Welcome to week 5 of the Isolation Room Listening Booth, songs as chosen by RPM club members week ending Friday 24th April. This time in a totally random order, it’s over to……
John –“I hope all RPMers are keeping safe and well. Here are my three tracks (from a shortlist of 12) for week 5. All the best to all RPMers.”
Hard Candy by Counting Crows – “The opening track from (possibly) Counting Crows best album. I often skip back to the start after 45 seconds just so that I can hear the sheer poetry of the first verse again.......”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlNIr8EYACk&list=OLAK5uy_l1UirYFsSAHWjiTzL5fCmaOBCpECRQAG4
Mercury Rising by The Stranglers – “One of many standout tracks from their 17th (and most recent) studio album 'Giants' from 2012 - I think we're due another one. They seem to have recaptured the sound and spirit of their 70s albums.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgXYCf3Qz4&list=RDCZgXYCf3Qz4&start_radio=1&t=53
Mama Africa by Peter Tosh – “Great track from the ebullient Mr Winston Hubert McIntosh……..a man who also had his serious side fighting apartheid and social injustice.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQUd8Kpyvto
Piers – “Once again, one morning this week I woke with a tune in my head… 'Riding On A Donkey’ no idea why… you don’t have to suffer it!
Time for my RPM choices there have been lots, as I found myself looking back this week. I suppose we always do as it is the nature of recorded music. But these fit together in my head. A couple that I associate with a certain time in my life, (and a group of now widely dispersed people that I was very fond of).”
Gloria Gloom by Matching Mole -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s7Z1WDGmFI
Luna Park by Tod Dockstader – “And a bit of a rarity that I didn’t really expect to find on You tube I am delighted that I did, though I had Dummy by Portishead in reserve just in case.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hydIpd0RLw4
Dark Weave by Mark McDowell – “And a nice modern one………………….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFzIZOMewY4
Jean – “The weeks are just zooming by and I’m loving the fact that I am putting listening to music my first past time. Here are my picks. All the Albums are from the 1980s but I have only bought them in the last 12 months. Hope everyone is fit and well. Enjoy the music.”
Night Train by Steve Winwood from Arc of a Diver 1980 Island Records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpXG23PlvF4
The Space Between by Roxy Music from Avalon 1982 EG Records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RYPqFYDqZA
Drivin’ Thunder by Crosby ,Stills, Nash and Young from American Dream 1988 Atlantic Records
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS0sbVthFtI
Sal – “My three for this week are...”
Light of Gold by Skye Ross
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDgt0EEZc3U
Left Hand Free by alt-J
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryue0-3Lbns
Space Song by Beach House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBtlPT23PTM
Dave – “Here’s my 3 favourites off the week……..”
Ship of Fools by World Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHh0V7UjVXI
Fear is a Mans Best Friend by John Cale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iAAe_7_HOw
Bull in the Heather by Sonic Youth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JGBNkLM9_8
Aiden –
Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OtzJtp-EM
Pigs by Tyler, the Creator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmr4iZ5dimY
Brand New Love by Sebadoh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv6C-ZqYcws
Jackie –
Over The Hills And Far Away performed by John Tams – “Been watching the Sharpe box set in which John Tams plays the part of Daniel Hagman, best shot in the Rifles, with lots of campfire Trad singing opportunities for his character. This song features heavily.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOeYPpOblAw
April Skies by The Jesus and Mary Chain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPPP3BXurHk
(Yes, I know there’s only 2…………)
Alan –“How often has just one man changed the way we listen to music, been 'outlawed' by the Government and forced the largest broadcaster to radically change the way it caters for its listeners? Not too often I believe. This week, Ronan O'Rahilly, owner of the hip London club The Scene in the early sixties, passed away after a long illness. Ronan, of course, is best known for 'launching' Radio Caroline in March 1964, after the BBC and Radio Luxembourg refused to play singles by Georgie Fame and Alexis Korner, who O' Rahilly represented. Backed by publisher Jocelyn Stephens, Carl Ross (of the frozen food family) and Sam-Cams wealthy uncle John Sheffield among others, O'Rahilly purchased the former Dutch ferry 'Fredericia' and, after re-fitting her with broadcasting equipment, started formal broadcasting on 24th March 1964, initially off the coast of Felixstowe. There were other 'pirate' stations, Radio's Atlanta and Veronica, but within weeks of commencing broadcasts Caroline's audience was approaching seven million. Nostalgia seems to kick in when we remember Radio Caroline however. Initially it broadcast 6am to 6pm and then resumed at 8pm to midnight and it's output was, primarily, MOR type music. It took the arrival of Radio London in December 1964 to change the musical policy of Caroline, coupled with a new input of DJ's, and bring in what is now viewed as a golden age for youth culture, which encompassed the 'mod' scene, beat and r&b bands, and psychedelia, before the heavy hand of the BBC and Harold Wilson's Labour Government combined to make offshore, unlicensed broadcasting illegal in mid 1967. By then the BEEB had announced changes to its format and had embarked on signing up many of the best of the pirate DJ's. As a tribute, here's the station’s original signature tune (before becoming it's 'sign off' song each evening), then the fortuitously titled 1964 single by the Fortunes and lastly my favourite DJ theme tune, utilised by Robbie Dale, DLT.... and many others since.
Brings back memories of Ostend beach, summer 1964.....”
(…….hhmm….I was about one month off from being born! -Tim)
'Round Midnight by Jimmy McGriff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEbtRUXVzaE
Caroline by The Fortunes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYmTJ9uA5AQ
A Touch of Velvet - A Sting of Brass by The Mood-Mosaic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yID8Xb7qKM
Jayne – “I have an obvious theme this week. The bluebells all over the garden are lovely and as we can’t go to Foxley Wood to see them there, I’m appreciating them even more. Less obviously, and unintentionally, there seems to be a sense of innocence running through all three tracks. All best wishes to the RPM faithful.”
