Same Title , Different Song - Tonight's the Night

 

I'm afraid I can't stretch to as many versions of this weeks tune than the six I managed with Blue last week

If you were to ask the average man or woman in the street "who sang Tonight's the Night?" 90% of them probably wouldn't have a clue. The chances are that 8 % would come up with Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)  the single  by  Rod Stewart  hit which reached number 5 in the UK singles charts in 1976

The final 2% might pitch for Tonight's the Night the title track from the Neil Young album from 1975. I can't believe I don't have a copy of this album and this is something that I clearly need to rectify. Worry not, however, as I have a couple of live versions.

For the avoidance of doubt there are no scientific data behind the above figures. I just made them up.

It is possible, but unlikely, that many would have heard the song of that name by The Shirelles and even more unlikely the one by Solomon Burke.

Just to be silly I am also throwing in Wilco with Tonight's the Day

Rod Stewart -Tonight's the Night ( Gonna Be Alright)

Neil Young - Tonight's the Night (Live)

The Shirelles - Tonight's the Night

Solomon Burke - Tonight's the Night

Wilco - Tonight's the Day

More Devil Women

 

I've checked my in- box and I don't appear to have any more Devil posts from George to share with you. You just can't get the staff! If I've missed one, my apologies

Seriously I have enjoyed his input and I know from the comments that some of you have to.

I started this series in mid July with some Devil Women. Here are some more this week. No Cliff Richard this time around as you can have too much of a good thing.

Let's start then with Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins with Run Devil Run from the brilliant Rabbit Fur Coat album from as far back as 2006. Gosh.

North Carolina's Sarah Shook first recorded band was Sarah Shook and the Devil so it is only right that she features here. That band was short lived and her next project was Sarah Shook and the Disarmers. I got her song Devil May Care  of a  Bloodshot Records Sampler from the Classic Rock Magazine from Spring 2020.

It was a fair bet that at one stage Lucinda Williams would eventually get around to writing about the Devil on sure enough on 2020's Good Souls Better Angels album she pops up with Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

Finally we are off to New Zealand and Nadia Reid with Get the Devil Out which I have from a Mojo compilation  2020's In My Life- Mojo Presents the New Singer-Songwriters. There is some good stuff on here. So much so that I am going to dig it out and give it a spin if I can find it.*

I'm not sure whether this series has run out of legs or whether it will re-appear next week.

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Run Devil Run

Sarah Shook and the Disarmers - Devil May Care

Lucinda Williams -Pray The Devil Back to Hell

Nadia Reid - Get the Devil Out

* I couldn't find it!

Youssou

 

2023 Charity Shop Purchases #72 - Youssou N'Dour - The Best Of

I'm pretty sure than in his Kensington mansion Ernie has an entire wing exclusively reserved to house African music. Me, I've probably got about a dozen of so CDs and LPs. However, I now have two from Senegal. I suspect that when he gets to Senegal in his African Odyssey that Ernie will concentrate on lesser known artists given that Youssou N'Dour has been described in Rolling Stone as perhaps the most famous singer alive in Senegal and much of Africa.

This album is from 1994 on Virgin. Given that Mr N'Dour has been recording since at least 1982 Mr Branson may well be getting a visit from Trading Standards.

More accurately it should be described as The Best of Three Albums from 1984 to 1990 given that all the tracks come from Immigrés (1984), The Lion (1989) and Set (1990). So no Seven Seconds his duo with Neneh Cherry which came slightly later in 1994.  It is still very good particularly as I only paid 25p for it.

One from each of the three I think.

From Immigrés  let's go for all 7 minutes of Immigrés/Bitim Rew. An album which NME ranked as the 18th best of 1984.

The Lion which involved production by Peter Gabriel was the one which shot him to international prominence. I suspect that a number of you will be familiar with Shakin' the Tree.

Set was made with his band Étoile de Dakar I'm going for Sinebar of which The Boston Globe wrote it possesses "one of the catchiest, most exhilarating horn riffs in pop music this or any year

Youssou N'Dour -Immigres/Bitim Rew

Youssou N'Dour - Shakin' the Tree

Youssou N'Dour - Sinebar

Small Town Stories

 

2023 Charity Shop Purchases #71 - Smith & McClennan

A good few years ago I got Traiveller's Joy an album of traditional folk songs by Dumfries based singer Emily Smith out the library. It quickly became a firm favourite at CC HQ leading us to acquire more of her stuff.

We subsequently went to see her at the Mitchell Theatre at Celtic Connections in 2019 and this is what I wrote in a previous post:

I know Emily Smith as a traditional Scottish folk singer. Here she was singing with her husband  (Jamie McClennan)as a duo and rebranded as Smith and McClennan. Both Mrs CC and I felt that for us this didn't really work. It didn't pay justice to her wonderful voice. Thankfully there were a couple of examples as to what could have been. She has been performing for over 10 years and you can understand them exploring a new angle but it is not for me I'm afraid. We ended up purchasing Echoes one of her older albums rather than the new one which tells it's own story.

