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Tuesday 28 February 2023

The Debra Haul - Outlaws & Dreamers

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #21 - Dick Gaughan -Outlaws & Dreamers

A week ago today we visited the five charity shops at Clarkston Toll. I came away with nothing. I was briefly tempted in Oxfam by a JD McPherson CD but felt that £2.99 was much too steep particularly when I rarely listen to the one I already have.

Later in the day we were in the Shawlands Arcade and popped into Debra for a potter. It primarily deals with second hand furniture and we have bought a few items there including the office chair I am sitting on whilst typing this.

While Mrs CC looked at the furniture I graduated to the two small rows of CDs.In all my previous visits I have never seen anything worth picking up. To my surprise there were some good ones there and when I commented on this to Mick the manager he said that someone had just handed in a collection and that there were more in a bag on the stairs which I was welcome to look at.

There was a combination of 60's and 70's standards, folk and a smattering of Americana. I came away with 20 CDs! One of my biggest hauls ever. Oh, and I returned on the Friday for another 6! Plenty of material then for the next few weeks.

Let's start with the great Dick Gaughan with Outlaws & Dreamers an album from 2001 on the Greentrax label. As with many of Dick's album it is a mix of traditional Scottish folk songs with a few protest songs thrown in for good measure. Here's one of both.

Dick Gaughan - Dowie Dens o Yarrow

Dick Gaughan - What You Do With What You've Got

Monday 27 February 2023

Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #20 - Emmylou Harris - Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town

For the second Monday in a row Emmylou Harris is the featured artist.

Last week when I featured 1998's Spyboy I pointed out that there is an unwritten rule at CCM HQ that whenever one stumbles across anything by Emmylou which is not on the shelves it requires to be purchased.

I received a text from Mrs CC who was out with her mum in Troon with the picture above and the words " do we have this one.?"A swift reply from me confirmed we hadn't and it was duly purchased. From 1978 and on Warner Brothers it was  her 5th studio album and is now her 14th one on the shelves. The copy we now have is a re-issue from 2004 with a couple of extra tracks thrown in.

Now in 1978 I would have been fairly oblivious to Ms Harris' musical charms but as I discovered Americana and her work with Gram Parsons she very quickly became a firm favourite.

Some trivia - Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of the Band appear on this album whose cover is a painting by Susannah Clark, the wife of Guy. Let's face it this is what you come here for  rather than the music, isn't it?

Emmylou Harris - Two More Bottles of Wine

Emmylou Harris - Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight

Sunday 26 February 2023

Kent Compilations - A Soldier's Story

 


Our dear friend George turns 60 today and will be able to pick up the Portuguese equivalent of a bus pass. I know that he is quite chuffed that he is 4 days younger than another dear friend Ernie He is coming home for a few days in a couple of weeks (George not Ernie) and I will be catching up with him for the first time in a good few years. I know for a fact that he is a great fan of this album so this one is for him.

Three weeks ago in this series I posted Santified Soul and stated  It is very unlikely that you will hear a better Soul compilation this month or maybe even this year. I was wrong there. Both accolades in fact go to A Soldier's Sad Song - Vietnam Through the Eyes of Black America 1966-73 released in 2003 on the Ace/Kent label.

If you only ever buy one Kent compilation a) catch yourself on and b) this is the one. Over to the Ace website to give you some history and the tracklisting. Not only is it brilliant music it is also a fascinating history lesson which tells the tale of  the terrible tale of the ignominies suffered by many enlisted black men - often at the hands of their white colleagues as well as the enemy  

Of the 240,00 men recruited under Project 100,000 (the draft) between October 1966 and June 1969 41% were black, although black Americans represented only 11% of the US population. Something, I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise to anyone reading this.

The track list reads like a who's who of 60s and early 70s soul - William Bell, James Carr, the O'Jay's and Curtis Mayfield to name but four. Artists you should have records by in their own right.

