Happy Hogmanay

 

Looking back over the years my New Year's Eve (or as we call it in Scotland Hogmanay) posts have usually focussed on the bad things from the previous year with a hope that things improve the following year.

 

I suppose this year is no different. It is common, particularly in Scotland, to get melancholy remembering lost loved ones who are no longer with us. Drink tends to accelerate this process.

On a more positive note things have been reasonably ok this year at CCHQ with no deaths or significant illness scares although I am conscious that this will not be the case for some reading this.

Let's look on the bright side. Hopefully there will be an election in the Spring and as M People would have it Things Can Only Get Better. And also we must look forward of course to Scotland winning the Euros in the summer!

A varied selection of New Year related songs for you below (including the shortest one I've ever posted) with a warning that some may indeed be melancholic. I had to exclude Ballboy for that very reason.

Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year and all the very best for 2024.

See you on the other side.

Amy Allison - New Year's Eve

First Aid Kit - New Year's Eve

The Orioles - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Camera Obscura - Happy New Year

Camera Obscura - New Years Resolution

Altered Images - Happy New Year

Saturday Shuffle 35

 

The last Saturday Shuffle of the year and  we have now reached the dizzy heights of number 35. My plan is to continue until I have done at least a years worth on the basis that it involves minimal effort and very few folk tune in on a Saturday anyway. You have to accept that any post coming up against Rol's Saturday Snapshots is going to pale into insignificance.

So let's go for the couple of sad hardy souls who have wandered over here. Let's start with Rockabilly singer Carl Cherry and  The Itch which was released as a single along with Baby Doll on Tene Records in 2009. It also features on the brilliant Keb Darge & Little Edith's Legendary Wild Rockers here

Mr Cherry is followed by Karine Polwart with a copy of the Frightened Rabbit classic Swim Until You Can't See Land from her Scottish Songbook album here I'm sure some Frabbits will think this is sacrilege but I can't help feeling that Scott would have approved.

Finally we have Nadine Shah with Buckfast from her 2000 album Kitchen Sink and also her second appearance on the Shuffle. Although the marketing would like you to think that Buckfast Tonic wine is made by the monks from Buckfast Abbey in Devon it is actually made in a factory in France. It is a scourge on the West of Scotland and is a significant contributor to antisocial behaviour and mindless violence.

Here's to Shuffling in 2024.

Carl Cherry - The Itch

Karine Polwart - Swim Until You Can't See Land

Nadine Shah - Buckfast

Inbetween Days

 

Welcome to the days in between Christmas and New Year which are in a different continuum to the rest of the year.

The days seen to merge into each other and there is no concept as to which day of the week it is never mind the date. It's not just that - the hours seem to merge too. You can think it might be 11 o'clock when it is actually 3 and vice versa.

On the bright side you can get away with drinking at breakfast.

Here are some in between songs to help you through these challenging times

The Cure - In Between Days

Todd Snider - In Between Jobs

Ronald Isley & Burt Bacharach - In Between The Heartaches

Luka Bloom -Inbetween Days

Brothers, Sisters 11 ......

 

We have now passed the half way mark of this series and today's offering sees one of the more one sided comparisons. Such is the joy of the random listings.

Don and Phil, the Everly Brothers surely need no introduction. When  they were talking to each other and not falling out the produced some outstanding music. Indeed even when they had fallen out and not talking to each other (which was more often than not) they still came up with the goods. When it came to close harmonies there were few if any better. Rock'n'roll, country, pop - they excelled at any genre they put their minds to.

The act who have the unevenious task of going up against them this week are the American pop rock band Scissor Sisters. They enjoyed a brief period of fame courtesy of their eponymous 2004 debut album but slipped quickly into relative obscurity thereafter.

I'm sure you will all agree that there is absolutely no contest this week. It is a bit like putting a mouse up against an elephant in a weightlifting contest.

Hopefully a closer contest next week.

Everly Brothers - Take a Letter to Mary

Everly Brothers - Brand New Heartache

Scissor Sisters - The Other Side

Scissor Sisters -Fire With Fire

Trains and Boats and Planes 6

 

It's back to me this week unfortunately  and we are running a day late - that's the joy of public holidays for you.

