The Blues Collection - Bo Diddley

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 49 - Bo Diddley - Jungle Music

The Blues Collection (no 5)

Another Blues Collection offering for you  I'm afraid .Worry not there is only one more currently in the queue

Today it is the turn of Elias McDaniel better known to you and I as Bo Diddley. What is it with these Bluesmen and their Scottish names? Last time around McKinley and today McDaniel.

Bo Diddley played a key roll in the transition from Blues to Rock'n' Roll  with his African rhythms, the Bo Diddley beat  and the simple five-accent hambone beat (no, me neither) which according to Wiki is the cornerstone of hip hop, rock and pop music. So there you go.

Namechecked by Bob Dylan on From a Buick 6 on the great Highway 61 Revisited and also the name of a song by Tim Hardin as well as being covered by countless artists

This songs are recorded from 1955 and 1956 and are a bit patchy although the sleevenotes say that  each song has a distinct style or beat that places it in a different league from other stuff that was being played at the time.

The 59th from the Collection on the shelves.

Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley - Diddy Wah Diddy

Bo Diddley -Who Do You Love?

Everyone Loves Urusei Yatsura

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 48  -Urusei Yatsura - Everyone Loves Urusei Yatsura

In addition to the CD single Hello Tiger which I featured a few days ago to widespread indifference I also came away from Oxfam with Everyone Loves Urusei Yatsura the third and final album by the Glasgow band which was released in 2000 on Oni Records

A brief bio of the band is included in the link above so I wont bore you with repeting it again. I found an intersting article from Drowned in Sound which states that Everybody loves Urusei Yatsura, is a far more low key and less immediate affair, and anyone expecting the rock n roll explosion of hits like Hello Tiger will be severely disappointed, but those who dug Yatsura’s lyrics and style in the past will find getting into the new album a thoroughly rewarding experience.

The only real signs of the Yatsura of old are the obvious single Louche 33 and the fuzztastic Silver Dragon, and while the rest of the album is still far from quiet, the killer guitars are somehow more muted than they used to be, and more emphasis is placed on increasingly subtle song structure and above all, the lyrics.

I'd already lined up Louche 33 (a title The Fall would be proud of) as one of my selections but have now added Silver Dragon as anything described as fuzzstastic is obviously worth a listen. Far from quiet is also fine by me.

Urusei Yatsura - Louche 33

Urusei Yatsura - Silver Dragon

Uresei Yatsura - Faking It

A Ghost is Born

 

  The Missing Records Haul - Wilco - A Ghost is Born

With the exception of the free download of Star Wars I don't have anything by Wilco other than their first four albums and even then the fourth Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a fairly recent purchase to replace a burn.

When I picked up A Ghost is Born I didn't realise that it was actually their fifth (from 2004 on Nonesuch) so it is kind of good to keep the chronology going.

There is an egg on the cover which is helpful as I would describe it as like the Curate's egg - good in parts.

Some of it is pretty awful  -the  15 minute Less Thank You Think consisting primarily of  electronic drones  and  noise  intended to audibly represent the migraines that lead singer Jeff Tweedy had been suffering from while addicted to pain killers during the recording sessions for the album is migraine inducing

There are about half a dozen out there still to get and I might pick them up out of curiosity should I see them in charity shops but I've no pressing desire to collect them all.

I'm happy to stick with the Jay Bennett era and the masterpieces that are Being There and Summerteeth.

Wilco - Hummingbird

Wilco -Handshake Drugs

Truth From Lies

 

The Missing Records Haul - Catie Curtis - Truth From Lies

I was vaguely aware of Catie Curtis having previously featured her song Love Takes the Best of You alongside Kelly Willis in a post in May 2017

Therefore I thought I would take a punt on Truth From Lies one of her earliest albums from 1994 on Hear Music.

Catie is an openly gay artist and her sexual politics are reflected in her lyrics. I  would imagine that there were some challenges back in the 90s given the conservative nature of country music but perhaps it was better in the more liberal folk scene. Thankfully things have moved on.

Catie has had a long and varied career as this biography highlights and is even available to officiate at weddings! Her songs are well written and interesting but are perhaps a little too bland for my tastes and although I have worse records than this space dictates that this one will not be a keeper

Catie Curtis - Radical

Catie Curtis - Just Getting By

Hope Downs

 

The Missing Records Haul - Rolling Blackouts C.F. - Hope Downs

I had assumed that Rolling Blackouts C.F. were an American band and the C.F. was shorthand for California. Well we all know what happens when you assume. Turns out that they are actually from Melbourne in Australia and that the proper name of the band is Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.

