50

Come down
Your tea's on the table
Nothing
Seems to matter anymore

And if you're good we'll go out on Sunday
Spend the whole day thinking of you
Take you sailing across the water
To a faraway place

Remember
When life was lovely
Forever
Was captured in your smile

When we were young and life was hopeful
No-one threatened our existence
We were laughing
They couldn't stop us
No-one in the world

The Jam - 'No-One In The World' (demo) (1980)

Meanwhile...Holiday!

If this doesn't make you want to dance then call a coroner Jack, you're dead.

Gilberto Gil - 'O Eterno Deus Mu Danca' (1989)

Too Hip For Eurovision

OK, so here it is and you have just over 36 hours to grow to love it and tell all your friends to vote, vote, vote for it, though I reckon you'll only need 3 minutes, such is its electropop Beach Boys loveliness.

For me, it really does join the mere handful of half-decent pop songs ever entered for the annual fete de fromage.

Sebastien Tellier - 'Divine' (2008)

Though I have fond memories of this and Auntie Barbara liking it, it's pretty cringeworthy now...



...and I still remember this despite myself (45p from Ronnie's in Torquay Market, but isn't Lynsey De Paul a proto Kate Bush here??...And check out Ronnie 'Steed' Hazlehurst!)...



....and I really only like 'Waterloo' so much because of this ('you're terrible Muriel')...



...you all know by now that it's Vicky that does it for me every time and damn it, but I'm going to re-post her.

Vicky Leandros - 'Apres Toi' (1972)

Meanwhile, with the weather outside set to be traditionally UK Bank Holiday-esque this weekend (i.e. it will piss down), I shall be pouring a defiant rosado, spinning this solid gold nu-Balearic classic and transporting myself back to Cafe Mambo in 2005, sand in my toes, salt in the air and hope in my heart.

Douze points!

Sebastien Tellier - 'La Ritournelle' (2005)

Derek Runs The Numbers

That nice chap Derek from the Computer Room (pictured here with the lovely Maureen from Personnel) has been crunching my stats all week and I'm thrilled to report that according to his very impressive 'print-outs' The View From Her Room by Weekend has been by far the most downloaded record I have posted recently, which just goes to show 1) what great taste you all have (hurrah!) and 2) how infernally difficult it is to get hold of. Probably.

Lots of people elbowed their way in to grab the Coldplay too, but that's to be expected and I don't imagine many of them stuck around for a cup of tea and a chat afterwards; it's click and Save Target As and not so much as a by-your-leave from those people, I can tell you (me, I've played that song about, ooohhh......twice).

Much more pleasingly, Mr Roy Harper's lovely song came in third by number of downloads, and according to Derek many more of you than I'm sure would publicly admit it have clearly been enjoying 'The Captain Of Her Heart' by Double. Good for you!

Anyway, acoustic lo-fi things from studenty British girls in charity shop dresses on small, independent record labels circa 1982-3 always seem to find an appreciative audience here. Quite rightly.

So here's another.

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Marine Girls - 'Don't Come Back' (1983)

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I've just ordered this, so there's a good chance there'll be some new-old Alison Statton here soon. And it's Eurovision on Saturday and the French are singing a good record in English! Can we stand the excitement?!

Meanwhile...

That's quite large hair.

TSOP

If you grew up like me in small provincial towns in the days before the internets, long, long my friends before the internets, you'll remember how hard it was to find the records you liked. In my teenage years in Paignton, Devon we had just one proper record shop and a very small, inadequately stocked one at that (SOUNDZ: owner's catchphrase -'It's coming in Monday') and sometimes in desperation I would be driven to frequent card shops and electrical retailers just for the few singles they might sell at the back. Imagine it. You would hear groovy tracks on Kid Jensen or Janice Long or Peel or Mike Read's breakfast show and you would know you would not have the proverbial snowball's chance in hell of finding them in the bloody English blasted pigging bloody so-called Riviera, oh no. It was a mighty bore I can tell you.

I started going off piste, as it were.

