The past is your present, the future is mine

Another busy ol' day in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers today, dear reader! Every plant I brought back from Essex [all those pictured yesterday, plus ten new or replacement fuchsias - rooted cuttings from our fave nursery B & HM Baker at Bourne Brook Nurseries] has now been potted up in new compost, and I also dug out and potted individually loads of free ferns that had self-seeded in several big pots up and down the garden, as well as other pottering jobs that needed attending to. Five hours later, I finally packed everything away. Tomorrow is another day...

Back to today, however, and among a raft of ill-assorted names such as John Waters, Lenin, Jack Nicholson, George Cole [whose centenary is is], J. Robert Oppenheimer, Glen Campbell, Aaron Spelling, Yehudi Menuhin, Charles Mingus, Dame Ethel Smyth, Bettie Page, Henry Fielding, Kathleen Ferrier, Vladimir Nabokov, Peter Frampton, Donald Tusk and - ahem - Amber Heard, it's the 70th birthday today of the legendary producer/remixer Mr Arthur Baker!

His is an impressive back-catalogue of classics, so, without further ado, here are just a few of them:

Freeez - IOU

New Order - Confusion

Rockers Revenge - Walking On Sunshine [Flick Colby's Zoo, Top Of The Pops, 1982]

Pet Shop Boys - In The Night

I can practically smell the Aramis!

Tell me now, how does it feel?

Happy 40th Birthday! New Order's Blue Monday first arrived in the charts on this weekend in March 1983:

• It reached #12 on 23rd April.
• Having not left the Top 100 all year, it re-entered the Top 40 on 17th September.
• It hit its highest chart position - #9 - on 15th October.
• However, it was actually a remix by none other than Quincy Jones that gave the song its highest chart place (#3) five years later, in May 1988.

An all-time classic, way back in 2009 I decided to post a "recipe" of the "ingredients" that contributed to its composition, based upon a Sky Arts documentary at the time - and lo and behold, Alex Petridis in The Guardian has done the same. Some of the ingredients he used were the same as mine, but there are some interesting differences...

Both he and I acknowledged that this slice of Italo disco brilliance (which Bernard Sumner has always cited as one of his favourite songs) was a key element:

Klein & MBO - Dirty Talk

It's undeniable that Giorgio Moroder's groundbreaking collaboration with Donna Summer was a big influence on the band, but I chose the obvious number...

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

...whereas Mr Petridis suggested this album track:

Donna Summer - Our Love

It's undeniable that this one had to be in the mix, and our lists coincided again:

Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

Although, inevitably, a soupçon of Kraftwerk had to be there, the "flavours" diverged - as Alex chose this:

Kraftwerk - Uranium

Whereas I specified one that was a tad more familiar:

Kraftwerk - The Robots

There was one more piece in the Guardian article that came as a bit of a "left-fielder", however. Apparently Peter Hook claimed the sparse riffs of Blue Monday were inspired by the twanging lead guitar in Ennio Morricone's score for For a Few Dollars More!

Ennio Morricone - For a Few Dollars More

Whatever the ingredients, the resulting "dish" is delicious, indeed:

New Order - Blue Monday [on Top of the Pops]

New Order official website

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STOP PRESS:

The official lyric video...

New Order - Blue Monday

I feel so extraordinary, something's got a hold on me

Whoo-hoo! Another tortuous week is grinding to its inevitable denouement, and - despite the fact that COVID has fucked-up any plans we might have had for our traditional pilgrimage to Spain at this time of year - I will officially clock off this evening and not have to deal with any more of this shit for two whole weeks!

I feel relief is in sight... and, as it was the 60th birthday this week of the lovely Gillian Gilbert, one of the creative geniuses behind the band, I think a bit of New Order is in order [geddit?].

Thank Disco It's Friday!!

New Order - True Faith

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
I don't care 'cause I'm not there
And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow
Again and again I've taken too much
Of the things that cost you too much
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

When I was a very small boy,
Very small boys talked to me
Now that we've grown up together
They're afraid of what they see
That's the price that we all pay
Our valued destiny comes to nothing
I can't tell you where we're going
I guess there was just no way of knowing
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
The chances are we've gone too far
You took my time and you took my money
Now I fear you've left me standing
In a world that's so demanding
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

Have a great weekend, dear reader! We plan to have a great fortnight...

I feel fine and I feel good

Our five-foot Thalictrum delavayi, looking gorgeous.

So, as is usual on a Bank Holiday weekend, the scorching sunshine has given over to muggy air and mizzle. I've still managed to get some stuff done - our haul of new fuchsias from Essex is being potted up slowly but surely into hanging pots and troughs, and the ipomeas are potted and staked ready to scrabble away...

Now that I am taking shelter from what looks like a storm brewing, it's time for a distraction, methinks. How about house favourites here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox and their faboo take on an 80s classic?

Postmodern Jukebox ft. Sarah Marie Young - Bizarre Love Triangle (Vintage Burt Bacharach-style New Order Cover)

I feel fine and I feel good
I'm feeling like I never should
Whenever I get this way
I just don't know what to say

And, just in case anyone fails to recognise it - here's the original:

New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle

Ah, that makes the rain more bearable...

I thought I told you to leave me when I walked down to the beach

Another weekend hoves into view - our last before we jet off to Spain a week tomorrow (yay!) - and, with the first Polari of 2017 to look forward to tonight, and the prospect of (slightly) warmer weather on the horizon, we at Dolores Delargo Towers are in the mood for a party!

