Category Archives: When Big Joan Sets Up

Matters relating to Phil Cope’s show, When Big Joan Sets Up, at midnight as Wednesday morphs into Thursday (UK time)

The A-Z of The Fall

The FallBack in August 2010 a fresh -faced idealistic young DJ had a dream which came to him while he was idly perusing a Fall discography. “What if , ” thought our lantern jawed hero, ” there was a Fall record that began wil every letter of the alphabet?”

“And what if” he went on, sitting upright on his sofa strewn with discarded Frosties and old copies of DJ International magazine “we played them in order over the next 26 weeks – that indeed would be a fine testament to the work of Mark and the eternally revolving line ups of the Fall”.

And so, he went to work long into the unforgiving night compiling such a list because he was a bit sad and didin’t have anything better to do .

Some of his choices were perverse. A ramshackle live version of Gene Vincent’s “Race With The Devil” over “Rowche Rumble?”, ” forgotten LP track “Hilary” over “How I wrote Elastic Man ? Nothing from “The Marshall Suite”?, no “To Nkroachment:Yarbles” or Mollusc In Tyrol?”.

Some of his choices were hard fought. The battle between “Bill is Dead” and “Bingo Master’s Breakout” for the letter B and “Kicker Conspiracy” and “Kimble” for the letter K being the kind of epic set-to more likley to be seen in the final reel of Marvel comics superhero movies.

and the ignominious cheating of including “THE Quartet of Doc Shanley” as the letter “Q”

But 26 weeks later (and a bit as there were a couple of weeks when I forgot) here is it, replete with some of the great Fall moments, such as Mark stopping the band during the Peel session version of “C n Cs Hassle Schmuck” to announce the fictional assasination of Arthur Askey and during a particularly dirgey live rendering of “No Xmas For John Quays” Mark rounding on the band and shouting “Will yer fuckin’ gerrit together and stop showing off!”

and so with apologioes to Brian Matthew, in all it’s controversial, flawed beauty. Laydeeeez and Gennlemun I give you – The A-Z of the Fall Continue reading

66 with a Bullet

Bullet

Now that the internet has rendered music from most of the world available in the time it tales Nick Clegg to renege on an election promise, it seems almost quaint to remember that the zeitgeist used to have a bike.
The indefinable spirit of the age used to pop up all over the world and each musical advance was complete with a map reference.

Whether it was Manchester in the late eighties, Berlin in the mid seventies or Liverpool in the early sixties geographical locations were synonymous with the music that was made there, and never was this more pronounced than in Nashville, Tennessee, which is indelibly linked in popular culture with country music.

In contrast to the examples above, country music didn’t begin in Nashville, but it was here that the music that had originated in Appalachian bluegrass and hardened into the gritty honky tonk of Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzel had the beer stains hosed off it’s Stetson and cleaned up it’s act.

In the process it became, and still is, the most successful genre of music in the world.

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When Big Joan Sets Up – Lazy DJ gives Two for one

Once again I’ve fallen behind in my blog up dating duties due to the killer mix of work, decorating and idleness.
So here’s the last two weeks

7th April
Anne James Chaton – “Vendredi, 26 Juin 2009” (LP – “Evenements 09”) (Raster- Norton)
Sonic Youth – “Chez Yves (Alice et Clara)” (LP -“Simon Werner a Disparu”) (SYR)
Cliff Richard and The Shadows – “I Cannot Find a True Love” (LP “Me and My Shadows”) (Columbia)
Fourward – “Excessive Use” (v/a LP -“Bad Taste Volume 4”) (Bad Taste)
Tyvek – “Time Change” (7″) (Les Disques Steak)
Laura Cantrell – “Letters She Sent” (available from http://radiofreesongclub.com/songs)
Cornell Campbell – “Fight Against Corruption” (Split download LP with Barry Brown – “Head 2 Head Volume 1”) (Culture Town)
The Eternals – “Symmetric Children” (LP- “Approaching The Energy Field”) (Addenda/Submarine)
The Kinks – “Cadillac – Live on Saturday Club” (LP – ‘The Kinks – Deluxe Edition”) (Sanctuary)
The Fall – “You’re Not Up To Much” (LP – “Middle Class Revolt”) (Permanent)
Alert – “Fracture” (download) (Oblivion Fringe)
The Vivian Girls – “Sixteen Ways” (LP – “Share The Joy”) (Polyvinyl)
The Vivian Girls – “Death” (LP – “Share The Joy”) (Polyvinyl)
The Vivian Girls – “Light In Your Eyes” (LP – “Share The Joy”) (Polyvinyl)
DJ Format – “Here Comes the Dope Pusher – B-Boy Version” (EP – “Mr. DJ”) (Project Blue Book)
Beenie Man – “Tell a Gall” (no label)

