Y Kant Tori Read - Y Kant Tori Read (1988)

Myra Ellen Amos was born on 22 August 1963 in Newton, North Carolina, and when she was two years old her family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where her father had moved his Methodist ministry from its original base in Washington, D.C. Her older brother and sister took piano lessons, but Tori did not need them, as from the time she could reach the piano, she taught herself to play. By the time she was two, she could reproduce pieces of music she had only heard once, and at the age of three she was composing her own songs. At five, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the preparatory division of the Peabody Institute, where she studied classical piano from 1968 to 1974. At thirteen, Amos began playing at gay bars and piano bars, chaperoned by her father, and in 1977 she won a county teen talent contest, singing a song called 'More Than Just A Friend'. As a senior at Richard Montgomery High School, she co-wrote 'Baltimore' with her brother, Mike Amos, for a competition involving the Baltimore Orioles, and although the song didn't win the contest, it became her first single, released as a 7-inch record pressed locally for family and friends in 1980, with another Amos-penned composition as a b-side, 'Walking With You'. It was at this time that she adopted the name Tori, after a friend's boyfriend told her she looked like a Torrey pine, a tree native to the West Coast. 

By the time she was 17, she had a stock of homemade demo tapes that her father regularly sent out to record companies, and producer Narada Michael Walden responded favourably, cutting some tracks with her, although none were released. Eventually, Atlantic Records responded to one of the tapes, and A&R man Jason Flom flew to Baltimore to audition her in person, which resulted in her being signed to the label. In 1984, Amos moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career, and in 1986 she formed the group called Y Kant Tori Read, named for her difficulty with sight-reading. In addition to Amos, the group consisted of Steve Caton (who would later play guitars on all of her albums until 1999), drummer Matt Sorum, bass player Brad Cobb and, for a short time, keyboardist Jim Tauber. The band went through several iterations of song-writing and recording, and in July 1988, the band's eponymous debut album, 'Y Kant Tori Read', was released. Following the album's commercial failure and the group's subsequent disbanding, Amos began working with other artists, including Stan Ridgway, Sandra Bernhard, and Al Stewart, as a backup vocalist. Despite the disappointing reaction to Y Kant Tori Read, Amos still had to comply with her six-record contract with Atlantic Records, which, in 1989, wanted a new record by March 1990.

The initial recordings were declined by the label, which Amos felt was because the album had not been properly presented, and so it was reworked and expanded under the guidance of Doug Morris and the musical talents of Steve Caton, Eric Rosse, Will MacGregor, Carlo Nuccio, and Dan Nebenzal, resulting in 'Little Earthquakes', an album recounting her religious upbringing, sexual awakening, struggle to establish her identity, and sexual assault. This was her commercial and artistic breakthrough, entering the British charts in January 1992 at Number 15, and when it was released in the US in February it slowly but steadily began to attract listeners, gaining more attention with the video for the single 'Silent All These Years', and it was beginning a long and successful career for the singer. Although the producer of 'Y Kant Tori Read', Joe Chiccarelli, stated that Amos was very happy with the album at the time, she has since criticized it, once remarking: "The only good thing about that album is my ankle high boots". However, it's still a decent Tori Amos record, and so for any fans who though that 'Little Earthquakes' was the first record that she recorded and released, here is her actual debut album from four years earlier. 

Track listing

01 The Big Picture
02 Cool On Your Island
03 Fayth
04 Fire On The Side
05 Pirates
06 Floating City
07 Heart Attack At 23
08 On The Boundary
09 You Go To My Head
10 Etienne Trilogy: The Highlands, Etienne, Skyeboat Song

The Mo-Dettes - White Mice (1981)

The Mo-dettes were a multinational all-female post-punk band, formed in 1979 by guitarist Kate Korris, an original member of the Slits and brief member of the Raincoats, and bassist Jane Crockford, a former member of Bank of Dresden, having met on the set of 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle' while working as production assistants. The line-up was completed with the addition of Swiss-born vocalist Ramona Carlier and June Miles-Kingston on drums, and they quickly recorded their first single, 'White Mice'/'Masochistic Opposite', which was self-released on their own Mode label, and distributed by Rough Trade. 'White Mice' remains the group's best-known song, and it champions sexual autonomy, although the band members were critical of partisan feminist politics. Following plays on the John Peel show on Radio 1, he soon offered them a session spot in January 1980, broadcasting versions of 'Norman (He's No Rebel)', 'Dark Park Creeping' (later released as a single), 'Kray Twins' and 'Bitter Truth', and with these being well-received, further sessions followed on 26 August 1980 and 11 July 1981. The band signed to Decca Records subsidiary Deram and released one album, 'The Story So Far', in November 1980, consisting chiefly of pop-punk originals, as well as covers of the Rolling Stones' 'Paint It Black' and Édith Piaf's 'Milord', and with the girls' likenesses rendered in candy-coloured Manga-style cartoons on the cover. 

