Balearic Breakfast | Episode 207 | Abandoned ship under a blinding sun...
- by The Lioncub
- Jan 14
- 17 min read
Updated: Jan 15
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 207th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on January 14th 2025.
About this episode. – Following last week's episode, Colleen took us today on an unexpectedly haunted trip, playing tracks the Balearic Breakfast Family requested for the new year. Although there was no request line this past Saturday, we all knew this show would be a great one, did we all expect this one to be lurking into despair, nothingness and hope? Somehow we could have guessed it since the tragic events that unfolded in Los Angeles the past few days, known as the "Palisades Fires"... Still, we were all surprised by the intensity that pierced through these 2 musical hours...
"On today’s show we have your remaining new year requests along with some new tunes and some cuts from new Folk Funk and Trippy Troubadours compilation coming out on BBE Music and DJ Notoya’s forthcoming Tokyo Bliss compilation on WEWANTSOUNDS. We have some tributes to Los Angeles and sending love to all who have been affected. For LA-based musicians, in need there are some charities to which you can donate including MusiCares and the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Our hearts go out to all who have been affected."
Listen back to the 207th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
PLAYLIST
(1977) Joe Henderson – Black Narcissus
(2024) Common Saints – Rebel Paradise
(1975) Fox – Yuli Yuli
(1978) Nina Simone – Baltimore
(2025) Robin Frederick – Night Blooming Thing
(2024) Max Essa & David Harks – Lobster Boys (Hifi Sean Mix)
(1986) Yasuko Agawa – L.A. Nights
(2025) Masatoshi Kanno – Day by Day
(2025) United Freedom Collective – Higher Drums
(2025) ASHRR – Please Don’t Stop the Rain (Ron Trent Remix)
(NOL) Eagles – One of These Nights (Ashley Beedle Remix)
(2025) Ghost Assembly – I Keep on Making the Same Mistake
(2025) Tonarunur – Lifting Off
(2017) Auntie Flo (ft. Anbuley) – Dance Ritual I (Leonid Lipelis Dream Dance Remix)
(2001) Dennis Ferrer – Funu (Hi-Life Mix)
(2024) Nickodemus (ft Pat Kalla) – Mama Tchipp (Follow Me) (Tigerbalm Remix)
(1979) Black Ivory – Mainline
(1981) The Clark Sisters – You Brought the Sunshine
(1985) Curtis Mayfield – We Got to Have Peace
THE LISTENING EXPERIENCE
Today's episode is one of those I love the most, one of those that has a strong musical and intellectual core and a slowly evolving pace, if I can put it that way, meaning there are no "quick jumps" in the playlist and that even "happier" or "quicker songs" retain that "worried, unexpected, lingering soul set at the start of the show"...
There's no denying, when I saw the picture Colleen chose to promote today's show on her socials, I knew she had something on her mind. To those of you who read the blog since I started it a few years ago, you know I experience something quite strong here, and from the start, I mean, I feel the show's soul, Colleen's intentions and I don't need explanations, I simply feel our Captain and where she leads us. It changed the way I interact with her, and also with the show in itself. It's like I was deeply connected, a story without words... And today was no exception...
Listen to the first hour of today's show, Black Narcissus (to find out more about its specific structure, click here)/ Rebel Paradise / Yuli Yuli / Baltimore (the lyrics were written by Randy Newman although he knew nothing about the city, with Simone's version being much more passionate and personal): I mean, don't you have tears in your eyes when thinking about what hapened in LA and can't you see the abandoned ship, lying there on a lonely beach, with the sea so far away from it... Of course, Ana's request won our hearts without the shadow of a doubt and, consequently, the Wow Moment of today's episode!
Rebel Paradise is the longest record on the album and is a real journey. I think everyone will feel the Pink Floyd vibes here. This one took some years to create as I parked it for four years and then picked her back up for the album as I felt like it had an incredible energy to it. This is all about magic and the world and how we must try to solve things together as a united humankind. This is where Cinema 3000 exposes the power the media has over us and can change our minds in whatever direction it feels it wants. Essentially a call to remaining conscious and grounded when everything is breaking around us.
Charlie Perry - The WhyNow Interview
The soothing Night Blooming Thing is a little lie as its darkening tones don't bring the true peace we'd love to find here, there's always something lurking in this night, the music is a sexy number, waiting to strike... The feeling presented here can also be found, of course, in the lyrics of the songs, and, in the end, it all comes down to the Balearic Breakfast's family strong intellectual connection to the music... We're doing an incredible show all together and your emotions really shines through, dear Balearicans...
