Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Warren Zevon (2018)

Warren William Zevon was born on 24 January 1947 in Chicago, and began his musical career early, forming a duo with his high school friend, Violet Santangelo, called lyme and cybelle. Bones Howe produced their first single, the minor hit 'Follow Me', which was written by Zevon and Santangelo and reached number 65 on the Billboard pop charts in April 1966. A follow-up single, a cover of Bob Dylan's 'If You Gotta Go, Go Now' flopped, and Zevon left the duo, spending time as a session musician and jingle composer. He wrote several songs for his White Whale labelmates The Turtles, such as Like The Seasons' and 'Outside Chance', and another early composition 'She Quit Me' was included in the soundtrack for the film 'Midnight Cowboy' in 1969. His first attempt at a solo album, 'Wanted Dead Or Alive' in 1970 was spearheaded by 1960's cult figure Kim Fowley, but received almost no attention and did not sell well, and so for the next few years he returned to session work with other musicians. During the early 1970's he toured regularly with the Everly Brothers as keyboard player, band leader, and musical coordinator, and he worked particularly closely with Phil, arranging and playing keyboards on his first and third solo albums, 'Star Spangled Springer' in 1973 and 'Mystic Line' in 1975. These small successes were not particularly rewarding financially, and his dissatisfaction with his career and lack of funds led him to briefly move to Spain in the summer of 1975, playing in the Dubliner Bar, a small tavern in Sitges, near Barcelona. By September 1975 Zevon had returned to Los Angeles, where he roomed with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who had at this time become members of Fleetwood Mac. He also collaborated with Jackson Browne, who produced and promoted Zevon's self-titled major-label debut in 1976, which featured contributions from Nicks, Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, members of the Eagles, Carl Wilson, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt, with Ronstadt later recording many more of his songs. 

'Warren Zevon' was his first album to chart in the United States, peaking at No. 189, and the Rolling Stone Record Guide called it his "most realized work". In 1978, Zevon released 'Excitable Boy', once again produced by Jackson Browne with guitarist Waddy Wachtel, which gained both critical acclaim and popular success. The title tune is about a juvenile sociopath's murderous prom night, and referred to "Little Susie", the heroine of the song 'Wake Up Little Susie' made famous by his former employers the Everly Brothers, while songs such as 'Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner' and 'Lawyers, Guns And Money' used deadpan humour to wed geopolitical subtexts to hard-boiled narratives. Tracks from this album received heavy FM airplay, and the single release 'Werewolves Of London', which featured Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, was a relatively light-hearted work featuring Zevon's signature macabre outlook, and it reached No. 21 on the charts. This new-found success prompted other artists to investigate his work, with cult rockers The Flamin' Groovies later tackling 'Werewolves Of London', and Jerry Garcia recording a cover of 'Accidentally Like A Martyr' in 1977. Since then all of the other songs from the album have been covered by a variety of artists, and so here is their interpretation of Warren Zevon's 1978 album 'Excitable Boy', with a classic Linda Ronstadt  cover plus one of his earliest songs added to close the post.   

Track listing

01 Johnny Strikes Up The Band (Phil Cody 2014) 
02 Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner (The Escatones 2014)
03 Excitable Boy (Dreadnaught 2005)
04 Werewolves Of London (The Flamin' Groovies 1979)   
05 Accidentally Like A Martyr (Jerry Garcia 1977)
06 Nighttime In The Switching Yard (Dotline 2018)  
07 Veracruz (Casey Brents 2018)
08 Tenderness On The Block (Shawn Colvin 1992)
09 Lawyers, Guns And Money (Derringer 1978)
10 Hasten Down The Wind (Linda Ronstadt 1976)
11 Outside Chance (The Turtles 1966)

Jessi Malay - Here I Am (2007)