Four songs for you this week two of which are absolute stick ons. We will start with Joe Tex with I Believe I'm Gonna Make It who raises up from his foxhole and get's him two mo' enemies.

Freda Payne represents the girlfriends, wives and mothers left behind with an impassioned plea to Bring the Boys Home.

I Can't Write Left Handed by Bill Withers is his finest 5 minutes or so and is also a huge favourite of George and I will  be mortally offended if he does not wax lyrical about it in the comments.

Finally we have Swamp Dogg's brilliant rendition of  the John Prine song Sam Stone .As I think I have written before has there ever been a more poignant line of lyrics than There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes? Even if he never wrote another line his place in history would  surely have been assured.

Joe Tex - I Believe I'm Gonna Make It

Freeda Payne - Bring the Boys Home

Bill Withers - I Can't Write Left Handed

Swamp Dogg - Sam Stone



Saturday 25 February 2023

Charity Vinyl - Brewing Up With Billy Bragg

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #19 - Billy Bragg - Brewing Up With Billy Bragg

My second charity shop vinyl purchase in St Andrews was Brewing Up With Billy Bragg his second album on Go! Discs from 1984.

It was bought  from the Salvation Army shop as opposed to the British Heart Foundation so thankfully it was on a rack as opposed to being attached to a skirt hanger a la Nick Lowe. Some of the albums were priced but this one wasn't . When I asked the price the lady said if they were not priced they cost £5. I resisted the temptation to point out  the bottom  left  of the album sleeve which reads "£3.99 or Less".

Like the Nick Lowe one it is in excellent condition. I have long had a copy on CD but it was a no brainer to pick up a vinyl copy which will fit neatly in between his first album Life's a Riot with Spy vs Spy and  his third Talking With the Taxman About Poetry which up to now were the only two I had on vinyl.

It's early Billy Bragg which meams that it is tremendous and which also means that I could have chosen any of the 11 tracks to feature today. These two will not disappoint. 

Billy Bragg - The Saturday Boy

Billy Bragg - St Swithen's Day

Friday 24 February 2023

Revolution

 


No messing about this week. It is just a good old straightforward Revolution - just plain and simple songs with only the word Revolution in the title.

At the start of this series SWC commented that he hoped that Leatherface's version of Talkin' Bout a Revolution and Revolution by Spaceman 3 would feature. I suggested he stayed tuned as at least one was up for consideration. Here's hoping he stuck with us.

Next up are a group of Scousers who were big in the 60's and 70's I wonder whatever happened to them.

Although they have been namechecked on these pages on a couple of occasions this is the first time that Los Lobos have made an appearance. It's a shame that it took a revolution for this to happen.

You are getting four for the price of three this week as we can't ignore Ernie's Reggae Revolutionaries.I am going through the list of songs that he very generously provided  in order and by a simple twist of fate the next one up was Revolution by Dennis Brown. What are the odds on that?

Regular Friday night correspondent Spence is already manning the barricades if anyone cares to join him.

Spacemen 3 - Revolution

The Beatles - Revolution

Los Lobos - Revolution

Dennis Brown - Revoultion

Thursday 23 February 2023

Caught in the Middle

 


Caught in the Middle is a CD single from everyone's favourite Welsh DJ and National Treasure  Cerys Matthews released in 2003 on the Blanco Y Negro label, 20 years ago - gosh.

I don't appear to have it on the shelves so it looks as though I have just acquired it digitally somewhere, somehow along the way. I do however have the title track on her debut solo album Cockahoop which was a charity shop acquisition back in 2018

It is from the days when CD singles were often, as a marketing ploy, released as CD 1 and CD 2 with both included the lead song with usually two separate songs accompanying it on each disc.

For the record the one I have is CD 1 with the other two tracks being Banjo Moon  and  Chilli Winds. It was also released as Caught in the Middle (The Three Trees Sessions) with the other songs being Il Est Midi and Four Cotton Dresses. There is also a Promotional copy out there with only  the title track.

