This playlist is 73% vinyl friendly. Not bad.

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The ‘cack handed’ HMV 1507 portable radiogram. When from? It’s old.

An online post from nearly two decades ago… ‘… came across this rather strange record player, though quite admirably I resisted buying it! The casing is a bit weird in that the lid seems to cover the entire thing rather than sitting on a bottom half. Then a closer look at the record deck itself made me wrinkle the noble brow in surprise. The pickup arm rests at 90 degrees to the usual resting place. It looks almost back to front! Unfortunately it didn’t have a maker’s or model name, so unless someone can identify it and leave a comment then it will have to remain a mystery for another ten years or so… ‘

And then a decade later, the answer… ‘Your cack handed record player is an HMV 1507 portable radiogram. The type C cartridges almost never work when found now. It’s a cack handed design alright. The radio part is a transformerless AC/DC design but the record deck motor is AC only.

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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 153

Gil… by a mile!

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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 – World (The Price Of Love) (Perfecto Mix) * – 12″ – London – 1993

Nineties house music legend and a fave remixer of the band, Paul ‘Perfecto’ Oakenfold adding some clout and drive to an already sparkling song that, if I’m honest, didn’t in its era always transfer successfully to a live setting.

Some of what was floating Oakenfold’s DJ’ing boat back in the day. DJ mag article, 15.10.94

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06.51

BESERK IN A HAYFIELD – Club Paris –  Cold Waves Of Color Volume 3, v/artists LP – Color Disc – 2016

‘Packaged in a fancy pants paper cut

Whoever Beserk In A Hatfield was/is, their mid ’80s output has regularly featured on re-activated label, Color Disc’s compilations… and they’ll be back here.

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10.03

CHRISTIAN PROMMER (feat JUSTINE HOERWARTH) – Tryin’ Times – Rhythmique Nocturne, 2LP – Compost – 2026

Tryin’ Times? Ain’t they just!

Maybe not a stream of consciousness in the vocals/lyrics department, at times they’re on more like a bit of a languid ramble… up against busying keyboards that occasionally remind me of Keith Jarrett… but it works! Classy Prommer over some ‘transparent splatter’ vinyl, with a ‘silver particles print’, to boot. 

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15.24

WATER FROM YOUR EYES – Nights In Armor – It’s A Beautiful Place, LP – Matador – 2025

That’ll be tears then. A duo out of Brooklyn, New York with more motif biziness and on exclusive ‘Clear Blue Smoke’ (with a signed 12″x12″ print, 500 copies) or ‘Coke Bottle Green’ vinyl.

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18.34

LA RISSA – Surrender – Download only – 2026

Still with duos but from Brooklyn to Bradford, and never has ‘I wanted to knock your fucking lights out… ‘ sounded so dark wave pop.

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22.45

BLONDSHELL – Heart Has To Work So Hard – Download only – 2026

Vocalist, Sabrina Teitelbaum is for some unclear reason doing her best to physically show us her heart on the accompanying promo shot (upcoming Violins album cover?) and I get the feeling her sound is possibly influenced by a bunch of bands in the ’90’s and noughties that passed me by. Could be wrong.

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25.53

CABARET VOLTAIRE – Just Fascination (live) – But What Time Is It Really? LP – MemeTune – 2026

Given that the whole album was ‘Recorded on the UK tour Oct-Nov 2025’ and I was at four of the six dates, there’s a 66% chance I was at this performance and that of each of the other tracks. And as it stands right now, I’ll be at the last three of their last ever gigs come October 2026.

An iconic and groundbreaking band bowing out, forty four years after I first saw them, below in 1982.

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29.46

A CERTAIN RATIO – And Then Again (Flight 12″ version) – 12″ b-side – Factory – 1980

Simon Topping’s vocal on any ACR is such an era capturing moment for me. I can nearly feel the people, ‘sense’ the places etc I knew then. Thanks to the band’s gigography it seems though this track is not one I heard them play live in the times (including the above) I saw them before Topping’s departure in late ’82.

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32.14

LONELADY – The Catcher – Former Things, LP – Warp – 2021

Julie! New music, if you please! Best, Dec.

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36.29

THE DURUTTI COLUMN – Liars – Renascent, LP – London – 2026

Vini Reilly’s first album in fifteen years… and with maybe more lyrics on this track than on his entire back catalogue! Good to have him back.

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40.13

BROKEN SPINDLES – Induction – Fulfilled / Complete, LP – Saddle Creek – 2004

A 180g vinyl album maybe before they became all the rage? Dunno, I lose track of time. Anyway, Broken Spindles was one Joel Peterson and the many layers Fulfilled / Complete was the second of six album sized projects he/it/they released in the noughties. I often wonder what peeps do when they stop making music… and I always hope it’s ‘keep being artistic’ 🙂

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43.01

RAE & CHRISTIAN with TEXAS Vs THE WORKS – Hush (The Works Remix) – Grand Central Vs The Works-The Soul Sessions Vol-1, download only – ?? – 2026

The ‘Texas’ being wholly that band’s driver Charleen Spiteri, and here with a tad more motion/movement/swing than the original beaut. Hush is still lush.