As is traditional we start with trains with the great Robyn Hitchcock confessing that he often dreams of trains. He is also a great fan of trolley buses and that should keep Ernie happy should I ever get back round to buses.

I have significantly less boat and plane songs than train songs but thankfully this week Grandaddy come to the rescue with a ditty about the boat in the barn.

Featuring Jet Boy, Jet Girl recently on Shazam Sunday got me thinking that Jet Boy by the New York Dolls would be an appropriate plane song for this series.

At the moment the plan is to keep this series going for as long as I can source versions of Trains and Boats and Planes.  This week Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas do the honours .

More transport related tunes next week/next year

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains

Grandaddy - The Boat is in the Barn

New York Dolls - Jet Boys

Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas - Trains and Boats and Planes

Boxing Day Birthday Greetings

 

Today is St Stephen's Day which in today's consumer driven society is more commonly known as Boxing Day.

Much more importantly than that it is Mrs CC's Birthday - the day after the Baby Jesus as she used to tell our nephews in the days before they towered over us.

Regular readers will know that traditionally on this day I take the opportunity to wish her a happy birthday and to thank her for putting up with me for yet another year. She must have the patience of a saint.

I hope you will join with me in raising a glass. 

Happy birthday xx

Stevie Wonder - Happy Birthday

George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

Kris Drever - Shining Star

Shazam Sunday 4

I seem to have got a bit ahead of myself  this week . I had finished prepping the music and picture for SS4  when I noticed that it was actually what I had lined up for SS5. Therefore SS5 is now SS4 and next time round SS4 will feature as SS5.I'm glad we got that clear.

First up is a request from Mrs CC. The Teskey Brothers are an Australian blues rock band from Melbourne, named after the two brothers who formed the band in 2008 Josh and Sam Teskey. The song in question is a live version of Drown In My Own Tears a song written by Henry Glover but best known for the version by Ray Charles.

Today's second number is Michael by Franz Ferdinand which popped up briefly on the Scottish soap opera River City. Taken from their 2004 self-titled debut album which was massive at the time. It is playing as I type  and I am thoroughly enjoying listening to it for the first time in forever. Like many good bands they shone very brightly before quickly fading away. The second album You Could Have it So Much Better was not bad  but no-one really remembers the final three.

SS4 as SS5 next time round

The Teskey Brothers -Drown in Your Own Tears (Live)

Franz Ferdinand - Michael

I've just realised that this is scheduled for Christmas Eve. I had no idea that Christmas was this close.

Merry Christmas to you and yours . There will be no post tomorrow but I shall return on Boxing Day with my traditional post
 

Saturday Shuffle 34

 

The second last Saturday Shuffle of the year and the one nearest Christmas. Don't panic there is nothing remotely festive on the Gym MP3 player.

I don't think that a song called Ball and Chain could ever be accused of being festive. Instead this song from XTC's 1982 album English Settlement  is a song protesting about the rampant overdevelopment of English towns and countryside. The UK public didn't seem that bothered as it only reached number 58 in the singles chart.

I also appear to have songs called Ball and Chain by Sam Brown, The Rails and Broken English.

The next song surely needs no introduction. Paint it Black was a number one from the Rolling Stones from as far back as 1966. As befits such a classic song it has been covered countless times. I have versions by The Mod-ettes, Marc Almond and Lucinda Williams.

Today's final song is the only one to have graced these pages before. Crystal Frontier is a song which was a single and which also appears on the European version of the album Hot Rail by the great Calexico

The last shuffle of 2023 next Saturday.

XTC - Ball and Chain

Rolling Stones -Paint it Black

Calexico - Crystal Frontier

Live in 2023

 

I managed to attend 15 concerts this year which was an increase on the 9 I managed in 2022.

I've reviewed some but not all here so very briefly here goes:

The 7 out of 10s

19th January - Royal Concert Hall  Celtic Connections 30th Anniversary Concert.

Like the curate's egg good in parts although it jumped about various genres with more of a focus on classical and traditional music.

