Welcome to the RPM Record Club Seven Day Soundtrack, week ending Friday 31st March 2023, the most eclectic mix of sounds around; over to...
Say You Love Me by The Pink Fairies - "Heard this on Sounds of the Seventies recently. I hadn’t heard of them before and I quite liked their raw sound."
Tilted by Christine and the Queens - "Saw a BBC concert with Christine. First saw her on Jules Holland years ago. Love her dance movements and dramatic music."
What About Love by Heart - "Just watching Women in Rock. The Wilson Sisters fronting Heart were mentioned. Great voices and performances. The statement hair says it all."
"Have a good week everybody and keep listening to the music."
"First up: Re Jean's comments, a (not so) potted history of all things 'The Old Grey Whistle test'. I seem to remember someone on TV once saying it was on after eleven because young people wouldn't be home from the pub/clubs 'til late but, more likely, is that the show was an (in)direct descendent of 'Late Night Line Up' and 'Colour me pop', both of which featured music as well as the more 'arty' sides of kulture. These were followed, in 1970, by (Line Up's)Disco2 which again featured bands and a magazine format and was produced by Rowan Ayers, father of Kevin!!. LNLU had featured Tim Buckley and a live set from Pink Floyd plus a whole programme on the classic, lysergic Magic Roundabout, a programme which saw me rushing home from the office every day to catch it (at five to six if I remember correctly?). Colour me Pop featured full sets from the Small Faces (playing the entire 'Ogdens....' LPand featuring a betrothed Stanley Unwin), Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and the Bonzo's. Disco2 ran for 68 episodes and featured the cream of prog (well, almost. No Crimso!!) as well as such diverse acts as Emile Ford (What D'you wanna make those eyes at me for!!!), Fats Domino, Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup and Lou Christie. OGWT followed on from the 21st September 1971, initially in a broom cupboard and with a weekly budget of £500. Originally all studio bands mimed and, for bands unable to appear 'live', Philip Jenkinson edited a vast array of silent movies/cartoons to great effect, a format that was echoed at the same time in Donny's 'Underground Club' upstairs (!!) in the now closed Nags Head. Great nights...... Bob Harris is the most remembered host, generally thanks to his 'whispering' style and less than generous remarks about Roxy Music and the New York Dolls. When punk exploded the programme immediately felt dated and it was perhaps understandable that Harris wouldn't feature any/many of those bands, particularly as he and a friend had been attacked by some of the Sex Pistols crowd at a gig at the Speakeasy. It would be February 1978 before the Adverts broke punk's 'duck' and this was soon followed by Harris's departure to be replaced by Anne Nightingale and then the overarchingly trendy David Hepworth and Mark Ellen. Despite the addition of Andy Kershaw, Rob Newton and Richard Skinner, and a truncated show title, the programme folded in March 1987. Of course, we've now got to put up with the smarmy Jools Holland gurning oilily whilst compulsorily adding his boogie woogie piano to everything....... well, that's my opinion anywaze. Bring back Disco2 I sez!!!!!
And finally, on a slightly related point: John O'Hara and the Playboys (on Beat Club I think, with the crowd dancing the 'Letkiss'!!): They were the first band to be given a whole episode of Colour Me Pop, being filmed live in Sheffield for the first half of the programme and then recording the second half at the BBC. Thanks for that one John.......... great clip and there are many others on the various Beat Club videos on YouTube.
According to the US magazine Billboard, O'Hara and his crowd were " A white soul" band from England,* O'Hara's Playboys rock 'n' roll through a dozen R&B favourites, generating a live excitement reminiscent of Mitch Ryder in his heyday" !!
*Originally from Scotland but, finally, stalwarts of Working Mens Clubs in Doncaster and Sheffield!!
"Oh well, on to this week's choices and here's three (or more) heavy rockers in their early days.
First up, a trip across the pond..."
Moving Sidewalks- '99th Floor' (initially US only 7" single release mid 1967. Tantara label. This from 'Pebbles Vol 2', released 1979. Australian import BFD label)
Houston group formed by Billy Gibbons and Dan Mitchell who later became founding members of ZZ Top. The Sidewalks recorded several singles and an album for Tantara with their debut single, '99th Floor', hitting number one in the Houston charts for several weeks. Gibbons was a close friend of 13th Floor Elevators Roky Eriikson and regularly supported the Elevators, Hendrix and the Doors at Houston's premier psychedelic club, the Love Street Light Circus. With little or no commercial interest from major labels the group split in 1969. However, due to their continuing 'underground' popularity, the original line up reformed for several gigs in 2013.
