Music of early 60s and later 60s

Towards the end of 1965, after their meteoric rise to the top of the charts with I Got You Babe, Sonny and Cher were invited to perform at a private party in the penthouse apartment of mining tycoon Charles Engelhard Jr. at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The invitation came after Jackie Kenne...

14 April at 14:00 ·

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- - - - Lin Holdridge One of my all time absolute favourite albums too x

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- - - - Ivor Goodson Yes I do agree Paul ivor

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- - - - Jonathan Osborne Brown-eyed girl is mine!

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- - - - Laurinda Brown One of my all time favourites too:)

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Another great album (no. 2) from 1968 Dr. John, The Night Tripper. This was so amazing, so original, it needed its own sub-genre classification Voodoo Blues or Voodoo Rock. Great songs, great music, great musicians! It still sounds great!

The tracks are

"Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya"

"Danse Kalinda Ba Doom"

"Mama Roux"

"Danse Fambeaux"

"Croker Courtbullion"

"Jump Sturdy"

"I Walk on Guilded Splinters"

Every titlel is intruiging and mysterious!

To read more about it (stuff I never knew when I got the album) see https://musicaficionado.blog/2017/…/08/gris-gris-by-dr-john/

To hear it go to https://www.youtube.com/watch…

MUSICAFICIONADO.BLOG

The Story Behind The Album: Gris-Gris, by Dr. John

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- - - - Jane Shearer We love this! I nearly put it on mine because it reminds us of an important time in our life as well as being really great.

- - - - Lin Holdridge oh yes!!!

- - - - Brian Green Psychedelic voodoo swamp rock. Dark poetry set to hypnotic rhythms. I remember it well as an outstanding part of the exploding spectrum of creative originality in popular music of the Sixties. Easily his best album. Loved and love it. I commend us both for our good taste!!

- - - - Paul Ernest I fully agree Brian - I still have his next album Babylon- not in the same class as this swampedelic one! 😎

- - - - Crispin Kitto And the song, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w5h5GYVKpMI

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Sam and Dave Blame me but Don't Blame my Heart

- - - - SAM AND DAVE BLAME ME

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        Sam and Dave Blame me but Don't Blame my Heart

- - - - Paul Ernest I should have said -yes -Sam & Dave are indeed soul greats!
        Well I've been doing my greatest albums of all time.There's also albums I like a lot!..I love this album because My Guy is great, But it also turned me onto the Great American Songbook! I should say it was my sister Sue's - she always had great taste in music Side two
        "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson)
        "I Only Have Eyes for You" (Al Dubin, Harry Warren)
        "You Do Something to Me" (Cole Porter)
        "It Had to Be You" (Gus Kahn, Isham Jones)
        "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" (Geoffrey Parsons, Marguerite Monnot)
        "At Last" (Harry Warren, Mack Gordon)

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- - - - Davey Faragher So good!

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20 April at 07:09 ·

Another great album (3) is The Velvet Underground & Nico. This was shocking, innovative and a work of great originality both musically and thematically. And it sounded great! It explored the dark side of the 60s hippie revolution and the Beat legacy. It anticipated Punk and Heavy Metal in some of its musical styles and flourishes and influenced so many from David Bowie onwards. Stunning fo hear and own when I first traded the original USA issue, with the peel off banana sticker, with Patrick who brought it back from San Francisco, for some amps of meth (as is appropriate!).

Track listing - All tracks are written by Lou Reed except where noted.

Side A

"Sunday Morning" (Reed, John Cale)

"I'm Waiting for the Man"

"Femme Fatale"

"Venus in Furs"

"Run Run Run"

"All Tomorrow's Parties"

Side B

"Heroin"

"There She Goes Again"

"I'll Be Your Mirror"

"The Black Angel's Death Song" (Reed, Cale)

"European Son" (Reed, Cale, Sterling Morrison, Maureen Tucker)

Listen here

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- - - - Dan Pearce Wonderful album...

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- - - - Jane Shearer A great choice, Paul. Another one of our favourites, we have the same taste.
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- - - - Patricia Tivy I love this album.

- - - - Patrick Alexander Have you still got it? All the meth is long gone. All I have now are memories of Burroughs Welcome.

- - - - No, sorry, I flogged it for a pittance to Dave Fry in the early 70s when I thought the future would be audio cassettes 😞 It was pretty worn out - as we all were! 😄

21 April at 07:09 · ·

Another magic album (4) is ..... Music from Big Pink, by The Band, 1968.

