Mark Devlin is a UK-based club and radio DJ and music journalist. In more recent years he has begun speaking about the dark forces that have been manipulating the music industry for decades. This led to the publication of his book 'Musical Truth' in 2016, with Volume 2 following in early 2018.
His debut novel, 'The Cause & The Cure,' arrived early 2020.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/markdevlin
https://odysee.com/@markdevlintv:e
E-mail: markdevlinuk@gmail.com
Nostalgists and radio historians - it's your time. Here we go with the most comprehensive set of vintage radio tape rips yet, this time culled from various other sources alongside my usual garage archives. We're going way back with this lot - the earliest recording dates to 1978!
Should be something for everyone here, whether you're an old-school cat who remembers this stuff, or a young dude/ dudette that wonders what black music radio sounded like in the days before 1Xtra.
Just by way of a quick disclaimer, I have to point out that the sound quality of these recordings varies greatly - little surprise when the rips come from so many different sources, and the fact that they're so damn old. But it's all listenable, and if you ask me, it just adds to the historic authenticity!
The downloads are 320kbps all the way. Here we go...
GREG EDWARDS, SOUL SPECTRUM, CAPITAL RADIO, 1978
This was a real find on Soundcloud. The earliest known surviving recording of Greg Edwards' long-running legendary Saturday evening soul show on Capital Radio. 40 minutes of a session from some time in 1978. The irony of Greg's first link pointing out the wrongfulness of recording off the radio was mot lost on me. Pretty good quality considering the original cassette's now 31 years old! Greg Edwards Capital Radio 1978.mp3
ROBBIE VINCENT, RADIO LONDON SOUL SHOW, EARLY 1980s
The Robbie Vincent-fest begins with this whole bunch of recordings I found of his Saturday lunchtime BBC Radio London Soul Show, which pre-dated his long-running stint at Radio 1. The dates of most of these aren't clear, but at least one dates back to 1981. Fairly poor sound quality on a couple.
Miss P followed on from Robbie Vincent on Sunday nights with a wicked reggae show - the forerunner to Chris Goldfinger. This is just a brief snippet of one of the show links. Rankin Miss P, Radio 1.mp3
ROBBIE VINCENT'S KILLER CUTS, RADIO ONE, 1984-1989
A treat for all who remember Radio One's Sound of Sunday Nite, (and latterly Saturday Nite.) Here's a whole bunch of his year-end Killer Cuts, showcasing the soul, jazz, funk and fusion of the day.
It's a complete set from 1984 to 1989, though curiously, with the 1988 instalment missing ... so if anyone has it please get in touch! Big thanks to Mark Butler for supplying most of these. This guys tape archival game is strong!
The '84, '85, 86 and '89 programmes are in FM stereo. '87 is in muffled medium wave, sadly, but still listenable.
Andy Peebles, who occasionally presented a second soul show on Radio 1, seems to crop up in the second '84 tape, for some reason.
A random latter-day RV show, happily in FM stereo. (These were the days when, unbelievably, Radio 1 used to broadcast mainly in medium wave, sharing its FM frequency and overnight programming with Radio 2.) Robbie Vincent Sep 1988.mp3
ASSORTED WESTWOOD GEMS
A great selection for all Westwood completists, and a proper revelation to younger heads whose only experience of the dude has been in his latter-day performing fool era. Whatever he's now become, the guy was a true soldier and trailblazer back in the day.
