Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Brown Star (1972)

When Captain Beefheart started thinking about his next album in 1971, he took the band into the studio and recorded about thirty-five tracks, of which ten were eventually chosen to become 'The Spotlight Kid' - Beefheart's only album to be released under just his own name. Said Bill Harkleroad "We just went in there in the typical way that we worked. Just take it, keep it, move on. Don was trying to use the studio more. (He thought) here we are, they’re paying for it, let’s get the most out of it and put some things down – unfinished licks and riffs that he thought were songs. It was a very incomplete, uncontrolled situation, like "What the hell’s going on, what are we playing and where does this go?" Even with tunes that were "done", and that people think are great, a lot of them were unfinished ideas with a part missing here and there." There are more out-takes for 'The Spotlight Kid' than any other album, and that might just be a lack of quality control for a brief period in history, but as the band was note perfect on arrival, and rehearsal space is not the big expense, they just played and recorded as soon as they arrived. 'Harry Irene' appears for some reason in a spacious, lilting, delicate version, close to the final take, yet a decade away from release. 'Funeral Hill' is also well represented; if the tapes are anything to go by, they played that more often than anything else. It's just possible to believe that it metamorphosed into 'There Ain’t No Santa Claus On The Evenin’ Stage', but an argument can also be put forward for 'Glider' as well. Beefheart obviously had great faith in both that and 'Little Scratch', although the latter at least changed cosmetically, becoming 'Natural Charm' before it finally achieved release as 'The Past Sure Is Tense', in a much changed format. The harmonica featured on 'Seam Crooked Sam' in a terrific introduction to the track, and the two takes of 'Pompadour' total 25 minutes of the band just enjoying themselves in the studio, and is a mile away from the 'Shiny Beast' version. 

During 1971 Beefheart had unprecedented access to studio time, presumably courtesy of Reprise, and so a lot of the rehearsals, jams etc. seem to have been recorded, as preparations for recording 'The Spotlight Kid', 'Brown Star' and 'Clear Spot' albums, and while the first and last of these did make it out of the studio, 'Brown Star' has long remained a legendary unreleased album. Apparently Beeheart realised that 'Brown Star' wasn't happening and aborted it; then had a rest and had another go which Ted Templeman moulded into 'Clear Spot', but there are enough unused tracks left over, even after removing the 'Spotlight Kid' and 'Clear Spot' rehearsals, to piece together an album that could have slotted in between those two in 1972. Of the songs that you might recognise, 'Circumstances' is a completely different take to the 'Clear Spot' version, so I've included that here, alongside that aforementioned jazzy take of 'Harry Irene', as that was originally recorded at these sessions'. 'Pompadour' is edited down from the two 13-minute jams, eventually becoming 'Suction Prints', 'Grow Fins', and 'Flaming Autograph', and 'Well Well Well' was an out-take from 'Lick My Decals Off, Baby', and I'm adding it in here as it is apparently the only thing from that 'Decals' session which was mixed down for inclusion but was then rejected. The rest is a mixture of the best instrumentals and vocal tracks recorded at the 1971 sessions, and while I'll admit that 'Clear Spot' and 'The Spotlight Kid' used the best songs, there is still some stuff on here which is worth hearing. 

Track listing

01 Pompadour
02 Little Scratch  
03 Campfires        
04 Funeral Hill
05 The Witch Doctor Life 
06 Kiss Me My Love 
07 Well Well Well 
08 Your Love Brought Me To Life
09 Circumstances
10 Seam Crooked Sam 
11 Harry Irene

Chris Spedding - that mysterious bonus track

As a bit of a joke I added in a bonus track to the second disc of Chris Spedding's '...and on guitar' post, expecting most people to guess that it was Spedding's contribution to the work of The Wombles, which was a project by UK singer/songwriter Mike Batt, and for which Spedding contributed guitar on all their material. While I'm sure most UK visitors got it, it was pointed out to me this week that The Wombles don't actually mean that much in the US, and so the joke would have fallen flat over there. Coincidentally I was playing one of their albums today and realised that there is actually a much better track by the group which highlights Spedding's guitarwork, and so although strictly speaking it's outside the timeframe of the post, I've decided to add it in as a genuine addition to the running order, so the revised track listing is below, and you can get it from Soulseek and use it to replace the bonus track on the original album.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Sunshades (from 'Mantle-Piece' by The Battered Ornaments 1969)
02 Late Into The Night (from 'Our Point Of View' by Frank Ricotti Quartet 1969)
03 Tickets To Waterfalls (from 'Songs For A Tailor' by Jack Bruce 1969)
04 Got No Home (from 'Deep Down Heavy' by Bob Downes 1970)
05 Persephone's Jive (from 'Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises' by Neil Ardley 1970)
06 Throb (from 'Michael Gibbs' by Michael Gibbs 1970)
07 A New Awakening (from '1969' by Julie Driscoll 1971)
08 Twisted Track (from 'Elastic Rock' by Nucleus 1970)
09 The Pirate's Dream (from 'A Story Ended' by Dick Heckstall-Smith 1972)
10 Pieces Of Me (from 'Pieces Of Me' by Linda Hoyle 1971)
11 Technology (from 'Solid Gold Cadillac' by Solid Gold Cadillac 1972)

Disc Two
01 Woman In My Life (from 'd'Abo' by Mike d'Abo 1970)
02 Philwit's Fantasies (from 'Philwit & Pegasus' by Philwit & Pegasus 1970)
03 Daffodils (from 'Loudwater House' by Tony Hazzard 1971)
04 Mr. Rubin (from 'Sing Children Sing' by Lesley Duncan 1971)
05 Hampstead Way (from 'Say No More...' by Linda Lewis 1971)
06 Climb Up On My Music (from 'Coming From Reality' by Rodriguez 1971)
07 Down (from 'Nilsson Schmilsson' by Nilsson 1971)
08 Madman Across The Water (from 'Madman Across The Water' by Elton John 1971)
09 Avalon (from 'Matthew Ellis' by Matthew Ellis 1972)
10 Penthouse Pauper (from 'Panhandle' by Panhandle 1972)
11 Virginia (from 'Queues' by Vigrass & Osborne 1972)
12 One More Time Around (from 'Vaughan Thomas' by Vaughan Thomas 1972)
13 Oh Babe (from 'Meanwhile... Back At The World' by Roger Cook 1972)
14 The Empty Tidy Bag Blues (from 'Superwombling' by The Wombles 1975)

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

Al Di Meola - ...and on guitar (1993)

Al Laurence Dimeola (aka Al Di Meola) was born on 22 July 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, attending Bergenfield High School. In 1971 he enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1974 he joined Chick Corea's band, Return To Forever, playing with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976, which was the year that saw the release of their masterpiece album 'Romantic Warrior', featuring the classic line-up of Corea, Di Meola, Stanley Clark, and Lenny White. At the beginning of his career he was noted for his technical mastery and extremely fast, complex guitar solos and compositions, but even on his early albums he had begun to explore Mediterranean cultures and acoustic genres like flamenco, and he continued to explore Latin music within the jazz fusion genre on albums like 'Casino' and 'Splendido Hotel', as well as guesting on a number of albums by Greek musician George Dalares. He also exhibited a more subtle touch on acoustic numbers like 'Fantasia Suite For Two Guitars' from his 'Casino' album, and on the best-selling live album with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, 'Friday Night In San Francisco'. With Scenario he explored the electronic side of jazz in a collaboration with Jan Hammer, and this led to him expanding his horizons further with the acoustic album 'Cielo e Terra'. Because of his technique on his early recordings, Di Meola became arguably the most important pioneer of shred guitar, leading to him being invited to sit in with Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention at one of their gigs in 1981, which luckily was recorded. In addition to a prolific solo career, he has engaged in successful collaborations with bassist Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, and guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía, as well as guesting on a select number of records from former band-mates and friends.

