Sunday at Bob's #18 - A Guest Appearance (by Mr.B)

Hello everybody, I'm Mr. B and I will be hosting Sunday at Bob's this time round, with big thanks Sunday at Bob's for the invite.

    Cutting right to the chase, first up we have Percy Faith and his Orchestra with their 1960 easy-listening arrangement of “Theme from A Summer Place”.  Named "the most successful instrumental single of the rock era.", it remained number one in the U.S. for a record breaking 9 weeks early in 1960, with Canadian Percy recognised as being key to the popularisation of the genre, and supposedly one of only three artists, along with Elvis Presley and The Beatles, to have the best-selling single of the year twice. To give some context, this was the same year John Coltrane's “Giant Steps” was released, as well as Elvis Presley's “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”. 
    I find it perfectly captures that feeling of gleefully skipping through wild flowers under an azure sky, without a care in the world, whilst gently rocking to-and-fro in the corner of a padded cell, tightly secured in a brilliant white straight-jacket.  Additionally, I think it makes a great introduction to this whistle-stop tour around a selection of my very own musical pick-and-mix.

    Next up we have the first track from a 1996 album that I still consider the quintessence of cool after being introduced to the artist's work back when I was a teenager.  Named “Ki-Oku” (translated as memory, note, remembrance), it quickly became a trip-hop classic during the heyday of the genre, and is a mind-bending collaboration between Japanese hip-hop artist DJ Krush (often found at Melkweg) and fusion-jazz trumpeter Toshinori Kondo. It stands alone as an intoxicating mixture of hip-hop turntablism, trumpet improvisation, and the ineffable Japanese style. Incidentally, this track is called “Toh-Sui”, which is Japanese for compassion.

    Directly into the next piece, from one of my all-time favourite record labels Ninja Tune who will make more than one appearance here, home of Bonobo, Mr. Scruff, Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Amon Tobin, to name but a few, providing reliably stellar releases since 1990.  They recently signed Floating Points, adding to their enormous list of past and present electronica heavy-weights.  This track is taken from the DJ Food album “Refried Food”, and is a remix of one of DJ Food's own tracks by Squarepusher. 
    To explain just how deeply Ninja this tune is, DJ Food was a project conceived by the inimitable Coldcut, a British duo who started the record label itself.  The DJ Food project begun by making their own brand of snacks for DJs to chew away on, but the project soon gained its own personality. After their first proper main-meal of an album “A Recipe for Disaster”, came “Refried Food”, an album of remixes made by giving the tracks of the prior album over to their nearest and dearest musician pals including Fila Brazillia, Luke Vibert, and Autechre.

    Then we have the “Theme from Midnight Express” by the legendary Italian synth prodigy and disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder, which won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Score in 1978, and in my mind remains such an iconic piece in the history of disco evolution that it had to be included, not less because I happen to have been enjoying it lately and it was already here on my PC.

    From there we go to a sublime piece of electronica from 1995 named “A Zed and Two L's” by the aforementioned Fila Brazillia, a British duo and again another I was introduced to in my teenage years, much to my intense pleasure.  The track takes a drum sample from the Lafayette Afro Rock Band's famous track “Hihache”, as well as some vocals in an African sounding language I can't identify, and seems to be named after an apparently terrible film called “A Zed and Two Noughts” but with reference to the word Brazillia.  I wasn't going to play the whole thing originally but I've gone for it, I really think it's worth the extra time even if it might make one a bit sleepy.

    Anyway now that you are suitably hypnotised, time for a little transhumanist reprogramming with a very rare 1979 piece of electronic disco / proto house.  This B-side from the record “Disco Computer” named “You Are Disco” was produced in Belgium by another pioneer of the disco genre Dan Lacksman, under alias Transvolta. I have no recollection of how or when I came about it exactly but I am mighty glad I did, the friendly robotoid singer allays any fears I have of a dystopian AI-dominated future.  He even says he makes the drinks alright.

    Following this odd little gem we have something from the other end of the disco spectrum, a superbly funky and widely-sampled 1982 number called “Risin'  To The Top”, signature song of funk and soul extraordinaire Keni Burke.  I first heard this song dancing to the last tune of a fantastic post-King's-day disco set at Noorderlicht two years ago and I immediately had to find out what it was, and find myself a copy.  The bassline is directly sampled on the more famous funky disco classic "All Night Long" by the Mary Jane Girls, but best to remember where it first originated and give credit to Keni for bringing this amazing piece of bass guitar funk forth.

    Then we have a very aesthetically pleasing piece from British electronic nu-jazz group The Cinematic Orchestra, named “Necrology” after a short film by American experimental film-maker Standish Lawder, where in one continuous shot he films the faces of a 5pm crowd descending a Pan-Am building escalator. This is another track from the previously discussed Ninja Tune label, and as per TCO's mission and similar to all of their work, it is an attempt to elicit something of a moving image in the mind of the listener.

    Gliding somewhat skittishly from one piano to another, we fly to a 1950 bebop version of “My Melancholy Baby” by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, from their record Bird & Diz released a few years after, and which was their final collaborative studio recording.  Essentially creating the bebop scene as a closely working and intensely studious pair, Diz being a rather straight laced and religious musical academic, and Bird having sadly fallen victim of the ravages of heroin and alcohol addiction, I can only imagine their professional relationship was sometimes rather strained, as close as they were.
    I don't have much to say about this record apart from that I think it is one of the finest examples of each of the artist's virtuoso styles I have in my possession, and let's be honest, a bit more brass is always a fine thing.

    Finally we have “Justified & Ancient”, an understatedly rebellious and ironic 1991 track from the final studio album of The KLF called “The White Room”. The KLF were a British/Scottish duo of multi-disciplinary artists who famously set fire to a million pounds on the Scottish island of Jura back in 1994.   This song was remade the same year of release into a pop-house single which reached number 2 in the UK pop charts, greatly to the amusement and no doubt bemusement of the original artists, whose entire careers revolved around undermining the music industry and other questionable establishments. 
    It is said that the collaborations following the success of the remake contributed to The KLF's abandonment of music production, as their rampant success in the pop music world was distinctly at odds with their personal distaste for the machinery of the pop industry.  Absolute wizards of subversion, their music and other work is well worth a thorough perusal.

    Well there we have it folks, I hope you enjoy the music and any related research you might delve into hereafter.

    Listen to the receptionist.
    Over and out.

Playlist:



1. Percy Faith and his Orchestra – Theme from A Summer Place

2. DJ Krush and Toshinori Kondo - Toh-Sui

3. Dj Food – Scratch Yer Hed (Squarepusher mix)

4. Giorgio Moroder - Theme from Midnight Express

5. Fila Brazillia - A Zed and Two L's

6. Transvolta - You Are Disco

7. Keni Burke – Risin' To The Top

8. The Cinematic Orchestra - Necrology

9. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - My Melancholy Baby

10. The KLF - Justified & Ancient