Red Telephone - Victoria Park (2020)

Red Telephone formed in Cardiff in late 2017, and their chosen style of music is a richly layered dark psych, combining shimmering and angular guitars with an infectious melancholic melodiousness, and all topped by the idiosyncratic vocals of Declan Andrews. I was first alerted to them by the superb 'Victoria Park', and quickly sought out more from the band on Soundcloud, and I also found that they were posting on Bandcamp at the same time. Over the next few years they released seven singles, as well as posting other songs online, and there is now enough material available for a ten-track compilation of all of their music. Drawing on hypnagogic pop and industrial rock influences, the band’s experimental ethos has caught the attention of DJs such as Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens, and I have to say that they are one of the best modern psychedelic rock bands that I've heard for a while, with an acid-tinged guitar sound that is missing from a lot of current contenders. Red Telephone are actually still going strong, unlike many of the bands in this series, so do support them on Bandcamp. 

Track listing

01 You're Not Wrong 
02 Kookly Rose 
03 Day Off
04 I'm Always Thinking About You
05 Victoria Park
06 Not Myself 
07 Suburb Machine 
08 I Don't Want It Back
09 Stamp Man
10 Dream

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention featuring Capatin Beefheart - Guitarist In Bondage (1975)

I recently found a Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart bootleg titled 'Improvisations', which looked so intriguing that I had to download it. On listening to it, and doing some online research, it turned out to be just the second disc of a 2CD bootleg of Zappa and The Mothers 1975 concert at Providence, Rhode Island, and so logically the next step was to download the whole concert rather than just hear half of it. Of all the Frank Zappa tours, the spring of 1975 is the most unusual and frustrating, as the performances could range from absolutely exhilarating to rather drab, with sloppy renditions of composed core pieces like 'Advance Romance' and 'Willie The Pimp' played in the midst of brilliant improvisations by both Zappa and Captain Beefheart and the other musicians in the band. Add to this the paucity of really good recordings, and the frustration is obvious, but luckily Zappa's April 26th show in Providence was taped by legendary bootlegger Dan Lampinski, and not only is it arguably the best sounding show from the tour, it’s a tight and enjoyable performance. It is an amazing sounding document which captures the chaotic, eclectic turns in the set starting off with an atonal cacophony of noise in the beginning improvisation, leading into 'Muffin Man', which is played as an instrumental but contains Zappa’s band introduction, and is followed by the song that they usually start off the show with, 'Stinkfoot'. Mothers classics like 'I’m Not Satisfied' and 'Pound For A Brown' are scattered throughout the set, alongside Beefheart collaborations such as 'Poofter’s Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead'. For me, the best thing about the recording was the superb lengthy instrumental portions of the songs, often featuring some stunning guitar-work from Zappa, and so as I'd been persuaded to listen to this expecting some intriguing improvisations from the band, I thought that I'd carry that to it's logical conclusion, and pick out my favourite instrumental sections and combine them together to make up over an hour of the very best of Zappa/Beefheart and the Mothers improvisational skills. If you want to hear the whole concert then it's here on Soulseek, but for me this selection condenses the whole thing down into an hour of the Mothers finest.  

Track listing

01 Why Doesn't Someone Give Him A Pepsi (a.k.a. The Torture Never Stops)
02 Montana
03 Penguin In Bondage
04 Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy
05 Willie The Pimp
06 Advance Romance 

Tears For Fears - Music For Tables (1990)

Tears For Fears were formed in 1981 in the city of Bath, by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, after the dissolution of their first mod-influenced band Graduate. Orzabal and Smith had met as teenagers in Bath, and after forming Graduate they released the single 'Elvis Should Play Ska', followed by their 'Acting My Age' album in 1980, but the band was short-lived and split the following year, with the duo becoming session musicians for the band Neon, where they first met future Tears For Fears drummer Manny Elias. Orzabal and Smith continued working together, drawing inspiration from artists such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, and Brian Eno, with Orzabal developing a fondness of synthesizers after admiring the drummer-free approach of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, and the success of Depeche Mode. They first called their band History Of Headaches, which was soon changed to Tears For Fears, being inspired by Dr Arthur Janov's primal therapy. The original idea was that Orzabal and Smith would be the nucleus of the group, bringing in additional musicians to help them complete their music, and around this time they met local musician Ian Stanley, who offered them free use of his home 8-track studio. Stanley began working with the duo as their keyboard-player, and after recording two demos the band were signed to Phonogram Records in the UK, releasing their first single 'Suffer The Children' in November 1981. This was followed the next year by 'Pale Shelter', with neither release proving successful, but their third release changed all that, with 'Mad World' reaching number 3 in the UK charts in 1982. Their debut album came out the next year, and featured both guitar- and synthesizer-based songs, with lyrics reflecting Orzabal's bitter childhood and his interest in primal therapy. The album was a big success and hung around the UK charts for over a year, where it reached No. 1 and platinum status. 