These days the marketing trends seem to be different coloured vinyls and boxsets to tempt you to part with your hard earned cash

 

Cerys Matthews - Caught in the Middle

Cerys Matthews - Banjo Moon

Cerys Matthews - Chilli Wind

Wednesday 22 February 2023

As Good as it Gets -Folk

 

2023 Charity Shop Purchases #18 Various - As Good as it Gets - Folk

A very cheap and cheerful Folk compilation for you today. 50 tracks for a pound. It's a long time since I was at school but  I think that equates to 2p per track. Most of them are worth it!

A bit of a who's who from the Folk world in the 60s and 70's including Ralph McTell, Davey Graham, Pentangle, the Dubliners, the Spinners  and Mike & Lol Waterson.A mix of English, Scottish and Irish artists. No Welsh artists as far as I am aware but I'm happy to be proved wrong.

Released on the Disky label in 2000 it is part a series which includes Swing, Western Swing, Jukebox Blues and (God help us) Black Gospel.

Two from Disc 1 and two from Disc 2. You will all recognise the first song and maybe the second. The third is a song referencing the area of Glasgow where the Barrowlands now stands. We are staying in Glasgow for the last artist who is far more well known for another form of entertainment. 


Ralph McTell -Streets of London

Gordon Giltrap -Won't You Stay Awhile Suzanne

Hamish Imlach - The Calton Weaver

Billy Connolly - A Little Bit of Your Time



Tuesday 21 February 2023

Home Away

 




2023 Charity Shop Purchases #17 - Will Kimbrough - Home Away

I am familiar with the name Will Kimbrough but until now not the music - not even on compilations.Junior Kimbrough yes, Will Kimbrough no.

I was aware that he was an Americana artists and songwriter who has collaborated with many artists including Dean Owens. I also knew that he tours the UK fairly regularly and I think he may well have been put on by Glasgow's Fallen Angels Club

Maybe that's where Bob stumbled across him. I picked up Home Away his third album from 2002 on the Waxy Silver label in the Barnardos Book Shop in St  Andrews and it is signed "To Bob Cheers! Will Kimsbrough"

It is out and out Americana. On the first listen I wasn't too sure but  it was much stronger on the second listen. I suspect it could well be a grower.Thanks Bob.

Some more info from his website and wiki if you are interested and to save me the bother.

Will Kimbrough - Piece of Work

Will Kimbrough - You Don't Know Me So Well


Monday 20 February 2023

Spyboy


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #16 - Emmylou Harris - Spyboy

There is an unwritten rule at CCM HQ that whenever one stumbles across anything by Emmylou Harris which is not on the shelves it requires to be purchased. This even includes Oxfam where the prices are often double than everywhere else.

Such was the case in St Andrews when I stumbled across Spyboy a 1998 live album on the Grapevine label. Spyboy is also the name of her band at that time consisting of Buddy Miller (electric guitar/backing vocals), Daryl Johnson (bass) and Brady Blade (drums)

The band were formed to perform songs from her 1995 album Wrecking Ball.It was the one produced by Daniel Lanois and the one which saw her deviating from mainstream country into Americana. It was a bit controversial at the time  and when I saw her at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall around then (probably with Spyboy although I think Daniel Lanois was also on stage) some of the audience actually walked out. More fool them.

It is a more stripped back approach with the album consisting of songs from Wrecking Ball and from her extensive back catologue. I've included one from each.

By my reckoning this is now the 13th Emmylou album (14 if you count Trio) on the shelves and the second live one after  At the Ryman where she is accompanied by the Nash Ramblers.

Emmylou fans (and let's face it who isn't?) are advised to stay tuned.

Emmylou Harris - Deeper Well

Emmylou Harris - Boulder to Birmingham


Sunday 19 February 2023

Kent Compilations - Dave Hamilton's Detroit Dancers

 


Dave Hamilton's Detroit Dancers is the first in a series called The Soul Providers dedicated to producers, arrangers, writers and musicians who have moulded the shape of Soul music while the artist stole the headlines.

