The Delines - Waiting On The Blue - The Best Of The Delines (2025)

The Delines are a critically acclaimed Americana/soul/country band from Portland, Oregon, formed by novelist and songwriter Willy Vlautin, and fronted by the soulful vocals of Amy Boone. Taking time out in 2012 from his other band, Richmond Fontaine, to focus on his successful career as a novelist, Vlautin also found time to write new material that was inspired by the evocative world-weary vocals of Austin-based Boone of the Damnations. Bringing in Richmond Fontaine member Sean Oldham on drums, the Decemberists' Jenny Conlee on keys, Freddy Trujillo on bass, and Tucker Jackson on pedal steel, Vlautin formed the Delines around Boone's tough but haunting and vulnerable vocal style. The group assembled in Portland with producer John Askew to record what would become their debut album, 'Colfax'. Released at the beginning of 2014, it combined Vlautin's much-lauded tales of struggling characters from the American backwaters with Boone's emotive vocals, and following the record's release, the group embarked on a European tour that same year. They began work on a single during a set of summer shows, but these 2015 studio sessions blossomed, and the band soon had a ten-track collection on their hands, which they titled 'Scenic Sessions', and it was released that September. In 2016, Boone was involved in a car accident which left her with multiple injuries. At the time of the accident, the Delines had completed three-quarters of their next album with Askew, but Boone's lengthy convalescence led to a four-year gap between records, and they eventually returned with 'The Imperial' in January 2019, promoted a month earlier by its lead single 'Eddie And Polly'. 

Later that year, two non-album singles were released, 'A Room On The Tenth Floor' and 'Eight Floors Up', that were recorded at the sessions for 'The Imperial', but which had to left off the album for reasons of space. November 2019 also brought a spoken word recording by Vlautin of his short story, 'The Kill Switch', for which the Delines provided musical backing, and by this point Jackson had departed, and the band continued without pedal steel guitar. In April 2021 Vlautin's sixth novel, 'The Night Always Comes', was published, and initial copies came with a soundtrack CD by the Delines, which included a cover of Spiritualized's 'Broken Heart'. October that year saw the release of 'Little Earl', the lead single from their fourth studio album 'The Sea Drift', which appeared in February 2022. In late 2022, the band released a two-track single titled 'The Lost Duets', which featured 'The Golden State' and 'My Blood Bleeds The Darkest Blue', both of which were Vlautin-Boone duets, with the former recording dating back to the time of the 'Scenic Sessions'. Although 2023 was a quiet year for the Delines, it saw a limited release of their 'Night Always Comes' soundtrack on vinyl, and in December the one-off single 'Christmas in Atlantis'. In November 2024 the single 'Left Hook Like Frazier' represented the first fruits of a fifth album, and 'Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom' was released on Valentine's Day 2025. The Delines' music combines Vlautin's admired lyrics about characters from America's hinterland and their everyday struggles, with Boone's vocals, the emotion of which wrings out the pain of the characters, and once you've listened to this selection of their best work I'm sure you'll love them as much as I do.  

Track listing

01 The Imperial (from 'The Imperial' 2019) 
02 Colfax Avenue (from 'Colfax' 2014) 
03 Drowning In Plain Sight (from 'The Sea Drift' 2022) 
04 Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom (from 'Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom' 2025)
05 The Oil Rigs At Night (from 'Colfax' 2014) 
06 He Don't Burn For Me (from 'The Imperial' 2019) 
07 Little Earl (from 'The Sea Drift' 2022) 
08 Waiting On The Blue (from 'The Imperial' 2019) 
09 State Line (from 'Colfax' 2014)
10 Let's Be Us Again (from 'The Imperial' 2019) 
11 Hold Me Slow (from 'Colfax' 2014) 
12 Nancy & The Pensacola Pimp (from 'Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom' 2025)
13 Sandman's Coming (from 'Colfax' 2014)
14 Past The Shadows (from 'The Sea Drift' 2022) 

Groove Theory - The Answer (2000)

US band Groove Theory formed in New York City in 1993, when Amel Larrieux met Bryce Wilson while she was working at Rondor Music as a receptionist. Larrieux had been working at the music publishing company since the age of 18, and a publisher at the company had signed Wilson as a producer, and knew he was interested in forming a group, so he approached Larrieux, who he knew was a singer-songwriter, with one of Wilson's production tracks. Wilson hoped to use the group as a chance to utilize his production talents, while Larrieux wanted a chance to shine in R&B, and so Wilson thought it would advantageous for Larrieux to both write, sing, and arrange each song instead of shopping around for different singers and songwriters. The group signed a recording contract with Epic Records, and in 1995 they released their self-titled debut album 'Groove Theory', featuring the gold-selling hit single 'Tell Me', which reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Subsequent singles 'Baby Luv' and 'Keep Trying' also charted, and the album also went on to be certified gold. In 1999 Larrieux left the group to pursue a solo career, being replaced by Makeda Davis, and the new line-up signed with Columbia Records and recorded a new album, 'The Answer', which was due to come out in 2000. Displeased with Columbia's track record at the time with urban projects, Wilson asked for a release from the label, and so the album's release was cancelled, although a single entitled '4 Shure' was released to minor chart performance. 'The Answer' featured a more commercial sound than their debut, but this was to be expected with the change in personnel, and it had been said to show influences from Aaliyah, Timbaland and Missy Elliott.

 

Track listing

01 II Da Club 
02 Goin' Together 
03 Shy Type  
04 Body Shots  
05 If I Knew  
06 4 Shure (feat. Glaze NY)  
07 Road Ain't Crowded  
08 Jokes On You  
09 Hedonism  
10 Hoppin' In My Car  
11 Love/Hate

Creedence Clearwater Revival with Booker T. Jones - Fantasy Session (1970)

On 30 January 1970 Creedence Clearwater Revival invited Booker T. Jones, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper of the Booker T. & the M.G.s to hold a jamming session at the Factory in Berkeley, California, although Booker T. drummer Al Jackson wasn't able to participate due to sickness. It was quite a natural collaboration since CCR had always admired this Stax label house band, and John Fogerty and others in the band had already met Steve Cropper at Stax Studios in Memphis 1969 and exchanged phone numbers. In the jam session at the Factory, they played rock and soul, 12-bar blues, covers of Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding, plus their own songs, and after the session finished at 2am, the bands played a basketball game at the Factory, and later the following day CCR performed one of their finest gigs at Oakland Arena in California. The session might have influenced later recordings by CCR, as it's sometimes suggested that John Fogerty's interest in putting Hammond B3 on 'Pendulum' was a direct nod to Booker T. & the M.G.s, and the mutual admiration both bands had for each other, and the two groups combined forces again in summer 1970 when they toured together in the US. The session was filmed and recorded professionally, although it has only been available on poor sounding bootlegs for years, but this copy has much better sound quality, and I've also tidied it up to remove a lot of the extraneous chatter between the tracks, so enjoy this meeting of two classic bands at the peak of their powers. 

