Robyn - Stripped (2010)

Robin Miriam Carlsson, known professionally as Robyn, was born on 12 June 1979 in Stockholm, the daughter of parents that led an independent theatre group, and so growing up in that environment influenced her sense of style. in 1989 she voiced the character of Miranda in the 1989 Swedish-Norwegian animated film 'The Journey to Melonia', and at age 12 she recorded 'Du an alltid bli nummer ett' ('You Can Always be Number One'), the theme song for the Swedish television show 'Lilla Sportspegeln'. She was discovered by Swedish pop singer Meja in the early 1990's when Meja and her band, Legacy Of Sound, visited Robyn's school as part of a musical workshop. Impressed by Robyn's performance, Meja contacted her management and a meeting was arranged with Robyn and her parents. At age 14, after completing middle school education in 1993, Robyn signed with Ricochet Records Sweden, where she collaborated with producers Max Martin and Denniz Pop, who gave the singer a gritty (but popular) sound. She began her pop-music career at age 15, signing with RCA Records in 1994 and releasing her debut single 'You've Got That Somethin'' in Sweden, but it was later that year that her Swedish breakthrough came with the single 'Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect)'. The singles became part of the album 'Robyn Is Here', which was released in October 1995, and within two years she entered Sweden's pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 as co-writer and producer of 'Du gör mig hel igen' ('You Make Me Whole Again'), which was performed by Cajsalisa Ejemyr. 

Robyn's US breakthrough came in late 1997, when the dance-pop/R&B singles 'Show Me Love' and 'Do You Know (What It Takes)' reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Robyn's second album, 'My Truth', was released in Sweden in May 1999 and subsequently in Europe, and the single, 'Electric', was a commercial success and propelled 'My Truth' to the number-two position in Sweden. Despite her US success with 'Robyn Is Here', the autobiographical 'My Truth' was not released in that country, partly because it included two songs which referenced an abortion she had in her teens. In July 2001 she signed a worldwide deal with Jive Records, moving from BMG after she was "disillusioned with the lack of artistic control she had there. A year later Jive was acquired by BMG when it bought Zomba Records, and she was right back where she started. In October 2002, she released the album 'Don't Stop The Music' in Sweden, with the singles 'Keep This Fire Burning' and 'Don't Stop the Music' receiving airplay in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. The decade-long relationship between Robyn and her label ended in 2004, when Jive Records reacted negatively to 'Who's That Girl?'s new electropop sound, and so the singer decided to release music on her own. In early 2005, she announced that she was leaving Jive to start her own label, and Konichiwa Records was created to liberate her artistically. 

Robyn released the single 'Be Mine!' in March 2005, and her fourth album, 'Robyn', was her first number-one album in Sweden when it was released a month later. Influenced by electronica, rap, R&B and new-age music, Robyn was critically praised and it earned the singer three 2006 Swedish Grammy Awards. In December 2006 dhe Robyn released 'The Rakamonie' EP in the UK as a preview of her more-recent material, and this was followed by the March 2007 release of 'Konichiwa Bitches'. In 2009 she released 'The Cherrytree Sessions' EP, which consisted of live acoustic versions of three of her previous singles, and this stripped-back EP prompted visitor geofmcm to consider if there were any other acoustic versions of her songs out there. It turned out that she had done a number of radio sessions and live appearance where she performed acoustic versions of her songs, and so this album showcases what a fine singer/songwriter she can be, even without the electro-pop backing that we are used to. I added one track, which was an orchestral version of 'Indestructable', where I removed all the instruments apart from the cello and viola, to give it a much more intimate sound, and Geof also added a couple of edited tracks with stripped-back instrumentation, giving a really nice 40-minute album, and also a title for the post. 

Track listing

01 Dream On
02 Eveane
03 Dancing On My Own
04 Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart
05 Be Mine!
06 With Every Heartbeat
07 Bum Like You
08 Show Me Love
09 Hang With Me
10 Indestructable
11 Stars 4-Ever

Thanks to geofmcm for the idea and the music.

