I'm Heavy Duty!

On St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley did a great cover of the Violent Femmes’ tune “Gone Daddy Gone.” The Femmes are repaying the cover love, with their take on the Gnarls Barkley hit, “Crazy.” It’s crazy smooth is what it is, with sounds of surf rock guitar, mandolin, flute, and of course the Femmes’ trademark bass. They even rock the theremin on the chorus.

But the best part for all you vinyl junkies out there is that they’ve pressed a limited edition run of 1000 powder blue platters. They’re on sale now at violentandcrazy.com, and ship on June 24th.

Come on now who do you,
Who do you, who do you,
Who do you think you are?

I am not a particularly big fan of Garbage, but I am a James Bond lunatic. I have every single legitimate Bond movie made, along with some not-so-legitimate 007 flicks. In addition to the movies I have an odd assortment of Bond music from every relevant decade. So, I was happy to get this CD single “The World Is Not Enough” (1999) from a coworker at the time, Mona Sharma. I used to have a real turntable on my desk along with a “now playing” sign, just like in the record stores from the good ol’ days. For a while, I sat next to Mona. I asked her once what kind of music she liked and she replied that she really only listened to soundtracks. I thought that was funny at the time, in a cool non-conformist way, but in the years since that conversation I have been collecting more and more soundtracks and film scores. Mona was on to something.

As far as Bond movie themes go this one by Garbage is pretty solid. This is a promo that includes the original version along with the “Chilled Out Remix.” To be honest, after several listens I can’t tell them apart. Both are chilled out, and good.

Nine singles, 18 songs on 18 sides, did I play them all? Damn straight. See the complete track listings below.

I won’t comment on Michael Jackson himself other to say that the song titles visible in this picture pretty much sum up his life. Everyone has their own definition of “enough.”

This package came out in 1983. I was working at a small chain record store a few years later when I saw a couple copies collecting dust in our seven inch singles bin and decided I must have it. How could I resist such a fantastic package, of songs that I like, printed on glorious red vinyl, with an employee discount? Well, I couldn’t.

Each sleeve and record was produced just for this set, “MJ1,” and they are numbered and labeled accordingly. Most songs are from the mega hit albums “Off the Wall” and “Thriller.”

MJ1-1:
1. Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough
2. I Can’t Help It

MJ1-2:
1. Off The Wall
2. Working Day And Night

MJ1-3:
1. Rock With You
2. Get On The Floor

MJ1-4:
1. She’s Out Of My Life
2. Push Me Away

MJ1-5:
1. The Girl Is Mine
2. Can’t Get Outta The Rain

MJ1-6:
1. Billie Jean
2. It’s The Falling In Love

MJ1-7:
1. Beat It
2. Burn This Disco Out

MJ1-8:
1. Wanna Be Startin’ Something’
2. The Jacksons – Rock With You – Live

MJ1-9:
1. Thriller
2. The Jacksons – Things I Do For You – Live

• Artist: Dead Or Alive
• Title: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) 12
• Year: 1984
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: ?
• Keeper: Yes

Watch – Out! – Here – I – Come!

I’m back! And what brought me back? Too many chocolate chip cookies and an awesome dance single.

Mary and I heard Dead Or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” on the car radio yesterday, and I just had to hear it again. The version on this 12 inch is the “Performance Mix” and you can believe I was doing a performance all three times I blasted it today. I did move to turn it down a bit when I saw the UPS guy outside, but fortunately he went to another house. I was able to complete my dance routine mostly without interruption. And pretty much everybody has to dance when they hear this classic. It’s so punchy!

The performance by singer Pete Burns is so complete and uninhibited that I can’t imagine it being more entertaining. And I’m only talking about his singing, see the video for more. Life lesson from Pete Burns: If you going to do something, do it all the way and don’t hold anything back. Except maybe when it comes to body mods. I saw Pete on some strange TV show a while back and I think he’s overdosed on plastic surgery.

Like a record baby!

Dead Or Alive – You may be surprised who has been associated with this band over the years.
Pete Burns

Three minutes of dance heaven…

• Artist: King
• Title: Won’t You Hold My Hand Now (Heavy Times Mix)
• Year: 1984
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 5
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: ?
• Keeper: No

The endless line of King 12 inch singles continues. This one is another version of “Won’t You Hold My Hand Now”, the “Heavy Times Mix.” I’m going to admit that this time I found it less annoying, maybe slightly entertaining. The songs on side two, “Endlessly” and “Never Ending” are probably better. I usually play the record I’m writing about when I post, but right now I’m still spinning the last one, The Gift by The Jam.