) * – 12″ – Chrysalis – 1990

Fully five years after the track had seemingly done its thing it got an extended outing in Spain.

01.07.58

DAVID BOWIE – This Is Not America (BBC concert) – Bowie At The Beeb, 2CD – EMI – 2000

Part of Bowie’s special set for a small invited audience at the BBC’s Radio Theatre, in London, June 2000.

01.11.29

JOHNNY KEATING – Theme from Z-Cars (Johnny Todd) – 7″ – Piccadilly – 1962

Did I realise the grittier scripts involved here than had been delivered by Jack Warner’s strolling forerunner, Dixon Of Dock Green? Nah, I was five when Z-Cars kicked off but the theme (based on the traditional folk song, Johnny Todd) still brings a fuzzy feel. And Wikipedia will give you the full story on why Everton FC players come out to the tune at home games.

01.13.22

MARC COHN – ‘Walking in Memphis (Mahna Mahna)’ – Stream only – 1990’s?

Cohn definitely wouldn’t have seen this coming, as the self proclaiming Mahna Mahna and the Snowths duo upstage him in a short but cheeky mashup (of sorts) I happened on via Youtube a couple of decades ago. I’ll openly admit I was a Muppets fan when they first aired on UK TV back in the mid ’70s and with Statler & Waldorf the stars for me I remember walking my girlfriend of the time, Jill home from work and then running up the hill to my house to record the show. Pre the age of video recorders, at one point there was a stack of ten to twenty AGFA(!!) cassette tapes of the shows in my bedroom. Getting back to Cohn, the fact he’s ‘racing’ a bit here actually adds to the cheeriness and I salute whoever was involved.

01.14.44

BERNARD CRIBBINS – The Hole In The Ground – 7″ – Parlophone – 1962

And like the Z-Cars theme I was five when this was released and I’d have definitely been singing this one in the years close after – and weirdly, although it’s the second tune from ’62 on this show, it’s not the last.

01.16.27

THE BOTS – Fuzzy Math – George W. Bush Greatest Hits, v/artists, CDr only – Spin The World – 2004

I heard this cut and paste work of art somewhere around its ‘release’ and as of 2004…

‘… utilizing the revolutionary Presidential Truth Filter(PTF). The PTF operates like this: All presidential statements are recorded, and made into a huge database. The database is searchable by speech, phrase, keyword, emotional intensity, etc. In parallel, an analysis is made of the historical circumstances of the particular presidency. The question must be asked, what is this man (all men so far…) really all about? What is a defining characteristic of this presidency? The final question which must be addressed by the PTF is, how can we use the assets in the database to concatenate the truth, and make the President speak it? The first attempt was Bushwack, in 1992. This turned into a huge hit before the Presidential election in 1992, though BMI denied that it was ever on the air at all. Through October of that year, stations such as San Francisco’s Live105 were playing it almost hourly. In 1997 Rock The House was a popular download at an early digital music download startup, muzic.com. In 2003 Bushwack2 was released at about the start of the Iraq war. The mood of the song is quite grim, as the truth of those times was interpreted by the PTF. In 2004, the PTF was reprogrammed to emphasize economics and general silliness, and Fuzzy Math was born. We think it’s the best one yet. Judge the results for yourself’. – thebots.net

01.19.26

DREXCIYA – Black Sea – The Journey Home, 12″ EP – Warp – 1995

First heard on either of Colin Faver’s or Colin Dale’s techno shows on KISS FM. Sounds more likely it was the former.

01.24.58

E-DANCER – Heavenly * – 12″ – KMS – 1997

The Inner City (‘Big Fun’) man, Kevin Saunderson with his techno head on.

01.28.51

CHARLES WEBSTER – Your Life * – 12″ – Peacefrog – 2000

Pitched up a bit (‘+3%’ says my file iD) this is a class slice of soulful techno/house.

01.33.11

CHARLOTTE DAY WILSON – Selfish – Download only – Stone Woman Music – 2025

This r&b musician has been around for a decade or so but I wouldn’t have guessed, judging by this slight departure to a ’90s UK garage feel (first half anyway). It suits her.

01.36.48

BENCH – Felice – Bliss, 2LP – Cylinder Recordings – 2000

The fifth appearance on 41 Rooms to date for this pretty much forgotten duo.

01.39.36

BLUE STATES – Your Girl – 12″ EP – Memphis Industries – 1999

First heard on a compilation CD a mate of mine, Sid put together, of fave tracks forwarded by mates of his. Not their own tracks, you understand.

01.43.45

THE MIRACLES – I’ll Try Something New – 7″ – Tamla – 1962

Hellfire! Those breakdown strings mid way are a bit of a jolt! Easy, Smokey! Writer, Robinson’s own version is actually the third to make it to 41 Rooms and his vocal arrangement sounds more like a remake than either Kiki Dee’s ‘straighter’ take or even the Supremes and Temptations stab at the song, when chronologically they both followed this Miracles single.

