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Sunday 31 July 2016

Some Sunday Soul


As I do most weekends I visited my mum in her care home last Sunday.
Just outside the cafe area there was a Barnardos pop up charity shop with assorted stuff over two or three tables , boxes, bookcases, etc.
CD section I thought and then a result I came away with The Definitive Ray Charles  46 tracks for 99p
I thought I had it but it was actually another compilation on the shelves so plenty of new songs for me to get my teeth into.
He was a bit of a genre buster was old Ray. The album contains Jazz, Blues , Country , Soul and Easy Listening.
Seeing it's Sunday we are calling it soul although the first song is taken from his 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume 2.
The second is his take on the title track from the great film In the Heat of the Night. The way things are going on in America these days if it was aired today people would think in was a documentary.

Ray Charles - Your Cheating Heart

Ray Charles - In The Heat of the Night


A bumper month viewing wise this month with over 3000 hits in the last week from Russia and Mauritius alone.Spam I suspect but if not welcome aboard!

Saturday 30 July 2016

Namechecked - Patsy Cline



I hear the ghost of Patsy Cline on the Grand Old Opry Show

A couple of Americana acts today paying homage to the late great Patsy Cline.
First up are Canadian band The Guthries with Patsy Cline from their 2000 album Off Windmill. I thought that I may have previously posted this one before but apparently not.
I know I haven't posted the Golden Age of Radio by Josh Ritter (from which the above quote is taken) before as it only came to my attention when I featured another of his songs namechecking Townes Van Zandt
And finally the First Lady of Country herself Virginia Patterson Hensley.from 1961 two years before her untimely death in a plane crash at the age of 30.

The Guthries -Patsy Cline

Josh Ritter - Golden Age of Radio

Patsy Cline - She's Got You

Friday 29 July 2016

Vintage Country Vinyl - Glen Campbell


It's Glen Campbell this week folks but with a twist in that there are no Jimmy Webb songs featured.
I've previously posted him singing some Jimmy Webb numbers  which was very well received.
It is an undisputed fact that his music is not in the same league when Jimmy does not feature.
A bit like Morecambe without Wise or for the younger readers Ant without Dec

I've two Glen Campbells on vinyl the imaginatively titled Glen Campbell's Greatest Hits and The Glen Campbell Album. When you stray away from the hits things can become pretty ropey pretty quickly - for instance his versions of My Way, Bridge over Troubled Waters and You'll never Walk Alone are best avoided.

I'm experimenting today with Google Drive - let my know what you think

More VCV next Friday


Glen Campbell -Dreams of the Everyday Housewife


Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry -All I Have to do is Dream

Thursday 28 July 2016

The Shirelles vs The Crystals


The Shirelles




It's competition time today folks in the left corner we have The Shirelles



The Crystals

And in the right corner we have The Crystals

The first two songs on side 2 of the recently featured Forever Mod compilation.
Which one floats your boat the most?
A tough call I'm sure you'll agree.
For me they are pretty even but The Shirelles just shade it solely because of the Benny Hill style background music which sneaks into the Crystals number.
Both quality though














Wednesday 27 July 2016

I Am a Charlatan


The Charlatans are yet another band which has pretty much passed my by over the years when I was pretty much totally emmersed in Americana.
Now I know that some of  my esteemed colleagues including Swiss Adam and The Robster are huge fans so
 I thought I would splash out 49p for the Melting Pot compilation to see what all the fuss is about.
A Greatest Hits from their time on Beggars Banquet from 1990 to 1997.
I've gone for The Only One I Know their second single and first top 10 hit from their first album Some Friendly  and voted by The Jam Community as their best song.
my second choice is Just When You'e Thinkin' Things Over a 1995 single from their self titled 4th album peaking at number 12 in the singles charts.

My verdict? Not bad at all but a wee bit more on the dancier side of Madchester that I thought they would be.