Jessi Malay was born Jessica Allison Megan Fried-Watters on 25 July 1986 in Glendale, California, and she began dancing at the age of two, taking lessons in ballet, jazz, tap, and hip-hop. At the age of eight she started singing, joining a professional performing group, and she began touring Disney World, The Big Red Boat, and the Bahamas. In 2001 she joined a girl group, No Secrets, singing lead vocals alongside Angel Faith, and Fried (as she was then known) sang the lead vocal on about half the songs on the group's self-titled debut album from 2002. The other members were Erin Tanner, Carly Lewis, and Jade Ryusaki, and their first single, 'That's What Girls Do', was very popular and was also used in 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie'. In 2003 the group recorded a cover of Atomic Kitten's hit single 'Whole Again' without Angel, who had left the group to pursue a solo career, and in early 2004, the remaining four members of No Secrets recorded 'Once Upon A Dream' for the DVD release of Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Disneymania 2'. They parted ways in 2005, and Jessica changed her stage name to Jessi Malay and signed with Reprise/Warner Bros. Records, releasing a number of songs with them, including a duet with Trey Songz. The majority of the tracks were written and produced by song-writing/production team TOJ (Andy Goldmark and Bruce Roberts), who have worked with artists such as Cher, Whitney Houston, 'N Sync, Donna Summer, and Elton John. Her first single was 'Gimme', featuring Lil Scrappy, which was released in the clubs in August 2006, and it was followed by 'Booty Bangs', featuring Yung Joc, in 2007. Once nearly all of the tracks were finalized for her self-titled debut album, she went on a mini-tour promoting her third single 'Cinematic', but while on the tour she injured her knee, which needed surgery, and as a result of this the album was cancelled, so Malay went back to school to finish her studies at UCLA. After finishing these she returned to music, co-founding and signing with Wolfiskin Productions, and recording new songs for her comeback. However, that had to be put on hold when she was cast as a co-host for the first season of Fox's TV show, 'Dish Nation' on the L.A station, filming a total of 26 episodes. In July 2011 she released her new single 'Like You', and carried on issuing singles over the next five years, but she never got around to making another album, and so this is the only long-player under her own name. I've titled it after one of the songs which seemed to sum it up perfectly. 

 
Track listing

01 Here I Am
02 Gimme
03 Topsy Turvy
04 Hpnotiq
05 King
06 Fetish
07 Booty Bangs
08 Last Night On Earth
09 Draw The Line
10 Beg
11 Cinematic
12 On You
13 The Edge

Valerie Masters - Say When (1966)

Valerie Masters was born on 24 April 1940 in Stepney Green, East London, and by the age of 17 she was working as a typist and personal secretary for the mayor of Stepney. It was while working there that she was introduced to band leader Ray Ellington, and shortly afterwards she joined his band as featured vocalist, replacing Marion Ryan. She remained with Ellington's band until 1959, while at the same time launching her career as a solo singer, with her first single 'Sharing'/'The Secret Of Happiness' appearing on the Fontana label in 1958. Three more singles quickly followed in 1958 and early 1959, before 'Jack O' Diamonds' was released in June 1959, followed by 'If There Are Stars In My Eyes' at the end of the year. As the 60's dawned, Fontana still had faith in her, releasing three singles in that year, and although none made the official UK Singles Chart, 'Banjo Boy' made the lower reaches of the New Musical Express's own chart. Between 1959 and 1961 she had her own show on Radio Luxembourg, Valerie and her Boyfriends, and in 1960 she represented Britain in the European Song Contest (unrelated to the Eurovision Song Contest), following which she became popular in Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands. In 1961, she failed in her attempt to represent the UK at Eurovision, finishing seventh in the 'A Song for Europe' competition with the song 'Too Late For Tears', but she did appear frequently on BBC radio and television. She also performed live in cabaret and clubs, often with Ellington's former pianist Dick Katz, who she married in 1961. In May 1960, she appeared on a short series of teen-oriented programmes, Young at Heart, for Tyne Tees Television, as well working for Border Television. Also in 1961 she sang the theme song for the film 'The Hellions', and also recorded commercials and worked as a backing singer. 1962 was a quiet year on the recording front, with just the one single, a cover of 'African Waltz', and the following year similarly yielded just the one single for the HMV label, while in 1964 she issued the single 'Christmas Calling', produced by Joe Meek and featuring session guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. After those two one-off deals she joined Polydor for two records in 1966, and then one last single in 1969 on the Columbia label rounded off her recording career. After leaving the music business, she stayed in entertainment, appearing in the role of a singer in the 1979 television drama series 'Secret Army', and in the early 1980's made appearances in 'Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse'. Some of her early singles are impossible to find now, but from late 1959 onwards they can be tracked down, and so here is a nice selection of some of her singles and b-sides from the early to mid-60's. I had to take 'Say Hello' from a poor quality TV appearance, and despite my best efforts at upgrading the sound, it does detract from the rest of the album, so if anyone has a better quality copy of it that I could have then it would finish off this album perfectly.  