Track listing

01 Prince Of The Sea (from 'Venusian Summer' by Lenny White 1975)
02 Stellar (from 'Go' by Stomu Yamash'ta 1976)
03 Clownz On Velvet (from live concert with Frank Zappa November 1981)
04 Compadres (from 'Touchstone' by Chick Corea 1982)
05 Allergies (from 'Hearts And Bones' by Paul Simon 1983)
06 Perasmenes Mou Agapes (from 'Latin' by George Dalares 1988)
07 Tangos (from 'Jazzpana' by Vince Mendoza & Arif Mardin 1993)

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

Bo Diddley - It's All About Me (1965)

Ellas Otha Bates was born in McComb, Mississippi on 30th December 1928, and was adopted and raised by his mother's cousin, Gussie McDaniel, whose surname he assumed. In 1934, the McDaniel family moved to the South Side of Chicago, where he dropped Otha from his name and became Ellas McDaniel. He was an active member of Chicago's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he studied the trombone and violin, becoming so proficient on the violin that the musical director invited him to join the orchestra, although he was more interested in the pulsating, rhythmic music he heard at a local Pentecostal Church and took up the guitar instead. He supplemented his income as a carpenter and mechanic by playing on street corners with friends, and by 1951 he was playing on the street with backing from Roosevelt Jackson on washtub bass and Jody Williams. That was also the year he landed a regular spot at the 708 Club, on Chicago's South Side, and in late 1954 he teamed up with harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold, drummer Clifton James and bass player Roosevelt Jackson to record demos of his songs 'I'm a Man' and 'Bo Diddley'. By this time he'd adopted the name Bo Diddley as his stage persona, although the origin of the name is unclear. McDaniel claimed that his school classmates in Chicago gave him the nickname, which he started using when sparring and boxing in the neighborhood, even though he suspected it was an insult, but he has also said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother knew. Harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold said that it was a local comedian's name, which Leonard Chess adopted as McDaniel's stage name and the title of his first single. Whatever the truth, when the single 'Bo Diddley' was released in March 1955, it became a number one R&B hit, and a legend was born. One of the unique aspects of Diddley's career is that he often wrote songs about this adopted persona, and it occurred to me that by collecting all the songs which were written about this ubiquitous character, we would have a really interesting overview of his career, as it would include well-known hits, obscure album tracks, and some classy instrumentals. So here is the life of Bo Diddley in music, covering his professional career as a lumberjack, gunslinger and outlaw, his personal life as a lover and father ('Diddley Daddy', 'Run Diddley Daddy'), and relaxing at the Hootenanny and on vacation.

Track listing

01 Bo Diddley 
02 Bo Diddley's A Gunslinger 
03 Bo's Guitar 
04 Bo Diddley Is An Outlaw 
05 Hey! Bo Diddley 
06 Bo's Bounce
07 Bo Diddley's Hootenanny
08 Bo's A Lumberjack
09 Bo Diddley Is A Lover  
10 Bo's Twist 
11 Diddley Daddy
12 The Story Of Bo Diddley 
13 Bo Meets The Monster 
14 Bo's Vacation
15 Bo Diddley Is Loose  
16 Run Diddley Daddy

Adrienne Posta - Backstreet Girl (1976)

Adrienne Luanne Poster was born on 4th March 1949 in London, England, and demonstrated a love of performing from the beginning of her childhood, attending the highly regarded theater preparatory school the Italia Conti Academy. She made her acting debut in the film 'No More Tears' at the age of 11, and later appeared in the television soap 'Harpers West One', which launched singer John Leyton. While she was a student at the Italia Conti Academy, she started dating Steve Marriott, who later became lead singer with the Small Faces, and in 1963, while he was playing in a band called the Moments, she would once in a while go along with him in front of an audience and the pair would play out a two-part harmony of 'Twist and Shout'. She was signed to Oriole Records who released her first single 'Only Fifteen' in 1963, when she was in fact 14 years old, but despite exposure on 'Ready, Steady, Go!' it was not a success. In 1964 she came under the wing of the Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who produced her version of a Jagger/Richards song 'Shang A Doo Lang' for Decca Records, in the style of Phil Spector. The liaison was short-lived, and in 1965 session drummer Bobby Graham took charge for her reading of the Supremes' 'He Doesn’t Love Me', while her next single 'The Wind That Blows' was published by Jimmy Page's company, but these all star connections failed to lift the her career. 'Something Beautiful' and 'They Long To be Close To You' followed in 1966, with the latter single being the first under her new name of Posta. Acting now took precedence, with film roles in 'To Sir With Love', 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush', 'Up The Junction' and 'Percy', as well as appearing in several 70s sex/comedy films, including 'Adventures Of A Taxi Driver'. Her version of the film's theme song 'Cruisin’ Casanova' was issued on President Records in 1976, but this was to be her final recording, with acting then becoming her full-time career. While romantically involved with ex-Marbles singer Graham Bonnet in 1973 (they later married), she released a single written by him called 'Dog Song', which may have been a reference to the fact that they owned the Old English Sheepdog which starred in the Dulux paint adverts in the 70's. Although primarily known for her acting roles in British comedy films of the 60's and 70's, her singing career is often over-looked, and so this collection hopes to put that right.

Track listing

01 Only Fifteen (single 1963)
02 There's Nothing You Can Do About That (b-side of 'Only Fifteen')
03 Shang A Doo Lang (single 1964)
04 When A Girl Really Loves You (b-side of 'Shang A Doo Lang')
05 He Doesn't Love Me (single 1965)
06 The Way You Do The Things You Do (b-side of 'He Doesn't Love Me')
07 The Winds That Blow (single 1965)
08 Backstreet Girl (b-side of 'The Winds That Blow')
09 Something Beautiful (single 1966)
10 So Glad You're Mine (b-side of 'Something Beautiful')
11 They Long To Be Close To You (single 1966)
12 How Can I Hurt You? (b-side of 'They Long To Be Close To You')
13 Dog Song (single, with Graham Bonnet 1973)
14 Express Yourself (b-side of 'Dog Song')
15 Cruisin' Casanova (single 1976)
16 Sing Me (b-side of 'Cruisin' Casanova')

Over Sands - Memory House (2018)

Over Sands are a duo, comprising brothers Tom and Ben Stephens. Originally from Frome in Somerset, the pair had been playing in bands together for a while but the Over Sands project started back in the winter of 2012 in a beach house on a nature reserve in Essex. They later moved to London, but after a couple of years they decided to take some time away to write some songs, and the result of this was their first single 'Tune Out', which appeared in early 2014. "The track is a kaleidoscope of genres really" said Ben, "as we were listening to a lot of ambient music when writing it. We wanted the drums to have a sort of jazz feel, but obviously we have added some electronic elements to the percussion too. The vocals took on a sort of bluesy/gospel feel, mostly by accident. Basically we did whatever felt right for the track." Over the next couple of years further singles were issued, and tracks uploaded to Soundcloud, but things have been very quiet over the past three years, making me think that they have now split. If this is correct, then they have left behind an impressive collection of songs, which could easily have been released as an album had they so desired.    

