Music Labyrinth Episode 087
The Pressure / Sounds Of Blackness (1991)
Hello Listener, and welcome to episode 87 of The Music Labyrinth. Now 87 is the atomic number of the rare radioactive element Francium, and I can speak to you with all the authority of the finest online free encyclopaedias when I tell you that Francium can be synthetically produced by a fusion reaction between gold and oxygen - which is pretty much exactly what we try to do here at The Music Labyrinth when we try to bring life-giving oxygen (and some sunshine) to some solid gold tunes. If you are joining us for the first time - well, thanks for doing so - and stand by to be impressed by the link between our opening track tonight and the one that follows it - and so on for the 22 solid gold tunes which comprise episode 87 of The Music Labyrinth. We opened this episode where we left off our last, and that was with The Pressure, by Sounds of Blackness. Around the same time that song was released, John Mellencamp was recording his 12th album, Human Wheels. From that album, and featuring Sounds Of Blackness, this is When Jesus Left Birmingham.
When Jesus Left Birmingham / John Mellencamp (feat. Sounds Of Blackness) (1993)
John Mellencamp’s album Human Wheels was co-produced by Malcolm Burn, who also played organ, guitar, harmonica and synthesiser on the album. Malcolm Burn very active in the music caper as our next few tracks will attest. Before we move on, please just hold this thought in your head: in 2006, Malcolm Burn won an Emmy Award for his work on the Emmylou Harris album Red Dirt Girl. We will come back to that, but before his work with Emmylou Harris, Malcolm Burn teamed up one of the biggest acts in Australian music and became one of the few external musicians credited with co-writing a Midnight Oil song: this one, on which he also contributes guitars, organ and bass.
Sins Of Omission / Midnight Oil (1996)
From their 1996 album Breathe, that was Midnight Oil with Sins Of Omission. One of the guest vocalists on that album was the aforementioned Emmylou Harris, so I guess there are no surprises about where we are going now. From her 1996 Emmy winning album Red Dirt Girl, produced by Malcolm Burn, this is J’ai Fait Tout by Emmylou Harris.
J’ai fait tou / Emmylou Harris (2000)
That song, J’ai Fait Tout by Emmylou Harris, was co-written by Emmylou Harris, Jill Cunniff and Daryl Johnson. In 2010 Daryl Johnson formed something of a supergroup with Canadian musician and producer Daniel Lanois, American session drummer Brian Blade, and Belgian American singer and musician Trixie Whitley. That band was called Black Dub, and here they are with I Believe In You.
I Believe In You / Black Dub (2010)
Trixie Whitley from Black Dub is the daughter of the late Chris Whitley. Before his death in 2005, Chris Whitley got to record with his daughter on his album of that year, Soft Dangerous Shores. Here they are together with Medicine Wheel.
Medicine Wheel / Chris Whitley (2005)
I just cant leave the Chris Whitley section of The Music Labyrinth without pausing to enjoy this absolute favourite from his 1991 album Living With The Law. This is Big Sky Country.
Big Sky Country / Chris Whitley (1991)
In reflecting on that song, I became a little bit fixated on the phrase “Big Sky”. And the term has previously popped up on The Music Labyrinth in episode 43 when we played Robbie Robertson’s Showdown At Big Sky. However, there are plenty of other references to the term, including in this next song. And, pay particular attention to the opening lyric, which I think I may adopt as the catchphrase for this program. Here are The Waterboys with The Big Music.
The Big Music / The Waterboys (1984)
Did you catch the future catchphrase for The Music Labyrinth in that song? The opening lyric is “I have heard the big music, and I'll never be the same”. That song comes from the album A Pagan Place, which features Waterboys member Roddy Lorimer on trumpet. In later years, Roddy Lorimer was a founding member of The Kick Horns, who were engaged by Stereo MCs to play on this 1992 track.
Connected / Stereo MCs (1992)
That was Stereo MCs with their 1992 dance hit Connected. As you will no-doubt hear, that song was based on a sample of this 1978 tune by Jimmy “Bo” Horne.
Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover) / Jimmy “Bo” Horne (1978)
From 1978, that was Jimmy “Bo’ Horne with Let Me (Let Me By Your Lover). Jimmy “Bo” Horne is pretty interesting. He is an American musician, singer and recording artist, whose most successful singles are best known from film and video game soundtracks or for being used as samples by other artists as we have just heard. His two biggest hits came from 1978 and were the song we just heard, and the song we are about to hear. This next number was written by Harry Wayne Casey (of KC & The Sunshine Band) and was subsequently used as a sample in an unreleased tune by CeeLo Green and Christina Aguilera, but we wont be taking either of those tracks. Anyway - I get ahead of myself. First, lets stay with Jimmy “Bo” Horne. This is Dance Across The Floor.
Dance Across The Floor / Jimmy “Bo” Horne (1978)
That song, Dance Across The Floor, appeared in the soundtrack of the 2002 Brazilian crime film City Of God (Cidade de Dues). So too did this song.
