Disco Friday #7 - Hairbrush Divas

Another series which is limping towards it's conclusion.
Today we feature two of a large selection of fairly cheesy various artists compilations which I am denying any knowledge of.

From Hairbrush Divas Party! Disc 2 (Music you just have to sing along to) we start with Deniece Williams and Let's Hear It For The Boy which surprisingly was not her biggest hit.It reached number 2 following it's release in May 84 narrowly missing equaling her 1977 number 1 Free

Again Chaka Khan had a number 1 with I Feel For You. Not a patch on I'm Every Woman which only reached 11 in 78 with a re-mix reaching number 8 in 89.
From The Very Best of All Women - The Platinum Collection (CD1)

Chaka Khan, let me rock you

Let me rock you, Chaka Khan

Deniece Williams -Let's Hear It For The Boy

Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman

I'm Not Afraid of You

About a month or so ago Jez featured some music by Carmel. At the time I commented that I had some stuff by her and that I really should get round to playing some of it.
I've now finally done just that. Turns out I've more of Ms McCourt's records than I thought - namely The Drum is Everything, The Falling and the 12 inch of I'm Not Afraid of You which is the one  I'm featuring today.

Confusingly the 2 songs on the b-side are in a different order to that listed on the sleeve.
They are also probably as near to Jazz as you are ever likely to get on these pages

Carmel -I'm Not Afraid of You (Extended Remix)

Carmel - Daddy Long Legs

Carmel - Energize My Soul

Little and Large #7

Hands by Little Boots is one of the many charity shop acquisitions that I played on purchase and then filed away and which rarely saw the light of day thereafter.
The hidden track  Hands at the end is a belter but I can't rip it without including the one before so you are getting Symmetry where she is joined by the great Phil Oakley.

Biggie Tembo was the lead singer of the majestic Bhundu Boys. Unfortunately  his subsequent solo stuff was not a patch on his work with the band.
Tragically Biggie completed suicide in 1995 at the age of 37 while a patient in a psychiatric hospital.

This series is beginning to loose some momentum but I'll see if I can stretch it to 10.

Little Boots - Symmetry

Biggie Tembo - Punza

The Executioner's Last Songs

Yesterday's posting of Delilah immediately put me in mind of the Executioner's Last Songs a project by Jon Langford and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts.
Where they consign songs of murder, mob-law and cruel ,cruel punishment to the realm of myth, memory and history with any proceeds going to benefit The Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty. A worthy cause as I'm sure you will all agree.
They are joined by various guests on 18 great interpretations all of which are worthy of a feature.
After due consideration I've gone for Dean Schlabowske's version of the great Gary Gilmore's Eyes by the Adverts and Jenny Toomey's take on Cole Porter's Miss Otis Regrets.

The good news is that there are a further two volumes.The bad news for some of you is that's the next two Tuesday's sorted.

The Pine Valley Cosmonauts (feat Dean Schlabowske) - Gary Gilmore's Eyes

The Pine Valley Cosmonauts (feat. Jenny Toomey) - Miss Otis Regrets

This Song is Inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm not really a fan of live albums and I suspect I probably only have a couple of dozen if that..
My favourite is undoubtedly The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live at the Hammersmith Odeon on 24th May 1975.
First owned on cassette and subsequently upgraded to second hand vinyl for a quid when you could by vinyl at sensible prices.
The Tomahawk Kid  followed by Delilah. With all due respect to Sir Tom this is THE definitive version.

Partly inspired by the homage to Alex Harvey on the recent BBC Rip it Up documentary and a newspaper article featuring Ted McKenna extolling the virtues of fellow drummer Keith Moon.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - The Tomahawk Kid

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Delilah

My Son Calls Another Man Daddy

When Jr was good

No accidental series of the Most Country of Country Song Titles would be complete without a contribution from The Hillbilly Shakespeare himself Hank Williams.

My Son Calls Another Man Daddy is a salutary tale about the perils of going down the wrong road, ending up in jail and coming out to find that your family have moved on in your absence. A lesson there if ever there was one.

Surprisingly given the subject nature of many of his songs there are not that many which would be automatically included in this series.

Hank Williams -My Son Calls Another Man Daddy

Hank Williams -Take These Chains From My Heart

Sin City Revisited

I've been laid low this week with a bad bug and have been pretty unwell.
So I have had neither the time nor the  inclination to come up with something original today.

Rather I am revisiting the Sin City compilation which I featured last Saturday and featuring some of the excellent acts who missed the cut first time around.
I thought that I had previously posted the title track but it turns out that I have only shared a cover version by Beck and Emmylou Harris.
Green on Red and The Blasters are old friends of this blog and always merit a post from time to time.

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Sin City

Green on Red - Sea of Cortez

The Blasters - Hollywood Bed