Welcome to week 21 of the Isolation Room Listening Booth, songs as chosen by RPM club members week ending Friday 14th August. Let get started........It's over to…..
"Here’s my 3 of the week............"
Music: Response by The Chemical Brothers
Touch Me I Am Sick by Mudhoney
Whiskyclone, Hotel City 1997 by Beck
"Hi RPMers here’s my 3 of the week............"
Johnny Guitar Calling Gosta Berlin by Snapped Ankles
Siberian Breaks by MGMT
She Used To Love Me A Lot by Johnny Cash
"Here's my three for this week... "
Prime Mover by Zodiac Mindwarp
Morrissey and the Russian Sailor by Christy Moore
Girl On The Run by Honey Bane
"Here are my three tracks for this week... "
Time to Pretend by MGMT
Let's Talk About It by White Denim
Kenya Dig It? by The Ruby Suns
"Hi RPM weekly mutual music society. This week I’ve gone for three manifestations of Philip Henry and Hannah Martin; first as the duo Edgelarks, second as part of the folk collective Band of Love, and thirdly as their eponymous selves. "
Wander By Edgelarks
Back to My Roots by Band of Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrDkMKrlr_E&list=PLXvGYk8-N5VDiCaxED-sQ4TIZKane5jE9&index=13&t=0s
Close Your Eyes by Philip Henry and Hannah Martin
"Hi to all RPMers. What a wonderful variety of music we're getting each week... superb! Here's my 3......"
Violin by Dransfield -
"This is the final track on their excellent 'Fiddler's Dream' LP. I know the clue is in the name but this band includes Robin and Barry Dransfield (along with Brian Harrison).
Trivia note: LP purchased many years ago from the record stall on Bury St. Edmunds market (not Andy, The Record Pedlar, the other one - Tim and Alan will know who I mean)."
"All The Good Girls by Dirt River Radio -
An Australian band whose take on 'Americana' could be a genre all on it's own.... 'Australiana' anyone? "
Memory Of Pain by The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation -
"This is so laid back it's almost horizontal..... Aynsley Dunbar started his professional career with Merseybeat group The Mojos. Since then he has played drums on albums by John Mayall, Jefferson Starship, Frank Zappa, Journey, David Bowie and many, many more. I have another Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation album, entitled 'To Mum, From Aynsley And The Boys', which is equally chilled."
"Wotcher all you good folks........A proper theme this week..........A few favourite automotive tracks"
Christian's Autobobile by The Persuasions
Crazy 'bout an Automobile by Ry Cooder
Mercury Blues by David Lindley
"And whilst on the subject of mercury - just remember, when you are complaining about the hot weather, this week in Baghdad it has been 52 degrees, and 38 degrees in the arctic! (that's 5 degrees hotter than we have had it!) Stay cool - stay safe!"
"Here's my 3 (yes, only 3) for this week and I'm choosing stuff around my first love i.e. Rock'n'roll this week. Here are examples of the work of 3 of the best who I was really lucky to see together and separately twice.
Think I'll pick some blues next time....
Best wishes to all of you as ever and looking forward to listening to this week's stuff."
Lucille by Little Richard
"I specifically chose this link because this is Little Richard performing with his favourite backing musicians, The Upsetters, who unfortunately were not backing him on the original released version of this classic. Classy movers as well as exciting musicians. The second show I saw him in was when Fats Domino was meant to headline but he unfortunately had to pull out of the tour after the first show. It was no disappointment though that Richard did a double shift and at one point invited anybody from the audience who wanted to - to get up on the stage with him. I couldn't get there from where I was sitting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3-OaNevkfg
Tulane by Chuck Berry
"This is Chuck with a track which was included on his album "Back Home" released in 1970. It's typical Chuck lyrics delivered at machine gun speed with every word on the beat and still humorous, inventive and a gift for the clever phrase e.g.."We gotta get a lawyer in the clique with politics, someone who can win the thing or get the thing fixed..." For other examples listen to "Promised Land", "You Never Can Tell", "Nadine", "Memphis Tennessee" - in fact just about any lyric he ever wrote."
