Seconds of Pleasure

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 36 - Rockpile - Seconds of Pleasure

Hopefully some of you  in addition to Brian worked out that the album which included the bonus EP  of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds singing the Everly Brothers was none other that Seconds of Pleasure the only album by Rockpile which was released in October 1980 on.

Rockpile were Billy Bremner (guitar and vocals), Dave Edmunds (guitars,vocals, piano and organ), Nick Lowe (bass and vocals) and Terry Williams (drums).

They were about in the late 70s and early 80s playing a mix of pub rock and power pop.

They recorded enough material for 5 albums with three (Tracks on Wax 4, Repeat When Necessary and Twangin') being recorded as Dave Edmunds solo albums  and Labour of Lust as a Nick Lowe album. This was the only one recorded under the Rockpile name.

It seems only fair to give you a song with Nick Lowe as lead namely Teacher Teacher their only "hit" reacing number 51 on the US Billboard chart followed by Dave Edmunds leading on the Chuck Berry song Oh What a Thrill.

I'm pretty chuffed with this one

Rockpile - Teacher, Teacher

Rockpile -Oh What a Thrill

Golden Sings That Have Been Sung

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 35 - Riley Walker - Golden Sings That Have Been Sung

Riley Walker is a name that pops up from time to time in our little corner of the blogosphere. I think that Ramone has definately featured him and probably one of two others.

I thought that I would pick up the CD of Golden Sings That Have Been Sung from 2016 on Dead Oceans to see what all the fuss is about.

I'm still not entierly sure although I suspect that it  is one that will benefit from a few listens and will almost certainly be a grower.Described as psychedelic rock or folk rock it is his third album. He seems to be pretty prolific given that he has released around ten albums since 2014.

To me there are some obvious comparisons to Jonathan Wilson and the stuff that Ripley Johnson is doing with the Rose City Band which I really like.

Maybe that's just The Halfwit in Me

Ryley Walker -The Halfwit in Me

Ryley Walker - I Will Ask You Twice

Junk

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 34 - Tuff Love

Junk from May 2014 is the debut EP from  the band Tuff Love on Lost Map  the label run by The Pictish Trail from the island of Eigg off the West Coast of Scotland

Tuff Love are Julie Eisenstein on guitar, Susie Bear on bass and Michael O'Hara on drums described by the label as two girls and a dude from Glasgow who cut beautifully distorted guitar gems.  

The Guardian goes further - Glaswegian trio grab C86 fuzz pop by the scruff of the neck and  give it a damn good ruffing up round the back of the sweet shop. Delicious while the Daily Record proclaims we reckon Tuff Love will be your new favourite band. ‘Flamingo' is Jesus and Mary Chain if they corrupted the Monkees.

No pressure then.

I couldn't not feature Flamingo after the blurb above and have also gone for Sweet Discontent with its  woozy vocals and fierce guitars.

There is a compilation album Resort which features all the tracks from their three EPs Junk, Dross and Dregs

Tuff Love - Sweet Discontent

Tuff Love - Flamingo

Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds Sing the Everly Brothers

 

He's back! And busy working his way through his recent Oxfam vinyl purchases.

One of the albums which has still to feature included a bonus EP  by Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds (from 1980 and on the F-Beat label) which I didn't notice until I got it home. Brian will know the album that I'm teasing you by not mentioning. I'm  featuring the EP first as it is more appropriate for a Sunday.

The cover of the EP which is pictured above is a bit battered but the vinyl cleaned up nicely and is in pretty good nick.

I was tempted to give you all four tracks today but you can have too much of a good thing.

So it's side one this week and side two next Sunday. I'm putting this one down as an unexpected bonus find.

Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds - Take a Message to Mary

Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds - Crying in the Rain

1968 - The Year the World Burned

 

I'm continuing my current phase of <ahem> acquiring interesting looking compilations from yesteryear.