01.46.14

SMITH & MUDD – Blue River – 2LP – Claremont 56 – 2007

Electronic… downtempo… shuffling… drifting… or maybe flowing.

01.48.38

MERZ – A.M. (Good Morning) * – Single-sided, white label 12″ only – 1995

The second artist to return this show, multi instrumentalist and songwriter, Conrad Merz and his at times very idiosyncratic vocal (‘Many Weathers Apart’, for instance) seem to have trodden their own path through the years.

01.53.45

CRAIG ARMSTRONG (feat ELIZABETH FRASER) – This Love (& The Life That I Have) * – 41 Rooms Soft Mash Up only – Early 2000s

I grabbed the extra voice – Virginia McKenna as Second World War spy Violette Szabo, reading the code poem The Life That I Have at the end of the film Carve Her Name With Pride – fully thirty plus years ago and I had a stab at floating it over This Love a long time ago but recently had another go. Aided by Jazz The Glass, we pitched her down slightly and then I took out a chunk of the poem in the second half. Not that it’s going to happen but I reckon it would need the song itself re-arranged/edited to work perfectly but methinks the idea is still a cool one.

Show 147 hopefully surfaces Jan 4.

Dec x

The post Post Punk Plus Podcast Playlist 146 – Original upload 7.12.25 appeared first on 41Rooms.

This playlist is 73% vinyl friendly. Not bad.

Anonymous ‘radiogram’, 1960s… and even at its size, the sort of set up that most families of the time had when music was really just a household component. Ours followed on from a legless Dansette-type turntable and was initially used primarily for the radio, with Dad wiring it through to the kitchen where one or two very discreetly hidden grills under a cupboard relayed Worldwide Family Favourites to the family Sunday lunch.

Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here.

Lyric of Playlist 145

‘You could be laughing sixty three percent more of the time… ‘ When Grant’s in the house he’s a likely contender here.

00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

00.41

NEW ORDER – Hey Now What You Doing – Waiting For The Sirens’ Call, 2LP – London – 2005

On what is arguably the band’s weakest album, a gunslinger strum of a song that’s easy to skank around to on the dancefloor and if I ignore the ‘rock drawl’ that Barney sometimes gravitated to in later years (and touches on here) I’d suggest it’s one of his finest vocal performance, with some beaut guitar to boot.

05.40

PRESENCE – Better Days (Presence Vocal Mix) – 12″ – Pagan – 1997

One of producer Charles Webster’s many monikers, here with some class house music peeping out of a genre that’s been littered with sterility through the decades since its inception. He’ll be back here.

09.37

DISCLOSURE (feat JESSIE WARE) – Confess To Me – Settle, 2LP – PMR/Island/Method – 2013

Saw this pairing delivering this on Later With Jools.

13.37

SERMONS BY THE DEVIL – Synesthesia – Exorcismo Electronico, LP – Library Of The Occult – 2025

A ‘Sermons By The Devil’ search online is likely to lead to no good I tell ya, and the album’s imagery etc doesn’t grab me either but this is some cheery funky electronica.

20.42

CABARET VOLTAIRE – Yashar (John Robie Mix) – 12″ – Factory – 1983

This would have been here a good few years earlier if it hadn’t slipped through the initial 2016 ’41 Rooms Potentials’ folder. Richard and Mal pretty much namechecked Robie’s mighty work here as having single-handedly opened them up to the possibilities of ‘branching out’ and it’s a tune and mix that’s as synonymous as any with Wednesday nights in Winkles, Bedford back in the day. Even Pete Care’s video was ever present with the times.

The US acetate below is likely to be the Robie mix and the owner (not me) will know.

27.58

BLAWAN – NOS – SickElixir, LP – XL Recordings – 2025

Given the music he’s been knocking out since 2010 a move to Berlin for northern producer, Jamie Roberts isn’t such a surprise.

31.01

THE HUMAN LEAGUE – Being Boiled (Album version) – Travelogue, LP – Virgin – 1980

Faster and definitely ‘funkier’ than the already playlisted original but it’s a toss up…

34.51

DEEP PURPLE – Emmaretta – 7″ – Parlophone – 1969

I had the stock/shop copy of this back in my mid ’70s ‘rock, pop and soul’ years when I saw DP at Wembley Empire Pool and though classic rock rarely gets a look in on 41 Rooms this sounded more than fine. I’d maybe even have a belated stab at buying the demo/promo copy (below, and reminiscent of Motown demos of the time ) if it hadn’t gravitated to a £150 and well beyond price tag.

37.29

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE – White Rabbit (Ursula 1000 remix) – Stream only – 2000-2010?

This mix turned up on some radio show… and has since disappeared. File Alex Gimeno’s efforts here under Psychedelia Plus.

