Last Shop Standing

Enjoyed a cracking Saturday night in the company of Graham Jones and Pip Piper, the team behind Last Shop Standing which came out waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2012. In the intervening years record shops seems to have gone from strength to strength as owning 'a vinyl' (as the kids say) is about as cool as you can get. 

If you read this blog regularly (bless you) you'll know that I've been banging the drum for CDs for a while and I reckon if record shops got on board with this they'd get even more people through their doors. Why? Well, owning, storing and playing a CD's a doddle compared with vinyl (as I have far too much of both, you can trust me on this one) and you can pick second hand ones up for pennies right now. Of course record shops would want to charge a little more than the charity shops but I suspect they'd do pretty well if they sold a carefully selected range of CDs for a few quid. Vinyl heads can be pretty sniffy about CDs...I used to be...but if you want a physical copy of your favourite music with the same artwork and liner notes that you get with vinyl (albeit in a handier size) CDs are a great bet. And, unlike vinyl, it'll sound just as good on the 1000th play as it did on the first...which certainly can't be said of any other format. If they launch National CD Day soon you'll know who to blame. 

Omnibus - XTC

It's rare to find XTC CDs in the chazzas so I was chuffed to pick up a first pressing of their early 90s masterpiece Nonsuch for £1. It's a genuine shame that the band pretty much stopped working together almost 20 years ago but there's still time for a reunion right? Over you you Andy and Colin...

The Songs We Were Singing - Paul McCartney

Picked up McCartney's Flaming Pie on Saturday for a whole £1 and gave it a spin last night. Well worth a listen. Is it me or does this track have a slight echo of Mull of Kinytre in the chorus? Answers on a flaming bagpipe.  

The Gumbo Variations - Frank Zappa

Stocked up on Zappa CDs from eBay while they're still stupidly cheapo and picked up the original 1987 CD release of Hot Rats for less than the price of a loaf of bread. Pretty sure I have at least one other copy somewhere in my many mountains of CDs but every home should have at least two copies of Hot Rats, just in case. Right? Right?! Oh...just me then. Anyway, if you like jazz, funk, prog, rock, folk, death metal...this track's likely to float yer boat. Enjoy! 

Trugoy RIP

Another day, another sad loss for the world of music. This time it's Trugoy from De La Soul, one of the most positive and upbeat rap and hip hop groups of all time...not words usually associated with those genres sadly.  

 If these tracks don't make you feel at least 78% happier then you need some new ears.

RIP Trugoy. 

Burt Bacharach RIP

How many classic songs did Burt write? And how many of these did you know he wrote? I had no idea he wrote Little Red Book! Good grief... 

...I knew this was a Burt track, but what a classic. And then there's this...

and this co-write with Christopher Cross, Carol Bayer Sager and and Peter Allen...

and this absolute gem written with Hal David...

and that's not even scratched the surface. The greatest songwriter of all time? I reckon so. Cheers Burt. 

Thank You For Funking Up My Life - Donald Byrd

Just heard this track on Craig Charles' weekday 6 Music show, funking great stuff. If your life's not funked up enough get on it. 

Moira Jane's Cafe - Definition Of Sound

Picked up another load of CDs at the weekend including Definition Of Sound's classic Love and Life album for a non digital £1. Bargain. It's more than worth it for this track alone but then you've got this gem too...

Most people still look at me as though I've lost the plot when I bang on about buying CDs but they're probably the same people that told me I was mad when I came home from car boot sales with carrier bags full of vinyl in the 90s and look how that turned out. Trust me, one day the likes of Spotify will start charging for every single track you stream...music...and the internet itself will become like every other utility, you'll pay for what you use. Which seems entirely fair and logical to me. Given the Greta Thunberg melting levels of energy that the damn thing uses every second it's only a matter of time. 

Great Escape - Gemma Rogers

Okay, so this track may be a year old but it's new-ish to me and it's pretty perfect for a Friday afternoon. Plus it sounds as though it was recorded back in the early 80s, always a winner in my book. 