The songs were so musically perfect, a blend of different sounds expressing a deep melancholy exuberantly. Perfect Americana although mostly they were Canadian. The lyrics were deceptively simple on the surface but had depth of meaning that opened realms of myth and feeling. They were Dylan's backing band and had honed their craft working intensely with him on the road and in the basement of the house Big Pink. Of course the elephant in the room is Bob Dylan, who painted the cover, but stepped back from the album to let the Band establish its own identity. They achieved something magical!

Others' comments from YouTube

"Richard Manual sang like no other. There was so much pain and anguish in his voice and it fit the songs so perfectly."

"Feelings and passions of a long-lost America, combined with incredible musicianship and diversity with the band members make them a one of a kind icon for eternity. Their music speaks of drawing from one life to the next."

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,

But to be young was very Heaven!" (Wordsworth)

The Band

Rick Danko – bass guitar, fiddle, vocals

Levon Helm – drums, tambourine, vocals

Garth Hudson – organ, piano, clavinet, soprano and tenor saxophone

Richard Manuel – piano, organ, vocals

Robbie Robertson – electric and acoustic guitars, vocals

Side one

"Tears of Rage"

"To Kingdom Come"

"In a Station"

"Caledonia Mission"

"The Weight"

Side two

"We Can Talk"

"Long Black Veil"

"Chest Fever"

"Lonesome Suzie"

"This Wheel's on Fire"

"I Shall Be Released"

Listen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CprDANYhC

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield This was on my list. Glad to see it on yours 1

- - - - Dan Pearce Really like your album choices. This is another seminal disc for me...
        Laurinda Brown And another for me:) Same generation maybe:)

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- - - - Crispin Kitto Again, you beat me to it! A real beauty,❤️

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And my next album (5) is .......

Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band ‎– Safe As Milk

Captain Beefheart was one of the geniuses of modern rock. With his several octave wide voice he absorbed the Blues and made his own styles of music with poignant lyrics and melodies, hard driving rhythms, and many innovations. Trout Mask Replica is cited by many as a Rosetta stone of modern rock. But this first album with its creativity and range of styles is a pleasure to listen to (unlike TMR).Ironically, the track Safe As Milk is not on the album!

The band members were:

Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, (Vocals, Harmonica & Bass Marimba).

Alex Snouffer, aka Alex St. Clair, also known as Alexis St. Clare Snouffer. (Guitar).

Jerry Handley (Bass Guitar).

John French, aka John 'Drumbo' French or simply Drumbo. (Drums & Percussion).

Ry Cooder (Guitar, Slide Guitar & Bass Guitar)

(theremin work by Samuel Hoffman).

After this Album the great guitarist Ry Cooder left the group.

If you only listen to one track make it Autumn's Child, still makes the hair on my neck stand up

Tracklist

Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do

Zig Zag Wanderer

Call On Me

Dropout Boogie

I'm Glad

Electricity

Yellow Brick Road

Abba Zaba

Plastic Factory

Where There's Woman

Grown So Ugly

Autumn's Child

21 April at 07:21 ·

Listen to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY

- - - - Dan Pearce Yes! A seminal album from the Captain, certainly on my list...

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- - - - Laurinda Brown I saw Capn Bfheart at the Hippodrome in Bristol when I was living in Exeter - we were supposed to be sitting down but that didn't happen:) Lx

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- - - - Paul Ernest Lucky you! I may have seen him in London at UFO or Middle Earth but to be honest I can't really remember!

- - - - Jane Shearer So you were listening to this at the same time as Dr John as we were! Murray Longstaff, who we mentioned to you, brought them round to our flat in Clapton Square. Where were you living at that time, Paul. xx

- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Jane Shearer oh you still saw Murray in the Clapton Sq years. Interesting.
        Jane Shearer Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Yes, I can't remember how that happened but he came round a lot. He was no longer with Marion, he was living with Marybelle

- - - - Crispin Kitto Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Not for you to say, darling😘

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Just hoping!

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- - - - Paul Ernest You care. You love. 💓 That's what counts! (God - am I positioning myself as a guru? I have no credentials, I am no model, just another selfish and greedy pensioner!!! 😀)

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- - - - Jane Shearer Paul Ernest Tim says - Don't worry about it, we're all bloody gurus these days. xxx

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- - - - Jane Shearer Gaye Meakin Or Schofield All our decisions took us somewhere and then we made of that what we could. I think it's all of value to us, Gaisy. xxx

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- - - - Another great one! Perfect choices Paul!

