Offmessage

Thanks to Stef for pointing out that almost all of the mp3 links were broken. Ahem. Always test your code – apparently my file upload code didn’t like files that big, but wasn’t polite enough to let me know about it… Hey ho. Anyway, I’ve stopped now, so here’s a reprise, with working links…

• Psycho Killer – Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations
• Ghetto of the City – Misty in Roots
• Tribute to King Tubby – Beats International
• Water Ride – 16B
• Killam Connection – Black Star Liner
• Tension Town – RDF
• Grand Old English Oak Tree – Dodgy
• Smile in the Face of Evil and Dance – Moonflowers
• Damnation Alley – Hawkwind
• Lack of Education – Dub Syndicate
• Let the Freak Flag Fly – Tranquility Bass
• Fear Loves This Place – Julian Cope
• In The Trees – Faze Action

But I think it’s time to finish the ODDM feature for the moment… One more for luck, however…. Souvlaki Spacestation from the sublime Slowdive album, Souvlaki…

Admittedly posting up fantastic deleted dance music is like shooting fish in barrel. Still, things like Faze Action’s In The Trees should be resurrected…

Surely I don’t need to say much about Julian Cope..? Jehovahkill was essentially the follow up to Peggy Suicide, and between them those two albums really define Cope in the 90s – right at the end of his major label career. Sublime pop, bombastic space rock and Cope at his Archdrude best. To be honest this is an album that needs to be listened to as an album, so any track I post may not click in the way it should…. Nevertheless – Fear Loves This Place was the single, and is a perfect introduction. Seek out this album on ebay – it’s well the £10/£15 you’ll pay for a copy….

A line from CSN’s “Almost Cut My Hair”, yes, but also a call to arms from the beautifully freaky Tranquility Bass… Best known for the singles that aren’t on the album, “Cantamilla” and “They Come In Peace” this is dubbed up chilled out dance music at its… well… freakiest. Ladies and gentlemen, let your freak flag fly…

Under the guise of the Roots Radics and the Soul Syndicate their tougher, sparser, darker and often scarier rhythms were credited with the creation of the dancehall style that swept Jamaica in the early 80s. Later they reappeared as The Arabs with Prince Far I, before coming to the UK and working with Adrian Sherwood as Dub Syndicate. It’s amazing what dross in your record collection is still available, and it’s truly amazing what isn’t… If you like this you should seriously try out murder tone as a compilation of their work at On-U, or Time Boom X De Devil Dead – one of Lee Perry’s finest hours, backed by the Dub Syndicate. Lack of Education.

You either love them or hate them. Me, I love ‘em. In my opinion there’s nothing like the absolute balls-to-the-wall energy and simplicity of Hawkwind at their best. Of their many varied albums perhaps their best (or at least my favourite) is deleted, unlikely ever to reappear on CD due to contractual difficulties between the band and the owner of the master tapes. So… From Quark Strangeness and Charm… Everybody sing:

Flying through the burning hoop of doom
in my eight wheeled anti-radiation tomb
Thank you Dr. Strangelove for going doolally
and leaving us the heritage of damnation alley

There was also a fine line in psychedelia. Like the Moonflowers. Go on. Smile in the face of evil and dance.

In my incarnation as student journalist (short lived and highly unsuccessful, but there you go) I was lucky enough to interview Dodgy. At the time they’d just been publicising themselves by playing at Speaker’s Corner, as well as doing a national tour of people’s houses… In the process of the interview one of their comments was that their target wasn’t Indie success, but success like Simply Red (Stars was the largest selling album of that year)… They didn’t quite get there, but the combination of jangly guitars and 3 way harmonies changed the pop of the 90s for a few years. Lots of their stuff is still available, but the first album (and arguably the best) is long gone – Grand Old English Oak Tree is a classic example….

Anyone remember the Radical Dance Faction? No. Thought not. The lead singer (or speaker, to be more accurate) was a huge man with 6 foot long white dreads, so if you’d seen them you’d remember. RDF were part of the festie/squat scene of the early 90s that bred the likes of Chumbawumba (before they got shit), Back to the Planet, Poisoned Electric Head and Porcupine Tree. They rocked. Skanking reggae, social lyrics and a damn good beat. Tension Town… Remember the 90s right.