He's leaving home

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As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to leave this arbitrarily post-deleting shithole for a new home at Wordpress. The new URL is:

http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com

Thank you Google for providing me with a free platform, but don't anyone think that Google is a cuddly maverick outfit. Google is one with The Man.

Anyway, I haven't figured out how to operate the 301 redirect thing (it seems to work only if you have your own domain), so I'll lose my Google rankings. That's a fifth of my traffic. But 36% is direct traffic (over the last 30 days), and 43% is referred, i.e. links on other blogs and, of course, referrals from the wonderful Totally Fuzzy. Since I hooked this show up to Google Analytics (and I must still learn how to hook http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com up to it) in July last year, there have been 222,490 visitors, 55,2% of whom were first-time visitors. I have no idea whether that is any good, but I'm happy that more than 110,000 people have landed up here at some point over the past 18 months (20,000 of them from Totally Fuzzy), and that some have returned.

So, if you link to this blog, please would you amend the link to http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com

If you visit by using your bookmarks, please change your bookmark to http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com (just right-click on the bookmark, and in properties replace the word blogspot with wordpress).

If you come here by RSS Feed alerts, the new address (or whatever it's called) is http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com/feed/

I won't post anything new here, and in a while I will delete all posts on this blog. Everything that's here — lively writing and dead links — is over there at halfhearteddude.wordpress.com, plus almost everything fucking Blogger DMCAed.

Please allow me a little time to get used to my new home (coincidentally, I'll also be moving office premises next Friday) and to get past Christmas; I'll be posting, but not in a frenzy. In the new year, I plan to return to the series of The Originals, do more Great Moustaches in Rock, and do some more time travelling to the '70s and '80s. Plus the usual stuff (the intros quiz will launch into a new five year cycle taking us from 1969 to 2004).

And for old time's sake, a few songs:
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up (long version, 1971)
Shalamar - Make That Move (1980)
Tim Buckley - Move With Me (1972)
The Kinks - I Gotta Move (1964)
Billy Joel - Anthony's Song (Movin' Out) (1977)
Robin Gibb - Gone, Gone Gone (1970)
Tania Maria - Come With Me (1972)


Over and out.

Top 20 albums of 2008

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Everybody's doing it, so I might as well dabble in the conceit that anybody is really interested to know which releases of the year I liked best. I don't think it has been a vintage year for music, or perhaps I have not paid much attention. I've also found myself falling off Planet Indie, so the "singer-songwriters" boss the list. I've put sample tracks into one file, in case somebody is interested. The featured titles appear below my brief comments. Full tracklisting in the Comments section.

1. Jay Brannan - Goddamned
Strong, idiosyncratic lyrics and melodies one can sing along to by the antidote to all the depressingly boring corporate stars. And Jay was interviewed on this blog, so he rules.
(Bowlegged And Starving)

2. Ron Sexsmith - Exit Strategy Of The Soul
Perhaps Sexsmith's most consistently engaging album yet. It's as beautiful as any Sexsmith album (the man has never made an ugly album), and as warm as any. This is music to make long, slow love to, and cuddle afterwards.
(This Is How I Know)

3. Tift Merritt - Another Country
Merritt's third album is easily her best. Returning to the softer alt.country/folk sound of her debut, some of the songs here qualify for the dreaded cliché "achingly beautiful".
(Hopes Too High)

4. The Weepies - Hideaway
My go-to album when I don't know what I want to listen to. Bright, melodic folk-pop which seems to be written for Saturday mornings with a croissant and a good cup of coffee. The album is a few songs too long, but with none being offensive, should I complain?
(Takes So Long)

5. Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Rilo Kiley singer goes back to her alt.country roots. It's nit an easy album to get into, and it features Elvis Costello on one song, which in my book is not a recommendation (the song isn't bad though). Jenny's voice is as sexy as always, which compensates for a couple of duff songs. The title track is perhaps the year's best song.
(Acid Tongue)

6. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
Kathleen Edwards lets rip with sardonic wit on an album which gives a withering look at her homeland Canada, loafing partners, the war lobby and more, and then surprises with vulnerable moments. Another album which requires a few spins before it catches on.
(Oil Man's War)

7. Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Hyped as the new Dylan since he could walk, on this solo album Conor finally lives up to the promise. Meaning, it all sounds a bit like Dylan in his prime. One can hear Dylan singing most of these songs. It sounds not unlike last year's Bright Eyes album Cassadagia, which was fine, but not a patch on I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, one of the best albums of the decade.
(Get-Well-Cards)

8. Ben Folds - Way To Normal
I have apologised for not liking this album much at first. It's too much like Ben Folds Five, when I prefer the two solo albums. Folds actually released two albums: a "leaked" version, which he especially recorded and then, well, leaked; and the real CD. Some fans prefer the leaked version, which isn't bad at all. But it would be a conceit to rate it more highly than the real Way To Normal.
(Free Coffee [Leak Version])

9. Hello Saferide - More Modern Short Stories...
Yet another album which initially failed to meet my big expectation; and another one that required a few listens. Annika Norlin (who is Hello Saferide) has largely abandoned the twee indie-pop of the debut album and EP. More Modern Short Stories... has an edgier sound. It sounds good, but detract from the lyrics, and it's in the lyrics (and that cute accent) where Norlin's strength resides.
(X Telling Me About The Loss Of Something Dear At Age 16)

10. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark
A couple of years ago, Neil Diamond made a comeback with the Rick Rubin-produced 12 Songs, which was quite outstanding (even if later bonus tracks rendered the title nonsensical). Home Before Dark continues in a similar vain, laying to rest the scandalous notion that ND is in any way "uncool".
(Pretty Amazing Grace)

11. Joshua Radin - Simple Times
And another album that delated my expectations. Radin's full debut album, We Were Here, was my top pick for 2006, an intensely intimate affair. This is rather lighter and, well, more mainstream. Thing is, I think I'd like it a lot better if I didn't know Radin's previous output (there was a very good EP as well).
(Friend Like You)

12. Lenka - Lenka
Sunny, bouncy pop. It's light and hugely enjoyable. What Colbie Caillat was to 2007....
(Anything I'm Not)

13. Micah P Hinson & The Red Orchestra
After all that time, Hinson remains some sort of insider tip. A Tom Waits for these times.
(Throw The Stone)

14. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
When I first heard it I was impressed. After a while it felt like a Pink Floyd record. The trouble with Narrow Stairs is not in its quality — it's a very good album — but in finding a reason to play it. If you want Death Cab songs you can whistle along to, try 2005's Plans or the earlier albums. If you want an intricate tapestry of sound, your better off with the mighty Transatlanticism.
(Grapevine Fires)

15. Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static
The surprise inclusion here. I have nothing against Jack Johnson's songs. They are nice, in a Michael Franks kind of way. But his albums are mind-numbingly boring. I got this for review. I listened to it for a few times, gave it a half-hearted approval. Then I gave it another go. And another. And more. And I realised that I was enjoying the CD.
(If I Had Eyes)

16. Yael Naïm - Yael Naïm
I know, it was released in some places in 2007. Yael Naïm's New Song got plenty airplay, but it's nit really representative of this intriguing album, on which Naïm sings in English, French and Hebrew.
(Far Far)

17. Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armini
Yes, she's from Iceland. No, she's not like Bjork. Though this album, a much more raucous affair than the whispering The Fisherman's Wife, has a few rather crazy moments which would not seem out of place on a Bjork set.
(Dead Duck)

18. Looker - Born In The Desert
I'm trying to remember the marketing comparison for this, which was pretty spot on. Something like the Ramones through the filter of '60s Phil Spector. Not consistently brilliant, but always good fun.
(Born In The Desert)

19. Kaki King - Dreaming Of Revenge
On her latest offering, the very beautiful Kaki King goes easy on her unique guitar stylings, which were impressive for the first four songs, but became wearying. Here she sings more than she did before. An album one listens to for atmosphere.
(Bone Chaos In The Castle)

20. Jordan Trotter - Jordan Trotter
A rather unknown country singer who deserves some attention. The debut album starts with a trio of quite lovely songs, which would not have disgraced Tift Merritt's wonderful CD. After that things slide a little, with a couple of daring covers (The Wind Cries Mary, Chain Of Fools) which aren't at all bad but, well, redundant.
(I Want You)

DOWNLOAD


On a different note, this blog will soon migrate to Wordpress, who I hope will not denude its subscribers’ blogs in the spineless manner Blogger has done (six DMCA notices in the past two days!). Don't let me ever hear again how Google are so alternative and so sticking it to The Man. I'm struggling with a few features in Wordpress, but the whole blog – including posts deleted by Blogger (except my Obama post, probably zapped by James Brown's people, which I failed to back up) — should be up in a week or so. The URL will be http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com, and of course I'll have a notice here. Or I might even figure out how to redirect things...

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Elvis movies quiz

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What it says in the title... Guess the Elvis movie from the synopsis. Clue: all these movies were made after Elvis served his fatherland. The answers are in the comments section. Not that I'd know any of them. Except two. When Elvis went to Hollywood, he hoped to inherit James Dean's mantle of rebellion. As these questions may suggest, he didn't even inherit Bing Crosby's mantle of casually whistling acquiescence.


