Sunday Songs on Monday

All good things come to an end.
Before we are reduced to barrel scraping we will draw Sunday Songs on Monday to a dignified conclusion.

For the final two songs we turn to Blur and The Velvet Underground and Nico.
Sunday Sunday is taken from Modern Life is Rubbish ( the one with the train on the cover) Blur's second album from 1993.
From 1967 The Velvet Underground and Nico is one of those seminal albums which didn't initially set the heather on fire but which went on to be regarded as an all time classic.
It originally sold only 30,000 copies but to quote Brian Eno everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band.

And finally we feature a live version of a song that fairly recently featured on CCM the utterly wonderful but completely bonkers Drinkin' in my Sunday Dress by Maria McKee.

Blur - Sunday Sunday

The Velvet Underground and Nico - Sunday Morning

Some Sunday Soul

It's off to Memphis, Tennessee today and to 2445 Chelsea Avenue to be precise to visit our old friends at Goldwax Records.
The Goldwax Story Volume 1 provides the highlights and magical moments from this deeply revered 60's soul label.
A number of their more famous artists on  the label  including the mighty James Carr, O.V. Wright, Spencer Wiggins and The Ovations have featured before on my Southern Soul Sunday series.
Barbara Perry  only ever produced one single on Goldwax  with the ballad Unlovable with Say You Need It on the other side (Goldwax 318 - 1967)
Percy Milem was slightly more prolific and here he features with Call on Me a song written by George Jackson ( Goldwax 315 - 1966)

More soul next Sunday

Barbara Perry - Unlovable

Percy Milem - Call On Me

Saturday Lucky Dip

I am aware that it is September as opposed to December but given the occasional random nature of this slot today we feature Uncut's John Peel's Festive 15.
Many of you will have religiously followed the Festive 50 at Peel's place over the years.
The Uncut sampler contains many of the usual suspects as you would expect - The Fall, The Wedding Present, Half Man Half Biscuit and the Bhundu Boys to name but four.

The first choice today has a somewhat apt title. Billy Bragg with the magnificent The Saturday Boy. I can recall a number of comments when this was featured before on another blog (Sexy Loser perhaps?)
A song that takes you straight back to puberty and one which includes one of the great lines in popular music.

In the end, it took me a dictionary
To find out the meaning of unrequited

Björk Guðmundsdóttir is a lady I suspect who has left a number of youths feeling unrequited over the years. Here she features with The Sugarcubes which I suspect will please Dirk from the afore mentioned Sexy Loser

More random nonsense next Saturday.

Billy Bragg -The Saturday Boy

The Sugarcubes - Birthday

You've Already Put Big Ole Tears in my Eyes ....

Today we feature a couple of pleasant ditties from Ira and Charlie Loudermilk more popularly known as the Louvin Brothers the gentlemen who have previously reminded us that the word Broadminded spells S.I.N.

Their mandolin based Country gospel harmonies were heavily influenced by their Baptist faith and constantly warn us against sin. Satin is real after all.
Somewhat paradoxically Ira Louvin was a drunk womanizer with a fiery temper who was shot four times in the chest by his third wife after he allegedly tried to strangle her with a telephone cord. There is a country song in their some where.

However today the Louvins ask us Are you ready for the Great Atomic Power and also lament that You've already put big ole tears in my eyes, must you throw dirt in my face

Terrific stuff

The Louvin Brothers - The Great Atomic Power

The Louvin Brothers - Must You Throw Dirt in my Face

Some Petty and Ill Informed Music

Anyone familiar with BBC  Radio Scotland's Off the Ball football programme featuring Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove  (of Detroit 67 fame) will recognise  the post title.
But relax it is not Tam Cowan you are getting today but Tam Petty hence the pish poor pun in the title -apologies.
A couple of gems today from the late 1970s and the back catalogue of the great Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
We start with American Girl from their 1976 eponymous album.
This is followed by Refugee from 1979's Damn the Torpedoes a song that is perhaps even more resonant now than it was back then.
Dig out those old albums and give then a listen - you will not regret it.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - American Girl

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Refugee

The Many Facets of Will Johnson

No time to shave

Whilst chatting and having a beer with Adam Reichmann of Nadine in the Clyde Bar in Helensburgh, as you do, we got round to asking him to recommend some music he was into.
Centro-matic was the reply and shortly after that my pal Goggs and I took in a couple of gigs by them at SXSW and very good they were too.
They are from Denton, Texas and the head honcho is Will Johnson who is a pretty prolific artist.

As well as Centro-matic he had another band South San Gabriel on the go at the same time.
He had previously played with a band called Funland and subsequently released a record with Jason Molina.
Throw the Undertow Orchestra, Monsters of Folk, New Multitudes and Overseas into the equation and you can see that he has been a busy boy.
Not too busy, however, to record a couple of solo albums including Vultures Await  which includes one of the tracks featured below.
As if that wasn't enough Sheryl Crow used to be his babysitter

These are for Goggs the founder and indeed sole member of The Thai and Kazakh Will Johnson Appreciation Society

Centro-matic - Ninety Secretaries Down

South San Gabriel -Evangeline

Will Johnson - Just to Know What You've Been Dreaming

And I Know It Ain't Gonna Last

Opus 40 by Mercury Rev features on Across the Great Divide - the compilation of music inspired by The Band which featured on Saturday. Turns out Levon Holm played drums on this one.

This had me looking out 1998's Deserter's Songs and giving it a listen for the first time in years.One I don't really think that has stood  the tests of time.
A bit twee in places for me with excessive use of the mellotron. Also the fact that main man Jonathan Donahue is listed in the sleevenotes only as Jonathan and someone else is listed as Grasshooper annoys me far more than it should.

Like a similar act The Flaming Lips their star shone brightly for a short period before rapidly fading.
I have had the 2001 follow up All is Dream in my hand on at least two occasions in charity shops but never managed to cross that finishing line.

Mercury Rev - Opus 40

Mercury Rev - Goddess on a Hiway