Sibling lockdown mixtapes volume 5

Welcome to the volume 6 of the siblings 10-song mixtape lockdown challenge.

This week I included some songs I recently discovered via a Le Beat Bespoke live DJ session, including a stormer by Shocking Blue that I've been playing a lot. I tried to go for a mixtape that would go down well in McChuills, one of my favourite bars in Glasgow. I long to go back in there for a night out and to see old Nick behind the bar or playing some tunes.

My brother really mixes it up and the opening double of Beyonce going into the Manics works surprisingly well. I loved Sugar's Copper Blue album, so it was great to see them featured. Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Elastic sit with Pete Frampton and Elvis. And it works!

This is my sisters strongest playlist yet, or at least it is my favourite. The opening x-rated soul jam is outrageous, The Ikettes song is my song of the week, the Doris Troy and Cookies versions of songs I know are stunning and the closing northern soul romp of I Can Feel Your Love is a blast.

Enjoy.

w/c 27/04

Murray
The Trip - Kim Fowley, Wait A Million Years - The Grass Roots, I Can Only Give You Everything - Them, You're Gonna Miss Me - The 13th Floor Elevators, Send Me A Postcard - Shocking Blue, Have Love Will Travel - The Sonics, Louie Louie - The Kingsmen, I'm Waiting For The Man - The Velvet Underground, How Does It Feel To Feel? - The Creation, All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix



Ross
Love On Top - Beyonce, La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh) - Manic St Preachers, Line Up - Elastica, If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar, Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Buddy Holly - Weezer, Steve McQueen - Sheryl Crow, Show Me The Way - Peter Frampton, Do Right Woman, Do Right Man - Aretha Franklin, If I Can Dream - Elvis Presley



Carla

Think Twice (Version X) - Jackie Wilson and LaVern Baker, Bye Bye Baby - Mary Wells, It's Been So Long - The Ikettes, Blackmail - Candi Staton, The Boy from New York City - The Ad Libs, Just One Look - Doris Troy, B-A-B-Y - Carla Thomas, Don't Ever Leave Me - Connie Francis, I'm Into Something Good - The Cookies, Heart - Petula Clark, I Can Feel Your Love - Felice Taylor

Sibling lockdown mixtapes volume 1

I wish I had kept all my old mixtapes

This is one of the few I have remaining

A few weeks ago, my brother Ross suggested to our sister Carla and I that the three of us should make weekly 10-song mixtapes to help give us a musical focus in these unprecedented times. The aim is to send them to each other every Monday morning on our WhatsApp chat.

Mixtapes have a rich history in our family. I used to post mixtapes with written commentary on each song to my brother when he moved to Edinburgh to study at uni. Years later I would do the same when our younger sister went to Art School. Although by then it was cd's!

Both would send me mixtapes or cd's back. As things gradually went digital (although we all still buy vinyl) and as we got a little older, we gradually grew out of making mixtapes.

Reflecting on my younger siblings moving out the family home to study, I guess making mixtapes for them was my way of showing them I was thinking about them. As the older brother, both would regularly raid my CD and record collection to discover new music. Mixtapes were my way of communicating about music I was discovering and owned.

Family catch up a year ago

Now it's WhatsApp video calls

Now we can't see each other, mixtapes/playlists have come back to help us communicate.

There is an art to making a mixtape. I blog regularly about my Never Ending Mixtape, but I just throw songs on there. There is an art to a 10-song mixtape There are different arts.

So I'm going to share our weekly mixtapes. Here is week 1. All are very different!

I start with a short instrumental, lead into some euphoric electro/house, have some pure pop, a cool cover, a superb re-edit, some northern soul, some Charlatans and a nice hopeful message.

Ross mainly goes 80's! I love the Kiki Dee, R. Dean Taylor and INXS songs in particular. And what an epic closer!

Carla mixes it up. I particularly enjoyed the Peals song that I hadn't heard before, the classic Motown by Carolyn Crawford and the Whyte Horses closer. One of my sisters favourite bands.

Dig in - I hope you enjoy.

Volume 1 - Monday 30th

Murray

Her Smile - [bsd.u], White Love - One Dove, If Everybody Looked The Same - Groove Armada, Where Love Lives - Alison Limerick, Two Can Play That Game - Bobby Brown, Jumpin' Jack Flash - Ananda Shankar, Nowhere To Go - Smoove, Turnin' My Heartbeat Up - The M.V.P's, How High - The Charlatans,  We've Got To Find A Way Back To Love - Freda Payne

Ross

I've Got The Music In Me - The Kiki Dee Band, Say Goodbye To Hollywood - Ronnie Spector, Heart and Soul - T'Pau, French Kissin' - Debbie Harry, Church Of The Poison Mind - Culture Club, Indiana Wants Me - R. Dean Taylor, S.O.B - Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats, The Loved One - INXS, There She Goes, My Beautiful World - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Carla

Out Of The Black - Neneh Cherry (featuring Robyn), Become Younger - Peals, Awake O Zion - Twinkie Clark, Walkin' Down The Line - Jennifer Castle, Night Shift - Lucy Dacus, Oops Here I Go Again - Edna Wright, Then I Met You - The Proclaimers, Darlin' Be Home Soon - The Lovin' Spoonful, The Abandoned Hospital Ship - The Flaming Lips, My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down) - Carolyn Crawford, Fear Is Such A ... - Whyte Horses