Birdsong, bongos, and electric solos. Analogue bubble baths of ceremonial drums, pan pipes and chimes. Cicadas, amazonian tribes, and Bob James` Mardi Gras cowbell. Dub bass-lines, sitar drones, and trance-y keys. Flamenco-esque fancies, and stadium rockers – in a previous life – coping Wicked Game licks. Broken hearted poetry and poignant remembrances of first kisses. Twilight electronics, and Soul Love. Snowmen and sonar blips. Miles Davis and Eno. Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton. Academy Award wining show tunes side-by-side with a brace of tiny run white label one-offs made by enthusiastic bods chancing their arm. Sample-delic chuggers of Post-Soul II Soul breaks, `60s West Coast Pop harmonies, African song, and rolling pianos. 

Below is a rip of a cassette recording made at Southend-On-Sea`s Sunrooms in 1993. Thirty minutes of Phil Mison, followed by forty of Jose Padilla. The sunset maestros playing an evening of down to mid-tempo tunes to Essex dancers. Music, back then, that was more commonly confined to warm-ups, wind-downs and back rooms, given centre stage. 

I`ll let Phil explain. 

“Apart from the Milk Bar, the other places I first got to DJ with Jose, in late `92 / early `93 were upstairs at the Ministry Of Sound, and the Sunrooms in Southend. The Sunrooms were owned by an old friend of Jose`s called Mark. Mark had been a regular at an open-air bar of Jose`s called Museo. That was up in Cala Vadella, in around 1986.  You’ll have to ask Jose about the finer details of the bar, but from what he’s told me and the photos I’ve seen, it had sculptures dotted about, palm trees and an exotic clientele. Stretching from Steve Strange to minor Euro aristocracy. The music was Jazz, New Age. Pat Metheny and Miles Davies. I guess Mark brought a bit of that back with him when he opened the Sunrooms, as it had that Ibiza feel. With candles, cushions, and white walls. I can’t remember Jose asking me to DJ with him there, but I guess he must have done. We drove down to Southend, my friend Doug bringing his trusty twin-deck tape recorder.  At that point, a lot of the records on Jose`s Cafe Del Mar tapes were still a mystery, so on hearing him play Double Fantasy, Anne Clark and Rayo Kyao, me and Doug were straight over asking what all this music was. That this tape has survived for quarter of a century, what with it going on numerous trips abroad, being lent to friends, played on various tape machines, is a minor miracle. So gracias Rob for preserving this mix before it disappeared into the ether.”

Big big Thank You!s to Phil for the tape, and to Robin “Faze Action” Lee for doing such a fine job in restoring it. 

I`ve got a partial track-list, but if anyone would like to have a shot at completing one, please feel free in the comments sections – both here and on Mixcloud. 

*For Japanese friends, Phil will be over in July. I`ll update once I have the tour details. 

Track-list

1. Sub sub – Past 

2.

3.

4. William orbit- Riding To Rio 

5. Nomad Soul – Candy Mountain (Cloud Spa)

6. No Man – Days In The Trees (Thank you everyone for the Twin Peaks ID!)

7.

8. Andy On The Eve – Melodies Of Passion (And Life Goes On)

9. Sandoz – White Darkness

10. David Bowie – Soul Love

11. Deep Forest – Sweet Lullaby

12. Dancing Fantasy – Groove For Fantasy

13. Charas – Lunar Musique

14. Anne Clark – Feel

15. Brian Eno – Golden Hours

16. Pink Floyd – More (Main Theme)

17.

18. The Grid – Flotation

19. Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton – Baby It’s Cold Outside