Dub fans and post-punks take note: Glasgow’s Optimo dj team/production unit have just put out another of their excellent podcasts, and this time it’s a whole hundred minutes of the best and most spaced out dub productions by Adrian Sherwood.

According to JD Twitch, who compiled the mix and skillfully blended the tracks together, it “covers music from the years 1979 - 88 and focuses on Adrian Sherwood’s dubwise productions, most of which were released on his ON U Sound label.”

Twitch also interviewed Sherwood after a recent gig in Glasgow, and the dub maestro talks at length about his introduction to reggae and dub music, and to djing, production and running labels:

How old were you when you were working for and running labels, Carib Gems and Hit Run?

I used to go to a reggae club in the town where I lived called the Newlands Club or the Twilight Club. I think Dave Rodigan did his first ever gig there. I was DJing there when I was really young. The owner of the club, a Jamaican guy, was like my dad. He looked after me. My dad had died when I was very young and I had a step-dad but I wasn’t close to him so this guy took me under his wing and I started DJing in there when I was at school, on Saturday afternoons… Then eventually Sunday afternoons and then moved up to doing the early evening stints. I worked there with Emperor Rosco a couple of times and lots of other Radio 1 DJs and Judge Dread, who came down and did a PA in the club. I used to play early evenings before the sound systems. It had been a funk a soul club… Then in around 72 or 73 or something, it was a really, really hot summer and no-one was going to the club for months. The only people going were the reggae fans. It suddenly just turned into this reggae club whereas it had been a lot of soul drinkers prior to 72 or 73… So it went from a group of people who drank a lot and listened to soul to a group of reggae fans who would only want to drink one beer and smoke lots of weed. So it was only a matter of time before the club went bust. I was doing it from the age of 13 – 15, then the club went under. I had became good friends with the owner and his wife so when the club went under the owner, who had previously ran Pama Records, restarted the label and I got a little job doing promotions for them. Then we started our own distribution company out of the Pama office. That pre-dates Jet Star, Jet Star started after we had left. They basically copied the model we had created.

Do you think any of the music on your early labels will ever get re-issued?

There was a bootleg a couple of years ago of a Carol Kalphat record. That was a fucking character! I had to send a message asking not to bootleg any more of my tunes. The real problem with releasing that stuff is that if I start re-issuing it begins to bring people out of the woodwork which isn’t always worth it. I think it’s actually better that they are there and available as collector’s items and that’s it.

If you are new to Sherwood and ON U Sound, then that interview (on the Racket Racket site) is a good place to start, as is this mix. Even if you’re not it’s well worth checking out: just over 100 minutes of non-stop, heavy, psychedelic dub, the perfect soundtrack to an evening in relaxing. Or tripping out.

As usual, Optimo have withheld the tracklist, and have promised to follow up this podcast with another focusing on Sherwood’s more dance-based productions from the late 80s and the 90s. That will be called part one, and here, confusingly, is part two:
 

   Optimo Podcast 12 - Adrian Sherwood On U Sound mix part 2 (dub) by JD Twitch
 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Don’t call it ambient: Optimo Fact 214 Mix

 
The 1973 film Nancy & Lee in Las Vegas takes an almost cinéma vérité approach to its subject as it documents the less-than-glamorous grind of playing to casino audiences in Sin City.

It’s showtime and Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood do their damnedest to entertain a distracted Vegas audience, most of whom have likely lost or are about to lose next month’s rent. Despite delivering some fine performances, with terrific backing from the Wrecking Crew (Hal Blaine, Billy Strange and Don Randi), Nancy and Lee just can’t get a rise out of the crowd at the once grand Riviera Hotel and Casino. The vibe is flatter than a glass of day-old champagne.

Having lived in Vegas for a couple of years, I’ve seen shows where two-thirds of the audience are clearly just cooling their heels between long bouts at the slot machines or they’ve gambled away all their cash and are doing their best to get through the night without slitting their wrists - the very definition of a “tough crowd.”
 