The Charlatans - The Only One I Know

The Charlatans - Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over

Tuesday 26 July 2016

Still Alive on Route 55



I am 55 years young today..
To celebrate and given that I have a spectacular lack of imagination I am going to do the same as last year's birthday post and select the 55th songs from my vinyl and CD lists.
Starting with the vinyl there has been relatively little movement over the last year in the A to C section.
Last year The Clash - the Singles this year one of the top 10 albums of all time London Calling and one which I have just played in it's entirety.
As recently discussed at Brian's place every track is an absolute cracker.
I've gone for Rudy Can't Fail, tomorrow it would be something else.
A wee bit more movement on the CD front going from Bi and last year's cult classic Big Star to Be and this year's cult classic The Beta Band.
I'll try to think up something more original for next year

The Clash - Rudy Can't Fail

The Beta Band - Round the Bend

Monday 25 July 2016

Jesse Winchester


I was vaguely familiar with the name Jesse Winchester plus a couple of blogging colleagues whose judgement I trust paid generous tributes when he passed on in April 2014 at the age of 69.
However I was not really that familiar with his music.
That changed recently when car trouble led to an unscheduled visit to the library.
I came away with  A Reasonable Amount of Trouble his final studio album recorded and completed shortly before his death.
And what a terrific record it is.
I can safely say that it will not be the last of his which will find it's way onto the shelves

Jesse Winchester - A Little Louisiana

Jesse Winchester - Ghosts

Sunday 24 July 2016

Some Sunday Gospel Soul


Some Gospel for you good people today courtesy of the great Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Taken from Good News - Volume 3 -  Get Away Jordan
And the Good News keeps on coming as there are another three volumes of this fabulous Proper Gospel compilation  on the shelves.
The first great recording star of gospel and a terrific guitarist as this clip recorded in Manchester (the English one ) in 1964 testifies. An apt song title for Manchester!




There is a terrific documentary from  2011 which can also be accessed from You Tube and which some of you will have seen on BBC4

The original soul sister and the godmother of rock'n'roll indeed.
Tremendous  stuff

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - This Train

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air

Saturday 23 July 2016

Namechecked - Joey Ramone


It's time for an arbitrary rule change.
For this series I have now decreed that a song namechecking someone which has previously featured on CCM can feature again PROVIDING it is accompanied by another song namechecking the same individual!
Controversial
So today we have the previously featured I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Sleater- Kinney accompanied by the new to CCM  Dancing With Joey Ramone by Amy Rigby whom I believe is now Mrs Wreckless Eric

Joey himself has previously featured with General Johnson with The Godchildren of Soul and of course with the Ramones.
Here he is with the Bruddas

Sleater-Kinney - I Wanna be your Joey Ramone

Amy Rigby - Dancing with Joey Ramone

Ramones - We're a Happy Family




Friday 22 July 2016

Vintage Country Vinyl - Kris Kristofferson





Kris Kristofferson turned 80 on 22nd June. Increasingly frail and suffering from Lyme disease I had the honour of witnessing a couple of cameo performances by him at this year's Celtic Connections.

He effortlessly and supremely coolly reeled off several of his classic songs most of which feature on my vinyl  copy of the compilation Me and Bobby McGee.
The back cover features a very ropey poem by Johnny Cash which I won't trouble you with. Safe to say that Bob Dylan has nothing to worry about.
My favorite song of his and also the favourite of some of my esteemed colleagues is  the majestic Sunday Morning Coming Down.
It has featured before so instead you are getting the two below which I am sure you will agree are not too shabby.
Show me someone who does not like Kris Kristofferson and I will show you someone with no soul

More VCV next Friday

Kris Kristofferson - Just The Other Side of Nowhere

Kris Kristofferson - The Best of All Possible Worlds

Thursday 21 July 2016

The Train Wreck is Behind You


This week's slab of Americana is The Train Wreck is Behind You from Gingersol although given recent world events you could be forgiven that it is probably just around the corner.
I don't know much about them including how I stumbled across them.I suspect it may have been in Austin.
It seems that this album on Idle Prone from 2001 is the middle one of three preceded by 2000's Nothing Stops Moving and succeeded by 2004's Eastern.
They are from Los Angeles and the line up is Steve Tagliere on vocals, guitars and trousers, Seth Rothchild on vocals, guitar and piano, John Florance on drums and Chuck Bramlet on bass.
And that's it.

Gingersol - Who Cares

Gingersol - Where Do I Stand?

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Traces


After my last few posts I thought I'd better bring things a wee bit more up to date.
Having said that I'm quite surprised that Traces by Karine Polwart was released as far back as 2012.
Gee, Ain't it Funny How Time Slips Away as someone once sang

King of Birds highlights Karine's love for our feathered friends  and also acknowledges the Occupy Movement who occupied (strangely enough) St Paul's Cathedral designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Do you see what she did there?
Salters Road is written in memory of an elderly neighbour.  Salters Road apparently was the old salt smuggling route that ran inland through the Lothians from Prestonpans on the River Forth.

There is also a song about Donald Trump which I shall save for when he is defeated (please God!)

