Shack Attack

 

On my latest visit to my local Shopping Centre ( I refuse to use the American term Mall) two songs from the piped music system caught my ear.

Fortunately I wasn't in the toilet as one of the songs was Love Shack by the B52's. I was surprised that it wasn't in my music folder but fortunately I have a vinyl copy of the album it was on Cosmic Thing.

I have tunes from Shack and Th' Legendary Shack Shakers so they merit inclusion alongside a Buddy Guy number.

The other song that caught my attention was Everything I Own by Ken Boothe

The B-52's - Love Shack

Shack - Comedy (Radio Edit)

Th' Legendary Shack Shakers - Misery Train

Buddy Guy -One Room Country Shack

Ken Boothe - Everything I Own

Blog Country 117 - Brunei

 

We go from the massive Republic of Congo to the tiny sovereign state of Brunei  on the island of Borneo which has a meagre population about the size of Glasgow.

Having said that unfortunately we do not have a Sultan who is rolling in cash thanks to extensive petroleum and natural gas fields.

After the Second World War it became a British Protectorate until it became independent on the first of January 1984.

I found quite a bit of music from Brunei but then I got in a bit of a guddle so there is no 100% guarantee that I have got the correct songs attributed to the correct artists. It's so hard to get the staff.

Let's go for it .First of we have Maria Aires with Ku Sedar Siapu Kamu. Maria is 36 and favours the soft rock genre

Next up is Nadila. I haven't been able to find out any information about her. Salahka Aku could also be described as soft rock.

Dang Mengali appears to be a traditional Brunerian song. Here it is performed by Seri Berunai.

Finally we have the musical duo of  Aziz Harun and Aisha Retno who are, as I'm sure you know, most famous for the song Ketipak Ketipung Raya.

We are off to the Middle East next time round.

Maria Aires - Ku Sedar Siapu Kamu

Nadila - Salahka Aku

Seri Berunai - Dang Mengali

Aziz Harun & Aisha Retno - Ketipak Ketipung Raya

Detour

 

2025 Charity Shop Purchases #11 - Bis - Detour

A quick Detour from Northern Soul courtesy of Thornliebank's finest band Bis

From their 1999 album Social Dancing which I have on the shelves here is the CD single promoting the track Detour on the Wiija label.

A band I was vaguely aware of at the time but who I came to later thanks to their resurrection by Last Night From Glasgow. Since then I have seen them twice and they were very bouncy.

In addition to the title track - Manda Rin, John Disco and Sci-Fi Steven - give us the tracks Kiss and Tell and Why Don't We Go Home?

I've just noted that Detour was produced by the late great Andy Gill of Gang of Four fame.

This should help you to have a bouncy Monday.

Bis - Detour

Bis - Kiss and Tell

Bis - Why Don't We Go Home?

The Brief Return of Northern Soul Sunday

 

2025 Charity Shop Purchases #10 - Various Artists - The Northern Soul Story Vol.4 : Wigan Casino

Earlier in the year I posted a Sunday Series featuring seven Northern Soul compilations which was the extent of what I had on the shelves.

This has now risen to eight with the Charity Shop purchase of The Northern Soul Story Vol.4 : Wigan Casino  from 2007 on Sony/BMC.

One of the seven was Volume 2 - The Golden Torch. Clearly, now, I will have to track down Volume 1 - The Twisted Wheel and Volume 3 - The Blackpool Mecca. Stay tuned, I will keep my eyes peeled.

As per the previous posts in the Northern Soul series I have selected three tracks from the 25 on offer.

We start with the first track I Can't Help Loving You by Paul Anka from 1966.Yes, that Paul Anka  of (You're) Having My Baby fame. Wiki lists 6 different genres he could be associated with. Northern Soul isn't one of them.

Our female artist selection this time round is the Girl Group Reparata and the Delrons.with the song Panic from 1967 on EMI.