El Hombre Trajeado - Moonunit Manual: The Best Of El Hombre Trajeado (2016)

Guitarist R M Hubbert co-founded the Glasgow-based band El Hombre Trajeado in 1995 alongside bassist Stevie Jones and drummer Stef Sinclair, with Hubbert serving as the primary guitarist and occasional vocalist. The group emerged from the city's vibrant DIY music scene, blending post-rock elements with experimental and lo-fi influences, to create a distinctive sound characterized by intricate guitar work and atmospheric textures. They first came to my attnetion with the inclusion of their 'Neoprene' on the 4-track 7" compilation EP 'Glasgow', which was one of a series of sampler records for various towns throughout the UK. That was just the start of the band's decade-long active period, during which they released three full-length albums that showcased their evolving style. Their debut, 'Skipafone', arrived in 1998 via Guided Missile Records, featuring raw, instrumental-driven tracks that established their post-rock foundation. This was followed by 'Saccade' in 2001 on Human Condition, which incorporated more dynamic rhythms and subtle vocal elements from Hubbert. The trilogy concluded with 'Shlap' in 2004 through Lost Dog Recordings, a release that refined their sound with greater emphasis on Hubbert's flamenco-infused guitar techniques amid the band's noisy, improvisational ethos. Hubbert's contributions as guitarist were central to the band's identity, often driving the compositions with looping, repetitive motifs that evoked both tension and release, hallmarks of the burgeonng post-rock genre, and the band built a dedicated local following through relentless touring and cassette releases in the mid-1990's, fostering a cult status within Glasgow's underground circuit. El Hombre Trajeado disbanded in 2005 after a final spate of performances, marking the end of their original run, although the band did later reunite for select gigs in 2015, which then led to them reforming and releasing their fourth album, 'Fast Diagonal', on Chemikal Underground Records.  Although the band rarely toured, they supported artists such as Nick Cave, Sebadoh, Tortoise, Mike Watt and The Delgados around the UK, and they also recorded three radio sessions for John Peel on BBC Radio One between 1998 and 2001, and yet they are a completely unknown quantity to most people. I'm hoping that this sampler of some of their best work will introduce them to a new fanbase, who will then explore the rest of their catalogue. 

Track listing

01 Neoprene (from the 'Glasgow' EP 1998)
02 Dos (from 'Saccade' 2001)
03 Like Quicksand (from 'Skipafone' 1998)
04 Syncopatio (from 'Shlap' 2004)
05 Tracky B (John Peel session 2001)
06 Darkest Sea (feat. Ela Orleans) (from 'Fast Diagonal' 2016)
07 Logo (from 'Skipafone' 1998)
08 Warm Down (from 'Shlap' 2004)
09 Diary Extract (John Peel session 1998)
00 Dylar (from 'Saccade' 2001)
11 Do It Puritan! (feat. Sue Tompkins) (from 'Fast Diagonal' 2016)
12 Moonunit Manual (b-side of 'Logo' single 1997)
13 Skipafone (from 'Skipafone' 1998)
14 Redial (John Peel session 2001)
15 Saccade (from 'Saccade' 2001)
16 Kayak Building (from 'Shlap' 2004)
17 Sleep Deep (from 'Skipafone' 2001)
18 Double Blind (from 'Saccade' 2001)

Wendy & Lisa - Friendly Fire (1994)

In 1980, Lisa Coleman replaced Gayle Chapman in Prince's touring band on keyboards and piano, and she was also asked to contribute vocals to several tracks over his next few albums. In 1983, guitarist Dez Dickerson left the band over religious conflicts, and Prince invited Wendy Melvoin (Lisa's girlfriend at the time) into the band as they began to record the 'Purple Rain' album. The film and album turned Prince and the newly named Revolution into superstars, and his personal life also became intertwined with Melvoin's when he began dating her twin sister Susannah. After 'Purple Rain' was released in 1984, Prince and the Revolution recorded 'Around The World In A Day' in 1985, and then 'Parade' the following year, alongside the soundtrack to his film 'Under The Cherry Moon'. In interviews, Coleman and Melvoin felt they were not getting the recognition and credit they deserved, despite their growing contributions to Prince's work, and so feeling spurned and as a result of these comments, he had already decided he would dissolve the Revolution once the tour was complete, and so in October 1986, Melvoin and Coleman were dismissed by Prince. 