- - - - Paul Ernest Thanks, John!! 😎😎

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- - - - Laurinda Brown I saw Capn Bfheart at the Hippodrome in Bristol when I was living in Exeter - we were supposed to be sitting down but that didn't happen:) Lx

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- - - - Paul Ernest In reply to Jane Shearer: Absolutely! I regret nothing except acts of unkindness or disrespect! Any damage I did to myself was part of my journey and contributes to who I am. My last act which pushed me over the brink into self reform was spending a month with Alan Shoobridge in Tangier summer 1969. Desperate times, if warmed by companionship. The drugs became a pain, psychic and physical, and as a suspected typhus carrier and with other conditions (hepatitis A, conjunctivitis, crab & head lice) on return I was isolated in Coppetts Wood Isolation Hospital, Muswell Hill. All my visitors were gowned. As the THC slowly left my body fats I found joy in sunrises and Major Tom on the Radio. My mother housed and fed me until I got a job as a computer prorammer Jan 1970 with British Olivetti. I took up yoga, meditation, fell in love with Jill and stepped onto the sunlit plains of the rest of my life!

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- - - - Jane Shearer So you were listening to this at the same time as Dr John as we were! Murray Longstaff, who we mentioned to you, brought them round to our flat in Clapton Square. Where were you living at that time, Paul. xx

- - - - Jane Shearer Paul Ernest We can heal and we can move on and we can change our lives which is great, we grow and learn, as long as we don't renege on our younger selves, as long as we don't deny what made us who we are. We haven't and I love that you haven't either.

- - - - Paul Ernest The 60s was both Heaven and Hell. Piccadilly Circus station near midnight was like one of the circles of hell. But bliss though acid or meditation was heaven - drawing close to God! (Even thou s/he does not exist! lol). Maybe the real bliss of the 60s was companionship, love, shared times, shared quests. And all that continues, except not at running speed but at the speed of a Zimmer frame! Bliss is also found in the flow - when you find what you love to do, do it well, and get lost in it!

- - - - Paul Ernest Lucky you! I may have seen him in London at UFO or Middle Earth but to be honest I can't really remember!

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Jane Shearer oh you still saw Murray in the Clapton Sq years. Interesting.

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- - - - Jane Shearer Paul Ernest I'll drink to that - companionship, love, shared times and shared quests (only Lucozade, mind you).

- - - - Dan Pearce Wish I'd seen him live...

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- - - - Crispin Kitto Mistakes are not to be regretted, but simply learnt from. I agree, Paul Ernest, the times one hurt and contemned are the hardest to reconcile,

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- - - - Jane Shearer In my case, Crispin, I'm not sure I even see it as mistakes, nor even quite a learning curve, more an experience curve but, you're right, what keeps me awake at night is remembering the hurtful things I've done and said and it's important never to judge.

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- - - - Crispin Kitto You don't see yourself as having made any mistakes? Wow, interesting. As for experience, I think it is the very essence of learning: e.g. I put my hand in the flame--"owch! That hurts! Won't do that again!" Or, in my case, put my hand in the flame. "Owch, but did that really hurt? Let me try again. Wow. Yeah it hurt. Maybe I'll try it from a different ANGLE!" Until the lesson is learned!

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- - - - Jane Shearer Crispin Kitto Ha ha, that's a lot of learning. As for mistakes, without getting into semantics, I've walked into situations through a lack of experience but would I call those mistakes when they taught me something, if only not to do that again? We were, well I was, wild and reckless but that was my way of finding out. Also there's the issue of guidance, we didn't have proper guidance for the era we found ourselves in, our poor parents didn't have a clue.

- - - - Crispin Kitto Wild and reckless and utterly delicious😘

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- - - - Jane Shearer Crispin Kitto Weren't we all 😘

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- - - - Crispin Kitto Jane Shearer I dunno about that😳

- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield I miss judged a good few things, that’s for sure. But you never know what would have happened, if you hadn’t done what you did. And I totally agree, it’s when what i did do, hurt other people that I feel sad. But maybe that taught them something useful!

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- - - - Crispin Kitto Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Not for you to say, darling😘

- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Just hoping!

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- - - - Paul Ernest You care. You love. 💓 That's what counts! (God - am I positioning myself as a guru? I have no credentials, I am no model, just another selfish and greedy pensioner!!! 😀)
        Jane Shearer Paul Ernest Tim says - Don't worry about it, we're all bloody gurus these days. xxx
        Jane Shearer Gaye Meakin Or Schofield All our decisions took us somewhere and then we made of that what we could. I think it's all of value to us, Gaisy. xxx

Todays album choice (6) is: Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Jimi Hendrix was the performer I saw most in the 60s. Five times in Brighton and London. He had a great blues background, sang very well, great performer (some of the antics were tedious), good song writer - But the greatest virtuoso rock guitarist ever. He made the electric guitar sing like nobody else ever has! Eric Clapton went pale when he heard him, and he's pretty good himself. All the tracks are good but "All Along the Watchtower" is out of this world. Is the cover vulgar? Yes, and it objectifies women as sex objects. But it also celebrates real womanhood in her every shape and form. Hendrix did not choose the cover.

(YouTube would not let me post the cover - the picture below is from the USA version - you can see the original cover here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Ladyland )

Side one

"...And the Gods Made Love"

" Electric Ladyland"

" Cross Town Traffic"

"Voodoo Chile"

Side two

"Little Miss Strange" (Noel Redding)

"Long Hot Summer Night"

"Come On" (Earl King)

"Gypsy Eyes"

"Burning of the Midnight Lamp"

Side three

"Rainy Day, Dream Away"

"1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)"

"Moon, Turn the Tides....Gently Gently Away"

Title

"Still Raining, Still Dreaming"

"House Burning Down"

"All Along the Watchtower" (Bob Dylan)

"Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"

Here this track here:

The American release cover

This is the UK release cover

- - - - Dan Pearce Utterly brilliant and so young. Terrible loss- think what he'd be doing now...

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- - - - Jane Shearer Ahhh my man, this was one of mine, Paul, and this is my favourite track too. How lucky you were to see him, I never did, it was always the next thing to do, we thought he'd be around for ever and then suddenly he wasn't. I still can't get over it. A…See more

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- - - - Simone Karl Borkar A wonderful choice, it’s as good today as when it was first released. Nice introduction too, although you left out the famous story of your relationship with a certain resident of Cholmey Gdns...printed in the local West Hampstead press.
        Did you see him play at the Klooks Kleek?

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- - - - Paul Ernest Oh, you saw that! My relationship with Linda Keith that never got off the ground was before the Hendrix era. I don't think Hendrix played Klooks Kleek. No I saw him at Exeter Uni, Brighton Corn Exchange and maybe Technicolour Dream, UFO and the Olympia all nighters in London. Also saw the Floyd quite a few times! It was something else. The music exploded your head!

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- - - - Paul Ernest Dunno how Crufts snuck in!! 🐕🐕🐕

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- - - - Simone Karl Borkar Paul Ernest What an incredible era it must have been, especially that Christmas party at Cruft’s!

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- - - - Crispin Kitto That’s right—he got too big too fast for Klooks,

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- - - - Cynthia Martin I passed him a joint at the Sussex university gig. Just saying... Though to be fair ( which I was, and v shallow) ,I thought him short and spotty and unalluring , but the music was amazing

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- - - - Paul Ernest Did you, Cyn? I wish I could tell that tale! I once passed a joint to the lead in Pretty Things, and to a great folk musician in Kabul, while he was performing, but never to the gods! At Sussex Hendrix announced he had a cold and was a bit ill tempered with the audience, but he still blew us away! When I told the late Neil Winterbottom about seeing Hendrix, and travelling in the back of Neil's mini with Rod Stewart he told me how he drove Hendrix around London when he co-owned Middle Earth. Did you see Cream at Sussex Cyn? I had never heard of them and skipped that gig! Oh shame, Oh idiocy! I also passed on the Doors at the Roundhouse, but at least I had an excuse: too stoned to go! 😎🤩

In my view the greatest album of all time (Album no. 7) is The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967. It wears this crown because (1) of its huge musical innovation and range, encompassing and combining rock and roll, current popular music, music hall and the colloquial traditions in music, orchestral and experimental traditions (2) it was the first concept album, marking the shift from singles, and collections of singles on LPs, to a unified production employing the full space (time) an LP album affords (3) in addition, the interconnected songs were highly original and rich in melody, harmony and lyrics. The lyrics (and musical effects) encompass the psychedelic experience, daily life, alienation, the good life, the performed life. (4) The use of multi track recording enabled songs to be constructed, layer by layer, rather than recording a single performance, a technical innovation of inestimable significance.