1. Elvis is a singing heir to a pineapple plantation in Hawaii who becomes, as you do when the future holds a panama hat, a tour guide. He falls in love and sings 14 (count 'em) songs, including that ghastly tune ignorant people tend to call "Wise Man Say".

2. Elvis is a singing swimming pool lifeguard who couldn't cut it in the circus. He falls in love. With a bullfighter. Alas, it was not an edgy message movie well ahead of its time. The bullfighter is — and the shrewd reader guessed it — a woman.

3. Elvis is a singing rodeo rider. Looking for gold, he falls in love and, don't say you didn't see that one coming, gets married to his lady love. Aaah!

4. Elvis is a singing racing driver working as a bus boy (which means, he clears tables, not speed through the streets in a doubledecker). He falls in love with a swimming instructor. And — spoiler alert — together they win a talent competition. Hurrah!

5. Elvis is a singing charter boat pilot in Hawaii, who is torn between two girls. In the end (spoiler alert redux!) he goes — gulp — for the good girl.

6. Elvis is a singing bush pilot who takes care of a little Chinese kid. He then, yes, falls in love.

7. Elvis plays a non-singing (!) gunslinger come good. He fails to sing, but — phew — he does fall in love (else what movie would there be?). With a dance hall queen.

8. Elvis is a singing rodeo rider (again), but with an ethnic twist: he is of Native-American descent. This time, Elvis doesn't so much fall in love but play the field, going for a mother and daughter combo. Off-screen Elvis preferred the teenage daughters; will he go for the MILF on-screen?

9. Elvis is, but of course, a singing racing driver who, plausibly enough, falls in love with a singing government agent in go-go boots.

10. Elvis is a singing boxer who is supposed to take a fall. But he does fall. In love. With the love interest from movie (1).

11. Elvis is a navy frogman. Oh yes, he is. And the kicker is, at night he sings in a nightclub. Oh, but he does. The unbelievable plot device here: Elvis fails to fall in love but goes treasure hunting instead. Will he find the treasure?

12. Elvis is a singing helicopter pilot. And guess where. No, really, take a stab in the dark. Give up? Why, he's a singing helicopter pilot in Hawaii, silly. But this movie is not like all the others in which Elvis is a singing action man who falls in love with a pretty girl while being pursued by the town harlot. Here he doesn't fall in live with one or two women, but romances three, count 'em, of them.

13. Elvis is a singing racing car driver. Incredibly, the thing isn't called Deja fuckin' Vu. Elvis again has three women to choose from, as he did in movie (12) which preceded this one (the morals had loosened, evidently). And they have some pretty ordinary jobs: drummer, self-help author, heiress...

14. Elvis is a singing heir (to a rich Texas oilman) who roughs it a bit as a waterski instructor (doing it fully clothed!). Among his clients is a woman who is looking for a rich husband. Oh, the hilarious complications that arise when Elvis falls in love. How will Elvis get out of this one?

15. Elvis is an occasionally singing photographer of of stylish advertisements and of nudie pics (nobody showed the Colonel that script, I bet) who experiences psychedelic trips involving people in dog costumes (actually, was Tom Parker at all awake?). Yup, there is a love interest, seeing as you ask.

16. Elvis is a singing US soldier who falls in love with a dancer and sings a German folk song to a puppet.

17. Elvis is a ghetto doctor who doesn't sing an awful lot. But he falls in love. With a nun. Oh naughty Elvis. But how could he know of her profession when she was swanning about in civvies. There isn't even a happy ending: we never learn whether the nun, played by a TV legend, goes with Big El or returns to the convent. No wonder this was the last Elvis movie (a couple of documentaries apart).

18. Elvis is a singing insurance salesman who moonlights as a lion tamer and falls in love with the circus clown's daughter.


For a bit of great music from Elvis movies go HERE
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Intros Quiz - Classic rock edition

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Here is the last intros quiz of the year, this time on the theme of classic rock, covering the period from the late 1960s to 1979. It's pretty easy, I think. In fact, some are so easy, they are bound to insult somebody's intelligence. But the easy ones will make Uncle Fred very happy when you run the intros quiz by him when he comes visiting on Boxing Day. One thing I learned in my brief career as a pub quiz master is to mix up the reasonably challenging questions with really tough ones (give the experts something to chew over) and a few very easy questions, so that the casual participant will also know an answer or three.

So, as always, 20 song intros of 5-7 seconds in length. I'll post the answers in the comments section on the weekend. If you really need to set your mind at ease with that blasted #12, drop me an e-mail (or drop me an e-mail anyway), and I'll let you have the answers sooner.

Intros Quiz - Classic Rock editon (Go HERE to download the file)

More intros quizzes

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A Renaissance Christmas

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I am not in a habit of uploading full albums. There are blogs that specialise in that. So I have ever only posted two albums which are not easy to find (at least if you don't do amazon, which is sticky with deliveries to some countries) and which I think are quite special. One of them was A Renaissance Christmas by the Boston Camerata. Since DivShare wiped out my entire account coinciding with the orgy of blog deletions, the link is dead. A reader asked very nicely if I could re-upload the album. And, since Advent kicked off yesterday, and that reader has periodically left comments, I have gladly done so. It was a very popular download, with 2,000 downloads or thereabouts.

A Renaissance Christmas (as I wrote a year ago) was recorded in 1986. As the title suggests, the Boston Camerata recreate the sound of Christmas from the 15th, 16th and 17th century, spreading the international flavour liberally with songs in English, French and German. I'm no expert in such things, but those who are say it is flawlessly performed. Especially fascinating are the brief readings from the Gospel of Luke that intersperse the album, delivered in what is supposed to be the English accent of the 16th century.

DOWNLOAD LINK HERE


Read more about A Renaissance Christmas
Buy A Renaissance Christmas


And by another request, I have re-uploaded the notional Beatles album of 1981, titled The Beatles - Finally (previously on ZShare, which seems to be permanently up the creek).

DOWNLOAD
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Revisiting '60s Soul

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I don’t think I’ve so much fun putting together an Any Major Mix as I had with this one. So much great music to choose from, so much great music I hadn’t played in a while. As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R.

This mix is not a representative overview of ’60s soul. Some essential artists are not represented here: Sam Cooke, James Brown, Temptations, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield (well, he is very much present on Major Lance’s deceptively titled track. And the Five Stairsteps, with a song released four years before their famous Ooh Ooh Child, evidently have heard a Curtis song or two before). There are some well-known tracks on here – hopefully not too obvious, though – complementing some less famous tracks. Perhaps some songs will provide surprises. Dionne Warwick takes time out from bacharaching to provide a nearly camp girl-band type song. Johnny Adams gives Release Me, most famous in its Engelbert Humperdinck rancid cheese version, the soul treatment, showing that this is in fact a great song.

Philly soul exponent Bunny Sigler found some fame in the 1970s; the closer on this set was his isolated hit (reaching #22 in the Billboard charts) of the 1960s. DeeDee Sharp, another successful Philly singer, represented here (with a b-side track), even married the co-doyen of the city’s famous sound, Kenny Gamble. Some songs set the scene for the sound of '70s soul, perhaps none more so than the Delfonics La La Means I Love You, which created a lush sound which would be widely copied by the likes of the Chi-Lites, Stylistics et al. And going back to the essential sound of '60s soul, check out Peggy Scott on the cover with Jojo Benson: you’d not think that she could belt out a song as she does here. The wonderful Carla Thomas and Otis follow them: by comparison with Peggy & Jojo, those two are pictures of restraint.

There are some fascinating stories behind many of the artists represented here. The most tragic is that of the Bar-Kays, Stax session musicians, who were decimated in the plane crash that also killed Otis Redding, with whom they were touring. And who'd think that the Soul Survivors, another Philly band with a Kenny Gamble connection, were all white?

And, since you ask, my favourites of this mix? Today, it’s Tighten Up and Loveland.

TRACKLISTING
1. Archie Bell & the Drells - Tighten Up (1968)
2. Major Lance - Monkey Time (1963)
3. Soul Survivors - Expressway To Your Heart (1967)
4. Aretha Franklin - Since You've Been Gone (1968)
5. Peggy Scott & Jojo Benson - Lovers' Holiday (1969)
6. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas - Bring It On Home To Me (1967)
7. James Carr - Dark End Of The Street (1967)
8. Jerry Butler - I Stand Accused (1964)
9. Johnny Adams - Release Me (1969)
10. Irma Thomas - I Wish Someone Would Care (1964)
11. Brenda Holloway - Operator (1965)
12. Dionne Warwick - Get Rid Of Him (1964)
13. The Tams - Hey Girl Don't Bother Me (1964)
14. Stevie Wonder - Until You Come Back To Me (1964)
15. Dee Dee Sharp - There Ain't Nothing That I Wouldn't Do (1965)
16. Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Jimmy Mack (1967)
17. Jr Walker & The All Stars - What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) (1969)
18. Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Love Land (1969)
19. David Ruffin - My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me) (1969)
20. Robert Knight - Love On A Mountain Top (1968)
21. The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You (1968)
22. The Five Stairsteps - Don't Waste Your Time (1966)
23. O.C. Smith - Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp (1968)
24. Sonny Charles & the Checkmates - Black Pearl (1969)
25. The Marvelettes - Don't Mess With Bill (1966)
26. Robert Parker - Barefootin' (1966)
27. The Bar-Kays - Soul Finger (1967)
28. Bunny Sigler - Let The Good Times Roll (1967)

DOWNLOAD LINK HERE

More mixes
More 60s soul (links are all dead though)

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Reflections of my life

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Last weekend I was strolling around Cape Town's Waterfront – a brilliant place despite being aggressively touristy around which all kinds of normal harbour functions are taking place – when I passed a structure I have walked by many, many times over the years: a garage type of thing in which is parked a quick response boat run by the National Sea Rescue Institute (although I have lived by the sea for all but three years of my life, I am rather clueless in matters of maritime jargon). This time, the boat garage – which is probably not its correct appelation – looked different: the sun shone just so as to create a mirror effect against this ordinarily unremarkable structure I had not seen before. I had my camera with me, and it is that this point that my boring story of a leisurely Saturday walk assumes some kind of relevance.