The Ace webside gives a more detailed biography of the man namechecked and pictured in  the middle of  the album cover - Producer, arranger, writer and musician Dave Hamilton is one of the unsung heroes of blues and soul. He worked with John Lee Hooker, Jackie Wilson and on many Motown hits, but here is the real recognition of his talents on 24 of his own productions complete with the “War & Peace” of sleeve notes. Solid archaeology.

He was clearly a favourite of Ace/Kent with a further two volumes of Dancers together with a couple  of Detroit Soul, Detroit City Grooves and Detroit Funk.Plenty to get your teeth into.

I was not familiar with any of the artists on the album and I think that I picked it up on spec reasonably cheaply with the guarantee that anything on Kent would be well worth a listen. And so it proved.

I've featured this one once before  back in 2015 when I posted songs by OC Tolbert and Gil Billigsley. This time round it is the turn of the ladies 

Little Ann - What Should I Do

Tobi Lark - Talking 'Bout Love

Priscilla Page - I'm Pretending


Saturday 18 February 2023

Charity Vinyl -Labour of Lust

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #15 - Nick Lowe - Labour of Lust

Have any of you noticed the latest annoying habit in charity shops? I'm talking about those shops which think it is a good idea to hang vinyl albums on skirt hangers like this

Now that wouldn't really bother me if it was the usual rubbish you normally get on vinyl but when it is Labour of Lust by Nick Lowe it is enough for me to break out in a cold sweat. Fortunately for me  there does not appear to be any lasting damage.
Indeed the cover, the inner sleeve and the vinyl are all in remarkably good condition considering that the album was released in 1979 on the Radar label

It was recorded similtaneously with Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary which also graces the shelves. In addition to Lowe on bass  and Edmunds on guitar the band included the other two members of Rockpile namely Billy Bremner (guitar) and Terry Williams (drums)

Bought for a very reasonable 3 pounds in the British Heart Foundation in St Andrews it joins its 1978 predecessor  Jesus of Cool in the L section. A good find.





Friday 17 February 2023

Psychedelic Revolution

 


Five weeks in and nobody is on the streets yet.
Perhaps a different approach is required. How about to kick off we go for a Psychedelic Revolution? I think we all know who would be the ideal candidate to lead such a thing - none other than the Arch Druid himself Mr Julian H Cope.

I don't know much about the French outfit Rob Jo Star Band other than their label Bornbad Records describe their music as Stoned Psychedelia  and proclaim that they released one of the weirdest records released in France in the early 70s. Any band with a song called Acid Revolution would clearly be on board.

Ernie's  Reggae Revolutionaries offering this week comes from Guyana's longest surviving band The Yoruba Singers. I'm not sure as to their views on Psychedelia but I suspect that they may well be partial to a spliff or two.

The revolution will continue next Friday assuming we have come down from the clouds.




Thursday 16 February 2023

Temperamental

 



2023 Charity Shop Purchases #14 - Everything But The Girl - Temperamental

I have a couple of things by Everything But The Girl here and there but I was not familiar with and did not recognize Temperamental.

That maybe is because it is a dance album. Following the success of Tracey Thorn's  collaboration with Massive Attack on Protection they became to go down this route. Following on from 1996's Walking Wounded this was their 10th studio album and was released in 1999 on Virgin

Pitchfork are fairly critical giving it a score of 5.30.While complimenting a few songs,including the two below, which they felt could be singles they then went for the jugular by stating that at the end of 60 straight minutes of this record, you feel like you've just spent half your life in an upscale women's clothing store. Maybe a bit harsh but I can see where they are coming from.

AllMusic are more complimentary giving it 4.5 out of 5 and commenting that  Temperamental tempers the lightly skittering drum'n'bass and eliminates trip-hop, yet retains the same feel as Walking Wounded  . House music -- everything from classic '80s house to contemporary house -- serves as the musical foundation, which actually opens the doors for slight jazzy inflections, along with long, hypnotizing instrumental passages . Weirdly, it also serves as a good setting for a batch of songs that are essentially in the singer/songwriter vein.

