More ironing music...

Earlier this week my random play threw up the following and, byand large, did me proud whilst ironing shirts for work...

Who - 5:15 (Quadrophenia) - we started playing this again maybe 18 months ago and continues to be popular - "inside outside, where have I been? Out of my brain on the 5:15..."

Episode Six - Slow Down (The In Crowd - 60s Beat) - not quite the Larry Williams' original but a nice british beat version



I Roy - Hot Bomb (Trojan DJ Box Set 1) - early toasting at its best over a great rock steady beat

DJ Spinna - Spinning Wheel (Shirley Bassey Remix) - what I think the young people used to call "big beat" - close enough to the "original" to sound good but different enough to make a cover worth doing

Special AKA - Gangsters - I recall buying this downstairs in Boots (yes, the chemist) in the Whitgift Centre in Croydon when I was a mere slip of a lad and it was number one - still a great tune

Brenda Holloway - Lonely Boy - solid soul

Nancy Wilson - The End Of Our Love - a forgotten classic (well, by me) taken from my Kent Lp "Right Back Where We Started From" - I need to dig this out more often

Eddie Cano & Nina Tempo - King Kong (Latin Dance Party Vol 2) - latin boogaloo

Jame Brown - Cross Firing (Soul Pride Disc 1) - nice hammond

Soul Proprietors - All Alone (Purple Heart Surgery 2) - rare and solid freakbeat

Fred Lowery - Can't Get Enough Of My baby's Lovin' (RnB Meets Northern Soul 2) - not the strongest on the CD

Showstoppers - Ain't Nothing But A Houseparty - another tune I've played on and off for 25 years now and tend to overlook - then I'll hear it again for the first time in years and it will suddenly sound revitalised - in the same category I'd include Carstairs "It Really Hurts Me Girl", Yardbirds "For Your Love" and even The Jam "When You're Young". The tunes you know only too well and never play and consequently can smack you between the eys every now and again

Darrow Fletcher - My Young Misery - quality soul

On the CD player now? "Mojo Chess Originals" - a fantastic 25-tracker full of classic Chess blues and RnB - Howlin Wolf "Back Door Man" playing now. The sort of CD you probably have most of the tunes, but maybe scattered around your collection. Here all in one place and well worth a punt:

These ads must be stopped now...

Ok, so this blog started with information about some great tunes being picked up in adverts. But last night I had the misfortune of seeing an advert for two childrens' toys which, rather than using the real deal, has some kind of bastardised and generally downright disrespectful versions of I think "You Can't Sit Down" (love the Phil Upchurch Combo classic) and then Johnny Otis' "Hand Jive".

So I ask, clearly someone in the ad world for this company knew of these great tunes but then decided to commit hideous crimes upon them. Was it to save on the royalties? Did they think their reworked playground soundalikes added to the originals? This evil must be stopped...

(just in case anyone picks this up from the company (yeah, right!), whose name I can't recall - make sure you have a sense of humour when reading this but PLEASE don't mess up perfectly good tunes!!!)

Five Corners Quintet

New to me (and courtesy of a gift from my wife who heard them on the radio) comes this splendid jazz band from Helsinki. Their website can be found here. They sell themselves as late 50s / early 60s straight ahead jazz influenced with a touch of latin. Certanly can't get them on the trades' description act - if you like, for example, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Lou Donaldson, Art Blakey et al from that era then you'll probably find something here you like. I have the CD on for the first time as I write this and there are some great tunes - just up is "Case Study", with a finger snappin' female vocal scatting over the top of a laid back classic 60s jazz sound. In parts it reminds me of where The Style Council were partly coming from and aiming for with D C Lee's superb vocalising. Stand out tune so far? "Straight Up" - which could be Mongo Santamaria meets Hank Mobley

Nice...

Music to iron (double cuff) shirts by...

As I stood there ironing my shirts (yep, some people still do AND we tuck them in!) as usual I stuck my PC audio on random and hit play and decided (between shirts) to note what came up and maybe blog them. Now my experience of this is often it starts well then either repeats itself or plays all the tunes I don't actually wnat to hear. However today wasn't too bad.