Suddenly, somebody in Ohio whom I've never met and have exchanged perhaps a couple of dozen of comments with came to mind. As I looked at the structure, I thought: "Oh, Dane from the All Eyes And Ears blog would definitely take a picture of that." The geometry of the structure and the effect of the reflection of a boat and a building on the glass through which one can see the sea rescue speedboat seemed to me just the kind of thing one might find on Dane's blog, if Ohio was at the seaside. So, inspired by Dane I took the picture below, which I think is pretty good. Of course I could never claim to have as astute an eye for detail as Dane has, though I have taken some photos I am rather proud of. Perhaps I'll post some of them at some point. I think it is quite remarkable, however, that a blogger in far away Ohio should have spontaneously entered my mind during an afternoon walk, and inspired me to take a particular photo.



And, in keeping with Dane's concept of posting a song to illustrate an illustration:

Procol Harum - A Salty Dog

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Yet more '80s soul

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I'm not sure whether it is due to popular demand after last week's compilation, but here is a second '80s soul mix, with a third and final installment in the works. The first mix was an attempt to create a fairly representative cross-section of the genre. This mix is less self-conscious about that. What we have here, then, are some of my favourite soul tracks from that comparatively barren decade. As in any compilation of favourites, the measure of quality may be secondary to the compiler's emotional connection to a song. Is Smokey's Just To See Her any good? I don't rightly know. It may not be a better song than Being With You. But much as I like Being With You, it does not transport me back to a particular time. Play Just To See Her, however, and I smell the girl's hair, taste the vegetarian gunk I used to eat, feel the anticipation of going to the club and the anxiety of missing my friends in London. And so it is with many songs in this mix (especially Pendergrass' wonderfully Marvin-esque Joy).


This mix includes two Gospel songs. Invoking God in soul music was nothing new. Curtis Mayfield did it habitually before Al Green swapped his silky sheets for a silky collar. By Gospel was still indentifiable by its distinctive features. The Winans family, who breed like the Wayans but have more talent in their chosen field, led a revolution which appropriated the contemporary soul sound into their songs of praise. The lyrics were usually not as direct as those of traditional Gospel – less of the hollering hallelujahs and summonsing of witnesses, lawrd. Indeed, hear the Winans or Steve Arrington songs without being aware of the lyrics, and you'd have no idea which genre you're tuning into.


I'm saving the best for last though. The very last. When the bizarrely named Oran 'Juice' Jones berates his cheating girlfriend, he cracks wiser than any heartbroken man ever did. He gets vicious ("I gave you things you couldn't even pronounce") and funny ("You without me is like..." oh, let's not give away the punchline). Doesn't sound as good in print as it does when "Juice" says it. Amusingly, Jones seems to be quite at a loss as to why the girl would cheat on his charming, non-condescending and gender-role sensitive self. The cover of The Rain pretty much sums up our boy Oran's demeanour vis-a-vis the laydees. Still, cracking song. And, don't touch that coat!


TRACKLISTING
1. Isley Jasper Isley - Caravan Of Love (1985)
2. Smokey Robinson - Just To See Her (1987)
3. Randy Crawford - Rainy Night In Georgia (1981)
4. Larry Graham - One In A Million You (1980)
5. The Winans feat. Anita Baker - Ain't No Need To Worry (1987)
6. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly - Before I Let Go (live) (1986)
7. Teddy Pendergrass - Joy (1988)
8. Timmy Thomas & Nicole - New York Eyes (1985)
9. Cameo - A Goodbye (1985)
10. Force M.D.'s - Tender Love (1986)
11. Cheryl Lynn & Luther Vandross - If This World Were Mine (1982)
12. The Temptations - I Wonder Who She's Seeing Now (1987)
13. Steve Arrington - Feel So Real (12" version) (1985)
14. Gwen Guthrie - It Should Have Been You (1982)
15. Cherelle & Alexander O'Neal - Saturday Love (1985)
16. Oran 'Juice' Jones - The Rain (1986)


DOWNLOAD LINK HERE

More mixes

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Swooning for Swedes

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This one is for all the laydees out there who like themselves a bit of man hunk: promo photos of 1970s dance bands in Sweden. Even if we elect to make allowance for the gung-ho crazy fashions of the day and the ill-judged exuberance with which Scandinavia’s musical heart-throbs adopted these – and not only sartorially, but also in the domains of coiffure, facial hair and corrective eyewear – there were some dodgy-looking characters making Swedish audiences swoon back in the day. How did that nation ever manage to produce such wonderful performers as Hello Saferide and Jens Lekman?

I am featuring here only a handful of photos which I found at this great page. Visit it to be exposed to many more horrors. And find more at svenskadansband.se

The Schytts. No shit!

The band had to split when the other five guys just couldn’t score any groupies
whenever Arvid “Elton” Gunnarson was laying on his funky game.


Algot (back left) did not mind when his old friend and rival Arvid scored
all the groupies, because he was with the pioneer of heroin chic in front.

Experiments in amusing facial growth produced much hilarity among
the lookers from Tre Blå & en Gul (a name which conjures the sound of a
hearty vomit followed by a post-puke retch).


The Bay City Rollers never recovered from their trip to heady Sandviken.
From left: Alan Longmuir, Eric Faulkner, Stuart "Woody" Wood,
Leslie McKeown and Derek Longmuir. Rumours that Bill Bryson will play
Woody in BCR – The Movie have not been confirmed.


“Kalle’s saxophone is fine. It’s Ingvar’s air guitar that hurts my ears.”
Vogueing was never so much fun as it was in Karlsbad back in 1984.

One gust of wind, and the Scandinavians will take off to the skies.
Wings courtesy of Ulla's Hairsalon on Ulvaeusgatan in Uppsalla.


Dudes, the bra is worn under your blouses. The emergence of this photo
at last solves the big mystery about Steve Buscemi’s lost years.


Magnus was sad after his sensible coiffure cost Tellus the
Swedish Poptastic Hairstylings championship, losing in the final against Gert Jonnys.
Andreas went on to become Sweden’s most popular Agnetha impersonator,
and Benny proceeded to provide the mould for crinkle cut crisps.


Hampus and Thor were very annoyed when they realised
that the other Sten-Åkes had stolen their hair.


While the geniuses in front are eying the lovely Inger,
what is the bad uncle at the back perving at?


Ssshhhhh! Quiet! Can’t you see that Tommy Ferm is trying to get his
sexiness together. Oh, but look at his stare, with the slightly raised eyebrow. He is
hypnotising you. Look into his eyes. You know you want to have filthy, sweaty sex
with seductive love god Tommy? You don’t want Arvid “Elton” Gunnarson now,
do you? Not after seeing Tommy the Sex Engine. You want Tommy Ferm whose
bedroom look…succeeded only in pulling Gold Wolf next to him.

And as we recover from this assemblage of bad taste and, let's be honest, rank ugliness (sex deity Tommy Ferm apart, of course), let us visit, and in two instances, revisit some Swedish music.

The Hep Stars - Sunny Girl
1966 hit for the rather more successful forerunners of the Sten-Åkes, Tellus, the Zenits and their many sidekicks, of interest purely because of the presence of future Abba songwriter and keyboardist Benny Anderson. The Hep Stars were Sweden's biggest band in the 1960s, and Sunny Girl one of their biggest hits (in fact, all four members of Abba were well-known, and all but Anni-Frid big stars in their homeland before forming the group that made them richer than any bail-out package).

Abba - Ring Ring (German version)
And talking of Benny Anderson, the German version of Ring Ring, an early Abba hit. I had thought of posting their Schlager number Wer Im Wartesaal Der Liebe Steht, but after inflicting the worrying gallery of hideousness above, that might have been overdoing the cheesiness a bit.

Harpo - Motorcycle Mama
And I will not accept any charges of Harpo being cheesy. The barefooted pop troubadour had some catchy numbers, though only the excellent Movie Star seems to be widely remembered. Poor Harpo's career virtually ended when he sustained serious injuries after being kicked in the head by a horse (cue Dean Martin earworm).

Laurel Music - Dreams And Lies
Sweden's current indie scene is briliant. And in between all these fine creative artists one will locate the soft country-folk sounds of Laurel Music. Check them out on their website.