27th January - Theatre Royal - Songwriter's Circle

See review here

Karine Polwart was as good as ever and I enjoyed Mary Chapin Carpenter. I could take or leave Robert Vincent. It was pretty good but should have been better than it was. I suspect that this was due to a lack of rehearsal with the three of them not having time to properly gel

30/03/23 - Old Fruitmarket - Ward Thomas

Mrs CC is a much bigger fan of the English country singing sisters than me although I would say that they are good at what they do but it doesn't do much for me. Mrs CC would have probably given them an 8!

28/07/23 Glad Cafe - Brenda

The album launch of the indie punky female trio Brenda who are signed to Last Night From Glasgow. Support from Rachael Aggs. It was a bit shambolic but in a good way. I'm not sure they had played all the songs before. The  eponymous album is good though and grows on me after each listen

04/08/23 Old Hairdressers - Dropkick/ The Cheese/Vapour Trail

I attended this one primarily to see Dropkick. It was just Andrew and Alan who were first on with a brief acoustic set. The other acts did nothing for me. Still I got the chance to chat with Andrew and pick up a couple of albums.

25/11/23 Birnam Arts Centre - Heidi Talbot and Boo Hewerdine.

An eagerly  awaited sneaky overnight in Dunkeld for this one  The Birnam Arts Centre is a lovely wee venue. This was the third time we have seen Heidi who seems to be moving away from her more traditional stuff  to more of a singer/songwriter. I much prefer the former It was the first time that I had seen Boo and I was quite taken with his songs and his laconic humour.

 

The 8 out of 10s

03/02/23 Oran Mor - The Bluebells

A more detailed review here . The launch of their first album in umpteen years The Bluebells in the 21st Century which gets better with each listen. The new songs were well received with the older one having the audience dancing in the aisles.

22/09/23 - Mono - Teenage Fanclub

An in-store album launch for their latest album Nothing Lasts For Ever. Mono's was rammed but I had an excellent view. They rattled through 8 songs from the album before finishing with Everything Flows. Only the brevity of the show stopped it being a 9.

11/11/23 - Glad Cafe - Dropkick

Review here . The whole band on show this time with a blistering set with a couple of excellent support acts. Plenty of songs from their latest album The Wireless Revolution alongside a good few from their extensive back catalogue.

19/12/23 Royal Concert Hall - Phil Cunningham's Christmas Show.

Every year Mrs CC and I take her mum to the Concert hall to see this. Phil  (on accordion and pater)is joined by John McCusker(fiddle), Kris Drever (guitar and vocals), Ian Kerr (guitar), Kevin Maguire (double bass) and Karen Mathieson and Eddie Reader on vocals. A mix of traditional music and Christmas songs it is great fun. Eddi Reader's Ave Maria was pretty special.

The 9 out of 10's

23/01/23 - Royal Concert Hall - Lucinda Williams

Review here. 70 years old and recovering from a stroke Lucinda Williams took to the stage in the Concert Hall and totally bossed it. I've seen here a few times and this was the best yet. Rarely have I seen an artist enjoying themselves this much. She is a total force of nature throwing everything at the rockier numbers off  her latest album Stories From a Rock'n'Roll Heart

25/01/23 - Barrowlands - The Delgados

Review here

Two absolute top drawer concerts in three days in January set a very high bar which no one else was quite able to better. Their first concert in years in their hometown and the Barrowlands was totally jumping. I had the pleasure of bumping into JC and my review gives a link to his excellent review. There wasn't much chatter from the band as they got their heads down and rattled out an impressive number of great songs from their back catalogue. Terrific stuff

01/03/23 - Mono - Robyn Hitchcock

Review here

His last gig as a sexagenarian. What is it with older artists like him and Lucinda? They are like fine wines which get better over the years, The first time I have seen him and he was totally brilliant and totally bonkers in equal measures. 

11/03/12 - The Hug and Pint - The Dream Syndicate

Review here

A mere 10 days after Robyn Hitchcock and another great gig. The Dream Syndicate put on a blistering set and were ably supported by Rain Parade. I'd seen Steve Wynn two or three times before but I had never seen the band before. It was well worth the wait. The Hug and Pint is hot and very small but I stayed rooted to the spot for the entire show which was an absolute treat.

