Simply Red

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #16 - Red Foley - The Essential Recordings

Slim pickings on my latest Clarkston Charity foray Only the one purchase from my first post of call Barnardos.

I have some proper Country for you today courtesy of Clyde Julien Foley better known as Red Foley one of Country's biggest post WW2 stars,

From 2016 on the Primo label  The Essential Red Foley is a double CD with 40 tracks which cost me a pound though it is on sale on Discogs fron $10 upwards

Although he came from Kentucky he seems to have had an affinity with Tennessee given that side 1 includes three songs referencing that State. Mississippi and Alabama also get a reference.

I'll quote the blurb on the back of the CD

This collection celebrates the career of a true pioneer, and a master of all forms of Country Music, from ballads through to blues and even Rockabilly. He was an inspiration to many Rock'n'Roll artists, and both Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis covered his songs. His sophisticated, smooth,mellow vocals were incredibly influential in bringing Country to mainstream America.

Red Foley - Tennessee Saturday Night

Red Foley - Tennessee Border

Red Foley - Tennessee Polka

Blue Rose Collection Vol.7

 

The Best

The Rest

The Rare

Blue Rose Collection Vol.7 becomes the 31st entry in the American Compilation series joing Vol.8 which was the 13th entry. I'm not sure if we will reach 50,but we will certainly not exceed it.

Let's start with a CCM favourite the band Jolene of seen in Helensburgh fame. Constantinople is taken from their 3rd album Antic Ocean which was released in the year 2000.

I think that Trish Murphy may be the only female artist on the CD so it is only fair that she gets an outing with Outsider.

I couldn't choose between Gimme Back My Dog by Slobberbone and Neil's On The Radio by Big In Iowa so it is only fair that both feature.

Jolene - Constantinople

Trish Murphy - Outsider

Slobberbone - Gimme Back My Dog

Big in Iowa - Neil's On The Radio

Andy Kershaw R.I.P.

 

I was all set to draft the next Saturday Shuffle when I received a text from my pal Pete advising that the DJ Andy Kershaw had died at the age of 66 from cancer. Not that much older than me FFS.

I know that he had his issues particularly when his relationship broke down and he was jailed for three months for violating a restraining order which significantly impacted on his broadcasting career.

I was far more influenced by him than I was by Peel. Indeed, he even had me tuning in to Radio 3 for the first time ever when his show was moved there in 2001.

He made a considerable impact on my musical tastes and indeed on my budget.

His documentary on Bob Dylan's 1966 "Royal Albert Hall" concert  when he went electric had a huge influence on me and pretty much turned me onto his music.

He introduced the world to Jim Ford and Harlan County and as George has noted he also pointed us in the direction of Carl and Pearl Butler.

Then there was the African music and his championing of James Carr.

A significant part of my musical education and collection is down to him.

Rest easy Andy and thank you for the music.

Bob Dylan - Leopard - Skin Pill-Box Hat

Jim Ford - Harlan County

Carl & Pearl Butler - Don't Let Me Cross Over

Four Brothers - Uchandifunga

James Carr - Forgeting You

The Shuffle will return next Saturday

Alphabet Soup - A Random ABC

 

Totally devoid of ideas for today's post I resorted to shutting my eyes and hovering the mouse over and randomly stopping at artists beginning with A,B or C

For the letter A the cursor stopped on the folder for the Northern Irish band Ash. I decided to go for the song Kung Fu hence the picture of Kung Fu Panda.

For B the cursor alighted on Barry Adamson. If you are wondering why he is filed under B rather than A that's the way the folder works. If I  had a Barry Adamson album, which I don't it would be filed under A on the shelves 

Similarly Cat Stevens would come under S as opposed to C

Apologies again for the lack of inspiration. Hopefully I'll get my mojo back soon. Suggestions, or even contributions, welcome.

Failing that there are only another 14634 songs/folders to go!

Ash - Kung Fu

Barry Adamson - The Last Words of Sam Cooke

Cat Stevens - Hard Headed Woman

Blog Country 140 - Aruba

 

Confession time - I don't think I'd ever heard of Aruba and certainly would not have been able to point to it on a map.

It turns out that it is an island in the Caribbean and about north of Venezuela. It was part of the Dutch Antilles and it became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in1986. Its popultion is equivalent to Greater Glasgow.

