Welcome to the RPM Seven Day Soundtrack, week ending Friday 19th August 2022. Here's what's caught the RPM collective's ear this week as we head into late summer...there's a bit of a chill in the evening air up North...but these sounds are certainly hot; over to...

Jean -

"We're still desperate for more showers here...we’ve only had sprinkles up to now, so my theme has to be water/rain (hoping for some more)."

Jayne -

"Hi RPM team. Thanks for your tracks. Just keep on keeping on..."

Nina -

"Hi all, hope you're well. Enjoyed your choices while on the move through the Midlands and a brief 36 hours in Norfolk recently. Fab to have a brunch catch up with Jayne! 🤗

Sending these while looking at a misty, moody Mount's Bay. It's been raining all day, poet..innit 😏

Take care folks. Cheers!"

John -

"Hi Everyone, Here are three tracks from albums I've listened to in the past seven days..."

Tony -

"I've been listening to some jazz this week courtesy of a Verve CD compilation that I picked up in Canada a few weeks after 9/11. It was to celebrate 50 years of the Verve label and I've picked out a couple of tracks together with an Elvis track as this week marked the 45th anniversary of his death. I really enjoyed Alan's 'Mods & Rockers' film which was absolutely hilarious. This was the dancing/mincing from Cliff's, Cilla's, Dusty's and Val Doonican's tv shows all rolled into one with not a rocker or mod anywhere in sight. I've found up a little montage on Teds, Mods Skinheads, Punks etc. which might go some way towards setting the record straight as it depicts things as I remember them. Just one note though. One of the Ted pics looks suspiciously like a plant i.e. Pete Murray, Freddie Mills and Jo Douglas in carefully ironed outfits.

Best wishes to all you RPMers."

Dave -

"Hi RPMers, hope all's good with you guys. Here’s my 3."

Alan -

"Great selections again last week. Here's the three early sixties instrumentals scheduled for last week, all on the ever dependable London/American label."

Don't Be Cruel performed by The Bill Black Combo (7" single released June 1960. London American label) - "Initially the eye catcher in Elvis Presley's early live performances, Bill would regularly 'mount' his stand up bass and generally fool about on stage whilst both Elvis and Scotty Moore remained largely immobile and, even when Elvis gained confidence and began to develop his stagecraft, Bill continued to provide an alternate focal point. Bill had begun playing a homemade 'cigar box' stringed instrument made by his father before moving to acoustic guitar and then, in the late forties, the upright bass before finally, in 1957, changing to a Fender Precision. It was this instrument which was used on the 'Jailhouse Rock' soundtrack, making the single the first US number one to feature an electric bass guitar. Bill's original style of bass playing, now commonly known as 'slap bass', and his tomfoolery, was copied from Fred Maddox of the Maddox Brothers and was often coupled with blacked out teeth, a straw hat and bib and brace overalls. By 1952 he had begun to play in a group with Scotty Moore, as well as making appearances in a lineup with the Burnette Brothers and Paul Burlison before being called in by Sun Records head honcho Sam Phillips to back Elvis, who had persistently been hounding Phillips to allow him to record. Of course, the rest is history, with early Elvis discs marketed as by Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill and the pair being recognised financially by being paid 25% of Elvis's earnings. Under Colonel Parker this was changed to $200 per week and $100 when not performing. There were additions for live performances but, after 18 months, and with Elvis appearing live less frequently due to movie commitments, Bill and Scotty were in financial difficulty and asked for a raise. When this was refused they left Presley, albeit only temporarily, but when Presley failed to find replacement sympathetic musicians he rehired the pair on a 'per diem' (daily) basis. In 1959 Black formed the Combo, which included Reggie Young on guitar and Martin Willis on saxophone, and hit immediately with 'Smokie Part Two' which achieved number 17 on the pop charts and made number one on the R&B charts. There were a further nine hit singles and an album which stayed on the charts for a whole year, appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and in the 'Teenage Millionaire' film but, by this time, Black was suffering from an illness later identified as a brain tumour. Black decided to keep his band on the road, in fact there were two lineups on tour at the same time, and this continued with the family's blessing even after his death on 21st October 1965. It was one of those lineups which opened the show for the Beatles on their debut US tour, at the Beatles special request, and such was McCartney's love of Black's sound that he was given Black's bass as a birthday present by his widow. Macca went on to play the instrument on 'Heartbreak Hotel' in the 'In the world tonight' documentary and, again, on the late Beatles single 'Real Love'."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6c9HilyfUQ