Karine Polwart - King of Birds

Karine Polwart - Salters Road

Tuesday 19 July 2016

Them is Good


Before he was a knighted grumpy old Irishman Sir George Ivan Morrison  OBE  was a young grumpy Irish commoner who from 1964 to 1966 was lead singer of the garage band Them.

During that period they released ten singles and two albums with a further two singles after Morrison's departure. Here are the pick of the bunch.
Even before he had left there were two different versions of the band with one having to call themselves The Other Them following legal action.

Van's people are notorious for scouring T'internet and taking exception to anything posted about him. Hopefully this does not extend as far back as Them.

Them - Gloria

Them - Baby Please Don't Go

Them -Here Comes the Night

Monday 18 July 2016

The Best Rock Album In The World ... Ever!


As I mentioned in last Tuesday's post I recently acquired disc 1 of The Best Rock Album in the World ... ever! under false pretenses.
I haven't had the courage yet to play it in it's entirety.
However a quick glance at the track listing - (via the internet as the box features the likes of Ain't That a Shame and Blueberry Hill) shows that a couple of the tracks actually past muster.

If it's on the shelves (even temporarily)  it's going on!


Alice Cooper - School's Out

The Who -Won't Get Fooled Again

Sunday 17 July 2016

Some Sunday Sensual Soul


I was searching unsuccessfully the other day for some Geno Washington to accompany Dexys for my Namechecking series when I stumbled across Forever Mod.
A compilation of 48 tunes of smokin' jazz,sensual soul, stormin' ska and classic blues which I bought for 3 quid in Morrisons in the god forsaken Argyllshire town of Dunoon.

There are some excellent soul artists on there including Irma Thomas, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Gladys Knight and Ike and Tina,
I have plumped for an artist I have featured before namely the pocket dynamo that is Sugar Pie De Santo and a new artist to CCM Mr Chuck Jackson. the 5th Chuck to feature after Messrs Berry, Prophet, Willis and Woods and the 6th Jackson after George, Jill, Joe, Mahalia and Wanda

More Soul nonsense next Sunday

Sugar Pie de Santo - I Want to Know

Chuck Jackson - I Keep Forgetting

Saturday 16 July 2016

Namechecked - Johnny Cash


This series is beginning to cause me some angst.
It's not that I don't have enough material but more that many of the songs I wouild like to feature have been posted before and I am reluctant to post the same songs twice.

For instance with respect to Johnny Cash I have already posted Johnny Cash by Sons and Daughters and Elegy for Johnny Cash by Jackie Leven (albeit that this does not namecheck him directly)
Worry not however as Ry Cooder is always ready to step up to the plate.
I'll have a think and see what I can come up with which may involve bending the rules slightly.

It strikes me that I have probably featured more songs by Johnny Cash than any other artist something that I am not about to apologize for

Ry Cooder - Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash - The Mercy Seat

Friday 15 July 2016

Vintage Country Vinyl - Hank Williams


My witterings as to the brilliance of Hank Williams is usually reserved for his birthday on New Year's Day.
But really that is too long to wait.
I shamefully currently only have one Hank Williams album on vinyl namely a cheap and cheerful compilation The Very Best of Hank Williams Snr Volume 1.
Please rest assured that Jr will never appear on these pages although III might
Sixteen songs and I could have chosen any of them to feature today such  was the quality of the man.
The quantity and quality of the material he produced before his death at the age of just 29 is simply staggering.
With the possible exception of Dylan the greatest and most influential artist in popular music.
The Hillbilly Shakespeare indeed

More VCV next Friday


Hank Williams - (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle

Hank Williams - I Saw The Light

Thursday 14 July 2016

After The Lord Mayor's Show #2


Yes the country which caught the public's imagination even more than Wales  was of course Iceland. Not Albania Robster, sorry.
And of course you cannot mention Iceland without featuring their most famous citizen Ms Guðmundsdóttir 
I'm avoiding any references to first names as the last time she featured here I got a DMCA notice and the post pulled.
An artist I didn't really get at the time but one I am growing into and gradually collecting the back catalogue with Post the latest acquisition.

Something for the nation to clap about I feel





Army of Me

Enjoy

Wednesday 13 July 2016

After The Lord Mayor's Show #1


We were away at the weekend so I never got a chance to mention the conclusion of the footie.
Congratulations to Portugal. They won ugly but still won and I'm sure that most nations would settle for that.

