The weekend saw us in a Soul mood.
The album chosen at random by Mrs CC to accompany Saturday's breakfast was All the Greatest Hits by Gladys Knight and the Pips.
On Sunday I opted for The Best of Sade proving that she was not just a two album pony.Like everyone else I picked up the first two at the time and over the years I have acquired several more including The Best of in Charity shops.
A nice way to gently ease you into the wet and windy week.
On Wednesday we jumped on a number 4 bus to Cottiers in Hyndland to see Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub perform a solo concert.
The support act was Carla J Easton who I have seen a few times before. I enjoyed her earlier stuff but have found her more recent songs a bit to poppy for my taste, Here she was joined by Paul Kelly and unusually for her she was playing guitar as opposed to synthesizer. I liked the songs she was airing prior to her next album and her patter was good despite her feeling unwell.
Norman Blake is probably the most down to earth music star that you could ever meet. He confessed that he didn't play solo gigs all that often but you would not have known given his delivery of the songs and his chatter.
He concentrated on songs that he had written from Teenage Fanclub's back catalogue mostly on guitar but with a couple on piano. His encore included covers of songs by Warren Zevon and Robert Wyatt's Matching Mole.
All in all it was a good night out despite the seats being extremely uncomfortable. As a bonus we caught the bus home straight away..
A solid 7/10. You should check him out if he is playing anywhere near you.
Carla J. Easton - Impossible Stuff
Let's start this week's shuffle with a bit of reggae courtesy of the mighty Sly and Robbie and their brilliant single Boops (Here to Go)
How do you follow that?. You don't really but Waxahatchee is brave enough to attempt it with Witches a song which is pretty topical with Halloween just around the corner.
Finally for this week we have Paul Westerberg, erstwhile front man of The Replacements, with Postcards from Paradise off his solo album Stereo.
That should be enough to keep you going until we get shuffling again at the same place, same time next Saturday. Worth tuning in after Saturday Snapshots
I have done a pigeon post before dedicated to George and Jo's rescue pigeon Walter (no relation to our blogging chum Walter!)
I used up four potential pigeon offerings on that one but fear not I have been able to rustle up a further four in respect of the domestic pigeons which hang out in our gardens and in Trafalgar Square. I have vivid memories of getting pigeon blood on my purple platforms as they pecked for seed there during my Primary 7 trip to London!
Writing something about them and playing some Pigeon tunes may help to alleviate the trauma.
Let's start with twins Rachael and Paul Swinton who are known collectively as Cloth with a song simply title Pigeon.
John Prine is slightly more expansive as he gives us his version of Clay Pigeons the Blaze Foley song which featured last time round.
Port O'Brien weigh in with Pigeonhold which seems to be about Pigeonholes.
Lieutenant Pigeon were the band of choice last time round. This time round it is the turn of Leeds band The Pigeon Detectives with I'm Not Sorry.
If you are wondering where Stool Pigeon is it appeared here relatively recently
Hopefully we can struggle on with more of our feathered friends next Friday.
The Pigeon Detectives - I'm Not Sorry
2024 Charity Shop Purchases # 63 - Laura Cantrell - The Hello Recordings
It is rare to see anything by Laura Cantrell in the wild. It is even rarer to see something by her which you did not know existed.
From 2004 The Hello Recordings is a 15 minute 5 track mini CD consisting of 4 tracks originally recorded for the Hello CD of the Month Club a subscription only record company which operated from 1993 to 1996. It was organised by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants and Marjorie Green.
The first four tracks appeared on the July 1996 version with the final track Lee Harvey Was a Friend of Mine being taken from a back porch barbeque at Quiet Life in Brooklyn, New York on 13th June 1993. There is a roll call of those involved given at the end of the song which saves me doing it.
Discogs has the label as Diesel Only Records but my copy is attributed to Glasgow's Spit & Polish label which seems to have been the home for early stuff by her released in the UK. Discogs also confirms that I got a slight bargain given that I paid a pound whereas their median price is £2.93 with the highest price paid a whopping £4.43. Add postage to that and it is even better.
A quick update on some recent purchases all of which are by acts which are relatively local to me.