One which caught my eye was 1968- The Year the World Burned collated by music author Jon Savage. It seems that there is a series of these which I think that I will make my mission to track down.

If this one is anything to go by I'm sure that I will not be disappointed. Given that they are on the Ace label they come with a ready made stamp of quality. 48 tracks as you can see here.  A mixture of late 60's Soul, flower power, the salad days of Mod, psychedelia and just plain weird which neatly reflect those troubled times.

As is my want I've gone for Soul with three absolute belters from the second CD.

I shall keep hunting

James Carr -Freedom Train

The Temptations -Cloud Nine

Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People

Due to a combination of the Euros, family commitments and holidays there will be nothing to see here for a few days

Past Night From Glasgow

 

Past Night from Glasgow is a subsiduary label of Last Night from Glasgow which tracks down, tidies up and re-releases classic Scottish albums.

It started probably just over a year ago with a re-release of Sisters by the Bluebells  with two bonus tracks produced by Elvis Costello and a re- working of the opener Everybody's Somebody's Fool.

Since then they have gone from strength to strength churning out iconic albums at an impressive rate.

I'm taking the opportunity to upgrade my copies of Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine and One More Won't Kill Us.

You should do so too.

Cosmic Rough Riders - Revolution (In the Summertime)

The Hedrons - Heatseeker

Howlin' Wind

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 33  Graham Parker and the Rumour - Howlin' Wind

I had a mini vinyl haul from Oxfam in Byres Road in Glasgow's West End the other week.

I've a few Graham Parker and the Rumour albums on vinyl but couldn't remember if Howlin' Wind was one. It turns out it was but it was only a couple of quid so it was worth taking a chance. I shall be donating it to my pal Pete who has actually seen them live unlike me. I balked at the price of the ticket but wish I'd gone now.

Turns out I actually picked it up in a charity shop in St Andrews in 2015

From 1976 on Vertigo it is their debut  record and while greeted enthusiastically by the critics it never troubled the charts.

It is a terrific record with half a dozen of the tracks featuring on their subsequent Best of

For  my future reference I am commiting to print that I have Howlin' Wind, Stick to Me and The Up Escalator.

As all five Graham Parker and the Rumour albums are essential the two missing parts of the jigsaw remain Heat Treatment and Squeezing Out the Sparks.

Hopefully now committed to memory

Graham Parker & the Rumour - Soul Shoes

Graham Parker & the Rumour - Between You and Me

Wrecking Ball

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 32  -Bruce Springsteen -Wrecking Ball

The final CD from my recent Victoria Road haul and the 3rd by Bruce Springsteen. I would like to say that I have saved the best to last but unfortunately the opposite applies.

Bruce Springsteen has released 20 studio albums.Wrecking Ball from 2012 is his 17th and may very well be his worst. I only say maybe as I haven't heard 2014's High Hopes.

I can see where Springsteen haters are coming from when I listed to this one - shouty anthemic  jingoistic numbers with little substance to them.. There is even a bit of ill advised rapping included for goodness sake.

I am maybe in a minority given that the lead song We Take Care of Our Own was nominated for three Grammy Awards and Rolling Stone deemed it to be the best album of 2012.

Bought to replace a burn and only the completist in me ensures that it is a keeper when it really shouldn't be.

Bruce Springsteen - We Take Care of Our Own

Bruce Springsteen - Shackled and Drawn

Ash Wednesday

 

 

When I copied Girl from Mars by Ash a couple of months ago for a post on the red planet I opted to burn it from my Intergalact Sonic 7s CD as opposed to my vinyl copy of 1977

I copied the whole album and have been listening to it on a USB stick in the car and it is a splendid racket. I didn't really realise what a good singles band they were. A lot of them passed my by at the time so in some cases it is like hearing them for the first time. I've included two that come into that category.

19 tracks in all and every one worth a couple of minutes of your time. As an added bonus  a second disc entitled Cosmic Debris is also included containing 22 b-sides and rarities as voted by fans on an on-line poll..