Signing to Columbia Records as a duo, the pair released their first album, simply titled 'Wendy And Lisa', in 1987, and although three singles were issued from it, neither 'Honeymoon Express', 'Waterfall' nor 'Sideshow' hit the top 40 on either side of the Atlantic. The follow-up album, 'Fruit At The Bottom', was released in 1989, and when 'Satisfaction' was issued as a single it gave them a top 40 single in the UK. In 1990, the duo signed with Virgin Records in the US (which was already their label in Europe)' and released 'Eroica', but this only achieved minor chart success, and so in 1991, Virgin UK released the remix album 'Re-mix-In-A-Carnation', a selection of club mixes from the first three albums as remixed by producers like the Orb, William Orbit, and Nellee Hooper. In the mid-1990's Wendy & Lisa worked on several movie projects with record producer Trevor Horn, and subsequently decided to record an album with him. The project was completed but famously shelved due to creative and personal disputes between the artists and the producer, which according to them revolved around Horn and his wife Jill Sinclair's alleged homophobia. As Horn retained the rights to the recordings, they have remained locked away in his valult, but because the album never saw an official release, it has circulated among Prince and Wendy & Lisa fan communities as a highly prized bootleg. Following the scrapping of the 'Friendly Fires' album - named by fans, as it was never given an official title - Wendy & Lisa's next solo effort was the the 1998 album 'Girl Bros.', which was independently released, as were all their subsequent albums. 

Track listing

01 The Guise Of Love 
02 Drive All Night  
03 I'm In Love Again  
04 Lower
05 Friendly Fire
06 Viste  
07 Diggin' To China  
08 I Wanna Get On  
09 The Give  
10 So High  
11 Madmen Swim Upstream

Babs Tino - Forgive Me (1963)

Babs Tino was a Brooklyn-born pop singer who had one unsuccessful single on Cameo in 1957, with 'My Honeybun'/'Sweet Cakes', after which she kept a low profile for four years before signing with Kapp Records in 1961. Owner Dave Kapp was a pillar of New York's musical establishment, a man with strongly held views on the linear alignment of musical notes in relation to pitch and tempo, and no-one got through the door at Kapp unless they could count bars and sing in tune. The best arrangers and songwriters were assigned to Tino's sessions, including Burt Bacharach and Leiber & Stoller, and she recorded six singles for the label between 1961 and 1963. 'Too Late To Worry' was a Bacharach/David offering, but failed to give her a hit, although her third release was the one that made a dent in the charts, with 'Forgive Me (For Giving You Such A Bad Time)' cracking the Billboard top 100 in 1962. This was another Bacharach/David song, backed with 'If I Didn't Love You So Much' from the pens of Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller, and after  'Call Off The Wedding' came out later in 1962, the b-side, 'Keep Away From Other Girls', was successfully covered in the UK by Helen Shapiro. Two more singles followed in 1963, but neither 'My First Love' or 'Dr. Jekyll Or Mr. Hyde' made any impact on the charts, and so Tino became disillusioned with Kapp Records, but instead of signing with another label she decided to leave the music business completely. We are therefore left with just these seven singles as a record of her career in the early 60's, making for a short, but very enjoyable, album.   

Track listing

01 My Honeybun (single 1957) 
02 Sweet Cakes (b-side of 'My Honeybun')
03 If Only For Tonight (single 1961)
04 What's Wrong With Me And You (b-side of 'If Only For Tonight')
05 Forgive Me (For Giving You Such A Bad Time) (single 1962)
06 If I Didn't Love You So Much (b=side of 'Forgive Me (For Giving You Such A Bad Time')
07 Call Off The Wedding (Without A Groom There Can't Be A Bride) (single 1962) 
08 Keep Away From Other Girls (b-side of 'Call Off The Wedding')
09 Too Late To Worry (single 1962)
10 My Heart Just Can't Say Goodbye (b-side of 'Too Late To Worry')
11 My First Love (single 1963)
12 Dr. Jekyll Or Mr. Hyde (single 1963)
13 Great Things (b-side of 'Dr. Jekyll Or Mr. Hyde')

The Outer Limits - The Dream (1968)

