PROPELLERHEADS

Throughout their lengthy music career, Propellerheads have managed to release a grand total of one album. But a fine album it was. the disc had so many good songs on it that tracks showed up in several movies (The Matrix, There’s Something About Mary, Etc.) and many commercials (notably the first iPod ad).

Propellerheads (Will White and Alex Gifford) play a sample-heavy version of electronic dance music often referred to as Big Beat. For my money, it’s a very close cousin to Trip Hop. When playing live, the guys often jump between playing several instruments, and multiple turntables.

Naturally, many of the singles released off their one album had otherwise unreleased b-sides. That, of course, is where this little blog comes in.

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Propellerheads - “Dive!” Their first single. Released 2 years before the album.
Propellerheads - “Lethal Cut” One of the b-sides of “Dive!”
Propellerheads - “Props Got Mo’ Skills” From the Propellerheads EP, which was essentially a warm-up for the album.
Propellerheads - “Clang” B-side of the “Spybreak!” single.
Propellerheads - “Echo and Bounce” This was on the original issue of the album, but was taken off the more-often found Dreamworks version of the album, in favor of a Jungle Brothers collaboration.
Propellerheads with The Jungle Brothers - “Take California and Party” The album version, “Take California”, didn’t include The Jungle Brothers. This was issued as a single about a year after the album came out.
Propellerheads with Miss Shirley Bassey - “History Repeating” (Hip-Length Mix) A remix of the album track. The album version is better, but I couldn’t resist putting up some version of the song, thanks to the fine vocals of the classy Miss Bassey.

Propellerheads discography:
Decksandrumsandrockandroll, 1998 (buy)

THE PROCLAIMERS at SxSW

Updating yesterday's post:

After re-watching The Proclaimers' performance at the South by South West Festival, I decided to share the audio of the whole set with everyone. Here's all the details:

The Proclaimers (Craig and Charlie Reid) acoustic performance. Live at the Lone Star Lounge, Austin Texas, March 20, 2009. 2:00 P.M. Audio ripped to mp3 @192.

Set list:
01 In Recognition
02 Letter From America
03 What Makes You Cry
04 He's Just Like Me
05 Throw the 'R' Away
06 There's A Touch
07 Sing All Our Cares Away (Damien Dempsey cover)
08 Role Model
09 Sunshine on Leith
10 I'm On My Way
11 17 (Kings of Leon cover)
12 I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Get the complete show here: The Proclaimers - Live at SxSW

If you'd like to see some of the video of the performance, here's a couple of songs:
The Proclaimers - "Sing All Our Cares Away" (mpg)

The Proclaimers - "Throw the 'R' Away" (mpg)

The Proclaimers discography:

This Is the Story, 1987
Sunshine On Leith, 1988
Hit the Highway, 1994 (buy)
Persevere, 2001 (buy)
Born Innocent, 2003
Restless Soul, 2005 (buy)
Life With You, 2007 (buy)
Notes & Rhymes, 2009 (scheduled)

Apparently, there will be a studio version of the Damien Dempsey cover on the new album , Notes and Rhymes, which is scheduled for a July release.

WONDROUS OBLIVION SOUNDTRACK (Again)

Another one of those "revisiting" posts.

My post on the lack of a soundtrack for the wonderful film, Wondrous Oblivion, didn't seem to go over very big at first. Now, about a year later, it has become my most popular post. So, I figured I'd help out all those wandering souls who've been looking for the songs, and make it easier to get them all.

On my original post, I had each of the ten classic reggae/ska tracks available for download separately. Now, I've put them all in a "rar" file, and added one more song - the jazz piece used in the movie.

Also included in the file are a make-shift front cover, back cover (j-card), and some liner notes - which in this case are just quick little blurbs on each of the artists, mostly excerpted from their Wiki pages, or other websites.

This was originally put together just for myself, so if I've stolen any writing from a website that doesn't want it reproduced in my little booklet, just drop me a line.

Wondrous Oblivion Unofficial Soundtrack

If you want any of the individual songs, they're still available over at the original post.

The DVD can, of course, be had through Amazon, right here.

CACTUS WORLD NEWS

I had written about Irish band Cactus World News in my very first post about 2 years ago. The files I put up back then are long gone, and I wasn't concentrating on rare stuff at the time, anyway.

For those who don't already know, Cactus World News were one of the first signings to Bono's Mother Records label back in the eighties. After their first single, "The Bridge", became a hit, they signed with a major, and put out the amazing album Urban Beaches.

They toured for ages, then went back in the studio and cut a second album, No Shelter. Just before the album was released, their label was bought up by another label, and they were dropped.

They kept going for a while, but broke up without another album seeing the light of day.

A few years back, they issued a re-mastered version of Urban Beaches on their own label, with extra tracks. Shortly after that, No Shelter was issued as well. Despite both albums having a good chunk of rare bonus tracks, they still skipped a few. Here's some more:

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Cactus World News - "Hurry Back" B-side of the "Years Later" single.
Cactus World News - "America" (live Simon & Garfunkel cover) Issued on a radio-promo-only live album recorded at The Whiskey in L.A.
Cactus World News - "Skin and Dust" A flexi-disc given away with an issue of Melody Maker.
Cactus World News - "The Bridge" (live) Recorded at the Self Aid concert, and issued on the Live For Ireland compilation.
Cactus World News - "Don't Let Me Down" Their final single, released in 1990

Cactus World News discography:

Urban Beaches, 1986 (buy)
No Shelter, 1989/2004 (buy)

GENE LOVES JEZEBEL

Gene Loves Jezebel was formed by two brothers (Jay and Michael Aston) and a friend (Ian Hudson), along with a drum machine, back in the early eighties. Their line up changed so often after that I won't even begin to list all the folk who came and went. The bottom line being, in my mind, the band was the brothers.

I first heard them when their third album, Discover, was released, and the video for "Heartache" hit the air. I still think this was one of their finest moments. There was plenty of good music before then, but after they started to get a bit too commercial sounding for my tastes.

Not that they lasted long after that. They put out one more album, and then the Astons couldn't deal with working together anymore. Michael left the band, and after a lengthy series of line ups and solo projects, both brothers now front different versions of Gene Loves Jezebel. Each of which is "the real" GLJ.

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Gene Loves Jezebel - "Shaving My Neck" The first single, from 1982.
Gene Loves Jezebel - "Shame (Whole Heart Howl)" A-side of the "Shame" single. A different mix from the album version.
Gene Loves Jezebel - "Deli Babies" B-side of the "Heartache" single.
Gene Loves Jezebel - "Sapphire Scavenger" B-side of the second release of the "Desire" single.
Gene Loves Jezebel - "So Young (Heave Hard Heave Ho)" B-side of the "Screaming" single.
Gene Loves Jezebel - "Sun and Insanity" B-side of "Shaving My Neck" single.
Gene Loves Jezebel - "Heartache II" B-side of the "Heartache" single.

Gene Loves Jezebel Discography (prior to the split):

Promise, 1983
Immigrant, 1985
Discover, 1986 (buy)
House of Dolls, 1988