Over the weekend I picked up a couple of CDs by artists from the two countries who most caught the public's imagination.
Can you guess today's country??
Correct - well done.
This year's annual Catatonia purchase  is their debut from twenty years ago Way Beyond Blue and according to our resident expert on Welsh music The Robster their best.

No prizes for guessing who's featuring tomorrow.

Catatonia - Lost Cat

Catatonia - You've Got a Lot to Answer For

Tuesday 12 July 2016

Three For A Pound


Glaswegians of a certain vintage will remember street vendors selling - white sports socks, three for a pound.
I'm sure this happened in other towns and cities as well.
A recent visit to the BRICC thriftshop in Ballantrae saw three CDs for a pound.
There were hundreds but you've no idea how hard it was to choose three.
The first one was a bit of a no brainer - Winter Lights by Linda Rondstadt - seen modelling white sports socks above.
An album primarily of covers I've gone for the only Spanish song on the album Adonde Voy by Tish Hinojosa.
Then it got tricky. Mrs CC pitched in with The Number One Classical Album 2004.
After an eternity I finally selected The Fat Man Sings by Fats Domino.
A result or so I thought until we put it on in the car and We Will Rock You by Queen blasted out as the disc in the box alas was not Fats but The Best Rock Album in the World ..... ever! disc 1

I think a refund is in order!

Linda Rondstadt - Adonde Voy

Fats Domino -The Fat Man


Monday 11 July 2016

Marra on Monday


Here is the Bard of Dundee the late great Michael Marra to kick off your week with a couple of tracks from his album Posted Sober.
Musician, poet, Dundee United fan and all round good bloke Michael Marra died of throat cancer in October 2012 at the age of 60.
On his death his family asked that donations be given to the Big Noise Sistema Scotland project  looking to develop children's orchestras in Scotland based on the successful model in Venezulea.
Feel free to throw a couple of coppers in their general direction.
Before we get to the two tracks an interesting duo you may not have heard.
First up and indeed a first for CCM is Mr Leo Sayer with his version of Hamish the Goalie a song about the legendary Dundee United goalkeeper Hamish McAlpine






Leo is followed by the man himself with the masterpiece that is Hermless a song that has been touted as an alternative Scottish national anthem




Michael Marra - Letter From Perth

Michal Marra - The Butterfly Flaps Its Wings


Sunday 10 July 2016

Some Sunday Jazzy Soul



George's recent banging on about I Can't Write Left Handed had me reaching for the shelves for a record library sale purchase The Best of Bill Withers - Lovely Day.
Now Lovely Day is a god awful song and one that the skip track function on a CD player was surely invented for .
There are also another two or three on the album which are best avoided some of which get decidely twiddly in places.
It is a curious mixture in that there are also some pretty good ones in there also but obviously none in the same league as I Can't Write Left Handed which I have previously featured.
These two are quite tasty.
Like Jez I will avoid the joke about the duck and the microwave.

More Soul next Sunday


Bill Withers - Who Is He (And What Is He To You?)

Bill Withers - Hope She'll Be Happier (Live)

Saturday 9 July 2016

Namechecked - Donny Hathaway




                                                 I'd rather be at home with a Ray
                                                 I ain't got seventy days

                                                'Cause there's nothing, there's nothing you can teach me

                                                That I can't learn from Mr. Hathaway


Not one but two Soul giants namechecked by the great Amy Winehouse who also was well on her way to giantness when she sadly passed on.
Tempted as I was to feature Ray Charles I have opted instead for Donny Hathaway another tortured soul who took his own life at the age of 33 outliving Amy by 6 years.

I would like to think that Rehab introduced Donny to a whole new audience but sadly I suspect that that probably wasn't the case

Two true talents taken far too soon
More namechecking next Saturday


Friday 8 July 2016

Vintage Country Vinyl - Loretta Lynn


Here I Am Again by Loretta Lynn is a recent purchase and one of the inspirations for this series.However, I haven't had the time yet to give it a proper listen and I wasn't particularly impressed with the first listen.

So time for Plan B - Loretta Lynn's Greatest Hits on Decca from 1968
One I've featured before and the first of many, many Greatest Hits collections I suspect and featuring songs from 1962 to 1966
Peaking at #6 on the Billboard Country Charts but not troubling the Billboard Top 200 although it did sell over half a million copies.
Loretta may feature again if Hear I Am Again improves on subsequent listens.