It received poor reviews, largely centred on the production, described in one quarter as "weak and uninspired", and the band themselves conceded that it was much less than they'd hoped for. The sped-up, charmless version of 'White Mice', retitled 'White Mouse Disco', that they were forced to include by the record company didn't help matters, but it's an artifact of its time, and the quality of the songs shines through the mediocre production. Also in 1981, billed as Bomberettes, they provided backing vocals on the track 'Fighter Pilot' on John Cale's album 'Honi Soit'. After just missing the UK Top 40 with the single release of 'Paint It Black', their final record was 'Tonight', released in June 1981, and giving them a minor hit. For this single, Decca had asked the band to alter their sound to "traditional saccharine girl pop", leading to some tension in the group, but they gave in, even to the point of lounging on a mountain of plush velour for the single's cover. 

By this time they considered the single and accompanying photo-shoot nothing more than a joke, and so when, two months later, Decca wanted to hear a fuller sound, the group reluctantly asked guitarist Melissa Ritter to join. She played her first show as a Mo-dette just four days after joining the band, but the tensions soon re-appeared, and with Carlier leaving in February 1982, and Crockford stepping in as a temporary vocalist before Sue Slack joined the line-up, the writing was on the wall. By November of that year The Mo-Dettes had disbanded, leaving behind a legacy of inventive, unorthodox pop-punk. Crockford married Daniel Woodgate of the ska band Madness in 1980, with the marriage lasting for 15 years, while Miles-Kingston returned to the studio where she played drums and sang backing vocals on Fun Boy Three's 'Our Lips Are Sealed', and later she joined The Communards. However, she is now best known for being a go-to session drummer, with her work as a session musician showcasing her versatility. The Mo-Dettes had an extremely short recording career of just three years, but with their Peel Sessions, non-album b-sides, and some tracks taped for Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner, (one of them an early version of the flip of their 'Tonight' single), there is enough rare material for one more album by the band to sit next to 'The Story So Far'. 

Track listing

01 L'Intro (John Peel session 1981)
02 White Mice (single 1979)
03 Bitta Truth (b-side of 'Paint It Black' 1980)
04 Twist And Shout (b-side of 'Paint It Black' 1980)
05 Two Can Play (b-side of 'Dark Park Creeping' 1980)
06 Raindrops And Roses (My Favourite Things) (John Peel session 1980)
07 Vicious Circle (Richard Skinner session 1981)
08 The Waltz (Richard Skinner session 1981)
09 Nasty Children (John Peel session 1981)
10 White Rabbit (John Peel session 1981)
11 Yellow Smile (John Peel session 1981)
12 Tonight (single 1981)
13 Waltz In Blue Minor (b-side of 'Tonight')

Amorphous Androgynous & Noel Gallagher - Shoot A Hole Into The Sun (2015)

In 2009 the final Oasis single, the Noel Gallagher-sung 'Falling Down', was offered to various remixers to do what they wanted with it. Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans, also known as '90's dance superstars The Future Sound Of London, recorded an epic remix of the song, which they turned into a 22-minute mini-album. Despite doubts that perhaps the band only wanted a five-minute remix, Gallagher was so impressed that he released it on its own 12" format. When Noel finally pulled the plug on Oasis in 2009 and went solo, there was the suggestion that he was always itching to expand his musical horizons, and he launched his solo career with a press conference in July 2011, announcing that he'd already recorded his debut album 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' with Dave Sardy, and that he'd also pretty much finished its follow-up, a collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous. Despite their previous success, the new project was almost immediately put in doubt, when industry insider Peter Cornish-Barlow reported that Noel's team weren’t keen on the collaboration, and that no-one other than Noel liked the reworked material that Amorphous Androgynous had done. Later that year, though, Noel was still talking up the record for a 2012 release, saying that the sound was similar to High Flying Birds, but more psychedelic and tripped out. A month on, he was dialling it back, but only a little, saying that he probably shouldn't have announced it, but he thought "It's finished, so fuck it, here's what I've been working on". The first we heard of the collaboration was 'Shoot A Hole In The Sun', a remix of 'If I Had A Gun', which was tacked on to the single 'Dream On' as a b-side, and meanwhile the album was still being spoken about, with Noel suggesting it would finally be ready for 2013. 

