Brit Hop And Amyl House

[Wolkenkrabber]

 

Discogs: Brit Hop And Amyl House



I remember listening to the Social mix CD on a Tower Records listening post back in 1996. The listening post suggested "if you like that, you'll love this": and offered Brit Hop and Amyl House. What I didn't realise until many years later (2016) was that it was probably a real Chemical mix. I didn't bother buying the CD - well at least not until about a year ago. And I feel like I have a whole 'new' Chems mix CD that I can whack on the stereo to annoy my neighbours with.

One of the older reviews on the Discogs page for this mix says:

I was chatting to some record industry bloke in a pub in Camden once who was in some way involved with the Chemical Brothers. I asked him if, as I suspected, this album was mixed by the Chems. He said it was and the reason they are not credited on the sleeve is that they were not signed to Concrete and there label at the time (Virgin I think) didn't know what they were up to.

Of course that's just hearsay, so let's consider some evidence:

Sleeve Notes are by Heavenly/Social bloke Robin Turner, a longtime friend of the Chems. He also did the sleeve notes for Live At The Social the same year.
Offcially compiled by Vanessa Rand, aka Vanessa Rowlands, Tom's (now) wife.
Photography by Amber Rowlands. Is it a coicidence she has the same surname as Tom?
And someone on Discogs has credited the DJ Mix to Tom Rowlands, albeit unofficially.

More importantly there's the music.
The mix starts with some very Chemical FX.
We get Kenny Dope's "Rock Da haus Anna" sample popping up early-ish in the mix before appearing again on that Chems remix of Voodoo People.
We get Emmanuel Top's Lobotomie which I believe appeared in other Chems DJ mixes.
We get Lionrock who were also on The Social mix that year (different track).
We get four of the six "proper" tracks that were on the Xmas Dust Up cassette.
Two of those four tracks, Shaolin Buddha Finger and Voodoo People (rmx) are mixed into each other on both mixes, albeit in the opposite order.


The mix probably isn't as good as BGWIO - but then what is?
However if you ever listened to the NME Xmas cassette and thought: "twenty minites is too short, I want a 72 minute version of this mix", well this is it!
It's been uploaded to YT (with Higher State of Consciousness edited out) but for the proper experience you need to get this CD on your soundsystem and turn up the sub woofers. LIstening on laptop speakers just isn't the same.

This for some people is old news - very old news. But for others, it may have completely passed them by, and I think ..."Amyl House" deserves some recognition.  It's time we stopped treating it as the secret lovechild of Chemical mix albums. And hey, it's on a proper CD which you can buy second hand for chump change (more or less). Surely every Chems fan should have this one in their collection?

[ThePumisher]

The mix probably isn't as good as BGWIO - but then what is?

Me likes Live at the Social more

[rynostar]

I am one of those that didn't know about this release. Wow! Normally I'm good for pulling obscure facts. I salute you Wolken.

[Enjoyed]

Same!

I'm going to hold off on listening until I track down a physical copy I think. Discogs listings, with all those shipping costs, don't quite meet my personal standard of chump change, but I have it on my wantlist and will check back. 

Very exciting! Thank you for sharing.

[Bosco]

Way to flesh this out, @Wolkenkrabber 

Interesting choice for cover photo.

[gavin35]

Yes!
Only last week I decided to dig this album out and give it a listen and it still holds up.

I do a bit of music production (mainly electro) but have a little side project going on where I am trying to pull together a load of Chemical Brothers style tracks, so far its sounding like Chems of DYOH era, I have about 7 tracks done. Couple of big beat things, a downtempo guitary, thing that could be a Death In Vegas track (I wish) and have been trying to do some tracks in the same vein as this Amyl House album. Also looking at some 4/4 909 style tracks with acidy things running through them. Another one of the tracks I am trying to replicate the warehouse feel of It Doesnt Matter.

Dont worry this is the fist place I'll head to once the album is ready, and going by how long its taken to get to this point, it should be complete sometime in 2026

[rynostar]

Interesting choice for cover photo.

As soon as I saw the photo, I guessed exactly where it was taken. Think that's the sex shops in Walker's Court, Soho, London. As used in way too many music videos in the '90s as featured below.

[Bosco]

Nice spot, Rynostar. 

Gonna derail this thread a bit, but are sex shops/peep sows still a thing?

I would imagine the internet has basically washed these places obsolete. At this point their existence is a quirky novelty.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Think that's the sex shops in Walker's Court, Soho, London. As used in way too many music videos in the '90s

Ah music videos, that's how you knew the exact location. Of course it is! 

