Retro Radio: Jingle Singles

Jingle Singles. No, not a dating site for morris dancers - although there is one on Facebook, honest! (I should point out that I only know that through research for this blog post - I am NOT a morris dancer!) 

This is a Jingle Single: 

They were recorded at Roche Recording Studios in Cornwall back in the 70's and were sold through mail-order with ad's in the music press. There's a nice blog page here detailing the studio and the creator of the Jingle Singles series. 

I've borrowed them from a mate at work who has a record collection to die for. He saw an ad a few years ago for a record collection for sale & snapped up the most amazing collection I've ever seen. The collection was being sold by the family of a former DJ who my mate assumed had died. It seems perhaps he hadn't died - there was talk of a prison sentence - but whatever had happened to him his family was happy to offload his collection as a job lot and my mate was lucky enough to get it. 

Along with all the mostly never-played records in this awesome collection were a couple of dozen 45's of jingles and sound effects, both pre-recorded ones and also some made specifically for the DJ himself:

My mate offered to lend them to me knowing I do a radio show & thought I'd find them interesting. He wasn't wrong, but I don't think I'll be using them on my SFR show. They are certainly 'of their time' and have a certain charm, which I suppose is a polite way of saying they're pretty bloody awful! Don't believe me? Try this:

As well as the Cornish Jingle Singles there are others from studios called Jumbo & Vanguard. The Jumbo jingles are much more 'professional' sounding than the Jingle Singles efforts, but to my mind not anywhere near as charming. I've put the Jumbo 'All Time Favourite Jingles' disc into a YouTube video; I think I'm reasonably safe from any copyright actions on this one!

When I get round to it I'll make recordings of all the jingles & sound effects & make them available to anyone who wants to add a bit of a retro-radio sound to their shows. Let me know if you'd be interested.

Dr Who: ear-worms and the agony of lost vinyl.

It's impossible to escape Dr Who in my house. My daughter is the Doctor's number one fan. She has got over the trauma of David Tennant's demise and is now madly in love with Matt Smith (she IS only 12 so discernment will hopefully come later!) She will replay episodes she's seen dozens of times before at any and every opportunity. Which probably explains why the Dr Who theme is the tune I end up with as an ear-worm more often than any other.  As an aside, the other ear-worm I seem to suffer from most frequently is the Push-Bike Song, which is disturbing because it's one of the most atrocious records ever made.

Thankfully I like the Dr Who theme. It reminds me of my childhood; a time when Saturday evening TV really seemed worth watching without the danger of your intelligence being insulted by some pseudo-celebrity bollocks like X-Factor, Strictly or whatever the current cack is that they choose to inflict on us up today. Perhaps that's just me viewing retro-TV with rose tinted glasses, but there must be something in it when I'd rather watch re-runs of the Generation Game with unfunny racist knobhead Jim Davidson than the shite served up today. 

I had the original version by Ron Grainger & Delia Derbyshire on a BBC EP years ago but sadly have no idea what happened to it; just one of the many records I now bitterly regret having lost, given away or sold over the years. Perhaps it's in the box of records in my sister's loft which she won't let me look at for some reason. Don't tell her, but next time she leaves me the keys to feed the cats while she's away I'm off up there with a stepladder.

Perhaps it's due to the sense of loss I feel at losing that old EP that I'm particularly fond of this version of the Dr Who theme by Devon's finest The Simmertones:

Whilst idly searching You Tube one night I also found this beauty, which I subsequently bought on vinyl (the B-side is pretty bloody good too):

And to complete the trio and ease the pain of long-lost vinyl further I've just spent 79p on this cracker from Smerins Anti-Social Club:

The Smerins version is getting a play on my SFR show this Saturday; I might even get carried away & play all three! If you fancy getting them for yourself here's the links: The Simmertones, Sandollar Sound & Smerins. I can especially recommend the Simmertones album; it's bloody brilliant and that's not me being biased - I'd say the same even if they were from Cornwall. I'm off to eBay now to search for BBC EP's. If anyone spots the Smerins version on vinyl please let me know. You can tell it's payday tomorrow!

SFR Soundsystem 28012012

Had to do some serious chopping to get tonight's playlist inside 2 hours! Got a bit carried away & had 10 minutes' too much music, meaning tracks from Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker & Madness were shunted to next week's playlist. The playlist tends to reflect what I've been listening to or bought in the week so there are new tracks from The Skints & Hollie Cook plus a fair smattering of classic skinhead reggae. Also played The Specials & The Beat back to back - an explanation as to why can be found here. Despite my best efforts to curb my OCD I couldn't resist having 3 Scorchers to kick the show off!