An Amorphous Androgynous remix of 'AKA... What A Life!' emerged as the b-side of 'Everybody's On The Run' in 2012, but a month later we got the first whispering from Noel that the album itself might be shelved altogether. Because he'd been busy with other things, he hadn't been involved in any of the mixing, and when he heard the mixes he wasn't happy with any of them. After that, everything went pretty quiet for a couple of years, but then Noel suddenly stirred the pot again in early 2015, complaining about the AA mixes of the album, saying that when they delivered the first mix, they'd managed to pull off the trick of recording the quietest CD of all time. Apart from the two remixes that came out as b-sides, the only things Noel salvaged from the sessions were 'The Mexican' and 'The Right Stuff', both of which he reworked for his second album 'Chasing Yesterday'. Having held their peace for most of Noel's various announcements, Amorphous Androgynous finally piped up, saying that "Gallagher still fascinated them, but the only thing holding him back was himself. It's like he became too afraid to be weird". They tried to force Gallagher to write new material, but he dragged his heels and failed to stretch himself, and so the collaboration fell apart. At one point he announced that there would never be a bootleg of the album, as he owns the master, and had destroyed it, but later, in an August 2018 interview, he said that he'd found a copy of the album in his sock drawer. Despite the fact that we'll almost certainly never get to hear the actual album that they recorded together, the tracks that have been released give us an idea of what it might have sounded like, and so by taking those five recordings and compiling them together, we have a 54-minute "album" from Amorphous Androgynous & Noel Gallagher to take the place of that shelved record. 

 
Track listing

01 AKA... What A Life!
02 The Right Stuff
03 Shoot A Hole Into The Sun
04 The Mexican
05 Falling Down (A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Brain mix)

King Sunny Ade & His Green Spot Band - The Master Guitarist Vol. 1 (1971)

In 1982 Island Records released the album 'Juju Music' by King Sunny Ade And His African Beats, which introduced the music of this West African musician to a worldwide audience. For many, like me, it was the first that I heard of this joyous outpouring of rhythmic guitar-based music, and although it represented the first worldwide release for Adé, he was already established in his native Nigeria as its "biggest musical draw and juju music's reigning monarch". The album was a critical and commercial success, peaking at #111 on Billboard's "Pop Albums" chart, and The New York Times described it as "the year's freshest dance-music album", crediting it in 1990 with having launched the "World Beat movement in the United States". 1983's 'Synchro System' was more of the same, and these two records have made regular returns to the turntable in the intervening years. What I didn't realise until recently is that Ade had been releasing records in his native Nigeria for many years before we Westerners discovered him. Sunny Adé was born in Osogbo to a Nigerian royal family from Ondo and Akure, making him an Omoba of the Yoruba people. He left grammar school in Ondo City under the pretence of going to the University of Lagos, and it was there that his eclectic musical career began. It began with Moses Olaiya's Federal Rhythm Dandies, a highlife band, but he left them to form a new band, The Green Spots, in 1967. 

Over the years, for various reasons ranging from changes in his music to business concerns, the band changed its name several times, first to African Beats and then to Golden Mercury. His music is characterized by, among other instruments, the talking drum – an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, and the guitar and uts peculiar application to jùjú music. He introduced the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music, and has also included synthesizers, clarinet, vibraphone, and tenor guitar into the jùjú music repertoire. Over the past few months I have collected nearly thirty of his albums, released between 1971 and 1981, and as they are extremely hard to find, and all contain some great Afrobeat guitar-work, I'll be posting them not only for fans of the "Master Guitarist", but also as an introduction to a genre that you might not have heard before. Many of these album segue the songs together, so they only have two tracks, with each one consisting of four or five songs played one after the other. I'm starting with the 'Master Guitarist' series, then working my way through the rest of the releases chronologically, and I hope that you enjoy these posts, as I love this music and want to introduce it to a wider audience who weren't around in the 80's to hear those Island albums. 

Track listing

01 Sunny Ti De / Kolawole Bickersteth / Egbe Aburi / Ka Ma Gbagbe Atijo / Dele Davies
02 A Kunle A Tewo Adura
03 Prince Remi Aladesuru
04 Gbe Mi Debute Ogo
05 Tonni Ani
06 S. K. Dada

Department S - Sub-Stance (1981)

Department S evolved from a previous punk/ska combo, Guns for Hire, fronted by Vaughn Toulouse and also featuring former Madness drummer John Hasler, along with Mike Herbage on guitar, who wrote Guns for Hire's only single, 'I'm Gonna Rough My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Up Tonight', which was released on Korova Records in 1980. The group morphed into Department S with the addition of bassist Tony Lordan, drummer Stuart Mizon and keyboardist Eddie Roxy, taking their name from the British spy-fi adventure television series 'Department S'. They debuted at the Rock Garden in London on 24 September 1980, and before long they signed to Demon Records, who released their debut single, 'Is Vic There?', in December 1980. It was produced by former Mott The Hoople members Buffin and Overend Watts, and the b-side was a cover version of T.Rex's 'Solid Gold Easy Action', giving the whole release a glam-rock vibe. The single began to climb the UK Singles Chart, reaching No. 22, and this initial success led to the better-equipped RCA Records reissuing the single in March 1981. A session for John Peel followed in December 1980, but in early 1981 Roxy was replaced by Mark Taylor, and the band's second single, 'Going Left Right', was issued in June on Stiff Records. It failed to chart as high as 'Is Vic There?', although it did receive positive reviews. The band began recording a debut album, 'Sub-Stance', in 1981 with David Tickle producing, but the sessions were divisive and Lordan left, replaced partway through by Jimmy Hughes. A third single, 'I Want', was released by Stiff in November 1981, but modest sales, as well as differences of opinion with the label, resulted in the band being dropped by Stiff, but not before £50,000 was reputedly spent on the album, which Stiff refused to release. After a London concert on 18 March 1982, Herbage left, and the band split several months later. Toulouse later worked as a DJ under the name the Main T, and in 1983, as the Main T Possee, he released the single 'Fickle Public Speaking' which reached No. 89 on the UK chart. He also released a solo single, 'Cruisin' The Serpentine', in 1985, but sadly died in 1991 from an AIDS-related illness, aged just 32. The tracks from 'Sub-Stance' were first officially released by Mau Mau Records in 1993 as part of the compilation album 'Is Vic There?', which also included several b-sides, and I wouldn't normally post an "unreleased" album which had eentually seen an official release, but on hearing it I thought that it was such a great record that it deserved wider recognition than just being part of an obscure compilation album. 