Further hit singles followed, including a re-recorded version of 'Pale Shelter', all of which reached the top 5 of the UK charts. Towards the end of 1983 the band released a new, slightly more experimental single, 'The Way You Are', which was intended as a stopgap while they worked on their second album, but although it was a top-30 hit in the UK, it didn't come close to matching the success of their three previous hits. The music was a departure from their usual style, and featuring sampling and programmed rhythms, so the band decided a change of direction was needed, and they dropped the experimental style of the single, although they continued to explore this direction on the b-sides of their singles. 

In early 1984 they began working with producer Jeremy Green on their new single 'Mothers Talk', but the band were unhappy with the results and so producer Chris Hughes was brought back into the fold and the 'Mothers Talk' single was re-produced for release in August 1984. It was a departure from their earlier works, and fared better that the last single, reaching the UK top 20, but it was their next release which was the beginning of the band's rise to international stardom, with 'Shout' hitting the top 5 of the UK charts, and paving the way for their second album 'Songs From The Big Chair', which was released in February 1985. By now the synth-pop had been abandoned in favour of a more sophisticated sound that would become the band's stylistic hallmark, anchored around the creative hub of Orzabal, Stanley and producer Hughes, and the it became one of the year's biggest sellers worldwide. Following the album's release, the band went on a world tour that lasted most of the year, during which they were scheduled to appear at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on 13 July for for the Live Aid charity event. However, on the morning of the historic event it was announced that the band had pulled out of the show, with the official reason given for their non-appearance being that two of their backing musicians, guitarist Andrew Saunders and saxophonist Will Gregory, had quit due to the expiration of their contract. They were replaced by Alan Griffiths on guitar and Josephine Wells on saxophone for the remaining bulk of the 1985 world tour, and the band pledged to donate proceeds from their concerts played in Tokyo, Sydney, London and New York to make up for their non-appearance at the concert. 

It was 1989 before the group released their third album 'The Seeds Of Love', being largely written by Orzabal in collaboration with keyboardist Nicky Holland, who had toured with the band on their 'Big Chair' world tour in 1985. The album retained the band's epic sound while showing increasing influences ranging from jazz and blues to the Beatles, the latter being particularly evident on the hit single 'Sowing The Seeds Of Love', and the album was another worldwide success, entering the UK Albums Chart at no. 1, and eventually going on to sell millions of copies internationally. After 'The Seeds Of Love', Orzabal and Smith had an acrimonious falling out and parted company in 1991. The split was blamed on Orzabal's intricate but frustrating approach to production and Smith's desire to slow down the pace of their work, and it wasn't helped by their manager Paul King declaring bankruptcy in 1990, and later being convicted of fraud and imprisoned. Following Smith's departure, Orzabal kept the band name alive by releasing the 1992 hit single 'Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)', which was a taster for the band's greatest hits collection 'Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82–92)'. Smith relocated to New York City, and in 1993 he released his first solo album 'Soul On Board', but it wasn't a commercial success, while Orzabel has carried on under the Tears For Fears name, issuing two more albums since 1993, before re-uniting with Smith in 2000 for one final record 'Everybody Loves A Happy Ending' in 2004. The band continued to tour for the following 15 years, and a new album is finally on the cards for 2021. I mentioned earlier that the band's more experimental work was saved for their b-sides, and this was evident right from the start, with the stripped-back 'Wino' appearing on the flip of their first single, and so a selection of weird and wonderful music continued to show up over the next decade, all of which you can now hear in one place.

Track listing
     
01 Wino (b-side of 'Suffer The Children' 1981)
02 The Conflict (b-side of 'Change' 1983)
03 We Are Broken (b-side of 'Pale Shelter' 1983)
04 The Way You Are (single 1983) 
05 The Maruaders (b-side of 'The Way You Are')
06 Empire Building (b-side of 'Mothers Talk 1984)
07 The Big Chair (b-side of 'Shout' 1984)
08 Pharaohs (b-side of 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' 1985)
09 When In Love With A Blind Man (b-side of 'Head Over Heels' 1985)
10 Sea Song (s-side of 'I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording)' 1985)
11 Always In The Past (b-side of 'Woman In Chains' 1989)
12 My Life In The Suicide Ranks (b-side of 'Woman In Chains' 1989)
13 Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams (b-side of 'Advice For The Young At Heart' 1990)
14 Music For Tables (b-side of 'Advice For The Young At Heart' 1990)

The Beatles - All Made Up (1974) **UPDATE**

Many thanks to Gumboil for providing the location of three of the four radio shows which inspired this post. Having now listened to them again I'd quite forgotten that Merton's imaginary album was a double disc set, and that I'd only compiled the first two sides, but I think this could have been because I wasn't that impressed that side three was mostly covers, and that side four included a track that wasn't recorded until 1998. I'm guessing that at the time I felt happy with just the first disc, but so that we can have the complete listening experience of the full 'All Made Up' album I've added sides three and four to the file, as well as all three radio shows that are available, so you can download the whole thing again or just the tracks that you want, to add to what you already have. I also found that I had tracks 7 and 8 switched, so that's also updated.   