05/11/23 - The Tramway - Teenage Fanclub

Review here

There were certainly fireworks at the Tramway on Bonfire Night when Teenage Fanclub took the stage.My second time seeing them in two months but this was a much longer and fuller show than the in-store at Mono. As it was a seated venue I was joined by Mrs CC who thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gig of the Year?

All 5 of the 9 out of 10s were very much in contention. However, if you were to put a gun to my head I would say that Lucinda just about shaded it over the Delgados.

One from each of the top 5 I feel since it's nearly Christmas.

Lucinda Williams - Stolen Moments

The Delgados -Accused of Stealing

Robyn Hitchcock - Belltown Ramble

The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses

Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows

In Praise of Glasgow Record Shops

 

This year I have bought a paltry 22 records compared to 50 from the year before.

Three were bought at concerts(The Dream Syndicate, Dropkick and The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness) and four from charity/second hand shops. A second hand Boxtops record was bought from Europa Records in Stirling and Monday's Lucinda Williams album from HMV in East Kilbride.

All the others were from Glasgow record shops

The majority were from the Music from Big Blue record shop in the Hidden Lane off Argyle St in Finnieston which doubles as the HQ of Last Night from Glasgow. Most were as part of my annual subscription but I did take advantage of a couple more using my membership discount.

Just along Argyle Street from the Hidden Lane is a pub called Strip Joint which as well as selling beer sells records. I don't need to tell you that that is a dangerous combination. I came away from there with Cruel Country by Wilco.

On the subject of record shops and beer I am sure that many of you will be familiar with Monorail the record shop run by Stephen Pastel which is an integral part of Mono bar/restaurant off King Street. Nothing Lasts For Ever by Teenage Fanclub was my purchase there picked up at the fantastic in-store show by Teenage Fanclub

Love Music on Dundas Street at the side of Queen Street Station and run by Sandy McLean is a Glasgow institution. Over a couple of visits I came away with a few bargain CDs and yet another Wilco album in Cousin.

A shout out her for Missing Records on Oswald Street near Central Station .No vinyl purchases this year but plenty cheap and cheerful CDs.

Finally we are off to the South Side and Some Great Reward which was formerly on Victoria Road. It has now relocated to the Cooperage off Pollokshaws Road about half a mile away. It is the Southside equivalent of the Hidden Lane with a lovely courtyard which should be ideal for the in -store  gigs they regularly put on. No beer but they do coffee. This was the scene of my most recent purchase Exit Light the excellent debut album by Raveloe on Lloyd Merideth's  Olive Grove Records a favourite of this blog.

Teenage Fanclub - Falling into the Sun

Wilco - Infinite Desire

Brothers, Sisters 10 ....

 

   

It's a battle today between two of my favourite genres with the Sisters in the Americana corner and the Brothers representing Southern Soul.

First up today are the Sisters. Emily Miller and Zara Bode are an Americana duo from Brooklyn, New York who are known collectively as The Sweetback Sisters. They have released five albums between 2009 and 2017 all on the Signature Sounds label.

The one I have is a burn of their 2011 album Looking For a Fight which I took from Langside Library's CD library when that was still a thing. For your listening pleasure today I give you the title track and their cover of Dwight Yoakam's It Won't Hurt When I Fall Down From This Barstool.

Representing the Brothers this week are Richard Dunbar and Jimmy Diggs from Washington DC who recorded as The Knight Brothers until they split in 1968. Both of these numbers come from the  brilliant Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures - Taken From the Vaults series on Kent Records.

Tried So Hard to Please Her is from Volume1 with Temptation 'Bout to Get Me being the opening track on Volume 4.

A really tough call this week but I think that the Brothers just about shade it primarily because of Temptation. 