It was a bit of a struggle but I managed to find five acts (of varying quality) to feature today. I have not included the most famous singer from the country namely the recently sadly departed Bobby Farrell of Boney M fame

Lets kick off with Padu del Caribe who it seems is a legand and the father of Aruban culture. For those of you interested here is a fairly detaild Bio..His offering today is the song Arubanita.

Next up are the band Tsunami who apparently had a Euro Tour in 2024. Their song Blessings features reggae artist Blaka Dan.

It seems that Jeon is more than an artist - he is one of Aruba's strongest musical exports .Today's offering is the Spanish version of Caya Ta Papia

Vince Irie is a singer-songwriter born and raised on Aruba.He gained notoriety in The Netherlands when he appeared on the 4th season of The Voice of Holland in 2014. Here he is with the song Unfaithful featuring Ashwin Jaydee.

Finally , the one you have all been waiting for Wally Warning. Ewald "Wally" Warning was an Aruban roots reggae, ragga, gospel and Latin singer who lived in Munich, He sadly passed away in September 2025.

That's your lot. We are back in Africa next time round.

Padu Del Caribe - Arubanita

Tsunami (ft Blaka Ban) - Blessings

Jeon - Caya Ta Papia

Vince Irie (ft. Ashwin Jaydee) - Unfaithful

Wally Warning- E Ta Guia Mi

Oh go on then

Boney M - Nightflight To Venus

Talk About Country

 

A few days ago I was typing up a couple of posts for the blog. As background music I had an MP3 stick playing as background music

Something called Talk About Country popped up and it threw me completely. I had absolutely no recollection as to how ,where or when it came into my orbit. Old Age doesn't come itself.

Some detective work was clearly required. Hiting the search function on the laptop quickly did the trick and I was directed to Bandcamp where said album appeared and was attributed to an act called Legends of Country.

Thank you whoever was responsible for forwarding this in my direction.

Legends of Country -Talk About Country

Legends of Country - As Country As They Come

I-Pod Playlist - Jail

 

Unfortunately the Playlist has sent us to Jail this week - do not pass go, do not collect £200.

When it comes to Jail songs I suspect that for most of you the name Johnny Cash is one of the first names that springs to mind .

No Folsom Prison or San Quentin for you today but rather the less well known Starkville City Jail.

If he's unfortunate, like the Robins, he may end up spending Ten Days in Jail.

Next we have the words that surely every parent dreads - "Dad, I'm in Jail" Second only to "Dad, I like Bono"

If that's the case a quick phone call to Thin Lizzy to organise a Jailbreak might be in order.

We go from Jail to Jesus for next week's playlist

Johnny Cash - Starkville City Jail

The Robins - Ten Days In Jail

Was (Not Was) - Dad, I'm in Jail

Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak

Lips, Inc.

 

Welcome to Lippy Monday with a few lip related songs.

For no reason whatsoever other than it popped into my head over the weekend

I've resisted the temptation to include Funky Town by Lipps,Inc as the lip bit features in the act's name as opposed to the song and to include it would blow my chances of a follow up post.

Let's start with the Fun Boy Three and their song Our Lips Are Sealed. I'll spare you from the Urdu version.

Next up are Pulp with Lipgloss a song from their 1994 album His'n'Hers. 32 years ago, bloody hell

Even older is Lipstick by the Buzzcocks which was the b-side to the single Promises in 1978 and is also included on 1979's epic compilation Singles Going Steady.

We conclude with Louisville Lip by Freakwater:

Louisville Lip focuses on one alleged  incident  from the  life of Louisville's most famous citizen Muhammad Ali.  In 1960, Ali returned home to Louisville, Kentucky from winning the light heavyweight gold medal in the Summer Olympics in Rome.  Yet, the 18-year-old faced discrimination in his hometown. Reportedly, after being refused service at a restaurant, Ali threw his gold medal into the Ohio River.

Stay tuned to CCM for more lip smaking tunes and the occassional cultural history reference

Fun Boy Three -Our Lips Are Sealed

Pulp - Lip Gloss

Buzzcocks - Lipstick

Freakwater - Louisville Lip

Loose -New Sounds Of The Old West Volume Two

 

Welcome to the 30th in this series of Americana Compilations.I'm in two minds whether to stop here or to carry on as there are still a good few in the tank. Comments welcome.