Scenes of Sinatra and her mother venting back stage are remarkably candid and unvarnished, giving us a glimpse into celebrity-hood’s bleaker dimensions. And the vintage footage of the Strip is way cool.

Songs performed include “Did You Ever,” “Arkansas Coal,” “Friendship Train,” “Summer Wine,” “Jackson” and “She’s Funny That Way.”
 

 
Binky Philips has been writing his rock and roll memoirs in the form of a column for the Huffington Post for the past few years. It’s good stuff - funny, warm-hearted and full of the kind of telling details you’d expect from someone who’s traveled through the untamed underbelly of Manhattan’s rock scene during the 1970s and 80s.

What makes Binky’s writing particularly insightful is that through all of his adventures in music he’s been more than just an onlooker, he’s been a participant, a smokin’ guitar player who stood on stages in some of the great rock clubs of the past four decades, including CBGB and Max’s (stages I’ve shared with him). His band The Planets are one of the great unsung groups in American rock and roll and have an almost mythical status among rock fans. Not only because they were great, but also because their music is so fucking hard to find.

In many ways, Binky has been his own worst enemy when it comes to fame. I believe his love of the music overshadowed any business strategy. In that respect, he reminds me of myself. There are times when you really do just do it for the love and not the almighty dollar. When the music seems so sacred, it’s hard to look at it as product. In his writing, you can feel his religious zeal for the pop culture he grew up on and the rock musicians that altered his life forever. And for someone who probably deserved to be a major-league rock star, there’s not a shred of regret or bitterness in his rock and roll heart.

I’m sharing Binky’s most recent Huffington piece on Adam Yauch and the Beastie Boys. It’s a lovely tale and I want to get it out there. For more of Binky’s writing visit his column here.

My God, did we flip for the Beasties at ‘my’ record store, St. Mark’s Sounds in the East Village back in the 80s. We just thought they were a riot. They had all been semi-regular customers for quite awhile. Drummer, Kate, an inveterate browser, seemed to live in our rock section. She would later show up in Luscious Jackson, purveyors of the timelessly fab “Naked Eyes”.

This gang, of what I correctly assumed were NYU students, were always jolly and/or intent on finding something specific as quickly as possible. Unlike some posses of troublemakers, this was a little crew who kinda happily hummed with a Very Alive vibe. It is worth noting that all the early Beastie videos were populated with this same Kadre of Kool Jerk Kool.

One day, two of this sect’s young goofballs walked in with several boxes of 7” 45s under their arms.

“We just made a record. Can we leave some on consignment?”

Our store policy was to never refuse. We’d take 5 of anything anyone ever brought in like that, supporting local acts with as little fuss as possible. These two were pitching me to take a whole box. Since I knew them, at least by sight, I took 10 copies of “The Pollywog EP” from Adam Yauch and Mike Diamond.

They left and I put it on the store’s stereo. We were all howling within a minute. They had turned Punk into a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

“Egg Raid On Mojo” was about one of our other regular customers. Mojo, was a large, gregarious, very handsome, very dark-skinned, Ska-styled doorman at more than one hip boite downtown. He was a genuinely okay guy, but, his gig led him to being a bit “I’m hot and know it”, one lame vibe, indeed. The Beasties would have none of it. The song recalls true events. While “Egg Raid” is an absurdist punk classic, for me, of the Beastie Boys’ early ‘work’, “Cooky Puss” is nonpareil, the most wonderfully ridiculous crank call of all time with a hilariously wretched noise-rhythm track.

Anyway, a week later, diffident Adam walked into the store with more 45s. I bought a box, the 10 having sold within two days. WTF?! What was up with these dopes?! Adam’s reaction to me offering to buy a box outright, the hell with consignment, was memorable. Every cell in his body silently screamed “OF COURSE YOU ARE!” while remaining unflappably deadpan. I actually felt this.

