Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Köthener Straße 38 - The Legend of Hansa Studios

Fripp, Eno, Bowie at Hansa: "heroes" forever and ever


For my personal history of music listener, Hansa Tonstudio is essentially the temple where U2 crafted Achtung Baby. For the history of modern popular music, the Berlin studios are something more. A kind of dark sonic magic that started in the Seventies, when a notorious wall was still up (few steps from the door of the studios) and David Bowie came there - along with his friend Iggy - to start a new career (great book about those years: Thomas Jerome Seabrook's Bowie in Berlin).

This playlist tries to capture some of the Hansa's sound and vision. It features two songs each "selected recording" I found on the studios' Wikipedia page. Just one album in that list is missing from Spotify: Ossler's Ett Bruss. So, to get the symbolic 38 songs of the title/address, I added one track from Diamanda Galas' You Must Be Certain of the Devil and a bonus from U2: Stay (Faraway, So Close!). A song born from the Achtung Baby sessions, with a wenderesque video (below) that made me fall in love with Berlin fifteen years before I could finally walk through the Tiergarten.

Not a very joyful collection of music (Siouxsie, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave!), but I hope you can enjoy it. :o)





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KOTHENER STRASSE 38
The Legend of Hansa Studios
Source: Wikipedia.

David Bowie – Sound And Vision/Warszawa
(from Low, 1977)
David Bowie – "Heroes"/V-2 Schneider
(from "Heroes", 1977)
Iggy Pop – China Girl/Nightclubbing
(from The Idiot, 1977)
Iggy Pop – The Passenger/Lust For Life
(from Lust For Life, 1977)
Tangerine Dream – Force Majeure/Cloudburst Flight
(from Force Majeure, 1979)
David Bowie – Remembering Marie A./Baal's Hymn
(from Baal, 1982)
Depeche Mode – Everything Counts/Love In Itself
(from Construction Time Again, 1983)
Killing Joke – Love Like Blood/Eighties
(from Night Time, 1984)
Marillion – Kayleigh/Pseudo Silk Kimono
(from Misplaced Childhood, 1984)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Tupelo/Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree
(from The Firstborn Is Dead, 1984)
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Cities In Dust/Candyman
(from Tinderbox, 1986)
Killing Joke – Adorations/Sanity
(from Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, 1986)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Your Funeral My Trial/Sad Waters
(from Your Funeral... My Trial, 1986)
Diamanda Galas – Let My People Go
(from You Must Be Certain of the Devil, 1987)
U2 – Zoo Station/One
(from Achtung Baby, 1991)
U2 – Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
(from Zooropa, 1993)
Snow Patrol – Crack The Shutters/If There's a Rocket Tie Me To It
(from A Hundred Million Suns, 2008)
Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha Man/When I Needed You
(from Diamond Hoo Ha, 2008)
KT Tunstall – (Still A) Weirdo/Uummannaq Song
(from Tiger Suit, 2010)
R.E.M. – ÜBerlin/Discoverer
(from Collapse Into Now, 2011)

Listen to it on Spotify: HTTP, URI. (SR0723)

Friday, August 12, 2011

The UK Blue Stax Singles Collection 1967-1968



Just to prove you that I'm not Nick Hornby's Annie Wilkes and that I care more for taking some good musical advices from him than dissecting his books, here it comes a new playlist. Actually, Hornby suggested it, when he wrote - in the first pages of Fever Pitch - "We would be left to rot with our Arsenal programmes or our collection of original blue-label Stax records...". Blue-label Stax records? What's that? Here's the answer: a collection of old vinyl records, out in the UK in 1967 and 1968. Below, you find it almost completely (83,33%) spotified. A good soundtrack for your vintage soul parties, with Otis Redding, Carla Thomas and many other great black acts. Enjoy!


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THE UK BLUE STAX SINGLES COLLECTION 1967-1968
Source: Staxman.co.uk (whose table below I shamelessly copied and pasted, and where you can find some useful infos if you're a vinyl collector...)
Songs available on Spotify: 70 out of 84 (83,33%)