Hope Downs is their debut album from as far back as 2018 on Sub Pop (I thought it was more recent than that ) and it has subsequently been followed up by 2020's Sideways to New Italy.

Hope Downs is one of those (many) albums that I was aware of (it's hard not to) but one which I had never got round to actually listening to.Well now I have and I'm pretty impressed. The Guardian describes it as hook-laden jangling indie pushed along irresistibly by motorik rhythms.

Given that they are Australian  there are a number of comparisons by critics to The Go-Betweens and  also to The Strokes (which I can see), The Vacinnes, R.E.M. and perhaps more surprisingly The Cure

I'm happy with this purchase

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Talking Straight

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Mainland

Bus Pass Day

 

I turn 60 today which in addition to putting me in a position to be able to retire  means that I am now entitled to a free bus pass which enables me to travel anywhere in Scotland for nothing.

As I got nearer this milestone I began to get a bit twitchy in case this perk was removed. Let's face it it is probably only a matter of time. Fortunately I've slipped in under the wire. My application has been submitted and hopefully it will be waiting for me when we return from a few days break which does not involve any buses.

No Scottish mainland  Charity shops will be out of bounds!

As I am in birthday mood here are ten bus related songs for you mostly by artists who have already qualified for their passes. There is even a Mandatory Reggae one for Ernie

Gretchen Peters -On a Bus to St Cloud

Jonathan Richman - You're Crazy For Taking the Bus

The Who -Magic Bus

Gordon Keen & his BMX Bandits - Girl at the Bus Stop

Lee Hazlewood & Ann-Margret -Greyhound Bus Depot

The Hollies - Bus Stop

Professor Nuts - Ina De Bus

The Frank and Walters - Happy Busman

Poser - Bus Conductor

Fatima Mansions - Only Losers Take the Bus

As I have the time  and a few purchases still to get round to normal service will continue while we are away

The Silent Beard

 

The Missing Records Haul - Dumb Instrument - The Silent Beard

I picked up The Silent Beard a 2014 album by Ayrshire band Dumb Instrument  on Bad Tool records because the last time I bumped into a pal of mine Tom Marsden at a concert he told me that he was a member of the band and had played pedal steel of the album.

The band is lead by vocalist Tom Murray  who is also the main songwriter and  consists of Mikey Grant  on keyboards, Kieron Campbell on bass, Vanessa Smith on brass and Tom.

If they are known at all it is probably for Suffering from Scottishness. In an interview for the Scotsman Murray thinks that ‘Scottishness’ is definitely the best song about being Scottish that I could come up with, but there are other things to write about, I hope

He goes on to say I’ve just finished one about how some supermarket plums just won’t ripen, even on the windowsill,I think it’s the best song that I could come up with on that subject, and that’s all you can hope for.”. He also cites Shirley Bassey as an influence and the reason that the band has a brass section.

I think they would probably be fun to see live

Dumb Instrument - Suffering from Scottishness

Dumb Instrument - Missing Grannies

NB  there is an alternative album cover which looks as if it may be a part of a female's anatomy. Think Velvet Underground Live with Lou Reed Volume 2

Reggae Nuggets

 

It may have escaped your attention but it has been rather warm of late. As a man of leisure (at least that's what it says on my Whats App profile) I've had to resort to such drastic measures as beer gardens and to offering sitent prayers of thanks that I'm not having to work in this heat.

It also of course means reggae music. Here then is Reggae Nuggets a collaboration between Mojo and Trojan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that great label. As part of the sleevenotes Don Letts writes we musn't underplay the part that Trojan played.The kids that have grown up listening to this catalogue included a lot of the punks, the Joe Strummers, the Paul Siminons.Before the Punky Reggae Party, it was Trojan.

I'm sure that anyone owning a cheap and cheerful Trojan boxset or compilitation will concur.

Although this CD was acquired in Oxfam in Glasgow's Byres Rd it is not strictly a charity shop purchase.Let me explain. While they well selling Mojo and Uncut compilations at 20p a pop there was a

pile by that hand sanitizer and you were encouraged to take one if you wished as a thank you for complying with the regulations.

This one happened to be at the top of the pileand is one that I would hve been happy to fork out a couple of quid for.

