Spike Island - Pulp

This new Pulp track's been growing on me over the past week, especially as I've just realised that this June it will be 30 years (!) since we saw their career making Glastonbury performance when they were drafted in at the last moment to replace The Stone Roses. Time flies eh? 1995 was a different world and we were hopelessly ill prepared for our first camping festival. I'm pretty sure we just took a tent, two sleeping bags and a change of clothes. No pillows, no food, no coats, no loo roll and...now this is serious...no booze. Madness. We didn't turn up until midday on the Friday either, although Glasto wasn't the almost week long shindig that it seems to be now. Fortunately '95 was one of the dry ones, unfortunately it was scorchio and we hadn't taken much dosh with us. Remember, there were no smart phones or mobile cash machines in those days, so it was cash or nothing. We made it until early on Sunday evening and then Lady Baron who, in her own words, resembled "an animal experiment" (she suffered from a particularly nasty bout of hay fever that year), wanted to go home. I don't think I took that much persuading. Despite stating that she'd never go to another camping festival ever again we went to nine more Glastos and numerous other events over the past 30 years and are still dragging our old bones to at least one a year... 

Ordinary Joe - Terry Callier

We'll gloss over the small mountain of late 80s hair metal band CDs that I picked up over the weekend (ahem) and focus instead on Chess Chartbusters Volume 2, an ace compilation featuring this Northern Soul classic from Terry Callier. Nothing ordinary about this little gem. 

Seven Days Long - Charles Brown

To celebrate the end of the week here's a jaunty little blues number from Charles Brown taken from a CD (what else?) that I picked up a couple of weeks ago. If you like your blues you'll I reckon love this track but the whole album's well worth a spin, especially the tracks featuring none other than the Night Tripper himself, Dr John. 

PS: Good luck to all those who'll be queuing up for Record Store Day releases overnight. I hope you get what you want. Have a quick flick through the CD racks when you're there though, you might bag a bargain or six.  

He's a CD lover...

If I posted every video about the CD revival that keeps popping up on a daily...perhaps even hourly...basis now I'd probably break the internet. So I'll limit myself to a few of the best and this one takes a more nostalgic/counter cultural (yes, really, CDs are counter culture now...it's official) look at the reasons why more and more people are going 'back to the future'. This dude makes a lot of sense but be warned, if you haven't yet fallen for CDs charms there's a fair chance you will after watching this vid. 

Backwater Blues - George Melly with Van Morrison

I'm currently reading Digby Fairweather's hugely entertaining account of accompanying George Melly on his last few tours and album sessions and was amazed to read that Van Morrison popped along to lend his vocals to a couple of tracks on George's last album. He didn't ask for a penny though (despite having to travel to the studio and stay overnight in a hotel) and even took out the whole band for a slap up meal afterwards. What a Van-tastic thing to do eh? 

Proto Pretty - Wondermints

Picked up another great haul of CDs over the weekend including a mint (appropriately enough) copy of the Wondermints' debut album, cleverly entitled Wondermints. If you're a lover of 60s/80s tinged power pop it's a must have, with echoes of The Beatles and Beach Boys and their spiritual offspring The La's and Stone Roses, all whipped up to create a much underrated modern classic. Whilst their own career hasn't yet scaled the dizzy heights it should have they went on to become Brian Wilson's backing band, so I'm guessing they're...ahem...all minted now.

Thank Christ For The Bomb - Groundhogs

This cheerful little ditty's a track of two halves. The first bit's a little folky and then, at around 4 minutes 30 seconds, it starts to rock harder than granite. One to play loud when the neighbours are out...unless you don't like your neighbours...in which case, crack on.   

Let’s Rock Exeter RIP

Yet another festival bites the dust. This time it’s a local one to us, Let’s Rock Exeter, which has been held at Powderham Castle for the past decade or so. We’d been to the last seven and saw some great acts but the last couple of years it was clear that the organisers were struggling. Fewer bands, higher ticket prices, outrageous prices at the bar (which also went cashless…a bit of a problem for me as I only use cash) and far too much ‘filler’…a two-hour DJ ‘battle’ ain’t entertainment in my book…and ever more stupid rules about what you could bring in to the site, all took the shine off the day. With independent venues all struggling to survive too the future of the live music scene looks pretty dire right now, unless you’re Taylor Swift and her ilk who’ll no doubt carry on playing bigger and bigger stadiums until, eventually, the whole of Manchester will just be one bloody massive arena. What’s the cause of it all? Rising costs, endless spools of red tape, a lack of enough truly great new bands, far too many ‘channels’ diluting the audience (meaning that fewer people get to know about the acts that really matter, think back to when there were just a few TV and radio stations, even your gran will have known who Joy Division were…maybe) and, quite possibly, a growing number of people who simply can’t be bothered to get off their wobbly arses to go to anything anymore. What’s the answer? There isn’t one. Get out and watch stuff while you still can, otherwise before long most of what’s left of the live music scene will be as dead as variety theatre. What’s that I hear you say? Exactly.