On the back of Constant Follower's recent show at Webster's Theatre I picked up a copy of Even Days Dissolve a collaboration with Scott William Urquhart on the Golden Hum label which is also available on Bandcamp . It is well worth a listen and will keep me going until Constant Follower's new record The Smile You Send Out Returns to You comes out early next year.
Glasgow based Alison Eales is a member of Butcher Boy as well as a solo artist and has been championed on more than one occasion by JC (he even gets a name check on the album!) . I have a copy of her 4 track EP Four For a Boy and followed it up last Bandcamp Friday with her album Mox Nox on the Fika label - Link here
I have long been an admirer of Martin John Henry and have music by him as a solo artist, as part of the band De Rosa and with the duet Henry and Fleetwood. His latest project is Jewel Scheme named after a housing scheme in his native Bellshill . Here is some blurb courtesy of the Skinny. Bandcamp link here.
Support your local artists.
Scott William Urquhart & Constant Follower - Watching the Black River Run
About a month ago Swiss Adam reviewed Paul Simpson's book Revolutionary Spirit- A Post Punk Exorcism.
I had seen it in the library a few times but I didn't recognize the name or feel tempted to take it out. All that changed after I read Adam's review . It is a terrific read - amusing, informative and bitchy at the same time. It is up there with his friend Julian Cope's book Head On.
He seemed to know everyone in Liverpool at that time and all the in places which Adam would have been aware of as a student.
The Wild Swans passed me by at the time but have since crossed my radar thanks to Blogging chums with JC including Revolutionary Spirit as part of a guest post.
Please read Adam's review which is much better and more informative than anything I could do and read the book.
It seems that Paul is now living in Glasgow and given that he includes Last Night from Glasgow in the credits some new material and/or re-releases may be forthcoming.
I was playing George Jones the other day and I found myself wondering when he had last featured here.
4th April 2022 was the answer as part of my Keeping Up with the Joneses series.Before that it was as far back as 2016.
Jez featured him yesterday but I figure that you can't have too much of a good thing.
Here are what I consider to be his three greatest songs. Feel free to disagree.
George Jones - He Stopped Loving Her Today
Before things went awry on the technical front I had posted two Washington related posts here and here. I thought I just about had enough material for a third and final post and somewhat belatedly here it is.
Initially the posts focussed on musical artists with Washington as either their first name or surname.As is the way of such things when it gets trickier it gets more flexible or for the more cynical among you more spurious.
Cecil Washington was a 60's Soul Singer and a big Northern Soul favourite from Washington DC. His featured song here is I Don't Like to Lose
I'm indebted to Ernie for providing me with some songs by Blues artist Walter "Wolfman" Washington, one of which is Goody Man.
Albert Washington was a Georgian Blues and Soul singer who led a group called The Kings Variations.Today's offering is Hold Me Baby.
That's the artists called Washington exhausted which leaves us with Woodie Guthrie and his Washington Talking Blues.
We conclude this mini series with the great Iris DeMent and a song called There is a Wall in Washington about the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial which attracts more than five million people each year.
That's all folks.
Cecil Washington - I Don't Like to Lose
Walter "Wolfman" Washington - Groovy Man
Albert Washington - Hold Me Baby
No more skiving - Saturday Shuffle is back with three random beauties.
First up is Hillbilly Country Blues artist the late great Junior Kimbrough who is joined by the Soul Blues Boys on Slow Lightnin' from a Mojo compilation The Black Keys present The Hill Country Blues.
Next up are Bloodshot act Sarah Shook and the Destroyers with Solitary Confinement from the album Sidelong the only thing by Bloodshot that I have on vinyl.
Finally we have Hefner with The Day That Thatcher Dies. It may be dated but those of us that lived through her regime can all still sign up to the sentiment.
More Shuffling next Saturday.
Junior Kimbrough & the Soul Blues Boys -Slow Lightnin'
He's back!
The laptop has finally been discharged by the doctor. The good news is that all my music has been retained. The not so good news is that I have had to reinstate various music related apps. Slowly after a bit of effing and jeffing things seem to be gradually getting back to normal.
We start normality with the 13th post in this series and with one of the more unusual birds, the Flamingo, a wading bird from the family Phonicopteridae with four species native to the Americas and two native to Afro- Eurasia.