I worked out that away from the town centre there were funny little bric-a-brac shops smelling of musty Pan paperbacks and old tins of St Bruno ready-rolled, and whilst I knew I'd never find 'The View From Her Room' by Weekend there, it did become clear that if you called in often enough, and steeled yourself for the disappointment that nine visits in ten would inevitably bring, sometimes, one time, right out of the blue, you might find amongst the pensioner-donated Vic Damone Extended Plays in that naggedy cardboard box a crackly old soul or funk single some forty-something bloke who used to run a disco had been forced by his missus to dump.

It doesn't sound like much, does it - but at the time it was water in a parched desert to a thirsty man. They could go on playing their bloody 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' in those tawdry Torquay 'nite spots'; I had found a record that was all mine.

This is one of those records.

It is TSOP - The Sound Of a Paignton junk shop, circa 1980; and now I am sharing it with the world ;)

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - 'Satisfaction Guaranteed (Or Take Your Love Back)' (1973)

1-2-3-4

Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum

The sun is out and I want some

Its not hard, not far to reach

We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach

Up on the roof, out on the street

Down in the playground, the hot concrete

Bus ride is too slow

They blast out the disco on the radio

Rock, rock Rockaway Beach

Rock, rock Rockaway Beach

Rock, rock Rockaway Beach

We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach

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It's not hard, not far to reach

We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach

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amen.

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The Ramones - 'Rockaway Beach' (1977)

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[In memoriam Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee - and Big Boy Tomato's Olivier. I'm short of time this week, but 2 mins 7 should nail it]

Ah, por que estou tão sozinho?

Strangely we seem to be at a Christmas ski-lodge swimsuit party in this clip, but hey! nothing can stop me wanting to play this loveliest, oldest and famousest Brazilian pop song (written by the great Antonio Carlos Jobim) in my current mood.

You know, it really doesn't matter how many cheesy marimba/rubbishy Hammond, easy-listening, shopping mall muzak or elevator chop-up versions of this I hear, I will always love that interplay of Joao, Astrud and Stan on the definitive recording.

Yet maybe you are beginning to tire of even that loveliness through over-familiarity; and if so, may I offer the original cast's 1964 'in concert' take from Carnegie Hall as a way of helping you hear it all afresh (again)?

From the way Getz holds back on his entrance (fnaar) to allow for Astrud's applause then turns it into a new little riff, through the slightly off timing and duff vocal mic'ing in parts (louder with Astrud's second verse than her first) it all speaks rough and live, and of course it's those little imperfections that make me love it even more. *sigh*

Stan Getz (with Joao & Astrud Gilberto) - 'The Girl From Ipanema' (live at Carnegie Hall) (1964)

Rosado Time

It's rosado time in London, England - the sun is bright and the temperature's high.

Continuing our Brazilian theme, here are some Latin-inflected Housey bar tunes in a handy takeaway threepack, just for you.

Be gentle with me pro-mixers, it's my first time.

Davy H's Latin House Threepack (Just For You) (mp3)

Ingredients
S.Tone Inc - 'Saudade' (1999)
Ian Pooley (featuring Rosanna & Zelia) - 'Coracao Tambor' (2000)
Can 7 - 'Cruisin' (2000)

Isto e um repost

Mondo's been airing his Brazilian Wax and now everyone wants a go. I'd missed the last shards of direct sunlight last night by the time I'd got barefoot in the garden and poured the rosado but with the air warm I could still open all the windows and shove this on the stereo nice and loud. So I did.

It's my second ever re-post here, but it's a so this time of year and type of weather record and it also seems kind of apt in this funny week in our corner of the interweb when so many companeros have been busy or away and balls of tumbleweed have blown through many a blog.

If it has been a hard day's night give thanks my friends, for the short week is done and your Friday is already here, amen.

Joyce (& Banda Maluca) - 'A Hard Day's Night' (2003)

One Of Those Days In England...

...we've been saving up to spend.

Roy Harper - 'One Of Those Days In England (Part One)' (1977)

Backing vocals - Paul & Linda McCartney.

Picture - me, today, Barnes Common x

Hello Sandie

Oh God, if I'm going to have to listen to endless bloody rolling news interviews with smug bastard Tories all pigging weekend then I'm going to need some thrilling music from groovy left-of-centre personages to carry me through and a bit of blog tennis with Simon might be a good place to start.