Track listing

01 Heartbeat
02 Memory House
03 Twin Peaks Theme (Falling)
04 Tune Out
05 Hounds
06 Gyroscope
07 New Year
08 Two Cranes
09 Isthmus

Britney Spears - Original Doll (2005)

'Original Doll' was set to be Britney Spears' fifth studio album, and was due for release in 2005. It was to be a more personal album, with an organic, dark, intimate feel, but for reasons unknown it was cancelled at the last minute. The only song recorded for the album that was ever officially released was 'Mona Lisa', which was included on the 'Britney and Kevin: Chaotic' CD, but many other songs remained locked away, until in 2012, Britney fans sought out songwriter Michelle Bell and asked her point-blank about the project. Apparently Spears started writing songs for the album in late 2003, and she recorded some of them in 2004 whilst on The Onyx Hotel Tour. In December 2004, she made a surprise appearance on KIIS-FM radio in Los Angeles to premiere a new song she recorded, giving the DJ a rough demo of her song 'Mona Lisa', and also giving an interview in which she stated she was halfway through recording an album called 'The Original Doll', which could be released around the summer of 2005. Her label Jive Records were apparently furious that she'd premiered the song on the radio without their permission, and they stated she had only just started recording the album, and that it was not yet on the label's release schedule. The DJ who was presented with this exclusive evidently had his own misgivings about Spear's actions, commenting "No signed artist would ever do that [premiere a song on the radio without label's permission], because [Jive/Zomba Label Group President/CEO] Barry Weiss would cut them in half with a cleaver. If you don't have the record out yet, and you're going to find some radio guy who will ship it out half done, then the whole project will be trashed." This was exactly what happened, with Jive cancelling the project, and although various reasons have been suggested - Spears' pregnancy (Jive may have wanted Britney to concentrate on starting a family rather than releasing a new album), premiering unreleased material without Jive's permission, or simply that Jive didn't like the material set to appear on the album - none have ever been forthcoming from the record company. 

Michelle Bell was known to be involved in writing songs which were destined for 'The Original Doll', following collaborations with Spears in 2003, when three of her songs were recorded for the 'In the Zone' album, although none of them made the final cut, appearing later as bonus tracks on deluxe editions of the album. They co-wrote some of the songs intended for 'The Original Doll', although it's likely that Spears would also have written some of them on her own, in keeping with the more personal feel of the project. In March 2012, members of Britney Spears fan forum, Exhale, managed to get in contact with Bell on Twitter and Tumblr, on which she wrote about the experiences she had working with Spears on 'The Original Doll', and she later leaked snippets of two songs she said were recorded for the album: 'Money, Love & Happiness' and 'Peep Show'. She later leaked much longer snippets of the songs, but in April 2012 she revealed on her Tumblr blog that she'd been asked to stop leaking the songs by her management, before giving fans one last special treat by leaking 'Money, Love & Happiness' in full. Because of her actions, she was unable to leak 'Peep Show' or any other song recorded for 'The Original Doll' in full, although another source obtained 'Ouch' and leaked that later that month. Eventually all of the songs recorded for the album started to appear on bootlegs, with a 3CD set of remixes and out-takes being the latest to surface. For this reconstruction I've taken a proposed track listing from blackoutbrit's site universe.absolutebritney.com, as their running order seems to coincide with the generally accepted list of confirmed songs recorded for the project, so here is the album that could have slotted in between 'In The Zone' and 'Blackout', if Spears had just played by the rules and not pissed off the record company.  

Track listing

01 Welcome To Me
02 Money, Love & Happiness
03 Someday (I Will Understand)
04 Chaotic
05 Peep Show
06 Mona Lisa
07 Over To You Now
08 Look Who's Talking Now
09 Guilty
10 Dramatic
11 Baby Boy
12 Ouch

13 Strangest Love
14 Conscience

Mick Jagger & The Red Devils - Red Devil Blues (1993)

I found the original photo that was used for this cover, so have upgraded the rather blurry version that was on the original post.

Richard Thompson - ...and on guitar Vol. 2 (1982)

And now, the end is near, and so we face the final curtain....... After almost exactly a year, we come to the final posts in this series, and I think you'll agree that the it goes out in style. I was hoping to do another volume for Jerry Garcia, but about the time of his last collaboration on the first set, he stopped playing on other artist's records, just writing and producing for them. Similarly, Keith Richards only guested on four records in the 15 years after his first volume ended, so that wasn't on the cards either. The extra-curricular activities of most of the other artists in the series only covered one volume each, so for the penultimate post we have an artist who had no such qualms about spreading himself too thinly, with a decade's worth of guest appearance from the sublime Richard Thompson. 

Track listing

01 Went Down To The Sea (from 'Street Singer' by Mick Softley 1971)
02 The Widow Of Westmorland's Daughter (from 'Jump At The Sun' by John Kirkpatrick 1972)
03 Shady Lady (from 'Bright Phoebus' by Lal And Mike Waterson 1972)
04 Elaine (from 'Urban Cowboy' by Andy Roberts 1973)
05 Momamma Scuba (from 'Fear' by John Cale 1974)
06 Targets (from 'Fantasies From A Corner Seat' by Harvey Andrews & Graham Cooper 1975)
07 Tennessee Blues (from 'Having A Wonderful Time' by Geoff Muldaur 1975)
08 Embroidered Butterflies (from 'Vanishing Trick' by Brian Patten 1976)
09 I Can't Dance (from 'Julie Covington' by Julie Covington 1978)
10 Promises (from 'Slide Away The Screen' by Ralph McTell 1979)
11 Family Tree (from 'Night Owl' by Gerry Rafferty 1979)
12 Old Soho (from 'Voices' by Murray Head 1981)  
13 Wat Ye Wha I Met The Streen (from 'Smiddyburn' by Dave Swarbrick 1981)
14 Old Horse (from 'Out Of The Cut' by Martin Carthy 1982)

Vocal on 'Embroidered Butterflies' by Linda Thompson. 