From the year 2000 this is the second Volume of Loose Records - New Sounds of the Old West. They were very much the UK leaders when it came to Americana

If you look at the tracklist and you are following this series or indeed this Blog over the years you will recognise many of the artists. 2000 to 2002 were probably the peak years for Americana for me.

A dozen of the 17 tracks were in contention to feature but that would be somewhat presumptuous. Three it is then and 3 acts who are no strangers to these pages.

Let's go for the order they appear on the CD.First up we have Jim White with 10 Miles To Go on a 9 Mile Road which is a track on 2001's No Such Place on the Luaka Bop label his second and probably best album.

Another CC favourite next in the form of Peter Bruntnell .Again a song from his second album namely Darling I Suppose from Normal For Bridgwater.

I'm not sure whether I've seen Giant Sand or not but I have definitely seen front man Howie Gelb.The song Astonished (In Memphis) from their album Core of Enchantment.

We may or may not catch up again next Sunday.

Jim White - 10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road

Peter Bruntnell - Darling I Suppose

Giant Sand - Astonished (In Memphis)

Saturday Shuffle 140

 

It is getting harder to come up with new songs for the Shuffle.

Songs by Little Richard, Gene Clark and Julian Cope were ruled out on the grounds that they have appeared in the series before.

I must add some more songs.

The first act to pop up with a song that has never appeared on the Shuffle were Simple Minds with Love Song.

It's a bit of a Weegie fest this week as the next shuffled song which has not featured before was Do You Wont To by Franz Ferdinand.

The third song to pop up was An Elegant Chaos by Julian Cope. Beautiful Love had popped up earlier but has featured before but the Arch Drude was not going to be denied.

Sparks remained on the substitute's bench and were not called into action.

Simple Minds - Love Song

Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To

Julian Cope - An Elegant Chaos

Over The Silvery Lake

 

About a month or so ago George texted me to say that he was listening to Over The Silvery Lake the 2016 debut album by The Hanging Stars.

I have a download of it and this was the gentle push for me to dig it out and to give it a long overdue listen.

I then discovered that it had been re-released in a vinyl format and it was a no brainer to upgrade it.

While "researching" for this post I have just discovered that they will be releasing their 6th album Just a Day, which will feature Gerard Love of Teenage Fanclub fame, on June 29th. It is available to pre-order on Bandcamp but I think I'll wait and give one of my local record shops some business

The Hanging Stars -I'm No Good Without You

The Hanging Stars - For a While

The Hanging Stars - The Hanging Stars

Blog Country 139 - Montenegro

 

We are off to the Balkans this time around with Montenegro a small mountainous country on the Adriatic Sea with  a population of 633,158. It is a relatively new country having gained its independence as a republic following the break up of Yugoslavia in 2006

Let's  post the acts in alphabetical order starting with some Montenegrin hip-hop (as you do ) courtesy of the band Barka Stoka which translates as Livestock from the town of Bar. Here the offer up the song Obavjestenga.

Next up is drummer and singer Aleksandra Prelević Palladino known professionally as Dolce Hera . Her contribution is Repeat.

Our third act is the Montenegrin Rock band NeonoeN who were originally scheduled to represent their country at Eurovision in 2025 but later withdrew due to a controversy over having previously performed their song in June 2023.I'm not sure what the song was, perhaps it was Merkur i Venera.

Nikolle Nikprelaj  is an Albanian  singer but is included here as he is  from Tuzi in Montenegro. Here he preforms the song O Prishtina pritna se po vina which trips lightly of the tongue 

Our penultimate offering is the Cetinge rock band Perper who are one of the country's most popular bands. I'll let you decide whether Niz Tvojo Leda justifies this claim.

Vesnai Zmijanac  is lined up as my final act. She is one of the most popular singers from the former Yugoslavia.. She is listed as being from Serbia but was born in Montenegro so she therefore counts. Kazni Me, kazni translates as Punish Me, Punish.

Next time around I will be punishing you with music from a country that I'd never heard of until now.

