I'm just about there when it comes to the A-Z of cataloguing although the Compilations will no doubt through up their own challengs.
The letter T has identified a number of Turners.
We will start with Ruby. A Jamaican born but British based soul singer. These days she is probably best known for her live appearances with Jools Holland .She has previously appeared with Culture Club and has performed and recorded with a number of Motown stars.She is also an actress and has appeared in Love Actually and a stage production of Fame.
Big Joe Turner is described as a Blues shouter and according to Doc Pomusrock'n'roll would have never happened without him. He has appeared on these pages before as part of The Blues Collection
Prior to appearing as a solo artist and achieving world domination with Private DancerTina Turner had appeared as part of a duo with her them husband Ike.Although an extremely talented musician,band leader and songwriter Ike had a history of drug abuse and domestic violence so Tina was well shot of him. They did leave behind a plethora of banging tunes though
We finish with Frank Turner a man who comes from a privileged background but whose politics are of a left wing stance albeit with a bit of liberalism. I suspect that he is probably a wee bit intense.
Four Turners then or five if we count Ike and Tina separately. Which one would be the most worthy winner of the Turner Prize?
I am in temporary possession of one of the best-selling albums of all time. No, not Rumours (permanent possession), Thriller (ditto), Bat Out Of Hell (be serious, PLEASE!), but Whitney.It starts off with “I wanna dance with somebody”, a perfectly good pop song, and alternates with ballads and upbeat tunes until the final three ballads. I recognised one of said ballads, “I know him so well”, but it was the version performed by Sir Elaine Paige (and Barbara “January February” Dickson also sang on that, which I did not know).
I liked this track, one that was new to me. The cd has problems with some of the tracks, so here’s the video
How can you not like that?
It’s a surprisingly listenable album. I’ve played it twice before putting on the bird.scarer pile.
And now, Whitney Joins The Jams………..which would have happened if, say, I’d picked out a Strawberry Switchblade album then one by TheRaspberries.. Thankfully this did not happen. Instead, what looks like a right load of old bobbins. My research about the next album led me to the “enciclopédia de cromos”, the encyclopedia of nerds, which is a blog. Anyway, Paulo has written a long article here about the girl group ANTILOOK, who, contrary to the name, are 5 models who, on the back of the success of a particular genre of pop groups in Portugal in the late 1990s, formed their own group. I suspect some record company people thought that five extremely attractive and famous young women could be persuaded to make a record that would sell a shed-load of copies.
On looking at the album cover, my partner wondered if the woman on the left was holding her dress down because she had no knickers on. As soon as she said it I replied that “that’s going in the article”. And here is said album cover
I am trying to work out why I like this record. As you’d expect from a pop album, it’s very well produced, easy to listen to, most songs are upbeat…….but if it was Girls Aloud or All Saints I’d probably set fire to it. But it’s going onto my shelves, in the portuguese section as you ask, not the pop section.
Here’s my second favourite track, I think the Pearl-Butler style zoo-bee-doobies helps, but’s a hell of a catchy song:
After those tracks it is now highly likely you’ll want more, so go to the link in Paulo’s blog above for that, and if you want your own copy of ANTILOOK’s album, it’s available at discogs for as little as €4.59. Apart from the music, singing lines such as “I want you to give it to me” and “you can shelter in my brisket” sound so much better in portuguese than english (although they might mean breast as opposed to brisket)
The group members are all famous, in Portugal anyway,. One of them, Evelina Pereira had a brief role in the film Friends With Benefits.
You can read more of the “enciclopédia de cromos”, Paulo’s blog about the 1970s 80s and 90s, here. An ability to read portuguese would help, but if like Charity Chic, you’ve got far too much time on your hands you can paste it into an online translator to read.
(The Pearl Butler reference is to woefully tuneless singing)
My pal Euan was recently up in Dundee helping his brother decorating. He came away with two fairly large boxes of CDs as his brother had decided to sell his soul to the Devil Spotify.
Being a generous soul he offered me a look to see if there were any that I would be interested in.It was a vertible mixed bag. Not being a greedy person I limited myself to about half a dozen. Who knows I may go back for second helpings.
One which caught my eye was Prairie Wind the 26th studio album by Neil Young from 2005 and as always on the Reprise label.
It was not one which had crossed my radar before which I found quite surprising as I have copies of its predecessor Greendale (2003) and its successor Living With War (2006)
It is the mellow Neil Young as opposed to the thrashy Neil Young so it meets with Mrs CC's approval.It is quite reflective as it was inspired with the illness and death of his father. Having said that it is not morbid or that melancholy and I found it a very pleasant listen.
Three more Joneses for you today from assorted genres.
