Some Sunday Soul

As I do most weekends I visited my mum in her care home last Sunday.
Just outside the cafe area there was a Barnardos pop up charity shop with assorted stuff over two or three tables , boxes, bookcases, etc.
CD section I thought and then a result I came away with The Definitive Ray Charles  46 tracks for 99p
I thought I had it but it was actually another compilation on the shelves so plenty of new songs for me to get my teeth into.
He was a bit of a genre buster was old Ray. The album contains Jazz, Blues , Country , Soul and Easy Listening.
Seeing it's Sunday we are calling it soul although the first song is taken from his 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume 2.
The second is his take on the title track from the great film In the Heat of the Night. The way things are going on in America these days if it was aired today people would think in was a documentary.

Ray Charles - Your Cheating Heart

Ray Charles - In The Heat of the Night


A bumper month viewing wise this month with over 3000 hits in the last week from Russia and Mauritius alone.Spam I suspect but if not welcome aboard!

Namechecked - Patsy Cline

I hear the ghost of Patsy Cline on the Grand Old Opry Show

A couple of Americana acts today paying homage to the late great Patsy Cline.
First up are Canadian band The Guthries with Patsy Cline from their 2000 album Off Windmill. I thought that I may have previously posted this one before but apparently not.
I know I haven't posted the Golden Age of Radio by Josh Ritter (from which the above quote is taken) before as it only came to my attention when I featured another of his songs namechecking Townes Van Zandt
And finally the First Lady of Country herself Virginia Patterson Hensley.from 1961 two years before her untimely death in a plane crash at the age of 30.

The Guthries -Patsy Cline

Josh Ritter - Golden Age of Radio

Patsy Cline - She's Got You

Vintage Country Vinyl - Glen Campbell

It's Glen Campbell this week folks but with a twist in that there are no Jimmy Webb songs featured.
I've previously posted him singing some Jimmy Webb numbers  which was very well received.
It is an undisputed fact that his music is not in the same league when Jimmy does not feature.
A bit like Morecambe without Wise or for the younger readers Ant without Dec

I've two Glen Campbells on vinyl the imaginatively titled Glen Campbell's Greatest Hits and The Glen Campbell Album. When you stray away from the hits things can become pretty ropey pretty quickly - for instance his versions of My Way, Bridge over Troubled Waters and You'll never Walk Alone are best avoided.

I'm experimenting today with Google Drive - let my know what you think

More VCV next Friday


Glen Campbell -Dreams of the Everyday Housewife


Glen Campbell & Bobbie Gentry -All I Have to do is Dream

The Shirelles vs The Crystals

The Shirelles




It's competition time today folks in the left corner we have The Shirelles

The Crystals

And in the right corner we have The Crystals

The first two songs on side 2 of the recently featured Forever Mod compilation.

Which one floats your boat the most?

A tough call I'm sure you'll agree.

For me they are pretty even but The Shirelles just shade it solely because of the Benny Hill style background music which sneaks into the Crystals number.

Both quality though

The Shirelles - Baby It's You

The Crystals - He's a Rebel

I Am a Charlatan

The Charlatans are yet another band which has pretty much passed my by over the years when I was pretty much totally emmersed in Americana.
Now I know that some of  my esteemed colleagues including Swiss Adam and The Robster are huge fans so
 I thought I would splash out 49p for the Melting Pot compilation to see what all the fuss is about.
A Greatest Hits from their time on Beggars Banquet from 1990 to 1997.
I've gone for The Only One I Know their second single and first top 10 hit from their first album Some Friendly  and voted by The Jam Community as their best song.
my second choice is Just When You'e Thinkin' Things Over a 1995 single from their self titled 4th album peaking at number 12 in the singles charts.

My verdict? Not bad at all but a wee bit more on the dancier side of Madchester that I thought they would be.

The Charlatans - The Only One I Know

The Charlatans - Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over

Still Alive on Route 55

I am 55 years young today..
To celebrate and given that I have a spectacular lack of imagination I am going to do the same as last year's birthday post and select the 55th songs from my vinyl and CD lists.
Starting with the vinyl there has been relatively little movement over the last year in the A to C section.
Last year The Clash - the Singles this year one of the top 10 albums of all time London Calling and one which I have just played in it's entirety.
As recently discussed at Brian's place every track is an absolute cracker.
I've gone for Rudy Can't Fail, tomorrow it would be something else.
A wee bit more movement on the CD front going from Bi and last year's cult classic Big Star to Be and this year's cult classic The Beta Band.
I'll try to think up something more original for next year

The Clash - Rudy Can't Fail

The Beta Band - Round the Bend

Jesse Winchester

I was vaguely familiar with the name Jesse Winchester plus a couple of blogging colleagues whose judgement I trust paid generous tributes when he passed on in April 2014 at the age of 69.
However I was not really that familiar with his music.
That changed recently when car trouble led to an unscheduled visit to the library.
I came away with  A Reasonable Amount of Trouble his final studio album recorded and completed shortly before his death.
And what a terrific record it is.
I can safely say that it will not be the last of his which will find it's way onto the shelves

Jesse Winchester - A Little Louisiana

Jesse Winchester - Ghosts