Track listing

01 Jam Warm Up
02 Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won't Do)
03 Proud Mary
04 Travelin' Band
05 Born On The Bayou
06 Down On The Corner
07 Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won't Do) (Reprise)
08 I Put A Spell On You
09 Final Jam 

Huang Chung - Yellow Bell (1984)

Guitarists Jeremy Ryder and Nick Feldman first met when Ryder answered Feldman's advertisement for musicians in the classifieds section of the weekly British music magazine Melody Maker in 1977. They were joined by Bud Merrick on bass and Paul Hammond (ex-Atomic Rooster) on drums, forming the Intellektuals, but in less than a year they'd broken up, and Ryder and Feldman then joined up with drummer Darren Costin, bassist Leigh Gorman, keyboardist Simon Campbell and vocalist Glenn Gregory, to form 57 Men. This band lasted for about eighteen months before splitting, with Gorman going on to play bass in Adam And The Ants and Bow Wow Wow, while Gregory later became the lead vocalist for Heaven 17. Ryder, Feldman and Costin stayed together and renamed themselves Huang Chung, taken from the first note of the Chinese classical music scale, and which translates as "yellow bell" in English. At the beginning of Huang Chung's career, all the members performed under pseudonyms, with Ryder being "Jack Hues" (a play on Emile Zola's 1898 open letter J'Accuse...!), Nick Feldman was "Nick DeSpig", and Darren Costin was "Darren Darwin", and later, just "Darwin". The band signed to the 101 Records label, and their first recording was 'Baby I'm Hu-man', which appeared on a 101 Records compilation album in 1980, with three live tracks subsequently appearing on another 101 Records compilation in 1981. 

Later in 1980 the independent record company Rewind Records signed the band for a two-single deal, and their debut single for the label was 'Isn't It About Time We Were on TV?', followed by 'Stand Still' later that year. Neither single charted, but the group had begun to attract the attention of Arista Records, who signed them on a two-album deal in early 1981. Around the same time, the group expanded to a quartet, with the addition of saxophonist Dave Burnand, and in keeping with the all-pseudonymous nature of the band, Burnand was known as "Hogg Robinson" for the first Arista single, and later, simply as "Hogg". Under the direction of producer Rhett Davies, Huang Chung issued two singles on Arista in 1981, neither of which charted, followed by a Roger Bechirian-produced third single in 1982 which suffered the same fate. The band's self-titled debut studio album was issued in 1982, and it included the three non-charting Arista A-sides, one of the Arista B-sides, and six other new tracks. Like the associated singles, the 'Huang Chung' album failed to chart. In late 1982 the band returned to the studio to start work on their second studio album for Arista Records, and a new single, 'Dance Hall Days', was produced by Tim Friese-Greene and appeared as both a 7" and 12" single in October, but it too failed to trouble the charts. 

After the failure of 'Dance Hall Days', the group's manager, David Massey, convinced Arista to close their contract with Huang Chung, and instead placed the band with American label Geffen Records, making the group the second UK-based act to be signed to Geffen worldwide after Asia, although Burnand left the group around this time, citing "musical differences". At this juncture, the band changed the spelling of their name to Wang Chung, at Geffen's suggestion, to make the pronunciation easier for English speakers, and Feldman and Costin opted to be billed under their real full names, with only Jack Hues keeping his pseudonym. The band spent most of 1983 recording their second studio album, 'Points On The Curve', which was released in July 1983, and a re-recorded version of 'Dance Hall Days' finally gave them the hit that they needed, reaching No. 16 in the US and No. 21 in the UK. The popularity of the song gave Wang Chung the ability to spend two months touring the United States on their own, and then later with the Romantics and Berlin, and more hit singles and albums followed on from this success. This post covers their early years as Huang Chung, and collects all the non-album tracks that the band recorded between 1980 and 1984, including some radio and TV appearances where they performed exclusive songs for broadcast. 

Track listing

01 Isn't It About Time We Were On TV? (single 1980)
02 Drive Me Crazy (b-side of 'Isn't It About Time We Were On TV?')
03 Stand Still (single 1980)
04 I Don't Wanna Be Like You (B-side of 'Stand Still')
05 Journey Without Maps (b-side of 'Hold Back The Tears' 1981)
06 Baby I'm Hu-man (From 'Live At The '101': Bandits At 10 O'clock' 1980)
07 I Don't Believe A Word (From 'Live At The '101': Live Letters Warts 'N' All' 1981)
08 You've Taken Everything (From 'Live At The '101': Live Letters Warts 'N' All' 1981)
09 There Is A Nation (b-side of 'Dance Hall Days' 1983)
10 Separate Lives (from 'BBC In Concert' 1981)
11 Down Here Alone (from 'BBC In Concert' 1981)
12 Wrong (from the TV program 'Night Network' 1981)
13 The Ornamental Elephant (b-side Of 'Don't Let Go' 1984)

Thanks to geofmcm for providing the inspiration and music for this post. 

