This playlist is 91% vinyl friendly. Near perfect.

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Philips, The Tina Century Bluetooth Turntable room.. A £350-£400 retro look to blend in with your wood panelling room, it reminds me of a car grill from the 1960s. Built-in speakers with deep (how low can you go) bass and crystal-clear highs.

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Any track marked * has been given either a tiny or a slightly larger 41 Rooms tweak/edit/chop and the occasional tune might sound a bit dodgy, quality-wise. On top of that, the switch between different decades and production values never helps in the mix here. 🙂

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Lyric of Playlist 154

Tim Hardin’s lyric and song title.

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00.00

(Intro) THE FLAMINGOS – Stars (Edit) – Unreleased demo – 1983. Episode #1 for info.

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00.41

NEW ORDER – Dreams Never End (John Peel session: 16.2.81) – The Peel Sessions 12″ EP – Strange Fruit – 1987

Diary for Jan 16, ’81 says ‘Karl W round. NEW ORDER JOHN PEEL…‘ Those caps signal something special and the journey had begun at Heaven, London a week earlier. Two good mates called Karl were there, though I hadn’t realised the one at my house listening to the first broadcast of the session was a Carl.

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03.45

THE TEARDROP EXPLODES – Second Head – Kilimanjaro, LP – Mercury – 1980

Listening to this album now it’s got a bit of a bubbly and bouncy feel.

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06.55

TOM PETTY and THE HEARTBREAKERS – I Need To Know – 7″ – Shelter – 1978

Still with a fair amount of ‘rock’ in my world at this point in time, for some reason I thought I’d had a 12″ of this but that would have been a bit daft. At just 2mins 22 plus, a fiery new wave feel that could have made it as an Elvis Costello tune.

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09.17

FORMAL SPPEEDWEAR – Who Needs Spain Ball – Punch Card, LP – Melodic – 2026

“Who Needs Spain Ball?”. ‘On the surface, the single functions as a highly accessible, synth-forward New Wave track featuring the record’s biggest, most infectious pop chorus. However, the title and the song’s inner mechanics are intentionally surreal, designed to “pull the rug” out from under the listener‘. – Apologies, I forgot the source. An early Talking Heads vibe going on? They’re pulling the rug even more with their merch – with the band’s name the only lettering… album t-shirts! 🙂

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12.28

BIG JOANIE – It’s You – Sistahs, LP – The Daydream Library Series – 2018

So post punk!

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14.48

EGOSLAVIA – Twist Face – Self-titled, (mini) LP – 9 1/2 x 16″ Records – 1982

Not that many will have debated it but I’ve always pronounced this band as ‘Egoslayvia’ and it’s only just dawned on me it was likely ‘Egoslahvia’. Better late… and a band I was introduced to by a US guy who dropped in on John Peel’s radio show somewhere in the ’80s. Very unusual for Peely to have anyone else in the studio with him but his guest was picking tracks from three or so US bands that Peely had never heard of, something that irritated the latter, slightly. 🙂

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20.08

BIFFER BONKER – 4 Prong, Fucked Up, 2 Potato Thing – Biffer Bonker Is…Unabashed, download album only – ? – 2026

Anyone with a decades long history of Bedford, UK’s musical landscape stretching back to punk bands of the mid to late 70s will have knowledge of Biffer in a former life or three fronting a wealth of different bands but his present world view is available here, with something from the man for me currently getting waylaid by various postal services. ‘No god is required… ‘ Ain’t that the truth and if there isn’t a lyric sheet involved somewhere I might be requesting one :), as he’ll be back here at some point. He’s also the man who introduced me to Click Click via an early demo tape of theirs somewhere around 1984.

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23.17

BROKEN SPINDLES – To Die, For Death – Fulfilled / Complete, LP – Saddle Creek – 2004

Content with having spun Induction on an earlier show, and as it turns out, rightly guessing on the album’s diversity I hadn’t been rushing to grab the physical vinyl… but here we are! One Joel Peterson, from Omaha, Nebraska.

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25.35

TARWATER – 20 Miles Up – Silur, LP – Kitty-Yo – 1986

From the US to Germany and there’s a far wider breadth to this duos ‘catalogue’ than the two tracks now spun on 41 Rooms would suggest.

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29.35

RIPPLE – I Don’t Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky – 7″ – GRC – 1973

I don’t know about I Don’t Know… but with no UK release it’s unlikely our mainstream radio of the time spun this, though maybe a DJ or two down the Pilgrims or in the Anglers (Inn) Lair across the road could have. I have strong memories of hearing Willie Henderson’s Dance Master at the latter.

