After Hendrix finished recording ‘Electric Ladyland’, Hendrix would only release one more album before his untimely death. That album was to fulfil a contract he signed before he made it big and was called ‘Band of Gypsys’. It was a live album of live songs Hendrix had not released before and was seen by Hendrix himself as not up to the standard he had set for himself. ‘Band of Gypsys’ is not a bad album, with ‘Machine Gun’ being seen as an artistic triumph but it does pale in comparison with what came before. With his outstanding contract problems seemingly out of the way, Hendrix went back to finishing off the album he had been working on since he finished ‘Electric Ladyland’.
Hendrix spent much of time between the end of the ‘Electric Ladyland’ session until his death in and out of the studio. With the amount of studio material that has seen the light of day over the years, it is surprising the Hendrix had any time to play live, eat or it would seem breath. He was even putting together his own stood called Electric Lady because he had run up massive bills from the amount of time he had spent block booking other studios to record as much as he possible could. This second compilation focuses on the period of time Hendrix was recording his fourth album but there is still room for some tunes from the years when the Experience was a going concern. This just goes to show that Hendrix had amassed an amazing amount of material and it is a tragedy that he never got to finish it. Enjoy!
Disc 1
And The Gods Made Love – Electric Ladyland
Who Knows – Band Of Gypsys
Mannish Boy – Blues
Little Miss Lover – Axis: Bold Of Love
Highway Chile – Single B-Side
Message To Love (Alt Version) – West Coast Seattle Boy
Somewhere – People, Hell & Angels
Dolly Dagger – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Stepping Stone – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Look Over Yonder – South Saturn Delta
Hey Baby/In From The Storm (Live) – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (2000)
Shame, Shame, Shame – West Coast Seattle Boy
Everlasting First – West Coast Seattle Boy
Suddenly November Morning – West Coast Seattle Boy
Machine Gun – Band Of Gypsys
(Have You Ever Been To) Electric Ladyland – Electric Ladyland
Disc 2
Valleys Of Neptune – Valleys Of Neptune
Astro Man – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Izabella – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Gypsy Eyes – Electric Ladyland
Freedom – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Room Full Of Mirrors – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Rock Me Baby (Live) – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (2000)
Let Me Love You – People, Hell & Angels
Here He Comes (Lover Man) – South Saturn Delta
Night Bird Flying – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Drifter’s Escape (Alt Take) – South Saturn Delta
Power Of Soul (Alt Take) – South Saturn Delta
Bleeding Heart – Blues
It’s Too Bad – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (2000)
Drifting – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Love Or Confusion – Are You Experienced
Belly Button Window – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Like Volume 1, the front cover was an image I came across back in the dim distant past so I’m afraid I will not be able to credit the person who made it.
My first experience (no pun intended) of Hendrix was on a K-Tel compilation album called ‘British Gold’. The track listing for that album included ‘Hey Joe’, and a look in the Squire archive in the late 80s when I was expanding my musical pallet contained some of the Track Records sampler albums that went by the name of ‘Backtrack’ as well as the ‘Smash Hits’ compilation. Not much to go on but this was about to change.
My interest in Hendrix was really awakened when someone brought in a cassette into school of the ‘Radio One’ album. What an album this was seeing as it was a compilation of songs Hendrix had recorded for the BBC. With an eye catching cover of the great man himself wielding a Fender Stratocaster guitar, the music contained within was different, electrifying and nothing like anything in the charts at the time it came out in 1988. This seemed to be the album everyone bought and I duel bought mine. A bargain as well at only £5 for a double LP. This album received a lot of plays on the turntable and was great it that this only included what could be argued to be the best version of songs that he seemed to only play at the BBC like Drivin’ South. Compare this to the ‘BBC Sessions’ album released ten years later and you’ll see what I mean. The later album might be more comprehensive, but in my opinion ‘Radio One’ is the definitive album of the two.
After ‘Radio One’ has wetted the appetite, I bought all of the records not already in the archive that Hendrix with or without the Experience released in his lifetime. Every album had mind blowing songs on them, but the icing on the cake was playing through ‘Electric Ladyland’ for the first time. Was this a rock album, or an R&B one? But then again, was it psychedelic or blues, or a melting pot taking all of Hendrix’s influences and blasting them out of the speakers to attack your senses. Who cares, it is a classic album and contains one of the greatest cover version of all time in Hendrix’s interpretation of Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’.
