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Monday 31 May 2021

Black Water


 I'm a huge fan of Orkney folk singer Kris Drever and have all four of his solo albums, a mini album/EP  plus The Bell That Never Rang by Lau a trio that he is part of.

We have seen him on a number of occasions and he never fails to put on a good show. A great guitarist, fine singer and a good story teller to boot.

From 2006 on Reveal Records and produced by John McCusker, Black Water is his debut album. It contains 12 tracks all of which are good but for me there are three which are outstanding

Steel and Stone (Black Water ) the opening track is written by an Edinburgh folk singer Sandy Wright.He also does a terrific version of Boo Hewerdine's Harvest Gypsies . I won't post it today as it appeared relatively recently in a post about Boo

For me the pick of the bunch is Navigator a song by Phil Gaston. Again this has featured at least three  times here before.But worry not as my copy of the CD is  the remastered deluxe edition (released in 2012) and includes  a CD containing live versions of the songs from the album recorded  at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket in January 2008 which I'm guessing was part of that year's  Celtic Connections

Kris Drever - Steel & Stone (Black Water)

Kris Drever - Beads & Feathers

Kris Drever - Navigator (Live)

Sunday 30 May 2021

Senegal Sunday

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 21 - The Sound of Senegal

I feel that I am coming on all over Ernie Goggins this morning as I proudly present  The Sound of Senegal.
From 2000 on the Nascente label it includes household names such as Youssou N'Dour and Baaba Maal. and it captures the sights and sounds of a night out in Dakar, one of the great musical capitals of the world, where throbbing mbalax rhythms continuously pump through the heart of the city.

I'm still working my way through my Kingussie purchases. Not sure there is ever much in the way of throbbing mbalax there  of an evening, except maybe when they are hosting their near neighbours and arch rivals Newtonmore at shinty

Toure Kunda loosely translated as family of elephants moved to France at the end of the 70s and were pioneers of taking Senegalise music to a western audience
Cheikh Lo was one of the world music discoveries of the nineties with his rippling acoustic rhyhms and warm and intimate vocals.
Fatou Guewel is an earthly diva with this song based on a praise song to an ancient tribal king.









Saturday 29 May 2021

Reggae Magic

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 20 - Reggae Magic

It's a wee while since we have had any reggae on here so let's rectify that.

It is always a bit of a hit or a miss when you pick up a cheap and cheerful reggae compilation. They can be very poor with lesser known songs from lesser known artists or very good.

Reggae Magic a 2004 compilation from Musicbank is probably somewhere in the middle. There are certainly some well known artists - Bob Marley, The Maytals, Aswad, Boris Gardner and Desmond Dekker as well as those listed below.

I can't say that I  recognised any of the songs but that is probably just me.

Annoyingly there is a bit of a disconnect with the track details listed on the CD and where they tracks actually are . For instance the CD claims that track 5 is Cool You Up whereas Cool You Up is track 6  and not What's On Your Mind by The Maytals which may be the information coming up on your screen. This happens throughout the CD so apologies in advance for any confusion.


The Maytones - Cool You Up

Barrington Levy - Jah

Sly and Robbie - Tonight is the Night


Friday 28 May 2021

Bobbie Gentry Revisited

 


An the turn of the year I featured a deluxe re-issue of The Delta Sweete a 1968 album by the great Bobbie Gentry. It was only then that I discoved that Mercury Rev had covered this in 2019 as Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited.

My curiosity was piqued and it was duly *ahem* acquired. Each track has an interesting female collaborator . Not too many Country acts - only Margo Price and Lucinda Williams really tick that box.

However I've gone for two indie favourites in the shape of  Hope Sandoval  of Mazzy Star fame and Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab.