Lobster Boys (Hifi Sean Mix) bring another worried musical moment, and it makes me think that "night" is quite present in the lyrics and in the imagery of today's songs, brilliantly selected by our Captain, this feeling being of course confirmed when listening to songs like L.A. Nights (Augie Johnson (from the group 'Side Effects') wrote and produced both 'LA Night' and Light of the World's 'London Town' of course played during Balearic Breakfast) which explains the similarities found in both songs); Please Don't Stop the Rain and of course One of These Nights (Ashley Beedle Remix).
The lyrics of One Of These Nights are all themed around the pursuit of a mysterious woman but also serve as a wider metaphor for chasing your dreams. “It’s about putting things off,” Frey once explained. “We’ve all said, ‘One of these nights I’m gonna do something – get that girl, make that money, find that house.’ We all have our dreams – a vision we hope will come true someday. When that ‘someday’ will come is up to each of us.”
Henley admitted that “the search” is an overarching subject of many of the best Eagles songs, with the group exploring how, although the whole of life is a journey, “getting there is more important than the journey’s end”. Many Eagles fans are drawn to the beguiling imagery of One Of These Nights, in which Henley sings “I’ve been searching for the daughter of the devil himself/I’ve been searching for an angel in white/I’ve been waiting for a woman who’s a little of both/And I can feel her, but she’s nowhere in sight”.
Colleen's selections, the way she chose to play them, creates a ligering feeling of dizziness: we'd love to relax, but there's that something, somewhere, in the music, in the flow, that prevents the listener to feel a positive freedom... Of course, this beautiful musical tribute to LA, which is undergoing extreme fires at the moment, does not help to feel relieved...
Will the second hour of today's show be happier? Not really as I Keep on Making the Same Mistake, which opens the second hour of the show, sends us a strong and worried message, explaining us how the moments we live on this earth are just borrowed time and that, ultimately, we will have to "give them back", even the greatest of them... Perfectly followed by Lifting Off, the vibe does not seem to get onto a happier scheme and, judging from the record's cover, still offering nightly visions which Colleen keeps very alive during her next mini mix. Starting it off with Dance Ritual I (Leonid Lipelis Dream Dance Remix) – find out more about the original album here – , Colleen lets Funu take the worried feeling away for the first time today. The next 3 songs will allow us all to have a proper dance for sure, including a nice request by yours Truly...
Vinyl Vault: This 1979 release of Black Ivory’s “Mainline,” was a favorite of Frankie Knuckles and was often played at the Warehouse, also known as the birthplace of House music. This record from the Frankie Knuckles Collection was given to Frankie by his collaborator and legendary Chicago House DJ, Chip E (@iamchip_e_). Black Ivory, made up of Leroy Burgess, Stuart Bascombe, and Russell Patterson, was an R&B group which formed in Harlem, New York in the summer of 1969. “Mainline,” a groovy soul ballad, was written by Burgess and sang by Patterson. The song eventually released in the group’s album Hangin' Heavy, in 1979. Black Ivory, originally known as the Mellow Souls, is also known for their hits “Don’t Turn Around,” “You and I,” “Time Is Love,” and “Will We Ever Come Together.”
As you can feel, today's episode has a strong intellectual unity, a lot of the songs share a worried, lost, intrigued musical feeling, sharing lyrics of sadness, hope and encouraging the listener to keep on moving forward despite the events...
Ending the show with Curtis Mayfield's "We got to have peace", a song Curits Mayfield wrote during the then raging Vietnam war, Colleen perfectly ends a show which was a demanding listening experience through and through... Let's hope we will all find peace someday soon... on every level...
COLLEEN'S PRESENTATION
I
Black Narcissus, the title track of the 1977 LP by the late American jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson. In the early 70s and after working with Herbie Hancock, Henderson began experimenting with funk fusion and electronic effects, and his music became more political with titles like Power to the People, In Pursuit of Blackness, and Black Narcissus. That was a request from Scott Towers, the saxophonist for Fat Freddy's Drop, who are now back in New Zealand after a sellout tour, and Scott's back from a family holiday in Sri Lanka, and he said that song was on rotation on his headphones whilst he was away for a few months.