Regular readers will be aware that Dance and Electronica music is really not my thing. I was probably too old when it first came out and not interested in the accompanying drug scene.
Having said that I am a big fan of Tracey Thorn's voice so as things stand this one remains a keeper.
 

Everything But the Girl - Hatfield 1980

Everything But the Girl - Lullaby of Clubland

Wednesday 15 February 2023

Kala

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #13 - M.I.A. - Kala

Earlier this month I featured Arular the debut album by rapper M.I.A. which I picked up in a Pitlochry charity shop. I actually came away with two by her as I also bagged Kala  her second album from 2007 and also on the XL-Interscope label. I felt it better to have a slight gap rather than post them back to back

Whereas I enjoyed Arular I found this one slightly more accessable.Like it's predecessor it was critically acclaimed upon release scoring 87/100 on the Metacritic aggregator.
The title Arular was a reference to her father, Kala is named after her mother.
This album includes the song Paper Planes  which was probably the only one of her songs that I was previously familiar with. It received a Grammy nomination and subsequently featured as part of the soundtrack to the film Slumdog Millionaire .Much more importantly than that it samples Straight to Hell by The Clash.

Not only that the opening track Bamboo Banga samples Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers




Tuesday 14 February 2023

Mojo Hand

 



2023 Charity Shop Purchases #12 - Lightnin' Hopkins - Mojo Hand

If you are one of the half a dozen or so who actually read this thing you may well be thinking  hold on, did he not post Mojo Hand by Lightnin' Hopkins in December?  You would be correct. I had downloaded  Mojo Hand - The Complete Fire Sessions   here

Now normally I wouldn't have posted something so similar so close  but part of  my raison d'etre is to subject you to my charity shop purchases.

And yes, you've guessed it, I picked up a cheap and cheerful CD called Mojo Hand on the Blues Collection label from 1991 in  a Linlithgow charity shop. It contains 15 of the 19 tracks from the complete Fire Sessions.I've taken care not to replicate any tracks. Given the lack of interest last time round I think I'll probably get away with it.

It is fair travelled as it has a Missing Records sticker on it. Now back in its spiritual home.

If seems that Lightnin' has a multitude of albums called Mojo Hand so stay tuned!


Lightnin' Hopkins - Shake That Thing

Lightnin' Hopkins - Mojo Hand



Monday 13 February 2023

From Poland to Pumas - A Guest Post

 

George writes

We have a Netflix account, have done for maybe a year. We finally got fed up with the TV options supplied via our internet provider, especially when they took down CBS Reality, thus depriving me of Judge Judy. I am not jesting. And one of the first things we watched was Squid Game, which led us to the world of South Korean tv shows, and let me tell you this, we are now Big Fans: My Name, Stranger, Crash Landing On You, The Good Detective, Hometown Cha-cha-cha, Hello Me, Our Blues……. that one about the traumatised artist, a rich family, and a hospital in Ireland, that we got bored with….we watch one episode of something Korean almost every night. And now, of course, we are experts on South Korean culture and society, albeit gained by TV shows made in the last 8 or so years.



But it’s not all Korean tv and putting on our amusing Korean accents whilst watching (I think that’s a bit racist, though), oh no - after trying a few UK and US programmes and getting fed up quickly, we’ve seen Spanish dramas, Austrian dramas (set around a funeral home) a German comedy (based in a funeral home), Jo is watching a Turkish drama (not featuring undertakers as far as I know), and we’ve just finished watching Gang Zielonej Rekawiczki, or the Green Glove Gang to you non-Polish speakers out there. Some of the soundtrack music has been quite good in that last show, and the last episode in the series featured a modern soul song that is the absolute bifters. Thanks to the Tunefind website I found out who it was and acquired the album. I’d never heard of this lot, but they might be famous in some circles. So put your listening ears for this gem of a song by the Black Pumas:


Black Pumas - Colors


Modern soul, with a retro-gospel feel.


