The Beatles - Stairway To Heaven (1963)

While 'Stairway To Heaven' is undoubtedly one of Led Zeppelin's most famous songs, it's not generally know that they took the basis of their recording from a previously unknown song by The Beatles. They may have given it a new arrangement, and slowed down the pace, but lyrically it was pretty much identical. The Beatles only ever performed the song live a few times, later recycling the intro for 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', but a tape of one of the performances has recently come to light, and so we can now hear where Zep got the inspiration for their iconic recording. I don't usually post videos, but this was such an amazing find that it needs to be shared. 

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)