The Squire Presents

1968 was an interesting year for The Who. I covered this in a lot more detail last month in my post, ‘Who’s For Tennis’ so see that to find out more. Since I posted that post (and a further what-if release from John Entwistle), the Super Deluxe Box Set version of ‘The Who Sell Out’ dropped through the door. What was evident from the booklet contained within was that main songwriter Peter Townshend struggled to have enough material for the albums they actually did release. This might explain why John Entwistle has three songs on the LP. Entwistle would only have this amount of material on a Who album on 1978’s ‘Who Are You’ and 1982’s ‘It’s Hard’.  With Townshend consumed by producing ‘Tommy’ which would not see the light of day until 1969, did this box set give me enough material for an album for release in 1968 that would not cross over with the two other what-is records I put out last month?  

Well, the Entwhistle record would never have seen the light of day in reality, but ‘Who’s For Tennis’ might have been, even if it was not in the configuration that I proposed. That means, none of the covers from that album could be used. That leaves about 15 tunes that could be placed on some vinyl. Some of these did see the light of day in 1968 so I thought I would continue to use these as singles in this fantasy time line. ‘Magic Bus’ and ‘Dogs’ are the A-Sides, but the B-Sides are a little different. ‘Call Me Lightning’ was used as an A-Side in the US, but this is B-side material of the highest order. It sounds like it was from earlier in the 60s, which is exactly when it was written. If you are really interested, a video was shot for ‘Call Me Lightning’ in an abandoned warehouse in the USA which the rest of the band chases a robotic Keith Moon about. Watching this, I feel that it took one whole day to think up the concept and film it. Videos were different in the 60s. Anyway, I digress.

In the UK, ‘Dogs’ was the A-Side to ‘Call Me Lightnings’ B-Side. ‘Dogs’ a curious beast. It sounds nothing like any other Who song, and I thought it was a piss take when I first heard it. It might well have been, but I was surprised this was released back in the day, let alone be an A-Side. The final single would have been an exclusive for the US Market. ‘Little Billy’s Doing Fine’ and ‘Kids! Do You Want Kids’ were written on belief of the American Cancer Society and were designed to warn against the dangers of smoking. Neither saw the light of day in 1968, and ‘KIds! Do You Want Kids’ was never recorded by The Who. The version here is Pete Townshend demo recording. 

As for the album, The Who did not have enough material to release a complete studio album. What they did have was a live recording recorded at the Filmore East in April of 1968. The plan for these recording was to release a live album, but when playing back the tapes, it was found that only some of the first night had been successfully recorded. The second night had been recorded completely but these would stay in the archive until 2018 when the tapes were dusted down and released. What if these live recordings were used in conjunctive with the studio cuts that were in the can?

A half live/half studio album is still a rarity in this day and age, let alone the 1960s. The inspiration for this set was ‘Wheels on Fire’ and the soon to be released ‘Goodbye’, by Cream.  Both of these records had live and studio cuts on them. This would follow the template of ‘Goodbye’ though, as this is only a single album. Listening to it, it sounds exactly what it is. An album made up of outtakes with live tracks thrown in to make up the time. It does work reasonably well, though, even though the edit between ‘C’Mon Everybody’ and ‘Boris The Spider’ is a bit sharp. It is doubtful that an album like this would have been released by The Who, especially as their records at the time were not selling that well compared to the previous years. It was their live work, especially in the USA that kept the band going until ‘Tommy’ was unleashed in 1969.  

Side A

1. Fortune Teller (Live)
2. Tattoo (Live)
3. Little Billy (Live)
4. I Can’t Explain (Live)
5. Happy Jack (Live)
6. I’m A Boy (Live)
7. My Way (Live)
8. C’Mon Everybody (Live)
9. Boris The Spider (Live)

Side B

1. Glittering Girl
2. Inside Outside (Demo)
3. Jaguar (Original Mono Mix)
4. Girl’s Eyes
5. Glow Girl
6. Melancholia
7. Faith In Something Bigger
8. Signal 30 (Sodding About)
9. Rael Naïve (Full Coda)

Singles 

1. Magic Bus (UK Single Mix)
2. Facts Of Life (aka Birds & Bees)

1. Dogs (Single Mix)
2. Call Me Lightning (Single Mix)

1. Little Billy’s Doing Fine
2. Kids! Do You Want Kids (Demo)

The cover is adapted from the Bootleg LP, ‘Little Billy Relaxes At The Filmore’. I chose the title ‘Who’s Missing’ (which would later be used for a couple of compilation albums in the 1980’s) because it accurately describes the contents within. 