Hello Saferide - 2008
I've been going on about Annika Norlin, aka Hello Saferide, for a long time. Her new album, More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide, which yielded this track, is more cohesive and less twee than her previous efforts, but lacks the killer tunes such as The Quiz or Get Sick Soon. 2008 (following on from her song 2006) is perhaps not even the best song off the album, but it's the one that sticks in my mind. Visit Hello Saferide's fine website, featuring a couple of free songs, all lyrics, a blog and more.

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More '80s Soul

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Following on from last month's post of '80s soul, here's a mix – as always timed to fit on a standard CD-R – of 18 of my favourite songs from the genre. I've tried to make it more or less representative: the old style soul singers getting their '80s groove on (Mayfield, Womack), the soul funksters (Mtume, Tashan), the smooth stuff (Wilde, Osborne), the fusion influence (Flack, Benson, Upchurch), Jam & Lewis productions (Windjammer, Atlantic Starr), adult-oriented soul (Jackson & Moore, Womack & Womack)... There will be at least one more '80s soul mix, so glaring omissions – Luther! – will be corrected.

Atlantic Starr are often trivialised as the crooners who gave us the saccharine Always, which was a hit a year after the group's other big ballad, the excellent adultery anthem Secret Lovers. So it's easy to forget that they had some fantastic upbeat grooves, none more so than Silver Shadow. Even better than Silver Shadow is the other Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis production included here, Windjammer's brilliantly urgent Tossin' And Turnin' (not to be confused with the Ivy League's '60s hit). Mtume's much sampled Juicy Fruit sounds like it might be a Jam/Lewis production. It's lyrics are deliciously sexy as the female singer fantasises about the action she and the addressee of the song will get down to. "Candy rain comin’ down, taste you in my mind and spread you all around." Later she states her hope for being the recipient of cunnilingus. And that sort of smut was played on public radio! Won't someone think of the children!!!

The cutest song here is Roberta Flack's collaboration with the Japanese fusion maestro Sadao Watanabe. Flack's vocals are gently percussive as she sweetly declares her love. Not at all innocent are the machinations of Eugene Wilde, a jheri-curled herbert with a pencil 'tache in a shiny suit who promises his lady love an avalanche of orgasms (if the Dom Perignon doesn't get her too drunk) because that's how he roills as a loverman supreme. It should be awful, but it isn't. How could it be when you can imagine Marvin Gaye singing it? Anyone who remembers the song will recall the woah-oh--oh-oh (2:34). Talking of Marvin, the collection kicks off with the closer of his final album, a song I rate even higher than Sexual Healing.

Marvin is just one of the veterans included here. You might not buy into jheri-curled Eugene's braggadoccio, but you believe Bobby Womack's pangs of conscience as he lusts for his best friend's woman, and the way Curtis Mayfeld sings his song of love, he'd could have seduced even the Mother Superior among ice queens. It is said that countless babies have been conceived thanks to Luther Vandross' silky croonings. I bet that Freddie Jackson can claim credit for quite a few 20-somethings as well. I had no space for the full 7-minute version of Rock Me Tonight, but the featured track, a duet with Melba Moore, is excellent in its own right. And probably more difficult to find.

Some songs, like Wilde's, bring back memories of times, places, people. Sherrick is another one with a pencil 'tache and too much wet hair gel. And a stupid name. But Just Call, with its great bassline, was one of my anthems of 1987. As was Amii Stewart's Friends in 1985, a tune quite unlike the Euro disco songs for which she was briefly famous in the late '70s. Sherrick might have been long forgotten, but does anyone remember Tashan, whose 1987 Chasin' A Dream album was quite excellent (the ballad Ooh We Baby was a candidate for inclusion)? He never made it big, which is a great pity.

Two tracks here are based on jazz. Benson is joined by the very underrated Patti Austen to deliver a fine cover of King Pleasure's Moody's Mood For Love, which was based on a James Moody's solo. Forget about Amy Winehouse's uninspiring take, Benson and Austen nail it. Will Downing (labelmate of the excellent British soulstress Mica Paris, on whose 1988 debut he guested) based his A Love Supreme on John Coltrane's classic jazz recording. Call me stupid, but I prefer Downing's interpretation. Alas, Downing is now confined to a wheelchair due to a muscle disorder.

TRACKLISTING
1. Marvin Gaye - My Love Is Waiting (1982)
2. Sadao Watanabe & Roberta Flack - Here's To Love (1984)
3. Phil Upchurch - When And If I Fall In Love (1983)
4. Sherrick - Just Call (1987)
5. Windjammer - Tossing And Turning (1984)
6. Eugene Wilde - Gotta Get You Home With Me Tonight (1984)
7. Freddie Jackson & Melba Moore - Just A Little Bit More (1986)
8. Amii Stewart - Friends (1985)
9. Mtume - Juicy Fruit (1983)
10. Mica Paris - My One Temptation (1988)
11. Will Downing - A Love Supreme (1988)
12. Tashan - Strung Out On You (1987)
13. Atlantic Starr - Silver Shadow (1985)
14. Jeffrey Osborne - You Should Be Mine (Woo Woo Song) (1986)
15. Womack & Womack - Teardrops (1988)
16. Curtis Mayfield - Do Be Down (1989)
17. Bobby Womack - I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much (1985)
18. George Benson feat. Patti Austin - Moody's Mood (1980)


DOWNLOAD

More mixes
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Music for Bloggers Vol. 9

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Sometimes I visit a favourite blog and, David Byrne echoing in my mind, I wonder: how did I get here? Totally Fuzzy is an obvious source of discovering favourite blogs. Links on blogs I like are another pretty reliable source (shared tastes, and all that). Some I might have stumbled upon while searching for a particular song, using a variety of search engines and aggregators. And many I’ve discovered when their owners left a comment. Occasionally I encounter members of my circle of blogging pals – people whose blogs I read and who read mine – in comments sections of other blogs. Did they get there through my links, or did I find them through theirs, or what other permutations might have led to our congregation at a third blog?

And how did people find my blog? No doubt, Totally Fuzzy, Elbows and good old-fashioned googling are a major source of exposure, as are Retro Music Snob and All Music, All Blogs. Some blogs clearly are so popular and trusted that their readers click on links to mine (Echoes In The Wind, DeaconBlues1103 and Dr Forrest's Cheese Factory are the most prolific sources of traffic in that respect). And if you’re reading this having read The Guardian's blogroll last weekend, welcome (also featured was the excellent Ghost of Electricity).




Not so welcome is whoever DMCAs me to Blogger. Another post was zapped yesterday; Blogger again won’t say who complained. As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve not capitulated. Nor have many of the bloggers I particularly enjoy. Anyway, all this to introduce or highlight six more blogs I particularly enjoy. There were more on my shortlist, so if yours has not yet featured, it may well do so in the future.


Modern Acoustic
Rich K puts out a PDF-based magazine featuring some of my favourite contemporary artists: Kathleen Edwards, Sarah Borges, Josh Ritter, Patty Griffin etc. To go with the mag (which can be downloaded at modernacoustic.com), he runs a blog with copious links to the official sites of the acts he is writing about. Rich is DMCA-safe because he posts no music, but he has taken an interest in the War on Bloggers situation . He wrote to me saying that he is researching an article on the subject. If fellow victims of the terror campaign, or other interested observers, would like to share their views or experiences with Rich, he can be e-mailed: rich [at] modernacoustics [dot] com. One act Modern Acoustics has not featured yet are The Weepies, whose cause I promote with undiluted enthusiasm. From a perfectly legal and band-approved top-notch bootleg:
The Weepies - Gotta To Have You (live)


The Gentlebear
To illustrate a point I made in the introduction, I found this blog just a few weeks ago and have no idea how I came by it. Whichever route it took, I am delighted to have arrived there. Gentlebear is one of those bloggers who educates and entertains with some fine writing and great song selection. I was particularly impressed with his recent post on The Temptations’ song “I Wish It Would Rain” – possibly my favourite by the Temps next to “Since I Lost My Baby” – featuring a couple of great covers. When I discover a new blog I really like, I trawl through back posts until I have no more energy or time. I read all of the ursine’s blog in one sitting (well, it goes back to only June, but the point stands: this is a very fine blog). The song dedication comes from a 2005 charity compilation, War Child - Help: A Day In The Life. War Child is going to release a new comp in February 2009. Check it out.
Damien Rice - Cross-Eyed Bear


The beauty of la musique
A bilingual blog from Canada which takes as its theme appealing or otherwise remarkable graphic artistry from yore. The blog pictures old LP or magazine covers, photos, posters, record labels and so on with a succinct illumination to explain its presence. Sometimes the narrative is very funny. I enjoyed this one for an early ’60s record cover depicting a rather predatory sleazedouche doing the twist: “Here's a stupid and ugly one, for a change. Richard Anthony was a popular French singer of the 1960's. On the cover art of this single, he seems to have other projects than twisting. Look at the way he's watching this girl... Help ! Police !”
Status Quo - Pictures Of Matchstick Men