Caravan by Sandy Nelson (from 'Drums are my beat' LP released March 1962. London label) - "Here's the guy to blame for my love of drums!! The hours I spent playing along to this album; although my Mum's thickest knitting needles and the settee arm had to suffice as a substitute for Sandy's kit they were never going to be able to cut it on stage!!! I had begun playing drums in the Boy Scouts but when it came to a choice between buying a drum kit or going on holiday with my friends to the fleshpots of Oostende in 1963 I'm afraid any chance of eventually replacing Ringo in his band disappeared forever!! There is a 'bio' of Nelson on the Week 25 2021 listing and there's little to add except that, sadly, Sandy passed away on February 14th this year from complications following a stroke in 2017."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_BHjN7lxfE

Move It by The Chantays (7" single b-side released March 1963 London American (Dot) label) - "The top side, 'Pipeline', is one of surf music's most familiar tracks but, from the first play on the day I purchased the single, I have always loved this b-side. Late 1961 saw five student friends at Santa Ana High Calif. form a group after watching local heroes The Rhythm Rockers. After gigging the local clubs, they went into the studio to record their debut single, 'Liberty's Whip' (after the film ' The man who shot Liberty Valance') in December 1962. However, after seeing a film of Hawaii's Banzai Pipeline in a surfing movie, the band quickly renamed the track. Although the record was actually recorded in 'wide' stereo, the single was only originally released in mono, but that didn't stop it from becoming one of the touchstone 'surf' records which went on to hit number four in the US and number sixteen in the UK. One of the reasons for the singles success may well have been the 'upside down' mix which saw the rhythm and bass guitars and electric piano mixed above the lead guitar and drums. Another reason, of course, is it's a damn catchy tune!!! The band recorded just two albums in the sixties (with a further brace in the mid-nineties) and almost a dozen singles, toured the US with Roy Orbison and the Righteous Brothers, proved extremely popular when they toured Japan and were the only rock band to appear on the popular Lawrence Welk Show. The track has been covered on numerous occasions by such luminaries as Beach Boy Bruce Johnstone, 'King of the surf guitar' Dick Dale, Japan's own axe hero Takeshi Terauchi, 'thrash metallers' Anthrax, original punker Johnny Thunders, comi-ska outfit Bad Manners and even Lawrence Welk to name just a few. Original members Bob Spickard and Bob Welch are still touring and the band have received several awards including a plaque on Hollywood's RockWalk, a street named after the band in Santa Ana and, notably, seeing 'Pipeline' listed as one of the ' 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll'."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPWg4a_uUis

James -

"Three very long time favourites this week."

Piers -

"Just in case people say that we have no Standards!"

Philip -

"I noticed in the latest edition of "Mojo" that Nick Lowe's first solo album was re-released for Record Store Day with a new title- it was initially issued in the UK as "Jesus of Cool," then put out in the US as "Pure Pop For Now People" so as not to offend American religious (theocratic?) sensibilities. Its' RSD title is "Wireless World."

This got me thinking about (and listening to) some of those artists acclaimed in the late '70s as "New Wave," but who had been on the scene for several years before that "wave" broke, hence this week's selections.

Best wishes to everone."

Tim -

"Hi All...another Blind Willie McTell influenced week, having just finished reading Hand Me My Travellin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell. An engaging and very interesting read, as not only a biography, but also a travel and social history book.

Just realised a strange coincidence here; McTell died on the 19th August 1959, 63 years to the day today as I'm publishing this edition of the 7DS. Spooky."

'Til Next Time...