Author: The Squire

Back in the dim distant past, or before the internet, finding out information about more obscure bands was a very hit and miss affair. Record Collector Magazine was a good place to start but this did depend on if the editor felt that that particular artists would help sell more copies that month, or the odd reference book. In my case, it was whether I or my family knew someone who had a record collection that they had built up throughout their life and didn’t mind me playing them. Even better was when some of these family friends donated their vinyl to archive. One such occasion happened in 1992. This  particular collection contained records that mostly dated from the 70s and was full of bands and artists a good many I had never heard of. One of those is the featured artists in this post, and that is the Pink Fairies. 

The album in my hands turned out be part of record label Polydor’s Flashback series. The Flashback series was Polydor mining their back catalogue but in a different way from other labels. Whereas other label would produce Greatest Hits or Best Of compilations, Polydor took a different route and produce a good number of budget priced compilations of big names (Cream, Hendrix), bands that had been on the label, or associate label but moved onto pastures new (Fairport Convention), cult acts (Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa) and half forgotten acts (Pink Fairies). Now, at the time, I knew nothing of this. In front of me was an album with a pink background with three hairy looking musicians giving it plenty on stage and a list of songs contained within. The back cover gave a very short history of the band which included a limited list of records the band had released. As soon as I put the needle on the vinyl and the first song played, I knew I was entering into a different world. 

The Pink Fairies came out of the Ladbrooke Groove underground scene of the early 70s. They played the first Glastonbury as well as appearing outside the gates of the Isle of Wight festival. On the second of these, the band played outside because not only were they not on the bill, but felt that music should be free. That being said, they did release three albums on a major label in their first incarnation and people would have had to pay for these. Anyway, it from these early years that this collection is drawn from. The music the band produced was a heady mix of good time rock ’n’ roll from their most self written material with the odd cover in there. Original guitar player Paul Rudolph played a mean guitar and it was wild solo on the opening track of the Flashback album that mesmerised me in the first place. That song was ‘The Snake’, and when you hear it you will see what I mean. Rudolph left after the second album to be replaced with first Mick Wayne, who only appeared on the ‘Well, Well, Well’ single and then Larry Wallis who stuck around for the last album, ‘King Of Oblivion’. After this taster, I was after more Fairies records to add to the collection.

Back in the early days of me collecting records, having to find a record by an obscure artist I was getting into was a very hot and miss affair, and mostly it involved misses. That was down to one simple factor; luck. Not only did the second hand record shop you went to have to have it (which was unlikely), I also had to hope that it was within my merger budget. As it was, on my first trip out I picked up a copy of ‘King Of Oblivion’. That might explain why it has more songs on this compilation that the other Fairies records. The original trio of albums were available in the early 90s on some rather pricey Japanese import CDs, but being a student at the time, I was unable to afford them.  I did pick up a couple more albums along the way but these were from one or more of the numerous times the band has got back together down the years. None of them held a torch to what the band had produced before and that was not probably the reason why they were so cheap. You live and learn. There was the odd semi legitimate release (most of which came from Italy) which had some live stuff, especially from he archives of the BBC. Then, in 2002, the original albums were dusted off by Polydor and released on CD with bonus tracks. Finally I was able to hear then all for the first time after ten years of waiting. As with most of these things, the anticipation only lead to the hardest of falls. I had already heard most of the best songs on the records I had in the collection already. it did feel like a bit of a let down, but it was great to hear them finally and I was able to put this compilation together that I present to you here. Enjoy.

