Archive for the ‘Aztec Camera’ Category

Random 80s Night and AWESOME NEW TURNTABLE

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Let’s take a flashback to the far away time of four days ago, when I posited this question to my readers:

“Anyone care to recommend a good direct-drive turntable? I’m finding more and more problems with my Audio Techinca. Any advice would be appreciated.”

The sole comment in reply said:

“Search far and wide for used Technics turntables. There’s really no substitute.”

I already knew that, of course, but it’s nice to get independent verification.

What’s even better to get, however, is a used Technics SL-1210 MK2 for $200.

 

Woot!

I saw the post on Craigslist and agreed to buy it on sight. I didn’t even need to see if it worked. Thankfully, it does work. It works wonderfully in fact.

My old turntable was an Audio-Technica ATLP-120. It was decent enough, but had some substantial problems. The most noteworthy being that its anti-skate was literally worthless, leaving the turntable prone to skips. This doesn’t have that problem. It has no problems. It’s an amazing, epic piece of hardware that I highly doubt I will ever replace.

I also bought this on Amazon the same day:

That is a an ART V2 USB Phono Plus DJ Preamp. It’s an all in one USB soundcard and phono preamp. It delivers amazing sound, especially considering that you can currently get it at Amazon for about $80. If you plan on hooking up a turntable to a computer, this is THE way to go.

Between the two I have noticed a sharp increase in quality in my recordings. No more hum and no more radio interference. The stereo seperation is much finally even, and many of the minor distortion problems I was battling in the past have been nearly eliminated. It’s happy times in Lost Turntable land.

That being said, I already had a hefty backlog of recordings from on old turntable, and they sound perfectly serviceable. So it might be a few days or weeks before you all get to reap the rewards of my new equipment. I’ll let you know.

Also, when I do start posting stuff recorded with this new set-up, don’t expect perfection. Most of the record I record from are used 12″ singles, many are not gently used, and even the best-quality 12″ single from the 80s isn’t a very well-made record.

Until then, here’s some random 80s wackiness to start your week.

Dan Hartman
I Can Dream About You (Extended Mix)
This classic piece of light-rock 80s glory is from the Streets of Fire soundtrack. I’ve never seen Streets of Fire, which makes me a bad 80s fanboy.  I heard it has a fight that involves giant railroad hammers – I really have to Netflix that puppy.

This extended mix is not the version from the soundtrack and not the version from Dan Hartman’s album, it’s exclusive to the 12″ single. It belongs on your 7th grade mixtape.

Prince
La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive)
This is a song about a dog and a cat getting it on. No metaphor. It’s literally about a dog and a cat engaging in some cross-species freaky-deaky.

Prince is weird.

There are actually two versions of this song. The shorter three-minute version is on Prince’s Hits/B-sides collection. This crazy-long (over 10 minutes!) version is exclusive to the 12″ single and I’m fairly certain that it has never been released on any legal CD in America or Europe.

Aztec Camera
All I Need Is Everything (Remix)
I am not anything close to an authority on Aztec Camera (unlike my friend and hardcore Aztec Camera fan Anna Hegedus, for whom I share this track) but I’m going to venture to say that this is my favorite track by them that I’ve heard that doesn’t feature Mick Jones or a remix by Fatboy Slim. This is from a 12″ single.

Hohokam
King (Long Version)
The American Way
King (Short Version)
Bought this in a flea market for a buck. With it I know own everything Hohokam ever released, an easy feat considering that they only put out three singles and nothing else. They were on Gary Numan’s extremely short-lived Numa label. Not suprisingly, they are somewhat derivative of Numan’s work at the time. Still, they’re not bad, pity that these dudes never got the chance to release a proper album. It could have been interesting.

 

Posted in Aztec Camera, B-sides, Dan Hartman, Prince, remixes | 6 Comments »

It Sounds Better Than “Idaho Bishops” I Guess…

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

It’s raining.

It can stop anytime.

Stupid rain.

Aztec Camera
Backwards And Forwards (Live)
Jump
The Bugle Sounds Again (Live)
Mattress of Fire (Live)
The Birth Of The Tune (Live)
Do you like Aztec Camera? Do you like the fact that I semi-routinely post rare tracks by them? If so, swing on by to the amazing Anna Hegedus’ website. If it wasn’t for her I would have never heard of them, and I buy most of my Aztec Camera to make her happy.

And yes, that “Jump” you see there is a cover of the Van Halen tune of the same name. It sure is…something.

These were all taken from a 10″ single for “Backwards And Forwards.”

Jimmy Somerville
Heartbeat (Armand Van Helden Mix)
Jimmy Somerville was the lead singer of Bronski Beat, and he’s fabulous. The DJ compilation record in which I found this mix, however, was very much not fabulous. It was scratched to shit, skipped like crazy, and overall just sounded like a pile of ass.