PS: Just a final thought. How do The Levellers make Beautiful Days viable every year? No sponsorship, no corporate bullshit, proper cider at £5.50 a pint, decent bands, clean(ish) toilets…and you can take your own food and booze in too. Surprise, surprise, it sells out every year as well. Other festival organisers take note.

Struggle Buggie - Buddy Moss

Picked up some Blues CDs at the weekend, gave one of them a spin last night and this track hit the spot, despite (or maybe because of) being a mere 85 years old. As the very informative booklet pointed out, the guitar solo sounds pretty modern for such a vintage track...Buddy brilliant. 

Destination Unknown - Missing Persons

 A new (to me at least) band from the 80s to end the week. Cheers to John Grant for the tip!

Monkey - Kid Creole and the Coconuts

There are some who maintain that we've evolved from monkeys, but I reckon we've regressed. We work until we drop just to pay the bills (or at least some of us do, but that's obviously a bit of a hot potato right now) and they sit in trees in the jungle eating bananas, getting it on with other monkeys and having the odd scratch. Clearly Kid Creole shares this point of view as this jolly little ditty proves. All gorilla, no filler.

Mess Around - Dr John

Is this the best version of Mess Around ever? Yes. Yes it is. Brings back fond memories of sharing M&S crudites and a little bourbon with Dr John backstage after a gig at the Alex Theatre in Brum waaaaaaaaaaaaay back. 

Body Language - Ezra Collective

Another instant classic from Ezra Collective whipping up a cool Afro Latin vibe with a distinct dash of prime era Stevie Wonder thrown in for good measure. The weekend has landed. 

RIP Stedman Pearson

For a brief period in the mid 80s Five Star released some great pop songs, notching up four top 20 albums and 15 top 40 singles with six of these reaching the top 10 (in the days when that really meant something). The band's Icarus like downfall was sad to see and now one of the two brothers in the band, Stedman, has passed away at 60 years old. I was going to say 'just' 60 years old but I guess 60 isn't a bad innings, especially if you've sold a few million records along the way... 

New York State of Mind - Diane Schuur

How's this for a smoooooooooooooooooooooooooooth cover of the Billy Joel classic eh? Took a punt on the album for 20p last weekend...yes, I know, splashing out again...and it's well worth a spin. 

Roy Ayers RIP

Sad to hear that Roy Ayers has gone up to play that great vibraphone in the sky, but he's left us with some absolute classics...

I was lucky enough to see him play live at Moseley Jazz Funk and Soul a few years back (2015 apparently, good grief time flies) and yes, he did do this track...

Love You - Syd Barrett

Picked up remastered editions (on CD of course, it's the future) of all of Syd Barrett's solo albums...that'll be both of 'em then...at the weekend and noticed that I and they share a birth year, 1970. Syd seemed to have been a busy boy in 1970, so much so that he pretty much vanished from view for the rest of his life. Opinion seems to be a little divided on the reasons behind this but his slim solo output's well worth a listen if you're a fan of whimsical psych/folk/rock/whatever the hell genre this is.  

Consoler of the Lonely - The Raconteurs

Picked up a copy of this album a week or two ago and gave it a spin last night, highly recommended...and this track hopefully proves why. With almost 20 albums under his belt (solo and as part of various bands) Jack White probably puts out more stuff than the great unwashed can keep up with but for my money (50p in the case of this album...madness) he's one of the 21st century's genuine musical greats. 

The Carpetbaggers Theme - Jimmy Smith

When I was growing up The Money Programme would be on the family TV every Sunday evening (for the benefit of readers under the age of 30, in those days most households only had one TV...and this was a good 20 years before the internet, imagine that eh?). Being a kid I didn't have any money, so a programme about the stuff wasn't of much interest but I did like the theme tune. It's only recently that I discovered it was featured on an album by jazz organ legend Jimmy Smith (or at least the beginning bit was) and it still sounds as cool as a deep frozen cucumber. 

Just Fun - Jeffrey Lewis

Jeffrey Lewis at his nihilistic best on brand new track Just Fun, taken from the forthcoming new album The EVEN MORE Freewheelin' Jeffrey Lewis (out on March 25th). 

Lingus - Snarky Puppy

Oh well, Saturday didn't turn out to be as sunny as we were promised but I did manage to pick up another big bundle of coooooooooooool CDs including the CD/DVD of Snarky Puppy's Lingus. Jazz-fusion-tastic. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. 