The song which will immediately spring to most of your minds is Pretty Flamingo by Mannfred Mann. However, for some strange reason, it does not feature in my music folder and given that I have others available I have not bothered to source it.
For example we have the simply titled Flamingo by former Scottish Indie favourites Tuff Love.
The Subterraneans were a band led by Nick Kent who released My Flamingo in 1980. The Royaltones were an instrumental band from Dearborn in Michigan who released Flamingo Express way back in 1961.
Van Morrison surely needs no introduction. Flamingos Fly is a song from his 1977 album A Period of Transition.
And finally, if only to wind up Rol and Ernie we conclude with Chicago doo wop band The Flamingos and Love Walked In.
I feel this series may well be reaching its conclusion but I will try to eek it out for a few more weeks.
The Subterraneans - My Flamingo
My laptop is out of action with diagnostic issues. It is likely to be a couple of days before it is back up and running.
Normal service will resume as soon as possible.
Admin
Last year Last Night From Glasgow released the eponymous debut album by female Punk Pop trio Brenda.
I went to the album launch at the Glad Cafe on 28th July and in my Live From 2023 post towards the end of the year I wrote: 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
Here is the Bandcamp link for anyone interested.
Just over a year later I have not heard or read anything else about the band.
Worry not, however, as there are plenty of other Brenda's available
It was sad to hear about the death of Kris Kristofferson at the age of 88. Walter and Rol posted fine tributes yesterday
Rhodes scholar, helicopter pilot, actor, janny - there was nothing he couldn't turn his hand to. Fortunately for us he turned to singing and songwriting with the support of his great friend Johnny Cash.
It has to be said that Declan Patrick MacManus comes across as a bit of a diddy these days what with fleecing customers and generally being obnoxious.
However there was a time - in the mid 80s when he could do no wrong and was probably my favourite artist on the planet.
1986 is a prime example with two of his greatest albums being released that year - King of America in February billed as The Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates and Blood and Chocolate in September as Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
I gave the last one a spin the other day for the first time in ages and while it didn't hit me in the solar plexus as it did first time round it was still pretty good if a bit dated.
One from each I think.
Annie Booth is an Edinburgh based singer/songwriter who has previously released music on Last Night From Glasgow but has slipped off my radar recently.
Her first album An Unforgiving Light was a joint release from LNFG and Scottish Fiction in 2017. She subsequently released a 4 track EP Spectral another collaboration between the two labels in 2019.
There was then an EP/mini album on LNFG in 2020 under the name Slow Weather as part of a duo with Chris McCrory .
The final record I am aware of is Lazybody again from LNFG in 2021.
She was also a member of Edinburgh band Mt.Doubt who disbanded towards the end of 2022.
I saw her live on a few occasions and she was always very good.
Hopefully she will resurface. If not, thanks for the music.
When it comes to live albums there are few better than 1969's Johnny Cash at San Quentin. One that everyone should have in their collection. It was his second Prison album following 1968's At Folsom Prison. He even wrote a song to commemorate the occasion:
San Quentin, I hate every inch of you
You cut me and you scarred me through and through
And I'll walk out a wiser, weaker man
Mister Congressman, you can't understand
Martin Stephenson, who is one day younger that me, is a very underrated singer songwriter. Although born in Durham he is now considered an honorary Scotsman.. Along with his band The Daintees he enjoyed a modicum of fame in the late 80s/early 90s. Sunday Halo is taken from their 4th album 1992's The Boy's Heart.
Twenty years previously Darts, a nine piece British doo-wop revival band, were regularly troubling the charts. Come Back My Love was the first of three successive sons which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Charts. Unfortunately they never quite hit the bullseye.
We will be stepping back up to the oche next Saturday for more Shuffling.
Johnny Cash - San Quinten (Live)
Martin Stephenson & the Daintees -Sunday Halo
One of the smaller birds this week but totally worthy of inclusion
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. There are approximately 366 species and 113 genera with most species found in Central and South America As of 2024, 21 hummingbird species are sadly listed as endangered or critically endangered, with numerous species declining in population.
They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings which flap at high frequencies audible to other birds and humans. They hover at rapid wing-flapping rates, which vary from around 12 beats per second in the largest species to 80 per second in small hummingbirds.