It'll Be Me by Jerry Lewis
"This track was the 'B side of his 1957 release "Whole lotta Shakin...'" which followed his first release on Sun, "Crazy Arms". like Tulane it has very clever lyrics and was written by Jack Clement. Jerry Lee released an album in 2006 called "Last Man Standing" comprising duets with various artists and that's exactly what he is now that Little Richard, Elvis, Chuck and most of the other originals of R'nR have passed on. I treasure a picture taken of me in Sun Studios in 1999 standing in front of an upright piano reputed to have been used by Jerry Lee. "
"Haven’t had much time to get the vinyls out this week. However, I’ve seen two concerts on Sky Arts. Joe Bonamassa’s British Blues Explosion Performed in Greenwich 2016 and Beth Hart at the Royal Albert Hall in 2018. I have a collaboration CD of these two artists called ‘Black Coffee’ recorded in 2016 at Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas. I’ve taken my tracks from this CD."
Give it Everything You Got
Damn Your Eyes
Sitting On Top Of The World
"Hope everyone is keeping OK, we're still avoiding any sort of crowd, clicking and collecting groceries and missing our family! Our youngest son came last week, the first time we've seen him in 18 months!!!!!
Alt (space) rock: these last couple of weeks we've had comets displaying their tails and men returning from the International Space Station in what seems to be the equivalent of a Reliant Robin (and just as uncomfortable according to the astronauts!) plus Tim's fine Hawkwind bootleg, 'Silver Machine' from '72. So, here's three from my collection about 'space' (but 'mandolin' free I'm afraid!!). Unfortunately I traded my original copy of the Jefferson Starship 'Blows against the Empire' album (complete with full colour booklet... sob!) years ago so I can't take a track from that 'groundbreaking' album which was the first record to be awarded the prestigious 'Hugo' science fiction award. But, let's start off with one that's closely allied to that group........."
Have You Seen the Saucers? by Jefferson Airplane - (b-side to 'Mexico' single, released May1970).
"This from 'Early Flight' compilation, released February 1974. Top side, 'Mexico' is a typical, early seventies Grace Slick rant against the 'man', this time Richard Nixon who had just initiated Operation Intercept, an effort to stop the flow of marijuana from Mexico. At this time the band were in a state of flux with founder Marty Balin preparing to bail out (sic) of the Airplane and Joey Covington waiting in the wings (sic, again) to replace original drummer Spencer Dryden. Tucked away on the beeside is this little gem which mixes sci-fi, hippie/Woodstock idealism, environmentalism and politics into one fine squalling mini epic with Grace wailing mightily over the rest of the bands usual superb three part harmonies and excellent guitar from Jorma Kaukonen. A live version made it on to the 'Thirty seconds over Winterland' album in 1973 but, due to the comparative failure of the single (No 102 for one week and banned in many States), the two tracks went back into the vaults until the bands own 'Grunt' label compiled them with various other unreleased tracks recorded between 1966 and 1970. "
Red Planet Revisited by Comsat Angels- ('bonus' one sided single with 'Do the empty house' 7", released November 1981)
"Here's the track that sparked this week's choices after I dug it out to play last week-end. This is a great, dense re-recording of the bands own label debut release which saw the band hurriedly signed by John Peel for a session before they inked a contract with Polydor for a three album deal. However, nothing this Sheffield band recorded ever seemed to lead to mass acceptance by the record buying public which, to me, is pretty mystifying. We managed to see the band at the Porterhouse Retford just before they began major tours alongside Captain Beefheart, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Gang of Four, Depeche Mode and U2 (who may well have 'borrowed' a little from the Comsats). All four of the initial albums are worthy of your investigation if you like 'intelligent' guitar rock..... with their debut, 'Waiting for a miracle', being the standout. 'Do the empty house' was a non-album single from the second album sessions ('Sleep no more') which came in a double pack picture cover with this track as a 'bonus'. Over the years there were several label changes with any profits the band did accrue being used to build their Axis Studio in Sheffield, to be utilised mainly by local bands. In 2009 the band appeared at the Sheffield O2, introduced on stage by BBC Film Critic Mark Kermode who summed them up as "not only (my) personal favourite act of all time but .....the greatest band in the world". In May 2008, Kermode had interviewed British poet Simon Armitage on BBC Two's 'The Culture Show' and the pair spent most of the programme discussing their mutual love of the band. Kermode had also earlier said, during his 2007 review of the Joy Division bio-pic 'Control', that the Comsats were "the band Joy Division should have been" So... what are you waiting for, get out there and search them out!
