Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 173rd episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud and Twitch TV socials on April 30th 2024.
About this episode. – With each episode, a new sensation, new visuals, new stories to tell, new music and thus new post here on the blog! Today's show was gorgeous, and I had a hard time finding the right title – the general sensation was too precise... I even exchanged about that with my dear Ana Maria on the chat while Colleen was streaming! But hey, after all, it's all in the intention, and as always, we're going to discover why this show is all about these "Balearic Flutterings"!
But for now, let's give the mic to our dear Captain: "Today's show features some great tunes for you – latin jazz, deep soul, funk, indie-pop, garage classics, breezy balearica, and more so get ready for another fantastic voyage. And along with the classics and the yesteryear obscurities there are some new tunes. And don't forget you can pre-order the next Balearic Breakfast Volume 3 compilation from the Heavenly Bandcamp at https://heavenlyrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/colleen-cosmo-murphy-presents-balearic-breakfast-vol-3 Enjoy the show and thanks for listening!"
Listen back to the 173rd episode of Balearic Breakfast:
PLAYLIST
(1970) John Cale – Big White Cloud
(2024) Scott Grooves – Sudden Burst of Rays
(1971) Gabor Szabo – Breezin
(1985) Georgie Red – Help the Man (Save ya' Mix)
(1987) Quintus Project – Night Flight
(1979) Vangelis – Chung Kuo/The Long March
(2024) Psychederek – Pacific State
(2024) Brainstory – Hanging On
(1991) Snowboy – Astralisation
(1977) Lalomie Washburn – Give Me Love with the Music
(1977) Eli’s Second Coming – Love Chant
(2014) House of Spirits – Holding On
(1972) Alice Clark – Charms of the Arms of My Love
(1981) Central Line – Walking Into Sunshine (Larry Levan Mix)
(2024) Shunt Voltage – To What Degree (A Space Age Freak Out)
(1989) Womack & Womack – Celebrate the World (The People Unite Mix)
(2024) Two Man Sound – Que Tal America (Dave Lee Mix)
(NOL) Army of Lovers – Lit de Parade (Foundation of Dub Remix)
(2023) Zaimie – Wildfire
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
The general feeling of the mix. – Today's mix has very clear imagery for me. Thanks to the songs, the rhythms, and the instrumentation – but also the mix itself (Colleen's delicate touch and the way she lets silence take its place help a lot to the free-flying effect) – we can easily picture a beautiful naturalistic open-to-all-winds field where butterflies and insects pollinate flowers and where birds and bees freely fly!
Interestingly enough, this "light Flying" feeling, this fluttering and very natural-like presence, represented musically and lyrically, will stay present throughout the show, infusing its first part and transcending itself into its second hour...
More about the songs. – With its big soundstage, John Cale's "Big White Cloud" (taken from the enigmatic 1970 studio album "Vintage Violence" and, who knows, a song about LSD, maybe?) perfectly sets up the imagery of today's episode. You feel the wavy touch in this song and the first "Balearic Flutterings"! We keep this living picture in our minds for the next two hours, even when reaching out to more "rhythmically driven" songs. Laughs! But for now, Scott Grooves' "Sudden Burst of Rays" keeps enchanting us with this circular synth sound and its ever-revolving sonic nature!
Both Gabor Szabo's "Breezin" (written by Bobby Womack and famously covered by George Benson in 1976, the Hungarian guitarist being an essential figure for Carlos Santana) and Georgie Red's "Help the Man (Save ya' Mix)" have the wandering feeling of a bee flying in the open fields. The first minutes of today's show make you shake your head up and down, left to right, preparing you to leave Earth with Quintus Project's "Night Flight" (the brilliant song was first issued on a very limited edition of the 1987 studio album "Moments" – produced by Walter Quintus who engineered lots of great modern jazz albums for his label CMP in Germany and who also worked with Kraftwerk, Gary Moore or Quincy Jones to name a few... – later discovered by Derwin label-head Alex Barck and given the remix treatment by Psychemagik).
While we were all digging the Piano Solo on that unbelievable track, Roberto shared this message with us on the chat: "If anyone is digging the piano on the Quintus Project track - check out Dany Tenagilia's Future Garage remix of D*Note "Lost and Found" - wicked piano solo towards the end by Peter Daou".