Bluebell Polka performed by Jimmy Shand and His Band – “Perce has been relearning this and there has been at least one morning when I’ve woken up with this tune in my head, so now it’s your turn….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfF9ELhPW1Q
Blue Bell Knoll by Cocteau Twins – “Memories of lying on the sofa floating along with this……….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcH2iy3HO2A
Young at Heart by The Bluebells – “Smiley and dancey……”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7n53nIBb3g
Tony –“Here are my choices for week 5 of RPM's Isolation Room. This exercise has been the most positive and enjoyable thing about the lock-down as far as I'm concerned. This week I've dipped into my memory bank to try to keep the variety going. Had a job to whittle it down to 3 though....maybe banked some for next time.”
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye by Johnny Nash – “I have albums going back to late 50's on the old HMV label by Johnny Nash. This is his take on the much covered classic written by John D. Loudermilk and even some fillum to watch while he sings it. What a talent.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x9spmkDFkw
Come On Into My Kitchen performed by The Climax Blues Band – “…….at Glastonbury in 1982; searing slide guitar playing leading to a superb vocal on this classic Robert Johnson track. Reminds me of my visit to Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1999 and yes, I stood at "The Crossroads" but the devil never showed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SIObEmohac
Pretty Things by Gretchen Peters – “I've seen Gretchen Peters many times…….went the first time out of curiosity and now will go to see her every chance I get. This track is from her "Blackbirds" album and, like her preceding album "Hello Cruel World", it's littered with songs containing clever, edgy and provocative lyrics. Definitely not from the Scouting For Girls school of song writing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tozspmHxCGM
Nina – “Really enjoying everyone's picks, very eclectic & interesting mix. Poet..innit 😆 Loosely virus themed this week…… Hope everyone is keeping happy and safe.”
Higher Ground performed by Playing For Change “……..been listening to lots of Playing for Change tracks, I've chosen this one……..lots of funky percussion instruments, colourful outfits & dancing.”
Lost in the Supermarket by The Clash - ……”Self-explanatory…….the lyrics are particularly poignant at the moment.”
TNT by AC/DC – “I enjoy video calls with my 11 year old niece several times a week. We play each other music & dance like nutters - this was 1 of her choices this week. Hope she hasn't sussed the meaning yet……”
Anto – “My 3…….”
Leave My Kitten Alone by The Beatles – “One of their covers that remained on the shelf unreleased for years. I first heard it on a bootleg and was not only grabbed by the peculiar song but the joy and energy in the performance.”
I Wanna Be Me by Sex Pistols – “This is my favourite Pistols record. The sound quality is wonderfully terrible and tinny but like early field recordings of Blues and Folk artists the crude sound adds to the authenticity.”
Sad Song by Oasis – “This was a bonus track on the vinyl issue of their debut album and sounds more like an out-take from David Bowie’s Space Oddity album and I love it. “
Philip – “My slightly tenuous theme this week is "musicians paying tribute to their idols in unusual ways." After all, they might record one of their hero's songs, or contribute to a tribute album or record an entire tribute album, but none of these methods could be considered unusual. Best wishes to all RPMers... I trust everyone is safe and well and not getting too stir-crazy………”
Thinking of You by Tony! Toni! Toné! – “This was originally the opening number on their fourth and finest studio album, "House of Music." The singer is Raphael Saadiq, who after the demise of this group formed a short-lived "super-group" called Lucy Pearl in about the year 2K, before establishing a solo career. On this song he captures every nuance of a great singer's vocal style- it's a kind of virtuosity I suppose. If you have not heard this before, and if you had only audio to go on, who would you think this was?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l09WGRtkMV4
I Walk The Line (Revisited) by Rodney Crowell – “In which The Houston Kid celebrates his 50th birthday by recalling the childhood experience of hearing his idol for the first time... and then incorporating said idol's song into his own with Mister Cash credited as "guest vocalist."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjbqMy3g46E
Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show – “A member of the band discovered an incomplete fragment of song recorded in 1973 by Bob Dylan. Ketch Secor of OCMS decided to write some verses to complete the song, since when it has been recorded several times. Please note the presence in the video of David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. Please also note that OCMS are a great band and are in no way to be held responsible for the existence of Mumford and Sons.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNg6Tu5b0bI
Tim – “….3 faves of the week stuck in my head.”
Mirage by Shelagh McDonald – “What’s the best way to become a cult music figure….? Make two LPs in the early 70s, move in the same circles as Sandy Denny and Nick Drake and then completely vanish for over 30 years, of course! Seriously though, Shelagh unfortunately had a bad drug experience which caused her to retreat back to her Scottish home to recover and then to live a life away from the music scene until 2005. Thankfully we have Album (1971) and Stargazer (1972) to listen to, Mirage being the opening track on the Album LP.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW9qCiVb9yw
Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right by Blind Willie Johnson – “Recorded in 1930 and hey, guess what? Ninety years later, still nothing has changed at all, has it?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI3htUL82kw
Children of the Next Level by Testament – New album Titans of Creation, just released by these thrash metal legends on the Nuclear Blast label (what else?), features musicianship tighter than a headbanger’s spandex strides. Song themes are also suitably thrash, metal and mental…..Children of the Next Level being about the Heavens Gate religious cult of San Diego, 39 of whom were found to have committed a mass suicide in 1997 in the belief that their spirits would be transported to a UFO they were convinced was following the Hale-Bopp comet. Bonkers, but a mighty slab of musical heaviness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAydVbloBLc