Archive for the ‘Shelia E’ Category

One Part Funk and Three Parts Groovy

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018

My computer, which had served me well for many years and across two continents, kicked the bucket a few weeks back. And it was rather sudden, so I had to move fast in choosing a replacement. I think I got a good one though, a beast of a machine from a local gaming PC shop called G-Tune. It plays games super great, audio editing is faster than ever, and it’s by far the quietest PC I’ve ever had. I love it.

But it really can’t play music all that well.

Although I suppose that’s really not the computer’s fault. In this situation, iTunes is entirely to blame. On my old PC, I never updated iTunes, I think I was rocking a three or four-year-old version of the program. And it was a slog and slow as hell and had all kinds of problems, but it played music well, and that was kind of the point.

On my new machine, with the newest version of iTunes, music sounds like shit. If I have just a handful of applications running, it starts to pop and crackle, almost non-stop. And I’ve tried mucking about with various settings, both in Windows and in iTunes, all to no avail.

So I thought I would try some alternative programs. The first one that I gave a try was MusicBee. I had heard good things, and it was supposed to be easy to use. And it was at first, but how that programs handles rips (or any new files in my library for that matter) is just atrocious. Simply put, they don’t seem to show up, at least, not in a matter that I would deem punctual. I add an album and have to wait several minutes for all the songs to propagate in my library. And when I would play new songs the song order would get all wonky for no damn reason. Every problem I had with the program just seemed nonsensical and beyond hope. Fuck it.

Now I’m trying MediaMonkey. Allegedly, this program is made special to handle super-large media libraries. In my experience so far, that hasn’t been the case. Constant hangups and lag whenever I try to sort anything. And searching my library often creates delays as well. The interface is just a clusterfuck. So hard to make your way around anything.

Can anyone out there recommend a media manager/music player that just fucking works? One that makes adding new media easy. One that can rip CDs. One that allows me to make playlists and gives me plenty of sorting options. I don’t even care if I have to pay for it. I have no problems paying for a program that works!

Suggestions would be welcome, thanks.

Sheila E.
Glamorous Life Medley
This is from a German 12″ single and includes truncated versions of “The Glamorous Life,” ‘Sister Fate” and “A Love Bizarre.” Medleys are sometimes good, it’s like getting a concentrated version of your favorite artist. And any excuse for me to post more Sheila E. is a good thing.

Pizzicato Five
The Audrey Hepburn Complex (Extended Stanley Donen Mix)
The 59th Street Bridge Song – Feelin’ Groovy (Club Mix – Night Owl)
Let’s Go Away For Awhile (Club Mix – Cafe Bizarre)
I haven’t talked about Pizzicato Five much, I think I’ve only written about them once on this blog. Truth be told, I don’t know all that much about them. They were kinda-sorta a little popular in the States for a brief period in the 90s, but they’ve actually been around much longer than that. They’re almost contemporaneous with YMO, with their first releases coming out in the mid-80s.

This is actually their very first single, and it really sounds ahead of its time, in an entirely retro kind of way. I mean, it’s ahead of its time in what it’s references, that mainly being music from the 60s and 70s. They were definitely throwing back to that retro sound before it was cool. Their jazzy club sound is certainly more reminiscent of acts from the 90s, with Saint Etienne being the most obvious comparison.

This shit is groovy, that’s what it is. Makes sense, as the Shibuya-Kei scene from which they came was heavily influenced by 60s and 70s pop music (I mean, one of these tracks is a Simon & Garfunkel cover after all). PIzzicato Five own some Leslie Gore albums I know it.

Posted in B-sides, Pizzicato Five, remixes, Shelia E | 6 Comments »

Funky Drummer and Bad Madonna

Monday, September 18th, 2017

Okay, I lied. I’m going to keep trying to get my old Twitter account back, I have a few more tricks up my sleeves. I know what you’re thinking, “James, you swore off Twitter a few months ago, why do you care that your account is gone?”