Splendid stuff

Mercury Rev (ft Hope Sadoval) - Big Boss Man

Mercury Rev (ft Laetitia Sadier) - Mornin' Glory

Thursday 27 May 2021

The Hissing of Summer Lawns

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 19 - Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

A few years ago I picked up a Box Set from the Library (when they were actually open and still did that sort of thing) containing the first ten Joni Mitchell albums. They were duly copied.
Since than we have been gradually upgrading when charity purchases allow.
The latest acquisition is her seventh album The Hissing of Summer Lawns an album from 1975 on the Asylum label. Only Song to a Seagull , Hejira, Don Juan's Wreckless Daughters and Coart and Spark to go.

An album which was released to mixed reviews its reputation has gradually improved over the years although I would maybe not go as far as music writer Howard Sounes who feels that it is her masterpiece and who compares it to Blood on the Tracks.
Jason Akeny from Allmusic feels that it is an an adventurous work that remains among her most difficult records which has a strange and beautiful fusion of jazz and shimmering avant pop.







 


Wednesday 26 May 2021

The Madness of Happiness

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 18 - Truckstop Honeymoon - The Madness of Happiness.

This was my first Americana charity shop acquisiton of the year and was a total punt, An act that I had absolutely no knowledge of but let's face it who wouldn't take a chance on a band with the name like  Truckstop Honeymoon.

By way of introduction here is some blurb from their website
Hollering with all their hearts over a five string banjo and a doghouse bass, Truckstop Honeymoon live the life they sing about. Touring across three continents with four kids and a truck load of songs, Katie and Mike West tell stories about the strangeness of everyday life. Their music combines elements of bluegrass, music hall jazz, and straight up rock’n’roll. They have released nine albums and a full length documentary film, produced over two hundred albums for other artist, and received awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.
From 2014  on the Squirrel label The Madness of Happiness is the 8th of the 9

A review in Folk Radio tells us that Mike West used to be the front man of Manchester band Man From Delmonte and that he was half of an act called Redneck Riviera. The review also says that 

Sharing lead between them as well as duetting, he now sounds like a young Willie Nelson, but with a seasoned chewing tobacco quality to the voice, while she has the sort of high Partonish twang you’d expect from a North Carolina girl. As well as both playing guitar, he handles banjo and mandolin while she takes care of upright bass and piano

The album is good fun and a lot better than I thought it would be. I imagine that they would put on a good show.50p well spent.

Truckstop Honeymoon - People in Love

Truckstop Honeymoon - Don't Put Words in my Mouth

Tuesday 25 May 2021

Rocket D.I.Y.

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 17 - King Creosote - Rocket D.I.Y

It is a rare and always a pleasant experience to stumble across something by King Creosote in a charity shop.Of the seven albums I now have by him it is only the second charity shop purchase after Bombshell.From 2005 it is also the oldest one of his that I have and the first on the  influential Fence label.

Critically well received to the extent that The Skinny magazine ranked it as the 17th best Scottish album of the decade.
Recorded in Crail mostly during school hours and after 9pm
On Twin Tub Twin Kenny  must be the first artist to use the build of of laudry as a methapor for romantic entaglements.
Of the many things featured in A Month of Firsts the referencing of the East Neuk of Fife fishing village Pittenweem in a song stands out



Monday 24 May 2021

Poor Down Like Silver

 


Richard Thompson featured in the first instalment of this Folk Monday series as part of Fairpot Convention.
Today he appears with Linda Thompson, his wife at the time , with 1975's Pour Down Like Silver on the Island label.It is the 3rd of their albums as a couple and sits next to 1974's I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight. A further three were to follow.

At the time that his was released they had adopted the Sufti faith (as you can see from the cover) and were living in a commune in London. There were some conflcts between their religion and their musical career leading to this being their last album until 1978.

While Dimming of the Day is sung by Linda on this album it has remained part of Richard's repertoire until this day


Sunday 23 May 2021

Roll Away the Stone

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 16 - Kelly Joe Phelps - Roll Away the Stone

Prior to our recent visit to Kingussie I had one album by Kelly Joe Phelps namely Sky Like a Broken Clock. I now have three

KJP (as I shall call him to save on the old typing) started out as a jazz bassist before  what he describes as his conversion to the blues after listening to acoustic blues masters such as Mississippi Fred McDowall and Robert Pete Wilson.