Track listing

01 Jack O' Diamonds (single 1959)
02 Say When (b-side of 'Jack O' Diamonds')
03 Banjo Boy (single 1960)
04 Cow Cow Boogie (b-side of 'Banjo Boy')
05 Too Late For Tears (single 1961)
06 Birmingham Rag (single 1961)
07 African Waltz (single 1962)
08 All Night Long (b-side of 'African Waltz')
09 Christmas Calling (single 1964)
10 He Didn't Fool Me (b-side of 'Christmas Calling')
11 It's Up To You (single 1966)
12 The Next Train Out (b-side of 'It's Up To You')
13 Don't Ever Go (single 1966)
14 Say Hello (b-side of 'Don't Ever Go')

Have A Folky Christmas 2023

It won't be long before Christmas is upon us once again, so here is a fine selection of folk-inspired Christmas tunes, without a folkified carol in sight. 

Track listing

01 The Bells Of Dublin/Christmas Eve (The Chieftans 1991)
02 On A Quiet Christmas Morn (Mary Chapin Carpenter 2008)
03 Christmas For Cowboys (John Denver 1975)
04 The Coventry Carol (The Young Tradition with Shirley & Dolly Collins 1969)
05 Christmas Passing Through (The Roches 1990)
06 Gaudete (Steeleye Span 1973)
07 Song For A Winter's Night (Gordon Lightfoot 1967)
08 Upon A Winter's Night (Cara Dillon 2016) 
09 Christ Is Born On Christmas Day (John Fahey 1991)
10 River (Joni Mitchell 1971)
11 Silent Night All Day Long (John Prine 1993)
12 In Dulci Jubilo (Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band 2005)
13 Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) (Laura Marling 2009)
14 Sing We Noel (The Kingston Trio 1960)
15 Candlemas Eve (Kate Rusby 2008)
16 I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day (Burl Ives 1965)
17 Coventry Carol (Joan Baez 1966)
18 On Christmas Night All Christians Sing (The Christmas Albion Band 2003)
19 The Seven Rejoices Of Mary (Loreena McKennitt 2008)
20 Christmas Carolling (The Irish Rovers 1999)

Search 'christmas aiwe' for all my Christmas albums.

A gift from PowerPopTom - Part 5

Here's the next batch of CD covers from PowerPopTom, and I think the Pink Floyd one might get a few downloads.

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Laura Nyro's 'Eli And The Thirteenth Confession' (2017)

Soon after the release of Laura Nyro's debut album 'More Than A New Discovery', David Geffen approached Mogull about taking over as her agent. She successfully sued to void her management and recording contracts on the grounds that she had entered into them while still a minor, and Geffen became her manager. The two of them established a publishing company, Tuna Fish Music, under which the proceeds from her future compositions would be divided equally between them. Geffen also arranged Nyro's new recording contract with Clive Davis at Columbia Records, and purchased the publishing rights to her early compositions. Around this time, she considered becoming lead singer for Blood, Sweat & Tears after the departure of founder Al Kooper, but was dissuaded by Geffen, and so she concentrated on recording her second album.  Her new contract allowed her more artistic freedom and control, and so her 1968 record 'Eli And The Thirteenth Confession', received high critical praise for the depth and sophistication of its performance and arrangements, which merged pop structure with inspired imagery, rich vocals, and avant-garde jazz. It was her first chart entry, reaching No. 181 on the Billboard 200, and many musicians, including Elton John and Todd Rundgren, were directly influenced by the album. It is second only to its predecessor in producing hit songs for other artists, with Three Dog Night taking 'Eli's Comin'' to the US top 10, while The 5th Dimension went to No. 3 with 'Stoned Soul Picnic' and No. 13 with 'Sweet Blindness'. Once again, it wasn't long before nearly all of the other songs from the record had been taken up and covered,  and such was their quality that they were still being recorded in the 2000's. Here is a nice collection of some of the very best versions of Nyro's songs from her rightly-regarded classic album 'Eli And The Thirteenth Confession'. 