Around 1958 Jeff Christie and good mate Rod Brooks formed a band called Goliath And The Barbarians, along with Gerry Layton on rhythm guitar, Stan Drogie on drums and with Brooks on sax. Christie wasn't keen on the saxophone sound, so persuaded Brooks to get a bass guitar, and the group learned to play Shadows and Ventures instrumentals one after another. They later changed their name to The Tremmers, and began to make a name for themselves on the local circuit, even being considered innovators of the northern UK rock sound. Finding that they needed to expand beyond playing just instrumentals, the band decided Rod should become a singing guitar player, and eventually Paul Cardus replaced Rod on bass, leaving him free to be the vocalist. Following another name change to The Outer Limits, the band released a split single with 5 Man Cargo, with 'When The Work Is Thru' being a charity record for Leeds University, which was only released in Leeds for RAG (Raise-and-Give) Week. Thanks to help from Christie's father, The Outer Limits secured a recording contract with Deram, and 'Just One More Chance' was the first single, released in 1967, and bubbling under the Top 50 of the UK charts. The second single promised much more, as 'The Great Train Robbery' had a lavish musical arrangement and production, and such was the melody that it had a more instantaneous appeal than 'Just One More Chance'. Things were also looking rosy when the group was signed onto the Immediate label owned by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and the song was chosen to launch Immediate's progressive rock label, Instant. However, luck was against them, as because there had recently been a real great train robbery in the UK, the BBC were very sensitive about playing anything that might be seen as glorifying the event, and so airplay was scarce. After this Layton left before the group accompanied Jimi Hendrix on a pop package tour in November 1967, and was replaced by Steve Isherwood, while Rod Palmer took over from Drogie, and this new line-up soldiered on until early 1969, gigging and recording demos of Christie's songs, until they finally broke up. The Outer Limits experience served as a good launching pad for Christie's song-writing and singing career, as he was a prolific composer, and after the group's break-up he vigorously pursued his song-writing ambitions, culminating in his biggest hit single 'Yellow River', with his own band Christie. Although The Outer Limits only released two and a half singles, they recorded so much material that they could easily have released an album in 1968, and so by taking the best of their demos and adding them to their professional recordings, here is what that album could have sounded like, named after a Procol Harum-inspired piece written by Christie and his father Michael.  

Track listing

01 The Dream
02 Days Of Spring
03 Stop
04 Sweet Freedom
05 Great Train Robbery
06 Epitaph For A Nonentity
07 Man In The Middle Of Nowhere
08 Just One More Chance
09 Dancing Water
10 Look At Me
11 It's Your Turn Now
12 Anyday Now

Public Nuisance - Backwoods Men (1968)

Public Nuisance formed in Sacramento in 1964 as an instrumental surf rock band called the Jaguars. After the British Invasion and folk rock movements of the mid-1960's they added vocals and changed their name to Moss & the Rocks, and at that time their line-up consisted of David Houston, their principal songwriter, on guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and vocals, Jim Mathews on guitar, Pat Minter on bass and vocals, and Ron McMaster on drums and vocals. Even while known as the Jaguars, the group were known for their stage antics, with Houston sometimes smashing his guitar on stage, and the group wore hairstyles that were considered long for 1964. The group's manager was Gary Schiro, who had connections in Los Angeles and managed two other local bands, the New Breed and the Oxford Circle, and when Moss & the Rocks won a battle of the bands contest they were able to gain free recording time at Ikon Studios, a small label in Sacramento, which hosted numerous garage bands in the area. They recorded the folk rock-influenced single, 'There She Goes' b/w 'Please Come Back', which was released on Ikon on 1965, and later that year they re-recorded both tunes for a single released on Chattahoochee Records. In 1967 the band changed their name to Public Nuisance, and in early 1968 they recorded a series of demos which for years remained unreleased. These recordings saw the group augment their raw garage rock sound with experimental psychedelic elements, and their lyrics saw the band engaging in social commentary that addressed topical concerns of the era. 