With a new Tom Jones having dropped onto my doorstep (six years after his previous effort, which is far too long in my opinion considering the albums that went into making this this playlist were absolutely fantastic), I thought it was time to offer up a playlist of the great mans work. Now, Mr Jones has been a recording artist since 1964 and like any artist that has been recording as long as he has, there are going to be some duds in there with the gold. But what gold I would have had to choose from. His stellar A-Sides such as ‘Green, Grass of Home’, ‘Delilah’ and the immortal ‘It’s Not Unusual’. I could have looked deep cuts such as his first single ‘Chills & Fever’ or an overlooked B-Side such as ‘Looking Out My Window’ with a drum break that has been sampled numerous times. There was the resurrection of his career in the late 80s as well as the classic ‘Reload’ album for 1999. Even records from the wilderness years of the mid to late 70s have their nuggets included, but it is with the albums that Jones has released since 2010 that have inspired this playlist. 

2010 saw Jones leave the hair and beard dye at home, and come back with an album of blues and gospel songs called ‘Praise & Blame’ Before the album came out, David Sharpe, who was the Vice-President of Jones’ record label thought the album was a joke and wanted “to get my money back”. Showing that the people who run record labels don’t necessarily know a good thing when they hear it, the LP reached Number 2 in the UK album charts and make headway in other markets around the world. Jones seems to be in his element. The production is stripped back and it allows the songs to breath as well showing the power in Jones’ voice has not diminished over time. He followed this up this up with ‘Spirit In The Room’, which cast its net a bit wider when it came to the songs as this included material from his contemporaries such as Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and Leonard Cohen. A third album in this style followed in 2015 in the shape of ‘Long Lost Suitcase’ and it is from these three that this playlist comes from. I do hope we do not have to wait another six years for the next Tom Jones album.

1. What Good Am I?
2. Burning Hell
3. Lord Help
4. Take My Love (I Want To Give it)
5. Honey, Honey (With Imelda May)
6. Love & Blessings
7. Soul Of A Man
8. Elvis Presley Blues
9. Did Trouble Me
10. Opportunity To Cry
11. He Was  A Friend of Mine
12. Tower Of Song
13. Run On
14. Don’t Knock
15. I Wish You Would
16. Factory Girl
17. Ain’t No Grave
18. Didn’t It Rain
19. All Blues Hail Mary
20. If I Give My Soul
21. Charlie Darwin
22. Strange Things

I picked the title for this playlist as “Praise & Blame’ because it was a great cover and sums up perfectly the music contained within. The cover is the same as the original LP. 

And so I come to the last soundtrack album for the Deutschland series. All three of these television series has been really good, blending fact and fiction brilliantly. I would highly recommend watching all of them. 

This soundtrack is a bit different from the previous two because whoever did the music for series 3, did it differently. Whereas series 1 & 2 used (mostly) contemporary tunes, this series used quite a lot of music from the 21st Century. Some songs were used in more than one show so these two factors made compiling this LP a bit tricker than previous efforts as I only look to use songs from or before the period the show is set. I cannot even be sure that at least one, or more of these songs comes form the early 90s because some of them are very obscure. 

As with all of the other soundtracks, I had to start by using ‘Major Tom (Coming Home)’ by Peter Schilling. It is the song used on the opening credits and as I would have K-Tel releasing this record, they would want to make the most of this songs license. This is followed by ‘Alle Vögel Sind Schon Da’ by Botho-Lucas-Chor. Roughly translating to ‘All The Birds Are Already There’, the Botho-Lucas-Chor were one of the most famous German vocal ensembles groups of the 1960s and 70s. We also have a couple of classical pieces on Side A with Max Reger’s ‘Andante in De Major’ and ‘Quando Parli’. I have not been able to find out much about this second piece and this could even have been produced after 1989, but it does fit into the overall sound so I kept it in. In-between this two classical pieces is ‘Sag’ Mir, Wo Du Stehst ‘ by Naiv. I have not been able to find out anything about this band and like ‘Quando Parli’, I have not been able to confirm if this piece was recorded after 1989. We finish off Side A with ‘Lied Die Partei’ which translates as ‘The Party Is Always Right’ and was used but the East German Communist Party (SED) as the official party song. 

