Local Hero - With A Woman Like You (1989)

Local Hero - With A Woman Like You (7" Single, 1989)

Search Party - All Around The World (1983)

Search Party - All Around The World (7" Single, 1983)

Another "makin' bacon" production, I'm afraid, but this one is rarer than rare. An interesting short-lived group, associated with New Musik and Tony Mansfield, more information is here.

Makin' Bacon

As a busy family man, I know there are others out there who will appreciate what I mean when I mention that although I love music to bits, there are very rarely times that I get to don a pair of headphones and just listen to something. Even when I'm ripping vinyl and working with those tracks, I'm always being interrupted and I'm usually listening to the sounds through some decent but obviously limited computer speakers.

I mention this in passing because on a whim I decided to compare a 12" Single track which I had just ripped at the highest rate possible (320kbps) to the same track I previously downloaded from somewhere which was at 192kbps. It's fair to say I've been obsessed lately with trying to replace smaller bit rate music files (128kbps is so 2001!) with the best I can either locate or produce myself. I naively expected my rip to sound obviously better, and it didn't. To be perfectly honest, it crackled and spat like sunday morning bacon.

So I listened to some other rips I have done through headphones, and there are pops and clicks all over the place. I still have a lot to learn, obviously. Not all of them were that bad, I hasten to add. Much also depends on the state of the vinyl before I get my hands on it, I guess. Anyways, if you find some pops and clicks on rips you find here, I apologize in advance. I've just got my hands on a few great new singles so I'll be posting those this week.

MFL Radio

For no particular reason, I thought I would share a few different tracks today.

The Silencers - The Art of Self Deception
(from Dance to the Holy Man, 1991)

The Rave-Ups - If It Was (A Matter of Mind)
(from Chance, 1990)

Eleanor McEvoy - A Glass Unkissed
(from What's Following Me, 1996)

Waves On Waves - Better Car
(from Waves On Waves, 2007)

Back In The Neighbourhood

Last year, when MFL turned one, I reported that my most popular album download was Johnny Logan's 1987 album Hold Me Now. A year later, I have to report that Johnny retains the top spot, with an average of nearly one new download every day. I think he may want to re-release this one. However, his is not the most popular post in terms of comments. Moving from Ireland to Scotland, that distinction belongs to Scottish songbirds His Latest Flame who have consistently received more comments than anyone else, the post being here and anyone looking for the album In The Neighbourhood may like to know I have now uploaded the album at 320kbps to my rapidshare account following many requests to make it available again.

Clearly the girls are remembered with a lot of fondness, and while I don't have a lot more material by them, here's an additional B-Side:

His Latest Flame - Come On, Come On

The Bats - The Guilty Office (2009)

For my second post on the subject of randomness in my music collection, let me present The Guilty Office, by New Zealand band The Bats.

Every other weekend or so I take my stepson's daughter Shyanna, who is now 19 months old, back to her home in Lebanon, Tennessee. Because my route takes me through Nashville, I've got into the habit of taking her with me to two music and book stores in Nashville I like to check out on a regular basis - McKays and The Great Escape's outlet store.

Recently, The Great Escape has been heavily advertising a large stock of CD's on sale for a dollar each. Apparently the recession and online downloads has exploded their inventory. I'm constantly picking up bargains - last time I found Swimmer by The Big Dish on CD and on this trip I also found Ish by 1927, another 80's rarity.

Like most 19 month babies, Shyanna likes to help herself to things she can see at her eye level as I wheel her stroller around (You may have gathered here folks that I'm something of a renaissance man). She will pull a book of the shelf, or make a grab at a record. Usually I keep her out of the way of things in case of damage, but when it comes to dollar CD's I figure she needs to have some fun too. I'll let her grab one or two, which usually end up falling on the floor after she has looked at them for a while. On this last trip I noticed she had been holding on to one in particular that caught my eye, a very recent release by New Zealand indie pop darlings The Bats. I liked the cover, and added it to my small pile. I bought five albums altogether, including this one.

The Guilty Office is a great little record, which I think will continue to grow on me. As it's so new, I'm not going to post rips here. You can download a free track from Amazon if you are in the US. Also, Parasol Records has two mp3's available so here are the links:

The Bats - Countersign
The Bats - Castle Lights

If you are a fan of The Go-Betweens (and who isn't?) then you just have to check out probably my favourite track "Later On That Night" which is run a close second by the appropriately subdued title track, "The Guilty Office". But honestly, it's all good.

We'll have to see what treasure Shyanna might uncover next time. Nice one, kid!

Official Homepage

Hitlist - Good Evening Yugoslavia (1986)

Hitlist was a short-lived band with the following members: John Hoare (Guitars, Vocals), Horace Hornblower (Saxes, Clarinet), Dave McIntosh (Drums, Percussion), Gordon Riddell (Vocals, Guitar, Percussion), Duv Walker (Keyboards) and Neil Waterman (Vocals, Guitar). Their most well-known track was the dancefloor orientated "Into The Fire" which was released in 1985 on Virgin Records. The full length album Good Evening Yugoslavia followed in 1986. There was one more single released from the album, "OK For You", but that was all.

Hitlist - Good Evening Yugoslavia (1986)

1. Showbiz
2. Party Lights
3. Sunday Is For Sleeping
4. Mr Mercenary
5. Into The Fire
6. Good Intentions
7. Anticipation
8. Nothing To Lose
9. OK For You
10. Further On

Download

More trivia: apparently the single "Into The Fire" was released on the same week as the Bradford fire disaster and Virgin pulled the single.

Gordon Riddell sadly died a few years ago at the age of 46.

Additional tracks on the singles were "Total Isolation" and "High Treason".