The Peddlers - Wasting My Time (1974)

The Peddlers formed in Manchester in April 1964, as a trio consisting of drummer Trevor Morais, who had previously played with Faron's Flamingos and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, after Ringo Starr left to join the Beatles, bassist Tab Martin, and Roy Phillips on vocals and keyboards, ex of The Saints, The Tornados, and The Soundtracks. The group named themselves The Song Peddlers, and after signing to Phillips Records they released their first single 'Rose Marie'/'I'm Not Afraid' in 1964. The group then changed its name to The Peddlers, and had some minor success with their debut single, 'Let The Sun Shine In', which was written by Teddy Randazzo, and which featuring a considerably different sound to their debut. In 1966 the group began a residency at Annies Room, and also played at The Scotch Of St James and The Pickwick, where they recorded their first album 'Live At The Pickwick' with an introduction by Pete Murray. Following the release of their debut album the group released six singles and an EP on the Philips record label, often featuring studio versions of tracks from the live record, before joining CBS in 1967. The first single for the new label was their version of 'What'll I Do' backed with 'Delicious Lady', which they promoted with appearances on a number of TV and radio shows, including Saturday Club, Dee Time, Pop North and The Joe Loss Show. 

In April they embarked on a tour with Nina Simone and Dick Gregory, before heading to the United States for a six-week engagement at the Flamingo Club in Las Vegas, followed by two weeks in Miami, Florida. In 1968 they released the album 'Freewheelers', consisting of standards arranged by Keith Mansfield, and the follow-up, 1968's 'Three In A Cell', included a version of 'On A Clear Day You Can See Forever', from the 1965 musical of the same name, which was later sampled for its bass and Hammond organ riff. The third and final CBS album, 'Birthday', was released in 1969, and brought the band two UK Top 40 singles in 'Girlie', and 'Birth', which reached No. 17. Following 'Birthday', The Peddlers returned to Philips, where they released the albums 'Three For All' in 1970, and 'Suite London' in 1972. Morais left during an Australian tour in 1972, and was replaced on drums by New Zealander Paul Johnston, and after one more live album in 1974, The Peddlers disbanded in 1976. As their first album didn't appear until 1967 then their early singles were not included on it, and so they and their b-sides are ripe for anthologising, and if you add in the studio versions of tracks from their 1967 live album, then we have a two-disc collection of music from this iconic UK jazz/soul trio. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1964-1967
01 Let The Sun Shine In (single 1964)
02 True Girl (b-side of 'Let The Sun Shine In')
03 Whatever Happened To The Good Times (single 1965)
04 Song For The Blues (b-side of 'Whatever Happened To The Good Times')
05 Over The Rainbow (single 1965)
06 You Must Be Having Me On (b-side of 'Over The Rainbow')
07 If You Live (from the 'Swinging Scene' EP 1966)
08 I Love Paris (from the 'Swinging Scene' EP 1966)
09 Little Ole Me (from the 'Swinging Scene' EP 1966)
10 Georgia On My Mind (from the 'Swinging Scene' EP 1966)
11 Adam's Apple (single 1966)
12 Anybody's Fool (b-side of 'Adam's Apple')
13 I've Got To Hold On (single 1966)
14 Gassin' (b-side of 'I've Got To Hold On')
15 What'll I Do (single 1967)
16 Delicious Lady (b-side of 'What'll I Do')
17 Irresistable You (single 1967)
18 Murray's Mood (b-side of 'Irresistable You')
19 Nine Miles High (b-side of 'You're The Reason I'm Living' 1967)

Disc II - 1968-1974
01 Handel With Care (single 1968)
02 Horse's Collar (b-side of 'Handel With Care')
03 That's Life (single 1969)
04 Wasting My Time (b-side of 'That's Life')
05 Steel Mill (b-side of 'Birth' 1969)
06 Rainy Day In London (b-side of 'Tell The World We're Not In' 1970)
07 Let Me Be Turned To Stone (single 1971)
08 Hello Sophie (b-side of 'Let Me Be Turned To Stone')
09 Have You Ever Been To Georgia (single 1971)
10 Manah (b-side of 'Have You Ever Been To Georgia')
11 Back-Alley Jane (single 1972)
12 Nothing Sacred (b-side of 'Back-AlleyJane')
13 Sing Me An Old Song (single 1973)
14 It's So Easy (b-side of 'Sing Me An Old Song')
15 Is There Anyone Out There (single 1974)
16 Just A Thought Ago (b-side of 'Is There Anyone Out There')

Mandrake Handshake - Monolith (2022)

Mandrake Handshake are a dynamic, shape-shifting collective from Oxford, with a shifting membership of somewhere between seven and ten musicians. Their line-up includes Row Janjuah (lead guitar/vocals), Trinity Oksana (lead vocals), Elvis Thirlwell (percussion), Joe Bourdier (drums), Rudy Mae Symonds (backing vocals), David Howard-Baker (saxophone/flute/keys), Moogieman (modular synth/keys), Charlie Arrowsmith (rhythm guitar/comet), and Jake Kavanagh (bass), and they've already made waves with two critically acclaimed EPs, in 'Shake The Hand That Feeds You', which was released via Nice Swan Records in 2022, and 'The Triple Point Of Water', released by Glasshouse Records later the same year. However, these were just a taster for their debut album, 'Earth Sized Worlds', which appeared via Tip Top Recordings in 2025. It's a heady, kaleidoscopic journey through cosmic grooves and hypnotic rhythms, and cements their reputation as fearless sonic explorers, with an intoxicating fusion of metronomic beats, Stereolab-inspired vocals, and a melting pot of Brazilian samba and 70's funk. 'Hypersonic Super-Asterid', is an eight-minute pulsating standout, and deserved to be the lead single despite it's uncompromising length, and the rest of the tracks draw on the motorik drive of Krautrock and the ethereal textures of Tangerine Dream. As an introduction to the band, here are their first two EPs collected together on one album, and if you are taken with their spellbinding tapestry of psychedelic wonder and cosmic imagination then give their album a try. 

Track listing

01 Mandragora
02 Eclogue 11
03 Gonkulator
04 Monolith
05 Emonzaemon
06 Vitamin Sunday
07 Row's Tinted Glasses / Diogo Jota

The Velvet Underground - Yesterday's Parties (1966)

I recently came across a bootleg of two lengthy, semi-improvised recordings by The Velvet Underground, which they played as part of Andy Warhol's Plastic Exploding Inevitable in April and November 1966. The sound quality was excellent for its age, and it reminded me that I had a similar piece on another bootleg from Valleydale Ballroom in Columbus, Ohio from the same year. I therefore though that it was only logical to add this to the other two pieces, for an hour and a quarter of some of the very earliest recordings from the legendary Velvet Underground. There isn't much else to say about this, other than it's the VU as you've probably never heard them before, and so well worth at least one listen. 

