Alvin Lee - ...and on guitar (1992)

Graham Anthony Barnes (aka Alvin Lee) was born on 19 December 1944, and began playing guitar at the age of 13. In 1960 he and Leo Lyons formed the core of the band he was most associated with, Ten Years After, after firstly being influenced by his parents' collection of jazz and blues records, but mostly being inspired by the advent of rock and roll. The band's big break came in 1969, when their performance at the Woodstock Festival was captured on film, and his lightning-fast playing helped catapult him to stardom, and soon the band was playing arenas and stadiums around the globe after the film brought Lee's music to a worldwide audience. Ten Years After released ten albums together, but by 1973 Lee was feeling limited by the band's style, with Columbia Records steering them into a pop direction following a radio hit with 'I'd Love To Change The World, while Lee preferred blues-rock, and so he left the band after their second Columbia LP. Along with American Christian rock pioneer Mylon LeFevre, and guests George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood and Mick Fleetwood, he recorded and released 'On The Road To Freedom', which was acclaimed as being at the forefront of country rock. Also in 1973, he sat in on the Jerry Lee Lewis double album 'The Session...Recorded in London', and a year later, in response to a dare, he formed Alvin Lee & Company to play a show at the Rainbow Theatre in London, and released it as the double live album 'In Flight'. After guesting on records by George Harrison and Splinter in 1974, he played guitar on a couple of tracks on Bo Diddley's 'The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll', and he finished the 70's with an outfit called Ten Years Later, with Tom Compton on drums and Mick Hawksworth on bass, releasing two albums and touring extensively throughout Europe and the United States. The 1980's brought another change in Lee's direction, with two albums that were collaborations with Rare Bird's Steve Gould, and a tour for which the former John Mayall and Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor joined his band, and guest appearances ceased for most of that decade, only appearing on Roger Chapman's 'Techno-Prisoners' in 1987. Lee died on 6 March 2013 in Spain, as a result of unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure to correct an atrial arrhythmia. He was 68.

Track listing

01 Movin' On Down The Line (from 'The Session' by Jerry Lee Lewis 1973)
02 Gravy Train (from 'The Place I Love' by Splinter 1974)
03 Ding Dong Ding Dong (from 'Dark Horse' by George Harrison 1974)
04 Royal Majesty (from 'Anniversary Special: Volume One' by The Earl Scruggs Revue 1975)
05 Cat Dance (from 'Peter And The Wolf' Various Artists album 1975)
06 Kill My Body (from 'The 20th Anniversary Of Rock & Roll' by Bo Diddley 1976)
07 Wild Again (from 'Techno-Prisoners' by Roger Chapman 1987)
08 No Limit (from 'Guitar Speak' Various Artists album 1988)
09 I Love New York (from 'The Taiga Symphony' by Valeria 1991)
10 Jane (From 'Rockeye' by The Outfield 1992)

Mighty Baby - Day Of The Soup (1971)

Mighty Baby formed in January 1969 from the ashes of The Action, and released their debut, eponymous album at the end of that year. It was a collection of psychedelic rock songs, recorded the previous year, and was released on the small independent 'Head' record label in the UK, and on Chess in the United States. Over the course of 1970 several members of the band became Muslims, and their second album reflected the spiritual journey they had embarked on, with 'Jug Of Love' sounding little like its predecessor. Sessions for their third album commenced in 1970, with instrumental demos being recorded, but the band broke up in 1971, and the recordings for the provisionally titled 'Day Of The Soup' were shelved by the record company. The tracks have recently surfaced as part of a retrospective box set, along with some other rarities, like 'Winter Passes', which a composition that was used by Ian Whiteman as part of the requirements for his master’s degree in architecture, and features piano by the composer joined by Martin Stone on slide guitar, and vocal harmonies by Alan King and Whiteman. The main part of the album is the four-part 'Now You Don't', with Part 1 featuring an exotic mix of flute, tablas, organ, bass, drums and wah wah guitar with Mike Evans' bass line especially notable. Part 2 is dominated by waves of wah wah guitar by Stone, with Whiteman adding saxophone to the mix, while Part 3 retains Stone's wah wah, and Whiteman adds piano, organ and saxophone parts, but it is the precise time keeping of Evans and Roger Powell that comes to the fore. Part 4 shifts to an Eastern vibe with Stone's guitar and Whiteman's keys joined by Powell's tablas, and Stone’s guitar takes center stage and powers the tune to its close. Also included are two songs, 'Ancient Traveller' and 'Messages', which were included on the original acetate of that first album but which were omitted from the final version, and closing this collection is the non-album 'Devil's Whisper' single from 1971. 