Side B starts of with the B-52s and ‘Roam’, the other major hit from their ‘Cosmic Thing’ album (the other being ‘Love Shack’). Bert Sommer was the second lead vocalist in The Left Banke, as well as appearing in the musical ‘Hair’ in 1969 along with the original Woodstock Festival where he performed the song ’Jennifer’. We then have an early 60s recording of Mass In B Minor, BMV 232: Kyrie Elesion (Chorus) by the Robert Shaw Orchestra & Chorus. I included the whole of this section because it actually brought the run time of the album up to respectable length for an LP, and also because it would have been a disgrace to edit this down. The album finishes off with ‘I’m Gonna Lose You’ by Simply Red which originally appeared on the soundtrack to the film, ‘Frantic’. 

So there we have it, the last of the Deutschland soundtracks. This one was a bit different from the previous three, but it still holds together as a soundtrack. The sleeve for this was adapted from the publicity material posted on line when the series was released. 

Side A

1. Major Tom (Coming Home) – Peter Schilling
2. Alle Vögel Sind Schon Da – Botho Lucas
3. Andante in D Major – Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
4. Sag’ Mir, Wo Du Stehst – Naiv
5. Quando Parli – Giovanni Battista Bononcini
6. Lied Die Partei – Ernst Busch

Side B

1. Roam – The B-52’s
2. Jennifer – Bert Sommer
3. Mass In B Minor, BMV 232: Kyrie Elesion (Chorus) – Robert Shaw Orchestra And Chorus
4. I’m Gonna Lose You – Simply Red

This playlist was impossible to recreate using Spotify.

Following on from my earlier John Entwistle post here is another slice of The Who for you. 1968 was a busy time in terms of ideas for The Who that never happened. There was talk of a TV show called ‘Sound & Picture City’, which would involve The Who performing a new song every week, act in some light hearted sketches and introduce a series of musical guests. If you want to get some idea of what these sketches would have been like, watch the ‘Happy Jack’ promo film from 1966 (link below). There was talk of a live album, and two nights were recorded at the Fillmore East, but these would not see the light of day until 2018. Apart from the John Entwistle children’s record, there was talk of a covers EP and/or an LP of whatever was left over in the archives at the time which would go by the name of ‘Who’s For Tennis’.   

As this was the era when the band were not short of ideas, but they lacked the application to actually finish them, none of the above projects would see the light of day in the 60s. On other sites that look at records that never saw the light of day, the album most try to reconstruct is ‘Lifehouse’ project. Others look at reproducing the ‘Who’s For Tennis’, an album which would have been a mix of songs rejected for other projects and some newly recorded material that would eventually be either kept in the vaults or be released on singles. 

With my version of ‘Who’s For Tennis’, I have gone with one of the other concepts that was put forward in 1968 and that was the covers EP. This may well have been seen as a retrograde step by the band as Townsend had already forged a reputation as a song writer of note. It was also the done thing for serious museo’s to write their own material at this time. Covers were for pop and novelty acts man. This could also be seen as the band being ahead of the curve because both David Bowie (who covered 60s music that had inspired him) and Harry Nillson (with an album of standards) would do just that in the early 70s. Instead of the record being an EP though, I wondered if there was enough material to make an LP. Well, there was but only just. With this in mind, would the band have re-recorded some of the songs that had covered previously, made some new covers or just released songs that they already had in the vault to save time. I went with combination of the last two. 

There were two other things I took into consideration is that no covers could be included if they had already appeared on an album before this. The second thing was that any cover from the bands history could be used, except for any recordings made for the BBC and I could not used anything that had been recorded with producer Shel Talmy. Talmy owned the tapes from the first album sessions and there was some bad blood between the producer and the band, especially after the legal dispute had found in his favour. I doubt that Talmy would have released the tapes in 1968, especially as it took until 2002 for these disputes to be settled. 