  
Track listing

01 The Nothing Song
02 Untitled
03 Melody Laughter

Kiley Dean - Changes (2006)

As I mentioned in my previous post from Kiley Dean, in 2005, she started work on her second album under the name 'Blue Eyes', and released a single 'Lookin' For Love' to radio as a taster for her new record. The album, titled 'Changes', was due to be released in 2006, and a second single was released, with 'Who I Am', being sent out to various radio stations. After the album was completed Dean left Beat Club Records and signed with Mathew Knowles' Music World Entertainment label, and they agreed to take on the release of 'Changes' and issue it under her own name, but after six months she left the label, and so they shelved the record. In 2010 she released the 'Changes' album digitally on the ReverbNation store, but it was only for a limited time, and it's now unavailable, so the time is ripe for a reappraisal. It would have been a relatively short album, with only nine tracks plus an acoustic version of 'Escape', so I've added a couple of contemporary recordings to the end, and here it is for you to enjoy.  

Track listing

01 Dangerous 
02 Be Alone
03 Changes
04 Just Like That
05 Escape
06 Tug of War 
07 Who I Am
08 Stay Away from My Boyfriend
09 Over 

10 We All Need Love

11 Just A Little

12 Goodbye

The Rolling Stones - Give Me A Hamburger To Go (1971)

I've recently come across another stash of out-takes from The Rolling Stones, with most of these being recorded at Olympic Sound Studios in 1970, during sessions for the 'Sticky Finger's album. Some are early versions of tracks which later appeared on their studio albums, and other have never seen the light of day. Stand-outs include a 1968 extended version of the 'Let It Bleed' track 'Loving Cup', an early take of 'Tumbling Dice titled 'Good Time Woman', and instrumental versions of 'Let It Loose' and 'Sweet Black Angel'. Some of the tracks had already appeared on my earlier post 'Travelin' Man', and so I've removed them and added in a special version of 'You Got The Silver' with a Mick Jagger vocal, and that left a very reasonable 42-minute album. One 1968 out-take caught my eye, with the unusual title of 'Give Me A Hamburger To Go', so I've titled the album after that song, and that gave me the opportunity to produce this cover based on it. 

Track listing

01 Loving Cup (1969 early long version)
02 Shake Your Hips (long version)
03 You Got The Silver (Mick Jagger vocal)
04 Sweet Black Angel (instrumental version)
05 Good Time Woman (early version of 'Tumbling Dice')
06 Sweet Virginia (early version)
07 Stop Breaking Down (early version with no harp)
08 Give Me A Hamburger To Go (1968 out-take)
09 Let It Loose (instrumental version)
10 Shine A Light (early version)

Daisy Dares You - Rush (2010)

Daisy May Keeley Coburn was born on 27 October 1993 in Great Dunmow, Essex, and came from a musical family, with her mother once working as a backing singer for Duran Duran and The The. She learned to play the guitar and piano when she was six years old, and on Boxing Day 2007 she played a song she had been writing called 'Hurt' to family and friends. A friend of her mother's, Matthew Marston, heard the song and invited her to his home studio to record it, and that led to collaborating with Marston on songs  written for her debut album, 'Rush'. After picking up widespread promotional coverage in the media from The Times, the BBC, and The Guardian as a young artist to watch for in 2010, she signed to Jive, a subsidiary of Sony Records, and her first single 'Number One Enemy', featured British rapper Chipmunk, reached the top 20 in the UK. Her musical genre varies from teen-pop to pop rock to electropop, and comparisons have been made between her and British singer-songwriter Lily Allen, as well as Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. 'Rosie' was released as her second single in May 2010, and her album was scheduled to appear in June, but for reasons unknown she was dropped from Jive Records and the album was cancelled. A six-track sampler CD was issued to the press in advance of the proposed release date, and so by adding in a couple of live versions of songs from the official track-listing, plus a few early demos, we can put together a 43-minute approximation of Daisy Dares You's scrapped debut album from 2010.

Track listing 

01 Number One Enemy (feat. Chipmunk)
02 Rosie
03 You'll Be Fine
04 Who Will Buy
05 Rush
06 Daisy Dares You (Pegasus & Rokchild remix)
07 Idiot
08 Talk About The Weather
09 Over You  
10 Next Few Minutes
11 Hurt
12 Stuck & Still

Van Morrison & The Chieftains - Songs Of Innocence (1988)

Van Morrison first met The Chieftains at an Edinburgh rock festival, and they later joined up in Belfast during Morrison's No Guru tour. Following the tour, Morrison and Paddy Moloney met up and discussed recording an album together, with both of them having a list of songs that they wanted to include, and they eventually reached a consensus to cover two of Morrison's previously released tracks, with 'Irish Heartbeat' later becoming the title of the album, and the rest would be traditional Irish songs. According to Moloney, making the album was a way for Morrison to rediscover his Irish roots, having played blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz and more importantly soul, for many years, and so he wanted to come home to his Irishness with The Chieftains. The album was recorded on dates from September to December 1987 and in January 1988, and was released later that year. It consists of eight traditional Irish songs, plus re-workings of the Morrison songs 'Celtic Ray' and 'Irish Heartbeat', with 'Carrickfergus' being described by critic Denis Campbell as "a melancholic air worthy of Otis Redding". 'On Raglan Road' was adapted from a poem by Patrick Kavanagh and is the story of a man ensnared by a beautiful revenant, whom he had mistaken for a creature made of clay. 'Irish Heartbeat' received positive reviews from most critics, one of whom called it "some of the most haunting, rousing, downright friendly music of the year", and in the NME's round-up of albums of the year of 1988 it was ranked number 2. On 15 September 1988 Morrison and The Chieftains played a gig together at The Ulster Hall, Belfast, which was recorded for Ulster Television, and also broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK. For anyone who missed it, or just wants to hear this meeting of two of Ireland's most revered musical exports, here is the whole concert. 