Alton Ellis - I Am Still in Love With You

The Heptones - Cool Rasta

Prince Far I - Under Heavy Manner

Hot Rail

 

The Missing Records Haul -  Calexico  -Hot Rail

As I fessed up when I featured Feast of Wire  in my 50 Americana Albums You Should Hear Before You Die series  that although I consider myself a fan I have long owned more burns than physical copies of their albums.

I've now gone a small way to redressing that balance  by replacing my burn of Hot Rail with the real thing. From 2000 on Quarterstick Records it was the third album from the band led by Joey Burns and Jon Convertino the erstwhile rhythm section of Giant Sand. It is the one that precedes the masterpiece that is Feast of Wire

It ticks all the required Calexico boxes. Desert noir, traditional sounding Mexican grooves,mariachi, some crashing percussion and assorted squiggily noises.

Whereas they are great on record I must confess to having been extremely disappointed following the one time I saw them live at Glasgow's Carling Academy. It put me off them for a while but they are gradually sneaking back in there

Calexico - Ballad of Cable Hogue

Calexico - Crystal Frontier

Calexico - Muleta

Sea of Tears

 

The Missing Records Haul -  Eilen Jewell - Sea of Tears

I picked up Queen of the Minor Key  a 2011 album by Boise, Idaho Americana singer/songwriter  Eilen Jewel in the record library a number of years ago and very good it was to.

I therefore thought it would be a safe bet to spend a pound on Sea of Tears her third album from 2009 on the Signature Songs label. If anything, it is even better.

Here is some of the blurb from her Bandcamp page explaining ehy she had gone all retro:

"Before I discovered Woody Guthrie and folk music," she explains, "I was listening to Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and, later on, the Animals and the Kinks. I love that stuff, and I love to play it."

With Sea of Tears, Jewell and her longtime band of Jason Beek (drums, harmony vocals), Jerry Miller (electric, acoustic, and steel guitars), and Johnny Sciascia (upright bass) wed her elegantly unflinching songwriting with a rustic, pre-Beatles swagger that encapsulates vintage R&B, Midwestern garage rock, Chicago blues, and early rock and rockabilly, while maintaining the haunting, folk-inspired purity that first made her an artist to watch. 

Uncut feels that the album has a  lovely balance of strident country and rural balladry. whereas Maverick claim that every track is a gem. They are not wrong there.

Eilen Jewel -Shakin' All Over

Eilen Jewel - I'm Gonna Dress in Black

The Blues Collection - Muddy Waters

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 47 - Muddy Waters - Chicago Blues

The Blues Collection (no 11)

The Blues Collection - just like Corporation buses nothing for ages and then a few come along at once.

Today it is the turn of the King of Chicago Blues himself McKinley Morganfield better known to you and me as Muddy Waters. Having said that I think that that McKinley Morganfield is a pretty good name for a Blues man.

Chicago Blues is the 11th CD in the Blues Collection and it also now number 58 on the shelves. The somgs are recorded from a concert held 1976 when he was 63 and some seven years before his death in 1983. There are scant details but the band members are listed. Here they are courtesy of Discogs to save me the hassle of typing them all out and from where you can purchase the CD from as little as 52p

The sleevenotes, such as they are, state that reaching his mature years enabled him to brinch sn extra richness and flavour to the best of his work. They are not wrong there.

Muddy Waters - Baby, Please Don't Go

Muddy Waters - Howlin' Wolf

Muddy Waters - I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man

The Singing Hatchet

 

The Missing Records Haul - Radar Brothers - The Singing Hatchet

Radar Brothers a Los Angeles Indie Rock band who record in the UK on Chemikal Underground  first crossed my radar (do you see what I did there?) last year when I took a punt and picked up their third album And the Surrounding Mountains from a charity shop in Muir of Ord

It is a terrific record and so it was an absolute no-brainer to spend a pound on acquiring The Singing Hatchet their second album from 1999.

AllMusic describe them as delivering  quietly quixotic, psychedelically rootsy songs, which roll along like tumbleweeds: shambling and seemingly fragile, yet surprisingly strong. and also state that the album is a shabbily majestic, subtly accomplished work

I think that I will dedicate these two songs to the shambles that is the British Government and to Freedom Day

Radar Brothers - Shifty Lies

Radar Brothers - To Be Free Again

Millionaire

 

Sometime over the weekend I became a millionaire. No sadly not my lump sum. Before the begging letters come flooding in perhaps I should give a bit of context.

According to my Blogger stats  there have now been over a million views of Charity Chic Music. Now I am well aware that a large number of these have been bots and an even larger number have been me checking to see if anyone  is actually reading this thing but I'm pretty chuffed.