We conclude with Memphis artist Percy Wiggins. Percy signed to RCA in 1966 , a year after his brother Spencer signed for my favourite Southern Soul label Goldwax Records. Spencer has graced these pages a few times as a search will confirm. Percy weighs in with It Didn't Take Much ( For Me to Fall in Love)

Two down, two to go

Paul Anka - I Can't Help Loving You

Reparata & the Delrons - Panic

Percy Wiggins - It Didn't Take Much (For Me to Fall in Love)

Saturday Shuffle 95

 

After last week's anarchy we are back to normal with the Saturday Shuffle back to it's rightful slot.

To acknowledge this it is only fair to feature a Saturday song and Dave Edmunds is the very man to do the honours.

Unless you are a retired Maths teacher I bet that most of you have rarely had to do some long division recently and if so have probably   forgotten how to do it. Hopefully the above diagram helps. Mattiel steps up to the plate to do the musical honours.

If you were able to get the answer to the above sum without the aid of the diagram feel free to consider yourself the Leader of the Pack.

More conundrums to keep you on your toes next Saturday unless we get stuck.

Dave Edmunds - Almost Saturday Night

Mattiel - Long Division

The Shangri - Las - Leader of the Pack

Heavenly Loo Songs

 

This week's Toilet Tune is Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle.

I also seem to have a totally different song with the same title by Michael Lane which was not the one blasting out from the speakers. It is, however, rather pleasant.

Michael Laine aside I can feel an 80's theme coming on so here are Scottish band  Fiction Factory with Feels Like Heaven.

Finally lets return with a bump  to Earth with Duran Duran.

Belinda Carlisle -Heaven is a Place on Earth

Michael Lane -Heaven is a Place on Earth

Fiction Factory -Feels Like Heaven

Duran Duran - Planet Earth

El Corazón

 

From the late 80's to the early part of this century Steve Earle was probably my favourite artist on the planet.

I must have seen him over a dozen times  and bought his first dozen or so albums often on the day of release.

It may be a case of having saturated myself early on but I now don't listen to him nearly as often as I should,

Flicking through the Americana shelves I pulled out El Corazón his 7th studio album from 1997 and gave it a listen in its entirety for the first time in ages.

The Associated Press voted it as one of the ten best pop albums of the 1990's.  I'm not sure about that but it would certainly be in my top five of his 21 studio albums.

I've long thought about submitting a Steve Earle ICA to JC but have never quite got around to it. Christmas in Washington would definitely feature with Ft. Worth Blues a possible contender.

A very enjoyable trip down memory lane.

Thoughts and prayers for Steve having to endure MAGA land.

Steve Earle -Christmas in Washington

Steve Earle - Taneytown

Steve Earle - Ft. Worth Blues

Pushing Up the Daisies

 

The answer to Rol's latest  wonderful Saturday Snapshots was, and I quote, A Colourful Bouquet of Songs About Flowers.

One of the answers  to the pictures and cryptic clues was Karine Polwart with the song Azalea Flower. In the comments I suggested that her song Daisy could also have featured but it turns out that this particular Daisy is a small child rather that a flower.

I feel that it still merits a post so here it is with other associated Daisies courtesy of  The Frank and Walters, Big Star and Matthew Sweet.

It is Spring after all.

Karine Polwart - Daisy

The Frank and Walters - Daisy Chain

Big Star - Daisy Glase

Matthew Sweet - Daisychain

Blog Country 116 - Congo - Brazzaville

 

We are back in Africa again with The Republic of the Congo also known as Congo-Brazzaville to save confusing it with its neighbour The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Why are there two Congos you may ask. I know I did.

Young Pioneer Tours give the following explanation:

The European conquest between France and The King of Belgium divided the Congo Basin into two areas for their own interests and imperial ambitions. Borders were created along the Congo River by external powers dividing the Congolese people who shared the same culture, language and heritage.

With the end of European empires and the decolonisation of Africa, these borders remained after independence, therefore creating two separate states, one being the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the other being The Republic of the Congo.

That's all a bit heavy so best to stick to the music. For all things Africa it is best to defer to Ernie and here is a link to the entry in Ernie's African Odyssey.