Episode Six- 'Mighty Morris Ten' (initially b-side to 'Here, There and Everywhere' 7" single released August 1966. Pye label. This from 'Put yourself in my place' LP released 1987. PRT label)
"The Six started their recording career with good covers of the Hollies 'Put yourself....' and the Tokens 'I hear trumpets blow' and quickly established a reputation as a fine close harmony soul band. However, with the failure of those two singles, the group went all out for success with a Beatles cover (as did many other groups!) which featured this 'humorous' pastiche of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean on the flip. The group had an expressive female vocalist in Sheila Carter-Dimmock who featured heavily on other tracks the group recorded but here it's none other than the Purps Ian Gillan on lead vocals and bassist Roger Glover amongst the guilty parties. As 1966 ended and the musical atmosphere changed the group bedecked themselves in kaftans and beads for their excellent cover of the Anglos 'Incense' and the two following singles 'Love-Hate-Revenge' and Tim Rose's 'Morning Dew'. There was just one further Pye release, the Glover penned 'I can see through you' before the group moved to MGM and then Chapter One for three more releases. Gillan then jumped ship to Deep Purple, replacing their original vocalist Rod Evans, closely followed by Glover, leaving the Six to struggle on with ex-Merseybeat Johnny Gustafson taking up the reins on bass and vocals until the group folded in September 1969."
Gods- 'Looking Glass' (from 'Genesis' LP released October 1968. Columbia label. This from CD reissue as part of 'Psychedelia Original Album Series' 5 CD box set released 2014. Warner/Parlophone label)
"A 'supergroup' in every sense of the word when you look at the pedigree of the band's members over its four year life span. Formed by Mick Taylor (future Stone), Brian and John (future Tull-er) Glascock, Ken Hensley (the Heep) and Joe Konas (friend of the stars), the band also featured Lee Kerslake (Heep) and Greg Lake (King Crimson/ELP) in later line ups. They released a handful of singles and three albums (including one as Head Machine) before a succession of leavers weakened the band's impact, such as it was, and they split in 1969. Interestingly, the least well known member, Joe Konas, not only plays some excellent guitar on this overblown melange of psychedelia and proto-prog of an album but also went on to jam with Ritchie Blackmore, Albert Lee and, notably, Jimi Hendrix on the second night of his notorious gigs at the Royal Albert Hall. He later went on to join the band with perhaps the worst name and album covers in rock history..... Toe Fat, and has written a book about his time in the sixties entitled, errrr, 'Hey Joe'. 'Looking Glass' is a Konas/Hensley co-comp and features Hensley in full 'castrato' voice mode backed by his semi-classical organ playing, a speeded up 'choir' at the finale and some nice, liquid reverb-ed guitar. A debt is probably to be paid by the band to Vanilla Fudge and, as an aside, when Sue lent me a copy of the Heep's 'Look at yourself' album early in our relationship, I returned the favour with an album by VDGG saying that the Heep were clearly influenced by them. However, it seems that I may have been a tad unfair as there are definite echoes of VDGG's instrumental sound in the Gods/Heeps recordings to those VDGG would release on their first three albums from 1970 onwards. But, there again, I don't think we would have covered all the miles around the UK to see the Gods/Heep like we did for Hammill and Co!!"
"To Phil: "Surely even the Telegraph and Mail can't continue to support him now... can they?" That Tory ar*ekisser Richard Littlejohn penned the following in the Mail on Friday 24th, " It's time we all drew a line under this Covid madness- starting by ending this deranged establishment witch-hunt against Boris" going on to ask " ...can every single member of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee deciding Boris's fate- hand on heart, so to speak- promise on oath that they never broke the rules, either, however accidentally. Did Hattie never sneak a crafty glass of fair trade Chablis with colleagues after work? Did Bernard Jenkins ever break the ludicrous 'rule of six' by having a few friends round for a meal? " and, taking a pot at Cressida Dick, could she ".... guarantee that no one at the Yard had cracked open a bottle of Glenhoddle in the squad room at the end of a hard day's fitting people up for 'hate crimes'? Apparently, according to Littlejohn, "As we know from Matt Hancock's WhatsApp dump, no one at the top had a clue what they were doing from the off. Decisions were often made because of political calculation, not because of what was in our best interests" So that's all right then..... Boris did what he did because no one had a clue what they were doing, even though they drew up the 'rules' and the 'guidance'? I wonder why aide Allegra Stratton was left almost speechless and felt the urge to laugh whilst trying to find a way of justifying Boris's behaviour, even though it wasn't even public knowledge at the time? Surely she knew, even then, that his behaviour was against the current rules and/or guidelines and were, therefore, undefendable? If his own aides thought it was wrong then, surely it's still wrong now. And, here's a puzzler for you. Cast your mind back to when Dominic Cummins drove 260 miles on one of Britain's busiest roads to his fathers estate at the very height of the initial lockdown to 'self isolate', without being pulled over by the Plod!!! I know that when we went to a Kings Lynn supermarket at virtually the same time, using minor roads I might add, we saw several cars pulled over by the police! One wonders if the M11/A1M police were made aware by, say, the PM that DC was on the move and not to be stopped? Hmmm!!