They became a popular live act throughout much of California during this period and opened for The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, and Sonny & Cher, as well as for The Grateful Dead. Later in 1968, they taped several demos at Fantasy Records in San Francisco, but were not signed to the label, but eventually Schiro arranged a contract with Equinox records, a label run by producer Terry Melcher, who was noted for his work with The Byrds and Paul Revere & the Raiders. At the end of 1968 and the beginning of 1969, they commuted to-and-from Los Angeles, where they recorded an album's worth of songs, but like their previous outings, none of the recordings saw release. This was because producer Terry Melcher, who had sub-let houses to director Roman Polanski and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, became emotionally distraught after Polanski's wife Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson. Melcher chose to terminate recording commitments he had made with Wilson because he had socialized with the Manson family, and the result was that Melcher closed down the label, and all upcoming releases were cancelled. Public Nuisance soldiered on, playing several shows at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, but they disbanded in 1970. In 2012 Third Man Records finally released the shelved album as 'Gotta Survive', a decade after Frantic Records had compiled all the band's recordings and released them solely in Germany and the U.S. This album consists of the 1968 demos, and so could be considered their debut release, with 'Gotta Survive' being the follow-up album, which would have been released in 1969.   

Track listing

01 America
02 Time Can't Wait
03 Darlin'
04 Now I Think
05 Daddy's Comin' Home
06 Pencraft Transcender
07 Katie Shiner
08 Man From The Backwoods
09 One Man's Story
10 I'm Only Sleeping
11 Hold On
12 Going Nowhere

CCS - Tap Turns On The Water (1973)

Collective Consciousness Society, shortened to the band name of CCS, were formed in 1970, and are known for their unique blend of glam rock and jazz-infused arrangements. The group was spearheaded by Alexis Korner (vocals/guitar), a notable figure in the British blues scene, along with producer Mickie Most and arranger John Cameron. Key contributors included Peter Thorup (vocals), and a rotating line-up of prominent jazz musicians such as Harry Beckett, Henry Lowther, and Kenny Wheeler on trumpets, Herbie Flowers and Spike Heatley on bass, Roger Coulam on keyboards, Barry Morgan on drums, plus Don Lusher and Bill Geldard on trombone. This eclectic ensemble was characterized by a brassy, commercial sound, and they very quickly had a hit with their big band reworking of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love', which is instantly familiar to a whole generation of Top Of The Tops viewers, as it was the theme song of the show for most of the seventies. Technically, the TOTP theme was not by CCS, but was recorded by the TOTP orchestra one morning before the day's rehearsals. Nevertheless, the band was conducted by John Cameron on that occasion, and many of the musicians were CCS regulars. This enabled the production to tailor the tune to the correct duration and avoided the weekly payment of royalties to the record label. There were only ever two live performances by this group, unsurprising given the number of players involved, and also the fact that CCS was primarily a studio band. The first was at Ronnie Scott's, where they reportedly blew all the fuses while playing a benefit for the family of flautist Harold McNair, and the second was at The Royal Albert Hall. Their highest-charting singles were a cover of the Donovan song 'Walking', and their own 'Tap Turns On The Water', and on their three albums they also included their idiosyncratic versions of songs such as the old blues standard 'Boom Boom', Jethro Tull's 'Living In The Past', The Rolling Stones' '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', The Kinks' 'Lola', and Cream's 'Sunshine Of Your Love'. However, as good as those covers were, I always preferred the band's own compositions, which I feel have been unfairly overlooked, and so I've compiled an album of Korner, Thorup and Cameron originals, which I think shows the band in a whole new light. When CCS broke up in 1973, Korner and Thorup went on to form SNAPE (Something Nasty 'Appens Practically Everyday) with Boz Burrell, Ian Wallace and Mel Collins, but for me CCS was Korner/Thorup's finest moment. 

Track listing

01 The Waiting Song
02 Running Out Of Sky (Sky Diver)
03 Hundred Highways
04 Brother
05 Sunrise
06 Misunderstood
07 The Band Played The Boogie
08 City
09 Maggie's Song
10 Tap Turns On The Water
11 Memphis
12 Salome
13 Hang It On Me

King Sunny Ade & His Green Spot Band - The Master Guitarist Vol. 5 (1972)

While I'm still coming down from my holiday in North Africa, here is the next instalment of the Master Guitarist series from King Sunny Ade & His Green Spot Band. 'Volume 5' once again has the songs segued together to make two long tracks. 

