Val's Vinyl

 

I'm not adverse to featuring a bit of Gospel on occasion on a Sunday but I think that this may be this first (and last) time that Christian Pop has graced (see what I did there?) these pages.

And who better that the Queen of Christian Pop herself Amy Grant with her 1982 album Age to Age on the Myrrh label.(£1.50 Fishers of Men Christian Charity).

Presumably Val was seeking some redemption after her Janet Jackson Nasty period.

The album that ushered her into stardomand also contrbuted to the creation of the mold for the modert Contemporsry Christian music star. Not only that, voted number 92 in the 2001 book CCM Presents:The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music (a must read).

It seems that Amy slightly dented her Christian credentials by divorcing and then marrying Vince Gill. I'm not sure which caused the most offence.

Pretty sure I've had a kebab from the El Shaddai

Amy Grant - Share Your Praise to the Lord

Amy Grant - El Shaddai

More Sounds of the Suburbs

 

Those of you who can remember as far as back as last Saturday will have been rewarded with 4 of the 7 tracks from the great The Sounds of the Suburbs compilation which had previously not featured on these pages.

Time then to complete the jigsaw with the final three and I'm sure you'll  agree they are well worth waiting for.

Elvis Costello is no stranger to these pages but one of his most famous songs 1979's Oliver's Army has not made an appearance. When he plays in Glasgow with the boys of the Mersey and the Thames and the Tine sees the Tine being replaced by the Clyde. Does this happen elsewhere?

Ian Dury hasn't featured here nearly often enough so it is good to hear the bouncy Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick today.Je t'adore, ich liebe dich,

Now for a band making their debut her The Vapors. Their classic song Turning Japanese  howver has appeared here before with a cover from Liz Phair. I'll leave you all to decide whether the song title is an urban myth or not

I've got the follow up The Sound of the City on vinyl and whereas it is perhaps not quite the same gold plated standard as this one I may look to continue this series.

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Oliver's Army

Ian Dury & the Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

The Vapors -Turning Japanese

Skin 'Em Up!

 

It's been  a fairly eclectic week on CCM so what better way to finish it off than with a bit of Glaswegian Rockabilly.

Skin 'Em Up! is the 1981 debut album from The Shakin' Pyramids on the Cuba Libra label (an off shot of Virgin)

Released to rave revues including this from Trouser Press the album pounds furiously, putting your average megawatt metal band to shame. Songs — mostly non-originals — zip by at a blinding rate; the record's only flaw is its brief running time. Then again, if brevity be the soul of this music, the Shakin' Pyramids are a rockabilly Ramones .The reference to the running time is because it is only 29 minutes long.

NME gave it 10/10 and Rolling Stone 5/5

The Pyramids were Davie Duncan (lead vocals/harp/percussion), James G Creighton (guitar/backing vocals) and Railroad Ken McCellan (guitar/backing vocals)

in total they released two studio albums, 3 EPs, 4 singles, a compilation album and a live one. A copy of this one is all I have and yes it is courtesy of my brother

Shakin' Pyramids - Take a Trip

Shakin' Pyramids - Tennessee Rock 'n' Roll

Shaking Pyramids - Teenage Boogie

Saint Cloud

 

Waxahatchee, the band fronted by Katie Crutchfield released their 5th album Saint Cloud  on the Merge label about this time last year .

The Robster is a huge fan and he gave this album the high accolade of naming it his album of 2020. He pointed out that that it has a distinct Americana  feel about it and that it would be right up my street and he is totally right there.

As it is still a relatively new album I'm only sharing the one track namely Can't Do Much. I only have one other album of hers/ theirs Ivy Tripp the 3rd album from 2015. They first came to my attention via an Uncut compilation.Poison is a track from that one.

The St Cloud in the title is not the city in Minnesota which Gretchen Peters got a bus to but a small community just outside Orlando in Florida where her father comes from.

Waxahatchee - Can't Do Much

Waxahatchee - Poison

Gretchen Peters - On a Bus to St Cloud

Raveloe

 

If you are looking for some new and interesting music you could do a lot worse that Notes and Dreams the debut ep by Raveloe on the mighty Olive Grove label

Notes and Dreams is a 5 track EP  recorded during lockdown and available on CD (but hurry they are nearly sold out) or digitally

Raveloe is the nom be plume of Glasgow based singer Kim Grant with the name being taken from a novel by George Elliot called Sias Marner

Here is some more information from the ever excellent Postcards from the Underground

I'm not sure how helpful it is to make comparisons when new artists are trying to find their feet but I think that this will be right up the street for fans of This is the Kit and Rozy Plain

This is the first time I've tried a link from Bandcamp on New Blogger and won't know whether it is successful or not

In the highly likely event of the above link not having been succesful this link  or the Olive Grove one above will give you a sampler of her music. Be quick!

Tindersticks

 Tindersticks are an indie band from Nottingham who are fronted by singer Stuart A Staples. Their songs are pretty sparse and minimal with some fairly obvious comparisons to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I know that JC is a big fan who has written about them more eloquently than I ever could.

I only have one album of theirs 1987's Curtains on the This Way Up label which was a charity acquisition.Let's Pretend is a track from that album.

I've also got a couple of interesting covers by them where they give their intepretations of classic songs by Townes Van Zandt and David Bowie

Tindersticks - Let's Pretend

Tindersticks - Kathleen

Tindersticks - Kooks

April March

 

As today is the 1st of March I thought I would have a quick look through the hard drive to see what songs I have with March in the title.

I was amazed to find 10 songs by American indie singer April March. I must have downloaded an album by her but have absolutely no recollection of having done so or having listened to any of her songs.

I've now given them a listen and while they are nothing startling they are perfectly pleasant quirky pop songs sung in both English and French. Much better than Janet Jackson

April March is not her real name, that would be Elinor Blake. I know a woman at work called April who uses her maiden name probably because her married name is April May 

April March -Stay Away From Robert Mitchum

April March - Mon Ange Gardien