Vinyl Countdown

It's pink vinyl and on Chrysalis - any ideas?

So how's your summer been going? Mine's been spent rediscovering the joys of vinyl. Thanks to a few sipping and spinning sessions in Coops garden, I've been inspired to pick up a portable turntable with built in speaker and handy USB connection for ripping to MP3. So the singles box has been collected from the loft, the cobwebbed albums dusted off and fired up at 33 rpm. Jazz sounds fab, George Melly's Nuts has been on almost perma-play, as has Sergio Mendes & The New Brazil 77 LP. Seven inch singles are the perfect pop format, with ideas and inventiveness at every level, and colored vinyl looks better than ever..

There really is simply nothing as soothing as some garden based sitting and spinning on a summers evening. I'd forgotten how pleasing the ritual of putting on a seven inch single is - combine it with 'lucky dipping': take a box of singles and what gets pulled is what gets played, and you've got perfect evening's entertainment.

Bargains bagged have been the Les Humphries Singers - Mexico for 50p, and this little haul from Spitalfields Market - a reggae cover of How Deep Is Your Love on 7", Pete Townshend's first solo album and three latin funk comps. Thirteen nuggets the lot - 'mazing.

So what's on the shopping list..George Melly Son Of Nuts, Head Hands and Feet Warming Up The Band (featuring an early doors Albert Lee and Chas & Dave). The Faces Maybe I'm Amazed (the studio version was a single only release).

Oh - and can anyone suggest a 'violet' 7" single to complete my vinyl rainbow (didn't Squeeze have one)

Red - The Damned - Love Song
Orange - UK Subs - Party In Paris
Yellow - The Dickies - Banana Splits
Green - UK Subs - She's Not There
Blue - UK Subs - Tomorrow's Girls
Indigo - ELO - Sweet Talking Woman

Last night's listening

Why Do I Love Cosy Local Radio?

Partly because of it's inclusiveness - the way it's an open forum to phone in, get involved and become an on air have-a-go-hero - although I never understand the dreary Deidre and constipated callers that have to be prodded and pocked to draw out a weary 'yes' or 'no' - I was on a couple of weekends back, growling about dangerous dogs and have previous form for jabberings about my Starsky trainers and seventies fashions..

However the real highlight is a Sunday morning show 'The BBC Essex Years'. A show that indulges the listener with a full two hour rundown of the top twenty from one random year - padded with ad's and local news from the time. The fifties and sixties can lean towards a lumpy listen, but the seventies are solid gold - and somewhere I've picked up on these pieces of pure pop magic - Sail On Sailor, T.S.O.P and this peachy treat from last Sunday's 1972 show....



In case you're interested that full February 15th chart rundown looked like this - a cross-section of quality pop, that proves they really don't make 'em like they used to....

01 - Chicory Tip - Son Of My Father
02 - T.Rex - Telegram Sam
03 - The Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her
04 - Slade - Look Wot You Dun
05 - Neil Reid - Mother Of Mine
06 - Don McLean - American Pie
07 - The New Seekers - I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)
08- Sonny And Cher - All I Ever Need Is You
09 - Fortunes - Storm In A Teacup
10 - Al Green - Let's Stay Together
11 - America - Horse With No Name
12 - Greyhound - Moon River
13 - Badfinger - Day After Day
14 - Melanie - Brand New Key
15 - Bread - Baby I'm A Want You
16 - Nilsson - Without You
17 - The Bee Gees - My World
18 - Sly And The Family Stone - Family Affair
19 - Donnie Elbert - Where Did Our Love Go
20 - Stevie Wonder - If You Really Love Me

Chart stats from the might site chartstats.com

A brassy old birthday

What with Christmas just around the corner, and it being my birthday today, I'm allowing myself a repost of something that gets the anonobods and browsers dropping in almost all year long.. it was originally posted on the other side anyway, so it's not like a complete cop-out is it?