If truth be told,however I put more store on the comments received (13204 at the last count) and the friendship and camaraderie of the small group of comrades resolutely ignoring streaming and clinging to the dying days of blogging. Long may you continue.

You are all more important than millionaires to me.

Mattiel -Millionaire

ABC - How to be a Millionaire

Mersault - Lament for a Teenage Millionaire

Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds Sing the Everly Brothers -Part 2

 

A few Sundays ago I featured the first side of the bonus EP  of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds Sing the Everly Brothers which came with the Rockpile album Seconds of Pleasure which I got from Oxfam

At the time I said that I would feature the second side on the following Sunday. Needless to say I completely forgot. So here it is. Better late than never I suppose.

I've since found out that the four songs were part of a larger BBC Session from August 1979.Here Albums that Should Exist gives the wider story. Unfortunately my PC wont allow me access to zippyshare so I don't know if the link is still active or not. If it is could someone please download it and forward me a copy!

 ATSE  is totally correct as even at only 22 minutes it would still have made a terrific album.

Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds - Poor Jenny

Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds - When Will I Be Loved?

The Blues Collection - Howlin' Wolf

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 46 - Howlin' Wolf - London Sessions

The Blues Collection (no 7)

It's been a while but it is time for the return of The Blues Collection.

Long suffering readers will be aware that between Christmas 2013 and January 2014 I picked up 39 CDs from the Blues Collection in my local Charity Shop
The Blues Collection was a magazine that was produced between 1993 and 1997 with a CD provided with each of the 90 editions.(there are actually 93 in the series)

Ever since I have been scouring charity shops to add to the collection and have even taken the trouble to note down the numbers of those I don't have and keep it in my wallet following the purchase of a couple of doublers.

It came in handy on my recent trip to Oxfam in Byres Road as they had about 8 of them and I was able to check them against my list.

London Sessions by Howlin' Wolf was one I didn't have and needless to say it was quickly snapped up And its a cracker. Recorded in May 1970 it has a stellar cast backing him up -Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Steve Winwood (piano/organ), Bill Wyman (bass), Charlie Watts (drums), Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Jeffrey M Carp (Harmonica) and Ian Stewart (piano)

The 57th Blues Collection CD on the shelves

Howlin' Wolf - Little Red Rooster

Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin'

Howlin' Wolf - Back Door Man

Together Through Life

 

The Missing Records Haul  - Bob Dylan - Together Through Life

I can never remember which of the latter day Bob Dylan albums I actually have and which are burns. By latter day I mean Time Out of Mind (1997), "Love and Theft" (2001), Modern Times (2006) and Together Through Life (2009). I have nothing after these except Rough and Rowdy Ways.

I took a punt on Together Through Life thinking that the copy on the shelves was a burn. Fortunately I was right. Only Modern Times to go which should hopefully be easy to remember.

This one's a good one with a blues feel to it David Fricke of Rolling Stone writes Dylan, who turns 68 in May, has never sounded as ravaged, pissed off and lusty. That'll do for me.

Bob Dylan - Beyond Here Lies Nothin'

Bob Dylan - If You Ever Go to Houston

Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

 

The Missing Records Haul - The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

It has been a while since I posted an Americana album. Spoiler alert - you wont have to wait as long as the next one. I consider The Low Anthem to be Americana but Wiki has them down as indie folk.

Whatever. The copy of the album Oh, My God, Charlie Darwin, the band's second album from 2008 (and subsequently re-released in 2009) and on the Bella Union label is to replace the burn from the copy I took out from the record library when that was a thing.

It's abit of a mixed bag. Anyone hearing the pretty distinctive opener Charlie Darwin and expecting more of the same will end up disappointed.  Band member Ben Knox Miller describes the album as a  record about environmental decay and social de-evolution and the death of morality and all these very grand things. Whatever.

The other song I have selected To Ohio is very much Americana and puts me in mind of the Cash Brothers. No bad thing.

They are still on the go and have now released five albums. None of the others have crossed my radar as yet.

The Low Anthem - Charlie Darwin

The Low Anthem - To Ohio

Hello Tiger

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 45  -Urusei Yatsura -Hello Tiger - CD single

On my last visit to the Oxfam music shop on Glasgow's Byres Road someone had just handed in a number of CDs by Glasgow indie band Urusei Yatsura. it seemed rude not to relieve them of a couple.