Keeping the flying element absolutely vibrant, Colleen then plays Vangelis' "Chung Kuo/The Long March" (from his 1979 studio album "China"), which starts with the sound of a Synth also used by the great Czeslaw Niemen in his "Klaustrofobia" track, as played during his 1984 live concert. Do you hear what happens at the end of Vangelis' track? Isn't that mix just stunning, diving into Psychederek's "Pacific State"? Pure musical bliss right here...
As we slowly reach today's show's first hour, Colleen keeps the fluttering effect on by playing the woozy, down-bad tune with a bittersweet ambience that is Brainstory's "Hanging On", mixing Snowboy's "Astralisation" into it with a perfectly respected groove "s'il vous plait..." (in French dans le texte, laughs)!
Listening to Lalomie Washburn's "Give Me Love with the Music"(from the acclaimed 1977 debut studio album "My Music is Hot"), pay attention to the way the song is rhythmically constructed, with its swift attacks, the melody swinging over that blissful rhythm section. Absolutely mesmerising; picture the bees right there as the flute plays its small arpeggios and try not to lose your head as Colleen, once again hot on her musical wheels, plays Eli’s Second Coming "Love Chant" (Disco project led by songwriter, producer and Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Eli), followed by the whooping headbanger and mind-losing number that is Tom Noble's House of Spirits "Holding On", ending the mix with Alice Clark's "Charms of the Arms of My Love" (a beautiful cover of Bobby Hebb's song from his 1970 "Love Games" studio album. By the way, do you remember Sunny? He wrote the song!). So, tell me, are you fluttering too?! We're in the Wow moment of the show right there!
For the last part of this 173rd episode, Colleen takes us on a sunny trip on our Friendly Bee's back... Laughs! The free-breezing sun-oriented fluttering mix (are you still following us?!) starts with Larry Levan's version of Central Line's "Walking Into Sunshine" (David Mancuso played the original version at The Loft. It was also played live at the Paradise Garage where Levan was a resident DJ), perfectly mixed with the following bumping number that is Shunt Voltage's "To What Degree (A Space Age Freak Out)"! Oh boy, we're racing now, I can tell you!
As Womack & Womack's "Celebrate the World (The People Unite Mix)" starts, do you feel the rhythmical unity here despite Colleen's presentation? We're not ready to stop our Balearic Fluttering today, as Colleen then mixes Two Man Sound's"Que Tal America (Dave Lee Mix)" into the groove, ending this second astounding mini mix with her secret weapon, Army of Lovers' "Lit de Parade (Foundation of Dub Remix)" (listen to "Crucified", you'll see how many sonic similarities these two songs share, a favourite of mine by the way because of its imploring nature and of the crazy whistle notes...).
I think it's the very first time that a mental representation keeps its vibrant picture in my mind up to the end of the second hour of the show, one of the finest shows of the series, Colleen, that's for sure... The last track, Zaimie's "Wildfire", which I discovered one night a few weeks ago as I could not sleep (I'm not at all intoxicated, and no one in the Family is! 🤣), clotures this Fluttering Balearic mix in eternal joy, can we start all over, please?!!
Notes from the show :
1. – Welsh composer, producer, and Velvet Underground co-founder, John Cale with Big White Cloud from his debut album, Vintage Violence. It was released in 1970 after he left VU, and during a time when he was producing a lot of different kinds of records for the Stooges and former collaborator Nico. And just after this release, he played viola and harpsichord for Nick Drake's second album, Bryter Layter. So he was and is still involved with so many different sounds, including avant-garde, classical, and drone music. But that one in particular is a lot more traditional sounding.
2. – Over the last few years, Detroit producer Scott Grooves has been sonically branching out from his deep house roots into live music. On his Bandcamp, he has this little note: "I don't like making the same mistake twice. I like to make new ones each time I create". Recently, we've heard him expanding into a more spacey, ambient soundscape like this one.
3. – Breezin was written by Bobby Womack. He actually did write some lyrics to the song, but they weren't used until Womack released a version in 2010. The song, of course, was made famous by George Benson, but it was first recorded by the artist we heard, Hungarian jazz guitarist legend Gabor Szabo, and featured on his fourteenth album, High Contrast, which has a great lineup, including Phil Upchurch and Bobby Womack himself playing rhythm guitar on that album.
4. – Georgie Redd with Help the Man (Save ya' Mix), released as a single in 1985. And on the act's debut album, We'll Work It Out, Georgie Redd was German composer and keyboardist Jürgen, or George Kochbeck, and singer Phil Edwards. They released three albums before going their separate ways. Edwards released quite a few singles in the late 80s, early 90s. Kochbeck released a few albums, including one in 2020 called "Nine Inch Brushes" - The Beck and York Experience.
