Clea - Identity Crisis (2004)

Clea are an English girl group whose members met on the television show 'Popstars: The Rivals' in 2002, and after they were voted off the series, Chloe Morgan , Lynsey Brown, Emma Beard and Aimee Kearsley decided to form a band, naming them selves 'Clea' after the first letter of each member's name. They initially had a management contract with Upside Management, and a recording contract with Warner offshoot 1967 Records, and their first single, 'Download It', was released in 2003, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 21. After spending the remainder of the year playing small concerts in the United Kingdom, the band released their second single in February 2004, with 'Stuck In The Middle' reaching number 23 in the UK Singles Chart. After completing work on their debut album, Morgan left the group in May to pursue a solo career, and 'Identity Crisis' was released in Russia, Eastern Europe, and certain countries in Asia, as the group had seen some moderate success in these regions, but due to their lack of success around the rest of the world, they were dropped from 1967 Records in late 2004. They continued to be managed by Upside Management, releasing music independently through a specially-created label, and in September 2005 they collaborated with production group Da Playaz to release a single, 'We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off', which was a dance remake of the Narada Michael Walden song originally made famous by Jermaine Stewart. This single reached number 35 on the UK chart, and was followed in June 2006 by 'Lucky Like That', which reached number 55. 'Trinity', Clea's second album (but first UK release) was issued on 3 July 2006 on Upside Records, after which Brown left the band in November. They then released the double a-side single, 'Stuck In The Middle'/'I Surrender', in Europe, and toured Asia and Scandinavia in 2007, and they also signed to EMI China, touring there on several occasions. 'Identity Crisis' deserved a wider release than it received, as it's a pretty good album in a Girls Aloud vein, and so here it is for your enjoyment. 

Track listing

01 Stuck In The Middle  
02 The Lie  
03 Butterflies And Rainbows  
04 First Love  
05 Identity Crisis  
06 One More Try 
07 Sprung  
08 Crush  
09 A Guy Like You  
10 Download It 
11 Mind Games  
12 Pretty Little Bad Girl

Marva Whitney - I've Lived The Life (1977)

At the end of an article about Marva Whiney in this month's Record Collector, the writer noted that 'a compilation of her 60's and 70's singles is long overdue'. Well, your wish is my command, and so here is a companion album to her sole 60's long-playing release, 1969's 'It's My Thing', which contained a lot of her early singles and their b-sides. This post collects every other song that she recorded in her decade long career, including the extremely rare 1968 single 'All My Love Belongs To You', which I've had to subtly edit to remove some talking at the beginning. It also features both the Federal Records and King Records versions of 'Your Love Was Good For Me', plus an unreleased 1969 duet with James Brown. 
Marva Ann Manning (a.k.a. Marva Whitney) was born on 1 May 1944 in Kansas City, and her performing career started as early as three years old while touring with her family's gospel group, the Manning Gospel Singers. At the age of 16 she joined the Alma Whitney Singers and two years later she married Harry Olander Whitney with whom she had a daughter Sherrie Whitney. She began singing R&B music for the first time in 1963 at a Kansas City venue, while studying music at college, and when she left she continued performing in nightclubs and at local talent competitions while working in a garment factory. By the mid-1960's she'd joined local group Tommy (Gadson) & The Derbys as their lead singer, and they opened for many leading performers passing through Kansas City, but in 1967 she left the group, and turned down offers to tour with Bobby Bland and Little Richard before joining the James Brown Revue as a featured vocalist. Her first solo single, 'Your Love Was Good To Me', was recorded for Federal Records in mid-1967, but was unsuccessful, as were her two follow-up singles for new label King Records. She toured Europe, Asia and Africa with James Brown, with whom she was in a relationship, and in early 1968 he produced her fourth solo single, 'Unwind Yourself', in a more funky style. Although the record was not a chart hit, it was later sampled numerous times, and her first chart hit came with 'It's My Thing (You Can't Tell Me Who to Sock It To)', which was an answer record to The Isley Brothers' hit 'It's Your Thing', and which reached number 19 on the Billboard R&B in 1969. She followed up with two smaller hits, 'Things Got To Get Better (Get Together)' and 'I Made A Mistake Because It's Only You (Part 1)', as well as releasing her sole album 'It's My Thing' the same year. Later that year, after about 13 singles with James Brown as producer and writer or co-writer, an exhausted Whitney left the Brown stable in 1969/1970 and returned to Kansas City. 

