A friend of my girlfriend's parents who lives in Marseille is a musician and put all of his music collection from the 60s and 70s into cassette compilations. Last year he decided to get rid of the cassettes and so I inherited them. Lots of them are cassettes full of Led Zeppelin and french pop from the 60s like Francoise Hardy and Michel Polnareff but there are a few compilations of rare disco and other 80s rarities that are quites something.I am not sure in what kind of world you would consider it a good idea to do a 10 minute disco cover of almost every Beatles song, but that is what Cafe Creme felt like doing. When you combine that with the Rockollections by Laurent Voulzy who mixes a modestly ok french sentimental ballade from the early 70s with occasional dips into famous english pop rock hits like the Beach Boys (check the vid), and the Otis Redding disco cover by Mondo Wells, this is undoubtedly the CHEEEESIEST painful post I have yet put on this blog. But fortunately the Cerrone track "Love is the Answer" and the Elton track, and in particular the Mondo Wells on Side B, redeem it somewhat. I never realized that Elton did so many great tracks in the early 70s and did a Greatest Hits album already IN 1974!
Side A
1 - Tata Vega - Full Speed Ahead
2 – Elton John - Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
3 – Abba - Money, Money, Money
4 - Laurent Voulzy - Rockollection Part I
5 - Laurent Voulzy - Rockollection Part II
6 - Café Crème - Citations Ininterrompues
8 - Cerrone - Love is the Answer
9 - Mondo Wells - Otis Disco Citation (Medley)
Side B is a bit better because it features the very first single from Mondo Wells from '77. Rare-ness - featuring the best track on this cassette, White Smile, with a bit of an african/reggae disco. And Revelacion's 16 minute disco cover of House of the Rising Sun, which is a very famous old folk song which actually was first recorded in 1993, is also quite special because it was written and produced by Cerrone (see his track on Side A) and Don Ray, two of the best disco French disco artists who did a number of hits, including Supernature and the amazing album Garden of Love. Revelacion is not the most amazing work they did, but a lot rarer and still quite fun.
Side B
1 – Mondo Wells – White Smile
(here is the cover of the Mondo Wells 7 inch)
2 – Helen Davis – Satisfaction
3 – Helen Davis – Yesterday A King
(here is the cover of the Revelacion album below)
4 – Revelacion – The House of the Rising Sun + Revelacion Suite
5 – Revelacion – Crocos Dance Part 1 and part 2
6 – Revelacion – Time for Love
7 – Santa Esmeralda – Hey! Gyp!
New Music
3 amazing musical groups have albums coming out - Buraka Som Sistema (sort of kuduro-ish which I have been banging on about for a while, as here), The Long Blondes and Mystery Jets. The Long Blondes and Mystery Jets albums have been produced by my version of musical God, Mr. Erol Alkan (read about Mystery Jets album in Drowned in Sound here). Erol is one of the few musicans who I really really admire because he seems to have a talent which I cannot even imagine. This is the essence of a hero, someone who can do something which you cannot even imagine doing even if you put in a LOT of hard work. Also, Mystery Jets have some really nice guys who have become friends and I have been a fan of The Long Blondes for their amazing tracks in the past. For this reason I am very excited about these albums. You can listen to tracks on their myspace or have a listen to my favorite track from each artist here:
Buraka Som Sistema - Wawaba
The Long Blondes - Guilt
The Mystery Jets - Veiled in Grey (on their myspace)
They all have gigs coming up, but Buraka Som Sistems is playing this evening (19 March) at Hoxton Bar and Grill in London, DJ/MC set at Yo Yo at Notting Hill Arts Club on 20 March and at Fabric live performing Friday 21 March. They will make you dance.
And Mystery Jets are playing at Durrr on Monday 24 March.
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