Crystal Jacqueline - Grantchester Meadows (2022)

Jacqueline Bourne was born in Wiltshire, England, and from an early age she developed a love and a talent for music, busking around Bath and playing various events and shows around the region which gained praise and much valuable experience. In 2010 she recorded her first album 'Heal Yourself' as Crystal Jacqueline, which was all originals by Icarus Peel save 'Circle In The Sand', and the style is more mainstream than her current work, bringing to mind Stevie Nicks and Bonnie Rait, although there were some signs of her future path, with 'Lying In The Rain' and 'Circle In The Sand' both pointing to a more ethereal sound. In 2012 she joined The Honey Pot with Peel, alongside Iain Crawford, John Wyatt and Wayne Fraquet, and they released their debut album 'To The Edge Of The World' that year, with one of the major highlights being her performance of 'Paper Garden', a drone like contemplation of horticulture in the sky. Her first recording for the Fruits De Mer label, which now releases all her work, was a cover of 'Cousin Jane' by The Troggs, and both Jacqueline and The Honey Pot have always included well-chosen cover versions on their recordings. Having recently invested in the double 7" vinyl 'The Hobbit House Collective' on the Fruits De Mer label, and been highly impressed by her take on Led Zeppelin's 'The Battle Of Evermore', I thought I'd collect some of her best covers for an album that not only showcases both her vocal talents and her great backing band, but also shows some of her influences, which she repays superbly with this tribute to them. 

Track listing 

01 Night Of The Long Grass (The Troggs)
02 Feast Of Stephen (Mike Heron)
03 I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night (The Electric Prunes)
04 Sally Go Round The Roses (The Jaynetts)
05 In My Chair (Status Quo)
06 Grantchester Meadows (Pink Floyd)
07 Play With Fire (The Rolling Stones)
08 The Battle Of Evermore (Led Zeppelin)
09 A Fairy Tale (Second Hand)
10 Morning Dew (Tim Rose)

The cover uses a photo by Elena Jo Melanson

Tammy St. John - Concerning Love (1969)

Judith Coster was born in Hornchurch, Essex, and is the sister of the famed operatic mezzo-soprano Janet Coster. Judith was gifted with a voice whch had a deep, soulful delivery that could convincingly have come from the other side of the Atlantic, and at the age of 14 she was signed to Pye Records, who released a number of singles by her under the name of Tammy St. John. Although they didn't make much of an impression when they were released in the 60's, a few of her records were later embraced as part of the Northern Soul boom, with 'Life And Soul Of The Party', 'He's The One For Me',  'Nobody Knows What's Going on in My Mind', and 'Stay Together Young Lovers' all became vastly expensive to find as original copies were snapped up by DJ's. Her third single was the Fangette Willett barnstomer 'Dark Shadows And Empty Hallways', and this atmospheric track is in keeping with the dramatic sound of singers such as Dusty Springfield, but it also has elements of the girl groups, particularly the teenage mini operas being recorded by the Shangri-La’s. St John's voice was sophisticated and strong, a bit like a young Sandie Shaw, and the song comes across as both sophisticated and mature rather than simply self absorbed teen melodrama, especially considering that it's sung by a 15-year old girl. St. John only released five singles during her short career, and so this is a rather short album, which was the original reason that I held back from posting it, but in the end I decided that these songs are too good to keep hidden, and so this is the first of a few of these shorter albums to be posted in this series. 

Track listing

01 Boys (single 1964)
02 Hey Hey Hey Hey (b-side of 'Boys')
03 He's The One For Me (single 1965)
04 I'm Tired Just Lookin' At You (b-side of 'He's The One For Me')
05 Dark Shadows And Empty Hallways (single 1965)
06 I Musn't Cry (b-side of 'Dark Shadows And Empty Hallways')
07 Nobody Knows What's Goin' On (In My Mind But Me) (single 1966)
08 Stay Together Young Lovers (b-side of 'Nobody Knows What's Goin' On')  
09 Life And Soul Of The Party (previously unreleased 1967)
10 Concerning Love (single 1969)

