THE 170th CHRISTMAS MIX FOR F.S.V.B

Here's the 170th Mix Selection for F.S.V.B, its a Christmas Special, its Called "Black Christmas Part 1"  Its been Mixed by Stevie G, and it Features some Great Christmas Tracks by amongst others: James Brown, Kurtis Blow, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, De La Soul, Run DMC and Marvin Gaye amongst others!

For a Full Track Listing and Download Go Here!

Related articles

• THE 167th MIX FOR F.S.V.B
• TH4 164th MIX FOR F.S.V.B
• THE 165th MIX FOR F.S.V.B
• THE 163rd MIX FOR F.S.V.B
• Who's the Greatest Funk Bass Player #2 Mark Adams
• TAKEAWAY KEYS and TERRY CALLIER

CHRISTMAS 1981 and MASS PRODUCTION

 By Christmas 1981, we had been in the flat nearly 2 Years, can't say I remember too much actually about the Christmas Period, but the 2 things that stands out the Most around this Time are, First of all we were going to be Moving to a 3 Bedroomed House (Rented from the Local Council) and Secondly, after 9 Months of  Working at a Place I Hated, I was Leaving!

First Moving, I cant remember all the Circumstances, but what I do remember is , our 2 Kids were a Boy (aged nearly 3) and a Girl (aged nearly 2), and we lived in a 2 Bed Flat, so we Needed a Bigger Place!

Just before that Christmas, we had recieved a Letter from the Council, saying we were being Considered (along with others!)  for a Move,  and would we like to be Considered , but we knew this Meant, the House was probably ours!

We actually knew where the New House was, and during the Christmas Period we took the Kids in their Pushchair / Pram, to have a Look through the Window, it Looked Great through the Window, I can Remember a Lovely Fireplace, and I believe it was fitted with a Gas Fire!

As for Losing my Job, now Most people would have been Miserable, Losing your Job right on top of Christmas, but I was the opposite, I was Happy!

I Hated the place, what had happened was they decided to lay off Several Worker's, on the Last Come/ First Out Basis, and that was me, Sacked! (Thank God), but  I knew knew I would soon get another job!

One thing I do remember about the Last Day working (that was Christmas Week) we were all called into the Factory Manager's Office, one by one, to get our Last Wages, an explanation and some Goods!

Now the Manager's name was Fred, I can't remember his last Name, but he was a Right Tw*t, he thought he was something Higher than any of the Worker's!

Anyway to my Surprise he was Really Nice and Really Sorry about Laying me off! in fact he gave me More Wages than I should have had, plus he gave me (and the others) a Food Hamper, it had loads of different Meats , Drink etc etc!

And to Top it all off, he said I'll give you a Lift Home with all your Stuff, but I had a Bike at that time, and when I told him this, he said that's alright and put the the Bike in the Boot of his Car!

 What a Shock that all was, so we ended up having a Decent Christmas after all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Checkout the photos of Natalie, one on the Settee in the Flat (above) and the one to the Left is Natalie with Susan (at Susan's Mothers House) as I have said Previously these are the Earliest/First Photos we have, read my Earlier Blog Entry!

Music around this time, I remember the Album "Turn Up The Music" by Mass Production That was a Great Album as were all of their 8 Releases between the Years of 1976 and 1983, plus at a "Best Of"  Album in  1996.

The Best Track on the Album was the Title Track, Have a Listen! "Turn Up The Music"

CHRISTMAS 1981 AND MYSTIC MERLIN

By the end of 1981, we were on the Move, House Wise. I can't Honestly remember if it was Before or Just After Christmas, As Natalie was still only Young , we still had a Social Worker, Her Name was Angela Wilson, and with Her Help, we were going to get a Move to a Local Council House!

As we had already been told by the Landlord, she wanted us out, we had been Looking the previous Months for somewhere to Live, and with Her Connections etc (The Social Worker) We got a New Place to Live!