My Love is Like a Spaceship by Big Boy Pete - (demo) ('The Margetson Demos' CD, released March 2004)
"As if the officially released version wasn't crazy enough, here's the original demo of the 'Cold Turkey' single beeside (see my psychedelic article on the club page) recorded at home in Margetson Avenue, Norwich. Pete is regularly, and favourably compared to other such 'acid fried' cult stars as Syd Barrett, Skip Spence and Roky Erickson with just one minor difference.... Pete is still alive and well in San Francisco! Born in Norwich, poached from The Offbeats by Peter Jay, he went on to play lead guitar on all the band's singles up to late 1965. Road weary and seeing no end in sight to the bands record, tour, record, tour merry-go-round, Pete returned home to his Mum and Dads, installed a home recording studio and set about composing for various publishing houses. Some of his songs were picked up (the Magic Lanterns, future King Crimson vocalist Boz and, unbelievably, Freddie and the Dreamers!!) but many laid unreleased until a fortunate reply by yours truly to a request for info regarding BBP in the MM seemed to coincide with the release of a batch of his demos entitled 'Homage to Catatonia'. Various illicit sugar lumps had been consumed during the 65-68 period which ensured that his output was always going to be, well, strange, and here we have one of the weirdest and, in my opinion, best of his demos. Pete had recorded with Joe Meek many times and that, perhaps, is the biggest influence which permeates this and others of his songs. Meek also had a fascination with space ('Telstar', 'Life on Venus', his groundbreaking 'I hear a new world' stereo concept album etc) but here Pete takes it to another level. Not to everyone's taste perhaps but, if you turn down the lights, turn up the stereo, let your mind float downstream....... who knows? You may enjoy the trip!!!!
There's also a link to Pete's web page where you can read of his astounding adventures including the Oct/Nov 1961 gig listing of 26 dates in 27 days, with venues stretching from Taunton to Huddersfield and no motorways in between, and his tour of the Far East playing to US troops on r&r. (hopefully this doesn't count as another 'bonus'!!!!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPbmCxErjqw&list=PL6dENs9TBW-SRcgVwROCEBsv_AEMvMvAy&index=23
Biography here:
"My mind works in mysterious ways as everyone will have noticed, and this week somehow last week's choices of "The Cowboy Mambo" (Piers) and "Buffalo Soldier" (John) in combination brought to mind and old Leadbelly song, originally recorded under the title "Cow Cow Yicky Yicky Yea," and covered many times over the years by a variety of artists under different titles. I first heard it on an otherwise forgettable mid-70s Rory Gallagher album (I think Mr. Gallagher, with all due respect, suffered from what I think of as "Jeff Beck Syndrome"- ie. a great instrumentalist but unable to write decent, memorable original songs).
No doubt Leadbelly was well aware of the under-acknowledged role played by black people in that part of America's creation myth known as "The Winning of The West." Apparently about 30% of cowboys who drove herds out of Texas to rail-heads further North were black- but where were they in "Red River" for example? (It's still a great film though). Some black cowboys actually achieved a degree of fame- Bose Ikard for example was rancher Charles Goodnight's right-hand man and the inspiration for the Joshua Deets character in "Lonesome Dove," played by Danny Glover in the TV adaptation. Nat Love may have been the inspiration for a series of dime-novels about a character called "Deadwood Dick," or he might have been given that nick-name because of the dime novels. To follow John's example in giving a book recommendation, there is a terrific fictional account of Nat Love's adventures by Joe R. Lansdale, entitled "Paradise Sky," which has been described as being tonally somewhere between "Blazing Saddles" and "Django Unchained." I'd also mention "Little Big Man" because it raises the question as to whether the protagonist is a truth-teller or a fantasist.
