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

I-Pod Playlist - Devil Gate Drive

 

This week's Playlist is Devil Gate Drive.

There are plenty to choose from but it's only fair to kick off with the song and person who inspired the Playlist name

From Suzi to Suzanne and we have Dandy Livingstone with the great song Suzanne Beware of the Devil.

Talking of great songs here is the only great song that Sir Cliff ever released!

I know it's hard to follow that but here is Beck with Devil's Haircut something that even Sir Cliff is sometimes guilty of.

I thought I had a Devils and Angels compare and contrast series somewhere but apparently not. Something for the future perhaps.

The next Playlist subject is Drink so again plenty to choose from.

Cheers!

Suzi Quatro - Devil Gate Drive

Dandy Livingstone - Suzanne Beware of the Devil

Cliff Richard - Devil Woman

Beck - Devil's Haircut

Music From The Chocolate Lands

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #14 - Various Artists -Music From The Chocolate Lands

Mrs CC is going through a decluttering phase at the moment. This involves me handing in bags of stuff to various charity shops. On one such visit I noticed the above CD in Barnardos on Victoria Road but did not pick it up. I returned a couple of days later with another load and pulled the trigger.

I was a wee bit apprehensive as to the title and a bit concerned that it may be  bland and one -dimensional like my Music of the Twana People here

I needn't have worried as  the music is varied, covers a good few countries and by and large is pretty good.

From 2004 it is on the Putumayo World Music label which travels the world  in search of exceptional songs from Congo to Cuba, Rome to Rio,New Orleans to Nova Scotia.

Today's offerings are  from in order Haiti, Hawaii and  Peru.

Well worth 50p of anyone's money as opposed to the £52.99 that some chancer os looking for on E-Bay. The median price on Discogs is £3.45

Beethova Obas - Rasanble

Teresa Bright - Tihore Mai Te Rangi

Susana Baca - Valentin

Making Singles Drinking Doubles

 

Here is yet another Compilation courtesy of Chicago's Bloodshot Records.

The title is a clever play on words from the classic Gary Stewart number She's Acting Singles (I'm Drinking Doubles).

As the blurb says Singles -they are the perfect medium for delivering a concentrated shot of musical delight-no time for filler or painfully long bass solos- just time to get in and out before anyone gets hurt.

On the negative side it is a bit of a pain in the backside to get up every 3 minutes to change the record.

From 2002 it has the honour of being the 100th release on the label.

Here's the tracklist. I've picked three - pretty much at random.

Oh, and Gary Stewart for good measure

Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys - Every Rose Has It's Thorn

Kelly Hogan & John Wesley Harding - It's Only Make Believe

Jon Langford - Nashville Radio

Gary Stewart - She's Acting Single (I'm Drinking Doubles)

Saturday Shuffle 138

 

Welcome to Saturday Shuffle 138 - my old Boys Brigade battalion number.

We kick off  with Linda Rondstadt who let's face it could stop a BB Battalion in their stride. Here she is with Birds a song written by Neil Young and is taken from her eponymous third studio album from 1972. She is still with us at the age of 79 but sadly has Progressive Supranuclear Palsy which sounds very unpleasant indeed.

Next up are Forest Hills, Queens finest The Ramones. 

Daytime Dilema (Dangers of Love) from their 1984 album Too Tough to Die is today's offering .Sadly that was not the case as all four original members Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy are no longer with us. Later members Marky, Richie and CJ who featured in later versions of the band are still alive.

From Westwood (East Kilbride's equivalent of Queens) we conclude with Aztec Camera and Walk Out to Winter from their masterpiece debut album 1983's High Land, Hard Rain. You will not hear anything finer today.

We will be back for another Shuffle next Saturday

Linda Rondstadt - Birds

Ramones - Daytime Dilema (Dangers of Love)

Aztec Camera - Walk Out To Winter

A Stay of Execution

 

The King is Dead the sixth studio album by The Decemberists from January 2011 was under serious consideration to be downgraded from a Burn to a Download to free up space.

However, after a listen it has been given a reprieve. Whether this is temporary or otherwise remains to be seen. As things stand it's a keeper.

It is significantly better than the only other thing I have by the band namely the CD version of The Crane Wife their 4th album from 2006. Had this been a burn it would certainly have been downgraded by now.

Apparently The King is Dead is the most pastoral, rustic record they've ever made. I must be a sucker for that sort of thing.

The Decemberists - Down By The Water

The Decemberists -This Is Why We Fight

Year of Meteors

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #13 - Laura Veirs - Year of Meteors

The Kinder Handl charity shop on Glasgow's Battlefield Road has literally hundreds of CDs for sale. The problem is that they are pretty much all terrible. Nevertheless I sifted through then and just when I was about to give up I came away with Year of Meteors the 5th studio album by Portland, Oregon singer/songwriter Laura Veirs on the Nonesuch label.

