MY BAG

These words are taken from the Lloyd Cole & The Commotions ICA, posted away back in April 2015; it was #11 in this then, relatively new series.

1. My Bag

In a sense this song from 1987’s Mainstream LP is very unrepresentative of the band’s output but it is such a cracking bit of music that it is impossible to ignore. The intention here is to kick things off with a ridiculously uptempo dance number where the beat is what matters rather than the lyrics.

I was actually going to start things off with the Dancing Mix of this song which extends to over six minutes in length but to be honest, and despite Lawrence Donegan making you think, via his bass playing, that you could easily be listening to something which could be from Michael Jackson in his classic era before he went all crazy on us, the mix has dated appallingly – particularly the drums – while the idea of burying the guitar during the chorus is just so wrong.

But, given I’m sort of struggling for a post today, here we go:-

mp3: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – My Bag (Dancing Mix)

The remix was remixed by a combination of Ian Stanley (who had produced the album, Mainstream, on which the original version had appeared) and the Commotions.

The 12″ came with two b-sides, one of which I posted on the old blog with a heavy heart and a huge apology, for it truly is an abomination of a number:-

mp3: Commotions Meet The Irresistible Force – Perfect Skin

The Irresistible Force was the name adopted by Morris Gould, a DJ from Brighton who was really making a name for himself in 1987 as part of the emerging acid house scene, becoming in due course the full-time DJ with The Shamen. He may have done some other stuff that is writing home about (I honestly don’t know!!), but I don’t play or listen to this.

The other track on the b-side was this:-

mp3: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions- Jesus Said

Very much LC and his band by numbers. It wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the first couple of albums, which is no surprise as it dates from 1985 and the sessions around the recording of Easy Pieces.

It’s worth mentioning that the USA release of My Bag featured an entirely different mix, one that was the work of NY-based but French-born DJ and producer François Kevorkian:-

mp3: Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – My Bag (Dancing Remix)

My Bag was the seventh single from Lloyd Cole & The Commotions. It stalled at #46, which was a bitter disappointment for all concerned after all three singles from Easy Pieces had been hits. It marked the beginning of the gradual dissolution of the band, with the main man going solo from 1990.

JC