R.I.P. Denise Matthews, aka Vanity

The titular 1982 sole LP from Vanity 6 is an absolute classic of it’s era. Written and produced by Prince, who also released his double LP 1999 the same year and was on an unparalleled hot streak creatively speaking, the album is filled with party funk every bit worthy of his genius. Seriously, there is not a bum cut on the record, and most of them have made their way into DJ sets of mine over the years.

Check out the below posted performance, LP, and this article on Prince’s tribute to Vanity at a show last night, which also has the only clip I could find of the unreleased Vanity 6 master jam, Vibrator, featuring Prince in a comedic sketch, in line with his vocal appearance on If A Girl Answers (Don’t Hang Up) from the Vanity LP.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&ie=UTF-8&rct=j#q=vanity+vibrator+prince

 

 

 

 

Songs of The Day: Trio – Hearts Are Trump, and Sunday You Need Love

Trio really nail the Sunday Valentine’s vibe with this one-two punch. One of my favorite bands to arise from the NDW.

 

 

and a bonus, original German language version Herz Ist Trumpf

Happy birthday to Clem Burke…

One of the most vital and inventive drummers to emerge from the 70’s Punk scene. That beat for Dreaming gets me every time! Watch the Apollo ’79 footage below, and see him kill it in an awesome gold lamé suit.

Marching band performs Devo’s, Girl U Want

Keytar kid is killing it.

Happy birthday, Tina Weymouth!

Tina Weymouth in two parts: Pt I Talking Heads

Tina Weymouth In Two Parts: Pt II Tom Tom Club

08 Aug 1990, Los Angeles, California, USA — Tina Weymouth of the Tom Tom Club sings and plays bass in a concert performance on the Escape from New York Tour. — Image by © Neal Preston/Corbis

Tina Weymouth with Talking Heads

Watch the new video for The Seth Bogart Show, Eating Makeup. Hunx and Kathleen Hanna!

You can always trust Seth to bring the party, and the addition of Kathleen Hanna (she’s does not appear in the video) brings me back to Le Tigre’s 1999 debut, which was on constant rotation in my store back then.

We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It!!

Today would have been guitarist Jo Dunne’s 47th birthday, had she not tragically succumbed to cancer two years ago. I will fondly remember Dunne for her contribution to the first Fuzzbox (back when the used the full We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It, moniker) single, Rules and Regulations, which I purchased on 12″, with an etched b-side, when it was released. Loved it then, love it now. Oh yeah, watch the videos and dig on their fun, oh-so-80’s, UK street punk/wave fashion sense.


And here’s the single from their first LP…

Happy birthday, Daryl Hall: The Daryl Hall and Robert Fripp recordings.

In 1977, Daryl Hall, feeling the constraints of the commercial pressures surrounding Hall & Oates, decided to hit the studio with former King Crimson commander, Robert Fripp, and record an album unfettered by the need for pop hits. With Fripp as both guitarist and producer, the album was indeed well removed from the blue eyed radio Pop/Soul of Hall’s hitmaking duo.
Unfortunately for Hall, his label RCA found the recordings too experimental, and the album, Sacred Songs, would not see release for three years.

Oddly, in those intervening years, Fripp was to release his own solo LP, Exposure, featuring two vocal appearances from Hall. In fact the sessions began as a continuation of the work on Sacred Songs, and was seen as part of a Fripp trilogy of sorts, with the third act being Peter Gabriel’s, eponymous sophomore LP. Originally Hall sang six tracks slated for the album, but in a confusing battle of record company logic, RCA intervened fearing that the association with Fripp would be damaging to Hall’s career, yet they still wanted Hall to receive co-credit for the record. Mind you, Sacred Songs was still languishing unreleased during all of this. Well, as with many lost gems, these diamonds were finally mined and received release on the 2006 deluxe issue of Exposure, and now we can fully appreciate the Hall & Fripp, Fripp & Hall combination.

NYCNY, as it was called on Sacred Songs, would be re-recorded with different lyrics and vocals on Fripp’s Exposure as, I May Not Have Had Enough Of Me But I’ve Had Enough Of You.

Song of The Day : The Tubes – White Punks On Dope

Happy birthday, Fee Waybill.

In preparation for her forthcoming autobiography, and unrelated BBC produced documentary, check out this section of Grace Jones, from Queens of Disco.

One thing that I’ve learned from this blog’s analytics, is that people love Grace Jones. As such, there has been a pretty impressive amount of internet buzz about her soon to be released autobiography. Unfortunately the hottest topic about said bio, is Grace calling out current Pop/R&B divas for having stolen her style. Her comments that I’ve seen in regards to this are actually pretty tame (certainly by Jones’ standards), and there’s no doubt as to the influence that Jones has had upon the world of fashion, music, film and beyond. Even her tough as nails, take no shit persona can be seen as a blueprint being used, if often wielded poorly, by many current stars. That’s my problem with that subject though. Jones is infinitely more fascinating a character than today’s stars and focusing solely on her influence upon, and acknowledgement of, actually diminishes her own status, as these sites merely concentrate on those comments, dropping the names that are inescapable in modern celebrity press.

Anyway, here’s hoping that autobiography sells millions