HUMPHREY LYTTELTON 1921 – 2008

Sadly Humphrey ‘Humph’ Lyttelton has died this week. He’s most famous to the public for two reasons, as a renowned Jazz Trumpet player who scored a top-twenty hit in 1956 with the Joe Meek produced ‘Bad Penny Blues’ (The piano riff of which Macca nicked for ‘Lady Madonna’) and as the long running presenter of Radio 4’s comedy panel show ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue’.

Humphrey Lyttelton & His Band – Bad Penny Blues mp3

ISIHAC is a program that I listen to an almost daily basis. Humph was perhaps the master of the double-entendre, managing to deliver even the most downright filthy comment, as if the rude implications had never even occurred to him. The fact that he could induce fits of hysterical laughter in an audience with nothing but a weary sigh means he’s almost certainly irreplaceable. Here’s just one example of the brilliance of ISIHAC from May 2000 with a guest appearance by fellow national treasure Stephen Fry.

ISIHAC – Lyttleton, London – 19th May 2000 (With Stephen Fry) mp3

Click here to watch an edition of The South Bank show about Humph on YouTube.

Lastly “As the slavering Radio 4 scheduler of time, savages the airwaves of eternity, and the popular panel game of hope is axed by the cataclysmic network controller of doom” I’ll end this post with Humph’s fittingly funereal collaboration with Radiohead from their superb 2001 album ‘Amnesiac’.

Radiohead – Life In A Glasshouse (With Humphrey Lyttelton) mp3

Life In A Glasshouse (Live YouTube Clip)

Humphrey Lyttelton Website

SHAM SHAM – 99 Hearts

I just picked up this brilliant and quirky new mashup on 12″.

Sham Sham – 99 Hearts mp3

This track is a veritable six-degrees-of-separation of sampling. Firstly, the vocal from the Sham Sham track is taken from the Rick Rubin produced ’99 Problems’ and the music is largely sampled from Architecture In Helsinki’s ‘Heart It Races’:

Jay-Z – 99 Problems mp3

Architecture In Helsinki – Heart It Races mp3

’99 Problems’ borrows elements of many records, including most prominently:

Ice-T – 99 Problems mp3

UGK – Touched mp3

But the big sample is from:

Billy Squier – Big Beat mp3

Which Dizzee Rascal used just a couple of months before on:

Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp mp3

Which was sampled on and referenced by Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip on:

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip – Fixed mp3

Lastly, is of course the legendary and most famous Remix/Bootleg of ’99 Problems’, the ‘Helter Skelter’ sampling:

Danger Mouse – 99 Problems mp3

I could go on all day, but I’ll just finish by linking to a few YouTube vids of the above tracks:

Jay-Z – 99 Problems (Video)
Architecture In Helsinki – Heart It Races (Video)
Billy Squier – The Big Beat (Video)
Dizzee Rascal – Fix Up, Look Sharp (Video)
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip – Fixed (Live Video)
Danger Mouse – 99 Problems (Video)

STOP ME: Riding High In April

One day I’ll get round to some proper posts but in the meantime, I had to share some of the highlights from the records I’ve purchased this week.

‘Breakfast’ is hardly a feminist call-to-arms with liberal use of words like “Ho” and “Bitch” but I can’t help loving it when it’s so damn funny, danceable and features priceless rhymes like “Hola hola hola.. oatmeal and granola”. The B-side ‘Disco Vraiment’ is almost as good so go get a copy of this 4-Track EP.
Le Le – Breakfast mp3
(Buy EP) (YouTube) (MySpace)

‘Northern Girls’ is like a great lost Moloko track mixed with some Eminem style beats and hints of ‘Under The Broadwalk’.
Belleruche – Northern Girls mp3
(Buy EP) (YouTube) (MySpace)

I can’t resist buying any record that’s blessed with the skills of MC Abdominal. Once again I’m rewarded with another quality cut to add to my collection and the B-sides on the 12″ are shit hot too.
Jellybass – Free EP Sampler mp3
(Buy EP) (Buy Mp3) (MySpace)

I was mildly underwhelmed by Jim’s last EP but the wonky Guitars and bouncy tune of his new single ‘What U Gonna Do?’ have got me.
Jim Noir – What U Gonna Do? mp3
(Buy 7”) (MySpace)

If you’ve sickened yourself on Sonny J, then here’s another summery Disco-Pop cut-up tune to brighten your day from those fine fellows, Lack Of Afro.
Lack Of Afro – Touch My Soul (Feat. Steve Marriott) mp3
(Buy Album) (MySpace)

‘Ear Sex’ is a good old sneering, fuzzy, abrasive Art-Rocker with a little Pop to sweeten things.
Innercity Pirates – Ear Sex mp3
(Buy Split 7”) (MySpace)

Kid Sister contributes a stellar vocal to the original version of Beeper but the beats are just toooo good on this lead-vocal-less Remix (It’s one of those phone-sampling records that has you checking your mobile every two seconds).
The Count & Sinden (Feat. Kid Sister) – Beeper (A-Trak Remix) mp3
(Buy EP) (YouTube) (MySpace)

I adore almost everything that Jack White has a hand in but I thought the first Raconteurs album was one of his lesser works. However I loved their new LP from almost the very first second. It’s fierce, energetic, spontaneous and reminiscent of the kind of raw riffery on display in a certain Flamin’ Groovies’ track they’ve been known to cover live.
The Raconteurs – Salute Your Solution mp3
(Buy Album) (YouTube) (MySpace)

As if by magic, bask in the relentless piledriving Rawk of this 1970 classic.
The Flamin’ Groovies – Headin’ For The Texas Border
(Buy Album) (MySpace)

Lastly, this week I’ve been hooked on Jimmy Smith’s indispensable 1972 Jazz-Funk LP ‘Root Down Live!’. The title track is of course legendary.
Jimmy Smith – Root Down (And Get It) mp3
(Buy Album) (YouTube) (MySpace)