"Alleys Of Your Mind" b/w "Cosmic Raindance"
scum stats: at least three pressings...red/white labels with black printing, red labels with black printing, white labels with black printing. Anecdotally red/white labels are likely the first pressing, as those seem to turn up the least frequently. I'd venture the red label is the follow-up pressing and the white labels seem to relatively ABOUND in quantity. At one point 30 years after the fact Juan Atkins claimed that the white label was a bootleg, but I think that's the fog of the decades. Original pressings plated and pressed at QCA in Cincinnati, pretty sure that white label ran at Archer a few months later. )
The beginning of Detroit techno. Never mind that it's a wholesale lift of the hook from Ultravox's "Mr. X", all you need to know is that this is the shit.
Something shifted on my cell phone in the past week where the first thing to play when I plug into the car is no longer Mike Birbiglia's "Abby" but instead, Cybotron's "Alleys Of Your Mind."
This. Makes. My. Day. Every. Day.
I first heard this song on an "Old School Sunday" Detroit radio show...seemingly each one of the R&B stations in town sets up at a local spot with a club (read: not radio) DJ spinning live. None of the tracks get announced or even identified.
Anyway, I was driving on Vernor headed west bound at the Gratiot intersection and this one drops. Sounding like nothing I'd ever heard before. Sounding like a BAND, a vibe I'd never thought I could gather from a techno record.
Anyway, I was driving on Vernor headed west bound at the Gratiot intersection and this one drops. Sounding like nothing I'd ever heard before. Sounding like a BAND, a vibe I'd never thought I could gather from a techno record.
And...nothing. No idea what the song was or how to even try to find it.
A day or two later a call to dear band mate Mick Collins had the question answered in about ten seconds. Imagine my delight in finding out it was a DETROIT record.
In a few weeks one of those white label copies would be procured from People's Records. To later discern the story that Atkins and band mate Rick Davis self-released the record, essentially selling it out of the trunks of their cars and moving roundabout 25k copies in that manner.
As Atkins debut release, it's INSANE that the first lyrics he ever unleashed into the world (at a mere 19 years old!) are "Who'll cry for modern man?" I think about this line ALL THE DAMN TIME it's soo stupid good.
To hear Mick talk about how it hit in Detroit...everyone heard it...and everyone freaked the fuck out. To the point where EVERYONE was bumping this song and loving the hell out of it.
Oh to have been around Detroit in 1981.
I've not stopped loving this record since. The Dirtbombs covered it on our Party Store LP back in 2011 and it's one of my happier full circles having made that happen.
I've made a habit of grabbing any copy of this record I ever run into. So I've got some extras floating around here. They are all usually HAMMERED...a sign that a disc was a TRUE party record, getting played all the time, not kept in a sleeve, folks dancing so hard they bump into the turntable. Every copy of this disc has lived a full life no doubt.
Tell me your best "full circle" story and whomever's got the best one will get a hammered copy of this record. Entries must be submitted by midnight central time on May 26th.
i just want to win!
2013 in Toronto there was a new radio station called Indie 88. 2 weeks before it went on air, all it did was broadcast Rick Astleys, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” on a 24/7 loop… If you were in the car for a long time and channel surfing you were gonna hear that song many, many times. I thought it was quirky and was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.
Side note: Toronto radio is terrible and is as stereotypical as any other North American “ROCK ALL THE TIME LED ZEPPELIN CAUSE THIS DEMOGRAPHIC ONLY LISTENS TO RADIO AND DOESNT USE IPHONES.” So this was a welcomed change.
So, when they finally went to air, I was in the car and heard this song from A Tribe Called Red, a Native Canadian DJ Trio that mixed traditional music with EDM. Indie 88 was on a roll and I was excited this song existed and was on the airwaves. It was the first time ever I had a movie moment, where I looked down at the radio, liked what I heard and CRANKED IT. Of course, they never annouced the band on the radio… Fast forward to a few months later I was in Montreal at Osheaga and I hear that fucking song again as I’m walking to another stage… I followed the sound to them playing live… They were incredible…
After a few songs they invited the mighty MOS DEF on stage to do a song with them. That is my full circle story + Bonus MOS DEF.
The Song: https://youtu.be/cj3U0z64_m4
Electric Pow Wow
A Tribe Called Red
Here is an earlier video of their live set, it got better over the years:
https://youtu.be/5PhkzB3PkDY