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

17 Seconds Records: a label to watch out for ...

Hello my beauties,

yes, yes ... quite a while since I last found the time to post a little something here on Sexyloser and I hope you will forgive me. It was not just pure laziness, let me tell you, no, in fact only the parents of you will be able to imagine how hard it is to find a few minutes of spare time for yourself when there is a baby in the house. But I won't complain, never!

Okay, I recently got a note from mighty Ed, who does the fantastic 17 Seconds - blog. 17 Seconds always has been an inspiration for me (along with J.C.'s The Vinyl Villain), therefore I won't hesitate to tell you some news which some of you might already know, but I'm sure there are others who don't. So listen up:

Quite some time ago - in addition to the 17 Seconds - blog - Ed has launched a record label, 17 Seconds Records. He works with some fabulous artists, and I want to draw your attention to two of them today:

X-Lion Tamer come from Edinburgh and those of you who can define exactly what the sound they make reminds me of will win a night out with me on my expenses (drinking only, no sex).

I listened to a few of their tunes over and over and I can't make my mind up. But perhaps it's all new and I'm totally wrong when trying to compare it to something I might have heard before. Then again they must have their influences, right? But whatever those might be, the stuff they make is rather brilliant. Listen to this, for example, see what you make out of it and note that X-Lion Tamer's first EP 'Neon Hearts' is out now in the UK.

X-Lion Tamer - 'Life Support Machine' (mp3)

They also do a great version of Galaxie 500's 'Tugboat', but because I don't want to destroy any 17 Seconds Records marketing strategies here, I won't post it. Get hold of it by yourself and buy the record, people! If you are unsure where it might be available, get in touch with Ed at seventeensecondsblog@hotmail.co.uk, okay? Here's X-Lion Tamer's myspace - site for even more information.

Secondly we have Chris Bradley, who basically is one fifth of Aberfeldy. Here's his myspace - site. Ed send three of his tunes over to me to listen to and I would have loved to post 'Bored Little Rosie', because it simply is outstanding. But as it is available as a download single, I won't do it, so instead here's a different one, wonderful as well:

Chris Bradley - 'Golden Girl' (mp3)

Last year Chris Bradley released his debut album 'Voices', which 17 Seconds Records will be re-issuing in 2010. His new album, tentatively titled 'Go On, My Son' will be released in November.

Well, I hope I made you curious enough to check out more from these artists, friends.

Let me tell you what you think, ey?

Cheers,

Dirk

The Harder They Come ....

Hello my beauties,

coincidentally I've been listening to some old Ska/Rocksteady tunes recently which had 'Rude Boy' in the title, so I thought to myself: well, there must be more in your collection ... and this is what I came up with ... for your enjoyment! So straighten your tie, put on your pork pie hat and dance to this:

1) Anhrefn - 'Edrych Ar Y Rude Boys' (mp3): from a split LP they had with another band, the name of which escaped me. Taken from a cassette tape (as you will be able to tell from the noise in the background) of John Peel's Music on BFBS back in 1989. A neat version of the Ruts' favourite ... that's if you speak Welsh ... which I don't do alas.

2) The Clarendonians - 'Rudie Bam Bam' (mp3): one of the many many great originals from Jamaica, this time from 1966, and again ripped from a cassette, I'm afraid. But despite of the (rather poor) sound quality it is a gem, that's for sure!

3) The Clarendonians - 'Rude Boy Gone A Jail' (mp3): and here's another one by them, also from 1966 ...

4) The Clash - 'Rudie Can't Fail' (mp3): a total classic from the only band that matters and therefore of course it has to be included here: from 'London Calling' from 1979.

5) Ted, Leo & The Pharmacists - 'Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone' (mp3): something more contemporary now, from 2003 in fact. From the band's 'Hearts Of Oak' - album.

6) The Rudies - 'Give Peace A Chance' (mp3): again taken from a cassette, but I think the vinyl pressing was been rather appallingly off centre - and scratchy - in the first place. Lots of surface noise, but again it is too good to be neglected just because of the sound quality. From 1969.

7) Rudi - 'Big Time' (mp3): filed next to The Rudies ... which shows that my finding system, such as it is, is somewhat in line. I mean, had I found The Beatles next to The Rudies, it would have been a bit of a surprise, right? Anyway: again a total classic, from 1978.

8) The Ruts - 'Staring At The Rude Boys' (mp3): from their 'Grin And Bear It' - LP from 1980.