Track listing

01 Ancient Traveller
02 Messages
03 Now You Don't (Part 1)
04 Now You Don't (Part 2)
05 Now You Don't (Part 3)
06 Now You Don't (Part 4)
07 Winter Passes
08 Devil's Whisper

Fire - Man In The Teapot (1968)

Fire was a late 60's psychedelic band that consisted of Dave Lambert, Bob Voice and Dick Dufall, with Paul Brett joining them to record their now classic 'Magic Shoemaker' LP at Pye Studios London in 1970. Original vinyl copies of this release have long been in the UK's top 10 of collectible vinyl, but although Fire were around for several years and managed to issue a couple of singles as well as the album, those releases were not wholly representative of the band's entire repertoire, with their classic single 'Father's Name Is Dad' being almost as famous and collectible as the album. Recent reissues and anthologies have unearthed previously unreleased recordings from 1967 to 1969, often showing a much heavier side to the band, but also, in the case of the 'Round The Gum Tree' single, which the band didn’t play on, though Dave Lambert did sing on the A-side, having a knack for the twee novelty song. Because these unheard songs span a three year period, they do cover psychedelic pop right through to extended heavy rock outings, but by taking just the songs which fit in best with the early sound of the 'Father's Name Is Dad' single and its b-side, there is a great little album hidden away in there, so here is what could have been the precursor to the 'Magic Shoemaker' if someone had had faith in them in the late 60's. Dave Lambert, of course, went on to join The Strawbs, and Paul Brett formed Sage, with Dick Dufall joining him in that band, but their first group will always be remembered as being responsible for one of the most intriguing psyche-pop albums of the 70's.  

Track listing
 
01 Treacle Toffee World
02 Happy Sound 
03 I Didn’t Know You
04 Father’s Name Is Dad
05 I've Still Got Time
06 Spare A Copper
07 Man In The Teapot
08 I Know You Inside Out
09 It's Just Love
10 I Just Can't Wait
11 Green-Legged Auntie Sally
12 Will I Find Love

Berries - Faults (2021)

Berries are a three piece rock band who have honed an engaging, punchy rock sound that’s filled with delicious melodies and naughty fuzzy riffs. The band was first formed through Holly (guitar and vocals) and Lauren (bass), who grew up together in Norfolk, played in different bands on the same bills and jammed through their shared musical influences like Jimi Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Subways. They didn’t get around to starting a band together until they moved to London and met Lucie (drums) who, in their words, “totally got the style straight away.” The band released their 'Lies' EP in 2019, which followed singles 'Discreetly', 'Wild Vow' and 'Faults', all of which were posted on Soundcloud, along with a number of other songs. It all went very quiet after the EP came out, and then they suddenly posted a radio edit of a new song last month, so they're still going strong, and while we wait for an album from them, I've gathered together the tracks they've posted so far to make a great album length release from this superb indie rock band.   