Right that's enough cutting and pasting. Four songs for you today with three of them by Leon Russell, Wilco and Smith & McLennan simply called Hummingbird. Dean Owens is the outlier with Land of the Hummingbirds.
I am aware that I caused some controversy last week when I included some musical acts with bird names in the title. This will continue for the rest of the series as the number of songs featuring the birds name will get progressively smaller. In the absence of a bird metaphor I am changing horses in midstream.
This week the Dixie Hummingbirds do the honours
Smith & McLennan - Hummingbird
For some strange reason three quarters of yesterday's post turned out shaded.
I've no idea how that happened and more importantly I have no idea how to rectify it.
Rather than worrying about it I'm turning it in to a positive by featuring some Shady songs today. Don't panic when you see the picture above as I have nothing by Mr Mathers III.
Let's start with some Folk and the legends that are Simon and Garfunkel with A Hazy Shade of Winter. I also have the Bangles version on vinyl but you can't improve on perfection.
It's country next with Henson Cargill and Four Shades of Love taken from the great compilation Choctaw Ridge - New Fables of The American South 1968 - 1973.
Some Alternative Country next courtesy of Conor Oberst aka Bright Eyes with The Difference in the Shades from his album Letting Off the Happiness.
Finally whereas a Reggae number is not necessarily mandatory in this instance it is always good to have one. Step forward please Third World with 96 Degrees in the Shade.
Nothing shady about those four songs as I'm sure you'll agree
Simon and Garfunkel -A Hazy Shade of Winter
Henson Cargill - Four Shades of Love
On Sunday night we went to a gig at Webster's Theatre a converted church on Glasgow's Great Western Road. The gig entitled The Wrong Weekend was put on by Last Night From Glasgow and consisted of three acts as you can see from the poster above.
The first act were Nashville band Draped Apes signed to LNFG and making their first Scottish date. Somewhat confusingly the were previously know as André Salvador and the Von Kings who in 2022 released an album on LNFG called Draped Apes. They were pleasant enough but I don't feel the urge to explore further.
Next up surprisingly were The Golden Tree who I thought would be the final act. The Golden Tree are Bobby Bluebell and Grahame Skinner (of Hipsway fame) who have an album called Scottish Songs Observed Vol 1. Bobby armed with a computer providing the music sang backing vocals while Grahame flawlessly sang all 12 songs from the album. They were excellent.
Sadly for Constant Follower a reasonably contingent left for the bar after the Golden Tree and did not return. On a more positive note that included the West End luvvies who literally bulled a chap in front of us who had been there from the beginning to move from his seat as they piled in from the bar at the start of Golden Tree's set.
Constant Follower, who have recently signed to LNFG, seemed undeterred and I suspect that the significant number of folk left was probably the largest audience they have played too . This was my third time seeing them and they were excellent. They are very much low- fi and you could have heard a pin drop as they performed their songs.
These included a good few from their 2021 critically acclaimed debut Neither Is, Nor Ever Was and some scheduled to appear on their follow up album The Smile You Send out Returns to You scheduled to be released in February next year.
A good night and Mrs CC and I awarded it a solid 8 out of 10.
Andre Salvador & the Von Kings - White Noise
But first I should start with an apology. As I'm sure some of you worked out Rich Man Blues was by Dinah Washington rather than Ella Washington. The relevant changes have been made.
It seems only fair then that we start this week's offerings with Ella and He Called Me Baby.
And just to show that this thing is not just thrown together the next song up is by Baby Washington (see what I did there?) with Who's Going to Take Care of Me.
Next up is some jazz funk courtesy of Grover Washington with the song Trouble Man.
Some Blues next with Washington Philips and Denomination Blues Part 1.
Finally it is the Only Band That Matters with the song that inspired this mini series.
Stay tuned for the final instalment next week.
Ella Washington - He Called Me Baby
Baby Washington - Who's Gonna Take Care of Me
Grover Washington - Trouble Man
Like four million other people I bought the eponymous debut album by Garbage which was released in 1995.Wiki says it is on the Almo label but mine says Mushroom Records.
At the time Butch Vig was all the rage due to the rise of Sub Pop and fronting the band with Shirley Manson who had previously been a member of Goodbye Mr Mackenzie seemed like a leftfield choice but one which worked out very well for all concerned.