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When Big Joan Sets Up 24/3/11 – Singles Night

Originally this post had a lame “Two Ronnies” style pun about 7 inches being enough for anyone in the title – but frankly I’m better than that and so are you.

Anyroad, after Simon Ashberry’s claim on this very blog here, that 2011 was turning in to a cracking year for music – excellent records of every stripe have rained down upon our grateful upturned faces like er…rain and happily a good number of these have been shiny black 7″ singles as I was getting a bit concerned that we were going all 1973 with all the LP tracks we’ve been playing.

So, tonight started off as a singles only programme and then transmogrified ( I love typing that word. I’m tempted to do it again) in to a mix of 7″‘s, 12”s (stop it!) LP tracks, downloads and wax cylinders (alright, that last one was a lie)

To hear the whole hideous farrago again go to http://www.podcast.canstream.co.uk/bcb/index.php?id=611

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When Big Joan Sets Up 10/3/11 – LÃ¥ta oss Klippa!

I tribut till denna kväll skisserat LP “Daydreams and Nightmares” vid Stockholm ” Those Dancing Days ” den här vecka tracklist är i Svensk

Boris – “Hope” (download)
J Mascis – “Is It Done?” (LP – “Several Shades Of Why”) (Sub Pop)
Concrete DJ’s – “Encypter B22” (Download EP – “Epidemic Transmitter”) (Teskoba)
Bounty Killer – “Can’t Stop Killer” (download single) (Weeseed Productions)
James Brown and The Famous Flames – “Hold My Baby’s Hand” (LP – “I’ll Go Crazy”) (Fantastic Voyage)
Echo Lake – “Young Silence” (EP – “Young Silence”) (No Pain In Pop)
The Panthers – “Malkaus” (LP – “Pakistan – Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966-1976”) (Sublime Frequencies)
Group Doueh – “Badbada” (LP – “Beatte Harab”) (Sublime Frequencies)
DJ Delta and Anna Lua – “Glory” (split 12″ with Vaptor) (Biogenetics)
Sundials – “Crosby Sux” (LP – “Never Settle”) (Toxic Pop)
Bing Crosby with Woddy Herman’s Woodchoppers – “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes” (LP – “Bing With A Swing”) (Bygone Days)
The Fall – “Van Plague” (LP – “I Am Kurious Oranj”) (Beggars Banquet)
Toro Y Moi – “Light Black ” (LP -“Underneath The Pine”) (Carpark)
Those Dancing Days – “I’ll Be Yours” (LP – “Daydreams and Nightmares”) (Witchita)
Those Dancing Days – “Can’t Find Entrance” (LP – “Daydreams and Nightmares”) (Witchita)
Those Dancing Days – “Keep Me In Your Pocket” (LP – “Daydreams and Nightmares”) (Witchita)
8rolek – “Genotype” (downoad LP – “The Raban Collection”) (Cock Rock Disco)

When Big Joan Sets Up 3/3/11 – Stay Alive in ’75

I'd wear itA change to some listings this week, as the dreaded manflu (defintion – like women’s flu but MUCH WORSE!) has sundered my previously mellifluous tones and replaced them with something that sounds like someone sandpapering a door frame.

So – back, back, back, we go to a conversation that I had with Albert about a year ago, when we speculated as to what our prgrammes would have sounded like had BCB existed back in the day.