As it turned out it was a 2 Bedroomed Top (2nd) Floor Flat with a Type of Gas Central Heating (Hot Air Blower).

That was a Lovely Place to live, the Area was'nt to Bad either.

By this time we still did not have a Car, so we were still using the Bus, occasionsly We did have the use of my Parents Car, which was Great!

I remember something we had at the Flat for the First Time, a 50 pence Electric Meter, so when I got paid the First thing I got from the Bank was £5 worth of 50 p's.

I remember several times running out of 50 p's, so no Electric, that was a Pain!

Another Funny thing about the Flat , was where it was Situated, if you looked down from our Main Living Room Window, you looked Directly at the Local Cemetry!

As for the Music around this Time, A Band I liked, who only ever had 3 Albums Releases I believe, was "Mystic Merlin" 

The first release was "Mystic Merlin" and the second was "Sixty Thrills a Minute" and the third was "Full Moon"

The Best Singles form the Albums were "Just can't Give You Up" and "Sixty Thrills A Minute" and  "Mr Magician"     Great Track's!

MYSTIC MERLIN
SIXTY THRILLS A MINUTE
MR MAGICIAN

Create a MySpace Music Playlist at MixPod.com

WELCOME TO THE 80'S.....Life & Music

I remember that was the First Christmas and New Year, I hadn't had to Work! that was one of the better things that came from working as a Butcher!

As I said in previous posts, I was working on how to move Shops or start working as a Relief Butcher (going around all shops in my area when they were short of workers) but nothing was going to happen right now, so I had to get on with where I was already working.

Checkout the photos both taken around the same period, I'm with Nathan in our back Garden, note the weeds! and the other was taken at the mother in laws with Susan in the background, at one of the usual Friday gatherings!

I must admit, I cant remember too much of what happened around this time, so I think from now on I will start mixing my Personal Story with some Musical advents of the same time period!

One such advent happened late on 1979 to early 1980, the First Rap Record was released, it was by The Sugarhill Gang and was called "Rapper's Delight" to this day its still one of the Best Rap Records and probably the Sugarhill Gang's Best Track ever!

Another Great Track from around this period was by Drummer/Singer/Writer/Producer Narada Michael Walden, it was called "I Shoulda Loved Ya" the track was taken from his1979 Album called "The Dance Of Life"

CHRISTMAS OF 1979

By now it was Christmas of 1979, The Butcher's was really busy, it was though the Shop was shutting down for a month or two, (not just a week) they Sold Loads Of Meat, if I can remember I believe we all worked longer hours just to complete all the extra orders there were!

As I said in previous Post, I was looking to Transfer to a different Branch, this as it turned out, was not too long away! By the New Year  I would get some Good News!

As for our Home Life, Susan was about 3 Months away from giving Birth, so we were getting ready for that, ie Decorating Bedrooms and buying a New Cot, Babies Clothes etc and Nathan was Moving into his own Bedroom, so that had to be got ready.

As this was our First Christmas in our New House and on our own and this would also be Nathan's First Christmas at home (He was in Hospital , the previous Year)  you would have thought our memories of this period would be very Easy to remember, but in fact, it is the opposite, I/We cannot really remember anything of that particular Christmas Period!

I/We cannot remember any Presents we brought each other or for Nathan, or what happened that Christmas or where we went out to, in fact I/We cant even remember Christmas Decorations in the House!

One thing I do remember though, I had a Full Week Off Work, which in fact was my First Ever Christmas off  Working ( for about 5 years), as obviously when working as a Chef, Christmas was the busiest period, and you never had any time off, in fact I used to work longer hours!  

MORE CHRISTMAS MUSIC

A couple more Tunes for the Christmas Season! One fairly new and one nearly 50 years old!

The first Video is by Brian Mcknight the ex Motown Singer, its "The Christmas Song" sung Live, this was on his 2008 Album release from last Christmas, called "I'll Be Home For Christmas"

The second Song is sung by Brook Benton, its called "Youre All I Want For Christmas" It was released in 1963 on the Mercury Record Label.

