(a child is dying and...) There's Nothing I Can Do

Hello!

Sorry it's been so long, truth is I had a catastrophic hard disk failure a few weeks ago and lost all my ripped vinyl. I hadn't bothered backing it up, thinking a) they're big WAV files before I clean them up and b) I can always rip them again. Well, yeah, but... it would (will) take me a long time.

I sent my disk off to a data recovery place but now, three weeks later, I still haven't heard anything other than a receipt for the hardware and so I have to assume they're all gone.

BOLLOCKS.

So, over the next few weeks/months, I'm going to get my turntable down from the loft and start re-ripping all the stuff Id intended to post - can't even remember what was there :-(

The only rips I still have are Pumpkinhead's debut album, Midnight Well's debut album (both featuring Thom Moore - is that the same guy that I'm going to see tonight at The Albert Hall with Joanna Newsom & Roy Harper?) and Lene Lovich's third album (No Man's Land). Watch out for them soon.

In the meantime, here's an album that I 'ripped' many years ago, before ripping came to mean what it means now.

I had a friend - Where are you now, Sarah Griffin? - who was a friend of Jimmy Cauty (KLF, JAMs, Timelords, etc.) and when she got married she held the wedding reception in the grounds of his house in Brixton. He was away at the time, but while I was mooching around the kitchen I came across a vinyl copy of the unreleased (and very rare) 1987 album lying on a table. I checked with Sarah wheter it would be OK to borrow it, then took it home and taped it (using my Walkman Pro, metal tape, and Dolby C NR) - then gave it back to Sarah.

It's become something of a cause celebre over the years, and I know that you can download the tracks individually from various places on the Web, but this is a rip from the original vinyl. And not just any vinyl, Jimmy Cauty's own copy - so ner ner ner.

I haven't split it into individual tracks, you can do that if you want. IMO it works just great as a whole album - or you can search and download the individual tracks.

The JAMs (aka KLF) - 1987 (What The Fuck's Going On?)

Side One:

01 - Hey Hey We Are Not The Monkees (100 BPM) - 6:00
02 - Mind the Gap - 1:02
03 - Don't Take Five (Take What You Want) (89 BPM) - 3:59
04 - Rockman Rock Parts 2 and 3 (105 BPM) - 6:29
05 - Why Did You Throw Away Your Giro? - 0:20

Side Two:

01 - Me Ru Con (0 BPM) - 2:23
02 - The Queen and I (99 BPM) - 4:43
03 - Top of the Pops - 2:51
04 - All You Need Is Love (106 BPM) - 4:55
05 - Next (100 BPM) - 7:15

http://rapidshare.com/files/58831756/The_KLF_-_1987__entire_album_-_vinyl_.zip

The Unrescuable Schizo

(side tryp)

Normally I loathe and despise mainstream pop - es#pecially anything labelled 'pop' or ''aor' (is tht term still used?) but recently I've been listening a lot to.... gasp... Amy Winehouse.

I didn't mean to, honest, I mean all I knew about her was that she was the obnoxious, unpleasant drunken drug addict on Buzzcocks and I knew damn well I'd hate her crap pop music with a vengeance.

And then...

I turned on the telly the other night and the BBC Sessions programme was on, and - I was flabbergasted.

Obnoxious she may be, but Jesus, she can't half sing. And her songs are bloody great. She really is staggeringly good - and you''ve no idea how much it pains me to say that.

So I went to mp3stor, or mp3fiesta, or mp3million, or one of those - can't remember which - and grabbed a few tracks. And the next day I ordered both her albums from Amazon (honest, I download MP3s but I also buy the albums if I think they're good). And this despite the pleas to boycott her albums - sorry, I think she's very good and I want to buy her records. If she chooses to wreck her life with the royalties, that's not my business or fault. Just make another couple of albums first, eh?

If, like me, you've been avoiding Amy Winehouse because she's crap, just the latest in a long line of talentless pop singers, WAKE UP. AMY WINEHOUSE IS F*CKING STUPENDOUS.

On the other hand...

(/side tryp)

I've also been listening to the Dresden Dolls a lot recently, another bunch that I'd dismissed out of hand as being part of the modern day goth/industrial genre.

Wrong again. They're often labelled as 'dark cabaret' or 'the punk brecht/weill' but that don't do them no justice. They can be intense, but they can also be incredibly tender, or sad, or tragic, and they can make the most impressive racket this side of Jack Off Jill (especially considering they're a only a duo - vocal/piano and drums).

Wonderful.

Here's a little sampler - hope they don't mind me posting these tracks but my intention is to get you to GO BUY THEIR ALBUMS.

Like I did.

Oh - and thanks, Lydia ;-)

Dresden Dolls - a little sampler

1 - Coin Operated Boy (live) - from A Is For Accident (2001-2003)
2 - Christopher Lydon - from A Is For Accident (2001-2003)
3 - Jeep Song - from Dresden Dolls (2003)
4 - Half Jack - from Dresden Dolls (2003)
5 - Delilah - from Yes Virginia (2006)
6 - Dirty Business - from Yes Virginia (2006)

http://rapidshare.com/files/54005541/DresDolls.zip