So here, with random notes thrown in, is what it chucked at me. Some of these I "digitised" from singles or albums, others I've downloaded from Napster, some from my CDs and a couple quite frankly I have no idea where they ame from:

N'Betweens - Security - not a bad version of a classic song with Etta James still being my preferred version over Thane Russell. As you may know this band contained a number of musicians who would later become Slade. More info here. I believe this can be picked up on a CD called "Genesis of Slade" and is probably available on freakbeay albums of various sorts. So not a bad start...

The Newcomers - The Exit - taken from Kent's "Let's Crossover Again" and, I assume, the same band which did the frankly superb "The Whole World's A Picture Show". What I guess is called "Sweet Soul" and probably early 70s? A bit weird in the middle but nice smooth vocals.

Les McCann - Boogaloo - oh yes! I had this on "The Soul of Jazz Vol 2" on a "Gitanes Jazz" series from many moons ago. Nice uptempo, well, boogaloo I guess

Ben E King - Don't Play That Song. Available on "Stand By Me - the very best of..." this has obvious echoes of "Syand By Me", but is far superior (perhaps because it's not so well known?). Another builder vocally...

Nicola Conte - Jet Sounds. From an LP / CD of the same name this is a great cocktail lounge jazz and latin beat from when, late 90s?

Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero from "Bringing It All back Home". Bob in fine acoustic form. I actually like a lot of Dylan, but have so far resisted persistent requests to play him at a do. He ain't usually that dancey! However I am tempted by "Absolutely Sweet Marie" on the "Blond On Blonde" album as it has a nice RnB feel in parts - not had the guts yet mind!

Paul Weller - Leafy Mysteries - from "Illumination" and what I thought was a good start to an album which lost it's a way a bit as it went on. But I've not played it all the way through for a good while. This track I like though...

And then bizarrely next up was the unreleased version of "In The City" taken from disc 5 of "Direction, Reaction, Creation". I don't recall playing this before and it has a less "angry" feel to the single and album versions and is no less the worse for that.

On a soulful tip and taken from the Kent LP "Soul Agents" comes Jackie Ross "Keep Your Chin Up". This mid tempo stuff from Brunswick records often hits the spot for me - mellow and soulful

George Lemmons - Fascinating Girl. An old fave of mine from when I used to go to the 100 Club allnighters about 15 years ago. Again a builder and vocally adept. This was from the time I moved away from stompers and got into more soulful mid tempo gems, epitomised by what is perhaps still my fave soul tune Chuck Jackson "What's With This Loneliness" - pure soul heaven. This track is on Goldmine's "Detroit Floorfillers" I think

To raise me from my floaty soulful mood comes the Betterdays "Don't Want That" - full on harmonica and British bluesy beat. I think I digitised my vinyl version of English Freakbeat Vol 1 to get this

Then Mr Weller in his third guise of the evening with Style Council "A Stone's Throw Away". Musically not a great track from what is still a great LP ("Our Favourite Shop") but does bring to mind a period of 1984 / 85 when the whole country seemed to be a stone's throw away from something. Lyrically he makes the links with Chile, South Africa, Poland and South Yorkshire

From a few years earlier came the Specials and "Rudy, A Message To You". Clearly a lot faster and heavier than the Dandy Livingstone version. That whole first Specials LP had a mood and menace about it which resonates now - an undercurrent of urban violence, the rise of fascists on the street and the threat of getting slapped for wearing the wrong clothes in the wrong place (Do The Dog, Concrete Jungle, Nite Klub, Doesn't Make It Alright - I like the SLF version of that as well). I sometimes wonder how a young Mod ever made it through the early 80s!

