... your heart out
cumulative ...
... your heart out
A user’s guide
... your heart out
The cover of the very first YHO from November 2008 was a still from Steve Barton‟s excellent promo video for Secret Affair‟s Time For Action. It sets the scene nicely for an essay on the 1979 mod revival. This includes a couple of important passages: “The last thing the mod revival could be called was an attempt at authentic recreation. That‟s a given. Yet what is rarely understood is how it was not about channelling memory. Think of people like Jerry Dammers, Ian Curtis, Green Gartside, Julian Cope. They were using memory as a shaping force. Ska, Iggy, Robert Wyatt, the Seeds. They were also that bit older than most of the people who got into the mod thing.” “There was something about the mod groups which was very oh I don‟t know. It‟s like when you were at school and you knew all the answers but couldn‟t be bothered to keep putting your hand up and getting it right. Sometimes it was nice to just know. And not let on.” The contents of this first edition of YHO also include:
The future of pop – the sounds of Janelle Monáe, Georgia Anne Muldrow, etc.
Female jazz singers – the bleak, desolate, cerebral ...
Discovering bossa nova – from The Face to él and Loronix
Laurindo Almeida – with the MJQ/Joanie Sommers/Sammy Davis Jr.
The Fallen Leaves
Raw Records – the UK‟s greatest punk label
Peter Coyle‟s solo LPs, Marina Van Rooy and Liverpool‟s Eight Productions
Charles Stepney, The Dells, Bacharach & David, Love ...
Alfie and Robert Wyatt, Bertrand Burgalat and Philippe Katerine.
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... again
The cover of the second YHO was another still from Steve Barton‟s Time For Action video. The inside front cover has a shotl from a promo film for Cruelty by The Wolfhounds The text above it sort of says it all: “This is dedicated to all those who take the time and trouble to share their enthusiasms and obsessions, for whatever reason, for little return, yet in so doing enlighten and illuminate, making the world a better place, leading us to sounds and people we never dared dream exist.” One nice and unexpected by-product of this early edition was a mention of Roger Eagle giving Jeff Barrett the idea of doing a commemorative mag on the great man. This lovely document is still available via the Caught By The River site here. The contents of this edition of YHO include:
Tuca – her records and her work with Franḉoise Hardy, Nara Leao etc.
Dennis Brown and Penny Reel
Mick Jones and B.A.D., Dennis Morris, Basement 5, Malicious Damage
Fiction Records – the Chris Parry sound
Andrew Hill and choral jazz
Nancy Wilson and Oliver Nelson
Jody Reynolds – the rockabilly provocateur, Bobbie Gentry, Nancy and Lee
The Fallen Leaves - Rob Simmons on his return to music
Stacy Epps and The Awakening – abstract soul and spiritual jazz
Kate Wax and Shena Mackay
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... and then again
The front cover of the third edition of YHO had a still from the 1964 Jean Aurel film De L‟Amour, and opened with a lovely John Buchan quote: “For those who worked in the shadows must know more than those in the daylight”. There was very much a focus in this issue on people who were intent on putting together something more than simply a set of songs, people who liked working with ideas and themes, including:
Janelle Monáe and her Metropolis – The Chase Suite
The new wave of French conceptualists – Marc Collin, Olivier Libaux, Philippe Katerine
Nancy Harrow – from Atlantic jazz to conceptual interpretations of Willa Cather via Damon & Naomi
Gary McFarland – America The Beautiful and so on ...
Watertown – Frank Sinatra, Jake Holmes, Bob Gaudio and romance
The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
Johnny Hartman
Mark Perry
Slumber Party and Aliccia Berg Bollig
Tamba Trio
Phil Ochs
Cup of Tea – Bristol blues and roots
Muhsinah and Brittany Bosco – future soul sounds
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... for dancers
The fourth edition of YHO had Michelle Mae Orr and Ian Svenonius dancing on the cover, and started with a quote about constructive loafing from Julian Barnes‟ Metroland. One nice by-product of this issue was a passage about Lotti Golden being used in her Wikipedia entry. The contents of this edition of YHO included:
When punk mischief met disco populism: Orange Juice, Baccara, Scars, Odyssey, etc.