CC writes

Thanks for this George. A little bit of culture.

I was suitably intrigued enough with the description in your last line to "ahem" acquire a copy of their eponymous, and to date only album from 2019 on ATO and to treat you all to another track. It is maybe just a wee bit too smooth and polished for me when compared to yesterday's offerings


Black Pumas - Oct 33

Sunday 12 February 2023

Kent Compilations - Southern Soul Showcase : Cryin' In the Streets

 


I'll say it right now. I am an absolute sucker for Southern Soul and this one pings all my buttons.

To quote the blurb on the back of the CD it is the first in-depth look ,on CD, at the sumptuous southern soul from Shelby Singleton's important SSS international group of labels. From the music's golden age, 1967-1970. I mean who wouldn't want to listen to music compiled by someone with the name Shelby Singleton?

Here is a more detailed blurb and tracklist from the Ace website which reassuringly tells us that it is not all suicidal stuff. Suicidal or not I could listen to the likes of Bettye LaVette and Doris Allen all day.The cherry on the cake  however is Cryin' in the Streets by George Perkins & the Silver Stars  which also appears on an album Down and Out - The Sad Soul of the Black South which would almost certainly appear on a similar series featuring the great German label Trikont should I ever get round to it. 

The review in AllMusic says that the songs blur the lines between soul and country to the point where such distinctions become irrelevant.  and - it's Southern soul through and through, with all the raw emotion the appellation implies. Maybe that's why I like it so much.

Essential stuff

Bettye LaVette -He Made a Woman Out of Me

George Perkins & the Silver Stars - Cryin' in the Streets Part 1

Doris Allen - A Shell of a Woman


Saturday 11 February 2023

Charity Chic

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #11 - Chic - The Very Best Of

Did you see what I did there with the title of the post? Sometimes I think I'm too smart for my own good.

A first this week as it is the first charity purchase bought in Linlithgow to feature here.
Chic surely need no introduction. Led by the geniuses that are Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards they are quite possibly the best disco band of all time.

Even if you are not a Disco fan I defy you not to strut your funky stuff to these three absolute classics.

Coming (for half an hour) to a Retro Festival near you




Friday 10 February 2023

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

 


I'm a bit pushed for time this week but fortunately much of the heavy lifting has already been done by JC and Ernie

In last week's Revolutionary Spirit post JC featured The Last Poets with When The Revolution Comes  which I had not heard before and pointed out it was a close cousin to Gil Scott-Heron's The Revolution will not be Televised. Let's face it , it was always going to feature. Also, can I be the first Scottish blogger not to mention that Gil's father briefly played for Celtic?

Ernie is still smarting over a Mandatory Reggae version not featuring last week. To make him feel better here is Keith Hudson with Fight Your Revolution the first in the folder of Reggae Revolutionaries which he kindly sent me.

When JC played Children of the Revolution by Kirsty MacColl he referenced the more famous song of the same name by T-Rex. It is not on my hard drive and I was about to burn it until I noticed a cover by the Violent Femmes

The revolution has now been put on hold to next Friday

Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Keith Hudson - Fight Your Revolution

Violent Femmes - Children of the Revolution


* judging by this week's post views the revolution has well and truly stalled!

Thursday 9 February 2023

Nearly Another Tamla Motown Thursday

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #10 Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - Tears of a Clown -The Collection

Another visit to Troon and another cheap and cheerful Soul compilation. Smokey Robinson is of course synonymous with Motown . As well as being the frontman of the Miracles he is a great songwriter and producer and for a while was Vice President of Motown second only to Berry Gordy .

However the above album is not on Motown but rather was released in2012 on the budget label Spectrum as indeed were many other Motown albums. Bought to compliment my slightly battered vinyl copy of The Tracks of My Tears - the Best of Smokey Robinson - Writer & Performer. There will be many others out there

Those two album titles are taken from two of his three biggest  songs the third one being I Second That Emotion.
Tempting as it is I have decided not to feature them today as you will all be familiar with them. Rather I've gone for three lesser well know numbers but rest assured they are still excellent.

