Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 161st episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on January 30th 2024.
About this show. – I remember when I spoke to Douglas a few days ago, insisting that this blog was not about me but about us. I had this beautiful sentence "And that's also something I learned thanks to Colleen... It's US... it's just US... US as music lovers, the music that's being played during the show, the artists who make it and Her... Her as a Professional... an Absolute Human Professional..." There you go, Colleen; you've just been awarded a new title from your Balearic Breakfast Family, the AHP one! Congratulations!
Joking aside, it is really Heartwarming to share music all together with our dear Captain. It really is! Being given the opportunity to share our musical worlds with such a great musical radio host, I mean, that's the icing on the cake, right?
For this week's show, Colleen asked Susan, whom I interviewed earlier on the blog (read here), and Matt Raistrick to craft mixes for us as she's still travelling around the globe: "I haven’t brushed my hair in weeks but at least my clothes are clean and that in itself is a feat when you’re on the road. This week’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud for your listening-back pleasure. This week we are joined by two more members of our global Balearic Breakfast family: @sansan.ot from New York / New Jersey and @matt_raistrick from Greater Manchester. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Susan and her husband Jeff, their daughters and her brother-in-law (an amazing roller skater) at various parties in New York and it’s great to see her shine on this mix. Matt requests songs each week (at least when the request line is up) and they are all worth checking out as he has a great ear. Once again both mixes are fantastic. And thank you to all who made the past 2 shows reach Number 1 on the Mixcloud Balearic chart. Thanks to all who joined in the chat on the live stream of the show. Your encouragement and support of one another is truly inspiring, and thank you for making this community a beacon of positivity. We all need more of that in our lives."
Let's keep the fire burning and embrace these two great-sounding hours of pure Musical Bliss...
Listen back to the 161st episode of Balearic Breakfast:
PLAYLIST
Susan Chan Mix
Pat Metheny Group – Are You Going with Me?
Laid Back – Fly Away/Walk in the Sunshine
Aswad – Dub Fire
Sade – Why Can't We Live Together
Los Niños – Star Odyssey
Moloko – Forever More (Francois K & Erik Kupper Vocal Mix)
Jacob Gurevitsch – Elevation in Minor (Cosmodelica Remix)
Paul Young – Every Dub (Pete Blaker Balearic Dub Edit)
Matt Raistrick Mix
Steve Hiett – Kinda Knew Anna
Simon Peter – You Don't Send Me Slow Waves Anymore
Citron Citron – Tu m'as Reveillée Dans Mon Sommeil
Statues – Comienzio
Sade – Love is Stronger than Pride (Mad Professor remix)
Lova – Venizia 26 02
Optimystic – Trust Me
Ichisan – Vitranc '86'
Ron Basejam – FAKE
Tooli – Solution Dub
DENA – Idealize (Lauer Remix)
Jean Claude Gavri/Howard Jones – Mental Chains
Jean Claude Gavri/Pet Shop Boys – Love Trip
Captain Sensible – Wot! (Daniel Monaco edit)
Tina Turner – We Don't Need Another Hero (Plastic Fantastic instrumental Dub)
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
Susan's mix very quickly gave me the impression of a river flowing to its destiny: the sea... She was thrilled to have done this mix for us: "It’s a mix of old and new favourite tracks of mine. Definitely a privilege to put something together for the Balearic breakfast family!" (to read my interview with Susan, click here). Every track follows the previous one in a beautiful musical flow, and there is an underlying tension to the whole mix, something intangible yet very strong, something that pushes the listener, a driving force, a musical engine. I felt that so strongly that it even reaffirmed some thoughts I had for the last few days about how we could be more Balearic in our lives. But we'll come back to these thoughts later in this post. Opening her set with the absolutely sad track Pat Metheny Group – Are You Going with Me? [1982 - Discogs] really surprised me as I thought it was rather a closing song. Still, when I gave it a second thought, "Are you going with me?" really is a plea; it's a question waiting for an answer, but the answer to that question will not change the Destiny of the one who asks it. It's an affirmation, it's an affirmative question, the underlying answer being "no matter what you'll do, I'll go. If you want to stay by my side, I'd really love it, but I can't force you, my destiny is waiting and I can't stay here longer..."
Strangely enough, I searched the internet to find more information about this heartwrenching song and only found these few lines: "It's a special song, probably one of the favourites of my own songs, and it is my favourite song to play live with the group. There really is no story to it. i was just trying to find a way to use that c minor/a flat major common tone thing that i love so much in a way that sounded good to me. it was written very fast, basically i improvised it into the synclav in the same amount of time it takes to play one chorus. i don't think i ever changed a note of it - it seemed just fine. i then remember playing along on the (at the time new) roland guitar for about 5 hours without stopping - always a good sign for a new tune. if it is about anything for me (other than the c minor/a flat thing i was talking about) it is about a little walk that i took just before i wrote it near where it was written. (upstate new york) - somehow i always think of that when i hear it. but most people make up their own thing of what that song is "about" and they are all pretty different definitions from each other - and i think that is also a good sign for a tunes life".
Then enters the second song, Laid Back – Fly Away/Walk in the Sunshine [1983 - Discogs], with a visual accent to it, almost like a feather falling somewhere; beautiful mix, by the way, simple yet very effective. This song directed me towards the image of the river. That rhythm really lets you picture the free and generous but somewhat boiling waters (if the sound of that song reminds you of something, search no further as Laid Back was responsible for the Hit "Sunshine Reggae" that can be found on the same album "Fly away" has been taken from, namely "Keep smiling" from 1983).