601001Eddie FloydRaise Your Hand196742Stax 208A
I've Just Been Feeling BadStax 208B
601002Carla ThomasSomething Good (Is Going To Happen To You)1967--Stax 207A
It's Starting To GrowStax 207B
601003Johnnie TaylorAin't That Lovin' You1967--Stax 209A
Outside LoveStax 209B
601004Sam & DaveSoothe Me196735(none)
Sweet Pains (remastered 2006 version)(none)
601005Otis ReddingDay Tripper196743(none)
Shake(none)
601006Sam & DaveWhen Something Is Wrong With My Baby1967--Stax 210A
A Small Portion Of Your LoveStax 210B
601007Otis ReddingLet Me Come On Home196748Volt 146B
I Love You More Than Words Can SayVolt 146A
601008Carla ThomasWhen Tomorrow Comes1967--Stax 214A
Unchanging LoveStax 214B
601009Booker T. & M.G.sHip Hug Her1967--Stax 211A
SummertimeStax 211B
601010Mable JohnSame Time, Same Place1967--Stax 215A
Bigger And BetterStax 215B
601011Otis ReddingShake (live)196728Volt 149A
634-5789 (studio; original single was live)(none)
601012Otis Redding & Carla ThomasTramp196718Stax 216A
Oooh Carla, Oooh Otis(none)
601013Rufus ThomasGreasy Spoon1967--Stax 221B
Sophisticated SissyStax 221A
601014Bar-KaysSoul Finger196733Volt 148A
KnuckleheadVolt 148B
601015Albert KingBorn Under A Bad Sign1967--Stax 217A
Personal ManagerStax 217B
601016Eddie FloydThings Get Better196731Stax 187A
Good Love , Bad LoveStax 187B
601017Otis ReddingThe Glory Of Love1967--Volt 152A
I'm Coming HomeVolt 152B
601018Booker T. & M.G.sGroovin'1967--Stax 224A
Slim Jenkin's PlaceStax 224B
601019William BellEloise (Hang On In There)1967--Stax 227A
One Plus OneStax 227B
601020Ruby JohnsonIf I Ever Needed Love (I Sure Do Need It Now)1967--Volt 147A
Keep On Keeping OnVolt 147B
601021Otis Redding & Carla ThomasKnock On Wood196735Stax 228A
Let Me Be Good To YouStax 228B
601022Judy ClayYou Can't Run Away From Your Heart1967--Stax 230A
It Takes A Lotta Good LoveStax 230B
601023Sam & DaveSoul Man196724Stax 231A
May I BabyStax 231B
601024Eddie FloydOn A Saturday Night1967--Stax 233A
Under My NoseStax 233B
601025Bar-KaysGive Everybody Some1967--Volt 154A
Don't Do ThatVolt 154B
601026Booker T. & M.G.sChinese Checkers1967--Stax 137A
Plum NellieStax 137B
601027Otis Redding(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction1967--Volt 132A
I've Been Loving You Too LongVolt 126A
601028Rufus ThomasDown Ta My House1968--Stax 240A
Steady Holding OnStax 240B
601029Albert KingCold Feet1968--Stax 241A
You Sure Drive A Hard BargainStax 241B
601030Sam & DaveI Thank You196834Stax 242A
Wrap It UpStax 242B
601031Otis Redding(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay19683Volt 157A
My Sweet LoreneVolt 157B
601032Carla ThomasPick Up The Pieces1968--Stax 239A
SeparationStax 239B
601033Otis Redding & Carla ThomasLovey Dovey1968--Stax 244A
New Year's ResolutionStax 244B
601034Mable JohnAble Mable1968--Stax 249A
Don't Get CaughtStax 249B
601035Eddie FloydBig Bird1968--Stax 246A
Holding On With Both HandsStax 246B
601036Bar-KaysA Hard Day's Night1968--Volt 158A
I Want SomeoneVolt 158B
601037Rufus ThomasThe Memphis Train1968--Stax 250A
I Think I Made A Boo-BooStax 250B
601038William BellA Tribute To A King1968--Stax 248A
Every Man Oughta Have A WomanStax 248B
601039Derek MartinSoul Power1968--Volt 160A
Sly GirlVolt 160B
601040Otis ReddingThe Happy Song196834Volt 163A
Open The DoorVolt 163B
601041Linda LyndellBring Your Love Back To Me1968--Volt 161A
Here I AmVolt 161B
601042Albert King(I Love) Lucy1968--Stax 252A
You're Gonna Need MeStax 252B


Listen to it on Spotify: HTTP, URI. (SR0722)

UK Blue Stax singles were slightly different (with some previously unissued songs) and definitely less numerous than US singles. If you think this playlist is not enough and you wanna more soul, check the 244-song boxset Stax-Volt: The Complete Singles 1959-1968.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Booktracks - Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch


Two weeks ago, I made a business trip to London. Well, not the usual & boring weekdays kind of trip; but the rare & incredibly entertaining weekend kind. I spent most of the time at the Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, attending some matches of the Emirates Cup. Even if in a playground mode, my schedule was quite tight. At the end of it, just before Arsenal and New York Red Bulls started the last match of the tournament, I had to jump in a train of the Piccadilly Line and go to Heathrow, for catching my flight back. I did it. But I took the longest and winding road. Not southwest-ward, to the closer Halloway Road tube station, but northeast-ward, to the properly called Arsenal station. Just for one reason: I wanted to dedicate at least five minutes and five pictures to the remains of the nearby old Highbury stadium.

