Everybody wants to be Michael Jackson

This is truely great. Click on the image to see how everyone in Nigeria wants to be Michael.

My Favorite Michael Jackson Video

Mihcael Jackcon's last performance

Surely when the money mahcine gets into full swing we'll see all of this on DVD very soon. And to quite honest I'm looking forward to seeing it. What a great performer.

Michael Jackson - Dirty Pop (With NSYNC) (MTV AWARDS)

Here it is, just go straight to the end of teh clip to see Michael Jackson!

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean Motown 25th Anniversary

I was very sad to hear the news of Michael Jackson's death last week. This, for me, and for many is one of his finest performances. In fact, its probably one of the finest TV performances of any artist ever.

There's been so much crap written about this man over the years that I have no idea what is true and what is pure lies. Interestingly I've never heard anyone close to him speak of him in bad or negative terms, ever.

Was he weird or wacko? Anyone who lives a life like his must be different. How could you be normal living the life he lived? Being on stage and famous from the age of five. I wouldn't wish fame on anyone. How awful it must be to be followed around all your life with people watching everything you do and say, fliming you and constantly taking photos or everything you do. He could never do the normal things we do, like going to the shops for a pint of milk, or popping dopwn to a bar for a drink, or sunbathingon a beach. Of course he was different.

Anyway, we've lost a superstar. How disappointing and how sad, especially as we were looking foward to his comeback.

I remember seeing him in one of his last public performances just a few years back, maybe it was the MTV awards when he came out just at the end of a song from another group (maybe NSysnch?). All he did was make a few dance moves but his presence was huge, dramatic, exciting, superb!

RIP (but they won't let him will they?).

Roy White & Steve Torch

I'm not sure if I wrote about these guys before. Anyway, another discovery of a band from the 1980's who I never even heard of until about three years ago when I found this record in a dusty record shop back room.

There's a piece on them on the Music..isms blog, with music downloads. And another on 'Raiding the Vinyl Archive'. If you're interested in discovering lost music from the 1980's I recommend it.



Parade (this is recorded directly from vinyl)





Who's Asking You - White and Torch



Bury My Heart - White and Torch






Here's an email from Roy white from 2008, as he recounts events(taken from Bored Teenagers) . There's also a photo of Roy White from Liverpool University in 1977.

Hi Dizzy,
Wow, where did you get that photo???????
God we were cocky kids. Thought we were the business but in reality, were rather shit, ha ha.
I remember the gig as it was the last gig Berlin did. Memory rather hazy but we'd gigged for about a year and a half by the time of that gig. We got a few really good reviews in Melody Maker and Sounds and record companies were showing interest. Decca were showing the most and they strung us along, spent 3 weeks recording in London with Nick Tauber producing but they blew us out and signed Slaughter and the Dogs as their token 'Punk' band. That gig was a day or so after they told us and we were all quite depressed. Our roadie attempted to pull Dave Ambrose's (A&R guy from EMI who was showing interest) teeth out with a pair of pliers as we hated record companies at this point. I believe he was actually successful at pissing on his head from a balcony - such was our fury at being blown out by Decca. We eventually decided to carry on but changed the band name to 'Fun'. A track called 'I Heard You Call My Name' was included on the Liverpool compilation album 'Street to Street. Basically the same line up as Berlin. I left shortly after that album was released and joined forces with Steve Torch. Berlin days were quite amusing really. Joe Stummer once got up for a jam at a gig called Swinging Apple. We actually caused a riot at Wigan Casino because our roadie and a journalist from Sounds had sprayed 'Fuck You Pricks' across the back of the stage, then trashed the dressing room while we were on stage!! Even the bouncers wanted to kill us.
Anyway, thanks for igniting a long lost memory.

Cheers,

Roy

There's a feature on Raiding the Vinyl Archive in which Roy White gets involved in the comments.
Also see music..isms for more .

Bringing it all back to the present, here's Roy White in his band the Truemen

Fingerprintz - One of the great forgotten bands of the 1980s

I know, I've written about Fingerprintz on a number of previous posts but quite a few people have requested some music from them. I haven't been able to track down their music on sale anywhere, except on vinyl on ebay. I have no knowledge of a CD release of their music. So, here's a few tracks (recorded from vinyl LPs and found on a torrent on the web). I really love their music and i discovered this group some years back while going through the bargain bin at Easons book store. What a find! I paid 99p (or was it 50p) for the album Beat Noir and managed to find their two other albums just a few years ago.



Get Civilised - from Beat Noir



The Chase - from Beat Noir



Echo Head - from Beat Noir






And from Distinguishing Marks:


Bulletproof Heart



Houdini Love

New vinyl album update

Here's what's on my wall at home at the moment. I wonder what it says about me? Most of it is electronic, eighties or retro in some way or other.

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It (Vinyl). Bought from Caiman. Fast, great service! Comes with a free voucher to download the album on mp3. Now that's cool for the car stereo!



I love this album, as I mentioned before. Today I read in Mojo how they still describe this album. But I love it so much I even went out and bought the delux remastered edition, even though remastered on vinyl probably makes very little if any difference. Anyway, it still sounds great. And I love this cover.


Duffo - Bob The Birdman (Not sure which is the title and which is the artist). Bought it for 2 euros.