UB40 - The Earth Dies Screaming (1982)

UB40 are an English reggae/pop band, who were formed in December 1978 from friends who knew each other from various schools across Birmingham. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemeni parentage, and the name was selected in reference to the UB40 (Unemployment Benefit, Form 40) issued to people claiming unemployment benefits from the UK government's Department of Employment. The origins of what would become UB40 began in mid-1978, when guitarist Ali Campbell, together with the rhythm section of drummer Jimmy Brown and bassist Earl Falconer, began rehearsing charting reggae songs in addition to some of their own original compositions. They were soon joined by several of their friends, firstly percussionists Yomi Babayemi and Norman Hassan, and then saxophonist Brian Travers and keyboardist Jimmy Lynn. Robin Campbell, although initially reluctant to commit to forming a band with the others, was invited to join once again by his brother and bought a guitar with which to do so in December of that year. Once Robin had joined the others in their jamming sessions, the eight musicians formed a band, deciding on the name UB40 after a friend suggested it was an appropriate name given the unemployed status of all of the band members. This lineup lasted long enough to play a couple of shows in early 1979, before the band underwent its first lineup change in the form of Babyemi and Lynn leaving and Mickey Virtue joining in place of Lynnand, and a month later the classic lineup was rounded out with the inclusion of percussionist and vocalist Astro. The band's first single 'King'/'Food For Thought' was released on local independent label Graduate Records, reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, and this was followed by their debut album 'Signing Off' in 1980, with the title being a reference to them being able to sign off from claiming unemployment benefits. I've always thought the album was a superb piece of reggae, especially if you got it with the free 12" single, containing some outstanding extra tracks. These days, most people would know the band for their string of chart hits, many of them covers, such as 'Red Red Wine',' I Got You, Babe', and 'Can't Help Falling In Love', as well as self-penned songs like 'Here I Am' and 'Don't Break My Heart', but in their early days they took their music seriously and were up there with the best reggae bands of the early 80's, and as such they weren't averse to dubbing up their songs, even releasing the whole of their second album 'Present Arms' in a dub format. To show just how good they were back then, I've collected extended 12" versions of some of their early singles, and topped them off with an otherwise unreleased John Peel session track from 1982, 'Prince Baldhead Meets Gymslip And The School Girls At The Chemist'. If you only know the band from their pop/reggae chart hits then I think you'll be amazed at just how authentic they were when they started out. 

Track listing

01 The Earth Dies Screaming 
02 My Way Of Thinking
03 Food For Thought
04 Prince Baldhead Meets Gymslip And The School Girls At The Chemist
05 King
06 I Think It's Going To Rain Today
07 I Dream A Lie

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Truly Smith - Yours, Truly (1968)

Truly Smith was born Josephine Taylor in 1950, in Dallam in Warrington, in the North West of England, and her interest in music began when she worked behind the counter in Dawson's Record Shop. She also sang at the Club del Sol in Manchester, impressing the club's owner Harvey Livingstone, and in 1966 she auditioned for Noel Walker, who was an A&R man for Decca Records. Decca offered her a contract, and chose the name Truly Smith for her first recording with them, Tony Hatch's 'Love Is Me, Love Is You', which was backed with 'My Smile Is Just A Frown Turned Upside Down'. In June 1966 she released the Les Reed/Barry Mason ballad 'I Love Him', with the traditional 'Buttermilk Hill' on the flip, and this was followed by another ballad, this time from Italy, with 'You Are The Love Of My Life'/'The Merry-go-round Is Slowing You Down'. In 1966, the French Decca label decided to issue an E.P. of four songs, including both sides of her debut single, plus 'You Are The Love Of My Life' and 'He Belongs To Me'. This French release coincided with Smith having more exposure across Europe, including an appearance on 'The Dave Berry Show', which was screened on Belgian T.V. Her next UK single was in 1967, with Bacharach/David's 'Windows And Doors', coupled with 'Take A Broken Heart', and this was followed by another Motown song, 'I Wanna Go Back There Again', which was one of her finest records. Her final release on Decca was 'The Boy From Chelsea', with Goffin/King's 'Little Man With A Stick' on the b-side. Despite recording some fine records for the label, Decca didn't renew her contract, and so she signed to MGM Records for one final single in 1968, the Flett/Fletcher song 'This Is The First Time', backed with Mike Hurst's 'Taking Time Off'. This was to be her last single, after which she left the music industry to move into teaching, later becoming Headmistress of a school in Alnwick, Northumberland. As there isn't currently a comprehensive collection of the work of Truly Smith, then here it is. 

Track listing

01 Love Is Me, Love Is You (Single 1966)

02 My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down) (b-side of 'Love Is Me, Love Is You') 

03 I Love Him (single 1966)

04 Buttermilk Hill (b-side of 'I Love Him')

05 Windows And Doors (single 1967)

06 Take A Broken Heart (b-side of 'Windows And Doors')

07 You Are The Love Of My Life (single 1967)

08 The Merry-Go-Round Is Slowing You Down (b-side of 'You Are The Love Of My Life') 

09 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (single 1967)

10 I Wanna Go Back There Again (single 1967)

11 He Belongs To Me (b-side of 'Love Is Me, Love Is You' French EP 1967)

12 The Boy From Chelsea (single 1967)

13 Little Man With A Stick (b-side of 'The Boy From Chelsea')

14 This Is The First Time (single 1968)

15 Taking Time Off (b-side of 'This Is The First Time') 

For more information on the career of Truly Smith then check out this great site trulysmith.webs.com

The Shimmer Band - Sunkick (2017)

Bristol psyche-rockers The Shimmer Band were regarded as a must see live act in 2017, and were tipped for great things in 2018, with frontman Tom Newman going big on vocals, superb basslines, soaring melodies, euphoric guitars and a radio-friendly sound beloved by BBC 6 Music's Steve Lamacq. The band comprised Tom Newman (vocals), Babsy (lead guitar), Tom Kuras (bass), Tom Smith (synth, rhythm guitar), William Hatcher (drums), and were big fans of Creation Records and all of the artists involved with that label: Super Furry Animals, Ride, Primal Scream, Jesus And Mary Chain all had an influence on their sound, as well as a healthy dose of Madchester, with a Stone Roses vibe evident on some songs. They'd been around since 2014, and posted a few singles on Soundcloud in 2016 and 2017, but then everything went quiet, and nothing has been heard from them for three years now, so it looks like they didn't fulfill the promise that had been hoped for them. All we have left is this mini-album of the eight songs that they recorded during their lifetime, which is a shame because as you'll hear from these tracks, they had the potential to be a great band. 

Track listing

01 Sunkick
02 Shoot Me (Baby)
03 Jacknife And The Death Call
04 Freedom
05 What Is Mine
06 Freak City
07 Shadow Of The Shake
08 Ya Ya (Uh Oh)

Soulseek update

For some reason the Kinks post has had the most issues with people being unable to download from Soulseek, and yet I've seen loads of downloads by people who have managed it. KINKS AIWE works perfectly well, so I have no idea why it works for some people and not others. As I have said before, carry on trying for at least 24 hours, as I do sometime turn off the laptop when I go to bed if no-one is downloading anything, so try it again 7 to 8 hours later. If you still have no luck then leave a request with your email address in the comments. I am emailed a notification for each comment, and so can delete your comment straight away to protect your privacy. No need to ask first, just add your email to the request. I would suggest that everyone keeps trying to use Soulseek, as there should really be no reason why it works for some people and not others, and if we can get it working for everyone then it is a much safer option than adding links to the posts, and getting the blog deleted again.   
One thing that I have noticed in monitoring the downloads, is that some people seem to have extremely slow internet connections, taking up to four or five hours to download a few songs, and this does mean that everyone behind them in the queue has to wait until they are finished before their downloads can commence. I know it's frustrating, but be patient, and you will eventually get your music.   