Loretta Lynn - Wine, Women and Song

Loretta Lynn - The Home Your Tearin' Down


Thursday 7 July 2016

Vagabonds


And here was you thinking that you were going to get through the whole week without being subjected to some Americana.
Well you were wrong there.
From 2008 on the Rykodisc label here is a couple of tracks from the first solo album by Gary Louris of The Jayhawks
From a period when the Jays were having a sabbatical he contributed to a couple of albums by Americana super group Golden  Smog before this and a follow up acoustic version..He then got back in tow with Mark Olson for Ready For the Flood.
The Professor of Music at his most mellow

Gary Louris - We'll Get By

Gary Louris - Vagabonds

Wednesday 6 July 2016

The Boys Are Back in Town


Struggling a wee bit this week for time, motivation and inspiration.
I've been scouring the shelves looking to feature artists who have never featured before or in the case of Thin Lizzy only very briefly when their version of Whisky in the Jar was compared with the version by Hazeldine.

A version of the band is sadly still doing the rounds although it is as clear as the nose on your face that they should have called it a day when Phil Lynott passed on.
Best known for their anthemic rockier numbers Phil could also churn out a ballad such as Sarah - the first single Mrs CC ever bought

Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back in Town

Thin Lizzy - Sarah

Tuesday 5 July 2016

True Confessions



True Confessions time - I have only played the Undertones once before on CCM and that was of course Teenage Kicks taken from some compilation or other.
It is not because I have not wanted to play the Derry urchins who came from nowhere with the energy of youth to produce some quite brilliant pop songs.
No it is because of Feargal Sharkey.
Why so you ask. Well I'll leave it to our dear friend and international man of letters Dirk to explain as only he can.

The Undertones - True Confessions

The Undertones - Jimmy Jimmy

Monday 4 July 2016

Blue Boy


Although the name Ron Sexsmith was familiar to me and I had the occasional track downloaded or on a compilation here and there  it was not until 2011 and his 11th album Long Player Late Bloomer that I finally got round to acquiring one of his albums swiftly following it up with 2013's Forever Endeavour.

A positive side to this late blooming on my part was that you could pick up albums from his back catalogue pretty cheaply - £3 in the case of Blue Boy.
From 2001 it is his 5th album and is on  Cooking Vinyl with production by Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy aka Twangtrust.
Lovely stuff

Ron Sexsmith - Just My Heart Talkin'

Ron Sexsmith - Keep It In Mind

Sunday 3 July 2016

Some More Sunday Country Soul


Last Sunday's Cheating Soul post made reference to the companion album from Trikont namely Dirty Laundry - the Soul of a Black Country.
So a couple of tracks from that album are probably in order.
I have gone for a couple of Country standards which have had the Soul treatment.
 Like me, I suspect that you will be more familiar with the second artist than the first
Bobby Powell is from Louisiana and recorded on the Whit label from Baton Rouge. Here he is with his version of Hank William's Your Cheating Heart. There is also a version by James Brown on the album.
You should all be familiar with the Tammy Wynette song Stand By Your Man but perhaps not with the version by the great Candi Staton.
The cool pipe smoking dude on the horse on what must be one of my favourite album covers is none other than the late great Mr Bobby Womack

More Soul next Sunday

Bobby Powell - Your Cheating Heart

Candi Staton - Stand By Your Man

Saturday 2 July 2016

Namechecked - Joy Division


Confession time - I don't own Joy Division Oven Gloves by  the legends that are Half Man Half Biscuit.
No this track has been taken from a great ICA over at JC's place

It strikes me that you could do a whole namecheck series from the songs penned by Nigel Blackwell although I would have to draw the line at Bono!
A further confession - I think this may be the first time that Joy Division have featured on CCM.
There has been much love out there in our small corner of the blogosphere recently for Transmission so I have opted for Love Will Tear Us Apart

More namechecking next Saturday

Half Man Half Biscuit - Joy Division Oven Gloves

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Friday 1 July 2016

Vintage Country Vinyl - Jim Reeves



It has been a pretty traumatic and tumultuous week so how better to celebrate it's conclusion than with the dulcet tones of Gentleman Jim himself - Mr Jim Reeves
On RCA Victor from 1963  according to the sleevenotes he has never sounded better than this appealing collection of ballads. It is so smooth, sentimental and dreamy that one wishes this man Reeves would just sing on and on and on.

If a charity shop stocks vinyl records it is a physical impossibility that there won't be at least one by Gentleman Jim.
This is one of two I liberated from a charity shop in St Andrews.The other may well feature further down the line.

More VCV next Friday

Jim Reeves - Just Out of Reach

Jim Reeves - I Never Pass There Any More