It's usually about halfway through any holiday that I start thinkin about what I'm gonna put on deck one when I get home. World travel, as most of you reading this will no doubt know, it the ultimate test of a mans compilation making skillz and only the best man will survive on his compilations alone.
However, when it comes to compilations I am NOT the best man despite having put some crackers together in my life, like the awesome “Compilation Tape 1” which saw me through the whole of Ghana for 3 months but then got fucked in a tropical rainstorm in India, and the pretty good “Miscellaneous wicked songs for long journeys” which is in the MD player now and includes such classics as Jolly Mukherjee and the Madras cinematic Orchestra “Kirwani” (Badmarsh and Shri mix), DHLs “Favourite Girl” (Original not Sunship mix) and The Only Ones “Another Girl, Another Planet”. Great compilations but I still have a bit of work to do on the names…
But even with my skills, my appetite for new forms (Not Roni Sizes album – overrated) soon has me wanting more but also wanting control of those old familiar tunes which leads me to the topic of the day. This trip the urge for new sounds has been sated by listening to Vietnamese radio and has lead to me discovering perhaps the only good thing about Southern California – they love classic rock. All day it’s classic Vietnamese then Rolling Stones, The Who, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen etc. It’s great. But I still want control. So I’ve compiled a list of the top ten tunes from my collection that will go on decks one and two as and when I get home and will take the time out to justify some of them as far as I can be arsed.
- Top of the stack will be Flip and Fill – “Shooting Star”
This may come as a bit of surprise that a trance tune is first up but you should know that genre is merely a creation of marketing men to help shift units and to bunch tunes together. A good tune is a good tune no matter what genre it is and this had me dancing around my bedroom singing at the top of my voice like a girl. I think it’s probably still on deck one actually burning a hole in my needle. - Unknown Artist - ”Trinidad”I’m gonna have to go out and buy this if I have any money left at all. This was the sound of my summer. It’s on “Western Union - Soca Then and Now” and if I hear it I will probably get on my knees and bark like a dog. This tune is the definition of life.
- Wyclef – “Apocalypse” The opera singer and Wyclefs unfeasibly high level of skillz blend to create probably the most potent hip-hop release ever, reaching across every sphere of life to permeate your unsuspecting mind. Even my mind doesn’t suspect it and I’ve heard it several thousand times. As Slit will tell you. Probably one of the best albums ever as well, and to be honest, once I get that in the CD playa it’s unlikely it will come out for a while so the rest of the list becomes pretty much irrelevant.
- N-Trance – “Set you free (Original Mix on 12”) Oh ok I take that back. With this cued up waiting to go who am I to stop this one rollin! An old favourite and probably the best house tune of all time. Get the hell out the way when this comes on unless you like being dead. Nuff said
- The Hitchers – “Wizard Prang” My favourite band this Irish bands piece about the horrors of the blitz is absolutely majestic, a acerbic critique of the stupidity of war and the impact it has on human life.
- Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak – Track 1 I think the fact I remembered the name of the album should be enough to excuse the fact that I can’t remember the track title, but it reminds me of those great times last year singing in Indian and saying the word “Engineer” over and over again dosto if you know what I mean.
- Dire Straits – “Romeo and Juliet” I’ve realised what a great poet Mark Knopfler is. The Loaded dice line is brilliant.
- Asian Dub Foundation – “Culture move”
- Percy Sledge “Sudden Stop”
- Snoop Doggy Dogg (As he was then known) – “Gangstaz and hustlaz” dunno if that’s what it’s actually called but what I wanna be when I grow up is a mothafuckin hustla. You better axe somebody!
Any other suggestions? Mail me on the usual if there’s anything I really should hear and to dispute my choice, cos only YOU can force me to listen to something else when I get home.
Also can you send me a list of the greatest books you have ever read please. I want to read stuff. Cheers.