Track listing

01 Luckie (Judy Kuhn 2007)
02 Lu (Peggy Lipton 1969)
03 Sweet Blindness (The 5th Dimension 1968)
04 Poverty Train (The Ark 1967)
05 Lonely Women (Linda Hoyle 1971) 
06 Eli's Comin' (Three Dog Night 1969)
07 Stoned Soul Picnic (The Supremes And The Four Tops 1970)
08 Emmie (Frankie Valli 1970)
09 Woman's Blues (Green Lyte Sunday 1970)
10 Once It Was Alright Now (Farmer Joe) (Rastus 2016)
11 December's Boudoir (Denise Mangiardi 2017)
12 The Confession (Billy Childs featuring Becca Stevens 2014)

Marion Ravn - Nevermore (2010)

Marion Elise Ravn (also known as Marion Raven) was born on 25 May 1984 in Lørenskog, Norway, and enjoyed singing from a young age, sometimes writing lyrics for the songs she sang. She joined the gospel choir in a local church at the age of 5, and by the time she was eight she was taking piano lessons. In 1995, Raven's father arranged for her to make a demo in a studio in Oslo, together with her childhood friend, Marit Larsen, and as a result the duo got a record deal with EMI Norway and formed the group M2M. A year later they produced a children's album titled 'Marit And Marion Sing Well-Known Children Songs' for which they were nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen, the following year. In 1998, M2M started recording pop demos in English, collaborating with many songwriters from around the world, and the released their multi-platinum debut album, 'Shades Of Purple', on the Atlantic label in 2000. Their second album, 'The Big Room', which was recorded in a studio in Bearsville in Woodstock, New York, was released in 2002, and after world tours to promote the album ended, M2M joined Jewel on her This Way world tour as an opening act, but they lost that gig when they disbanded in September 2002. Raven was offered a recording contract with Atlantic Records, and set about recording her debut album, working with Swedish songwriters/producers Max Martin and Rami, as well as Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk and her husband Raine Maida. Initially the record company was not confident in her switch to a more rock image and a darker, more personal style of song-writing, and she had to fight to record her kind of music, which was rock with a pop element. 

The resulting 14-track 'Here I Am' saw her transformation from the candy-pop music of M2M to a more angsty, rock-oriented singer, and was released in Scandinavia, Japan, Latin America and Southeast Asia. It spawned three singles, 'End Of Me', 'Here I Am', and 'Break You', which was her top-selling single internationally. In early 2006, it was announced that Raven had quit her contract with Atlantic Records due to 'artistic differences', and she signed to indie label Eleven Seven Music, which was created by her management 10th Street Entertainment. In 2006 Raven performed a duet with Meat Loaf on the song 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now', released as the lead single from his tenth studio album 'Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose', and it peaked at No. 1 in Norway and reached the top ten in Germany and the United Kingdom. Raven later confirmed that her new album would contain new and old tracks from her Norwegian debut, and 'Set Me Free' appeared in March 2007, after which she toured around The Netherlands, Germany and the UK to help promote it. In 2008 she made a cameo appearance in the music video for the song 'Saints Of Los Angeles' by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, and in 2010 she became a panellist judge on the Norwegian version of the talent show The X Factor, and later on Norwegian Idol. Her third studio album 'Nevermore' was recorded in 2009 and was planned for a 2010 release, but due to internal issues with her record label Eleven Seven Music, it was never released. It dropped two singles 'Flesh And Bone' and 'Found Someone', exclusively released in Scandinavia, but the album has remained particularly elusive until I finally managed to locate a copy recently. Various reasons have emerged as being responsible for the album's cancellation, but the most pertinent was probably the dissolution of her label’s publishing arm while she was finishing work on the record, and what was originally supposed to be a temporary delay started to become longer, until it eventually killed the album completely. Having been searching for this record for over a year, I was thrilled to finally be able to hear it, and it certainly doesn't disappoint. 

