Ten Days of Christmas # 9 Otis Redding

Song of the Day # 703 The Bridewell Taxis

Much of the music made in the Madchester years at the end of the eighties and early nineties doesn't seem to travel too well. But I came upon this yesterday and thought it maintained a certain zest and energy. The Bridewell Taxis hailed from east of the Pennines, took their name from the police vans that conveyed unfortunates to the Bridewell Station in Leeds. They had a brief but vivid history. Find out more about them on their spirited, but highly partial Wikipedia Page. Seems to be written by a fellow traveler. This, their third single has something of a Northern Soul kick to it.  

December 22nd 2002 Joe Strummer

Songs Heard on the Radio # 111 Moon Duo

As you grow older, you begin to have a strange relationship with new music that reminds you of your favourite bands. Disdainful, dismissive, 'Seen and heard it all before' and so forth. Then, just very occasionally, slightly euphoric, when despite the unmistakable, overwhelming imprint of influence that might as well have been branded on the young artist's forehead, they still get it very much right. Portland, Oregon's Moon Duo from their current album Shadow of the Sun. Sure they love Suicide. But so should everybody. This is remarkably spirited, freewheeling Rock and Roll whichever way you hold it up to the light!

Albums I Really Liked This Year

Here's a list of artists who've made albums that caught my fancy. Jim O'Rourke's Simple Songs is definitely the one I liked best. Otherwise, no specific order. looks a bit 'Indie-Lite' perhaps as a whole but hey, that's the records I've liked! Want to make something of it!!!

• Jim O'Rourke
• Kamasi Washington
• Widowspeak
• Roisin Murphy
• Stutter Steps
• Houndstooth
• Bill Ryder-Jones
• Driftwood Pyre
• Robert Forster
• Wand
• The Chills
• Death & Vanilla
• Beach House
• Courtney Barnett
• Songhoy Blues
• Nadine Shah
• Gwenno
• Novella
• Twerps
• Deerhunter

'Fifties Rock and Roll Stars Attempt To Move With The Times And Enlist With The Love And Peace Generation'.

To better or lesser effect. They've been a few of these over the period I've been writing this blog. They're always interesting records. Some work better than others. Some seem more than a little forced. Some are rare classics! Very few of them actually shifted too many copies.

1. Dion & The Belmonts 

2. Jerry Lee Lewis

3. Fats Domino

4. P.J. Proby

5. Bobby Darin

6. Johnny Rivers

7. Everly Brothers

8. Gene Vincent

9. Del Shannon

10.Ricky Nelson

Songs About People # 153 Winston Churchill

'If there ever existed within the instant, disposable genre of pop music, anyone with a plausible claim to the overworked title 'Genius' , Ray Douglas Davies was it.' Tom Hibbert

Indeed! There's actually nowhere to start or stop with the great records Davies and The Kinks made over the years. Oh and they almost always sound like they're having fun. No mean feat! The moment in this where the sound of wartime air-raid sirens melts into waves of riffing guitars is really something special!

 

20 Old or Oldish Things I've Chanced Upon this Year!

Things from the past I've been pleased to have discovered or truly investigated for the first time this year! No particular order.

1. David Wiffen

2. Evie Sands

3. Look Blue Go Purple

4. Bridget St. John

5. Biff Rose

6. Compulsive Gamblers

7. Mystery Trend

8. The Exploding Hearts

9. Mary Queenie Lyons

10. John Prine

11. Dyke & the Blazers

12. Gal Costa

13. Judy Henske

                        14. The Turtles - Their final album Turtle Soup (as of yesterday!)

                                            15. The Make Up (properly investigated their wonderful back catalogue)

16. Brinsley Schwarz

17. Shocking Blue

18. The Holy Mackerel

19. David Blue

20. Archie Roach

700 Songs, 700 Days, 700 Artists!

Well, well. As so often with these things, when doing the totting up I found I actually reached this small milestone a couple of days ago. Necessary amendments made, and on to the next one. Pushing towards two years of doing this in an unbroken daily sequence. A small, virtual achievement! Here's the list for this series so far.

