Shazam Sunday 5

 

This week we have what should have been Shazam Sunday 4 masquerading as Shazam Sunday 5 as I got them the wrong way round last time out. I blame excess food and drink over the Festive period.

I'm not sure on which TV programme a brief snippet of Emajer by Tinariwen. I instantly suspected that it was by them and thought that I recognised the song. This was because I downloaded it a couple of years ago after hearing it on 6Music.

I hadn't got down to recorded the source when I Shazamed Dry Your Eyes by The Streets but think that it was from Gone Fishing and that it may have involved Ted the dog.

More from Mortimer and Whitehouse's brilliant series next Sunday.

The Streets - Dry Your Eyes

Tinariwen - Tineriwen

Saturday Shuffle 36

 

Welcome to the first Saturday Shuffle of 2024.Will it survive until 2025? Stay tuned to find out.

We start today with Teenage Fanclub no strangers to these pages. They have appeared here countless times but as far as I can ascertain this is their debut on the Shuffle. The song in question is Your Love is the Place Where I Come From taken from their best album 1997's Songs From Northern Britain.

Sup up your beer and collect your fags, there's a row going on down near Slough. Unfortunately for us the row has now mutated to Westminster. Hopefully for not much longer. Some righteous anger from Messrs Buckler, Foxton and Weller who clearly do not know their place.

We conclude this week with Jah Wobble and his Invaders of the Heart with Everyman's an Island from the essential Rising Above Bedlam album.

More assorted nonsense next Saturday.

Teenage Fanclub - Your Love is the Place Where I Come From

The Jam - The Eton Rifles

Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart - Everyman's an Island

Last Night in the Bittersweet

 

I could have sworn the Last Night in the Bittersweet the 4th album by Paolo Nutini was released in 2023 but it turns out that it was released as far back as 1st July 2022 on the Atlantic label.

It is a monster of an album with 16 tracks and weighing in at just over 72 minutes long. It is his first album  in 8 years as he was battling with addictions and his demons. Hardly surprising then that it can be a bit dark in places. As one comment on one review said this certainly feels like a man in pain whereas The Skinny feels that it is undoubtedly the tender side to Nutini that shines through the most here

Metacritic gives it a score of 87/100 which is pretty impressive .

A few months ago out of the blue my pal received a phone call from his ex-wife to tell him that Paolo had moved next door to her. His current wife was not impressed!

Paolo Nutini -Acid Eyes

Paolo Nutini - Children of the Stars

Brothers, Sisters ...12

 

  

It's Country versus Soul this week

In the Country corner we have the soft rock of David Milton Bellamy and Homer Howard Bellamy better known simply and not surprisingly as The Bellamy Brothers.

They had two massive hits in the mid to late 70s which I must admit that I quite enjoy in a Guilty Pleasure sort of a way not that I would have admitted it at the time. You don't get any softer Country rock than this.

In the Soul corner we have the Hill Sisters. As is often the way Discogs name a few acts called the Hill Sisters. I am reasonably confident that they are Hill Sisters (2) namely Fay and Mary Hill straight outta Compton. 

Having said that I couldn't find a picture of them so you will have to make do with a picture of the record I am featuring. Oh My Love, Sweet Love with My Lover on the other side was released by Space Records in 1971 (although one site says 1965).

The median price on Discogs is £107 with the highest price paid being £157.99. You could probably get the Bellamy Brothers to play in your house for that price. Sadly I  only have digital versions of the songs in question.

It's the Sisters for me this week

Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow

Bellamy Brothers - If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body (Would You Hold it Against Me)

Hill Sisters -Oh My Love, Sweet Love

Hill Sister -My Lover

Trains and Boats and Planes 7

 

Three Americana takes on our modes of transport this week plus a version of our signature tune courtesy  of Khayem ensuring that this series will continue for at least one more week.

As is customary we will proceed in the order from the song. Therefore we will start with trains as per usual. A double whammy given that Mystery Train Part II from Steve Earle's 1995 album Train a Comin' which will be 40 years old next year ffs. His "comeback" album falling a period of incarceration on drug charges.

Steve is followed by another Americana icon namely the legend that is Emmylou Harris with  the title track from her 1976 album Luxury Liner the only one of hers which I have on vinyl.

The third legend in our Americana triumvirate is the late great Nanci Griffith  with Outbound Plane a song she wrote with Tom Russell which appears on her 1988 album Little Love Affairs.

As promised/threatened we conclude with a version of Trains and Boats and Planes by Fountains of Wayne. Thanks again K.

Any other versions welcomed. It would be good to make double figures.

Steve Earle - Mystery Train Part II

Emmylou Harris - Luxury Liner

Nanci Griffith - Outbound Plane

Fountains of Wayne - Trains and Boats and Planes

First Two Pages of Frankenstein

 

I am quite guilty of often downloading albums and then giving them a cursory listen or forgetting about them altogether.

The National were busy boys in 2023 releasing two albums namely First Two Pages of Frankenstein (April 28th) and Laugh Track (18th November). I downloaded both recently and have only  just got round to giving them a listen.

Frankenstein (as I shall lazily call it) was the one much made the greatest initial impression. Of course this may well change after a few listens to both.

They have roped in Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift (who appears on the 2nd track below) as guests which should help to increase sales. Hardly surprising then that it has achieved a score  of 79/100 on Metacritic based on 21 reviews,

They are a band that I came to late but one I like a little bit more every time I hear them.

I shall feedback on a few more in the coming weeks

The National - New Order T-Shirt

The National - The Alcott

New Years Day Homage

 

Happy New Year to you and yours and lang may yer lums reek.

The more long suffering among you will know the drill by now. (Happily I have got to the stage that I can cut and paste most of this!)
New Year is a time for traditions and since 2015 tradition has dictated that  New Years Day is the day when CCM pays homage to two absolute musical giants who both happened to die on this day some 44 years apart. Hank Williams, the Hillbilly Shakespeare, died on this day in 1953 aged just 29 whereas Townes Van Zandt was 52 when he died on New Year's Day 1997. Two troubled souls who had their issues both physically and mentally and who had a strong predilection for drink and drugs.

Thankfully their genius far outweighed their demons and they both produced canons of music which still enthrall people to this day and no doubt for many more years to come.

Again in keeping with  tradition I'll get in that it will  obviously be downhill  now on these pages for the rest of the year before anyone else does.

Hank Williams - I Saw The Light

Townes Van Zandt - If I Needed You

Hank Williams - Take These Chains From My Heart

Townes Van Zandt - Kathleen