Barbara Stresiand's Greatest Hits Volume 2 (Vinyl) 3 euros. Can't go wrong there!


Don Dixon. Never heard of him (2 euros) but a great sleeve! And a great title for an album.


Tiga has a new album out. I bought his 12 singles for years and couldn't wait for his first album, which turned out to be very bland. Hope this one is better!


The first great Depeche Mode album in many years. I love the use of the old syths. Great vinyl package. Cost 26 euros but its double vinyl and includes a cd of the album (not sure what I'll do with that. Anyone want it?)


Miss Kittin is back with the Hacker!!! A bit disappointed though cause the vinyl version doesn't contain all the tracks on the cd!! What a pisser! And its double vinyl. Surely they could have found room for all songs.


Bought this from Caiman USA but for some reason they coudln't get it in stock so ended up buying in town for 16 euros.

Raphael Saadiq - Sure Hope You Mean It (Later Live...with Jools Holland)

Sometimes when I watch Jool's Holland on Friday nights on BBC2 I discover a gem, and this week Jools delivered! Tihis is Raphael Saadiq and I loved it so much I searched for it this morning on the web and it should be winging its way on beuatiful vinyl direct from the USA as I'm typing this! Can't wait to hear the whole album!

I love his girl singer. She's so into it.

Winnie the Pooh - Vinyl LP 1966

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I'm trying to get my two year old into music. Well, I'd like her to know what records are and how they work. And what better way than to buy her a couple of classic children's records. This is a 1966 edition on EMI of Winnie the Pooh by Kenneth Connor, Jim Dale and Cheryl Kennedy. My personal favorite from childhood is Teddy Bear's Picnic and it still sounds great so many years later. Really!

Depeche Mode on Jools Holland

Depeche Mode were on Jool's Holland on Tuesday night. Now how cool is that? Their new album ison contonual rotation in my car at the moment. I think what I most like about it is the use of the old synths. It sounds great. there's even an insturmental track which sounds like it could have been on A Broken Frame. By the way, a Broken Frame is my favorite Depeche Mode album and yet everyone says it was hit. Even the band themselves always rate it as their worst album. Now that's bloody annoying when an album you love is disowned by the group itself. David Sylvian does the same thing. Actually I'm reading his biography at the moment, or at least flicking throught the parts on his Japan days.

I Pooh - Give Me a Minute

Sorry but this made me laugh. Its from a group called 'I Pooh'!. Indeed! And the name of the song in english is 'Give me a Minute' or 'Give me just a minute'. Nive, very nice.

The words go something like this...

I know
There's no need to talk more about it,
I know its inconveniente,
but all of a sudden...
I find it hard to accept
It's hard to imagine

Goodbye,
there's a slight smell here.

No joking, those are the words. And its not even about poohing!

Partenaire Particulier

here's another great piece of synth pop from the 1980s. A friend of mine went on an exchange to France and brought me back a gift of this single. I never heard of them again or ever saw them until perform until the arrival of youtube.



Here they seem to be performing on some kind of 'Back to the 80's' show on French TV.

Montage - Irish Group from the 1980's

I bought this single called 'Who Will Stop the Rain" by Montage back in tthe eighties but never heard anything else about them. The b-side is called 'If I Only Had Money'. A quick search on the Internet reveals that their record company Reekus Records in back in operation, and there's even a video of them performing another song on TV, called when I close my eyes. There's a discography on irishrock.org

Pity that there's no sign of 'Who Will Stop the Rain' on the net. I'll keep searching.

Pierce Turner: The Sky And The Ground

One more for today, a great classic video from a unique Irish singer. I saw him perform once in Cork jumping around from table to table. Crazy, Mad. Fantastic!

Barry Warner - "Real Man"

Click the image for more info on Barry Warner

for discography click here

I loved this song, from another Limerick man, Barry Warner. I've only ever heard the two songs by him, Real Man and Dancing Without You. I still have the Real Man single but I have no idea what happened to the other.
Its been years since I've seen these videos! the onwdes of YouTube!
I remember buying the single in Stardiscs at Tots to Teens in Patrick Street. I also remember that they wouldn't let is kids in the shop until you agreed to buy something. Oh wonderful days of anti-marketing they were.

I've just seen that Barry Warner is still going strong and has a myspace page.

U2 - C'mon Everybody

Here's another track from U2 at Self Aid, 1986

U2 Pride live from Dublin 1986-05-17 Self Aid

Remember Irelan'd answer to Live Aid, back in 1986 entitled Self Aid. If I remember right, the objective was to get people back into employment. This is a time when there were zero jobs in Ireland and the only prospect was to go abroad. I was still at secondary school at the time and found it interesting to learn about booms and busts in economics class. I couldn't help thinking that Ireland had only ever been in a bleak economic situation. There had never been a boom. How weird it must be to have full employment and not to have to go abroad.

How things changed in the 90's! It all took off about 1995 just when I headed off abroad!

Fingerprintz - Shadowed 1981

You can hear The Chase from Beat Noir here

Finerprintz - Bullet Proof Heart

I love this group. I mentioned them some time ago but have to put their videos up again!

Ross from friends playing Keyboards

Reminds me of someone I know!

My Most Recent Additions

Here's what I've been buying overthe last month or two. People are always amazed when I tell them that its still possible to buy current releases on vinyl.