1. Andrew Oldham Orchestra
2. Dion & the Belmonts
3. Big Youth
4. The Left Banke
5. The Undisputed Truth
6. Ted Taylor
7. The Real Kids
8. U-Roy
9. The Regents
10. The Nits
11. The Velvet Underground
12. Jacques Dutronc
13. Aretha Franklin
14. The Lovin' Spoonful
15. The Shins
16. Carl Orff
17. Minutemen
18. Peggy Lee
19. The Chambers Brothers
20. The Thompson Twins
21. R.E.M
22. Louis Armstrong
23. Bugsy Malone Soundtrack
24. Dennis Brown
25. Charlie Rich
26. Roky Erikson
27. Richard Harris
28. Fleetwood Mac
29. Ricky Nelson
30. Linda Lewis
31. The Breeders
32. XTC
33. The Byrds
34. The Isley Brothers
35. The Swinging Blue Jeans
36. Al Green
37. Warren Zevon
38. Cal Tjaeder
39. Tim Hardin
40. The Creation
41. The High
42. Melvin Van Peebles
43. Yamasuki
44. Nina Simone
45. Cowboy Junkies
46. Black Blood
47. Ride
48. Friend & Lover
49. Chicory Tip
50. The Psychedelic Furs
51. Elvis Costello & the Attractions
52. Os Mutantes
53. Nico
54. The Paragons
55. Dmitri Shostakovich
56. The Au Pairs
57. The Sir Douglas Quintet
58. Gregory Porter
59. Pharell Williams
60. Television
61. Miriam Makeba
62. Billy Fury
63. It's a Beautiful Day
64. Simon & Garfunkul
65. C.W.Stoneking
66. Derek & the Dominos
67. Grace Jones
68. New Order
69. Ivan
70. Darrell Banks
71. Los Saicos
72. Dr. John
73. Dalek I Love You
74. The Mynah Birds
75. Bonny & Sheila
76. The Aristocats
77. The Flamin' Groovies
78. Broadcast
79. The Blue Orchids
80. Desmond Dekker
81. Love
82. The Rolling Stones
83. Guided By Voices
84. Parquet Courts
85. The Screaming Trees
86. Neil Young
87. Kate Le Bon
88. Patti Smith
89. The Black Lips
90. Mighty Hannibal
91. Nyuyorican Soul
92. Vernon Green & the Medallions
93. Cornershop
94. Dorothy Ashby
95. The City
96. The Smiths
97. Subway Sect
98. Deerhunter
99. Black Merda
100. Scott Walker
101. The Charlatans

102. Magazine
103. Lush
104. The Stoney Poneys
105. The Allman Brothers
106. John Cale
107. Toni Harper
108. Tammi Lynn
109. Althea & Donna
110. Bobby Womack
111. Japan
112. The Strangeloves
113. David Bowie
114. The Handsome Family
115. Echo & the Bunnymen
116. Grant Lee Buffalo
117. The Jim Carroll Band
118. Waylon Jennings
119. Carl Douglas
120. Otis Redding
121. Peter & the Pirates
122. Strawberry Switchblade
123. Ben Harper
124. Shoes
125. The Capitols
126. Dusty Springfield
127. Fats Domino
128. Buddy Holly & the Crickets
129. Josef K
130. The Feelies
131. The Heptones
132. Minnie Ripperton
133. The Go Betweens
134. France Galle
135. Loretta Lynn
136. Half Pint
137. Death in Vegas
138. Sun House
139. The Liminanas
140.  The Organ
141. Gladys Knight & the Pips
142. Viv Albertine
143. The Ikettes
144. The Ronettes
145. The Fresh & Onlys
146. TV On The Radio
147. Grizzly Bear
148. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
149. 23 Skidoo
150. Nicodemus
151. Serge Gainsbourg
152. The Moles
153. Devo
154. The Go! Team
155. Kim Wilde
156. Brian Eno
157. The Langley Schools Music Project
158. The Cure
159. George Jones
160. The Gun Club
161. David Hemmings
162. Sugar Chile Robinson
163. John Phillips
164. October Country
165. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions
166. Francois & the Atlas Mountains
167. Dexys Midnight Runners
168. Andy Williams
169. Kraftwerk
170. Jackie Mittoo
171. Martha
172. The Chills
173. Richard Barrett
174. Mazes
175. Strawberry Alarm Clock
176. Bruce Springsteen
177. J.D.McPherson
178. Elliott Smith
179. Liz Phair
180. East Brunswick All Girls Choir
181. Future Islands
182. Split Enz
183. The Walking Who
184. Townes Van Zandt
185. Bill Callahan
186. The Mantles
187. Sam & Dave
188. Aztec Camera
189. Jimmy Scott
190. Reigning Sound
191. Sparks
192. Rosetta Hightower
193. Big Star
194. Crime
195. Johnny Cash
196. Moby Grape
197. Katty Line
198. Sinead O'Connor
199. Ultimate Painting
200. The Kinks

201. Jan & Dan
202. Santigold
203. The Boomtown Rats
204. Tim Rose
205. Toots & the Maytals
206. Bobby Darin
207. Billy Swan
208. Marcia Griffiths
209. King Creosote
210. Led Zeppelin
211. Hortense Ellis & Prince Weedy
212. SBTRKT
213. The Pogues
214. Twin Peaks
215. The June Brides
216. The Nips
217. Kate Bush
218. Midlake
219. The History of Apple Pie
220. Dr Alimintado
221. Dr. Savannah's Original Savannah Band
222. White Reaper
223. Orange Juice
224. The Bangles
225. The Allah-Lahs
226. The Exciters
227. Ty Segall
228. Agincourt
229. Baxter Dury
230. The Tyde
231. The Pretty Things
232. The Pastels
233. The New York Dolls
234. Life Without Buildings
235. Felt
236. Sugar
237. Bo Diddley
238. Music Go Music
239. The Troggs
240 Mark Mulcahey
241. U2
242. Hiss Golden Messenger
243. Nilsson
244. Spacemen 3
245. Buffalo Springfield
246. Immigrant Union
247. The Fall
248. Phil Phillips
249. Scritti Politi
250. Slapp Happy
251. Phosphorescent
252. ATV
253. Caitlin Rose
254. Opal
255. Frank Sinatra
256. Lena Horne
257. Hookworms
258. Urge Overkill
259. Jeff Buckley
260. Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66
261. The Sundays
262. The Monochrome Set
263. Joan As Policewoman
264 Bradford
265. The Growlers
266. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
267. The Who
268. Marcelo Carmelo
269. The Wipers
270. Eric Burdon & The Animals
271. Mission Of Burma
272. Thurston Moore
273. The John Steel Singers
274. Pixies
275. Brigitte Fontaine
276. Tindersticks
277.McGough & McGear
278. Le Roux
279. Yo La Tengo
280. Smoke Fairies
281. ABBA
282. Steely Dan
283. Jimmy Cliff
284. The Beta Band
285. John Lennon
286. Young Fathers
287. Lou Reed
288. Beth Orton
289. Julian Cope
290. Tuff Love
291. John Denver
292. Leonard Cohen
293. The Beach Boys
294. Jim Noir
295. James
296.. My Bloody Valentine
297. Barrington Levy
298. Spectres
299, Fun Boy 3
300. The Saints

