just recently i had reason to, look you see, go through one of several boxes i have in storage. this was a most specific box, for it had housed within it a recording on a compact disc that i wished to hear. it was during obtaining this specific disc that i, to be sure, unearthed some briefly forgotten musical gems.
the "gem" part of this comes, perhaps, in the form of their source or if you like provenance. it was that i had obtained these joyful discs of my own choosing. no. instead these just so happen to be gifts off of the Spiros. given, presumably, so that i may too listen to the music what he did, or does.
whilst the generosity of Spiros extends to a far higher number i felt it best, for the sake of simplicity, to limit this blog post to just four of the discs what Spiros has given me over the years. to cover them all would see us here for quite some time. besides, i am not sure there is much to say in respect of what is on display here, never mind them all.
no, then. well, yes. let us look at these four in somewhat more detail, so far as i can. which is really rather tricky when it comes to the first one.
indeed yes, quite, that is Racey, arguably the biggest band ever to be off of Weston Super Mare. for many, many years, or perhaps just fleetingly, Spiros was well into the Weston Super Mare scene, man. i think he bought this at the height of his digging the scene.
this is the quite controversial mid-90s "second" album by Racey, Lay Your Love On Me. i say controversial for, as all fans of the band will know, it is more of a "compilation" of recordings made between 1978 and the year of release. a follow up to their 1979 album Smash And Grab, then, with the peculiar case of some of the follow up being recorded first.
no, absolutely no idea what it is like. i have not played this CD and have never found any good reason to do so. consideration was given to playing it prior to writing this but then i thought no. if you happen to be a really big, or just in passing, fan of Racey well then that's just great to hear.
possibly the single most controversial of the discs Spiros has given me, this. although he claims it was "not him but someone else" what gave it to me. modesty and unassuming at the forefront, there, then. no matter, i can confirm that yes, this is a CD-R of Flying Away by Michael Saltino. not just any CD-R, though. history somewhat clouds matters from time to time, but either this was taken directly from the studio where Michael Saltino recorded this, his opus, or otherwise it was handed to someone what Spiros knows who was given it by a radio station.
i dare say that i need not give any of you further information about Michael Saltino, for he is widely known. several people have suggested that he is the greatest and most important singer ever to come from South Africa. others have challenged that, saying he is in fact that of the entire southern hemisphere. i'm not sure, but to say more would be overtly critical.
should for some reason you not have ever heard Flying Away, here you go, here's the You Tube link to it. many of you will be aware of the controversy surrounding Michael Saltino and would like to learn more. here is a link to the documentary around it. who knows, perhaps this CD i have is one of the ones mentioned in the early stages of that documentary.
oh yes, this one. at one stage - it might have been when we were at University - Spiros got it into his head that he would really like to be one of them "West Coast Gangsta" types, involved with drive by shootings and such things. the result of this was a rather rash purchase of several albums by musicians what promoted this lifestyle. Chunk, or if you like Mr Chunk, was very much at the forefront of this. Menace To The Game, which for marketing should maybe have been called Menace 2 Da Game instead, was the personification of what put Chunk miles ahead of everyone else.
an particular controversy surrounding this edition of Menace To The Game - outside of the latent and somewhat explicit at times misogyny - comes with track six. no one is certain what it is actually supposed to be called. on the album artwork it is named Black Man Homcide, yet on the CD face itself, as you can see in the picture, it is labelled Black Man Homocide. when we have discussed it Spiros reckons the latter, as in the name on the disc itself, is most likely correct, as he always felt the album had a decidedly homoerotic nature to it. that would certainly explain, whist most decidedly and absolutely not excuse, the apparent dislike for ladies Mr Chunk expresses on tunes such as Dirty Hoes Don't Get Chose and Treat Em Like They Act.
no, i don't believe i have ever played this CD either. perhaps i will, as a quick glance around the internet suggests it attracts some good reviews. an even better idea might be to sell it, though, as it seems copies of this CD fetch a handsome price these days.
would it be fair to call Chunk, indeed Mr Chunk, the "Michael Saltino of the West Coast Gangsta" scene? it would be better to ask someone who has heard both artists. sadly, at this stage, that would be someone else not me.
finally, then, the album that proved highly influential to Spiros. this is the celebrated Misfits compilation, featuring an eclectic if not cosmopolitan range of artists. pictured here is one of the artists to feature, Vic Lambrusco.
it so happened to be that Spiros was quite enamoured by the words of Vic Lambrusco. on his two tracks of Misfits Mr Lambrusco speaks fondly of starting fights with people, with the refrain "oooo wants some" being of particular appeal. the life of lager and fighting which Vic speaks so solemnly of is, i have every reason to suspect, one of the major reasons why Spiros elected to base himself in London.
what's the rest of Misfits like? not bad really. some entertaining stuff on it and some quite good songs too. i think there is one that goes on about a trifle, which was smart. the book it comes with is lovely too, and i am not just saying that on account of the partial nudies what feature. well maybe i am.
anyway, hopefully that has been of interest to someone somewhere. let me leave it there, then. but it is possible that i might go and have a listen to this Mr Chunk, see (or rather hear) what is ideas are all about.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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