Track listing

01 Tore Down A La Rimbaud 
02 In The Garden 
03 Rave On John Donne 
04 Did Ye Get Healed 
05 Star Of The County Down 
06 She Moved Through The Fair 
07 Ta Mo Chleamhnas Deanta 
08 I'll Tell Me Ma 
09 Carrickfergus 
10 Celtic Ray 
11 Marie's Wedding 
12 Boffyflow & Spike 
13 Goodnight Irene 
14 Moondance  

Neal Ford & The Fanatics - We Will If You Want To (1968)

At the end of 1964, Neal Ford (lead vocals), a veteran of the local pop scene with other groups like the Ramadas and the VIPs, formed the first line-up of Neal Ford & The Fanatics, which consisted of Johnny Stringfellow (lead guitar), Jon Pereles (rhythm guitar, vocals), W. T. Johnson (bass guitar), Dennis Senter (keyboards), and John Cravey (drums). Though not as experimental as Austin's The 13th Floor Elevators, the band possessed an appreciation for the British Invasion groups, and played organ-driven instrumentals, and an R&B-inspired set typical of other garage rock acts. At first, the group went relatively unnoticed performing cover versions of songs by The Animals, The Zombies, and James Brown locally in their own club named Teen Scene, until record producer Ray Rush saw promise in the developing band, specifically their spontaneous live act. As a result, Neal Ford & The Fanatics recorded the song 'I Will Not Be Lonely' at ACA-Recording Studios, and released the single in May 1965 on GINA records. It was among the first in Texas to note a "British influence", and received airplay in Houston which helped it reach the regional charts. Shortly thereafter, Ford was called up for the Naval Reserve, and so the band's recording activities came to a standstill until he was released in late 1965. When he returned, Senter was replaced by Steven Ames, while his older brother, Richard "Dick" Ames, created Tantara Records to release the group's second single, the folk rock tune, 'Bitter Bells', in January 1966. 

Through the summer of 1966, Neal Ford & The Fanatics' profile rose steadily, with extensive airplay in Houston, multiple appearances on the Larry Kane Show, and well-attended shows at a venue called the Catacombs, alongside nationally successful acts including The Beach Boys and The Lovin' Spoonful. By the summer of 1966, Ames had departed to pursue a management position for The Moving Sidewalks, and he was replaced by Vox organ virtuoso Lanier Greig, who created a new sound for the band, and collaborated with the members to pen more original compositions. In October 1966 the band recorded demos of songs including 'I Can't Go On' and 'Good Men (Are Hard To Find)', in order to earn a contract with the national label, Hickory Records. Two regionally successful singles followed, with 'I Will If You Want To' receiving national attention in September 1966, and 'Gonna Be My Girl' reaching number one in Houston in early 1967. 

Their debut album, 'Neal Ford & The Fanatics', was released in November 1967 on Hickory Records, but their next single, 'Wait for Me', failed to produce the national breakthrough the group anticipated, and none of their later offerings in 1968 met with the same acclaim as 'Gonna Be My Girl'. The band continued to perform on the local club circuit, but in 1969 Ford quit and eventually produced a solo album in 1971, while more songs without Ford were recorded but not distributed, and in October 1970 the group disbanded. Ford continued to play with various bands into the '70's, including the Neal Ford Foundation, which released an album in 1972, but for the most part they will be remembered for their earlier, edgier singles, and garage aficionados still acknowledge their versatility. During sessions for their 1967 album they recorded more material then was needed, and so by adding some of those tracks to a selection of their later singles, there's enough left over to imagine what a second album could have sounded like had it been released in 1968. 

Track listing

01 Good Men (Are Hard To Find) 
02 Mary Wanna Marry Me          
03 Don't Tie Me Down 
04 Movin' Along
05 Save Your Affection
06 The Jones 
07 I Can't Go On  
08 I Will If You Want To
09 Little World Girl  
10 Woman 
11 I'll Put My Boots On Backwards
12 Better Slow Down  
13 For You  
14 Pain  
15 Buttercup
16 The Seasons   

Upgrades

An interesting process that I have recently discovered about the MVSEP programme, which is what I use to extract horns from Chicago songs among other things, is that it has a function to split out speech, music and effects from a track, and if you run a scratchy 7" single through it, then it thinks that all the clicks, pops and surface noise are special effects, and it removes them. I have therefore been able to clean up a lot of old 7" vinyl that I've either bought for these posts, or found on youtube in less than pristine condition, and so I'm posting all of the ones that I can remember, which I've cleaned up and put in one 'Upgrades' folder. You can download from Soulseek, searching upgrades aiwe, or Mega, and then just take the tracks that you need and slot them into your folders. I've also replaced the old tracks in the original Soulseek and Mega files for anyone who hasn't tried these artists yet. 

Upgrades so far are:

Albert Lee - ...and on guitar
B. J. Arnau - Make It With You

Truly Smith - Yours Truly
I Love Him

GUNK - Bloomdido - applause during the tracks removed 

Speak No Evil

Bloomdido

Litha

Bill Oddie - Oddieties

Because She Is My Love

TV Heroes

Cockney Rebel

Face To Face - new rip and cleaned up

The Bevis Frond

Sexorcist - new rip and cleaned up

Design

Won't You Say You Love Me

Never Been In Love Like This Before

If you find any others while playing the albums then let me know and I'll see if I can improve their quality. 