Barka Stoka- Obavjestenje

Dolce Hera - Repeat

NeonoeN - Merker i Venera

Nikolle Nikprelaj - O Prishtina pritna se po vina

Perper - Niz Tvojo leda

Vesnai Zmijanac - Kazni Me, kazni

I-Pod Playlist - Drink

 

This week's I-Pod Playlist is probably Father Jack's favourite. Yes it's Drink! 106 songs to choose from so time to settle down with a few tipples

There are so many to choose from, particularly from Country music . Indeed, there is enough for an entire series further down the line.

It was difficult to narrow my selections down to just four.  I thought about a drinking game but things could have got messy very quickly.

Here are the ones I've gone for before I forget of change my mind.

Let's start with Canvey Island's finest Dr Feelgood and their classic Milk and Alcohol . These lads liked a drink or four.

Next up we have Maria McKee with the totally bonkers Drinkin' In My Sunday Dress

Loretta Lynn gives a salutory warning to her beloved as she advises that he Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)

He certainly wouldn't be getting anywhere if he was Drunk By Noon. Here is Sally Timms with her cover of The Handsome Family  classic

The next Playlist will be Jail where some of the above might end up!

Cheers

Dr Feelgood - Milk and Alcohol

Maria McKee -Drinkin' In My Sunday Dress

Loretta Lynn - Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)

Sally Timms - Drunk By Noon

By Way Of An Apology

 

On Sunday as part of my Americana Compilations series I featured The Other Side- Music of East National One of the tracks featured was Don't Bother Me by the singer-songwriter Elizabeth  Cook.

In the comments George advised that the song fades out after 59 seconds as opposed to the scheduled running time of 3 minutes 25 seconds. I'm not sure how that happened.

To make up for  this I have dug out my burn of Welder her Don Was produced 5th studio album from 2010.

You will see from the blurb  for Welder that she has had a pretty troubled life and this, perhaps understandably , is reflected in her songs

Not for the faint hearted

Elizabeth Cook - Heroin Addict Sister

Elizabeth Cook - Mama's Funeral

I Am The Resurrection

 

I'm not religious and it is a long time since I lifted a bible. This might explain why I'm a day late for the Resurrection. Still at least we still get a public holiday.

It got me thinking though of Resurrection songs and I appear to have more than I thought.

Let's start with the most obvious one by The Stone Roses which lends its name to this Post's title.

The second one that most folk would maybe come up with is Resurrection Shuffle by Ashton, Gardner & Dyke.

Meanwhile the Drive-By Truckers are Awaiting Resurrection.

Iron and Wine are more interested in a Resurrection Fern.

Finally The Hold Steady tell us How a Resurrection Really Feels

The Stone Roses - I Am The Resurrection 

Ashton, Gardner & Dyke - Resurrection Shuffle

Drive- By Truckers - Awaiting Resurrection 

Iron and Wine - Resurrection Fern

The Hold Steady - How a Resurrection Really Feels

The Other Side:Music From East National

 

This week's Americana Compiltion (the 29th so far) is The Other Side - Music From East Nashville

It is a two CD charity compilation raising funds for a local employment and education centre.

There are 31 tracks with only the late great Todd Snider appearing twice. I have featured it three times before  here, here and here

I am probably only familiar with just under a third of the artists involved and perhaps it is no surprise that I've chosen to feature four of those.

Three of the tracks have featured here before with the only new one being Don't Bother Me by Elizabeth Cook.

This is by way of compensation for failing to pick up her 2007 album Balls the second last time I was in Missing Records. Needless to say it was nowhere to be seen on my subsequent visit. I'm still kicking myself.

Todd Snider - From a Roof Top

Paul Burch - John Peel

Thad Cockrell - Senselessly Blue

Elizabeth Cook -Don't Bother Me

Saturday Shuffle 139

 

Welcome to this week's Shuffle. We have one debutant, one act making a second appearance with the final act making their 4th outing.

It's only fair that out debutant gets to be the cover star so say hello to Country, Honky Tonk and Rockabilly star Johnny Horton who is enjoying a bit of honkytonking on a hardwood floor, as you do.

It's almost criminal to note that sixties legends The Kinks have only appeared on the Shuffle once before .It was with Wonderboy, one of their lesser known numbers last time round, This time it is the more familiar See My Friends.

