The 'Tune-Off': Full Match Report
"We have LITERALLY changed these people's lives," Mark Ellen cries from behind the decks. It's Word's much anticipated "tune-off" with the music portal 3 Bar Fire at The Old Queen's Head in Islington, and we're fading John Miles's Slow Down into Adolescent Sex by Japan. Our opposition describe themselves as "snotty young upstarts". They have an average age of 23, and one of their number nearly didn't turn up tonight - until he realised that Mike 'Seventies' Johnson was, REALLY, from the seventies, right down to the Afghan coat, and he couldn't miss the rare sighting.
Youth are starting to bob up and down in approval. Trendy girls are sashaying up to the decks and saying "this is my FAVOURITE song EVER'. I'm spiking everyone's pints with Tia Maria in the hope that my own show tune - Colosseum's Walking In The Park, circa many years ago - won't seem too weird. DJ Old Hand, Rob Fitzpatrick, brings it back effortlessly with Roast Duck, Frozen Stream and Minister for Ganja.
And group diplomacy puts a stop to Black Sabbath, Dionne Warwick and Loop. Here's some of what we played, below. A hefty thanks must go to 3 Bar Fire for organising the event and letting us hog the decks for the first 3 hours.
ROB FITZPATRICK
He's My Sunny Boy - Diana Ross & The Supremes
The Bump - The Commodores
Minister For Ganja - Rapper Robert & Jim Brown
Both Sides Now - Davey Graham
Roast Duck - Lee 'Scratch' Perry
Express Yourself - N.W.A.
MARK ELLEN
Ten Virgins - The Angelic Brothers
Flip Flop And Fly - Big Joe Turner
Sea Cruise - Frankie Ford
Crazy In Love - Beyonce
Long Tall Sally - The Beatles
The Lion Of Judah - Laurel Aitken & The Skatalites
Ooh Las Vegas - Gram Parsons
KATE MOSSMAN
Walkin In the Park - Colosseum
Subterfuge - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
You Belong - The School
Temptation - Heaven 17
SEVENTIES JOHNSON
John Miles - Slow Down
Japan - Adolescent Sex
Roy Budd - Get Carter (main theme)
Johnny Harris - Stepping Stones
Slade - Gudbye T'Jane
it was a pleasure, big up
it was a pleasure, big up The Word!
shame...
Minister For Ganja aint avaliable on ITunes.
Mr. Fitzpatrick's playlist wins, hands down.
Dub Stuff
You're always on to a winner with Lee "Scratch Perry".
Frankly
it all sounds ace, but a mark deducted for failing to observe (my) unwritten rule that at least one sliver of prime-time punk and/or an obscure cover version should be shoehorned in
Kate I love you
Colosseum's Walking in the park! What a choice. And I saw this just after I'd been reading an online biography of Clem Clempson too. Do you reckon people would boogie to The Machine Demands A Sacrifice?
Viva Kate!
Yes, what the thugrous one said - Walking In The Park is a blast of exuberant energy. Brilliant choice, Kate! The single version was great, but have you heard the version on "Colosseum Live"? It's even better!
Where?
Is the Clem biography? I always thought he was a great player. PLayed with Tom Waits on the Whistle Test if I remember correctly?
Clem was here
This is what I was looking at:
http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/Palladium/9932/clemc_b.htm
and there's an interview here:
http://dmme.net/interviews/clem.html
and a guitar solo here (love the shirt)
Trapped inside me...
...there is a skinny, medallion-wearing man, who dresses exclusively in V-necked spandex bodysuits. Only Temptation by Heaven 17 can free him.
Now Hear That!
Can this form the tracklisting for the next Word CD please, thanks.
Number One with a bullet
Gooogle
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Walkin+In+the+Park+-+Colosseum&me...
If Rob Fitzpatrick is
If Rob Fitzpatrick is looking for some more rough & tough selections for his next soundclash can I recommend the following ?
Here I Come - Barrington Levy
No,No,No - Dawn Penn
MPLA Dub - Tappa Zukie
Cocaine in My Brain - Dillinger
Police & Thieves - Junior Murvin
The best Barrington Levy
The best Barrington Levy song is 'Tribal Bass'' with Rebel MC & Tenor Fly.
I haven't heard it
but if it's better then "Here I Come" it must be good :)
I haven't heard it all
but I just got a snatch of it on Itunes and the Barrington part is "Here I Come"
My mistake...
...I thought the Barrington sample of ''Here I Come'' was on 'Under Mi Sensi'' with Beenie Man. Try that as well.
Lot of Levy sampling on the Ragga Jungle Anthems.
Is it me or does Mr Ellen
Is it me or does Mr Ellen look like he was "right on one" ?
He'd had two Klarky Kats
and still feels like two weeks in a bad balloon.
I heard...
...he was slipped an ounce of Yellow Bentines.
I myself have taken a Gee of Boz-Boz.
Walking in the Park
Was on Colosseum's "Those who are about to die salute you" album. The second album I ever bought. Haven't heard it for about 30 years. I'd probably enjoy it more now than I did then.
It's very hard to...
listen to Walking In The Park song without breaking into a run on the street. It's so simple too!
Listen to Colosseum
If you're new to the band, or want to hear mp3 versions of remastered tracks, or download them legally for free, go to we7.
http://www.we7.com/public/artistDetails/Colosseum?artistId=9525
I saw Hiseman...
playing in a church in Norwich once. He battered two bass drums for five minutes while gradually - and barely perceptibly - slowing to a halt. At the same time, and equally gradually, he worked up into a roll on the snare. His top half must be disconnected from his bottom. It was amazing.
Tom toms, bass and mixing desks
Once inadvisedly commented to my good lady as Jon Hiseman did his stuff that I really liked it when he 'pit-pattered around the tom toms'. That phrase is regularly used to mock any comment I make about drumming. Best bass was when seeing the band with Tony Reeves on bass at UMIST. There was a sprung wooden floor which resonated spectactularly through your bum (it was the time when we'd taken to sitting on the floor to listen to bands). I think Colosseum, perhaps at that gig, were the first band I saw with the now-common mixing desk at the back.
Well,
I love the way he "skitters around on the snare".
Kate Mossman is
a woman of rare and excellent taste. And she likes a good drummer too. Offers of marriage will soon be flooding in.
Walking in the Park hasn't been off the car CD stacker for the last 2 years. I've been playing the drum patterns on desktops for about 30 years. Seen Hiseman a few times, including once with Graham Bond, who used to do the very same song.
dont forget the flipside
... of the "Walking in the Park" 45, which is the fantastic (and even better than the plug side, IMO) "For those about to die (We salute you)". This is what's defined in certain parts of radioland as "A Belter".