Tender To The Blues

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #18 - James Yorkston & The Athletes -Tender To The Blues (CD Single)

I visited the Kinder Handl charity shop on Glasgow's Battlefield Road on Saturday afternoon. I went through all the 500 to 600 CDs on their shelves and came away with two!

One was Tender to the Blues a CD single by James Yorkston & the Athletes from 2002 on the Domino label. 

A native of the East Neuk of Fife James Yorkston was part of the Fence Collective. I have a couple of his albums on the shelves and this is a welcome addition. More recently he has been writing fiction books and those I have read have been pretty good.

Stay tuned for CD 2 which also has Fence Collective connections

James Yorkston & The Athletes - Tender To The Blues

James Yorkston & the Athletes - 6.30 Is Way Too Early (Reuben's String Arrangements)

James Yorkston & the Athletes - A Man With My Skills

James Yorkston & the Athletes - Hares On The Mountain/ Old Maid

He replaces Dwight Yoakam as the last CD single alphabetically speaking on the shelves

Desert Songs

 

From April 2017 I give you Mojo Presents:Desert Songs: 15 Tracks of Cosmic Roots Music

I think that the tracklist justifies its inclusion as number 41 in the Sunday Americana series.

Let's kick off with Warm Storm by Howe Gelb. I offered to buy him a pint once but he politely declined.

Next we have The Long Ryders who appeared at John Medd's place recently Here is Ivory Tower taken from a Cherry Red Boxset called Final Wild Songs

Track 3 is Tree Detail by Devon Sproule from her album The Gold Spring.

I couldn't resist sneaking in a fourth number namely Burn Something Beautiful by Alejandro Escovedo an album which I only have in a Digital format.

Howe Gelb - Warm Storm

The Long Ryders - Ivory Tower

Devon Sproule - Tree Detail

Alejandro Escovedo - Beauty of Your Smile

Saturday Shuffle - 152

 

Three classic songs for you today. All songs and artists from around the same era. They will all have featured here before (probably more than once) but never on the Shuffle 

We kick of with the Tom Robinson Band and 2-4-6-8 Motorway . Originally released as a single in 1977 it also featured on their 1978 debut album Power In The Darkness which remains a fine record.

I didn't realise that Days by Kirsty MacColl was not released until 1989 so maybe not quite all from the same era! I'm sure that even Ray Davies , the author of the song, would concede that hers is the definitive version. Sadly missed.

We return to 1977 with Wreckless Eric and Whole Wide World which remains a strong candidate in the unlikely event of me featuring on Desert Island Discs.

Fast approaching 50 years old ( or 40 in Kirsty's case) they certainly have all stood the tests of time.

More Shuffling of the eras next Saturday.

Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 Motorway

Kirsty MacColl - Days

Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World

Tired Of Taking

 

Having subjected you to some gentle female singers this week in the shape of Tracy Chapman and Rumer, and not forgetting Andrew Lloyd Webber, I thought that I should finish the week on a slightly louder note.

Step forward Tippi, Soup, Gill and Rosie collectively known as The Hedrons.

I was a big fan of their 2007 debut album One More Won't Kill Us and have featured it here on a few occasions. 

More recently they were taken under the Last Night From Glasgow wing  leading to the follow up album Tired of Taking in late 2023 some 16 years later.

This excellent article in Goldmine gives a more detailed account than I could begin to muster.

These two should blow away the cobwebs.

The Hedrons - Give Me a Chance

The Hedrons -Heartache

This Girl's In Love

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #18 - Rumer -This Girl's In Love

It has been a Smooth Radio week on CCM what with Tracy Chapman, Andrew Lloyd Weber and now Rumer. I may have to finish the week with something more noisy.

From 2016 on East West Records - This Girl's In Love - A Bacharach & David Songbook is the 4th album by UK/Pakistani singer Sarah Joyce.

As you would expect her interpretations of the B&D Songbook are on point. Let's face it she could read out the phonebook and it would sound brilliant.

Perhaps not quite in the same league as Seasons Of My Soul and Boys Don't Cry but still perfect Sunday morning music.

Rumer - The Look Of Love

Rumer - You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)

Rumer - A House Is Not A Home

The Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. 2.

 

CC writes - he's back for Part 2. Strap yourselves in!

George writes:

Joseph, son of Jacob, who was a grandson of Abraham, had a truly remarkable life. Someone should write about it in a book, or even better, write a musical about him. And thanks to Mr Lloyd Webber, we have a musical, filled with many songs, and I’ve even heard of one of them. Unfortunately Dolly Parton’s great song was somehow left out. Yes, it’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat this week.

Here’s a song that references the coat,  it’s called Joseph’s Coat:

And there’s this version, which is even better (and better for not featuring the yowling tantrums of Ms Joplin):

And here’s the song that Mr Lloyd Webber wrote:

I could have opted for Stone The Crows, a rather splendid soul  song by Jackie Robinson (no, not the bloke referenced by Joe Tex in Buying the Book).

Or this version by Faith Brown

Wait a minute…….Faith Brown, wasn’t she that comedian who did Thatcher impersonations? 

And here’s the song you’ve been waiting for……

There are many more musicals attributed to Mr Lloyd Webber. I’ve no idea if I’ll be allowed back here to tell you about them. (oh, and for the sake of your sanity, don’t listen to too much of that last song).

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Mr CCM

CC writes:

Thanks George - I think!

I'll leave it to the jury as to whether they are ready for trip 3!

Here is a song by the Glasgow band Stone the Crows who had Maggie Bell (of Taggart theme tune fame) and Les Harvey (brother of Alex) among their members

Stone The Crows - On The Highway

Tracy Tracy

 

A Charity acquistion but not one that counts in my yearly list as this one was purchased by Mrs CC.

Like most folk I suspect I was aware of her eponymous 1998 debut album  ( Tracy Chapman not Mrs CC!)but nothing else. Collection  a compilation from 2001 contains 4 tracks from that debut album, 3 from Crossroads (1989), 2 from Matters of the Heart (1992). 4 from New Beginning (1995) and 3 from Telling Stories  (2000).

This CD then saves us the bother of tracking them all down.

The two that most caught my attention after an initial play were Give Me One Reason from New Beginning and All I Have Is Your Soul from Crossroads. Perhaps these two require further attention.

Tracy Chapman -Give Me One Reason

Tracy Chapman - All That You Have Is Your Soul