9) The Scofflaws - 'Rudy's Back' (mp3): from their 1991 debut - LP. Third Wave Ska from the States ... and why not?

10) The Spanish Tonians - 'Rudie Gets Plenty' (mp3): again recorded in '66/'67 in Jamaica. I can't tell you how much I love the tunes from this era: indispensable stuff indeed!!

11) The Specials - 'A Message To You Rudy' (mp3): yeah, I know you have all been waiting for this to come: from 1979 and from one of the best albums in the history of recorded music!

12) Desmond Dekker & The Aces - 'Rudy Got Soul' (mp3): from 1966 ... which shows that good old Desmond did other neat things besides 'The Israelites' ...

13) Laurel Aitken - 'Rudi Got Married' (mp3): played that before, but it simply has to be included in this post: my personal favourite here ... they lyrics are hard to beat, I'd say! From a 1980 Peel Session.

14) Laurel Aitken & The Loafers - 'Rudi Got Married' (live) (mp3): and because I like this tune up to no degree, here it is again in a different version: recorded live together with The Loafers! I don't know exactly when this was done, but I assume it must have been in the late 80's.

15) Dandy Livingstone - 'Rudy, A Message To You' (mp3): from 1967 ... which shows you, kids, that The Specials do brilliant cover versions, but the originals should always be heard as well!

16) The Fabulous Rudies - '99 Luftballons' (mp3): again a cover version, and I don't know if you know the original, which was a hit for Nena, a German singer/band in the 80's. This though is from 2006.

Phew .... do your feet hurt by now?! If so, my mission is accomplished!

Cheers,

Dirk

I Think I Need Help ....

Hello dearest friends,

another shameless theft (here) from the mighty Vinyl Villain, you might think, but let me tell you that this is not true, no! The idea cropped up several months ago, but I never got around to post it here until today:

Back in 1989 or 1990 (perhaps even 1991, but I don't think so) I got a cassette tape from a friend of mine, Iris, and it has been a much treasured item ever since. Full of good songs, a few weak ones as well, but all in all I always liked coming back to it from time to time. The problem with the tape is that most of the songs are unknown to me (Iris didn't include any information whatsoever (women, ey?!) and I hope she burns in hell for this!!). Now, I have always been desperate to figure out whom they might be by, so that I can get my hands on a decent vinyl/CD copy (or, to be honest, find them as high quality mp3's somewhere for illegal download) one of these days.

I assume most of you will laugh out loud, because you know these tunes by heart and can immediately identify them as Top 10 Hits everybody can sing along to .... but I can't alas. Therefore any hints from your side in the comment section, dearest friends, are highly appreciated.

Along with the songs below you get a little bit of rather cheesy 80's dancefloor stuff on said tape, not the thing one would want to hear today, certainly not me. But also there's some early Nick Cave on it, very early Young Marble Giants and Beautiful South's 'Song For Whoever' (not a particular favourite of mine, but so what?), all of that along with The Sugarcubes' 'Birthday' and old Ian Dury - stuff. A strange combination, but wonderful!

Below are the tunes I like best, but I haven't got the slightest idea who sings them and/or what they're titled. Do you?

Iris1 (mp3) - I have absolutely no idea at all who this might be ....

Iris2 (mp3) - sounds pretty much like Jonathan Richman, I always thought ....

Iris3 (mp3) - again: not the slightest idea ....

Iris4 (mp3) - as above ...

Iris5 (mp3) - ... again.

Iris6 (mp3) - I'm willing to have small bet that those are The Violent Femmes ...

Iris7 (mp3) - cuts off before the end, but I hope someone can identify it nevertheless.

Thanks very much indeed for your help, folks! Highly appreciated, as I said.

*************************************************************************************

And now for something completely different:

I noticed in the last two weeks that every - and I mean every - blog I frequently visit has featured a Michael Jackson - tribute in one form or another. Although I never gave a toss about Jackson (never liked his music nor his dancing nonsense nor his childish giggling all the freakin' time he was on the telly .... actually I always thought he was a complete twerp), Sexyloser will of course follow the common herd and post a little something as well, a neat tune I have always been fond of:

Negativland - 'Michael Jackson' (mp3) [from 'Escape From Noise', 1987]

See you soon, friends. I promise to post more frequently from now on .... that's if Little Loser allows me to do so .....