Daniel Vangarde and Jean Kluger – from Le Monde Fabuleux Des Yamasuki and Black Blood to Ottawan and the Gibson Brothers
Chas Jankel
Mo-Dettes
Dick O‟Dell‟s Y Records
Bob Shad‟s Mainstream label – Alice Clark, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Foster, Afrique
Catherine Ribeiro
Saravah – Pierre Barouh, Jacques Higelin, Brigitte Fontaine and Areski
Georgia Anne Muldrow and the SomeOthaShips family
One-Handed Music – Ahu, Paul White, Bullion and abstract beats
Samia Farah
Fay Hallam
Chicca & Intrigo
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... look sideways
The fifth issue of YHO had Jeanne Moreau on the cover in a still from Joseph Losey‟s Eva. It opens with a quote from Alec Guinness‟ Journals which pokes fun lightly at the YHO way of working : “It is, I suppose, like a sort of sluggish river meandering hopefully towards the open sea but diverted by various eddies, pools or tangential tributaries.” The contents of this edition of YHO included:
Pub rock and future primitives: The Motors, Hammersmith Gorillas, Third World War, etc.
Malcolm McLaren and Robin Millar in Paris
Jeanne Moreau, Serge Rezvani and Helena Noguerra
Morricone and Milva, Joan Baez and Sacco & Vanzetti
Factory jazz dance: Kalima, Swamp Children, Jazz Defektors, ACR
Sarah Vaughan‟s Brazilian trilogy
Mark Murphy
Jazzman compilations and Letta Mbulu
Quincy Jones‟ soundtracks
Moonshake
Cookie Crew
Ella Mae Morse and Johnny Mercer
Marcia Griffiths
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out The enormity of small things
The sixth edition of YHO borrowed its title from Samaritan by Richard Price. It was the first „themed‟ issue, and took as its starting point a show by Dexys Midnight Runners at the Dominion Theatre, London in November 1985. Among the songs performed that night was a cover of The Fantastics‟ Something Old Something New, a hit on Bell Records in 1971. It was a British soul production, and therefore linked in a way to the still of The Flirtations used on the cover where they are dancing their way through the ruins of Tintern Abbey in a promo video for their immortal Nothing But A Heartache. Naturally a lot of this edition is directly related to Dexys, but it also focuses on three very important figures who were backroom boffins during the „60s and „70s. That is:
Gerry Shury
Miki Dallon
Pierre Tubbs
The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
Vic Godard
Felt/Denim
Small Hours
Jasmine Minks
Deodato
Anthony Newley
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out The archaeology of an abandoned soul single
The seventh edition of YHO was another „themed‟ issue, and took as its starting point a single salvaged for next-to-nothing by Joe Curtis on the Spiral label, featuring This Is Love on one side and Black is Beautiful on the other. The cover features a photo of two Motown cassettes which came in lovely matchbox style packaging. This issue began and ended with quotes from Kitty Hauser‟s excellent Bloody Old Britain: O.G.S. Crawford and the Archaeology of Modern Life. A wonderful comment about this edition on the Soul Source Forum was subsequently borrowed for the front page of the YHO site. This issue was the most „collaborative‟ and featured some very important contributions, like:
Brian Kotz (Back To Zero) on the early days of the 6Ts Rhythm & Soul Society
Per-Christian Hille on The Aller Værste!
The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
The Visitors – with quotes from Colin Craigie and John McVay
The Users/A Craze – with quotes from Chris Free
Silver Convention
Giorgio Moroder/Pete Bellotte
Ambros Seelos Orchestra
Herbie Mann
Tommy McCook/Laurel Aitken
Manfred Mann Chapter Three
Robert Lloyd and the Nightingales
Paul Simpson and the Wild Swans
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out the historical romance ...