Most of the recordings contained on this compilation are taken from the releases of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with only a couple taken from later sessions because the majority of the post ‘Electric Ladyland’ material does not fit in with these earlier recordings sonically for me. Enjoy!
Disc 1
Foxy Lady – Are You Experienced
Manic Depression – Are You Experienced
Fire – Are You Experienced
Killing Floor – BBC Sessions
Red House – Are You Experienced
Can You See Me – Are You Experienced
Hey Joe – Single A-Side
Purple Haze – Single A-Side
51st Anniversary – Single B-Side
(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man – BBC Sessions
Wait Until Tomorrow – Axis: Bold As Love
Ain’t No Telling – Axis: Bold As Love
Castles Made Of Sand – Axis: Bold As Love
Hear My Train Comin’ (Acoustic) – Blues
Catfish Blues – BBC Sessions
Driving South (4:49 min version) – BBC Sessions
You Got Me Floatin’ – Axis: Bold As Love
Stone Free – Single B-Side
Crosstown Traffic – Electric Ladyland
Voodoo Chile – Electric Ladyland
Disc 2
Rainy Day, Dream Away – Electric Ladyland
1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be) – Electric Ladyland
Moon, Turn The Tides…Gently Gently Away – Electric Ladyland
The Wind Cries Mary – Single A-Side
Burning Of The Midnight Lamp – Electric Ladyland
Still Raining, Still Dreaming – Electric Ladyland
House Burning Down – Electric Ladyland
All Along The Watchtower – Electric Ladyland
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) Electric Ladyland
Ezy Ryder – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
Spanish Castle Magic – Axis: Bold As Love
Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) – Electric Ladyland
Long Hot Summer Night – Electric Ladyland
Angel – First Rays Of The New Rising Sun
One Rainy Wish – Axis: Bold Of Love
Little Wing – Axis: Bold As Love
Hear My Train A Comin’ – BBC Sessions
Bold As Love – Axis: Bold As Love
The front cover was an image I came across back in the dim distant past so I’m afraid I will not be able to credit the person who made it.
Normally when it comes to music produced from 1966-68, I tend to go for the mono mix as this is what the majority of artists thought of as the playback system that was dominant at the time. However, to my ears, Hendrix sounds weird in mono (if you are lucky enough to hear in that way) so I have gone with stereo mixes for the majority of the songs on this playlist. I think that the only mono records here are from the single mixes.
Here on the forth volume of my Under The Influence Series, the theme is Northern Soul. Time to relive the glory nights of the Twisted Wheel, Golden Torch, Blackpool Mecca and Wigan Casino.
Disc 1
Hold On To My Baby – The Cavaliers
Barefootin’ – Robert Parker
In Orbit – Joy Lovejoy
I’m Satisfied With You – The Furys
Baby Reconsider – Leon Haywood
Cracking Up Over You – Roy Hamilton
Right Track – Billy Butler
Back Street – Edwin Starr
I Spy (For The F.B.I.) – Jamo Thomas & His Party Brothers Orchestra
The Blowing Up My Mind – The Exciters
I Need Your Love – The Dynamics
I’ll Always Love You – The Spinners
Better Use Your Head – Little Anthony & The Imperials
I Really Love You – The Tomangoes
Slippin’ Around With You – Art Freeman
The Same Old Song – The Olympics
Quick Change Artist – The Soul Twins
If It’s All The Same To You Babe – Luther Ingram
I Gotta Find Me Somebody – Luther Ingram
Lay This Burden Down – Mary Love
Dance Dance Dance – The Casualeers
Thumb A Ride – Earl Right Orchestra
What Would I Do – The Tymes
You get Your Kicks – Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
You Just Don’t Know – Chubby Checker
Dr. Love – Bobby Sheen
Somebody, Somewhere, Needs You – Darryl Banks
Ain’t No More Room – The Kittens
Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid – Ketty Lester
Face Up To The Truth – Doris Troy
Gonna Gove You All The Love I’ve Got – Kimmy Ruffin
A playlist for this complication could not be produced due to one or more songs not being available on Spotify.