This became a little weekly ritual; Adam coming in on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, almost dour, in a hurry, handing me another box, me handing him cash. Probably sold over 300 of ‘em. Mine’s in storage, rats!

I found Adam’s demeanor intriguing, totally at odds with his band’s vibe. Deadly serious with that sort of classic off-in-the-distance gaze. Looking back, other than the first pitch, MCA was the only one to bring the records by, clearly the one BB focused on turning what started out a total joke (How bad can we be?) into something that has rightfully had lasting international impact.

The Beastie Boys are possibly the most wonderful example of the maxim (I just made up)... You make it big by never having the intention to do so!

When “Licensed To Ill” was released, we’d play it in the store for literal hours, just flipping back and forth between side one and two. It was extreme fun to annoy sensible customers with a stadium-volume spin of “Girls” several times a day. All my fellow employees decided to treat the album with an absurd reverence. “Is it time?”, we’d solemnly ask before dropping the needle for the 120th time. A great mind-fuck of a rekkid! My only complaint, they didn’t use the BB’s original title, “Don’t Be A Faggot”! Like Eminem’s Detroit, in Brooklyn, that word didn’t have the virulent bigoted connotation. It just meant downer, wimp, lame, chump… Def Jam punked out! How faggot-y, Russell!

I grew up in an idyllic neighborhood called Brooklyn Heights, right at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Adam Yauch grew up there, too. My oldest and dearest Heights pal, Ben, lived two doors east of the Yauchs. Being 12 years older than Adam, Ben often babysat. I was at Ben’s house all the time. I might’ve met a Beastie Boy when he was a baby and don’t recall it. Ben tells me that Adam Yauch was wonderful right from the jump, a devoted son with both his folks.

Ben’s parents used to have to “endure” the earliest rehearsals of the nascent Beasties as they made ungodly guitar and drum noise in the Yauchs’ living room two doors down.
One can imagine.

The image I want to leave you with, because I suspect it is truly an accurate depiction of Adam Yauch…

About 5 or 6 years ago, Brooklyn Babysitter Ben’s Dad was in rehab following two knee replacements. His Mom was living at home alone for quite some time. One day, as Ben was walking down his old block on his way to pay Mom a visit, he saw her coming towards him with a tallish guy carrying 2 or 3 grocery bags for her. The tallish guy was International Rap Superstar, Adam MCA Yauch.”

 
Binky would probably be pissed with me for focusing too much on him at the expense of Adam Yauch, but they’re both seminal members of the New York music scene, so fuck it.

Binky playing at Max’s Kansas City in 1975:
 

 
The Beastie Boys performing “Egg Raid On Mojo” in Brooklyn in 2007:

 
Via Binky Philips and The Huffington Post

 
From 1964 to 1970, George Harrison and Patti Harrison (Boyd) lived in a house in Surrey, England that they painted psychedelically with a little help from their friends. The home, known as Kinfauns, was quintessentially hippie with its Indian-influenced interior and a giant trippy mandala mural, a creation of the Dutch art/music collective The Fool, framing the fireplace. Imagine a Haight-Ashbury crash pad for millionaires.

The Harrison’s cosmic hideaway was the setting for Beatle songwriting sessions and the recording of demos for the White Album. It was also a hangout for George’s musician buddies, including Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful, who famously painted a message on the side of the house that read “Mick and Marianne were here & we love you.”

In 1969 Patti and George were arrested in their home for possession of a small chunk of hash. The Drugs Squad chose the day of Paul McCartney’s wedding to Linda Eastman to launch a raid on the Harrison home. The bust resulted in a huge media event - an absurd outcome for an inconsequential amount of smoke. But at least we know where the inspiration for the artwork may have originated.
 

 

 

 
More trippiness after the jump. Watch your step…

 
From the first episode of The Richard Pryor Show, the comedian’s ill-fated NBC series (only four episodes were produced). Imagine seeing this at 8pm on ABC in 1977! Mind-bending!