Clarence Cooper and Allan Bell took over her management, and initially struggled to get Whitney into major venues, but a trip to Chicago in 1970, and a visit to producer Floyd Smith, resulted in a contract with the Isley Brothers' T-Neck label for one single, after which she married Ellis Taylor, who ran Forte Records. She recorded further singles for his label, including 'Daddy Don't Know About Sugar Bear', her most successful post Brown single that was picked up for national distribution by Nashville's Excello records. She retired from recording for several years, making only local appearances in Kansas City, returning to the studio in 1977 for a Forte single with her brother Melvin Manning, as Marva & Melvin, and after another short break she briefly joined the group, Coffee, Cream & Sugar. In 2006, she collaborated with German born DJ/collector/manager DJ Pari and Japanese funk orchestra Osaka Monaurail to produce a new single, 'I Am What I Am', which was very much in the James Brown style, and the single was produced to sound like an authentic release of the type that she produced with Brown in 1969. Two successful tours of Japan and a full-length album release followed, and between 2007 and 2009 the tour was also brought to Europe where she maintained a cult following. In December 2009, she suffered a stroke on stage during a concert in Lorne, Australia, after which the remaining dates of her tour were cancelled, but after a partial recovery she was able to perform again in 2010. In December 2012, Whitney died from complications of pneumonia at her home. She was 68. I hope that this collection is a fitting tribute to an artist who was known during her early days as Soul Sister #1. 

Track listing

01 Your Love Was Good For Me (Federal single 1967)
02 Saving My Love For My Baby (b-side of 'Your Love Was Good For Me')
03 All My Love Belongs To You (b-side of 'I'll Work It Out' 1968)
04 What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You (single 1968)
05 Your Love Was Good For Me (b-side of 'What Do I Have To Do To Prove My Love To You')
06 Tit For Tat (Ain’t No Taking Back) (b-side of 'In The Middle (Part 2)' 1968)
07 Ball Of Fire (b-side of 'It's My Thing (You Can't Tell Me Who To Sock It To)' 1969)
08 Sunny (unreleased single with James Brown 1969)
09 I Made A Mistake Because It's Only You (Parts 1 & 2) (single 1969) 
10 This Girls In Love With You (single 1969)
11 He's The One (b-side of 'This Girl's In Love With You')
12 This Is My Quest (single 1970)
13 Giving Up On Love (b-side of 'This Is My Quest')
14 Daddy Don't Know About Sugar Bear (single 1972)  
15 We Need More (But Somebody Gotta Sacrifice) (b-side of 'Daddy Don't Know About 

                                                                                         Sugar Bear' with Ellis (Gripey) Taylor)
16 Live And Let Live (single 1972)
17 Don't Let Our Love Fade Away (b-side of 'Live And Let Live')
18 (Hey, You And You And You And You) I've Lived The Life (single 1975)
19 Nothing I'd Rather Be Than Your Weakness (b-side of '(Hey, You And You And You 

                                                                                                      And You) I've Lived The Life') 
20 (Get Ready For) The Changes (single as Marva & Melvin 1977)
21 All Alone I've Loved You (b-side of '(Get Ready For) The Changes')

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Nilsson (1971)

By 1958, Harry Nilsson was intrigued by emerging forms of popular music, especially rhythm and blues artists like Ray Charles, and he had made early attempts at performing by forming a vocal duo with his friend Jerry Smith and singing close harmonies in the style of the Everly Brothers. After learning to play the guitar and piano he started writing original songs, and after singing lessons courtesy of his uncle, along with his natural talent, he got a job singing demos for songwriter Scott Turner in 1962. After a couple of unsuccessful independent singles he started working with Phil Spector in 1964, writing three songs with him. In 1966 he signed to Tower Records, who released the first singles actually credited to him by name, as well as the debut album 'Spotlight On Nilsson', and although none of his Tower releases charted or gained much critical attention, his songs were being recorded by Glen Campbell, Fred Astaire, The Shangri-Las, The Yardbirds, and others. Later in 1966, he signed with RCA Victor and released the 'Pandemonium Shadow Show' album the following year, which was a critical success, with music industry insiders impressed both with the songwriting and with Nilsson's pure-toned, multi-octave vocals. 'Pandemonium Shadow Show' was followed in 1968 by 'Aerial Ballet', an album that included Nilsson's rendition of Fred Neil's song 'Everybody's Talkin'', which was a minor US hit at the time of release, but which became much more popular a year later when it was featured in the film 'Midnight Cowboy'. With the successes of 'Everybody's Talkin'' creating a demand for Nilsson recordings, a reissue of his first two RCA Victor albums, 'Pandemonium Shadow Show' and the out of print 'Aerial Ballet', was considered, but he thought that his early albums already sounded a bit dated by 1971, so he went back into the studio with the master tapes, and remixed, tweaked, and re-recorded vocals, and came up with a new consolidation that he titled 'Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'. This included four songs from 'Pandemonium Shadow Show' and eight songs from 'Aerial Ballet', and over the following years nearly all of these songs were picked up and covered by other artists. Because some of the tracks on 'Aerial Pandemonium Ballet' were his own covers of classics like 'River Deep, Mountain High' and 'Everybody's Talkin'', I've gone back to the original albums and added some of the tracks which were ignored in the re-issue, in order to make this post a reasonable length. Once again, it's a nice mix of famous and not so famous artists, all doing justice to some fine songs by Nilsson. 

