Echo & the Bunny Men - Peel Sessions 1979 -1997

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #20 - Echo &the Bunnymen - Evergreen/History of the Peel Sessions 1979-1997

I was in Debras, a charity furniture shop in Shawlands, with Mrs CC who was looking for a  set of bedroom drawers, successfully as it happens. I had time for a very quick glance at the relatively low number of CD's on the shelves.

Evergreen the 1997 "comeback " album by Echo & the Bunnymen on the London label caught my eye. I made the schoolboy error of not checking the disc as I was too busy lugging the cabinet into the car.

When I got home I noticed that the Evergreen disc was missing. I was a bit annoyed but not that unduly bothered as I'm not really a huge fan and also  have both Nothing Lasts For Ever and Don't Let It Get You Down as CD singles

The second disc  a limited  bonus disc  called History of the Peel Sessions 1979-1997 was intact. I would have been more annoyed if that one was missing. Here fellow blogger (La) Luna does the leg work to save me the bother.

I'll keep me eyes peeled for a copy of Evergreen

Echo & the Bunneymen - Read It In Books (Peel Session 22/08/79)

Echo & the Bunnymen - Seven Seas (Peel Session 20/06/83)

Originally briefly posted on Tuesday by mistake!

The Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber. 3.

 

George sent me this post as a birthday present!

He writes;

Good news, I’ve been invited back. This week, and I think the picture might have given it away, it’s Jesus Christ Superstar. And I have the film soundtrack, bought from Chalmers and Joy record shop at the top of Gellatly Street in Dundee, probably in 1977. And I still like the music. Unsurprisingly there were some objections to the stage and film versions, but it seems that a Pope quite liked it. And not some person called Pope but a genuine supreme pontiff Pope. And for those of you scoffing at the Pope’s, and mine’s taste in rock opera, you should know it was made by the same bloke who made In The Heat Of The Night.

Words such as rock opera and musical usually strike fear into the heart of many of us, but sometimes there is no accounting for taste. Maybe the 14 or 15 year old me thought it a radical film, possibly an educational one (not having been inducted into any church as an infant), or maybe it is a simple case of  liking the music. Anyway,  one of the many fine songs is Everything's Alright:

But this is the one you really want. The grumpy Judas intervention is a bit derogatory to Ms Magdalene, and critical of the main man (the Judas is not the One Night In Bangkok bloke, he was Judas on the original concept album), but of course well worth a listen

Judas also sings the song that became the well-known  1970s football song “Charlie George, superstar, walks like a woman and he wears a bra”, namely Superstar

And here it is, a great video and splendid soul/gospel song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGcIvK7f77o

I’ve been watching several of the songs on You Tube, and there’s some memorable lines “you have set them all on fire, they think they’ve found the new messiah” sang Judas. Or “a trick or two with lepers and the whole town’s on its feet” (a pharisee, I think). 

And that’s it. Jesus Christ Superstar, probably my favourite rock opera.

Thanks to Mr CC for posting, and thanks to you for reading.

CC writes:

What can I say? I'm lost for words!

Mt Doubt & the Muldoons

 

After digging out Star Wars by BMX Bandits for a listen as part of my recent Bellshill  post I had the urge to listen to another couple of albums by Scottish bands.

I found myself crossing the room to the M Section from were I selected the  In Awe of Nothing by Edinburgh band Mt.Doubt. It was originally released by Scottish Fiction Records in 2016 . I have it on CD but also purchased the vinyl reissue (above) from 2021. A band I saw a couple of times who are sadly no more

Mt. Doubt - Afterglow

Mt. Doubt - Verdant

The Muldoons are a Paisley band who first got together in the 90's but did not record an album  until Last Night From Glasgow released Made For Each Other (2020) and We Saw the View (2024). Both are very much worth having but I opted for the latter on this occasion . A band who are not afraid to use a trumpet.

The Muldoons - Same Old Same

The Muldoons - Hours and Hours

The Blues Collection - Hillbilly Blues

 

This one - number 70 in the Blues Collection series - is right up my street.

Covering songs recorded between 1929 and 1940 it offers a rare glimpse of first-generation Country music.

My first selection is the opening track Bell Clappin' Mama by Bill Carlisle recorded in Charlotte , North Carolina on 16th February 1937. He recorded for over 50 years dying on 17th March aged 93 in Nashville.

Next up is Jimmie Rodgers. Yes that Jimmie Rogers - The Singing Brakeman himself. From 31st January 1931 in San Antonio here is T.B. Blues

We conclude with another Jimmie, Jimmie Davis who went on to be the Governor of Louisiana. From Chicago on 5th August 1933 here he is with Easy Rider Blues.

The good or bad news, depending on your perspective is that there are still a few more from the Collection to go!

Bill Carlisle - Bell Clappin' Mama

Jimmie Rodgers - T.B. Blues

Jimmie Davis - Easy Rider Blues

65

 It's my birthday today.

I'm taking the day off!

Saturday Shuffle 154

 

Welcome to Saturday Shuffle 154.

We start with a young whipper snapper making his debut in this series. From the compilation Red Hot Rockabilly- 50 Hard Hitting Rockabilly Classics I give you Elvis Presley with Good Rockin' Tonight.

Compared to Elvis, Nadine Shah is a Saturday regular. Wasps Nest from her 2020 album Kitchen Sink is her third contribution to this series.

For our final act we go back to 1965 with another debutante namely Unit Four Plus Two with Concrete and Clay taken from Jon Savage's 1965 The Year The Sixties Exploded

Elvis Presley - Good Rockin' Tonight

Nadine Shah - Wasps Nest

Unit Four Plus Two - Concrete and Clay

Bellshill Bands - BMX Bandits

 

Welcome to my new Friday Series  Bellshill Bands

I'm pretty sure that somebody, somewhere has already done this and if so I apologise  if I've stepped on anyone's toes.

For a small town in North Lanarkshire Bellshill (population approx 20,000) has constantly punched above it 's weight when it comes to churning out Indie bands

The first band to feature are the BMX Bandits a band who have been active since 1985. During that period they have gone through a large number of band members (some of whom will feature here later) with Duglas T Stewart here being the core member and primary songwriter. He is a legendary figure on the Scottish independent music scene. You will see him at many a gig.

They were a band that I was aware of over the years but I didn't really know that much about them (if that makes sense).

It is primarily  through my Blogging chums and the likes of Big Gold Dreams - A Story of Scottish Independent Music 1977- 1989 that I gradually became more familiar with them.

In 2021 Last Night From Glasgow re-released a copy of the band's 1991 album Star Wars and I saw them play at the Hug and Pint around then. It was the first, and as things stand the only piece of vinyl, I own by the band

They are quirky, a bit twee and well worth checking out.

Tune in next Friday for part two.

BMX Bandits - Kylie's Got a Crush on Us

BMX Bandits - Strawberry Sunday

BMX Bandits - That Summer Feeling