301. Grandaddy
302. Eleanor Friedberger
303. The Delgados
304. Villalog
305. My Morning Jacket
306. Miaow
307. Vampire Weekend
308. The Shop Assistants
309. Francoiz Breut
310. Alice Coltrane
311. Blonde Redhead
312. The Shirelles
313. Cass McCombs
314. Creedence Clearwater Revival
315. John Grant
316. Bobbie Gentry
317. Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band
318. The Unthanks
319. Slim Cessna's Auto Club
320. Jessica Pratt
321. The Faces
322. Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside
323. Warpaint
324. Dandy Livingston
325. Ex Hex
326. Ought
327. The Delines
328. Kings of Leon
329. Morton Valance
330. The Twilight Sad
331. Michael Head & the Strands
332. The Czars
333. Sun Kill Moon
334. Woods
335. fIREHOSE
336. Tricky
337. Adrian Crowley
338. Caravan
339. The Vacant Lots
340. Tommy James & the Shandells
341. Charlie Brown
342. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
343. Eurythmics
344. Judy Collins
345. Fraser A. Gorman
346. The B52s
347. Courtney Barnett
348. Benjamin Brooker
349. The Cartoons
350. Joanna Gruesome
351. The Embarrassment
352. Uncle Tupelo
353. Sleater Kinney
354. Tess Parks
355. The Brian Jonestown Massacre
356. Panda Bear
357. Sons of Bill
358. Gold-Bears
359. Curtis Harding
360. Simply Saucer
361. Liam Hayes
362. Cowboys International
363. Natalie Prass
364. Thin Lizzy
365. The Rails

366. Aldous Harding

367. Belle & Sebastian

368. Waxahatchee

369.Django Django

370. Half Japanese

371. Can

372. Julie Driscoll

373. The Supremes

374. The Stems

375..Unknown Mortal Coil

376. Robert Wyatt

377. The Oh Sees

378. Ryley Walker

379. Twerps

380. Alasdair Roberts

381. Dick Diver

382. D'Angelo & the Vanguard

383. Sammi Smith

384. The Jaynettes

385. Viet Cong

386. Duke Garwood

387. Peter Tosh

388. Darren Haywood

389. Blank Realm

390. Richard Dawson

391. Death & Vanilla

392.Heidi Berry

393. Speedy Ortiz

394. Momus

395. Gregory Isaacs

396. Prince Fatty

397. Jesus & Mary Chain

398. Shack

399. Toro Y Moi

400. Lefty Frizzell

401. Summer Canibals
402. Songhoy Blues
403. Meatbodies
404. Moon Duo
405.Houndstooth
406. The Bronzettes
407. Husker Du
408. Cat's Eyes
409. Oh Ok
410. Surf City
411. William Onyeabor
412.David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights
413. X
414. The Undertones
415. The Skints
416. The Carpenters
417. Digable Planets
418. Lester Bangs
419. The Band
420. The Rutles
421. The Butthole Surfers
422 Sleigh Bells
423. Stereolab
424. Tobias Jesso Jr.
425. Sauna Youth
426. UB40
427. The Sacred Mushroom
428. Aerosmith
429. Hollie Cook
430. Gilberto Gil
431. Ellis Island Sound
432. Parker Milsapp
433. Come On
434.Kendrick Lamarr
435. Gary US Bonds
436. Arcade Fire
437. The Chanters
438. Steve Gunn
439. Houndmouth
440. The Parrots
441. Soko
442. The Jon Spencer Blues
443. Silver Jews
444. Los Yorks
445. The Mighty Lemondrops
446. Blur
447. Sonic Youth
448. Ultravox
449. Bop English
450 Wimpy Milkshake
451. The Field Mice
452. Swervedriver
453. Yazoo
454. The Sleaford Mods
455. Daniel Dare
456. Lana Del Ray
457.Carmel
458. Cat Stevens
459. Asha Bhosle
460. Eels
461.Hildegarde Knef
462. Papernut Cambridge
463.The Ladybug Transmittor
464. Sharon Van Etten
465. The Baptist Generals
466. BRONCHO
467. Arborist
468.Ron Sexsmith
469. The Doors
470. Weather Station
471.Stella
472. Mbongwana Star
473. Nadine Shah
474. Pins
475. Les Troubadours Du Roi Badouin
476. Elvis Presley
477. Sly & the Family Stone
478. The MC5
479. Jackson C. Frank
480. Gal Costa
481. Bill Fay
482. Las Kellies
483. ESG
484. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
485. Johnny Thunders
486. Moe Tucker
487. Joachim Witt
488. Canned Heat
489. Buck Owen
490. Sudden Death of the Stars
491. The Milk Carton Kids
492. Sissy Spacek
493. Susan Sondfor
494. The Knack
495. Dyke & the Blazers
496. Associates
497. Earth Wind & Fire

