Tonight, I start with some controversial, classy “arty” music and end with…well..the opposite of that.
Brian Eno & David Byrne
Qu’ran
Okay, I’m going to tread lightly here.
In 1981 Brian Eno and David Bryne released My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. It was their first album together, and was one of the very first albums to incorporate sampling, albeit in a very unusual way. The samples on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts aren’t taken from records of popular music like most samples today. Instead, the samples are from obscure sources, such as the ramblings of a radio host or from found audio of an exorcism. The samples are then layered over creative beats and other musical creations by the two greats of art-rock.
Today it sounds a bit dated, kind of like early Art Of Noise, but it’s a great record and still worth picking up, even it doesn’t sound as revolutionary now as it did when it first came out.
But if you buy it today, the version you pick up will not have this track. This song, which features Algerian chants of the Qu’ran, angered some Islamic group in England, so Byrne and Eno pulled the song from all subsequent versions of the record.
I’m not going to rant about whether or not I think such a move is stupid. Readers of this blog can probably figure out my stance on such an issue, and I’m too tired to discuss it without probably sounding like a xenophobic idiot. I’m just going to say that I think “Qu”ran” is a beautiful track and worth listening to, even if others beg to differ.
I hope you enjoy it.
Tom Tom Club
On, On, On, On… (Remixed Version)
David Byrne was, of course, the lead singer of Talking Heads. The Tom Tom Club features both Tina Weymouth and her husband Chris Frantz, who were also in Talking Heads. So that means the only person from Talking Heads not featured in tonight’s post is Jerry Harrison. Sorry, I don’t have any rare Modern Lovers tracks.
Tom Tom Club is a classic example of a band that I have mixed feelings about. Yes, they gave us both “Genius of Love” and “Wordy Rappinghood,” but they also brought upon humanity “The Man With The Four Way Hips”, a song I find so goddamn annoying that I’d rather rip out my own teeth and shove them in my ears than hear it again. This track falls somewhere in the middle. It’s not a classic, that’s for sure, but it doesn’t make me want to inflict dental harm on myself, so it’s not that bad. This version is a B-side to the 12″ single of “Under The Boardwalk.”
Toni Basil
Mickey (Special Club Mix)
Okay, so here’s how this happened.
I was going to post some Pet Shop Boys remixes, then I found out that they weren’t rare at all.
The next track on my list was a Peter Gabriel B-side I recorded a while a go, but I found out my recording has a skip in it that I have to fix.
The back-up to my back-up was the 12″ remix of Freur’s “Doot-Doot”, but it turns out that even that song has been re-released on CD and iTunes.
Which brings us here, a 12″ remix of Toni Basil’s “Mickey,” a song that is now stuck in your head, even if you have chosen not to download it (sorry about that.) This club mix is an extended mix in the classic sense, and not a drastic remix. In fact, it’s pretty much the exact same song with about two dozen refrains of “Hey Mickey!” thrown in to pad it out. So hey, if you’ve ever listened to this song and thought, “Geez, I wish this song was two minutes longer!” then you’re in fucking luck tonight! Rock out with your pom-pons out!