Galvanised into action by this conversation I asked Albert to name a random year for me to build a programme around. Having already dealt with 1987 previously, his second suggestion was 1975.

So this week’s programme was a tribute to the days when, if you were very good and ate all your Vesta curry and Angel Delight , your mam would let you stop up and watch “Fawlty Towers” and if you were bad she’d make you listen to the Radio 1 breakfast show with Noel Edmonds.

Starting with the obvious but enduringly wonderful….

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Bloody Big Bumper Big Joan Bonanza 10-25th February 2011

Ok , so basically I haven’t posted any tracklistings for a while so here’s a run down of the last three weeks for all you nostalgia buffs. Do you remember the golden days of 10th February?

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – “Cover The Days Like A Tidal Wave” (LP -“Tao Of The Dead”) (Superball Music)
Gil Scott Heron and Jamie XX – “Running” (LP – “We’re New Here”) (XL/Young Turks)
Chris Wood – “Hollowpoint” (V/A LP – “BBC Folk Awards 2011”) (Proper)
Skeptikal – “Process of Elimination” (V/A LP – “Transit One”) (Dispatch)
The Fall – “I Am Barmy” (3CD Set – “This Nation’s Saving Grace – Expanded Edition”) (Beggars Banquet)
The Fall – “Ma Riley” ( 3CD Set – “This Nation’s Saving Grace – Expanded Edition”) (Beggars Banquet)
Natalie Storm – “Nuh Watch We” (download from Ghettobassquake.com)
Hank IV – “Don’t Count On It” (LP- “3”) (Siltbreeze)
Hank Williams – “Lost Highway” (4CD Set – “Hillbilly Hero”) (Proper)
Cthulu Youth – “The Wizard’s Cat” (download “Demo 10”) (no label)
Cush – “Resusitation” (12″)(Plastique)
Jeff The Brotherhood – “Heavy Damage” (LP – “Live at Third Man”) (Third Man)
Jeff The Brotherhood – “Shredder” (LP – “Live at Third Man”) (Third Man)
Jeff The Brotherhood – “Beastmaster 420” (LP – “Live at Third Man”) (Third Man)
&ME -“Bye Bye” (v/a LP – “It Began In Africa Volume 2” ) (Kitball)

and what were YOU doing in the hazy lazy days of 17th Feb?

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When Big Joan Sets Up 3/2/11 – Mystic Cope Presents

Look at the size of my ....etc etc

Hello wild things,

For reasons so dull as to be not worth mentioning even here. I’m writing this week’s running order before actually doing the programme so your guess is as good as mine as to what happened. I was probabaly rubbish and the music was probably good that’s how it ususally goes – and a man in a green hat will bring you good luck, apparently.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw – “No Rest For The Wicked” (LP -“Cervantine”) (Forte)
The Babies – “Run Me Over” (LP – “The Babies”) (Shrimper)
Amen Ra – “Trifle” (EP – “EP2 Line Path”) (Keysound)
Elephant Man – “Wine and Dip” (LP – “Dance and Sweep”) (VP)
Megabats – “Medicine Hat” (LP -“Goes To A Lemon”) (Debacle)
Medicine Head – “(And The) Pictues In The Sky” (7″) (Dandelion)
Mosca – “Square One VIP” (v/a LP -“Nightslugs Vol.1) (Nightslugs)
Extortion – “Regrets” (CD – “Fear Candy 90”) (Terrorizer)
Kaleidoscope Jukebox – “Dance of The Jitterbug Fairy” (download)
The Fall – “Spoilt Victorian Child” (3CD Box – “This Nation’s Saving Grace – Expanded Edition”) (Beggars Banquet)
Hype Williams – “Blue Dream” (LP – “Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite and Start Being Reel”) (De Stijl)
Hype Williams – “Untitled” (LP – “Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite and Start Being Reel”) (De Stijl)
Hype Williams – “Untitled (Andrea Lopez) ” (LP – “Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite and Start Being Reel”) (De Stijl)
DJ Slugo – “Tip Toe” (EP -“In The Middle”) (Subterranean Playhouse)
Chapel Club – “White Knight Position” (LP – “Palace”) (Polydor)
Last Soul Descendants – “Savage Lion Dub” (LP -“LSD Dub Experience”) (Chillmode)