1. Toots & the Maytals - She's My Scorcher
2. Prince Buster - The Scorcher
3. Des All Stars AKA The Rudies - Black Scorcher
4. Hollie Cook - Walking in the Sand
5. London Ska Orchestra - I Bet That You Look Good on the Dancefloor
6. The Skints - On A Mission
7. Fighting Evil Is Cool - Brain Salad
8. The Caroloregians - Rude Is Here To Stay
9. Mr T-Bone & the Young Lions - Then I Saw You
10. Marcia Griffiths - Feel Like Jumping
11. Pluto Shervington - Ram Goat Liver
12. Joya Landis - Angel of the Morning
13. The Specials - Do Nothing
14. The Beat - Too Nice To Talk To
15. The Selecter - Celebrate the Bullet
16. The Senior All Stars - Monk Patrol Dub
17. Augustus Pablo - Dub Organiser
18. The Skatalites - Phoenix City
19. Bedouin Soundclash - Rude Boy Don't Cry
20. Rude City Riot - Victoria
21. The Determinations - Cooked Ska
22. Oi Skall Mates - Skinhead Running
23. Cool Sticky & the Upsetters - Dry Acid
24. Joe Nolan & his Band - Cool it with Reggae
25. Ansel Collins - Double or Nothing
26. APB - Yani
27. Jimmy the Squirrel - This One's For You
28. 3 Minute Warning - In Your Face
29. King Stitt - Lee Van Cleef
30. The Crafters - Soul Crackshot
31. Bad Manners - Special Brew
32. Too Hot - Lovely Day
33. The Aggrolites - The Sufferer
34. Bombskare - Bondtrack
35. The Toasters - Secret Agent Man
36. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Soul Almighty
37. Desmond Dekker - Problems
38. Derrick Morgan - (What a) Revenge

Lost & Found

What it is with bloody cats? 
No sooner has one been found... 

...than another little bleeder goes missing:

I didn't take either of these pictures. Neither did I make this video:

Or this one:

2-Tone: One - BBC: Nil. TOTP 18th Dec 1980

I've just finished reading Horace Panter's book Ska'd For Life. The subtitle is 'A Personal Journey With The Specials', and a bloody good read it is too. It gives a great insight into how it felt to be part of one of the greatest bands of all time; the band that led the 2 Tone revolution - the best thing to happen to British music since The Beatles split & stopped inflicting their pretentious pap pop on the world. 

Ok, I know I'm biased. I also know some folks will think I'm blaspheming by slagging off the Beatles. I'm forever hearing & reading how influential they were, how important they were, how revolutionary they were and so on, and on, and on ad infinitum. I can conceded all those things but the fact is I just don't like them. No need for me to justify that; music is subjective - get over it! 

Sorry, I digress. Back to The Specials & Mr Panter's fine book. As well as his take on the 'bigger picture' of the band's all-too-brief career, there's some cracking little anecdotes. My favourite has to be him & The Beat's Dave Steele swapping places to mime their way through performances of Do Nothing & Too Nice To Talk To on Top of the Pops. I was going to copy out the text from the book & put it here but I've just read the copyright bit at the front & thought better of it - I'd hate to be sued by a Special! Anyway, grab a copy of the book if you fancy a decent read & here's the clips from TOTP with the Horace & Dave Cultural Exchange Scheme in full effect!

Footnote: Horace Panter is now an artist. Now I'm a complete Luddite when it comes to paintings & art but I really like his paintings. Check out the Horace Panter Art website. You can also follow @horacepanterart on Twitter.

SFR Soundsystem 21012012

Playlist for tonight's show. The usual mix of new & old ska but with a soulful groove to get the show going. Been listening to a lot of Japanese ska this week & played a few J-Ska tunes in the show. My show usually goes out at 8pm but I started at 11pm tonight. Not used to concentrating at that time of night - hence it being somewhat chaotic in places (my excuse & I'm sticking to it!) Hope you enjoyed listening.

