"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

A mixtape .... and why not?

Hello dear friends,

Mrs Loser, together with Little Loser are away for a few hours now (@ the neighbours, preparing food for a Halloween/Birthday party, which is going to take place tomorrow evening. I'll turn up as a mummy there, should you want to know ...).

Either way, I used the time on me own to mow the lawn (for the last time this year I hope) and then went to the computer and listened to some tunes from yesteryear. And whilst doing so I thought to myself: 'Hold on, why not share this stuff with the five blighters who occassionally read this blog?' And there you are, friends, a mixtape for you! Nothing special, just a few songs I listened to earlier today, that's it. I like them a lot, and I hope you do too.  I only used songs not dating prior to 1990, because I thought, okay, if one or two people leave comments, perhaps this gives you the chance to do another mixtape of songs from even an earlier period, the one that I like best (1976 - 1989) .... so let's wait and see, shall we?

So here's what I spent my morning with, in no particular running order ....:

(1) Mr Symarip - 'I Was Busted' ('06)
(2) Detroit Cobras - 'Shout Bama Lama' ('04)
(3) Midwich Cuckoos - 'Show Me' ('90)
(4) Harrisons - 'Man Of The Hour' ('07)
(5) Louie - 'Dead Man' ('06)
(6) Clinic - 'The Return Of Evil Bill' ('00)
(7) Mo Ho Bish O Pi - 'Hear The Air' ('00)
(8) Spoon - 'Jonathon Fisk' ('02)
(9) Pulp - 'O.U. (Gone, Gone)' ('92)
(10) Jesus & Mary Chain - 'Rocket' ('98)
(11) Inter - 'Happy Ending' ('97)
(12) Broken Family Band - '12 Eyes Of Evil' ('03)
(13) Raymen - 'Buzzsaw Baby Of The Hollywood Hills' ('90)
(14) Shane McGowan & The Popes - 'Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway' ('00)
(15) Crimea - 'Lottery Winners On Acid' ('03)
(16) Electrelane - 'I'm On Fire' ('03)
(17) M.A.S.S. - 'Hey Gravity' ('02)
(18) Pooh Sticks - 'Young People' ('91)
(19) McLusky - 'Alan Is A Cowboy Killer' ('02)
(20) Metal Mike - 'I Don't Like This World Anymore' ('91)
(21) Soledad Brothers - 'Break 'Em On Down' ('02)
(22) NOFX - 'Kill All The White Man (live Hollywood '95)

Hope you had fun with that, friends. I certainly had.

Leave comments. Please.

Cheerio,

Dirk

October 25th: Peel Day

left picture: Peel & me in a London pub, 1988 or thereabouts. Jesus, look at that haircut! And, even worse, that jacket: I look like a fugitive from East Germany!!

right picture: at Peel Acres, a few days later: in the background you see a small (!) part of just one (!) of the four (!) double-sided (!) shelves where Peel stored his 7" singles in!!



Dearest friends,


yes, yes, I know: three posts within one month, so you might think 'what the hell is wrong with this guy ...  nothing happens for half a year and now he is bombing us with articles!' Be relieved to learn though that I just do this in order to draw your attention to the fact that today is October 25th!

Six years ago on this very day I was honeymooning in Jamaica, me and Mrs. Loser were driving in a hired Jeep from Negril all the way to Port Antonio, rather a hard drive because of the bad roads, but nevertheless fun fun fun ... which came to a sudden stop when reaching the suburbs of Kingston: it was announced on the radio that John Peel had died. Now, this, to date, has been the greatest shock in all of my life, I can't remember anything that hit me that hard so far. Peel had not only been a hero for me since I first heard him on BFBS back in 1983, over the years he became a true friend. Whenever I was in London we would meet up and have a few beers together and he always was friendly and honest to me. Never bad tempered or arrogant, nothing like that, never! I know this may sound rather silly for you to say, but losing him was like losing a close family member .....

Now, Webbie over at the Football And Music - blog had a brilliant idea, and I immediately decided to participate. I think the easiest will be to quote him here:

"There once was a Radio 1 led John Peel Day, but they stopped doing it a few years ago.

The day is still commemorated and kept running with various events taking place at places around Europe, but my fear is like with 6 Music this day is slowly being killed off.
We shouldn’t forget his memory and should not forget his legacy. All those bands, all the music that we discovered thanks to him.

