ROCK Sex: When WIRE Met Elastica

ROCK Sex sees how "a vital connection is made".

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I love Elastica because they were the sum result of a lot of great influences gelling into something unique.

Every act is the sum of their parts, it's true, but sometimes someone pulls it together just right for you. It's the difference between laying all the ingredients out on the table versus cooking them with your own touch.

Elastica expanded on some melodies from the great PostPunk band Wire, and get no end of grief for it from literalists. Whatever. I enjoy what they brought to already fine songs.

WIRE -"Three Girl Rhumba" (1977)


ELASTICA -"Connection" (1994)




WIRE -"I Am the Fly" (1977)


ELASTICA -"Line Up" (1995)


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Perversely, in light of all the flak they got in '95, Elastica returned in 2000 to also do a couple more songs almost willfully interpolating melodies from Wire.


WIRE -"Kidney Bingos" (1977)


ELASTICA -"Nothing Stays the Same" (2000)




WIRE -"Lowdown" (1988)


ELASTICA -"Human" (2000)



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Elastica's leader, Justine Frischmann also admired the arpeggiated use of guitars in the riff for this song...

THE STRANGLERS -"No More Heroes" (1978)


Though The Stranglers didn't get any grief from Bach fans for their baroque moves, Elastica didn't escape so lightly in kind for using the same playing approach with their own unique song.

ELASTICA -"Waking Up" (1995)




I say it's all good. We're lucky to have had each and get such great work between them.



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• "Boredom"/ "Rip It Up" - Buzzcocks > Orange Juice

• LADIES FIRST: "Mind Your Own Business" - Delta 5 > Chicks On Speed > Pigface


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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ROCK Sex: "Walk On By" - Dionne Warwick > Isaac Hayes > The Stranglers > Hooverphonic > Mono > Pete Rock

ROCK Sex dishes the dirt on the clandestine liaisons of music.

Some songs are so resonant that they reverberate beyond any time or style. "Walk On By" is one of those.

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The original was the breakthrough hit for diva Dionne Warwick and her write-hand man Burt Bacharach:

DIONNE WARWICK -"Walk On By" (1964)



Covered immediately by everyone, it took a radical left turn when Isaac Hayes turned it into a 12-minute funk-rock masterpiece. It's my unhumble opinion that the epic build of strings and psychedelic guitar is one of the greatest intros in Pop history:

ISAAC HAYES -"Walk On By" (1969, long version)



Later it came full circle when Dionne and Isaac performed it together on their live album:

DIONNE WARWICK & ISAAC HAYES -"Walk On By" (1977, live)



The Punk band The Stranglers put some fuzzy edge back into it:

THE STRANGLERS -"Walk On By" (1978)



And El Michels Affair brought back the hot buttered Funk to it.

EL MICHELS AFFAIR -"Walk On By" (2006)

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The fantastic beat of Isaac Hayes' version became a sampler's paradise, crossing the intersections of TripHop and HipHop.

Here's the Belgian alchemists Hooverphonic with their debut hit:

HOOVERPHONIC -"2 Wicky" (1996)



Taking a subtler tact, the British duo Mono played to the cinematic qualities of TripHop by synching it with the moody keys and guitar of Roy Budd's GET CARTER soundtrack, as seen this creepy David Lynch-ian video:

MONO -"Silicone" (1997)



The beat has figured in samples by Compton's Most Wanted (1991), Notorious B.I.G. (1994), Slick Rick, DJ Shadow (1996), MF Doom (1999), The Wu Tang Clan (2000), Ludacris (2003), J Dilla (2006, using The Undisputed Truth's version), and Pete Rock:

PETE ROCK -"Walk On By" (2001)



And Dionne's version has been homaged in songs by Ashanti(2002), Alisha Keys (2003), and Joss Stone (2007).



© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• SHAKE AND FINGER POP! Soul Music and the Interior Truth, with Music Player!

• FUNK, The True History: The 1960s, with 3 Music Players!

• "Time Is Tight!" - Booker T > The Clash > Elvis Costello > Squeeze

• "I Thank You" - Sam And Dave > ZZ Top

• "Sour Times" - Lalo Schifrin > Portishead


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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