Reptilian

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 80 - Mia Sheard - Reptilian

The final instalment in the epic Dingwall four for a pound. The firsr three were absolute no brainers. Thereafter I got a bit stuck as most, if not all, of the others on the shelves were the usual total drivel.

Finally it boiled down to a straight choice between an album and a single from acts I had never heard of. Naturally I went for the album.

Reptilian is a 1999 album by Canadian singer-songwriter Mia Sheard on the Missing in Action label. It is second of the four albums that she has released . She is now a practising Psychotherapist in Toronto.

I must admit I was a bit uncertain after the first listen. It is a bit intense for my taste.Mrs CC liked it making a comparison to Julia Fordham. It seems that she is not alone. Jennifer Jones from Allmusic who states that Mia explores deep subject matter while keeping the music hauntingly beautiful, sometimes creating a surprising contrast on upbeat tunes.

She goes further adding she makes each song her own with her stunning vocal capabilities and by pouring herself out for the listeners to relate to. Her sometimes powerful and sometimes understated vocals tell a story of where she has been and experience gained, also spinning tales of human nature.

I must admit that after a second listen that I am still not totally convinced although I am now inclined to jettison it just yet without a further listen.Indeed  as Jennifer suggests this album might not be immediately accessible for most listeners, but the time taken to fully digest this album will not be in vain. We'll see.

Mia Sheard - The Tortoise and the Heiress

Mia Sheard - I Want

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 79 - Bill Callahan - Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest

The voice murmuring in our ear, with shaggy-dog and other kinds of stories, is an old friend we're so glad to hear again. Bill’s gentle, spacey take on folk and roots music is like no other; scraps of imagery, melody and instrumentation tumble suddenly together in moments of true human encounters (bandcamp)

I'm a bit of a late convert to the music of Smog and Bill Callahan so was quite pleased to fork out 25p for this one (I've mentioned the 4 for a pound price again just to wind up Rol!)

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest from 2019 is a double album on the Drag City label and is his 17th overall including those with Smog. It is the 6th studio album under his own name and the first in five years. Like most of his stuff it takes a few listens to get into it properly with each one revealing something new

In a review for Pitchfork Jayson Greene describes it as   his warmest, his most generous, possibly his most profound (album to date). It is his longest, for sure, lounging comfortably across four sides of vinyl, none of it wasted. It is a high note, fond and deep and sustained.

I was tempted to post the song Angela if only for the line like motel curtains we never really met  but there are probably better songs on the album.

It joins  a burn  of 2001's Apocalypse, which I found tucked into a Findlay Napier CD picked up in a charity shop, on the shelves

Here are a couple of tracks. When I next play it again I will probably come across others that I feel I should have shared

Bill Callahan -Black Dog on the Beach

Bill Callahan - Circles

No Depression #38 - The Flatlanders

 

No Depression - The Bi-monthly Journal of Alt- Country

#39 - May to June 2002

As you can see my photographs of the front cover of the magazine are beginning to get slightly straighter.

It is alt- country supergrpoup time as this edition features The Flatlanders from Lubbock, Texas

As the picture indicates there are three of them who started of as a band in 1972 and who all have gone on to enjoy successful solo career getting together sporadically to record and perform as The Flatlanders.

There are significant gaps between their records - 1976.1980,1990.1995,2002,2004,2009.2012 and 2021
A trivial fact about each one of the members:

• Jimmie Dale Gilmore played a bowler called Smokey in The Great Lewbowski
• Joe Ely toured with The Clash and sings backing vocals on Should I Stay or Should I Go?
• Butch Hancock is a talented photographer who has a gallery called Lubbock or Leave It

They are cover stars as they had just released an album called Now Again on one of Alt- Country's favourite labels New West. It is not one that I have. The only one of theirs that I have is a burn of 2012's The Odessa Tapes. 

I saw them playing in the Arches in Glasgow either around 2002 or 2004 when I was joined by a couple of friends of friends from Leek. One of them (I can't remember which) claimed that their name was derived from the fact that the land was so flat that you could see 100 miles in any direction and 200 if you stood on top of a sardine can.

More recently I saw Jimmie Dale Gilmore playing with Dave Alvin to promote their Downey to Lubbock album.

One from the band and one each from the band members for you 

It was a toss up between Tift Merritt and Patty Griffin fro the One from the Top slot with Patty winning out  as she is the only one who shares a name with a Glasgow pub which is sadly temporarily closed at the moment. One of the many that was visited during the Glasgow Bloggers Convention which allegedly inspired COP26.

The Flatlanders - South Wind of Summer

Jimmie Dale Gilmour - White Freight Liner Blues

Joe Ely -Letter to Loredo

Butch Hancock - Mario y Maria

Patty Griffin - That Kind of Lonely

Seen at King Tuts - Robbie Fulks

 

Robbie Fulks

Sunday 21st April  2002             £7.50       Ticket Number 00007

I'm not sure if this was the only time that I saw Robbie Fulks. I'm pretty sure that I have seen him on at least one more occassion but I can't remember where or when. I can remember  though that I was pretty excited about this one as the ticket number would suggest.