I absolutely bloody love Sandie Shaw and I was thrilled skinny to see her at ULU back in '88 when the Hello Angel album came out - she was sexy, sassy, smart, funny, gorgeous and quite, quite magnificent and we ought to thank not just The Moz for his well-documented role in the Sandie-relaunch back then, but also those Heaven 17 boys who first (re) introduced her to 80s pop pickers with their Music Of Quality And Distinction project. Which is not to take anything away from Sandie herself, whose determination to certainly not be anybody's puppet on a string again burst through big-time on this solo LP and continues, and not just with music, to this day.

These are my favourite three songs from the record, two of them originals penned with Chris Andrews (who had written material for her in the 60s, including the lovely 'Girl Don't Come') and the third an absolutely cracking cover of The Jesus & Mary Chain's 'About You' from their Darklands LP.

Sandie Shaw - 'Nothing Less Than Brilliant' (1988)

Sandie Shaw - 'Hello Angel' (1988)

Sandie Shaw - 'Cool About You' (1988)

Finally, some Smiths-covering footage to give a flavour of Ms Shaw 'live' at the time; scarily, she was younger then than I am now....

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PS: I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you Ken, but it's not looking good.

If Johnson Wins Today, Will The Last Person To Leave London Please Turn Off The Lights?

Elvis Presley - 'A Mess Of Blues' (1960)

Please nooooooooooohhhh!!!!!!!

Mayor. Assembly. Doubts even here?

Is This Any Good?

New Coldplay single from forthcoming Brian Eno-produced album blah given away free as download blah blah mention Radiohead blah traditional business model overturned blah blah Arctic Monkeys blah MySpace blah.

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Well hey, they were giving away Johnson's Smooth Orange Juice at Waterloo Station this morning too.

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I reckon this sounds like a Roger Waters-dominated/late-era Pink Floyd record for the most part - except for the last forty seconds where it sounds like, erm, Coldplay.

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Sorry, didn't go for the orange juice, so can't offer an opinion on that.

Coldplay - 'Violet Hill' (2008)

He Say Yes!

"We were wondering if you'd write the sleevenotes for our next single. We know you don't like us but you'll think of something to say..."
OK, here goes: of all the bands ever called after fictional citrus-fruit buyers, The Man From Delmonte are among the best! Easily.
They are also, incidentally, engagingly eccentric, humane, charming, and brave. Yes, brave! This group has summoned the iron courage to survive both the ludicrous clobber and coiffure of singer Mike West and being saddled with The Worst Name In The History Of Rock! But then, The Man From Delmonte (see!) seem not to worry about such mundane technicalities, preferring instead to soak up and fuel themselves on Pop's indefinable holy spirit. How many bands get that balance right?...
I first met TMFD last Spring in Valencia, Spain. They exuded a self-contained effervescence that separated them from the other, more intense Britbeat combos there gathered. Their sole aim, relentlessly pursued, seemed to be the launching of one another, fully clothed and at every opportunity, into the Med! To my perfectly sensible question - 'do we need another Monkees?' - I never got an answer. A gobful of seaweed, yes, but no answer!...TMFD, are about good times, and they start with themselves...
What's this record like? I, naturally, have no idea but I'll be very surprised if it features a guest timpani solo by Mark Knopfler, an Acid tinge to the mix or even the most fleeting of references to Quantum Physics. It will however, harbour a spunk and a funk, a verve and a nerve, a ring and a swing that will simultaneously confirm The Man From Delmonte's uniqueness and ensure they'll never be as big as Bon Jovi!
All of which makes the disc you're currently holding, in the street jive of their native Greater Manchester, the full (Del) Monte!
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Danny Kelly, Jan '89 [original sleevenotes]

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I first heard 'Australia Fair' as Track One, Side One of the Manchester North Of England cassette, and promptly rushed out to buy this E.P it's from. The song also worked brilliantly as the opener to a tape I did for my mate Carlos when he went off on a Big Trip since 1) he was indeed going to Australia and 2) he was born in Lancashire (though to his chagrin they changed the county borders soon afterwards, so now he has to say he's from Cheshire). Is this really nearly twenty years old? Lumme. Anyhow, these are very Spring day (and possibly tea-break and HobNob) kinds of songs, so enjoy.

The Man From Delmonte - 'Waiting For Ann' (1989)
The Man From Delmonte - 'Australia Fair' (1989)

The Fine Columbian

Orthodox thinking says...