Elephant Stone - Andromeda - The Best Of Elephant Stone (2024)

Inspired by his own ongoing Indian classical music discovery, Rishi Dhir formed Elephant Stone in Montreal in 2008. With Dhir singing lead and handling nearly a dozen instruments, he recorded the project's debut album with help from several guests, including producer Jace Lasek. It arrived in May 2009 on Dhir's own Elephants On Parade label, distributed by Fontana Records, and was quickly followed by 'The Glass Box' EP in 2010. The group then signed with Canada's Hidden Pony for 2013's eponymous 'Elephant Stone' record, by which time the band had settled into a regular line-up of Dhir, Gabriel Lambert on guitar, and Miles Dupire-Gagnon on drums. 'Three Poisons' arrived in 2014, also on Hidden Pony, and that year they were asked to contribute a tracks to 'A Psyche Tribute To The Doors on Cleopatra Records, for which they chose to cover 'L.A. Woman'. The band's fourth album, 'Ship Of Fools', was released in 2016 on Burger Records in 2016, before they returned with the five-song 'Live At The Verge', which captured a session at Toronto's Verge Music Lab in February 2017. The 'Ship Of Fools' remix EP 'Remix Of Fools' followed in September, but it three more years before we were to hear from the band again, when their fifth album, 'Hollow', appeared in 2020, featuring split guitar duties between Lambert and Robbie MacArthur. In 2022 they issued a French-language EP 'Le Voyage de M. Lonely dans la Lune', which saw MacArthur and Jason Kent taking over on guitar. Combining the influence of Indian classical music with the melodic style of British Invasion bands like the Kinks and the Beatles, the Canadian neo-psychedelic outfit were a breath of fresh air in 2009, and they have not disappointed with any of their releases since then, so if the band is new to you then this sampler will introduce you to the innovative world of Rishi Dhir. 

Track listing 

01 Sally Go Round the Sun (from 'Elephant Stone' 2013)
02 Lost in a Dream (from 'Back Into The Dream' 2024)
03 Andromeda (from 'Ship Of Fools' 2016)
04 Knock You From Yr Mountain (from 'The Three Poisons' 2014)
05 How Long (from 'The Seven Seas' 2009)
06 Hollow World (from 'Hollow' 2020)
07 A Silent Moment (from 'Elephant Stone' 2013)
08 Child of Nature (Om Namah Shivaya) (from 'The Three Poisons' 2014)
09 Where I'm Going (from 'Ship Of Fools' 2016)
10 Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin (from 'Elephant Stone' 2013)
11 We Cry for Harmonia (from 'Hollow' 2020)
11 Harmonia (from 'Hollow' 2020)
12 The Sea of Your Mind (from 'Elephant Stone' 2013)
13 I Am Blind (from 'The Seven Seas' 2009)

Sweeney Todd - If Wishes Were Horses... (1977)

Sweeney Todd formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1975, and originally consisted of vocalist Nick Gilder, guitarist Jim McCulloch, bassist Budd Marr, keyboardist Dan Gaudin and drummer John Booth. Their first single, 'Roxy Roller', became a No. 1 hit in Canada, holding the top position in the RPM national singles chart for three weeks beginning on 26 June 1976, and winning a Juno Award for the band. After releasing their debut album, 'Sweeney Todd', in 1975, Gilder and McCulloch left the band to pursue solo careers, and Clark Perry was brought in to replace Gilder on vocals, with Skip Prest taking over from McCulloch on guitar. Though he did record a second version of 'Roxy Roller', which reached number 90 in the US charts, Perry didn't work out, and he was replaced within a few months by Bryan Adams, who was 16 at that time. With Adams the band re-recorded and released a third version of 'Roxy Roller', but this time it only scraped into the US charts at number 99, and both releases were ordered to be pulled from stores by Chrysalis Records, the label who had signed Sweeney Todd's original lead singer Nick Gilder, as Gilder had his own solo version of the song out concurrently with the Sweeney Todd re-recordings. Following the minor success of the Adam's sung version of the single, the band recorded their second album 'If Wishes Were Horses...' in  1977, with Adams billed as "Bryan Guy Adams" on vocals. The record was unsuccessful, and Adams left the band after less than a year, and although they attempted to carry on with Chris Booth (John Booth's younger brother) on vocals, and Grant Gislason replacing Prest on guitar in 1978, they broke up before recording any further albums. The band re-united in 2000 and began working on 'The Sweeney Todd LP', and in 2007 Sweeney Todd, along with ex-vocalist Nick Gilder, headlined the Golden Spike Days Festival in Port Moody, British Columbia. Despite Nick Gilder going on to have a very successful solo career, releasing acclaimed albums 'You Know Who You Are' in 1977 and 'City Nights' in 1978, and hitting the charts the same year with 'Hot Child In The City', Sweeney Todd will mostly be remembered as the starting point of Bryan Adams' Grammy award-winning career in music. 

Track listing

01 If Wishes Were Horses
02 Tantalize
03 Until I Find You
04 Pushin' & Shovin'
05 #5243605-Smith
06 Song For A Star
07 Shut Up
08 All Of A Sudden
09 Wastin' Time
10 Say Hello Say Goodbye
11 Roxy Roller
12 Rue De Chance

Johnette Napolitano - Sound Of A Woman (1996)

In 1986 singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano co-founded Concrete Blonde with guitarist James Mankey, having worked with him under various name since 1982. Their first release was 'Concrete Blonde' in 1986, which included their debut single 'Still In Hollywood', and for their follow-up album, 'Free', they added a full-time bass guitarist, Alan Bloch, allowing Napolitano to focus on her singing without the burden of playing bass simultaneously. Their third album, 'Bloodletting' appeared in 1990, and became their most commercially successful, reaching number 49 in the United States album chart. Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson replaced Rushakoff on 'Bloodletting' while Rushakoff was in treatment for drug addiction, and Napolitano also reassumed bass duties for this and all subsequent recordings. 1992's 'Walking in London' saw the return of original drummer Rushakoff due to Thompson's immigration issues, while the following year's successor, 'Mexican Moon', featured the 'Bloodletting' lineup with Thompson back on drums. As neither album achieved the commercial success of 'Bloodletting', Napolitano disbanded the group in 1994. After Concrete Blonde broke up, Napolitano recorded as a solo artist, releasing the albums 'Sketchbook' in 2002, 'Sketchbook 2'  in 2006, 'Scarred' in 2007, and 'Sketchbook 3' in 2010, but before the first 'Sketchbook' project she had recorded a solo album titled 'Sound Of A Woman in 1996, and she performed many of the songs on a solo tour opening for Paul Weller. It was set to be released on Concrete Blonde's old record label IRS (a subdivision of Island Records), but 1997/1998 was a bad time for Island, starting with the sudden departure of founder-CEO Chris Blackwell and ending with the total reorganization of the label, and so 'Sound Of A Woman' was lost in the shuffle. It's now extremely unlikely to ever be officially released, and the few cassette copies which leaked out are now rare and highly prized. 