The Kinks - Give The People What They Want (REJECTED) (1981)

'Give the People What They Want' was the nineteenth studio album by The Kinks, released in August 1981 in the US, and in January 1982 in Europe. It was delayed because Ray Davies wanted to produce a full-length video for the album, but financing fell through and this didn't happen. While working on the sessions, drastically different versions of the songs were taped and cut to acetate, showing what Davies thought the next album could/should be, but the people at Arista thought differently, and insisted that some of the tracks be edited down, and ended up seconds or even minutes shorter on the finished album. One of the most notable casualties was 'Around The Dial', with the released version running at 4:48, while the acetate version runs to nearly eight minutes, although a lot of those extra minutes are the intro of someone turning the radio dial. The title track is approximately a minute longer than the officially released version, and while a few are suspiciously close to the original versions ('Killer's Eyes', 'Back To Front', 'Add It Up'), a closer listen reveals that these are slightly different mixes. The acetate version of 'Entertainment' is the original 1981 mix and not the glossy version that was ultimately released on 'UK Jive' in 1989, and 'Bernadette' is not the version we know from 1982's 'State Of Confusion', but a much rawer version with Dave Davies on the lead vocals. There are two extra bonus tracks, with the version of 'Massive Reduction', the b-side of 1981's 'Better Things' single, being a completely different version to the one released in 1984 on 'Word Of Mouth', while 'Noise' was probably recorded some time in 1981 and canned, but ultimately released as a b-side to 'Come Dancing' in 1982. 

Track listing

01 Back To Front (Acetate Version)
02 Entertainment (Outtake; Original 1981 Mix)
03 Add It Up (Acetate Version)
04 Killer's Eyes (Acetate Version)
05 Give The People What They Want (Acetate Version)
06 Around The Dial (Acetate Version)
07 Yo Yo (Acetate Version)
08 Little Bit Of Abuse (Acetate Version)
09 Art Lover (Acetate Version)
10 Predictable (Acetate Version)
11 Bernadette (Acetate Version - lead vocal Dave Davies)
12 Destroyer (Acetate Version)
13 Massive Reductions (Original 1981 Version)
14 Noise (Outtake Recorded 1981)

Many thanks to Michael for letting me hear this one. 

Eric Clapton - ...and on guitar Vol. 2 (1976)

We're gradually coming to the end of this series, which started almost a year ago as a one-off post for Jimi Hendrix, and which has grown into what I hope can be viewed as a fairly comprehensive overview of the famous and the obscure guest appearances on record by some of the world's greatest guitarists. Eric Clapton was so prolific in the 70's that the first volume for him covered just the years 1968 to 1970, and so a second volume was always on the cards, and here it is.  

Track listing

01 Sitting On Top Of The World (from 'Sessions' by Howlin' Wolf 1971)
02 I'm Your Spiritual Breadman (from 'The Worst Of...' by Ashton Gardner & Dyke 1971)
04 Washita Love Child (from 'Jesse Davis' by Jesse Davis 1971)
04 Black John The Conqueror (from 'The Sun, Moon & Herbs' by Dr. John 1971)
05 The Scenery Has Slowly Changed (from 'Bobby Whitlock' by Bobby Whitlock 1972)
06 A Man Of Many Words (from 'Play The Blues' by Buddy Guy & Junior Wells 1972)
07 Comin' Home (from 'D & B Together' by Delaney And Bonnie 1972)
08 No-one Knows (from 'Music From Free Creek' 1973)
09 Sugar Sweet (from 'Burglar' by Freddie King 1974)
10 Eyesight To The Blind (from the 'Tommy' soundtrack album 1975)
11 Romance In Durango (from 'Desire' by Bob Dylan 1976)
12 Worrier (from 'Stingray' by Joe Cocker 1976)
13 This Be Called A Song (from 'Ringo's Rotogravure' by Ringo Starr 1976)
14 Kinky (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)

I've omitted a couple of tracks, not only for reasons of space, but also for the fact that Stephen Bishop, for example, has Clapton playing on his song 'Sinking In An Ocean Of Tears' and you can't even hear him (why would you ask one of the greatest ever guitarists to appear on your album and not give him a solo?), and although you can hear him perfectly well on Yoko Ono's 'Don't Worry, Kyoko', that's such an extreme listen that it really disrupted the flow of the album.  

Friday Brown - Girl Friday (1973)

Marian Stockley (aka Friday Brown) was born on 18 February 1947 in Manchester, the daughter of a headmaster in Little Hulton. At the age of 15 she was introduced to the Mike Taylor Combo group by one of its members, Wilf Lewis, a fellow student at Bolton College of Art, and she joined them for gigs at venues in Darwen and elsewhere in Lancashire, until they disbanded in 1965. She left college to be auditioned at a Preston club, and her first single was 'As He Once Was Mine', written by Wilf Lewis, which was released in 1964 under the name 'Marianne And Mike', with Mike Taylor. A second single followed with 'You're The Only One' later that year, but it was not until 1966 that she recorded again, this time as part of a group formed by Graham Gouldman (later of 10cc) and Harvey Lisberg, the creator of Herman's Hermits, which they named High Society. The band also included Peter Cowap, Christine Ebbrell and Keith Lawless, and they recorded the Gouldman-composed 'People Passing By', backed by Cowap's 'Star Of Eastern Street'. In January 1966 Marianne released her first single under the name of Friday Brown, with Gouldman's 'Getting Nowhere', backed with her own 'And (To Me He Meant Everything)' on the b-side, which was written with her sister Barbara Stockley. Her next single remains her most well-known, and '32nd Love Affair' soon became popular in the realms of Northern Soul. This song was also co-written with her sister, and Brown either wrote or co-wrote most of the b-sides of her singles. In 1966 she appeared several times on the Granada TV series 'Scene', and by 1970 she'd acquired her own television show 'A Girl Called Friday', directed by George Adams and shown on ITV Tyne Tees. She also appeared on 'The Golden Shot' and 'The Stanley Baxter Show', and it was said that she'd guested on just about every major television and radio show in Great Britain. Further TV appearances followed, with two shows for the BBC2 series 'One More Time', and a programme of her own called 'Reflections', with the guest group Fivepenny Piece, before being given her own six-week show 'Tuesday Night Is Friday Night' on BBC1. In July 1968 she took part in 10th European Song Cup contest at Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium, along with other entrants including Marty Wilde and Wayne Fontana, and she was seen by over 85 million viewers via Eurovision winning the final. She finally released her sole eponymous album in 1971, which comprised covers of contemporary songs, alongside two of Brown's own compositions. It was well-received, but remains her only long-player, as her TV career and live gigs took a lot of her time, but she did release one final single in 1973, which was a cover of 'Groovy Kind of Love', backed with her own ballad, 'Salford'. There's never been a compilation of her 60's singles, which is a major oversight, as with many of the songs being self-penned they won't be heard anywhere else, so here it is, showcasing yet another under-rated and overlooked British girl singer of the 60's. 