Disc 2
My Mama Told Me – Barbara Carr
Loving You – The Starlets
Talkin’ Dreamin’ Boastin’ – Sugar Pue DeSanto
Love Reputation – Denise LaSalle
Such A Pretty Thing – Gene Chandler
Sweeter Than The Day Before – The Valentinos
Too Late – Larry Williams & Johnny Watson
This Love Starved Heart Of Mine (It’s Killing Me) – Marvin Gaye
What Good Am I Without You – Darrow Fletcher
Sure Is A Lot Woman – The Isley Brothers
Let’s Wade In The Water – Marlena Shaw
A Mighty Good Lover – The Vashionettes
If You Ever Get Your Hands – Gladys Knight & The Pips
Ain’t No Sun (Since You Gone) – The Dynamics
Crying In The Night – The Monitors
Baby Come Home To Me – Shorty Long
Show Me The Way – J. J. Barnes
The Girl’s Got It – Billy Preston
Come Go With Me – Gloria Jones
I’m Gone – Eddie Parker
Well Keep On Rolling – Brenda Holloway
Keep On Climbing – The Magnificent Men
Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes) – Major Lance
True Love – Alex Patto
Hold On – The Radiants
I’m Grateful – The Four Tops
All I Do Is Think About You – Tammi Terrell
What more Could A Boy Ask For – The Spinners
Don’;t Stop – The Originals
I’ll Never Stop Loving You – Carla Thomas
A playlist for this complication could not be produced due to one or more songs not being available on Spotify.
What can I say about this era of Fleetwood Mac that has not been said before. Absolutely nothing so I will be brief. There is a reason why this era of the band is so well known. They sold an absolute ton of records and put out Rumours, the only classic album to have been produced whilst the band members were partaking in liberal amounts of cocaine. The classic era dates from 1975 when Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined. This line up was also the most stable in the bands history, which is surprising considering the collapse of two of the relationships that band members were in, and then two having an affair and the aforementioned drugs. How they produced anything at all, let along five albums of at worse, pretty good to at best, absolutely classic music is beyond me.
Like the first compilation of Mac material, this era had so much quality music that I put together a CD set. I didn’t finish in 1987 when Lindsey Buckingham left, but with the album that signalled the end of the band as regular recording act in ‘Behind The Mask’. This is not classic Mac, but still competent enough for inclusion here. I gave the next album after this a listen, but the ‘Time’ record is just awful. It doesn’t help that drummer Mick Fleetwood felt it was time to include a seven minute spoken word piece to see it off. Buckingham would return, and go again (or fired depending on your point of view). Nicks and Christine McVie would go and come back, but behind the ever rotating members up front are the bedrock of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The rhythm section has pretty much been the same since day one (apart from stop gap bass player Bob Brunning from the very early days). Fleetwood Mac is now just a touring band with attempts to record a new record coming to nothing since 2003s ‘Say You Will’. I’d moved on by this point but I will always have a soft spot for the Mac as they were the first band I really got into as it were. I love the music and how they managed to survive after Peter Green left, and then come back even stronger is a testament to great song writing and great playing. For that, I say thank you. Enjoy.
It has been pretty much a year since I had a look at the early years of Fleetwood Mac, so it was about time that I had a look at their career after founder member and legendary guitar, Peter Green, left the band.
In my post from August 2020, I lamented that the blues era of the band had been poorly served by compilers of the groups archive. If I thought that the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac has been poorly served by the endless reissuing of only the most successful tracks from time or poorly research archive compilations, well, the next era is a virtual desert. When Peter Green left Fleetwood Mac, the band continued to make records and tour but without the blues guitar hero up front, the sound began to change from blues, to rock, to soft rock. Between 1970 and 1974, Fleetwood Mac released an album a year but from the 2018 50 Years Anniversary Compilation, you would hardly now it.
On the 1 disc set which I suspect was designed to appeal to the casual buyer did not contain a single song from this era. In fact, only three songs from the twenty on the disc came form the Peter Green Era. On the three disc set, only disc one covered the first seven and most productive (in terms of releases) period of the band. With seventeen songs to cover this period, nine songs are from this forgotten second era which is not bad and the majority were single edits that I had never heard before. Nice touch but it really shows where the band through the money is as the rest of the set is from 1975 onwards. For the average Mac fan, this is most probably all they know. All of the Reprise label releases from 1969-1974 were released in a box set in 2020, but the lack of unreleased songs, be it in the studio or live was noticeable. This is a shame as this second era from contained its fair share of top notch songs.
Mac kicked things off in the 70s by releasing the ‘Kiln House’ album and this is the weakest of this era’s records. It is a band trying to find their feet after their leading light and driving force left. It is not a great album, but it does have some good playing and a couple of good songs. As if losing one founder member wasn’t enough, by the time the next album came out, Jeremy Spencer had also left. This is where they drafted in the guitar playing who would play on all of the remaining albums throughout this era and who’s departure in 1974 would lead to Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joining the band.
