Tuesday 31 January 2017

Baby Blue



CC over at Charity Chic Music has an excellent ongoing series pitting originals by Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan with the upstarts who think that they can cover the great man and frequently have the audacity to do a better job than him. At present of the fourteen tracks Dylan has came out on top 8 times. I have been wanting to post today's cover of a Dylan track for ages and didn't think that CC would be featuring it but asked him to be sure.

There is something really sad about the 13th Floor Elevators cover of It's All Over Now Baby Blue. The song originally featured on the 1965 release Bring It All Back home and has been covered by hunners of people, Them's version being a particularly good interpretation but for me the Elevators version just can't be beaten. When I listen to it it feels like a requiem to the hippy counter culture of the 60s even although it was written and released during the summer of love, even the guitars seem to be weeping. I think that the Elevators may have had a premonition when tripping on LSD but then again I am probably just talking through my arse, The song was on the band's second and best album Easter Everywhere and was also the flip side of their third single, She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own).

It has been said that the 13th Floor Elevators cover  is Dylan's favourite rendition of the song. I think that many of you will disagree but I think it's magic.

13th Floor Elevators - Baby Blue

Monday 30 January 2017

Where Can My Baby Be



Today's superb (if I do say so myself) slice of soul comes from 1968 and a group called the Martells. The tune was penned and produced by Clifford Curry a good friend of the lead vocalist, Clifford Russell with the intention of breaking Russell into the music business. Curry is responsible for another classic track from 1968, I Can't Get A Hold Of Myself. Where Can My Baby Be was recorded at Metro Studios in Knoxville Tennessee and released on  the A La Carte label.

Just listen to those horns.

The Martells - Where Can My Baby Be

Friday 27 January 2017

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



Walk On In was placed number 2 in my Tracks of My Years round up of 2013, when I noticed this the other week I was slightly surprised as this was above a John Talabot remix of The xx, Immunity by John Hopkins and other tracks that I have played more frequently since then. Then I played it again and realised that it really did deserve it's placing second from the top as it still sounds absolutely essential and managed to brighten up the interminable commute into Glasgow on either the M74 or M8 at present, it is fast becoming one of the 7 circles of Hell, but I digress, I can only imagine how this tune sounded at maximum volume in a club. I love the breakdown about three minutes in.

Airdrie are away to Stenhousemuir this weekend and there is absolutely no way Leo and I will be venturing over to Larbert as we are both still in counselling after the five nil pumping they inflicted on us in early December.

Have a good weekend people.

Doc Daneeka - Walk On In (feat Ratcatcher)

Thursday 26 January 2017

Night Beats



It's not very often that you can say that John Coope Clarke introduced you to some new music but last week he did that very thing when doing an excellent job as usual standing in for Jarvis Cocker on the Sunday Service on 6Music. He has introduced me to some great music from the past that I have never heard before or reminded me of tracks that I should not have forgotten about but genuine new music isn't really what his show is all about. He played Bad Love by Night Beats which got me scurrying to Piccadilly Records and sure enough the album that the song was from was there and I remembered seeing it a while ago and being intrigued by the description, put it on my wish list and then forgot all about it. So  after last Sunday's show I decided to find out a bit more about Night Beats and had a swatch at YouTube to see if the rest of the album was as good as the track the Bard of Salford featured and guess what  many of the tracks were even better. There is a definite garage rock feel about the album and I get the 13th Floor Elevators comparisons but the album is way more than just an homage to the kind of music that has been posted on this blog on a Tuesday for that past while. It is well worth checking out, trust me on this one.

For all I know you probably already know all about this mob from Seattle as Who Sold My Generation is not their first album but there third. Apparently they are named after a Sam Cooke album. I have a feeling that I will be purchasing the back catalogue when I am a little less fiscally challenged.

Cheers Dr John.

Night Beats - Bad Love

Wednesday 25 January 2017

Burns



Ae fond kiss and then we sever 
Ae fareweel,  alas forever
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee

Who shall say that fortune grieves him
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae chearfu' twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me

Ill ne'er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy:
But to see her, was to love her;
Love but her, and love for ever.

Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd so blindly,
Never met - or never parted,
We had ne'er been broken -hearted.

Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure!

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, Alas ! for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warning sighs and groans I'll wage thee.



I didn't think it was possible to perform this any better than Eddie Reader does but I was wrong.

Tuesday 24 January 2017

I Need You There



I Need You There was the second 45 released by the Chessmen, The original group were formed in 1964 on the campus of North Texas State University in Denton, outside Dallas.  The first single was a rather pedestrian cover of Save The Last Dance For Me released in 1965 on the Bismark. Later that same year after a line up change one guitarist leaving and two joining they recorded and released the record that the band will be remembered for, I Need You There another great piece of mid 60s garage rock. The following year after more changes in the band they released their third and final single You're Gonna Be Lonely

The Chessmen - I Need You There 

Monday 23 January 2017

I Can't Change



Last year I posted the better known version of today's track by Lorraine Chandler that was big with us scooterists in the mid eighties.This version by Yvonne Baker when she was still the singer with the Sensations of the Jack Ashford penned song was recorded two years prior to the Chandler version in 1964. It was released the following year on the Junior label out of Philly. Recently I have reached for this version ahead of the RCA released later release.

Yvonne Baker - I Can't Change

Friday 20 January 2017

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance




Back to 1993 for some classic acid house from Ritchie Hawtin being remixed by Plastikman (Ritchie Hawtin). This has all the classic elements of a Hawtin production, the sound of the 909 and the 303, a sort of minimal feel to it but still with a lot going on, if that makes any sense. The track sort of ebbs and flows and goes on and on without ever getting boring. The blueprint for the exceptional  remix of Alpha Wave by System 7 from a couple of years later.

Airdrie are not in action over the weekend as we are no longer in the Scottish Cup, so I will be spending my Saturday listening to a couple of recently purchased albums and going out for a couple of tea time shandies with my brother.

Have a good weekend people.

Robotman - Do Da Doo (Plastikman's Acid House mix)

Thursday 19 January 2017

Soul Wars



I went to see Rogue One between Christmas and New Year and turned into an eight year old again. It was brilliant, if Star Wars wasn't the first then Rogue One would be my favourite out of the five so far that matter. I did find the Grand Moff Tarkin  appearance rather unsettling and do not wish to see much more of that kind of thing.

Anyway it jolted my memory banks back to the turn of the millennium when some joker had the idea of mashing up Eric B & Rakim with John Williams. It made me smile at the time but quickly became wearing.

See what you think

Soul Wars - Force 1

Wednesday 18 January 2017

Love Is All There Is



I seem to be stuck in a kraut/psych/garage groove at the moment. Today's track from The Cult of Free Love as you would expect from the title has a hippy dippy eastern feel to it. I bought the split 12" initially for the track on the other side European Orange by the Wrestler that featured on Weatherall's radio show early last year which SA at the Bagging Area alerted us to, which is very good all throbby bass and Teutonic. However recently I have been listening to Love Is All There Is more.

Although I'm pretty sure he would have hated this as his taste in music was very different to mine (in fact he sacked me from djing in the pub due to "musical differences") this is dedicated to big Gerry. Rest in peace big man.

The Cult Of Free Love - Love Is All There Is

Tuesday 17 January 2017

She's Got You



Another slice of 1966 Garage rock for you today, although this track was not unearthed and released until a few years ago. The Zakary Thaks are well known in the world of garage and psych with seven singles to their name, no one no hit wonders, these guys. Most of their singles were released on the J Beck Records, a local label from Corpus Christi, Texas from where the band hailed. They were active from 1966 to 1969 and are probably best known for the single Bad Girl which I was going to post but I think that this is even better.

The Zakary Thaks - She's Got You 

Monday 16 January 2017

Open Up Your Heart



Another Monday, another piece of soul that I know very little about. Today's track is a bit of a stomper of a girl group sound from 1968  released on the ABC label out of New York. Not a bad way to start the working week.

The Mamselles - Open Up Your Heart.