Back in the days of The Social there were articles that talked about The Chems having "amyl nitrate stored under their decks", like in this review.  In my search for "amyl" quotes/comments relating to the Chems, I found this The Face interview from 1997, which is a fun read actually. In it Ed says, "I thought it was really dodgy when they said we were amyl nitrate freaks because of The Social."

Well they did release a track called Chemical Beats, and kinda named themselves after that track. As much as I think of Star Guitar's lyrics as being about ecstasy, I think of Chemical Beats being about Amyl. So perhaps "Amyl House" is another way of saying Chemical Beats?

The reason I say all this is because Amyl Nitrate is sold as "Poppers" in the UK. Although various legal highs (e.g. Spice) have been outlawed over the past few years, Poppers/Amyl remains legal as long as it's not sold for human consumption. So you buy a little glass bottle with a name like Liquid Gold that states, "Room Odoriser DO NOT INHALE". But of course everyone buys them to inhale! And where do people buy Poppers/Amyl? Mostly in sex shops (is this the same elsewhere?). The sex shops usually have Poppers rather than Amyl written outside, at least in my experience.

Is it possible that I have ever popped into one of those shops for some Amyl/Poppers? Maybe. And did I find amyl to be an amazing experience? Meh, I was little underwhelmed TBH.

@Bosco
I don't think I've been in Soho since pre-pandemic 2019. But there's a video of the area from 2021. I don't know about peep shows, but I think there are still strippers. And perhaps the shop from the CD sleeve is here at about 1:25 and 1:43.

EDIT: I've just noticed the yellow sign at about 1:18 in the video: herbal viagra and poppers, as well as a sign for poppers outside "our" shop at 1:43

[rynostar]

Ah music videos, that's how you knew the exact location. Of course it is! 

Of course I know that street well....




Gosh Comics is right there on the corner at the north end. They had / have an amazing graphic novels section.

All seriousness, when I worked for a study abroad company in London, we'd tour our American students around Soho. Walker's Court was specific route we took them through (though not into the shops) highlighting the sex work industry, the LGTQ+ clubs around, the 1856 cholera outbreak, and the film production houses. Plus, my then flat mate worked in a architect firm close by, Phonica records was around the corner, and there were a ton of Space Invaders close by. So...yeah I have to say I know Walker's Court / Soho well.

[rynostar]

Back in the days of The Social there were articles that talked about The Chems having "amyl nitrate stored under their decks", like in this review.  In my search for "amyl" quotes/comments relating to the Chems, I found this The Face interview from 1997, which is a fun read actually. In it Ed says, "I thought it was really dodgy when they said we were amyl nitrate freaks because of The Social."

Well they did release a track called Chemical Beats, and kinda named themselves after that track. As much as I think of Star Guitar's lyrics as being about ecstasy, I think of Chemical Beats being about Amyl. So perhaps "Amyl House" is another way of saying Chemical Beats?

Had a shower thought last night (though not actually showering; was on a walk). Have we been getting the quote in Chemical Beats wrong all these years? I know there was the meme version and what we though version as I have listed below:

"Fucking Animals in Eric's House" (Meme)
or
"Fucking Excellent Acid House" (what we thought)

But could it actually be 

"Fucking Excellent Amyl House"  

[Explud]

"Fucking Excellent Amyl House"  

[Wolkenkrabber]

I like your thinking Ryno. But jump to 4:24 here for the answer:

And go back to the start for "Mind bending chemicals"

[rynostar]

Touche! Never knew that eventually got figured out.

Maybe I'll just secretly scream out "Fucking Animals on Amyl House" at every gig from now on.

[rynostar]

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Made it back to Poland street this week. Not quite the same as the original anymore on Poland Street, but it has the same spirit.

Ps. Mods, let me know if I should take this down if it is too outrageous...

[whirlygirl]

Wow what a difference a few years makes! 

I've no problem with the image at all  the pr0n shoppe stays!

[;]

And go back to the start for "Mind bending chemicals"

Where is that vocal used? In a DJ mix, I assume? I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like the vocal saying "Chemical" at 3:47 in Prescription Beats. 

I definitely need to listen to more of the Chems mixes and tapes, and this one is gonna go on the list! I don't have a sound system but I might look for a copy of Amyl House to listen to with headphones! Seems very cool. 

[gavin35]

Where is that vocal used? In a DJ mix, I assume?

Its the intro to Live At The Social,

Ladies and gentlemen, mind bending chemicals...