David Davies now editor of the magazine, and not David Davis as initially misread confusingly. And that Felix article just seems mean, why unnecessarily annoy someone? Overall the magazine is pretty much divorced from DMC, save for one little advert.
I was at the Barrowlands Orb gig here. In body at least.
Anyway, wanted to focus on Gimme Shelter, partly addressed by the cover story (which can be found below). It’s been touched on in previous incarnations of this site, so let’s give it another spin! Some of these versions have likely only been heard by a handful of people, but I’ve put up the missing versions onto youtube as I’ve finally been able to track down a radio promo CD with all versions on it.
Firstly, Voice Of The Beehive featuring Jimmy Somerville, this was the lead single version but only available on cassette iirc, which at a time when tapes are kind of dying out a bit of a poor choice. If this version was the one you saw on the TV, you couldn’t get it on vinyl or CD.
A baffling video doesn’t help, Jimmy looking a bit East-17 and the Beehive lasses having a bit of a Run DMC and Aerosmith moments with the lads. Tape also had an interview and a live version of the song by the Rolling Stones, and had all tracks on both sides.
Heaven 17 featuring Hannah Jones, also on the cassette. Would be surprised if anyone has heard this before. And I’m afraid Hannah Jones has passed me by, wasn’t aware of her previously and it seems I missed her take on Young Hearts Run Free.
New Model Army ft. Tom Jones, New Model Army with a bit too much Harmonica for my tastes but Tom Jones as always can do very little wrong. This is the lead for the Alternative CD version, I guess.
Cud with Sandie Shaw, this isn’t all that bad, Cud playing it relatively straight and Sandie’s vocals are impressive here.
Kingmaker, admittedly not my first choice when it comes to an indie band, it’s a perfectly crustly interpretation.
Thunder, this sucks. IMO.
Little Angels, same tbh. I mean, look, I’m no rock fan but these are both a bit crap.
Hawkwind & Samantha Fox, quite an unexpected pairing and an amazing take on the song. If it wasn’t for the next version this would probably be the highlight of the set.
However, 808 State & Robert Owens is my mostest favouritest version here.
Pop Will Eat Itself vs. Gary Clail vs. Ranking Roger vs. The Mighty Diamonds vs. The On U Sound System, this is criminally short and is over by time you’ve introduced all of the acts involved.
The 12″ had these two tracks on the A Side so neither of them really had space to breathe, which is kind unfortunate as they could have been really special. OTOH, it might be Stones management had restrictions on quite how far they could go with reinterpreting the track so, who knows?
Blue Pearl – Gimme Shelter (Produced by Utah Saints), haven’t heard this yet. May be bad.
Edit, so, heard it now. It’s OK, I guess? Suffering from the same restraint as the other electronic versions maybe.
Gimme Shelter peaked at Number 23 in the UK chart. Which probably wasn’t that bad numbers wise, but all that talent squandered by trying to get round the weird restrictions of chart eligibility which was the reason for the inclusion of the interview track across all formats. It would probably have been more successful if the live version was common to the formats as then there would at least have been something recognisable for airplay, but a bit of a misfire for a charity single.
Anyway, here’s the Mixmag cover story featuring 808 State & Robert Owens.