The eighth edition of YHO had a fantastic photo of the jazz singer Jackie Paris on the front cover. Jackie was very much at the heart of this issue, which had a lot to do with the film „Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris. There is at the start a quote from Ian Svenonius‟ The Psychic Soviet, and at the end there are some lines that Marlowe spoke in Dennis Potter‟s The Singing Detective. The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
Jackie Cain and Roy Kral
Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman
Irene Kral
Sonic Youth
Mayo Thompson and Red Crayola
Billy Vera and Judy Clay
Solesides and Quannum
Clinic
Johnny Thunders
Snatch
Freda Payne
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... a restoration
The ninth edition of YHO borrowed Neville‟s Brody‟s design for the 8 Eyed Spy LP on Fetish Records to use on the front cover. There was something of a literary theme in this issue with mentions of Barry Gifford, J.L. Carr, Margot Bennett, Iain Sinclair, Graham Greene, Nick Tosches, and Suze Rotolo‟s memoir A Freewheelin‟ Time. There are also some lovely words used along the way like revenant and revendication, with a reference to an old edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary. I asked: “Who decides what words are worth? Who chooses which words can be forgotten?” The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
The Decorators
The Raybeats
8 Eyed Spy
Lydia Lunch and George Scott
Carla Bley
Jimmy Giuffre
Abbey Lincoln
Bob Thiele
The Numero Group
Far Out Recordings
Antonio Adolfo
Arthur Verocai
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... folklore
The front cover of the tenth edition of YHO featured a still of the rapper Wildflower from the promo video of Domestic Science by Skitz. There was something of a UK DJ/MC tradition theme to this issue, which featured:
Ranking Ann
Demon Boyz
Silver Bullet
Chapter and the Verse
Ruthless Rap Assassins
MC Buzz B
Roots Manuva
Wildflower
Postcard Records: the final stand of the last punk independent also featured heavily in this issue, with words on Vic Godard, The Nectarine No. 9, Jock Scot and Paul Quinn. The back cover had a photo of Vic playing live at London‟s Town & Country Club in September 1992. The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
Helen Merrill
Odetta
Tav Falco & the Panther Burns
Charlie Byrd
Jaime Alem and Nair Candia
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out rewrite the script
The eleventh issue of YHO was a special edition devoted to vintage pop music from the Communist-era Eastern Europe. The cover featured a still of the Bulgarian diva Lili Ivanova performing in a late „60s New Year‟s Eve special on Soviet TV. An allusion to Beryl Marsden singing about music being a language known around the world set the scene. The opening paragraph makes the YHO position on all this pretty clear: “This is a story about discovering wonderful pop sounds from the Eastern Europe of the 1960s and „70s. In other places it might be billed as a journey of discovery where myths are shattered, lies exposed, ignorance laid bare, injustices set right. That sort of thing. It is written with great enthusiasm, if from a position of relative ignorance.” It was ridiculously exciting discovering all this extraordinary music which hitherto I had no idea even existed. Just looking at the people featured in this issue makes me grin:
Novi Singers
Ada Rusowicz
Yvonne Prenosilova
Marta Kubisova
Blue Effect
Lili Ivanova
Pasha Hristova
Phoenix
Josipa Lisac
Olivera Vuco
Kati Kovacs
Vladimir Vysotsky
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... from the hip in the Cyrillic script
The twelfth issue of YHO was another special edition devoted to the vintage pop music of the Communist-era Eastern Europe. The title was borrowed from one of the great Vic Godard songs. And the cover was a still from one of the dislocated clips from old Soviet films that are available on YouTube. What I love about this shot is the way the blonde girl could easily be out on the floor at Wigan Casino in its heyday. This edition concentrated on the music of the old Soviet Union, but it starts with Ewa Demarczyk and her remarkable sung Polish poetry. These words strike me as particularly apt: “In many ways the lack of readily available information about Ewa and all the artists that have recently made my own odd little world so much more interesting adds to the appeal. It is the stumbling and fumbling in the dark that can be such fun. The not having a pre-existing route to follow is exciting, but that joy can be tempered by a seething resentment at all the custodians of pop history who have perpetuated the lie that there was little of cultural interest in terms of pop music to emerge from the Eastern Europe of the Communist era. This is now so patently untrue. And there are so many stories surely to tell, theories to explore, and recordings to hear.” The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
Vladimir Vysotsky and Nik Cohn
Pesnyary
Marju Kuut
Muslim Magomaev
Qaya
Raimonds Pauls
Imants Kalnins
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... a day to remember
The thirteenth edition of YHO had on its front cover out a still of dancers out on the floor at Wigan Casino in its heyday. It was taken from a lovely old This England documentary for Grenada TV directed by Tony Palmer, which has more recently been issued on DVD. This issue was a special commemorative one put together to accompany a rare live recording of Vic Godard & Subway Sect performing their Northern Soul set at the Music Machine, supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees, in March 1980. Vic kindly gave permission to make the tape available via the YHO site, and has subsequently started to revisit some of these songs. It seemed like a good idea to put a small booklet together to go with the download. The title, of course, is a line from the song Holiday Hymn. Among those putting in guest appearances are:
Alan Horne
Orange Juice
Johnny Britton
Dave McCullough
Vivien Goldman
Robin Banks
Rob Green
Tony Clarke
Jonny Brown
Sean McLusky
This issue can be found here ... The legendary live performance itself can be found here ...
