Lottery Winners On Acid

Hello my beauties,

I bet most of you would have severe difficulties to name your 10 favourite songs of all time (a definitive + unchangable list, preferably having to be done in front of a loaded machine gun if you know what I mean). I certainly couldn't do it .... and I'm trying very hard to do it in my head for some 20 years now. There are three or four songs that would make it on said list, and this is but one of them.

I don't know awfully much about The Crimea, I have a full length CD flying around somewhere and it might even be worth listening to in its entirety, the problem though is that I always keep coming back to this tune, 'Lottery Winners On Acid'. In my humble estimation it certainly is one of the best songs ever written and here it is to you in two versions, first from the original CD, which came out on Shiny Beast Recordings in 2002, and also the re-release, a 2006 7" on Warner Reords.

Hard to tell which one is to be prefered, I think both of them are simply awesome and, dear Crimea: thanks ever so much for this piece of music. With it alone you certainly have achieved much more than I would ever be able to achieve in all of my life!

The Crimea - 'Lottery Winners On Acid' ('02) (mp3)

The Crimea - 'Lottery Winners On Acid' ('06) (mp3)

Also I feel like a lottery winner meself, at least a little bit, because a few days ago I received an email from Craig who runs a t-shirt mailorder shop in the UK, "Mr Cloud" ... and some very nice stuff he offers there, too. Well, in his email he offered me a shirt for free (I chose a Sonic Youth shirt, should you want to know) if I mention his shop on Sexyloser ... and it is my pleasure to do the very same here. Also he offered me to provide me with a recording of the last Christmas show John Peel did: I already have that one, Craig, but thanks for the idea!

The link is www.mrcloud.com so I strongly suggest you have a look and choose something nice for you and/or your beloved ones!

Enough for today, as usual any comments are highly appreciated!

Take good care,

Dirk

"I Love My Label ...." (Pt. 2: Rough Trade Records)

Good morning dearest friends,

The advantage of having had a burst appendix is that the doctor thinks I need two more weeks to recover from the experience, this means I have quite some time which I can spend in front of the computer and write silly nonsense, as it is the case right now.

Okay, as for the second part of 'I Love My Label ...', this time I had a go at Rough Trade Records. Not an easy thing to do, because the amount of stuff they released over the years by various artists is immense at the very least. But I think I found some neat tunes and I do hope you share this opinion. This is what I want to play to you today:

Detroit Cobras - 'Right Around The Corner' (mp3)

A cover to start with, but one of a neat tune indeed, originally done by The Five Royales. The Detroit Cobras to me surely were one of the best five 'new' bands in the last decade, all of their stuff is outstandingly good and I'll never become tired to listen to Rachel Nagy's wonderful voice, they indeed are a highly recommended band! This song is from their second album, 'Life, Love And Leaving' (RTRADCD067) from 2001. Pictured above is the front cover of the US release, but it was on Rough Trade in the UK.

       The Go-Betweens - 'Cattle And Cane' (mp3)

Again a great song, but not my favourite one by The Go-Betweens. As it so often is the case, I like the earliest recordings best ('People Say' for instance), those though were issued on the Able Label and not on Rough Trade. This doesn't mean that 'Cattle And Cane' is a bad song in one form or another, the only problem might be that you know it already by heart. For those of you who don't: it's from the band's second album, 'Before Hollywood', released as ROUGH54 in the UK back in 1983.

James - 'Chain Mail' (live) (mp3)

'One Man Clapping' was the third full length release from James, a live album which came out in March 1989. The album was recorded at the Moles Club, Bath, UK on the 14 and 15 November 1988. The album was issued on their own One Man imprint of Rough Trade Records (One Man 1 LP), after parting company with Blanco y Negro/Sire. So at least Rough Trade are a bit involved in here, reason enough to play to you this wonderful tune! Hope it brings back memories to those of you lucky enough to having had the chance to see James play live back in the 90's ....

  Mazzy Star - 'Blue Flower' (mp3)

Led by goddess Hope Sandoval, here's to you Mazzy Star: their debut album, released in 1990, is a real treasure. It was also released on Capitol Records back then in the States and in Canada, but for the UK it was ROUGH 158. 'Apparently 'Blue Flower' is a cover by a band called Slapp Happy, they wrote the song in 1972. I must admit I never heard the original and I am not sure whether I want to hear it at all: I'm afraid it may destroy what I like so much about Mazzy Star's version.

Pere Ubu - 'Final Solution' (mp3)

Okay, I have to cheat a bit here, but the song really is a highlight and I have to find a way to file it under Rough Trade in one form or another. It was originally released as a 7" on Hearthan in the US in 1976, a pressing of 3000. Then, in June 1980, Rough Trade UK re-released it, again as a 7", but with a different B-Side and titled the whole package 'Datapanik In The Year Zero-A' as RT 049. But, to make life even more complicated, Radar Records, back in 1978, also released a 7"-EP called 'Datapanik In The Year Zero', this though doesn't contain 'Final Solution' at all. Either way, it really is a gem, this tune, so please enjoy and play it loud loud loud!

 The Smiths - 'Jeane' (mp3)

Of course this post wouldn't be complete without having chosen something by The Smiths out of the Rough Trade back catalogue. Not an easy task, as you might be able to confirm, because obviously they have released so many good records over the years. This one though is one you don't hear all that often, the B-Side of the 'This Charming Man' - 7", 'Jeane': RTT 136, 1983.

 The Sundays - 'Here's Where The Story Ends' (mp3)

From the album 'Reading, Writing And Arithmetic' (ROUGH 148 from 1990). Lead vocals by the awesome Harriet Wheeler, who, one would think, has been listening to The Cocteau Twins quite a lot when she was a bit younger: nothing wrong with that, I suppose ....