I picked this up back in 2016 from a charity shop. 41 songs for a quid  -what an absolute steal

Ash - Shining Light

Ash - Sometimes

For a far more entertaining read on the band head over to JC's place for some brilliance from SWC posted yesterday.

The Nonesuch Collection

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 31 - The Nonesuch Collection Vol 1

The second last CD from my Victoria Road haul is a compilation The Nonesuch Collection from 2006 and not surprisingly on the Nonesuch label.

The red stickery bit  reads when a label is hot you can buy almost any record on it and you know you're getting a guarantee of quality.Elektra had it in the '60s and Island in the early '70s. Today without any hypee or hoopla, Nonesuch records has quietly taken up a similar position.

Hmm I can think of others more worthy of that accolade and I'm sure you can too.

Having said that I was quite surprised when I did a search to find how many albums from the label that I actually have.

16 songs on the album of which I only have two both of which have featured here before  Heroes and Villains by Brian Wilson and Shot in the Arm by Wilco. Shot in the Arm has featured here twice before, once fairly recently, otherwise it would have been a stick on to feature.

It's quite an eclectic mix with a bit too much jazzy stuff for my liking. I've gone for These Four Walls by Shawn Colvin from her album of the same name and Here I Am by Emmylou Harris from her 2003 album Stumble Into Grace one I  acquired and posted here in November 2020 but without sharing this song

Shawn Colvin -These Four Walls

Emmylou Harris - Here I Am

Oh bugger it 

Wilco -Shot in the Arm

Smoke and Strong Whiskey

 

We have featured Scottish and English folk music here in recent weeks so it is maybe time to cross the water to Ireland.

Mrs CC came in the other week with a few charity CDs one of which  was from the land of her birth.

From 1991 on the Newberry label Smoke & Strong Whiskey is an album by Irish singer ,songwriter and guitarist Christy Moore. We will forgive his spelling of the amber nectar

He is well known for his politics and social commentary which respects a left wing nationalist perspective. I was intrigued by the song Whacker Humphries and suspected that it might well be a true story. And so it proved . Good to see folk singers tackling modern isses

The second song is more traditional in nature and reflects the lot of a jobbing Irish folk singer.

Christy Moore - Whacker Humphries

Christy Moore - Encore

Happy Times

 

 

During the week I have been listening in the car to Happy Times - The Songs of Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham Vol 2 and what a treat it has been.

On Ace Records which is always a sure sign of quality it contains various artists covering 24 tracks by the dynamic due who effortlessly straddle the divide between Country and Soul. 

Resident music writes that it features  tracks from their time working together in muscle shoals and memphis, with a broad spread of repertoire than embraces deep soul, sweet soul, southern pop, country and even an instrumental. star names here include dan’s pet project the box tops, sandy posey, wilson pickett, ronnie milsap, b j thomas and many others whose careers intersected in the 60s with those of dan and spooner – to everyone’s advantage. almost none of the versions of the songs featured here have been on any previous ace cd. many have never been on cd at all.

Here is the track list to whet your appetite I  could have literally chosen any of the 24 songs and they would have done the boys justice. I've opted for Sandy Posey  in the country corner with  Arthur Conley representing the soul camp

Sandy Posey - Hey Mister

Arthur Conley - You Really Know How to Hurt a Guy

Live 75-85

 

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 30 - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live 1975 -1985

Well I did warn you. It looks like someone had off loaded their Springsteen collection shortly before my visit to Barnandos and I naturally pounced to fill in some gaps in my collection.

My brother and I went to see Springsteen and the E Street Band  play at St James' Park, Newcastle on June 5th 1985. I think that  my brother threw a sickie. We got a bus from Battlefiled Rd in Glasgow and it soon became clear that any the the two of us were the only folk on the bus who knew any of his songs that were not on Born in the USA.

Live 1975- 1985 covers the Boss' best years and consists of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts over that period. Columbia Records released it as a 5 LP box set in November 1986 just in time for Christmas and my brother duly got the box set.