Roll Away the Stone from 1997 on the Rykodisc label is his second album. AllMusic is complementary saying that   his interpretations of classic blues songs show increased imagination. Although it's based in classic blues, this music doesn't sound ancient -- it sounds vital and alive, like any great music should.

There is  distinct gospel blues feel to the album which makes it appropriate for the Sunday slot .Not that there is anything wrong with his own compositions but I have gone for two covers The first of the two is When the Roll is Called Up Yonder written by James Milton Black an American composer of hymns,choir leader and Sunday school teacher. The second one See That My Grave is Kept Clean comes from the pen of  the great Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Kelly Joe Phelps - When the Roll is Called Up Yonder

Kelly Joe Phelps -See That My Grave is Kept Clean


Saturday 22 May 2021

Reasons to be Cheerful

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 15  Reasons to be Cheerful - The Best of Ian Dury

As I mentioned in a previous post we spent a couple of nights in Granton -on- Spey earlier in the month and very enjoyable it was too.

However the charity shops of Granton, Newtonmore, Aviemore and Pitlochry sadly did not yield any bounty. Fortunately we struck gold in the Community Charity Shop in Kingussie one that I had never visited before. It was mainly books but there were three baskets full of a pretty eclectic range of CDs. Purchases were duly made.

One such purchase was Reasons to be Cheerful - The Best of Ian Dury a 2 CD compilation from 2005 on Demon. I haven't got to CD 2 yet but there is plenty to choose from from CD 1.

I thought that it was appropriate to feature this on a Saturday as Ian has made a couple of appearances recently here on the various Punk compilations I also thought that I should choose some tracks that have not appeared here before, 

First up is the moving My Old Man from his masterpiece album 1997's New Boots aand Panties !! where he features as plain old Ian Dury.

Te next two are by Ian Dury & the Blockheads. I think that There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards was the b-side of Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. If so  that makes a terrific single even better.

Finally the Blockheads take the opportunity to introduce themselves on the 1980 single I Want to Be Straight.

CD 2  looks a bit more obscure other than the live songs but no doubt it will pop up in due course

Ian Dury - My Old Man

Ian Dury & the Blockheads -There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards

Ian Dury & the Blockheads - I Want to be Straight


Friday 21 May 2021

Stop!

 


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 14 - Sam Brown -Stop1

Sam Brown first came to my attention with a song called I Forgive You which I had on a Demon Records compilation which completely blew me away and which I featured back in January 2014

I subsequently picked up the CD of her best selling  1988 album Stop! on the A&M label. I thought it would have appeared here before but apparantly not.
Then on my recent Clarkston trip I saw a vinyl copy for a pound which was a bit of a no brainer.

The plan was to replace the CD with the vinyl but the CD has 3 bonus tracks - Can I Get a Witness, High as a Kite and Nutbush City Limits so it is staying meantime.They may well feature as a post somewhere further down the line.

She has a great Blue Eyed Soul voice which can belt out a tune either as a cover or one of her own  compositions. Here are two of her own from Stop! and the aforementioned I Forgive You




Thursday 20 May 2021

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

 



 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 13 - Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentelmen We Are Floating in Space

Confession time . Although I have heard of Spiritualized I only have the odd download here and there and have never given them a proper listen. I know that many of my blogging colleagues hold them in high esteem so I thought when I saw this, their 3rd studio album from 1997 on the Dedicated label, that I should bite the bullet and buy it for a pound to see what all the fuss was about

I was a wee bit apprehensive as first as I thought it just might be loops and squiggles and repetitive electronic bleeps. I was pleasantly surpried to find that I was wrong. There are tunes there, and pretty good tunes at that, albeit that is still the occassional blast of superfluous white noise here and there.

It is one that I envisage playing often to make up for lost time and will by keeping my eye out for others from them.