Well, for a few reasons. One, while I did severely cut back on my tweet activity as of late, it’s still a good way for me to keep in contact with a few people I like to know about. It’s also an excellent resource to find out about record sales. Additionally, let’s just be honest, having an account with close to a thousand followers is a decent method of self-promotion. I’ve never been shy to the fact that I desperately want people to read my shit.

Also, for me to get banned for “targeted abuse” while David motherfucking Duke still has account where he tweets out antisemitic bullshit literally every day is a fucking hypocrisy that I’m against on basic principle.

Anyways, I’m still trying out some options on my end, and may require your assistance at some point. In the meantime, if anyone has any ideas that might help, please share!

Now, for a change, pop music.

Sheila E.
KooKoo (Remix)
Paradise Gardens (Extended Version)
Sheila E. has a new album out! I haven’t bought it yet as I found out about it only 20 minutes ago, but from what I gleamed on YouTube, it’s funky as a motherfunker and sounds pretty rad. Check it out if you can.

Also check out these dope vintage Sheila E. remixes I scored…shit, where/when did I buy this? Did this just show up at my apartment someday? Is that what it’s come to? Are wayward 12″ singles just somehow becoming self-aware and making their way to my place because they know they’ll have a safe home here?

Seriously, I have no idea where I got this.

Madonna
American Pie (Victor Calderone Filter Dub Mix)
American Pie (Victor Calderone Vocal Dub Mix)
American Pie (Richard Humpty Vission Visit Madonna)
American Pie (Richard Humpty Vission Radio Mix)
American Pie (Victor Calderone Vocal Club Mix)
American Pie (Victor Calderone Extended Vocal Club Mix)
If there was ever a sign that a completionist attitude is a mistake that can only lead to suffering, it’s the fact that I own not one, but three different 12″ singles of Madonna’s “American Pie,” solely because I want to own as much Madonna as inhumanly possible.

I hate the original version of this song. I’m sorry, I just do. And Madonna’s version is just infinitely worse. You know what doesn’t need to be remade into an upbeat dance track? The song about that time those famous rock and roll stars died tragically at very young ages.

I’m sharing these in the same sense of completionism that I bought them. I’m sure there’s someone out there who wants them just for the sake of wanting them. I’m here for you dude.

In case you’re wondering if any of these remixes are actually good, well it’s hard to say since the original is so bad. But the “Richard Humpty Vission Radio Mix” and the “Victor Calderone Vocal” mixes are decent as they actually resemble the original track to some degree. The others are just bland house tracks with the occasional Madonna vocal sample.

Posted in Madonna, remixes, Shelia E | 4 Comments »

Dance remixes to rip your jaw off to

Sunday, April 9th, 2017

I updated the Tokyo record store guide over at Mostly-Retro to add information on the excellent General Record Store and the new HMV in Kichijoji. I’ll try to update it again next week for another new store I found that was exceptionally odd. I’m also working on an abridged “best of” guide to record stores in Tokyo that might be a bit more practical than the 22,000 word opus I have up there right now. Other projects in the works include the next part of the YMO guide. That’s about halfway done, but it’s still going to take some time because it covers the proteges and associate acts, and there are a ton of those. Hopefully I’ll have another edition of the Game Music Revue up in the meantime. I really want to put something up about a stupid album I recently bought.

Here are random remixes of dance tunes.

Grace Jones
Amado Mio (The 28th Street Crew Club Mix)
Amado Mio (The 28th Street Crew Dub Mix)
This is a cover of a song from the film Gilda, which I hear is great but I have not yet seen. I know it’s a film noir classic of sorts, I just haven’t gotten around to it.

Right now the boyfriend and I have been devouring British horror and sci-fi. We’ve made our way through nearly every single Hammer flick and are now exploring the wonderful world of Amicus and other lesser-known studios. It’s been a fun ride. You know who’s dope as fuck? Peter Fucking Cushing. I’d watch that dude read a phone book. I’m sure he’d do it with the same foppish outrage he brought to every role in his career. For those looking to dive into the wonderful world of the Peter Cushing filmography, I highly recommend Corruption, The Skull, Captain Klegg (AKA Night Creatures) and the Dracula sequel Brides of Dracula, which features far more of Cushing being dope as fuck than the original Dracula does. But really, you can’t go wrong with any of his work at Hammer. From Dracula to Frankenstein to the lesser-known stuff in between. It’s all great.