Track listing

01 Getting Nowhere (Gouldman) (single 1966)
02 And (To Me He Meant Everything) (Stockley/Stockley) (b-side of 'Getting Nowhere') 
03 32nd Love Affair (Stockley/Stockley) (single 1966)
04 Born A Woman (Sharp) (b-side of '32nd Love Affair') 
05 Ask Any Woman (Stewart/Langley) (single 1967)
06 The Outdoor Seminar (Stockley/Stockley) (b-side of 'Ask Any Woman')
07 Take What You Want (Stockley) (demo)
08 Stand By Your Man (Sherrill/Wynette) (single 1969)
09 I Want To Rain (Stockley/Stockley) (b-side of 'Stand By Man') 
10 God Bless The Child (Holliday/Herzog Jr.) (single 1969)
11 I Sing An Open Letter (Turn Around) (Stockley) (demo)
12 The Only One To Love Me (Trent/Hatch) (single 1971)
13 The Promise (Brown) (b-side of 'The Only One To Love Me') 
14 Shake A Hand (Carmichael) (single 1972)
15 Everything's Alright (Lloyd-Webber/Rice) (b-side of 'Shake A Hand') 
16 Groovy Kind Of Love (Vine/Bayer) (single 1973)
17 Salford (Brown) (b-side of 'Groovy Kind Of Love') 

For more information on the career of Friday Brown, check out this great site, which also includes many photos, rare audio tapes, the Marianne And Mike and High Society singles, and a complete unreleased album.

Donovan - Celtia (1990)

After the disappointment of 'One Night In Time' not being released, Donovan and his manager Pat Hehir decamped to Ireland in February 1990 to start a new project. Hehir and Donovan went into Sulan studios, in southern Ireland, with a bunch of magnificent but not very known musicians, although they did include David Gilmour, Sharon Shannon, Anthony Thistlewait, and Nigel Kennedy, and just like in the old times, it took them just eight days to record the whole album. The songs were produced by Hehir, who had recorded several of Donovan's concerts for Mellow Records throughout the 1980's. The songs recorded during the 'Celtia' sessions were written at various stages throughout Donovan's life -  'The Ferryman's Daughter' was originally written and recorded for 'Moon In Capricorn', another unreleased album whose sessions dated from 1968 and 1969. 'Everlasting Sea' was reportedly written during the sessions for 'The Hurdy Gurdy Man' and later appeared on Donovan's 1996 album 'Sutras'. 'Lover O Lover' was originally released on Donovan's 1981 album 'Love Is Only Feeling' and later recorded and released on his 2004 album 'Beat Cafe'. While it is not publicly known why 'Celtia' was not officially released, it has been speculated that Donovan and  Hehir had disagreements about the running of Donovan's business affairs, but it did appear in 2002 on the (allegedly fictitious) Durga Records, and was made available on Patrick Hehir's 'Donovan's Friends' website, although it was quickly withdrawn, and that release of the album is now viewed as a bootleg.

Track listing 

01 Watchin' The Sun Go Down  
02 Moon Over Clare
03 Glasgow Town
04 The Ferryman´s Daughter
05 Ghost Of Pagan Song
06 Where Are You Now
07 Living On Love
08 Madrigalinda
09 Lake Isle Of Innisfree
10 I Love You
11 Wahine
12 Down By The Harbour
13 Against Your Will
14 Rock Me
15 Lover O Lover
16 Awakening Year
17 Everlasting Sea

RedHook - Only Bones (2020)

RedHook hail from Sydney, Australia, and have been around since 2017, consisting of guitarist Craig Wilkinson, bassist Maverick Burnett, drummer Alex Powys and vocalist Emmy Mack. They released their first single 'Minute On Fire' in 2018 to positive reviews across Australia's top national and community radio stations. Their second single 'Turn Up The Stereotype' introduced new drummer Dan McFeeters, and following that single they seemed to shift from one genre of music to the next, going from goth to glam, emo, pop punk to indie among others. Third single 'Paralysed' heralded yet another change in drummer, with Alex Powys joining their ranks, and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of 'Guerrilla Radio' by Rage Against The Machine, they covered the song and released a music video for it. In 2019 they released 'Fake' as their latest single, and it was this which alerted me to the band, as it's mix of rap/rock/electro stood out among the generic indie that I was listening to at the time. Two more singles have followed since then, and if we collect them all together we have a perfectly acceptable mini-album which should bring the band to a wider audience while we wait for a proper record from them. 

Track listing

01 Minute On Fire
02 Turn Up The Stereotype
03 Paralysed
04 Only Bones
05 Fake
06 Dead Walk
07 Guerrilla Radio
08 Cure 4 Psycho

Deep Purple - Days May Come And Days May Go (1975)

During May 1975 Deep Purple were based in California, and were frequenting Pirate Sound Studios, while searching for a new guitarist to replace the recently departed Richie Blackmore. One morning Tommy Bolin walked into the studio, strapped on his guitar and started to play, with David Coverdale later saying 'We all just stood there in amazement', and the whole band were so bowled over that they all decided that they just had to play with him. The new lineup was now complete, and over the next two months the band spent hours jamming, improvising and writing, and it's from a couple of hours of these jams, which were taped and have survived for over 20 years, that this album is made up. Some songs were later re-recorded for the 'Come Taste The Band' album, and so I've omitted those so that I can include the otherwise unrecorded pieces (apart from a Purple version of 'Say You Love Me' which appeared on David Coverdale's 1978 'Northwinds' album), and I've edited a couple of the longer tracks to a more concise length. The sound quality is excellent, and although they are termed 'jams', these are all fully formed songs, with none of the unfocused instrumental noodling that usually occurs in a jam session. 

Track listing

01 Owed To G (Bolin) 
02 If You Love Me Woman (Bolin, Coverdale)
03 The Orange Juice Song (Coverdale, Lord)
04 I Got Nothing For You (Bolin, Coverdale, Hughes, Lord) 
05 Statesboro' Blues (Blind Willie McTell) 
06 Dance To The Rock & Roll (Blackmore, Coverdale, Hughes, Lord, Paice)
07 The Last Of The Long Jams (Bolin, Coverdale, Hughes, Lord, Paice) 

08 Say You Love Me (Coverdale)
09 Pirate Blues (Bolin, Coverdale, Hughes, Lord, Paice) 

Prince - ...and on guitar (2015)

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 7, 1958, the son of jazz singer Mattie Della and pianist and songwriter John Lewis Nelson, and both he and his sister Tyka developed a keen interest in music, which was encouraged by their father, writing his first song 'Funk Machine' on his father's piano when he was seven. When he was 10 his parents divorced, with his mother remarrying to Hayward Baker, with whom she had a son named Omarr. Prince had a fraught relationship with Omarr, to the extent that it caused him to repeatedly switch homes, sometimes living with his father and sometimes with his mother and stepfather. After a brief period of living with his father, who bought him his first guitar, Prince moved into the basement of his neighbours, the Anderson family, after his father kicked him out, and it was there that he befriended the Anderson's son, Andre, who later collaborated with Prince and became known as André Cymone. In 1973 Prince met songwriter and producer Jimmy Jam, and impressed him with his musical talent, early mastery of a wide range of instruments, and work ethic. In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin Shauntel, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry, hiring André Cymone and Prince to record tracks. Willie wrote the songs, and Prince contributed guitar tracks, with Prince and Willie co-writing one song, 'Just Another Sucker'. The band recorded some songs which have since been re-issued as an album many times under different titles, including 'Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings'. 

