Tony -

"Here are my 3 for this week. I've picked the Bob Seger track before but I think it's worth another airing. I managed to make the Gretchen Peters gig in Bury and Philip did a good summing up of her performance. All I would add was that Kim Richey's support set also went down very well with me and to make up for last week could I include one from her as a bonus track please Tim? Hope everybody is doing ok."

Alan -

"Three tracks which hit the deck this week."

Rod Stewart- 'I just got some' (initially b-side to 'Shake' 7" single released March 1966. Columbia label. This from 'The day will come' CD released 2007. eXceed label)

"eXceed was a spinoff from the Pickwick label...... home to those horrible 'remixed from mono to stereo' compilations in the sixties and seventies but here, on this CD, probably 'digitally remixed' for your listening pleasure! All that aside, this is a prime 'Rod the Mod' era recording which has so many plus points that the probable remixing is totally excusable. Rod had busked around Europe in the early sixties before trying his hand (with little success) on the burgeoning folk club scene. He was spotted by the Midlands r&b group The Dimensions in 1963 and performed regularly with them as back up vocalist and harmonica player. However, Jimmy Powell 'took over' the group and Stewart left soon after. Slumping into despair, Stewart took refuge in the bottle and, one night in late 1963, whilst drunkenly singing on the platform of Twickenham station he was approached by (Long) John Baldry who allegedly told Stewart that 'Young man, it sounds like you've got a good voice there for singing r&b' and offered him the role as back up and occasional lead vocalist with his new group, The Hoochie Coochie Men. The group were already popular on the mod scene but that popularity did not transcend into sales for their two singles and a rather pedestrian LP. Stewart's first single, released in November 1964, saw him appear on Ready Steady Go but it still proved unsuccessful and Baldry broke up the Hoochie Coochie Men shortly after. Early spring 1965 saw both Baldry and Stewart, plus Julie Driscoll, approached by Giorgio Gomelsky to form a revue style group entitled Steampacket where the featured singers would all be backed by the Brian Auger Trinity covering music from soul to Tamla, to r&b and gospel to the blues. Again, despite a growing audience in the clubs, a tour supporting the Rolling Stones, including a slot at that group's appearance at the London Palladium, and a spot at the Richmond Jazz and Blues Festival (which was filmed for US TV),  cracks began to appear. Unfortunately, despite all being signed to the group, the threesome were also signed to different management teams and Gomelski was regularly absent due to touring the US with his other act, the Yardbirds. On his return, the differing managements' argued regarding which label the group's recordings should be released through. March 1966 saw Stewart being sacked (or leaving, the choice is yours) but not before he recorded 'Shake/I just got some' where he is backed in splendid form by Brian Augers Trinity. Quite why the single wasn't a commercial success is mystifying, perhaps the Small Faces album opener and the concurrent release of Sam Cooke's original, and final recording, took the shine off the sales?  However,Rod was soon signed by Jeff Beck which proved to be the stepping stone to his success, via the Faces, as a solo artist in the seventies. The CD compilation is worth picking up if you see it as it gathers together all Rods early singles, including a duet with P P Arnold, alongside several Steampacket and  Hoochie Coochie recordings."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZYZPF0QFLY

Joy Division- 'Komakino' (from free 7" flexi released June 1980. Factory label)

"This flexi single features three tracks recorded, but not necessarily completed, for the 'Closer' album released a month later. Originally limited to a 25,000 pressing (and later  repressed to 75,000 due to record store insistence to allow them to 'sell' what was meant to be a free gift to fans), the disc was initially given away at selected gigs and record shops but, eventually, Factory merely asked that a cheque/postal order to cover postage be sent to the label and a free copy would be sent, and that's how I received mine. 'Side Two' features two instrumentals with 'As you said' actually an extract from an 'experimental jam' featuring drummer Steven Morris' new synth drums and producer Martin Hannett's latest gadget, an ARP synthesiser. The real meat of the disc, however, is 'Komakino'* (literally translating from the German as 'coma cinema'  but the title may also be an extrapolation of the name of a concert venue, Berlin's Kant Kino) which sees Ian Curtis' lyrics appearing to relate to his worsening epilepsy and marital difficulties due to his continuing affair with Annik Honore. These themes were expanded on 'Closer', particularly on the 'Isolation', 'Passover', and 'Heart  And Soul' tracks and 'Komakino' would have been an excellent extra track on the album if room could have been found. Bernard Sumner's guitar twists and turns, Steve Morris lays down a thunderous beat and Peter Hook's bass was rarely better than here (sorry Nina!!), and all this was topped off with a superb melancholic vocal from Curtis. Almost concurrent with the discs original release Ian Curtis commited suicide at his Macclesfield home on the eve of Joy Divisions proposed debut US tour. In the previous few weeks, his seizures had increased in frequency and severity (with an average of two 'tonic-clonic' seizures per week), sometimes resulting from venue lighting engineers' (seemingly deliberate) utilisation of strobe lighting despite the bands management's insistence that these should not be used. His medication was known to increase suicidal thoughts and he had attempted suicide on at least one other occasion before finally suceeding on May 18th 1980. On the eve of his suicide Curtis had been listening to Iggy Pop's 1977 album 'The Idiot', an album whose title was inspired by Dostoyevsky's novel 'The Idiot' which is about the spiritually sensitive epileptic prince who was driven mad by the tragic and violent society in which he lived. Curtis' wife recollected that he had taken photographs of their wedding and their baby daughter off the walls, apparently to view them as he composed his suicide note which he closed saying that 'dawn was breaking' and he 'could hear the birds singing'. 