Silence Is A Rhythm Too
Here’s a blog that has been running since I was a little boy in Lederhosen (which reminds me of a boy at school in Germany who once pissed into his Lederhosen. As visitors to München’s Oktoberfest may know, not only is piss in Lederhosen eminently conspicuous, but it also produces a nasty aroma). Funk-loving Michael of SIART describes his blog as “an on-going mix-tape”, which seems to me quite an accurate description, though songs are mostly posted individually. Including a bootleg version of the song this blog is named after (though you’ll have to go back a couple of months to find that). Those still on an Obama-high can get an Obama Mix at SIART. It’s all stimulatingly eclectic stuff.
Gene Kelly - I Got Rhythm


Jay Brannan: The Morning After
Jay's debut album, Goddamned, might well turn out to be my most-played of 2008. The long-standing reader will recall that I interviewed Jay back in July. What came across was an appealing personality with some strong opinions and a healthy dose of wit. This is reflected in his apparently very popular blog (featuring a number of video clips from his gigs around Europe), which we can take for granted is written by the artist himself, not an intern at the management company. Jay is certainly building up a strong following around the world, and – this is particularly pleasing – across the sexual spectrum. As he said in the interview, why should his sexuality matter when he sings about stuff in his life? I imagine that Jay's blog is named after this, the theme from The Poseidon Adventure:
Maureen McGovern - The Morning After


The Music Blog of the Infonistacrat!
I feel a little guilty about not having featured the Infonistacrat before. I have found some great music there, especially from the ’90s, which is a bit of a blind spot for me (fatherhood and lack of access to sources of decent music – DMCA fans might note that had there been blogs then, I’d have bought plenty more CDs then). The Infonistacrat also calls back into action songs from the ’80s, including a lot of half-forgotten material. A great and frequently updated source of alt.rock, punk, indie, new wave and so on. The Infonistacrat will have this song already, probably. It's that sort of song.
The Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker


Previously featured:
Music For Bloggers Vol. 1: Totally Fuzzy, Not Rock On, Serenity Now (RIP), Stay At Home Indie Pop, The Late Greats, Tsururadio, 200percent, Jefitoblog (RIP), Television Without Pity, Michael's World
Music For Bloggers Vol. 2: Fullundie, Mr Agreeable, Greatest Films, Peanut's Playground, Just Good Tunes, Csíkszereda Musings, Mulberry Panda, The Black Hole, Secret Love, Hot Chicks With Douchebags
Music For Bloggers Vol. 3: Girl On A Train, Maybe We Ain't That Young Anymore, Earbleedingcountry, Spangly Princess, Ill Folks, Deacon Blues, One-Man Publisher, CD Rated
Music For Bloggers Vol. 4: Pop Dose, Todger Talk, Holy Goof (RIP), Echoes In The Wind, Sunset Over Slawit, The Hits Just Keep Coming, The Ghost of Electricity, Guitariotabs
Music For Bloggers Vol. 5: The Quietus, Barely Awake In Frog Pyamas, The Great Vinyl Meltdown, Fusion 45, Inveresk Street Ingrate, The Songs That People Sing
Music For Bloggers Vol. 6: my hmphs, Visions of Wrong Terrence, Don't Burn The Day Away, Mine For Life, 3 Minutes 49 Seconds
Music For Bloggers Vol. 7: Uncle E's Musical Nightmare, Jens Lekman, Ain't Superstitious, AM Then FM, Psd Photoshop Disasters, SIBlingshot on the Bleachers, Dr Forrest's Cheese Factory, NME & Melody Maker
Music For Bloggers Vol. 8: dustysevens, All Eyes And Ears, Bob Evans, Retro Kino, Retro Music Snob

Miriam Makeba RIP

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The South African singing legend Miriam Makeba died last night of a heart attack after performing at an anti-Camorra concert in Italy. She was 76.


FULL POST HERE

Intros Quiz Junior Edition AND why Prince can piss off

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A friend asked me to put together a quiz aimed at a more youthful audience, covering roughly hits from the past five years. I may as well share it here: if the regular visitors don't their MTV from their VH-1, perhaps their kids might like to have a crack at an intros quiz. Family friendly, I am. (The illustration on the right? A Rolling Stone cover from July 2005, more or less the midpoint of the time period covered by this quiz. That Ms Alba... she isn't very ugly at all.)

Answers in the Comments section soon.

Intros Quiz 2003-08



Oh, and while I'm here, the recent flurry of post deletions on this blog still puzzle me, but I've noticed that three of the deleted posts included links to songs by Prince (two of them on perpetually screwed ZShare). The artist formerly known as pretty damn good has stated that he objects to his music being featured on blogs. It's a shame that Prince's people acted without asking me to remove the offending links. Way to piss off a fan, Prince. Our little hero has not created one decent CD in the past 15 years, so my consumer boycott of Prince albums will have no effect. But even if he makes another great album, I'll be damned if I buy it. Consider me an ex-fan of Prince. Another act that has asked their blogging fans (!) not to review their album is – here's a surprise – Metallica. Happily, that outfit of wankbuckets are unlikely to ever feature on this blog. I'm delighted to declare that I own nothing by them, and I wouldn't give those overblown pricks more time of the day than I already have wasted writing half of this paragraph.

More intros quizzes

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Intros Quiz - Motown Edition

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The November intros quiz: 20 songs released on Motown (or subsidiaries like Tamla) from the '60s to early '80s. Each intro is 5-7 seconds long. Many of them are fairly obvious, with a few tougher ones thrown in to make it interesting. But nothing obscure.

I will post the answers in the comments section over the weekend. In the meantime, if that pesky number 14 is driving you insane, feel free to e-mail me.

Intros Quiz - Motown Edition

More intros quizzes

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Any Major Groove Mix

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Think about it: if a song title riffs on the theme of grooviness – as a noun, verb or adjective – it is almost certain to be an affirming, cheerful tune and lyric. So as most friends of this blog are entering the dark, depressing days of winter I thought they might need some groovy, sunny cheer...

This mix covers several genres – pop, soul, funk, indie. Much of the material here is old, though there are two recently released songs: Rio En Medio's great a cappella cover of Earth, Wind & Fires' Let's Groove, and Swedish indie-pop outfit Billie The Vision & the Dancers fine opener of their latest album. One song features twice: the Young Rascals' carefree Groovin' and Aretha Franklin's quite different cover.

Ask me which songs I dig the most, and I'd have to decide between those by Gene Chandler, P.P. Arnold, Alan Price and the Mamas and the Papas. Or the Equals. Or Mr Bloe (best pop instrumental ever?). Or... oh, listen to it and find your own favourites.

1. Mr.Bloe - Groovin' With Mr Bloe
2. Young Rascals - Groovin'
3. The Equals - Soul Groovin'
4. The 5th Dimension - Working On A Groovy Thing
5. Letta Mbulu - What's Wrong With Groovin'
6. Bobby Wells - Let's Copp A Groove
7. Archie Bell & The Drells - Let's Groove
8. Gene Chandler - Groovy Situation
9. Simon & Garfunkel - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (live)
10. PP Arnold - (If You Think You're) Groovy
11. The Mamas and the Papas - Somebody Groovy
12. Alan Price - Groovy Times
13. Average White Band - Groovin' The Night Away
14. Heatwave - Groove Line
15. Harvey Mason - Groovin' You
16. Rodney Franklin - The Groove
17. Lou Rawls - Groovy People
18. Aretha Franklin - Groovin'
19. The Mindbenders - Groovy Kind Of Love
20. Rio En Medio - Let's Groove
21. Billie The Vision And The Dancers - Groovy
22. Ace Frehley - New York Groove
23. The Smithereens - Groovy Tuesday
24. Ciccone Youth - Into The Groove
25. Raquel Welch - I'm Ready To Groove


DOWNLOAD LINK HERE


If you liked the Billie The Vision & the Dancers song, you can download the whole album (and previous albums) on their website, and set your own price, or none ("If you want to download our songs there are two ways to do it. Either you can afford to pay us, or, if you are just as poor as we are, you can download it for free. We appreciate both choices!" Aren't they just lovely people?).

More mixes here

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Frothy court jester

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If I sounded a little disheartened by my post (EDIT: Now deleted, ha dee fucking ha. EDIT2: And now reposted) about the post deletions on this blog and others, the comment by Mephisto from Totally Fuzzy was greatly encouraging. Mephisto and the people of Totally Fuzzy have seen it all before. I recall a series of deletions being subject to big debate on Fuzzy’s previous incarnation a coupler of years ago. For the benefit of those who haven’t read Mephisto’s comment, here’s an excerpt:

The idea that this would be done by some record company or label or whatever industry branch doesn't make much sense to me to be honest. I know hundreds of blogs that post a dozen of freshly leaked albums on any given day, and they never seem to have to go through this. There are blogs out there that are genuine Free Record Stores, posting brand new releases every day again and again and they get away with it. If there would be any interest from the industry, those are the ones they'd be going after. It can't be that they're too dumb to just use google to search for the latest AC/DC album for example. I'm pretty sure that their visitor numbers are a lot higher than your blog too, so they should be the ones attracting the attention.

Given the fact that there doesn't seem to be any logic behind any of this, I still think it is some lone cowboy, having what he understands as fun at other people's expense. And it seems that it are especially the dedicated bloggers that get hit.

Another thing that really is very interesting is that I never see any foreign language blog get hit. Through the years that has consistently been the case. Whoever is doing this is English speaking and he probably gets off reading this kind of comments.