And Gumboil has done it again and tracked down episode 1 of the series right here on Soulseek, so I won't add it to my file as you can grab it by searching 'merton history' (keep it simple!) and add it in yourself. 

Track listing

Side One

01 Be What You See

02 I Don't Wanna Face It

03 Cockamamie Business

04 Ram On

05 Step Lightly

06 Ain't That A Shame

07 No Other Baby

Side Two

08 Fading In Fading Out

09 Steel And Glass

10 Hi, Hi, Hi

11 Horse To The Water

12 #9 Dream

13 Morse Moose And The Grey Goose

14 Oh My Love 

Side Three

15 If You Believe

16 Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive

17 Have You Seen My Baby

18 Rip It Up / Ready Teddy 

19 20 Flight Rock

20 Peggy Sue

21 Love Is Strange

22 I'm Losing You

23 Devil Woman

24 Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea

Side Four

25 Soft Hearted Hana

26 Fluid

27 When We Was Fab 

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Jesse Ed Davis - ...and on guitar (1975)

Jesse Edwin Davis was born on 21 September 1944 in Norman, Oklahoma. His parents were both Native Americans, with his father, Jesse Ed Davis II, being Comanche, and his mother's side was Kiowa. His father was an accomplished painter in the "flat-style" tradition of Southern Plains painting, with his works being exhibited in the state capitol in Oklahoma City. Davis began his musical career in the late 50's in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas, with John Ware (later a drummer for Emmylou Harris), John Selk (later a bass player for Donovan), Jerry Fisher (later a vocalist with Blood, Sweat & Tears), Mike Boyle, Chris Frederickson, and drummer Bill Maxwell, amongst others. He graduated from the University Of Oklahoma with a degree in English Literature, but by the mid-60's he was touring with Conway Twitty. He eventually moved to California, living there for 8 years, and through his friendship with Levon Helm, he met Leon Russell, who introduced him to paying session work. As well as playing on sessions, he also joined Taj Mahal's band, playing guitar and piano on Mahal's first three albums. After Mahal's 1969 album 'Giant Step', Davis concentrated on the session work for artists such as Roger Tillison and Leon Russell's band The Asylum Choir, and in 1971 he recorded his first solo album after Atco Records signed a contract with him to record two records with the label. The first was '¡Jesse Davis!', where he called in favours from Gram Parsons, Leon Russell and Eric Clapton to contribute to the recording. He was also close friends with Gene Clark, and in 1971 he played on and produced Clark's second solo album 'White Light', as well as guesting with Russell on Bob Dylan's 1971 single 'Watching The River Flow'. This led to him working with George Harrison, performing at the ex-Beatle's 1971 Concert For Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, along with Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Jim Keltner, Eric Clapton and many others. 

Two more solo albums followed, with 'Ululu' coming out in 1972 and 'Keep Me Comin'' in 1973, but he still slotted in the odd sessions here and there, culminating in him playing lead guitar on John Lennon's 'Walls And Bridges' and 'Rock 'n' Roll' albums, and almost completing the full set, he also played on Harrison's 'Extra Texture' and Starr's 'Goodnight Vienna'. In late 1975 he performed with the Faces as second guitarist throughout their final US tour, unfortunately becoming addicted to drugs during this time, and after the tour he continued to work as a session player on albums by Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Keith Moon, Steve Miller, Guthrie Thomas, Harry Nilsson, Ry Cooder, Neil Diamond, Rick Danko, Van Dyke Parks, Cher, and many others. In 1977 he moved to Hawaii, but was back in Los Angeles by 1981, broke and ravaged by drug and alcohol addiction, and was in and out of clinics throughout much of the 80's dealing with his addictions. In the ten years he was with Patti Daley, they never married, but after they split up he married twice, and in 1985, with his second wife, he formed and played in The Graffiti Band, which coupled his music with the poetry of the Native American activist John Trudell. In June 1988 he collapsed in the laundry room of an apartment building following a suspected drugs overdose, and died shortly afterwards. He was 43 years old. In his short life he made his mark on the music of many of his peers, with his contributions on Marc Benno's album in particular being outstanding. This two-disc set is just a brief example of his work, as he also played with many blues legends, such as B.B. King, Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, and Albert King, but I've omitted those as they were all legendary blues guitarists in their own right, and so Davis would only be heard as a backing musician, whereas I wanted to showcase his own exemplary playing on these other recordings from the 70's, when he was at the peak of his powers. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Funny Honey  (from 'Booker T. & Priscilla' by Booker T. & Priscilla 1971)
02 Poor Girl (from' Feel Your Groove' by Ben Sidran 1971)
03 Sweet Home Chicago (from 'Asylum Choir II' by Asylum Choir 1971)
04 Baby I Love You (from 'Minnows' by Marc Benno 1971)
05 Let 'Em Roll Johnny (from 'Roger Tillison's Album' by Roger Tillison 1971)
06 Rusty Toy (from 'Warm Waters' by Charles Lloyd 1971) 
07 Rollin' Mill Man (from 'She Used To Wanna Be A Ballerina' by Buffy Saint-Marie 1971)
08 Watching the River Flow (single by Bob Dylan 1971)
09 One In A Hundred (from 'White Light' by Gene Clark 1971)
10 Reno Street Incident (from 'Out The Window' by Jim Pulte 1972)
11 Heal Your Heart (from 'Recall the Beginning ... ' by Steve Miller Band 1972) 