The band did record at least three songs for this project. ‘Young Man Blues’, ‘Summertime Blues’ and ‘Fortune Teller’ are all included here. John Entwistle mentioned that they recorded a version of ‘Road Runner’, but no evidence has been forthcoming of this. The band also recorded “Shakin’ All Over’ for the BBC and they performed it in concert many time in the late 60s and early 70s. However, I could not find any reference to a studio version so this one could not be used. Three songs does not an LP make, so what else do we have from the bands archive. The 70s compilation ‘Odd’s & Sod’s’, which did a really good job of showing that there was more to the band that what fans had heard so far. It is the reissue from the 1990’s which opened up the archive doors a little further to add weight to this project. From it, we have a cover of Eddie Cochran’s ‘My Way’, recorded in 1967, ‘Summertimes Blues’ was another Eddie Cochrane song that would be included on The Who’s ‘Live At Leeds’ but this is the studio take from 1967. Lastly they is a cover of Mose Allison’s ‘Young Man Blues’, which also  featured on the Who’s ‘Live At Leeds’ LP. 

Then there is the two covers of songs by The Rolling Stones. ‘Under My Thumb’ and ‘The Last Time’ that had been recorded to show support for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards who had been imprisoned on drugs charges. The recording was completed when a time when John Entwistle was on his honeymoon, so Pete Towsnend played the bass on these recordings. By the time the single came out, Jagger and Richards had both been released and the single did not break the Top 40 of the UK singles chart. 

‘Bucket T’ was originally recorded by Jan & Dean, and it may well have been Keith Moon’s suggestion to record this as he was a big fan of surf music. This is also the only song from the ‘Ready, Steady, Who EP not included on the John Entwistle children’s record and I didn’t want to double up on the songs used on these Who what if records. If this version of ‘Who’s For Tennis’ had even been considered, then these two tracks could have made the LP.

The Who had also recorded a version of a classical tune for another unrealised project from 1967. That project was an instrumentals EP where the band would showcase their improvisational side but only two tunes were recorded before this project fell by the way side. One was the self composed ‘Sodding About’, but the other was a cover of Grieg’s ‘Hall of the Mountain King’. There was also a studio cut of the Everly Brothers song ‘Man With Money’, and lastly is a version of Bo Diddley’s ‘Here ’Tis’, which dates back to the early days of the band and their sessions for Pete Meeden when they were going by the name The High Numbers. 

Even though this was an interesting trawl through The Who’s archive, I feel that if this record was released in 1968, it would have been a good stop gap until they unleashed ‘Tommy’ a year later. 1968 really was a lost year for The Who, but they did have an ace up their sleeves in the form of a deaf, dumb and blind kid who would propel the band into superstardom. 

Side A

1. Here ’Tis (as The High Numbers)
2. My Way
3. Under My Thumb
4. Bucket T
5. In The Hall Of The Mountain King

Side B

1. Man With Money
2. Fortune Teller
3. Summertime Blues
4. Young Man Blues
5. The Last Time

The front cover is taken from the wonderful John Hunt and his website over at https://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com. Due to one or more songs not being available, this playlist could not be replicated on Spotify. 

The ‘Happy Jack’ promo can be seen via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52cQeFBU2Kw

With The Who releasing a Super Deluxe Edition of their classic ‘The Who Sell Out’ this month, I thought I would have a delve into their back catalog to come up a couple of What-If albums. As it turns out, they cover the period after the aforementioned album came out. 

The late 60s. Where bands who only a few years before would be seen wearing matching suits, they now they would be seen in the best Canary Street caftans and brightly colours outfits. Where music became a lot more experimental and harked back to the writers youth referring to children’s books and the music hall traditional. Well, that’s what happened in the UK anyway. Even The Who, the ultimate R&B Mod band went all floral jackets and freaked out with songs such as ‘Armenia City In The Sky’ and ‘I Can See For Miles’. It was also the era when ideas where thrown out left, right and centre about what a band were going to do and in their manager Kit Lambert, The Who had a man with ideas to burn. It was he that is credited with convincing Pete Townshend to move away from conventional song writing and move into something more mature. Townshend had produced the song ‘A Quick One, While He’s Away’, which had six distinct movements. It would also lead to ‘Tommy’, the album that turned The Who from international hitmakers into a creative force to be reckoned with. 