In the early 90's I was afflicted by a buzz for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, brought on by tracks like 'Spanish Flea', 'Tijuana taxi', 'A Taste of Honey' and 'Bean Bag'(used as the theme from It's a knockout) - each one a piece of polite but punchy trumpet pop. The snappy arrangements, the swishy album artwork and being cheap as chips at charity shops made these dusty Mexican nuggets perfect for collecting. But it was almost impossible to find the Holy Grail of Herb albums 'The Christmas Album'*(with H looking bored in his beard and as convincing as as in store Santa) amongst the Stereo Impact, James Last and TV Theme Tune vinyl - how many versions of Onedin Line - Theme from Spartacus and Owen MD (whatever that was) can you possibly need?

*The Herb Christmas album was eventually released on CD, but didn't live up to the expectation.

As an interim I decided to make do with the CD of 'Tijuana Christmas' by the Torero Band/Sound of Brass being sold at Woolworths. What an absolute winner it turned out to be, with the Toreros coming across as the most swingingest Salvation Army band EVER and starring the hardest working bass man at EMI. Using the textbook formula of cheeky key change after every verse, the uptempo thumpers could be themes for Carry On Christmas Specials, the mellow moments are like seasonal instrumental beds for Generation Game 'Potters wheel' sequences and as tight and sprightly as anything by Ronnie hazlehust.

Even now, every Christmas this is the first CD out of the Santa sack and onto the stereo at Cloudbase Mondo - 'Tijuana Christmas' is now deleted, so why not treat yourself to some of these Mexi-Christmas classics.

Good King Wenceslas.mp3


God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.mp3


Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.mp3


O Come All Ye Faithful.mp3


Recommended reading for more Christmas Kitch n' Campery

checkthecoolwax - sack loads of goodies including the artwork for 'Christmas with Colonel Sanders'

Jeffco Productions - includes the the complete Tijuana Christmas album for download.

Polite Riot

I had a very similar zip up to matey's on the right, but in cream with black and red stripes - made by Lord Anthony, also a blue 'velvet look' one with a red "27" on the front, from M & S...

If disco or dayglo weren't your thing - and a quick scan of the chart rundown for week ending 6th August '77 shows for most record buyers they weren't - a diet of light bites and polite pop was the alternative, so how about a handful of songs from the softer side of '77, including a couple of nuggets from the mighty 'Disco fever' ...

Meri Wilson 'Telephone Man'



Meri updated 'Telephone Man' to 'Internet Man' in 1999.



Mike Nesmith 'Rio'



There's a video for 'Rio' too.


Joy Sarney - 'Naughty Naughty Naughty'

Stick with this this clip as The Jacksons make a TOTP appearance once Joy wraps up - she's a sunny Southender you know, one of my mates was a neighbour of Joy's. (And her intonation on "Oh no you don't" still gives me little ripples.)


If you fancy filling your vintage boots with more sounds of the seventies this is a retro belter

Stress Down Friday - All The Way From Memphis

Forget the Vegas suits and capes, the 'Burger King' tribute acts, Teddy Boys (why are they always ginger?), the tackery, quackery and clunky iconography.

It's all about the music.

Elvis 'Any Day Now'



Davey H's long haul hunt for the Percy Sledge version 'Any Day Now' is over, and he's sharing it right here.

That Linking Feeling

During some recent cyberspace-hopping I've stumbled across a fistful of mighty sites, all of which are just too good to keep hush about - so, I'm logging them in the blog with one pic' from each, to give a taste and flavour of the treats instore..

The Cobwebbed Room
The best of British horror from compendium paperbacks and ghouly mags to Horror Bag crisps and Haunted House ice lollies - but no sign of the terrifying hardback, large format, New English Library Dracula/Vampirella style comic which I swapped for something silly years ago.

Peter Gray's Cartoons and Comics
If you were ever a Whizzer and Chips, Whoopee or Shiver and Shake fan this blogfull of comic covers, stories and features should be right up your Fleetway Street.

George & Lynne
Fancy getting your hands on a Sun loving swinger - there's original 'George and Lynne' artwork for sale right here.

My Rear In Sears
Retro a go-go - for him and her

Worst Bowie photosEven international superstars have mad hair days.

What Not To Knit
Don't say you weren't warned!

I Don't Miss The Hiss

CDs MP3s and digital downloads may be as sexy as the highway code, but for all the cosy fireside crackle of analogue and super size artwork of album covers, there’s a fistful of things I don't miss about the old fangled ways of listening...