Sunshine Day - Osibisa

The weather's been pretty grim down here in 'sunny' Devon for months...wet...cold...grey...windy...wet again...but, if the weather soothsayers are to be believed tomorrow we're due some sun and tropical temperatures of...wait for it...13 degrees! It's all going to turn to shit again on Sunday but we'll gloss over that. Hope you have a 'sunshine day' (see what I did there?) tomorrow. 

Rick Buckler RIP

There'll be a fair few music fans of a certain age listening back at The Jam's back catalogue today after the sad passing of drummer Rick Buckler. I'm sure a reunion was never on the cards but I got the feeling that both Rick and Bruce would've loved a last hurrah. Oh well, at least we have the music and what a bunch of absolute belters they left us with... 

                

And lastly here's a vid with Rick right up front (how often do you see drummers in this spot eh?), perhaps in recognition of just how important he was to the band's sound...

Love Letter - Marc Almond

What better excuse for a bit of classic (but rarely heard) Marc Almond from waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1985 than Valentine's Day eh? The album that spawned this track is...good grief...40 years old in September...and I can remember buying it on vinyl from WH Smith like it was yesterday. 

PS: If you like the original this 2024 high energy remix might float your boat too. x

Everythin' It Taught Me - The Matt Philip Hale Band

Another marvellous missive from the mind of Matt, lyrically and musically miles ahead of most of the pack once more. Do your ears a favour and give it a spin or six. 

I'm Just A Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band) - The Moody Blues

Picked up The Moody Blues Seventh Sojourn album in Bristol the other week and this track really stood out. Who knew The Moody Blues rocked like this eh? Dig that opening drum solo...

Do Things My Own Way - Sparks

I was so struck down by one of the nastiest bouts of flu in history that I missed this new track from Sparks last week! Ron Mael turns 80 this year...incredible. Now there's a man who does things his own way. 

Egg Song (No Fishing Today) - Eve Appleton Band

Popped up to Bristol over the weekend to attend a Matt Berry Q&A with Acid Jazz's Eddie Piller and caught a couple of gigs, including Eve Appleton Band at The Lanes. This track, a folk/country/indie banger was the pick of the bunch. A ruddy great live act, well worth catching if you get the chance.  

Sometimes Life Hits You - Jeffrey Lewis

Song of the summer from Jeffrey Lewis. Last year may have been 'Brat' (whatever that was) but this one's the year of 'Ow, fuck, that hurt'.

I Gotta Limit - Matt Berry ft Kitty Liv

 

Ace 60s sounding Northern Soul tinged new track from Matt Berry's forthcoming album Heard Noises. I reckon Clem Fandango would approve...

Daylight - Toni Price

Another of last weekend's CDs (a signed one too), this time some classy country blues from the 'Juke Joint Madonna', Toni Price. She's a new name to me but it seems as though she was happy playing a weekly residency in her adopted home town of Austin Texas rather than touring, which might explain why she's not better known over here. Sadly she passed away last year at 63 years old. 

Leash - Sky Ferreira

 Instant synth pop classic (with shades of The Knife and Depeche Mode) from Sky Ferreira. 

Harlem River Drive - Eddie Palmieri

Another great weekend of CD hunting landed a compilation of Blue Note tracks featuring this classic cut. As I was buying it a fellow customer in the charity shop, a very earnest young lady, acknowledged how cool CDs were but warned me that they only have a life of 20 years so I should make other copies. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the very CD I was buying was already 25 years old and that some of my collection's now 40 years old. 

There seems to be this myth around CDs that they'll rot away and, whilst I've seen a few examples of what's known as 'disc rot' in the wild (less than five times I'm guessing...and I've probably looked at more than 10,000 CDs over the years), this is usually down to poor handling, storage and manufacture. Trust me, if CDs were going to become unusable it would have happened by now. Look after them, just as you would vinyl and they'll outlive all of us. Here endeth the lesson.  

Nothing Strange Is Going On - The Matt Philip Hale Band

Epic new single from The Matt Philip Hale Band's just landed! One day the rest of the world will catch up with this dude and his back catalogue...the musical equivalent of the Staffordshire Hoard. 

Sofistifunk - Return To Forever

I don't often buy things online but the chances of finding a Return To Forever album in the wild is pretty slim, so I buckled and picked up a two CD anthology on eBay before Christmas. And who doesn't need a slice of Sofistifunk in their lives eh? 

The Bigger The Front - Misty's Big Adventure

Happy New Year and all that jazz. Hope you had a cool yule too. Let's kick off 2025 with yet another classic from the still very much missed Misty's Big Adventure.