Disc Two
01 Doctor My Eyes (from 'Jackson Browne' by Jackson Browne  1972)
02 Crossroads Of The World (from 'Rod Taylor' by Rod Taylor 1973)
03 Gypsy Davy (from 'Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys' by Arlo Guthrie 1973)
04 Black Magic Gun (from 'Home At Last' by Wayne Berry 1974) 
05 Fair Play (from 'ST-11261' by Brewer & Shipley 1974) 
06 Grinning In Your Face (from 'That's A Plenty' by The Pointer Sisters 1974)
07 Subterranean Homesick Blues (from 'Pussy Cats' by Harry Nilsson 1974)
08 Open Up The Watergate (from 'L.A. Turnaround' by Bert Jansch 1974) 
09 Whatever Gets You Thru the Night (from 'Walls And Bridges' by John Lennon 1974) 
10 Only You (And You Alone) (from 'Goodnight Vienna' by Ringo Starr 1974) 
11 (What A) Wonderful World (from 'Midnight On The Water' by David Bromberg Band 1975) 
12 The Hits Just Keep On Coming (from 'Burnin' Thing' by Mac Davis 1975)

Suggested by Maybe The Devil, Maybe The Lord

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

Barry St. John - Hey Boy (1969)

Elizabeth Thompson (aka Barry St. John) was born in Glasgow in 1943, and enjoyed singing from a young age, joining Ian Campbell & The Midnighters as a teenager. In 1961 she became vocalist and backup singer with Bobby Patrick Big 6, before moving to London with the band in 1962, and then onto a tour of American bases in Germany, eventually taking up residence at a club in Hamburg. It was at this time that she took the stage name Barry St John, and after a couple of years with the Bobby Patrick Big 6 her management encouraged her to leave the band and pursue a solo career in England, so in 1964 she recorded her first single for Decca, with covers of The Jarmels 'A Little Bit Of Soap' and The Shirelle's 'Thing Of The Past'. Both highlighted perfectly her soulful vocal stylings, and the follow up single 'Bread And Butter' made the German top 40. In 1965 she had a minor UK hit with Chris Andrews' 'Mind How You Go', but when the follow up 'Hey Boy' failed to attract chart attention she was dropped by the label. Moving to Columbia Records, she had her only UK singles chart entry with an anti-protest song 'Come Away Melinda', although it wasn't in her usual style, with the b-side 'Gotta Brand New Man' being more popular with her true fans, later becoming much in demand on the northern soul dance scene. The more soulful 'Everything I Touch Turns To Tears' didn't match the previous success, and once again she was dropped by her label. In 1967 she joined The Krew as lead vocalist, and this brought her back to work with former Bobby Patrick Big 6 member Archie Legget, with the band releasing the album 'According To St. John' in 1968, produced by Mike Pasternak, alias the DJ Emperor Rosko. In the late 60's Barry became a regular session singer and worked with Alexis Korner, Long John Baldry, and Duster Bennett, and between 1972 and 1973 she was a member of The Les Humphries Singers, singing backing vocals on Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' and Roger Glover's rock opera 'The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast'. Whilst still a session singer and working with Bryan Ferry, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Elton John in the 70s, she carried on with her solo career, releasing several singles in 1974 and 1975, and was still working in the music business into the early 90's, working with Elton John and Jorge Ben Jor.

Track listing

01 A Thing Of The Past (single 1964) 
02 Little Bit Of Soap (b-side of 'A Thing Of The Past') 
03 Bread And Butter (single 1964) 
04 Cry To Me (b-side of 'Bread And Butter')
05 Mind How You Go (single 1965) 
06 Don't You Feel Proud (b-side of 'Mind How You Go')
07 Hey Boy (single 1965)
08 I've Been Crying (b-side of 'Hey Boy') 
09 Come Away Melinda (single 1965)
10 Gotta Brand New Man (b-side of 'Gotta Brand New Man')
11 Everything I Touch Turns To Tears (single 1966)  
12 Sounds Like My Baby (b-side of 'Everything I Touch Turns To Tears')
13 Cry Like A Baby (single 1968)
14 Long And Lonely Night (b-side of 'Cry Like A Baby')
15 By The Time I Get To Phoenix (single 1969) 
16 Turn On Your Light (b-side of 'By The Time I Get To Phoenix')

It's Immaterial - Bored Usherette (1991)