1. Thor – Never Never Land
2. Johnny B. Goode – BBC In Concert Radio Broadcast 1971
3. The Snake Single – A-Side
4. Portobello Shuffle  – What A Bunch Of Sweeties
5. Say You Love Me – Never Never Land
6. Lucille – BBC In Concert Radio Broadcast 1971
7. City Kids – Kings Of Oblivion
8. Chromium Plating – Kings Of Oblivion
9. Raceway – Kings Of Oblivion
10. Well, Well, Well – Single A-Side
11. Do It – Single B-Side
12. Chambermaid – Kings Of Oblivion
13. Going Down  – What A Bunch Of Sweeties (2002 Reissue)
14. Right On, Fight On – What A Bunch Of Sweeties
15. I Wish I Was A Girl – Kings Of Oblivion
16. Street Urchin – Kings Of Oblivion

Out of all of the bands that I have posted about, I thought that this would be another one in which I would not be able to produce a Spotify playlist. Well, it just goes to show how wrong you can be. Every song is on there, even the BBC In Concert session. I was amazed. What that does mean is that you can enjoy this Pink Fairies compilation as much as I have down the years. 

The front cover is adapted from their debut release, ‘Never Never Land’.

When I heard that there was going to be a collaborative album between the sweet sounding Campbell with the life lived baritone of Lanegan, I thought it was an April Fool’s. It just goes to show how wrong you can be. The duo produced three albums along with associated singles/EPs between 2006 and 2010. With Lanegan’s passing in 2022, the chance of the pair recording together again has now passed. 

Campbell was the driving force behind this pair up, writing most of the songs as well as producing the records but did not want to continue touring. The grind of going out on the road was one of the reasons she had quit Belle and Sebastian back in 2002. The relationship with Lanegan had also become strained but what we got when they did work together, it was a modern version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood.  Enjoy.

1. Dusty Wreath
2. We Die & See Beauty Again
3. You Won’t Let Me Down Again
4. Snake Song
5. Shotgun Blues
6. The False Husband
7. Deus Ibi Est
8. Ramblin’ Man
9. Time Of The Season
10. Something To Believe
11. Come On Over (Turn Me On)
12. Cool Water
13. Saturday’s Gone
14. Lately
15. Rambling Rose, Clinging Vine
16. No Place To Fall
17. Trouble
18. Revolver
19. Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart
20. The Circus Is Leaving Town 

The cover is adapted from the duo’s third and final album, ‘Hawk’. This play list could not be reproduced with one or more songs not being available on Spotify.

I only started buying Isobel Campbell’s solo records once she had left Belle and Sebastian. This occurred after the release of the bands ‘Storytelling’ LPs and it as though her leaving was one of the reasons why some of the tweeness left the band. What I didn’t realise until much later is that she released two album whilst still a member of Belle and Sebastian under the name of The Gentle Waves. These Gentle Waves albums could even be considered lost Belle and Sebastian albums as members of the band provide backing to her songs. Campbell released a number of records until 2006, when she collaborated with Mark Lanegan on a number of albums, but more on them later in the month. After the release of he last Campbell/Lanegan collaboration, there was silence for ten years. That does not mean that Campbell wasn’t doing anything. She had moved to American with her husband and had recorded an album but when her label folded, she spent a long time trying to obtain the rights to her own recordings so she could release them herself. Luckily for us, she did this and when ‘There Is No Other’ came out in 2020, there was an option to buy the album with a different, acoustic mix. Any songs where I have used these acoustic versions have been listed as such. Enjoy. 

Disc 1

1. Milkwhite Sheets
2. Bang Bang
3. Hold Back A Thousand Years*
4. Solace Of Pain*
5. Renew & Restore*
6. Time Is Just The Same
7. Evensong*
8. Weathershow*
9. Song For Baby
10. Argomenti
11. This Land Flows With Milk
12. Beggar, Wiseman or Thief?
13. Hori Horo
14. O Love Is Teasin’
15. Are You Going To Leave Me?
16. Monologue For An Old True Love
17. Loretta Young*
18. The Breeze Whispered Your Name (Part 2)
19. There is No Greater Gold*
20. Let The Good Times Begin*
21. There Was Magic, Then…*
22. Rose, I Love You*
23. Thursday’s Child (Coda)*

This play list could not be reproduced with one or more songs not being available on Spotify.

