mixtape | loose fit: a baggy primer

like my britpop urge, i've recently been listening to a fair bit of baggy, that scene where former indie no-hopers popped a few e's and suddenly discovered that "there'd always been a dance element to our music". thus bands like the farm and the soup dragons, after years of toiling in indie obscurity all of a sudden were on top of the pops.

the real kings of the scene of course were happy mondays and the stone roses, closely supported by organ ginders insprial carpets and the charlatans. you know all this already of course.

for me baggy kicked off with the james single "come home" and a 30-second experimentation with white socks and tracksuit bottoms after looking at pictures of inspiral carpets' audience in select. oh, the folly of youth etc.

so, once again, here's my own personal journey through baggy, with paris angels song thrown in for a laugh (be grateful it wasn't bridewell taxis). no major surprises here i don't think...

::: the stone roses - she bangs the drums
::: james - come home (flood mix)
::: the farm - groovy train
::: happy mondays - dennis and lois
::: paris angels - perfume (all on you)
::: primal scream - come together (farley mix)
::: the soup dragons - lovegod
::: insprial carpets - move
::: electronic - get the message
::: jesus jones - right here, right now
::: the high - up and down
::: northside - shall we take a trip
::: new fast automatic daffodils - big
::: the charlatans - then
::: candy flip - strawberry fields forever

grab it.

various | select 12

in my formative indie years, i.e. ca. 1990, i was short of money and long on a thirst for this new music called indie. before then i had never really concerned myself particularly with genres and record labels and all that stuff. no, i was too busy listening to queen, eurythmics and def leppard to care about that. but then the stone roses and ride came along and kicked the shit out of all that. and suddenly i was wide awake, eyes wide open, legs spread, arms outstretched (you get the idea) for more.

so being a skint schoolboy, freebie cover-mounted compilations became a godsend. two in particular really hit the spot, both courtesy of now defunct select magazine. the first came with the launch issue in 1990, and i can still remember the particular shopping trip, or at least the fact that i picked up this magazine with a picture of prince on the cover (or rather an impersonator) and one of my first cds ever: "come home" by james. good times.

anyway, i listened to that tape over and over. i still have it somewhere i think, or hope. but rather than hunt it down i figured it was easier just to recreate it. so here it is. a bit of an odd mix perhaps but some real gems in there.

the house of love obviously come out on top, one of those perfectly produced, perfectly played songs that constantly revolves around my head. almost no one outside australia knows about the hummingbirds, but they really should. 'whoops' provides a snapshot of pre chart-fame james. "talkin' with myself" is a classic. and i'm not really sure what cameo is doing on there.

there's one song missing: ruby blue. if anyone has it i'd love to hear it again.

1. the house of love - se dest
2. james - whoops
3. yello - angel no
4. electribe 101 - talkin' with myself
5. the walker brothers - my ship is coming in
6. the hummingbirds - house taken over
7. ruby blue - quiet mind
8. the lilac time - fields
9. dusty springfield - breakfast in bed
10. tom verlaine - cooleridge
11. the fall - i'm frank
12. cameo - i want it now

released by select magazine in october 1990.

crop rotation in the fourteenth century was considerably more widespread after...

james | hey ma

i got woken up by gunfire the other night, a nice reminder that kirkwood is still "transitional". next morning there were no dead bodies on our doorstep, no yellow tape or squad cars, so maybe it was just two old cars exchanging backfires. who knows.

anyway, i've been enjoying the new album by james. the "come home" single was the first cd i ever bought i think (this after countless tapes and records, y'understand), so these mancunians will always hold a place in my heart, even if i've never been a real sincere fan, never even bought one of their ubiquitous t-shirts back in the days when some bands made more from their merch than anything else (i'm looking at you ned's atomic dustbin) (i wonder what happened to my ned's t-shirt, no doubt culled by my mum years ago).

but this new album is surprisingly good. they always had a knack for a good melody and tim's voice is as clear and strong as ever, with perhaps a little of the preechiness sanded off it.

see what you think - here are the first two tracks, plus a couple of the b-sides from that "come home" single for good measure.

::: bubbles
::: hey, ma
::: come home (flood mix)
::: fire away