Keep On Talking

Another classic piece of soul from Muscle Shoals, and the writing partnership of Dann Penn and Spooner Oldham. This is the only single that James Barnett ever recorded but what a single. Released in 1966 produced by Rich Hall and released on the Fame Recording Co label.

James Barnett - Keep On Talking

Mellow Sunday

Sigh!

Gorgeous and slightly less heartbreaking without the vocals.

Spiritualized - Broken Heart (Instrumental) (Japanese Version)

The Duplettes

I have been getting more stuff through for review recently than before which is strange as that is not what the blog is all about and I have never sought out stuff from people. I do feel guilty that most of the time I don't give the stuff a chance maybe click on the email and as soon as I see the words "Hey Bill" I click delete, or "we just love your blog how about featuring these guys who we think will be the next One Direction". Sometimes I do get round to following the soundcloud links and more often than not it is not the sort of thing that would fit here.

One sure fire way to get me to click on the link is to have "ettes" at the end of your name. Last week a guy called Jim sent me an email which started

"Hi Drew

We are an acoustic duo called the Duplettes from East London playing a mixture of Soul and Americana"

This did pique my interest somewhat, not only had he gotten my name right and therefore had read at least something on the blog but he had "ettes" in his duo's name and dropped in the word Soul. The mixture of Soul and Amercana also intrigued me, was I going to get covers of Grandaddy or Lampchop in a soul styling or  I've Been Loving You Too Long ala Ryan Adams. So I clicked on the link and was quite pleasantly surprised, lovely, soulful  vocals backed by acoustic guitar. Just the thing for a Monday morning when procrastinating.

I decided to delve further, listening to the rest of the forthcoming ep and then a visit to their website where the Soul/Americana thing fell into place with a rather good rendition of my favourite Kings of Leon track.

The ep is to be released on 8th April and can be streamed here  and if you like what you hear you can pre-order it from here . Below is the cover of A Beautiful War.

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

What with being away this week and having loads on I haven't as promised selected any more Guerilla tracks to stumble down memory lane to.

But here is a track that the good people at Piccadilly Records sent to me last weekend and has taken up residence on the turntable. I was going to wait until the weather was a bit warmer but I think that you will all want to either buy the 12" or pop over to Juno's website and buy the download. It is a stonking piece of life affirming happy house but without the cheese.

Have a good weekend people

And by the way the visuals are nothing to do with me, the soundcloud link is broken and this the only other source I could find was this  as I have yet to rip the vinyl to the laptop.

He Was A Friend Of Mine

The Organ Grinder's Monkey is the latest project from Meursault. The idea was to crowd source the money for the band to go to SXSW by offering to record an album half of which would be Meursault originals and the others covers all suggested by those who had pledged to the cause.

The results are quite astounding There are covers from bands such as Guided By Voices and Wreckless Eric and the re-recordings especially that of One Day This'll All Be Fields are well worth having also. This album is more than just a off the cuff recording to fund a trip but something that is well worth owning in it's own right and something that Neil and everybody else involved in the project should be immensely proud of.

The track posted is not available for download but if you like what you hear go here and buy the album. It's worth it. Trust me.

Meursault - He Was A Friend Of Mine

Mary's Gun

I'm over in Belfast for a couple of days my third favourite city in the UK after Glasgow and Manchester. I actually look forward to going over the water for work, it was better when Head was still open as it wasn't far from where I stay and was open pretty late so I could waste a bit of time digging through the crates that were scattered up the back of the shop. Now it's the Guinness I look forward to.

Mary's Gun was the second single released by Novella, back in 2012. It was recorded in The Horrors studio and produced by Joshua Third. I'm sure that I read somewhere that it was based upon a story about Mary Weiss, lead vocalist with The Shangri-Las and her habit of carrying a firearm upon her person. That maybe utter nonsense as I can't find any verification for it anywhere but I'm sure I read it somewhere. Anyway, it's a rather good piece of Jesus And The Mary Chain/My Bloody Valentine influenced indie.

Novella - Mary's Gun

Ain't No Need

Here is an absolutely great piece of early R&B from Honey Brown. I can found out absolutely bugger all about Ms Brown and I suspect that that may not be her real name anyway. The label says that Club 51 records were based in the Windy City, so Ms Brown may have been from the Illinois area but that is pure speculation.

I bought this single a few years ago, as I liked the label and I hadn't heard that much from Chicago that I didn't like,
well apart from Chicago and I don't even know if they are from the city and don't really care anyway. But this 45 was one of my better spur of the moment decisions.

Honey Brown - Ain't No Need

Oh My Soul

Words cannot describe just how utterly wonderful this record is so I won't even bother. Just give it a listen, you will not be disappointed.

Swordsmen - Oh My Soul

Mellow Sunday

Five One. Five fucking One!!! That was not expected.

Sometimes you need something a bit spiritual and if that is the case it's best to seek out the Reverend.

Al Green - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

After last week's blast from the heady days of progressive house I think that we should stick with my favourite genre of dance music today and maybe for the next couple of weeks.

Today's track was the first single from Charlie May and Duncan Forbes better known as Spooky which was released in 1992 on that most proggy of prog house labels Guerilla. Between 1992 and the following year William Orbit's label released some absolute belters of track in fact I think that we could have a wee Guerilla series on Fridays.

Tonight I will mostly be praying to the gods of football that Airdrie can get another victory tomorrow and move us further away from the relegation zone.

Have a good weekend people.

Spooky - Land Of Oz (Poppyfield mix)

Voodoo Woman

This came out a couple of years ago in a run of only 300 7" singles pressed on rather lovely white vinyl. Prior to this she released a single on Acid Jazz and she was the featured vocalist on Take Care of My Love by Nick Pride & The Pimptones which I was going to feature soon.