Track listing

01 Siren
02 Waiting
03 Never Smiled Once

04 Lights
05 Those Funny Things
06 Written In Paint
07 Wild Vow
08 Faults
09 Discreetly
10 Lies
11 Wits
12 Dangerous
13 Silent
14 Copy

The Verve - Suburban Hymns (1997)

By 1997 The Verve seemed set for crossover success, with 'A Northern Soul' putting them in the spotlight, but the band were burnt out by the usual rock'n'roll symptoms of excess and exhaustion, and mainman Richard Ashcroft rashly split the group just before 'History' began climbing the charts. As events proved, however, the band’s split was only temporary, and within weeks The Verve were back in business, albeit minus guitarist Nick McCabe, but with the addition of new guitarist/keyboardist Simon Tong, an old school friend who’d originally taught Ashcroft and bassist Simon Jones to play guitar. The band already had working versions of some emotive new songs, including 'Sonnet' and 'The Drugs Don’t Work', and instead of the exploratory jams that produced The Verve’s earlier material, these vividly and finely-honed songs were the logical extension of 'A Northern Soul's plaintive ballads 'History' and 'On Your Own', and they reflected the direction the band were pursuing as they started work on what would become 'Urban Hymns'. Sessions were protracted, cutting demos at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios in Bath, and then with 'A Northern Soul' producer Owen Morris, before the album sessions proper commenced with producers Youth and Chris Potter at London’s Olympic Studios in Barnes. At Ashcroft’s instigation, string arranger Wil Malone was brought in and his swirling scores added a further dimension to a number of the album’s key tracks, including 'The Drugs Don’t Work' and 'Lucky Man'. During the sessions, The Verve expanded to a quintet after the estranged Nick McCabe was welcomed back into the fold, adding his inimitable magic to the guitars already precisely layered by Simon Tong. Assisted further by what Ashcroft enthusiastically refers to as the 'loose discipline' of Youth’s production methods, the band emerged from the painstaking Olympic sessions knowing they had created something that would have a lasting impact, recording much more music than could be fitted onto the album that they were aiming to make. Many of these left-over tracks later appeared as b-sides to the singles lifted from the album, and there are in fact so many of them that they can make up an album in their own right. 'Urban Hymns' has since gone on to be regarded as one of the best albums ever made, and because this music was recorded at the same time, then 'Suburban Hymns' serves as a impressive complementary album to its parent record. 

 
Track listing

01 Country Song (b-side of 'Bittersweet Symphony' 1997)
02 Echo Bass (b-side of 'Sonnet' 1997)
03 Lord I Guess I'll Never Know (b-side of 'Bittersweet Symphony' 1997)
04 Never Wanna See You Cry (b-side of 'Lucky Man' 1997)
05 So Sister (b-side of 'Sonnet' 1997)
06 MSG (b-side of 'Lucky Man' 1997)
07 The Crab (b-side of 'The Drugs Don't Work' 12" single 1997)
08 Stamped (b-side of 'Sonnet' 1997)
09 The Longest Day (b-side of 'Lucky Man' 1997)
10 Three Steps (b-side of 'The Drugs Don't Work' 1997)
11 Monte Carlo (previously unreleased 1997)
12 This Could Be My Moment (previously unreleased 1997)

Post updates

I've been playing some of the older albums that I put together over the last year (what else was there to do for the past 12 months?), and I've noticed that a few of them had little things wrong with them that detracted from a complete listening experience, so I've fixed them and the corrected files can now be downloaded to upgrade the original post.

Country Mike - Country Mike's Greatest Hits
Firstly, I've finally managed to source a stereo vinyl rip of 'Country Mike's Greatest Hits', which was the cause of some controversy when I first posted it. As every copy that I found online was a mono one, I was convinced that the album must have been issued like that, but after some heated discussions in the comments, I was assured that a stereo version must exist, and it's taken this long to find it. 

Other fixes are not as drastic as that, so if you have the following albums and want an upgraded version then you can download them now. 

Amy Winehouse - Procrastination - Long Day
Elton John - Young Man's Blues - Rock Me When He's Gone
I can't actually remember what was wrong with these two, possibly dodgy fadeouts or over-long/no gaps between the tracks, but they are now fixed.