Track listing

01 Of All The Lost Followers
02 Just Pretend
03 Romany Blood
04 I Want
05 Fighting Irish
06 Is Vic There?
07 Going Left Right
08 Age Concern
09 Somewhere Between Heaven And Tesco's
10 Whatever Happened To The Blues
11 Ode To Koln
12 Clap Now

The Sidewinders - What She Said: The Best Of The Sidewinders (1991)

The Sidewinders were formed in the spring of 1985 by guitarist Rich Hopkins and vocalist David Slutes, and they released their first record, '¡Cuacha!', on San Jacinto Records in 1988, subsequently signing to RCA/Mammoth Records, where they released two full-length albums, 1989's 'Witchdoctor' and 1990's 'Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall', with 'Witchdoctor' cracking the lower echelons of the Billboard 200 at No. 169. In 1990, Mammoth/RCA released a 7 track promo-only CD entitled 'Do Not Play This Disc - For Educational Purposes Only', and on the strength of two modern rock radio hits in 'Witchdoctor' and 'We Don't Do That Any More', the band scored exposure on MTV and VH1 and embarked on a worldwide tour, but their career was soon sidelined due to legal problems. In 1991, a North Carolina band known as Sidewinders sued the group over the use of its name, and it took two years to sort out the proceedings and secure the release of their next album, now under the name Sand Rubies. As the Sand Rubies, they released a self-titled album on Polydor/Atlas in 1993, and at one point, Pearl Jam served as their opening act. However, due to attrition over the period of the legal troubles, the rhythm section of the band had departed, and the Sand Rubies dissolved during a tour in 1993, just as two other Arizona rock bands, Gin Blossoms and The Refreshments, were attracting mainstream attention. A few one-off shows were given in 1995 and 1996 before an official Sand Rubies reunion was announced in October 1996, and a show at SXSW followed in 1997, as did a new album, 'Return Of The Living Dead', in 1998. They were able to independently release a best-of collection of tracks from their major label years, as well as an all-covers album, 'Release The Hounds' in 1999, after which the band broke up again. The Sidewinders' debut album is one of may favourite records of the late 80's in any genre, and they should have been as big as Giant Sand and Green On Red from the same period, but they just never got the breaks, and the legal issues over their name really knocked them back. I hope that this collection of some of their best work as The Sidewinders brings them to the attention of a new audience some 40 years later. 

Track listing

01 I Can Wait (from '¡Cuacha!' 1987)
02 Solitary Man (from 'Witchdoctor' 1989)
03 We Don't Do That Anymore (from 'Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall' 1990)
04 I'll Go Home (from '¡Cuacha!' 1987)
05 Don't Cry No Tears (from '3I' EP 1991)
06 Witchdoctor (from 'Witchdoctor' 1989)
07 Sara's Not Sober (from 'Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall' 1990)

08 I Guess It Doesn't Matter (from '¡Cuacha!' 1987) 

09 You're Gonna Miss Me (from '3I' EP 1991)
10 Bad Crazy Sun (from 'Witchdoctor' 1989)
11 Blood On Our Hands (from 'Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall' 1990)
12 What She Said (from 'Witchdoctor' 1989)
13 More Than That (from '¡Cuacha!' 1987)
14 7 & 7 Is (from 'Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall' 1990)

Th' Faith Healers - Pop Songs (1994)

Th' Faith Healers formed in 1990, and comprised Roxanne Stephen on vocals, Tom Cullinan on guitar and vocals, Ben Hopkin on bass, and Joe Dilworth on drums. They were a hard-to-classify rock band, with none of the fashionable influences of the early '90's, although their Krautrock fixation would go on to become a badge of hipness in the latter half of the decade. Despite their sound being out of kilter with the U.K. indie scene of their time, their records hold up much better today than those of many of their contemporaries. The group played regularly at a club called the Sausage Machine in their hometown, and when the club's owners, Paul Cox and Richard Roberts, formed a new indie label, called Too Pure, Th' Faith Healers were their first signing. Their song 'Jesus Freak' led off Too Pure's first release, the compilation 'Now That's Disgusting Music', in May of 1990, and their first single, 'Pop Song', came out that summer. They released two EP's in 1991, February's 'Picture Of Health' and October's 'In Love', and their debut album, 'Lido', finally appeared in the spring of 1992. The record's eight lengthy tracks were noisy and hypnotic grooves, noisier than the similarly sound-for-sound's-sake My Bloody Valentine and more driven than their new labelmates Stereolab, and the quartet didn't sound like anybody else at the time. 