Sadly it was sold at some point in the intervening years so I didn't get to inherit it. I'm happy to make do with the 3 CD  version particulalry as in only cost me 3 quid.

We start with what is perhaps his greatest song live Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) recorded at the Roxy Theatre,West Hollywood, California on June 7th 1978.

This is followed by Racing in the Street from the Meadowland Arena, East Rutherford , New Jersey  from July 6th 1981.

Finally we have Bruce's version of what should be the US National Anthem Woodie Guthrie's This Land is Your Land from December 28th December 1980 from  the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York. 

Feel free to loose yourself for half an hour.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (Live)

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Racing in the Street (Live)

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - This Land is Your Land (Live)

Tigermik

 

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 29 - Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk

Over the last couple of years without really trying I have picked up a considerable chunk of Belle and Sebastian's back catalogue both albums and CD single/EPs in various charity shops.

This time round it is the turn of their 1996 debut Tigermilk originally on Electric Honey with subsequent re-releases on their own Jeepster label.

As I'm sure that many of you know Tigersmilk is the stuff of legend.Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David had enrolled in Glasgow's Stow College Beatbox programme for unemployed musicians under the tutorage of Alan Rankine of Associates fame. Tigermilk was recorded live over three days with a thousand vinyl copies on the College's Electric Honey label released. This interesting arcticle by Pitchfork  states that copies were selling for as much as £850 in 1999 .There is one for sale on Discogs at the moment for £550

Needless to say I didn't pick up a copy of the original or even any of the subsequent vinyl re-releases but the 1999 CD version which you can pick up for a couple of quid.

Belle and Sebastian - The State I Am In

Belle and Sebastian - We Rule the School

You Forgot It In People

 

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 28 - Broken Social Scene -You Forgot it in People

I've gone and done it again getting two acts confused. I'm putting it down to old age.

Previously we have had Wolfmother instead of Wolf Alice and more recently Soft Machine as opposed to The Soft Boys.

This time round instead of British Americana act The Broken Family Band we have the Canadian musical collective Broken Social Scene. Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning seem to be the main men with a large number of others featuring including Leslie Feist and Jason Collett who also enjoy solo careers.

From 2002 You Forgot it in People  on the Arts & Crafts label was their second studio album and the one which brought their commercial breakthrough. Wiki advises that  it  features intricate, experimental production techniques and a large number of instruments coinciding with the band's vastly expanded size. It  was critically well received and subsequently won the 2003 Alternative Album of the year in the Canadian Juno Awards.

Alternative and experimental it certainly is and I wasn't at all convinced after hearing the first couple of numbers. However, it did get gradually better although the jury is still out as to whether it is a keeper or not. A couple more listens are required.

Broken Social Scene - Look Just Like the Sun

Broken Social Scene - Pacific Theme

Birds

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 27 - Birds (CD Single)

Birds is a CD single of a song which appears of  Dreamlands the 5th album from Aztec Camera from 1993

One I picked up in a local charity shop back in March 2018  

As was the way of things back in the 90's there were two different versions of the CD single released.CD 1 obviously had the title track plus Working in a Goldmine and Knife. Not bad but not in the same league as the one I picked up CD2 which as well as Birds features Somewhere in My Heart, Oblivious and Good Morning Britain.

I've got  Oblivious on High Land Hard Rain and Somewhere in My Heart on Love and they have both graced these pages before. I think it is the first time that I have had Good Morning Britain which they recorded with Mick Jones in a physical format and for that reason alone that makes this a brilliant find.

Aztec Camera - Birds

Aztec Camera - Somewhere in My Heart

Aztec Camera - Oblivious

Aztec Camera with Mick Jones - Good Morning Britain

 

 

Magic

 

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 26 - Bruce Springsteen - Magic

As one haul ends another one begins.

I took a trip to Some Great Reward a record/coffee shop on Glasgow's Victoria Road at the weekend where a couple of purchases were made. As they are relatively new records they will feature here in due course.

