Birmingham 81

YouTube video by Classic Rock Media Archive Talking Heads - Live in Shelton, CT (August 17th, 1979) - 16mm Film

Some very cool / freshly uploaded you-are-there footage of Talking Heads at a Connecticut country club on the Fear of Music tour. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRcT...

Amsterdam Safari

Bit before my time in Birmingham, but someone else had tracked it down 👍🏻

Isley Brothers - 40 gems from four decades

Here's a playlist of 40 Isley Brothers classics from four decades. Hard to think of another group that has excelled across so many different musical genres - rock'n'roll, R&B, soul, funk, disco, slow jams, pop, AOR, protest songs, folk rock...
▶️ open.spotify.com/playlist/07T...

YouTube video by The Record Selector Townes Van Zandt - Pancho and Lefty. Heartworn Highways

Remembering Townes Van Zandt on his birthday
youtu.be/zprRZ2wFQD4

Happy birthday to Ernie Isley who wrote this evergreen gem
▶️ youtu.be/8QZvoOqUkqw
And when I rolled with the punches
I got knocked on the ground
By all this bullshit going down
#WeekendSingles

YouTube video by SabuCat It's Your Thing (1970) New 4K Scan/Live Concert Isley Brothers, Tina Turner (Part 1 of 2)

So, in 1969, the Isley Brothers held a legendary soul & gospel revue at Yankee Stadium, released in cinemas in 1970, after which it was never put on video or online and was something of a holy grail. This week, an HD copy surfaced: Part One. Highlight: Patti Austin
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpvl...

😍

It’s a new recording with Gillian on guitar and yes, it’s the version on substance

YouTube video by New Order New Order - Ceremony (Live in New York City 1981)

And here are New Order performing Ceremony in NYC later in 1981
youtu.be/tOuvg68oQPo

No - it's one of the other members of She Rockers
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Roc...

YouTube video by New Order New Order - Ceremony (Live at CoManCHE Student Union, Manchester on 6th February 1981)

Here are New Order performing Ceremony live in Manchester on 6 February 1981, exactly a month before the single was released (THREAD)
youtu.be/NAmyMqL1AkI

WE DON’T NEED THIS FASCIST GROOVE THANG RIGHT KIDS?

45

Ceremony started as a Joy Division song, as captured on the recording of their last ever concert at Birmingham's High Hall. It was listed as "NEW ONE". Listen to that recording, plus early New Order demos and the two single versions on this playlist (THREAD)
▶️ open.spotify.com/playlist/0MC...

It's 45 years since New Order released their first record - the 7" of Ceremony, which was followed by the two 12" editions later in 1981 (THREAD)
Version 1: youtu.be/IxIoTBp22Sg
Version 2 with Gillian: youtu.be/eNdNxcWz-fE

Happy birthday to Betty Boo. Here's a reminder of the time she rapped with Public Enemy in the McDonalds at Shepherd's Bush back in 1987 (look out for the unimpressed manager!)

Sound of Birmingham

The Birmingham 81
open.spotify.com/playlist/18A...

Rough Trade Singles 1978-1983

In case you missed it, here's a comprehensive playlist of 100+ singles released by Rough Trade Records in its first five years. Features Stiff Little Fingers, The Feelies, Monochrome Set, Unknown Cases, Kleenex, Swell Maps, Blue Orchids, Aztec Camera, The Prefects
▶️ open.spotify.com/playlist/2l0...

👍 looking forward to seeing them at the Roundhouse

Be With Records • Gap Mangione Diana In The Autumn Wind LP Buy Gap Mangione Diana In The Autumn Wind LP • £37 from the Be With Records web shop

They said it could never be done!

www.bewithrecords.com/dianaintheautumnwind

Looking forward to this next week...

Rough Trade 20 (1978-1987)

Today's listening - 20 favourite tunes from the first 10 years of Rough Trade Records, starring The Fall, Subway Sect, Delta 5, Augustus Pablo, Scritti Politti, James Blood Ulmer, The Go-Betweens, Arthur Russell, Cabaret Voltaire, Johnathan Richman, The Raincoats...
open.spotify.com/playlist/2cY...

Remembering Mark E. Smith on his birthday. Here are The Fall performing Big New Prinz live on Tony Wilson's The Other Side of Midnight in 1988

Rough Trade Singles 1978-1983

Here's a new playlist of Rough Trade singles from 1978-1983. Features Subway Sect, Scritti Politti, The Smiths, Raincoats, Kleenex, Cabaret Voltaire, Swell Maps, Essential Logic, Delta 5, The Slits, The Pop Group, The Fall, Wire, Robert Wyatt, Young Marble Giants etc
open.spotify.com/playlist/2l0...

YouTube video by Raquel רָחֵל Junkyard Band: "19th and M", the early days (1985)

When Washington DC gave us good things. This is joyous
youtu.be/MSnj-kY5Mcs

Little Richard soul party

Thanks! The soulful side of Little Richard deserves greater recognition. I put together this playlist when he died six years ago
open.spotify.com/playlist/4oU...

the modernist x BDP London present - The BDP Talk Series. 1.1 - Bruce Peter : Modernist Scotland - 10/3/26 Tuesday 10th March 2026 6.15PM FOR A 6.30PM START  BDP London  16 Brewhouse YardClerkenwellLondon EC1V 4LJ Please note that thanks to the generosity of BDP there will be drinks and a buffet laid on so...

Manchester's Modernist Society is doing a bunch of events in London this year, starting next week with Bruce Peter, design history prof at Glasgow School of Art.

Lots of Cumbernauld mega-structures and everyone's favourite pub typology.

the-modernist.org/collections/...

YouTube video by chambers of hourrors Half Pint, Sly & Robbie with the Taxi Gang - Greetings (Live)

Greetings. Half Pint with Sly & Robbie on The Tube 40 years ago
youtu.be/07wjODFDMm4

Ha! Coincidentally, today would have been his 84th birthday

I fancy a career as a Velvet Underground Researcher. Where do I send my CV?