I await a slew of comments saying "I told you so", "about time to"and "where have you been for all these years"

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlement We are Floating in Space

Spiritualized -Come Together

Wednesday 19 May 2021

The Proximity Effect


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 12 Nada Surf - The Proximity Effect

A trip to Clarkston Toll on the South Side of Glasgow led to a couple of purchases .Barnardos weren't stocking CDs any more. This is beginning to happen in other shops and they may go the same way as videos. Shelter has nothing decent. Oxfam were charging £2.49 per CD which I would only pay if it was something I was really after. Fortunately Cancer Research yielded some low hanging fruit.

 The Proximity Effect is the 2nd album by New York band Nada Surf and joins their 3rd album Let's Go on the shelves.. They had been droppoed by their label Elektra but it was released by them in Europe in 1998 prior to being self released by the band in the US by MarDev in 2000..My copy is from Heavenly/EMI from  2002 so it must be a re-release on the back of the success of Let's Go

Pitchfork makes comparisons to the Foo Fighters and Weezer. I'm not sure that I know enough about either band to comment but it does have a slightly grungy feel to it in places. Not as good as Let's Go but still a keeper.

Nada Surf - Amateur

Nada Surf - Firecracker


Tuesday 18 May 2021

The Dreaming

 



2021 Charity Shop Purchases 11 - Kate Bush - The Dreaming

The final offering from the first charity haul of 2021 and the second by Kate Bush is her 4th album The Dreaming from 1982 on the EMI label.

There were a few available but I opted for this one and her debut The Kick Inside. They could not be more different.

It was almost two years in the making and met with a mixed critical reception given that is was most probaly her uncommercial and experimental release. I must admit it took me completely by surprise. I suspect that it will take a few listens before I can get my head around it. The critic from Melody Maker wrote that it's the sort of album that makes me want to kidnap the artist and demand the explanation behind each track".

The critical standing gradually improved over the years as folk began to get their heads around it including featuring in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (I've now ticked that box) and Mojo's Top 50 Eccentric Albums of All Time. Apparently Bjork is a fan which is hardly surpriing.

I'm off for another listen.

Kate Bush - Sat On Your Lap

Kate Bush -The Dreaming

Monday 17 May 2021

The Greening Wind

 


Andy Kershaw is the person responsible for introducing me to and helping me to appreciate English folk music/

He featured the likes of Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Fairport Convention and Richard & Linda Thompson on a regular basis. He also often played the brilliant The Slip Jigs & Reels by Steve Tilson 

This in turn led me seeking out the album The Greening Wind a collection of songs and instrumental pieces from 1971-1992 (Hubris Records,1999). In  truth there is nothing else that comes close to Slip Jigs but it is worth having for that song alone.

Slip Jigs & Reels was written in 1988 inspired by a photograph he saw in a book about the American West. It was of a young man and his mule. Steve could not remember the name of the man but the mule was called Evil Murdoch. The man was killed by Mescalero Apaches a few hours after the photo was taken. No details about what happened to the mule.

Steve Tilston - The Slip Jigs & Reels

Steve Tilston - The Naked Highwayman

Sunday 16 May 2021

Atlantic R&B Volume 4

 


2021 Charity Shop Purchases 10 - Atlantic R&B Volume 4  1957 -1960

When I featured Volume 3 last Sunday I described the mix up between covers and discs, Fortunately that was resolved so todaly we have Volume 4.All songs still over 60 years old but still sounding fantastic just proving that quality endures

As per Volume 3 plenty of The Drifters, Ray Charles, Ben E King and the Coasters along some other great acts.

Lets start with some R&B from Chuck Willis with What Am I Livin' For a Billboard R&B number one.

The mighty Clyde McPhatter didn't feature last week so let's make up for that this week with A Lover's Question.

I wanted to feature Saved by LaVern Baker but for some reason the CD burner was not having it consistantly sticking at 80% and no further. So here is the next best thing LaVern with I Cried a Tear.