Friday 13 January 2017

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance



Let's go back to simpler times today. Back in 1990 I was still an apprentice but by this time on not bad wages, supplemented by as many homers I could do during the week. The money would have needed to have been exceptional at the time for me to give up my weekends which were for dancing and getting off my face. Never Get Out Of The Boat was one of the tracks from that year that got lodged in my head. I loved everything about it, the atmosphere, the Martin Sheen sample and the wicked laid back groove. I used to have this on a compilation tape with the likes of  the Weatherall mix of O Je Suis Seul, Secchi's I Say Yeah and Hoomba Hoomba by Voices of Africa that I played constantly. I will have to try and remember all the tracks on that C90 and make up a playlist. Anyway, it this point I think that the Aloof were Dean Thatcher and  Jagz Kooner. The single was re-released the following year on FFRR with a Junior Boys Own remix by Farley and Heller however I much prefer the original Flying and especially the Gosh mix.

The Diamonds take on East Fife at home. We have slipped down to third in the league after only one win and four defeats in the last five games. I hope that we can stop the slide tomorrow but the only certainty is that it will be bloody freezing, the long-johns will have to make an appearance.

Have a good weekend people.

The Aloof - Never Get Out Of The Boat (Gosh mix)


Thursday 12 January 2017

You Don't Fuck About With Perfection



I read last week that they are re- releasing The Trinity Session by the Cowboy Junkies on vinyl. Fair enough I thought, there will be a demand for such a classic album but is it really necessary to put it on red vinyl, if there was ever an album that needed the coloured vinyl treatment least I think it is the Trinity Session, it's not that kind of record, it's not flashy and I don't think that it will entice anybody to purchase it who wouldn't have anyway. Then I read further that the album has also been remastered! Why the fuck would you do that?  A big part of the charm of the original is the fact that it was recorded using just one microphone live in the church, it gives the record that intimate, confessional feel that gripped me in the first place. It was the sort of thing that you could have witnessed and recorded yourself.  There is also absolutely no need to put it on two pieces of vinyl either

When the fuck will record companies stop fucking about with perfect records.

Cowboy Junkies - 200 Miles

Wednesday 11 January 2017

Pfft



I had great intentions to start this year with loads of interesting stories and music for you but I just can't really get motivated. It hasn't helped that 2017 hasn't started that well around these parts. I won't bore you with the details. At present I really  just want to shut out the world.

This is for a friend I have never met and his wife.

The Style Council - You're The Best Thing 

Tuesday 10 January 2017

One Year On



Rock 'n' Roll With Me

Primitive



I suspect that I won't be alone in the fact that my introduction to this track came courtesy of a cover version by Lux and Ivy from the Cramps second LP Psychedelic Jungle. When I think about it those two introduced me to loads of music. The original version of Primitive was released, yes you've guessed it, in 1966 but was probably recorded the previous year as it came out in January by an uncompromising bunch from the Lower East Side of N.Y.C. This moody, smouldering piece of garage blues again failed to trouble the charts despite being released on  Atco records and probably due to the band's refusal to go along with the record companies attempts to market them and were subsequently dropped by the label and moved to greater obscurity in L.A. They did however leave us with this sleazy classic.

The Groupies -  Primitive

Monday 9 January 2017

This Old Heart of Mine Needs A Fixin'



Today's piece of soul is another track that unfathomably failed to bother the charts in the US on it's release in 1967. It has all the ingredients for greatness, writing credits by Nick Ashford and Valarie Simpson, arrangement by HB Barnum, great brass and excellent female vocals from the three members of the group. It's not as if it was on some tiny obscure mid-west label. it was released on Warner Brothers! I just don't get it how could this record fail? As is the case with most of the soul found in this spot the tune found a home on the dance floors of the North of England in the 70s and has been in demand ever since. My copy of course is a pressing.

There is another version of this track out there by Candy and the Kisses but this is the definitive one.

The Apollas - Mr Creator

Sunday 8 January 2017

This Blog Is 8



To paraphrase the Boy Wonder " Eight long years and you've still got me". Hard to believe that this nonsense has sustained for that long but there you go. As I said on the last post,  thanks to everybody who has stopped by here.

The Pale Fountains - . . .From Across The Kitchen Table (original  version)