Gush Forth My Tears

In 1991 Barry Adamson heard three women singing/ busking on Portobello Road. The songs they were singing were Elizabethan madrigals, not the most obvious type of music to busk in the early 1990s. He was struck by their voices and they ended up working on a soundtrack he was making, signing to Mute Records, going in the studio with Danny Rampling to record their debut single Gush Forth My Tears and album Madra and going on tour supporting Blur (where on stage they received a barrage of sexist abuse from some of Blur’s fanbase). The music press were all over Miranda Sex Garden briefly, partly because of their novelty value- three attractive young women with a memorable and provocative name singing Elizabethan madrigals a capella while supporting Blur at their drunkest was a story in the same way the NME and Melody Maker latched onto Dread Zeppelin (American rock band with a singer dressed as Vegas- era Elvis play Led Zep covers in reggae style). Miranda Sex Garden’s career saw them expand and release several albums up until 1995 when they split and then Kathryn Blake formed a new group, Medieval Baebes.

Their 1991 debut single, Gush Forth My Tears, was remixed by Orb man Thrash and Paul Kendall (who’d produced Depeche Mode and Nitzer Ebb). The remixes as reported at the time felt a bit desperate at first glance, as if Mute calculated that either by Rampling sticking a clubby drumbeat underneath the madrigal or by Thrash remixing it for the ambient crowd they’d end up with a crossover clubland hit one way or another. But that’s to do Thrash and PK a disservice and the original record too because Gush Forth My Tears (Ambient Mix) is a bit of treat.

Fluttering synth sounds, a warm kick drum, some trademark Orb ambience, the hiss of a hi hat, some distant violins and the trio of clear voices harmonising. There are several different mixes but this one is the pick and while you might not think you need a twenty nine year old Elizabethan madrigal revival/ ambient crossover record at this point in 2020, a sharp a rise in Coronavirus infections sweeping in and a new lockdown imminent, you actually do.  And, if you’re going to have one, it should be this.

Gush Forth My Tears (Ambient Mix)

Isolation Mix Six

I got this dramatic shot of the sky over the Mersey on Thursday night. One habit I hope I manage to maintain once this is all over, whenever that is, is taking regular walks. You miss so much sitting inside and even the most familiar and mundane places can look different when caught at a particular time. This week’s Isolation Mix is a dubwise and post punk excursion from The Clash, some dubbed out Joy Division covers, Bauhaus, The Slits, Killing Joke remixed by Thrash, a bunch of Andrew Weatherall dub versions and some On U Sound from Dub Syndicate.

The Clash: The Crooked Beat

Steve Mason: Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Dub 2)

Jah Division: Dub Will Tear Us Apart

Jah Division: Dub Disorder

Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi’s Dead

The Slits: I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Dub Syndicate: Ravi Shankar Part.1

Sabres Of Paradise: Ysaebud

New Order: Regret (Sabres Slow ‘n’ Lo)

Lark: Can I Colour In Your Hair (Andrew Weatherall Version)

Killing Joke: Requiem (A Floating Leaf Always Reaches The Sea Dub Mix)

Only Your Love

Today’s song is Youth and Thrash in 1990 taking Bananarama onto the dancefloor and under the spell of Sympathy For The Devil (everyone was into Sympathy For The Devil and those woo-woo backing vocals in 1990). The bassline’s a killer too. Yes, you could probably mix it straight into Loaded. There’s only one thing for it- it’s Friday, get down.

Only Your Love (Youth And Thrash On The Mix) 

Thanks to Mark for the tip with this one.

Cascades

I posted this song way back, one of my favourite records of the period 1990-91- Cascades (Hypnotone Mix) by Sheer Taft. It came out on Creation and was on the killer Creation dance comp Keeping The Faith. Cascades is an acid house influenced, hypnotic and trippy adventure from the imagination of Glasgow’s Sheer Taft. I make no apologies for posting it again- you’ll love it, if you don’t know it already.

The picture above shows Sheer Taft with Bobby Gillespie at Glasgow Barrowlands in 1991, presumably at Primal Scream’s gig there on the Screamadelica tour. The day before yesterday there was a comment left at the WordPress version of this blog (which is just a back up version really, in case blogger ever pulled the plug on this one which has happened to other bloggers in the past). The comment was left by the man himself, Sheer Taft, in response to another anonymous comment asking if there was an earlier version of this song and how much input Hypnotone had. So Taft has helpfully cleared it up for us.

‘The original version was recorded by myself (Sheer Taft) and Andrew Innes from Primal Scream in a flat in the east end of London.
We then recorded further versions of the same track at a studio in Fulham.
Hypnotone ie Tony Martin was involved along with me in remixing the track with a great deal of input by Thrash from the Orb answer a few suggestions from Brian Enough who was working in the same studio in Berwick Street at that time.’

Thanks Sheer Taft. It freaks me out a  little when the people who make the music comment on the blog but it’s good too.

Cascades (Hypnotone Mix)

We are going away for the weekend, it being a Bank Holiday. We are camping. In a tent. With a load of other people. In tents. A few weeks ago when the sun was shining and the temperature was nudging 18 to 19 degrees, this looked like a brilliant idea. Now the wind is blowing, the night time temperature is close to zero, rain keeps sweeping in, and there was hail falling from the skies yesterday. It doesn’t seem such a brilliant idea anymore. it seems a bit stupid. I’ll let you know how we got on when we get back- supposedly on Monday. Have a good weekend.