Deep Purple - Coronarias Redig
Extra track added that was somehow missed from the original post.

Cerrone - Supernatural Paradise Of Love
I wasn't happy with a couple of the edits, so have redone the whole piece.

Misty In Roots - Salvation
Dub section of 'Rich Man' volume corrected to be the same as the vocal part.

Soulseek update

I know that there are a few people who can't seem to get Soulseek to work, but hopefully most of you are now using it regularly, and finding that it works pretty well. I've had a couple of days where my searches didn't seem to bring up any of my results, so I had to reboot and that seems to have fixed it. 
If you find that your searches don't bring up any results then do bear in mind that if no-one is downloading something when I go to bed then I do turn off the laptop, so try try again in six to seven hours and see if the searches work then. If not then leave a message and I'll try the reboot to see if that fixes it.  

I have to thank Paul over at Albums That Should Exist for turning me onto Soulseek, as not only has it been an ideal solution to sharing my music without leaving links, and risking the blog being deleted again, but I've also used it to find albums that I'd been after for a while that I hadn't been able to find online. I hope that everyone who started using it when I reinstated the blog is also using it to find other music that they want to hear from other uploaders.

If you find that you have absolutely no luck in getting Soulseek to work then leave a message in the comments with your email address and I'll send direct Yandex links, and then delete the comment to keep your email private. When I've sent the first link you will have my email address for future requests. 

Chris Spedding - ...and on guitar (1972)

Christopher John Spedding was born Peter Robinson on 17 June 1944 in Staveley, Derbyshire, and was adopted by Muriel and Jack Spedding after his father was killed in the war, and they renamed him Christopher John Spedding. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he is best known for his studio session work, although he has also had a fairly successful solo career, releasing a number of well-received albums. He started listening to rock'n'roll in the 50's, starting with Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, and as he'd been learning the violin since the age of 9, he started strumming it like a guitar, until he got his first real instrument when he was 13. At this time Spedding went back to Sheffield and attended Abbeydale Grammar School, where he formed a band called the Vulcans, and in 1961 he left school and moved to London, where he got a job in a music shop. At the same time he was also gigging in a C&W band around the American Air Force bases, which is where he met Frank Ricotti, with whom he started a weekly jazz club in an Islington pub. Spedding mostly played in jazz bands in the early to mid 60's, and when the British blues boom emerged in the late 60's, he disliked playing in that style so much that he only played bass until he found a guitar sound that he felt comfortable with. 

In 1967 he joined Pete Brown And His Battered Ornaments, and wrote 'Sunshades' for their 1969 'Mantle-Piece' album, as well as co-authoring a couple of other songs, and at the same time he also joined the Frank Ricotti Quartet, co-writing 'Late Into The Night' with Pete Brown for their sole 1969 album. Around this time he was much in demand as a session guitarist, with quite a few of his gigs being with jazz or jazz-based musicians, like Jack Bruce, Michael Gibbs, and Bob Downes, and in 1970 he joined Nucleus, who recorded their first album early that year, with 'Elastic Rock' including three Spedding co-writes. His renown as a jazz guitarist was such that he was voted second in the Best Jazz Guitarist category in the Melody Maker poll of 1970, and to capitalise on that he recorded his first solo album, a jazz record titled 'Songs Without Words' later that year, although it was only released in Japan at the time, and was not made more widely available until an edited version sanctioned by Spedding was released in 2015. While a member of Nuclues he continued with his session work, contributing to tracks by Julie Driscoll and Linda Hoyle, as well as jazz saxophonist extraordinaire Dick Heckstall-Smith. However, although jazz was his first love, Spedding could turn his hand to almost any style of guitar-playing, and so early 70's sessions also found him appearing on recordings by Mike d'Abo, Lesley Duncan, Harry Nilsson, Roger Cook, Elton John, and Sixto Rodriguez, who was later the subject of the 2012 documentary 'Searching For Sugar Man'. 