A killer cover of Can's 'Mother Sky', performed at the point of delirium, brought the group's Krautrock influence to the fore. It took a while for them to follow up such a success, and Too Pure released the compilation 'L', gathering the contents of the previous singles and EP's, to fill the gap. The difficult second album didn't appear until November 1993, and 'Imaginary Friend' was darker and less manic than 'Lido', with the pounding 20-minute dirge 'Everything, All at Once, Forever' taking the group's hypnotic drones to their logical conclusion. The band must have thought so as well, as after a lengthy U.S. tour supporting the Breeders, Th' Faith Healers broke up in the spring of 1994. Cullinan formed a new band, Quickspace, while Stephens returned to art college, Dilworth opened a photography studio, and Hopkin became a tree surgeon. I still listen to their records today, as their music still sounds fresh and interesting, and it has not dated as much as many other bands of the era, so this two-disc compilation of their non-album singles and EP tracks is an extension of Too Pure's 'L' release from 1992, and includes all their non-album tracks, as well as a number of their John Peel session recordings, and some rather unusual cover versions.  

Track listing

Disc I - 1990-1991
01 Pop Song (from the 'Pop Song' EP 1990)
02 Delores (from the 'Pop Song' EP 1990)
03 Slag (from the 'Pop Song' EP 1990)
04 Jesus Freak (from the 'Now That's Disgusting Music' compilation 1990)
05 Gorgeous Blue Flower In My Garden (from the 'A Picture Of Health' EP 1991
06 Not A God (from the 'A Picture Of Health' EP 1991
07 God You Move (In Mysterious Ways) (from the 'A Picture Of Health' EP 1991
08 Reptile Smile (from the 'In Love' EP 1991)
09 Super (from the 'In Love' EP 1991)
10 Lovely (from the 'In Love' EP 1991)

Disc II - 1992-1994
01 I'm Ready (John Peel session 1992)
02 Get The Fuck Out Of My Face (John Peel session 1992)
03 Oh Baby (from the 'Mr Litnanski' EP 1992)
04 Moona-Inna-Joona (from the 'Mr Litnanski' EP 1992)
05 My Loser (from the 'Mr Litnanski' EP 1992)
06 Bulkhead (John Peel session 1993)
07 Serge (John Peel session 1993)
08 Everything... (Dub Edit) (12" promo white label 1993)
09 Ooh La La (John Peel session 1994)
10 New Number Two (John Peel session 1994)
11 Without You (John Peel session 1994)
12 S.O.S. (from the 'Go ABBA' split single with Mambo Taxi 1994)

Horace Brown - HB (1994)

Horace Brown was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of an Apostolic minister, and played a variety of instruments in his school's marching band. He made his recording debut on a single with a group named Lyk Brothers titled 'Early Family' b/w 'You Are The One (My Destiny)', and in 1991  he met fellow R&B/urban act, Jodeci's DeVante Swing, who showed interest in hearing his demo. Before releasing his own material, he sang backup on songs and albums by other artists like Terri & Monica, and Christopher Williams, and did some writing and producing, which led to a recording contract with Uptown Records, after president Andre Harrell saw him in a recording session. In 1994, while with Uptown Records, he recorded his first album, and spurred controversy when his single 'Taste Your Love' was released. The single was an ode to oral sex and was banned in parts of the South, but despite the press around the single, it failed to perform well on the charts. After one more single, 'Let Me Know', was released as a promotional 12" single, his contract was cancelled and his Uptown Records album was shelved, despite an 8-track CD and 13-track promo cassette being sent out to pluggers. When Andre Harrell of Uptown moved to Motown, he took Brown with him, and they promoted him by releasing two singles, 'One For The Money' and 'Things We Do For Love', before his self-titled debut album appeared in 1996. The album featured Sean "Puffy" Combs, remixes with Foxy Brown and Jay-Z, and the final single, 'How Can We Stop', featuring Faith Evans. Despite releasing a few more singles in the early 2000's, Brown has yet to release another album, and so it's worth giving his cancelled 1994 record a listen. 

Track listing

01 Intro 
02 Mercy, Mercy 
03 I Like 
04 Taste Your Love  
05 Let It Rain  
06 Nuttin' But A Party 
07 Another Level 
08 Taste Your Love (Ballad Version)
09 Holdin' On
10 Let Me Taste The Sweetness
11 How Am I Supposed To Know
12 I Got To Find The Way
13 Love You

As requested by Horta.

