Welcome to the RPM Record Club Seven Day Soundtrack, week ending Friday 26th January 2023. Having come through the two recent storms unscathed, the first track this week is very apt....over to...
"Wishing RPMers well as we gradually move into the light..."
Windy Old Weather performed by Georgia Shackleton -
Objects Lost In Drawers (found again at the most inconvenient times) by Yara Asmar -
Foi Boto by Fabiano do Nascimento and Sam Gendel —
"Hi RPMers; enjoyed your tunes last week. Here’s my 3 this week."
Niobe by Caribou -
Brand New Day by Van Morrison -
Schizophrenia by Sonic Youth -
"Hello Everyone, I hope Jocelyn treated you with kindness. Audio treats heard this week include...."
Baby, Don't Change Your Mind by Gladys Knight & The Pips - "Another gem from the recently unearthed mix-tape I mentioned a few weeks ago."
Excerpt from 'Swan Lake' by Tchaikovsky - "The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Tchaikovsky's glorious 'Swan Lake' Finale. I watched this on Sky Arts a few nights ago; a Classic FM Hall of Fame special held at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2023. Magnificent."
I See You, You See Me by The Magic Numbers - "I hadn't taken much notice of The Magic Numbers until I saw a performance by their bass player Michele Stodart leading her own band at Deepdale Festival. I tracked down The Magic Numbers debut album and was quite impressed. This is a track from it."
"Hello everybody. Tony - hope your eye op went well."
Frankie's Gun by the Felice Brothers - "I don't know about you, but each week I wonder whether to link to the studio recording of a song - which is the one I've usually been listening to - or find a more visually stimulating video, often a live performance but sometimes an animated or photo montage video to accompany the music. If we were simply sharing our music on an audio playlist, the superior audio quality of a recorded album (or a professionally recorded live albyn) would always get my vote. But since our shared platform is YouTube I feel an onus to make it a good watch as well as a good listen. Your thoughts...? Today, the video wins out, because it's beautiful to see the band and audience enjoying themselves so much. But do check out the lyrics! 'Spit make a fender shine; Frankie you're a friend o' mine - got me off a bender after long-legged Brenda died.'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmFrUxKyJHg&ab_channel=HudsonValleyMusicChannel
If Ever I Stray by Frank Turner - "I came very late in life to the folk world, which meant that I had a lot of fabulous music to discover, including this artist and this gem."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcWz_8Y9Bd0&ab_channel=EpitaphRecords
Up With People by lambchop - "Love this man's music so much. One of those artists whose albums are never more-of-the-same. This track builds and builds. I opted for the studio version this time - none of the YT live vids do it justice. Fortunate enough to see him and his amazing lineup of about 13 musicians crowded onto a Victorian theatre stage in Durham back in the 00s. Still ranks as one of the top 5 live gigs I've ever seen."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNarl5eehq4
"Until next time."
"Firstly, apologies for the lack of posts.......... as explained to Tim some time ago I just have too much going on at the moment to devote the required time to bore everyone each week with my missives!!! I'm fine, don't worry........ just tied up somewhat.
Anywaze, I'm making a little time this week to remember Mary Weiss of the Shangti-Las who died early Saturday. That just leaves Elizabeth, her sister, with the Ganser sisters both having passed away some years ago. So, as Mary was, essentially, the voice of the group and had not followed up her fairly recent album and live dates, that's the last we'll hear from the 'Myrmidons* of Melodrama'. What's perhaps overlooked with the girls' output is the emotional depth of most of their work; if these native New Yorkers were black I'm sure they would have been held in the same esteem as, say, The Ronettes.... well that's what I think anyway!!
Much of the groups appeal did lay in their overt sexuality but alongside that are the truly groundbreaking aural sculptures created by producer 'Shadow' Morton, at the time as groundbreaking as Phil Spector's acclaimed 'Wall of Sound'. Plus, of course, the inhouse songwriting team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich with occasional goodies from Boyce and Hart, Leiber and Stoller and, wait for it, Levon Helm!! So, Here's three great racks from the girls (some posted before.... sorry!!) plus (hopefully) a demo by the man himself."
The Shangri-Las- 'Past, Present, Future' (7" single released July 1966) - "The absolute epitome of the 'girl group' sound... one of the greatest singles of all time surely?. Red Bird released exactly one hundred singles, and this was the very last one which was criminally overlooked at the time."
The Shangri-Las- 'I can never go home anymore' (7" single released March 1966) - "What can you say? Another great single featuring Mary's great voice and some lovely harmonies and then, in comes the middle eight string laden chorus. Phew!!!"
Shangri-Las- 'Dressed in black' (7" single released May 1966) - "Another 'teen angst' melodrama. There were lighter moments recorded by the girls ('Twist and Shout', 'The Train from Kansas City' etc) but it's the tales of tragedy which set them apart from their contemporaries. In fact it's difficult to think of anyone one else who recorded so many songs relating to that human condition known as the 'Teenage Years'!!"
Hopeful Bonus please Tim!!!
'Shadow' Morton- 'Dressed in black' (Unreleased demo.... unless you own 'The Red Bird Story Vol 2'!!!)
"*(BTW: 'Myrmidons' are defined, I think rather unfairly in the girls' case, as "a follower or subordinate of a powerful person, typically one who is unscrupulous or carries out orders unquestioningly."....... or is it, bearing in mind Morton's dictatorial presence in the studio? Discuss???
Keep well everyone and thanks for all the tunes.... be assured I do check in each week and who knows, there may be another missive about psychedelia soon, plus I'm giving some thought to an article on 60's 'beat music' too...... but don't hold yer breath!!"