In 1976, Prince created a demo tape with producer Chris Moon, but he was unable to secure a recording contract, so Moon brought the tape to Owen Husney, a Minneapolis businessman, who signed the 19 year-old Prince to a management contract, and helped him create a demo at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis, which generated interest from Warner Bros. Records, A&M Records, and Columbia Records. With the help of Husney, Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Bros, who gave him creative control for three albums, and let him retain his publishing rights. Husney and Prince then left Minneapolis and moved to Sausalito, California, where Prince's first album 'For You' was recorded and released in 1978, with Prince writing, producing, arranging, composing, and playing all 27 instruments on the recording, except for the song 'Soft and Wet', whose lyrics were co-written with Moon. In 1979, Prince created a band with André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, and Bobby Z. on drums, and released the 'Prince' album that year, and despite the record company thinking he needed more time to develop, the album hit the top five spot on the Billboard R&B/Black Albums chart, and the single 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' sold over a million copies. 

The same year he made the first of what was to become many guest appearances, although the following decade was to be particularly busy for him, and it was to be 1989 before he really started regularly guesting on other artist's albums. In 1980 he released the album 'Dirty Mind', which contained sexually explicit material, following this the next year with 'Controversy'. In 1981, Prince formed a side project band called The Time, who released four albums between 1981 and 1990, with Prince writing and performing most of the instrumentation and backing vocals, and at the same time releasing his own four-million selling album '1999', along with a string of hit singles, being the start of his world-domination over the next two decades. When he was asked to contribute to records by other musicians, it wasn't always by famous artists, and even into the 90's he was adding his guitar to tracks by Eric Leeds and Diamond And Pearl, as well as Kid Creole & The Coconuts and Mavis Staples. Similarly, in the 2000's he was guesting with Common and Rhonda Smith, as well as Stevie Wonder. In 2004 he was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame, playing in the all-star band's version of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', alongside Tom Petty, Stevie Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others, and performing a stunning, un-rehearsed guitar solo at the end of the song. Other guest appearance were fairly sparse after that, with his final one before his death in 2016 being on Judith Hill's 'Back In Time' album. Although it might seem that more music has been released since his death than there was while he was alive, these guest appearance are generally over-looked as they tended not to be with the superstars that he hung out with, but lesser-known artists who would appreciate his contribution to their music. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Fast Freddie The Roller Disco King (single by The Imperials 1979)
02 Got To Be Something Here (from 'The Lewis Connection' by Lewis Connection 1979)
03 Love Song (from 'Like A Prayer' by Madonna 1989) 
04 The Sex Of It (from 'Private Waters In The Great Divide' by Kid Creole 1990)
05 The Dopamine Rush (from 'Times Squared' by Eric Leeds 1991) 
06 51 Hours (single by Diamond And Pearl 1992)
07 Melody Cool (from 'The Voice' by Mavis Staples 1993)
08 Why Should I Love You (from 'The Red Shoes' by Kate Bush 1993) 

Disc Two
01 Star *69 (PS With Love) (from 'Electric Circus' by Common 2002)
02 Purple House (from 'Power Of Soul: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix' 2004)
03 So What The Fuss (from 'A Time 2 Love' by Stevie Wonder 2005) 
04 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame induction concert 2004) 
05 Time (from 'RS2' by Rhonda Smith 2006)
06 Raise Up (from 'Raise Up' by Larry Graham & Graham Central Station 2012) 
07 Givin' Em What They Love (from 'The Electric Lady' by Janelle Monáe 2013)
08 All Day, All Night  (from 'Back In Time' by Judith Hill 2015)

Various Artists - Glass Piano - A Tribute to Philip Glass (2017)

I'm a huge fan of the American composer and pianist Philip Glass, having first discovered him from his 'Glassworks' and 'The Photographer' albums in the 80's. I love repetition in music, which is why Krautrock is another favourite genre of mine, and over the years I've collected around 30 of his albums on vinyl, CD and digitally, covering his ensemble pieces, film soundtracks, operas, classical works, and collaborations with artists such as David Bowie and Ravi Shankar. I'll be the first to admit that he is very much an acquired taste, and you either love him or just don't get it, but I can play a piece such as 'Music In Twelve Parts', which is bascially just a couple of notes repeated over 40 minutes, and really get something out of it. In 1989 he released his 'Solo Piano' album, which comprised seven tracks, five of which were titled 'Metamorphosis One - Five', and which were inspired by the 1915 novella 'The Metamorphosis' by Franz Kafka. While all pieces were composed in 1988, some were written for a staging of 'Metamorphosis', while others were for the 1988 documentary film 'The Thin Blue Line', directed by Errol Morris. 'Mad Rush' was written in 1979 and is based on an earlier organ piece, and the title of the final composition is a reference to Allen Ginsberg's 1966 poem 'Wichita Vortex Sutra', and was composed, in collaboration with Ginsberg, for both a reading and recording of the poem. Some of the pieces on the album might be familiar to you, even if you didn't know who they are by, as 'Metamorphosis One' is played in an episode of 'Battlestar Galactica' by Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, and is also used in the series finale of 'Person Of Interest'. 'Metamorphosis Two' formed the basis of one of the main musical themes in the film 'The Hours', and is also the song that Pearl Jam use as their introduction music to concerts. Many pianists have recorded this music subsequently, and so as a way of easing you into the music of this exceptional and prolific composer, I've assembled interpretations by other artists of all seven tracks from 'Solo Piano'. 
Sia's 'Breathe Me', as used in the TV series 'Six Feet Under', takes portions of a replayed 'Metamorphosis One' as its piano bed, while world-famous harpist Lavinia Meijer has covered Glass's music before, and here gives a stunning interpretation of 'Metamorphosis Two'. You wouldn’t necessarily think that Dev Hynes, a guy known for sensual and well-mannered R&B, would be first choice to nail a cover of 'Metamorphosis Three', but Blood Orange did just that live on Sirius XMU. Bruce Brubaker is one of the most well-regarded interpreters of Philip Glass's discography, and in 2015 he released an album of Glass covers, some of which were electronic reimaginings, and the Biblo remix of 'Metamorphosis Four' is a sparse, haunting take on it. Some fans have even programmed Glass's music on Garage Band, in order to teach a novice how to play it, and Synthesia's take on 'Metamorphosis Five' is a good example. As 'Mad Rush' was based on one of Glass's own earlier organ pieces, then it's fitting for Adrian Foster to attempt it on a church organ, and to close the album we have Branka Parlic, a concert pianist known for re-imagining the works of minimalist composers, with her interpretation of 'Wichita Vortex Sutra'. It's a lovely end to this tribute to one of the most influential composers of the 20th Century, and while I know this post won't be for everyone, I hope you trust this blog enough by now to know that I wouldn't post anything that doesn't have some merit in the world of music.   