Track listing

01 Late Dr. Nkrumah / Ka Ma Buni Lọlẹ / I. S. Adewale / Ọlọlade Wilkey
02 Sunny Special / Owo Ko Nifẹ / Awọn Ti Wọn Yo / Alhaja Bintu

Holiday Time

I'm flying out to Tunisia for 10 days today, so Soulseek will be out of action, and there will be no new posts until July. There should be enough recent posts to keep you all busy, so normal service will resumed when I'm back.  

pj

The Mockingbirds - Our Story (1966)

In 1963, 17 year-old Graham Gouldman was a member of Manchester band The Whirlwinds, who released one single on His Masters Voice Records, called 'Look At Me', the following year. Later in 1964, following the breakup of The Whirlwinds, Gouldman met Kevin Godley, formerly of another recently disbanded Manchester group The Sabres, at the Jewish Lads' Brigade in Crumpsall, Manchester, and they formed The Mockingbirds. Bringing in former Whirlwinds members Stephen Jacobson on guitar and Bernard Basso on bass, they soon became the warm-up band for a new show called Top of the Pops, which was filmed at the BBC in Manchester. They secured a record deal with Columbia Records, and for Gouldman the band was a vehicle to perform his own songs, so he wrote 'For Your Love' for The Mockingbirds, but Columbia rejected the song, which is how and why it ended up as The Yardbirds' smash hit, selling over 2 million copies. Columbia instead released another Gouldman composition 'That’s How (It’s Gonna Stay)' which bombed, and their second single 'I Can Feel We're Parting' fared no better. In 1965 they moved to Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records, where they released 'You Stole My Love', backed with the instrumental 'Skit Skat', but the move didn't help, and once again the single was unsuccessful. In 1966 the band left Immediate and signed with Decca Records, releasing two further singles, 'One By One' and 'How To Find A Lover', but with neither of these songs finding success, Gouldman decided to wrap it up and called time on the band. He later said of his time in The Mockingbirds, that "The ones I gave away were hits, the ones we kept were misses. I'd always wanted to play guitar in a band, but I was resigned to the idea of being a writer". Gouldman and Godley later found fame and success with 10cc, where Gouldman was able to fulfil his ambitions of becoming one of the UK's best song-writers, and this post enables us to hear some early examples of his work.  

Track listing

01 Look At Me (single as The Whirlwinds 1964)
02 Baby Not Like You (b-side of 'Look At Me')
03 That's How (It's Gonna Stay) (single 1965) 
04 I Never Should've Kissed You (b-side of 'That's How (It's Gonna Stay')
05 I Can Feel We're Parting (single 1965)
06 The Flight Of The Mockingbird (b-side of 'I Can Feel We're Parting')
07 You Stole My Love (single 1965)
08 Skit Skat (b-side of 'You Stole My Love')
09 How To Find A Lover (single 1966) 
10 My Story (b-side of 'How To Find A Lover')
11 One By One (single 1966)
12 Lovingly Yours (b-side of 'One By One')

Track 2 written by Lol Creme

Tracks 3, 4, 7, 8 and 10 written by Graham Gouldman

Track 5 written by Gouldman/Silverman

Track 6 written by Gouldman/Basso/Jacobson/Godley 

The Fabulettes - Have Yourself A Ball With (1969)

The Mar-vells formed as a soul vocal quartet in the early 60's, consisting of Annette Snell, Mattie Lovett, Addie Williams, and Loretta Ludlow, and they performed live concerts and did session work for other Florida musicians, as well as recording their own music. They released the 'How Do I Keep The Girls Away' single on the Butane label in 1963, and followed that with 'This Can't Go On' the following year. In 1965, after slimming down to a trio, they signed a recording contact with Monument Records, and following a change of name to The Fabulettes, a move likely made by the record company to avoid confusion with other similarly named groups, they released their first single, 'Mister Policeman', in October 1965. With the Monument single doing little chart-wise the group moved to Sound Stage 7 Records for their next release, 'Try The Worryin' Way', in April 1966, which was followed by 'Screamin' And Shoutin'' at the end of that year. When Snell left the group to pursue a solo career, The Fabulettes attempted to find a replacement, and then carried on for a couple more years, cutting the  'Because Of Love' single for Kangi Records in 1969, and then releasing 'Muddy Waters' on Access Records in 1971. When neither of these brought the group any success they split up. Annette Snell did release a couple of single in the early 70's, but The Fabulettes were consigned to that vault of little-known girl groups of the 60's, until their records were re-appraised in the ongoing search for music that wasn't appreciated when it was first released. This album pulls together all of their singles, both as The Mar-vells and The Fabulettes, so that we can now hear what the public missed back in the 60's.   