Therefore it was with a degree of trepidation that we picked up a copy of Small Town Stories  their debut album as a couple on White Fall Records which had featured at that concert in a Newton Stewart charity shop.

I'm glad to say that it is much better than what we expected it to be  with some pretty good songs. Sometimes it is worth listening without prejudice!

Smith & McClennan -Leaving

Smith & McClennan - Better Than War

An A to Z of American Cities - S

 

Another relatively straightforward one this week as there are plenty to choose from beginning with S

Let's start with Springfield which as we all know is the home of the Simpsons .Now whether they actually stay in the Springfield that is the capital city of the state of Illinois I'm not entirely sure. It is the one that Slobberbone sing about though. With a population of 114K it boasts Abraham Lincoln as its most famous historic resident although they may have to amend that if Brian stayed there during his Illinois days.

Sioux City is a city in the Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the north western part of Iowa with a population of just under 86K making it the 4th largest city in Iowa. Sioux City is also a song on Blue Earth an early album by The Jayhawks. I would have loved to hear Johnny Cash singing this as part of the American Recordings series.

I know that when I mention St  (or Saint) Cloud the city in Minnesota with a population  of c69K that many of you would think that I would post the song On a Bus to St Cloud by Gretchen Peters. Rather I have gone for Waxahatchee (SWC will be pleased ) with the title song from her 2020 album Saint Cloud. It is  actually named after the city of St (or Saint Cloud) in Osceola County, Florida with a population of c55k which is her father's home town.

The first song I thought of when it came to S was the brilliant Saginaw, Michigan by Lefty Frizzell. Saginaw  is a former lumber town and part of the Greater Tri- Cities region of Central Michigan with a population of 44k

Finally we are off to California and to its fastest growing city of Sacramento. This is largely due to it status as a notable political centre and a major educational and healthcare hub. The current population is 525K making it the 6th most populated city in the State. Sacramento and Polk is a song of The Boxing Mirror by Alejandro Escovedo. I think it refers to a junction or district in another Californian city beginning with S  namely San Francisco but it would have been to easy to feature that city this week.

T will probably be slightly harder but I've already got a couple in mind.

Slobberbone - Springfield, Il

The Jayhawks - Sioux City

Waxahatchee -St Cloud

Lefty Frizzell -Saginaw, Michegan

Alejandro Escovedo - Sacramento & Polk

Saturday Shuffle 19

 

It's Saturday again - where are the weeks going? It will be winter before you know it.

Three songs then from the Gym MP3 to take your mind off that horrible thought.

Let's start then with Toryglen's finest band Simple Minds. A small caveat this is Simple Minds from when they were good and not the stadium band who vie with UB40 and Rod Stewart for having the most spectacular fall from grace Chelsea Girl from 1979 is for me one of their two greatest songs, the other being The American.

As you can see from the picture above Bo Diddley was  very much a one - off dude. Who else would write and record a song name-checking themself? Nursery Rhyme is from as far back as 1956 and according to Classic Mood Experience on You Tube as one of the best masterpieces ever recorded in musical history. I'm not sure I would go that far but it is none too shabby.

Finally we conclude with a copy of  A1 on the Jukebox a 1978 song by Dave Edmonds. It is by a Texas band called Elizabeth McQueen and the Firebrands  and is one of 13 pub rock covers on their 2005 album Happy Doing What We Are Doing . Here are some more details on this project from a previous posts here and here

It is the big 2 0 next week. 

Simple Minds - Chelsea Girl

Bo Diddley - Nursery Rhyme

Elizabeth McQueen & the Firebrands - A1 On The Jukebox

Punk Nuggets

 

It's Friday so something to blow away the cobwebs and set you up for the weekend.

Punk Nuggets which seemingly consists of 15 Rabble -Rousing Rarities is the latest in Mojo magazine's occasional series Mojo Presents..

20% of them for you today. We will kick off with The Flys who were a band from Coventry and were on the go from 1976-1980. I think I saw them at Strathclyde University Union. Not that I remember the band but I do remember having a badge depicting a Fly. Band badges were very much a thing back then.

If like me your only knowledge of  Continental Punk is Belgium's Plastic Bertrand with Ça Plane Pour Moi you are in for a treat as I give you another punk song in French. Metal Urbain were from Paris and were on the go for the same period as The Flys with an obligatory reformation in 2003 . They were championed by John Peel  with this single being Rough Trade's first release.

Finally, for now, I'm going for Slaughter and the Dogs primarily because my brother recently sent me a link to one of their songs so their name jumped out. A Manchester Band who after a 15 year break from 1981 to 1996 are still going strong

Just be thankful I spared you  Sperm Bank Baby.

I suspect this one may well be re-visited. Meanwhile as the sleeve cover says Crank Up Really High!

The Flys - Love and a Molotov Cocktail

Metal Urbain - Paris Maquis

Slaughter and the Dogs - Cranked Up Really High