Sock Free Hideaway

 BEATS OF LOVE

3. Phobia (Paranoid  Mix) by Flowered Up

ONE OF the nuttiest gigs I ever attended was Flowered Up at Royton's Assembly Hall. It was a Sunday evening and about midway through Soul Family Sensation's subdued support set, and, after smoking lots of pot, my good mate Stu lost consciousness and just collapsed on the floor. So much for his school night.  

The FYC (Oldham's very own footy firm) were out in force and by the end of Flowered Up's lively set were invading the stage and going bananas. My good mate Stu was still comatose. Finally, as the wonderful Weatherall mix of Higher than the Sun boomed out of the speakers, ending the night, he arose then began cheerily dancing before successfully chatting up a sixth former, who he quickly led to the taxi-rank at breakneck speed. 

In my naivety, I thought that every Sunday was going to be full of similar shenanigans. Not long after, they instead became scrabble nights with my kid sister. I caught up with the FYC years later in the same place where they shouted 'no surrender' throughout an evening with Howard Marks. (For a far better band anecdote buy Believe in Magic.) 

With a band you love whose records aren't great, and whose talent is limited, you need remixes and luckily they had them in spades. The overplayed Weatherall Weekender mixes are arguably the best, but my favourite is this earlier one from 1990. Producer Marc Angelo is glamour model Linda Lusardi's brother and a dub specialist. I was more impressed by the former fact.

It plays like a crossover between Lee Perry and Candy Flip's worst studio efforts, and is all the better for it. The loopy piano-line is given a starring role and sounds much more at home on this mix than the A-side. What was annoying about Oakenfold was his bad marriage of baggy songs and loopy piano-lines, which were ripped off by all and sundry. They only ever worked for him with U2 coz they could carry any tune along, I guess. Stripping away the naff baggy song then, with just the loopy piano-line and dubby effects, works a treat. Many producers with far bigger budgets than Heavenly and far better musicians to work with fail the remix test miserably. 

If you're only going to rescue one record from the bargain crate, make it this one.