Track listing

01 Introduction
02 1941 (Billy J. Kramer 1968)
03 Daddy's Song (The Casuals 1969)
04 Bath (Doris 1970) 
05 Sleep Late, My Lady Friend (Harry Belafonte 1968) 
06 Don't Leave Me (Hugo Montenegro 1969)
07 Without Her (Blood, Sweat & Tears 1968)
08 Together (Sandie Shaw 1968)
09 One (Three Dog Night 1969)
10 I Said Goodbye To Me (The Glass Menagerie 1968)
11 Little Cowboy (The Buffoons 1969)
12 Wailing Of The Willow (Friday Brown 1971)
13 Cuddly Toy (The Fruit Machine 1968)
14 It's Been So Long (Kenny Everett 1968)
15 Ten Little Indians (The Yardbirds 1967)
16 Closing

North & South - Allsorts (1998)

North & South were formed by former manager of East 17, Tom Watkins, as the fictional boy band in the 1997 BBC sitcom  'No Sweat'. The group was made up of James Hurst, Lee Otter, Tom Lowe (who later appeared on American Idol) and Sam Chapman, and in the television show they were called Jimmy, Greg, Miles and Giles. The guys got the job of being in a band and television show by responding to an ad they saw on teletext, and Mark Read of A1 was originally meant to be in the band, but dropped out. 'No Sweat' ran for two seasons, the first in 1997, followed by season 2 in 1998, and the first episode was set in Brighton, and centred around Jimmy moving to Brighton with his overbearing mother. He made friends with Greg and decided to form a band to get girls and money, and with the addition of two guys from a rival school, they formed a group called North & South. They released their debut single later in 1997 with 'I'm A Man Not A Boy', which reached number 7 in the UK charts, and ended up as the 72nd biggest selling single of that year. A second single followed with 'Tarantino's New Star', but despite heavy promotion it only reached number 18 in the charts. They still went on to sell out a tour of the UK, and they supported ex-Take That's Mark Owen on the European leg of his first solo tour. They finished 1997 with their third single 'Breathing', but it could only just scrape into the top 30, reaching number 27 in the charts. The second series of 'No Sweat' had low ratings, and the fourth single 'No Sweat 98', a remixed version of the TV show's theme song, only reached 29 in the charts, so BMG Entertainment decided to shelve their 'Allsorts' album, and the band broke up soon afterwards. Although they were a manufactured band, it never did The Monkees any harm, and an album release might have given them some credibility, especially as it included a cover of Devo's 'Whip it'. However, it wasn't to be, and so here it is for you to decide if it would have been the hit that they hoped for.  

Track listing

01 I'm A Man Not A Boy
02 Tarantino's New Star
03 Breathing
04 No Sweat
05 Whip It
06 Atomic Love
07 Cold As Ice
08 It's Too Late
09 Moonboy
10 I Wanna Dance With You

11 I Won't Let You Down

12 She's Not There

13 Invisible Man

14 Heads Or Tails

Honeyz - Harmony (2001)

In 1997, Mercury Records cultivated the UK girl group Essence, made up of Heavenli Abdi and Celena Cherry, with the duo being hailed as an R&B alternative to the Spice Girls, and intended as a direct rival to American girl group Destiny's Child. While Cherry admitted that Essence was "an OK name, but it wasn't really hitting it", it was changed to Honeyz after a chance remark overheard outside the Subterranea nightclub, and in 1998, Naima Belkhiati joined the line-up and the group, when they were officially named as Honeyz. Their debut single, 'Finally Found' was released in August 1998 and peaked at number four in the UK Singles Chart, and remains their biggest hit, introducing the trio to the British public and going on to sell more than 350,000 copies. The follow-up, 'End Of The Line', notched up similar sales figures, peaking at number five, and their debut album 'Wonder No.8' went gold in the UK with sales of over 200,000 copies. Aside from their success in the United Kingdom, they also found fame in the Netherlands, Italy, and Australia, while in the US they signed to Def Jam/Island. Between the video shoot for the group's third single 'Love Of A Lifetime' and their second promotional trip to Australia in March 1999, Abdi decided to quit the group for personal reasons, citing creative differences with Cherry, homesickness, unhappiness with touring internationally, and wanting to start a solo career and spend more time with her boyfriend. As a result of Abdi's sudden departure, the group lost their US deal with Def Jam, but her departure did open up an opportunity for former Solid HarmoniE vocalist Mariama Goodman to join, and the new line-up continued promotion for 'Love Of A Lifetime', which reached number 9 in the UK charts. October 1999 saw the release of their fourth single, 'Never Let You Down', a new track recorded for inclusion on a repackaged version of 'Wonder No.8', and the first single to feature Goodman's vocals, and it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 7, giving the group their fourth consecutive top 10 hit. 