WESTWOOD ON LWR, 1985
A trip way back to the pirate days of London Weekend Radio/ LWR. Tower Block ghetto-style. Fascinating stuff. Westwood on LWR.1985 mp3
WESTWOOD. LIVE TO LONDON FROM THE LIMELIGHT, SEP 1987
The earliest known recording of Westwood on Capital Radio, from when he'd just joined the roster as one of its 'bright new shining stars', (in the words of John Sachs who introduces him.) Here's a snippet of his slick intro to the first ever Live To London jam from the Limelight club, introducing Spoonie Gee's 'The Godfather.' Westwood at The Limelight, Sep 1987.mp3
WESTWOOD WITH KRS ONE. CAPITAL RAP SHOW. 1988
An early edition of the legendary world-famous CRS, featuring Westwood in civil conversation with KRS One in the days when they were cool. Westwood with KRS One Dec 1988.mp3
WESTWOOD. CAPITAL RAP SHOW. 17 MAR 1989
A random '89 instalment of the legendary world-famous. A full 20 years on. Westwood CRS 17_3_89.mp3
WESTWOOD'S LAST EVER CAPITAL RAP SHOW, 3 DEC 1994
The final appearance from Westwood on Capital, a week before he moved over for his debut on Radio 1. This is a (seemingly pre-recorded) Rap Exchange with Funkmaster Flex at Hot 97 in New York. (Reception quality a little hissy, sadly.) Westwood Last CRS 3_12_94 P1.mp3
Jeff Young held down the Friday evening dance music slot on Radio 1 for three years before the arrival of Pete Tong. This turned out to be his last session, which also acted as a round-up of 1990's big tunes. Includes a whole hour of 'National Fresh', which was Jeff's excursion into hip-hop territory. This was still four years before the arrival of Westwood on Radio 1.
PETE TONG'S LAST EVER SESSION, CAPITAL RADIO, 29 DEC 1990
Part two of Pete Tong's 1990 year-end round-up, which also marked his last ever Saturday evening Session after three years on the station. A week later he started on Radio 1. 1990 was a truly fascinating year for dance music fusion, and there's some real gems in here. Reception gets a little fuzzy in places, but hardly surprising since the tape was recorded in West Oxfordshire, 70 miles away from London! Pete Tong 29_12_90 P1.mp3
Here's Pete Tong's first ever Essential Selection on Radio 1, dating back to the first week of January 1991, a week after he moved across from Capital Radio. Pete Tong Radio 1 debut Jan 1991.mp3
MARK DEVLIN & KID FURY. THE VERY FIRST JOINTS & JAMS, 19/12/98
As I was delving in the archives, I figured I may as well fling up a couple of my own. This was the very first edition of Joints & Jams, the Saturday evening show that Kid Fury and myself presented on Oxygen 107.9 in Oxford from '98 to 2000. Our enthusiasm at getting the show is clear. I seem to be jabbering like I was on coke, (I wasn't.) Joints & Jams 19_12_98.mp3
JOINTS & JAMS 90s REVIEW EXCERPT, 28/12/99
As we prepare for the big reviews of the decade of the noughties, here's a bit of the four-hour show Fury and myself presented ten years ago reviewing all the big sounds of the 1990s. We're catching jokes in this link with a few reminiscences. Joints & Jams 90s review link.mp3
The UK's Mark Devlin links back up with Norwegian master of the gamer Teddy Touch, for another freestyle session of heavy sounds. It's hip-hop in foundation, but don't be surprised to hear anything from reggae to soul to baile funk creeping into the mix. Proper tuneage!
DJ Cosy O rocks the spot reggaeton-style at Gandhara, Valencia. (Apologies that the video's a bit dark - that's clubs for ya. But you get the general gist...)
I'd love to offer some wild and profound travel tales about my visit to Valencia on Saturday 17th. I learned long ago that here's plenty to say about Ryanair when things go wrong, but little to report when things run to routine. I'm not sure if I'm warming to Ryanair, or if it's just been a long time since I last had a bad experience. My last few trips have ben trouble-free and on-time. I guess I shouldn't speak too soon.
I watched the BBC's recent 'Panorama' programme on the airline with interest. Whilst I'm no big fan of Ryanair or its loathsome boss O'Leary, I felt that it presented a very biased and one-sided hatchet job, and few of its 'revelations' would be any great surprise to anyone who travels with them regularly.
I touched down in Valencia at 8.30pm ready to spin that night at Soul, a black music night run by relocated Londoner DJ Cosy O. Due to an on-line map cock-up, Cosy and myself searched for 90 minutes for my hotel in a coastal town miles away .. before realising it was back in the city at the point where we'd started after all. Although it ate into my nap time, I didn't mind as I got some great views of Valencia and its outlying districts during what was otherwise a straight-in straight-out trip. It's certainly a beautiful and impressive city with some stunning new architecture going up, and great beaches. The city is packed and sweltering in Summer. In October, temperatures hover around a very comfortable 70 degrees.