From archieoogley’s YouTube description:

Pre-Spinal Tap Mystical Hobbit Rockers? Check.
Druidic cloaks? Check.
Smoke machines? Check.
Pryor utilizing the long-accepted habit of slurring your words to get past censors? (See ‘Louie Louie’ by the Kingsmen for history’s best example) Check.
Pryor throwing giant bags of drugs and pills into his all-white teenage audience? Check.
Pryor using a gas gun to kill the first few rows? Check.

And finally, Richard Pryor taking a machine gun to his fans, killing every white teenager in the place? Double-check.

Jimi meets KISS meets Funkadelic meets King Diamond meets Sunn O))) meets Sigue Sigue Sputnik meets the Cowardly Lion meets Dawn Davenport? You just can’t beat it.

You’ll see a very young Sandra Bernhard in the audience. They cut to her a few times.
 

 
Thank you, Lee Richard!

 
Brian Eno speaks about the evolution of music and the visual arts and how they converged historically in the 20th century.

Taped in Russia on November 2011.
 

 
Nice homage to the Doctor Who theme song performed by eight floppy drives. It works for me.

And let’s not even get into how old I feel knowing what floppy drives are. Excuse me while I go change my Depends.
 

 
Via Geekologie

 
Babylon is a totally engrossing 1980 British film that is set against the UK reggae and “sound system” culture of South London’s then predominantly West Indian neighborhood, Brixton.

From the DVD:

Sound system ‘toaster’ Blue and his Ital Lion crew are looking forward to a sound clash competition with rival outfit Jah Shaka. But as the event approaches, Blue’s personal life begins to unravel. Fired from his job, he beings to suspect his girlfriend is cheating on him and then one night he is brutally beaten by plain-clothes policemen. Finally, when their lock-up garage is broken into and their sound system destroyed, he cannot take any more. Increasingly angered and alienated by what he perceives to be society’s rejection of his race and his culture, Blue is compelled to respond by fighting fire with fire.

Babylon stars Brinsley Forde, the lead singer of Aswad as “Blue.” Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia) co-wrote the screenplay with director Franco Rosso. The soundtrack was scored by Slits producer Dennis Bovell and featured music by Aswad (their killer “Warrior Charge” number), Yabby U, I Roy, Michael Prophet and others. Babylon was shot by Oscar winning cinematographer Chris Menges (The Mission; The Killing Fields).

Babylon is a real treat and considered a classic today. The soundclash scene with Jah Shaka near the film’s end is just a flat-out great piece of film-making. Babylon was difficult to see until it was released on DVD in 2008, but it’s made a strong comeback since then, with prestigious screenings and a BBC broadcast as part of the “Reggae Britannia” season.

Certainly it’s a unique film, the only one of its kind to examine the harsh life of Jamaican immigrants in London during that time. Babylon represents the first time in UK cinema where British reggae culture and Rastafarianism were explored in a non-documentary. Director Rosso was raised in South London himself and knew exactly where to find visually arresting backdrops of urban decay in Brixton and Deptford.

I lived in Brixton in 1983-84 myself—where I saw Aswad play live many, many times and walked past a couple of outdoor Jah Shaka parties that I probably would not have been all that welcome at (his PA system was so loud it felt like the music was thicker than the air, like some kind of dub humidity)—so I was always curious to see this film.  It did not disappoint. Babylon perfectly evokes the growing racial tensions—and intense feelings of doom—of inner city London life during the late 70s/early 80s that ultimately culminated in the fiery Brixton riots. Highly recommended.

Mel Smith, seen in the still-frame below, has a small role as Blue’s racist employer.
 

 
Via Exile on Moan Street

He lets the rhythm hit ‘em…
 
Yep we love Jerusalem-based Kutiman for his rhythmic scavenger video mixes. But we shouldn’t forget the pioneers that put the practice into place.