Simian - Something New (2006)

Psychedelic pop experimentalists Simian came into full fruition after members of the Manchester University live breakbeat project King Rib bumped into Simon Lord, after the trio had heard Lord's compositions, and the quartet opted to work together under the name of Simian. Comprising Lord on vocals and lead guitar, James Shaw on keyboards, Alex MacNaughton on bass, and James Ford on drums, the outfit were informed by and resembled experimental artists of the '60s like Silver Apples and the United States Of America, just as much as those of the current times, from Luke Vibert to the Beta Band. Simian debuted on the U.K.'s Source label in 2000 with the 'Watch It Glow' EP, followed by a second EP, 'The Wisp', which was released a full year later, followed four months later by their acclaimed debut LP, 'Chemistry Is What We Are'. The record was well received by critics and the public alike, with the striking cover featuring a selection of remarkable hybrid animals. Astralwerks picked up the head-scratcher of a record for release in the U.S., and then in 2001 the band recorded a cover of Prince's 'Under The Cherry Moon' for the tribute album, 'If I Was Prince'. In late 2002 the group released their second album 'We Are Your Friends', promoting it on a tour of the U.S. at the beginning of the following year. The title of the album comes from the lyrics of one of its songs, 'Never Be Alone', which would later be made famous by Justice when they released a remix of the track retitled as 'We Are Your Friends', and which was credited to 'Justice vs. Simian'. Unfortunately, a third album was not forthcoming, and Simian drifted apart in 2005, with Ford and Shaw later regrouping as the production act Simian Mobile Disco, under which name they released a number of albums on the Wichita label between 2007 and 2018. Somewhat belatedly, they achieved some recognition when in 2005 their song 'La Breeze' was featured in a Peugeot 1007 television advert, and also in an advert for Dove in 2007. I still highly rate both of Simian's albums, and so this collection of b-sides and EP tracks perfectly rounds off their all too short career. 

Track listing

Disc I - 2000-2001
01 In Siam (from the 'Watch It Glow' mini LP 2000)
02 Grey (from the 'Watch It Glow' mini LP 2000)
03 Won't (from the 'Watch It Glow' mini LP 2000)
04 Untitled (from the 'Watch It Glow' mini LP 2000)
05 The Tale Of Willow Hill (from 'The Wisp' EP)
06 Turn Around (from 'The Wisp' EP 2001)
07 What A Dream (from 'The Wisp' EP 2001)
08 Over The Hills (b-side of 'One Dimension' 2001)
09 Reasons (b-side of 'One Dimension' 2001)
10 The Long Road (b-side of 'One Dimension' 2001)

Disc II - 2001-2006
01 Under The Cherry Moon (from the 'If I Was Prince' tribute album 2001)
02 Out Of Bed (b-side of 'Never Be Alone' 2002)
03 Coins (b-side of 'Never Be Alone' 2002)
04 We Don't Want Your Help (b-side of 'Never Be Alone' 2002)
05 Since When (b-side of 'Never Be Alone' 2002)
06 Something New (b-side of 'Mr. Crow' 2002)
07 Into The Ground (b-side of 'Mr. Crow' 2002)
08 Song And Dance (b-side of 'Mr. Crow' 2002)
09 Queen May (b-side of 'Mr. Crow' 2002)
10 We Are Your Friends (Original Remix) (Justice Vs Simian single 2006)

Hudson-Ford - Lost In A Lost World (1981)

John Ford was born on 1 July 1948 in the South West London district of Fulham and grew up in a household where his father played piano and his four sisters were singers. When he was 14, his father bought him a Höfner 500/1 bass, a guitar that was particularly popular at the time because it was used by Paul McCartney, and in 1964 he joined with some school mates to form a band called Jaymes Fenda and the Vulcans, releasing two singles which were both written by Ford. In October 1966 he stepped in to replace the bass player of a South London R&B/soul band called the Five Proud Walkers, and he made his debut when the band opened for Champion Jack Dupree. The Five Proud Walkers was a popular club band and played a constant stream of gigs in and around London, but in the spring of 1967 they toured England with Pink Floyd and decided to make the shift to psychedelic music, changing their name to Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, and recruiting Richard Hudson on drums. The band released three albums and several singles, but in May 1970 Ford and Hudson left the band to join The Strawbs. Ford's influence on the band, primarily known as a folk rock group, shifted them into a new direction in the progressive/art rock scene, penning songs such as 'Heavy Disguise'. In 1973 he and Hudson wrote some songs for the forthcoming album by The Strawbs, and originally the duo's 'Part Of The Union' was intended to be recorded by Ford and Hudson as The Brothers, but the other members of The Strawbs decided it would fit on their new album and so re-recorded it themselves, and when it was released as a single it became their biggest hit. Shortly after 'Bursting At The Seams' was released, Hudson and Ford left The Strawbs to start their own group which they called Hudson-Ford. 