Ray Charles pops up on numerous occasions over the two volumes featured and given that it would be churlish not to give him an airing. Let the Good Times Roll.

3 volumes downm 5 to go.

Chuck Willis - What Am I Livin' For

Clyde McPhatter - A Lover's Question

LaVern Baker - I Cried a Tear

Ray Charles -Let The Good Times Roll


Saturday 15 May 2021

Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 9 - Camera Obscura - Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi

Right, where were we before we were so rudely interupted? 

Ah, yes nearing the end of the first haul of the year. We had got as far as number 8 so logic disctates that this must be number 9.

I'm not sure which I 'm most chuffed with the Bob Dylan Witmark Demos Bootleg or Biggest Blue Hi-Fi the 2002 debut album by Camera Obscura on the Elefant label. Given the Elefant Records are from Madrid the CD came with an outer sleeve with all the tracks written in Spanish which confused me somewhat. I normally dispose of the outer sleeves as I find them a bit of a nuisance but I'm keeping this one.

There are obvious comparisons with Belle and Sebastian particularly given that the album was produced by Stuart Murdoch. However I would argue that unlike B&S  the quality has not diminished over the years . Indeed they have probably got better. I saw them for the first time in St Lukes in Glasgow in August 2019 and they were absolutely fantastic.

Only five albums to date but hopefully they will be back in the studio soon. I only need Underachievers Please Try Harder to complete the set.There's a message in there somewhere.

Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan

Camera Obscura - Anti-Western

Friday 14 May 2021

Briarwood

 


Wooden Wand, the psedonym  of one James Jackson Toth , first came to my attention via a Mojo compilation The New Thunder Review which I featured in May 2019 

Like Corporation buses, nother for ages and then he quickly appeared again as a suggestion by our good pal Ramone666 for the WW chapter of my Double Initials series. Ramone then went one better by providing me with a copy of Briarwood an album from 2011 on Fire Records.

The Big Takeover site describes it as barroom country rock (that ticks my box right away). It goes further by describing my first selection Winter in Kentucky as like a lost Dylan/Tom Petty collaboration—which isn’t a bad thing! 

My other choice Motel Stationary,M apparently sounds like the man’s been holed up with a dime bag and a copy of Harvest and On the Beach.

Descriptions which if I hadn't already had it would have had me tracking it down.

Wooden Wand - Winter in Kentucky

Wooden Wand - Motel Stationary


Thursday 13 May 2021

Western Stars


 We are just back from a couple of nights in Granton - on- Spey in the Cairngorms. A delayed and re-arranged Christmas present and taking advantage of things gradually opening up. And yes there were purchases.

However, the galavanting meant that I have not had the time to listen to and write up posts for the remainder of the rest of my recent Glasgow hauls..

Still that gives me an opportunity to feature some of the roadtrip music .One artist and one album which are made for a roadtrip is Western Stars from 2019 the 19th studio album by Bruce Springsteen  on the Columbia label.

Released a few months short of his 70th birthday it is a return to form and possibly his best from the 21st century. Critically well received with Wiki describing it as  elegiac and evocative of the American West.I'm not that sure what elegiac means but I'm assuming it is positive.

Bruce Springsteen - Hitch Hikin'

Bruce Springsteen - Tuscon Train


Wednesday 12 May 2021

Let's Make This Precious

 


  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 8 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Let's Make This Precious

A post in a similar vein to yesterday's one on Big Country albeit with much better sound quality.

I had Searching for the Young Soul Rebels and Too-Rye-Aye by Dexy's Midnight Runners on vinyl but nothing on CD.
So even although about half the 18 songs from Let's Make This Precious - The Best of Dexy's Midnight Runners a 2003 compilation on EMI come from these two albums I could justify picking it up for a pound.

Unlike Big Country I'm featuring two that I don't have on vinyl. Because of You was a single from 1986 and was the theme song from the British sitcom Brushstrokes. It was obviously the best thing about the programme.