498. Irma Thomas 

499. Joannie Sommers
500 The Beatles

501. Emmylou Harris
502. Joni Mitchell
503. Leon Bridges
504. Leila & the Snakes
505. Ike & Tina Turner
506. Jo Mama
507. Deep Purple
508. Milk & Biscuits
509. Young Rascals
510. Moody Blues
511. Sons of Hippies
512. Bread
513. Port Sulphur
514. Brinsley Schwartz
515. World Of Twist
516.J. Geils Band
517. Judy Henske
518. Jeffrey Lewis
519. The Tokens
520. Rage Against The Machine
521. Donna Summer
522. Manic Street Preachers
523. The Cambodian Space Project
524. Robb Storme & The Whispers
525. Suede
526. Lynsey De Paul
527. Girlpool
528. The Replacements
529/ Super Furry Animals
530. The Mystery Trend
531.The Vibrators
532. Clothilde
533. Johnny Clarke
534. Patrik Fitzgerald
535. John Hartford
536. Brett Smiley
537. Melanie
538. Grapefruit
539. Blancmange
540. Duran Duran
541. Shocking Blue
542. Tall Firs
543. America
544. Heart
545. The Soft Boys
546. John Prine
547. Nick Lowe
548. Ann Peebles
549. Steve Forbert
550. Danny Kaye
551. Dr. Feelgood
552. Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
553. Adriano Celentano
554. Foghat
555.Tears For Fears
556. Maggie Gyllenhaal
557. Liverpool
558. Colin Blunstone
559. Radiohead
560. England's Glory
561. Cilla Black
562. The Youngbloods
563. Rachel Sermanni
564. Marie Queenie Lyons
565. Lead Belly
566. The Kossoy Sisters
567.Delaney & Bonnie
568. Syd Barrett
569. The Steve Miller Band
570. The Loft
571. Groupe Folklorique Montagnais
572. Novella
573. Faith Healer
574. Roseanne Cash
575. Camper Van Beethoven
576. The Pointer Sisters
577. Labi Siffre
578. Donald Byrd
579. The Holy Mackerel
580. Mumps
581. Miracle Legion
582. Stealers Wheel
583. The Pale Fountains
584. Roger Miller
585. The Black Tambourines
586. Mary Hopkin
587. Voodoo Queens
588. Heaven 17
589. The Higsons
590. Dwight Twilley Band
591. Suzanne Vega
592. Gary Valentine
593. The Swan Silvertones
594. Archie Roach
595. Tav Falco's Panther Burns
596. Compulsive Gamblers
597. Weyes Blood
598. The Beau Brummels
599. Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez
600. Wilson Pickett

601. The Lijadu Sisters
602. Dot Wiggin Band
603. The Redskins
604. Kenny Rodgers & The First Edition
605. Menace Beach
606. Magic Castles
607. David Wiffen
608. Air Waves
609. Sturgill Simpson
610. PiL
611. Primitive Parts
612. Gene Chandler
613. Cola Jet Set
614. Daddy Long Legs
615. The Dukes of Stratosphear
616. Warm Jets
617. Rozi Plain
618. The Savage Rose
619. Biff Rose
620. China Crisis
621. Mountain Goats
622. The Poppy Factory
623. The Sundowners
624. Bill Ryder-Jones
625. Sibylle Baier
626. Little Joy
627. Vashti Bunyan
628. Lightships
629. Jane Weaver
630. Evie Sands
631. Atlas Sound
632. Mercury Rev
633. Meilyr Jones
634. Moose
635. Holly Golightly
636. Chastity Belt
637. Mariah
638. Martin Courtney
639. Beach House
640. Pink Floyd
641. Lizzy Mercier Descloux
642. The Method Actors
643. The Districts
644. Love, Peace & Happiness
645. Parachute Men
646. The Jades
647. Hidden Ritual
648. Boomgates
649. Anthony Newley
650. Roisin Murphy
651. Chubby Checker
652. Johnny Rivers
653. Martina Topley-Bird
654. Israel Nash
655. Mountain
656. Steel Pulse
657. Elton John
658. The Blue Nile
659. Freda & the Firedogs
660. Let's Away
661. Aaron Neville
662. Joan Armatrading
663. M.Ward
664. Graham Parker & The Rumour
665. Blue Ash
666. Cheatahs
667. Angel Olsen
668. The Legendary Shack Shakers
669. Asobi Seksu
670. Beach Fossils
671. Wand
672. Margo Guryan
673. Camera Obscura
674. Quilt
675. Yung
676. Cold Pumas
677. Throwing Muses
678. Younghusband
679. Tanita Tikaram
680. P.J. Proby
681. Donald Fagen
682. Anna McGarrigle
683. Andy Shauf
684. The Manhattan Love Suicides
685. The Eagles
686. Total Control
687. Screamin' Witch Doctors
688. April March
689. Widowspeak
690. Jim O'Rourke
691. Bentley Road
692. Look Blue Go Purple
693. Stutter Steps
694. Lonelady
695. Bridget St. John
696. Ivy
697. Rikki Ililonga & Musi-O-Tunya
698. David Blue
699. Gene Vincent
700. Grin

100 Power Pop Songs Countdown # 20-16

20. The dBs

'I guess I just don't enjoy you anymore...'