Next up is the rather superb Nina Simone "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" (previously referenced in my post about Napster downloads). Great track, great voice

Lifted from my Back Beat 45 comes Carl Carlton "Competition Ain't Nothng" - a club classic if ever there was one and available I think again on Goldmine "Twisted Wheel Forever"

The second Dylan track of the night (and random play not being too random, this comes from the same alblum) "It's All Over, Baby Blue"

In a mood change next up was Sharon Jones "Bump n Touch Pt 1" which I got from the Desco CD "Spike's Choice Vol 1" - essentially a collection of the A and B sides of the first maybe dozen new funk singles from the Desco label. I think this is now defunct (pardon the expression), but they also had Sugarman Three with some righteous hammond, Lee Fields and others - heavy...

Greyboy - Unwind Your Mind. Taken from the now deleted "Home Cookin'" album (but still available on "Best Of Cookin'" this represents the very best of the 90's San Francisco dancefloor jazz which mixed soul, jazz, latin, funk and hip hop beats - masterful and on Ubiquity. They also pumped some great reissued funk out on the Luv n Haight label.

No idea where I got the next tune - Bill Doggett "The Worm" - full on sax hollering and quite nicely complements the latter day sax from the previous track

Muleskinners - Missed Your Love. I got this on the CD version of English Freakbeat Vol 2 and was Ian Mclagan's first band I believe before ending up with the Small Faces. Off the same CD I preferred "Backdoor Man", but this is till good with harmonica and bluesy guitar thrown in

And that friends concluded my ironing and I have to say my audio player did me proud tonight. Any views?

A tribute to my dad...

Without being too mawkish or too personal I wanted to mark to passing of my father on 15th July. At times like these you tend to recall many things and one of them was how my dad used to bring music back for me on his way home from work in London (probably stopping at London Bridge). The first example I remembered was a cassette of The Beat LP "I Just can't Stop It". The thing was my dad wasn't into my music and probably didn't understand why I was a Mod back in '79 / '80 (especially when you consider the aggro you got being a young mod those days...). He wanted to be sure I liked it and / or didn't already have it (the answer to that one was yes and no - cheers dad!).

Anyway, it then struck me that actually I think it was him who stopped off on the way home to buy me "So Far Away" by The Chords on its day of release in May 1980, complete with limited edition 7" single "Now It's Gone" / "Things We Said" and I recall playing it three or four times that night. Do you recall the thrill of getting that sought after record all those years ago when buying vinyl was still a real buzz and relative rarity? The Chords were my fave band of the time and they still have the ability to fire me up as I replay the album now as I write this. He would have stopped off at Sydenham station and gone down to Treble Clef on Sydenham High Rd (long since closed I think) before walking back home with a precious package. I'm sure he couldn't understand what the fuss was about, particularly as I practised drumming to the whole LP very loud on a makeshift kit of boxes before I got my kit a few years later. I wonder what the landlord upstairs thought...?

If you don't know The Chords from the '79 revival then I urge you to check them out. Try this site (not updated for a while mind) or buy the retrospective anthology from Amazon :



I could go on about the album, but it has some great critiques of suburbia, railings against the rise of fascism plus a decent cover of "She Said, She Said". All time fave Chords track? Got to be "Maybe Tomorrow" as the first single of theirs I bought and then off the LP maybe "Happy Families" and "So far Away"

Maximum R&B - at The Marquee...

News just in echoing the classic Who gigs and images of 4D Jones playing The Marquee in Norwich (Cattle Market Street) on Thursday 17th July. As well as the usual Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, John Lee Hooker style of top quality rhythm and blues I'm told they've also added some Pretty Things and similar. Support comes from the Ida Mae Band who, I'm told, play in a British Blues Yardbirds / Peter Green vein

Sounds like a winner to me...

As the poster says, "Turned out nice again"

After all these years...

...you can still spot something which has been staring you in the face.

At our July do Steve and I were double-decking and I was wondering what to play after "You Really Got Me". I'd lined up "Bert's Apple Crumble" but decided instead to go for Julian Covey "A Little Bit Hurt". Having played both those tunes for years it sudenly dawned on me that the beat and tempo of the Kinks and Julian Covey were basically identical. Obvious now so why has it taken me the best part of 25 years to spot it?

Now, how about Mod Mega-mix 06 anyone? Get those mixers out and start blending...

Napster Downloads

For those of you wanting legal and virus-free downloads then Napster has a lot going for it. I've been able to find some nice stuff on there of late and throw the following in as a few of the tunes I've not only downloaded, but also purchased:

• I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free - Nina Simone - the tune was perhaps well known as the theme tune for Barry Norman's "Film xx" series on the BBC many moons ago by Billy Taylor on Blue Note
• Take Five - Carmen McRae - the vocal version of the Dave Brubeck classic
• Baby Help Me - Percy Sledge - seen this for 15 quid on the web - just above mid tempo mid-sixties chugger
• That's A Good Idea - Otis Redding - another suggestion I picked up on in "On The Scene" magazine
• This Is Northern Soul Vol 1 and 2 - some great Motown Northern-related tunes on this LP - including Brenda Holloway "Think It Over", Marvin Gaye "This Love Starved Heart", Eddie Holland "Just Ain't Enough Love" and the sublime Virgil Henry "You Ain't Sayin' Nothin'" - sheer class of a mid tempo shuffler
• High Numbers - Leaving Here - the 'orrible 'Oo in their early incarnation doing the great Eddie Holland (and Birds) track
• Aretha Franklin - Walk On By - great tune done by a great artist...
• Money - John Lee Hooker - so far THE version I've come across - Mr Hooker in his prime with a rough and ready version (also on the same "Serve You Right To Suffer" LP comes "Shake It Baby"

I offer these as few items to have a look for and browse what else is available - you may just be surprised...

RnB Meets Northern Soul...

RnB Meets Northern Soul…

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to three CDs on the Goldmine label, namely “RnB Meets Northern Soul” volumes 1 and 2 plus ChiTown Boogaloo. I spent a day travelling to and from Leicester, during which time I managed to work my way through each CD at least twice. Now they’re all pretty good in their own way, but Volume 1 of “RnB Meets Northern Soul” really hits the spot.

It kicks off with a tale of hard luck and being down on your uppers – Willie Jones’ “Where’s My Money”. This has a fairly typical blues storyline with some soulful vocals over a solid RnB based track. A few tracks in and there’s a Billy Preston track I’d not heard of before “Volcano”. I got this a couple of days after reading of his death so this was topical. Based around a “Fever-esque” beat the production sounds like it’s been recorded in someone’s bathroom – sparse and a bit messy. Tambourine, sax, drums – they all compete for attention.

Other standout tracks include the classic Willie Mabon “Got To Have Some”, Jimmy Ricks “Oh What A Feeling” (this could be classic Big City Soul – with a voice sucking on hot gravel – deep and then some to coin a phrase), Little Sonny vocal and harp workout “We Got A Groove”, Pearl Woods’ classic “Sipping Sorrow” and Buddy Ace on the soulful side “True Love Money Can’t Buy”.

I’d recommend this for anyone who likes the bluesy side of soul and, arguably, the type of tune which bridged the gap between blues / RnB and soul. This isn’t Northern Soul in it’s usually understood manner. It’s too slow in parts, in some ways too soulful compared to the more uptempo dance-oriented tracks and maybe a bit too early. However if you like RnB and early soul this is a goodie.

From volume 2 I’d recommend “Honey Child” by Johnny Williams. I’d only heard the great Bobby Bland version and this is not dissimilar – a great dance tune with a staccato off beat. The next track on the CD is a nice version of the jazz standard “Summertime” by Cornerstone Trio. Before hearing this, my favourite version was the Billy Stewart vocal performance – this has jumped ahead of that. Forget any version you’ve probably heard before. This sounds very different. “Don’t Let Him In” by George Lee is reminiscent of various “Do The Hully Gully” type of tunes and tells the tale of keeping a dancer out of the room to stop the stealing the show at a dance…Finally “Hanky Panky” by the Captions feels a bit like Hestor / Wylie Detroit tunes – probably because of the title! Slowed down and rhythmic.

Off these three CDs if I had to choose one it would be Volume of “RnB Meets Northern Soul” – but there are tunes on there for many tastes who like their bluesy soul

Desmond Dekker RIP 26th May 2006

In case you haven't heard, one of the true greats of reggae / rock steady died recently. Full BBC story here. Desmond's own site here. The latter hasn't yet been updated but serves as a reminder of what the man contributed...