We appear to have a couple of doublers with Les Mamas du Congo & Rrobin and Tchico (Tchicayu)  ( no relation!) but thankfully different tunes

My other two offerings are from Patrouille des Stars and Les Tambours de Brazza ft Angelou Chevauchet

Ernie has given some background on the first two. Discogs advises that Patrouille des Stars were founded by Tivo Piriuns in 1997 after the Civil War. They seem to have released nine albums to date

Les Tambours de Brazza as I'm sure many of you have worked out translated as The Drums of Brazzaville,

We are off to Asia next

Les Mamans du Congo & Rrobin - Lamentation

Tchicho Tchicaya - Soukous Machine

Patrouille des Stars - Corection

Les Tambours de Brazza ft Angelou Chevauchet - Zebola

Saints Preserve Us

 

Now you might think that he is posting about Saints today because it is Easter Monday. Well you would be wrong there.

The reason is I am currently listening to the Scottish Cup Semi-Final between Celtic and St Johnstone. 

We kick off with the Australian new wave band The Saints with their biggest hit (I'm) Stranded.

By far the most well known of today's four acts are St Etienne who today offer up He's on the Phone.

St Dukes are a Glasgow band who released an EP Stranger by the Day  on the Last Night From Glasgow label. Here they name check a popular Glasgow pub/music venue.

Even more obscure than St Dukes are Saint Max and the Fanatics whose song Book Review  appears on a Sampler album from Armellodie Records.

I may well follow this up in due course with songs which have Saint or Saints in their title.

The Saints - (I'm) Stranded

St Etienne - He's on the Phone (Radio Edit)

St Dukes -See You at the Hug'n'Pint

Saint Max and the Fanatics - Book Review

Celtic scored 4 in 12 minutes in the time it took me to draft this post!

Sunday Shuffle

 

Bet that fooled you!

I had the three tracks below lined up to feature on Saturday Shuffle 95. However Virgin Media had other ideas with an outage on Friday.

As I was devoid of ideas for today I thought I would share these and shuffle up another three for Saturday Shuffle 95 next Saturday. I hope that makes sense to you.

First up, as you can see from the picture above, is Rock Lobster by the B52's. Around 40 years ago an Australian travelling companion called Marc had said lobster tattooed on his arm.

From 1978's More Songs About Buildings and Food the song The Good Thing is perhaps not the first song that springs to mind when it comes to Talking Heads. That does not mean that it is not worth featuring here though. Anything they recorded around then is always worth a listen.

We started with B-52's and we conclude with BR5-49 and some Americana Rockabilly (a little known sub genre!) called Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)

B52's - Rock Lobster

Talking Heads -The Good Thing

BR-549 - Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts)

As this is a day late I'm throwing in Back in the Night by Dr Feelgood as a bonus and by way of an apology.

Dr Feelgood - Back in the Night

Back Again

 

I had meant to post some more Back songs on my recent He's Back post but ran into some technical issues.

My laptop had been to the doctors for some small repairs but as is the way when it returned it threw up some other problems.

I couldn't transfer MP3 files from my Music file to Google Drive as I used to be able to but after much effing and jeffing I have found a convoluted alternative  wrap around way to do so.

Also some real life stuff is restricting my time availability and will probably result in a restricted service over the next few months 

But as Arnie said- I'll be back!

Nadine - Back to My Senses

The Mighty Wah! - Come Back

Odyssey -Going Back to My Roots

He's Back

 

He's back!

Apologies for the break in transmission.

This was due to some hardware issues, some family stuff  and the recent good weather.

I'm back in business but it is possible that there may be a reduced service from time to time in the next couple of months.

Some back songs to celebrate my return.

Waxahatchee - Right Back To It

Detroit Spinners -Working My Way Back To You

Saturday Shuffle 94

 

Unless I am very much mistaken (which is entirely possible) we have three acts making their debuts on the Saturday Shuffle this week. Given that we are 94 weeks in that's fairly impressive

There is one reasonably well known artist sandwiched between two lesser known acts.

