Welcome to the RPM Record Club Seven Day Soundtrack, week ending Friday 22nd November 2024....the annual fun fair edition, as it's all set up outside the house in our street...over to...
"Greetings all. Thanks, John, for replying to my question re Lloyd Cole last week. Glad you enjoyed the UEA gig.
Continuing with my Desert Island Disc choices. This week, chosen songs 6, 5 and 4 in that order."
Statesboro Blues by the Allman Brothers Band - "I know I've chosen this in the past, but then again, this is my all time fave list, and who could tire of Duane's slide work? More upbeat majesty."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezPZxfS1jys&ab_channel=DanielShiel
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live by Ry Cooder - "How I would love to find video recordings of the times I saw him in London in the second half of the Seventies. This version comes closest to the sublime slide solo he took on this song at the Hammersmith Odeon in (I think) 1977. The solo towards the end made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I had hairs then."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6efQ_GyQW3o&list=RD6efQ_GyQW3o&start_radio=1&ab_channel=mbroders
Bright Side of the Road by Van Morrison - "Even stuck alone on a desert island. I'd still have to kick up my feet and dance to this beauty. Classic good-time uplifting music from Mr Grumpy."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN06X_IEIVA&ab_channel=VanMorrisonVEVO
"Next week - the big reveal: choices 3, 2 and 1. Can you bear the suspense!"
"Enjoyed last weeks little outing and would like to agree (and I can't lie) with Philip re:
certain phrases that have crept into everyday conversations. My irritants are anybody
who starts every utterance with 'So' or 'I/she/he was like.....'
Furthermore I was tickled to see that Tim, like me, would pick one of Elvis' first five as possibly the best record of all time - the perfect antidote to one of my old school friends who remarked that Elvis was a just pretty boy who could sing a bit and he wished that people of our generation should stop banging on about the Beatles "who weren't all that". This was in response to my commenting on a recording on Youtube of Albert Lee singing 'Don't'. I said that Albert was a great session guitarist and had backed many other famous acts but his singing never lit up the charts and I preferred Elvis's version.
There have been copies knocking about on Ebay recently of the first 5 Elvis Sun 78's of which I was tempted to buy a 'Mystery Train' on offer to go with my Sun 78 of "That's All Right" but condition was too poor to warrant £500+ - the search continues.
Best wishes to all."
Rock And Roll Girls by John Fogerty -
Till The End Of The Day by The Kinks - "Would like to mark the recent passing of record producer Shel Talmy who died recently and who left his mark on recordings including
by the Kinks, The Who and David (Jones) Bowie. Not sure he had a hand in this one but given that he wriggled his way to prominence by essentially bragging to have worked on stuff he never did he didn't do too bad."
Old Ways by Neil Young -
"The other morning I again found myself listening to Radio 3 in the early AM and heard Bela Fleck with Joshua Bell fiddle and Garry Hoffman Cello playing a classical piece by Claude Debussy called Dr Gradus ad Parnassum. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0024xbs ...41minutes 43seconds. It was rather lovely and so I went on an unsuccessful search for a more accessible digital version of it. I realise that it is a bit of a fag to seek out, so I have provided this very different alternative from the album ‘My Bluegrass Heart’ and again with some rather good musicians including Sierra Hull."
Vertigo by Béla Fleck -
"Sorry but you will have to go scrolling for this next selection too. As a result I will count this as two choices, but this gem is well worth watching. The neat and tidy Rolling Stones perform 'Wanna be your man') written for them by Lennon and McCartney) and Arthur Alexander's ‘You’d better move on’. A great piece of musical nostalgia it also shows just what an accomplished slide player and all round fine musician Brian Jones truly was. (Oh, and an added attraction for the guitar spotters amongst you he is playing a gorgeous two tone green Gretsch Country Gent!)."
‘Wanna be your man’ & ‘You’d better move on’ by The Rolling Stones - "...on 'The Arthur Haynes Show' in 1964....starts at 8minutes 44 seconds."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0NRIAyYlYI
(I admit that I am a big fan of Arthur Haynes too!)
"Hi RPMers, I hope you're all keeping warm. Here are three tracks I've listened to this week..."