[...] should this blog be deleted, just start another one. We will promote it on totally fuzzy and most people will find it again. In the end we will always win, because we have way more patience and dedication than the freewheeling assholes.

I am persuaded that we’re dealing here with a court jester living a sadly empty life who no longer gets his kicks (yes, I’m sure it’s a male) from porn sites depicting women with heads shoved down a toilet. My post yesterday might have had our detractor wanking himself into a froth. The expression of his sexual disfunction is perhaps best confined to playing power games with the blogging community, because the alternatives to that are ghastly. People who get off on the exercise of coercive power are liable to also be rapists. The deletion of some posts (which, if one has backed up, can easily be reinstated) is a small price to pay for the safety of women and, perhaps, even children.

Of course I would prefer it if the frothy court jester would just piss off, as I’m sure he will when he realises that the blogging community will not be intimidated. Perhaps he will up the ante and force feckless Blogger (who just couldn’t be bothered to distinguish between authentic and frivolous complaints) to close down those blogs who’ll not be discouraged by his antics. Should that come to pass, I’ll simply start a new blog, with all my previous posts – or at least those preserving – intact. I have tussled with much more powerful people than the frothy court jester in my time. What delusion to think that he is anything more than a nuisance.

No music for this post, so there’s nothing for Blogger to delete but the whole account.

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War on bloggers

[Reinstated post after The Man deleted it for defiantly featuring songs by the Doobie Brothers, Rosie Thomas, Barry White, Melanie and Rage Against The Machine]

Even when you know it’s coming, when it does it is disturbing. Blogger deleted four posts of mine, The Originals Volumes 6, 7 and 8, and one from the dormant CD rated blog. Happily I backed up the Any Major Dude blog on Monday night after reading Whiteray’s post on Echoes In The Wind. In my comments to whiteray’s post I was defiantly bolshie. The essence of my response was “fuck them, we should not be bullied”. And I won’t be. I expect the arbitrary deletion campaign a passing phenomenon. And the fewer disheartened bloggers throw the towel, the sooner it will pass.

Of course I’m angry. I’m angry with those who demanded that Blogger remove pages, and I’m angry with Blogger. Of course, we music bloggers must acknowledge that we do play loose with intellectual property. Most of us, at least those of us who post music as a companion to a narrative, don’t seek to profit from doing so (no Google Ads here, nor pleas for donations. And the measure of glory we get is not going to inflate our egos unduly). Indeed, I think most of us post music to promote the artists and their music, to attract notice to lesser known or half-forgotten artists. In short, we do what we do in service to music. Many professionals in the music industry know that. Some contact us with a view to having their clients featured on blogs.

The post on CD Rated that was zapped by Blogger was a review of Brandi Carlile’s excellent The Story album. The review was glowing, encouraging the reader to buy the CD. Does it benefit Ms Carlile that my words of acclamation have been removed from the public domain? Most music blogs run a caveat asking copyright owners to tell us what links to remove, so that undisputed content can remain undisturbed. But why was the post on CD Rated (which nobody reads anyway) removed and not the post on this blog, much more popular and googlable than CD Rated, from which it borrowed the link? Maybe that will still happen. But if it doesn’t, then I should assume that this exercise is random and arbitrary. And if it is so, then this campaign has a purpose unrelated to copyright protection. But we cannot discern that purpose if we do not know who our accusers are. W can only guess at it. My guess is that those behind this campaign seek to obliterate the arena of music blogging with all the subtlety of Sarah Palin in a library and all the common sense of Dick, Don & Dubya before invading Iraq.

I understand Blogger’s dilemma. I am grateful to Google for providing bloggers like myself with a platform on which to communicate our thoughts. I accept that Google/Blogger must protect themselves from legal difficulties. My anger at Blogger is not directed at their self-protective action. My anger relates to the fact that Blogger did not notify me who told them to remove my words. Is it the RIAA, and individual record company, a private saboteur who gets his kick out of this? I understand that it would be a lot of work – and Google is a struggling small business which presumably cannot muster the required manpower – but my expectations might have been to communicate to the bloggers which links are being objected to, with an instruction (it needn’t even be polite) to remove the link in question.

I have pledged to continue blogging. I might change platforms – perhaps finding a host in a country where US copyright laws do not have force – or try to double-guess what Blogger will and will not zap. At the same time, I’m feeling a sense of blogging burnout and diminished time. If the rate of my updates decreases, then it will not because I have submitted to The Man, but because I am facing new challenges. Apart from the job which pays me my monthly salary and being engaged in an NGO I helped found*, I have taken on the editorship of a book project, revising another book, and plan to write one myself. And my family would like to remember my face as well. Which means I will not devote as much time to this labour of love as I have previously. But I won’t go.

* If anyone is interested in knowing about it, e-mail me.
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The Originals Vol. 12

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In this instalment, we thank RH for the original of Here Comes The Night and my new friend Kevin for the original of Dedicated To The One I Love.

EDIT: Get working file links HERE


Comme d’habitude/My Way
When your inebriated uncle grabs the karaoke microphone and sprays it with his saliva in a regrettable attempt to out-sinatra Sinatra his way, he probably won’t wish to contemplate that the song was originally sung in French by a small, somewhat camp blond guy wearing extravagant clothes who died in 1978 while changing a lightbulb as he was having a bath. It is peculiar that one of the most famous songs in the English language was a French number co-written and first recorded by a singer who himself had made a career of translating and performing American songs.

My Way was born Comme d’habitude, Claude François’ elegy to his decaying love affair with singer France Gall. A year before its release in 1968, young songwriter Jacques Revaux offered CloClo, as François is known among his faithful fans, a ballad called For Me, with English lyrics. Michel Sardou has demoed it, but Revoux didn’t like his interpretation (Sardou subsequently recorded the finished article in the year of Claude François’ death). François tweaked the melody, dumped the English and with Gilles Thibault wrote the new lyrics, and gave the whole thing a dramatic, brass punctured arrangement. It became a hit, and played on the radio (or TV, depending on which account you hear) when Paul Anka was holidaying in southern France.

Forty years later he recalled that he thought it was a “shitty record” but acquired the publishing rights anyway, for nothing (a bargain which would later cause a couple of legal quarrels). Back home, he decided to adapt Comme d’habitude for Frank Sinatra, who by then was threatening to quit the rapidly changing music business. According to Anka, he wrote the lyrics imagining what Sinatra might say and how he would say it, in that Rat Pack way of copying the stylings of gangsters who had themselves copied the stylings of movie hoods such as James Cagney and the pathetic George Raft. Sinatra’s impassioned rendition, recorded in early 1969, would affirm Anka’s astute judgment; as he sings it, the Chairman of the Board (and note which soul group covered My Way in 1970) personifies the great fuck you to the world. Anka himself thought he could not do justice to the song, but, possibly pressured by his label, recorded it nevertheless. Here too Anka was astute: his version was fundamentally “shitty”, much more so than Claude François’ original.

And so we are left wondering what might have been had Anka taken his 1968 holiday in the Bahamas instead of France. Young English singer David Bowie was invited to translate Comme d’habitude into English. Before his rendition, Even A Fool Learns To Love, could fruitfully cross the channel, Anka had snapped up the rights to the song (it is said that Life On Mars was, musically, his revenge song). And what would your drunk uncle sing then?
Also recorded by: John Davidson (1969), Anita Kerr Singers (1969), George Wright (1969), Hugo Montenegro (1969), Andy Williams (1969), Roy Drusky (1969), Sammy Davis Jr. (1970), Dorothy Squires (1970), Bill Medley (1970), Brook Benton (1970), Chairmen of the Board (1970), Shirley Bassey (1970), Glen Campbell (1970), Nina Simone (1971), Fred Bongusto (as La mia via, 1971), Patty Pravo (as A modo mio, 1972), Elvis Presley (1977), Sid Vicious/Sex Pistols (1978), Michel Sardou (Comme d'habitude, 1978), Nina Hagen (1985), Gipsy Kings (1988), Shane MacGowan (1996), Faudel/Khaled/Rachid Taha (Comme d'habitude, 2000), Robbie Williams (2001), Little Milton (2002), Paul Anka & Jon Bon Jovi (2007), Elli Medeiros (Comme d'habitude, 2008) a.o.
Best version: From zillions of versions to choose from, I think Claude François, far from being shitty, is the most appealing. And, naturally, Sid Vicious’ interpretation.


Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
The writing credits for Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood list Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell and Sol Marcus, but the main contributor, Horace Ott, is not credited (due to rivalling writers’ union memberships which prohibited cross-fraternisation on record labels). The song, or at least its chorus, was actually written about Caldwell at a time when she and Ott were breaking up. Happily they reconciled in good time and eventually married, so Ott was not entirely out of the royalties loop.

