146 bpm 1 (Show Me The Ropes, Kid)
Posted in Or, with apologies to Reb Hillel: “I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing.”
146 bpm 1: Show Me The Ropes, Kid On the Dance Floor – Juliet Live With Me – Massive Attack with Terry Callier Daft Punk is Playing At My House – LCD Soundsystem Jump Into The Fire – Harry Nilsson Ooh La La – Goldfrapp Frustration – The Whip Love Vigilantes – New Order Rio – Duran Duran The Back Of Love – Echo & The Bunnymen Police On My Back – The Clash (cooldown) The Dynamite Lady - Big Country
The first, oh, half of this mix comes courtesy of Fluxblog, I think. The Juliet track definitely does. The tempo’s been cranked pretty seriously here, but it’s still the same great single that sank without a trace here. I love the six-over-five of the chorus hook, the cycling mantric phrases, and the whomp of the bass. Mike Watt calls his electric bass the thud staff. Yeah.
I’m inordinately pleased with the synth-into strings crossfade into “Live With Me,” but the manic grin really lights up my face as the LCD Soundsystem choon kicks in, and it never leaves as I run harder on the elliptical.
I don’t remember why I segued into Nilsson then, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t know that LCDS had actually been covering “Jump Into The Fire” in live shows. Doesn’t surprise me in the least, though. Great minds thinking alike, I spoze.
It takes a lot of stones for a new band from Manchester to sound as much like New Order as The Whip does here, but damn if they don’t work it to their advantage. (I tweaked up the tempo on this’n, too.) And of course I couldn’t resist following it up with the genuine article, which led to a full-on trip in the Wayback Machine for the rest of the mix.
Thought: You figure all the homopanicky comics fanboys currently wetting their own pants over the contents of Citizen Steel’s were traumatized in their childhoods by the vision of Simon LeBon’s grape-smugglers in the “Rio” video?
Finally: There are lots of reasons to love The Clash, and while compiling these mixes I’ve discovered another: explosive intros, just made for crossfade segues.
Keep running down that one-way track.
