Forty Licks

 

  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 4 - The Rolling Stones - Forty Licks

Forty Licks is a 2 x CD 40 year career-spanning retrospective compilation of the work of The Rolling Stones released in 2002. For licensing reasons it was attributed to Virgin/ABCKO/Decca.

Bought primarily to replace a burn but let's face it not too many would turn down the opportunity to pick up 40 songs by the Stones for a quid.

Whereas it is not strictly in chronilogical order disc 1 contains songs from 1964 -1971 and disc 2 from 1971 to 2002.

Two from each disc I think.

From disc 1 I'm going for Gimme Shelter from the great Let it Bleed album from1969 and the single version of She's a Rainbow a song from1967's Their Satanic Majesties Request.

You won't be surprised to hear that disc 2 is not as consistantly brilliant as disc 1 although a couple of songs from  Exile on Main Street are  included. (Sticky Fingers straddles both discs)

Beast of Burden is taken from Some Girls  from 1978 probably their best post 1972 album.

The compilation includes four new songs. No great shakes but Keys to Your Love is probably the best of a fairly mediocre bunch.

Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter

Rolling Stones - She's a Rainbow

Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden

Rolling Stones - Keys to Your Love

The Kick Inside

 

  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 3  Kate Bush - The Kick Inside

There were about half a dozen Kate Bush CDs in the charity shop where I had my May Day foray .I'm not an uber fan nor am I one of those people who can't stand her.This led me to picking up only two of them.

One was her debut album from 1976 (when she was just 19 if my arithmetic is correct) The Kick Inside  on EMI in the UK and Harvest in the States

You will all be aware of the main single from the album Wuthering Heights which amazingly was the first self written song by a female artist to reach number 1 on the UK singles charts. I shall spare you that one today 

Them Heavy People released on 5th May 1978 was a single in Japan only with the title Rolling the Ball

Kate was only 13 when she wrote The Man With The Child in His Eyes which is pretty astonishing. She recorded it when she was 16.

The more astute among you and/or those who can remember as far back as the first paragraph will have worked out that she will be making a further appearance here sooner rather than later.

Kate Bush -Them Heavy People

Kate Bush - The Man with the Child in His Eyes

Sparky's Dream

  2021 Charity Shop Purchases 2 - Teenage Fanclub Sparky's Dream (CD single)

Sparky's Dream a song written by Gerry Love is the 2nd track on Teenage Fanclub's 1994 album Grand Prix (Creation) and was also the 2nd single  from the album released on 22nd May 1995.

I already have it from the album on vinyl. CD and digitally but if I see a Teenage Fanclub single I'm going to pick it up if only to support Brian's campaign for the release of a B-sides album.

As is the way of these things there appears to be a number of different versions. The one that I acquired seems to be a promo version. It contains 4 tracks - Sparky's Dream (obviously), Burned (a Buffalo Springfield song by Neil Young ), For You (written by Raymond McGinley) and Headstand another Gerry Love number.

Yours for £2.50 plus postage  on Discogs

Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream

Teenage Fanclub -Burned

Teenage Fanclub - For You

Teenage Fanclub -Headstand

At War With the Mystics

 2021 Charity Shop Purchases 1 - The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics

Saturday 1st May 2021 saw my first visit to a charity shop this year and gave me my first opportunity of the year to tick the CCM  raison d'etre box. Fortunately it was a good haul but I suspect that I may struggle to match the 2020 total of 74.

I've had The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips for a while and have never really felt the urge to explore further. However, I was not about to turn down the opportunity to pick up their next one 2006's At War with the Mystics on Warner Brothers for a pound.

My first impressions are mixed. One or two like those below stood out but I suspect it may take a few listens before confirming whether it is bombastic pop brilliance as the blurb on the sticker from Filter Magazine would have it. Defo a keeper though.

Being the Flaming Lips the song titles are fairly ridiculous. The official titles for the two featured below are:

Free Radicals ( A Hallucination of the Christmas Skeleton Pleading with a Suicide Bomber) and

It Overtakes Me /The Stars are so Big...I am so Small ...Do I Stand a Chance?  I'll settle for the abridged versions.

The Flaming Lips - Free Radicals

The Flaming Lips - It Overtakes Me

I Ain't Marching Any More

There was a time in the early 60s when Folk music was pretty much synonymous with protest songs particularly in the States.

This was around the time when Dylan first shot to prominence with songs such as The Times They Are a Changing and With God on Our Side. Another exponent was Phil Ochs although he preferred to by known as a Topical Singer. At the time there was plenty to get topical about.

I Ain't Marching Any More is his second album from 1965 on the Electra label. I have it on a two albums on one CD format along with his 1964 debut All The News That's Fit to Sing.

A number of his songs appeared on George's State of the Union series including one from this album namely Here's to the State of Mississippi which must be one of the most powerful songs that I've ever heard. I don't imagine that he got a warm welcome in that state following that.

We could do with more protest songs now. Although Edwyn Collins spoke of too many protest singers, not enough protest songs it is hard to think of many with the notable exceptions of Steve Earle and Billy Bragg

Phil Ochs - I Ain't Marching Any More

Phil Ochs - Draft Dodger Rag

Phil Ochs - Here's to the State of Mississippi

 

Vintage Country Vinyl - Kitty Wells

 

The second oustanding Vintage Country Vinyl album, bought at the same time as Melba Montgomery and considerably better, is Kitty Wells as part of The Country Hall of Fame series on MCA Coral from 1990.

16 tracks, and not a duffer amongst them, from the lady who broke down the barrier to women in Country music with her 1952 classic It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.

I would imagine that you are all familiar with that one so I thought I would share two of the others. Paying for that Back Street Affair is an answer song to Back Street Affair the 1952 hit by Webb Pierce.It reached number 6 in the US Country charts in 1953.

Mommy for a Day is song written by Kitty and in true country style it is a bit of a heartbreaker. It was a top 5 hit in 1959.

Not for nothing was she awarded top female vocalist awards for 14 consecutive years

13 quid from the  Tax Dodgers if you are interested. I payed 99p

Kitty Wells -Paying For That Back Street Affair

Kitty Wells - Mommy for a Day

Punk 2

 

As this series of punk/new wave compilations continues it is getting harder and harder to come up with artists or songs which I haven't featured before. To make things even harder I'm trying to exercise a bit of quality control so no Throbbing Gristle today.

First up is the only debut act today .The Dead Boys were a band from Cleveland, Ohio and according to Wiki they were one of the rowdiest and most violent punk groups of the era which might explain why they didn't last long or enjoy more fame. Sonic Reducer was their debut single on the Sire label in 1977.

Public Image Ltd surely need no introduction. The band that Johnny Rotten now using his real name John Lydon formed when he left the Sex Pistols. I thought this had featured before but looking back only Rise has appeared before.

The Ruts debuted earler on these Saturday slots with Staring at the Rude Boys which was on the Sound of the City compilation .Babylon's Burning is the one I remember most.

The Slits featured on the back of me having read  Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys the 2014 autobiography of Viv Albertine. Today New Town gets it first airing.

Sod it - I'm about to break my own rules for this series. Ambition by Vic Goddard & the Subway Sect was all set to appear until I discovered that it had featured on a random Uncut compilation. It is so good that it is going on again.

Punk 3 next week in what will be the last in this series

The Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer

Public Image Ltd - Public Image

The Ruts - Babylon's Burning

The Slits - New Town

Vic Goddard & the Subway Sect - Ambition