I liked it well enough when it came out but I suspect that I haven't played it more than once or twice this century. Also, I have never been tempted to pick up any of their 6 further albums and the only one I recognise is Version 2.0 which also is the only other one I've seen in Charity Shops.
Would it survive a future CD cull? Probably not but I'm happy to sing along (badly) to these two songs whenever I here them on the radio.
Mrs CC came home from her mum's the other day with a number of CDs including a burn entitled James Taylor Classic Songs. I suspect that this was the work of her dad.
There is no denying that he is a great songwriter with a great voice. He has a couple of standards featured below that you will all be familiar with.
A little known fact is that later he branched out and formed a jazz funk quartet called the James Taylor Quartet.
Some of the above is true.
James Taylor -Sweet Baby James
James Taylor -You've Got a Friend
James Taylor - How Sweet it Is (To Be Loved by You)
The Shuffle reaches new heights this week as it becomes a septuagenarian.
It therefore seems appropriate to feature some old standards.
Up until now I was blissfully unaware that P.F. Sloan (pictured above) had written Eve of Destruction the anti war song made famous by Barry Maguire. Today he is acknowledged by an even greater songwriter Jimmy Webb who wrote a song in his honour. It was subsequently covered by Rumer.
The Kinks do not feature here nearly enough. Today you are getting Wonderboy, one of their lesser known numbers, and yet another one from Jon Savage's 1968 - The Year the World Burned.
We conclude with an absolute belter. Reconsider Me by Johnny Adams from the compilation on the Southern Soul Showcase label Cryin' in the Streets.
You won't hear a better song today.
More Shuffling next Saturday.
 |
| Bettye and Billy |
Don't let this picture fool you. Swans can be fairly brutal creatures and can easily break your arm. Apparently though it is a myth that the British monarch owns all the swans in Britain and is the only person allowed to eat them.
Here is the more technical stuff
Swans are birds of the genus Cygnus within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks (who everybody can eat). Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae. There are six living and many extinct species of swan (the ones who have been eaten)
To the music and this week we are including both songs and acts so don't say I'm not good to you. Let's start the songs with Ride a White Swan by T-Rex followed by Swan Song by Be- Bop Deluxe. Slightly more up to date we have Swan by Matthew Sweet and Swan Swan H by R.E.M from Life's Great Pageant
There are a number of Swan acts and I have rightly or wrongly omitted The Swans and The Wild Swans. I have however found room for Bettye Swann, Billy Swan and The Swan Silvertones
T-Rex - Ride a White Swan (Peel Session)
Bettye Swann - Tell It Like It Is
The Swan Silvertones - If You Think Your God is Dead,Try Mine
I had high hopes for Glasgow band Static Union following the release of the above single on Record Shop Day 2017. Sadly these hopes have not materialised.
There is a Bandcamp page which includes these two songs and a couple of others.
The band consisted of Sean McGarvey (vocals/guitar), James Harker (guitar/synth), Liam Adams (bass), Cameron “Kangus” Angus (drums) all in their late teens or early twenties
Some lovely jangly guitars there.
If anyone out there has any further info to share on this band please do so. Another one, it seems, that has slipped through the net.
Butcher Boy first came to my attention via JC who is a good friend and champion of the band.
On the strength of his recommendations I went to see them at Govanhill Baths on Record Shop Day in 2017 where they were promoting their single Bad Things Happen When You Are Quiet. Unfortunately the acoustics were terrible and it was hard to make out the words of the songs.
As JC has pointed out the various band members have jobs and families which inevitably leads them to be less prolific than they would probably like to be.
The good news is that in 2022 Pete Pathides' label Needle Anthology issued You Had a Kind Face an anthology of their songs from 2007 to 2017.It is well worth getting hold of.
That's it I thought Washing Songs! However the only one I could come up with was Washing Line by The Hanging Stars.
However there were enough Washingtons for two posts so here goes with Part 1
The first one to raise his head over the parapet was Gino Washington with the Ram Jam Band and the song I've Been Hurt.
Next was the great Jazz/Blues singer Dina Washington with Rich Man's Blues.
Ella is followed by Jerry Washington with Right Here is Where You Belong from Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Volume 5
Washington as a band name? Yes we can do that too courtesy of Glasgow Indie Rock band Washington Irving with a cover of Hot Chip's Boy From School.