Disc 2

1. City Of Angels
2. Rainbow (Acoustic)
3. Ant Life (Acoustic)
4. Just For Today (Acoustic)
5. The National Bird Of India
6. Runnin’ Down A Dream
7. Love For Tomorrow
8. Johnny Come Home
9. Falling From Grace*
10. Pretty Things*
11. Flood*
12. Reynardine
13. Tree Lullaby*
14. Yearning
15. Vultures (Acoustic)
16. See Your Face Again
17. Loving Hannah
18. Willow’s Song
19. Hey World (Acoustic)
20. Emmanuelle, Skating On Thin Ice*
21. Enchanted Place*
22. The Heart of It All (Acoustic)
23. A Chapter In The Life Mathiew*

*The Gentle Waves

Some of these songs are from the acoustic version her last album. This play list could not be reproduced with one or more songs not being available on Spotify. 

The cover is adapted from the EP, ‘Time Is Just the Same’.

Before I start talking about the band in this era, I will point out that a couple of the tracks on this compilation come from the bands tenure on the Jeepster label. I quite liked the tunes and couldn’t find a place for them on the Jeepster compilation, so I thought I would use them here. They don’t sound out of place which is a bonus. 

The bands time on Rough Trade started with intent as they had Uber producer Trevor Horn to work on their ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ LP. It not only signalled a period of time on a  new label, but a newish sound. The songs were not as twee as they once were as the songs had a bit more production to them. The instrumentation more diverse and they also started to release singles that was already on an album, which was a change from what had gone before. With Trevor Horn on board, the fact that the band became louder and more mainstream should not have been a surprise. 

This period also produced the ‘God Help the Girl’ project. This was initially an album of songs sung by women but written by Belle and Sebastian’s main songwriter, Stuart Murdoch. Though not classed as a Belle and Sebastian album, I have included songs from this project here because they fit in with the overall sound. These records also had a number of people from the band playing on them so that is close enough for me. The project would eventually lead to a film of the same name and because there was such a focus on this, there was only one Belle and Sebastian album released between 2007 and 2015. 

Disc 1

1. Fiction
2. I Didn’t See It Coming 
3. God Help The Girl*
4. Come On Sister
5. The Blues Are Still Blue
6. Last Trip 
7. Funny Little Frog
8. I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie*
9. Pretty Eve in The Tub*
10. Your Cover’s Blown
11. You Don’t Send Me
12. Song For Sunshine
13. Calculating Bimbo
14. Dress Up In You
15. If You Could Speak*
16. The Psychiatrist Is In*
17. Baby’s Just Waiting*
18. Stay Loose
19. Perfection Is A Hipster*
20. Mornington Crescent
21. Fiction Reprise

Disc 2

1. Act Of The Apostle*
2. I’m In Love With The City*
3. Susie In The Graveyard
4. He’s A Loving Kind Of Boy*
5. Stop, Look & Listen
6. Blue Eyes Of A Millionaire
7. If She Wants Me
8. Suicide Girl
9. White Collar Boy
10. Dear Catastrophe Waitress
11. Come Monday Night*
12. Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
13. Musician, Please Take Heed*
14. I Just Want Your Jeans*
15. Roy Walker
16. We Are The Sleepyheads
17. Another Sunny Day
18. I’m A Cuckoo (Single Version)
19. I’m Not Living In The Real World
20. Asleep On A Sunbeam
21. A Down & Dusky Blonde*
22. I Took A Long Hard Look
23. Night Walk

The cover of this compilation is adapted from the album, ‘The Life Pursuit’.

*God Help The Girl

This month, I will be focusing on Belle and Sebastian, as well as the solo career of past member Isobel Campbell. I think the first time I heard of this band was when they won the British Breakthrough act at the Brit Awards in 1999. I did ask myself who they were especially as their victory annoyed Pete Waterman who felt that Steps, a group he produced should have won claiming Belle and Sebastian had rigged the online vote to win. The Brits checked the votes and found nothing wrong, but any band that can annoy Pete Waterman is alright with me. It was not long after this that I read that their first album from three years before was going to be re-released. I was also interested in this release because ‘Tigermilk’ which was the name of the first album had only originally been released in a limited edition of 1000. I went down to my local Our Price (remember them?) and ordered it. 