One of a number of bands I was tipped to by R.E.M. in their early interviews on them first coming to the UK in 1983. Opening track of their 1981 album Stands For Decibels.

19. Marshall Crenshaw

'There she goes again with another guy...'

Sounds like a bit of a slapper to me Marshall! Marshall Crenshaw, always fairly close to the top of the list of any standard Power Pop list and for good reason. A consummate, neat songwriter.

18. The Raspberries

'And the fingers on your throat get sore. But they're also begging out for more...'

Also, generally on the same list though this may not be among the songs generally chosen. A tale of life on the road. Nicely done.

17. The Cars

'When she's dancing 'neath the stormy skies. She'll make you flip...'

Richard Lloyd claimed on hearing the first Cars records that Television realised that here were the band that had arrived to claim their commercial thunder. After all, who wouldn't prefer a Car to a Television? The advent of the New Wave.

16. Ramones

'Chewin' at a rhythm on my bubble gum.  The sun is out and I want some...'

I imagine Ramones weren't best pleased either. Though any world where this wasn't a huge, huge hit needs to take a long, hard look at itself.

Ten Days of Christmas # 8 Shonen Knife

Song of the Day # 702 Annette

More Tom Hibbert.

'Ex-Mousketeer Annette Funicello may have possessed one of the thinnest, most insubstantial voices in the history of popular music, but when it came to a corny beach party anthem the beauty's tones were unbeatable. On this album her naive yet enthusiastic breezing combines with the thin exuberance of Gary Usher, Brian Wilson and Roger Christian's songs to produce THE surf/beach/drag classic of endless summer. Also the most thrilling cover of all time.'

100 Power Pop Songs Countdown # 25-21

25. The Toms

'I'm not the undertaker...'

First track from a remarkably diverse and entertaining debut album from 1979. Not really a band as such, but a solo project from Tom Marolda who played every instrument on here.

24.Todd Rundgren

'Keep your head on everything will be cool...'

One of the big daddies of these kind of things. So much going on in here.

23. The Rubinoos

'Late at night, when I can't sleep...'

If Rundgren is a big daddy, these boys are certainly older brothers. Label mates on Beserkely Records to The Modern Lovers. They plied a slightly more straightforward craft.

22. The Only Ones

'Then you're gonna make that first mistake of trying to walk before you can even run....' 

The Only Ones are unfortunate in having produced one song that's come to dwarf everything else in their recorded repertoire in terms of reputation. Another Girl, Another Planet, of course. But listen to this for example. At their best they had very few peers.

21. The Hoodoo Gurus

'I can still recall the time. She said she was always mine. Then she left...'

Now herein lies a tale. This is one of the records that takes me unerringly back to my first year at university, sitting in my room with a couple of my best friends from my corridor on a sunny day sometime in 1986 playing this while the two of them supplied the melody line. I guess this memory will stay with me for as long as I am here. Despite it's slight gormlessness, this remains a very fine pop song and the debut album it hails from, Stoneage Romeos, is equally fine. 

Ten Days of Christmas # 7 Mark Kozelek

Mark Kozelek does the Peanuts Christmas song in his own, inimitable way. You also get as a bonus, a version of the spoken excerpt between Charlie Brown and Linus midway through.

Tom Hibbert Reviews Turtle Soup

And here's the first fruit from my book purchase of last week. Editor Tom Hibbert reviews the record featured below.

'One of the five best albums of the sixties in the estimation of this listener. Sensing that their moments of pop stardom were almost up, The Turtles entered the studio to record one last long player under the production auspices of Kink Ray Davies. How much control the old soak from Muswell Hill actually took over the record is uncertain, but its raw, low-key production exhibited the band's strength of performance as never before.

Less kooky and ebullient, more subdued than the Turtles' previous work, this was the first time they had used nothing but original material on album. And one can only wonder why they waited so long, piddling about with mediocre Bonner/Gordon and P.F.Sloan work and dodgy Nilsson numbers. These songs are magic bits of low key love/ cerebral celebration, from 'Love in the City' a beautiful ballad that builds to a binding hook, to 'Hot Little Hands', a manic squeaker that sounds like the Velvet Underground on something not very nice; from 'She Always Leaves me Laughing', a charge of feigned joy, to 'Somewhere Friday Night' which is a regular tear-jerker and no mistake. This is the stuff pop legends are supposed to be made of but due to circumstances not a million miles away from a near-zero sales situation, 'Turtle Soup' proved to be just a silent bye-bye. Artistically, however, a fitting end to the story of Californian pop.'