This man was Bob Welch and ‘Future Games’ was the first album he appeared on. This album is one, possibly two songs away from being a lost classic. It is also as far from the blues as you can get and it is not a surprise that the band lost a lot of their key UK audience around this period. Who wants to listen to soft rock with a sunshine Californian jazzy feel that came courtesy of American Welsh? Not the bands British fan base at any rate. The same line up continued on to the next album, ‘Bare Trees’ which also contained Welsh’s signature song, ‘Sentimental Lady’ which became a top ten US hit when he recorded a solo version in 1977. For Danny Kirwan though, this would be the end of the road. He had struggled since Peter Green left and his drinking had become a problem. After one too many incidents of erratic behaviour, Kirwan was out and the band regrouped with ex Savoy Brown singer Dave Walker and guitar player for hire Bob Weston coming in.
The band’s next album, ‘Penguin’ is not a great album with a pretty pedestrian cover of I’m A Road Runner making up the numbers. Penguin is notable for having a brief appearance by Peter Green on the song Nightwatch. At the time, this was the first Mac record to make any headway in the US, even though is did nothing in the UK. Walker did not last long as the band were not ready for a front person who didn’t play a guitar or keyboards and he was gone by the time the sessions for their next album which was called ‘Mystery To Me’. This was an improvement on the previous record and continued with the trend of their early 70s albums to do reasonably well in the US, but not in the UK. However, band harmony didn’t last long as it was found that Bob Weston was having an affair with Mick Fleetwood’s wife. The tour fell apart and Clifford Davis, the band’s manager sent a fake Mac on the road claiming he owned the band name. This fake Mac would end up changing their name to Stretch and release a number of records of their own.
After a suggestion from Welch, the band relocated to the US and have pretty much stayed there ever since. The recorded their first US based album and it was called ‘Heroes Are Hard To Find’. Even though the album was the first Mac album to break into the US top 40, Welch felt it was time to move on. He felt that he had given all he could to the band and with his marriage failing, he moved on to pastures new.
I was pleasantly surprised to find all of these songs on Spotify, especially as their were quite a number of songs from the Peter Green era that meant I could not create a play list on the platform. These compilations CD show a band in transition, but there is enough good songs in here to show that these albums are unduly being ignored with a lack of deluxe reissues. Bizarrely, all of the albums Danny Kirwan was on were given a Vinyl Box Set reissue in 2013 but apart from the addition of the single Oh Well (Parts 1 & 2) was the only bonus track. There have been a rare occasion when this era does get a compilation, this normally throws in a couple of rare or unreleased studio cuts with a load of live tracks. Why not put out some deluxe editions record label? Come on Warner Brothers Records, you can do better than this. The label was not swallowed up by Universal so the bands archives did not catch fire in 2008 so surely there is more in the archive?
This era might be the bridge between the blues era and the multi million dollar selling soft rock behemoth but it does show how the band went from one to the other. So for now here is, to my mind anyway, the best of the years 1970-74. Enjoy.
As there has been a couple of episodes of the podcast looking at the later years of Eric Clapton’s career, I thought it was time to have a look at one fo the seminal bands he appeared with during his early career.
Ah Cream, one of the first supergroups. Famous for the inventing the power trio, their proficiency with their instruments, their extended solos and producing some the greatest music of all time. The existence of the band was always going to be a limited affair due to volatile nature of the relationship between bassist (plus loads of other instruments) Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. Having played together in a previous band, Baker and Bruce had been known for their quarrelling, on stage fights and damaging one another’s instruments. Baker had had Bruce fired and Bruce only stopped turning up for gigs after Baker had threatened him with a knife. It was Clapton though who wanted Bruce in as he had played with him in John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers. Even though Bruce and Baker were reluctant, they decided to put their differences aside and took they name, Cream. The individual members did have reputations at the time as being the best around but taking that sort of name still meant they had to prove it.
