Now, here's some really exciting news. Joining me on Friday March 16th on DJ duties at my local spot, The Haggerston in Dalston, will be the one and only DJ Andy Smith . We'll be tearing the roof off until 3am, playing the best tunes from way-back-when, all on vinyl 45s. It's always busy, so come down early (they make nice pizza).
Now, here's some really exciting news. Joining me on Friday March 16th on DJ duties at my local spot, The Haggerston in Dalston, will be the one and only DJ Andy Smith . We'll be tearing the roof off until 3am, playing the best tunes from way-back-when, all on vinyl 45s. It's always busy, so come down early (they make nice pizza).
mp3: Bobby Peterson Quintet - The Hunch The Hunch is a straightforward rockin' instrumental that charted at #71 in 1959. Bobby Peterson was a piano player from Pennsylvania who teamed up with sax man Joe Pyatt and three others to make up the quintet. This was their first single. You may have noticed the new Facebook link up on the right hand side there, under the picture of me dressed in white. I've now joined almost almost a billion other Facebook users with a DJ Diddy Wah [...]
mp3: The Orlons - The Wah-Watusi According to my stats counter, the total number of Diddy Wah visitors went over the one million mark this week. I'm sure I personally make up about half of those visits, but thanks anyway to everyone else who has stumbled by over the years. It's quite an achievement and I'm proud to be a millionaire. A few months ago, I posted The Orlons' Don't Hang Up , which was also included in my latest mix . Like Don't Hang Up, The Wah-Watusi was [...]
mp3: Chuck Berry - Thirty Days In his second single for Chess records, Chuck Berry treats us with his pioneering rock'n'roll songwriting skills. Not only does Thirty Days have that freight train beat, the lyrics, in which the threats escalate from casting a hoodoo to lodging a complaint with the United Nations, are simple and brilliant. Wherever, whoever has left Berry has gone, they've got exactly 30 days to come back home.
mp3: Chuck Berry - Thirty Days In his second single for Chess records, Chuck Berry treats us with his pioneering rock'n'roll songwriting skills. Not only does Thirty Days have that freight train beat, the lyrics, in which the threats escalate from casting a hoodoo to lodging a complaint with the United Nations, are simple and brilliant. Wherever, whoever has left Berry has gone, they've got exactly 30 days to come back home.
This new mix of mine is tight in terms of styles. It really just spans goodtime doo-wop boppers and hipshaking R&B instrumental rockers. Yep, it's full of sax. Not that I've checked or anything, but I reckon the records in it are all from the late 50s early 60s. These are the sounds driving me wild at this point in time. They're what you'll hear impregnating dancefloors at my DJ gigs. Rama Lama is not all tunes featuring the drummer Earl Palmer, as I threatened last time , but he is well represented. Might save the Earl-Palmer-thon [...]
mp3: The Addrisi Brothers - Cherrystone Two brothers, Don and Dick Addrisi from Massachusetts, had a minor hit with today's selection back in 1959. Cherrystone is a cordial rock'n'roll pop song about a boy who meets a girl at a dance, walks her home, steals a kiss, and then hooks up with her again for the next dance. I like the handclaps. Now, onto other matters. For a preview listen of my newest mix, hot off the platters, head over to Buzzsaw Joint's Mixcloud . I'll post the amalgam of [...]
mp3: The 2000 Pound Bee Pt.2 mp3: The 2000 Pound Bee Pt.1 There's a lot written about early electric guitar fuzz. Tunes from Link Wray, Marty Robins and Ann Margret all get a mention, but when it comes to the first use of a specifically designed fuzzbox in a truly fuzzy song, the conversation generally settles on today's fuzzified selections. The Ventures, a pioneering surf rock group from the Pacific Northwest, inspired many others are are still, impressively, the highest selling instrumental band of all time. On hearing [...]
mp3: Danny & The Juniors - At The Hop Danny & The Juniors were a doo-wop group from Philadelphia who struck gold in 57/58 with At The Hop, a US #1. It's a true 50s rock'n'roller that received a nostalgic resurgence in the 70s courtesy of American Graffiti. At The Hop is what's known by some as an oldie, which means that it was a smash hit back in the day, is fairly inoffensive and can sit alongside chart topping classics from such luminaries as Bill Halley, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard [...]
mp3: Alvin Cash - Twine Time Here is a party tune straight from the creative brain of Andre 'Mr. Rhythm' Williams. I've blogged about it by proxy before . The gist being that Alvin Cash & The Crawlers were young dancers in Chicago when Williams led them into the studio to cut today's offering. It climbed to #4 on the R&B charts in 1965. For me -- because it used to be a prominent feature of his promotional stings and intro -- it will always be associated with my old pal Mohair [...]
Today's Valentine's Day eve episode of my NTS radio show (5-6pm London time) will be all about love. To give a sneak peak, I blogged about seven of my favourite love-related 45s on the NTS blog . Several of these tunes have appeared around these parts previously, but I thought you might still be interested, especially if you're in the midst of putting together a mixtape for someone special. mp3: Dee Clark - Nobody But You (1958) A sweet love song [...]
mp3: Bobby Day - Teenage Philosopher Teenage Philosopher was released in 1960, two years after Bobby Day's breakout smash, Rockin' Robin. Both tunes were written by Leon René, who set up two LA based labels I'm very fond of, Rendezvous and Class. Unfortunately, the length of time since René was himself a teenager (about 50 years) is glaringly obvious in the lyrics of today's selection. I can't imagine the condescending "beware beware beware" tone resonating with the youth of any era. Still, like Rockin' Robin, Teenage Philosopher has a swinging Earl Palmer rock'n'roll [...]
It's true, in a couple of Saturday's time I'll be back behind the decks at one of Dalston's two favourite late-night trendy/divey party pubs, The Haggerston. Joining me on record selecting duties will be DJ Dapper Dad. Come down for good times guaranteed and be sure to say hi.
mp3: Jerry Green and The Passengers - Puerto Rico When Puerto Rico was released on Atlantic in 1964, drummer Jerry Greenberg already had his own label and was immersed in the music business. Ten years later, aged just 32, he became President of Atlantic records; apparently the youngest person to ever to head a major. He went on to work with ABBA, Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson, among many others. But, who really cares about all that? Today's selection is a top-notch Latin-infused tittyshaker -- that's the main thing.
mp3: James Brown - I'll Go Crazy A sweet slice of R&B goodness from James Brown and The Famous Flames is today's pick. The Famous Flames -- Bobby Byrd, Bobby Bennett and Lloyd Stallworth -- all contribute backing vocals on I'll Go Crazy, originally released in 1960. Two years later, they belted out a slightly more punchy version to open a performance at the Apollo Theater in Harlem that will go down in recording history.
mp3: Freddy King - The Bossa Nova Watusi Twist Released on the Federal label in 1963 by Texas via Chicago 6-string maestro, Freddy King (aka Freddie King), The Bossa Nova Watusi Twist is far better than its name implies. Rather than just a weak attempt to cash in on several of the popular dance crazes around at the time, King's offering is a superbly smooth original R&B guitar groove.
mp3: The Marvels - Forget About That Mess Pt1 mp3: The Marvels - Forget About That Mess Pt2 When I began researching today's selection, I was drawing a blank. This is not the first time that has happened to me, but usually the record is more obscure, rare or weird. This recording seems to be reasonably well known and available, and is definitely listenable, but, even using my ninja-like Google searching skills, I've struggled to find out about it. Of course, there are various leads. A label called [...]
mp3: The Champs - Caramba From 1959, here are The Champs who, in my estimation, are a fairly under-rated group. Everyone knows and loves Tequila, but I'm often faced with surprise when I tell people that they've got several other instrumental gems in their repertoire. Perhaps it's because none of them stray too far from Tequila in terms of their general sound, but when your first release -- originally the b-side -- sells millions and rockets to number one, it's not surprising that you might try and replicate it. Caramba, which, according to [...]
mp3: Thurston Harris - Be Baba Leba In a couple of Friday's time, I'll be helping out behind the decks at a new night with DJ Andy Smith . It's called Jam Up Twist and is to be held in a brand new venue in Stoke Newington, the La Sera Club . I'm extremely thrilled about this as DJ Andy Smith, through his seminal The Document mix CD, was a massive early influence on me as a Deejay. I was introduced to him through the guy who did the [...]
Diddy Wah
Sleigh Bells - Demons (Official Music Video)
The Rains of Castamere by The National
A-Trak & Dillon Francis - "Money Makin'" (Official Video)
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Nas - Daughters
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
Mr Fogg - Eleven