... your heart out assemblage ...
The fourteenth edition of YHO featured a still of Monica Zetterlund singing Some Other Time with the Bill Evans Trio in 1965 for Swedish TV. The title of this issue was very deliberately chosen, and the opening paragraph is particularly pertinent: “If there is one thing that propels the projects that are part of Your Heart Out it is a fascination with how things fit together. This is not in the sense of taking something apart and analysing it. It is, instead, about finding out how elements link, often unexpectedly, to form a picture or story. It is all to do with connections.” In this case all roads lead back to the American jazz pianist and composer Steve Kuhn, who recorded with Monica and many others. The contents of this edition of YHO also included:
Karin Krog
Terje Rypdal
Jan Garbarek
Sheila Jordan
Archie Shepp
Gary McFarland
Steve Swallow
Bill Evans
John Surman
Arild Andersen
This issue can be found here ... There was also a complementary mixtape put together, which just had to be called Kuhnnections and can be found here. Per-Christian Hille provided one of his beautiful covers for the mix, using with permission one of Erik Stenvik‟s evocative photos of the Norwegian jazz scene in the late „60s which can be found on Flickr here.
... your heart out What a Life! The story of the light blues
The fifteenth edition of YHO was subtitled „Adventures in Uruguayan Pop Music: 1965-1980‟. It was put together to complement a mixtape of vintage Uruguayan sounds. The cover for both, beautifully designed by Per-Christian Hille, featured Diego Forlan who with his team mates, affectionately known as „the light blues‟, lit up the 2010 World Cup. In a similar way explorations of Uruguayan pop music proved be revalatory. It‟s fascinating to trace the development of the music made in Uruguay during this period, from the early garage and beat responses to the more psychedelic and progressive sounds. Things got really interesting as elements of African and Uruguayan traditional rhythms were utilised, and the music evolved along the lines of the Brazilian tropicalia movement, with its own enigmatic heroes like Eduardo Mateo. The political coup of 1973 made life difficult for rock music to flourish, and as elsewhere under repressive regimes musicians used folk music as a subversive outlet. There really was some incredible music made in this period. Among those featured are: Los Mockers and Los Shakers El Kinto and Totem Limonada El Sindykato Eduardo Mateo and Jorge Trasante Diane Denoir Jaime Roos This issue can be found here ... The mixtape itself can be found here ...
... your heart out tragoudia ...
The sixteenth edition of YHO was subtitled „Adventures in Greek Music‟. It was put together to complement a mixtape of vintage Greek sounds, which itself was subtitled „The New Wave and Beyond‟. The cover of this issue features a still from a clip posted on YouTube of Aleka Mavilli singing Afto t‟agori from a 1967 film. I love how in this shot the ancient and modern worlds combine perfectly. This edition features a few attempts at integrating short stories/fictional representation, and contains an admission that I prefer the fiction of thriller writer Alan Furst to works of critical theory. Make of that what you will. Among those featured in this edition of YHO are: Manos Hadjidakis Mikis Theodorakis Fleury Dantonaki Arleta Popi Asteriadi Nikos Xylouris Elpida George Romanos Maria Farantouri Savage Republic This issue can be found here ... The mixtape takes as its starting point what in Greek music is known as new wave or „neo kyma‟. This was a form of pop that in the mid-to-late „60s mixed traditional Greek folk song with other elements such as French chanson/pop. The recordings were often acoustic, stark and wonderfully romantic. From the new wave the mixtape wanders into wilder psychedelic territory and also takes in some astonishing performances of songs (tragoudia) by the great composers like Theodorakis and Hadjidakis. The mix can be found here.