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32.53

MARY KENT – Lost Generation – 7″ – CBS – 1969

It’s a slower, darker take than the version the song’s writer, Jim(my) Webb put out himself a year later and though Mary’s intro needed red carding for the show her version has some gravitas and feels ‘worthier’ now than it may have done to the UK’s record buyers back in 1969… what with the Vietnam war being… yep, somewhere else. The intro brings to my mind Common Sense’s Resurrection ’95.

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36.57

LADY BLACKBIRD vs CROOKED MAN – Whatever His Name (Pt 1) * – Crooked Spirituals Remixes, 12″ – Foundation – 2025

She’s rightly got her soul audience but I much prefer her vocals set against some electronic goings on, as with the already 41 Rooms’ spun Athletes Of God and some remixing bods, including here, Crooked Man. They seem to give her vocals more of an edge for me.

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42.18

ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ (feat. MAX C) – About This Love (Crazy P Remix) (Dub) * – 12″ – Compost Black Label – 2009

The vocals are incidental but the track just keeps building, dropping, shifting. A head-nod-a-thon of slight unease.

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45.42

CLICK CLICK – Stay Out Of The Water – 12″ b-side – Rorschach Testing – 1985

Great times in the summer and autumn of ’85. Our RT label is off and running with a party at Winkles (Bedford), a P(roduction) and D(istribution) deal with Rough Trade, 500 copies of the initial yellow and blue sleeved 12″ pressing head straight to the US off the back of A-side (Sweet Stuff) getting CC Single Of The Week in Sounds and with spins on John Peel’s radio show there are one-off gigs in London, Brighton and Northampton and rehearsals are sounding great.

Gig poster for 28.11.84.

Part of a Rorschach Testing ad, The Catalogue #29, Aug ’85.

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49.24

SIMPLE MINDS – Premonition (John Peel session: 7.1.80) – Silver Box, 5CD – Virgin – 2004

Having already seen them on the OGWT (live from Hurrah’s New York) and live at the Marquee the previous month I must have heard this session but for whatever reason I definitely didn’t record it.

A ropey photo below of mine from London’s Hammersmith Palais, 26.8.80.

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54.28

THE FALL – Dktr. Faustus * – Bend Sinister, LP – Beggars Banquet – 1986

It’s about time Mark E Smith (RIP) and his gang made it back here… so they have.

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00.01.00

ECHO and THE BUNNYMEN – I Bagsy Yours (John Peel session: 22.8.79) – The Peel Sessions 12″ EP – 1988

This show’s third Peel session track of the era and the song renamed Monkeys in time to nestle next to the track Crocodiles months later on their debut album. I’m with ‘Bagsy’, though. Even us southerners used the term back then, though it might be best to not remember how it was being used here.

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01.02.47

THE MOVE – I Can Hear The Grass Grow – 7″ – Deram – 1967

‘An early, proto-psychedelic freakbeat masterpiece‘ in some modern day circles but a fab bit of wild pop back then. As the years rolled on though, the ‘weedier’ (sadly) Roy Wood’s guitar interjections have sounded.

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01.05.52

PETULA CLARK – The Other Man’s Grass (Is Always Greener) – 7″ – Pye – 1967

Husband and wife writers, Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent (or in this particular case, Jackie Trent and Tony Hatch :)), with their key and tempo changing swirler giving ‘Our Pet’ her last Top 20 hit. So idiosyncratic it never got covered by anyone else or maybe offered as an exclusive to Petula? Either way, I bet Trent (no mean singer herself) forwarded a guide vocal version and I’d have been interested in hearing that.

And it’s taken me a week to realise I’ve placed two songs next to each with ‘Grass’ in the title. Very unintentional but spooky and true.

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01.08.49

BROOKE COMBE – Tears Won’t Lie * – 7″ – Fontana – 2026

I reckon Northern soul’s younger followers will dance and some older purists will very likely pick at the production but Combe and co-writer, James Skelly have nailed it, and if this song had been recorded in the mid 1960s – and maybe on the label this 7″ now pays homage to (with say Kiki Dee?) – there’d be an even bigger price tag on it than this barely out of the 2026 pressing plant £18 7′ already commands. Also, all involved in the Combe camp will have been as meticulous on the look for the dancers in the video as was MT Jones for his I Don’t Understand. Paying homage can be tough stuff.

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01.11.19

TERRY CALLIER – Ordinary Joe – 7″ – Cadet – 1972

Terry and producer, Charles Stepney with a ‘skipping along the road’ feel. An even more expensive buy than the above… and I have neither.