Alvin Stardust - The Danger Zone (1977)

In 1973 a single was released by 'Alvin Stardust', with 'My Coo Ca Choo' soon sitting at number 2 in the UK singles chart, faring even better in Australia, where it topped the charts for seven weeks. The song was written, sung, and recorded by Peter Shelley, using the glam rock pseudonym of Alvin Stardust, and although he had already appeared on the Lift Off television programme under the Alvin Stardust persona, Shelley had no desire to take his own stage creation any further than that. If the act were to become more than just a one-hit wonder, then a "face" was required to be, and perform as, Alvin Stardust. The ideal person, in Shelley's opinion, was Bernard Jewry, who at the time was performing in small clubs under the name Shane Fenton, and who had been suggested to Shelley by his manager Hal Carter. Bernard William Jewry was born 27 September 1942 in Muswell Hill, and made his first stage debut in pantomime at the age of four. In the early 1960's he joined the band Shane Fenton and the Fentones, who had recorded a demo tape and mailed it in to a BBC programme with the hope of being picked to appear on television. While awaiting a reply from the BBC, the band's 17-year-old singer Shane Fenton (real name Johnny Theakston) died as a result of the rheumatic fever he had suffered in childhood, following which the rest of the band (guitarists Jerry Wilcock and Mick Eyre, bassist Graham George Squires and drummer Tony Hinchcliffe) decided to break up. Unexpectedly, they received a letter from the BBC inviting them to come to London to audition in person for the programme, and Theakston's mother asked the band to stay together, and to keep its name in honour of her son's memory. Jewry, who was a roadie with them at the time, was asked to join the band and to use the Shane Fenton name, and following the BBC audition the combo had a few hits in the UK with 'I'm A Moody Guy', 'Walk Away', 'It's All Over Now', and their biggest hit 'Cindy's Birthday'. 

After The Fentones broke us, Jewry disappeared from the spotlight for a decade, working in music management and performing at small venues with his first wife Iris Caldwell, the sister of Rory Storm. He was contacted by Shelley and agreed to become the face of Alvin Stardust, and appeared on BBC Television's Top of the Pops, lip-synching to 'My Coo Ca Choo'  just as the record entered the UK Top 30, before finally reaching number 2. Because of the speed with which this substitution happened, the b-side of 'My Coo Ca Choo', 'Pull Together', is another Shelley composition which was sung by him rather than Jewry, although all future songs were sung by him. Shelley followed up 'My Coo Ca Choo' with a string of hits for Stardust, including 'Jealous Mind', which went to number 1 in the UK in March 1974, 'You, You, You', 'Red Dress' and 'Good Love Can Never Die', amassing seven Top Ten entries, in a chart career lasting almost 25 years. He was also part of the Green Cross Code road safety campaign Children's Heroes in 1976, and released a tie-in song on the b-side of his 1975 single 'Move It'. The glam-rock hits dried up around 1977, but he carried on writing and recording right up to his death in October 2014. Alvin Stardust was one the best and most memorable of the glam rock stars of the early 70's, holding his own against Slade, The Sweet, Suzi Quatro, T Rex, and The Glitter Band, and this collection of non-album singles and rare b-sides should bring back memories of a short but much-loved genre that brought a touch of glamour to the pop charts in the 70's. As a special bonus the albums ends with a song written and recorded by Jewry in 2009, which was to have been included on the jazz-rock album that he was working on at the time, but which remains unreleased to this day.   