The Sweetback Sisters - Looking For a Fight

The Sweetback Sisters - It Won't Hurt When I Fall Down From This Barstool

The Knight Brothers - Tried So Hard to Please Her

The Knight Brothers - Temptation 'Bout To Get Me

Trains and Boats and Planes 5 - Another Guest Post

 

George writes (again) 

It has been suggested, by some (one -Ed) readers of these pages, and justifiably so, that the younger brother of CC has a better taste in music than the man himself. My younger brother, on the other hand, has a terrible record collection, truly awful; he purchased that War Of The Worlds Jeff Lynne album thingy, for example. But I think, and I’m going back over 40 years, he bought one of the records below. Of course, I might be wrong, and given my recent history of leaving cafés without paying I could be wrong. Here is said song, a fine example of NWOBHM, a genre that is sadly not represented here very often:

Saxon - 747 Strangers in the Night

Yes, that’s Dobby on bass, and Biff doing the vocal.

So that’s planes. Boats now, and I gave CC a choice of two tracks, and he picked this memorable 1974 pop-soul song. And I bet I’m not the only one here who knows more lyrics to this than most of the records we have acquired over the last 20 years:

The Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat

Trains, and a song that could easily be attributed to our favourite German band (NO!, not FSK before he inserts that), Can.  It’s a remarkable track, worth casting aside any pre-conceptions about inane wailing and screeching from Ms Ono, and just put your listening ears for this marvel

Yoko Ono - Mind Train

And to end, a version of the song that inspired the series:

CC writes:

Thanks again George - where else on the Internet would you find Saxon, The Hues Corporation and Yoko Ono on the same post?

Stories From a Rock'n'Roll Heart

 

I actually bought an album from HMV earlier this year and  it was less that £20 (albeit only by a penny). Hard to believe but it is true.

As you have probably worked out by now the album in question was Stories From a Rock'n'Roll Heart the 15th studio album by the legend that is Lucinda Williams which was released on 30th June this year on Highway 20/Thirty Tigers.

Seventy years young and recovering from a stroke and she has still got it. No nonsense rock'n'roll numbers with a tight band and help from pals such as Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, Tommy Stinson (from the Replacements), Angel Olsen and Margo Price with Jesse Malin involved in the composition. When Lucinda calls, you come running.

Described by the Guardian as containing rousing barroom rockers with Lucinda being as thought-provoking and moving as ever.

She proclaims on the last track that I'm never gonna fade away.

Long may she reign.

Her Celtic Connections performance in January remains one on my gigs of the year.

Rock'n'Roll!

Lucinda Williams - Let's Get The Band Back Together

Lucinda Williams - Jukebox

Shazam Sunday 3

 

Today's two tracks are taken from an ITV biopic called Archie the story of a young man called Archie Leach who had a troubled background in Bristol before moving to America where he morphed into Cary Grant.

These two songs are taken from the first episode. There may have been other interesting songs in the other three episodes but we never got that far as it was utter tosh.

Shazam advises me that this version of Jet Boy, Jet Girl was recorded by Crocodiles who may or may not be from San Diego. There seems to be a few bands called Crocodiles so that sounds like a job for Rol  Jet Boy, Jet Girl was written by Elton Motello about a 15 boy's sexual relationship with an older man, who then rejects him for a girl. You will recognise the tune as it is the same one as Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand.. Apparently the two songs were simultaneous adaptions of the same backing track. I'm sure lawyers were hovering.

I recognised the cover of Abba's The Day Before You Came but Shazam beat me to it at in identifying that it was by Blancmange

Crocodiles - Jet Boy, Jet Girl

Blancmange -The Day Before You Came

Saturday Shuffle 33

 

I've had a heavy cold over the last week so this is as close as I have come to the gym.

We start today with some country psychedelic rock courtesy of Ripley Johnson and his Rose City Band. Only Lonely is the opening track from Summerlong their 2nd and best  album on Thrill Jockey from 2020. A wonderful antidote for the current miserable winter weather.

Our second act and this week's cover stars surely need no introduction. You will probably also recognise this song which was first released in 1985 and  which subsequently made another appearance on Animal Boy the Ramones 9th album from 1985 - Joey on vocals, Johnny on guitar, Dee Dee on bass and Richie on drums.

Finally we are are of to Handsworth in Birmingham where Steel Pulse were leading a UK reggae revolution in 1978. Ku Klux Klan was there first single but sadly it was never released as a single in the US. This interesting article from Songfacts gives more information.