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01.15.17

CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD – Give Me Just A Little More Time – 7″ – Invictus – 1970

INV 501. Did Invictus kick off their UK releases with a homage to Tamla Motown’s UK singles catalogue. Five years earlier the latter had also started with (TMG) 501, via The Supremes’ Stop In The Name Of Love.

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01.17.57

JACKIE WILSON – I Get The Sweetest Feeling – 7″ – Brunswick – 1968

1968 for Jackie but the mid ’70s for me. Putnoe, Bedford… sunshine… Gill H… 🙂

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01.20.49

THE CONTROLLERS – Somebody’s Gotta Win, Somebody’s Gotta Loose (7″ version) – 7″ – Juana – 1977

I didn’t knowingly hear this til maybe twenty years ago. With the amount of music that bypasses us, is it possible I’ve never heard the greatest song I could ever hear? 🙂

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01.24.42

UMBRA MOON – Don’t Let Me Down – Download only – 2024

This Australian girl is seemingly taking longer to break out than I would have imagined but though stylistically aside of my normal listening, this is a gem.

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01.28.02

SHAWN PHILLIPS – Solitude – 7″ b-side – Columbia – 1965

With my copy bought for this side alone, there are few artists I’ve come across who have been both super jaunty and deeper than deep in the songwriting department and 41 Rooms can be with Shawn in both moods.

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01.30.48

JOHN and BEVERLEY MARTYN – Primrose Hill – 7″ – Warner Brothers – 1970

In 1970 approximately 1% of the American population had a passport, so aside thinking (at best) Primrose Hill maybe had some Civil War battle reference for them they were going to struggle to warm to this London landmark being referenced, even though somebody at Warners US – as opposed to their UK counterpoints – thought this Carole King-like tune had legs as a single. Sadly, they were wrong, with the promo 7″ likely more common than the stock copy.

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01.33.40

TIM HARDIN – You Upset The Grace Of Living When You Lie – 7″ promo only – Verve Forecast – 1967

Yep, lyric and title of show 154 goes to… though at 1min 45 it’s nearly over by the time he’s got through singing the line. A ragged, slightly altered take of the song was part of Hardin’s performance at Woodstock but his set only got to make it to an official release of the festival in 2019.

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01.35.22

JOSE FELICIANO – Dirty Work – For My Love… Mother Music, LP – RCA – 1974

It’s likely I’d be outnumbered with my thinking here but Jose’s passion makes Steely Dan’s own recorded version, sung by their then main vocalist, David Palmer, sound lack lustre.

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01.38.08

VANGELIS – He-O – Earth, LP – Vertigo – 1973

Back in Vangelis’ big years I only got around to wanting his 1976 single, Pulstar but then hearing the Beatfanatics Balearic Boogie Remix of Let It Happen in 2007 led me backwards to this album and it’s the vocals (of one Robert Fitoussi) on both tracks that seem to make the difference for me.

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01.42.05

STEVIE WONDER – Pastime Paradise * – Songs In The Key Of Life, 2LP – Tamla Motown – 1976

I bought the album at the time but my youthful ignorance didn’t fully take in the scale of Stevie’s accomplishment and looking now at the full tracklisting there were only six tracks I regularly played, with Pastime Paradise being one of them. The American buyers who took Songs… to No 1 in the Billboard album charts will have delved deeper.

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01.45.21

KOICHI OZAKI – Petal Of The Cherry Blossom * – Novo Tempo / Koichi Ozaki: Novo Tempo Meets Eurasian Suite Vol. 2, 12″ – Eurasian Suite – 2004

If I could dip into the whole of the soul/(acid)jazz/beats etc etc world of the Japanese from the ’90s onwards there’d be a basket full of great tunes I’ve yet to hear. So little time…

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01.51.22

KEITH JARRETT (TRIO) – Dancing – Changeless, LP – ECM Records – 1989

‘Original material which is deeply subversive (though also respectfully aware) of the whole tradition of jazz as a system of improvisation on ‘the changes’… On Changeless, there are no chord progressions at all; the trio improvises each section in a single key, somewhat in the manner of an Indian raga‘. – The Penguin Guide to Jazz.

‘These pieces – not written, rehearsed, thought out, sketched, or arranged – ‘came up’ in the middle of four distinctly different concerts. Process is swifter and more accurate than thought.‘ – Keith Jarrett’s album liner notes (edited).

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Show 155 arrives Sept 6.

Dec x