1. Soul Shakedown Party - Bob Marley & the Wailers
2. Green Onions - Byron Lee
3. Soul Finger - Roland Alphonso
4. Time is Tight - The Heptones
5. Ska Champion - The Determinations
6. Smart Boy - The Akrylykz
7. Kingston Affair - Dave Barker & the Selecter
8. Bangin' on the Wall - The Communicators
9. Pipe Down - The JB Conspiracy
10. Fuck You too - Dubfound
11. Ten Commandments - Prince Buster
12. Tommy's Rocksteady - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
13. Midnight Ska - Reggie Msomi's Hollywood Jazz Band
14. Sadness - Oi Skall Mates
15. On The Town - Madness
16. Stand Down Margaret (dub) - The Beat
17. Bankrobber - The Clash *
18. Good One Go - The Amphetameanies
19. Sammy dead - The Simmertones
20. The Ballad of Lloyd Knibb - Bombskare
21. Addis Ababa - The Skatalites
22. Drum Song - Sound Dimension
23. Duck Soup - Drumbago All Stars
24. Tribute to Drumbago (AKA Last Call) - The Dynamites
25. Ten Commandments From Woman To Man - Prince Buster
26. Rough & Tough - Stranger Cole
27. Reggae 69 - Boss 501
28. Body bag - Los Furios
29. Your Boss DJ - Dice The Boss
30. Dollar in the Teeth - The Upsetters
31. Mars Invasion - The Soulsteppers
32. Annie Pama - Bunny Lee All Stars
33. Bigger Boss - Ansel Collins
34. Bellevue Special - Don Drummond
35. Loosen Up - Rude Bones
36. Four Seasons of the Year - King Edward Allstars
37. Down Beat Stomp - Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

* The Clash song was not on my original playlist - my niece requested and although I don't do requests once I've set the playlist, it was her 18th birthday so I made an exception! I had planned to play Friday Night, Saturday Morning by The Specials. However, while listening to it the thought occurred to me how well Bankrobber sat with Stand Down Margaret; the banks are robbing us blind & we have a Maggie clone in number 10 and God knows I want him to stand down (or at least keep his thieving mitts off my pension!)

Can't you read the signs?

I first came across this tune when I was idly searching the web for tunes that had been sampled by Fat Boy Slim. I'm not the world's biggest fan of Fat Boy (or FBS, as I'm sure he's known to acronym-loving trendy yoof types) but I do like a lot of his tunes. He's often sampled snatches of tracks that I consider classics; the Just Brothers' Sliced Tomatoes & Take Yo' Praise by Camille Yarborough being two that spring to mind immediately and what he produces is certainly a cut above most sampled efforts. 

So, anyway, I was listening to Fat Boy's Don't Let The Man Get You Down and looked up where the sample came from. It's from Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band, a bunch of late 60's / early 70's Canadian hippies singing about being frustrated by 'the man' and his signs telling them what to do & what not to do. I like it - the lyrics are clever, the tune catchy & I've got some sympathy with the sentiment.

I also think it's got some relevance today. The hippy era of flower-powered idealism seems to have given way to a  more cynical and apathetic world view from the majority of people, yet there are still those who rail against 'the man' and his life-restricting signs. The majority of internet users will blissfully carry on posting pic's of their lunch on Twitter ("nom nom"; possibly the most nauseatingly pointless tweets you will ever read), or spreading gossip & flirting on Facebook. There are many, however, who are tweeting, posting, virtually screaming against SOPA - 'the man's' latest attempt at getting us to follow the signs & behave ourselves. 

I'm no expert on SOPA; lack of time and a similar lack of intellect prevent me from understanding the complete legal implications of the Stop Online Piracy Act being pushed through what passes for 'justice' system of America. But it does seem to me that if this bill is passed, what I'm doing here - sharing a bit of music with you - will be illegal. The bill seems designed to prevent people from sharing, not just targeting those who make money out of ripping off record labels & film studios through piracy, but also those of us with a passion for music or film and who just want to share that passion with like-minded people. I've knocked up a few videos from time to time and put them on YouTube; not to make money (I have resisted their repeated invitations for me to 'monetise' my account) but just because I've found & enjoyed something and wanted to show it to others. Does that make me a criminal? I don't think so, but 'the man' pushing SOPA would disagree.

The really ironic thing about it all in my opinion is that the people who seem to be pushing hardest for this bill are the very people who have been getting rich for decades by ripping off bands, actors, writers and the public. I try not to be too pessimistic, but I've got a feeling that there's too much big money behind this bill for the protests of internet users to hold any sway, but I would urge you to sign the petitions, tweet & post your objections, involve your online friends and acquaintances, but above all, don't stop sharing. The bands who made the music we love didn't make it to line the pockets of record company executives - they made it for us.

So let me share these two with you - my small act of defiance against SOPA!