Young Marble Giants - 'Final Day' ('80)

A total classic which I'm sure all of you know by heart, some 31 years (Jesus, is that really true? I'm afraid it is ....) after it's release. No reason not to play it again .... because I rule and I like it a lot! A 7", catalogue number was RT 043.

As mentioned previously, bearing the quantity of the Rough Trade back catalogue in mind, this wasn't that easy all in all. I do hope though that you enjoyed my choices. Any comments, verifying the same, or not, if you'd rather, are of cause highly appreciated. As usual.

Cheers,

Dirk

Kids ...

Hello my beauties,

not that I want to bore you here with personal details, but I spent the last weeks with severe pain in my guts, and in the end, after having visited a million different doctors between Christmas and New Year, it turned out to be a burst appendix. This little something has by now been removed from the inside of my pretty body and I'm back from hospital where I spent all of last week thinking beautiful thoughts. Mostly two things came to mind when I lay there, first:

- my water bed is the fucking best purchase I ever made in all of my life (apart perhaps from the four 7" singles of The Clash's 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais' (all in different sleeve colours) and perhaps also the original Undertones' 'Teenage Kicks' 7" EP on Good Vibes, the one with the fold-out sleeve): hospital beds are no fun to deal with if you have a water bed waiting for you at home: you can write that down and use it for yourself if you like!

and secondly:

- my son (and yes, my wife as well). I mean, they visited me every day and so on, but I really missed Little Loser a geat deal as soon as he had to leave each day. Nearly cried when he shut the door behind him ... and the nights weren't easy for me all alone without him.

So it's songs about kids today. Don't care too much about the song titles, they mean nothing much and don't reflect any of my personal views whatsoever. It's just three songs I like a great deal, this and the fact that they all have 'kids' somewhere in the title is the only thing they have in common. So here we go, friends, enjoy:

 Sportique - 'The Kids Are Solid Gold' (mp3)

... and indeed they are, well: most of the times. A nice little UK 7" from 1998 on Roxy Records, ROX004 in fact.

Vampire Weekend - 'The Kids Don't Stand A Chance' (mp3)

Their best song ever in my humble opinion! I mean Vampire Weekend are a brilliant band for sure, but this tune is very hard to match indeed and I don't think they'll ever succeed in doing so. A white vinyl 7" on XL Recordings, home of the mighty Ballboy, people, and released in 2008. XLS 399 is the catalogue number.

The Indelicates - 'We Hate The Kids' (mp3)

Outstandingly brilliant as well, as pretty much of their stuff is. Another 7", this time from 2006 on Sad Gnome Records (SG0601) and thanks to the nice guy who runs the label: he gave this 7" to me from Norway for small money out of his private collection, although it is long out of print! Thanks again, mate!

Three killer tunes in a row and I do hope you are delighted to get the chance to hear them here on Sexyloser, people! I certainly am ...

Enjoy,

Dirk

Recent Purchases ...

Good morning friends,

I think I told you before that I'm selling most of my record collection on discogs (go to discogs.com and search for seller 'fullofhope', should you be interested to buy a little something. I'd be more than pleased, of course, because Little Loser needs new shoes constantly), but occasionally I still see an old 7" here and there that I always wanted to have and then I buy it. A contradiction in terms if you like, but that's the way it is, I'm afraid. Now, rather recently I found those three little gems and I thought I'd share them with you, because it really is quite extraordinary stuff indeed, at least as far as I'm concerned:

Joe Strummer with  Long Beach Dub All Stars - 'Harder They Come' (mp3)

A nice version of the Jimmy Cliff favourite and on red vinyl as well (I always like that). Seems to be some sort of white labelled bootleg, the etching reads STRUM 1, but I'm afraid that's all I can tell you about this single, there is no recording or label info whatsoever, although I think it was released in 2009. There are two other tunes on it, a live version of 'Harder They Come' (quite why the 'The' (Harder They Come') from the (original) title disappeared without a trace I don't know either) plus a live version of 'Rudi, A Message To You', both done along with The Mescaleros.

The Marabar Caves - 'Seeds That Never Grew' (mp3)

Again I first heard this on Peel in another century and I always thought it is an astonishing recording indeed. Then a few weeks ago I got my hand on a mint copy of the 7" for little money, so here it is to you, friends. And also again there ain't pretty much I can tell you about the band, I think they are British, the 7" was released in 1984 on Tiki Records (MBAR1) and 'Seeds That Never Grew' (only) is the B-Side (of 'Sally's Place'). Astonishingly enough, because, at least as far as I'm concerned, it is the much better tune. I wouldn't really know how to describe it to you in style (a mixture between bass-driven rockabilly and strong power-pop perhaps, if you'd force me to name something), I suggest though to download it and judge by yourself: the song really is worth a few seconds of your internet time! The Marabar Caves actually are in somewhere in India, but I'm sure you knew that all along ....

King Short Shirt - 'Nobody Go Run Me' (mp3)

A mighty tune!! Alas, as with so many of these original Caribbean releases, without a picture sleeve. King Short Shirt was (and still is, as far as I know)  a cult figure in Antigua, and this 1976 track really proves why this is. Again a B-Side, the A-Side being 'Tourist Leggo', from a single on Weed Beat Records (WB 031). Do yourself a favour, folks, and listen to this at immense volume!

Okay, I hope you enjoyed my choices for this week, there is more to follow soon. As soon as a certain CD arrives in the post, something I'm waiting for for quite a while now and I do hope the British Postal Service didn't lose it in the snow along the Festive Season: I'll take them to court should this really turn out to be the case, promised!

Have fun and all the very best,

Dirk