Before long they were writing catchy pop songs and they soon had enough to fill their debut album 'Nickelodeon', which was released in 1973. Two singles were extracted from it, with 'Pick Up The Pieces' reaching the UK Top Ten. They followed this with their second album 'Free Spirit' in 1974, which included the Top 20 single 'Floating In The Wind', and two more albums followed in 1975 and 1977, although after the release of 'Daylight' the band quietly dissolved. As punk wiped out many of the progressive acts of the early and mid 70s, Hudson, Ford and Terry Cassidy combined together with Clive Pearce on drums to produce the 1979 album 'Bad Habits' as The Monks, and it spawned a surprise number 19 hit with the single 'Nice Legs, Shame About The Face'. They carried on the psuedo-punk format of the Monks for a follow up album, but 'Suspended Animation' wasn't released in the UK, making its biggest impact in Canada, where the band were huge, playing stadium gigs as big as the Strawbs ever achieved. Hudson, Ford and Cassidy's next project was dabbling with 1930's style music as High Society, when apparently the three were sitting around one rainy afternoon, supposedly writing Monks material, when they came up with the 30's-style ' Never Go Out In The Rain', and a rich seam of song-writing was unlocked. They released two singles and recorded an album as High Society, but it wasn't released until 1997. This album explores all aspects of the duo's work, including their contribution to The Strawbs' 'Bursting At The Seams', their recording of 'Part Of The Union' as The Brothers, singles and rare b-sides from Hudson-Ford, the flip of The Monks' 1979 hit, and songs from the two singles from High Society. 

Track listing

01 Lady Fuschia (from 'Bursting At The Seams' by The Strawbs 1973)
02 Part Of The Union (as The Brothers 1973)
03 This Is Not The Way (To End A War Or To Die) (b-side of 'Pick Up The Pieces' 1973)
04 Take It Back (7" single edit 1973)
05 Make No Mistake (b-side of 'Take It Back')
06 Burn Baby Burn (single 1974)
07 Floating In The Wind (7" single edit 1974)
08 Waterfall (single 1976)
09 Lost In A Lost World (b-side of '95º In The Shade' 1976)
10 Sold On Love (single 1976)
11 When The Lights Go Out (from the 'Repertoire' sampler album 1977)
12 You'll Be The Death Of Me (b-side of 'Nice Legs Shame About The Face' by The Monks 1979)
13 I Never Go Out In The Rain (single as High Society 1980)
14 Powder Blue (b-side of 'Gotta Get Out Of This Rut')
15 Got To Get Out Of This Rut (single as High Society 1981)

Sun Dial - Plains Of Nazca: The Best Of Sun Dial (2016)

Gary Ramon's first band was Modern Art, and after releasing a number of cassette albums (I still my copy of 'Oriental Towers') and their first album in 1987, 'Stereoland', was limited to a run of 300 copies in a hand-painted sleeve. It contained jangly '60s-influenced pop originals in line with contemporaries like the Bachelor Pad, and was followed the next year by a German edition of 500 copies of 'All Aboard The Mind Train', which marked the real start of Ramon's journey. Reeking of lysergic consumption, the album contained original songs, plus a cover of the Monkees' 'Circle Sky', and in 1994 the album was remixed, remastered and re-pressed in an edition of 500 for his own Acme label. Modern Art then became Sun Dial at the start of the new decade, and as a trio they recorded 'Other Way Out', which conjured up memories of Pink Floyd's 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' and The Nice's 'Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack'. When I first got this album I thought it was the best recreation of the psychedelic sound of the late '60s by a modern band that I'd ever heard, and I stand by that today. It was followed in 1993 by 'Return Journey', featuring tracks that were was also recorded in 1990, and it included exploratory waves of effect-filled guitar solos, plus a cover of 'Magic Potion', a 1969 nugget by the Open Mind.  'Reflecter' and 'Libertine' were career sidesteps, and were both self-produced as a quartet with guitarist Chris Dalley, bassist Nigel Carpenter and drummer John Pelech. 'Reflecter' takes a contemporary Manchester detour, accenting the loudly textured guitar drones and echoey vocals, in songs like 'I Don’t Mind' and 'Easy For You', with a brisk and modern dance-influenced tone. 