I'd forgotten just how late the Spanish party. We didn't even arrive at the club spot, Gandhara, until 2am, and it was 3.30 before I started playing. I can't remember the last time an overseas gig disappointed, and Soul was no exception. I blasted the crowd with everything from crunk to reggae to UK Funky to revivals from Prince and Chaka Khan, and it all rang off.
The European smoking ban seems to be a very grey area, (literally and metaphorically,) varying in strictness from country to country. I thought Spain had imposed the ban, but this clearly didn't extend to Gandhara as the familiar thick fog hung in the air throughout, and we emerged stinking of the cancer sticks just like in the old days. It was past 7am before I was back at my hotel, and three hours later came the painful return to the airport. Thoughts of my bed carried me through the journey from Stansted. We eventually reunited mid-afternoon.
UK DJ Mark Devlin steps up alongside resident DJ Cosy O to rock the party-style urban jams all night long.
Type: Music/Arts - Jam Session
Network: Global
Start Time: Saturday, October 17, 2009 at 11:00pm
End Time: Sunday, October 18, 2009 at 6:00am
Location: Gandhara
Street: Eugenia Vines 226, Playa Malvarossa
City/Town: Valencia, Spain
Description
DJ Mark Devlin steps up alongside resident DJ Cosy O to rock the party-style urban jams all night long. R&B, hip hop, soul, funk, reggaeton and all the rest of it.
'Worldwide' came with the favourite of all my CD sleeve designs - and there's no Photoshop trickery going on there! It's very much of its time, mid-2001, which can be seen from the high volume of disposable, temporary acts in the first section that have neither been seen nor heard of again. Rhona, anyone? D-Don? Burro Banton? Who are these people?!
A heavy showing for reggae dancehall on this one, which was still very much alive and well in the clubs. Lots of new riddim juggling, and a sprinkling of classics - Chaka Demus & Pliers, Louchie Lou & Michie One, both versions of Mega Banton's 'Sound Boy Killin'.
Then a hip-hop beat junkie's dream to finish on - Pete & CL, an underground offering from Masta Ace, the beat from DJ Skitz' 'Twilight Of The Gods', (still probably the best UK joint ever produced), and finishing off on 'Deep Cover.'
CAPPADONNA Featuring JD & DA BRAT: WE KNOW D-DON Featuring REDMAN: AND YOU KNOW THAT 2PAC: UNTIL THE END OF TIME BURRO BANTON: PHENOMENON MISTEEQ: ALL I WANT (Ignorants Mix) RHONA: SATISFIED (Darkchild Mix) SUNSHINE ANDERSON: HEARD IT ALL BEFORE CRAIG MACK: HEARD IT ALL BEFORE MISSY ELLIOTT Featuring LUDACRIS: ONE MINUTE MAN MISSY ELLIOTT Featuring JAY-Z: ONE MINUTE MAN VIOLATOR Featuring BUSTA RHYMES: WHAT IT IS N.E.R.D: LAPDANCE LUDACRIS: YOU'S A HO LIL MO Featuring FABOLOUS: SUPERWOMAN (DJ Clue Remix) TOYA: I DO MISSY ELLIOTT: LICK SHOTS BLU CANTRELL: HIT 'EM UP STYLE MEGA BANTON: SOUND BOY KILLING (Hip Hop Version) MEGA BANTON: SOUND BOY KILLING (Dancehall Version) NARDO RANKS: THEM A BLEACH CHAKA DEMUS & PLIERS: MURDER SHE WROTE PLIERS: BAM BAM LOUCHIE LOU & MICHIE ONE: RICH GIRL LADY SAW: SON OF A BITCH CE'CILE & ELEPHANT MAN: BAD GAL, BAD MAN MR. VEGAS: DAMN RIGHT HAWKEYE: MY STYLE CE'CILE & MAD ANJU: MAD BWOY PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH: THE MAIN INGREDIENT DJ SKITZ: TWILIGHT OF THE GODS (Instrumental) MASTA ACE: GHETTO LIKE STICKY FINGAZ: THE STATE VS. KIRK JONES DR DRE Featuring SNOOP DOGGY DOGG: DEEP COVER
Some music-makers are a dream to interview. Others are damned hard work. I started the month with phone chats lined up with artist/ super-producer Ryan Leslie and J Dilla's younger brother Illa J. Not sure if I caught him on a bad day, but the Ryan Leslie phoner tested my skills to their limits, leaving me with the impression that the dude just had no interest in being interviewed. Judge for yourself with the following excerpts, which, I swear, have not been doctored in any way!