Let's Get This Straight (From the Start) was a non-album single from 1982 with Old from Too-Rye- Aye on the b-side.
Worth the purchase for these two tracks alone.




Tuesday 11 May 2021

Through a Big Country

 


  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 7 Big Country - Through a Big Country

Confession time. I don't think that I've ever posted anything by Big Country before. Also, the only thing on the shelves by the band from Dunfermline is a vinyl copy of their 1083 debut album The Crossing. Two sentences which may well lead me to being struck off Brian's Christmas card list.

Therefore it wa a bit on a no brainer to pick up Through a Big Country a best of compilation from 1990 on the Mercury label. So far so good you would think but sadly there is a major snag.

The sound quality is appalling . Rather than reflecting their anthemic chants and their Celtic charm it sounds like it has been recorded under water.

For that reason alone I don't think it will be a keeper. Instead I may content myself with tracking down Steeltown, The Seer and Peace in Our Time.

To cleanse the pallet I will get around to posting the vinyl versions of the songs below in due course.

Big Country - In a Big Country

Big Country - Fields of Fire

Big Country - Look Away


Monday 10 May 2021

The Witmark Demos

 


  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 6 - Bob Dylan - The Witmark Demos -1962-1964

Two birds with the one stone ticked today. Some Monday Folk Songs plus one of my latest charity purchases. The CD was priced at £4 which I would have gladly paid but when it was added to the rest of the bundle I got it for a pound.

To give the album it's proper title it is The Bootleg Series Volume 9:The Witmark Demos 1962 -1964  featuring 47 songs many of which made it on to the early Bob Dylan albums. These are demos he made for his first two publishing  companies Leeds Music and M..Witmark & Sons.

I should say that I haven't had the chance to give this a proper listen yet and I haven't even got as far as the second disc.

The Death of Emmett Till never made it on to any of Dylan's albums (  too topical and uncomfortable for CBS?) but has appeared on a few bootlegs

Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after having been accussed of offending a white woman. His death was one of the catalysts for the American Civil Rights movement 

Hollis Brown was a fictional character (or was he) who featured in the Ballad of Hollis Brown on Dylan's third album 1964's The TImes They Are A-Changin'

My second in the Bootleg Series after Volume 4 - Bob Dylan Live 1966 - The " Royal Albert Hall" Concert

Bob Dylan - The Death of Emmett Till (The Witmark Demos)

Bob Dylan - Ballad of Hollis Brown ( The Witmark Demos)

Sunday 9 May 2021

Atlantic R& B Volume 3

 


  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 5 - Atlantic R&B Volume 3  1955 -1957

During my recent charity shop excursion I stumbled upon Atlantic R& B Volume 4 on the shelves .When I opened it to check it contained the CD for Volume 3. I thought about putting it back but decided against it. About 15 minutes later on one of the the other shelves I found Volume 3 and yes it contained the CD for Volume 4.

Result. A quick swop round and they were added to the pile. I only had Volume 1 before but had a copy of Volume 3 which I featured back in August 2016

Covering the period 1955-57 it features  the likes of Ray Charles, the Drifters and a host of others across the 28 tracks.

Today you're getting the Blues of Joe Turner , the Doo wop of The Robins and the risque Soul of Ruth Brown.

Volume 4 next week

Joe Turner -Flip,Flop and Fly

The Robins - Smokey Joe's Cafe

Ruth Brown -Lucky Lips


Saturday 8 May 2021

Punk 3

 


All good things come to an end and today sees the final instalment from my Saturday Punk/New Wave compilations  with some tracks from the imaginatively titled Punk 3 burn from the shelves

Generation X debuted here earlier in this series in March with Dancing With Myself from the Sounds of the City album. Here they sing of their love for Cathy McGowan  with the excellent Ready Steady Go

Eddie and the Hot Rods also debuted on that album. Here they are experiencing some Teenage Depression

I know someone who when he had 998 albums he went out and bought a 999 album and then a Fall album for his 1000th. You won't get any of that nonsense here but you will get 999 making their debut with Homicide.