* Komakino is actually Japan's Komakino Site, also known as the Komakino Remains or the Komakino Stone Circle. It is an ancient set of structures in Japan's Aomori Prefecture consisting of three rings of stones and a fourth, partial outer ring."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdMLXR8KI70

Beatles- 'Seventeen' (from 'Live at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany 1962' double LP released 8 April 1977. Lingasong label)

"I suspect not every Beatles fan has a copy of this album but, in my opinion, it does deserve a place on the shelf of any collection. Sure, the recording is lo-fi and it's not exactly the Beatles we have been led to believe who would regularly 'macht show' to great effect at this legendary venue. Ted 'Kingsize' Taylor placed his Grundig reel to reel 3¾" tape recorder's lone microphone centre stage on several occasions, recording not only the Fabs but also Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers and his own group. Originally it was said that the recording was from a single performance from Spring 1962 (and hence with Pete Best on drums), which would have preceded the groups deal with EMI and thereby negate any copyright problems with the brace of original Beatles compositions included, but it soon became clear that the recordings were from the groups last series of concerts at the end of 1962 and featured Ringo on drums. Thereafter it was regularly reported that the recordings were a complete set from New Years Eve, but the perceived wisdom now  is that the recordings are actually from several different nights performances during December as the tape contains thirty three tracks, plus several  repeated songs. The album itself contains only thirty tracks and it has been left to the bootleggers to release those still in the vaults. The majority (28) of the tracks are cover versions of which seventeen would be rerecorded by the group and released on various EP's, albums and the 'Live at the BEEB' releases. Taylor was rumoured to have asked EMI for £100,000 for the tape (he didn't!) before he offered them to the group through Ringo and George for £5,000. They declined and  the tapes were then handed to Paul Murphy of BUK Records to arrange a deal. Murphy took a different course and formed Lingasong to release the discs through a worldwide distribution deal with Double H Licensing who spent a reported  $100,000 remixing and editing the tracks and sequencing them into the released order. Even after their release The Beatles repeatedly attempted to have the album withdrawn but it would be 1998 before The Beatles won their case and were granted ownership and exclusive rights to their use. 'Seventeen', of course, was the early title for the debut album opening track 'I saw her standing there' and here it's taken at an even more frantic pace than the 'official' version and there are also excellent versions of 'Twist and Shout', 'Hippy Hippy Shake' and 'Long Tall Sally' plus quite possibly the fastest ever version of 'Roll over Beethoven'. However, I'll pass regarding the 'guest lead vocals' by the Star Club's waiter Fred Fascher on 'Be Bop A Lula' and manager Horst Fascher on 'Hallelujah I Love Her So' and just wonder why the compiler deemed an anodyne version of Frank Ifields 'I'll remember you' was a suitable album closer?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XQjkhEHmNE

John -

"Hi Everyone, I hope you're all keeping fit and well. Here are three tracks that have caught my ear this week...."

Philip -

"I've been listening to the new Marty Stuart album. Ol' Marty sure does love his Byrds and Burritos..."

"Best wishes to everyone."

Jean -

"Enjoy the last Bank Holiday weekend in May people and don’t get sunburnt."

Piers -

"It has been such nice weather I have been out walking under the blossoming trees amongst lambs and heifers, whilst wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts. It feels a bit as though summer is already with us. Despite that, it has been hard to thin it down to three tracks this week, but ever since I started working on the Monroe brother's 'All The Good Times Are Past And Gone'  I have been trying to improve my mandolin playing." 

Dave -

"Hi RPMers, here’s my 3 songs for this week."

Jackie -

"Our Ewan's started a job in Sheffield...so this is from local Sheffield lads made good."

"And had to have this one..."

Jayne -

"Sending good vibes to all you RPMers; here are three of the tracks that have crossed my ears this week."

Nina -

"Dead quick 'cos I'm late, soz..." (No chat, I think that means.....Tim)

"Take care all."

Tim -

"Three tunes stuck in the space between my ears this week...."

'Til Next Time....