... your heart out ... foundland
The seventeenth edition of YHO was a celebration of Saint Jack by The Nectarine No. 9. Originally released in 1995 by Postcard Records of Scotland, after many years out of circulation, it was made available on We Can Still Picnic, the digital imprint of the Creeping Bent Organisation. It seemed like a fun idea to put together something that caught the spirit of what Davy Henderson and his gang were doing on that record. The cover was an old photo of the Nectarine No. 9 brothel in Yokohama. As for the title? Where Frownland meets Poundland, perhaps? There‟s quite a lot of quotes and lyrics cut up and scattered throughout this short booklet. Among those unwittingly contributing are:
Alan Horne
Jack Kerouac
Fran Landesman
Terry Southern
Peter Meaden
Vic Godard
Screamin‟ Jay Hawkins
Barry Gifford
Nick Tosches
Allen Ginsberg
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... from your fear
The eighteenth edition of YHO was an attempt at doing something different. It was a collection of posts from the YHO site where the idea had been to have a series of linked pieces on a particular theme, and see how things developed. With a Bob Dylan song in mind, and an eye on the news, the gypsy theme was chosen, and this is how things worked out. The cover of this issue used a still from the Soviet film known as Queen of the Gypsies or Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven, directed by Emil Loteanu, and starring the magnificent Svetlana Toma. Among those featured in this edition of YHO are:
Mikis Theodorakis and Arleta
Tim Buckley
Gabor Szabo, Gary McFarland and Leon Thomas
Las Grecas
Peret and Valerio Lazarov
Olivera Vuco
Emir Kusturica and Goran Bregovic
Anneli Sari
David Essex and Jeremy Sandford
Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions
Maxim Gorky and Svetlana Toma
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out Scream of my heartbeat
The nineteenth edition was a collection of posts first published on the YHO site. The theme of the series was The Pop Group and the impact they had on me as a teenager. An announcement about The Pop Group playing live for the first time in 30-odd years had been indirectly the catalyst for these reflections. Each post in the series was accompanied by a picture specially designed by Per-Christian Hille and a song from a „rediscovered‟ live recording of The Pop Group playing in Newcastle in August 1978. The pictures and songs fitted together at the end of the series to form one glorious whole „giveaway‟. The cover of this edition of YHO featured a 1978 photo by Brian Griffin of The Pop Group on Chesil Beach, which I was graciously given permission to use. The set of photos taken in this session played a hugely important part in making The Pop Group seem impossibly glamorous. The coverage of The Pop Group in the music press was also an integral part of making The Pop Group seem incredibly romantic. Specific mention is made of features by:
Steve Walsh in Zigzag
Paul Rambali in the New Musical Express
Pete Silverton in Sounds
Among those also mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Dennis Bovell
Subway Sect
Andrew Lauder and Radar Records
Barney Bubbles
Eric Dolphy
This issue can be found here ... The live tape itself can be found here ...
... your heart out Lovers & Technology
The twentieth edition of YHO was a special one dedicated to the Mad Professor and his Ariwa label. It was put together to complement a mixtape, and both featured fantastic cover art from Per-Christian Hille. The story of the Mad Professor and Ariwa is an incredible one, and needs telling in real depth one day One of the opening paragraphs in this issue is particularly significant, I think: “There is still a school of thought that equates independent record labels with the punk rock era and what came after. This is patently ridiculous. There is a long tradition of small record companies in whatever area of UK music you choose to examine: jazz, blues, folk, classical, reggae, rock, soul, and so on. There has always been recording activities away from the mainstream, and some of these imprints have been more successful than others. It‟s just that their definition of success may not have been a place on the national Top 40. Sometimes even survival is success in certain circumstances.” Among those also mentioned in this edition of YHO and on the mixtape are:
Ranking Ann
Lorna Gee
Sandra Cross/Wild Bunch
Kofi
Papa Levi
Pato Banton
Macka Bee
Sister Audrey
This issue can be found here ... The mixtape itself, featuring lovers rock, studio experimentation, DJ dexterity and deep roots sounds. It can be found here ...
... your heart out skimming stones ...
The cover star of the twenty-first edition of YHO was Sylvia Tella, and the photo was borrowed from the sleeve of Spell, her debut LP. This issue began with a quote from Arsene Wenger and continued: “I like the state of „not knowing‟. It can be a springboard to discovery, which helps pieces of information fit together in enlightening ways. It can also be a source of worry, with pieces of a jigsaw turning up unexpectedly to befuddle and bemuse.” It took as its starting point a little confusion or confession about the London female reggae collectives Akabu and Abacush. In many ways it formed the third part of a trilogy with the preceding two issues, with a strong focus on post-punk activities and UK reggae productions. Tony Herrington around this time wrote a particularly enthusiastic piece in The Wire on YHO. Among those also mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Mark Lusardi
Mike Dorane and the Disco Dub Band
Jah Wobble
Annie Whitehead
Adrian Sherwood
Judy Nylon
Horace Andy & Rhythm Queen
Barry Ford and Noir
Merger
Twinkle Brothers
Gaspar Lawal
It ends with a little confession or confusion about Nick Plytas and Nick Straker This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out Enlightenment!
