World's Gone Wrong

 World's Gone Wrong - Ain't that the truth?

Fortunately we are still blessed to have Lucinda Williams to put her view on things.

World's Gone Wrong is her 16th studio album and was released towards the end of January (23rd to be precise) on her own Highway 20 label.Like the rest of us she is dispairing at the state of things but being Lucinda she is willing to share her tuppence worth.

Jim Beaugez in the Oxford American writes World’s Gone Wrong articulates the anger, hope, and inspiration she’s carried since the protests of her youth, with songs that explore the struggles of race, poverty, and trauma that continue to shadow America today."

John Amen of Beats Per Minute writes that Lucinda  "examines the 'dark age' we’re currently traversing but refuses to surrender to despair". 

The world would surely be a better and safer place were Lucinda occupying the Oval Office (with Mavis as Vice President). There would be no cage fighting on the lawn, that's for sure.

Lucinda Williams -How Much Did You Get For Your Soul

Lucinda Williams (ft Mavis Staples) So Much Trouble In The World

Coral Riffs

 

Swiss Adam recently featured a post on 388 the most recent album by The Coral. His enthusiasm and eloquence were enough for me to download it for a listen and very good it is too.

I have their first three albums from the early part of the century but after that, apart from the odd song here and there, they gradually slipped off my radar.

I've just given their eponymously 2002 debut album a listen for the first time in forever. It was rightly critically well received and as Alexis Petridis wrote in The Guardian it was a  mass of remarkable contradictions", with the band "exploring 1960s rock's extremities, areas too strange for Britpop's crowd-pleasing conformity". 

Don't be surprised if Magic and Medicine (2003) and Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker (2004) appear here in due course

The Coral - I Remember When

The Coral - Dreaming Of You

The Coral - Skeleton Key

The Blues Collection - Phillip Walker

 

Spoiler alert - The Blues Collection is likely to feature more regularly than  it has been over the last few years. This is because I have probably exhausted the most popular ones which occasionally feature in Charity shops but have found a new source in the appropriately titled Missing Records.

Steppin' Up In Class is number 77 in the Blues Collection featuring recordings from1969 to 1984.

Phillip Walker (1937 -2010) was an American electric blues guitarist most noted for his 1959 hit single Hello My Darling.

The blurb on the inset reads Material from some of the greatest -ever Blues song-writers jostle for position against Phillip Walker's own compositions and joint-compositions. He makes everything his own, though, bending and shaping the notes to fit his version of how the blues should be played.

Whether stretching out a slow blues, getting into a high-speed groove or accommodating a set of horns, Walker has the ability to stamp his own identity on the music. It's an identity that has made him one of the most distinctive voices in modern blues.

More to follow shortly.

Phillip Walker - If My Tears Must Fall

Phillip Walker - Steppin' Up In Class

If It Ain't Stiff 5 ....

 

The fifth and final installment of the tracks from If It Ain't Stiff (A Stiff Records Collection) released in 2001 and covering the period 1976 to 1986.

I've been struck by the variety of the music on the label run by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera, something I didn't appreciate at the time. Plus when you look at the list of artists who graced the label you could easily justify some more compilations. Indeed A Bunch of Stiffs and Hits Greatest Stiffs require further exploration.

That's for another time as it's time to concentrate on the final four tracks. The Equators are a Ska and Reggae band from Birmingham who are still going strong. You should all recognise Baby Come Back a cover of the song written by Eddy Grant and originally recorded by The Equals.

Dirty Looks were an American power-pop trio from Staten Island, New York who signed for Stiff in 1979. Dirty Looks was the title from the first of the two albums they recorded for Stiff and it includes the track Let Go.

Max Wall was an English actor, music hall singer and comedian.Here he covers the Ian Dury song England's Glory.

Finally we conclude with a live version by Dr Feelgood and their song Back In The Night.It is appropriate that the album began and ended with a live number by Canvey Island's finest.

The Equators - Baby Come Back

Dirty Looks - Let Go

Max Wall - England's Glory

Dr Feelgood - Back In The Night (Live)

Outlaw Country

 

Apologies - this should have appeared here last Sunday but technical problems got in the way.

Outlaw Country is the second burn compilation I have from Fab 14 records after Texas Troubadours. Again it the first time I've ever seen the cover. It seems that these are two of many budget compilations from the label

Here is the tracklist courtesy of Discogs. I'm pretty surprised that it is fetching up to 6 quid 

When it comes to Outlaw Country your first thoughts should by Waylon and Willie but most,if not all, of the artists are from a later era. I am probably familiar with, and have music by, about half of the 14 artists Two out of the three Flatlanders make an appearance with Butch Hancock missing out.

I've gone for three artists that I am familiar with, the latter two of whom I've seen live and who graced my Friday Three Names series back in 2016/17.

Heather Myles - Sweet Talk and Good Lies

Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Georgia Rose

Ray Wylie Hubbard - If Heaven Is Not a Place To Go

Saturday Shuffle 148

 

We kick off the Shuffle this week with a debutant, namely the band Glasvegas with their song Geraldine. I'm pretty sure that this is the only song I have that features a Social Worker but am happy to be proved wrong.

Little Richard (who would probably be a Social Workers worst nightmare) is no stranger to the Shuffle. This time round he is suggesting that we Rip it Up.

We conclude with something reasonably appropriate.From their 2020 album The Unraveling here are the Drive-By Truckers with Armageddon's Back in Town. Ain't that the truth? It seems that things are getting worse rather than better.

Stay tuned for another Shuffle next Saturday if we are spared

Glasvegas - Geraldine

Little Richard - Rip It Up

Drive-By Truckers - Armageddon's Back In Town

Blog Country 144 - Bermuda

 

From Afghanistan we head to the North Atlantic Ocean and the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda an archipelago of 181 islands with a population of around 64000 which is less than East Kilbride.

I was under the impression that it was somewhat idylic until I read a couple of posts by SWC. It has maybe more in common with East Kilbride than I thought!

Enough nonsense, let's get on with the music.

It's always good to have a tune which references the country and even better if it is included in the band's name. We start then with The Bermuda Strollers , lead by Ted and John Ming and the song Bermuda is Another World.

Next up we have someone who I already had something by in the Music folder. Heather Nova is a Bermudian singer-songwriter. Born in Bermuda to a Canadian mother and Bermudian father, she spent most of her childhood aboard a sailboat, sailing throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans. Here she is with Ghost In My Room.

Collie Buddz is a reggae singer. He signed with Columbia Records to release his self titled debut album in 2006 which included the single Come Around.

Mishka is another reggae artist who has been on the go since 1997. Oh My Days is the title track from his latest album which was released in February .

We conclude with Old Uncle Joe by The Talbot Brothers of Bermuda  a 1950's calypso band not to be confused with The Talbot Brothers from Nebraska as I initially did.

It's back to Africa next time round.

The Bermuda Strollers - Bermuda Is Another World

Heather Nova - Ghost In My Room

Collie Buddz - Come Around

Mishka - Oh My Days

The Talbot Brothers of Bermuda - Old Uncle Joe