Just a pity that the shuffle didn't throw up The KKK Took my Baby Away for the Ramones!

Rose City Band - Only Lonely

Ramones - My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)

Steel Pulse - Ku Klux Klan

Masterpiece

 

As is more often than not the case I was extremely late to the party when it came to Big Thief .It was only a couple of years ago when I first heard them courtesy of the song Not appearing on a Mojo compilation called Ragged Glories. 

I was completely blown away and subsequently tracked down their 2019 album Two Hands from whence it came. It turns out that this was in fact their 4th album with their debut album Masterpiece having been released by Saddle Creek as far back as May 2016.

It has recently been remastered and re-released by 4AD. They certainly hit the ground running with this review from Pitchfork correctly describing singer Adrianne Lenker as a clear star.

During what I would loosely describe as the research for this post I discovered that Adrianne is touring Europe in the Spring and is playing Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket on 24th April. The website stated that there were 6 tickets left. I thought I was in luck until I discovered they were looking for £93 a pop. A clear star or not I think I will give it a miss and content myself with becoming acquainted with Masterpiece.

Big Thief - Masterpiece

Big Thief - Real Love

Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions

 

One of my highlights of the year was seeing The Dream Syndicate along with Rain Parade at the Hug and Pint back in March.

A highlight of the highlights was having a brief chat with Steve Wynn and getting him to sign my copy of their latest album  Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions which I picked up on the night

The blurb on the Fire Records Bandcamp page reads The brand-new album from The Dream Syndicate blends vintage Krautrock, Eno-like ambience, Neu-inspired rhythmic groove and a Californian sun baked sheen into their classic psychedelic, melodic, hue.

Regular readers could be forgiven for thinking that I would be out of my comfort zone with that description but they would be wrong there. As Treblezine comments it skews toward the more cosmic and freewheeling psychedelic end of country-rock. And that's fine by me

The Dream Syndicate - Where I Stand

The Dream Syndicate - Straight Lines

Brothers, Sisters ... 9

 

It's the one you have all been waiting for - it's the Doobie Brothers versus the Pointer Sisters.

I know this is the one that Rol has been hoping for in the absence of Bros. And no, I'm not going to play Caught by the Doobies.

Led by Michael McDonald and accurately described as soft rock the Doobies were big in the 70s - big band, big tunes and big hair. I'm shocked, and indeed appalled, that I have two songs by them on the hard drive. By featuring Long Train Runnin' here it means that I will spare subjecting you to it on Trains and Boats and Planes.

The Pointer Sisters are no strangers to these pages probably because there are two vinyl albums by them on the shelves. In the interests of fairness I will resist featuring the likes of  Fire, Jump (For My Love) and I'm So Excited. I will even go as far as featuring a county song by them.

If this was a boxing match the referee would stop it in the first round following a knockout by the Sisters.

A couple of lesser known artists next time round

Doobie Brothers -Long Train Runnin'

Doobie Brothers - Natural Thing

Pointer Sisters - I Feel For You

Pointer Sisters - Fairy Tale

Trains and Boats and Planes 4 - A Guest Post

 

George e-mailed me with some suggestions. I suggested that he do a guest post and happily he obliged.

Take it away George

George writes:

I emailed CC a couple of suggestions, after playing Georgia Hard in the music room recently (Zorro and a fan heater keeping me company) that features this track:

Robbie Fulks - I Never Did Like Planes

I then spent a worthwhile 20 minutes trawling through the other Robbie Fulks albums here to see if there were any songs about trains or boats, and thought my good friend would appreciate a trio of songs by the same artiste for his series. Alas I was unable to do this. I did suggest $1000 car by The Bottle Rockets,. A particularly splendid tune which I knew he would like, and after emailing him I then realised the series was Planes and Boats and Trains. This worrying forgetfulness was also manifested on Saturday - I was having my usual abatanado and agua com gas in my usual café, reading, and after taking cup, saucer with unopened sugar packet,   glass and bottle back to the counter, I cycled home. And realised that I had not paid! (Yes, I cycled back and paid the €2). And the train song: anyway, I thought about a very very famous cover version of a song about a train, then decided that it is better than the original (sorry, Herman):

Elvis Presley - Mystery Train

And one of my go-to songs to complete the set, and like the above track, far better than the original:

Johnny Cash - Rowboat

I’m not sure if it’s obligatory to end with a cover of the song that inspired the series, but here’s one:

Laura Cantrell - Trains and Boats and Planes

CC writes:

Thanks George. Four belters there. I had not heard Laura Cantrell's version of Trains and Boats and Planes before or the Robbie Fulks number for that matter.