Columbia Records didn't know what to do with Aretha Franklin. They knew they had a major talent, but they couldn't find the right musical setting for her, or a sympathetic producer. They wasted her on jazz standards and unexciting blues numbers and worst of all they tried to straighten out her gospel roots. Isn't that like taking the alcohol out of the Jack Daniels? What are you left with? A slightly syrupy malt drink. Only when she got to Atlantic did it all start to fly.

Davy H says...

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Hmm, well, kind of. But it's also true that if you're missing pre-Atlantic era Aretha you're missing some pretty good stuff. Just, you know, use your head; be selective.

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For Mondo, who I promised some of this to a while back.

Aretha Franklin - 'Land Of Dreams' (1965)

Aretha Franklin - 'Skylark' (1965)

Aretha Franklin - 'Operation Heartbreak' (1961)

Aretha Franklin - 'Running Out Of Fools' (1964)

The Actual Red Bulb

We dropped in on the Aged Ps when we were down in Devon. They're OK. They're Aged. Mum's had a stair lift installed and the girls had a right fine time travelling up and down on it. Father's thrown out still more stuff, stripping the house down to its bare bones ' so we won't have to' when they're 'gone'. I went upstairs to the junk room to see if the little wooden desk my Uncle David made I used to do my homework on was still there, and it reassuringly was. I had a look in the drawers to see Dad had chucked all my 6th Form satirical-and-music-review notebooks, my pre-blogdays blogs. But a little red lightbulb rattled around on the wood on its own.

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I knew it so well - it was the actual one I told you about here.

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Something I would've been playing in dark Westcountry night circa 1980; bin headphones on, red lightbulb burning...

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - 'Statues' (1980)

[Bulb pictured not actual bulb; 'bulb signifying On Air' - courtesy BBC]

And finally...

Weekend for sunny mornings, YMGs when it rains.

My favourite track from lo-fi pioneering, deliciously cheap beat-box using, £1,000 recording Rough Trade Rough 8.

Young Marble Giants - 'Music For Evenings' (1980)

Something More From Weekend

Their second single in fact, and even harder to get hold of than the first. Probably. Though the songs did turn up on the Archive CD.

This was on rotation play at my house in the spring of 1983 as I toiled unhappily over endless, endless revision for my boring bastard 'A' Levels. Thank Christ I don't ever have to do that again.

Lovely sleeve and label, lovely tiny songs, both equally deserving of a-side status.

Weekend - 'Past Meets Present' (1982)

Weekend - 'Midnight Slows' (1982)

Track one is, I think, my first ever re-post here, but I figure I'm getting old enough to be repeating myself occasionally now, and it's not exactly Robbie bloody Williams' bloody 'Angels' in the over-played stakes is it?

Listen, Listen

It's thirty years to the day that Sandy Denny died, aged just 31, after a massive brain haemorrhage triggered by a fall, collapsing at a friend's house just a mile or so down the road from where I live. She was a SW London girl, of proud Scottish ancestry - grew up in Wimbledon (that's her parents house in the Village on the cover of Unhalfbricking), went to school in Kingston, is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery (but we've done that - perhaps I'll get down there again later today).

The web's chock-full of Sandy fan and 'tribute' sites of varying quality (can I point you to this good one though, especially as Philip's been kind enough to comment here in the past?) and you know where to look for the biographical stuff if you want it, so I won't rehash it all here. This is a fine read, if you can find it.

Really I just wanted to post this, the opening track of the first Fairport album she played on, and possibly the greatest of her songs that is not 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes'.

Such sad resonance in the spare lyric (about Mary Queen Of Scots' last day), the inexorable processional of Richard Thompson's guitar, that clear, crisp vocal...

How often she has gazed from castle windows all
And watched the daylight passing within her captive wall
With no-one to heed her call.

The evening hour is fading within the dwindling sun

And in a lonely moment those embers will be gone

And the last of all the young birds flown.

Her days of precious freedom forfeited long before

To live such fruitless years behind a guarded door

But those days will last no more.

Tomorrow at this hour she will be far away

Much farther than these islands

Or the lonely Fotheringay.

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Fairport Convention - 'Fotheringay' (1968)

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[You should own this, at the very least]