"Here are my Mary Weiss / Shangri-Las three..."
Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las -
Walking In The Sand by The Shangri-Las -
Dangerous Game by Mary Weiss -
"After watching the Bradley Cooper/ Lady GaGa ‘Star is Born’ again this week, it dawned on me that every version of this film had a magnificent emotional song finale - two written by the female starring. Here they are..."
The Man That Got Away performed by Judy Garland (from A Star Is Born) -
With One More Look At You / Are You Watching Me Now performed by Barbra Streisand-
I'll Never Love Again (from A Star Is Born) performed by Lady Gaga -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52nfjRzIaj8
"Have a good week everyone."
"I seem to be treading water musically at the moment so there is nothing new here just a look back at three musical lichens..."
"Having been primed for their appearance I was surprised when ‘The Cops And Robbers’ failed to show up on Ready-Steady-Go. They were a band that, arguably by Juppy’s fans, was the finest R&B group then playing in SE Essex. They even had a single in the charts. It turned out that TC&R’s van had broken down on the North Circular. Instead Cathy McGowan introduced someone that rumour had it was their Roadie! He, Donovan Leitch, stood up and sang some dippy songs accompanied by an acoustic guitar. That seemed suspicious to me! Why wasn't he fixing the van? (Perhaps I should fact check his then occupation... It seems that he did have the same management! and record label - Hmmm)
Possibly as a direct result, the rot set in when RSG was dropped from the Friday Night Six o’clock spot on ITV. Then the twin awfulnesses that were Disco and Punk just confirmed my opinion that that popular music had gone to the dogs.
The first two of my chosen tracks I will always associate with the friends that introduced me to the performers. Although at first I took no notice, possibly because I heard them so often as a part of the soundtrack to my life, I eventually became a big fan of ‘Over the Rhine’. I have recently been listening to some of their old album tracks. It may just be nostalgia but I think that they stand up quite well!"
Faithfully Dangerous by Over the Rhine -
"And then with the rolling of the ages along came Joanna Newsom. On first exposure I was very dubious about her appearance, her material, her voice, her harp! But after that initial scepticism like Guinness, Olives and Avocados she grew on me!"
’81 by Joanna Newsom -
"…And like everybody else (?) rightly I was deeply dubious of all of The KLF’s (AKA the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu) works! Like Donovan they were an act that I was very sceptical about when I first came across them. As far as I was concerned these guys were quite clearly simply young upstarts… everything seemed to be all about self seeking publicity stunts. Wasn’t it? But then slowly…."
We Know Where The Time Goes by The FLK -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WQdBKYe9ag
(Note: Just to clarify, the FLK were not in fact the KLF. They were David Owen and Choque Hosein of Leeds indie band the Hollow Men. Their idea was to create a folk chill out album in the style of the KLF. At the time, 2011, neither the lads or the KLF confirmed who had put the release together, thus deepening the mystery. Tim.)
"As may be obvious, after a few youthful mistakes (including to my shame Deep Purple with Malcom Arnold - 'Concerto for Group and Orchestra', Jonathan King's Greatest Hits, Nico's solo 'Crooners' cover album) I have never thought of myself as having readily taken to the new and novel. Things take a while to settle into my consciousness.
In spite of my inherent suspicion of anything new, it is nice to be introduced to great new stuff so often on here! I do agree about Flint Moore. Hooray for Saturday mornings…
(Even if I still haven’t come to terms with Donovan…)."
"Hope you are all well and managed to hang on, keep upright and stay dry in this week's storms. Travelling back from Celtic Connections was a bit of a challenge with road closures and diversions. For long periods I had no radio or Internet so I resorted to an old memory stick I found in the car. It was full of old singer/songwriters mostly no longer with us. Here are 3 of them."
The Stranger by Richard Dobson -
Seven Bridges Road by Steve Young -
I'd Have To Be Crazy by Steven Fromholz -
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_uz78iKmilI&si=3X5fU_MsOtqKCRnj
"That's All Folks."
"Hi folks. Hope you're all well. Here's my 3."
Teenage Riot by Sonic Youth -
Mathematics by Cherry Ghost -
"A folk / psychedelic sandwich this week..."
The Donegal Lass / Cúil Aodha Jig / Mc Ginley's Reel) performed by Cathal Hayden and Seamie O'Dowd -
"The other day, I listened to all four albums by Flook, and to their whistle player, Brian Finnegan's first two solo albums (whilst doing DIY, I might add), inspired by a couple of tunes which came up at my regular Tuesday night session, and which are played by the amazing Brian Finnegan, "the Hendrix of the whistle..." to quote one session player. Donegal Lass is the first tune which Harry, a very good banjo player, kicked off one of his sets with. It's composed by Mr Finnegan himself...Harry didn't know what it was called, hadn't heard of Flook and thought it was a banjo tune, not one composed on whistle . It's the last track on Brian Finnegan's first solo album, When The Party's Over (not available on Youtube), and although a number of his compositions have been recorded by Flook, this has never found it's way onto any of their recordings...which I think is a real shame, as it's a cracking tune. Here's the virtuoso trad Irish banjo player Cathal Hayden starting this set with Donegal Lass."
The Story That Has Never Been Told by Slift - "...can't be helped, but now it's time for a psychedelic / stoner interlude from Slift's new opus, Ilion..."
Road To Errogie performed by Flook - "Here's the other tune I associated with Brian Finnegan, The Road to Errogie, composed by fiddler Adam Sutherland and which found it's way onto the third Flook album, Haven. It's the second tune in the set, performed live here."
'Til Next Time...