White Man and Girl In the Hammersmith Palais – Simon’s Selection
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Big Audio Dynamite : Sightsee M.C.!
Mick Jones, Uncle Joe and Don Letts, lay down some Jamacian basslines, east coast hip hop beats and west LDN jangley guitars – Back in the eighties B.A.D pointed the way!
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L.S.K : The Takeover
Before Skinner came down from Birmingham and put on his LDN accent, there was L.S.K in Leeds doing their thing and getting totally ignored. But, ‘The Takeover’ is a thing of mockney beauty and could someone please tell me where the sample is from? It’s doing my head in!
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Groove Armada : Superstylin
Trip Hop pioneers, Groove Armada drop this huge choon from the summer of 2001, and it always went down a storm at their live sets at Lovebox and Glasto.
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Lily Allen : Smile
Okay, I admit it, I didn’t get Lily first time round. I thought she was just another celebrity dad, Bedales girl who couldn’t sing. How could I be so wrong? Lily is quickly gaining “national treasure” status, and ‘Smile’ gets to the heart of the human condition and all with a wonderfully summery and gentle reggae rhythm section.
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Diplo feat Santogold : Guns Of Brooklyn
Brazilian master remixer Diplo, teams up with Jamaican superstar Santogold to deliver a gorgeous dubby reworking of The Clash classic, taken from Diplo’s 2008 mixtape of the year ‘Top Ranking‘
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Killing Joke : Turn to Red
Gareth was right, what was I thinking leaving out this dark, dubby and dangerous track from ‘Joke’s’ first EP? I saw Killing Joke at the Forum in Kentish Town last year, and witnessed the rather surreal sight of Michael Meacher going for it in the mosh pit…..Brilliant band!
Okay I’m about to leave work and go home where I can give this list some serious consideration. But I know I’m not having BAD straight off the bat. Looking forward to my exposure to the lot from Leeds. I always love it that there’s a place there called Beeston… Salford has Weaste & Seedley, oh I could wax on about place names and ruination, but that would be off topic
Some magic stuff there. But I would have bet a lot of money Turn to Red by Killing Joke would have featured…
BAD – couldn’t believe how dated and pedestrian that sounded. Dies it suggest thast the true creative force in the Clash lay with …………. Simenon? It reminded me of early UK rap & hip hop, like Three Wize Men getting it so badly wrong.
LSK – Danny Dyer’s Reggae Great Hard Men – hilarious, but I think they mean it mean it maaan! And I won’t hear a bad word said against The Streets by the way (apart from his last album that was Danny Dire)
Lilly Allen – Yeah I quite liked this album too. But somehow it’s not reggae as we know it Captain… No iration to it
Groove Armada – I think if we allowing this amount of leeway in what we call reggae, then you have to allow in things like Adrian Sherwood & the On-U Sound in which case I would have had some Tackhead and Gary Clail stuff in the list.
Diplo – this is f**kin wicked, but it is a cover version really! A great honouring of The Clash and I actually prefer it to the Guns Of Brixton
marc – Sort of know you mean about BAD and yes it does sounded a bit dated now, but there is a place in my heart for the band. And once upon a time it seemed cool, fresh, cutting edge and FFS Mick & Joe were in the band- How could I not like them ?
It’s not a cover version, it’s called ‘Guns Of Brooklyn’ :) And Santogold is black but Diplo is white. It’s a tricky area. But I’m glad you agree that it’s a wicked tune.
Totally agree about ‘The Streets” , luv’em to bits, ‘Blinded By The Lights” is close to perfect and the best song ever describe coming up on an E..
Funnily enough the first time I heard ‘Guns Of Brooklyn’ was when Santogold supported The Streets at a BBC Electric Prom gig at The Roundhouse- Top night!
Hi Simon,
I couldn’t let a challenge like this pass me by, and as promised had a delve in to the cd collection this evening. Here goes:
Jamiroquai – Drifting Along – a nice bouncy little number from JK and the gang – their only ever attempt at this genre – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiFD0wr4fFs
St Germain – Montego Bay Spleen, ok ok it could be classed as dub, but what the heck! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAjFKYyLUxA
Massive Attack, Spying Glass – some laid back reggae from the Bristol Boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGnEHbIujjY
Herbaliser – Good Girl Gone Bad – nice rap reggae fusion. Are they a white band? dunno, but a good track all the same! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72bqehSNrd4
And finally Mr Albarn in a mash up with the Space Monkeys – love this track!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPwPRjtO2-s&feature=PlayList&p=E8245B9A1D75AF07&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=53
Do I get a prize?!! – See you next Wednesday!
Gareth was right. I agree with you!
“Brazilian master remixer Diplo, teams up with Jamaican superstar Santogold”
not being a pain, just that Diplo and and Santogold are both from the US..
Santi lives in Brooklyn and Diplo in Philadelphia, Santi actually used to be in a punk band called Stiffed.. check them out, i think there are some vids on youtube.
peace!!
Good Gareth !http://www.trade-merchant.com/products.php?classid=968