From my Italian perspective and historical memory, Highbury is the stadium where our nazionale played a foggy and legendary 1934 game against the England team. We lost 3-2 (this YouTube title is wrong), but we showed we could compete even with the masters of football (nowadays, that Italian team is still known as "I leoni di Highbury", Highbury lions...). From my Torino-fan perspective, Highbury is the last stadium where we played an international game, in 1994 against Arsenal, obviously losing it, before being swallowed in the inferno of the second division, where we are still floating & burning. From the British point of view, naturally, the stadium is (was) something different, something more, the historical temple of Arsenal.

From my five-minutes-tourist-in-Islington perspective, instead, Highbury was essentially the main character of a book I did and do love: Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. That's the reason behind the picture you see above (shot while a bike gang of 12-year-old boys were noisingly staring at me and at my smartphone, in a way that today has assumed a different, creepier tone, in the aftermath of recent London riots). And that's the reason of this playlist, too. On the tube to Heathrow, I started reading Fever Pitch again. I loved it, again (this guy became famous writing a book about his obsession for football?? Genius!!). I noted many musical references. And I decided to make a booktrack with all these references (booktrack = book + soundtrack, an invention of mine, but I kindly let it in public domain...).

Some things:
1st: yes, I'm really, pathologically sick.
2nd: no, really, totally sick: I started to look for YouTube videos of the matches Hornby wrote about, too. You find some of them, below: so, actually, this is a booktubetrack (public domain, again).
3rd: I noticed that during the Seventies Hornby listened to much more music than in the Eighties. Or, maybe, the music he listened to left a stronger mark in its DNA. Indeed, there are far more music references, comparisons and jokes in the first half of the book, than in the latter.

One more thing: my personal Fever Pitch revival was completed tonight with the (second) view of the 1997 movie adaptation with Colin Firth. It's a really good summer movie. You even appreciate it when you don't care a lot about Arsenal and you support another football team, locked in the italian Serie B. The movie soundtrack is good, too, starting with The La's' There She Goes and going through The Who, Lisa oh-my-god-the-end-of-the-80s Stansfield and Van Morrison. So I decided to add some of these songs to the playlist, too, as bonus tracks (booktubemoviesoundtrack?)

One very last thing: if you support ManU, City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham or whatever other English team, probably you will find all this Arsenal stuff rather annoying (except the last video, maybe). I understand it. If I saw on a website something similar about Juventus, I'd probably block the website access from my computer and likely I'd even start writing anonymous menacing emails to the site owner. Well, in that case, forget the post and its humble writer, and give a chance to the music. I think the playlist is not bad, quite varied & classic, and since there are not Gallaghers in it, it's definitely football agnostic.

Enjoy! :o)


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BOOKTRACKS - NICK HORNBY's FEVER PITCH
Source: Fever Pitch (book) + Fever Pitch (movie)

1. Eddie Floyd - Raise Your Hand*
2. Carla Thomas - Something Good (Is Going To Happen You)*
3. Johnny Taylor - Ain't That Lovin' You (For More Reasons Than One)*
4. Sam and Dave - Soothe Me*
5. Otis Redding - Day Tripper*
* first five blue-label Stax records
(page 2: "We would be left to rot with our Arsenal programmes or our collection of original blue-label Stax records...")

6. David Cassidy - Cherish
7. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
(page 21: "How could my sister not hear that David Cassidy was not in the same class as Black Sabbath?")

8. Richard Tauber - Girls Were Made To Love and Kiss
(page 31: "Constable Morgan (whose rank never changed throughout his long Highbury career) sang highlights from light operettas and Hollywood musicals: my programme for the Derby Game says that he performed Lehar's 'Girls We Made To Love and Kiss' that afternoon.")



9. Steve Morse - Heartbreaker
(page 38: "Once we went to look around the Chelsea Drugstore, where I bought the second Led Zeppelin album..."; the song is taken from Led Zeppelin II, but it's a cover version because of the Led Zeppelin embargo on Spotify; )

10. Lou Reed - I Wanna Be Black
(pag.40: "Hence the phenomenon of mock-belonging, whereby pasts and backgrounds are manufactured and massaged in order to provide some kind of acceptable cultural identity. Who was it that sang 'I Wanna Be Black'?")

