Welcome to week 18 of the Isolation Room Listening Booth, songs as chosen by RPM club members week ending Friday 24th July. Here’s more musical eclecticism, first in the In Box get to “headline”, last in will have to open the show and warm up the audience……………over to…..
Aiden – “Here’s my 3…………. “
Battle by Blur –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwW86i79CxA
Cash Machine by Oliver Tree –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1vGosMScjM
Be There by Unkle –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-bTfqzq6TQ
Dave – “Hi all………hope all is well with you guys. Here’re my tunes off the week……”.
Outdoor Miner by Wire –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp-CBSk4rZ4
The Night Before by Lee Hazelwood -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPLS7NCpoxA
Place Position by Fugazi -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3li8fui6XcI
Getting Nowhere Fast by Floyd Smith –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBe_K3Lxn50
(…..hhmmm……….I’m sure I make that 4 songs……………Tim)
Sal – “My three tracks for this week are all taken from the CD compilation 'Drink Me' - The Echo Label Sampler '96.......”
Canticles Of The Sun by Anne Dudley - “YouTube doesn't seem to have this version, but here's 'Canticles Of The Sun And Moon' which is a couple of minutes longer. I assume the 'Moon' part was cut to shorten the track for the sake of the CD”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-c9Fzp3iUU
Try Try Try by Julian Cope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1h6d-5Ns5g
Centered Sideways by Melanie Garside
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGloKErdGos
Jayne – “Hello again RPMers. So now we’re getting to the really scary bit….having to hunt down proper stats and making your own interpretation of the situation (although to be fair that has been the way so far). ……….Straight in with this banger. Recognise anyone?”
Mr Motivator by Idles -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNCopmqsw1Q
“Then back to the future………..”
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards by Billy Bragg -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_vK6OWwmbQ
Trampolene by Julian Cope -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dawFWa0hfL4
Jean – “We are now in the Proms Season so I have chosen some favourite classics that bring back memories. Keep well everybody. Hope to see you all sometime this year!”
Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from the Opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi -
“This was sung at the Last Night of the Proms 1991 and I was there. A friend got two tickets in the Ballot and offered me one. I always enjoyed watching this event on TV and to actually experience it was magical and, to my surprise, extremely emotional.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w96OwrNTmds
The Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens -
“This takes me back to the 360 degree cinema at the French Pavilion of the World Showcase in EPCOT Orlando. This piece, used at the beginning of a film about France, was a perfect backdrop to the pictures on screen showing a slow boat trip along a French country canal in summer.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYT9ZbDug-g
Dance of the Knights from the Ballet of Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev -
“This scene is one of the highlights of the production. Nurevev made his own production of this story and I was extremely lucky to see him perform in London towards the end of his career. His ‘fans’ in the audience went wild every time he appeared on stage. He was mesmerising and a true Divo.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92YhJ4ZVmCg
Piers – “Wotcha folks. This lockdown is getting old now and the clowns in charge just scarier - I never did like clowns………..
This week I have been working on some music that, at some point in the very near future, I hope to be performing with my chum Skip. My selection this week reflect aspects of our repertoire…. Stay cool, stay safe and ignore everything that anyone tells you that might put you in harm’s way. I want to see you all in that village hall at some time in the future……”
Come on in My Kitchen by Larkin Poe - “This is an old Robert Johnson song, usually played as a slide number. The aficionados don’t like it any other way, so I play it on the mandolin. But I love Larkin Poe’s version….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-1Y9KNs9w
I Bid You Goodnight by The Dixie Hummingbirds - “One that I have been performing ever since, while standing in a soggy field, I heard the Grateful Dead’s version Live in 1972. I have various versions now, by The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and including the Dead of course but this is probably the sweetest, and reminds me of unexpectedly seeing ‘The Hummingbirds’ (They weren’t even on the bill), do it live, one Sunday morning, in a different field….”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Ks2q2ZzJk
Rockin’ In Rhythm performed by Duke Ellington & His Harlem Footwarmers - “And something Sublime… Which I do play a version of but nothing like this…. Just listen and wonder!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLWJixSrKmA
John – “Here are my selections for week 18. Greetings to all RPMers!”
Ebony Variations by Audience - “I was in the kitchen on Monday evening trying to be creative with a vegetarian risotto whilst listening to Classic FM. I became aware of a familiar melody that I knew from a 1970 LP by Audience. The nice lady on the radio told me it was 'Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A'. Those naughty boys from Audience didn't even give young Wolfgang a credit in the sleeve-notes.....