Any way, that's quite enough digression......."
When I Was A Cowboy (Western Plains), performed by Alvin Youngblood Hart from his debut album "Big Mama's Door" (1996) - "Mr. Hart is often compared to Taj Mahal- who guested on this album but not on this particular track."
Took Away The Drum by Mighty Mo Rodgers, from his debut album "Blues Is My Wailing Wall" (1999) - "A bit of musicological theory by Mr. Rodgers, who did session and production work for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee 50 years ago, but left the music business until a discussion with a neighbour in the late 90s persuaded him to get back into it to make his own music. This debut album is superb, and the kalimba on this song is played by Mr. Rodgers himself."
Your Love Is Amazing by Robert Ward, from his album "Fear No Evil" (1990 but not issued in the UK until 1992) - "This was another come-back to music, by a man who is a cult-hero to many guitar players (Lonnie Mack reckoned he was doing Jimi Hendrix before Jimi Hendrix). His is the distinctive guitar sound on "I Found A Love" by The Falcons (1962- Wilson Pickett on lead vocals), achieved by using a Magnatone amplifier. (That might mean more to the musicians among us than it does to me). He then became a member of a regionally popular group called The Ohio Untouchables but left before they found success in the 70s as The Ohio Players, and disappeared from the music business until Hammond Scott of Black Top Records set out to find him and offered him studio time with a crack band. The record is excellent and was issued in the UK by Silvertone Records. Sadly Mr. Ward died in 2008."
“Each week my choices for the Listening Booth are taken from what I’ve played during the week, and the songs that have stuck in my head are what I tend to go with……I don’t usually premeditate tracks for a themed playlist……I prefer to wander along the weeks musical highway, seeing where interesting side roads or signposts may lead to. A theme may unintentionally emerge of course…..it all depends upon what diversions, crossroads and junctions are encountered along the way. So, here’s three little excursions I’ve unintentionally perambulated this week…………”
Here’s a Health to Every Miner Lad performed by Andy Irvine and Luke Plumb – “Playing Planxty last week took me down a bit of an Andy Irvine side road which ended up at Precious Heroes, an album he released jointly last year with my other mandolinist of last week, Luke Plumb. It’s a super album mixing traditional songs with originals by both men, great interplay between mandolin and bouzouki and supported by Mike McGoldrick on whistle/flute and John McCusker on fiddle, two thirds of the trio with John Doyle (week 10)….all these links!”
La Isla de Paraguay by Richard Durrant – “Camped out for a few days mid-week down a classical guitar by-way with Richard Durrant’s South American trilogy of albums for company. So, here’s some right proper (as they say in these parts) guitar playing from album 3, The Girl at the Airport………the perfect soundtrack for those days that were too hot to actually do anything other than lying around reading and listening to music…the shed reached 40…..nothing got done…..”
Mirror of Illusion by Hawkwind – “Walking a parallel road I’ve traveled many times before and which is only a time-slip away…..Yes, I know I had Hawkwind last week, but I’ve just started reading a new HW book by Joe Banks (Mojo, Prog Magazine, Shindig!, The Guardian) entitled Days of the Underground, reassessing the band’s first 10 years…..which means, playing all those LPs from the 70s.......in order, of course. Self-titled debut had 4 plays, In Search of Space has had 3...so far. Plus every day's a HW school day; discovered the bootleg I've got recorded at the Kinetic Playground in Birmingham, 3rd December 1971, has the first ever live performance of a fledgling Silver Machine on it. Obviously nice to know. So, this got a play as well....as it's also an early appearance of Lemmy on bass. Depending upon how quickly I read, what else I read at the same time, how hot the next week is etc etc, you could be looking forward to more HW in seven days’ time as well…………won’t that be fun, children? Here’s the other busking-type track from the self-titled 1st LP (Hurry on Sundown being the more well-known)……..oh, I’m also playing this one as I know the shaker will be annoying Morra within about 10 seconds of the track starting…………so it’s got to be worthwhile, hasn’t it? See you all in seven.”
What....? No bonus tracks..........? (No, Alan's really doesn't count.) 😉