>I Don’t Know Why I’m Telling You Any Of This

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Continuing the recent Nancy and Lee theme this is Fallen by the much loved and much lamented One Dove. One Dove were Scotland’s premier post acid house dub-techno band, featuring the voice of the lovely Dot Allison, also featured recently round these parts. I know Drew will disagree, saying the original Soma version of Fallen is superior, but to my ears this Weatherall version, the Nancy and Lee Mix, is by far the best. Seven or so minutes of bliss.

It’s half term in England. We may be off camping for a few days, so if nothing happens here until Friday we’re under canvas somewhere. Hopefully dry.

Fallen (Nancy And Lee Mix)

>What She Came For

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While in Helsinki the other day I tried to find a record shop. Stupidly I’d forgotten to research this before going to Finland. Eventually, with the help of several passersby, I ended up in Antilla, a department store with cds and – shock, horror- a fairly random selection of vinyl. I ended up with the recent e.p. of cover versions of Franz Ferdinand songs (only 9 Euros) and a nice re-pressing of The Ramones’ Rock ‘n’ Roll High School album. The Franz Ferdinand e.p. features Debby Harry with the Franz boys, LCD Soundsystem, Peaches, Stephen Merritt, and ESG. ESG’s cover of What She Came For is the pick of the bunch, their skeletal post-punk funk still rocking and bouncing thirty years after the Scroggins sisters first picked up instruments, paid for by their mother to keep them out of trouble and off the streets.

What She Came For

>Get Good Or Stay Bad

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More Lee Hazlewood anyone? Here’s Run Boy Run from 1968, a lovely countryfied song about being born the wrong side of the tracks. The mp3 is ripped from a 2004 compilation called Radio Clash, given away free with Mojo, the songs being chosen by Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. Memory tells me this song was one of Paul’s choices but I could be wrong and the magazine’s in a box in the loft.

Run Boy Run

>Gunship Diplomacy

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It was somewhat traumatic last night, watching United run around unable to get the ball, nevermind then be able to do anything with it. Humbling. Hats off to Barcelona though, and I suppose no shame in losing to them.

DJ Harvey has been making and djing ambient/Balaeric/eclectic music for the last two decades and has an album out next month, DJ Harvey Presents Locussolus. This track, Gunship, is seven minutes of low-key, uptempo, electronic music with some very nice squelchy noises. The album comes complete with a Weatherall remix, two words which raise the excitement levels in the Bagging Area bunker.

Gunship

>Tear You Apart

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Because tonight, despite his foolish behaviour, recent bad publicity, and worst kept secret of modern times, Giggs will tear you apart. Again. I hope.

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Pennine Version)

>Suomi

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While channel surfing Finnish TV one night this week a (actually the only) pop channel had a video of a Scandinavian duo doing a cover version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s Summer Wine. The cover version was, um, interesting, and not a patch on the original. But it’s difficult to imagine how anyone could improve on this.

Summer Wine

Finland is beautiful. The people are friendly and welcoming. Helsinki is a cool northern European city. The Finns have no word for please but are very polite- they flypost using sellotape, but wouldn’t dream of removing a poster from a phonebox (as I discovered when I undid a Screamadelica live in Helsinki poster, and a bus driver shook his head). Beer is expensive- a three-quarter of a pint of Koff is over six Euros. Buying four Koff provided me with amusement though, despite the price. All in all, a wonderful place, and one I’d definitely go back to. Even though the bastard baggage handlers didn’t put our suitcases on the return flight.

>Sliding Away In A Washed Out Delta Sun

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Mercury Rev’s 1997 album Deserter’s Songs came out of nowhere, and sounded like it came out of the middle of nowhere. The final track, Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp, is a Bagging Area favourite. It manages to marry harpsichord with house-y chords, slightly desperate vocals and an end-of-night feeling. Magical really.

In other news, I’m off to Finland until Friday (with work, and responsibility for several minors), which is a little bizarre. I don’t tend to get much work related foreign travel, but the chance to spend a few days in a country about which I know little and am unlikely to go to otherwise seemed too good an opportunity to miss. Back on Friday when I’ll let you know what life is like on the edge of Europe.

Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp

>You Got A Lot Of Nerve

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Bob Dylan will be 70 on Tuesday, and I’m getting my best wishes in early. Happy birthday Bob. This song is from 1965 and has Bob firing off his barbed wire tongue in someone’s direction while his band kick up a storm. At this time he was busy inventing electricity and also looked like the sharpest dressed man on the planet.

Positively 4th Street

>We’re Gonna Shake Up Your Sleepy Mind

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Having already posted three Colourbox songs recently I wasn’t going to do anymore but the mp3 player keeps chucking this up, as if it’s urging me to share it, and who am I to ignore the God of the portable music device?

Arena 2 is a brilliant mid-80s, proto-house torch song- huge piano, skittering and rudimentary drum track and massive soulful vocal. It makes the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. Stunning.

Arena 2

>Cheap Wine Time

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Off out tonight, into town for birthday drinks with some friends. I think we’re off to the Northern Quarter. I complained a while ago that Manchester now has more than four quarters, most of them branded areas to sell expensive properties and lifestyles, but someone pointed out that quarter probably comes from the French word ‘quartier’ meaning district. Ho hum.

This song- Cheap Wine Time- is from RTX, Jennifer Herrema’s post- Royal Trux band. Warning- features extensive guitar soloing. In a very rough and ready way.

Cheap Wine Time