Track listing

01 Pull Together (b-side of 'My Coo Ca Choo' 1973)
02 Roadie Roll On (b-side of 'Tell Me Why' 1974)
03 Come On! (b-side of 'You You You' 1974)
04 Good Love Can Never Die (single version 1974)
05 The Danger Zone (b-side of 'Good Love Can Never Die')
06 Little Darlin' (b-side of 'Red Dress' 1974)
07 Be Smart Be Safe (The Green Cross Code Song) (b-side of 'Move It' 1975)
08 Sweet Cheatin' Rita (single 1975)
09 Here I Go Again (b-side of 'It's Better To Be Cruel Than Be Kind')
10 The Word Is Out (single 1976)
11 No Parking Space (b-side of 'The Word Is Out')
12 Sweet Little Rock 'n' Roller (single 1977)
13 Save Your Love (b-side of 'Sweet Little Rock 'n' Roller')
14 Growin' Up (single 1977)
15 A Hobo's Life (b-side of 'Growin' Up')

16 Your Dad (previously unreleased 2009) 

Kanye West - Turbo Grafx 16 (2016)

In 2016 Kanye West tweeted that his next album after 'The Life Of Pablo' would be called 'Turbo Grafx 16', as it was one of his favourite gaming systems when he was a kid, with 'Blazing Lazers' being a particular favourite. West was, of course, talking about the TurboGrafx 16, which was the first console released in the 16-bit era in 1989, and was joint-developed by Hudson Soft and NEC. The console was best known for the Bonk series, as well as having one of the best Castlevania games, 'Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood'. West's favourite game for the console, Blazing Lazers, was actually a pretty decent space shoot-'em-up that features some decent beats, and it was hoped that we would hear these with West rapping over them. The album was due to appear in the summer of 2016, and work was done on it in the early part of the year, with some recordings appearing on Japanese bootlegs with titles which appended the names of TG16 games to the titles, but these are generally just sub-par instrumentals. Most of the other leaked tracks are pretty standard West pieces, and rumour has it that these were scrapped when his next album was suddenly changed to 'Love Everyone', which was in turn scrapped completely and a full new album recorded in just a few months, to be released as 'Ye' in 2018. For this reconstruction I've ignored the Japanese bootlegs, as the general consensus is that the best track-listing is the one I've used here, so enjoy yet another unreleased album from this immensely prolific artist. 

Track listing

01 Can't Look in My Eyes/
02 Can U Be? (feat. Travis Scott)
03 All Eyes On Ye
04 Hold Tight
05 Euro2 (Switch Hands) (feat. A$AP Rocky)
06 Only Ye (Make You Love Me)
07 Face Down (feat. Quavo & Lil Yachty)
08 Jealous
09 Tongues (Interlude)
10 Rich Nigga Drunk
11 Bad Night (Capri Sun) (feat. Young Thug)
12 No Reason

Holiday time!

I'm heading off for two weeks in the sun tomorrow, so the blog will be on hold for a couple of weeks. You can still download all the albums from Yandex via the link to the right, but I'm not leaving the laptop on for two weeks so Soulseek will be out of action until I get back. Take the time to go back through the 1,100 albums that I've posted so far on the blog and see if you missed anything the first time round, and then you can get it when I'm back. 

See you soon

The Wannadies - As If We Care (2002) UPDATE

I've just noticed that this post from last December was a bit of a mess, as I'd meant to title it 'As If We Care', rather than 'As If I Care', but despite that I'd tagged all the tracks as 'Want More' anyway, so I've updated the whole thing. I've also re-done the cover, and at the same time toned down the colours, which were a bit garish. The folder is updated in Soulseek and Yandex, so download the new file if you like, although the music itself hasn't changed. 

Track listing

01 Everybody Loves Me (b-side of 'You And Me Song' re-issue 1996)

02 We Were Sitting In A Car On Our Way From Mold To Bath As A Thunderstorm 

                                                            With Hail Stones Passed (b-side of 'Friends' 1996)

03 Just Can't Get Enough (b-side of 'Hit' 1997)

04 (Yeah Yeah Yeah) In Your Face (b-side of 'Hit' 1997)