Nice try attempting to sneak in cars. Potentially even more controversial than buses!

Anyone else who wishes to submit a guest post is more than welcome.

Jackie Brown

 

I watched Jackie Brown the 1997 film by Quintin Tarantino on Friday night on the Dave channel. The film is 2hrs 34 minutes long. When you add in the adverts that takes it to well over three hours. Although the adverts are a pain my bladder retention isn't what it was in 1987 so I was pretty grateful.

If you haven't seen the film I won't go into any great detail in case you wish to watch it without knowing the whole story. Suffice to say it centres around money illegally being smuggled in from Mexico by air hostess Jackie Brown (Pam Greer)  for the gun runner  Ordell (Samuel L Jackson). It is adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1992 thriller Rum Punch.

It has a stellar cast - Greer, Jackson ,Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, Robert Forster and Michael Keaton with Greer, Jackson and Forster stealing the show.

Unusually for a Tarantino film it is not particularly violent. I counted only four shootings and none of them were particularly close up. Plenty of swearing though (the soundtrack comes with a Parental Advisory warning of Explicit Content).

Not unusually for Tarantino it has an excellent soundtrack  which is mainly soul driven. It was one I bought not long after seeing the film and some of the songs feature below. These are all safe for work.

If you haven't seen it it is worth a watch.

Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street

Bill Withers - Who Is He (And What Is He To You?)

Randy Crawford - Street Life

The Delfonics - Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)

Shazam Sunday 2

 

Micah P Hinson is a name that I am vaguely familiar with. I don't  knowingly have any music by him but there is every chance that he may have popped up in a compilation/various artists or two.

Beneath the Rose was one of the first songs that I shazamed. Again it was something off TV but until I explored further I couldn't tell you what. It turns out that it was from a Channel Four series written by Shane Meadows and starring Stephen Graham called The Virtues. I have a vague memory of watching a small snippet of it before being put off by the violence. I should maybe have stuck with it as it seems to have had an interesting soundtrack particularly if you like PJ Harvey.

I recognised the small segment of Getting Nowhere Fast but it took Shazam to confirm the song which of course  was by Girls at Our Best. Again I am not sure as to which TV show it was on. I am now trying to get more assiduous in recording the source of any song I shazam.

Micah P. Hinson - Beneath the Rose

Girls At Our Best - Getting Nowhere Fast

It turns out that Micah has in fact appeared here before on a guest post by George

Saturday Shuffle 31

 

My goodness Saturday's seem to be coming around quicker and quicker these days. That's a months worth of Shuffles already.

We will start today with Billy Bragg the Bard of Barking with Help Save the Youth of America a song from the difficult third album 1985's Talking With the Taxman About Poetry. Sadly, it maybe already too late but locking up the orange man child would certainly help. That and banning guns obviously.

Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell are two great Americana artists in their own right. When they got together in 2005 to record the album Begonias they took things to a whole new level. An album I still need to acquire in a physical format. The song that the shuffle opened up today is Please Break My Heart.

Finally we have the Glasgow twins Rachael and Paul Swinton who are known collectively as Cloth. Today's offering Curiosity Door is taken from their self-titled debut album from 2019 released by Last Night From Glasgow. They subsequently joined Mogwai's Rock Action label and released a follow up Secret Measure earlier this year.

More random musical treats next Saturday.

Billy Bragg -Help Save the Youth of America

Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell - Please Break My Heart

Cloth - Curiosity Door

Thank Buck it's Friday

 

Earlier this year Buck Meek from the brilliant Big Thief released a solo album called Haunted Mountain. This coupled with the legend that is Uncle Buck on the telly recently had me thinking about all thinks Buck.