By the way..... There are lots of excellent examples of 'Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A' on YouTube including a superb performance by Sabine Meyer and a very spirited rendition by Benny Goodman.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC31MW2fII4
Maybe I'm A Leo by Deep Purple - “Sometimes all you need is a good riff!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R7rp7dkZgs
Tutu by Miles Davis - “From the album of the same name. Credit should also be given to bassist Marcus Miller who produced, wrote, arranged and played a variety of instruments on the LP. I'm sure I've read somewhere that it started life as a Marcus Miller solo album....As a Miles Davis album though, it had the potential of reaching a much larger audience. The cover photo by Irving Penn is also amazing.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMJy-PHzKE
Tony – “Hi fellow RPMers. Decided to do a theme this week as I found myself with a provisional list containing two tracks that referenced trains so I added a third.”
Mystery Train performed by Vince Gill, Keb Mo, Albert Lee, James Burton & Earl Klugh - “A song that's been recorded many times, including 3 versions on Sam Phillip's Sun Label but I've picked a live version. Lots of talent on stage here doing a decent version of this old track, no pun intended. James Burton (who I last saw with Jerry Lee Lewis on his two date 80th birthday tour) is bigged up by Vince Gill but for me it's our own Albert Lee who gets the vote for some sparkling finger shifting. Unfortunately, much of the audience appears to be made up of tailor’s dummies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1NSXp9vWY
Orange Blossom Special performed by Johnny Cash - “I've always liked Johnny's rendition of this song - in particular the gravelly impression of a train whistle he does and the train-like cadence of the song .”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q87yOxpyC8
Number 9 Train performed by Tarheel Slim - “Real name Allen or Alden Bunn and this track was cut in 1958 under the name of Tarheel Slim on the Fury label c/w Wildcat Tamer.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGHtBJoiV7E
Jackie –
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttEMYvpoR-k
First We Take Manhattan by Leonard Cohen -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rhM1i43NK8
Alan – “7" singles, don'tcha just love 'em? In the sixties you would normally wait to hear the top side on the radio (unless it was your favourite band and then you'd just buy it on release) but the 'b-side'? Well, that was very much more of a hit or miss (sic) affair. However, there were always those singles where you would never expect the band on the a-side to provide anything worthwhile, especially when you didn't like the single, or even the band. This week I've selected three bee's from big hits by bands who were never particularly 'hip' or had fallen from grace. Enjoy these little goodies.............”
Don't Gimme No Lip, Child by Dave Berry – “The b-side to The Crying Game, released July 1964. Sheffield's finest r&b artist of the early sixties, Dave (Grundy) took his surname from his hero Chuck Berry and, for his debut single battled it out with Chuck, eventually just being pipped to the highest chart placing by the original version of 'Memphis Tennessee'. After a respectable cover of 'My Baby Left Me' and a less successful 'Baby It's You', Berry sacked his backing band, The Cruisers, and recruited a new line up, including Sheffield's finest guitarist Frank White, but for 'The Crying Game' he was backed by 'Big' Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page. That song, though, lost much of the credibility he had with the r&b fans in his audience but, conversely, gained him a larger, more fickle 'pop' audience. He was rewarded, however, with a Number 5 chart placing, his highest to date. On the reverse he placed this pounder, which is probably not as wild as the concurrent Stones and Pretty Things releases, but features a good solo from Sullivan and wailing harmonica courtesy of Page. It would be another two years before Berry put out another release this tough, and again it would be a b-side. 'Walk, Walk, Talk, Talk' was the reverse of 'Mama', another number 5 in the UK but, in Holland, a number one single which still remains that country's biggest selling single ever!!!!! 'Don't Gimme No Lip Child' was, of course, a staple of the early Sex Pistols rehearsals and gigs and, when Sue and I saw them at Doncaster Outlook on 27th September 1976, we spent around 30 minutes chatting to a cheerful and obliging John and Steve about sixties r&b, mod and garage rock....and it was great when the band played this tune before slipping in a typically fiery 'Substitute' and '(I'm not your) Stepping Stone' during the gig.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s90vvTE9MSU