There should be a web version of the John Peel Day, with this one being commemorated by all the bloggers, tweeters, LJ users and tumblr’s out there. If you are Facebook then please join in too.

So on the 25th October 2010 I want everybody to post a Peel Session track by any of their favourite bands.
That date, you’ve probably already worked out, is the date when we lost the great man…

This was partly inspired by JC using the same idea he had with the Paul Haig Day and I hope that he and all his fellow writers will join in to support this one."

Well, there ain't very much more to say to that, right? Apart from the fact perhaps that you should pop over at Football And Music and have a look what the other contributors have to say/post. As far as I'm concerned, I use the opportunity to play to you not one, but ten of my favourite Peel Session - tracks .... and here we go:

The Frantic Elevators: 'Hunchback Of Notre Dame' (mp3)

25/02/1981 - TX - 03/03/1981

The Buzzcocks: 'Promises' (mp3)

18/10/1978 - TX - 23/10/1978   

Culture: 'Lion Rock' (mp3)

11/12/1982 - TX - 11/01/1983

The Cure: '10:15 Saturday Night' (mp3)

04/12/1978 - TX - 11/12/1978

Laurel Aitken: 'Rudi Got Married' (mp3)

28/04/1980 - TX - 12/05/1980

The Screaming Blue Messiahs: 'Let's Go Down To The Woods And Pray' (mp3)

24/07/1984 -TX - 02/08/1984

Stiff Little Fingers: 'Nobody's Hero' (mp3)

03/09/1979 - TX - 17/09/1979

 

That Petrol Emotion: 'V2' (mp3)

11/06/1985 - TX - ?

 

 The Undertones: 'Rock 'n' Roll' (mp3)

21/01/1980 - TX - 23/01/1980

The Mighty Wah!: 'Basement Blues'/'Story Of The Blues' (mp3)

22/08/1984 - TX - 17/09/1984

And, finally, here's the great man himself. This was recorded by the BBC's answering machine one day before John Peel died whilst being on holiday in Peru:

John Peel Phone Call 24.10.04 (mp3)


Webbie, again thanks a lot for your idea and I do hope that it helps us all to 'keep it Peel' indeed!

Have fun,

Dirk

Link Problems

Dearest friends,

I just found out that something must have changed with the download links for the post below and also for previous posts: in the past you just had to click the yellow mp3 links with the right side of your mouse and then you were able to download directly.

If you try to do this now, you will fail. Quite why this has happened I don't understand, but either way: you now have to click with the left side, then another site will open up (in German, it's Google Groups: that's where I 'store' my music) and you can easily download from the link shown there.

Rest assured this is no spam/virus thingy ... it's safe, so just do it.

Cheers,

Dirk

Little Loser's Lottery Pt. 2

Good morning Vietnam!!

Oh boy, AGES since I my last contribution to this site, and whose fault is this?! Not mine, I assure you, no, it's my son, Little Loser (pictured above in all of his cuteness), who demands my attention as soon as I enter the front door in the afternoon when I come home from work. Sometimes he wouldn't even allow me to get my jacket off before I have to lift him up and give him a hug .... which doesn't stop until he falls asleep some five hours later. Not the hugging, demanding attention that is! But I won't complain, because he turned two years three weeks ago and by now is cool as fuck! He understands every word I say (although most of the times he doesn't do what I want him to do, but that's another story) and spending time with him gives me enormous pleasure!

Now, a few days ago I dragged him to the shelf where my 12" singles are and I forced him to pick five of them. He, being a good son, immediately started doing so by choosing the last one in the row, the one that was the easiest for him to grab with his little fingers .... and there went my copy of the Yeah Yeah Noh 'Peel Sessions' 12", because he smashed it on the floor and of course the record fell out of the sleeve! Therefore, although technically it was Little Loser's first pick, you won't get to hear this one, because it is now by and large unplayable.