Track listing 

01 Flesh & Bone 
02 Heartless  
03 Nevermore  
04 Rosemarie  
05 Found Someone 

06 Blackbird

07 Backstabbing Bitch  
08 Miss You Blind  
09 Vital Signs 
10 Up To No Good  
11 After You  
12 We Are Dead  
13 Surrender  
14 Drive  

Mya - Liberation (2007)

'Liberation' was intended to be the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mya Harrison, and would have been her debut release with her then new record label Universal Motown, following her departure from Interscope in 2005 after the mediocre commercial success of her previous effort 'Moodring' in 2003. Before leaving, she had begun work on an album for Interscope called 'Control Freak', which was set for a summer 2005 release, with production by a host of other producers. In search of a new vibe for the album after the change of label, she drew inspiration by leaving Los Angeles and moving back to Washington, D.C., where she bought a house and enlisted her brother to build a recording studio, where she began experimenting, laying down rudimentary tracks and learning how to engineer. Pushed by her newfound abilities in mixing and production, she intensified work on the re-worked 'Control Freak' album, with most of it eventually being completed in a stretch of only three months. When complete, she submitted the album, now titled 'Liberation', to her new label, with production on the record being handled by Scott Storch and J.R. Rotem with additional contributions from Bryan Michael Cox, Kwame, Carvin & Ivan, longtime contributor Tricky Stewart, and it also featured guest appearances by Snoop Dogg, Charlie Baltimore and Lil Wayne. Two singles were extracted from it, the Storch collaboration 'Lock U Down' and R&B ballad 'Ridin'', but neither song made an impact on radio or in the charts, and so a proposed third single 'Walka Not A Talka' was cancelled, and due to the industry's budget cuts, the album suffered numerous delays and pushbacks. However, while delaying the album's release yet again, Universal Motown accidentally leaked it in Japan, and so they had no choice but to release it as a digital download only in Japan in October 2007. This digital release was the only thing that Mya ever issued on Universal Motown, leaving the label in 2008, and although 'Liberation' was never released officially, Mya did heavily promote the album at the time. She has said that she "felt as though 'Liberation' was her best project to date, and she wanted it released in the US, but things happen, so maybe it wasn't meant to be ...", and the digital version did garner some mixed reviews from the music press, and so it's certainly worth a listen to hear Mya "break out and swagger into an intriguing new role", as suggested in a review in Vibe magazine. 

Track listing

01 Liberation (Intro)
02 I Am (feat. Charli Baltimore)
03 Walka Not A Talka (feat. Snoop Dogg)
04 Still A Woman
05 No Touchin'
06 Lock U Down (feat. Lil Wayne)
07 Lights Go Off
08 Ridin'
09 Switch It Up
10 Give A Chick A Hand
11 All In the Name Of Love
12 Life's Too Short
13 Nothin' at All

Teenage Fanclub - Secondary Education (2018)

Following on from the success of Teenage Fanclub's fifth album 'Grand Prix', 'Songs From Northern Britain' became their highest-charting release in the UK, reaching number three, and contained their biggest hit single to date in 'Ain't That Enough'. Their last two albums showed a distinct change in style by the band, eschewing larger pop culture trends like grunge and Brit-pop in favour of further honing their sparkling, guitar-based sound, a choice that only worked to endear them to their loyal cult fan base. For this album the band had once again conscripted producer David Bianco, who helped them expand their sound with a bevy of acoustic instruments, strings, and brass, resulting in songs like 'I Don't Want Control Of You', 'Take The Long Way Round', and 'Your Love Is The Place I Come From' feeling more personal, reflecting upon themes of nature, romantic fidelity, and the passing of time. In 2000 they left Creation Records and moved to Columbia, where they recorded 'Howdy!' at David Gilmour's Astoria studio, and at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Producing the album themselves, they embraced an even more ambitious mix of orchestral arrangements and varied instrumentation, and the record included a handful of songs that would become fan favourites, like 'Dumb Dumb Dumb', 'My Uptight Life', and 'I Need Direction'. It was also the first album recorded with keyboardist Finlay MacDonald (no relation to Francis), and the last with drummer Quinn, who left the band toward the end of recording and went on to front his own project, the Primary 5, being replaced by original drummer Francis Macdonald. 