05 As If You Care (b-side of 'Hit' 1997)

06 I Like You A Lalalala Lot (b-side of 'You And Me Song' EP 1997)

07 What's The Fuss (bonus 7" with 'Bagsy Me' album 1997)

08 Are You Exclusive? (b-side of 'Shorty' 1997)

09 Taking The Easy Way Out (b-side of 'Shorty' 1997)

10 Princess Spoon (b-side of 'Yeah' 1999)

11 After All (b-side of 'Yeah' 1999)

12 Trick Me (b-side of 'Yeah' 1999)

13 Love And Hate (b-side of 'Big Fan' 2000)

14 Fabian's Space Disco (b-side of 'Skin' 2002

Norah Jones - Picture In A Frame (2002)

When 22 year old Norah Jones submitted her debut album 'Come Away With Me' to her record label in 2002 it was rejected, as they were expecting something more along the lines of the demos that they'd heard from their newest young signing. Jones was a big fan of Cassandra Wilson's 'New Moon Daughter' album, and wanted a similar sound on her first record, so initial recording sessions had been carried out at Allaire Studios in Woodstock, New York with a dream collective of musicians, including Rob Burger on accordion and organ, guitarists Bill Frisell and Kevin Breit, bassist Lee Alexander, and Brian Blade and Kenny Wollesen on drums, all under the direction of producer Craig Street, who had produced Wilson's album. Jones still rates some of those early recordings, and thinks that they could have easily been on the album with a little spit and polish, but in the end most of the songs were scrapped, and just under half of them were re-recorded with the label's suggestion of producer, Arif Mardin. The version of the album that was eventually released cherry-picked the best moments from three different sources, with 'Don’t Know Why' and 'Turn Me On' coming from demo sessions recorded when she secured a demo contract with Blue Note, while 'Seven Years', 'Feelin' The Same Way' and 'The Long Day Is Over' came from the 21 songs recorded for the Street-produced set, and nine songs were recorded or re-recorded with Mardin, who added a burnished veneer of sophistication without subtracting from the freshness that had characterised the demos. When 'Come Away With Me' was released in 2002 it kick-started a career that was to fascinate the world, and introduce one of the great voices of our time. The album continued to gain popularity, eventually becoming a global phenomenon, reaching the top of the charts in 20 countries, selling nearly 30 million copies and scoring eight Grammy Awards in 2003. With the recent release of the 20th Anniversary box set, we can now hear most of those Street-produced sessions, and get an idea of what the album could have sounded like if the record company hadn't decided to go for a smoother sound with Mardin at the helm.   

Track listing

01 Picture In A Frame
02 Peace
03 What Am I To You
04 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
05 Come Away With Me
06 A Little At A Time
07 Turn Me On
08 What Would I Do
09 I've Got To See You Again
10 Painter Song
11 One Flight Down
12 Nightingale
13 Fragile

Linda Ronstadt - Sings Jimmy Webb (2010)

Although Linda Ronstadt was a late-comer to the songs of Jimmy Webb, not recording her first one until 1982, and therefore not giving us her interpretation of the classics 'Galveston', 'Wichita Lineman' or 'MacArthur Park', she has been cited by Webb himself as producing some of the best versions of his songs. Linda Maria Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona, on 15 July 1946, and was raised on the family's 10-acre ranch with her siblings Peter, Michael, and Gretchen. Establishing her professional career in the mid-1960's at the forefront of California's emerging folk rock and country rock movements, she joined forces with Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards and became the lead singer of a folk-rock trio, the Stone Poneys. Later, as a solo artist, she released 'Hand Sown ... Home Grown' in 1969, which has been described as the first alternative country record by a female recording artist. Her second solo album 'Silk Purse' was released in March 1970, and was recorded entirely in Nashville, and produced her first solo hit single, with 'Long, Long Time' earning her first Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance/Female. Further albums followed in the 70's, and with the release of 1976's 'Heart Like A Wheel', she gained her first of four number 1 Country albums, and the record's first single 'You're No Good' climbed to number 1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box Pop singles charts. By the end of the decade Ronstadt was lauded as the most successful female rock star in the world, and by 1979 she'd collected eight gold, six platinum, and four multi-platinum certifications for her albums, an unprecedented feat at the time. In 1982 she released the album 'Get Closer', which was primarily a rock album with some country and pop music as well, and it featured her first cover of a Jimmy Webb song, including 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress' and 'Easy For You To Say', with the latter becoming a surprise Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the spring of 1983. Later that year she enlisted the help of 62-year-old conductor Nelson Riddle, and recorded the first of three albums celebrating the Great American Songbook, with 'What's New' giving her another hit record, and showing that she wasn't just a country or rock singer. In 1989, she released a mainstream pop album and several popular singles, with 'Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind' becoming one of her most successful albums, helped no doubt by the inclusion of four Jimmy Webb songs. In 1993 she released the highly acclaimed 'Winter Light' album, which included New Age arrangements such as the lead single 'Heartbeats Accelerating', as well as two songs by Webb. As a mark of how much Webb respected Ronstadt, he invited her to join him in a duet version of 'All I Know' for his 2010 album 'Just Across the River'. It was a poignant moment for Ronstadt, who had just announced her retirement from singing when Webb sent her an email describing his new CD of duets, and asking if she would sing 'All I Know' with him. Ronstadt called him and said, "Damn it, you've gotten me interested in that song", and  Webb later recalled, "There was a poignancy to that moment ... because I didn’t know if she'd ever sing again, but her voice sounds elegantly beautiful". To close the album I've added a live version of 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress', with Webb on piano, from a 1989 VH1 'Salute To The American Songwriter'. 

