I was desperate for a good excuse to link to this post from Tape Op magazine, which is a brilliant thing about how to record handclaps. Sample quote: "If you have four drumers clapping perfectly in time, it sucks. But when you get your neighbor to come over, who will always slightly lag behind because he's so nervous, that lag spreads out the clap and gives you that 80's drum machine type of clap that is SUPER fat".
So, I asked Kate from The Priscillas to for her top ten cool records with hand claps on them: This would make a great album...
1: The Angels: 'My Boyfriend's Back'
2: The Ramones: 'Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?'
3: Roxy Music: 'Do The Strand'
4: The Belle Stars: 'The Clapping Song' (Yes, sorry, that's the Aaron Carter version. Or here is the Baccara version, which I can highly recommend).
5: The Meters: 'Hand Clapping Song'
6: Santa Esmeralda: 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'
7: Tony Basil 'Hey Mickey'
8: Thee Headcoats 'Davy Crockett' (Let me know if you find this on the web)
9: Belle & Sebastian: 'The Boy with the Arab Strap'
10: Kenickie - 'Come Out 2 Nite'
Bonus Track: The best clapping solo of all time: 'Greased Lightning' from Grease. Obviously.
: 11:05 pm