The concept that unifies the album is that the Beatles were transitioning from a physical band playing gigs and concerts to a virtual band only crafting albums in the studio. Sgt. Pepper's Band is the mythical replacement for the Beatles who could no longer tour as the audience reactions overwhelmed and nullified the music. Even when I saw them at the Finsbury Park Astoria around 1963/4 as the lead act of the Liverpool Sound tour, the screaming teen girls ovewhelmed the sound, Sgt. Pepper is a witty song and dance (or is it oompah) band, performing at circuses and elsewhere. It is a signifier for a virtual band that no longer offers its presence. This is signed on the cover by the presence of the Madame Tussauds waxworks of the Beatles costumed as they used to appear in early performances alongside the real Beatles in fantastical marching band costumes in which they never performed (also a trademark of the hippie revolution in fashion of 1967). The cover is overall a blend between the actual (the stage set with 4 live persons and scene props) and the virtual (photos and dummies)

Rolling Stone ranks it as the greatest album of all time.

(For a good critical discussion of its significance see the Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Pepper%27s_Lonely_Hearts_Club_Band)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPQwJn1iv5c

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Yes!

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- - - - Lin Holdridge brilliant critique Paul and so apt for now!

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- - - - Paul Ernest Thanks Lin! I did try to justify my judgement - but then wondered am I spoiling the game by getting too intellectual? But then I thought why use just one word when ten long ones will do!!! lol

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- - - - Lin Holdridge never too intellectual, and keep using all those words! x

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- - - - Paul Martin I think Revolver is greater and I am not the only one, you can say that I'm a dreamer!

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- - - - Paul Ernest Of course it is a matter of judgement which songs one prefers. But in terms of the power of its cultural impact nothing get close to Sgt Pepper! Ps like your "quote"!

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- - - - Matt Johnson I'd challenge you on (2), although I wasn't there at the time. It is widely reported that Animal Sounds paved the way. I agree, there's no comparison, but it was an album of the time as much as it was groundbreaking. As humans, we rarely head into the unknown alone. And, personally, I prefer the white album.

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- - - - Paul Ernest Hi Matt! When I looked up 'concept album' (after writing my laudation) there were several other contenders mentioned like Woody Guthrie, Frank Sinatra, Pet Sounds; being thematic collections. So my claim is of course contested by others. Moving towards a rock opera is something newer. But of course historically, whenever you look at a breakthrough or revolution, the causal attribution to one heroic figure or group usually dissolves under the microscope and you see a number of different agents and antecedent strands of cultural innovation coming together. So maybe I should say more guardedly (2) it was a significant step forward in the development of the concept album. 😄

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Yes!

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- - - - Lin Holdridge brilliant critique Paul and so apt for now!

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- - - - John Hugh Balmford They're one of the few pop groups that mean anything to me at all. In fact at the time I found them deeply disconcerting because up till then I'd always thought of pop music as not worth listening to.

Masha Kolomeitz yes i would have chosen... strawberry fields and all you need is love..... but are they on an album.. still have a trippy effect on me..... the 1967 feeling.

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- - - - Paul Ernest Thanks Lin! I did try to justify my judgement - but then wondered am I spoiling the game by getting too intellectual? But then I thought why use just one word when ten long ones will do!!! lol

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- - - - Paul Martin Baby, you're a rich man.

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Paul Ernest Yes, Masha, those are marvellous songs and among my favourites too. Strawberry Felds and All you need is love fill me with joy whenever I hear them and they are in my top 10 singles (another game!). They are like hymns for the psychedelic era with their uplifting message of love! And for me the peak of the hippie era was a message and feeling of love, the fellowship of all beings and nature, the enlightened mind, letting go of materiality. It was a quasi religious attitude and experience - deeply ethical at its core. It stays with me, and it is something that many people who missed that era and the commitments it brought lack. Of course there are many other ways to embrace the interconnectedness of all things and love of all tlife and nature (biophilia) such as the new environmentalism. (I don't know this album but Bjork has obviously embraced biophilia and it illustrates it - I must get into Bjork!)

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- - - - Paul Martin I think Revolver is greater and I am not the only one, you can say that I'm a dreamer!

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- - - - Lin Holdridge never too intellectual, and keep using all those words! x

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Lin Holdridge I couoldn't agree more Paul - your eloquent words reinforce the feelings of that time, and are especially welcome now.

- - - - Paul Ernest Of course it is a matter of judgement which songs one prefers. But in terms of the power of its cultural impact nothing get close to Sgt Pepper! Ps like your "quote"!