The band initially played a tight set but soon expanded the songs they were playing, mostly down to the fact that initially they did not have much in the way of original material. It was also agreed that the band would split songwriting duties between them and that Bruce would be the main vocalist. Fresh Cream, the band’s first album clearly shows this as both Baker and Bruce contributed material, but Bruce sang all the lead vocal parts except on Four Units Late, which Clapton sang. Clapton was not very confident about singing at this stage and as far as I can tell, not written any original material. Out of all of the albums Cream produced, Fresh Cream could be argued to be the most focused. The songs are mostly blues based and to the point even though the beginnings of the extended jam material can be seen here with the inclusion of Spoonful and Toad, both of which clock in at over 5 minutes each. The first two singles were also not included on this album, the rock classic I Feel Free and the ‘are you sure that is Cream’ debut record, Wrapping Paper.
Disraeli Gears, the second effort is most probably their most famous record. With its memorable sleeve and including such classics as Sunshine of Your Love, it is let down by two of the weakest efforts in the band’s catalogue. Blue Condition and Mother’s Lament. When a box set and deluxe edition of this album came out, there were a number of songs that had been demoed for this album but these were not put on the record because the record label thought of them as uncommercial. Surely a song needs to be good, not just commercial? The majority of the music for this compilation comes from these two albums, and they are the best. After this, the standard of the music on the LPs in my opinions diminishes somewhat.
Wheels on Fire did include the classic White Room, but after that, the original material is possibly a bit too experimental, or just not good enough for me. The live album suffers from the same problem that most records of that nature suffer from, in that a three piece has a big hole in the sound once the lead guitar player goes for a solo. There are also limitations in what you can do with a three piece, and when it sounds like all of them are taking a solo at the same time, it is no wonder that they turned the sound up so they could hear themselves. Goodbye sounds as though it was knocked out to fulfil their contract, with each member supplying a song each and the rest of the record containing more live material of songs released on their previous albums. This album also included Badge, a song that would would become one of the bands most famous pieces but was not included on here as I don’t like it.
This is the problem I have with Cream. They have a great reputation and can be said to be one of the precursors for heavy rock/metal, but for a band with such a great reputation, their recording legacy does not quite match up. Yes, they produced some classic songs which are still played on the radio today, but there was so many that were not very good. There is also their reputation as a live act, which I have also struggled with. I bought all of the live recordings up to a point but after a while, the constant soloing can become quite hard to listen to . When they got it right, as shown here by the covers of Steppin’ Out and Crossroads, they were great. Most of the time, it was just too self indulgent for my tastes. However, there was enough material for me to compile a CD and I am sure there will be those that will disagree with this playlist and feel other songs should have been included, or that I have been a bit harsh on their live reputation, but its just my opinion folks.
Wrapping Paper
I Feel Free
N.S.U.
Cat’s Squirrel
Four Until Late
Dreaming
Rollin’ & Tumblin’
Strange Brew
Sunshine Of Your Love
Steppin’ Out
Crossroads
World Of Pain
Dance The Night Away
Tales Of Brave Ulysses
White Room
Born Under A Bad Sign
The Coffee Song
SWLABR
Outside Woman Blues
Take It Back
I’m So Glad
Doing The Scrapyard Thing
Deserted Cities Of The Heart
What A Bringdown
The cover is taken from https://www.redbubble.com/shop/cream+band+posters
Here on the third volume of my Under The Influence Series, the theme is once again 60’s soul but we have moved later into the decade with some songs coming from the early 70’s.
Disc 1
Sweet Soul Music – Arthur Conley
In The Midnight Hour – Wilson Pickett
Do The Funky Chicken – Rufus Thomas
I Got You (I Feel Good) – James Brown
A Certain Girl – Ernie K-Doe
Mojo Hannah – Little Esther Phillips
See Saw – Don Covay & The Goodtimers
I’ve Never Found A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do) – Eddie Floyd
Walk On By – Dionne Warwick
I’d Rather Go Blind – Etta James
I Was Made To Love Her – Stevie Wonder
25 Miles – Edwin Starr
Ain’t To Proud To Beg – The Temptations
Memphis Soul Stew – King Curtis
(Love Is Like A) Heatwave – Martha & The Vandellas
Shop Around – The Miracle
I Thank You – Sam & Dave
You Can’t Hurry Love – The Supremes
Land Of 1000 Dances – Wilson Pickett
Respect – Aretha Franklin
Mr. Pitiful – Otis Redding
Heaven Must Have Have Sent You – The Elgins
Wonderful World – Sam Cooke
Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever – The Four Tops
Lonely Lover – Marvin Gaye
You’re No Good – Betty Everette
Under The Boardwalk – The Drifters
You Don’t Miss Your Water – William Bell
I Don’t Know What You’re Got (But It’s Not Me) Parts 1 & 2
I have a real soft spot for music that came out in the Psychedelic Years of 1966-1969, and when I first getting into ‘it’, I only thought that this sort of music was produced in the UK and USA. A little digging though on the surface, it wasn’t hard to discover that the rest of the world wasn’t that far behind. I covered this topic in Episode 80 and 81 of the my podcast under the title of ‘Mundo Psych’. Those shows only scratched the service of what there was, and so this month I present Volume 1 in a more comprehensive look at this genre from around the world.