To show just how versatile he was, I've split this double disc set into one of his jazz recordings and one of his pop/rock recordings, and although this post finishes at 1972, his career still had much further to go, forming Sharks that year with ex-Free bassist Andy Fraser and recording two albums with them, before touring and recording with John Cale, and playing with Roy Harper's occasional backing band Trigger, notably on 1975's 'HQ' album. Between 1972 and 1976 he played in Mike Batt's novelty band The Wombles, and confirmed on the Marc Riley show on BBC Radio 6 Music that he once performed on television in a Womble suit, and in 1975 he had his first Top 20 solo hit in the UK with 'Motor Bikin'', which he promoted with television appearances on Top Of The Pops and Supersonic, dressed in leather motorcycling gear, and with greased hair. On his 1976 single 'Pogo Dancing' he was backed by UK punk band The Vibrators, but when further hits failed to materialise, he concentrated on his career as a session guitarist, appearing and recording with Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music, Elton John, Brian Eno, Jack Bruce, Nick Mason, Art Garfunkel, Typically Tropical, Katie Melua, and Ginger Baker, amongst many, many others. In 1976 he even produced three demo tracks by The Sex Pistols, and there are persistent rumours that he played guitar and bass on their debut album 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols', although guitarist Steve Jones emphatically denies this. Spedding's career has continued right up to the present day, releasing a live album just last year, but this is where it all started for him, adding his skill and versatility to dozens of recordings in the early 70's. 

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 Bonus Track 

For a full history of the life of Chris Spedding, and a complete list of all his session work, then check out http://chrisspedding.com/session/ssn.htm

My Invisible Friend - Sleepless (2016)

My Invisible Friend are an Italian shoegaze/noise rock band with a hint of darkened Krautrock and even a tad of drone music thrown in there for good measure. Their music blasts away with noise-orientated feedback over catchy and diverse shoegaze riffs and a powerful and echoed sound that is contrasted with barely audible vocals, evoking some sort of dream pop element into the mix. They released a few songs on Soundcloud around 2015, and then issued a self-titled EP in 2016, consisting of just three tracks, but which lasted over half an hour. All three tracks are superb pieces of music, with a dream pop tune layered with all matter of reverb, echo and noise drowning out the breathy and alluring vocals, with the closing 'Sleepless' being an eighteen-minute tour-de-force. I haven't seen anything from the band since the EP came out, so I've a feeling that they are no more, but they've left behind an album's work of outstanding psychedelic/noise/drone rock which will be their legacy. 

Track Listing

01 Dear Mary
02 O.N.S.
03 Green Sight
04 Sleepless
05 Eyes
06 Endless

The End - Son Of Lightning (1970)

As I mentioned in the last post from The End, after their 'Introspection' album was finally released 18 months after it was finished, the band did make a start on recording a follow-up, but despite laying down a number of tracks, the band members realised that they were headed in different musical directions, and so they abandoned the recordings and split up, with three members going on to form Tucky Buzzard, who performed in a harder rock style than The End. Luckily the songs that they had recorded up to that point weren't scrapped, and have now surfaced on the extensive retrospective from the band, and so we can hear what a proposed second album from the band would have sounded like. It's definitely a heavier sound than the psyche/pop of 'Introspection', or even my 'Today Tomorrow' collection, and so it's debatable whether fans of the band would have appreciated this new direction, but we can now decide for ourselves if one more album would have saved the group.