Dream by Cupids Inspiration – “The b-side to 'Yesterday Has Gone', released May 1968. Gawd knows why you buy certain records....... especially when you didn't like it in the first place. But, browsing in a local charidee shoppe, there in a box was Cupid's Inspirations cover of Little Anthony and the Imperials classic 'Yesterday Has Gone' which had ascended to a UK number 4 in July 1968. Cupid's Inspiration!!! The name itself was off putting even before I heard the record but, still, it was a passable piece of cod soul by Stamfords finest (probably) who looked like a crew of bricklayers. Just one further single and an album escaped under that moniker before lead singer Terry Rice Milton left and the band 'went heavy' (shades of the Trem's) as, initially, Four Wheel Drive then, eventually, Chevy in an attempt to gain some kind of credibility. They signed up Gordon Haskell (later in King Crimson and solo hitmaker), Steve Walwyn (a late Dr Feelgood-er) and supported Gillan, Alvin Lee and Hawkwind (perhaps you saw 'em at West Runton on11th July 1980 Tim? (.....nope, 2 years before I’d passed my driving test and was able to get to gigs….Tim) as well as releasing three singles, an album and completing two sessions for the BEEB's 'In Concert' show. 1980 saw Chevy become part of the NWOBHM (I’d suggest they were coat tail riders…not very metal, tbh…..Tim) and the bands signature tune (errrr, 'Chevy') was released on the 'Metal for Muthas Two' album. Anyway, on the reverse of 'Yesterday Has Gone' is this fine Jack Bruce/Cream soundalike written by lead guitarist Geoffrey Wyndham Hart (AKA Wyndham George) who seems to have disappeared entirely since leaving the band after the two singles.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59KXSowUFgI
Dark Part of my Mind by Crazy Elephant – “ The b-side to 'Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'', released March 1969. Crazy Elephant?......... bubblegum!!! OK, wait 'til you play it!!! I first heard this track at The Mucky Duck, Drakeholes, a pub generally frequented by rough boys with motor bikes... but generally quite good hearted. Perhaps it was the bucolic location? Situated in a canal basin, miles from anywhere, it was the perfect place for evening walks along the canal followed by a swift half or two whilst listening to the jukebox. Someone must have heard this already and put their 'sixpeneth' in and I just had to find out who it was playing what seemed like a late psychedelic classic. Of course, when I found out it was Crazy Elephant, musical snobbery kicked in and I wouldn't have been seen dead asking for it in the shops. Fast forward around fifty years(!) and, when I saw this in a charidee shoppe I just had to have it, even though it was 70p, around twenty pence over my usual spending limit. Crazy Elephant, of course, were part of the Kasenetz-Katz stable of 'bubblegum' artists who were responsible for such classics as 'Yummy, yummy, yummy', 'Simon Says', 'Chewy, chewy' and the like but the strange thing is... most of the personnel involved were from bands such as Count Five, Chocolate Watch Band and other 'bona fide' psych outfits who were finagled into the organisation through underhanded management deals regarding the ownership of band names. The backstory for the Crazies was that "a Welsh newspaper called Mining News had mentioned the hard-rock activities of a group of coal miners who would dig by day and play rock and roll by night. Cashbox magazine went on to describe how Neville Crisken, a London nightclub owner rushed to Wales to check out this crew and. when he arrived at the mine, descended “18,372,065 feet beneath the surface” and signed the blokes on the spot. When Mining News enquired if the group was any good, Crisken was quoted as saying, “Who cares?" All the publicity about how I discovered them will guarantee their first album a million dollars in sales.”. I don't think even Crazy Elephants target audience would have gone for that but, hey... who's to say? The single hit number twelve on both sides of the Atlantic but two further singles failed to sell. An album which included a 'heavy' cover of 'Respect' alongside a slew of in-house tunes was released but, by that time the bubblegum had lost its flavour and the album failed to generate 'a million dollars' worth of sales. Copies now fetch around £40-50...... however, for those wanting a further fix of the K-K sound, the Kasenetz Katz Singing Orchestral Circus album is packed full of similar goodies in the style of 'Dark part of my mind'.... honest!!!
So turn on, tune in and... start chewing!!!
Here's a (surprising to me) 'extended, Parts 1 & 2 of the track intended for the 'Captain Groovy....' cartoon which never came to fruition. I don't have this extended version but now I know about it.............”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-GbdznXTbo
Philip –“Greetings and best wishes to all RPMers as always. This week I have been enjoying Huey Morgan's BBC4 documentaries exploring Latin American music, during which he has visited Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, so I thought we should pay aural visits to Brazil, Colombia (I love Colombian Cumbia), and er... San Francisco (well California was Mexican until the Yanks stole it).”