They picked up nominations for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best R&B Act' categories at the 1999 MOBO awards, and performed their next single 'Won't Take It Lying Down' at the ceremony, with the February 2000 release giving them their last top 10 hit. By summer 2000, they had recorded 'Not Even Gonna Trip' as the first single to be taken from a planned forthcoming album, and it was also the chosen single from the 'Nutty Professor II: The Klumps' original soundtrack. It was during the run-up to the single release in August that Goodman announced her departure from Honeyz, due to constant clashing with Belkhiati. Cherry and Belkhiati were faced with an uncertain future, and their management took the decision to bring Abdi back into the group, against the wishes of the other two members of the group. Abdi's vocals were recorded for the new single, and her return was announced, but when 'Not Even Gonna Trip' was released it failed to reach the top 20. They continued to work on their second album, 'Harmony', and almost a year after Abdi's return, they released a new single 'I Don't Know', but with minimal exposure and promotion, it didn't even chart as high as their previous one, stalling at number 28. The 'Talk To The Hand' single came out in late 2001, but as a result of strained relations between Abdi and Cherry, Mercury decided to simply drop the group, cancelling the release of 'Harmony' as a result. Following this setback, and a departure from their management, the group decided to go their separate ways in 2003. Promo copies of the record had been sent out before its cancellation, and so we can hear the result of their hard work over those two years, and it actually contains vocals from both Goodman and Abdi, despite them having never been in the band at the same time, as Goodman left in the middle of the recording sessions and Abdi re-joined immediately afterwards. 

Track listing

1 Talk To The Hand 
2 I Don't Know  
3 Just As I Am  
4 More Than One Night 
5 Avalanche 
6 Best Man 
7 This Is Not A Game  
8 Do You Wish It Were Yesterday 
9 No 
10 Just A Little To The Left  
11 I Need You Now
12 Senorita Bonita 
13 When The Show's Over  
14 Love Is Strange
15 Get Down Tonight  
16 Do You Wanna Go Home With A Honey  
17 Not Even Gonna Trip 

Caleb Quaye - ...and on guitar (1974)

Caleb Quaye was born 9 October 1948, and is the older half-brother of singer Finley Quaye. His musical career began when he was a member of local band The SoundCasters (or The Sound Castles) while at school. In the early sixties, he joined the band Bluesology, featuring Reginald Dwight on keyboards, later to morph into Elton John, and they were Long John Baldry's backing band for a while, releasing three singles with him from 1965 to 1967. After the breakup of Bluesology, Quaye released a single in 1967 under the name Caleb, with 'Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad'/'Woman Of Distinction' now being rated as one of the finest psychedelic records of the era. In 1968, Elton John started playing concerts under his new name, enlisting Quaye as his guitarist, and in 1969 this group recorded a private album under the name The Bread And Beer Band, just for their own amusement, with only two tracks ever appearing officially on disc, with the 'Dick Barton Theme'/'Breakdown Blues' single being released in 1969 on Decca Records. 

In 1969 he served as guitarist for the one-off "flower power" pop band Argosy (which also included Dwight, Roger Hodgson, and Nigel Olsson) on their single, 'Mr. Boyd'/'Imagine', and he also issued 'The Way Of The Musician' as a single under the name of Hookfoot. As Elton John knew Quaye from his Bluesology days, he used three quarters of Hookfoot as his backing band when he recorded some sessions for the BBC in July 1969. Around April 1970, Quaye reinvented Hookfoot as a proper band, with Ian Duck on harmonica and vocals, Dave Glover on bass and Roger Pope on drums, and once again they backed Elton John when he was invited back to the BBC in April 1970. They also backed Steve Ellis on two solo singles in 1970 and 1971, before they released their eponymous debut album in 1971. It was well-received, and included songs by Quaye, as well as covers of tracks by Stephen Stills and Neil Young, and with the addition of Bob Kulick as a second guitarist, the band released their second album 'Good Times a-Comin'' in 1972, which was a more straight-ahead rock record. While Hookfoot was active during 1971 and 1972, Quaye was much in demand as a session player, and appeared on a number of recordings by the likes of Al Kooper, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Ralph McTell, John Baldry, Nilsson, and Cochise. Following a few more line-up changes, and two more albums in 1972 and 1973, Hookfoot eventually split up in 1974, and Quaye went to the USA to work as a session musician. 

While a member of Hookfoot, Quaye had played on most of Elton John's records up to 1971's  'Madman Across The Water', when John recruited Nigel Olssen, Dee Murray, Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper as his permanent backing group, but in April 1975, long time bandmates Murray and Olsson were asked to leave the group. They were replaced by old friend Roger Pope and Kenny Passarelli, and it was at this time that Quaye was also asked to re-join, ready to start tour rehearsals in June 1975. This line-up released the 'Rock Of The Westies' album later that year, and he stayed with them for a couple of years, also appearing on 1976's 'Blue Moves'. After this his guest appearances slowed down, with only a couple in 1977, then nothing after 1980, as in 1982 his life changed completely, when he became a musician/evangelist. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the National Worship Committee, and he was officially appointed as National Foursquare Music Minister in the Spring of 1995. So that's where we'll end this look back at the early career of an extremely talented, but undeservedly neglected guitarist, and if you want to learn more about his life, then you can read his excellent autobiography 'A Voice Louder Than Rock & Roll'.