I was very nearly put off as she has a more than passing resemblance to the Greens MSP Lorna Slater

It joins her third album 2003's Troubled by the Fire which is somewhat inexplicably housed in the Americana section when it is obviously Singer/Songwriter. You just can't get the staff.

She was previously married to the go to producer Tucker Martine.

It scores 80/100 on the Metacritic Aggregator. A pound well spent.

Laura Veirs - Galaxies

Laura Veirs - Spelunking

Blog Country 137 - Madagascar

 

It's Madagascar this time round - the world's fourth largest island, the second largest island country (after Indonesia) and the 46th largest country overall and quite possibly the only one to have a film named after it.

As it is an African country I'm contractually obliged to share Ernie's African Odyssey post.I've tried to select some acts that he hasn't previously covered.

The wonderfully named Eusebe Jayojoby has appeared at his place but not as part of the Odyssey. He is a singer of salegy, a musical style of north west Madagascar. Here he is with Manantany.

Rabaza are a group from Taolagnoro (Fort Dauphin) on the southern cost of Madagascar who perform a blend of traditional musical styles.Today's offering is Pelamainty.

Paul Bert Rahasimanana  thankfully is better known as Rossy. He  performs a fusion of hira gasy instrumentation and vocal style with contemporary rock, funk and folk sounds to create a Malagasy genre of contemporary popular music. Unfortunately he also has a Gasy Car.

It's time for the ladies Vaivay Chila  is a vocalist and composer of salegy music from the northern coastal region of the country and is the most popular female salegy artist of the last decade.. Here she is with Tsisy Prestige.

We conclude with Wendy Cathalina who apparently has emerged as one of country's promising young musical talents. See what you think with Tsôtsôro.

We are off to the Caribbean next time round

Eusebe Juojoby - Manantany

Rabaza - Pelamainty

Rossy - Gasy Car

Vaiavy Chila - Tsisy Prestige

Wendy Cathalina - Tsotsoro

The Roots of Psychobilly

 

2026 Charity Shop Purchases #12 - Various Artists -The Roots of Psychobilly

It's time to give your Tuesday a much needed kick up the backside with the 50 track double CD  The Roots of Psychobilly from 2012 on the Not Now Music label.

Like me I'm sure you will recognise some of the names - Link Wray, Dick Dale, Johnny Burnette etc but that many will be new to you

According to a post on E-Bay Psychobilly is generally thought of as being a blend of '70s punk with '50s rockabilly. It first surfaced in the 1970s with bands like The Cramps, then expanded into the '80s with a whole wave of bands led by The Meteors and King Kurt, and went one step further in the '90s with Tiger Army and all the bands that followed in their wake. However, it s only the roots of Psychobilly that concern us here, in this collection of wild vinyl oddities from the '50s and early '60s: a curious mix of rockabilly, surf instrumentals and overall beatnik weirdness, often thrashed out by genuine wildmen in the middle of nowhere.

Three songs for you today taken pretty much at random.

I may well revisit this one in due course for a Psychobilly Friday or two, or three

Dwight Pullens - Sunglasses After Dark

Freddie & the Hitch Hikers - Sinners

Gene Summers and his Rebels - School of Rock' n' Rolll

I-Pod Playlist - Cowboy Copas

 

Cowboy Copas is probably the shortest playlist on the I-pod with only 26 songs.

However here at CCM we are more concerned with quality as opposed to quantity so it shouldn't be an issue.

We start with the great Ray Davies, the frontman of The Kinks, and the song Vietnam Cowboys from his 2007 album Working Man's Cafe. My copy came free with the Sunday Times via my mother-in-law.

Next up we have a cover with Laura Cantrell 's version of the Lambchop song Cowboy on the Moon.

We then go a bit psychedelic with Jonathan Edwards and Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy.  A wee change of scene from his triple jumping and church going!

Finally, it would be churlish not to feature something by our title star.

It's Devil Gate Drive next. Will Suzi get a mention?

Ray Davies - Vietnam Cowboys

Laura Cantrell - Cowboy On The Moon

Jonathan Edwards - Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy

Cowboy Copas - Tennessee Waltz

More Sounds of the New West - The Best of Americana 2000

 

I've selected  an Uncut compilation More Sounds of the New West - The Best of Americana 2000 to feature as the 26th entry in this series.

Coincidentally I featured this CD at almost the same time last year. This is not a significant problem as it is a compilation which merits more than one post. It did mean that I had to alter my tracks selection somewhat.

That wasn't an issue as there were plenty more excellent tunes to choice from.. We start with The Flying Burrito Brothers surely one of the Godfathers of the genre. Here they are with their version of Dan Penn's  classic Dark Side of the Street a song that featured on Ernie's occasional Single Song Sunday Series.

Calexico are a band who are no stranger to CCM and several other Blogs. Their song The Ballad of Cable Hogue from their album Hot Rail is a big favourite here.

We conclude with Giant Sand and their song Raw.

Rest assured that should this CD ever feature again there are still plenty more great songs to choose from.