‘Tigermilk’ was a lot more twee than the majority, if not all of the records I owned up to that point but I loved it. It is one of the few albums I can put on and play all the way through without wanting to skip over a single song. From the opening song, ‘The State I Am In’, I was hooked. Considering this album was made as a college project, it is better than a lot of more famous albums that had a lot more money thrown into its production. Just goes to show you that money doesn’t buy you everything. After the first play through, I knew had to find out what other records they had made. 

At that point, it included three albums and four EPs which rather quickly made their way into the Squire Archive. The first two albums were both originally released in 1996 and the second was called ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’. I found this album a bit hard to get into initially but with perseverance, it paid dividends. The band spent 1997 releasing a number of EPs instead of an LP. The first one was ‘Dog On Wheels’, which is essentially the demos that the college heard which lead to the recording of ‘Tigermilk’. Two more EPs followed, each with a number of classy songs but would show the way forward for the group as they contained songs not written by main writer, Stuart Murdoch. This democratic approach would continue into their third record, ‘The Boy With The Arab Strap’.  

With all this great music blaring out of my stereo system, I began to look forward to the next album. I did not have to wait long for. “Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant” came out in 2000 and I remember being very disappointed with it but there were still a couple of good tunes on here for me to enjoy. The band ticked over between this and their last album on the Jeepster label by releasing some singles, none of which appeared on any of the LPs. You cannot accuse Belle and Sebastian of not giving their fans value for money. This view all came crashing down with their last album on the Jeepster label which was called ‘Storytelling’. The album was meant to be the soundtrack to a movie of the same name, but only six minutes of music was used. Without looking at it too much, I’m sure I did not use that much more on this compilation either. It was an album of musical cues and most probably a contract filler. The band would sign with the Rough Trade label for their next release.

Even though they could not maintain the quality of the songs (what band can?), there was so much great material during the years they were with the Jeepster label that I could produce a three disc compilation. I love this era of the band and I especially love the music contained on the first two disc. It brings back lots of memories of a time in my life and in their win at the 1999 Brit Awards, showed that manufactured groups did not always get their own way.  All of these songs were available on Spotify so the playlists are available to listen to. 

Disc 1

1. The State I Am In
2. Expectations
3. She’s Losing it
4. You’re Just A Baby
5. Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
6. If You’re Feeling Sinister
7. I Don’t Love Anyone
8. Photo Jenny
9. I Know Where The Summer Goes
10. Mayfly
11. I Could Be Dreaming
12. Lazy Line Painter Jane
13. My Wandering Days Are Over
14. Mary Jo
15. Ease Your Feet In The Sea
16. Like Dylan In The Movies
17. Beautiful
18. The Rollercoaster Ride

Disc 2

1. It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career
2. Is It Wicked Not To Care?
3. Seeing Other People
4. The Loneliness Of The Middle Distance Runner
5. The Model
6. Don’t Leave The Light On Baby
7. The Boy With The Arab Strap
8. Chickfactor
9. I Love My Car
10. Seymour Stein
11. Women’s Realm
12. Waiting For The Moon To Rise
13. A Summer Wasting
14. Marx & Engels
15. The Gate
16. Take Your Carriage Clock & Shove It
17. We Rule The School
18. The Chalet Lines
19. Judy & The Dream Of Horses
20. Electronic Renaissance
21. Songs For Children

Disc 3

1. I Fought In A War
2. Black & White Lines
3. Storytelling
4. Wandering Alone
5. La Pastie De La Bourgeoise
6. Me & The Major
7. Nothing In The Silence
8. Big John Shaft
9. The Wrong Girl
10. There’s Too Much Love
11. Put The Book Back On The Shelf
12. Simple Things
13. Dirty Dream Number 2
14. Winter Wooksie
15. A Century Of Fakers
16. Nice Day For A Sulk
17. Family Tree
18. The Boy Done Wrong Again
19. The Magic Of A Kind Word
20. The Fox In The Snow
21. You Made Me Forget My Dreams
22. This Is Just A Modern Rock Song

The front cover is the same as the cover to the ‘Dog On Wheels’ EP. 