Another Journey - Joie Dead Blonde Girlfriend

Picked up a bunch of CDs from the chazzas on Saturday and took a punt on this in the 4 for £1.50 section. Turns out to be a rather spunky antifolk classic, not what I was expecting from the cover or artist's name but a pleasant surprise. Here's another one that might float yer boat...

When We Were Young - Belle and Sebastian

Rather splendid but troublingly reflective new track from Belle and Sebastian, who's lead singer and vocalist Stuart Murdoch seems to be going through a bit of a rough time right now. Wishing him all the very best, in the unlikely event that he'll ever read this... 

Breakout - Swing Out Sister

How can this be 37 years old? Good grief. I must still have several copies of the album it came from (It's Better To Travel) on vinyl but picked up an original pressing of the CD at the weekend for a mere 99p and gave it a spin last night. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the memories. Amazingly the band's still a going concern although their last album was six years ago. Maybe they need to...wait for it...breakout a new one eh? 

Hi Ren - Ren

This has been popping up on a few friends' Facebook pages recently and it's well worth a share. Apparently Ren was signed by Sony back in 2010, then he got ill (Lyme Disease) and was dropped like a sack of spuds. Clearly he's been through the mill over the past few years then but he's seemingly doing his own thing now and it's starting to pay off. At seven and a half minutes this track's a bit of an epic, if it gets your juices flowing try the newbie Sick Boi too. 

What a Bloody Long Day It's Been - Ashton, Gardner and Dyke

Picked up an Ashton, Gardner and Dyke compilation CD (for a mere 50p) when we were in Brighton last year and only just got round to listening to it. What a gem! Take this track, which seems pretty appropriate for a Friday afternoon. Enjoy! 

Enjoy Yourself - The Specials

Did you see the news yesterday? Taking cake into the office is the same as passive smoking? Health Canada claims that there's no safe drinking limit but you should stick to no more than two a week?  Wow. Just wow. What's happened to the world eh? Until recently no one had any idea what a 'unit of alcohol' was or how many calories such and such contained and everyone seemed a hell of a lot happier. It's the young I feel sorry for, they're fed this bullshit from day one. No wonder the poor sods are self harming and committing suicide like there's no tomorrow, which sadly there isn't for far too many of 'em. I'm not advocating injecting heroin into your eyeballs or stuffing you face with lard but we're here for an all too brief time so just enjoy yourself.  You might knock a few years off your life, but lets face it they're unlikely to be the best. Mine's a pint of scrumpy. Cheers! 

Barney - The Toasters

You know you're getting old when the stuff that was brand new and cutting edge when you were a kid ends up in an antiques centre, but that's where I picked up an excellent ska punk CD compilation called Know Your Skalphabet 2 (for a whole £1) released waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2002 on the seemingly now defunct Good Clean Fun Records. This track by The Toasters is one of the picks of the bunch but there's not a duff one on there. Expect to see it on the Antiques Roadshow any day now...

Louis Jordan - Caldonia

Picked up a rather spiffing Louis Jordan compilation CD this week and couldn't resist sticking up a vid. Neon bedecked (yes...bedecked...I've been reading the dictionary again) instruments, dance routines and the blueprint for rock 'n' roll, all in one three minute clip. Enjoy! 

Roy Wood, Phil Lynott, Chas Hodges and Bev Bevan mash it up...

Came across this clip on Facebook courtesy of Bob, our old postman from back in Bearwood. Allegedly it was filmed at The Dog on the Hagley Road too...wherever it was imagine popping in for a pint that night eh?   

Septober Energy - Centipede

I know what you need at the end of the first week of 2023...85 minutes of progressive jazz! Trust me, it's worth a listen, even if bits of it are, let's say, a little 'challenging'. Enjoy! 

Alan Rankine RIP

Sad to learn of the passing of Alan Rankine yesterday. The Associates are one of my favourite bands of all time and they're criminally underrated. Pretty much everything they ever recorded is worth listening to but if you're new to the band start with their Sulk album and go from there. Here's a gem from Rankine's solo work too...