Since it's very long too, "Fly Away/Walk in the Sunshine" accentuates the idea of the Flow, which is well maintained with the following song, Aswad – Dub Fire [1982 - Discogs]. Can you feel the lingering tension in the music's tonality, too? Nothing is really happy here for the time being. And we keep that "uneasiness" during Sade – Why Can't We Live Together [1984 - Discogs] (the original being by Timmy Thomas from 1972), which tends to show that Susan has a trained ear as she was able to create here a beautiful musical unity. I love how Sade's song enters the mix, with an uncertain affirmation followed by Los Niños – Star Odyssey [2021 - Bandcamp], and the river is still flowing strong. Keeping the rhythm intact, Susan's next choice seems absolutely logical in the "déroulé" of her mix; such a great choice putting the very ocean-driven Moloko – Forever More (Francois K & Erik Kupper Vocal Mix) [2003 - Discogs] here! This beautiful and strong musical moment is followed by Jacob Gurevitsch – Elevation in Minor (Cosmodelica Remix) [2023 - Bandcamp] (read a review here), a track we all love I believe! Ending this somewhat romanticosad mix, Susan proposes to us the beautiful Paul Young – Every Dub (Pete Blaker Balearic Dub Edit). "Everytime You Go Away", released in 1985 on Paul's "The Secret Association" studio effort, was, in fact, written by Daryl Hall and originally recorded by Hall & Oates for their 1980 studio album, Voices. Yet, it has not been released as a single; Young's version becoming a hit nearly five years later. Daryl Hall listed this version as one of his favourite Hall & Oates songs and explained, in various interviews: "Paul Young had a pop hit with it a few years after we released it. It's just one of those songs. I feel very proud of its craftsmanship. I never thought of it any other way than the way it was 'til Paul Young did it ... I was just doin' a kind of gospel/soul song; that was all I had in mind for it. I was really surprised to hear the production they did because it kept the elements but commercialized it - made it sound like a pop record".
As I said in the beginning, this mix got me thinking that we, as humans, should try to take things with distance, especially when we're drawn into situations we absolutely can't control. We should try to distance ourselves from what is coming at us, what is "attacking" us and know that we are not That situation. We should allow ourselves to surpass any situation that we encounter; this should help us to keep our emotional balance. And this is where the image of the river is interesting. Can you see Why? (...)
Matt's mix is the most laid-back, unpretentious mix I've ever heard, yet its structure is nice, it does exist (it pops out musically, so that's great, too), and its last part is just perfect, right up until the end, where the Plastic Fantastic instrumental Dub serves as a beautiful ending credit list. We actually did a great interview together that you can read here.
Starting his mix with the very soothing Steve Hiett – Kinda Knew Anna [2019 - Discogs], whose album "Girls in the grass" contains unreleased material recorded between 1986 and 1997, Matt breaks the flow with Simon Peter – You Don't Send Me Slow Waves Anymore [2023 - Bandcamp]. Simon shared his thoughts on his Facebook about this very song a few weeks ago, saying "Key inspiration for this track was Cornelius - 'Point of View Point' (Yann Tomita mix) - a track I've loved for years!" Matt keeps on surprising us as he, once again, breaks the rhythmical flow by selecting Citron Citron – Tu m'as Reveillé Dans Mon Sommeil [2022 - Bandcamp] (you woke me up from my sleep) and Statues – Comienzio [2023 - Bandcamp], which beautifully ends the first part of this mix. When you think about it, musically, "Tu m'as reveillé dans mon sommeil" is a nursery rhyme! The lyrics are gentle and present a "love story for two voices": Augustin sings the male version while Zoé sings the female version of the lyrics. The brother and the sister present an unconventional love song which really got into our hearts. Even though the English translation can not reproduce the duality created in this song, the lyrics go like this "I was crazy/ I was alone/You told me that the pain/Was worth it/And you woke me up in my sleep/Aaaa/I was terrible/in my cocoon/You told me that life/Was worth the effort/ And you woke me up in my sleep/Aaaa/I was lame/Without ecstasy/You told me that love/Was worth the effort/And you woke me up in my sleep/Aaaa".
Obviously, Matt wanted to convey, in this first part of his mix, a Balearic Message, regardless of the musical unity, and that's great as every track shines in its own independent way!
Then, nicely keeping up the rhythm for the first time, Matt takes us to the second part of the mix, starting his journey with Sade – Love is Stronger than Pride (Mad Professor remix) [1996 - Discogs], beautifully followed by Lova – Venizia 26 02 [2023 - Bandcamp] (click here for an interview I did with the great Davide Lovato). This moment of the mix really shows you Matt's freedom; there is a constant "take off", and surprise is always lurking from an invisible corner... The last two tracks, nicely mixed together by the way, and preparing us for the next big part of Matt's musical journey, are Optimystic – Trust Me [1991 - Discogs] & Ichisan – Vitranc '86' [2023 - Bandcamp].
Finally, from Ron Basejam – FAKE [2016 - Bandcamp], you can hear the same sample in the tribute "JTHZ MIx" I did (Julius Thysen & Hens Zimmerman); Matt takes us onto the Dancefloor for a nice boogie, which deserves to be given the Wow effect! There are no rhythmical breaches here; the flow is real. We surely don't need another DJ, but we do love Record cueers when they know what they're doing, and that's exactly what happens here with the next five songs that are Tooli – Solution Dub [2023 - Bandcamp], DENA – Idealize (Lauer Remix) [2023 - Bandcamp], Jean Claude Gavri/Howard Jones – Mental Chains [2021 - Bandcamp], Jean Claude Gavri/Pet Shop Boys – Love Trip & Captain Sensible – Wot! (Daniel Monaco edit) [2022 - Bandcamp]!!!
Matt ends his mix with a perfect closing track, Tina Turner – We Don't Need Another Hero (Plastic Fantastic instrumental Dub) [2021 - Bandcamp].