Enough about Smokey - how about a shout out for the Miracles - let's hear it for Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White, Marv Tarplin and Smokey's wife Claudette. In addition to Claudette I'm not sure who is missing from the album cover.




Wednesday 8 February 2023

Declaration of Indendence

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #9  -Various - NME Presents Declaration of Independence

It is not often these days that I come away with charity shop acquisitions from places that I haven't got them before.However in our recent couple of days away following on from a Christmas gift I managed two in two days.

The first was Bridge of Allan a well to do town/suburb of Stirling by the University. The British Heart Foundation had a pretty meagre selection of CDs mostly comprised of the usual suspects. However, for the grand sum of 50p I managed to come away with NME Presents Declaration of Independence - The Sound of Domino Records to give it its full name from 2004. I'm not sure whether it is a one off or  part of a series celebrating Independent labels.

In true Countdown fashion I've gone for one from the top , one from the middle and one from the bottom. The first song on the CD  is Shopping For Blood by Franz Ferdinand - probably the bet known of the acts - in the UK at least. The last song on the CD is by Pavement who may well be the most known internationally.
The one in the middle is  by Clearlake who I thought were new to me but it turns out I have a couple of songs by them on the hard drive.For my own information as much as anyone else they were an Indie band from Brighton who were active from 1999-2009 releasing three albums during that period.Almost the Same is the opening track from their middle album 2003's Cedar.

To save me the bother of listing the others I have missed out here is the link to discogs







Tuesday 7 February 2023

We Walk This Road

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #8 -Robert Randolph & the Family Band - We Walk this Road

This record is a celebration of African-American music over the past 100 years and its social messages from the last thirty. Although we cover a whole lifetime of different eras on We Walk This Road,what ties these songs together remain their messages of hope, their ability to uplift.

So says the first paragraph in the inside sleeve of We Walk This Road the third studio album from 2010 by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. It was produced by T-Bone Burnett as Randolph wanted to be educated on the secular blues music that he never heard as a child.

It is a mixture of soul, blues  and gospel and also a mixture of original material and covers with some phenomenal steel guitar playing

This one was a semi-educated punt as I  thought  that I was vaguely familiar with the name. I was expecting a country album as it turns out that I was confusing him with Robert Reynolds of the Mavericks who has also played with Kevin Montgomery.

Thankfully that mistake has not proven fatal as this is an excellent album which I am puting down as a find.

Robert Randolph & the Family Band - Travelin Shoes

Robert Reynolds & the Family Band - If I Had My Way

Monday 6 February 2023

Happy Valleys

 


Last night saw the conclusion of the third and final series of Happy Valley. It has been gripping and brilliant..Sarah Lancaster in the lead role is immense and deserves all the accolades which will undoubtedly be coming her way. According to serving police hers is one of the most realistic portrayals out there.

As I type this I haven't seen the final episode. As you read this on Monday morning or later all will  have been revealed. I quite like that.

When the first series was aired in 2014 I put up a post featuring the title song by Jake Bugg. It remains far and away my most popular post with over 12.5K hits. Buoyed by that I put out another post when the second series was aired in 2016. It got 130 hits. I suspect this one will be somewhere inbetween but much closer to the second than the first.

I've already done a Happy series so here are some Valleys

I hope Ernie doesn't strop given there is no Mandatory Reggae entry.

I look forward to comments, if any , following the show's denouement.

Alabama 3 - Peace in the Valley

Gillian Welch - Valley of Tears

Jeannie C Riley - Harper Valley PTA

The Soul Singers - Peace in the Valley

Skids - Into the Valley

The Wedding Present - Pleasant Valley Sunday


Sunday 5 February 2023

Kent Compilations -Sanctified Soul

 



Just the thing for a Sunday. It is very unlikely that you will hear a better Soul compilation this month or maybe even this year.