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Laurinda Brown I remember a classmate turning up in class having bought a copy of the newly released album - feels like it must have been 1968 - she was excited about Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and I think this was my first introduction to LSD ...I can still sing …See more

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Paul Ernest Thank you Laurinda Brown for opening this box of memories. Psychedelia ... the sacrament of acid ... delicately handled opening you up to amazing spiritual experiences! Recently I read the very good account of acid in the UK Albion Dreaming and it inspired me to try to capture my own experiences in a piece called the journey. http://internationaltimes.it/the-journey-2/

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- - - - Paul Ernest Thanks so much Lin! It's so heartwarming to know we are singing off the same songsheet! And we are not the only ones ....

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- - - - Matt Johnson I'd challenge you on (2), although I wasn't there at the time. It is widely reported that Animal Sounds paved the way. I agree, there's no comparison, but it was an album of the time as much as it was groundbreaking. As humans, we rarely head into the unknown alone. And, personally, I prefer the white album.

- - - - Paul Ernest Hi Matt! When I looked up 'concept album' (after writing my laudation) there were several other contenders mentioned like Woody Guthrie, Frank Sinatra, Pet Sounds; being thematic collections. So my claim is of course contested by others. Moving towards…See more

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Paul Burdess Not too sure about some of your other choices, but definitely with you on this one.

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Paul Martin I agree with you, it's just that I find "Within You, Without You" rather a hindrance on the general flow! "Lovely Rita" is well - the pinnacle!

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Paul Ernest But in some ways that song is the spiritual heart of the album - it adds variety and depth - I love it - George Harrison adds something special, extra. I love it! The Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsffxGyY4ck

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Within You Without You (Remastered 2009)

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- - - - John Hugh Balmford They're one of the few pop groups that mean anything to me at all. In fact at the time I found them deeply disconcerting because up till then I'd always thought of pop music as not worth listening to.

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- - - - Paul Martin I still have the LP in original sleeve and cardboard cutouts, I expect it is in stereo.

- - - - Paul Martin I shall have the advantage of being able to turn the record over half way!

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- - - - Masha Kolomeitz yes i would have chosen... strawberry fields and all you need is love..... but are they on an album.. still have a trippy effect on me..... the 1967 feeling.

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- - - - Paul Ernest You beat me oin that! I just looked through my vinyl collection and I no longer have that one! I have the White Album, Abbey Road, and a couple of earlier albums. I even have 2 copies of the Band's Big Pink. Its a shame because it has one of the greatest covers of all time!

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- - - - Paul Ernest Yes, Masha, those are marvellous songs and among my favourites too. Strawberry Felds and All you need is love fill me with joy whenever I hear them and they are in my top 10 singles (another game!). They are like hymns for the psychedelic era with thei…See more

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My next album (my 8th) is Murderer's Home, an album of prisoners' blues and work songs recorded by Alan Lomax at Parchman Farm (Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman, USA), 1947. Who knows what happened to the singers but it is pure suffering and longing direct from the human soul. You cannot but be moved by it. Echos of the music run through so much of modern Blues, R&B and Rock. The singers are near anonymous, known only by Lomax's brief annotations. and long departed from this world of woe. It was released in the UK in Pye Golden Guinea Records, 1965, an affordable reissue label.

Tracklist

Jimpson, Road Song (Murderer's Home),

Jimpson, No More, My Lawd,

Unknown Artist, Katy Left Memphis,

B.B. (6), Old Alabama,

B.B. (6), Black Woman,

Tangle Eye (2), Fuzzle Red* and Hard Hair, Jumpin' Judy,

C.B., Whoa Buck,

22 (3), Prettiest Train,

22 (3), Old Dollar Mamie,

22 (3), It Makes A Long Time Man Feel Bad,

C.B., Rosie,

Bama (3), Levee Camp Holler,

22 (3), Little Red, Tangle Eye (2) & Hard Hair, Early In The Mornin',

Tangle Eye (2), Tangle Eye Blues,

Bama (3), Stackerlee,

Alex (78), Prison Blues,

Bob And Leroy, Sometimes I Wonder,

Bob And Leroy, Bye Bye Baby,

If you don't know it you have to listen to it. If you do know it will move you once again! I can't find a single overall link but here are some of the individual tracks - not necessarily the best!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qsRdLXaWBY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbm_uWVasNU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iHpcbTNOrk

You can't help but hear it as the most poignant expression of the suffering of the Black Holocaust as documented in the film 13th, but true art rises above infamy to leave an indelible mark

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- - - - Lin Holdridge I couoldn't agree more Paul - your eloquent words reinforce the feelings of that time, and are especially welcome now.

