Despite the continuing presence of George Lamb, the digital airwaves of BBC 6Music continue to throw up interesting and informative shows, at least when its presenters are freed from the tyranny of the playlist. In the past week we've had Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone's post-punk special, which, endearingly, eschewed the usual suspects (for the most part) and instead showcased the lesser lights of the genre, such as Kleenex, Family Fodder, the Flying Lizards and Swell Maps. It also found house room for the earliest incarnation of the Human League, of whom more in a future post. You can catch the show for a few more days here.
On Friday night, too, there was more excitement (for me, at least) as Jah Wobble joined Gary Crowley in the studio, standing in for Tom Robinson. Catch the show here for one more week. Wobble revealed that his autobiography, winningly-entitled Memoirs of a Geezer, will be in the shops in time for Xmas, so you can all put it on your list right now. Wobble also played some tracks from his Chinese Dub Orchestra project, which sounded fantastic.
I shouldn't need an excuse, but this gives me a great reason to shoehorn in a couple of Wobble tracks . Om Namah Shiva, from Heaven and Earth, his last album for Island, features the stellar vocals of Najma Akhtar, while Unusual Balance, from Wobble's 1995 Eno collaboration Spinner, features his regular sidemen Mark Ferda and Justin Adams alongisde vocalist Sussan Deyhim and ex-Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit.
Download Om Namah Shivah by Jah Wobble (mp3) (deleted Aug 2009)
Download Unusual Balance by Wobble/Eno (mp3) (deleted Aug 2009)
Visit 30Hertz Records
4 comments:
Lamb's banter is basically pish. DLT but with less broadcasting style (ie no snooker-based phone-in quiz).
Jah Wobble's a genius. Listen to PIL live in Tokyo. No Wobble = no deal. Listen to Metal Box, again and again and again and again. Mob War Kill Hate/ Mob War Kill Hate. bass bass bass
You're right (as usual) about the general decline of PiL after Wardle's departure, all the way to the Country Life butter ads. BUT, I have a very soft spot for their generically-titled Album from 85 or so. Any LP with John Lydon, Tony Williams, Ginger Baker, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Steve Turre, Bernie Worrell and Shankar on it should be good. And it is. See http://www.fodderstompf.com/MEMBERS/SESSION/albu.html for more.
LOVED the butter ads. Purists would have been irked by that one. I even got 250g of it from Tesco just because Rotten did that advert. I'm back on the Tesco's own brand now though.
diggin it dude!
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