Basically what I’m saying is that I don’t have much to say about this song, despite liking it quite a bit.

Shelia E.
Sex Cymbal (12″ Mix)
Sex Cymbal (Jungle Groove)
Sex Cymbal (4 On The Floor)
Bass Base (Instrumental)
I can’t decide if this is the worst pun or the best pun. I’m edging toward worst.

I mean, yikes.

Sure, it’s kind of clever. Shelia E. is sexy, she plays drums, ergo…”sex cymbal.” But it’s just so fucking stupid. And when I hear “sex cymbal” I don’t think, “hey there sexy drummer,” I think “hey there sexy drum kit.” Because let’s be real here, there ain’t no such thing as a sexy drummer. Don’t get me wrong, I have mad respect for anyone who can play drums at even a halfway decent level, but it’s not an inherently sexy act. If someone looks sexy while playing the drums, it’s in spite of that, not because of it. Shelia E. aside, can anyone out there name a sexy drummer of either sex? I sure as hell can’t.

The song “Sex Cymbal” is good enough I suppose, but the instrumental b-side “Bass Base” is the real highlight. Some crazy electro-funk.

Posted in Grace Jones, Shelia E | 2 Comments »

If you’re having hosting problems I feel bad for you son…because I can identify completely.

Monday, November 26th, 2012

Okay, I got my hosting problem resolved, and in case you’re wondering exactly what the hell happened, I’ll explain.

For several years I’ve been using Dreamhost as a hosting service for Lost Turntable. In fact, even before I moved my blog away from Blogspot I was using the Lost Turntable URL and server space provided by Dreamhost to host my MP3s. I chose Dreamhost, quite frankly, because they were cheap.

Well, you get what you pay for sometimes. While Dreamhost is dirt cheap, they’re about as reliable as the Raiders starting QB (oooh a sports reference!). Ever since I signed up with them, not a month would go by without at least some sort of temporary outage or disruption in service. If you follow me on Twitter (and if you don’t you really should – see that button up in the top right corner, why don’t you click on that?) then you’ll know that whenever this happened it drove me nuts.

A few weeks ago someone at Dreamhost must have spilled a cup of coffee on the wrong power cord or something, because my site went down for over 48 hours. That was the last straw for me. Sure, I don’t make money with the Lost Turntable (in fact it costs me money), but I like to keep a reliable site up for my readers, and I do use it as a reference for potential employers sometime, employers who don’t mind liberal use of swear words and casual piracy.

With the help of a friend, I migrated my site to Nearly Free Speech (NFS) another hosting service. I chose NFS for two reasons. One, they have a very hands-off approach to the sites they host, so I would never have to worry about them shutting me down, and two, because of their unique pricing system.

Hosting services like Dreamhost sell their services as a flat rate. That’s great it you need a lot of bandwidth and a ton of storage, but if you just need a little bandwidth and not that much storage, it’s kind of a waste. I thought that my site didn’t take up that much bandwidth or storage, so switching to a service that used a pay-what-you-use model made sense to me.

Okay, that was my mistake.

Turns out that you fuckers download a lot of music from me. How much?

About 7 to 10 GB a day.

That’s a lot of bandwidth. Furthermore, because of my generous nature (I know, I know, I’m great) I typically have about 6 GB of files hosted on my site at any time. With that much bandwidth and storage, I was looking at a monthly bill of about $130 from NFS, that’s more than what I paid Dreamhost for a year of hosting.

Now, I like you guys, but not that much. I needed to change severs and fast. But one problem, ICANN (the governing body of the Internet, yeah there is one! Crazy huh?) says that a site cannot change hosts twice within a certain timeframe, something like 60 or 90s days. Meaning that my site is stuck at NFS for the the time being.