“Jazz. Folk. Calypso. Music Hall. Skiffle. Blues. Ballads. Agit Prop. Highlife. Lowlifes. Beatniks. Modernists. Anarchists. Communists. Chancers. Charmers. Tormented Thinkers. Theatre Revolutionaries. Pop Pioneers. Cockney Visionaries. Soho Adventurers.” That‟s what was promised in the most ambitious of all the issues of YHO. The twenty-second edition was effectively a short book, 60-odd pages long, and perhaps there was the thought someone would come along and suggest turning it into something more. It didn‟t happen, which is a relief really as there‟s always something else to add or explore. The cover star was Lionel Bart, and Per-Christian Hille did the design and layout to make it seem rather more professional than usual. Among those also mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop
Colin MacInnes
Denis Preston
Ewan MacColl
Val Wilmer
Wolf Mankowitz
Anthony Newley
Kenny Graham
Alan Klein
John Cameron
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out hiss & shake ...
The twenty-third edition of YHO had on the cover a still from a video of breakdancers on the roof of the No U-Turn studios in Acton, west London. This particular issue was a collection of posts on the YHO site which set out to illustrate how things fit together. In this case Phil Legg, one of the unsung heroes of pop music, was used to show how unusual connections can be made, in defiance of genres and labels, hence the subtitle of „Legg‟s Eleven‟. Among those mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Rodney P. and Neneh Cherry
Lora Logic and The Gist
Sean Oliver and Terence Trent D‟Arby
Oldland Montano and Rip Rig & Panic
The Marine Girls and Grab Grab The Haddock
Robin Millar and Everything But The Girl
Young Disciples and Des‟ree
Imagination and Ut
Raincoats and Smith & Mighty
The Pasadenas and Dexys Midnight Runners
Rhythm King and Baby Ford
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... disco no disco yes
The twenty-fourth edition of YHO had on the cover the striking sleeve of Pulse 2, a record by Zigmars Liepins featuring some excellent electro sounds, which was part of a Soviet „sport and music‟ series. This issue collected together a series of posts from the YHO site which ran under the heading of The Disco Ball is a Globe. Most of the literature about disco concentrates on its roots and early days, but its impact around the world is far more fascinating. When you consider the damage done in the name of political parties, religion and nationalism then disco music must be seen a progressive force for good in the world, with a symbol such as the disco ball or a Roland synth seen as a civilising influence. And so the series set out to capture something of „disco around the world‟ and some of the genuinely extraordinary music it has inspired. Among those remarkable things mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
A Tajikistani take on Munch disco
Zodiac and the Soviet disco alliance
The soundtracks of Raimonds Pauls and Alexander Zatsepin
Mutant disco in Hungary with Trabant
Googoosh, Ramesh and Persian disco sounds
Tim Maia, Lady Zu, Rita Lee and Jorge Ben
O.P.M. and Manila Sound
Brand New Wayo and Nigerian Boogie
Supermax takes on the world
Disco music in Bollywood and Lollywood
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out form & function
The twenty-fifth edition of YHO borrowed its cover picture from Bridget Riley and its title from Photek. And yet it could equally be said that the graphics and wording on the front page were borrowed from Nuo, the electrical appliances company, which is where this issue starts. The central themes of this edition are about why we listen to music, how we listen to music, how we use music, and how music is presented. Among those mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Sudden Sway
Barbara Moore
Pursuit Grooves
Ron Goodwin
Eric Coates
Moving Shadow
John McEntire
Simon Fisher Turner
Don Harper
Ikonika
The Caretaker
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... ghosts of midnight
The twenty-sixth edition of YHO had on its cover a wonderfully evocative photo of Sandi Hummer standing in the doorway of The Lighthouse, the jazz club in Hermosa Beach, California. It seemed to perfectly capture the mood of this issue and its theme which was the great jazz voices of Bethlehem Records, ones that have been lost and found along the way, ones at their best when singing desolate torch songs. Among the voices of Bethlehem mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Audrey Morris
Chris Connor
Terry Morel
Helen Carr
Marilyn Moore
Frances Faye
Betty Roché
Bev Kelly
Mel Tormé
Bob Dorough
Bobby Troup
Julie London
And, very importantly, mention is made of the vision of Creed Taylor, the incredible artwork of Burt Goldblatt, and the man who started it all, Gus Wildi. Russ Garcia and Howard Roberts also seem to be pretty significant figures in this issue. This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out ... a belief in mischief
The twenty-seventh edition of YHO had on the front cover a still from footage of the 14 Hour Technicolour Dream where at the end of their set The Flies provoked fights with and among the audience. It actually looks more like Paris a year or so later doesn‟t it? The picture is just right for this issue which spends quite a bit of time exploring that strange period where mods went psychedelic. But it wasn‟t all peace and love and passivity. There was, thankfully, still mischief at work, and this edition of YHO seems to concentrate on some of this. In a way, this issue started out as a meditation on sacred texts, but soon developed into a celebration of irregulars, visionaries, mischief makers, and people who just aren’t written about enough. Among those mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Peter Meaden and Norman Jopling
Peter Shertser and Ian Sippen of the Firm
Val Wilmer
Mick Farren
Martin Stone
Dave Godin
Penny Reel
In terms of music, among those featured are:
Edgar Broughton Band
Jo Ann Kelly
Clark-Hutchinson
The Peep Show
Captain Beefheart
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out rainsongs & painsongs ...