In addition to Mr Meek there is of course the Country legend Buck Owens whose band were the Buckaroos. Then we have the Canadian alternative hip hop artist Richard Terfry who goes by the more snappy stage name Buck 65.

No post about Bucks would be complete without a nod to Peter Buck a man of many bands most notably R.E.M. for whom he wrote many classic songs including the one below.

A couple of songs to finish off with .The Robbie Fulks number The Buck Stops Here name checks the aforementioned Mr Owens alongside other Country legends. Feeder go a stage further by referencing a factitious science fiction adventure hero.

That's me all out of Buck.

Buck Meek - Haunted Mountain

Buck Owens - Buckaroo

Buck 65 - Drawing Curtains

R.E.M. - What's the Frequency, Kenneth

Robbie Fulks - The Buck Stops Here

Feeder - Buck Rogers

Cease and Desist

 

Alexander Dennis and Leyland , Solicitors on behalf of our client Mr Charity Chic

We have been instructed by our client Mr Charity Chic to issue a Cease and Desist order in respect of  scurrilous and baseless allegations on similar platforms to this that our client has a prejudice against buses.

Our client has let it be known that he fully supports all forms of public transport and since the provision of his bus pass regularly travels on this mode of transport and on particular the number 4 and the number 6.

Should this vendetta against our client persist he will be left with no option than to  pursue damages by considering posting songs  by Coldplay, Toploader, Ed Sheerin and Phil Collins on this platform 

Without prejudice.

Only Ones - The Whole of the Law

The Clash - I Fought The Law

The Wallflowers -Lawyers, Guns and Money

Brothers Sisters .. 8

 

Hopefully this week's pair are a more even match than we have had over the last few weeks.

The MP3s of the Soul Brothers Six only initially flagged up the words Soul Brothers. Looking this up led to Soul Brothers  the oldest and active African traditional music group in South Africa which is entering Ernie territory and a Studio One backing band from Jamaica

Fortunately when following up on the song titles I realised that they were by Soul Brothers Six an American R&B band formed in  Rochester, New York in the mid 60's.Suddenly it all made sense. These songs are taken from a Cherry Red compilation Ain't Nothing But a House Party - 60s and Early 70s Club Soul Classics here

The Kim Sisters are from a slightly earlier part of that period. They were a Korean born American female singing group consisting of Kim Sook-ja (Sue), Kim Al-ja (Aiga) and Kim Min-ja (Mia). The were the first South Korean music group to achieve success in the United States and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show over 20 times.

These songs are taken from yet another compilation He's a Rebel - The Girl Groups of the 60s on the One Day Music label here

I think this one is too close to call.

Soul Brother Six - Some Kind of Wonderful

Soul Brothers Six - I'll Be Loving You

The King Sisters -You Can't Have Everything

The Kim Sisters - Mr Magic Moon

Trains, Boats and Planes 3

 

It's Transport Tuesday again as we focus on three different modes of getting from one place to another namely trains, boats  and planes. Still no buses I'm afraid Ernie. Maybe somewhere down the line two will come along at once.

As ever we start with trains and this week it is the turn of The Monkees with Last Train to Clarksville which was the band's debut single in August 1966. It topped the Billboard Top 100 but only appeared in the UK singles charts in January 1967 on the back of the success of Daydream Believer and only reached number 23.

I am pretty shocked to discover that If I Had a Boat by Lyle Lovett did not trouble the UK singles charts. There is no justice in this world? It was the opening track from Pontiac his second album from 1987.

Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) is a protest song written by Woody Guthrie following a plane crash in 1948.The flight crew and security guard who died were named in the press but the 28 migrant farm workers were only referred to as deportees. It has been covered countless times - see attached list

I've gone for the version by Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore from their Downey to Lubbock album.

This weeks version of Bacharach and David's Trains and Boats and Planes comes courtesy of Dionne Warwick

The Monkees -Last Train to Clarksville

Lyle Lovett - If I Had a Boat

Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

Dionne Warwick - Trains and Boats and Plains