I visited the specialised Oxfam book and record shop and came away with nothing. However en route I visited Barnardos and came away with a reasonable haul.

Springsteen haters (you know who who you are) are advised to look away now as I took the opportunity to upgrade some of his later albums from burns to CD. One such upgrade album was Magic his 15th studio album from 2007 and as always on the Columbia label. 

It was his first with the E Street band since 2002's  The Rising and was ranked as number 2 on Rolling Stone's Top Fifty albums from 2007.It was reasonably well received by other critics.

I can't say it is one that I listen to all that often but it has some pretty good songs on it including the ridiculously catchy Girls in Their Summer Clothes.

A good upgrade.

Bruce Springsteen - Radio Nowhere

Bruce Springsteen - Girls in Their Summer Clothes

Penguin Eggs

 

You can't have a Monday Folk Music series and not include Penguin Eggs the fifth and final studio album by Nic Jones from 1980 on the Topic label one of the go to labels for folk.

Penguin Eggs was voted the 2nd best folk album of all time on the BBC Radio 2 Mike Harding Folk Show - second only to Fairport Convention's Liege and Leaf.. It was also Melody Maker's folk album of the year in 1980 and was his last album as sadly a car crash in 1982 greatly  restricted his ability to perform.

While not quite a concept album there is very much a nautical feel to many of the songs and it is pretty traditional in nature even although  he puts his own stamp on them.

Allmusic has described the album as one of those rare records where not just every song, but each instrumental part is worth hearing

They are right there.

Nic Jones - The Humpback Whale

Nic Jones - Farewell to the Gold

Slingshot Professionals

 

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 25  - Kelly Joe Phelps - Slingshot Professionals

The final CD from the Kingussie haul sees my trebling my Kelly Joe Phelps collection..From 2003 on the Rycodisc label Slingshot Professionals was his 6th studio album. Prior to picking up this and Roll Away the Stone  the only one of his I had was 2001's Sky Like a Broken Clock.

I'd heard the song Taylor John on the Paul Jones Rhythm and Blues show on Radio 2 which lead to me tracking it down.

Slingshot has a similar laid back vibe to Broken Clock and is less bluesy and gospely than Roll Away the Stone.

In the mid 2000s I went to see him at King Tuts. It was probably the wrong venue for him. It can get quite noisy there with the bar close to the stage so it was abit of a struggle for him to be heard.

I would like to see him in a more intimate venue which would do him nore justice.

Kelly Joe Phelps - Jericho

Kelly Joe Phelps - Slingshot Professionals

Blockbuster Sounds of the Seventies

 

Another CD which is better than Soft Machine and a recent purchase by Mrs CC called The 70's Movie Album.

It does what it says on the tin16 songs which were the themes from of featured in 70's movies book ended by an intro and outro of Asteroid which as you all know is the Pearl & Dean theme.

I've got and have featured here a surpising number of songs from this album. 

I'm going for one's I havent got or featured with an emphasis on theme songs.

From 1974 Lulu makes her second appearance on these pages following on from her version of The Man Who Sold the Wold with the theme from that year's Bond movie The Man With the Golden Gun

Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? That would be John Shaft . The Theme from Shaft from 1971 was an oscar winning song written and performed by the great Isaac Hayes.

Suicide is Painless was the theme song from the 1970 film M*A*S*H and was also the theme for the subsequent TV series. It was written by Johnny Mandel and Michael Altman  and was performed by The Mash. I had a tape of this for years and always wondered who sang it. It was of course subsequently covered by The Manic Street Preachers.

The final song comes from a film I don't remember 1976's Car Wash. I remember the fantastic song by Rose Royce though. One I thought had appeared in one of my Disco posts but apparantly not.

Lulu - The Man With the Golden Gun

Isaac Hayes - Theme from Shaft

The Mash - Suicide is Painless

Rose Royce - Car Wash

Strange Kind of Love

 

Mrs CC came in the other day with a number of CDs all of which were better than Soft Machine. Strange to believe but there you go.