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46.51

GIL SCOTT-HERON (with PRETTY PURDIE and THE PLAYBOYS) – 7″ – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Flying Dutchman – 1971

Boy, would he have something to say if he were still alive.

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49.50

SHY FX & KINGH – La Prima (B-side) – Download only – 2026

With a third of the utuuuube views that the dub-step’y and longer version has attained in the two months since release but this funkier take is the proper version. 🙂

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51.16

DOROTHY ASHBY – Soul Vibrations * – 7″ – Cadet – 1968

In her time, a jazz harpist of some standing, with both the album (1968’s Afro-Harping) this cinematic feel track leads off and the single itself now costing serious money in their original form.

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54.24

PATRICK COWLEY (feat PEGGY GIBBONS) – Ice Age – Hard Ware, 2LP – Dark Entries – 2025

Whether Ms Gibbons sounding a lot like Donna Summer was a coincidence or Cowley ideally would have liked the latter to get involved on this simple plodder I’ll never know but at least he got to later remix I Feel Love.

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01.00.27

SHEILA CHANDRA – Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram – The Struggle, LP – Indiepop – 1985

After her Monsoon ‘Ever So Lonely’ days but she was still crossing over.

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01.05.09

JAZZ THE GLASS – MeMorY PalacE – Download only – 2026

Dunbar in the area! Averaging a 41 Rooms appearance roughly every ten shows but in case there’s any suggestion of nepotism, with a whole bunch of tunes I haven’t played. 🙂

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01.08.12

JC-001 – All My Children (Mother’s P-Phunk Mix) (41 Rooms – edit) * – 12″ – Anxious – 1993

A massive 41 Rooms edit to be honest… and if I was ever to have carried on DJ’ing, I’d have maybe opened any set with the a cappella of ‘All my children now… ‘ 🙂 An idea to others? You’re welcome.

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01.11.39

SIOUXSIE and THE BANSHEES – Happy House – 7″ – Polydor – 1980

Siouxsie once said of this, the band’s second top 20 hit: “It is sarcastic. In a way, like television, all the media, it is like adverts, the perfect family whereas it is more common that husbands beat their wives. There are mental families really but the projection is everyone smiling, blond hair, sunshine, eating butter without being fat and everyone perfect“.

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01.15.03

EYELESS IN GAZA – (Across The) Pulse Of The Rain – Mania Sour, CD only – Ambivalent Scale – 2014

Often performed live in early EIG gigs but it took thirty plus years for them to lay down a studio version… and apologies for the slightly brutal intro I edited. 🙂

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01.17.25

THE SOUND – Unwritten Law (Mike Read session, BBC Radio 1, Oct 1980) – The BBC Recordings, 2CD only – Renascent – 2004

Those BBC sessions – produced in just a few hours – very often turned up superior versions and though I’d possibly be outvoted on this, with more edge in the production and presence in the vocal I prefer this take to the one on their debut album, Jeopardy.

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01.21.00

MISTY IN ROOTS – Wise & Foolish (John Peel Session) – The John Peel Sessions, CD only – Strange Fruit – 1995

For me, they were absolutely flying in their earliest (1979-1980) JP sessions, with Wise… being from the third of the nine they did for the great man.

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01.25.49

MOUTH – Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea – Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, 12″ EP – Emotional Rescue – 2016

Released thirty five years late(r) but added here to their only ever releases (2 singles)… and that’s definitely Mark Stewart ranting in there at the end.

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01.32.24

BLACK UHURU (feat MICHAEL ROZE) – Party – 7″ – Ajang – 2000

A tough reworking of the band’s Party Next Door from 1983.

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01.35.43

LADY BLACKBIRD vs CROOKED MAN – When The Game Is Played On You – Crooked Spirituals 12″ EP – Foundation – 2025

The power of electronics – in this case Sheffield-based Richard Barratt – reeeeally adding to a great vocal.

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01.41.09

CARON WHEELER – In Our Love (Club Remix) – 12″ – EMI Records USA – 1992

One of a number of tunes she released after her Soul II Soul days proving she was making some top tunes post Jazzie B.

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01.44.58

MARXMAN – Theme From Marxman – 33 Revolutions Per Minute, LP – Talkin’ Loud – 1993

‘Marxist Hip Hop group, formed 1989 in London. Consisting of Bristol MC’s Hollis Byrne (H) and Stephen Brown (MC Phase) and Oisin Lunny and DJ K One from Ireland‘. – Discogs

Were they the first hip hop act to play on the ‘revolutions per minute’ thing? 🙂

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01.48.11

TALKING HEADS – Take Me To The River – 2×7″ – Sire – 1978

David Byrne sounding in less of a hurry to get to the water than Al Green on the original.

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01.52.58

SOUL II SOUL – Back To Life (Club Mix) * – 12″ – Ten Records – 1989

Just a couple of tunes along, Caron Wheeler returns with the song she’ll always be remembered for.

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Show 154 will be with you Aug 2.

Dec x