Now, I have previously stated my aversion to audio “clean-up” programs that remove the clicks and pops found on vinyl records. They tend to make the recordings sound compressed and distorted, which is way worse than a couple clicks and pops.

I usually just go through myself and remove all the bad parts if possible, but this recording was a mess. While browsing the Internet for good audio editing software I came across ClickRepair and I thought I’d give it a shot. It seems to do a pretty good job, but I’ll be the first to admit that my ears aren’t always trained for this kind of thing. I used it on this track though, so download it and let me know how it sounds.

I would appreciate any input you all have. If you’re an audio geek and really want to see how the program works then download this zip. Included in it are two copies of a live version of Tom Robinson’s “Glad To Be Gay” (I know it’s an odd test file, but it was the most damaged track I could find that I thought was still salvageable). Listen to both to the “before” and “after” tracks, is there anything wrong with the after track? I don’t notice any significant audio degradation. I really want this program to work, it would make my life so much easier!

Utah Saints
Ohio (DJ Misjah Mix)
On Feburary 24th, 2009, I said the following:

“The Utah Saints were neither from Utah or saints, discuss.”

Commenter Rekanize responded with the following:

“New Orleans, once upon a time, used to have a basketball team known as The New Orleans Jazz… in 1979, they were moved to Utah, then known as the Utah Jazz.

Well, New Orleans’s football team is the Saints…

yeah?”

That was over two years ago and it still blows my fucking mind. Shit’s crazy.

This remix is from the same compilation that the Jimmy Somerville track is from, but the side it was on was in considerably better shape, and required no digital touching up.

And, no, this is not a cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Ohio.” One could only hope. I assume it’s called “Ohio” because it samples “Fire” by the Ohio Players. This track samples something else though right? What is it?

Update 5/25/11: File was removed because it was actually the album version, and not a remix.

 

 

Posted in Aztec Camera, B-sides, covers, live, remixes, Utah Saints | 4 Comments »

Rush For A Change of Atmosphere

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Hey, I’m back.

So, I totally planned on updating this blog a whole bunch last week. Even picked out the songs and everything. But then I went to Disneyworld and, well, it’s really hard to write witty (or even witless) commentary on 80s/90s pop music after walking across the Magic Kingdom for eight hours or traversing the semi-educational wackiness of Epcot for a day and half.

Anyways, it was a crazy week full of ridiculous family bickering, magical princess, Space Mountain and Captain EO, but I’m glad to be back in Pittsburgh, hunched over my computer in my dark office and listening to obscure 90s music.

Speaking of which…

Aztec Camera (with Mick Jones)
Good Morning Britain (recorded live at Glasgow Barrowlands)
Good Morning Britain (Mendelsohn single mix)
Good Morning Britain (Morning Acid Mix)
Good Morning Britain (Hypno-Mix)
Good Morning Britain (Hypnomental)
Good Morning Britain (Hypno-Edit)
Consolation Prize (performed live by Roddy Frame and Edwyn Collins)
I posted  two remixes of “Good Morning Britain almost a year ago to this very day. Eerie. At the time I called the track “moderately awesome.” Well,I think I’m going to upgrade that rating to “all-the-way awesome.” Since I picked up the CD version of the single that included three additional version of this excellent track, I have completely fallen in love with it. I’m not going to lie though, I love this track solely because Mick Jones sings on it. That dude could sing me the phone book and I’d go gaga.

Anyways, a few notes about these remixes. The “Mendelsohn Single Mix” was remixed by Julian Mendelsohn who, according to Wikipedia, is best known for working with the Pet Shop Boys. The various “hypo” mixes were by a group called Laylow Posse, and I know nothing about them aside from what their Discogs entry mentions. The “Hypno-mix” and “Hypno-edit” were on the 12″ single, but oddly on that release they were called the “Kitsch ‘n’ Synch Mix” and the “Vocal Mix.”

The “Morning Acid Mix” was done by one Norman Cook, AKA the bass player from The Housemartins AKA Fatboy Slim, and it totally sounds like it. When Cook is at his best he can take a catchy as hell track and make it even catchier (see his remix of “Brimful of Asha“) and this is no exception. How this remix never ended up on a Fatboy Slim compilation is beyond me.

Mick Jones is nowhere to be found on “Consolation Prize” and for those who are wondering, Edwyn Collins was the lead singer/guitar player for Orange Juice, a post-punk group that shared members with Aztec Camera. It’s still a good track, well as good as a Mick Jones-less track can be.

Big Audio (Dynamite)
Mirror Man
Medicine Show (Live)
Rush (Live)
Yay! More Mick Jones! Not-so-little-known-fact: Mick Jones is the motherfucking man.