On Friday 3rd, I headed to Belfast for another welcome spot at Fabulouso, the weekly jam at Mono staged by husband-and-wife DJ Team Ghost and Brown Suga. On this occasion, I chose to fly from 'Bristol Airport'. This made sense as I was playing in nearby Bath the following night, which saved going home in between. I'd only flown from 'Bristol' once before, and I'd forgotten just how bloody far the airport is from the city. Calling it 'Bristol' is pushing it - it's not even in the same county, and, being approachable only by minor roads, must surely be the most inaccessible airport in the UK. Add to that some ludicrous pricing for their parking, which charges by the day of the week rather than per 24-hour period, and I can say that I won't be travelling from Bristol again.
The night at Mono was populated by an up-for-it and enthusiastic crowd, and provided a great deal of musical exorcism of some of the crap I'm forced to play at most of my English gigs. On after me was Brown Suga, who dropped a red hot dancehall selection that kept the place rocking all the way. And me.
The flight back to 'Bristol' took less than 50 minutes on Saturday afternoon. I'd barely turned my laptop on when we'd already started our descent to land. I killed the time before my Bath gig with a visit to some family friends in nearby Calne, crashing out in a spare bedroom to catch my mandatory Saturday disco nap.
With a depressing and drudge-laden August finally out of the way, things were looking a whole lot brighter on 1st September, with a couple of overseas DJing trips and some other interesting stuff lined up.
Setting the tone was my radio show on Wednesday 2nd, where my good DJ buddies Dale (aka DJ Cybernetic) and Stu (aka, err, DJ Campbellicious) passed through to drop an hour-long live mix. With real vinyl too! These guys have been flying the flag for proper, quality black music in their hometown of Swindon for a long time and deserve their respect. The mix veered from soulful 80s grooves, through to contemporary organic hip-hop. Great stuff. The show's still available to listen to on the following links:
The following day I headed off with my girls on the long road trip to the Lake District. Parveen and myself have attended The Block Party night at The Wheelhouse many times, but this marked eight-month-old Zaina's first time up North. A year ago, the two of us would have just thrown our bags in the car and sped off. The amount of paraphernalia now required to keep a baby fed, rested and satisfied for 24 hours defies belief. It takes half an hour just to make the list.
We eventually rolled into a rain-soaked Windermere at 5.30pm, dropped our bags at the guest house, and headed off for a carvery meal at the Lakeview pub. At a credit crunch-beating £3.50 per head it's hard to go wrong! With P & Z safely installed in bed, I crept out at 11.30pm, joining Clyde, aka DJ Bligeness, MC Master P and ragga DJ Sweetness for the 7th birthday session of Block Party. With a loyal crowd always in attendance, and heavy tunes getting rinsed throughout, I can truly say I've never had a whack night at the Wheelhouse. Thursday was no exception, There are now so few top-quality urban nights left in the UK that pioneering ones like this are to be cherished all the more. Pics from the night are posted here:
A long Zaina pit stop extended Friday's journey home to six hours, at the end of which I was good for nothing except monging out in front of the TV. I was back on the DJing trail on Saturday night in Watford.
First overseas jaunt was a welcome return to Latvia on Wednesday 9th, for a two-night DJing double-bill. It was returning from my last visit that I suffered a full 24-hour delay at the hands of Ryanair, and was rescued by a similarly-stranded Danny Rampling getting me a hotel room for the night. But the strength of the parties, and the fact that Riga is home to the prettiest and blondest girls in Europe more than made up for it.