Lambert didn’t just save his ideas fro Townshend though. He also had some ideas for the bands bass player, John Entwistle. Lambert recognised Entwistle’s talent for writing quirky songs that could possibly appeal to children, so what if an album had been released made up of John’s songs for that market. This would not be the first time that a major 60s artist had released an album geared toward children. Donovan had released a double album called ‘A Gift From A Flower To A Garden’ where the second disc was made up of nursery rhyme style songs for younger listeners. However, Entwistle didn’t write songs in that vein, but about nasty old men who kept all their money to themselves and spiders. Supposedly, Entwistle completed fitteen songs for the project before it went the way of many a Who project and disappeared into the mists of time. Some of these songs were released by The Who on the B-Sides of singles as well as as the odd album track. However, what if this album had been put together and released in 1968 as The Who didn’t put out an album themselves that year (even though a hodgepodge of outtakes and singles was mooted called ‘Anyone For Tennis’). What do we have?

Well, the answer to that is not a lot. Not all of those fifteen songs  were recorded at the time as far as I can tell, and if they were, they have not seen the light of day. Some of them may well have been used for a late 90s animated show called Van-Pires. Bogeyman from that show could well be a retitling of the song ‘She’s A Witch’, which has also been known as ‘Horrid Olive’. This song has been shown to date form a demo recorded in 1970. There were only eight Entwistle songs to choose from, and they were short songs at that. Even for the 60s, a ten song album of just over 20 minutes would have been a bit short. There, I included two songs, which featured on the ‘Ready Steady Who’ EP. Even though they were covers, they do fit into the theme of the album. These were the theme to the Batman television series and Barbara-Ann, originally recorded by The Regents but this version shares a similar arrangement to the one The Beach Boys had produced. The 60s Batman show was directed towards children and Barbara-Ann has a certain amount of charm about it that it fits in better here than it did on the original Who EP. All of the information contained below relate to UK release dates as well as that territories versions of singles and LPs. 

Doctor Doctor – Originally released on the B-Side to the ‘Pictures of Lily’ single (1967). If nothing else, this song sounds like a child going to the Doctors and complaining about all that is wrong with him. The bit a bit making a will though might not be so child like. 

Boris The Spider – Originally released on the album ‘A Quick One’ (1966). The first song Entwistle ever wrote and he said it only took six minutes to do so. It was inspired by a night out with Rolling Stone’s bass player Bill Wyman, where they would give animals funny names. Entwistle came up with Boris the Spider and a staple of live Who performances for the next few years was born. 

Someone’s Coming – Originally released as the B-Side to the ‘I Can See For Miles’ single (1967). Not really a children’s song as it deals with a man who wants to see his girlfriend but her parents ban her from seeing him. They only time they get to meet is when she takes her dog for a walk. 

In The City – Originally released as the B-Side to the “I’m A Boy’ single (1966). A co-write with Who drummer, Keith Moon and shows Moon’s love of The Beach Boys as it mentions surfing, but I am not sure how much surfing anyone could have done in a British City. 

Batman – Originally released on the EP ‘Ready Steady Who’ (1966). Written by Neal Hefti and was the opening theme to the popular TV Show that ran from 1966 to 1968. 

I’ve Been Away – Originally released as the B-Side to the single ‘Happy Jack’ (1966). A revenge story from man who has spent time in prison after being found guilty of a crime his brother had committed. 

Whiskey Man – Originally released on the album ‘A Quick One’ (1966). The story of a man and his imaginary drinking buddy, who only ever seems to be there when the protagonist drinks. You might think that a song about a man who drinks too much and is put in a padded cell would be inappropriate for a children’s album, but this was the 60s. Kids programmes such as Doctor Who would show characters smoking and in Camberwick Green, Windy Miller is unable to do his job after having drunk himself to sleep on very strong cider. 

Silas Stingy – Originally released on the album ‘The Who Sell Out’ (1967). A perfect fit for this album as it tells the story of a man who is so tight with his money that children take the piss out of him for it. He is also so worried about it being stolen that he buys so much stuff to protect his cash that he bankrupts himself. 

Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde – Originally released as the B-Side to the single ‘Call Me Lightning’ (1968). Written about the problems Keith Moon was having with drink and how he was one person when sober and another when drunk. This is the slightly longer UK version of the song. 

Barbara Ann – Originally released on the EP ‘Ready Steady Who’ (1966). 

Would this album have come out in the 60’s? Not a chance. It would have involved Entwistle not having any of his songs performed on any Who record up to 1968, the year in which Kit Lambert put forward the idea of a children album in the first place and having the foresight to have enough material to fit a solo LP, when that sort of thing was rare in that period. As an album, it fits together nicely and I was quite surprised that all of the songs were available on Spotify. 