This is another of those singles that I found hiding in the boxes at the weekend.

Jess Roberts - Voodoo Woman

Little Girl

This R&B stormer from 1960 is another one of the singles that I ripped on Sunday. I don't know much about this record or Sugar Boy Williams but it is thought that he was from the New York area, as Herald records who put out the single was an N.Y.C. label.  It is an absolute top notch single but pretty hard to get hold of in the original, mines was a repro that I got a few years ago.

Sugar Boy Williams - Little Girl.

Midnight Express

I'm in the mood for a bit of frenetic raw guitar driven instrumental Rockabilly with a bit of mad sax blowing thrown in for good measure. Another track from the double cd that just keeps giving, "Killer Rhythms & Red Hot Beats".

The Dawnbeats hailed from Columbus Ohio and the single Midnight Express was released on the local Amp label, I'm guessing some time around the mid 50s. Clocking in at 01:59, it's brief and to the point. Magic stuff!

The Dawnbeats - Midnight Express.

The Sweetest Thing This Side Of Heaven

I spent a rather pleasant Saturday afternoon trying to put my boxes of soul 7" singles in some sort of order. This was after a visit to Darcy's bit where he mentioned that he had just completed this task. I failed in my task and ended up just playing random singles. I did manage to put the Reggae/Rock n Roll/Garage box in order but that only holds around 100 and is only 3/4 full.

Anyway, while searching through the boxes I found quite a few 45s that I had yet to rip to the hard drive and so spent a further relaxing afternoon yesterday uploading tracks to iTunes.

Here is one of the singles that I found. "The Sweetest Thing This Side Of Heaven" is a rather lovely soul ballad. Written, produced and the first single released on Van McCoy's Vando label in 1967.

Apologies for the background noise, although the vinyl looks near mint it does have quite a bit of surface noise.

Chris Bartley - The Sweetest Thing This Side Of Heaven

Mellow Sunday

I have a sore head.

Eighteenth parties ain't what they used to be! Why would you have a party without girls? Apparently "they just cause fights and waste your night".

Jesus, I despair for the youth of this nation and we are allowing them to vote later this year!

Roddy Frame - Inside Out (Live Paisley Abbey)

It's Friday . . . Let's Dance

A lovely throbby, squidgy progressive monster is the order of the day and a track that I thought that I had posted previously before in one form or another but apparently not.

Sugar Daddy was the seventh release on Weatherall's Sabres of Paradise imprint. Secret Knowledge consisted of veteran rock journalist, producer dj and party animal Kris Needs ably assisted by vocalist Wonder Schnedier. They also released a belter of a track as Delta Lady on Hard Hands.

When trying to decide which mix to post I found two copies of the remix 12" which was a bit of a surprise. In the end I have chosen the Disco Evangelists remix, the Out Of Our Brains On The 5.15 mix, a reference to The Who and Quadrophenia, not sure that too many mods embraced progressive house, none of the ones I knew did.

I will mostly be feeling old this weekend, as my nephew celebrates his 18th birthday!!! I remember babysitting him the morning after the general election in 1997 and thinking we will discuss this glorious day in years to come my boy. oh the optimism. It is ironic on another level as the most I get out of him these days is the odd grunt and unintelligible phrase.

Have a good weekend people.

Secret Knowledge - Sugar Daddy (Out Of Our Brains on the 5.15 mix)

Why Not a Single?

I have felt the need to purchase a Kings of Leon album although there are a few things that I have liked over the years which have fortunately been released as 7" singles which makes the fact that the latest track which received much airplay on 6Music and which has gotten under my skin, Beautiful War incredibly frustrating. I may have to by the album!

Here is an earlier track by the Followill brothers and their cousin which I enjoyed immensely and was released as a 7".

Kings of Leon - The Bucket

I Found You

Here is probably my favourite song from an album that was on heavy rotation on the turntable during the second half of 2012.

Let's hope that this good weather holds out until the weekend and I can get out on the scooter for the first time this year. I used to sneer at fair weather scooterists when I had no alternative but to ride it in all weathers but fuck that,  I'm too old to spend all day drying out and heating up.

Alabama Shakes - I Found You 

I Wish I Had A Wooden Heart

Something a bit funky for a Tuesday.

I Wish I Had A Wooden Heart has absolutely nothing to do with Elvis Presley and a dreadful film about the capers of GI's in Germany in the 1950s. It is the lead track from a sampler for the "David Holmes Presents The Free Association" album.

The Free Association was a Holmes side project which included the musicians Stephen Hilton, Sean Reveron and Pati Yang. They released two albums and three singles including a rather good cover of Rodriquez' Sugarman.

The Free Association - I Wish I Had A Wooden Heart

In The Same Old Way (I Still Love You)

In The Same Old Way is a track that I have been trying to get on vinyl for quite a few years but any time I have bid on it I have lost out in the last couple of minutes. Recently I have seen a couple of promo copies going for £82 and £85 but when money's tight it's quite hard to justify that kind of money on a single. So when a few weeks ago I saw a listing on ebay for pressing your own tunes onto a 7" single this Scotty Williams track was the first that came into my head quickly followed by Indian Giver by the Chantelles.

The single duly arrived and I have to say that the quality of the sound is very good to these ears although I can't compare it to the original single, it will do (barely) until I can justify the price of an original.

And since then I have had a further single pressed with Jean 1, the track from the White Label Stolen Voices project on, which should have been a single in any case.

I still get shivers and goosebumps when I hear this song. it is just so damned good.

Scotty Williams - In The Same Old Way (I Still Love You)