I was wandering about YouTube and came across this live appearance from last year by Bilgeri of ‘Video Life’ at a German Festival. A slice of what we had all taken to be a lost gem for the Balearic Beat aficionado right there on a big stage in a field amongst the Bratwurst. Classic.
When Mike and Kelv put Volume 1 of ‘Down to the Sea and Back’ together and we were licensing and putting it together, I, ashamed as I am to admit it, had never heard this record. But, then, that is often the case for me when it comes to Mike and Kelv’s record collections. That’s why they are the people picking them after all.
I loved it and it’s definitely one of my favourites on the record.
I knew from Mike’s ever informative description in the sleeve-notes about how he and Moonboots found the record, that Bilgeri had survived the 80’s and still claimed to be an artist, writer, director etc.
What I didn’t know is that somewhere he commanded sufficient respect to play on what seems to be a main stage at a festival in a place where they don’t speak English.
Not only that, but, this live performance has lost none of the power of the original recording.
Fascinating to see that what was then, as Mike puts it, ’slightly cheesy porn-funk’, has made it’s way onto a festival stage with all it’s oddity intact.
Surely that’s a perfect ending for a rediscovered slice of Balearic Beat after all?
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Slightly cheesy porn-funk is a spot on description! Brilliant tune…heard it for the first time about 3 or 4 years ago on a mix that Kelv did and never tire of listening to it. The cover of the record is pretty spesh as well…
xxx