Cabeza de Vaca P004 – In-Edit special

I promised when I named the show Cabeza de Vaca that we would cross uneven and unexpected terrain and so it is that we end up playing almost all punk and no electronica in the most recent show! Well a couple of tracks anyway.

 

All the tracks on the program today were chosen to coincide with the 10^th edition of the Beefeater In-Edit International Festival of Music Documentaries  held this time every year in Barcelona (last year’s review can be found by clicking here). Because of the local nature of the festival I chose to do the program in Spanish this time, a first, and more difficult than I thought, but then it was late and I was tired and I am always rushing with preparation. Not a perfect example of the language, but not too shabby either. But apologies for saying repeatedly that Paul Weller was from The Clash and not from The Jam… I had one ear/eye already on Joe Strummer and The Clash. But That’s Entertainment!

 

The origins of the show actually came from an idea to do one about LCD Soundsystem’s track “Losing my edge” which I will still probably do in the future when the promos and new releases dry up a bit. Their track doesn’t need too much more introduction other than the film itself which will be eagerly awaited by many:


 

 

As part of the LCD show I had wanted to play the Talking Heads track “Cross-eyed and painless” from “Remain in light” as it always reminded me of LCD Soundsystem, even though it doesn’t feature on the official list part of “Losing my edge” that was to be the basis of the show. That said, neither does Can appear, perhaps the other critical group for triangulating the LCD sound, although Can does get a more official mention in the main lyrics. Looking forward to seeing the full feature of “Stop Making Sense” which seems to be one of the more pioneering live concert films ever made for different reasons, including staging, lights and so on.
 

 

The punk stuff in the show we have more or less dealt with serendipitously in different posts including the one on punk  and the second show which dealt with Tresor, Berlin and Detroit.

 

The only things additional to report here, especially for the English speakers who won’t catch me saying it in Spanish are the fight between Paul Weller and Sid Vicious over the Sex Pistols use of the bass guitar riff from “In the city” in “Holidays in the Sun”. The damage done by Weller on Vicious was apparently permanent (at least until his death not long after) with the irony being that Vicious had been incensed that Weller had dare claim that the riff was stolen, when all and sundry knew it had been, but he’d felt it worth fighting for anyway.

 

 

I chose to put in the live version of “New York” recorded at Chelmsford Prison, one of the only prison gigs I know of, except for Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock”, Johnny Cash in St Quentin’s prison in 1958 and The Cramps playing, of all places, California State Mental Hospital on June 13, 1978.

 

 

 

“Somebody told me you people were crazy, but you seem alright to me”

- Lux Interior

 

There is a great joke and insult by Johnny Rotten at the end of the track where he says

 

“Best captive audience I ever played for. Boring, you’re boring me. I bet you all have piles from sitting down too much”

 

Joe Strummer has two films about him, the more well-known Julien Temple film “The future is unwritten” as well as a Spanish film “Quiero tener una ferreteria en Andalucía” (y no “Quiero hacer una ferreteria en Andalucía” like I say in the show – lo siento mucho).

 

Finally, in the Joy Division track (another track from Jon Savage’s compilation) you can apparently hear the group eating crisps (patatas) at the start of the track, well drenched in reverb by Martin Hannett.

The Ice T track was chosen as it relates to the three films that he stars in, or appears in in the festival this year that relate to Hip Hop.

“Planet Rock: The Story Of Hip Hop And The Crack Generation”,

 

“Something from Nothing The Art of Rap”

And finally “Uprising: Hip Hop and The LA Riots”

 

  

The track “New Jack Hustler” from the “O.G. Original Gangster” album of 1991 is also one of the first examples of gangster rap, but was also used in soundtrack to the Mario van Peebles-directed film “New Jack City” starring Wesley Snipes as well as Ice T and Chris Rock amongst others.

 

Those with a keen sense of humour might also see the irony in the use of the term “O.G.” for “Over gold”, a syndrome by which African Americans die in ghettos from wearing too many gold chains a-la Mr T in the blackploitation comedy “I´m gonna get you sucka” which also stars Chris Rock as well as Isaac Hayes and was directed by the Keenan Ivory Wayans of “Scary Movie“ and more fame.

 

The classic scene with (young) Chris Rock and Isaac Hayes:

 

Rest of the tracks don’t need too much explanation, though arguably you shouldn’t mix Sigur Rós with The Doors too often, but, as Paul Weller says, “That’s Entertainment”. Enjoy the festival and the show!