The band stayed busy over the next few years, playing live and collaborating with spoken word artist Jad Fair on the album 'Words Of Wisdom and Hope', and they also assembled a retrospective anthology, which included three newly minted songs. It was three more years before they began work on their next album, eventually traveling to Chicago to record with post-rock icon John McEntire at his Soma recording studio. Released on the band's own imprint PeMa, 2005's 'Man-Made' marked a return to their earlier format as a quartet, and was characterized by discrete flourishes of keyboard, piano, and viola. Another five years passed before the self-produced 'Shadows' appeared in 2010, and it was the first to feature instrumental contributions by regular touring keyboardist/guitarist David McGowan as a full-time member. Around this time Blake relocated to Toronto, Canada, and while the band reunited for several live shows, it would be several years before they would begin work on another album. In 2016, they finally returned with their tenth studio album, 'Here', produced by the band in France and at McGinley's home in Glasgow, and it showcased a more ruminative, folk-inflected sound. It also landed them back at number one on Billboard's Heatseekers chart for the second time, 25 years after 'Bandwagonesque' first charted. 

Along with touring, the band was active off-stage, working at London's famed Abbey Road Studios on vinyl reissues of their five albums for Creation, but in 2018 Love amicably parted ways with the band after expressing his disinterest in flying to accommodate their tour schedule. Their eleventh studio album, and first without Love, arrived in March 2020, and 'Endless Arcade' found the group reflecting on themes of aging and heartache, primarily influenced by the break-up of Blake's marriage. In September 2023, they returned with the equally lyrical and introspective release, 'Nothing Lasts Forever', which was heralded by the '60s-style psych-rock-influenced single 'Foreign Land', and that brings up to date for these much-loved Scottish indie-rockers. Throughout the late 90's and up to the singles released from 'Howdy!' they continued to add up to four previously unheard songs to each of the b-sides of their singles, but when the time between albums started to stretch to up to five years, they filled the gap by contributing to compilation albums, split singles or collaborations with other artists, and when digital singles started being released in the mid-2010's then b-sides were no longer included. These final three albums in this series collect together all these additional tracks recorded by the band and given away to fans as b-sides, as well as the two stand-alone singles that they released in 2018. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1995-1997
01 Some People Try To Fuck With You (b-side of 'Mellow Doubt' 1995)  
02 Getting Real (b-side of 'Mellow Doubt' 1995)
03 Have You Ever Seen The Rain (b-side of 'Mellow Doubt' 1995)
04 Between Us (b-side of 'Mellow Doubt' 1995)
05 You're My Kind (b-side of 'Mellow Doubt' 1995)
06 Kickabout (b-side of 'Ain't That Enough' 1997)              
07 Broken (b-side of 'Ain't That Enough' 1997)
08 Femme Fatale (b-side of 'Ain't That Enough' 1997)
09 Jesus Christ (b-side of 'Ain't That Enough' 1997)
10 The Count (b-side of 'I Don't Want Control Of You' 1997)
11 Middle Of The Road (b-side of 'I Don't Want Control Of You' 1997)
12 He'd Be A Diamond (b-side of 'I Don't Want Control Of You' 1997)
13 Live My Life (b-side of 'I Don't Want Control Of You' 1997)
14 How Many More Years (b-side of 'Start Again' 1997)
15 Nothing To Be Done (b-side of 'Start Again' 1997)

Disc II - 1998-2003
01 Long Shot (single 1998)
02 Loops And Stings (b-side of 'Long Shot')
03 On This Good Night (b-side of 'I Need Direction' 2000)
04 I Lied (b-side of 'I Need Direction' 2000)
05 Here Comes Your Man (b-side of 'I Need Direction' 2000)
06 Christmas Eve (single 2000)
07 Thaw Me (b-side of 'Dumb Dumb Dumb' 2001)
08 One Thousand Lights (b-side of 'Dumb Dumb Dumb' 2001)
09 Tell Me What You See (from 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road?' Beatles' tribute album 2001)
10 Always In My Heart (single with Jad Fair 2002)
11 Let's Celebrate (b-side of 'Always In My Heart')
12 Same Place, Different Place (split single with Supreme Vagabond Craftsman / Bridget Storm 2003) 

Disc III - 2003-2018
01 The World'll Be OK (new song from '4,766 Seconds' compilation album 2003)
02 Empty Space (new song from '4,766 Seconds' compilation album 2003)
03 Did I Say (new song from '4,766 Seconds' compilation album 2003)
04 Association! (single 2004)
05 Fallen Leaf (b-side of 'Fallen Leaves' 2005)
06 Please Stay (b-side of 'It's All In The Mind' 2005)
07 Like A Monkey In A Zoo (single with Jad Fair 2006)
08 Happy Soul (b-side of 'Like A Monkey In A Zoo')
09 Secret Heart (b-side of 'Baby Lee' 2010)
10 Easy Come Easy Go (b-side of 'I'm In Love' 2017)
11 Country Song (single 2018)
12 Eyes Wide Open (b-side of 'Country Song')
13 Dark And Lonely (single 2018)

