Wednesday 27 August 2008

Three of a Kind #54

It's not often we receive requests on this blog (in fact it happens with about the same sort of frequency as Derby County winning games of football), so it's ta muchly to Davy for requesting a post on Rock 'N' Roller Disco, a poptabulous 1979 Ronco compilation LP I bought in a charity shop the other week.


And what an album it is! Just feast yer mince pies on this lot!

Side One:

1. Ooh What a Life – Gibson Brothers
2. Girls, Girls, Girls – Kandidate
3. Loves Gotta Hold On Me – Dollar
4. Reggae For It Now – Bill Lovelady
5. Money – Flying Lizards
6. Back of My Hand – The Jags
7. Halfway Hotel – Voyager
8. Boogie Down – The Real Thing
9. Ain’t No Sunshine – Jimmy Lindsay
10. Amadeus Theme – Jasmin

Side Two:

1. Video Killed the Radio Star – The Buggles
2. Bang Bang – B.A Robertson
3. I Don’t Like Mondays – The Boomtown Rats
4. Beat the Clock – Sparks
5. Conscious Man – The Jolly Brothers
6. Always & Forever – Heatwave
7. Who Were You With in the Moonlight – Dollar
8. Babylon’s Burning – The Ruts
9. Death Disco – Public Image
10. Lay Your Love On Me - Racey


Eclectic, no? I love the way it veers straight from the cheesy pop of Dollar to the punk of The Ruts and P.I.L. and then back to pure fromage with Racey, all in one fell swoop, like its been sequenced by a roomful of chimps taking time out from their busy schedule typing out the complete works of Shakespeare in order to earn a few extra bananas cobbling together some kind of insane prototype random iTunes playlist. Or something.

I also love Dollar's comical attempt at Americanizing the title of their song on side one: Love's Gotta Hold On My Heart. Er... so that would be love's got to hold on my heart, then, would it?! I don't think van Day and Bazar really thought that one through you know, readers.

Also, note the puntastic connotations of the splendidly-named Bill Lovelady's Reggae For It Now. "She's reggae for it now". Geddit? The annoying thing is that I actually really like this song, despite the naff innuendo of the title. (curse my ridiculously high tat threshold.)

Oh, and what's this in small print on the album's back sleeve? To ensure the highest quality reproduction, the running times of some of the titles as originally released have been changed. Boo! That's kind of the 70s equivalent of those cheapo oldies compilation CDs you see nowadays which have that caveat along the lines of: Some of the songs on this album may be re-recordings featuring original members of the drummer's family. That sort of thing. Bad show!

Anyway, which songs to choose for today's Three of a Kind? Ooh... these I think.

Bill Lovelady - Reggae For It Now mp3

B.A. Robertson - Bang Bang mp3

Racey - Lay Your Love On Me mp3

I will never, ever tire of watching the following clip of Racey performing the aforementioned track, by the way. It's like punk never happened!



Buy music.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic. Why can I somehow imagine that as a Pulp song..?

davyh said...

Tee hee. That track list is spookily similar to my own compilation tapes from the time - and I think every school disco I ever went to in 1979/80....pop, new wave and disco - I still like all three...!!

Kippers said...

Julia: Oh yes, I can just see Jarvis doing that funny little dance along with it as well. (or a variation thereof!)

Davy: Spookily similar indeed. You just can't beat those old C-90s.

By the way, the mp3 files for this post are proving spectacularly unpopular so far. Just the way I like it! ;)

davyh said...

Hey, glad to be of help. Maybe someday all your downloads will be as unpopular as mine.

Kippers said...

I should have gone for the Dollar tracks, shouldn't I? Given the public what they wanted.

CTV said...

I know a guy who lost his virginity to "Bang Bang". In a shed (I like to imagine the lucky girl was called Cleo). Whereas I associate my first time with Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For Her Money". Which sounds dodgy. And it didn't play during the act (nothing did). She was a waitress though, and that song played in the pub where I met her at some point. Not a good story. That's why I envy my friend's "Bang Bang" story.