Some of these songs could be argued to be bordering on Progressive Rock, but this works well as a compilation and a genre label is pretty loose anyway.
Disc 1
Same – McCully Workshop Inc.
I Wonder Who – Aguaturbia
Hang Out – The Kaleidoscope (Mexico)
Hop Dedik – Erol Buyukburc
Dark Thoughts – New Dawn
People – Ladies W.C.
Turkuz Turku Cagiririz (Sur Efem Atini) – Mahzar Ve Faut
Quero Companheira – Rubinho E Mauro Assumpção
Sweet Sixteen – Ros Sereysothea
A Madman’s Cry – Otis Waygood
Lenon Blues – Three Souls In My Mind
Run & Hide – Speed, Glue & Shinki
Yesterday – Lightyears Away – Astral Navigation
Magic Colours – Teddy Robin & The Playboys
En Medio De La Lluvia – La Revolución De Emiliano Zapata
Glória Ao Rei Nos Confins Do Além – Os Mutantes
Así Serás – Congreso
Spring – Kim Jung Mi
The Evening Sun – Shin Jung-Hyeon & There Men
Foto De Primera Comunión – Los Jaivas
Disc 2
Toward The Sunlight – Kim Jung Mi
Hermano Perro – Almendra
Sniffin’ & Snortin’ Part 2 (Vitamin C) – Speed, Glue & Shinki
Inferno No Mundo – Bango
Sen Varson – Bulent Ortacgil & Benimle Oynar Misin
Walderez Walderea – Flavio Kurt
Inento N°.2 – Antorcha
Tatli Dillum – Cem Karaca & Kardaslar Apaslar
E.V.O.L. – Aguaturbia
Planetario – Geraldo Azevedo
Parque Industrial – Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes & Caetano Veloso
Cuando Era Nio – Los Ovnis
Vous – Michel Pagliaro
Une Petite Fille – Empreintes
No Mundo Da Lua – Rubinho E Mauro Assumpçao
Valley Of Sadness – The Third Eye
Los Pajaros – Kissing Spell
Beautiful Rivers & Mountains – Shin Joong Hyun & The Men
Michael Of Hair – Tokedashita Garasu Baku
Towards The Sunlight (Reprise) – Kim Jung Mi
Some of these songs have had a bit of an edit in places. A intro taken off here, and outro edited down there. The biggest edit is to Kim Jung Mi’s song ‘Towards The Sunlight’. I took the coda from the song and used is as the last song on Disc 2. It sounded better there than as the end of the opening song.
The title for this compilation comes from a CD released back in 2011 of the same name. It was a Various Artists disc looking at the music scene in Pernambuco, and area in northeast Brazil that had its own thriving music scene outside of the hubs of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The cover is also adapted from that compilation as well.
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.
What Good Am I?
Burning Hell
Lord Help
Take My Love (I Want To Give it)
Honey, Honey (With Imelda May)
Love & Blessings
Soul Of A Man
Elvis Presley Blues
Did Trouble Me
Opportunity To Cry
He Was A Friend of Mine
Tower Of Song
Run On
Don’t Knock
I Wish You Would
Factory Girl
Ain’t No Grave
Didn’t It Rain
All Blues Hail Mary
If I Give My Soul
Charlie Darwin
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.
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!
Gotta Get Up – Marty Finkel
Everybody Philly – The Citations
Maybe – Labi Siffre
1941 – Joel Grey
It’s Been So Long – Kenny Everett
Me & My Arrow – Davy Jones
Wailing Of The Willow – Liza Minnelli
Remember (Christmas) – Johnny Mathis
Countin’ – Mike Clifford
Don’t Leave Me – Robert John
I Guess The Lord Must be In New York City – The New Yorkers
Chicken Track – Jimmie Cross
The Story Of Rock ’n’ Roll – The Turtles
The Puppy Song – David Cassidy
Open Your Window – George Tipton
One – Chris Clark
All My Life – The Walkmen (feat. Allesanora Mario)