One which is particularly good is Strange Kind of Love the second album from Glasgow legends Love and Money from 1988 on the Fontana label. There is a vinyl version of this on the shelves which again I think is down to Mrs CC.

The only other thing of theirs I have is a charity find Cheap Pearls and Whisky Dreams which is a Best Of  and which includes 5 songs from this album including the 2 below.

At the time Love and Money were James Grant, Paul McGeechan, Bobby Paterson with Jeff Porcaro from Toto on drums. It was produced by Steely Dan's producer Gary Katz with an uncedited appearance by Donald Fagan.

Halleluiah Man was their first hit single with Jocelyn Square being a particular favourite of mine.

I suspect a few of you will enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Love and Money - Halleluiah Man

Love and Money - Jocelyn Square

Third and Fourth and Fifth

 

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 23 - Soft Machine - Third

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 24 - Soft Machine - Fourth/Fifth

Right let's get this out of the way.

I could make the excuse that I was confusing them with The Soft Boys of whom Robyn Hitchcock was once a member.

I could also say that I was vaguely aware that both Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt had once been members.

Also I could say that they were 50p each and I thought that maybe I should give them a listen to see if they were any good.

However there is still no excuse to subjecting my ears to this absolute drivel.

A combination of jazz and prog - the worse of two possible worlds.

From 1971,1972 and 1973 and all on the Columbia label. Thank God Glam Rock, Bowie and Bolan were just round the corner.

I'm sure that there are some of you out there who like this sort of thing. If so you are welcome to them .

Otherwise it's back to charity they go.

Today's song Kings and Queens is from Fourth and is chosed purely on the basis that it is one of the shortest numbers.

Soft Machine - Kings and Queens

Martha

 

Coincidentally a few days after we returned from our trip up North Mrs CC came in with a few CDs one of which was Martha Wainwright  the 2005 album by  the Canadian/American singer/songwriter of the same name which was released on the DIS label in the UK.

She (Mrs CC) was unaware that I has  picked up an album by her old man as part of my Kingussie haul and which featured yesterday.

Yes, she is the daughter of Loudon Wainright III and Kate McGarrigle and the sister of Rufus.

I saw her and Rufus at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall along with Kate and Anna McGarrigle on 28th May 2004 as my pal Big Tam had a spare ticket. Not surprisingly Loudon was not on the bill

I found Martha and Rufus pretty underwhelming but I did enjoy the McGarrigle Sisters.

Likewise I found most of the album pretty underwhelming. It is probably best known for featuring the song Bloody Motherf***ing Asshole which she has confirmed is about her dad.

Fortunately one of the bonus tracks on the album is Dis,Quand Reviendras-Tu?.

I think she would be better if she sang in French all the time!

Martha Wainwright - Who Was I Kidding?

Martha Wainwright - Dis, Quand Revienras- Tu?

One Man Guy

 

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 22  One Man Guy - The Best of Loudon Wainwright III1982 -1986

I'm not altogether sure as to why I picked this one up as I only  had one album by him a live one So Damn Happy which I picked up for a pound and rarely if ever play. I suppose it was maybe to see if this was an improvement. It is but only just and I'm not convinced that it will be a keeper.

From 1994 on Demon Records it contains tracks from 1983's Fame and Wealth (from which the second track below is taken), 1985's I'm All Right and 1986's More Love Songs (which includes the first song below).

There's something about him that I can't quite put me finger on. It's as if he's too smart for his own good. Also I feel that many of his songs are too autobiographical if that makes sense. Talk about washing your dirty linen in public. Little wonder that he appears to be estranged from the rest of his musical family.

Plus there is that annoying  American thing about adding numbers after your name although to give him some credit he didn't inflict the number IV on his son Rufus 

Loudon Wainwright III - Your Mother and I

Loudon Wainwright III - Westchester County