In my last post by It's Immaterial I mentioned that just before the band broke up in 1990 they'd started recording what would have been their third album under the guidance of 'Song' producer Calum Malcolm, even titling it 'House For Sale'. Some twenty four years later, whilst moving studios, Jarvis Whitehead and John Campbell discovered a neat cardboard box containing the original multi-track Tascam DA-88 tapes from those sessions and decided to complete the project. After restoring the tapes and recording new parts to complete them, the duo started a crowd-funding page via PledgeMusic to raise enough money to release the album, and after a couple of years they managed to reach their target, and 'House For Sale' was finally released in September 2020. But the story doesn't end there, as the ten tracks that they chose for the album aren't all that was recorded, and with some being updated and re-titled, while others were dropped completely, the final release is pretty much a brand new record compared to my old bootleg of the album. If I remove the four tracks that have now appeared on the official release, we still have nine songs left, making up a 43-minute companion to the long-awaited follow-up to 'Song'. I would encourage anyone who fondly remembers the band, or was alerted to them by my earlier posts, to support them by buying 'House For Sale', and in the meantime you can listen to this collection of songs that didn't make it, but certainly deserved to.

Track listing

01 Bored Usherette   
02 Heaven Help Us All  
03 Out Of The Blue   
04 Just Drive  
05 Wyoming  
06 Is It All Right  
07 Circus Boy  
08 Betcha By  
09 New Moon   

The Beatles - All Made Up (1974)

In 2017, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a four-part series by the comedian Paul Merton, based around what would have happened if The Beatles had staged a reunion some years after they'd broken up. The year is 1974. Labour's Harold Wilson is Britain's Prime Minister, and Richard Nixon is in the White House. Abba win Eurovision, Germany win the World Cup and a new writer called Stephen King publishes his first novel. After 5 years of tension, ill feeling and fraught negotiation the four Beatles have buried their individual hatchets and are moving tentatively towards a full scale reunion, hopefully culminating in their first new album since 1969. As a warm up for the recording sessions, the Beatles - and some of their famous friends - have come together once more for a surprise concert, their first time live on stage since 1966 when they gave up live appearances after a show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Join Paul Merton on the commentator's microphone as the Fab Four take to the boards once more....
Like all of us, Paul Merton is a huge Beatles fan and like all Beatle fans his mind often turns to the "What if's..." of their career. What if they'd never broken up? What if they were still playing live? What if they made another album? The series was Merton's attempt to answer those questions, and to put forward a fantastical version of Beatle history. Based on the known facts, and using the recordings available, he imagines the concert that the Beatles could have given, and follows it up with the album that they could have made. The result is a fascinating look into an alternative reality, but also a clear eyed examination of the strengths and of the forces that drove - and drove apart - the greatest band of all time. He followed up the radio series with an article in Radio Times, where he revealed the track listing of the Beatles re-union album that he hoped would have happened after the concert. 

Fifty years after the Beatles’ 'Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band' was released, Merton marks the anniversary with a radio series in which he imagines what would have happened if his favourite band had reunited, made another album, and played live one more time.

From Radio Times, May 2017

“It would have been 1974,” he says, firmly.

He’s worked on it painstakingly, plotting when these events could have actually happened as the Beatles’ solo careers were soaring and diverging, their personal lives rocking and rolling, and their finances still affected by the messy legal wrangles that plagued their final years.

He’s even done the set list for the “concert” and ordered the tracks for the “record” himself, stitching together lesser-known songs from the solo Beatles’ catalogues and live shows.

“To be honest, I’ve been doing this for years,” he says, “John Lennon said in the 70's that if you want to create a Beatles album, just take tracks off individual albums and put them together, and I always wondered, could you create something that feels right? Then work out when they could have played together, around solo records, having children, trying to get green cards? And then I developed a theory…”

Another reason Merton has enjoyed creating an alternative history is a personal one: he became a Beatles obsessive after his heroes split up. Born in 1957 in south London, he was five when they released their first album, 'Please Please Me', and 12 when they broke up, but he spent his childhood, amazingly, largely unaware of their music. “I was the least rock ‘n’ roll child ever. My parents listened to the Light Programme, and that was it, really. I was completely out of touch with what was happening in pop culture, projecting old 8mm silent films to myself and the wall. My only album was an Al Jolson album!” But as Merton’s teens whirred onwards, the Beatles’ music seeped in. He’d heard and loved 'Here Comes the Sun' from the last album they recorded together, 'Abbey Road', while wandering around Woolworths one Christmas, and borrowed the vinyl from his local library. “I remember the librarian going: ‘What, you really haven’t heard 'Rubber Soul' or 'Revolver'?’” He mimics a little boy lost. “And I was, ‘Er… no?’”. Soon he was back every other Saturday, borrowing every album in chronological order of release, like a mini-history project; he was agog at the extraordinary transitions the band had made in seven short years. “I basically did the Beatles in three months, in fortnight-long bursts, through headphones I got for my birthday, completely lost in their world.” He didn’t share the music with his friends, as he didn’t really go out to parties, he says; instead, he’d stay at home with his clunky tape recorder making compilations of tracks by the band together, and, prophetically enough, apart.