Red Dust by Screen 3 - "I'm sure many of you will remember a time in the early eighties when there was a 'Norwich Scene' including such bands as The Higsons, The Farmers Boys and Vital Disorders. Also part of this scene were Screen 3, an excellent band led by Neil Dyer (who we still see and have a chat with when he attends the Norwich Record Fair). Screen 3 were quite successful; signing a record deal with a major label and doing radio sessions for the likes of John Peel and Kid Jensen. I've got all their singles but the live radio sessions captured the spirit of the band really well. We saw them live quite a few times either at their own gigs or supporting the likes of The Teardrop Explodes and The Truth. In the mid-eighties two members of Screen 3 (including Neil) became part of a band called Big & Beautiful. The band that I was playing with at the time shared the bill with them at a combined Art School/City College bash at Ritzy's night club (older RPMers may remember it as the Samson & Hercules). Great night!"
Stretch by Curved Air - "I've chosen tracks by Curved Air before so in the interest of brevity.... no stories or potted history this time (I'll leave them in the archives!). This also applies to my third track ..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqkLloCiH9E&list=OLAK5uy_kWl7Ocuko8umQFu4wXZE7-iImTaHMlu0I
A Fragile Thing by The Cure -
"What with the publication of Yvonne Innes' memoir, "Dip My Brain In Joy," a new Bonzos box-set, a show at the O2 and an article in this month's "Mojo," I thought a tribute to the late great Neil Innes might be timely."
I'm The Urban Spaceman by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - "Their hit single, produced by Paul McCartney."
Cheese and Onions by The Rutles - "Great video."
Protest Song by someone who needs no introduction...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfTlGMCeuDE
"I hope these selections got a laugh or two.
Best wishes to everyone."
"Thanks to all for last week's selections and hope you are all well. Being unable to get to any of the London Jazz Festival gigs I have been listening to some of the music I have missed."
The Beauty of Sundays by Arve Henriksen and Harman Fraanje -
Astrakhan Cafe by Anouar Braham Trio -
"I was about to add a piece by Tim Berne when, sitting in The Vole Hole in Boulogne news came through of the death of Charles Dumont. Here is one version of his classic."
Non je ne regrette rien by Panic L T D C -
https://youtube.com/watch?v=SkRflFX0J70&si=jULG9XrI0JewTruJ
"That's All Folks."
"My three tracks this week form a musical telling of a conflation of two Japanese fables ‘The Crane Wife’ and 'Crane’s Return of a Favour’.
In this story a man rescues a crane who has been shot by hunters. That night a woman appears at his door and tells him she is his wife. He is poor and says he cannot support her however she says that she can work to earn them money but insists that he must not watch her. As she works alone in a room she plucks her own feathers to weave silk brocade, which causes her physical illness. The fabric is exquisite and sells for a high price, and as she produces more fabric, they become rich. He, of course, peeks into the room and discovers that she is the crane that he saved. When she realises that her identity is known she flies away, never to return."
The Crane Wife 1 & 2 by The Decemberists -
The Crane Wife 3 by The Decemberists -
"Not trying to compete with John whose status as a Progmeister was well and truly established last week, it seems to have gone a bit prog-ish for me this week...with an Irish interlude..."
Firebird by Magnum - "As proposed in my WTF's the NWOBHM, OMG! Soundcheck article, although Magnum hit the scene as the NWOBHM dam burst and can therefore be considered as a NWOBHM band, they certainly wore their prog colours proudly on their sleeves, as evidenced with this song from the imaginatively titled 1979 album, Magnum II; it has a flute and harpsichord break, for goodness sake! I can also hear a heavy Queen influence upon the vocal harmonies which became less evident when the band got to album three and beyond. My copy of the LP was chanced upon in the Boots (the chemist) record department sale, prob about 1980. Remember when Boots sold records...?"
My Heart's Tonight In Ireland by Andy Irvine - "Stopping off at York's National Centre for Early Music last week, Mr Irvine proved he can still cut the mustard live, for sure. He hasn't lost his distinctive voice and his fingers are still just as nimble across the bouzouki strings. Here's one of my faves which he also played at the gig."
Victims of Life by Pendragon - "Pendragon's debut release mini album is a bit of a neo-prog classic in my view. A couple of the 4 songs have been released on CD as bonus tracks, but as far as I'm aware, never the whole thing....which is a bit of a shame, really. I shall continue playing my vinyl copy."
'Til Next Time...