Track listing

01 Metamorphosis One - Sia ('Breathe Me')
02 Metamorphosis Two - Lavinia Meijer
03 Metamorphosis Three - Dev Hynes/Blood Orange
04 Metamorphosis Four - Bruce Brubaker (Biblo Remix)
05 Metamorphosis Five - Synthesia
06 Mad Rush - Adrian Foster

07 Wichita Vortex Sutra - Branka Parlic

Selections chosen by Andrew Winistorfer of Vinyl Me, Please magazine.

If you are completely unfamiliar with the work of Philip Glass, then your best introduction is these two beautiful pieces from his 'Glassworks' album, 'Rubric' and 'Facades'.

search   various aiwe

Lesley Duncan - Just For The Boy (1970)

Lesley Duncan was born in Stockton-on-Tees on August 12 1943 into a musical family, with her mother playing piano in clubs while her grandfather sang in the chapel choir. Lesley quit school just before her fifteenth birthday and soon after left home, traveling around the country and working various jobs, including waitressing in Scarborough and mother's helper in Wimbledon, and while waitressing in London in 1963, her brother Jimmy approached her with a few songs he had written, and invited Lesley to join him as songwriters. She and Jimmy walked into publishers Francis, Day & Hunter and sang their songs unaccompanied, and the pair were given a contract for a year with Jimmy receiving ten pounds a week and Lesley seven pounds. She had never sung publicly anywhere but made demo recordings of her songs and her manager took one of them to Parlophone, who signed her to a recording contract on the strength of her demo, and with no audition. The demo was 'I Want A Steady Guy', which became her first single, while the second Parlophone release, 'Tell Him'/'You Kissed Me Boy', was credited to Lesley and Jimmy, even though Jimmy had nothing to do with the writing of them. During this period, she also appeared in the 1963 film 'What A Crazy World' with Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, Alan Klein and Susan Maughan. She left Parlophone due to difficulties with producer Ron Richards, as she had wanted to record a cover of Doris Troy's 'Just One Look', as she was sure of its hit potential, but was told it would never be a hit. A few weeks later Richards produced the single for The Hollies, and it reached number two in the UK Charts. She then moved to Mercury Records, and her first self-composed single for them, 'When My Baby Cries' was later covered by other artists. 

Three more Mercury releases followed, with the final 'Hey Boy' including Dusty Springfield and Madeline Bell on backing vocals, and with the addition of Kiki Dee, all four of them would eventually feature as backing vocalists on an endless number of recordings. Following her time with Mercury, she had a brief period with RCA, releasing two singles, 'Lullaby'/'I Love You, I Love You' and the Goffin/King standard 'A Road To Nowhere', backed with her own 'Love Song', which became one of her most famous songs, with over 160 recorded versions of it. While working on sessions with Elton John for his 'Tumbleweed Connection' album, he asked to do one of her songs, and she suggested 'Love Song', which he recorded with Duncan playing acoustic guitar and singing backing vocals. Around 1971 she moved to CBS and released her first album, which was in a much more folky, introspective style than her 60's singles, and was the beginning of the second phase of her career, along the way becoming one of the UK's best-loved and most respected singer/songwriters. As so often happens, this acclaim didn't materialise until after her untimely death at the age of 66, with her albums much more popular now than they were on their release. To show that her song-writing talent was there right from the beginning, I've collected most of those 60's singles, including the original take of 'Love Song' complete with sound effects, for an album that celebrates the start of her burgeoning career.    

Track listing

01 I Want A Steady Guy (Lesley Duncan) ‎(single 1963)
02 Moving Away (Len Praverman) (b-side of 'I Want A Steady Guy')
03 You Kissed Me Boy (Jimmy & Lesley Duncan) (single 1964)
04 When My Baby Cries ‎(Lesley Duncan) (single 1964)
05 Did It Hurt? (Lesley Duncan) (b-side of 'When My Baby Cries')
06 Only The Lonely And Me (Lesley Duncan) (single 1964)
07 Just For The Boy ‎(Koppolman/Rubin) (single 1965)
08 See That Guy (Lesley Duncan) (b-side of 'Just For The Boy')
09 Run To Love (Lesley Duncan) (single 1965) 
10 Hey Boy ‎(Lesley Duncan) (single 1966)
11 I Go To Sleep (Ray Davies) (b-side of 'Hey Boy')
12 Lullaby (Lesley Duncan) (single 1968)
13 I Love You, I Love You (Lesley Duncan) (b-side of 'Lullaby') ‎
14 Sing Children Sing (Lesley Duncan) (single 1969)
15 Exactly Who You Are (Lesley Duncan) (b-side of 'Sing Children Sing')
16 A Road To Nowhere (Goffin/King) (single 1969)
17 Love Song (Lesley Duncan) (single 1970)

Parkville - The Peculiar Aftermath (2020)

Parkville are a folk-pop trio from Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, with Liam, Michael and Dylan starting out in 2016 busking on the streets of Melbourne, with a driving Mumford & Sons-style backbone embellished with rich three-part vocal harmonies and soaring violin riffs. Their first EP was released in 2108, and received Australia-wide airplay throughout the year, leading to the release of two more singles in 2019, with 'Rooks' and 'Walkabout' catching the attention of critics who praised the bands vibrance and energy, and their eclectic instrumental arrangements. 'The Softest Murder' EP emerged in late 2019, including those two earlier singles, while 'Holly' was released last Christmas, bolstering their catalogue to now have enough songs to make up their debut album. I'm glad that Parkville are still around, as a number of bands from this series have now ceased to exist, so watch out for an actual album from these guys at some point.  

Track listing

01 Brother
02 Into The Sun
03 All My Years
04 Chicago
05 Shoes
06 Clearer
07 Brando
08 Shining
09 Reflections
10 The Peculiar Aftermath
11 Walkabout
12 Rooks
13 Come Around
14 Holly

The Verve - Original Insanity (1997)

Even though there had been enough left-over music from the 'Urban Hymns' sessions to provide b-sides for all the singles taken from it (see previous post), back in 2017 some additional songs that weren't included in the deluxe 20th anniversary edition of 'Urban Hymns' made their way onto YouTube. All of the tracks (uploaded between September 2nd - 5th 2017) appear to have been recorded during the same sessions that resulted in 'Urban Hymns', and it was speculated that one of the band members didn't want them included. A note on one of the video's descriptions stated that the uploader 'got this a while back from a friend who works at distribution at UMC', the label that put out the reissue. There were 11 songs in total, many of them long-speculated unreleased songs including 'All Ways Are Maybes', 'Wednesday Madness', 'Jalfrezi', 'Original Insanity', 'King Riff 2', 'Tina Turner', and 'Sweet & Sour'. There’s also a studio version of 'Oh Sister', and alternate mixes and early demos of 'This Time', 'Neon Wilderness', and 'Sonnet'. I grabbed them as soon as I saw them, although I believe that they are still up on Youtube, but here they are compiled into an album for your listening pleasure.

Track listing 

01 Sweet & Sour
02 Wednesday Madness
03 Neon Wilderness (Idea)
04 Jalfrezi
05 This Time (BeatNick Mix)
06 Tina Turner
07 Oh Sister
08 Sonnet (Acoustic Demo)
09 Original Insanity
10 All Ways Are Maybes
11 King Riff 2