Track listing

Disc I
01 Ticket To Ride (from 'Hold Up!' by The Moonshiners 1967)
02 Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad (single by Caleb 1967)
03 Breakdown Blues (b-side of 'Dick Barton Theme' single by The Bread And Beer Band 1969)
04 Empty Sky (from 'Empty Sky' by Elton John 1969)
05 Mr. Boyd (single by Argosy 1969)
06 The Way Of The Musician (single by Hookfoot 1969)
07 Jingle Jangle Jasmine (b-side of 'Take Your Love' single by Steve Ellis 1971)
08 Eric Is Calling (from 'Chumley's Laughing Gear' by Claggers 1971)
09 Loudwater Zoo (from 'Loudwater House' by Tony Hazzard 1971)
10 Going Quietly Mad (from 'New York City (You're A Woman)' by Al Kooper 1971)
11 Old Brown Dog (from 'You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here' by Ralph McTell 1971)

Disc II
01 Sunshine Looks Like Rain (from 'Drum Orchestra And Chorus' by Nigel Olsson 1971)
02 Oh Rosanna (from 'I Think I'll Write A Song' by Phillip Goodhand-Tait 1971)
03 Take Off My Shoes (from 'Shalom' by Shalom Chanoch 1971)
04 Another Day (from 'Swallow Tales' by Cochise 1971)
05 Like Summer Tempests (from 'Taupin' by Bernie Taupin 1971)
06 Let's Burn Down The Cornfield (from 'It Ain't Easy' by John Baldry 1971)
07 Coconut (from 'Nilsson Schmilsson' by Nilsson 1971)
08 Same Old Thing (from 'A Story Ended' by Dick Heckstall-Smith 1972)
09 Keep Dreaming (from 'Bill Quateman' by Bill Quateman 1972)
10 Everything Comes And Goes (from 'Somewhere' by Mike Hugg 1972)
11 Kid's Stuff (from 'David Elliott' by David Elliott 1972)
12 Jubilee Cloud (from 'Kongos' by John Kongos 1972)

Disc III

01 The End (from 'Queues' by Vigrass & Osborne 1972)
02 I Can't Stand It (from 'Lou Reed' by Lou Reed 1972)
03 Sweet America (from 'Meanwhile... Back At The World' by Roger Cook 1972)
04 Forever's No Time At All (from 'Who Came First' by Pete Townshend 1972)
05 Parisien Plight II (from 'Faces' by Shawn Phillips 1972)
06 Non-Commercial Blues (from 'A Little Taste' by Ann Odell 1973)
07 Albuquerque Rainbow (from 'Chris Darrow' by Chris Darrow 1973)
08 Get Yourself Together (from 'In London' by Teresa Brewer with Oily Rag 1973)
09 Overnight Train (from 'Love Songs' by Billy Nicholls 1974)
10 I Got You Covered (from 'Mo' by Mo McGuire 1974)

Thanks to progcollector for supplying the Claggers track. 

...and on guitar - The Book (2023)

Now that I've posted what could turn out to be the final entry in the '...and on guitar' series, here's something that I've been thinking about doing this for quite a while. When the number of posts in the series reached over 75 then I thought that now was the time to put them all together in one place, almost like a book. So what you have here are all the write-ups for the '...and on guitar' series, presented in alphabetical order, so that they can be dipped into as you are listening to the albums, or just read as a history of the lives of all these great guitarists. 

Soulseek hint      book aiwe

Download update 2

Looks like I'm being targeted by a French residuals collection agency, who keep taking down any links that they find on the blog. It's really annoying, not only because I haven't really posted anything from French artists, but mainly because the links they are deleting aren't even for music, but they are all my Word and pdf docs, which of course includes the Lynx pdf. After they took down the Mega links I moved to Uploaded.ee, but that only lasted for a few days, so now I'm on ImageNetz.de. After leaving that up for a couple of days I'm now worried that will be spotted and taken down as well, so I've therefore come up with a way to hide it, which is to add it to the comments of each new post. You might notice that I'm very regular with my posts, with one on Tuesday and three on Friday, so I only need to add the link to the comments of Tuesday's post and the top one on Friday, and of course all the previous links will be in the download as well. Hopefully new visitors will spot this update so that they can hear the music, and let's hope that if they think they've won that they'll now leave me alone. 

pj    

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Neil Diamond (1972) **UPDATED**

I know 'The Long Way Home' had a dodgy beginning, and I tried pitch correcting and got nowhere, but then I had a brainwave and patched it with sections from the middle of the track, so download again for a better copy of the song.  