Song(s) of the Day # 701 The Turtles

The Turtles' 1969 album Turtle Soup is a fascinating period piece as well as being a very fine record to boot. Though the chances are you haven't heard of it. I hadn't until yesterday, but now I've found it and it feels like chancing upon buried treasure. That's only slight overstatement! The band's last studio LP, produced by The Kinks Ray Davies, the first time he had taken the helm for any but his own records. It was also the first time the group had put out a record solely restricted to songs they'd written themselves. As a swansong, it's a remarkably happy one.

I'm not sure how The Turtles are perceived, if at all in the UK nowadays. They're certainly not much revered. I suppose they're probably best remembered for their 1967 smash, Happy Together, a marvelous record of course, but by no means the only thing of note they recorded. Critically lauded by pop connoisseurs like Tom Hibbert and Bob Stanley who don't follow the standard critical path in terms of their tastes and obsessions, listening to the band's back catalogue offers an almost hidden history, an alternative route to appreciating American music of the late sixties away from the beaten track of the established canon of album bands, The Byrds, The Doors, Love  and The Velvet Underground.Where it's all about Pop rather than Rock, and taking yourself too seriously is viewed as something of a crime.

They were incredibly prolific between their peak years 1965 and 1968, most specifically in terms of singles, achieving nine American Top 40 hits in all over this period. By 1969 their commercial star was beginning to wane, perhaps as their consistently jovial, poppy approach began to be seen as out of step with the mood of the times as the world turned increasingly serious. Turtle Soup was a conscious attempt to address this and make an album statement, bringing in Davies to provide a ministering guide at the wheel, inspired as the band had been by 1968's The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. 

Turtle Soup is by no means as coherent as that record which qualifies pretty well as a unified concept album and is among the very best records released in the era. By contrast, this is a diverse collection of sun-drenched, lovingly constructed pop songs, some slightly better than others, but all worthy of inclusion and the experience of listening to it is like spending some time browsing at a Pick and Mix sweet counter assembling a cone.

Davies' thoughtful touch at the mixing desk appears to work dividends as it's a quite beautiful record to listen to. Each instrument and vocal bobs and weaves in the mix throughout.  No one song sounds quite the same as the next. A truly democratic, team effort. The Turtles came closer to The Beach Boys vision of harmonised joy than perhaps any other American band in terms of their layered vocals and there are also passages of brief instrumental beauty in their songs where the band suddenly come across almost as a chamber quartet. 

But they don't dwell in these moments. They know that their job is ultimately to be a pop band and understand fully that this is no sleight. Indeed, it's a compliment. You Don't Have to Walk in the Rain, for example, the album's final track is the most joyous way imaginable to bring down the curtain on a successful pop career. While so many of their peers were embarked on the road to apparent profundity and drug fueled excess at this point in time and put out shambling, incoherent and self-indulgent records as a consequence, Turtle Soup  is a model of pop concision, maintaining a remarkable amount of the innocent blast of the band's early singles. It certainly doesn't sound like a record made in 1969. To its cost, ultimately. It obviously didn't at the time either, reaching a meager  # 115 in the American Billboard chart. A travesty, but ultimately what does this matter? Almost fifty years on, the quality of the album speaks for itself. 2016, meanwhile will surely find me ordering a vinyl copy of this at some point, for my own collection. And it will get played. A lot!

December 20th 1957 Mike Watt

100 Power Pop Songs Countdown # 30-26

30. The Prisoners

'I know the time has come to leave. I've found an open door...'

Retro band from Rochester, Kent and the eighties. Vaguely Paul Weller, blue eyed soul inspired sound.. With glorious Hammond Organ feature. An inspiration at the time for The Charlatans.

29. Blue Ash

'My fortune telling queen...'

This has featured recently as a Song of the Day, but is more than good enough to post twice.

28. Brinsley Schwartz

'I ask myself. Is all hope gone? Is there only hatred and misery?'

The second Costello penned song to feature here. A somewhat unusual sentiment when it was written.

27. Real Kids

 

'Won't you let a city boy hold hands with you...'

Boston seventies band led by former Modern Lover John Felice. A personal favourite of Lou Reed's.

26. Buzzcocks

'I'm in distress. I need a caress. What do I get...?'

One of the truly great English guitar pop bands.

Ten Days of Christmas # 6 The Kinks

Song of the Day # 700 Grin

Nils Lofgren's band before he went solo and to Crazy Horse, Neil and Bruce.

20 New or Newish Things I've Chanced Upon This Year!

So as we make our way towards the end of the calendar year the charts start on here as everywhere else. Leafing back through the virtual pages of the blog here are 20 things I enjoyed that fit somewhere into the category of 'new'. These are just things that are 'new' to me though several of the people here have been putting out records for several years and in a couple of cases, over decades, I think every artist listed released something either this or last. No particular order, except perhaps for the first two. Many may pop up again when I get round to albums of the year in a few days.

1. Jim O'Rourke

2. Kamasi Washington

3. Total Control

4. Stutter Steps

5. Widowspeak

6. Andy Shauf

7. Angel Olsen

8. Cambodian Space Project

9. Hidden Ritual

10. Bill Ryder-Jones

11. Menace Beach

12. Daddy Long Legs

13. Death & Vanilla

14. Sons of Hippies

15. Milk Carton Kids

16. Jane Weaver

17. Papernut Cambridge

18. Nadine Shah

19. BRONCHO

20. Mbongwana Star

December 19th 1940 Phil Ochs

100 Power Pop Songs Countdown # 35-31

35. Sloan

'Maybe it's my fault. I should take it with a grain of salt...'

