A Splendid Racket -One More Won't Kill Us

A day late - but well worth the wait.

I suspect that we all have albums and bands on the shelves and wonder why they never made it when compared to some of the dross that did.
One such album and one such band is One More Won't Kill Us the 2007 debut album, and indeed only album by The Hedrons on Measured Records.

A four piece all female rock/punk band from Glasgow they did indeed make a splendid racket.
I was eagerly awaiting the album being released so much so that I ended up with a promo copy.

I've featured this before to considerable indifference

The Hedrons - Heatseeker

The Hedrons - I Need You

Camera Obscura - St Luke's

Great excitement at CCM HQ as we are off to see Camera Obscura tonight at St Luke's. As a very pleasant added bonus the support act is Carla J. Easton.
I've never seen them before and I'm expecting a great night.I also suspect that it will be rather hot.
One of two nights in preparation for their participation in Belle & Sebastian's forthcoming  Boaty Weekender cruise.
I could be wrong but I think it may be their first concert since Carey Lander's passing.

While having been familiar with many of their songs it was only as part of last year's birthday haul that I added My Maudlin Career and Let's Get Out of This Country to my copy of Desire Lines.
Here's one from each.

Full match report in due course.

Camera Obscura - James

Camera Obscura - Country Mile

Splendid though they may be Camera Obscura can never be excused of making a splendid racket. That has been postponed until tomorrow.

Vintage Country Vinyl - Jimmy Dean

One of the new names to me in the Vintage Country Vinyl haul was Jimmy Dean.
No, not that one but  a TV host, actor, business man and country singer

Some Jimmy Dean facts.

• He founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company with his brother Don (the picture above was a clue for that one)
• He had a supporting role in Diamonds Are Forever as billionaire Willard Whyte
• He was a member of The Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries

I'm conscious that I'm beginning to sound a bit like George now!

These two numbers are from Jimmy Dean's Golden Favourites  - a Hilltop Country and Western Recording ( the authentic sounds of Country & Western Music) on Fontana.

I had hoped to feature Why Don't You Shut Your Mouth  but unfortunately the track kept skipping.

More of the same next Sunday.

Jimmy Dean - A Million Tears From Now

Jimmy Dean - Sugar Coated Sweetheart

Good Boys ... When They're Asleep

I took the opportunity whilst on holiday to upgrade my burn of The Best of Faces CD Good Boys ... When The're Asleep.
Always good to get a new CD and have no storage issues.
Compiled primarily by Ian McLagan and released on the Rhino label in 1999.
As you would expect it is terrific stuff.19 tracks of bluesy, ballsy, gutsy rock'n'roll by Kenny Jones, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood.

I've gone for two that haven't featured here before namely Miss Judy's Farm a single from June 1972 and Stay With Me from December 1971 which was their first single to chart remaining in the charts for 14 weeks and peaking at number 6.
Both appear on the brilliant album A Nod is as Good as a Wink .. to a Blind Horse (first and last tracks on side 1). I have it on vinyl but sadly it is not in a very good condition. It did however only cost me 65p.

Faces - Miss Judy's Farm

Faces - Stay With Me

It's a Wonderful Life

I picked up It's a Wonderful Life the third studio album by Sparklehorse from 2001 and on Capital/EMI in my local charity shop prior to going on my hols.
It joins its 1998 predecessor Good Morning Spider on the shelves. While still not necessarily an easy listen it is more accessible than GMS with slightly less apparently random distortion.
This maybe because this time round Mark Linkous is not providing all the music and vocalsvocals.
 Here he is joined by some heavyweights including Tom Waits, P.J. Harvey (on the 2nd song below), John Parish and Nina Persson.

My ticket tin tells me I saw Sparklehorse at King Tuts (venue changed from The Arches) on Monday 12th October 1998 paying £7.50 for ticket number 00622.

Sadly Mark Linkous did not have a wonderful life.In 1996 he almost lost the use of his legs after collapsing unconscious following a drug overdose with his legs pinned under him.
Then in March 2010 going though a marriage breakup he completed suicide by shooting himself.He was 47.

Sparklehorse - It's a Wonderful Life

Sparklehorse - Eyepennies

Time For August

I was about to say that Julie London  is going for the summer look by sporting a bikini given that it is now August but it has been her outfit of choice on a number of months including some distinctly unseasonable.

This month's offering is Time for August a song written by some boy called Arthur Hamilton.It would seem to sponsor the demure notion that a girl should have anew boyfriend every month and at the end of the year she is twelve times as happy.
Maybees aye or maybees naw.

Next month Julie wears something more autumnal - or maybees not

Julie London -Time For August

State of the Union - Ohio

George writes:

The most famous song with the word Ohio in it cannot be included this week, there is no indication that the murder sung about in said song took place in the state of Ohio.

Did you know that there is a Buckeye Tree? And it grows all over Ohio. People from Ohio are known as buckeyes. Unfortunately, it’s not  terribly exotic, it belongs to the same family as the conker (horse chestnut) tree.

(Buckeye Tree? Conker Tree?)

And from a plethora of songs about Ohio, some good, some not so good, first off is the first track on the majestic Soul Journey album, by Gillian Welch:

Gillian Welch - Look out Miss Ohio

There are some famous people who were born  in this state. Neil Armstrong, he’s quite famous, isn’t he? Orville Wright. Famous. Ditto Doris Day. Dino Paul Crocetti, Steven Spielberg. Jack Nicklaus. Paul Newman. Toni Morrison. Clark Gable. Thomas Edison. I believe, but I might be wrong, that there are some people born in Ohio who are not famous.

There was a comedy show in the late 70s early 80s called WKRP in Cincinnati, that I remember as being very funny. I will not be watching it any time soon as the DVDs of the show are insanely expensive. 

Second track is from the final Phil Ochs album “Greatest Hits. Which is actually an album of ten original songs.  Phil Ochs did spend some of his childhood and young adulthood in Ohio.

Phil Ochs - Boy in Ohio

Proof indeed that some of Phil Ochs’ later songs are  good. 

Then there’s well known non-Ohio residents the Super Furry Animals. This is track 4 from Love Kraft:

Super Furry Animals - Ohio heat

That’s from my favourite album of theirs.

For myself and CC THE obvious song, and at times one of the Top Ten Tunes Ever Recorded In The Entirety Of Popular Music, is the one where the female love interest  pulls a letter from her bible, and a rose pressed inside the book of Luke, whilst the man lies drunk in a cold a gray apartment in Chicago, where a cigarette drowns inside a glass of gin. (We’ve all been there)

Dwight Yoakam - South of Cincinnati

As some would say, if you don’t like that, what is WRONG with you? 

An outfit called Sehnsucht covered the song. Somehow they managed to make  a very moving country song into a tedious guitar-driven dirge.

(A rose in a bible, get it?)

There are a plethora (didn’t I use that word above?) of fine songs that could also have been included, by Damian Jurado, Laura Veirs, even the Jayhawks one is pretty good, there’s the Ian Hunter song. And there’s the ones that should not  be included, but I suspect my good friend will post one of them below. Not the track by CSNY, of course not.

Oh, and Dino Paul Crocett was better known as Dean Martin.

Another one next week-

CC writes : I've gone for one of the good ones that you mentioned.

Damien Jurado - Ohio