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- - - - Laurinda Brown I remember a classmate turning up in class having bought a copy of the newly released album - feels like it must have been 1968 - she was excited about Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and I think this was my first introduction to LSD ...I can still sing …See more

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- - - - Paul Ernest Thank you Laurinda Brown for opening this box of memories. Psychedelia ... the sacrament of acid ... delicately handled opening you up to amazing spiritual experiences! Recently I read the very good account of acid in the UK Albion Dreaming and it inspired me to try to capture my own experiences in a piece called the journey. http://internationaltimes.it/the-journey-2/

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield I haven’t listened to this. I will.

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield I just remembered a song by Mose Allison called Parchment Farm.

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- - - - Paul Ernest Oh, yes, I'd forgotten that! Thanks for the memory jog! 😀 Yes, many people would have heard this record back in the day - including Mose Allison - and though it's obviously his own jazz composition in his own unique style its about that very prison farm,. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCpbWLjlrdU

- - - - Paul Burdess Not too sure about some of your other choices, but definitely with you on this one.

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Mose Allison Parchman Farm Mose Allison Sings 1959

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- - - - Paul Ernest Oh excellent - amusingly it is the most controversial one I have proposed! I agree with others that it does not contain the all time best Beatles songs, but I think it is their best and most important album. Another concept album by them is the Magical Mystery Tour (admittedly 2 EPs when I got it). That had the (psychedelic) journey as its theme. Marvellous imagination in songs, lyrics and movie!

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- - - - Mose Allison Parchman Farm Mose Allison Sings 1959

- - - - Jane Shearer Fantastic choice, Paul, such an important record on many levels, great musical Art and this is such a coincidence. Tim was sorting through our records this week and found we had two copies, this 1965 U.K. issue and a U.S. 1954 copy chillingly entitled Negro Prison Songs, and gave one to Orlando only yesterday. Isn't that strange!!

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- - - - Paul Ernest Marvellous! Lucky you! Those songs stay with your forever!

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- - - - Jane Shearer Paul Ernest They sure do. Tim says especially Rosie.

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Jane Shearer that’s such a coincidence! I don’t think we ever had this. Either ‘we Dubs’ or ‘We Mike’ ha ha. Although Dubs loved the Mose Allison one.

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- - - - Jane Shearer Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Didn't you say you thought that was on the Juke Box at the Witches?

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- - - - Paul Martin I agree with you, it's just that I find "Within You, Without You" rather a hindrance on the general flow! "Lovely Rita" is well - the pinnacle!

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- - - - Gaye Meakin Or Schofield Jane Shearer yes I do think it might have been. Not sure of course!

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- - - - Paul Ernest But in some ways that song is the spiritual heart of the album - it adds variety and depth - I love it - George Harrison adds something special, extra. I love it! The Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsffxGyY4ck

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My next album choice (no. 9) is Songs of Leonard Cohen, his first album.

Each song is so skilfully crafted with delicacy and deep enigmatic lyrics and wonderful fresh musical arrangements. Very moving, very poetic, showing univeral truths through particular narratives. There is deep feeling, deep sadness, but also black humour in the songs. Some friends used to complain in the day that he was "so down, man!" overlooking the joy and the black humour in the songs. Probably the only other modern popular musician to be a contender with Dylan for the Nobel Prize in literature.

The tracks

Side A

"Suzanne" – 3:48

"Master Song" – 5:55

"Winter Lady" – 2:15

"The Stranger Song" – 5:00

"Sisters of Mercy" – 3:32

Side B

"So Long, Marianne" – 5:38

"Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" – 2:55

"Stories of the Street" – 4:35

"Teachers" – 3:01

"One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" – 4:23

26 April at 08:54 ·

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- - - - Paul Martin I will listen again - which is the value of your posts - to help people to rehear things!

- - - - Paul Martin I still have the LP in original sleeve and cardboard cutouts, I expect it is in stereo.

- - - - Paul Martin I shall have the advantage of being able to turn the record over half way!

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- - - - Paul Ernest You beat me oin that! I just looked through my vinyl collection and I no longer have that one! I have the White Album, Abbey Road, and a couple of earlier albums. I even have 2 copies of the Band's Big Pink. Its a shame because it has one of the greatest covers of all time!

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- - - - Lin Holdridge Leonard as a poet and songmaker is, along with Dylan, my absolute favourite. As a human being, I have such admiration for the way he evolved, for his profound spirit, his wit and joy, his grace and humility and many more qualities; all, I am sure, hard won through personal questing and deep reflection. Someone to look up to and aspire to indeed.