Who is the most Presidential?
More Washington's to follow ...
The Hanging Stars - Washing Line
Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band - I've Been Hurt
Dina Washington - Rich Man Blues
2024 Charity Shop Purchases # 62 - Johnny Dowd - Wrong Side of Memphis
George was in town over the weekend. We had arranged to go for a meal and as everybody else was running late I was charged to get there on time to ensure that we did not loose our table.
However I am happy to report that as I got off the bus I found a little bit of time to quickly scan the two rows of CDs in Barnardos. Among the usual detritus I was amazed to see Wrong Side of Memphis the 1998 debut album by Johnny Dowd on the Dutch Munich label.It was snapped up
Helpfully the CD back cover includes some blurb which saves me having to search for something to write:
A moving man from Ithaca, New York, embarks on the scariest ride of the year in this homemade work of genius - Top Ten Release of 1997 Chris Morris , Billboard
.. dark, telegraphically visual songs that come off like a fusion of Johnny Cash and Lou Reed stepping out of the pages of a Charles Burns graphic novel .. Top Ten Release of 1997 Jackson Griffith, Tower Records/Pulse!
The jaw-dropping intensity of his dark, twisted country blues makes Johnny Dowd an outright godsend. This exquisite debut is proof that not every story has been told - Top Ten Indie Release of 1997 David Sprague, Request
The intense description is apt as the only time I saw Johnny play (in the Barfly in Glasgow) he was so intense that my pal Big Pete had to retire upstairs to the bar (that's his excuse anyway).
Shame that second track wasn't available to me back in the Transport Tuesday days.
2024 Charity Shop Purchases # 61 - Leonard Cohen - Songs From a Room
All good things sadly come to an end and sadly today sees the fifth and final Leonard Cohen album recently purchased in the Wigtown Community Shop. It shares a jewel case with last weeks New Skin From The Old Ceremony
For those of you who are bereft worry not as this his second album from 1969 is probably the best of the bunch It is one that I also have on vinyl and in what can only be described as a remarkable coincidence it was also purchased in Wigtown but in the Book Shop as opposed to the Community Shop.
It actually reached number 2 in the UK albums charts. Wiki writes like his debut LP, it received mixed reviews from critics, who were put off by his unusual singing voice but intrigued by the songs
And therein lies the rub.
You know what might be a better idea? Get Johnny Cash to record the songs!
That's us all Lenned out and as things stand Charity Shop Purchases out. I shall try and rectify the second one sooner rather than later.
Leonard Cohen - Bird on the Wire
We start this week’s shuffle with the band who were probably my favourite band on the planet around the mid 1990’s From the great 1995 album Tomorrow the Green Grass here are The Jayhawks with track 9 namely Nothing Left to Borrow. I saw them a few times around then and this was a big live favourite.
The Jayhawks are followed by a band that sadly I never saw live. Back from when John Lydon was still relevant here are Public Image Limited with their 1986 album imaginatively titled Album and track 6 Rise.
Anger is an energy.
We take it down a notch or three for the magnificent Zimbabwean band The Four Brothers. Here is Uchandifunga from their 1998 album Makoroto on the Cooking Vinyl label . They were a band championed by Andy Kershaw who provided the photographs for the album cover.
I may be right, I may be wrong but the Saturday Shuffle will reappear here next Saturday for its 70th iteration.
There are five resident species of owl within the British Isles - four native species the barn, tawny, long eared and short eared and the little owl which was introduced in the 1800s, There is also the occasional eagle owl kicking about but they are not listed as a native species. I have no idea as to whether the one pictured above is one of them. I'm not sure that I've ever seen an owl
Owls can rotate their heads up to 270 degrees and twist them nearly upside down which let's face it is a pretty neat party trick and surely worthy of a vole or two.
To the music. Stephanie Dosen an American singer songwriter, knitwear designer (under the brand Tiny Owls Knit) and member of the band Snowbird. She is a new name to me.
The late great Paisley Buddy Gerry Rafferty surely needs no introduction and appears today courtesy of the title song to his 1999n third solo album Night Owl
We go from Night Owl to Nite Owl a song by Tony Allen and the Champs from as far back as 1955 with the crackles to prove it.
