Guest Selector: Fred Deakin

Fred Deakin is probably best known as one half of award-nominated electronic music duo Lemon Jelly; you know, creators of In the Bath and The Staunton Lick among other hazy summer bops. But before forming the Jelly, Deakin studied at the University of Edinburgh in the 1980s. He’d DJed a few times in London before heading north and once here managed to convince a few people that he was a DJ. What followed was a glut of club nights like Blue, Thunderball, Devil Mountain and Wild Life, taking over all manner of institutions, from the Fruitmarket Gallery and Wilkie House (now Stramash), to the original La Belle Angele, the ABC Cinema on Lothian Road (now the Odeon) and Assembly Rooms among others. 

Not doing things by half, fashion, art and design were as much a part of Deakin’s club experiences as the music, and each of his nights came complete with its own strong aesthetic. Next week, Deakin returns to Edinburgh to relive those heady days of nostalgia with Club Life, his brand new immersive theatre show tracing his years as one of the most exciting alternative club promoters in the capital of the 80s and 90s. To help get you in the mood, ahead of its run, Deakin has taken on our Guest Selector and has pulled together ten of his favourite (mostly) "80s and 90s nuggets". To accompany his words, we've created a playlist full of his picks, which you'll find below (click here if it's not displaying correctly).

Magazine – I Love You You Big Dummy
Maybe the best and yet most underrated original post-punk band, Magazine never had their moment in the sun like Howard Devoto’s old sparring partners Buzzcocks did. Indeed, after an acerbic Top of the Pops appearance performing their classic Shot By Both Sides, the single actually went down the charts. This track, the B-side of the equally wonderful Give Me Everything, is a freak-out Captain Beefheart cover that makes me leap around the room every time I hear Devoto’s animal snarl, Barry Adamson’s epic bass, John McGeoch’s transcendent guitar and a great F-bomb in the middle.

Chaka Khan – Any Old Sunday
I picked this up on seven-inch in America while on a student exchange there. I got the woman who sold it to me to play it on the store turntable and she was amazed at this spotty English kid turning her on to a Chaka track that she hadn’t heard before. A gorgeous invitation to play, I only know about this slinky sizzler because I heard Mica Paris doing it live (see also her collab with Prince, If I Love You 2nite, a slept-on mega-bomb if ever there was one).

Nick Lowe – I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass
Soooo funky!!! And just begging for an edit (or a Fredit...?)

This was a left field chart hit in 1978 and features Graham Parker’s backing band The Rumour – check out Bob Andrews' amazing art-rock keyboard solo in the middle. And the lyrics are pretty insurrectionary for the time; perhaps no one noticed because of the upbeat music, but it sounds like a call to the barricades to me.

Level 42 – Heathrow
Anyone who grew up with Level 42 has a soft spot for them; their eponymous first album soundtracked my teenage years and I am powerless to resist Love Games or Starchild, nor would I want to. However, if you have never fallen for them then perhaps this track from that classic debut set could be your gateway drug: it’s an instrumental 6/8 rollercoaster ride written by their secret fifth member, the Compass Point legend Wally Badarou (see also Echoeswottaalbum). Bassssss!

Suzi Quatro – If You Can’t Give Me Love
I may be losing some of you at this point, but surely this soft rock/pop/disco nugget (OK, actually another hit from 1978) is worthy of your attention. The drop at the beginning is just masterly, and Suzi’s riposte to 'the king of this discotheque thing' who can 'just stay in love with yourself' (Travolta?) skewers macho dancefloor posturing perfectly. And don’t tell me you’re not singing along with the chorus. In leather or in denim, Suzi kicks ass. See also Kiki Dee’s I Got The Music In Me, and Loving And Free!, Love Is A Crazy Feeling! and Scuze Me! So much good Kiki.

Public Enemy – Public Enemy No. 1
Sure, It Takes a Nation... was the record that took hip-hop to another level, but their debut album Yo Bum Rush The Show is the record that blew my 22-year-old mind. The minimal brutality of the Bomb Squad’s impeccable production is at the top of their game, Flava is just getting started and Chuck D’s wordplay is on fire. Play it right from the beginning – that intro slays. 'What. Goes. On.' 'What goes on? Wellllllll….' Boom! Resistance is useless. See also Son of Public Enemy No. 1, non-stop Flava for the headz.

Dionne Warwick – Heartbreaker
When the Bee Gees couldn’t get arrested after the heinous Disco Sucks movement dumped all over Saturday Night Fever and polluted America’s musical consciousness, they turned to production, and thank goodness they did. This track, written by the Bee Gees and with backing vocals from Barry Gibb, is an emotional rollercoaster that will, guess what, break your heart if you let it in: 'Suddenly everything I ever wanted / Has passed me by'. I’m getting goose bumps just writing the words down, let alone listening to them. See also All The Love In The World and of course possibly the greatest record ever made, Barbra Streisand’s Guilty.

P-Funk All Stars – Hydraulic Pump
After James Brown, George Clinton is almost entirely responsible for the birth of dance music as we know it and the tsunami of vinyl that he and his P-Funk co-conspirators released in the 70s and 80s is full of nuggets (and hip-hop samples, e.g. Atomic Dog, Not Just Knee Deep etc). Let’s be honest, this is just a groove, but what a groove: mischievous, psychedelic, rocky, very funky and even brass bandy. You can tell from the crazy vocal harmonising that George was deep in barbershop doo-wop before LSD and the first summer of love catapulted him into the Mothership. Hey you! Hey you!

Joe Roberts – Back In My Life (Classic Mix)
When house first happened there was an innocence and a soulfulness to it that arguably got lost as it took dominance over every other genre for a decade or two. This deceptively simple piano-driven monster is one of many beautiful tracks from those heady days after the second summer of love and its immaculate build-up is yet another example of why David Morales has such a huge reputation. Stick around for the choppy synth outro, it’s a trip. 

Ella Fitzgerald – Sunshine of Your Love (from 1968shhh!)
I never liked Cream – the band, not the club – so thank goodness Ella came along to give their only decent song a groove. This live cover version with the Ernie Heckscher Big Band rocks like a mother, and there ain’t no funk like big band funk. See also Percy Faith’s First Light and of course Shirley Bassey’s cover of Day By Day from Godspell (especially the outro!) if you doubt me.

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Club Life, Summerhall, Edinburgh, 25-28 May – tickets available here; Club Life then returns for a run later in the year during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, also at Summerhall, Edinburgh, 2-27 Aug

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