Track listing

01 Son Of Lightning  
02 Second Glance  
03 Mistress Bean  
04 For Eleanor  
05 So Free  
06 North Thames Gas Board  
07 Do Right Woman Do Right Man  
08 Turn On Waterstone  
09 Smartypants 
10 My Friend 

search end lightning aiwe

John Renbourn - To Glastonbury (1973)

John Renbourn studied classical guitar at school and it was during this period that he was introduced to early forms of music, and in the 1950s, along with many others, he was greatly influenced by the musical craze of skiffle, which eventually led him to explore the work of artists such as Lead Belly, Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy. In the 1960's, the impact of Davey Graham was being felt, and in 1961 Renbourn toured the South West with Mac MacLeod and then repeated the tour in 1963. On returning from the South West, Renbourn and MacLeod recorded a demo tape together, and although the British folk revival was underway, most folk clubs were biased towards traditional, unaccompanied folk songs, and guitar players were not always welcome. However, the Roundhouse in London had a more tolerant attitude and Renbourn joined blues and gospel singer Dorris Henderson, playing backing guitar and recording two albums with her. Around 1963, Renbourn teamed up with guitarist Bert Jansch who had moved to London from Edinburgh, and together they developed an intricate duet style that became known as folk baroque. Renbourn released several albums on the Transatlantic label during the 1960's, with 'Sir John Alot' having a mixture of jazz/blues/folk playing alongside a more classical/early music style. At around this time, Renbourn also started playing and recording with Jacqui McShee who sang traditional English folk songs, and with American fiddler Sue Draheim. Together with Bert Jansch, bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Terry Cox, they went on to form the beloved folk group Pentangle, recording a number of well-received albums with them before they disbanded in 1973. Shortly after the breakup he recorded a full album's worth of songs for a solo project, but abandoned the set, instead releasing an entirely different collection of songs as 'The Hermit' later that year. The abandoned songs, previously available only via underground tape-trading networks, surfaced several years later as 'The Lost Sessions', but this is also now hard to find, and so here are those nine songs, exploring a slightly poppier direction then is generally associated with him.

Track listing

01 Just Like Me
02 Sleepy John
03 Riverboat 
04 Green Willow
05 Seven Sleepers
06 To Glastonbury
07 Floating Stone
08 O Death
09 The Young Man's Song

The Shamen - Strange Days Dream (1988)

The Shamen were a Scottish electronic dance music band, formed in 1985 in Aberdeen. The founding members were Colin Angus, Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie, with Peter Stephenson joining shortly after to take over on keyboards from Angus. The band were originally called Alone Again Or in 1984, under which name they released two psychedelic/electronic pop singles, and after the name change further singles picked up airplay from John Peel. A flexi-disc that came with the Scottish fanzine Skipping Kitten 2 in May 1986 raised their profile further still, and the band released their first album 'Drop' in 1987, which demonstrated their love of 60'd psychedelia, with influences such as Love, Syd Barrett and the 13th Floor Elevators, with covers of classic psychedelic songs by Syd Barrett ('It's All Around', 'Golden Hair', and 'Long Gone'), The 13th Floor Elevators ('Fire Engine') and The Turtles ('Grim Reaper Of Love') being recorded but left off the album. By mid-1987, Angus was discovering the sounds of early house-music pioneers such as S-Express and M/A/R/R/S, and increasing his knowledge of the latest studio gadgetry, and it wasn't long before he was applying these techniques to the band's music, mixing rock guitars, techno and hip-hop rhythms and sampled radio voices. The 1987 single 'Christopher Mayhew Says' was their first to experiment with beat machines and samples, fusing them with their psychedelic rock sound, but this new direction proved too radical for co-founder and vocalist Derek McKenzie, who left the band in late 1987 to study at university. Will Sinnott, aka Will Sin, joined the group that October on bass and keyboards, freeing up Angus to handle vocals and guitar, and this new line-up released their first full-length foray into a more dance-orientated sound with the 'In Gorbachev We Trust' album. The 10" mini-album 'Phorward' cemented their success, and from this point on the psychedelic pop took a back seat. I still think that 'Drop' is a brilliant album, and I loved their early work before the introduction of the electronic element, so the Italian 'Strange Days Dreams' album was most welcome when it hoovered up some rare early recordings, like those aforementioned covers and odd b-sides, but it also missed off a lot of music that it could have included, so this upgrade adds the 1986 flexi, some missing b-sides, an otherwise unrecorded John Peel session track, and those early recordings by Alone Again Or, for a more complete over-view of how The Shamen started out in the mid to late 80's. While I still followed the band in their more dance-friendly incarnation, I often wonder if they would have been as successful had they stuck with the psychedelic pop stuff, but bearing in mind the upsurge of acid house in the 90's I somehow think they made the right decision.  