Thanks to Ken for the suggestion

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Leon Russell (2008)

Claude Russell Bridges, aka Leon Russell, was born on 2 April 1942 in Lawton, Oklahoma, and began playing the piano at the age of four, with his musical career starting in 1956, when at the age of 14 he played in the nightclubs of Tulsa. In high school, he played piano in a band, the Accents, with David Gates, who would later achieve fame in the band Bread, and with the band The Starlighters, which included J. J. Cale, Leo Feathers, Chuck Blackwell, and Johnny Williams, which was instrumental in creating the style of music known as the Tulsa Sound. After settling in Los Angeles in 1958, he studied guitar with James Burton, and in the early years of his career he was known mostly as a session musician. In Los Angeles he played as a first-call studio player on many of the popular songs of the 1960's, including some by The Byrds, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Bobby Pickett, and Herb Alpert. He also played piano on many Phil Spector productions, including recordings by the Ronettes, the Crystals, and Darlene Love, as well as the 1963 'A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector' album. In the mid-1960's, he wrote or co-wrote songs, including two hits for Gary Lewis and the Playboys, with 'Everybody Loves A Clown' and 'She's Just My Style', and in 1967 he played with Glen Campbell, whose 1967 album 'Gentle On My Mind' credited him as "Russell Bridges" on piano. Russell released his first solo single, 'Everybody's Talking 'Bout the Young' for Dot Records in 1965, and by 1968 he'd joined up with Marc Benno to form The Asylum Choir, whose album 'Look Inside The Asylum Choir' was released by Smash Records in 1968. 
In 1969 Russell and Denny Cordell established Shelter Records, and at the same time he was a member of Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, playing guitar and keyboards on their albums and as part of their touring band, and it was through this group that he met George Harrison, with  whom he would work over the next couple of years. Russell's first commercial success as a songwriter came when Joe Cocker recorded the song 'Delta Lady' for his 1969 album 'Joe Cocker!', while his 'Superstar' co-write was recorded by The Carpenters and other performers. During Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, Shelter Records released his 1970 solo album, 'Leon Russell', which included the first recording of 'A Song For You', which is one of his best-known songs. Also in 1970, Russell played piano on Dave Mason's album 'Alone Together', notably on the song 'Sad And Deep As You', and he had his first hit single with 'The Letter', credited to Joe Cocker with Leon Russell & the Shelter People. As well as his own versions of 'Delta Lady' and 'A Song For You', the 'Leon Russell' album included some other great songs, as evidenced by the fact that nearly all of them have been covered, mostly contemporaneously in 1970 and 1971. This album collects together some of the very best takes of these songs, and I try to limit the tracks to one per artist, so although Joe Cocker's version of 'Delta Lady' is probably more well known, he's already represented on here, so I've opted for the Gary Puckett version instead, and I think he does a pretty good job of it.  

Track listing

01 A Song For You (Donny Hathaway 1971)  
02 Dixie Lullaby (Clint Black with Bruce Hornsby 1999) 
03 I Put A Spell On You (Sam Bush 2000)

04 Shoot Out On The Plantation (Vicki Britton 1972)
05 Hummingbird (Duffy Power 1970) 
06 Delta Lady (Gary Puckett 1971)
07 Prince Of Peace (The Raiders 1971)
08 Give Peace A Chance (Joe Cocker 1970)
09 Hurtsome Body (The Fabulous Rhinestones 1973)
10 Pisces Apple Lady (Tucky Buzzard 1971)

11 Roll Away The Stone (Ashley Cleveland 2008)

A gift from PowerPopTom - Part 4

PowerPopTom has been busy again making CD covers for anyone who might want to burn some of these albums to CD. There are four new ones, so rather than adding them to to download folder they can copied directly from this page. 