Track listing

01 I'm Your Queen
02 The Sound Of A Woman
03 I Can Do Anything
04 Deliver
05 Something Fast
06 Todos Los Santos
07 Firefly
08 Human
09 Closer
10 Sleep
11 Lullabye For Fabiana

Kiley Dean - Simple Girl (2003)

Kiley Dean Bowlin was born on 12 April 1982 and raised in Alma, Arkansas, from where she moved to Orlando, Florida with her parents at the age of seven. She grew up singing in school and church, and at 17 she was singing back-up for Britney Spears on her 'Baby One More Time' and 'Oops! I Did It Again' tours. She signed to record producer Timbaland's Beat Club Records, an imprint of Interscope Records in 2002, and released her debut single, 'Make Me A Song' the following year, which was produced by Timbaland, but which underperformed at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite this she was granted a second single with 'Who Will I Run To', before recording her Timbaland-produced debut album, 'Simple Girl', but although this was planned to be released in July 2003, due to the commercial failure of the singles it was shelved. In 2005, she started work on her second album under the name 'Blue Eyes', and released a single 'Lookin' For Love' to radio, while her second studio album 'Changes' was set to be released in 2006. It was preceded by the single 'Who I Am',  which was sent out to radio stations, but in 2007 she signed with Mathew Knowles' Music World Entertainment label, They were set to issue 'Changes' as her first release on her new label, but after six months she left the label, and so like her debut record, 'Changes' was shelved and also remains unreleased. In 2008, she joined Madonna on her 'Sticky & Sweet' tour as a backup vocalist, replacing Madonna's long-time backing singer Donna De Lory, who was pregnant at the time and unable to tour, and in 2010 she released the 'Changes' album digitally on the ReverbNation store, but it was only for a limited time, and is now unavailable. Later that year, she recorded a couple of remixes that were made available on YouTube and her Soundcloud accounts, but these are also now very hard to track down. In 2011 she joined the New Kids On The Block and Matthew Morrison tours as a back-up simnger, and in 2022 she re-joined Madonna's team, performing backup on her 'MDNA' and 'Rebel Heart' tours. In 2015 she launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund her 'Scream' EP, which successfully met its goal in February, and in July she premiered the EP's first single and music video 'Lockdown' to her backers, with the digital release made available in August, and in September the full EP was made available to her backers, with a digital release following a few weeks later. Despite working with a number of famous artists as a backing vocalist, Dean has never been lucky enough to release an album under her own name, and so to put that right here is her unreleased 2003 record 'Simple Girl'.  

Track listing

01 Blessed (Intro)
02 Cross The Line
03 Make Me A Song
04 No
05 Kiss Me Like That
06 Keep It Movin'
07 America
08 War Song
09 Simple Girl
10 As Days Gone By
11 Better Than The Day
12 Busy
13 Confused
14 Lovin' You
15 Should I

16 Who Should I Run To

17 I Know (Outro)

Nas vs. Jay-Z - God's Black (2005)

The Nas vs. Jay-Z beef is widely considered one of the greatest rivalries in hip-hop history, remembered not just for the lyrical fireworks but also for how it captured the competitive spirit of rap in the late 1990's and early 2000's. The roots of the conflict go back to the mid-1990's, when both rappers were rising stars representing different New York boroughs, with Nas from Queensbridge and Jay-Z from Brooklyn. Early tensions began when Jay-Z sampled Nas's voice on his 1996 single 'Dead Presidents' without Nas contributing a full verse. Although Nas was already hailed for his 1994 album 'Illmatic', regarded as one of the greatest rap albums ever, Jay-Z was building momentum with 'Reasonable Doubt' and later projects. For years, the two exchanged subliminal disses, never addressing each other directly but making it clear there was rivalry over the crown of "King Of New York". By 2001, the tension boiled over when Jay-Z released 'The Blueprint', which included 'Takeover', on which Jay-Z directly targeted Nas, criticizing his discography after 'Illmatic', mocking his sales, and accusing him of irrelevance. He also pointed to Nas's personal life, sharpening the attack beyond music, and 'Takeover' was seen by many as a bold move that positioned Jay-Z as New York’s top rapper. Nas struck back with 'Ether', a blistering response on his 2001 album 'Stillmatic', but whereas Jay's was a calculated critique, Nas's diss was emotional and venomous, filled with personal insults. He mocked Jay-Z's looks, accused him of being a follower, and suggested his success relied on other's creativity. 

The intensity of 'Ether' shifted public opinion, and while some critics argued that Jay-Z's 'Takeover' was more factual, many fans celebrated Nas for the raw, unapologetic energy of his response. For months, the beef dominated hip-hop discourse, with fans, DJs, and magazines debated which song was superior, and the rivalry became symbolic of larger cultural shifts, with Nas representing a gritty, introspective lyricism, and Jay-Z symbolizing commercial success blended with street credibility. Their clash revitalized interest in lyrical battles at a time when mainstream rap was leaning heavily into polished production and club anthems. Over time, however, the intensity cooled, and by 2005 the two had officially ended their feud, with Jay-Z, as president of Def Jam Records, signing Nas to the label, which was seen as a symbolic act of reconciliation. The two went on to perform together and collaborate on songs like 'Black Republican' in 2006 and 'Success' in 2007, cementing mutual respect after years of hostility, but in 2004, when this reconciliation was still was regarded as a pipedream, youtuber Milio crafted an album which imagined what a collaboration between the two rappers could have sounded like. Taking verses from each of them and working his magic, he made a record that sounds like they were actually in the studio together, and although it is now 20 years since it first appeared, it's still worth hearing as a precursor to what was to become a reality just twelve or so months later. 