Systems
Housing a Hi-Fi the size of a paraffin heater.

Picking up phantom ham radio broadcasters through the speakers.

Know alls picking holes in your personal filing system 'you've got *** next too ***? - That's not right!'

Tapes

The mind melting madness of actual man hours invested in compiling a single 90 minute tape, or the trickery and tactics of trying to wrench in that last track without clipping it or leaving a large gap.

The ghostly notes of backwards backing vocals seeping through from the other side. IE
Andy Partridges home demo of 'Harvest Festival' - recorded onto cassette, which hasn't quite wiped the previous classical recording from the tape.



The mangled reels and reef knot ribbons in the tape head - dear God please not the car stereo.

Those 'been done left in the sun' wobbles.

RSI from rewinding with pencil

Vinyl

Knowing the hops, skips and jumps as initmatley as the lyrics.

That random dusty needle glide (hey hey hey what's a happening!)

Blu Tack and copper coinage (never silver) employed as a weighting device.

Set dressing the 'scene' with romantic mood music, only for the mood go into meltdown at the inevitable album turn over( or the passion killing clunk and fidget of auto reverse tape decks.)

Reasons To Be Cheerful Pt 2 - UK Place Names

I may be getting into BLTP type territory here - but some villages, rivers and streets have the chirpiest, cheeriest names. So cosy they could have been dreamt up by Enid Blyton - places like......

Broughton Poggs - should surely have been a character in The Flumps.

Hatfield Pevrel - I used to know someone with a cat called Hatfield Peverel.

Littely Green - the pub here serves triangular baps called 'Huffers', which are delish.

Steeple Bumpstead - can be sung to the tune of 'Okalahama'.

Cockle Row - I whizz past this everyday on the C2C line.

River Dikler - Aaah bless.

River Piddle - you couldn't make it up could you?

And what joker came up with this one ? Gobblers Knob *does theatrical Tom and Jerry type gulp* . Don't panic - it's in America and is to do with 'Groundhog Day' apparently.

And as a footnote 'Reasons Not To Be Cheerful'.

Why does every person that buggers off and buys a farm (or moves abroad) feel they have to write a bloody book about it!

A cheese grater will cost you eighty five earth pounds at Daylesford Organic Farm - so go here instead 'The Crock Shop' just up the road in sunny Stow.

If you do visit any of these places - don't forget to follow the country code....

Joe And Petunia - Country Code


When In the Country

Reasons to be Cheerful Pt. 1 - Public Information Films

Do they still make Public Information Films? I don't think I've ever seen a contemporary 'Take Care' TV shortie. The 'Charlie Says' DVD released a few years ago, collected the best of the Sixties and Seventies P.I films and is an absolute joy packed with educational gems from end to end. Yes, there's all the textbook safety subjects...

Crossing the Road - Green Cross Code and The Tufty Club,

Swimming - Rolf Harris'Get in the Swim' and 'Meet Dave'

Driving - Think Once. Think Twice. Think Bike and 'Clunk Click'.

But the real revelation is the volume (over 150 on Vol. 1 alone), and depth ( chip pans, polystyrene ceiling tiles, and overly polished floors) of Health and Safety issues spoon fed to the public. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking these films, we could probably do with more of these punchy numbers today - mobile phones, dangerous dogs and stodge diets for starters.

Set dressed for earthy authenticity (apart from a few of the scenarios) these thumbnails capture an accurate snapshot of Seventies lifestyle and deliver all the detail lacking from the over dressed grotesques in shows like 'Life on Mars' etc..
Treat yourself and have a peep at Blunders family in 'Meet the Blunders' -
I Love the moment they've chosen to freeze frame at the end..

There's Mr Blunders



There's Mrs blunders and there's Billy Blunders

The 'Charlie Says' special edition containing Vol 1 and 2 is available from Amazon for the crazy price of £6.97 (bizarrely Volume 1 and 2 are individually priced at around £10)

If you're in the mood for more retromaniac classics have a wander over Planet Mondo for some Charity Shop sounds including Joe Loss and Manuel and The Music of The Mountains'