A CHRISTMAS SELECTION OF MUSIC

Grab a new Myspace 2.0 Layout

For the next week I am putting some Great Christmas Music/Videos on the Blog instead of the usual Mixes!

One of the best versions of the classic Christmas song "White Christmas" has to be the Drifters' recording in 1954, It has Clyde Mcphatter and Bill Pinkney on vocals.

To see Bill Pinkney & the Drifters sing this Live...Press Here

This was featured in the Macauley Culkin film "Home Alone"

Another Great Christmas Song, not exactly Soul Music, is Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" (Merry Christmas in Spanish)released on his Christmas Album in 1970.
I first heard this Record featured in the Christmas Movie "Surviving Christmas" tarring Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini!

I have included both Live and Studio versions of the song!

Check out both versions, as Jose Feliciano is a great Singer!

CHRISTMAS 1978

Christmas 1978, soon came around, as I said in previous post Nathan was gradually let out of Hospital on a more regular basis, firstly a few times a week and back at the night, then after a while we had him home for a few days at a time, he was still being Sick a lot of the time, so he was still being kept well looked after by the Hospital Doctors!

Nathan was still on Babies bottled food, but Susan remembers Nathans first taste of babies proper Food!

The Doctors said he could try some Heinz Chocolate Pudding, this was over the Christmas period, he loved it but as usual he brought it all back up, so he was straight back on the babies milk again!

I remember around Christmas week I think it was , we went over to Susans Mum one evening on the Bus, to visit her Parents, while we were over there it started to Snow quite heavy and lasted for ages, so as it got time to leave, Susan was offered to stay the night there with Nathan!

This was great, but unfournately it didnt include me, so I had to get the Bus back home on my own!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

NATHAN OUT OF DANGER!

After a week or two, Nathan was released from the Hospital's Baby Unit and Transferred to the Baby Unit at the General Hospital, which was handy for us , as it was only 2 minutes from where we were living!

So over the next couple of Months, Nathan was in and out of Hospital constantly, going in for a few days then back out again, which for me and Susan was a strain, what with living in 1 room and sharing all other rooms and facilities with about 9 other families, plus still working split-shifts at work, times were hard, not too mention having hardly any money, as I was still on low wages being a Trainee Chef!

I cant remember either family helping out too much either!

As for family visits to our place, they only happened about twice the whole time we lived there!

This must of been worse for Susan, as at least I had work to get away from the strain of our situation!

We were just about out of November in 1978 and things had not really changed concerning Nathan and our situation and with Christmas was just around the corner, (our First as a Family since we got Married) would things improve!

CHRISTMAS AND THE BIGGEST SHOCK OF MY LIFE!

By now around late 1977, I was back at College, doing the second two year part of my Catering Course, things were going well at my new Job, I still had my Car and me and Susan were still seeing each other!

We had, had a Great Summer, as I said Susan worked in her Father's Shop, during the Summer Season, I used to go in there all the time and sometimes help out! but that Work had now finished and the Winter months were now upon us, I remember we used to Baby Sit for several of Susan's Brother's and Sister's on a weekly basis, to think now all them Kids we babysat for are now, are in their middle to late 30's!

That Christmas was my First with Susan Really, although I knew her the Year before, this was our first together! Being single I can remember us buying each other loads of Presents, one item in particulary I remember buying Susan was a red and multi striped coloured Robe, I think it was for Bedtime!

But all the Excitement of Christmas was not going to prepare me for what Susan told me while we were sitting at the back of her Mother's Front room, I think it was Christmas Day when she told me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I'M PREGNANT"

What a SHOCK this was, I was just 19 and Susan was 18, this obviously this was going to change our lives forever! I cant honestly remember how this News affected that Christmas,

We were both in Shock!

How the HELL would we cope, we were Still Teenager's ourselves, I know nowadays it seems to be the Norm to have Kids Young, but back then it was unusual to have Kids at that Age!