When Big Joan Sets Up 27/1/11 – Sorry love, it’s out of guarantee

Please Hammer, Dont Hurt 'Em

Please Hammer, Dont Hurt 'Em

Hello puny humans,

When Big Joan Sets Up once again clawed it’s evil way onto the radio this week and brought you 20 minutes of the work of sound artist Joseph Hammer 50% of whose astonishing LP “I Love You , Please Love Me Too” was aired this week.

It’s mix of snippets and samples from Al Jolson to R&B all overlaid to create a hypnotic hurricane of sound which no doubt thrilled some of our listeners and sent three times as many back to Comet complaining that their radios were broken.

Y Niwl – “Undegpump” (LP- “Y Niwl”) (http://yniwl.bandcamp.com/)
Howse – “(Intro)ducing” (LP -“JSTCHLLN”) (http://howsez.bandcamp.com/album/jstchlln)
Sic Alps – “The First White Man To Touch California Soil” (LP – “Napa Asylum”) (Drag City)
Glasvegas – “The World Is Yours” (download from http://www.glasvegas.net/the-world-is-yours/)
Predator Dub Assassins – “Conquering Dub” (LP – “The Dub Files”) (Self Released)
Joseph Hammer – no title – Side 2 of “I Love You, Please Love Me Too” LP (Pan)
The Fall – “Race With The Devil” (5 CD set – “The Fall Box Set”1976 -2007) (Sanctuary)
Gene Vincent and The Blue Caps – “You Belong To Me” (LP “Gene Vincent Rocks and The Blue Caps Roll” (Capitol)
Pipsqueak – “Pipsqueak Boogie” (Cassette – “Pipsqueak”) (Burger)
AB – “Blip” (EP – “YODJ”) (Relentless)
Soom T – “Jungle of Peace” (LP – “Ode 2 A Carrot”) (Jahtari)
Broadcast – “The Book Lovers” (EP – “The Book Lovers”) (Duophonic)

When Big Joan Sets Up 20/1/11 – If only I could spell cornucopia

In the words of Destiny’s Child – Question.

Where would you find ear shreddling guitar mangling, pelvis rattling bass frequencies, a forgotten sixties R&B classic, the triumphant return of a reggae legend,spine tingling post-rock,thundering techno, alt country titans covering Neil Young and ten minutes of the greatest live LP ever?

All this and Freddie Mercury In Dub – surely that’s worth falling alseep at work on a Thursday for?

Agathocles – “God Save The Real Green Crocodile” (LP – This is Not A Threat… It’s a Promise”) (Selfmadegod)
Watty Burnett – “Rasta At Di Kontrol” (LP- “Rasta At Di Kontrol”) (Worldbeat Pro Jam)
Downliners Sekt – “From Under Spinning Lights” (EP – “We Make The Hits, Not the Public”) (Disboot)
The Downliners Sect – “Baby What’s Wrong?” (7″) (Columbia)
Mogwai – “How To Be A Werewolf” (LP – “Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will”) (Rock Action)
The Five Stars of Harmony of Jackson GA. – “If I Can Just Hold On ‘Till Tomorrow”) (v/a LP – “In The Storm So Long”) (Mississippi)
Rock Steady Freddy – “Bohemian Rhapsody” (7″ “Heavy Duty Booty – Volume 3”) (Heavy Duty Booty)
Thurston Moore – “Black Hairs” (EP – “Suicide Notes For Acoustic Guitar”) (Carbon)
The Fall – “The Quartet of Doc Shanley” (LP – “Levitate”) (Artful)
Micheal Random – “Level” (EP – “Error”) (Datablender)
Asobi Seksu – “In My Head” (LP – “Florescence”) (Polyvynil)
Phosphorescent – “Are You Ready For The Country?” (v/a CD – “Harvest Revisited”) (Mojo)
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – “Rockin’In The Free World” (LP – “Weld”) (Reprise)