Track listing

01 Drum The Beat (In My Soul) (single 1984, as Alone Again Or)
02 Dream Come True (single 1985, as Alone Again Or)
03 Smarter Than The Average Bear (Ursa Major) (b-side of 'Dream Come True')
04 Drum The Beat (Shall We Dance?) (b-side of 'Dream Come True') 
05 Do What You Will (b-side of 'Something About You' 1987)
06 It's All Around (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
07 Grim Reaper Of Love (b-side of 'Something About You' 1987)
08 Stay In Bed (from the free flexi-disc with Skipping Kitten magazine 1986)
09 Long Gone (from 'Beyond The Wildwood: A Tribute To Syd Barrett' 1987)
10 Strange Days Dream (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
11 Golden Hair (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
12 Christopher Mayhew Says (A Lot) (12" single 1987 - exclusive mix of A and B sides)
13 Knature Of A Girl (Submission) (single 1988)
14 Shitting On Britain (b-side of 'What's Going Down?' 12" single 1988)
15 Fire Engine (b-side of 'What's Going Down?' 12" single 1988)
16 Darkness In Zion (b-side of 'Jesus Loves Amerika' 1988)
17 Nothing (John Peel session 1988)
18 What's Going Down? (single 1988)

Carlos Santana - ...and on guitar (1978)

Unlike many artists in this series, Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán emerged almost fully-formed in 1966 with his very first group, the Santana Blues Band. He'd learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight, and it was also around this age that he fell under the influence of blues performers like B.B. King, Javier Bátiz, Mike Bloomfield, and John Lee Hooker. In 1966, he was chosen, along with other musicians, to form an ad hoc band to substitute for an intoxicated Paul Butterfield, who was due to play a Sunday matinee at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium. Graham selected the substitutes from musicians he knew primarily through his connections with the Butterfield Blues Band, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane, and Santana's guitar playing caught the attention of both the audience and Graham. During the same year he and fellow street musicians David Brown (bass guitar), Marcus Malone (percussion) and Gregg Rolie (lead vocals, Hammond Organ B3), formed the Santana Blues Band, playing a highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms. The band was signed by Columbia Records, shortening their name to simply Santana, and went into the studio to record their first album in January 1969. Before it was even released, Bill Graham, a Latin Music aficionado who had been a fan of Santana from its inception, arranged for the band to appear at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival, and their set was one of the surprises of the festival, highlighted by an eleven-minute performance of the throbbing instrumental 'Soul Sacrifice'. 

When the album was released, the publicity generated by their Woodstock appearance helped it to crack the Top 5 of the U.S. album charts. However, things were fraught between the band members, with some wanting to pursue a harder rock style, whereas Santana himself was increasingly interested in moving beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music. Their second album 'Abraxas' came out in 1970, and its mix of rock, blues, jazz, salsa and other influences was very well received, showing a musical maturation from their first album and refining the band's early sound. Teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy Neal Schon joined the band in 1971, in time to complete the third album 'Santana III', which now boasted a powerful dual-lead-guitar attack that gave the album a tougher sound. 1972's 'Caravanserai' marked a strong change in musical direction towards jazz fusion, and although it received critical praise, it is my least favourite of their records. By now Santana had proved his worth as a guitarist of some note, and so was asked to help out as a guest on other artist's records, adding his distinctive guitar to albums by Luis Gasca, Flora Purim, and Narada Michael Walden. He had already released an album as a duo with John McLaughlin in 1973, and in 1978 Santana guested on his 'Electric Guitarist' album, as well as appearing with Gato Barbieri and Giants the same year. Giants were actually a sort of supergroup consisting of Herbie Hancock, Greg Errico, and Neal Schon alongside Santana and other members of his band, and so enjoy them and the others pieces on this collection of Carlos Santana's extra-curricular activities from his heyday throughout the 70's.    