The fact that it is founding member of New Order Miss Gillian Gilbert's (56th - gulp) birthday today provides a perfect excuse to play a real dance classic:

New Order - Blue Monday

Take no notice of them. It's not really Blue Monday - it's Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a good one...

Read my blogs about the genesis of this song, a rendition on 1930s instruments including the theremin, and the version by... Fenella Fielding!

How does it feel?

We're off to leafy Dorking today, for our friend Louise's 50th birthday. It seems appropriate to celebrate with a "timeslip moment" from the 80s - a decade when we were all at our prime...

Thirty-three years ago, in early March 1983: AIDS was in the news (constantly), as the US government was under fire for its lack of health promotion advice; the compact disc (CD) and the Austin Maestro went on sale, and IBM launched PC DOS version 2.0; Bob Hawke was elected Prime Minister of Australia; and Torvill & Dean (soon to stun the Winter Olympics the following year) won the World Ice Dance Championship. On our screens were Local Hero, Baby It's You and Without a Trace; and on telly, Sons and Daughters, Tucker's Luck and the fallout from the Deirdre-Ken-Mike saga on Coronation Street.

This week in 1983's charts Bonnie Tyler was supreme, and in her wake: Eurythmics, Michael Jackson, Forrest, Bananarama, Style Council, Toto, Modern Romance and Orange Juice were all riding high. But waiting in the wings, ready to conquer all, was a first - released only on 12" single, it soon set the bar significantly high for dance-pop-crossover music for the rest of the decade.

It is of course New Order's Blue Monday!

But hold fast chums... What would it have sounded like if it had been made 50 years earlier? Using only instruments available in the 1930s - from the theremin and musical saw to the harmonium and prepared piano - let's hear Orkestra Obsolete play their own take on it:

Orkestra Obsolete play Blue Monday using 1930s instruments

And, of course, here's the original:

New Order - Blue Monday

Blue Monday on Wikipedia.

Musical catch-up, part 2

As promised (threatened?) yesterday, I am endeavouring to do a major sortie through the past few months of "newer" music that people may have thought I had overlooked, and this is the second instalment. These amuse-bouches are all for your enjoyment, dear reader. I do hope they provide some modicum of entertainment...

To get the ball rolling, it's our friend Marcus Reeves with his newest - and stunningly gothic - single, featuring erstwhile cabaret artiste (and briefly a member of Fascinating Aida) Miss Sarah-Louise Young...

Marcus Reeves - Smoke and Mirrors

I can never understand why this marvellous Aussie duo have never had a hit in the UK - it's Parralox (this time featuring a rather sassy lady by the name of Francine):

Parralox ft Francine - Crying on the Dancefloor

Definitely not new (even this mix is a year old), but new to me, is this fab New Order vs Depeche Mode vs Daft Punk mashup:

New Order vs. Depeche Mode vs. Daft Punk (Sterbinszky and Coddie Mashup)

Oozing a dance-bitch-diva attitude of which our own beloved Luciana would be proud, here's Veronika Vesper with (a song that I am sure we all know someone to whom we'd like to dedicate):

Veronika Vesper - Fuck the Ego

A follow-up to the rather catchy Hideaway (that I featured back in March), the new single from the unpronounceable Kiesza is every kind of wonderful (song and video). I first saw this on a big screen in a local sandwich shop in my lunch break, and it really made the rest of my afternoon in work go with a swing!

Kiesza - Giant In My Heart

Now, as any fule kno, I'm no great fan of Miss Katy Perry. However, I was rather struck with this cover version of one of her faux-OTT hits ET by the (s)punky Garek (last featured here in December 2012). With a video featuring piss-takes of both Ms P and Ms Gaga, how could I not?

Garek - E.T.

And finally, peeps, it's time for some smut and filth! With its definitely NSFW video, here's the kinky-boots-lover SirPaul, and his paean to Black Leather:



As always, enjoy - and let me know your thoughts...

Tell me now how do I feel?

Bernard Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris and Peter Hook by Pete Moss in 1987, not talking even then

The fact that today is the 55th birthday of Stephen Morris - aka "the pretty one" from Joy Division and New Order - gives me an excuse (as if any were needed) to take a trip down memory lane, with some of the classics to which he made such an estimable contribution...

New Order - True Faith

Joy Division - Transmission

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

New Order - Blue Monday

Happy birthday! Happy memories...

New Order online

How does it feel?

And I thought hearing Adam Ant again made me nostalgic... Then, on one of my meandering forays across the interweb I came across a series of mash-ups of old Hi-NRG tunes by German DJ Joerg Schweinberger (calling himself JoS-Mix)!



Pass the poppers, someone...

The Flirts vs Fancy - Passion vs Slice Me Nice

Lime vs Fun Fun - Love Tonight vs Happy Station

Divine vs New Order - Blue Monday vs Jungle Jezebel

Suddenly I am back in "The Tunnel" club in Cardiff in 1984 - heaven!

Those who came before me lived through their vocations

I was watching Sky Arts' Songbook featuring Bernard Sumner (of Joy Division and New Order fame) last night, and the interviewer asked where the inspiration for the biggest-selling 12" single of all time Blue Monday came from.

Well, apparently the whole thing was conceived during New Order's first tour as a band after Ian Curtis' suicide and the end of Joy Division, and pays its dues to the influence of the electro gay disco being played in New York in the early 80s.

Take a slice of this:

Klein & MBO - Dirty Talk

Mix liberally with a bit of this:

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

And some of this:

Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

And add a little of this:

Kraftwerk - The Robots

And you get this...

New Order - Blue Monday