Looking back, over 50 years since their first album was released, it might be hard for the audience today to get their heads around the amount of albums this band sold. Every single one of their records released in their ten year of recording new material achieved Platinum status in the US and UK markets and their fourth album has sold over 20 millions copies in the America alone.  The band have also tightly controlled their output, famously not releasing an official single in the UK until 1997. The 70s were their decade but they did not last into the next decade having decided not to continue after their drummer, John Bonham, died in 1980. 

I knew very little about Led Zeppelin before 1990, and then I heard Stairway to Heaven on the radio. Asking around, I found a friend at school had a copy of the album that song came from and lent me the record. I was hooked. This just happened to coincide with my first forays into buying my own records instead of just what was in the house. Coincidently, it was around this time that the band announced that they going to release a 4 CD Boxed Set, remixed by Jimmy Page who had not only played on all of the albums but had produced them the first time around. I had to have it and on Christmas Day morning, there it was.

I seem to remember the set was produced because Page was annoyed with the mastering job that had been done on his music when they first released on CD and felt that he could do a better job. He was not wrong in that respect. The sound is in you face from the moment ‘Whole Lotta Love’ comes out of the speakers. The rest of the first CD is uniformly excellent with enough light and dark in the music to show that they are not just a hard rocking outfit. CD 2 is a bit more folkie and mellow and that was all I could take on the first sitting. It took me a while too warm to the music on the latter discs, especially CD 3. Like most bands I like, the longer they go on, the less I seem to like the music. The CD 4 was the same. 

What annoyed me a little bit about this Boxed Set was that at the same time, a two disc highlights set was also released and contained the song ‘Good Times Bad Times’ that was missing from the set I had. With funds limited, there was not way I was going to be able to buy the two disc set just for one song. I was also able to borrow most of the individual albums off of other people to hear the songs that I was missing and I left it at that. However, Led Zeppelin did something that no other band have done to the best of my knowledge. That was, they released another Boxed Set which included all of the songs not on the 1990 set. This meant that I now had every song from their albums including BBC sessions, unique remixes and outtakes. Well done Zeppelin; an excellent example to other bands of not ripping off your fans. 

This compilation is my own best off of Zeppelin songs over three discs as they produced so much good music that it had to be that long. Enjoy!

Disc 1

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman)
3. Whole Lotta Love
4. Heartbreaker
5. Communication Breakdown
6. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
7. What Is & What Should Never Be
8. You Shook Me
9. Boogie With Stu
10. Tangerine
11. Baby Come On Home
12. Thank You
13. Gallows Pole
14. Ten Years Gone
15. Kashmir
16. When The Levee Breaks

Disc 2

1. Black Dog
2. Over The Hills & Far Away
3. Immigrant Song
4. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
5. Black Country Woman
6. Rock & Roll
7. Four Sticks
8. Misty Mountain Hop
9. The Battle Of Evermore
10. Hey Hey What Can I Do
11. Going To California
12. Down By The Seaside
13. That’s The Way
14. Ramble On
15. The Rain Song
16. Stairway To Heaven

Disc 3

1. Your Time Is Gonna Come
2. Black Mountain Side
3. Travelling Riverside Blues
4. The Girl I Love She Got The Long Black Wavy Hair
5. The Lemon Song
6. Since I’ve Been Loving You
7. How Many More Times
8. South Bound Suarez
9. Bring It On Home
10.  The Rover
11. Poor Tom
12. Houses Of The Holy
13. Custard Pie
14. I’m Gonna Crawl
15. All My Love
16. Bron-Yr-Aur

I used the artwork from that 1990 box set for this collection. To me, it was perfect.