Good morning, Balearicans. I'm Colleen Cosmo Murphy, serving up your weekly Balearic breakfast until high noon, and greetings to the family over on my MixCloud Live, and thank you once again for joining me on a Tuesday morning. Coming up on today's show, we'll play some of your New Year requests, catching up with those, along with some new tunes from United Freedom Collective, ASHRR, Ron Trent, Tona Ruehner, and Ghost Assembly, and also songs from the latest edition of Paul Hillery's folk-funk and trippy Troubadours compilation series, and Japanese DJ Notoya's forthcoming Tokyo Bliss compilation, We Want Sounds.
Now, this next one is from our friend Ana Sancho in Barcelona, and I loved it so much, I had to buy the album on Bandcamp, as I need this on vinyl in my collection. It's the debut LP from Common Saints, who is British producer, songwriter, and musician Charlie J. Perry. He worked with Georgia Smith, and also K-pop superstars BTS, but as Common Saints, he began releasing music with the Idolize EP in 2020, followed by the Starchild EP, which I supported on Balearic Breakfast when it came out. Well, he released his debut LP on his label, Starsonics, last autumn, and it is brilliant. I've had it on repeat all weekend, and if you like Tame Impala or Michael Kiwanuka, I think you will absolutely love this. Ana selected a song that sounds like it could have been lifted from a lost Pink Floyd LP, so sit yourself down, turn on, tune in, and drop out to Rebel Paradise by Common Saints.
II
Robin Frederick with Night Blooming Thing, and this is from the third volume of Paul Hillary's compilation series, Folk, Funk, and Trippy Troubadours, and the third edition is coming out on BBE in February. You can pre-order the vinyl on the BBE Music Bandcamp, and the whole LP is great. Solid selections, as you would expect from Paul Hillary. Features an array of funky folk, jazzy AOR grooves, fuzzed-out lo-fi dub, DIY folk-tronica, private press grails, and previously unreleased material, and it also has extensive sleeve notes, which I haven't read yet because I don't have the vinyl, so I don't know anything about Robin Frederick or Night Blooming Thing. In any case, I interviewed the enlightened heathen, as Paul calls himself, for his We Are the Children of the Sun compilation series on BBE, and that's on the Balearic Breakfast archive, so make sure you follow me on Mixcloud, where you can access all of the past four-plus years of Balearic Breakfast shows, and really looking forward to that forthcoming compilation from Paul.
Ahead of that, Baltimore by Nina Simone, the title track of her 14th studio album, released in 1978, and the song was originally penned by Randy Newman, all about the harsh realities of life in the capital of Maryland. However, it was requested by Mick Cole, who is experiencing the harsh reality of life in Los Angeles at the moment. Mick is the solid selector in Los Angeles, and he wanted me to play that song in honor of Moon Shadows, which has burnt to the ground. It's a venue in Malibu, and this is a staple song that Mick has played over the many years of playing music for their beloved customers at Moon Shadows. Moon Shadows Malibu has a GoFundMe campaign, which you can find on their Instagram, and later in the show, we'll share the names of some other charities that are helping musicians who lost everything in the fires. It's just so incredibly horrific.
Ahead of that, the British 70s pop band Fox with Yuli Yuli from their second album, Tales of Illusion. The band was put together by Kenny Young, who composed the song, Under the Boardwalk for the Drifters, and it features the charismatic Australian singer, Noosha Fox. It was requested by Gemma Bagnell, who loved this album as a child. She bought all their albums and loves this song because of the beautiful drums and lyrics, and she wants to dedicate it to her late friend, the singer Linda Lewis. She said she used to play her Fox, and she loved it. "Thank you, Colleen Cosmo Murphy, for your contribution to music and the world and bringing joy". Thank you, Gemma, and she's hoping 2025 will be a year of wonder and peace and sending love to the Balearic Breakfast family.
Okay, this next one came out a few months ago on paper recordings, and somehow I never got to it, and I'm still trying to play catch up. It's called the Clean Trip EP, and it's by the Japan-based British producer and DJ Max Essa and the Berlin-based English artist David Harks, and it was given a remix by Hi-Fi Shawn. Here they are with Lobster Boys.
III
Loving that tune, and that is Masatoshi Kanno with Day By Day, and that's on the upcoming compilation Tokyo Bliss, which is compiled by Japanese funk expert DJ Notoya, and the DJ has picked a diverse selection of great funk, boogie, and city pop tracks recorded between 1974 and 1988 for King Records, one of the most venerable record labels in Japan, and the tracks on the compilation are very much in demand on the Japanese groove scene, and they're mostly new to the international ears and showcase the breadth and quality of Japanese music recorded during the 70s and 80s, and I have no information on the artist. I do have to wait for the compilation to actually come out and read the liner notes, but I'm really looking forward to it. All the songs are fantastic, so great job, DJ Notoya and We Want Sounds.