Neil Diamond started his musical career writing and singing his own songs for demos, and his first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", an Everly Brothers-type duet with high school friend Jack Packer. They recorded the singles 'You Are My Love At Last'/'What Will I Do', and 'I'm Afraid'/'Till You've Tried Love', both released in 1962, and despite positive reviews from Cashbox and Billboard magazines they were not successful. Diamond signed with Columbia Records as a solo performer later in 1962, and in July 1963 they released the single 'Clown Town'/'At Night', which once again received complimentary reviews, but it still failed to make the charts. Columbia dropped him from their label and he went back to writing songs in and out of publishing houses for the next seven years. He wrote wherever he could, including on buses, and used an upright piano above the Birdland Club in New York City, but he was only able to sell about one song a week during those years, barely enough to survive. The privacy that he had above the Birdland Club allowed him to focus on writing without distractions, and this freedom resulted in more interesting songs beginning to appear, including 'Cherry, Cherry' and 'Solitary Man', and the latter was the first record that Diamond recorded under his own name which made the charts. He spent his early career in the Brill Building, and his first success as a songwriter came in November 1965 with 'Sunday And Me', a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans, but that was just the beginning, as this was followed by 'I'm A Believer', 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You', 'Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)', and 'Love To Love', all performed by the Monkees. 'I'm A Believer' became a gold record within two days of its release and stayed at the top of the charts for seven weeks, and other notable artists who recorded his early songs were Lulu, Cliff Richard and Deep Purple. In 1966, he signed a deal with Bert Berns's Bang Records, then a subsidiary of Atlantic, and his first release on that label was 'Solitary Man', which was his first true hit as a solo artist, and he followed that with 'Cherry, Cherry' and 'Kentucky Woman'. He began to feel restricted by Bang Records because he wanted to record more ambitious, introspective music, such as 'Brooklyn Roads', but Berns wanted to release 'Kentucky Woman' as a single, while Diamond proposed 'Shilo', which was about an imaginary childhood friend. Berns believed that the song was not commercial enough, so it was relegated to being an LP track on 'Just for You', his second album for Bang. Diamond wrote every song on 'Just For You', and it included his own versions of the hit singles 'I'm A Believer' by The Monkees and 'The Boat That I Row' by Lulu, but it wasn't long before all of the songs on the record had been noticed and covered by other artists, and so this post is Neil Diamond's second album as interpreted by some well-known and some not so well-known artists of the late 60's. To flesh out the post to a reasonable length I've also included the b-sides to a couple of his 1967 singles, taken from his previous album on Bang. 

Track listing

01 Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon (Cliff Richard 1968)
02 The Long Way Home (Quentin E. Klopjaeger With The Gonks 1968)
03 Red Red Wine (Jimmy James And The Vagabonds 1968)
04 You'll Forget (The Wanderer's Rest 1967)
05 The Boat That I Row (Lulu 1967)
06 Cherry Cherry (Wishful Thinking 1967)
07 I'm A Believer (The Monkees 1966)
08 Shilo (Springbok 1971)
09 You Got To Me (Gene Pierson 1968)
10 Solitary Man (The Kitchen Cinq 1967)
11 C'est Pour Vous Que Je Chante (Thank The Lord For The Night Time) (Les Hou-Lops 1967)
12 Oh, No No (I Got The Feeling) (Wool 1972)
13 Do It (Keith Allison 1967)

The Pale Fountains - Thank You (1983)

The Pale Fountains formed in Liverpool in 1981, and were led by singer/songwriter and guitarist Michael Head, along with bassist Chris McCaffrey, drummer Thomas Whelan and former Dislocation Dance trumpeter Andy Diagram. They were at the forefront of the new 'quiet pop' movement, and inspired by 1960's music such as Love, Burt Bacharach and the Beatles, they released their debut single '(There's Always) Something on My Mind' on the Operation Twilght label in 1982, which generated such a positive buzz that they were immediately signed by Virgin for the then-staggering sum of £150,000. However, their debut single for the label, the lavish 'Thank You', failed to crack the U.K. Top 40, despite a heavy promotional push, and after an intense year in the studio, the band's first LP, the bossa nova-inflected 'Pacific Street', finally appeared in 1984. After such a relatively long absence from the limelight, however, the group had lost its status as media darlings, and the record fared poorly. Producer Ian Broudie was brought in to helm 1985's '...From Across The Kitchen Table', which was more unified than its predecessor as it was recorded over a shorter period of time, and lead single 'Jean's Not Happening' is one of the great lost indie gems of the 80's, complete with a powerful string arrangement, but again success was not forthcoming. In the wake of considerable acrimony amongst the band and their label, The Pale Fountains soon split, with Head returning to Liverpool to form Shack with his brother John, while Andy Diagram had already left the band in 1984 to join James. As a reminder of of the beginnings of Michael Head's critically-acclaimed career, here are all the non-album singles and b-sides recorded by the band, plus a couple of rare compilation contributions, an unreleased single, as well as a John Peel session recording and two songs recorded for the Old Grey Whistle Test, none of which made it into the studio.  