From day one, Merton loved 'Sgt Pepper'. “It’s not a rock ‘n’ roll record, really, is it? It does whimsy very well. It’s also got this strangeness, this hugeness, this going-upstairs-to-have-a-smoke-and-go-into-a-dream stuff. It’s a record that’s soaring above nature.” As a teenager, he even fantasised he might pay someone to put a photograph of him onto the 'Sgt Pepper' cover one day. Lennon is Merton’s favourite Beatle, who once said he’d rather have been a comedian than a pop star, although Merton himself gives this idea short shrift. “Rose-tinted glasses there, I think, John. I mean, when you’re in a band, you haven’t got another band heckling, trying to get you off the stage all the bloody time, have you?” 

We've all had a go at making up these 'what if......?' Beatles albums, and so here's another one to add to the long, long list, and it's actually a pretty good attempt.

Many thanks to Gumboil for providing the location of all four radio shows which inspired this post. Having now listened to them again I'd quite forgotten that Merton's imaginary album was a double disc set, and that I'd only compiled the first two sides, but I think this could have been because I wasn't that impressed that side three was mostly covers, and that side four included a track that wasn't recorded until 1998. I'm guessing that at the time I felt happy with just the first disc, but so that we can have the complete listening experience of the full 'All Made Up' album I've added sides three and four to the file, as well as all four radio shows.

Track listing

Side One

01 Be What You See

02 I Don't Wanna Face It

03 Cockamamie Business

04 Ram On

05 Step Lightly

06 Ain't That A Shame

07 No Other Baby

Side Two

08 Fading In Fading Out

09 Steel And Glass

10 Hi, Hi, Hi

11 Horse To The Water

12 #9 Dream

13 Morse Moose And The Grey Goose

14 Oh My Love 

Side Three

15 If You Believe

16 Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive

17 Have You Seen My Baby

18 Rip It Up / Ready Teddy 

19 20 Flight Rock

20 Peggy Sue

21 Love Is Strange

22 I'm Losing You

23 Devil Woman

24 Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea

Side Four

25 Soft Hearted Hana

26 Fluid

27 When We Was Fab 

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Stevie Wonder - Redemption Songs (2010)

I'm not the only person to comment on the dearth of Stevie Wonder rarities that are available on the internet, and so for me to manage to post a third collection is something of an achievement. In 2003 a Japanese CD appeared called 'Lost Treasures', which purported to contain rarities, demos, unreleased tracks, live recordings and TV appearances from the 1960's to the 1990's, although on closer inspection it turned out that 60's tracks were just alternate takes of some of his singles, and the rest were either late 70's or early 90's recordings, but despite that there were some extremely hard to find tracks on there, so it was definitely worth getting. I always felt that it was a bit long at 21 tracks, and so decided to prune it down by removing the few songs that had been taken from 'The Secret Life Of Plants' (for some reason), as well as excising a couple of demos which weren't really up to the audio quality of the rest of the music. I decided to leave the four new songs from 'Original Musiquarium' as I don't listen to those nearly enough, and while doing all that I found a few extra rarities that I could add, which means that rather than cutting it down it actually ends up at nearly one and half hours of music, but I'm happier that everything on here is now of a universally high standard. A number of the songs were recorded to raise funds for various charities, and there are also his contributions to tribute albums to Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Berry Gordy, and Maya Angelou, all of which just emphasises the generous nature of the man. It's rounded off with some exclusive recordings for film soundtracks, a band demo for a song gifted to Michael Jackson for his 'Off The Wall' album, and an extended alternate take of the classic 'Superstition', and so you end up with a superb collection of some of his hardest to find material, providing even more evidence of the genius that is Stevie Wonder.    

Track listing

01 Front Line (from 'Original Musiquarium' 1979)
02 Kiss Lonely Goodbye (from the soundtrack of 'The Adventures Of Pinocchio' 1996)
03 All About The Love Again (from 'Change Is Now - Renewing America's Promise' 2009) 
04 I Can't Help It (live in studio demo for Michael Jackson's 'Off The Wall' 1979)
05 Do I Do (from 'Original Musiquarium' 1979)
06 I'm The One Who Loves You (from 'A Tribute To Curtis Mayfield' 1994)
07 Superstition (long version 1972) 
08 If I Ever Had A Chance To Love You (from 'A Tribute To Maya Angelou')
09 Keep Our Love Alive (anti-apartheid song recorded 1990)
10 That Girl (from 'Original Musiquarium' 1979) 
11 Redemption Song (from the soundtrack of 'Get On The Bus' 1996)
12 (You're My) Dream Come True (from 'A Tribute To Berry Gordy' 1995)
13 Feeding Off The Love Of The Land (from 'Nobody's Child' charity album 1990)
14 Stubborn Kind Of Fellow (from 'Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye' 1995)
15 Stay Gold (from the soundtrack of 'The Outsiders' 1983)
16 Ribbon In The Sky (from 'Original Musiquarium' 1979)
17 Time To Love/Bridge Over Troubled Water (from 'Hope For Haiti Now' charity album 2010)