Big Audio Dynamite, in their original form even, recently reunited and are even playing a few shows in the states. And guess what? I’m totally going to one! Shockingly though, it’s not Lollapalooza. I’ve been to every Lollapalooza since it became a destination festival, so the fact that I’m going to miss this years is kind of upsetting. It’s a long story, and it involves bloodshed, so I’m not going to get into it.

All is not lost though! Instead I will be going to the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco! It doesn’t seem to be as good a festival as Lollapalooza (no Foo, added Phish) but hell, it has BAD, throw as many jam bands you want at me, I don’t care. I’m there.

In preparation for this epic occasion, expect many BAD, BADII and Big Audio tracks to be posted here in the coming months. Kicking things off are these three rarities taken from the 2 CD single for “Looking For A Song.” A weird collection for sure, the first CD is actually a greatest hits of radio mixes, while the second is a maxi-single featuring these three tracks and some additional remixes I’ll be posting later.

“Mirror Man” was co-written/performed by Lionel Bart, who wrote Oliver! If someone wants to explain to me how the hell that happened I’d appreciate it. The two live cuts, which were exclusive to this CD single, were taken from the Mick Ronson tribute show in 1994

Posted in Aztec Camera, Big Audio Dynamite, live, Mick Jones, remixes | 4 Comments »

The Best MP3 Blog from 1987

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Tonight’s post is epically stupid in all the best ways.

Don Henley
All She Wants To Do Is Dance (Extended Dance Remix)
All She Wants To Do Is Dance (Dubb Remix)
So The Eagles suck, but I have a theory about that. Although I think The Eagles are one of the single worst bands ever to exist in the history of reality, they have some amazingly talented members. The most notable of these is of course Joe Walsh, who crafted three of the greatest rock songs of the the 1970s (“In The City,” “Rocky Mountain Way” and the immortal “Life’s Been Good”). But let’s not forget Glenn Fry, who gave us three amazing pop tracks in the 80s (“The Heat Is On,” “You Belong In The City” and “Smuggler’s Blues”). And then there’s Don Henley, who served up some of the best cheese of the 80s with hits like the above track and “Dirty Laundry.”

So how do three superb song writers somehow manage to become the creative core of a group who was responsible for some of the most offensively bland drivel of the 1970s? Well, either Don Felder and Randy Meisner are aggressively awful songwriters who dominated The Eagles recording sessions, or there was just so much AWESOME in that band that it all canceled out. I just want to know who I have to blame for the existence of “Witchy Woman.” I hate that song more than anything ever in the history of anything. However, I do love me some “All She Wants To Do Is Dance” even though it’s a song so stupid that it should be forced to wear a helmet when it goes outside. These remixes of said stupid song are from a 12” single that I bought from an idiot at a record show in Green Tree, PA.

James Brown
Living In America (R&B Dance Version)
Living In America (Instrumental)
I FEEL GOOD! I also bought these from the same idiot in Green Tree. Why is this guy an idiot you ask? Okay, imagine you’re a record dealer at a semi-popular record show. You want to make money, you want to sell your product. Do you bother to stop by the bank beforehand to pick up some extra singles so you can dish out change? If you answered “yes, why that just makes sense, what do you take me for, a fucking idiot?” well then you’re smarter than this butthead. When he had to give me these records at a dollar off he was mad at ME, like it was my fault that HE was a flippin’ maroon. Also, the extra buck I saved meant that I was only overpaying nine bucks for these records instead of 10. This dipshit wanted 45 bucks for a Duran Duran 12” that was opened and in shit condition. Goober.

Anyways, this song is AWESOME. (There’s a lot of capitalized awesome in tonight’s post.) And is of course from Rocky IV, the greatest example of Cold War bullshit ever produced. I remember seeing that movie in theaters when I was six or seven. I immediately wanted to become a boxer for Ronald Reagan. I also kind of wanted to be Drago, because as a freakishly tall kid with a speech disorder I identified with him.

Hey, speaking of AWESOME, Stallone and Dolph Lundgren, have you all seen the trailer for The Expendables? You should watch it, but be careful, that trailer is so amazing that it might break your computer. I’m so stoked for that shit I’m almost aroused. Yeah, that was gross, but I don’t care. You know why? CUZ I FEEL GOOD!

Okay, maybe it’s time I go to bed.

Aztec Camera With Mick Jones
Good Morning Britain (Kitsch ‘n’ Sync Mix)
Good Morning Britain (Vocal Mix)
But I’m not gonna! These too are from a 12” single that I bought in Green Tree, but I didn’t pick them up from an idiot. I bought it from an exceptionally nice dude who had a shitload of Stone Roses 12” singles that nearly cleared out my wallet. This song is moderately awesome. Recommend it to all your friends.

Posted in Aztec Camera, Don Henley, James Brown, Mick Jones | 4 Comments »