Track listing

01 Thank You (single 1982)
02 Meadow Of Love (b-side of 'Thank You')
03 Just A Girl (b-side of '(There's Always) Something On My Mind' 1982)
04 Lavinia's Dream (b-side of '(There's Always) Something On My Mind' 1982)
05 Palm Of My Hand (single 1983)
06 Love's A Beautiful Place (b-side of 'Palm Of My Hand')
07 (I'm A) Longshot For Your Love (unreleased single 1982)
08 Love Situation (b-side of '(Don't Let Your Love) Start A War' 1984)
09 Walk On By (hidden track on b-side of '(Don't Let Your Love) Start A War' 1984)
10 Benoit's Christmas (from 'Ghosts Of Christmas Past (Remake)' compilation album 1982)
11 The Norfolk Broads (from John Peel session 1982)
12 We Have All The Time In The World (from the 'Moving Soundtracks (Volume One)'

                                                                                                          compilation album 1982)

13 Free (from The Old Grey Whistle Test 1983)

14 Hey There Fred (from The Old Grey Whistle Test 1983)

VV Brown - Lollipops & Politics (2012)

Vanessa Brown was born 24 October 1983 in Northampton, England, and is known professionally as VV Brown. She was an exceptional scholar, sitting her A-levels a year early, and achieving four A-grades, which led to offers from five universities, including Oxford, to study law. She turned them all down, however, to pursue a music career, which was in direct contrast to the three offers of a record deal that she received while still at school. Despite one of them being from rapper P. Diddy's label Bad Boy Records, she declined them all in order to focus on her studies. She studied violin until the age of nine but gave it up to focus on piano, vocals and trumpet, which she found easier. She completed her grade 8 trumpet examination aged 16 and played in jazz bands until the age of 21, and her childhood musical idols were jazz artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. When she was 18 she attended an open audition for the VH1 Divas concert, and was stopped outside the venue by an executive from London Records, who offered her a development deal. This ended a year later, at which point she was offered deals by Polydor in the UK and A&M Records in the US, but after releasing one single and a promotional EP called 'Back To The Music', she left both labels in 2006. Brown moved back to London and began performing in bars and clubs around the city, where she was rediscovered by executive Darcus Beese and signed to Island Records, who oversaw the recording of her debut album 'Travelling Like The Light' between 2007 and 2008, and released it in July 2009. Four singles were taken from it, with 'Shark In The Water' charting in the British, French and US charts. In 2011, prior to the mastering of Brown's second album 'Lollipops & Politics', a free preview mixtape called 'The Playground' was released through SoundCloud. Brown then announced that the first single from 'Lollipops & Politics' would be called 'Children', which was released on iTunes in America in September 2011, and that the album would follow in early 2012. However, the release was first postponed until 2013, and then called off completely, with Brown posting on her Facebook account that she "didn't feel it was right as an artist". A new album called 'Samson & Delilah', recorded in London with Dave Okumu from The Invisible and former M83 member Pierre-Marie Maulini, was released in its place in September 2013. One track from 'Lollipops & Politics' did make an appearance, with '10 Ft. Tall' being released as a non-album single, but the rest of the album has remained locked in the vaults. General opinion of the fans who have heard it is that it was an excellent record, and didn't deserve to be shelved, and so here it is for you to make up your own mind.  

Track listing

01 Children (Keep On Singing) (feat. Chiddy of Chiddy Bang)  
02 Famous 
03 Red Balloon 
04 Tough Like Glue 
05 Climbing High 
06 Heartbeat 
07 Be Yours 
08 10 Ft. Tall 
09 Circus Town 
10 Like Fire
11 Last Night

What's going on...?

I woke up this morning to four take-down notices from Mega, requested by some company in France. At first I thought it might be Mike's Beatles posts, as there have been four of them, but after checking my account it turns out to be the four links that I publish on the blog, for the Mega links, the ...and on guitar biogs, Powerpop Tom's CD covers, and my Soulseek instructions, so not even any music. The ironic thing is that I wrote all of those documents and so they are my copyright and no-one else has the authority to have them removed. It seems that someone has found the blog and asked for all links to be removed, which is exactly why I don't publish them on the site, as otherwise they would now all be gone. There also seems to be an issue with Soulseek, although I think that might just be a coincidence, but I have re-booted, so anyone who had a problem can try again. It might just be because my laptop seemed to have turned itself off today. Although it's not actually a Mega issue, I think the quickest fix is to move these docs to another host, and as Paul seems to get on OK with upload.ee then I'll try them. Everything else will stay the same unless things escalate.   

pj 

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Mike's Mix) (1967)

Time for another of Mike's remixes of a classic Beatles' album, and for this one he's gone straight to arguably the best of them all.

I’m hoping that this week’s in-depth look at 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' will allow you to appreciate the greatest band in the world… in a whole new way. 