Track listing

01 How Do I Keep The Girls Away (single as The Mar-vells 1964)
02 Go On And Have Yourself A Ball (b-side of 'How Do I Keep The Girls Away') 
03 The Can't Go On (single as The Mar-vells 1964)
04 Dizzy Jones Birdland (b-side of 'This Can't Go On')
05 Mister Policeman (single 1965) 
06 The Bigger They Are (The Harder They Fall) (b-side of 'Mister Policeman')
07 Screamin' And Shoutin' (single 1966) 
08 I'm In The Mood For Love (b-side of 'Screamin' And Shoutin'')
09 Try The Worryin' Way (single 1966) 
10 Money (b-side of 'Try The Worryin' Way')
11 Because Of Love (single 1969)
12 If The Morning Ever Comes (b-side of 'Because Of Love')
13 Muddy Waters (single 1971) 
14 Stickin' Kind Of Man (b-side of 'Muddy Waters')

Secret Oyster - Sleep Music (1976)

Secret Oyster were formed when members of Danish bands Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, Coronarias Dans and Hurdy Gurdy joined together in 1972 to form a new group. By the end of Burnin' Red Ivanhoe's seven year career, Karsten Vogel started putting together a new band, taking with him BRI's drummer Bo Thrige Andersen, and bassist Mads Vinding, and knowing Claus Bohling from the Danish circuit, he enticed him into the band, which took its name from a track from Burnin' Red Ivanhoe's second album 'Secret Oysters Service'. The last to join was keyboardist Kenneth Knudsen, who had never played an electric instrument prior to joining this outfit, but was playing in a piano avant-garde trio. Knudsen would prove particularly helpful as the second songwriter of the group, allowing Vogel to leave the keyboards to play wind instruments. Their sound recalled Mahavishnu Orchestra, Nucleus, and later-period Soft Machine, as well as Herbie Hancock's 'Mwandishi' album and Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew'. Secret Oyster released their self-titled debut album in November 1973 on Danish CBS, and in the US the album appeared on Peters International Records as 'Furtive Pearl'. It fused the instrumental side of Burnin' Red Ivanhoe with the newly established jazz-rock style of Return To Forever from the US, and Passport from Europe. After a line-up change that saw the rhythm section get a complete overhaul, with Jess Staer replacing Vinding and Ole Streenberg taking over from Andersen, their second album, 'Sea Son', was released in November 1974, and was even better, but failed to get the international public recognition it deserved, even if most fans agree that it was the band's pinnacle. 

At one point the line-up of this group was exactly the same as Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, with the addition of that band's bassist joining the group, and this line-up composed the music for the ballet 'Vidunderlinge Kaelling', which was released as an album in 1975, to very mixed reviews. It was later re-issued under the name of 'Astarte' in The Netherlands, just a few months before their final album, the much better 'Straight From The Krankenhaus', which came out in 1976. Following the release of 'Straight to the Krankenhaus', Secret Oyster continued for a few more months, before disbanding in autumn 1977. However, material recorded before the breakup resurfaced decades later in two archival projects tied to Karsten Vogel’s personal archive. One of these, 'Striptease', stemmed from a planned follow-up to 'Vidunderlige Kælling', again involving choreographer Flemming Flindt. Composed primarily by Vogel and Knudsen, the music was partly tracked in the studio and partly recorded during rehearsals, but the ballet was never staged due to Flindt's relocation to Dallas, although Vogel preserved the tapes, which were eventually released more than forty years later on both vinyl and CD. Along with Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, Secret Oyster are one of my very favourite Danish bands, and if you've never heard of either group, then this collection of outtakes could almost be looked on as a 'Best Of...' sampler, as nothing on here is second-rate, and every track gives an indication of what their studio albums will sound like. 