The twenty-eighth edition of YHO features on the front cover manipulated images of Julie Tippetts taken from a video where she participates in a performance of Keith Tippett‟s Septober Energy in 2008. This issue is at heart a celebration of Julie‟s work, very much inspired by her collaboration with Martin Archer on Tales of FiNiN which is undoubtedly the most rewarding record of recent times. Naturally, being YHO, there is a whole series of diversions and detours along the way. The title, incidentally, is formed of words found in Julie‟s songs and poetry. Among those mentioned alongside Julie in this edition of YHO are:
Norma Winstone
Mike Westbrook
Clock DVA
Hana and Petr Ulrychova
Blue Effect
Jiri Stivin
Working Week
Annie Whitehead
Nostalgia 77
Blossom Toes
Reggie King
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out it will never be over
The twenty-ninth edition of YHO has on its cover a still of the wonderful Barry St. John performing her version of Cry Like A Baby on Beat Club back in 1969. The title is borrowed from the Timi Yuro song of around the same time. And there is a very strong theme throughout this issue of British soul productions and pop experimentation from the late „60s and early „70s. The starting point really was finding a track on YouTube of Joe E. Young & the Toniks on the Toast label and setting off on a voyage of discovery which wonderfully connected in with all sorts of wonderful things. Among those mentioned in this edition of YHO are:
Vicki Wickham and the Toast label
Tony Hall and the Fresh Air label
Ian Green
Roseta Hightower
Labi Siffre
Blue Mink
Fox
Mike Cooper
Doris Troy
Brotherhood of Man
Gerry Shury
Lee Vanderbilt
The Foundations
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out consequences ...
The cover of the thirtieth edition of YHO features a still from the promo video for The GoBetweens‟ Bachelor Kisses. And, appropriately, this issue is all about The Go-Betweens‟ first three LPs and the musical climate in which they were made and first heard. The YHO way of working had been very much about roaring through the pop landscape, making unexpected connections, and zooming off in a new direction to explore whatever turns up. So, for a new challenge, I thought it would be fun to do something different, and write about something more specific like a short sequence of LPs by one artist. I have to confess I was a little uneasy about choosing this particular sequence of records. I had in the past been particularly critical of the way The Go-Betweens were written about. And I was a little worried I was choosing some music that was a little too close to home, for the YHO experience was very much about exploring in rather more unfamiliar areas. But there were some very important things I wanted to say about The Go-Betweens and this particular era, so I carried on with the plan. This issue of YHO has been the most popular, but I‟m not sure what that proves. There was a lovely little discussion thread on a Go-Betweens forum about this edition of YHO, and I am particuarly fond of one comment: “I have been slowly working my way through this. It's got a LOT of information and is entertaining but it's written as if the author is using methamphetamine. He can't seem to stick to an idea and develop it to save his soul without wandering off on yet another tangent. I keep expecting him to write „now, where was I before I started talking about x?‟ I am literally only halfway through. I think I'm going to explore some of his (her?) writings on British soul acts. That's been an interest of mine for many years and this blogger obviously favors the uncommon and unknown.” The wider context mentioned means there are also mentions in this issue of others such as:
Hurrah!
Blue Orchids
Felt
The Nightingales
Aztec Camera
This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out cognition ...