We start with Hill Country Review a  Blues/Rock band who do not have a Wikipedia page and hardly any information on discogs . There is a wee bit more information on  Allmusic. I have their 2009 album Make a Move on the Razor & Tie label which finishes with the track Growing Up In Mississippi.

I should imagine that a good few of you are familiar with the late great Warren Zevon who sadly died aged just 56 in 2003 from Mesothelioma, a form of cancer. My Ride's Here is the title track from his penultimate album from 2002

We conclude with A Wesley Chung an American songwriter/musician based in Glasgow. Coffee and Cream is the opening track from his album Neon Coast released in 2018 which is rather good.

More artists, obscure or otherwise, next Saturday.

Hill Country Review - Growing Up in Mississippi

Warren Zevon - My Ride's Here

A. Wesley Chung - Coffee & Cream

Here Comes The Sun

 

The Sun is shining. In Glasgow. In April.

These are unprecedented times. Jumpers have been dispatched. Sleeves have been rolled up. Some brave souls are wearing shorts and it is only a matter of time until the shorts and sandals combo hits the streets.

People who are normally blue are turning white and maybe even red

Be afraid, be very afraid!

Of course, it could be snowing by Monday

Lightships - The Warmth of the Sun

Kelly Stoltz - The Sun Comes Through

Sister John - Waiting for the Sun

Blog Country 115 - Jamaica

 

I find it hard to believe that folk from 114 countries have visited this Blog before anyone from Jamaica.

Of course it is possible that there were visitors from before I started monitoring the stats, but even then it is still extraordinary.

It is a bit of a let off for me this week as absolutely no research at all is required and no exploring the dark corners of the internet for a song or two to include.

It took me all of a minute to decide on todays selections. There will be no surprises and no doubt some of you (I'm looking at you Ernie) might be disappointed that I did not delve deeper and dubbier.

Let's face it there is a ton of material out there. There is probably enough for a series that could easily run for a year or so. Something to think about.

It would be churlish to write about Jamaican music and not feature Bob Marley and the Wailers and  equally churlish not to feature Exodus.

I immediately thought of two other songs namely Suzanne Beware of the Devil by Dandy Livingstone and Police and Thieves by Junior Murvin. The latter was of course covered by The Clash who provided one of my entry points to the genre.

The Clash also covered Pressure Drop by Toots & the Maytals but today I have gone for 54-46 -That's My Number. They are the only one of the four acts that I have been fortunate enough to see live.

Next time round will be far trickier. We will be back in Africa and some serious scrambling about will be required.

Bob Marley & the Wailers -Exodus

Dandy Livingstone -Suzane Beware of the Devil

Junior Murvin -Police & Thieves

Toots & the Maytals - 54-46 That's My Number

Thank You For The Dawes

 

At Saturday's Dropkick gig Alan from the band performed a cover of a song  by the Los Angeles band Dawes.

It was not a song that I recognised but it got me thinking that I should probably give them a listen. I don't actually have anything physical by the band just a few songs here and there plus burns/downloads of North Hills their 2009 debut  and All Your Favourite Bands from 2015

They have a Laurel Canyon feel to their music something which should appeal to Alyson

I have enjoyed what I have heard by them and would certainly pounce in the very unlikely event of one of their albums ever popping up in a Charity Shop.

Dawes - When My Time Comes

Dawes - All Your Favourite Bands

Dawes -Time Spent in Los Angeles

Cruel Summer Toilet Tunes

 

On my latest visit to the loo at my local Shopping Centre the song blaring out was Cruel Summer by Bananarama which is maybe a wee bit ambitious for the beginning of April

I don't think that I have to tell you that it is a considerable improvement from Shotgun the previous one  by George Ezra

A slightly different format this time round in that I am including the actual song together with a couple of Cruel ones and Summer ones. 

Bananarama - Cruel Summer

Nick Lowe - Cruel to be Kind

Wilco - Cruel Country

Grandaddy -Summer Here Kids

Bruce Springsteen -Girls in their Summer Clothes