The Lurkers are another band who until now had not graced these pages. They have now even though they Ain't Got a Clue.

Time to bail out before the barrel gets scraped further.

Generation X - Ready Steady Go

Eddie & the Hot Rods -Teenage Depression

999 - Homicide

The Lurkers -Ain't Got a Clue

Friday 7 May 2021

Forty Licks

 



  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 4 - The Rolling Stones - Forty Licks

Forty Licks is a 2 x CD 40 year career-spanning retrospective compilation of the work of The Rolling Stones released in 2002. For licensing reasons it was attributed to Virgin/ABCKO/Decca.
Bought primarily to replace a burn but let's face it not too many would turn down the opportunity to pick up 40 songs by the Stones for a quid.

Whereas it is not strictly in chronilogical order disc 1 contains songs from 1964 -1971 and disc 2 from 1971 to 2002.
Two from each disc I think.
From disc 1 I'm going for Gimme Shelter from the great Let it Bleed album from1969 and the single version of She's a Rainbow a song from1967's Their Satanic Majesties Request.
You won't be surprised to hear that disc 2 is not as consistantly brilliant as disc 1 although a couple of songs from  Exile on Main Street are  included. (Sticky Fingers straddles both discs)
Beast of Burden is taken from Some Girls  from 1978 probably their best post 1972 album.
The compilation includes four new songs. No great shakes but Keys to Your Love is probably the best of a fairly mediocre bunch.







Thursday 6 May 2021

The Kick Inside

 


  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 3  Kate Bush - The Kick Inside

There were about half a dozen Kate Bush CDs in the charity shop where I had my May Day foray .I'm not an uber fan nor am I one of those people who can't stand her.This led me to picking up only two of them.
One was her debut album from 1976 (when she was just 19 if my arithmetic is correct) The Kick Inside  on EMI in the UK and Harvest in the States

You will all be aware of the main single from the album Wuthering Heights which amazingly was the first self written song by a female artist to reach number 1 on the UK singles charts. I shall spare you that one today 
Them Heavy People released on 5th May 1978 was a single in Japan only with the title Rolling the Ball
Kate was only 13 when she wrote The Man With The Child in His Eyes which is pretty astonishing. She recorded it when she was 16.

The more astute among you and/or those who can remember as far back as the first paragraph will have worked out that she will be making a further appearance here sooner rather than later.



Wednesday 5 May 2021

Sparky's Dream


  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 2 - Teenage Fanclub Sparky's Dream (CD single)

Sparky's Dream a song written by Gerry Love is the 2nd track on Teenage Fanclub's 1994 album Grand Prix (Creation) and was also the 2nd single  from the album released on 22nd May 1995.

I already have it from the album on vinyl. CD and digitally but if I see a Teenage Fanclub single I'm going to pick it up if only to support Brian's campaign for the release of a B-sides album.

As is the way of these things there appears to be a number of different versions. The one that I acquired seems to be a promo version. It contains 4 tracks - Sparky's Dream (obviously), Burned (a Buffalo Springfield song by Neil Young ), For You (written by Raymond McGinley) and Headstand another Gerry Love number.

Yours for £2.50 plus postage  on Discogs

Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream

Teenage Fanclub -Burned

Teenage Fanclub - For You

Teenage Fanclub -Headstand

Tuesday 4 May 2021

At War With the Mystics


 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 1 - The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics

Saturday 1st May 2021 saw my first visit to a charity shop this year and gave me my first opportunity of the year to tick the CCM  raison d'etre box. Fortunately it was a good haul but I suspect that I may struggle to match the 2020 total of 74.

I've had The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips for a while and have never really felt the urge to explore further. However, I was not about to turn down the opportunity to pick up their next one 2006's At War with the Mystics on Warner Brothers for a pound.