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Dark End of the Street

Calexico - The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Giant Sand - Raw

Saturday Shuffle 137

 

The Rockingbirds are no strangers to the Blog or indeed the Shuffle. When they are not Gradually Learning or singing the praises of Jonathan Richman they can be found In Tall Buildings.

Quiz time. How many of you can name an Edwin Starr song which is not War? I'll wait.

I'm sure you will have come up with something and Chapeau to any of you who came up with the title track of his 1965 album Twenty Five Miles

I woiuld like to dedicate the song War to Messrs Trump and Netanyahu

I'm sure that many of you are wondering what the heck the picture above is all about and its relevance to the Shuffle 

Well I'll put you out of your misery by posting the third and final song on the shuffle namely a Bobby Rush song from 1972 called Bowlegged Woman, Knock-Kneed Man.

More Bowlegged Women and Knock- Kneed men next Saturday but hopefully no warmongers.

The Rockingbirds - In Tall Buildings

Edwin Starr - Twenty Five Miles

Bobby Rush - Bowlegged Woman, Knock- Kneed Man

Relegation Material

 

Once again I have reached the stage that many Bloggers will be familiar with namely the Space Conundrum.

It is getting close to a one in, one out policy and drastic action is required.

The somewhat ad hoc blues/ rockabilly/ rock'n' roll section is full to bursting with no space to expand or to allow for newer CDs

It is time then to be ruthless and to downgrade some physical Burns to digital Downloads.

The first burn to receive this measure is the album Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats from 2015  on Stax by the band of the same name. It was released to a fair degree of hype but it is one that I've never really taken to.

The second album subjected to the same fate is Fish Ain't Bitin' by Bluesman Corey Harris from 1997 on the Alligator label. It probably came to my attention via The Blues Show with Paul Jones which used to be on Radio 2. 

I gave it its first listen in an age and felt fully justified with the downgrade. It's one I can't see myself listening to any time soon.

I suspect that there will be a few posts along these lines in due course.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - S.O.B.

Cory Harris - Fish Aint Bitin'

i-Pod Playlist - Countrywise

 

This week's I-Pod playlist is Countrywise i.e. songs that reference Country names in their title.

There are plenty to choose from and hopefully I have gone for three which you  wouldn't necessarily think of immediately.

Having said that I may well have failed on the first hurdle as I give you Big in Japan by Alphaville. Back in the day when Mrs CC noticed that I was looking at my Blog stats she would ask " Are you big in Japan?" Our Japanese friends are reasonably frequent visitors but I haven't seen any recently. Should any visit this post I hope that they don't find it too patronising.

It is unusual but not unknown for cover versions to be better than the original songs. I'm sure that you all can come up with some examples. For me a prime example is Sinead O'Connor's version of the John Grant song Queen of Denmark.

We are heading back to the Orient for today's final offering. Indeed we are going Somewhere In China in the company of the Shop Assistants.

Next weeks Playlist theme is Cowboy Copas and you will be relieved to know that we are now over halfway through this series.

Alphaville - Big in Japan

Sinead O'Connor - Queen of Denmark

Shop Assistants - Somewhere in China

The Life of Brian

 

A couple of weeks ago Ernie very kindly brought the eponymous album Railcard here on Slumberland Records to my attention.

It is a very pleasant listen with plenty of jingle jangle included. About 30 seconds in I thought that this one would interest Brian.  I sent a message to him saying that this would be right up his street if he did not already have it.

It was no great surprise when he replied that he did indeed have it. I would have been more surprised if he hadn't.

He also gave me a rundown on some of the music that he was currently enjoying. One such band was  Pugwash a power pop act from Dublin who have been going strong since 1999. The track below is taken from their 2015 album Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends). A band I would definitely go and see.

Another band that he namechecked was Would- Be- Goods a UK band fronted by Jessica Griffen. They have recently released an album on Skep Wax called Tears Before Bedtime. If you like your music slightly twee this is the one for you.

Thanks for widening my horizons  Ernie and Brian 

So much music so little time, money and space!

Railcard - Railcard

Pugwash - Kicking and Screaming

Would - Be - Goods - Tears for Leda

Mr Tambourine Man

 

My quest to obtain all 8 of the 1960s albums by The Byrds has taken another step forward with the acquisition of their 1965 debut Mr Tambourine Man.

Sadly it is not the original vinyl copy that I pickued up but rather the 1989 European CD release by CBS.

The band at this time  consisted of  Jim (Roger) McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby,Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke

12 tracks (including 3 Bob Dylan songs) and 31.35 minutes long. Ir would be remiss not to include the title track, penned by Dylan, particularly as it is quite probably the original reference to jingle jangle.

I Feel a Whole Lot Better was written by Gene Clark with  The Bells of Rhymney being penned by Idris Davies and Pete Seger.

Only Dr Byrds & Mr Hyde (March 1969 US  and April in the UK ) and Ballad of Easy Rider released in the US in November 69 and the UK in January 1970 to get.

The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man

The Byrds - I Feel a Whole Lot Better

The Byrds - The Bells of Rhymney