Monolith Cocktail Blog

The Eclectic/Generational Spanning Playlist
By Dominic Valvona

An imaginary radio show/podcast, a taste of Dominic Valvona’s DJ sets, the Monolith Cocktail Social is a playlist selection that spans genres and eras to create the most eclectic of soundtracks. Includes tributes to anniversary celebrating albums, to those who we’ve lost on the way and choice music pulled from Dominic’s vast collection.

Dominic Valvona: the blurb summary of this month’s social.

Arguably the world was already well on its way to going to shit, but since Bowie left this earthly realm it has decidedly got a lot gloomier, his presence never more missed. But what a legacy to leave behind. And this month sees two anniversary album celebrations from the polymath star man; The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars reaches fifty, whilst Heathen is twenty years old. Tracks from both albums are included: ‘Soul Love’ via the ’78 Welcome To The Blackout London Live album, and ‘Moonage Daydream’ via a cover by The Chameleons.

Held up as a benchmark of quality and skills in the hip-hop world for those of us of a certain age, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth’s venerated Mecca And The Soul Brothers is unbelievably thirty years old this June! I’ve included that album’s opening salvo, ‘Return Of The Mecca’. 

Each month I also like to pay homage to those artists we’ve lost. Just in the last few days before I compiled this playlist, the ethereal-spirited vocalist whose voice graced David Lynch’s surrealistic daytime drama turn cryptic murder mystery Twin Peaks, Julee Cruise passed away. Now I could have just gone for the obvious but instead here’s something from Cruise’s more recent cooed pillow talk, ‘The Art Of Being A Girl’. We also unfortunately lost ex-Fatima Mansions turn soloist in more recent times, Irish talent Cathal Coughlan and of course, the progenitor soundtrack god, ex-Aphrodite’s Child helmsman and singular as well as collaborator genius Vangelis. I’ve included a smattering of the Greek musical deity’s music, some obvious as well as less so obvious tracks, including a little something from the 666 opus that he more or less conceived and fought to get made and released: which incidentally celebrated its 50^th anniversary this month too. I’m also including dear old Alan White, drummer extraordinaire, with a cut from his own solo album Ramshackled. 

Older tracks sit alongside relatively new ones from the likes of Party Dozen, Matthew Dear, Sun’s Signature, Wilma Vritra and Rachel Eckroth. There’s the strung-out, the experimental, the sublime, the blessed, the heavy, the psychedelic and everything in between. So let the musical journey begin:

TRACK LISTING::

David Bowie  ‘Cactus’
Party Dozen  ‘The Worker’
The Gories  ‘There But For The Grace Of God Go I’
The Fatima Mansions  ‘Blues For Ceauşescu’
Dub Narcotic Sound System  ‘Fuck Me Up’
Matthew Dear  ‘Talking Sleep’
Bloto  ‘Mitomania’
Julee Cruise  ‘The Art Of Being A Girl’
The Fallen Angels  ‘Room At The Top’
Fat Mattress  ‘Anyway You Want’
Muhal Richard Abrams  ‘Balu’
Group Home Ft. Guru  ‘The Legacy’
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth  ‘Return Of The Mecca’
Scotty  ‘Clean Race’
Steroid Maximus  ‘Seventy Cops’
Aphrodite’s Child  ‘Altamont’
The Chameleons  ‘Moonage Daydream’
Alan White  ‘One Way Rag’
Vangelis  ‘He-O’
Sun’s Signature  ‘Golden Air (Edit)’
Furry Lewis  ‘Good Looking Girl Blues’
Francis Lai  ‘La Chanson de Mélissa (from Bilitis) – Live’
McGough & McGear  ‘So Much’
The Apple Pie Motherhood Band  ‘Grandmother Hooker’
Juan Wauter w/ Nick Hakim & Benamin  ‘Presentation’
A Barca Do Sol  ‘Os Pilares da Cultra’
Julian’s Treatment  ‘Strange Things’
David Bowie  ‘Soul Love – Live’
Wilma Vritra  ‘One Under’
Oddjob  ‘Where Eagles Dare’
Restiform Bodies  ‘Black Friday’
Rachel Eckroth w/Tim Lefebvre and Christian Euman  ‘Do Trees Fall In Love?’
Felicia Atkinson  ‘Guitar Means Mountain’
Iasos  ‘Crystal Petals’
Vangelis  ‘Tears in Rain’
Mark Wagner  ‘What Do You Want From Life’
Tex Crick  ‘Peaches & Cream’
Liam Kazar  ‘So Long Tomorrow’
David Bowie  ‘A Better Future’

Extra Reading:

David Bowie The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

Aphrodite’s Child 666