My first impressions are mixed. One or two like those below stood out but I suspect it may take a few listens before confirming whether it is bombastic pop brilliance as the blurb on the sticker from Filter Magazine would have it. Defo a keeper though.

Being the Flaming Lips the song titles are fairly ridiculous. The official titles for the two featured below are:

Free Radicals ( A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber) and

It Overtakes Me /The Stars are so Big...I am so Small ...Do I Stand a Chance?  I'll settle for the abridged versions.

The Flaming Lips - Free Radicals

The Flaming Lips - It Overtakes Me


Monday 3 May 2021

I Ain't Marching Any More


There was a time in the early 60s when Folk music was pretty much synonymous with protest songs particularly in the States.

This was around the time when Dylan first shot to prominence with songs such as The Times They Are a Changing and With God on Our Side. Another exponent was Phil Ochs although he preferred to by known as a Topical Singer. At the time there was plenty to get topical about.

I Ain't Marching Any More is his second album from 1965 on the Electra label. I have it on a two albums on one CD format along with his 1964 debut All The News That's Fit to Sing.

A number of his songs appeared on George's State of the Union series including one from this album namely Here's to the State of Mississippi which must be one of the most powerful songs that I've ever heard. I don't imagine that he got a warm welcome in that state following that.

We could do with more protest songs now. Although Edwyn Collins spoke of too many protest singers, not enough protest songs it is hard to think of many with the notable exceptions of Steve Earle and Billy Bragg

Phil Ochs - I Ain't Marching Any More

Phil Ochs - Draft Dodger Rag

Phil Ochs - Here's to the State of Mississippi



 

Sunday 2 May 2021

Vintage Country Vinyl - Kitty Wells

 


The second oustanding Vintage Country Vinyl album, bought at the same time as Melba Montgomery and considerably better, is Kitty Wells as part of The Country Hall of Fame series on MCA Coral from 1990.

16 tracks, and not a duffer amongst them, from the lady who broke down the barrier to women in Country music with her 1952 classic It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.

I would imagine that you are all familiar with that one so I thought I would share two of the others. Paying for that Back Street Affair is an answer song to Back Street Affair the 1952 hit by Webb Pierce.It reached number 6 in the US Country charts in 1953.

Mommy for a Day is song written by Kitty and in true country style it is a bit of a heartbreaker. It was a top 5 hit in 1959.

Not for nothing was she awarded top female vocalist awards for 14 consecutive years

13 quid from the  Tax Dodgers if you are interested. I payed 99p

Kitty Wells -Paying For That Back Street Affair

Kitty Wells - Mommy for a Day

Saturday 1 May 2021

Punk 2

 


As this series of punk/new wave compilations continues it is getting harder and harder to come up with artists or songs which I haven't featured before. To make things even harder I'm trying to exercise a bit of quality control so no Throbbing Gristle today.

First up is the only debut act today .The Dead Boys were a band from Cleveland, Ohio and according to Wiki they were one of the rowdiest and most violent punk groups of the era which might explain why they didn't last long or enjoy more fame. Sonic Reducer was their debut single on the Sire label in 1977.

Public Image Ltd surely need no introduction. The band that Johnny Rotten now using his real name John Lydon formed when he left the Sex Pistols. I thought this had featured before but looking back only Rise has appeared before.

The Ruts debuted earler on these Saturday slots with Staring at the Rude Boys which was on the Sound of the City compilation .Babylon's Burning is the one I remember most.

The Slits featured on the back of me having read  Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys the 2014 autobiography of Viv Albertine. Today New Town gets it first airing.

Sod it - I'm about to break my own rules for this series. Ambition by Vic Goddard & the Subway Sect was all set to appear until I discovered that it had featured on a random Uncut compilation. It is so good that it is going on again.

Punk 3 next week in what will be the last in this series

The Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer

Public Image Ltd - Public Image

The Ruts - Babylon's Burning

The Slits - New Town

Vic Goddard & the Subway Sect - Ambition