As I mentioned before there have been a fair few vinyl related videos cropping up online of late but few (if any) are as fascinating and inspiring as Belgian vinyl maven Jean Roger who details several decades of digging. Superbly put together by the Laid Back crew (I hope there’s more like this coming); be sure to check out their superb radio player and check out JR playing records and being interviewed (in Belgian) on Laid Back radio.
Heavy psych rock cover of a track originally by Manfred Mann Chapter Three (it opens their debut album). As good as the original is the Rainbow Family really knock it out of the park delivering a huge version of the track. No idea who they were though (anyone?).
If you’re British and of a certain age this track will bring on a flood of nostalgia. Originally a KPM library track (from KPM1253 – The Reggae Album) it was used for several years as The Gallery music on British children’s show Take Hart. In many ways it’s a sister track to the equally sublime ‘Left Bank Two‘ by The Noveltones which was the theme music to Take Hart and prior to that The Gallery music from Take Hart’s parent show Vision On.
Thankfully ‘Marguerite’ didn’t remain hidden away on a hard to find library LP and was released as a single which makes it so much easier to wallow in the near perfection of Bob Morgan’s clarinets and lilting reggae.
Loving Kid Koala and Dynomite D’s The Slew album, the best rock meets hip hop I’ve heard in a very long time. Download is (legally) free too. Double vinyl and CD for cashola.
They must have shipped lots of US cut-outs of this LP to this UK at some point because it turns up with great regularity. Grab one if you see one though. Great Italo disco from Montreal, Canada.
I’m somewhat bewitched by Tunng’s version of Kraftwerk’s ‘The Hall Of Mirrors’ (from ‘Trans-Europe Express’ – you need it); a rather beguiling blend of psychedelic folk and modern electronics. It was recorded as part of Paul Morley’s ‘Showing Off…’ series in The Guardian and you can find a higher quality version there although both versions only play out of the right hand speaker.
Leslie Ash era Tube (I guess from about 1983); decent footage too with Arthur Baker, The Peech Boys, The Rock Steady Crew, Quando Quango and visits to the Paradise Garage, Danceteria and The Roxy.