Named after a Japanese manga Urusei Yatsura were a  four piece band consisting of Fergus Lawrie, Graham Kemp, Elaine Graham and Ian Graham and were on the go from 1993 to 2001 during which they released three albums. They were championed by John Peel doing 4 Peel sessions and also a Steve Lamacq Evening session.

They were one of the many bands at the time who completely escaped my attention when I was immersed in Americana.They are also one of the many bands who I have belatedly discovered thanks to the blogging community and in this case primarily JC

Hello Tiger on the Che label was their only single to trouble the Top 40 albeit very briefly spending 1 week at number 40 in February 1998. It is also a splendid racket.

Urusei Yatsura - Hello Tiger

Urusei Yatsuri - Vanilla Starlet

Urusei Yatsuri -Vent Axial

Lifes Rich Pageant

 

The Missing Records Haul  - R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant

Missing Records is a Glasgow institution. By my reckoning their current location in Oswald Street is at least their 4th City Centre location all of which have been in or around the Helanman's Umbrella

They always have a huge range of second hand CDs and vinyl and you never come away empty handed.

Like many of you, I'm sure, I really enjoyed The Singular Adventures of R.E.M at J.C's place collated by the man himself and the Robster who has followed this up with An R.EM. Summer of Imaginary 7''s

I would never profess to have even a quarter of their knowledge of the band  but over the years I have gradually acquired the bulk of their discography.

There are still a couple of the IRS albums to acquire so I was pleased to part with a pound to pick up their 4th studio album from 1986  Lifes Rich Pagaent. one of their best. (NB - no apostrophy)

It is one that I was familiar with having it on a cassette which has long gone to landfile.

The track listing on the CD is a bit confusing and incorrect but I got there in the end. I've gone for the two below but such is the quality that I could have gone for any of  of the 12 on the record.

R.E.M. - Cuyahoga

R.E.M. - I Believe

A Different Kind of Fix

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 44 - Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix

Just about the only downside of retirement is that I don't get an opportunity to catch up with new purchases on the commute. Having said that I don't miss the commute so I will need to get into a new routine whereby I dedicate some time to listen to new purchases.

Another one that would benefit from a further listen is A Different Kind of Fix the third album by Bombay Bicycle Club from 2011 on Island and the second of theirs purchased in Newton Stewart. It is also my final holiday purchase.

So far I think that I slightly prefer their debut which I featured the other day but I feel that this to has potential. Here are the first  two singles from the album the second of which is particularly good.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Shuffle

Bombay Bicycle Club - Lights Out, Words Gone

1965 - The Year the Sixties Ignited

 

You may recall that a few years ago I featured 1968 - The Year the World Burned a compilation collated by Jon Savage on the Ace label (here)

At the time I undertook to try and track down some others in the series and I have had a degree of success.One I have acquired is 1965 - The Year the Sixties Ignited - A genre-spanning 2CD mix of hit singles, slow burners and lost gems from soul, funk, psych, garage and rock’n’roll. 

I've attached the tracklist for your information and you will recognise a good few of them I suspect. It's amazing how many of these I know given I was only four at  the time. I wonder if any of today's 4 years olds will be familiar with any of today's music in 56 years time.

Last time round I focussed on Soul, this time I'm going for garage primarily with bands beginning with an S.

The Seeds - Can't Seen to Make You Mine

The Sorrows - You've Got What I Want

The Sonics - Boss Hoss

The Barbarians - Are You a Boy of Are You a Girl

Every 1's a Winner?

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 43 - Hot Chocolate - Their Greatest Hits 

Everyone's a winner, baby, that's no lie 

A brave statement (and that's no lie) but one that is surely up for debate.

There is no doubt that Hot Chocolate delivered some great songs when they had at least one hit every year from 1970 to 1984  but I would argue that there were some duds among them. There's No Doubt About It

Hot Chocolate were/are (a watered down version are still on the go) that rare thing in the 70's a mixed race band led by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson ( no NOT that one).

The sleevenotes of the CD advise that Brother Louie followed a haunting indictment of racial  prejudice and was subsequently covered by The Stories in the US. So not all vaccuous but pleasant pop songs than.

I was listeneng to an album once when my mum asked me who was singing."Steve Earle" I replied to which she followed up with " is that the bloke from Hot Chocolate?" Bless

Hot Chocolate -Every 1's a Winner

Hot Chocolate - Emma

Hot Chocolate - Brother Louie

Gentle Spirit

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 42 - Jonathan Wilson - Gentle Spirit

I picked up Gentle Spirit  by Jonathan Wilson in a charity shop in Newton Stewart  thinking that it was a CD single. It is in fact his first official studio from 2011 on the Bella Union label.