Track listing

01 Winner's Circle
02 Wussup?
03 Ain't Goin Nowhere (feat. Macy Gray)
04 The Mossberg Anthem(feat. Big Kap, Fatman Scoop)
05 Spread Love
06 Living Proof (feat. AZ)
07 Quiet Storm 2 (feat. Havoc)
08 Contra (feat. DJ Clue)
09 Damn
10 Still Ain't Goin Nowhere (feat. Lil' Kim)
11 Hearts Go On (feat. Celine Dion)
12 Save Me
13 Who's The Best (feat. Biggie Smalls)

Bilbo Baggins - Dance To The Band (1978)

Bilbo Baggins were formed in Edinburgh in 1972, and included Colin Chisholm on lead vocals, Jimmy Devlin on bass, Gordon Liddle on drums, and Brian Spence and Gordon McIntosh on guitars. They were mostly known by many through their connection to the Bay City Rollers, and they shared the controversial Tam Paton as their manager, but they were in fact a completely different style of band, with their music leaning a lot more towards rock, with a more funky and fuller sound. The Roller connection did initially give them some good openings, but it really was a double-edged sword, as the serious music press did not warm to them, and they were often not included on radio playlists, although local radio stations and Radio Luxembourg were a lot more supportive. Their first few singles stayed frustratingly outside of the Top 50, probably due to lack of national radio play, which meant they did not get to appear on Top Of The Pops and gain the exposure of the then most important music show on TV. After their final split from Tam Paton management they were left with contractual disputes, and 1977 became a very difficult year for them as they tried to get back on track. By 1978 they were signed to Lightning records, but the tide of musical taste had turned away from pop and was embracing punk and New Wave, and so despite a change of image it was now too late for the band to achieve the commercial success they really deserved, although their 1978 single, 'She's Gonna Win', did peak at No. 42 on the UK Singles Chart. In total they released five singles on Polydor between 1974 and 1976, before shortening their name to Bilbo in 1978, and issuing a further four singles for Lightning Records. The band eventually split in 1979, and a 2014 re-union was thwarted by the UK's Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and the Saul Zaentz Company in the United States, which owns the rights to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and who objected to their name, saying that it "did not differentiate it clearly enough from the famous hobbit Bilbo"! Hopefully this collection of all their recorded music, bar a forgettable disco version of their last single, will reignite interest in the career of one of the forgotten glam-pop bands of the early 70's.  

Track listing

01 Saturday Night (single 1974)
02 Monday Morning Blues (b-side of 'Saturday Night')
03 The Sha-Na-Na-Na Song (single 1974)
04 Run With The Devil (b-side of 'The Sha-Na-Na-Na Song')
05 Hold Me (single 1975)
06 Dance To The Band (b-side of 'Hold Me')
07 Back Home (single 1976)
08 What's Goin' On (b-side of 'Back Home')
09 It's A Shame (single 1976)
10 Please Sir (b-side of 'It's A Shame')
11 I Can Feel Mad (single 1978)
12 Dole Q Blues (b-side of 'I Can Feel Mad')
13 She's Gonna Win (single as Bilbo 1978)
14 You Wanna Be Your Lover (b-side of 'She's Gonna Win')
15 America (single as Bilbo 1978)
16 He Mustn't Know (b-side of 'America')
17 Don't Blame It On Me (single as Bilbo 1978)

Peter Tosh - Brand New Second Hand (1971)

Winston Hubert McIntosh, professionally known as Peter Tosh, was born on 19 October 1944 in Westmoreland, the westernmost parish of Jamaica. He was abandoned by his parents and shuffled among relatives, and when he was fifteen, his aunt died and he moved to Trenchtown in Kingston, Jamaica. During the early 1960's, as an aspiring musician, he went to vocal teacher Joe Higgs, who gave free music lessons to young people, and through his contact with Higgs, Tosh met Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley) and Neville O'Reilly Livingston (Bunny Wailer). He then changed his name to Peter Tosh and the trio started singing together in 1962, with Higgs teaching the trio to harmonise and develop their music. By 1964, Tosh, Marley, and Bunny had formed the Wailing Wailers, with falsetto singer Junior Braithwaite, and backup singers Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith. Initially, Tosh was the only one in the group who could play musical instruments, and according to Bunny Wailer, Tosh was critical to the band because he was a self-taught guitarist and keyboardist, and thus became an inspiration for the other band members to learn to play. The Wailing Wailers had a major ska hit with their first single, 'Simmer Down', and recorded several more successful singles before Braithwaite, Kelso and Smith left the band in late 1965. Marley spent much of 1966 in Delaware in the United States with his mother, and for a brief time was working at a nearby Chrysler factory. He returned to Jamaica in early 1967 with a renewed interest in music and a new spirituality, and as Tosh and Bunny were already Rastafarians when Marley returned from the US, the three became very involved with the Rastafari faith. Soon afterwards, they renamed their group the Wailers, and rejecting the up-tempo dance of ska, the band slowed their music to a rocksteady pace, and infused their lyrics with political and social messages inspired by their new-found faith. The Wailers composed several songs for the American-born singer Johnny Nash before teaming up with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry to record some of the earliest well-known reggae songs, including 'Soul Rebel', 'Duppy Conqueror', and 'Small Axe'. Although Tosh didn't record his debut solo album, 'Legalize It', until 1975/76, he'd been releasing solo singles in Jamaica since 1964, often with the Wailers as his backing band. For most of his records he was only allowed one song, with two different artists sharing each 7" disc, and so his solo discography is somewhat disjointed, but this album collects together all the songs that were either issued under his own name, or as b-sides of Wailers' singles, between 1964 and 1971, and includes a number of promo singles which were never officially released.  

Track listing

01 Hoot Nanny Hoot (single 1964)
02 Shame And Scandal (single 1965)
03 Amen (b-side of 'Habits' by The Wailers 1965)
04 Maga Dog (b-side of 'Hoolighans' by The Wailers 1965)
05 The Toughest (single 1966)
06 Rasta Put It On (Promo single 1966)
07 Lemon Tree (Promo single 1966)
08 Treat Me Good (b-side of 'Dancing Time' by The Wailers 1967)
09 Funeral (b-side of 'Thank You Lord' by The Wailers 1967)
10 Pound Get A Blow (b-side of 'Fire Fire' by The Wailers' 1967) 
11 Steppin' Razor (Promo single 1968)
12 Dem A Fi Get A Beaten (Promo single 1968)
13 Give Me A Ticket (Promo single 1969)
14 Once Bitten (single 1971)
15 Brand New Second Hand (single 1971)
16 Here Comes The Sun (Promo single 1971)
17 No Sympathy (single 1971)