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- - - - Clare Gabriel My all time favourite Leonard Cohen album. Saw me through many hard times..... :)

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- - - - Patricia Tivy Oh ho, Binsy just loves Leonard!!!!!!!!

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- - - - Brian R Lawler This pic looks JUST like Adam Sandler, American comedian. Anyone else see it??

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Heard this on Radio 4 today - reminds me Now that's What I Call Music - get up and dance!! 💃🕺

Music is a great lift - I don't listen enough now. And I plan to dance on my own to it (unless Jill joins in!) to tunes like this

This great soul song by "Arthur Conley" was released in 1967 and i believe this was the biggest hit song he had.He actually wrote this song with "Otis Reddin...

25 April at 15:02 ·

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Arthur Conley ~ Sweet Soul Music (1967)

This great soul song by "Arthur Conley" was released in 1967 and i believe this was the biggest hit song he had.He actually wrote this song with "Otis Reddin...

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- - - - Crispin Kitto Arthur was a real highlight in the Stax tour, 50+ years ago!

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- - - - Paul Ernest Fantastic! Missed that! 😎

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- - - - Pat Rogers Thank you! I joined you!!

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My album choice of today (no. 10 is Bob Dylan's Basement tapes. Dylan circulated both tapes and acetate discs in the music business of some of the tracks he had been cutting in 1967 with the Band (who also helped co-write a few). Some tracks were recorded by others to great successL Quinn the Eskimo by Manfred Mann, This Wheel's on Fire by Julie Driscoll and Brian Augur, and many more (Peter, Paul & Mary, Byrds, Fairport Convention). The original recordings were not issued commercially for years. My friend Jerry Goody let us know he was getting a samizdat (bootleg) copy and I was one of half a dozen friends who orderd a copy on a 10" acetate LP disc for around £3 10s. The songs are abolute wonders. They have Dylan in the lead with The Band backing, both vocally and instrumentally. The were recorderd at Dylan's House and also at the the Big Pink house, NY State (same as as my first album choice) after Dylan and Sara's daughter was born. The lyrics, the music, the performances are nothing short of miraculous. I didn't know it then but this selection was the cream of a crop of almost 100 titles and many different versions. 1967 was perhaps Dylan's most prolific year, working 5-7 days a week for 8 months "doing seven, eight, ten, sometimes fifteen songs a day" (Garth Hudson)

The tracks were:

Yeah Heavy & A Bottle Of Bread

Please Mrs. Henry

Down On The Flood (Crash On The Levee)

Lo & Behold ("ferris wheel" version)

Tiny Montgomery

Wheels On Fire

Million Dollar Bash

Nothing Was Delivered

Too Much Of Nothing

I Shall Be Released

You Ain't Going Nowhere

Mighty Quinn

Tears Of Rage

My acetate had no cover, a plain sleeve and even the label was hand written. In 1975 the following album cover was released with most of these recordings and some other songs. The photo was a mock up from 1975, representing some of the songs. [In 2014 Columbia/Legacy issued 6-CD box set containing 139 tracks which comprises nearly all of Dylan's basement recordings],

Annoyingly YouTube blocks playing the music in UK so I can't provide a link! I could write a page on every song - they are so meaningful but also mysterious, so marvellous, so musical, each is shorn of artifice and is a joy to listen to!

Look at the lyrics to Million Dollar Bash! Give the man a prize!

Well, that big dumb blonde with her wheel in the gorge

And Turtle, that friend of hers, with his checks all forged

And his cheeks in a chunk, and his cheese in the cash

They’re all gonna be there at that million dollar bash

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee

It’s that million dollar bash

Everybody from right now to over there and back

The louder they come, the bigger they crack

Come now, sweet cream, don’t forget to flash

We’re all gonna meet at that million dollar bash

[chorus]

Well, I took my counselor out to the barn

Silly Nelly was there, she told him a yarn

Then along came Jones, emptied the trash

Everybody went down to that million dollar bash

[chorus]

Well, I’m hitting it too hard, my stones won’t take

I get up in the morning but it’s too early to wake

First it’s hello, goodbye then push and then crash

But we’re all gonna make it at that million dollar bash

[chorus]

Well, I looked at my watch, I looked at my wrist

I punched myself in the face with my fist

I took my potatoes, bound to be mashed

Then I made it on over to that million dollar bash

[chorus]

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- - - - Paul Martin I like the 139 track version (well most of it)

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