The blurb on the back of the Santified Soul  CD released on Ace/Kent in 2000 reads- In the 1960's rhythm and blues music broke out of the churches and went in to the night clubs, on the radio and permeated throughout black America's soul.

There are 26 tracks on the album  with the tracklist available here Without exception they are absolute belters. Impossible although it may seem some are even bigger belters that  others particularly 3 of the first 4 tracks on the album. 

Again quoting from the Ace website the Soul Clan were  the only serious attempt to form a soul super-group in the 1960s. The group members were Messrs Conley, Burke, Covay, Tex and King who perform well on a good southern soul style ballad, That's How It Feels, First released on Atlantic in 1968

Not content with performing with those other great artists Don Covay pops up again with  the 1968-recorded I Stole Some Love. It's a great storytelling slowie, complete with rap and a Here Comes The Judge style interjection.Another Atlantic recording in 1968.

.Don - you just been found guilty by Judge Cupid for stealing the love of another man!

Track 4, again on Atlantic features perhaps the greatest Southern Soul singer of them all the great James Carr with  I'll Put it to You again on Atlantic but this time from 1971

Available from Discogs from as little as £4.44. You need this CD in your life.

The Soul Clan -That's How it Feels

Don Covey & the Goodtimers - I Stole Some Love

James Carr -I'll Put it to You

Saturday 4 February 2023

Arular

 


2023 Charity Shop Purchases #7 - M.I.A. - Arular

Pitlochry is a small tourist town just north of Perth on the A9.Like many towns and villages of its size it has a couple of charity shops.They tend to contain the usual suspects when it comes to CDs although over the years I've picked up one or two more exotic ones there.

Previous unusual finds there have included Natacha Atlas and Bally Sagoo.This time around I came away with a couple of CDs by the British Rapper Mathangy (Maya) Arulprgasam better known as M.I.A.

One was her 2005 debut album Arular on the XL- Interscope label. The album's title is the political code name used by her father Arul Pragasam who was involved with Tamil militant groups and themes of conflict and revolution feature heavily in the lyrics and the artwork.Despite that is is quite light and bouncy with a mixture of hip hop, dance and more traditional music.

Whereas is sounds like pop it also addresses important issues. Sunshowers, for example,  has references to snipers, murder and the PLO and was written as a response to the Tamil Tigers being seen as terrorists in some quarters.

The album was critically acclaimed receiving a nomination for the Mercury Prize and being listed in many of the Best of the Year features in magazines and papers.

M.I.A - Sunshowers

M.I.A - Amazon



Friday 3 February 2023

Revolutionary Spirit -A Guest Post

 


I am excited and truly honoured this week to give you a guest post from none other than the Blogfather himself The Vinyl Villian

Take it away JC

JC writes:

I spotted CC’s new series about Revolution Rock and thought that I’d love to be part of that particular uprising.

Things open up here with the 1982 debut single from The Wild Swans. It’s a significant record in that it was the last to be released on the Liverpool-based Zoo Records, which was every bit as important as any indie label of the era, launching the careers of, among others, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Ian Broudie (Lighting Seeds) and Holly Johnson. Oh, and the budget for the recording was so miniscule, it was done in mono.

It’s followed by a journey back in time to 1970 and the Last Poets, a collective who are seen by many as the true originators of hip-hop emceeing. And yes, it is a very close cousin of the far better-known and almost-similarly themed song released around the same time by the late Gil-Scott Heron.

Finally, we have the always-wonderful and much-missed Kirsty MacColl, with a song from the 1991 album Electric Landlady. If I mention that it was co-written with Johnny Marr you’ll be able to tell before listening that it’s not a cover of the T.Rex smash-hit.

CC writes - thanks very much for this JC. Three which were not on my list. Any other guest contributions will be  gratefully received.

The Wild Swans - Revolutionary Spirit

The Last Poets -When The Revolution Comes

Kirsty MacColl - Children of the Revolution

The Revolution will continue next Friday