The thirty-first edition of YHO takes as a starting point the sequence of LPs Eddy Grant recorded in the late 1970s and the context in which they were recorded and first heard. The opening lines of this issue set the scene pretty clearly: “Are there any pop figures as full of contradictions as Eddy Grant? He is so famous that he‟s almost invisible. He is an enduring global superstar, but how much is really known about his work? His hits like Electric Avenue and I Don‟t Wanna Dance are known the whole world over, but what about all his other activities? Compilations of his Greatest Hits are easy enough to buy, but how often do you see his old LPs? “Eddy Grant is in a pretty unique position in that aspects of his work are revered by all sorts of musical communities. He is regarded as a pioneer by connoisseurs of skinhead reggae and soul, freakbeat, glam rock, rare groove, disco, soca, electro, house, and so on. But there is no one definitive discography or documentary, book or boxed set, which draws all these strands together. “There are very few artists who have been as passionate about independence and selfsufficiency, but you won‟t find many mentions of him in high-brow titles published by Faber. There have been few artists of Caribbean origin who have been as successful, but he gets barely a mention in Dick Hebdige‟s Cut „N‟ Mix. There have been few singers as outspoken about the Black British experience, but you won‟t find a chapter on him in Paul Gilroy‟s There Ain‟t No Black In The Union Jack. He is, like Jorge Ben, a master of musical miscegenation, but his artistic achievements are not analysed at length by academics.” The contents of this edition of YHO take in a variety of locations, from Stamford Hill to Notting Hill, via Jamaica, Trinidad, Nigeria, New York and Knebworth. Eddy‟s labels, Torpedo and Ice are featured, as are his productions from The Pioneers to Sonny Okosun, and his side projects from the 32nd Turnoff to the Coach House Rhythm Section. And then, of course, there‟s The Equals. This issue can be found here ...
... your heart out composition ...
The thirty-second edition of YHO has on its front cover a still from a TV performance of Janis Ian singing The Man You Are In Me. This issue takes as its starting point a sequence of LPs Janis made in the mid-„70s and their wider context and connections. Musically this mid-„70s sequence frequently has the melodic invention and warm intimacy of the finest easy listening/adult contemporary sounds, but the songs never seem too smooth or self-absorbed, overly polished or plush. There is a bit of an edge, an air of mischief, a suggestion of spikiness, a bit of bite. She never gets too mystical, too ethereal, too wispy. She is more earthy and argumentative than many of her contemporaries. That may be part of the appeal. In Janis‟ case, it‟s fascinating to look at her background, experiences, environment, influences, interests, attitude and approach. It‟s also revealing to look at her associates, the people she has worked with, by design or by accident, their connections, their significance. So this issue flits back and forth through Janis‟ career, and takes in a cast of characters including:
Shadow Morton
Brooks Arthur
Richard Davis
Charlie Calello
Laura Nyro
Bob Crewe
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
Herb Bernstein
Dusty Springfield
Ron Frangipane
This issue can be found here ...
Anywhere else but here today ...
“And I would rather be anywhere else but here today”. Pop music is a universal language. And history‟s for exploring. Let‟s celebrate what‟s out there. The world‟s your oyster and pop‟s your passport. Come on let‟s go ... The shot featured here is from a clip of Algerian high school girls dancing to the pioneering rai pop track Ya Salah by Noureddine Staifi. It‟s one of the most joyous pieces of footage you could ever hope to find, and for me it sums up what is so great about the YHO spin-off project Anywhere Else But Here Today ... The methodology remains very simple, really. It consists purely of me bumbling and fumbling around on YouTube looking for fantastic examples of vintage pop music from around the world. It is all made possible by enthusiasts diligently uploading glorious clips of pop made in their homeland at some point in time. There are all sorts of questions that could be asked about how on earth some of these pieces of film have survived or were ever made, but the whole point of the project is to let the clips speak for themselves. The vagaries or precariousness of YouTube means\ that clips can disappear, leaving gaping holes in the project, but even a cursory glance at what survives reveals so much evidence to challenge prevailing notions that pop music made by the UK/US axis is somehow superior. What it is somehow easy to forget is that all the clips posted as part of this project are from films, TV performances or specifically made promotional footage. The cover of this thirty-third edition of YHO, for example, features a still from a fantastic piece of film featuring the Argentinean singers Leonardo Favio and Carola. Some of the explorations in this global pop adventure led to enthusiastic attempts at putting together mixtapes of music from certain countries, like Portugal, Greece, Japan, Iran, and South Korea. Each of these mixtapes featured wonderful covers, designed by Per-Christian Hille and I am enormously in his debt. There is a gallery of these covers overleaf. The mixtapes themselves can be found on the homepage of the YHO site here. The Anywhere Else But Here Today ... site can be found here.
... your heart out