Track listing

01 Sonny Boy Williamson (from 'The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper' 1969)
02 Papa John's Downhome Blues (from 'Papa John Creach' by Papa John Creach 1971)
03 Little Mama (from 'For Those Who Chant' by Luis Gasca 1972)
04 Silver Sword (from 'Stories To Tell' by Flora Purim 1974)
05 First Love (from 'Garden Of Love Light' by Narada Michael Walden 1976)
06 Friendship (from 'Electric Guitarist' by John McLaughlin 1978)
07 In Your Heart (from 'Giants' by Giants 1978)
08 Latin Lady (from 'Tropico' by Gato Barbieri 1978)  

Unicorn - Volcano (1977)

Chiefly remembered now through their association with Pink Floyd‘s David Gilmour, who produced their second and third albums, Unicorn should have been much bigger then they were in the 70's. Based around the songwriting of Ken Baker, Unicorn’s songs drew from both rock and country, with a sound comparable to another under-appreciated band, Brinsley Schwarz. After years of effort under other names such as The Late Edition as far back as 1968, and touring as backing band to Billy J Kramer, the group released their debut album 'Uphill All The Way' in 1971, paying homage to some of the best songwriters of the era, such as Jimmy Webb, Joe Cocker, Neil Young and Gerry Rafferty. Trevor Mee left the band to move to Guernsey and was replaced by Kevin Smith, and the band toured Europe, playing in Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands. In 1973 Dave Gilmour began taking an interest in a young singer/songwriter called Kate Bush, and after hearing her self-recorded demo tapes he booked a recording session at his farm studio, inviting drummer Peter Perrier and bassist Pat Martin from Unicorn to provide backing, with Gilmour himself on electric guitar. The band's second album, 1974's 'Blue Pine Trees', revealed that they were in thrall to the keening, glittering textures of the Clarence White-era Byrds with 'Sleep Song' and the title track, the stoical melancholia of Fairport Convention in 'Autumn Wine', and the communal warmth of Lindisfarne with 'Electric Night'. They graduated from gigs in youth clubs and village halls to playing in the US as the support act for Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Styx and Linda Ronstadt, and this paid off when 1976's 'Too Many Crooks' presented a superior set of Ken Baker songs of the calibre of 'Disco Dancer', 'No Way Out Of Here' and the title track, and Dave Gilmour liked 'No Way Out Of Here' so much that he covered it on his first solo album in 1978. One final album was released in 1997, with 'One More Tomorrow' being the final release from the band before the broke up after the emergence of punk rock spelled the kiss of death for their soft/country-rock sound. A recent retrospective has unearthed some previously unheard songs, so I've added a few non-album singles and b-sides for a collection from this criminally under-rated band.

Track listing

01 Going Back Home (b-side of 'P. F. Sloan' single 1971)
02 Cosmic Kid (single 1973)
03 All We Really Want To Do (b-side of 'Cosmic Kid')
04 Volcano (previously unreleased)
05 The Ballad Of John And Julie (BBC session recording 1974)
06 Bogtrotter (b-side of 'Ooh! Mother' single 1974)
07 I'll Believe in You (The Hymn) (single 1975)
08 Take It Easy (b-side of 'I'll Believe In You (The Hymn)')
09 So Far Away (previously unreleased)
10 Give And Take (b-side of 'Slow Dancing' single 1977)
11 Nothing I Wouldn't Do (b-side of 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' single 1977)
12 In The Mood (demo)