Paul "Wine" Jones was one of the many Mississippi Hill Country Bluesmen brought to the world's attention in their latter years by FatPossumRecords. He released three albums on Fat Possum - Mule in 1995, Pucker Up Buttercup in 1999 and the posthumous Stop Arguing Over Me in 2006 following his death from cancer at the age of 59 in 2005. Rob and Steal is taken from a Mojo compilation The Black Keys present the Hill Country Blues.
I don't have the same level of information about Lee Jones and the Sounds of Soul other than this blurb from You Tube
While the Masqueraders were recording for Chips Moman at his American Sound Studio in Memphis, their output was being leased for distribution on the Wand and Bell labels during this time. In order to avoid a contract hassle with the distributing labels, Moman recorded the Masqueraders on the Dan Penn, Lincoln Oldham song, On The Other Side, and credited the song as Lee Jones And The Sounds Of Soul, released on the Bell subsidiary label, Amy. Lee Jones was the lead singer of the Masqueraders at the time and the Sounds Of Soul were the other members of the group. It became a one-off recording as the incognito Masqueraders!
Taken from another excellent Ace compilation The Soul of the Memphis Boyshere
Heather Jones is a Welsh singer - bio here The song Penrhyn Gwyn is taken from Welsh Rare Beat a 2005 compliation of Welsh prog rock on Finders Keepers Records available here .There is also a Volume Two
Another tough call but it is the Wine for me this week
This week's album that I have on both CD and Vinyl is the self -titled 1989 first solo album by Maria McKee on the Geffen label.
I'm no stranger to the vinyl album having had copies of it on at least three occasions. In addition to her two previous albums with the band Lone Justice she has released a further 6 studio albums plus three live ones. I've got copies of a couple of the studio ones but none come close to her debut album.
Having owned the vinyl for a good few years why then did I feel the need to pick up a CD copy in a charity shop?. There is a very simple explanation. The vinyl album does not include the totally bonkers but totally brilliant Drinkin'in My Sunday Dress which is included as the 11th track on the CD version. This obviously made it an essential purchase. I've opted for her gorgeous version of Richard and Linda Thompson's Has He Got a Friend for Me which first appeared on I Want to Shoot Out The Bright Lights Tonight as my other selection. Richard Thompson plays guitar and mandolin on the album.
I've only ever seen her once live. It was in Dublin after we stumbled out of Whelans after having seen the Jayhawks. We got chatting to some folk who were en route to see her and tagged along.She was good but not in the same league as the Jayhawks.
The Long Ryders were one of those bands who I had heard more about than I'd actually heard. I think through Andy Kershaw I was aware of Sid Griffen who had relocated to London and had a new band called the Coal Porters as well as being a music journalist and radio presenter.
From Los Angeles and part of the Paisley Underground movement they were on the go from 1982 - 1987 releasing three albums during that period .The announcement of a reunion in 2004 was met with great excitement by the Glasgow Americana ticket particularly as Tuts was one of the stops on the Europe leg.
There were further reunions in 2009 and 2014 prior to the band reforming in 2016 and the subsequent release of a new album Psychedelic Country Soul in 2019 on Cherry Red.
Not being that familiar with their music I'm afraid that I can't remember much about the concert other than they were very well received. King Tuts seemed to be the venue for such reunions and I have already covered the reunion of a similar band Green on Red in this series.
And yes Rol I actually paid over a tenner for my ticket.
I don't have any of their albums but found three tracks on various compilations - The Rough Guide to Americana, a Mojo Dylan Covered CD and another Mojo compilation Desert Songs subtitled 15 tracks of Cosmic Roots Music all of which give clues as to where their music fits in.
2022 Charity Shop Purchases 28 - Fairport Convention - The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood
Disc 1 - Cropredy Festival August 1986
My final compilation from Newton Stewart can probably be described as "Classic Folk" as opposed to "Classic Rock".
Released on Shakedown Records in 2004 -The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood is a boxset consisting of 2 CDs with recordings from the Cropredy Festivals of 1986 and 1987 plus a 58 minute DVD interview with Dave Pegg and Simon Nicol. It seems that it is pretty rare and is currently selling on Discogs from £15 with £19.95 having been the highest price paid. Not bad for £1.50
Fairport's Cropredy Convention (formerly Festival) as many of you will be aware is an annual festival of rock and folk headed by the Fairports held annually since 1976 on te edge of the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire which attracts up to 20,000 people.
The personnel for in 1986 were Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks, Maartin Allcock, Ric Saunders,Richard Thompson,Iain Matthews and Jerry Donahue with guest singers Cathy Lesurf and Christine Collier. Robert Plant joined in as well although he is not namechecked on any of the 12 songs on the CD
I've opted for The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood with lead vocals by Cathy Lesurf, Who Knows Where the Time Goes with vocals by Iain Matthews and Meet on the Ledge with lead vocals by Simon Nicol and Cathy
The more switched on among you will have already worked out what next Friday's post will be.