James Hunter - Contemporary British Blues

Whist listening to Paul Jones' RnB set on Radio 2 last week I heard "Riot In My Heart" by James Hunter from his "People Gonna Talk" CD. I'd not heard this before and it sounded similar to Georgie Fame circa 1966 to my ears. Digging back it appears Mr Hunter was also aka "Howling Wilf" and hails from Colchester. He's worked, according to his website, with Van Morrison and Doris Troy, amongst others. Not bad recommendations to my mind.

I've not heard the rest of the CD, but reviews appear to put it in the 1960s RnB vein along with a mix of big band and ska - may be worth a look. Feel free to come back and post comments if you've heard or bought this and let us know what you think.

Atlantic R&B CDs

Whilst having a little browse in a local branch of a well-known chain I came across a CD entitled Atlantic R&B Volume 2. I thought I'd check out the series on Amazon and you can see the results from this to Atlantic R&B . Running from 1947 through to the mid-70s this series contains a high number of classics you probably already own. However at the time of writing they were coming in at £3-33 each, which seems fine value to me - plus free delivery on all UK orders over £15. The first volume include Willis Jackson "Gator's Groove". If I remember correctly this artist also recorded "Later for Gator" (or similar) which I think was one of the early jump blues played at Jamaican sound systems which then formed the basis of Ska. I stand to be corrected on this latter point...

Anyway, have a look at this series and you'll also find other recommendations along a similar vein from other Amazonians - enjoy

Funky 16 Corners Blog

Whilst browsing for Johnny Otis "Watts Breakaway" (I can't find my Epic seven) I came across this blog. I've not had a chance to look properly but it seems this guy posts up details of his soul and funk singles and biogs about the artists. I just listened to his link to Dean Cortney "Rubber Neckin'" (not the Elvis tune...) and that is seriously down home southern funk and on Verve - nice

As a complete aside I had the media player on random and was listening to Mongo Santamaria doing a nice boogaloo / latin version of Booker T's "Hip Hug Her", which I picked up on Latin Dance Party Vol 2:

Mod Culture Blog

A fairly new addition to perhaps the ultimate UK / European mod and 60s web site is the modculture blog. Regularly updated including a selection of relevant TV and radio shows each week

Grasp! - new single

Those popular and widely gigging power popstars Grasp! have a new single out on 1st May entitled "Breaking Down The Walls". It can be pre-ordered online, which may help them break top 75 in the charts and push them further up the indie charts...give them a look

Have Love Will Travel

For those of you interested in "ad watching" you'll no doubt have heard over the last several months (or is it years) the Land Rover advert with The Sonics "Have Love Will Travel". Over the last couple of club nights Steve has been dropping the version by The Gallahads - a nice soulful and surprisingly hard edged doo wop / RnB version. For a couple of hundred quid you could try here

For a few quid less check out the CD from Amazon.

It was also done (originally?) by Richard Berry and the Pharoahs - the man behind "Louie Louie". More info on Wiki. Also available from Amazon.

A site I stumbled across whilst looking for The Gallahads was a US doo wop site which could probably fill in the gaps.

Happy listening

Who we are..

Just realised I didn't say who we are, which is sort of dumb. Though you can check the main web site...

Starting in November 1994 we hold a club nights every two months playing mainly 60s mod-orientated music to a mixed crowd of people. We're at The Waterfront in Norwich

Spam Avoidance (?)

Whilst playing around with the look and feel of the site (bear with me) I wanted to put an email link in the links section (kinda makes sense). However like most of you I'm fed up with spam and the "bots" which harvest email addresses from web sites. So I'm trying this little site to see if it encodes my address so the link works when clicked, but can't be picked up by programmes trawling the web for likely looking email addresses. Check it out if you post / publish online.

Hope this is of use

Future Dates

Next Dates:

Saturday 6th May 2006

Saturday 1st July 2006

Go to our web site for details