If 'Reflecter' was a minor breach of stylistic faith, though, 'Libertine' was a gimmicky sounding big-budget studio affair with electronics taking a place of honour right behind the guitars, and it attempted a more radical revamp, nodding toward shoegazer rock and ambient techno, with precious little of what distinguished Ramon's previous work. 'Acid Yantra', however, was a fine return to form, as Ramon cast off contemporary musical life for a ride on a hallucinogenic magic carpet. With 'Libertine' drummer Craig Adrienne and new bassist Jake Honeywill in tow, Ramon returned to the organic simplicity of analogue 8-track recording, and at times his fluid, acid-drenched guitar recalls Funkadelic’s Eddie Hazel in his 'Maggot Brain' glory. Their next release was a live album recorded in London at the band's only live show of 1995, and 'Live Drug' consists of songs from 'Acid Yantra' as well as such earlier items as 'Slow Motion', 'Fireball' and 'Exploding In Your Mind'. After a long gap the band returned in 2003 with another great album in 'Zen For Sale', but for 2010's 'Sun Dial' they ditched the psyche and recorded a metal album, which lost them quite a few fans along the way. Perhaps realising that those fans preferred his early work, Sun Dial returned in 2012 with 'Mind Control', which was Ramon's second career highlight, after 'Other Way Out'. Starting with the great opener 'Mountain Of Fire And Miracles', this is followed by 'Radiation' which heads towards Germany and enters the mysterious land of early 70's Kosmische, with flute laden mellotron and trance inducing drums, and then back for some motorik action with sitar on the title track. Following that return to form the band have released new albums every few years, with their most recent studio recording being 'Message From The Mothership' in 2023. Fans of late 60's psyche and prog should already know about Sun Dial, but if you don't then this career retrospective should introduce you to one of the best modern psyche bands around. The 'Reflector' and 'Libertine' albums are not without their moments, and so they have one track apiece, but I've concentrated on the psychedelic side of their output, as that is by far my personal preference.

Track listing

01 Plains Of Nazca (from 'Other Way Out' 1990)
02 Never Fade (from 'Reflecter' 1992)
03 Believer (from 'Libertine' 1993)
04 You're Still Wondering (from 'Zen For Sale' 2003)
05 Autopilot (from 'Made In The Machine' 2016)
06 Magic Potion (from 'Return Journey' 1993)
07 Mountain Of Fire And Miracles (from 'Mind Control' 2012)
08 Rollercoaster (from 'Acid Yantra' 1995)
09 Exploding In Your Mind (from 'Other Way Out' 1990)
10 North Eastern (from 'Return Journey' 1993)
11 Let It Go (from the 'Fazer' EP 1992)
12 Reflections (from 'Zen For Sale' 2003)
13 Regenerator (from 'Made In The Machine' 2016)
14 Yantra Jam (from 'Acid Yantra' 1995)

You Slosh - Up In The Slosh (1991)

You Slosh formed in December 1986, and consisted of Duncan Rayson and Martin Howe on keyboards, Michael Gill on fiddle and bouzouki, Mike Harvey on bass, Pat Walker on drums, and multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley on uilleann pipes, bouzouki, electric guitar and occassional vocals. Based around the pipes and whistles of Donockley, they played a mix of Celtic folk and prog rock, and were well-known around the York area in the late 1980's. Donockley composed long, involved pieces for guitars and ethnic instruments, while the sound made by the other members of the band was big and exciting. They were an immensely popular college group, but in late 1991 they mysteriously disbanded, just when they were starting to receive national attention. Donockley went on to join Iona and also play with Barbara Dickson, the Enid, Maddy Prior, Midge Ure, and Adrian Edmundson's Bad Shepherds, and is currently a member of Finnish symphonic heavy metallers Nightwish. In 1989 You Slosh released their debut album on the On Them label, which was a live recording captured at the Tivoli in Buckley the same year, but many of the tracks featured on it had previously been recorded onto demo cassettes, which were often sold at their gigs, and so this album is made up of two of those demo tapes, essentially making it a studio version of that live album. 

Track listing

01 The Break
02 Up In The Slosh
03 Above Leaves
04 Dust
05 Larl Boy In The Slammer
06 Time To Laugh
07 Hearthquake
08 The Ivy Leaf

Thanks to geofmcm for bringing this band to my attention, and for the music.

Robin Trower - Earth Below Blues (1974)

After Robin Trower finished up the UK dates in mid-August 1974 tour in support his 'Bridge Of Sighs' album, fired drummer Reg Isidore, and he and bassist/vocalist James Dewar flew to Los Angeles to audition new drummers. Trower had decided he wanted an American drummer with a distinctively American feel, and after auditioning several applicants, Trower got a call from Bill Lordan, formerly of Sly Stone's band. Trower later told an interviewer that Lordan phoned him up and boasted that he was the best man for the job and to look no further, and he more than backed up this bold claim during his audition, and immediately clinched the gig. In September 1974, Trower, Dewar, Lordan, and producer Matthew Fisher (keyboardist in Trower's old band Procol Harum) assembled in London and rented a church to rehearse in and jam. The London rehearsals were designed to work out a new sound for the band, to help the new line-up gel, and to firm up ideas for their third album, 'For Earth Below', which Fisher was producing. The church wasn't abandoned, but it wasn't being used for services, and it had a great acoustical sound, so after rehearsing for a few weeks they returned to Los Angeles to start recording the album at The Record Plant in Hollywood, with Matthew Fisher producing. The record was laid down very quickly, and Trower was out on tour by early November, with the album being released in February 1975. A lot of the rehearsals were taped for later analysis, and three of the jams feature Fisher on keyboards, so as they are all excellent recordings I've compiled them into a 50-minute instrumental album from Trower and the band, enjoying themselves and getting to know each other in 1974. 

Track listing

01 Earth Below Blues
02 Substrata Jam
03 The Realm Beneath