Moyet

I picked up Singles by Alison Moyet in Mary's Meals charity shop in Dunblane as part of a four for a pound offer. Foolish not to at that price. Probably worth it just for the jewel cases alone.
Twenty singles for twenty five pence.
Alison Moyet was pretty prolific and indeed pretty successful in the early 80's achieving 10 top 10 UK singles - 4  Synth Pop songs as part of Yazoo with Vince Clark and 6 subsequent torch songs  as a solo artist.

The compilation features a couple of Yazoo numbers (but not Don't Go for some reason) so it seems only fair to feature one of each.
I saw Yazoo  doing Only You recently on a BBC4 Synth Pop programme recently and had forgotten how good it was.

Yazoo - Only You

Alison Moyet - All Cried Out

Monday's Long Song

A bit late to the party but I thought I should join in with the fun.

Not for me a lengthy dance re-mix , hippity hop, prog rock or a slice of psychedelia. No,  you wont be surprised that I am offering up some Americana today.
I'm not quite sure as to the ground rules and what does and does not constitute a long song. I don't know whether 8 minutes 20 seconds qualifies as a long song but in my defense it is pretty long for a country number. Plus it is a belter.

I must confess to being somewhat lazy given that I have only gone as  far back as last Thursday when this song got a mention on my Warren Zevon post along with a video of the original
From his 2005 album Delirium Tremolos here is the grizzled but great Ray Wylie Hubbard with his cover of James McMurtry's grizzled but great Choctaw Bingo. presumably Mr McMurtry approved given that he features on guitar.

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Choctaw Bingo

Some Shelby Sunday Swing

Another Broadford purchase was Restless by Shelby Lynne on the Curb/Magnatone label.
From 1995 it was her 5th album and the last one before her 1999 breakthrough album I am Shelby Lynne which earned a Grammy for Best New Artist despite in being her 6th and the fact that it was released 10 years after her first album!

Restless is a little country and a little swing described by Thom Jurek from All Music as a slab of swinging for the charts commercial country.

She is a somewhat versatile singer is our Shelby given that  she also turned her hand to blue eyed soul with Just a Little Lovin' her Dusty Springfield tribute album

Shelby Lynne - Slow Me Down

Shelby Lynne -Swingtown

Blonde on Blonde Revisited

I picked up Blonde on Blonde Revisited in the Blythswood Care (a Christian charity prevalent in the Highlands) shop in Broadford on Skye.
Broadford is Skye's second largest settlement after Portree and boast a large Co-op whose car park possibly has the best view of any Co-op  car park.

Released by Mojo in July 2016 it is a track by track tribute commemorating the 50th anniversary of  the Bob Dylan original album. Yup that's right - half a century!.

It would have been good to have had this when I did my Dylan Covered series but realistically none of the covers come close to the originals. I suppose that you can't improve upon perfection.
These are two of the better ones in my humble opinion

Phosphorescent - I Want You

Marissa Nadler -Absolutely Sweet Marie

Lights Back On

Seeing as how it is Friday are you in the mood for something a wee bit different?
Thought so. Well hows about a Scottish folk legend covering Beck and Rufus Thomas?

Rab Noakes is well known on the Scottish music scene.He has been performing as a singer/songwriter since 1970 and is now a producer and his Neon Productions  produce a number of programmes for BBC Radio Scotland.
He has been a member of Lindisfarne and Stealers Wheel briefly and before they hit the big time.

On this album , which I got for £1.50 in a Nairn Charity shop still sealed,  he is joined by Fraser Speirs on harmonica.
I wasn't sure at first, but having played it a couple of times I think it could be a grower.
There are a few of his own songs but Bob Dylan and Sam Cooke among others also get the treatment.

Rab Noakes (with Fraser Speirs) - Devil's Haircut

Rab Noakes (with Fraser Speirs) - Walking The Dog

A Junk Bond King Playing Seminole Bingo

I picked up Mutineer the 9th studio album by Warren Zevon in Portee on Skye. It is the 4th of his I have (5th if you include a Best of) and probably the weakest.
However the first track Seminole Bingo is excellent.The Seminole are a Native American tribe who like many others began to run small bingo games before moving on to casinos and in the case of The Seminole Tribe of Florida to purchasing the Hard Rock Cafe chain.
James McMurtry has a song in a similar vein called Choctaw Bingo and I have previously shared the Ray Wylie Hubbard cover version.

Back to Warren .The second song featured is I think quite good but the rest are pretty disappointing. There are some excellent titles though - The Indifference of Heaven, Poisonous Lookalike and my particular favourite Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse.

There was a subsequent return to form with My Ride's Here and The Wind

Warren Zevon - Seminole Bingo

Warren Zevon -Something Bad Happened to a Clown

Crowns and Coronets #2

Queen's last week, kings this week.
Two new songs and an excuse to include yet another song from the excellent Sub Pop compilation which I featured last week.

Kyle Thomas  from Vermont in the US of A features as he records as King Tuff. Described as a garage rock and as a neo-psychedelia act this song is from his 2018 album The Other on Sub Pop.



If you were to look up neo- psychedelia in a dictionary  and if it was there (unlikely I grant you) the definition may well read King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.From Melbourne, Australia they have been on the go since 2010 and have been extremely prolific with about a dozen records to their name.
This song Beginner's Luck is from their 2017 album Gumboot Soup and is also availalable on the ATO 2018 sampler available on Noisetrade which is where I got it from.



This series was not intended as a compare and contrast but it turned out that way last week and I enjoyed the interaction.
It's King Tuff for me this week.

King Tuff - Psycho Star

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Beginner's Luck