After dinner with promoter/ DJ Ai-va and his assistant Agnese, I was dropped at the City Hotel, where Reception had helpfully displayed a list of bars that were known to regularly rip off punters and were to be avoided. With one of them going by the name of 'Pussy Lounge' I think we know what type of 'clubs' we're talking about here.
Fortunately, my gig was in the highly respectable and plush Amber Night, part of the Riga Latvija Hotel. Wednesdays are never the liveliest night, but the crowd numbers were boosted by Latvia's football match against Switzerland that night, and after midnight, a bunch of Swiss fans draped in the Red Cross flag, (and some with flag tattoos on their faces) drunkenly piled into the venue. Ai-va is known as the 'mash-up king' in Riga, specialising in cut-and-paste tracks that take the accapella of one well-known tune and run it over the instrumental of another. So you might hear a 50 Cent vocal over the beat from Toto's 'Africa', for example. He's also big on the eclectic 'Baltimore Club' sound. A web page advertising the night reminded me that the Latvian language automatically adds an 's to the end of names. so in Latvia I'm always Marks Devlins.
Thursday was a warm, sunny day in Riga, making the picturesque Old Town look even more attractive. I transferred to the Reval Hotel, which, although I'd played there, hadn't been available to stay the previous night owing to the football fans, and a doctors' conference. In the evening, I delivered a talk for the second time at The Rhythm Institute, an association which Ai-Va runs to tutor upcoming DJs and producers in various aspects of the industry. This time, I talked about Black Sheep Magazine and my book, 'Tales From The Flipside', as two (hopefully) interesting side aspects to DJing. I'm no public speaker and normally go to pieces in front of a crowd, but the familiar subject matter enabled me to carry it off. The time passed quickly and it was highly enjoyable. I even flogged a couple of books!
Prior to Thursday night's gig, I called into the massive Essential, Riga's largest club, where Ai-Va was DJing the opening set before house superstar Fedde Le Grand; (impressed to hear him play Jay-Z & Alicia Keys' epic 'Empire State Of Mind' - Ai-Va that is, not Fedde.) Latvia's gone halfway on the smoking issue. It's technically banned, but clubs are still allowed to have designated indoor areas. On Thursday, the entire four-roomed club was evidently the 'area.'
From there, we moved on to Pulkvedis, ('colonel' in Latvian, apparently,) a jumping pub-like venue, where I span a fast-moving party set. Great fun, and good to see a couple of UK Funky numbers like Maxwell D's 'Blackberry Hype' and Whoodunnit's 'Wobble' tearing it up. For some reason, Thursday has long been the liveliest club night in Riga, despite folk having to work on Friday. Before turning in for the night, we headed for brief visits to late-night spots Milk and Kerfhir.
The rain was falling on Friday morning as I headed back to the airport.
The Stansted run occurred again on Tuesday 15th as I headed for some closing season action at Soul City in Ibiza. This time I mixed airlines, travelling out with Ryanair and back with Easyjet. The Ryanair portion came in at just £15 all-in, (avoiding every one of O'Leary's attempted extra rip-offs, of course,) whereas the Easyjet return cost four times as much. My Ibiza trips usually only see me on the island for nine hours thanks to annoyingly inconvenient flight times. On this occasion, an evening routing on both the outward and return leg enabled me to stay for almost 24 hours (!)