After that I took more care and finally (after quite some struggle and discussion about the fact that the guy pictured on the sleeve of The Selecter's 'Too Much Pressure' - album is NOT suffering from any heavy physical pain [Daddy!! Man!! There!! Ouch!!] and about the fact that this record CANNOT be chosen by him (because it is no 12" Single)) he managed to pick five other records ... without destroying them, thank God. All in all good choices, I would like to think. I tend to leave the question unanswered though whether this is because his taste is already that good (I don't think the sleeves attracted him, because all of those are rather uninteresting) or whether the collection itself doesn't contain that much crap in the first place. Then again he currently is very fond of one of the great records of all time (which means he does have some good taste indeed, at the very least), The Lime Spiders' 'That's How It Will Be' .... he likes the part where the music fades down and the singer goes "Heeeyy!!" .... and he is imitating that scream perfectly well since five days now when he lies on his back whilst I try to change his nappies. Priceless!

Okay, so let's go, here's what Little Loser picked for you, Ladies and Gentlemen .... please enjoy:

mp3: The Unknown Cases - 'Masimba Bele' ('83)

mp3: The Style Council - 'Shout To The Top' ('84)

mp3: The Midwich Cuckoos - 'Show Me' ('90)

 mp3: The Men They Couldn't Hang - 'Whiskey With Me Giro'

          (live '85, taken from the 1986 'Shirt Of Blue' - 12")

 mp3: Killing Joke - 'Love Like Blood' ('85)

Not bad, ey? I enjoyed his choices, especially the first and the last one, because I hadn't heard those for years meself! What did you think? Any comments are highly appreciated, as usual, and this time I promise to read them all out to Little Loser!

See you soon,

Dirk

Cool T-Shirt for free? Well, why not!

Hello dear friends,

the wonderful world of blogs is rather small, I just found out. But effective, I hope. I started with reading what my friend JC aka The Vinyl Villain had to say today, then I went from his bloglist to the wonderful Postpunk where I found a link to this great site, 3D Supply. Now, they pretend to give a t-shirt out of their huge and most impressive collection away for free, that's as long as you write something nice about it on your blog. Which I'm doing right now obviously, so I hope the friendly people at 3D Supply read this and after having done so they send out the shirt to me .... right in time before I leave for my holiday later this month!

This is the shirt I chose ...

... and for those of you whose German is not good enough: it's all about vinyl and cassettes, which is fair enough for me, old fashioned as I am.

Well, let's hope 3D Supply keep their promise, because the shirt is dead cool indeed!

I'll keep you informed as soon as it arrives!

Cheerio for now,

Dirk

It's Paul Haig Day today ... again!

Dearest friends,

Paul Haig gave great support to a number of bloggers in the Spring of 2009 when a number of us were hit with all sorts of dmca notices, to the extent that he gave full authority for tracks from his back catalogue to be used in postings. Paul Haig Day was organised at short notice for 6th April and some 40 different bloggers used their space that day to write about his life and work.


Paul Haig Day II is once again on 6th April 2010: today, in fact.

All of this was organised by my good mate JC aka The Vinyl Villain, who runs a fantastic blog which is updated on a daily basis. I find it hard to believe myself, but perhaps there are two people in the whole wide world who are reading this here but have never visited his site. Should this be the unlikely case: do yourself a favour and go here, okay?

Back to Paul Haig: I must admit I know very little about the things he did on his own, that's after the mighty Josef K. split up back in 1981. I won't even begin to try to give an overview of all the things Paul Haig did from 1981 up to now, it would be pointless, I'm afraid. Instead you should either read this article on Wikipedia or have a look at the aforementioned Vinyl Villain on a frequent basis: JC very often offers excellent tunes and/or articles from/about Paul.

The song I chose for today is not one of his solo tunes though, not because the things he did on his own are less preferable, no, the truth of the matter simply is that I haven't listened to this specific one for quite some time, and playing it again today brings back memories of better times (1981), so 'thank you', Paul:

Josef K. - 'Sorry For Laughing' (mp3)

Enjoy,

Dirk

Who can identify this tune, please?

Hi friends,

I received a message on my discogs site from Javi from Spain, who has a song on a tape he recorded back in the summer of 1987. He neither knows the artist nor the name of the song, but is desperately looking for any help indeed. The recording quality is best described as poor, but nevertheless please spend two minutes of your time, listen to the track and if you have a clue: please let me know, so that I can tell Javi.

Here's said song.

