Wrecking Ball

Emmylou's 1985 album Wrecking Ball has been featuring recently on the radio as a re-issue is currently on the go with the usual marketing gimmicks which are associated with such occasions.
Emmylou was revered as a country institution when this, her 18th studio album, was released when she was 48.
However rather than playing it safe Emmylou,who has always been willing to experiment, opted for something different from the norm with an album produced by Daniel Lanois  with mainly covers of songs by the likes of Steve Earle, Neil Young and Lucinda Williams all of whom appear on the album.
Although it was critically acclaimed winning the 1996 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Recording it is fair to say that it did not go down well with some of the purists amongst her country fans.
Indeed when I went to see her performing this at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall a few members of the audience actually walked out.
Country's answer to the Bob Dylan 1966 Manchester Free Trade Hall concert and the cries of "Judas" when he went electric!
A great album and one well worth revisiting or checking out if you are not familiar with it.

Here are a couple of tracks - one written by Emmylou, Lanois and Dave Olney followed by a cover of a Gillian Welch song from her Revival album.

Emmylou Harris - Deeper Well

Emmylou Harris - Orphan Girl

Talent Show

I bought a Billy Talent album in a charity shop in Hamilton the other day.
Now there is a school of thought which says that I am too old for this sort of stuff but this is not a view that  I  subscribe to.
Billy Talent is not a person. They are a band, and a Canadian band at that.
I've seen them described as melodious punk which to some might seem an oxymoron. They are also loud.
They started out as Pezz until a legal wrangle led them to changing their name to Billy Talent.
This is their first album as Billy Talent from 2003.It was followed up by Billy Talent II, then Billy Talent III and the more adventurously named Dead Silence.
It is loud and fairly relentless and intense but it is none the worse for that.
Oh, and did I mention it's loud?

Billy Talent - Living in the Shadows

Billy Talent - Line & Sinker

Tartan Texans - Roddy Hart

A series on Scottish acts who have (in my opinion) been influenced, however tenuously, by Americana/Alt Country/call it what you will.

This weeks artist is Roddy Hart whom I first encountered supporting Rosanne Cash at Celtic Connections.

He had previously supported Kris Kristofferson who was so impressed that he collaborated on Roddy's 2007 debut album Bookends from which these two tracks are taken.

Although he is essentially a singer songwriter I think you can hear the country influence on these songs.

I've heard him on the radio waxing lyrical about the Laurel Canyon Sound and some of that has probably worn off in his music.

The second track puts me in mind a bit of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah and also has a Dylanesque feel to it.

Hardly surprising then that he recorded an EP of Dylan covers with Gemma Hayes who has previously featured on these pages.

He is now recording with a band as Roddy Hart and the Lonesome Fire who have a more rockier feel than his earlier solo work

He also presents a show on Thursday nights on BBC Radio Scotland with an impressive eclectic renge of music.

Roddy Hart - Flames

Roddy Hart - One Thousand Lives

Southern Soul Sunday 30

We are back to an album again this week as opposed to an individual artist.
And to another Mojo freebie  at that this time from May 2005.
Another compilation CD free with a magazine that you wouldn't hesitate paying good money for.
Many of the artists featured  have already graced this series so we will go with two who haven't.
James Milton Campbell Jr was better known as Little Milton. His music crossed that often artificial barrier between blues and soul.
You won't be disappointed to note,therefore, that he will also feature in the Blues Collection series once randomly selected.
Richard Dunbar and Jimmy Diggs recorded as The Knight Brothers with this magnificent song from 1965 being their most successful hit.
This is a good wee starter album and well worth picking up from a charity shop were many Mojo and Uncut albums ultimately end up

Little Milton - We're Gonna Make It

The Knight Brothers - Temptation 'Bout To Get Me

When Phil Met Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Marky

What happened when the slightly deranged genius that was Phil Spector met the slightly deranged geniuses that were the Ramones?
1980's End of the Century that's what!
Spector had long expressed an interest in producing the Ramones and finally got the chance on this their 5th studio album.
Their previous four albums had been made on a shoestring  and with relatively poor production.
Not a chance of either of these facts occurring when The Wall of Sound Man was behind the desk.
Hardly surprisingly there was a  degree of tension at times between the band and the producer.During one recording session Spector allegedly held Dee Dee at gunpoint forcing him to repeatedly play a riff. A portent, perhaps, of things to come.
The end result was a more commercial and poppy sound than the punkier stuff that had gone before as you would expect with the hand of Spector involved.
It received mixed reviews with many welcoming this change of direction with others not quite so happy.
I'm in the former camp - I think it is a great album with many great songs including the two featured.
As with all Ramones albums it did not trouble the upper echelons of the charts peaking at number 14 in Britain and 44 in the States.

Ramones - Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?

Ramones - Baby,I Love You

A Belated Easter Offering

Given the title of this album by Austin's psychedelic rock band The 13th Floor Elevators this post should probably have featured last week -so apologies.
A few years ago I got an unwanted Christmas present namely The Division Bell by Pink Floyd. So I did what any sensible person would do and took it to Echo in Byres Road where I exchanged it for the 1967 masterpiece that is Easter Everywhere by the 13th Floor Elevators. I got a socket set from the same person the following year which was equally useless!
If you didn't know this was from 1967 I'm pretty sure that if you took an educated guess that you wouldn't be far away.
I think it is reasonable to assume that industrial quantities of drugs were consumed during the production of this album.
Certainly drugs ultimately played a part in the demise of the band. That and Roky Erickson's psychiatric problems which were probably drug induced in part
Thankfully, Roky is now out of institutional care and is making music again.

As Ray Wylie Hubbard sings on "Screw You, We're from Texas " " no band was cooler that the 13th Floor Elevators"
Another post inspired by the excellent Psychoraag.

The 13th Floor Elevators - Slip Inside This House

The 13th Floor Elevators - I've Got Levitation

Sticky Soul Fingers

The British music magazine Mojo often does track by track covers of classic albums.
Whereas this can be quite interesting with the occasional gem here and there they seldom come close to the original.
One notable exception is Sticky Soul Fingers from January 2012 which is a soul interpretation of the classic 1971 Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers.
Although the same tracks are covered it is obviously completely different and it  is also absolutely tremendous.
It is one of those rare freebee albums that you would consider worthy of a purchase in its own right.

It features such artists as Black Joe Lewis  & the Honeybears, Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens and Ren Harvieu.
I've opted for Alice Russell's interpretation of Brown Suger and the mighty Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings version of Wild Horses.
I've a CD with sixteen versions of Wild Horses downloaded from somewhere a few years ago.
Unfortunately this version does not feature. Thankfully neither does Susan Boyle's version!

Alice Russell - Brown Sugar

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Wild Horses