Candaian band, very big in their homeland in the nineties. Here's a link to the recorded version and you get them doing it live above.

34. Barracudas

'Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba....'

As much for the intro, (as good as they come), as the song itself.

33. Chris Bell

'You hurt me yesterday...'

The sound of genuine pain. Chris Bell, formerly of Big Star from his lone solo album I Am The Cosmos.

32. The Smithereens

'Flowers in the springtime. October we were wed. In winter time, the roses died. Her blood ran cold and then she said...'

The Smithereens made one very good album. 1986's Especially For You. From whence this comes. This one gets the nod over several other contenders from the same record

31. Wreckless Eric

'Do you remember all those nights in my Zodiac. Playing with your dress underneath your pacamac.' 

No, not Whole Wide World. Instead, the opening track from his self-titled 1978 debut.

Ten Days of Christmas # 5 Julian Casablancas

Wherein Julian Casablancas kicks back, throws Strokes shapes for three minutes as only he knows how for over three minutes in the cause of Christmas. A fully realised song inspired by a brief skit on Saturday Night Live from a show in 2000 which was much reprised and built on in the years after that. A wonderful record in many,many ways! 

'Born' Songs

To follow Gene with an imaginary compilation of 'Born' songs. They're almost always great. More than half of the songs below are utterly wonderful. Dion gets two on this list. Bruce only one. No room at all for Justin Bieber sadly.

1. Dion - Born to Cry
2. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Born on the Bayou
3. Lana Del Ray - Born to Die
4. Gene Vincent - Born to be a Rolling Stone
5. The Poni-Tails - Born too Late
6. Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild
7. Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band - Born to Run
8. Underworld - Born Slippy
9. Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign
10. Ray Charles - Born to Lose
11. Patrick Hernandez - Born to be Alive
12. The Heartbreakers - Born to Lose (not the same song as Ray's)
13. John Barry - Born Free
14 Dion - Born to be with You
15. Mott the Hoople - Born Late '58
16. Dr Alimantado - Born for a Purpose

Song(s) of the Day # 699 Gene Vincent

Another in the occasional series, 'Fifties Rock and Roll Stars Attempt To Move With The Times And Enlist With The Love And Peace Generation'. This time Gene Vincent, from a series of sessions recorded in 1966 which was compiled as an album under the same name in 1992. Featuring Glen Campbell and David Gates as session musicians among others, it's a very conscious attempt to make a contemporary sounding record. It doesn't all convince but Born to be a Rolling Stone at least works for me. Almost Gene Vincent backed by The Byrds. Less successful, and almost bizarre in its attempt to reconstruct one of the original rockers as a peace and beads guy is Love is a Bird, posted below.

Tom Hibbert - The Perfect Collection

The Perfect Collection Blog, listed on the right-hand side of this page, directed me towards ordering, buying and receiving this with indecent haste as an early Christmas present to myself over the last few days. It's the inspiration for their own entries, which are an endeavor to supplement and update the original vision of the book which ran up to 1982, just before the arrival of The Smiths and R.E.M. and so much else.

The writers of the blog recall reading the book in their local library, just as I did at round about the same time. I pored over it, in the process as I was of beginning my own collection and over time starting to establish my own personal canon as we all do as music consumers. Though I couldn't follow all of the references and allusions made within it and wasn't familiar with the more obscure albums it recommended, it was nevertheless a hugely instructive read and Hibbert particularly, who edited the book, was an incredibly entertaining and inspiring writer.Its omissions are every bit as interesting as those it includes, no Led Zep or Can for example but room for Herman's Hermits and Love Sculpture. It feels like an extended, absorbing discussion with like-minded, contrary souls. It's a wonderful starting place for journeys of discovery.

I was delighted to receive a second-hand copy yesterday, appropriately an old library book itself. It's already expanded my horizons once more, re-reading again, (at over thirty years distance from my teenage self), its recommendations and observations. It's utterly unpretentious and committed in terms of love for the records it enthuses about.I already plan to use it as a source for things I'll post in the forthcoming year.

100 Power Pop Songs Countdown # 40-36

40. Foo Fighters

'When I talk about it, Aries or treasons all renew...'

From the very fine first Foo Fighters record. Grohl played every instrument in an effort to dig himself out of grief over Cobain's loss. 

39. ELO

                            'A sound that blows into my mind. The echoes of the daylight. 
                                                      Of everything that is alive...'

With the passing of years it becomes easier to forgive ELO's wardrobe and facial crimes and appreciate their undeniable gifts. Perhaps not as purely guitar driven as Power Pop strictures demand but hey, once again it's my chart, my rules.

                                                     38. Graham Parker & The Rumour

'They got the walk they got the talk right without a flaw...'

Heard this for the first time and posted it as a Song of the Day recently. But it fits here. So here it is again.

37. The Knack

'Ooh you make my motor run...'

As I've said, (partly to excuse myself), several times I've set my own rules on this. A lot of the so called staples of this genre aren't here, simply because I don't like the songs, but I understand there are some rules that need to be obeyed. The Knack should be, and probably with this song. It wasn't a huge hit for nothing. The band were something of a throwback however and more than a touch opportunistic. Therefore they drop a few places from where they might be. Nevertheless, it's a fine record.