Side 1

1. Doctor, Doctor 
2. Boris The Spider 
3. Someone’s Coming
4. In The City
5. Batman

Side 2

1. I’ve Been Away 
2. Whiskey Man
3. Silas Stingy
4. Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde
5. Barbara Ann

The LPs sleeve has been taken from the back cover of his 1972 solo album Whistle Rhymes which fits perfectly with the theme of the LP.  A picture of the man himself from the late 1960s is now where the sun was. A Track Records logo and text were added. 

After compiling Volume 2 earlier, this month, I found that I had enough songs to complete another set. Like Volume 2, this kicks off with a cover of “Gotta Get Up’. After that, there is a mix of songs Nilsson wrote but didn’t always record a version of himself. These include songs from before he signed his contract with RCA such as ‘A Travellin’ Man’ and ‘Paradise’ as wells many recorded afterwards. There is the other side of the single that Kenny Everett released (with the first being included on Vol.2) as well as more performances by The Turtles and Jimmy Cross. George Tipton, Nilsson’s arranger on his early records makes another appearance but there is also room for a novelty recording such as the version of ‘Without Her’ by Telly Savalas. The disc finishes with a special bonus in that it contains the song ‘Little More Rain’ from the ‘New Nilsson Songs’ demo album. As of now, no one has been able to find out who the singer is.

Once again, unlike Ace Record, I do not have access to the original tapes so some of these have been taken from vinyl transfers, so please excuse the pops etc. The sleeve is similar in style to the Ace Records volume. The differences being that I could not match the original font and there are no dates under the title. I decided that that was unnecessary as this was meant to highlight Nilsson songs throughout the years. Its not really the covers you are here for though, but the music. Well, that is top notch. Enjoy!

1. Gotta Get Up – Marty Finkel
2. Everybody Philly – The Citations
3. Maybe – Labi Siffre
4. 1941 – Joel Grey
5. It’s Been So Long – Kenny Everett
6. Me & My Arrow – Davy Jones
7. Wailing Of The Willow – Liza Minnelli
8. Remember (Christmas) – Johnny Mathis
9. Countin’ – Mike Clifford
10. Don’t Leave Me – Robert John
11. I Guess The Lord Must be In New York City – The New Yorkers
12. Chicken Track – Jimmie Cross
13. The Story Of Rock ’n’ Roll – The Turtles
14. The Puppy Song – David Cassidy
15. Open Your Window – George Tipton
16. One – Chris Clark
17. All My Life – The Walkmen (feat. Allesanora Mario)
18. Easy For Me – Ringo Starr
19. Without Her – Telly Savalas
20. Together – Clodagh Rodgers
21. Paradise – Jean King
22. A Travellin’ Man – The New Christine Minstrels
23. Little Cowboy – The Buffoons
24. Little More Rain – Unknown

Back in 2017, Ace Records released a wonderful collection dedicated to Harry Nilsson, the songwriter, not the performer. The collection was a curious mix of the well known (The Monkees), the family member (his daughter Annie Nilsson) and the down right obscure (Jimmie Cross). The album sleeve said that all of the songs came from 1965-1972, and then opened with a song recorded in 2013. Oh well. That is a it of nit picking on my part, but Ace Records did a really good job with this compilation as it made some of the pre fame singles that I had only ever heard on scratchy vinyl transfer, available in crystal clear sound for what could have been the first time.

As Nilsson has had his songs covered by a myriad of artists that were not covered by this compilation, I thought I would see if there was enough material to make a volume 2. What I found is there was indeed enough for not only a second volume, but a third as well. I decided to try and follow the template of the original compilation as close as I can, starting the disc with a cover of the song ‘Gotta Get Up’. This is not one of Nilsson’s most covered songs but luckily there were two additional covers I could use. Both discs contain 24 songs and once again, they feature a mix of well known artists as well as the obscure. These include Hugo Montenegros’s rather bizarre cover of ‘Me & My Arrow’; a song from The Walkman, who decided to cover the entire ‘Pussy Cats’ album and are a couple of novelty covers from The Muppets and British DJ Kenny Everett (which in this occasions, he plays quite straight).

Unlike Ace Record, I do not have access to the original tapes so some of these have been taken from vinyl transfers, so please excuse the pops etc. The sleeve is similar in style to the Ace Records volume. The differences being that I could not match the original font and there are no dates under the title. I decided that that was unnecessary as this was meant to highlight Nilsson songs throughout the years. Its not really the covers you are here for though, but the music. Well, that is top notch. Enjoy!