Dave Gilmour - ..and on guitar Vol. 2 (2004) **UPDATE**

The plan was to finish the '...and on guitar' series on a high with a double disc offering from Dave Gilmour, which follows on very nicely from the first volume. There was one track that I couldn't fit on there as it was too long, and so Supertramp's 'Brother Where You Bound' opens this volume, and is then followed by Gilmour's absolutely stunning contribution to Berlin's 'Pink And Velvet', which I'd never heard before, but must count as one of the very best pieces of work that he's ever done. Add in his contributions to pop songs by Sam Brown, Pete Cetera, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Ringo Starr, as well as more progressive tracks from Phil Manzanera, Rabbit, and Robert Wyatt, and you have a superb collection to round off the series. But as it turns out it's not the end, as a passing suggestion from Maybe The Devil, Maybe The Lord has encouraged me to put together one more collection, and this could well be how it will be in future. Any suggestions will be welcomed for possible additions, but to keep in the spirit of the series it would ideally be a guitarist who has released two or three albums on his own, or with a band, and who has also played guest guitar on other artist's albums. Session guitarists who have never released an album of their own would be outside the scope of what I was aiming for, so let's see if I've missed any that I really should have included.   

A comment by AEC has prompted me to update this post, as they suggested that I could have included Rod Stewart's remake of his 'In A Broken Dream' with Dave Gilmour and John Paul Jones. Although it wasn't actually released until 2009, as part of 'The Rod Stewart Sessions', the recording date of 1992 would slot quite nicely into the second disc on this set, and to be honest it does deserve to be there, as it contains some spellbinding guitar-work from Gilmour. If you've already got this one then just download the last four tracks again to replace in the folder, and the tags will then all be updated.    

Track listing

Disc One

01 Brother Where You Bound (from 'Brother Where You Bound' by Supertramp 1985)
02 Bound To Be (from 'The Dream Academy' by The Dream Academy' 1985)
03 Pink And Velvet (from 'Count Three And Pray' by Berlin 1986)
04 Persona (from 'Persona' by Liona Boyd 1986)
05 Immaculate Eyes (from 'She' by Dalbello 1987)
06 This Feeling (from 'Stop!' by Sam Brown 1988)
07 Conquest (from 'Dream Jungle' by Rabbit 1988)

Disc Two
01 You Never Listen To Me (from 'One More Story' by Peter Cetera 1988)
02 Run Straight Down (from 'Transverse City' by Warren Zevon 1989)
03 We Got Married (from 'Flowers in the Dirt' by Paul McCartney 1989)
04 Como El Agua (from 'Roé' by Roé 1990)
05 Waiting For The Sunshine (from 'Growing Up In Public' by Jimmy Nail 1992)
06 Understanding Women (from 'The One' by Elton John 1992)

07 In A Broken Dream (from 'The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998', recorded 1992)
08 I Think Therefore I Rock 'n' Roll (from 'Ringo Rama' by Ringo Starr 2003)
09 Forest (from 'Cuckooland' by Robert Wyatt 2003)
10 Sacred Days (from '6PM' by Phil Manzanera 2004)

For MAC users

Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.

Cluster Ensemble - Music With Changing Parts by Philip Glass (2017)

Unlike my previous post of Philip Glass's music, which was intended to act as a primer for anyone who was unfamiliar with his work, this one is probably for fans only, as it is one of his earliest and most uncompromising works. On 31st October 2017, Slovakia's Cluster Ensemble performed Glass’s minimalist masterpiece 'Music With Changing Parts' for the first time in New York City in several decades. The ensemble’s unique take on the this work utilized live video made of digitized fragments of a dance performance, and was a spell-binding interpretation of the piece. 

Formed in 2009 in Bratislava, Slovakia, Cluster Ensemble is comprised of nine members playing three electric organs, flute, clarinet, saxophone, electric guitar, marimba and VJ. The ensemble originated with the Slovakian premiere of Steve Reich’s 'Six Pianos', performed in a piano store in Bratislava. Since then, the loose grouping of artists surrounding the artistic duo of Ivan Šiller and Fero Király have played all over the world, including Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and the United States, performing rarely-played ensemble works by composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich and John Cage, as well as their own projects. Fans of Philip Glass will find this a stunning interpretation of the piece, and while one hour and twelve minutes of minimalist repetition might not be everyone's cup of tea, I've played this at least once a week since I first got hold of it, and have enjoyed every minute. 