Enough for this week methinks!!!!"
"Thanks very much to those of you that came up with suggestions for finding the ghosted Youtube tracks that I mentioned last week. No such problems this time. And luckily for you folks, I won’t be running on quite so much this week…. Life’s become much easier since the dash board clock in my car has magically corrected itself, and as summer is a come’n in, (well almost) my listening has all been a bit smooth! I have been indulging in what might be called French 'festival' Jazz. I'm sure that you know the sort of twiddly stuff that just floats about on the slightest of breezes, in sunny public squares in any part of France in August."
Picnic in Tchernobyl by EYM Trio -
Baba Ayoola by Kokoroko -
"Although English, Kokoroko would fit into that category too... They are a rather groovy. If you like this live version it is worth listening to the studio version which is also available on YouTube."
"This was on repeat too... (a quite different Harry if you were thinking of the Swing era trumpeter and Big Band leader)."
Un Été Sans Mort by Harry James -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDucU9qLu3I
"Oh well back to practising 'Lord Franklin'..."
"Here's my 3 for this week to suit my mood at the moment - I'm planning to rock it up a bit next time. Best wishes to you all."
Since I Fell For You Dinah Washington - "I revisited one of the series of "Gitanes Jazz Round Midnight" cds I have to play this track from their compilation of Dinah's offerings. This is about as bluesy as it gets from one of my favourite singers."
Good Morning Heartache by Gladys Knight - "And while searching for my first track on youtube I spotted the same song by Gladys Knight so I dug around for an alternative from the same album and came up with this lovely thing - not a Pip in sight
and what a voice!"
Black Coffee by Peggy Lee - "...and since I'm enjoying some sitting in the dark sounds here's Peggy, another favourite, for some more."
"I finally got the new Iris DeMent record this week. It seems that for a while it was out of stock at various suppliers. So, for my first choice this week, here's the title track from the album- which is excellent by the way."
Workin' On A World by Iris DeMent -
Soul Searching by Ruthie Foster - "Someone I've been reading about in the Spring issue of the "No Depression" quarterly."
St. James Infirmary performed by Trombone Shorty - "...at a quite impressive venue. Again, he's featured in the above-mentioned magazine."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSbP6ZhfPs0
"Best wishes and good health to all."
"Hello Everyone. This week I've re-read David Hepworth's book '1971 - Never A Dull Moment' and my soundtrack to this activity was supplied via a number of albums from that year. These included The Rolling Stones (Sticky Fingers), Yes (The Yes Album), Lindisfarne (Fog On The Tyne), Marvin Gaye (What's Going On), The Who (Who's Next) plus a few bits and pieces from the Faces, Nick Drake, Black Sabbath and a few others. I also watched the film 'A Clockwork Orange' and started reading the Kingsley Amis novel 'Girl 20', both of which came out in 1971. I could have completed my immersion into 1971 by walking around the village in my Civil Defence Great Coat but that was nicked by some oik in The Old Kent Road in 1979... (I know the fashion police would say that my Great Coat should have been ditched way before then but it was such a practical garment!). Anyway, to the music...."
Can't You Hear Me Knocking by The Rolling Stones -
Intro from 'A Clockwork Orange' -
Yours Is No Disgrace by Yes -
About A Girl by Nirvana -
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana -
"Hi folks. Hugely enjoyed your selections + interesting info last week.
Here's my 3, just tracks I've listened to this week."
Farruko by Pedro Capo -
It Comes Back To You by Imagine Dragons -
I Wish My Love Was A Cherry by Elizabeth Knapp -
"Seems Phil, Jayne & I have a mutual love for the Hack Poets Guild. They played at Exeter last Sunday, was too spaced out to make it sadly but will definitely see them live at some point they're fab.
Have a brilliant weekend folks.
Cheers!"
"Thank you RPMers for your thoughtful curation of tunes each week. Long may it continue."
Ooh lala by Ronnie Lane etc -
Son de los Diablos by Ale Hop and Laura Robles -
Femme Africaine by Star Feminine Band -
"Here's my triad of tunes taken from the week's listening..."
My Love Is In America / The Gooseberry Bush / Toss the Feathers performed by Séamus Egan - "In Your Ear by Séamus Egan is a brilliant banjo album which I've listened to a lot....but I've just discovered that I've been under a misapprehension; this is not the same Séamus Egan who plays with Solas and who also plays (very fast) banjo, but a guy known as the "West Coast Séamus" from Portland, Oregon. I'm still trying to discover the identity of the piper on this track. This is possibly verging on being too fast, but I think the chaps just about get away with it!!"
Ways of Holding On by Oysterband - "Looking forward to seeing the Oysters live in York at the end of April, so have been playing a few of their albums this week."
Livin' On The Line by The Answer - "And still playing the new Answer recording, so here's another track."
'Til Next Time....