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'.

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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