Mas Que Nada by Jorge Ben – “My favourite Brazilian artist and composer of Ponta de Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma) as RPMers might remember... or not) performs the original version of his most popular and much covered number. Apparently, the expression "Mas que nada" means one thing in Spanish but another in Portuguese, and a reasonable English translation is something like "You must be kidding" or "Oh, come on!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmElAxpeMMI
La Colegiala by Rodolfo Y Su Tipica RA7 – “If this seems familiar it could be because it was featured in a TV advert in the 90s for Nescafe Alta Rica coffee. Then again it is said to be the most covered Latin American song since "The Peanut Vendor."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCEP6Uaa42M
Oye Como Va by Santana - “……in which Carlos and company introduce the hippies to Tito Puente (from the 1970 "Abraxas" album).”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ATTjg7tpE
Morra –
London Girl - The Jam
London Boy -David Bowie
London Girls -The Vibrators
And here’s a bonus for balance 😊 (….he asked nicely…….Tim)
London Boys - T-Rex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Wb8QROEvE
Nina – “Beautiful weather for a lil camping break in Suffolk. Drove past Henham earlier, would've been Latitude this weekend. Fab, quirky festival that I absolutely loved when I 1st went to it in 2005. Argy dealings with Mean Fiddler key personnel (emphasis on Mean) when I was there as a volunteer in 2012……vowed to never return. Let's revisit Reading 1992 instead…… Take care everyone.”
Can't Even Be Bothered by The Charlatans – “Tim Burgess in braggy, baggy mode.”
Touch Me I'm Sick by Mudhoney – “1992 was a long time before Covid-19; now there's no jumping or jostling around right next to each other, no shouting lyrics loudly at anyone in case of airborne nasties & deffo no touching…….especially not if they're sick. Here ends the health advice.”
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana – “Had to really, didn't I? Dave Grohl holding it all together, such a dude.”
Tim –“Just going with 3 favourites selected from amongst the music I’ve been playing this week……which has been predominately heavy, psychedelic spacey and/or proggy rock…..it’s just been that type of week, see? It happens. So, relax with something herbal………tea, of course, what did you think I meant?…..indulge in a digestive or gypsy cream even……and everything will be fine.”
Obelisk Orbit Overdrive by Titan – “I’d been looking for my Titan CD of 1st album A Raining Sun Of Light & Love, For You & You & You (yes, it’s such a snappy title) for a few days when it turned up in the shed’s CD box. It was given to me by my son Ewan’s friend, Oscar, who I was giving guitar lessons to at the time……probably about 12 or 13 years ago……with the remark, “I think you’ll like this.” Yep, spot on, man, as anything described as “shimmering mind expansion like a heavy solar tapestry of Ash Ra Temple, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hawkwind and Zombi….Immense,” is just gonna be, ennit?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BImDYh-H7HM
Hallogallo by Neu! – “Doing the washing up the other night, I flicked on the radio for a bit of late night 6 Music……….second track up caught my ear and reminded me of German early 70s experimentalists Neu!. Reading the display on the digital radio, which very handily tells one what is currently being broadcast, it indeed confirmed my supposition that it was Neu!.......but a track I was not familiar with. Further investigation informed me it was the 1st track from Neu!2, which I don’t have. It’s now on order……..so in the meantime, the first LP released in 1972 has been having a bit of an airing, this being the best track on the album, the drumming I’m convinced as being a pretty big influence on Hawkwind a few years later. This is akin to musical meditation.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTBb6cUL40
Black Heaven by Earthless – “A track from their 2018 release, Live From The West…….at last, just tracked down a vinyl copy. Formed in 2001 in San Diego, California, Earthless are that most classic of band line-ups; the power trio. And is Isaiah Mitchel the best never-heard-off guitarist performing at the moment? Absolutely. The man’s a total guitar monster………had you heard of Earthless or Mitchel before today? I rest my case! Earthless state that their mostly instrumental music is “improvised, not jammed, the difference being that improvised works around themes, has a focus and therefore a purpose whereas jamming does not.” With you on that one, dude. The band have been labelled a “stoner” rock band, a term they refute, saying they do not smoke marijuana and rather prefer to drink coffee or iced tea…………So, not sure about the ice, but off for a brew and to dig out that wah-wah pedal and echo unit, then……….I wonder which is best for releasing potential out-there cerebral creativity; Yorkshire or PG?.”