11. Pogues - Whiskey in the Jar
(pag.40: "All those Pogues fans from Hertfordshire singing Irish rebel songs!")

12. Elvis Presley - In the Ghetto
13. Rolling Stones - I Wanna Be Your Man

(pag. 41: "The 1944 Education Act, the first Labour Government, Elvis, beatniks, the Beatles and the Stones, the sixties... we never stood a chance"; Beatles not available on Spotify yet, I had to mix the things a little with the Stones...).

14. Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
(pag.41: "It's no wonder we all wanted to be Muddy Waters or Charlie George")



15. The Blues Brothers - Soul Man
(pag.72: "You like football? Then you also like soul music, beer, thumping people, grabbing ladies' breasts, and money")

16. Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - "Notte e giorno faticar" (Don Giovanni, Act I)

(pag.72: "You're a rugby or a cricket man? You like Dire Straits or Mozart, wine, pinching ladies' bottoms and money")

18. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
(pag. 72: "You don't fit into either camp? Macho, nein danke? In which case it must follow that you're a pacifist vegetarian, studiously oblivious to the charms of Michelle Pfeiffer, who thinks that only leering wideboys listen to Luther Vandross)

19. Rod Stewart - You Wear It Well
(pag. 74: "I developed a new hairstyle (supposed to resemble Rod Stewart's, but I never found the courage for the spikes) to go with the clobber")

20. Olivia Newton-John - Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
(pag.75: "She was, I thought, beautiful, with the long, straight, centre-parted hair and the melting doe eyes of Olivia Newton-John).

21. Van Morrison - Caravan
(pag. 78: "... and suddenly life was all drink and soft drugs and European literature and Van Morrison).

22. Danny Kaye - I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
(pag.90: "And when they won a game, the tannoy would blast out 'I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts'...").

23. Graham Parker & The Rumour - The New York Shuffle
24. Television - Venus
25. Patti Smith - Pissing In A River
26. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
27. The Clash - White Riot

(pag.92: "... I bought and borrowed records by Graham Parker and Television and Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen and The Clash...).

28. Ramones - Blitzkreig Bop
(pag.94: "How come I had to rely on a couple of Chandler paperbacks and the first Ramones album to provide me with some kind of identity?")

29. Mavis Staples - Chocolate City
30. Shirley Brown - Woman To Woman

(pag.95: "And I have met women who love music, and can tell their Mavis Staples from their Shirley Browns...").

31. Buzzcocks - Orgasm Addict
(pag.102: "I played a Buzzcock album instead (the Singles - Going Steady compilation album), knowing that side one would take me through to the final whistle")

32. Bay City Rollers - Bye Bye Baby
(pag.106: "There were others who did the same, and behind me a pair of teenage girls were weeping silently, not in the hammy fashion of teenage girls at Bay City Rollers concerts, but in a way that suggested a deep and personal gried")



33. Rod Stewart - Sailing
(pag.116: "Everyone knows the song that Millwall fans sing, to the tune of 'Sailing': 'No one likes us/No one likes us/No one likes us/We don't care'").

34. Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
(pag.119: "There was something about it that reminded me of Bill Grundy winding up the Sex Pistols on television in 1976 and then expressing his outrage about their behaviour afterwards. Arsenal, the first of the true punk rockers: our centre-halves were fulfilling a public need for harmless pantomime deviancy long before Johnny Rotten came along".)



35. Maria Callas - Un bel dì vedremo (from Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly")
(pag.126: "In 1969 I saw George Best play, and score, for Manchester United at Highbury. The experience should have been profound, like seeing Nijinsky dance, or Maria Callas sing, and though I do talk about it in that way sometimes, to younger fans, or those who missed out Best for other reasons, my fond account is essentially phoney: I hated that afternoon".)

36. The Jam - In The City
(pag.130: "It had occurred to me - as I think it occurs to many young teachers of a similar ilk - that my interests (football and pop music in particular) would be an advantage in the classroom, that I would be able to 'identify' with 'the kids' because I understood the value of the Jam and Laurie Cunningham".)

37. Rolling Stones - Painted Black (live)
(pag.192: "Or maybe you saw the Stones at Wembley, but then even something like that is repeated for night after night nowadays, and consequently doesn't have the same one-off impact of a football match".)



BONUS TRACKS (FROM 1987 "FEVER PITCH" MOVIE SOUNDTRACK)
38. The La's – There She Goes
39. Harry J Allstars – The Liquidator
40. The Pogues – Fiesta
41. The Who – Baba O'Riley - Remixed Version
42. Tim Hardin – How Can We Hang On To A Dream
43. Fine Young Cannibals – Good Thing
44. Lisa Stansfield – All Around The World
45. Van Morrison – Bright Side Of The Road


Listen to it on Spotify: HTTP, URI.



Previously booktracked:
Nick Hornby's High Fidelity
La musica liberata (mine)