Ahead of that, the Japanese singer Yasuko Agawa with L.A. Nights, her 1986 love letter to Los Angeles. It came out on Bluebird Records, and the flip side has a love letter to New York called New York Afternoon, and both of these songs most likely were recorded in the footsteps of Light of the World's song London Town, which I played a few weeks ago, but of course I'm playing it for the residents of Los Angeles, where the fires have taken lives, livelihoods, homes, all of people's memorabilia and personal belongings. It's just so, so, so tragic, and really tragic for the musicians, for everybody, but we can't forget the musicians and artists in Los Angeles, many of whom have lost everything, and there's a few different places where you can donate, a few different charities. There's Music Cares, which provides financial aid, grocery cars, and instrument replacements for the affected musicians. The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides immediate financial assistance to music industry professionals impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires, and the Guitar Center Music Foundation is offering grants to replace instruments lost in the fires, and you can make donations to some of these, and there's loads of GoFundMe campaigns as well. I'm sure you're seeing them on your social media feeds. It's just incredibly, incredibly tragic what's going on there.
This next one is the United Freedom Collective, founded by Robbie Redway and psychedelic researchers Mathieu Seynaeve and Wai Fung Tsang. They're based in Margate in the UK, where I was this past weekend, eating fish and chips from Pete's on the Parade and sitting outside in this glorious sunshine. It was beautiful there. In any case, I digress. United Freedom Collective was originally conceived around creating soundscapes for psychedelic therapy sessions, online yoga, and breathwork channels, and the musical scope has expanded on each of the four EPs released on Maribu State's Dama Dama label, and here they continue with their debut on Multiculti. It's called the Between Memories EP, and here they are with Higher Drums.
IV
I bet you think I dropped some Eagles in the middle of the show. You know, I know we're paying tribute to Los Angeles in some of today's songs, but maybe you feel I overstepped the line here. In fact, I distinctly remember playing this at Plastic People. That shows you how underground I am. It's an Ashley Beedle remix, people, and we saw Ashley this weekend, actually. He's doing really, really well. In any case, that was a request from Rob Eggleshaw, as the Eagles are one of the favourite groups of the late British radio host, Johnny Walker, who passed away on New Year's Eve. He began his career in 1966 on the pirate radio station Swinging Radio England before joining Radio Caroline. Then he joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969. He was also reprimanded for criticizing On Air, Give a Little Love by the Bay City Rollers, then at the height of their popularity, describing them as musical garbage. He left Radio 1 and then moved to the United States where he stayed for five years working for K-Sound and Soundfrown, KPFA in Berkeley, California, and also WHFS in Maryland. He recorded some shows for Radio Luxembourg until he taped a record at the wrong speedball party in the studio. Sounds like a really interesting life. Then more recently, he presented Sounds of the 70s on Radio 2 and the Radio 2 Rock Show on Friday nights. He retired last October due to a fatal illness and passed on to the next realm on the 31st of December. The Eagles, One of these nights, the Ashley Beedle rework going out to the late and great Johnny Walker as courtesy of Rob Eggleshaw.
Ahead of that, we had ASHRR, Please Don't Stop the Rain, and we're sending love to the Los Angeles outfit Asher. They released their debut album, Sunshine Low, on 2020 Vision last year and I did an interview with them and they did a great remix, a great mix for us too. You can find that on Mixcloud. And we heard their next single, Please Don't Stop the Rain. They have their own sound system remixes on the B-side and two from Ron Trent on the A-side and that's what we heard, the Ron Trent remix, and it's coming out on the 3rd of February. So pre-order your vinyl now.
Okay, this next one is from our friend Abigail Ward in Manchester going under the name Ghost Assembly and she really is one of Manchester's finest DJs, curators, and all-around top humans. She and Kath Middermott played in the Love Dance in Tent this year for my Cosmodelica takeover and you should follow her on Mixcloud. She does some great mixes. I listen to them all the time. And her debut release, the original Ghost Assembly 12-inch, I Missed Your Love, it dropped a year ago and it sold out almost instantly. It's going for 100 quid on Discogs, so I'm feeling kind of smug because I snagged one. In any case, she's back with a forthcoming single called I Keep On Making the Same Mistake, which also has some Choice Remix names. Feel free to investigate further. In any case, it's coming out and net proceeds from both the vinyl and digital versions sold through Bandcamp will be donated to medical aid for Palestinians for the duration of 2025.