Cheers my beauties ... and thanks for your time and help,

Dirk

Some Of The Best There Ever Has Been: '1985'

Fellow Americans,

I was 17 in 1985 and the following tunes then were the soundtrack of my life. I still love to listem to them these days, some 25 years later, and I can only hope that you will do likewise. The groups/titles may well be known to you by heart already, but I included some live versions that, at least so I think, will not be that well known. For the rest: well, yeah .... is it really wrong to listen to the good old stuff from yesteryear every once in a while? I don't think it is, therefore please wail back in time and enjoy:

1) Warum Joe - 'Electrolyse' (mp3)

I have this on a fantastic compilation called 'La Vie En Rose' on New Rose Records France. Said compilation was released in 1985, the track itself was on the band's  'Le Goût De L'Effort' - 7", which was already released in 1983. So I'm cheating a bit here in one form or another, then again I first heard the tune when buying the compilation in 1985. Warum Joe hail from France, they started their career in 1981 and they are still going strong ... at least they were last year.

2) Einstürzende Neubauten - 'Sand' (mp3)

Originally performed by Nancy Sinatra, written by Lee Hazlewood: here you find an astonishing version of the song, done by German industrial rockers Einstürzende Neubauten. On the back of their 'Yü-Gung' - 12" on What's So Funny About ... - Records from Germany.

3) Sacred Cowboys - 'Highway 61' (mp3)

From Melbourne, Australia and active in 1982-1985, 1987-1997 and since 2006. A great band doing a great tune, originally performed by Bob Dylan, of course, although I suspect that this version here might find more approval from at least some of you than the original does. Again taken from the 'La Vie En Rose' - Box Set - compilation ....

4) 10.000 Maniacs - 'My Mother The War' (mp3)

Led by the wonderful Natalie Merchant, 10.000 Maniacs formed in New York back in 1981. Again, 'My Mother The War' was originally released as a single in 1983 - and even turned out to be a minor indie hit in the UK, thanks, as so often, to John Peel's airplay. The reason I list it here in this column is that it was included again on the band's 'The Wishing Chair' album, which was relased in 1985 on Elektra.

5) Blancmange - 'Feel Me' (live) (mp3)

'The London Sampler', a 1985 London Records Label Compilation by and large, has many great tunes on it, and this is but one of them. Not surprisingly, because Blancmange, who were Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscumbe, simply were an outstanding band back in the early eighties. 'Feel Me' was originally released as a single in 1982 and to be honest I have no idea when above live version was recorded: then again I don't care pretty much, because it surely is a gem and it captures Blancmange's energy pretty well!

6) The Wolfgang Press - 'Heart Of Stone' (mp3)

British band, formed in 1983. Members Michael Allen and Mark Cox had previously played together in the bands Rema-Rema and Mass whilst Andrew Gray was initially a member of In Camera. Lauded as one of 4AD's longest-tenured acts, the band would go on to record consistently until the mid-nineties. 'Heart Of Stone' is, at least in my humble opinion, the best track from their album 'The Legendary Wolfgang Press And Other Tall Stories', which was released on 4AD Records in 1985.

7) Style Council - 'My Ever Changing Moods' (live) (mp3)

Well, there ain't pretty much to say about The Style Council, is it? Listening to them when I was 16 or 17, amongst all the other post punk/punk - stuff beneath, often gave me a bit of a 'bohemian' feeling, I'm ashamed to admit: then again I never knew whether Weller (bearing what he did with The Jam in mind) was really cool or whether he was just a ninny ... and we'll never know, I'm afraid. One of their finest tunes, first released in 1984, presented here in a live version, live in Liverpool in fact, from a 7" given free with the NME in September 1985.

8) Lloyd Cole and The Commotions - 'Forest Fire' (live) (mp3)

Again from the aforementioned NME - 7", but this time recorded live in London: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions. Surely one of the finest bands from Glasgow ever, and if you don't owe their debut album 'Rattlesnakes' from 1984 yet ('Forest Fire' is on it as well), then you haven't really lived your life properly so far.

9) Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - 'Hollow Heart' (mp3)

Again already released as a single in 1984, but also to be found on their debut album 'Talking About The Weather', which was released on Red Rhino Records in 1985. I saw them live in 1986 and I thought they had split in 1991, but to my great surprise I just learned - whilst searching for a band photo - that apparantly they reformed in 2004 and released new material until 2006. I'm willing to have a small bet though that the new stuff won't have have the strength and power that above song has.

10) Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians - 'Heaven' (live) (mp3)

The album 'Gotta Let This Hen Out' was released on Relativity Records in 1985 and basically is a recording of a gig the band did at The Marquee in London on April, 27th 1985. From it, I chose 'Heaven', originally released, also in 1985, on their album 'Fegmania!'.

Enough for today, pop-pickers, I do sincerely hope you enjoyed some of the above: would be neat to let me know if this was the case - or not the case - in the comments section ...

Take good care,

Dirk

... and YESSS .... he's back!!!

Hello dearest friends,

ages (!!) since my last post, I know, and no, I won't apologise for it, because I wasn't tanning my cute little ass in the Caribbean sun for the last months: in fact Little Loser stole all my time recently and I suppose that's the way it should be when there is a baby in the house. But I have bragged about this 'situation' on and on here and elsewhere, so the only thing I want to make clear is that I don't want to complain about my life: no, the opposite is true, friends, in fact it is true every second I see the little man! But enough of that ... let's have some music, shall we?

First up a record I fell in love with as soon as I first heard it back in 1999 on John Peel. Not the stuff I would usually listen to perhaps (I mean, it somehow sounds like Fantastic Plastic Machine playing a song based on a Hawaiian version of the 'E-I-E-I-O' at the end of "Old McDonald's Farm", with a touch of Trio's 'Da Da Da') ... but, most importantly, it works!!

A 7" on Motorway Records from Japan and after searching for it for 11 years, I finally got my hands on it last week for a fair price indeed. And because I love you all up to no degree, I want to share it with you, so here it is:

Princess Kaiulani - 'Alamoana Fade Away' (mp3)

I have no information whatsoever about this band, to be honest. The fact that the record was issued on a Japanese lable might mean Princess Kaiulani are a Japanese act, but then again this might mean anything and they hail from the depths of Antarctica, who bloody knows?!

PLEASE let me know what you think of it: this is one of those records which only I seem to adore. Or did it meet with the approval of some of you as well?

Next up something I discovered very late last year, so late in the year in fact that it was too late to include it into my list of submissions for the CONTRAST PODCAST FESTIVE 50 (*). Had I found it earlier, I swear it would have been my contender for the number one, that's for sure! A duo, again I have no idea where they come from, she is called Juju, he is called Nez - although I suspect those are not the names they have been christened ... that's unless they come from the USA, of course - and that's all we need to know, right?

The video is a real treat, so you should have a look at it on youtube or elsewhere: I mean, let's face it, we all love beautifully young skinny chicks freaking out, don't we, and Juju is/does exactly that in the video. The record is available on Custard Records and well worth tracking down - here -, I would think!!

Little Fish - 'Darling Dear' (mp3)

* all three parts of the aforementioned Festive Fifty, as well as other episodes of the Contrast Podcast, can be downloaded here, here and here.

As you might have gathered from previous posts on Sexyloser, I do like to listen to some of the good old-fashioned noisy stuff from time to time, therefore - without any other reason at all apart from the fact that I haven't listened to those myself for quite some time - here come:

-1- Blitz - 'Someone's Gonna Die' (mp3)

-2- Lime Spiders - 'Out Of Control' (mp3)

-3- Louie - 'Dead Man' (mp3)

-4- Metal Mike - 'I Don't Like This World Anymore' (mp3)

-5- Neurotics - 'Living With Unemployment' (live) (mp3)

-1- can be found on 'The No Future Years ' - double CD from 2000 on Anagram Records (although originally issued on an EP back in 1981), -2- on the 'Out Of Control' - 7" from 1985 on Citadel Records, -3- on the 'Dead Man' - CD - single on Fallout Recordings from 2006, -4- on 'Plays The Hits Of The 90's', a Mini-LP on Triple X Records from 1991, -5- on 'Kickstarting A Backfiring Nation', an album on FREUD Records, 1986, the tune was originally done by The Members, of course.

All of the above - basically all of the below in previous posts as well - is up for sale now on my discogs - site for reasonable prices, i would like to think. So if you are interested in a specific tune and want to get hold of the actual original record/CD the tune you liked is on, just pop over at discogs and have a look there at my seller site:

www.discogs.com/seller/fullofhope

Perhaps I should add that all the money I make out of selling my record collection goes straight to Little Loser's steadily growing collection of nappies/clothing/toys/etc. .... so there you are: "charity" it is basically, in one form or another ...

See you soon, my beauties!

Dirk