We conclude with regular visitors to the Shuffle Los Tex Maniacs who wonder How Can a Beautiful Woman be so Ugly.

More beautiful and no ugly acts next Saturday 

Johnny Horton - Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor

The Kinks - See My Friends

Los Tex Maniacs - How Can a Beautiful Woman Be So Ugly

Cara and Sharon on Good Friday

 

The slimming down of burns to downloads to free up space has reached the Folk/Singer Songwriter shelves with two albums that were copied from the library back in the day when you could take out CDs

Two Irish ladies one Northern and one Southern are the latest acts to be considered for down sizing.

I have After the Morning a 2006 album by Cara Dillon along with a burn from the library  of 2003's Sweet Liberty which was produced and recoded by her husband Seth Lakeman

There Were Roses is song about sectarianism written by Tommy Sands which featured on the TV series Billy Connelly's World Tour of England. Ireland and Wales TV series

Accordionist Sharon Shannon from County Clare in the Republic of Ireland is an artist I have seen on a few occasions mainly, but not exclusively, as part of Celtic Connections

I have a good few of her albums on CD and a burn of 2007's Renegade.. She is joined by Mike McGoldrick,Jim Murray and Dezi Murray for what is an album of traditional Irish music.

Given that Ireland grinds to a halt on Good Friday I thought it would be good to feature songs by these two artists today

Cara Dillon - There Were Roses

Sharon Shannon - The Full Set

Blog Country 138 - Cuba

 

It's my Boys Brigade Battalion number again as we head to the Caribbean  and the Republic of Cuba.

I'm glad we got here in time as it is likely to be Trump's next "project" assuming he doesn't get his arse kicked by Iran. The fact that it is a Socialist state with the role of the Communist Party enshrined in it's constitution seems to get the American's very excited with their embargo contributing to abject poverty.

That does not stop the Cubans coming up with some excellent music though. I should imagine that many of you are familiar with Buena Vista Social Club and Ibrahim Ferrer. Both are on the shelves but I thought I would spread the net a bit wider.

Let's start with Chico Alverez who was born in New York City of Afro- Cuban origin but grew up in Cuba. He is also part of the Afro-Cuban band Mafimba. Here he is with Rumba En El Solar which i'm guessing translates as Dancing in the Sun

Chico is followed by Dayme Arocena who is an Afro-Cuban jazz singer from Havana who has been described as Cuba's "finest young female singer". Judge for yourself with Pot ti.

Next up is another female artist Brenda Navarrete a Cuban singer and multi instrumentalist born in Havana in 1991.Her offering today is  Atùnwà

Los Van Van founded in 1961 is one of  the leading musical groups of post-revolutionary Cuba. Their name translates as "They Go Go." I would imagine that the song Vanvaneo translates as something similar.

Mongo Santamaria is a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who was a leading figure in the pachanga and boogaloo dance crazes of the 1960's. His contribution is Monte Adentro.

Finally we revisit Monday's Music From the Chocolate Lands with Chocolate Sabroso from the band Chocolate Armenteros

We're off to the Balkans next time round.

Chico Alvarez - Rumba En El Solar

Dayme Arocena - Pot ti

Brenda Navarrete - Atunwa

Los Van Van - Vanvaneo

Mongo Santamaria - Montr Adentro

Chocolate Armenteros - Chocolate Sabroso

I Lykke

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #15 - Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

When I picked up Monday's Music From The Chocolate Lands this album was sitting directly underneath it as the CDs were stored vertically as opposed to horizontally.

The name Lykke Li rang the vaguest of vague bells and on the basis that it only cost 50p I though I may as well take a punt.

From 2011 on the LL/Atlantic label Wounded Rhymes is the second album by Swedish singer songwriter, actress and model Li LykkeTimotej Zachrisson who is thankfully known as Lykke Li for short

My vague recollection was confirmed when I got home as I had a couple of songs by her on compilations.

Her music blends elements of indie pop, dream pop and electronica. I find myself much more drawn to it than Anna Calvi

Further proof that it is a keeper is that I have played it the whole way through twice already and was not tempted to turn it off or skip a track. This came as a pleasant surprise.

Chapeau to Spence who mentioned her a a candidate for LL in my Double Initials series even although she did not make the final cut

Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers

Lykke Li - Sadness is a Blessingg