A glance at the Yahoo weather site had revealed warnings of rain for most of the week and sure enough, it was bucketing down as I emerged through Arrivals. Soul City manager Julian picked me up, and we discussed just how rare rain is on the island. There was some concern over how it might affect club numbers that night, and I started cursing my choice of date. In the end, the rain had all cleared up by midnight, and Soul City enjoyed a regular capacity crowd. I played alongside all-Summer resident Mr Ice, and the place rocked as it always does. UK Funky was clearly the music of choice, with anthems like 'Migraine Skank', 'Are You Gonna Bang Doe' and 'Head Shoulders...' tearing it down. There's a video showing the enthusiastic reaction to Ice dropping 'Migraine Skank' here:
I slept in til 11am, which is quite an achievement for me. On leaving my hotel, the rain had completely cleared up and San An was basking in warm sunshine. Over lunch with Julian and his daughter I caught some insider's viewpoints on Ibiza Summer '09, including just how much Pete Tong gets paid for playing Wonderland at Eden every Friday. He won't struggle in his old age. As I'd suspected, despite the superclubs heralding yet another spectacular year in their promo propaganda, numbers and takings have been considerably down at most venues this season. Still the big clubs continue to charge up to 47 Euros (Pacha) for entry and 12 Euros for a beer. It's hardly surprising recession-hit punters have been heading to less expensive resorts like the Greek Islands this year. There's a lesson there somewhere.
The return of students and their reckless spending habits has venues and promoters salivating in anticipation every September. On 22nd, I started playing a new weekly Tuesday session staged by the University of West England at Syndicate Superclub in Bristol. The club's had many previous guises. I played there when it was Odyssey in my Galaxy 101 days, and prior to that, remember attending DMC mixing heats in the late 80s when it was known s Papillon. Experience has taught me that student crowds tend to have fairly short attention spans. As long as you stick to the hits and chop through 'em rapidly you're good. The opening freshers session was rammed. Numbers had fallen off a fair bit the following week.
My live guest on 'Just Buggin' on Wednesday 23rd was the MC known as Kinetik from North West London. His outstanding album, 'The Kinesis Thesis', is back to basics intelligent lyricism over bugged out beats, and as such is right up my street. There's some footage of him dropping a sharp radio freestyle here:
On Friday 25th, I picked up DJ Ai-Va from Stansted. Having guested in Riga previously it was now my turn to host him for a weekend in the UK. First stop was The Second Bridge in Bath later that night. Most overseas guests I've played with in the UK have commented that they find our crowds fairly fussy and difficult to please, which is an observation I'd largely go along with. Ai-Va was interested to see the wild reaction to UK Funky tunes and I made sure he had a CD full of such anthems to take home and drop on the unsuspecting Latvian crowds. On Saturday night, there was more of the same at The Bridge in Oxford.
I'd been hoping to attend the MOBO Awards in Glasgow on Wednesday 30th. Having applied for press tickets several weeks earlier, I only received confirmation 24 hours before, which didn't allow enough time to make things happen. It was a bust. I watched the event on BBC3 instead, and a few of my observations are in an article I subsequently wrote for the music industry's social networking site Rivmixx, here:
Northern Ireland's finest, DJ Brown Suga, drops a dancehall selection at Fabulouso, Fridays at Mono nightclub, Belfast. (Sorry it's all a bit dark, but that's clubs for ya. You get the gist, anyway...
DJ MIX: MARK DEVLIN BEATMASTERS MIX: RZA/ WU TANG CLAN WU TANG CLAN: C.R.E.A.M WU TANG CLAN: CAN IT ALL BE SO SIMPLE OL’ DIRTY BASTARD: SHIMMY SHIMMY YA OL’ DIRTY BASTARD: BROOKLYN ZOO GENIUS AKA GZA: LIQUID SWORDS RAEKWON: ICE CREAM WU TANG CLAN: TRIUMPH METHOD MAN Featuring MARY J BLIGE: ALL I NEED METHOD MAN Featuring MARY J BLIGE: ALL I NEED (Remix) RZA: WU WEAR: THE GARMENT RENAISSANCE WU TANG CLAN: WU TANG CLAIN AIN’T NUTTIN TA F**K WIT’ METHOD MAN: RELEASE YO’ DELF METHOD MAN: M.E.T.H.O.D MAN CHEF RAEKWON: GLACIERS OF ICE METHOD MAN: BRING THE PAIN WU TANG CLAN: PROTECT YA NECK WU TANG CLAN: GRAVEL PIT
ILLA J Featuring DEBI NOVA: SOUNDS LIKE LOVE
SLAKAH THE BEATCHILD Featuring DRAKE: ENJOY YOURSELF
DRAKE Featuring KANYE WEST, LIL WAYNE & EMINEM: FOREVER