Have fun,

Dirk

Dearest friends (and, of course, followers),

is this site dead?, you may have wondered in the recent past. The truth of the matter is 'no', but only the lucky ones of you who can call themselves 'parents' will be able to understand that one's free time (and this includes weekends. Especially weekends, in fact) reduces itself to zero as soon as there is a baby in the house. Which is the case in Sexyloserland for three months now, therefore I can only apologise to you for the lack of posts. But the struggle continues as far as I'm concerned and hopefully I will find myself in a position soon where Little Loser allows me to take care of you all more often. Time alone can tell when this might possibly be though ...

Either way, enough of that. The only time when I can listen to music these days is on me way to work in the car in the morning (and on me way back in the afternoon obviously). Well, this morning I drove along, the sun was shining, and - as it happens rather often - I heard a specific tune which immediately made me think of another tune. Sometimes this is because of similar lyrics, sometimes because the two tracks were released in the same year, sometimes because I bought the two records together when they came out. I'm sure you know what I'm trying to talk about here, if not, here's what happened this morning:

I was listening to this:

The Detroit Cobras (aka Goddesses)

The Detroit Cobras - 'Last Night' (mp3). A great 2003 cover of the Strokes' tune, featured before on this site, but that's no excuse not to play it again.

I was humming along to it when suddenly all this 'Last Night' - stuff in the lyrics brought another line to mind: "Last Night There Were Skinheads On My Lawn", which, I'm sure you know, is included in the very fantastic 'Take The Skinheads Bowling' by Camper Van Beethoven. Now, only last week I heard a brilliant version of this by The Manic Street Preachers, which was new to me until Jim from Quick Before It Melts submitted it for the 'Skin' - episode of the Contrast Podcast. Great tune, Jim, thanks for having chosen it. So here it is to you all, from 1996, The Manic Street Preachers' version of 'Take The Skinheads Bowling' (mp3).

Manic Street Preachers (whom I normally don't like very much, I must admit)

The opening line in it goes "Every Day I Get Up And Pray To Jah", which made me think of another gem, something I hadn't heard for quite some time:

The Natural-Ites & The Realistics' 'Picture On The Wall' (mp3), one of the many tunes from Jamaica which praise Jah. From 1983, and a real belter for sure if you're into Jamaican stuff!

couldn't find any Natural-Ites - pictures, so instead you'll get me, captured in sunny Montego Bay, Jamaica, circa 1990.


Well, thinking of Jamaican music - more of Ska than of Reggae - another great artist came to my mind: the wonderful Laurel Aitken (okay, I know he moved to England rather early in his career, but what the heck: he's from Jamaica and the story in the song I thought of clearly 'plays' in Jamaica): 'Rudi Got Married' (mp3). This is the version he did for a Peel - session back in 1980.

Laurel Aitken (another God, as far as I'm concerned)

Which made me think of another gentleman who got in trouble (in one form or another) with the police: the guy Cock Sparrer sing about in 'Riot Squad' (mp3).

Cock Sparrer

Now, this tune from 1983 was recently chosen by the mighty FiL from the mighty PogoAGoGo, again for the Contrast Podcast. It's good throughout and I must admit I seem to have forgotten over the years. So thanks, FiL, for giving me a reminder: I can't get it out of my head and listen to it frequently these days.

This is also true for the next tune and believe it or not: I have Cock Sparrer on a CD in the car together with The Indelicates' 'We Hate The Kids' (mp3) from 2006 and those two are the fucking best songs I've heard in all of 2009 ... so far. Repeat function is a very good invention indeed, I learned!

The Indelicates: a mighty band!

Now, if you listen more or less closely to The Indelicates' lyrics, you'll hear them moan about "Fat Men Who Once Met The MC5", which, strangely enough, made me think not of a song by The MC5, but of a T-Shirt one of The Pooh Sticks (Hue?) wears on the front cover of their 1988 self-titled mini album, the T-Shirt reading 'MC5 Back In The USA'.

The Pooh Sticks ... from years ago!

So, to close this tale of my complicated thought structures, here come The Pooh Sticks and 'Heroes And Villains' (mp3).

btw: this tune of course made me think of my mate JC aka The Vinyl Villain. But that's a different story. Visit his site here nevertheless, friends, your life will no longer be the same. Always a place to enjoy, but especially his offers for May and (early) June are outstanding!

Would be nice to know if someone found something intersting amongst the tunes above. So leave comments, okay?

Cheerio,

Dirk