Nina Simone first recorded the song in 1964 as a slow, soulful blues ballad, her voice so deep in places you’d think it was a man singing it. A year later The Animals took hold of it, and – as they had done with the traditional song House Of The Rising Sun – turned the number inside out, speeding it up, reintroducing the signature opening chords (which almost unnoticeably appeared at the end of Simone’s version) and Alan Price’s glorious organ riff, and giving the soul-rock a bit of a flamenco sound. Twelve years later, in 1977, Leroy Gomez & Santa Esmeralda covered the Animals version, adding a touch of disco to the mix, to produce a dramatic and eminently danceable hit. There are three versions of Santa Esmeralda’s Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: the album recording (which at 16 minutes takes up the whole side), an extended 12" version (about ten minutes long), and the standard single which topped the charts in many countries.
Also recorded by: Joe Cocker (1969), Little Bob Story (1975), Helen Schneider (1981), Gary Moore & Friends (1981), The Costello Show (1986), Lou Rawls (1990), Francesca Pettinelli (1994), Robben Ford (1995), Eric Burdon Brian Auger Band (1998), Cyndi Lauper (2003), Laura Fedele (2005), New Buffalo (2006), Yusuf Islam (2006), John Legend (2006)
Best version: Santa Esmeralda’s, in any format.


Dedicated To The One I Love
The “5” Royales’ name screams ’50s novelty band. That they were not. Indeed, they were cited as influences by the likes of James Brown (who recorded their song Think), the legendary Stax musician Steve Cropper and Eric Clapton. By the time the band from Salem, North Carolina released Dedicated To The One I Love in 1958, their heyday was past them, and the single did not do much in two releases. Likewise, the Shirelles’ cover, recorded in 1959 (with Doris, not Shirley, doing lead vocals) initially flopped. It became a hit only on its re-release in 1961 to follow up the success of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, reaching #3 in the US pop charts. The Mamas and the Papas’ 1967 cover did even better, getting to #2. As on the Shirelles’ recording, the second banana took lead vocals; it was the first time Michelle Phillips, not Mama Cass, sang lead on a Mamas and Papas track. Funny enough, by then she had stopped sleeping with the two men in the group.
Also recorded by: The Lettermen (1967), The Temprees (1972), Stacy Lattisaw (1979), Bernadette Peters (1981), Bitty McLean (1994), Linda Ronstadt (1996), Laura Nyro (2002)
Best version: The “5” Royales’ is tighter and more cohesive than either the Shirelles’ or Mamas & Papas’. And the guitar!


Jersey Girl
Whether this is a case of lesser or better known originals depends on one’s musical development – and on whether one can abide by Tom Waits’ voice. I can’t stand Waits’ voice at great length and find it impossible to listen to a whole album by the man, and therefore gratefully welcome good cover versions of his songs (of which there are a few). A couple of lyrical tweaks aside, Springsteen took few liberties with Waits’ 1980 song when he featured a live version of it on the b-side of the ghastly Cover Me in 1985. That is the same take that appears on the Live 1975-85 box set. One would, of course, expect Brooce to have empathy with a Jersey Girl; he has assembled a whole lyrical harem of girls from New Jersey in his catalogue, half of them called Wendy or Mary. Springsteen had long included the song in his live shows, once, in 1981, even performing it with Waits (EDIT: thanks to my friend John C in Canada, posted here on YouSendIt) . That should discount the rumours that Waits wrote Jersey Girl as a Springsteen parody – though it certainly sounds like one. The song was, according to Waits, written for his new wife and later songwriting collaborator, Kathleen Brennan, who was brought up in New Jersey.
Tom Waits & Bruce Springsteen - Jersey Girl (live)
Also recorded by: Pale Saints (1995), Holly Cole (1995)
Best version: If there’d be one with Waits’ arrangement and Springsteen’s vocals…


Here Comes The Night
Sometimes in pop, as we have already seen in this series (and see again), a song written for a particular artist is not always the first to be recorded by them. Or, in this case, by Them. Here Comes The Night was written by Bert Berns, the Brill Building graduate whose songwriting credits included Twist And Shout, Hang On Sloopy, Tell Him and Piece Of My Heart, as well as production credits for the likes of Solomon Burke, the Drifters and Wilson Picket. His splendid career was cut short by his sudden death at 39 from a heart attack in late 1967. Somehow, possibly because they were labelmates on Decca with Them, Lulu & the Luvvers (she ditched the backing band in 1966; the same year Van Morrison ditched Them) got to go first with Here Comes The Night in 1964. This, their third single flopped, reaching only #50 in Britain. Them’s version, with Jimmy Page on guitar, was released in May 1965, peaking at #2 in the UK and #24 in the US.
Also recorded by: David Bowie (1973), Van Morrison (1974), The Rivals (1980), Miki Honeycutt (1989), Graham Bonnet (1991), Dwight Yoakam (1992), Native (1994).
Best version: I’m rather partial of Van Morrison’s live recording on It’s Too Late to Stop Now.

More Originals

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iPod Random 5-track Experiment Vol. 7

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The iPod Shuffle function is very useful in bringing to the listener's notice songs that have bypassed them. Of course, there is always the temptation when being confronted with a song one is not in the mood for to skip subsequent tracks, thereby compromising the arbitrary purpose of the random shuffle. And sometimes iPod comes up with a fantastic sequence, as it did this morning, compelling me to violate my no-weekend-posting rule to resurrect the iPod Random 5-track Experiment series, which last ran in March.


Nick Heyward - Whistle Down The Wind.mp3
Alas, poor Nick Heyward. He was just too clean cut, too cute and too saddled with a insurance salesman's name to be respected. When the barely pubescent girls put up their Nick Heyward posters from Smash Hits, the deal was sealed: Heyward would not, could not be taken seriously by the cogniscenti. It's a pity. Haircut 100's pop was better than it has been given credit for, and Heyward's 1983 North Of A Miracle debut solo album is at least in part quite excellent. The album's first three singles, including Whistle Down The Wind, made the UK Top 20, but none made the Top 10. Perhaps the catchy Blue Hat For A Blue Day is the better remembered song, but Whistle is the better song. The chorus is just lush and lovely, and much more mature than his age at the time, 22, might suggest. Heyward made some fine music in the 1990s as well. Check out the gorgeous Not The Man You Used To Be.


Bruce Springsteen - Hungry Heart (live).mp3
This version is from the box set of Broooce live recordings released in 1986. It captures the energetic bonhommie between headliner, band and audiences beautifully. You don't need to see video footage to know that everybody is having a just great time. Springsteen lets the audience take the lead with the first verse and chorus. A minute in, Bruce roars some sound of approval and repeats what the crowd just sang. More than Born To Run, I think Hungry Heart is the quintessential Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band song.


Herman's Hermits - No Milk Today.mp3
I posted this before on the Teen Dreams mix, but can't understand how No Milk Today failed to be included in the Perfect Pop series (which came to an abrupt end when I misplaced my shortlist of yet-tobe featured songs). Written by Grahame Gouldman, later of 10cc, the song was a massive hit in Germany, but did not perform as well as other Herman's Hermit hits in the US, where the group in 1965 – the year before No Milk Today – outsold the Beatles. The arrangement is deceptively complex, featuring an orchestra and excellent use of bells.


Blondie - X-Offender.mp3
I posted this before in the 1970s Time Travel series. Few moments in pop music are sexier than Debbie Harry's spoken intro. Oh, but the '70s were an innocent age, when acts like Blondie were ordered not to feature the word "sex" in the title of a song which very much is about just that (a prostitute's sexual attraction, possibly reciprocated, to the cop who bust her). Having said that, I think X-Offender is a better title than the original Sex Offender. Originally released in 1976, X-Offender didn't attract wide notice until the following year. And soon after Blondie broke really big with Denis.


Weezer - Island In The Sun.mp3
I tend to make my own cellphone ringtones. At one point, Island In The Sun was the personalised ringtone alerting me to calls from Any Major Wife. I don't think I am exaggerating when I note that my wife loves to phone. So I'd get lots of calls signalled by Island In The Sun. That kind of thing can spoil a song, especially when the "hep hep" causes interruptions in the midst of intensive concentration (as my prose here might suggest, my bids at intensive concentration are largely unsuccessful). I changed AMW's ringtone just before the ringtone ruined the song for me. Happily, I still love this impossibly happy tune – which may or may not be about drug addiction. Weezer weren't going to include it on their 2001 Green Album; it was included only at producer Ric Ocasek's insistence. As it happens, it was released as a single, promoted with a great Spike Jonze video (actually, there were two videos), and became Weezer's biggest hit.

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The Originals Vol. 9

GO HERE FOR THE FULL VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE WITH LINKS

Another installment of lesser originals (and their famous cover versions). After Volume 8, caithiseach of The Great Vinyl Meltdown send me an even older version of Whiskey In The Jar than the one I posted by the Seekers. I'll add the Highwaymen version from 1962 to the original post, and stick the link to the file at the end of this one. caithiseach's series on incredibly rare early '60s vinyl is coming to an end. He has listed a few options for his blog's future direction, which look great (personally, I could do without the instrumentals option, but that's just me). Have a look and help this fine writer shape his blog. As for this batch of originals, we owe our friend RH for A Boy Named Sue and The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore.


Badfinger - Without You.mp3
Nilsson - Without You.mp3
There is something dismal about the notion that a pop classic would be best-known among some people in its incarnation by Mariah Carey. Those with a more acute sense of pop history will have been dismissive of Carey’s calorific cover of Nilsson’s hit. But even Harry Nilsson applied a generous dose of schmaltz to his cover of the Badfinger original.