This one is fairly special in that it is the only concert that I have on a bootleg if you exclude a couple of the official Bob Dylan ones.Again I'm not sure how I acquired it. It could have been via a guy who used to record concerts on a mini disc player leading to us nicknaming him Minidischeid. More likely it was from my good pal Harry (who probably got it from Minidischeid!)

18 tracks up to and including 2001's 13 Hillbilly Giants which he was promoting at the time. My claim to fame is that I can be heard shouting Taxi in response to a heckler!

If anyone wishes a copy drop my an e-mail at the address on the sidebar. It is of a fairly reasonable standard as these three of my favourite tracks demonstrate

I've moved the ticket from the ticket time to the CD jewel box.

Robbie Fulks - She Took a Lot of Pills and Died (King Tuts 21-04-02)

Robbie Fulks -Papa Was a Steel Headed Man (King Tuts 21-04-02)

Robbie Fulks - Parallel Bars (King Tuts 21-04-02)

The Unraveling

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 78 -Drive-By Truckers - The Unraveling

I was a big fan of the Drive- By Truckers from 2001's Southern Rock Opera onwards seeing them live at King Tuts on a few occassions. However by around 2010 with Jason Isbel having left and the bank veering towards a harder rock sound with a change of label from New West to ATO  I  had slowly drifted away.

I got back on board with the release of The Unraveling their 12th studio album from 2020 on  ATO which to me seemed to be a return to form.

Patterson Hood is angry - angry with the state of America writing 21st Century USA, tanks rolling through the streets of Washington DC as our utopian dreams give way to a dystopian now. Nearly a generation since the towers fell and the shit came down. William Gibson's dark visions have come to pass, everyone is connected and more disconnected than ever. Our children have lock-down drills.

The embarassment and anger with the warped policies of the Trump administration is not helping either.

Hood manages to vent his anger on this powerful record and hopefully it was cathartic.In years to come we will look back and shake our heads.

I already had this on vinyl but was not about to pass up the opportunity to pick up a CD copy for 25p

Drive - By Truckers - 21st Century USA

Drive-By Truckers - Babies in Cages

Superwolves

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 77 - Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy - Superwolves

The Community Shop in Dingwall was selling CDs at four for a pound. Not that unusual these days but what was unusual was that there were three relatively new ones on the shelves which were absolute corkers.

I've a couple of things by Bonnie Prince Billy so Superwolves by Matt Sweeney (music) and Bonnie Prince Billy (words) caught my eye. It looked pretty new but it wasn't until I got home that I realised how new having only been released on 30th April this year. Someone must have played it once and handed it in.

On the Domino label who advise that the twin forces united to save up from the complicity of our own distruction whereas Pitchfork state that their bond is so deep, and their knowledge of one another is so profound, it’s essentially impossible to hear the boundary between them. 

Indeed it is worth listening to the Pitchfork article by Marty Sartini Garner in its entirity

After my first listen I wasn't quite sure. Not enough to chuck it back mind you. By the second listen I was hooked. I'm hearing comparisons to Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham with There Must Be a Someone putting me in mind of Gene Clark.You will not here a better song today.

Yes , it's that good. I'm putting this one down as a find.

Available on Bandcamp for those not fortunate enough to stumble across it

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy - There Must Be a Someone

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy - My Blue Suit

Herman's Hermits and Wimpy Bars

 

2021 Charity Shop Purchases 76 - Herman's Hermits -Herman's Hemits

Apologies for the slight break in transmission. Internet problems with a new router required.

The next port of call on the Highlands Charity Shop trail was Dingwall. The main shopping street was deserted and a bit run down  perhaps due to the close proximity of Inverness. However all the shop staff were very friendly and I struck lucky on two of the the three charity shops. There is still a Wimpy Bar* there! (one of only 67 in the UK, with only 3 in Scotland the other two being in Fraser borough and Kilmarnock).But I digress!

I came away from Blythswood Care with a couple of LPs both a bit crackly but only a pound each. One was this compilation album by Herman's Hermits (a band from the Wimpy generation) They seem to have had an inordinate number of compiations  with Discogs listing 158!

There are 232 of this one for sale starting at £0.85.This one with the catalogue number SREG1117 seems to have originated from New Zealand. It is a Mickie Most compilation on the Regal label which appears to have been an offshoot of EMI with HMV getting a namecheck for manufacturing and distribution.

The two songs which I have selected, and which I'm sure that you are all familiar with, were written by Graham Gouldman of 10cc fame. He was not a member of the band  but rather was described by Wiki as a writer for hire coming up with best sellers for the Yardbirds, the Hollies and Wayne Fontana as well as the Hermits. Bus Stop was ahuge hit for the Hollies in 1966 but that did not stop Peter Noone and co from putting out their own version.

Herman's Hermits - Bus Stop

Herman's Hermits - No Milk Today

*And here it is!