I found a workaround though! Using a third hosting service (which will remain nameless at the moment), I registered LTfiles.com, and then I moved ALL the MP3s I’m currently hosting to that server, which i’s the server I’ll be using for the foreseeable future. So from now on, when you download an MP3 from The Lost Turntable, you’ll technically be downloading it from LTfiles. It’s not an actual site though, so don’t bookmark it or go there. It’s just a placeholder.

It’s kind of a roundabout solution, but it was the best I could come up with. And, actually, thanks to the deal I got at that hosting service, I’m still going to end up saving money on the whole thing. All my hosting combined should only be about $100 for the upcoming year. So while I appreciate the offers for donations, they won’t be necessary  Besides, I’m kind of morally opposed to anyone asking for donations if they run a site like this. I don’t own these songs. No one is making me post them. If I can’t afford to do it or find someway to make it work on my own, then I feel that I really shouldn’t be doing it. But whatever, I’d rather not drag other site’s names through the mud just because I don’t agree with how they operate.

And besides, if you really do want to help me out, may I remind you that I am currently selling some of my records to get some cash for my trip to Asia. Why don’t you check out what I have for sale and make an offer?

See what I did there? I’m clever.

Anyways, enough of this boring nonsense, how about some music? Kind of a lean most musically tonight, but don’t worry, I got some cool stuff planned later this week.

Soundgarden
Come Together
I’ve heard this cover on the radio  since the mid-90s, and it goes back even farther than that. I grabbed it from the 12″ single to “Hands All Over,” which was released in 1989, I don’t know where it first showed up. One thing I do know, however, is that it has never been issued on a proper Soundgarden album, which is fucking crazy considering how great it sounds and how well known it is.

Shelia E
A Love Bizarre (Parts I and II)
Save The People
Let’s take these songs one at a time.

As far as I can tell, there are three versions of “A Love Bizarre.” The album version, which is over 12 minutes long, a brief single edit that runs a slight three minutes and forty-six seconds, and this version, which is smack dab in the middle at seven minutes and sixteen seconds in length. I would assume that this means the full 12-minute version is the three-part version, and that final part is the part that has been removed from this slightly abridged one, I don’t own that uncut version though, so I’m not sure. Regardless the song kicks ass, and is one of Shelia E and Prince’s best (the track is pretty much a duet between the two).

As great as that song is though, “Save The People” really blows it out of the water. Lyrically, the track is very simple, with the only words being the occasional repeated chorus of  “save the people/feed their hungry eyes/save the children/don’t let them die” (surely a Live-Aid inspired message). But the lyrics are nearly inconsequential to the rest of the tune, which is an eight and a half minute funkified epic of face-melting guitar riffs, amazing drum solos and a blistering bassline that would make Les Claypool do a double take. It’s brilliant funk, something right out of a Funkadelic album. Amazing, awesome, spectacular stuff. The kind of track that makes me happy that I collect vinyl, and even more happy that I have a site like this where I can share it with you all, enjoy!

 

 

 

Posted in B-sides, Shelia E, Soundgarden | 2 Comments »

That Post With Music I Was Talking About

Friday, August 17th, 2012

I felt kind of silly trying to tack on music to that last post. So here you go.

Shelia E.
Holly Rock (Extended Version)
Holly Rock (7″ Single Edit)
This is one of Shelia E’s lesser known tunes, but one of her best. It’s a fan favorite according to an uncited claim on Wikipedia! Assuming that’s true I can totally see why, it’s an amazing jam of funk and drums, featuring some pretty good rap-style vocals by the legendary Shelia. The seven-minute extended version is nuts crazy insane awesome, with more breakdowns than a tumblr blog dedicated to self-diagnosed mental illness. I’m fairly certain that this version was exclusive to the 12″ single. The 7″ version was on the Krush Groove soundtrack, but that’s been out of print forever (which is a damn shame, by the way).