Track listing

01 Music With Changing Parts

search cluster aiwe  or  glass aiwe

Madeline Bell - Thinkin' (1969)

Madeline Bell was born on July 23, 1942 in Newark, New Jersey, and enjoyed singing from an early age, touring the US as part of a gospel troupe The Glovertones by her late teens. While on the road, she was spotted by gospel singer Alex Bradford and invited to become part of his backing group, who were invited to go to London to sing in the musical 'Black Nativity'. It was there that she was spotted by EMI songwriter and producer Norman Newell, who took her under his wing and suggested that she remain in Britain. Signing to EMI, she released one single on their HMV label before moving to the Columbia Records arm of the company for her next two singles, 'You Don’t Love Me No More' in 1964, and 'Daytime' the following year. When none of her releases registered with the record-buying public, she switched to the Philips label, where she remained for most of the rest of her career. With the songs of Bacharach and David in the ascendant in the mid 60's it was no surprise that 'What The World Needs Now Is Love' was issued as a single in 1965, with a b-side of 'I Can’t Wait Until I See My Baby’s Face', which label mate Dusty Springfield later recorded for her 'Where Am I Going' album. This was the beginning of a relationship which carried on for some years, and also brought in singer Lesley Duncan, where they would all sing backing on each others recordings, and even write songs together. A couple of great singles followed in 1966 – first a version of US singer Jean Wells' 'Don’t Come Running To Me', then one of Maxine Brown's with 'One Step At A Time' – before the unlikely decision was taken to have Bell record 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain', from the Julie Andrews film 'The Sound Of Music'. She did her best with the song, but it was not the style that she was associated with, and so it was up to her next two singles to re-establish her credibility, with 'Picture Me Gone' being one of her personal favourites, and featuring a b-side that she wrote with Dusty Springfield. The second single was 'I’m Gonna Make You Love Me', which reached number 26 in America’s Billboard charts in the spring of 1968, and was her biggest hit single. With this achievement under her belt, she released her first album 'Bell’s A Poppin'' that year, and from this point on had a very productive and successful career. Despite her new-found success Stateside, she continued her bread-and-butter work as a backing singer in the UK while she searched for a follow up to the US hit, although 'Thinkin'' failed to repeat the success of its predecessor. A second album 'Doin' Things' appeared later that year, with future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones playing on the sessions, as well writing a number of songs for the album. 'We're So Much In Love', which hadn’t been included on the album, became her final solo release of the decade in the UK before she was invited to help form Blue Mink, with whom she stayed for the next half decade, releasing many hit singles and albums with them, as well as slotting in solo releases at the same time. She is still working to this day, with performances ranging from appearances at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London to tours of Europe singing jazz and popular songs, but this is where it all started, with a collection of fine soul and pop from the mid-to-late 60's.

Track listing

01 You Don't Love Me No More (single 1964) 

02 Don't Cross Over To My Side Of The Street (b-side of 'You Don't Love Me No More')

03 Daytime (single 1965)

04 What The World Needs Now Is Love (single 1965)

05 I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face (b-side of 'What The World Needs Now')

06 One Step At A Time (single 1966

07 You Won't See Me (b-side of 'One Step At A Time')

08 Don't Come Running To Me (single 1966) 

09 I Really Got Carried Away (b-side of 'Don't Come Running To Me')

10 Go Ahead On (b-side of 'Picture Me Gone' 1967)

11 Climb Ev'ry Mountain (single 1967)

12 It Makes No Difference Now (b-side of 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain')

13 Thinkin' (single 1968)

14 Don't Give Your Love Away (b-side of 'Thinkin'')

15 What'm I Supposed To Do (b-side of 'Hold It')

16 We're So Much In Love (single 1969) 

17 How Much Do I Love You (b-side of 'We're So Much In Love')

Doe - Basement (2015)

Doe formed in London in early 2013, after Nicola Leel and Jake Popyura, who had met through a classified ad the previous year, cemented the initial lineup with the addition of guitarist Alessandro 'Alex' Sorenti. Their formation was quickly followed by a string of UK shows, and three EP releases, before Sorenti left the band and was replaced by Matthew Sykes. In 2014 they released a compilation LP of their early EPs, entitled 'First Four', and 2015 saw the release of the single 'Avalanche/Basement' on Fierce Panda Records. Sykes parted ways with the band in September that year and was replaced by Dean Smithers, and in March 2016, Doe recorded their debut full-length record 'Some Things Last Longer Than You', releasing it in September of that year. Their second album 'Grow Into It' came out in September 2018, immediately followed by tours of the UK and Europe, including dates with Speedy Ortiz and Dilly Dally. Once the tours were complete, Doe announced they would be splitting up following a final London show in September 2019. The band had been posting new songs on Soundcloud since they first started, and I'd collected quite a few before their albums were released, and so now is the time to compile some of the tracks that didn't make it to their albums into one final tribute to a fine little indie rock band.  

Track listing

01 Late Bloomer
02 Julia Survived

03 Gigantic
04 Nowhere Girl

05 Oh, Nostalgia!

06 Redo/Improve

07 Broken Souvenirs

08 Work In Progress

09 Bright Eyed

10 Avalanche

11 Sedated

12 Susanne

13 This Isn't Home

14 Basement