Here’s my track by track analysis of what’s Included: 
01 Strawberry Fields Forever - I thought that instead of just remixing the album I’d include the prequel to it. Here is take one of SFF. To start us off I thought I would re-edit the beginning of the song as a tribute to another great band and one of my favorite songs by them. It’s subtle but I tried to edit the beginning to (vaguely lol…) sound like the beginning few seconds of 'And You And I' by Yes. I always loved the way that song starts as just tuning and noodling around on the guitar…but suddenly turned into this amazing song. Here I let the keyboards do the same thing. True, I didn’t use the original single version of the song… but I always liked the gentleness of the first take, so I chose that one to start us off. A lovely ballad version focusing on John’s vocals and soon to be discarded backing vocals. I took a small liberty by fading out and echoing the last repeats of the word “forever”.
02 Penny Lane - The other side of the single. I brought up the backing orchestra and lost most of the band for this one. Except of course for Paul’s vocals, bass and the fun often buried harmony vocals. Since we aren’t into the actual album yet…I took the liberty to add some interesting vocal attempts that went on during the recording sessions but later went unused. 
03 Sgt. Pepper - The official beginning of possibly one of the greatest musical and cultural touchstones ever created. So many unique, unusual sounds were invented during the recording of this album. Experimentation and Innovation were at play during every moment of the recording, which makes this one of the most fun albums I’ve ever had the pleasure to rip apart and put back together. So much to discover and so much to uncover…just for you! Let’s begin with the stabbing, hard rocking guitar parts followed immediately by classical french horns. What an astounding and unexpected way to begin the album. This followed by the lads trademark three-part harmonies and then Paul’s super gritty lead vocals… and we’re off to a great start! 
04 With A Little Help From My Friends - RINGOOOOO! The focus is on three things here. Ringo’s stellar lead vocals, the incredible backup help from his “friends” and Paul’s catchy bass work. I stripped off everybody else at the very end to just focus on the note that had Ringo scared SHITLESS! He was so worried he wouldn’t be able to hit and hold the note. John, Paul and George had to all stand around the microphone with him and silently encouraged him during the recording of his lead parts. Wish I had a picture of that!! 
05 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - I bring in isolated instruments and vocals throughout on this one so you can really focus on all the cool stuff going on during this one. 
06 Getting Better - Paul’s fun bass work is core here, as it is throughout the entire album. I also tried to bring out some of the hidden harmonies from the guys at various parts during the entire song. I love the little bongo part at the end. 
07 Fixing A Hole - Paul’s vocals and bass are once again brought forward. The cool guitar solo is followed by some more awesome three-part harmonies. 
08 She’s Leaving Home - Such a gorgeous arrangement by Mike Leander who Paul brought in when George Martin, their main producer for many years, had a conflicting recording event scheduled. Paul was very impatient and decided not to wait for George to do the arrangement, and brought in Mike to do the orchestral charts. It’s the ONLY time Paul ever went outside of the band to get another person to arrange and produce one of his sessions. It took years for Martin to forgive him…if he ever did. I included some lovely harmonies that float in among the single tracked vocals that you hear. I also included some stray parts of the orchestra bits that were trimmed out of the final version. 
09 Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! - I really focused on the carnival aspects of this song… and of course Paul’s incredible bass playing… again. 
10 Within You, Without You - George’s showcase on the album. I included a humorous snippet of John commenting on the proceedings that went on during the recording session of this classic cut. Originally the band thought people would have a hard time dealing with a solo Indian piece in the middle of the album…which is why they added laughter between the ending of this track and the beginning of the next. George, to say the least, was not thrilled by this. I’ve moved the laughter to where it rightly belongs… after John’s opening comments! 
11 When I’m 64 - I’ve always called this version “The Bar Mitzvah Version.” I think you’ll see why. 
12 Lovely Rita - An acoustic take on the song with great backing harmonies and lots of hidden treasures at the end usually buried under the other instrumental tracks, and now set free! 
13 Good Morning, Good Morning - Wonderful guitar work similar to the opening track of the album. What an awesome solo!! And those hidden harmonies are brought back up to the front again. Gooooood Morning everybody!! That’ll do. 
14 Sgt. Pepper (Reprise) - Paul’s blistering bass line and the whole groups fun, vocal banterings are finally uncovered. For those wondering what they are saying: (Intro: Paul McCartney & John Lennon) One, two, three, four! (Bye!) Twist it! (What?) Twist it! (Shake it) (Outro: George Harrison & John Lennon) Woo! Bang (Oh my god, it kills me)Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang 
15 A Day In The Life / Inner Groove - My favorite mix on the album! So many cool things going on during this one. McCartney’s bass, John’s haunting vocals, the eerie backing vocals… that orchestra set free to go from their lowest note to their highest…any way they want to do it. A masterpiece! To add to this I threw in some things from the original recording sessions, a wonderful flub by McCartney and some stunningly chaotic piano playing during the second orchestra build-up. I used the original ending… often called the HUMM’s ending as well as an unused synth note in place of the original extended piano note…… And I also couldn’t ignore the infamous Inner Groove. I hope you like my take on it, made from various sections I found when I tried to rip it apart and break it down using about 18 different modern tech devices! So that’s it kids… my version of the Beatles masterpiece: 'Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band'!

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it! 

See ya again soon! 

Michael

Track listing

01 Strawberry Fields Forever
02 Penny Lane
03 Sgt. Pepper
04 With A Little Help From My Friends
05 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
06 Getting Better
07 Fixing A Hole
08 She’s Leaving Home
09 Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
10 Within You, Without You
11 When I’m 64
12 Lovely Rita
13 Good Morning, Good Morning
14 Sgt. Pepper (Reprise)
15 A Day In The Life

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