Without You apart, there is a chain of tragedy which links the Welsh band and Nilsson. Both acts had a Lennon connection (more tragedy here, of course). Badfinger were signed to the Beatles’ Apple label, on which Without You was released in 1970; Nilsson was a collaborator with and drinking buddy of Lennon’s. Nilsson died fairly young, so did two members of Badfinger, both of whom wrote Without You and committed suicide. Singer Peter Ham killed himself in 1975 (in his suicide note he referred to their “heartless bastard” of a manager), and in 1983, Tom Evans hanged himself after an argument over royalties for the song with former colleague Joey Molland (who both had played on Lennon’s Imagine album and other ex-Beatles solo records).

Nilsson reportedly thought that Badfinger’s Without You had been a Beatles recording – indeed, the Rolling Stone touted Badfinger as the Beatles’ heirs. His version, turning a fairly rough mid-tempo rock song into an orchestral power ballad (at a time when such things were rare) became a massive hit in 1972; Carey’s version hit the charts just a week after Nilsson’s death in 1994. One may fear the worst for Ms Carey should the Nilsson curse strike her: apart from the sad story of Badfinger and Lennon’s death, both Mama Cass and Keith Moon died in Nilsson’s flat.
Also recorded by: Shirley Bassey (1972), Johnny Mathis (1972), Percy Faith (1972), Vikki Carr (1972), Cilla Black (1973), Petula Clark (1974), Billy Paul (1976), Susie Allanson (1977), Heart (1978), Mina (as Per chi, 1978), Melissa Manchester (1980), T.G. Sheppard (1983), Richard Clayderman (1988), Beverly Jo Scott (1991), Air Supply (1991), Pandora (as Desde el dia que te fuiste, 1992), Mariah Carey (1993), Donny Osmond (2002), Natalia (2003), Jade Kwan (2003), Weezer (unofficial release, 2004), Clay Aiken (2006), Il Divo (as Desde el dia que te fuiste, 2006), Wing (2007).
Best version: Tough choice. Nilsson’s vocals are quite impressive, but I prefer Badfinger’s arrangement and Ham’s desperately sad voice. Or the phonetic Bulgarian Idols version now known as Ken Lee is worth watching, as well as the improved English version (“You alwees smile lolly nigh…Ilibu dibu douchoo”).


Frankie Valli - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore.mp3
Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore.mp3
When some years ago I looked up the UK number 1 on the day I was born, I was delighted: the Walker Brothers’ The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore was one of my favourite ’60s songs. It's magnificent Spector-esque production makes the song sound like a Righteous Brothers number (don’t the strings sound a bit like The Theme from A Summer’s Place?). I had not realised that the Walker Brothers’ 1966 version was a cover.

A year before the Californian trio recorded their biggest hit, it had been recorded by Frankie Valli on his debut solo album. The single release flopped, even though it was in almost every way a Four Seasons song. It was written by Bob Crewe and Robert Gaudio, who wrote most of the group’s hits, and produced by the Four Seasons’ producer, Crewe. There is little difference in the arrangement; the Walkers’ is a richer and more dramatic carbon copy. Their version attained some sort of notoriety as the soundtrack to a London gangland killing. The story has it that it was playing on a jukebox in the Blind Beggar pub when Ronnie Kray entered and shot his adversary George Cornell. A stray bullet hit the jukebox causing the needle to get stuck in the groove, repeating the line “The sun ain’t gonna shine anymore” as Cornell lay dying.
Also recorded by: Richard Anthony (as Le soleil ne brille, 1966), Caterina Caselli (as Il sole non tramonterà, 1967), The Lettermen (1970), Neil Diamond (1979), Nielsen/Pearson (1981), Long John Baldry (1986), The Flying Pickets (1986), Russell Hitchcock (1987), David Essex (1989), Cher (1995), Robson & Jerome (1995), Keane (2004)
Best version: With Scott Engel on vocals and the lush arrangement, it must be the Walker Brothers’.


Lou Johnson - (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me.mp3
Sandie Shaw - Always Something There To Remind Me.mp3
One would think that Burt Bacharach songs would feature strongly in this series. Somehow that hasn’t been the case, though some will still be highlighted. In some cases it is difficult to find the first recording (Richard Chamberlain singing Close To You), in many instances the original is already sufficiently well-known or indeed the best-known version (Walk On By). So I’m glad that I can include one of my favourite Bacharach songs in this series: Always Something There To Remind Me.

The most famous version is Sandie Shaw’s, which has some of the sexiest vocals I can think of (though nobody seems to agree with me). Shaw’s version has the standard Bacharach arrangement. Johnson’s original, like Shaw’s version recorded in 1964 but released as a b-side, has the Bacharachian trumpet, strings and keyboard, yet sounds like the soul song it is, especially when Johnson’s abandons the song’s structure and ad libs the final half minute as the backing singers spur him on. Dionne Warwick, who’d later release the song herself, sang the demo, and Shaw later recorded the song in German.
Also recorded by: Brenda Lee (1965), Gals and Pals (1966), Johnny Mathis (1967), Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles (1967), Dionne Warwick (1967), Mal dei Primitives (1968), José Feliciano (1968), Stanley Turrentine (1968), Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (1968), R.B. Greaves (1969), Barbara Mason (1970), Winston Francis (1970), The Carpenters (as part of their Bacharach Medley, 1972), Blue Swede (1973), The Stylistics (1982), Naked Eyes (1983), The Starlite Orchestra (1995), Tin Tin Out featuring Espiritu (1995), The Captain Howdy (1998), The Absolute Zeros (1998), Rebecca's Empire (1998), Braid (2000), Steve Tyrell (2008) a.o.
Best version: Johnson’s is very good, but Sandie Shaw’s is heavenly (though I’d love to hear her German version, Einmal glücklich sein wie die ander’n).


The Paragons - The Tide Is High.mp3
Blondie - The Tide is High.mp3
The Tide Is High probably is the least surprising of Blondie’s cunningly chosen covers. When Blondie suddenly turned up with a reggae-pop number, it was apparent that they had not written it themselves. And yet, the original by the Paragons, a mellow soul-reggae number, has not become a pop classic in its own right. Another case of the cover artist appropriating a song. The Paragons released The Tide Is High in 1967, in Britain as a b-side, and the song remained relatively obscure until Blondie’s 1980 cover, which added horns and more strings to the arrangement. Singer Bob Andy made an appearance in the British charts in 1970, as one half of Bob & Marcia, scoring a hit with a cover of Nina Simone’s Young, Gifted And Black. John Holt, who wrote The Tide Is High (or, more precisely, adapted it from a 1930s song), became a legendary exponent of lover’s rock. I'll soare you the Atomic Kitten UK #1 version from 2002.
Also recorded by: Top of the Poppers (1980), Sinitta (1995), Nydia Rojas (as La número uno, 1996), Papa Dee (1996), Maxi Priest (1997), Angelina (1997), Billie Piper (2000), Up The Duff (2000), Sheep on Drugs (2000), The Chubbies (2001), Atomic Kitten (September 9, 2002), The Selecter (2006), Kardinal Offishall feat Nicole Scherzinger (as Numba 1 [The Tide Is High], 2008)
Best version: I never liked the song in Blondie’s hands much, but really like the original.


Shel Silverstein - Boy Named Sue.mp3
Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue.mp3
It’s a Johnny Cash signature tune, but was actually written by the ultimate Renaissance Man, Shel Silverstein (who previously featured in this series as the author of Dr Hook’s/Marianne Faithfull’s The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan). It is unclear what inspired Silverstein to create this fantastic story about the guy with a girl’s name (or why the boy named Sue just didn’t acquire a butch nickname). But there once was a prominent Mr Sue, Sue K Hicks, the original prosecutor in the notorious 1925 Scopes Trial. Cash (or possibly his wife June Carter; the accounts vary) was introduced to the song at a “guitar pull” party in Nashville, at which musician friends ran their latest compositions by one another. According to Cash, other artists present that night were Bob Dylan (who played Lay Lady Lay), Judy Collins (Both Sides Now) and her then lover Stephen Stills (Judy Blue Eyes), and Silverstein.

Just before his televised 1969 concert from St Quentin jail, June suggested that Johnny perform Silverstein's song. And he did. On the film footage he can be seen referring to the scribbled lyrics of the song taped to the floor. And so his spontaneous performance of the song, apparently the first time he had even sung it, became one of his biggest hits. Some have claimed that Cash’s lack of familiarity with the song explains his half-spoken delivery. But Silverstein’s 1968 version, from the Boy Named Sue and His Other Country Songs album, is similarly half-spoken. Silverstein followed the song up with a composition from the father’s perspective, using the same tune, It's very funny: check out the lyrics. Oh, and Mandark in Dexter’s Laboratory is in fact called Susan.
Also recorded by: Joe Dassin (as Un garçon nommé Suzy, 1970), Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs (1970), Mike Krüger (as Ein Junge namens Susi, 1975), Joshua James (1999)
Best version: Cash’s, represented here in its unbleeped version. Have a look at the video of Silverstein and Cash performing a bit of the song together

and, as promised above:
The Highwaymen - Whiskey In The Jar.mp3

More Originals

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