Best Of The Best ( 1989 )

Tonight's post is brought to you courtesy of those wonderful people at Preston Poundland. For if it wasn't there foresight to buy up massive bulk stock of all 4 Best of The Best films on DVD and then sell them for the bargain price there name suggests.
And its with my trip down memory lane viewing of them that I have uploaded the original soundtrack.
The first Best of The Best is certainly up there with The Karate Kid as a underdog/martial arts/learning your inner self film. Following Eric Roberts, Chris Penn, James Earl Jones and the US Karate Team on there journey of discovery and hard knocks to beat rivals Korea (who are not actually world beating Karate contenders). Featuring some pretty sweet fight scenes and enough pump up music montages to keep genre fans happy. obviously not up there with Rocky 4 as the defacto pump up soundtrack but not far behind in my opinion.

Best Of The Best - OST (1989)

"Drop him like a toilet seat!"

Swarrrm - Nise Kyûseishu Domo (2003)

Digging through the archives the other day i came across this. Having not listened to it for ages it got thrown on the stereo and once again I was immersed in the surreal and chaotic world of Japan's Swarrrm, trust the Japanese to do it.
You see, while they fall under the genre title of grind, they are really left-field within its confines. I first came across them when my old band Narcosis, did a split 7" with them.They only had 2 songs on it but there was no denying there power and scope. This was the next thing I got by them and it further widened my appreciation for these far east nutters.
What other grind band starts a album with a mandolin playing something that sounds like The Godfather theme tune? Then proceeds to use that melody in the same song? Swarrrm that's who. Coupled with some immensely crazy guitar playing and an all over the shop rhythm section you pretty much have the Swarrrm sound. But to top it all off, and this is the best thing about them, is the vocal performance.
They always changed vocalists. It seemed like it was a part of there sound. Every release up until Black Bong had a different vocalist. They had no lyrics either. You get the idea that it was a case of turning up and doing whatever came out. Thus you get insane high pitched squealing and gutteral grunts but delivered with something that could only be described as "melodramatic". It sounds pretty naff on paper but you need to hear this to fully understand the description.

Swarrrm - Nise Kyuseishu Domo

Phyllis Hyman - S/T ( 1977 )

Been away recording this past weekend. Post recording blues have brought out this album. Long out of print and not as common as some people reckon. I got into this album due to The Boondocks, one of the best Adult Swim shows. There is a scene where two of the main characters fight in a cinema in true Shaw brothers style. The musical score has a sample of Loving You, Losing You. This is what brought Phyllis Hyman to my attention.
Its in no way as upbeat or fun loving as a lot of similar soul and disco from the era. In fact, apart from the lazy disco-lite groove of  One Thing On My Mind it has no relation to disco/funk in the slightest. Its a far more soulful record that has a surprisingly bleak outlook. Especially once you read about the late, great lady herself.

Phyllis Hyman - S/T

Gary Busey on the lam.

God bless Gary Busey and god bless Cex and its 40p DVD trade. Where else would you find a film of this calibre for that price.

Coalesce - Live at the First Unitarian Church, PA 2005

Hands down one of my all time, favourite bands. EVER. A true inspiration and influence. Here they are back in 2005 laying it down. Awesome live set and awesome sound. There is nothing I can say that hasn't already been said about them.

Track Listing

1- Harvest of Maturity
2- One on the Ground
3- cowards.com
4- Blend as Well
5- Burn Everything That Bears Our Name
6- What Happens on the Road
7- A Safe Place
8- Jesus In The Year 2000 / Next On The Shit List
9- A Disgust For Details
10- 73-C
11- You Can't Kill Us All
12- My Love For Extremes

 

Coalesce - Live At The First Unitarian Church 2005

This has popped up at quite a few different places but I originally got it from the awesome Lo Res Viscera ages ago. Check that blog out.

Worship - Unreleased 12" (2009)

A very recent find. This band don't exist anymore. They recorded this final album and then disappeared, presumed dead. I imagine there is a completely normal reason for this but I like my creepy version instead. Its hardcore but with a massive doom and Entombed obsession. And before you say it, yes. Just like Cursed. A friend described its appeal as "for people that get hard over Cursed". Which is simple enough really. If you miss the Canadian juggernaut then give Worship a toot.