1. Gotta Get Up – Davy Jones & Mickey Dolenz
2. Rainmaker – Bobbie Gentry
3. All For The Beatles (Stand Up & Holler) – The Originals
4. The Battle Of The Bands – The Turtles
5. Daddy’s Song – The Casuals
6. Baby, It’s Over – Debbie Burton
7. Wailing Of The Willow – Astrid Gilberto
8. Me & My Arrow – Hugo Montenegro
9. Super-Dupa Man – Jimmie Cross
10. Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore – George Tipton
11. Sister Sue – The Soul Men
12. So Proud Of You – Vivian Roberts
13. I’d Do It All Again – Dore Alpert
14. Readin’ Ridin’ & Racin’ – The Super Stocks
15. Open Your Window – Ella Fitzgerald
16. Don’t Leave Me – Griffin
17. One – Three Dog Night
18. Coconut – The Muppets
19. Without Her – Kenny Everett
20. Maybe – Barbra Streisand
21. Chicago – The Citations
22. Headlines – The Sunday Funnies
23. Paradise – The Ronettes
24. I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City – Sagittarius

Here on the second volume of my Under The Influence Series, the theme is 60’s soul with a smattering of songs that would later become known as Northern Soul. 

Disc 1

1. Seven Days Too Long – Chuck Wood
2. Sliced Tomatoes – Just Brothers
3. Tainted Love – Gloria Jones
4. Losing Boy – Eddie Giles
5. Wade In The Water – Ramsey Lewis Trio
6. Bring Your Love Back – Linda Lyndell
7. Sister Lee – Sam Ward
8. (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher – Jackie Wilson
9. Do You Love Me – The Contours
10. Money (That’s What I Want) – Barrett Strong
11. You Keep Me Hanging On – The Supremes
12. The Girl Across The Street – Moses Smith
13. Nothing Can Help You Now – Lenny Curtis
14. I’ll Do Anything (He Wants Me To) – Doris Troy
15. Jimmy Mack – Martha & The Vandellas
16. This Old Heart of Mine – The Isley Brothers
17. Try It Baby – Marvin Gaye
18. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love – Soloman Burke
19. Helpless – Kim Weston
20. Uptight (Everything’s Alright) – Stevie Wonder
21. Leaving Here – Eddie Holland
22. Cool Jerk – The Capitols
23. Lonely, Lonely Girl Am I – The Velvelettes
24. Going To A Go-Go – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
25. How Sweet IS It To Be Loved by You – Jr. Walker & The All Stars
26. Put Yourself In My Place – The Elgins
27. Every Little Bit Hurts – Brenda Holloway
28. Time Is On My Side – Irma Thomas

Disc 2

1. Moonlight, Music & You – Laura Greene
2. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) – Frank Wilson
3. Soul Time – Shirley Ellis
4. The Snake – Al Wilson
5. Bari Track – Doni Burdick
6. Out On The Floor – Dobie Gray
7. You Don’t Love Me – Epitome Of Sound
8. Just A Little Misunderstanding – The Contours
9. A Lot Of Love – Homer Banks
10. Long After Tonight Is All Over – Jimmy Radcliffe
11. Time Will Pass You By – Tobi Legend
12. Lonely For You Baby –Sam Dees
13. Come On Train – Don Thomas
14. Girls Are Out To Get You – The Fascinations
15. You Shook Me Up – Roy Hamilton
16. Get Ready – The Miracles
17. Landslide – Tony Clarke
18. Hit & Run – Rose Batiste
19. Breakin’ Down The Walls Of Heartache – The Bandwagon
20. Looking For You – Garnet Mimms
21. Here I Go Again – Archie Bell & The Drells
22. 1-2-3 – Len Barry
23. He Was Really Saying Something – The Velvelettes
24. Come See About Me – The Supremes
25. There’s Nothing Else To Say – The Incredibles
26. Get Out Of Life Woman – Lee Dorsey
27. Whatcha Gonna Do About It – Doris Troy
28. Cry Baby – Garnet Mimms & The Encharters
29. Big Bird – Eddie Floyd
30. Everything’s Gonna Be Alright – P.P. Arnold

A playlist for this complication could not be produced due to one or more songs not being available on Spotify.