V
Icelandic producer Tonarunur, who is Björn Gauti Björnsson, who's released music for over a decade as BG Vardagarn, Arm Whiskey Disco, and Silhouette Records. And as Tóna Rúnar has released the Dive Into The Night EP in 2020, this is Lifting Off from his forthcoming Gym Tech EP coming out next week on San Francisco label Dream Chimney. So head on over to the Dream Chimney Bandcamp to pre-order. And also please head over to the Ghost Assembly Bandcamp to pre-order I Keep On Making The Same Mistake, which we heard before. And please be aware that net proceeds from both the vinyl and digital versions sold through Bandcamp will be donated to medical aid for Palestinians for the duration of 2025.
Okay, Brian D'Souza is an award-winning sound artist, DJ, music producer, and live performer known for taking world music into the future, and as Auntie Flo has been releasing records since 2011. And the Glaswegian's album Theory of Flow was nominated for Scottish Album of the Year in 2015. This next one is a cut from that album, but given a dreamy remix by Russian producer Lipolis, as requested by Virginia Tsioti in Athens, here is Auntie Flo featuring Anbuley with the Lipolis Dream Dance Remix of Dance Ritual 1.
VI
A little track to the eighth album by the gospel group the Clark Sisters released in 1981. And this song actually became a hit a couple of years later. And as a group, the Clark Sisters won two Grammy Awards, and they are the highest selling female gospel group in history. And thank you to London House Music Works for that request.
Ahead of that Black Ivory with Mainline. And the group was originally known as the Mellow Souls and formed in Harlem in the summer of 1969 and included teenagers Leroy Burgess and Stuart Bascom. And the audition over the phone with the late Patrick Adams, who took the group under his tutelage, and they became Black Ivory and they began performing at private parties, block parties, social programs, eventually signing to Today Records in 1972. And they released five albums in the 1970s, including Hangin' Heavy released in 1979 and featuring the single we just heard, Mainline. And thank you to Artur in Paris for that request.
Ahead of that we had Nickodemus featuring Pat Kala with Mama Chip Follow Me, a very funky, fresh, tropical mix from disco queen Tiger Balm, loving that one. And it's really an afro disco summer anthem. And that is from the original is from Nickodemus' Soul and Science album and that came out last autumn. And Tiger Balm has certainly been prolific. We loved her Profunda Alma EP on Razor and Tape last year. And she has a new album coming out this year. And in fact, we have an interview with her and an exclusive mix from her in two weeks' time.
Ahead of that, an old favorite of mine, Funu, the High Life mix from super producer and DJ Dennis Ferrer. Absolutely love that. And starting it all off with Auntie Flo featuring Anne Buley with Dance Ritual One, the Lipolis Dream Dance remix as requested by Virginia Ciotti.
Well, I am heading to the sunshine, Lanzarote, in fact, for a couple of weeks and some vitamin D and some sun and some surf. But I will be streaming remotely over the next couple of weeks with some special shows featuring interviews and exclusive mixes. Next week, we have Phil Mison on the show. We'll be chatting about his latest Cantoma LP. And he's also sent us an exclusive Balearic mix. And we also have a mix from our Balearic Breakfast family member, Christine D'Souza. And the following week, we have an interview with an exclusive mix from Tiger Balm, along with the Balearic Breakfast family member mix from David Stoddard. So really looking forward to this. I love streaming remotely and just having other people do the music while I hang out on the chat group. It's a lot of fun.
This last one is our last New Year's request. It was requested by Chris Lee a few weeks ago. It's by Curtis Mayfield. It's called We Got to Have Peace. And I'm also going to send this and hope that we see a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. It's looking hopefully likely. Hopefully, we'll be able to get some humanitarian aid to the Palestinians who we all know are in need, and the return of some of the hostages back to Israel. So fingers crossed, there will be a ceasefire deal. Of course, we want everlasting peace. That could be a bit simplistic to think about. But you know, you can only hope. And let's leave you all with this lovely uplifting song and meditate that we do see some peace in the Middle East. Thank you all for joining me and looking forward to seeing you next week. And again, thanks for listening.
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