Kung Fu Fighting / Carl Douglas (1974)
On The Music Labyrinth that was Carl Douglas from 1974 with Kung Fu Fighting. Now, you will not be at all surprised to hear me tell you that I remember the 1970s, and that my memory confirms that Kung Fu was A Thing. So much so that, from 1972 to 1975, Warner Brothers Television produced 63 episodes of a western styled, prime time TV show, themed around the martial art, and called, “Kung Fu”. The American singer, songwriter, rapper and actress, Lauryn Hill, is considerably less old tham me, but she too appears to remember the Kung Fu TV show, as it and Saturday morning cartoons get a nostalgic reference in this song, Every Ghetto, Every City.
Every Ghetto, Every City / Lauryn Hill (1998)
As you were listening along to Every Ghetto, Every City by Lauryn Hill, you will have noticed a repeated lyric referring to the “new Jerusalem”. Now Genesis fans, and The Music Labyrinth Elves, will know just how tempted I am right now to take us to the 27 minute Genesis classic, Supper’s Ready, which culminates with that same reference. And, as much as I know it will disappoint the Music Labyrinth Elves not to hear that epic tune, I just felt I couldn’t give that amount of time to a single song in this program. So, I settled for this song, New Jerusalem, by English post-punk band, Killing Joke.
New Jerusalem / Killing Joke (2015)
The bass player with Killing Joke was Martin Glover, known in the past by his stage name “Youth” (for context about that stage name, Martin was born just a couple of years before your host - so his youth is beyond question as far as I am concerned!). In the days since Killing Joke, Youth has built a career as a founder of music labels and a producer of music. In 1993 he was engaged to produce the 4th album for Crowded House, and from that album, here is one of my favourites.
Pineapple Head / Crowded House (1993)
From 1993’s Together Alone, that was Crowded House with Pineapple Head. That song was covered by Natalie Imbruglia for the 2005 Crowded House tribute album, She Will Have Her Way which featured female Australian and New Zealand musicians performing the songs of Neil Finn and Tim Finn. Also appearing on She Will Have Her Way was this cover by New Buffalo.
Four Seasons In One Day / New Buffalo (2005)
That was New Buffalo with her cover of the Crowded House song Four Seasons In One Day. That version of the song was also once used in a promotion for the TV show Neighbours. New Buffalo is the artist also known as Sally Seltmann and we’ll have more on that shortly, but first lets go back to the beginning of her professional recording career and have a listen to a track from her debut 5 track EP released in 2001. This is 16 Beats.
16 Beats / New Buffalo (2001)
New Buffalo is the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer who was born Sally Russell, and who became Sally Seltmann in 2003 when she married Darren Seltmann who was at that time knocking around with Robbie Chater and some other blokes, and who created and assembled this classic of Australian music.
Frontier Psychiatrist / The Avalanches (2000)
That was The Avalanches with Frontier Psychiatrist, which comes from the year 2000 album Since I Left You. Robbie Chater has estimated that the album contained up to 3500 vinyl samples. What we know is that one of them was from this next song which had part of the drum and percussion track included in the song we just heard. From 1968 this is Eddie Bo & Inez Cheetham with Lover And A Friend.
Lover And A Friend / Eddie Bo & Inez Cheetham (1968)
From 1968, that was Eddie Bo & Inez Cheetham with Lover And A Friend. Not only was the drum and percussion from that track sampled for Frontier Psychiatrist, but also for this 2004 track from Fatboy Slim’s Palookaville album.
El Bebe Masoquista / Fatboy Slim (2004)
From his 2004 album Palookaville, that was Fatboy Slim with El Bebe Masoquista. Also appearing on Fatboy Slim’s Palookaville was this track, called Don’t Let The Man Get You Down.
Don’t Let The Man Get You Down / Fatboy Slim (2004)
That was Fatboy Slim from his 2004 album Palookville with Don’t Let The Man Get You Down. Now, I expect that you, the Clever Listener, will have twigged to where we are headed for our final song in this episode, but - lets not get ahead of ourselves. First, I’d like to thank you very much for playing along tonight. I hope you enjoyed the program and I hope you will come back again in 2 weeks when we’ll do it again. Dont forget, that you can now stream the program at any time convenient to you, and you do that by visiting the Coast FM website at www.coastfmtas.au and finding your way to the streamcast. Its easy to find. And, as ever, Apple Music and Spotify playlists of all the songs in this episode plus the information linking the songs is available at www.themusiclabyrinth.com. So, lets turn to the song which will carry us over to our next episode. You will recall that we just listened to Don’t Let The Man Get You Down by Fatboy Slim, and you will be absolutely unsurprised to learn that that song contains a very prominent sample from this 1971 hit for the Five Man Electrical Band. This is Signs. Thanks for listening.
Signs / Five Man Electrical Band (1971)