Track listing

01 The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
02 Do What You Gotta Do
03 Still Within The Sound Of My Voice
04 Easy For You To Say
05 Adios
06 I Keep It Hid
07 All I Know (with Jimmy Webb)
08 You Can't Treat The Wrong Man Right
09 Shattered
10 The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (live)

Brats - Combat Zone (1981)

Brats was a Danish band from Copenhagen formed in 1977 as a punk band, and after recording the songs 'Dreams', 'I Do What I Wanna Do' and 'Magazine' for the 'Danish Pære Punk' compilation, the band split up in 1979, reforming as a heavy metal band, playing a hybrid of punk and metal, with new members Michael Denner and Hank Sherman joining Carsten Van Der Volsing on guitar, Yenz on bass and Lars Monroe on drums. This line-up signed a contract with CBS in 1980 and released the promotional debut single 'B-Brains' and one self-titled full length album. After some line-up changes, including the addition of King Diamond on vocals and the departure of Denner, Diamond and Shermann began writing new material that was much heavier than any of Brats' previous work. In January 1981 the band invited a representative for CBS to come down to their rehearsal room in Copenhagen to listen to the material that was written for the upcoming second album for CBS. They had 9 songs ready, including titles such as 'Death Kiss' , 'Combat Zone' and 'Love Criminals', but these were definitely not what CBS had expected, and so the next day Diamond and Sherman were asked to come to the label's office, where they were solemnly informed that the new material was far too heavy for CBS, and if they wanted to cut another album it would have to consist of far softer material, and King would have to sing the lyrics in Danish. Diamond and Sherman immediately refused this on behalf of the band, and were offered a ridiculously low budget to make a new album, and so that was the end of Brats' relationship with CBS. As a result, Diamond and Shermann quit the group and went on to form Mercyful Fate with former Rock Nalle bassist Ole Beich (later of L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses). After several line-up changes and semi-professional demo tapes, the new band released their self-titled EP in 1982, and the final line-up of King Diamond, Hank Shermann, bassist Timi Hansen, drummer Kim Ruzz and guitarist Michael Denner, would go on to record the group's first two studio albums. Of the nine songs recorded at the rehearsal room, two were chosen to be released as a single, and demos of 'Some Day'/'You Asked For it' were pressed up as Brats' final release, but luckily the whole showcase set was recorded and has survived, so that we can hear the last efforts of Brats, before they morphed in to hugely successful Mercyful Fate.  

Track listing

01 Death Kiss  
02 Fighting For The Knighthood  
03 Love Criminals  
04 Some Day
05 Combat Zone  
06 Nightriders  
07 Sometimes You're Deadly  
08 Powers Of Darkness  
09 You Asked For It