Worship - Final 12"

"For people that get hard over Cursed"

Orange 9mm - Tragic (1996)

I recently reignited my love for this album. Bought as a radio promo CD in a second hand record store in Las Vegas around 2000 - 2001 maybe? If my usual terrible memory serves me well. I do remember skating for what seemed like hours to reach this store that was right on the border of civilisation and the desert.
Orange 9mm always got a sort of bum rep when it came to critics and record labels. Often seen as another in the long line of RATM clones, they had far more going for them than the fact they provided Helmet with a guitarist for their final days. I liked them better than Zach and his lefty, shouty buddies at times. They had a far more hardcore grounding and I always thought they shared more in common with the minor key thunder of The Deftones and some of the tones and sound of the Am Rep stable.
I still love this album. I think always will. But enough gayness now.....here's Orange 9mm.....

Orange 9mm - Tragic

 Look at all these turkeys!

Back in the days when everyone wore those work shirts with "Gus" or "Bub" on the breast and you couldn't move for Adidas at gigs. I bet none of these fools still has one of those posters. I would kill for one.

Needle Sharing - My Kind Came First (2001)

I don't know why, but this is really hitting the spot right now. Dark drum & bass. Lots of bass clipping and fractured signals. I don't really have anything more to say about it seeing as its an area of music I have no clue about. Enjoy.

Needle Sharing - My Kind Came First

Lay down please.

Nadja / Atavist / Satori - Infernal Procession.....And Then Everything Dies (2008)

I have held off posting anything I actually played on for quite some time but I finally thought "to hell with it" and dug this out. At one point I a few years ago I played bass with Atavist. I think I technically still do but we have done nothing for some time. In the time I spent with them we played a few gigs, recorded a collaboration with Nadja (still one of the most rewarding recordings I have played on) and did a tour with Nadja and Satori. This split CD was released to coincide with said tour. It was a absolute joy watching Nadja every night. A truely hypnotic experience. I mostly remember them turning up in Edinburgh the first night with guitars and suitcases full of pedals. Satori do the whole power electronics thing but there is something much more subtle and creepy about it. Live they had a very unsettling film that accompanied the noise. This was one of only a few things this line up of Atavist recorded. Different to the earlier stuff. Lots more ambience and lots more riffs. It was a awesome tour and after having spent most of my touring life in the company of hardcore and grind bands a very welcome change of pace to tour with such different artists.
This was released on Cold Spring Records, Justin from Satori's label, in a limited run of 1000 ( not sure how limited that makes it tho). It is still available I think.

Nadja/Atavist/Satori - Infernal Procession....

Ambient, doom, noise, drone anyone?

Rick James - Street Songs (1981)

In relation to the Eddie Murphy post below ( for obvious reasons), I present Rick James debut solo album. For no other reason than its just plain cool and look at that cover art. 80's funk/pop about drugs, crazy women and Ricks many adventures in pursuit of crack. God rest his soul.

Sadly Rick won't let us use this one. Its easy enough to find.



I promise there will be some noisy stuff coming soon. Some very noisy stuff.

Eddie Murphy - Love's Alright

At one point Eddie Murphy was untouchable. Beverly Hills Cop, 48 Hours, The Golden Child and some superb stand up Sadly there was a point in the 90's when he decided to gamble his credibility on a musical career. He actually managed to make 3 albums despite the critical and commercial panning he got. Tonight I present his third album, Love's Alright.

I found this in a massive pile of broken CD's when I worked in a record shop back as a young man. I knew about his previous single Party All The Time ("put those phones on man") featuring Rick James, but this album made it quite clear Eddie had gone of track quite a bit. He managed to rope Elton John, Shabba Ranks, Micheal Jackson, Paul McCartney and tons of other folk into helping out on this album. In all honesty the highlight ( in the loosest way possible) is his dragged out cover of Hey Joe. Really does not need to be that long. That said I genuinely like Good Day Sunshine and Flower Child. There pretty good.

Eddie Murphy - Love's Alright

Here we go.....