Omaha Bar-B-Que - Preston Love

Whilst that strange orange thing in the sky is still miraculously hovering above us what better tune to cremate some meat to than this funk fuelled gem eh? I've only just come across it but I'm on the 9th play already...

Piggie In The Middle Eight - Cook Da Books

You meet some interesting people in charity shops and yesterday we got chatting to a chap who's brother was the lead singer (I think) in a Liverpool new wave band called Cook Da Books. They were a new name to me but this track, a bit of a reggae groover, was their biggest single, reaching number 18 in the charts back in 1982. 

Here's another one from 1984, shades of The Blue Nile at their finest in there perhaps? 

The band split in 1988 and sadly their singer and bassist Owen passed away in 2022 but from what I've heard so far their back catalogue's well worth a listen. 

Sweet Child O' Mine - Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox ft Miche Braden

Finally found a copy of Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox's Essentials album in the wild at the weekend and here's just one of the best tracks from it. Blues-ily brilliant stuff. 

Aerial Troubles - Stereolab

A mere 15 years after their last release Stereolab are back with another instant classic. For my money the 'lab are one of the finest bands to have come out of the 90s and if you haven't heard their back catalogue I can highly recommend pretty much everything they've ever released. This track in particular is utter genius...everything you ever needed need to know about the economy, politics and life in a cool pop song. 

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.