5. – Originally released in 1987, 'Night Flight' by Quintus Project, a moniker for the late German violinist, composer and producer Walter Quintus, was re-released on Derwin Recordings through Compost Records just over a decade ago, with reworks by Psych Magic and Lex.
6. – A classic from the late Vangelis, Chung Kuo and the Long March from his 1979 album, China, a concept album that uses Chinese instruments, even though the Greek electronic composer had never even been to China. In an interview at the time, he said: "For years, I've been passionate about the Chinese. I'm not talking about politics. I'm talking about the old China, the new China as well, about this enormous nation and the people who live there..."
7. – A new version of an old tune, that's Manchester producer Psychederek with a cover of his fellow Mancunians, 808 State's classic tune, "Pacific State", and that's coming out in June on Chris Massey's label Sprechen.
8. – BrainStory is a Californian trio of brothers, Kevin and Tony Martin and a brother from another mother, Eric Hagstrom. They started releasing records in 2017 and, during COVID, had to learn how to record themselves in their Long Beach studio. The result of that evolution and also the evolution after a lot of live gigs, after everything opened up, "Hanging On" is a tune from their new and third album, Sounds Good, released this month on Big Crown Records and produced by label head Leon Michaels.
9. – "Astralization", the B-side and third single and an Acid Jazz classic from 1991 of DJ, producer, percussionist and Latin Seeds bandleader Snowboy. He was originally in the Teddy Boy rock scene, believe it or not, before being drawn to Afro-Cuban jazz. And he found a natural home on the Acid Jazz label in the late 1980s. As a DJ, he also ran the Hi-Hat Jazz Dance Club at the Jazz Cafe in Camden. And he's one of the finest congueros in the U.K. He also wrote the book 'From Jazz Funk and Fusion to Acid Jazz, The History of the U.K. Jazz Dance Scene".
10. – Memphis-born, Nebraska-raised funk soul singer, Lolomi Washburn performed backing vocals for Ray Charles, Ike and Tina Turner and Shaka Khan. She also wrote for Shaka and Rufus, Buddy Miles, the Brothers Johnson, Aretha Franklin and embarked upon her own solo career in the late 70s.
11. – Disco Project, led by Bobby Eli, Eli's second coming with the song "Love Chant". And that's their only album. And Eli was a mainstay at Philadelphia International as a founding member of MFSB. And like so many on that label's roster, he was a multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, songwriter, and he worked with so many different people like Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, the Main Ingredient, Phyllis Hyman, Jackie Moore, the Jacksons, Curtis Mayfield and loads and loads of other incredible artists. His resume is absolutely gobsmacking. Sadly, he passed away last year, but he left us so many indelible contributions to soul music.
12. – House of Spirits, which was New York duo Tom Noble of the label Superior Elevation and Lipton Whitaker. And we heard "Holding On", which came out a decade ago on Beats in Space, the label from Tim Sweeney, who got his start on the radio show Club 89 on WNYU, taking over the Tuesday night slot after I left the show in 1999 when I moved over here (ed. London, England).
13. – "Charms in the Arms of My Love" by Alice Clark, the elusive American soul singer who grew up in the Bed-Stuy neighbourhood of Brooklyn and who wrote and produced her first record. And according to a friend who said: "I got the impression her life wasn't that great. She had kids and belonged to a religious order that forbade either bathing or washing hair. I don't recall exactly which". She released only a couple of singles and then in 1972 recorded her own, her only eponymously titled LP, which is a great record, and it's been listed on so many DJ's favourite album lists like Mr Scruff. He actually chose it as his favourite record by a woman for my classic Albums by Women book a few years ago. But the album didn't sell well when it was released, and Clark returned to family life in Brooklyn, which is really heartbreaking. She passed away in 2017, but we still celebrate her music.
14. – 1978 Two Man Sound's Que Tal America, the Dave Lee mix. Although they sound Brazilian, they were a Belgian pop trio who loved bossa nova and samba. The original track came out on their 1978 LP, "Disco Samba."
15. – British duo Zadie Zagundo, or Ziggy Funk, and Jamie McShane, going by the name Zamy. Ziggy is a DJ, a resident at Deep Into Soul and also plays at Soul Heaven, and recorded for DJ Spence label. Jamie got into the groove when his sister married Incognito's Bluey, and he remembers them writing their first album in the living room.
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