It was critically well received with Uncut crowning him as the new king of Laurel Canyon  while Kathleen Johnson of Vintage Guitar described the album as a hippie-soul drenched 80 minutes of folk-psych-rock goodness

There is certainly a bit of a hippy dippy vibe to it but I can also see shades of Gene Clark and The Byrds here and there. I do like his latest album Dixie Blur and the tracks I've heard from the one before that  Rare Birds

He also performed at the Celtic Connections Roaming Roots Review  tribute concert commemorating Bruce Springsteen's 70th birthday and came across as a good guy.

What with this and Rose City Band I'm in danger of growing my hair long and acquiring some beads

Jonathan Wilson - Canyon in the Rain

Jonathan Wilson - Ballad of the Pines

I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 41 -Bombay Bicycle Club - I had the Blues but I shook them loose

There are two or three blogging dllemas going on at here at the moment which are inter- connected and causing me a bit of grief.

Firstly recently I have picked up a shed load of stuff in various forays. This in itself of course is not necessarly a bad thing. It can however begin to cause a problem as I am trying to post my charity purchases.

Secondly the volume of stuff coming in and other commitments at the moment makes it difficult for me to give  everything a proper listen and it often takes two or three listens to decide whether of not it is a keeper.

Thirdly space is getting seriously short at the moment. I either need to get some additional shelving which will be tricky to fit in the muso room, cull some stuff or be more discering as to what I keep.

I Had the Blues But I Shook them Loose the 2009 debut album by Bombay Bicycle Club on Island  is a case in point. I picked it up in Newton Stewart ,in fact I picked up two albums by them. I've only listened to it once so far and at this stage I genuinely don't know whether it is a keeper or not. I have not listened to the second one yet.

If I decide that it merits further listens I encounter the storeage problem. How often will I listen to it? Rarely I suspect but that probably is the case for about 95% of my collection.

Decisions, decisions.

First world problems, eh?

Bombay Bicycle Club - Emergency Contraception Blues

Bombay Bicycle Club - Evening - Morning

Granite Years

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 40  - Oysterband  - Granite Years (Best of ... 1986 to '97)

After unsuccessful charity shot forays in Ballantrae, Stranraer and Wigtown I was getting a bit twitchy by the time we visited Newton Stewart.

The Community Shop had a large collection of CDs and I was determined not to leave empty handed. That proved harder than I first thought. I eventually plumped for Granite Years a 2000 Best of  Oyersterband compilation on Cooking Vinyl.

A band that I was only aware of from a track on each of  the three Cooking Vinyl Samplers that I have from 1993 and 1994.

A quite earnest folk rock band from Canterbury who had a political outlook. The music is pleasant enough but nothing particularly stands out. They seem to me to be a somewhat nicer and gentler version of the Pogues or the Levellers who you could take home to meet your mum.

Not entirely convinced that this one is a keeper. Not necessarily because it is bad but rather because it is one that I can't really see me playing all that often.I haven't managed to get through all 30 tracks yet.

Oysterband - Granite Years

Oysterband - Another Quiet Night in England (1994)

Oysterband - Coal Not Dole/Bells of Rhymney

Telescopic

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 39 Edith Frost

The final instalment of the  Oxfam Byres Road vinyl haul is Telescopic the second album by Edith Frost from 1998 on the Drag City label.

The name rang a bell as she was a part of the Chicago alt country scene in the late 90s/ early 00s along with the Bloodshot crew and accordingly her name has popped up occassionally in dispatches.

Indeed she has actually featured her before as the very first artist in my 2017 Burnt Offerings series

She describes her music as pensive countrified psychedelia which I would say is quite accurate with perhaps the emphasis being more on psychedlica than country.

No Depression states that with a pure snowfall of distortion, bending, swirling chords, and a cool, clear voice that rises into the stratosphere like a singular, heavenly choir, Edith Frost’s second album, Telescopic, walks the line between tradition and innovation  whereas the Chicago Tribune makes reference to A mix of clean C&W hickory and piquant avant-rock fuzz.

It nearly didn't make it to the shelves as the staff had a job finding the album. I'd paid for the others when they had one last go eventually finding it as the second last album in those stored under the counter.

After a few listens I feel that I will be thanking them for finding it.

Edith Frost -Walk On The Fire

Edith Frost - Telescopic