We conclude the Owl title songs with the appropriately named An Owl Song by Canned Heat.
Eagle owls got a brief mention above ,There is also a lo-fi/indie folk band from Edinburgh called Eagleowl whose lead singer is coincidentally or otherwise called Bartholemew Owl who also performs as part of Broken Chanter.
More birds who don't have tilted heads and/or haven't played with Broken Chanter next week
Stephanie Dosen - Owl in the Dark
It is not just Blues which has been neglected here of late. Posts featuring Soul music have also have also recently been scarcer than hen's teeth.
In an effort to compensate for this I shut my eyes and pointed a finger at the music folders on the screen and it landed at Irma Thomas who is also known as the Soul Queen of New Orleans.
She has graced these pages on a few occasions, as a search will illustrate, but not since November 2018. I feel quite guilty about that particularly as she is still going strong at the age of 83 having appeared on stage with the Rolling Stones as recently as May this year when she duetted with Mick Jagger on Time is On My Side a song that she recorded prior to the Stones better known version.
A true talent. Long may time remain on her side.
Irma Thomas - I Done Got Over It
It has been a while since the Blues appeared on these pages so by way of compensation here are some Burnside Blues.
No not music from the most affluent part of Rutherglen but rather the Mississippi Bluesman R.L. Burnside who enjoyed some belated fame on the Fat Possum label in the 90's with his stripped down North Mississippi Hill Country Blues alongside fellow Mississippian Junior Kimbrough a style which was to influence the likes of The Black Keys. ( long sentence!)
After a heart attack in 2001 his doctors advised him to stop drinking which he did but he reported that this change left him unable to play!
He popped up on the MP3 player at the gym the other day and I felt that he merited a further airing.
Great stuff but I suspect that it will not do much for my dwindling figures.
A month or so ago I had some time to kill in the library while waiting for a bus to visit a friend in hospital.
I pulled Spaceships Over Glasgow the autobiography by Mogwai frontman Stuart Braithwaite from the shelves and read the first couple of chapters. I put it back with a view to taking it out later. Of course it was never on the shelves whenever I visited and I had to request it. Equally predictable the day I collected it there was also a copy available on the shelves.
I must admit I am not really a fan of Mogwai but it is a good read particularly if you are from the Glasgow and Lanarkshire areas as it references a lot of bands and venues that you will be familiar with. Also if you are into Post Punk there will be plenty to whet your appetite.
The subtitle Mogwai Mayhem and Misspent Youth is pretty accurate given that there is a lot of references to youthful hedonism and copious consumption of drink and drugs.
Among the interesting facts is that his father was Scotland's last telescope maker.
It is well worth a read but still hasn't converted me to Mogwai. It does give me a good excuse though to post the first song.
There is nothing on the shelves by Orange Juice except for a battered 12 inch copy of Rip It Up belonging to Mrs CC.
There are, however, a few CD albums and singles by Edwyn Collins. When replacing the latest Leonard Cohen back on the Folk/Singer- Songwriter section it was adjacent to a burn of Edwyn's 2007 Home Again on the Heavenly label. This prompted me to give it a spin.
It was actually recorded in 2004 but was not completed and released until early 2007 following two brain haemorrhages in February 2005 leading to a long period of hospitalisation followed by rehabilitation..
There were three further albums but nothing since 2019. Edwyn now contents himself with production at his studio at Helmsdale in the Scottish Highlands.
2024 Charity Shop Purchases # 60 - Leonard Cohen - New Skin For the Old Ceremony
This week we are going as far back as 1974 with Leonard Cohen's 4th studio album New Skin for the Old Ceremony. Back to the time when he was still under the illusion that he could sing rather than croon.
Amazon describes it as telling intensely personal stories, with tales of love, loss, regret and a degree of political activism, each verse feels lovingly crafted. According to Wiki on this album, he begins to evolve away from the rawer sound of his earlier albums, with violas, mandolins, banjos, guitars ,percussion and other instruments giving the album a more orchestrated (but nevertheless spare) sound
Chelsea Hotel#2 is apparently about a fleeting liaison he had there with Janis Joplin
The CD is part of one of those old 2 x CD packages which came in a jewel case about an inch thick and which take up a lot of room on the shelves. The other CD will conclude this series next Sunday.