41.30

RADWIMPS (feat TOAKA) – Suzume – ‘Suzume’ Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2LP – All The Anime Music – 2023

The sonics you can bump into on the net…

45.24

LANA SOY – Mind Games – Stream only – 2021’ish

‘‘Pure’, ‘softest’ and ‘soulful’ are usually the words thrown to describe Svetlana’s voice. Originally from Moscow and Londoner since 17, Svetlana’s music has been inspired by Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, Evanescence, Des’ree, Brandy and Sade‘. – Soundcloud

On a recent whistle stop trip back to Bedford I caught Lana at an open mic night and the best grouping of her songs is possibly her Apple Music presence. However, this version of Mind Games is one of two that are elsewhere, certainly including Soundcloud.

48.28

AIR (feat BETH HIRSCH) – You Make It Easy – Moon Safari, LP – Virgin – 1998

Any excuse to feature the voice of Beth Hirsch… and here it’s the avenue that most of the world got to first here her through.

52.06

JOHN GRANT – GMF – Pale Gree Ghosts, 2LP – Bella Union – 2013

With Grant’s usual wit and Sinead O’Connor (RIP) guesting, a few TV appearances of this song also included the latter on BVs, and certainly on Irish TV also Sinead’s daughter, Roísín’ where the phrase ‘The G(reatest) M(other) F(ucker)’ is still not one you’ll hear clear as day too often.

57.16

JAKE NAJOR and FRIENDS – Midnight In A Perfect World (live) – Stream only – 2021

‘American drummer, active as musician for numerous bands and band projects… ‘ says Discogs and here Najor faithfully recreates – in a video’d 99% live setting – to within a hair’s breath of DJ Shadow’s already 41 Rooms playlisted original.

01.01.54

DONOVAN – Hurdy Gurdy Man – 7″ – Pye – 1968

Another of the songs that when heard at the time, stood out over the Radio One airwaves, amongst its diet of pop music. Donovan himself even seems to be at odds with others involved in the session as to who added the electric guitar. Check the song’s Wikipedia entry for all the fun. I do know from research in a slightly different area (musicians playing live in the UK, but in the same time period) that sessioners were known to sometimes get paid in cash, with the deal and details being kept off the books for whoever it suited.

01.04.58

KIDDA – We, Do, Da Dirty Soundbwoy – Fresh Mess, DJ mix CDr – Catskills – 2005

The only place to find this barely 2 mins bouncy hip hoppity skit.

01.07.09

D’ANGELO – Unshaken – Red Dead Redemption II, video games soundtrack, 2LP – Lakeshore Records/Rockstar Games – 2019

“Produced by Daniel Lanois, co-writer of the track along with D’Angelo (RIP) and Rocco DeLuca, and on transparent red, should vinyl soundtracks be your thing.

01.10.59

MARK S. WILLIAMSON – Encounter On The Moor – Folklore, Facts And Fables 5: The Eve Stone, CD only – Forged River Recordings – 2025

‘For the fifth instalment in folklore, facts and fables series, we finally get a fable. We return to Todmorden and the story of Rob o’Harry’ot’Deans and his encounter with the fairy people up on the moors above the town… ‘ – Bandcamp

It quickly gets on a sonic plain and just stays there but I’m not qualified to work out whether multi-instrumentalist Williamson’s one string biscuit tin violin made it to the proceedings.

01.17.38

BREAKBEAT ERA – Breakbeat Era – 12″ – XL Recordings – 1998

And from one of my fave 21st century sounding albums (d&b is just that way). even though it was made a shade earlier.

01.21.51

??? – ??? – ??? – 1997?

Taped off a d&b show on London’s KISS FM radio of the time, I had this down as Comin’ Down by Kapricorn… but in amongst the swamp of anonymous and/or barely iD’d white label/promo/acetate/DAT tape etc tunes DJs on these sort of shows were buried in, this one was maybe confused with the aforementioned on a playlist, and it’s not anything Shazam can identify either. If you know… then let me know!

01.26.38

MATRIX – The Message 96 – New Identity Recordings – 12″ – 1996

One Jamie Quinn with some sparkling d&b!

01.30.05

LONDON ELEKTRICITY – Fast Soul Music – Billion Dollar Gravy, 3×12″ – Hospital Records – 2003

Given the title I’d have expected LE’s near-resident vocalist, Liane Carroll to have featured more here than with the occasional scat.

01.35.45

PARANOID LONDON (feat JENNIFER TOUCH) – Fields Of Fire – Arseholes, Liars, And Electronic Pioneers, 2LP – Paranoid London Records – 2024

The shuffling ‘hi-hats’ drive the stark beats like a real driving thing. If this had come out in 1981 I’d have made a home for this on the turntables for a good few week at Winkles.

01.43.01

MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO – Radio Babylon – 12″ – Play It Again Sam – 1990

Any year but 1990 certainly and I may have heard it at the time.

01.49.21

MERZ – Many Weathers Apart (Album version) – Merz, LP – Epic – 1999

A remix of MWA featured here a few years ago and it’s not the last time you’ll hear Conrad Merz’s idiosyncratic vocals here.

01.54.00

JOHN MARTYN – I’d Rather Be The Devil (Scrimshire Edit) – Download only – 2016

Adam Scrimshire adding beats and things to the already beat’y.

Show 145 hopefully surfaces Dec 7.

Dec x

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