Track listing

01 Sea Son
02 Alfred
03 Glassprinsen
04 Orlavaer
05 Intro To Act II
06 Alfresco, Part I
07 Alfresco, Part II
08 Circus Sax
09 Dampexpressen
10 Sleep Music

Rhetta Hughes - One In A Million (1969)

 Rhetta Hughes was born in Dallas, Texas on 15 June 1939, and although she sang from a young age into adulthood in the choir of a Baptist church in her hometown of Dallas, she had no aspirations to be a professional singer, and had been employed for five years as a nurse at Parkland Memorial Hospital. In 1963 an impromptu vocal performance at the local club where her close friend Tennyson Stephens played piano caused the club's managers to hire her, and Hughes and Stephens became established as a top local lounge act. They were eventually spotted in a Dallas club by Al Williams - leader of the Four Step Brothers dance troupe - who signed as the duo's manager, successfully transferring them to the Chicago nightclub circuit. In 1965 Hughes made her recording debut with an album focused on standards, which was billed as Rheta (sic) Hughes With Tennyson Stephens 'Introducing An Electrifying New Star', and which was produced by Ralph Bass for Columbia Records. After a gap of a couple of years the label started releasing singles by Hughes, starting with 'One In A Million' in April 1967, followed by 'A Little Bit Of Sunshine' in the December, and 'The Best Thing You Ever Had' in January 1968. She continued to play nightclubs, and was discovered by Bill Cosby who caught her act at the Redd Foxx Club in Los Angeles, with Hughes resultantly being signed to Tetragrammaton Records, the label Cosby had recently co-founded. After her label debut with 'You're Doing It With Her (When It Should Be Me)', almost reached the R&B Top 40 in the autumn of 1968, Hughes scored her biggest hit with a mid-tempo R&B rendition of the Doors hit 'Light My Fire', which reached #36 on the Billboard R&B chart in February 1969. The song was featured on her second album 'Re-Light My Fire', which came out on the Tetragammraton label in 1969, and from which two more singles were released without charting. There were no further releases on Tetragammraton before the label folded in 1971, but she was featured on the track 'Mother's Prayer' on the 1971 album 'As Serious As A Heart-Attack' by Melvin Van Peebles, which kick-started a successful career as a session singer, featuring on the 1974 Roberta Flack hit 'Feel Like Makin' Love', and appearing on albums by Van Dyke Parks, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Brenda Patterson, Bette Midler and Bobby Rydell. In the early 1970's Hughes branched out into acting, her first evident credit being the 1971 blaxploitation film 'Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song', which was created by Melvin Van Peebles, who next cast her as Earnestine in his 1972 musical 'Don't Play Us Cheap', which was her debut on Broadway. She continued to act and sing during the 1970's and 1980's, including recording two disco tracks in 1983, with 'Angel Man' and 'Crisis'. This collection concentrates on her R&B work in the 1960's, and includes all her singles up to and including her 'Re-Light My Fire' album, and whereas I'd normally only include non-album tracks, that would make for a very short album, so all the singles are included here.  

Track listing

01 One In A Million (single 1967)
02 Just Love Me (b-side of 'One In A Million')
03 A Little Bit Of Sunshine (single 1967)
04 Come Live With Me (b-side of 'A Little Bit Of Sunshine')
05 The Best Thing You Ever Had (single 1968)
06 How Can I Leave You (b-side of 'The Best Thing You Ever Had')
07 Hip Old Lady On A Honda (single 1968)
08 His Happiness (b-side of 'Hip Old Lady On A Honda')
09 Gimme Some Of Yours - I'll Give You Some Of Mine (single 1968)
10 You're Doing With Her (When It Should Be Me) (b-side of 'Gimme Some Of Yours')
11 Light My Fire (single 1969) 
12 Sooky (b-side of 'Light My Fire')
13 I Can't Stand Under This Pressure (single 1969)
14 Cry Myself To Sleep (single 1969)
15 Giving Up My Heartaches (b-side of 'Cry Myself To Sleep')