Nearly a year ago, someone called The Forger—who we’re thinking is a composite character of videographer Ben Stokes and rhythm master Jack Dangers, both of Meat Beat Manifesto—started releasing beat videos that looped, sampled, layered and scratched up found footage of subjects both unknown and iconic. And instead of just slicing in nice people playing instruments in their bedrooms, we also get movie scenes, bits of news, and other lovely ephemera.

The Forger’s expert curating and editing in the mixes to stripped-down funk and dub help evoke an almost spectral feel to the pieces, as if these people and characters in them are bound to repeat their musical and other actions forever in the fog of media.

To start with, check out Peter Tosh, James Brown and Fred Wesley backing the King of Pop beatboxing in “The MJ Bumbaclot Element”
 

 
After the jump: check The Forger’s salute to spaghetti Westerns and Russian beatboxers…

 
If you thought the movie version of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was bad, here’s something that will really curl the toes of your Beatle boots.

All This And World War ll mashes up archival WW2 film footage with gung-ho Hollywood war epics and then tosses in a weird mix of rock stars covering Beatle tunes for its soundtrack. It’s a hit or miss affair that manages to achieve a soul-deflating awfulness while occasionally allowing little wormike glimmerings of brilliance to ooze through the sprocket holes. Had it not been produced by 20th Century Fox, it might be mistaken for a long lost underground film directed by dadaist acidheads with a lot of rock and roll musicians for friends.

When it was released to theaters in 1976, ATAWW2 lasted a couple of weeks (critics hated it, audiences stayed away) before being pulled by Fox and buried forever. It has never appeared on VHS or DVD. Rumor had it that Fox had destroyed every existing print and negative of the movie (not true). Even bootleggers found it close to impossible to unearth a copy.

Thanks to YouTube, it is now possible to see this extravagantly misguided experiment as it lands on your monitor screen with a sickening thud. An experiment that proves that if you put enough monkeys in an editing room and give them enough time and film footage they will create something that approximates a movie even if it’s no more than the cinematic equivalent of throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks.

I’m sure we can all argue which juxtapositions of song to images work, which ones are silly in the extreme or just plain irredeemably bad ... or all of the above. Helen Reddy singing “Fool On The Hill” as clips of Hitler unspool on the screen gets my vote for the movie’s maddest moment. Or is it Rod Stewart singing “Get Back” to footage of masses of goosestepping Nazis? Or The Bee Gees singing “Golden Slumbers” as bombs drop on London and buildings explode in a maelstrom of smoke and fire. I don’t know. The film offers so many choices that my bad taste meter never left the red zone. And that alone is enough for me to recommend this anal wart of a movie.

For a completely different take on ATAWW2, check out Phil Hall’s rather wonderful review at Film Threat.

So here it is: the rarely seen All This And World War ll.

Soundtrack songs:

“Magical Mystery Tour”—Ambrosia
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”—Elton John (includes an uncredited John Lennon on lead guitar and backing vocals)
“Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight”—The Bee Gees
“I Am The Walrus”—Leo Sayer
“She’s Leaving Home”—Bryan Ferry
“Lovely Rita”—Roy Wood
“When I’m Sixty-Four”—Keith Moon
“Get Back”—Rod Stewart
“Let It Be”—Leo Sayer
“Yesterday”—David Essex
“With a Little Help from My Friends/Nowhere Man”—Jeff Lynne
“Because”—Lynsey De Paul
“She Came In Through The Bathroom Window”—The Bee Gees
“Michelle”—Richard Cocciante
“We Can Work It Out”—The Four Seasons
“The Fool On The Hill”—Helen Reddy
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”—Frankie Laine
“Hey Jude”—The Brothers Johnson
“Polythene Pam”—Roy Wood
“Sun King”—The Bee Gees
“Getting Better”—Status Quo
“The Long and Winding Road”—Leo Sayer
“Help!”—Henry Gross
“Strawberry Fields Forever”—Peter Gabriel
“A Day in the Life”—Frankie Valli
“Come Together”—Tina Turner
“You Never Give Me Your Money”—Will Malone & Lou Reizner
“The End”—The London Symphony Orchestra