36. Fountains of Wayne

'Though the interstate is choking under salt and dirty sand. And it seems the sun is hiding from the moon.'

Often mentioned as one of the main bearers of the torch for Power Pop in the nineties. As with The Knack, sometimes I find the band and their sentiments somewhat unappealing but this is wholly wonderful in every respect. The only song in this chart where the snow is falling.

December 18th 1943 Keith Richards

Ten Days of Christmas # 4 Super Furry Animals

Super Furry Animals again. This time for Christmas.

Song(s) of the Day # 698 David Blue

One of the saddest stories of all. David Blue, acolyte and com padre of Dylan and the rest from those early Greenwich Village Coffee House days.

'The Dylan Village group was a tight little circle: Victor Maimudes as bodyguard; Phil Ochs, Eric Andersen, Dave Van Ronk and Tom Paxton as sort of anvils off which he could flash his verbal pyrotechnics; Bob Neuwirth and David Blue straddling both roles. Few others could break into their scene … Of the singers and writers on the scene at this time, David Blue appears to have been closest to Dylan...” "He needed a friend," Blue said. "So he started including me in his scene and I got tight with him. 

In an interview published in the British newspaper Zigzag, David said, "Dylan just happened to be there. Maybe he was the symbol of the time, or the spearhead, but we were friends, and at one point he encouraged me. “That”s a great song you wrote‑ here’s a typewriter, take this, and let’s go up to the woods.” And that got me more interest in songwriting.” As Dylan’s fame grew, "I didn’t feel it was Dylan and me, two guys going places. It was him, and I’d go out and get a cab if he needed a cab. Not like a lackey, but just that he couldn’t go out and get a cab. But it was an equal exchange," Scaduto quoted.'

Rumoured to be the subject matter of 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue'. If so, it sounds like a put down to me. Blue embarked on a musical career of his own. His 1966 Elektra debut is too obviously dressed up in clothes that Dylan has worn and discarded. 1968's, 23 Days in September, though is a very fine album, much more clearly stamped with Blue's own identity. A melancholy, beautifully orchestrated, leisurely paced record. Not perhaps, of the very top rank. But certainly high in the second division. Play the songs I've posted here and hunt down Ambitious Anna, possibly its finest track which I couldn't find a direct YouTube link to.

It didn't get Blue where he wanted or felt he should be either. To the credit, acclaim, fame and wealth his contemporaries were amassing. Still, he continued to mix in their circles. Blue, the Joni Mitchell song was also reputed to be a tribute. She denies this. They were also thought to be lovers. 

 

Still, there's a sense of thwarted loss about the songs I've posted here. Perhaps it's all retrospect. It's not as if they're any sadder than Leonard Cohen's records of the same period for example. Cohen was Blue's real surname oddly, dropped when he embarked on a musical career as he observed there were too many Cohens in the business already. The sadness is that these records are still almost unnoticed all these years after the event, following Blue's untimely, early death in 1982. He suffered a major heart attack while jogging around Washington Square Park.

Here's Cohen's touching and poetic eulogy to the man and his life:

'He died running, he fell beside the square, to the street where, many years before he had begun to sing, he fell in the fullest expression of vanity and discipline. Many of us, in our songs, had touched on the type of man that he became. Dylan raised up such a ragged hero many times before he turned to solace in the shadow of American Christianity. Joni Mitchell had spoken simply of that constant ambiguous lover, spoken of him over and over, before she entered the beautiful technology of jazz and virtuosity. Kris Kristofferson had described that gambler playing his way from Nashville to Hollywood, where finally the dangers of the game were too coarse for poetry. 

David Blue was the peer of any singer in this country, and he knew it, and he coveted their audiences and their power, he claimed them as his rightful due. And when he could not have them, his disappointment became so dazzling, his greed assumed such purity, his appetite such honesty, and he stretched his arm so wide, that we were all able to recognize ourselves, and we fell in love with him. And as we grew older, as something in the public realm corrupted itself into irrelevance, the integrity of his ambition, the integrity of his failure, became, for those who knew him,increasingly important and appealing, and he moved swiftly, with effortless intimacy into the private life of anyone who recognized him, and our private lives became for him the theaters that no one would book for him, and he sang for us in hotel rooms and kitchens, and he became that poet and that gambler, and he established a defiant style to revive those soiled archetypes. In the last few years, something happened to his voice and his guitar, something very deep and sweet entered, his timing became immaculate and we knew that we were listening to one of the finest, one of the few men singing in America and I was happy then and perhaps happier now to say that I told him that. 

He did not put away his cowboy boots. He did not take a part-time job, he was fully employed in his defiance and his originality and his faithfulness to a ground, a style, an image of which he himself was the last and best champion exponent, a style that many of us had wanted, courted, and had not won.And finally, toward the end of his short and graceful life, he had the grace to recognize the woman to whom he had always been singing, and he courted and married Nesya and because a woman of talent and beauty does not choose lightly, she made manifest for all to plainly see the qualities of love and generosity that he had forced out of his distress. The death of such a man unifies us, and recalls to us how precious we are to one another 

--Leonard Cohen '