Debbie Harry
I Want That Man (12″ Remix)
I Want That Man (Instrumental)
Question: Are any of Debbie Harry’s solo albums any good at all? I own Koo Koo and…ugh that thing is a mess. This song is decent enough, with the 12″ remix adding some much needed energy to the tune, but I can’t imagine an album of similar tunes holding any water at all.

Sinead O’Connor
Mandinka (Jake’s Remix)
According to Discogs, this remix is by Paul “Groucho” Smykle, and not by someone named Jake. I feel abused and lied to.

On the plus side, Paul “Groucho” Smykle did the 12″ remixes for Big Audio Dynamites “Medicine Show” and “E=MC2” so I think I can find it in my heart to forgive him. Furthermore, this is a pretty great mix, and very reminiscent of early BAD, with its semi-random vocal samples and obvious dub influences.  Great stuff all around and worth the download.

Posted in Debbie Harry, remixes, Shelia E, Sinead O'Connor | 8 Comments »

I’m Koo Koo for Drum Solos

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

Still no reply from anyone on my plea for a German speaker to help me out. Look people, I have this really cool thing I want to write about, but it’s in German. So the sooner I get in contact with someone who can sprechen sie deutsch, the sooner I can make that happen.

Third World
Now That We’ve Found Love (Paul Hardcastle Mix)
Sometimes the artist is the thing I care the least about when buying a strange-looking 12″ single. Take this one for example. The thing about this single that caught my eye more than the song or the artist was the fact that it was remixed by Paul Hardcastle of “19” fame. I’ve always been a big fan of his remix work. Then the second thing that caught my eye was the song. “Now That We’ve Found Love” was originally an O’Jays number, but if you’re like me, you know it as a Heavy D tune. Always liked his version, so seeing that made me curious. Between that and the Hardcastle connection, I grabbed the single right away. Only when I started listening to it did I begin to wonder who the hell Third World are. They’re apparently a reggae band, making them the fourth reggae act (after Bob Marley/Wailers, Jimmy Cliff and Inner Circle) who I can name off hand, so for me to talk anything about them or reggae as a whole would be pretty disingenuous on my part. I like this song though.

The English Beat
Can’t Get Used To Losing You (1983 Remix)
How is this 1983 remix different than the original? Excellent question. I don’t have that one. So if anyone wants to fill me in that would be stellar.

Shelia E
Koo Koo (Remix)
Can we talk for a second about how fucking awesome Shelia E is? She can sing, dance, produce and write music, and of course, drum like a goddamn beast from hell. She’s like Neil Peart, if Neil Peart made good music (oooooooh!).

This is what the world needs; more pop singers who can actually play a damn instrument. I mean, let’s be honest; Beyonce totally has the singing market cornered now. I don’t think there will be a mainstream pop star who will be able to come close to her in terms of pure vocal talent for at least another decade or two. So why not mix it up? I want to see a pop diva who can sing like Madonna and shred like Slash. A star who can wail like Christina and tickle the keys like Rick Wakeman. A vocalist who can break glass with her voice and her crazy bass skills. This needs to happen. Someone get on it already.

Oh yeah, “Koo Koo.” This is a good song. Did I mention I think Shelia E is dope?  Drum solo with glow in the dark drum sticks people!

Endgames
Waiting For Another Chance
Universe
I gaurantee you that The Lost Turntable is the only MP3 blog in history to have written about Endgames three times. The first was when I did a write-up of the obscure   1981 live compilation Live At The ‘101.’ Discovering them on that record led me to purchase the single for their tune “Love Cares,” and now two more tunes, which are from a single I scored at Jerry’s last week.

These tunes are even poppier than “Love Cares,” which was a slight bummer because I was hoping for something more dissonant and dark like the stuff they had on 101. But as upbeat second-tier 80s synthpop goes, you could do a lot worse than this. I’m going to have to cave and actually buy one of their albums someday.

Posted in Endgames, remixes, Shelia E, The English Beat, Third World | 10 Comments »