Donna Douglas - Memory Lane (1964)

Firstly, Donna Douglas the singer is NOT Donna Douglas the actress, who starred as Elly Mae Clampett in 'The Beverley Hillbillies' TV show in the 1960's. Our Donna Douglas was born in Bangor, Northern Ireland, and started her recording career in the late 1950's. Her first single was 'The Shepherd', released in November 1958, and although it didn't chart, her record company Fontana saw enough potential in her to keep trying, and so she recorded a further three singles for them in 1959 and 1960. When she left Fontana, Piccadilly felt she had the right look and chirpy voice for the times and debuted her with 'Tammy, Tell Me True' in 1961, but the following year they gave her a big push, as her 1962 single 'The Message In A Bottle' was nominated as the UK entry for the "Song For Europe" contest (before it became The Eurovision Song Contest). It lost to Ronnie Carroll's 'Ring-a-Ding Girl' which, obviously, did not bring a winner home to Great Britain, and so we'll never know if 'The Message In A Bottle' might have had more success. Three more singles followed for Piccadilly, with 'Matelot' appearing in 1962, and both 'It's A Pity To Say Goodnight' and 'He's So Near' being released in 1963. A final single, 'Java Jones' turned up on Pye in 1964, and then that was the end of her singing career. Although her biggest claim to fame appears to be being mistaken for someone else, she did leave behind some fine recordings, particularly those from the early sixties, and so here is a nice selection of them, which should help to emphasise the difference between the singer and the actress.     

Track listing

01 The Shepherd (single 1958)
02 I'm Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (b-side of 'The Shepherd')
03 Come Back To Loch Lomond (single 1959)
04 First Anniversary (b-side of 'Come Back To Loch Lomond')
05 Six Boys And Seven Girls (single 1959)
06 Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall (b-side of 'Six Boys And Seven Girls')
07 Teddy (single 1960)
08 Call Me Darling (b-side of 'Teddy')
09 Tammy, Tell Me True (single 1961) 
10 Memory Lane (b-side of 'Tammy, Tell Me True')
11 The Message In A Bottle (single 1962)
12 If This Is Love (b-side of 'The Message In A Bottle')
13 Matelot (single 1962)
14 All The Other Girls (b-side of 'Matelot')
15 It's A Pity To Say Goodnight (single 1963)
16 Do I Know? (b-side of 'It's A Pity To Say Goodnight')
17 He's So Near (single 1963)
18 Blue Star (b-side of 'Java Jones' 1964)

Marbles - Marbles (1993)

Marbles is the solo recording project of The Apples in Stereo singer and chief songwriter Robert Schneider, and the project started in 1993 when he would record his various musical endeavours on cassette for various people he knew, although this was somewhat abandoned as The Apples In Stereo began to get attention from the public. He would later compile some of the songs, many of which featured backing vocals from Will Cullen Hart of The Olivia Tremor Control, and release them officially in 1997 as an album titled 'Pyramid Landing (And Other Favorites)', but not all of the songs from this early cassette ended up on that record, and so some are exclusive to this tape. Schneider appeared to have largely abandoned Marbles by 2000, only releasing sporadic singles, and contributing to a compilation, but this all changed in 2005 when spinART released an actual album by the band, titled 'Expo'. When Marbles do perform live they are one of the more disorienting of the Elephant 6 bands, and on the tour to promote 'Expo' Schneider appeared dressed in goggles and a sequin jacket, backed by cardboard cut-outs of Darth Vader and a robot, adorned with fake instruments, and a CD player supplying all but his lead vocals. In 2009 Schneider cut an album of children’s music under the name Robbert Bobbert, which was released in February on Little Monster Records, but this wasn't that unusual, as The Apples In Stereo had already recorded tracks for Cartoon Network TV staple 'The Power Puff Girls'. 'Robbert Bobbert & The Bubble Machine' included a comic book by cartoonist Todd Webb which served as a calling card for the lovable inventor/scientist, and the tunes were all test-marketed to Schneider's seven-year-old son Max, who gave them a thumbs-up. While you track that one down, here is Marbles' 1993 cassette tape, which was officially released by the Elephant Six Recording Company, although it's unknown how many copies were actually sold.  

Track listing

01 Laughing  
02 Kite  
03 Swimming  
04 Head  
05 Bottom Of The Sea  
06 Pyramid Landing  
07 Death My Bride  
08 Invisible  
09 Inverse Gazebo  
10 Play Fair