Category Archives: Tunes

BEAT CITY 64 – Dry City (Sleeve Notes)
1
Feb

KITTEN “Fall On Me”

Like Blondie before them its easy to see Kitten being marketed as simply a pseudonym for their easy-on-the-eye lead singer Chloe Chaidez, and the ease with which the other band members (Kittenblokes?) have left then rejoined only to leave again would seem to bear this out in the case of Kitten.

The official band bio from a few years ago smacks of artifice, to be honest, namechecking all the correct hip names – Bowie, Zeppelin, Pet Shop Boys, My Bloody Valentine, Prince, Notorious B.I.G, hey that’s all the demographics covered, right guys?

So it would be very easy indeed to take the piss then dismiss.

But then you hear the bloody songs – by Christ, this is a great pop band. There’s a huge wall of sound backing the new single “Fall On Me”

Don’t be expecting any ad campaigns proclaiming “Kitten Is A Group” any time soon though.

This is from their first album from 2014 – it ain’t bad, but if “Fall On Me” is anything to go by the next album will be immense.

PRESS TO MECO “Family Ties”

There’s a few decent punky bands around at the moment and three of them – Croydon’s Press To Meco, Wakefield’s allusondrugs and Stockport’s Max Raptor – are heading out on a 16-date tour all over the UK from Feb 22nd culminating in a gig at London’s legendary Borderline venue.

Scuzz Throwdown Tour UK Dates

“Family Ties” is taken from Press To Meco’s excellent debut album “Good Intent”, as is this track “Manipulate”.

THEE VERTIGOS “Dry City”

“Dry City is taken from Thee Vertigos’ album “Shades” which is well worth your attention IMHO – another album that was lost a little bit in the pre-Xmas rush.

This is another track from it called “Matador”.

BLOSSOMS “At Most A Kiss”

Sal’s Indietastic Classic for this show is from the well-thought-of Blossoms from Stockport. By mixing a bit of dreamy psychey layered guitars but retaining the hard edge and – most importantly, as always – the tunes – they’re making a determined bid for that middle ground between the landfill guitar bands on the one hand and the likes of Temples and Cheatahs on the other.

2016 could be a great year for them – they’re headlining their biggest tour to date throughout February and March but you’ll have to be quick #nextbigthing

THE RAVEONETTES “This World Is Empty (Without You)”

Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo are The Raveonettes, who we’ve always loved here in Beat City – so much so that we named the blog and podcast after the first Ravs track we ever heard, back in the heady days of 2002. Used to use it as the theme tune to the podcast. May well do again some day, who knows?

In all honesty the last album was a bit sketchy – its always difficult to change a template that’s served you well over seven albums but this single definitely breaks the mould, at least instrumentally as it contains none of their trademark echoey buzzsaw guitar wall of sound.

I currently really like this track but time will tell whether that’s just because of the novelty.

FUMACA PRETA “La Trampa”

The band consists of Brighton-dwellers Stuart Carter and James Porch (of funk outfit The Grits) together with Alex Figueira, the Venezuelan-Portuguese founder of the Music With Soul record label and owner of Amsterdam’s Vintage Voudou record shop.

“La Trampa” is taken from the band’s forthcoming second album which is due out in April. Check out Beat City #75 for further tracks. The band did an interview with the excellent Now Then magazine which you can find here:

… and this is a very raw track from the first album “Fumaca Preta” which you can buy direct from the band’s website for a fiver. Bargain!

Give Fumaca Preta money in return for great music here

DILLY DALLY “Ballin’ Chain” (from tha album “Sore”)

Like a Riot Grrrl Pixies, unreconstructed nineties indie noise from Toronto’s Dilly Dally, who have annoyingly just completed a tour of the UK but will be back in May for The Great Escape in Brighton.

Here’s another track from the album “Desire” which to be honest I’m now wishing I’d included instead of “Ballin’ Chain”, doh!

INDY DIBONG “Na So E Dey” (from the album “Squatting At Neverland”)

Indy Dibong is better known outside his native Cameroon than he is at home, which probably comes of living and working in France. A longtime collaborator of Tony Allen (Fela Kuti collaborator and co-creator of the Afrobeat sound) his album “Squatting At Neverland” contains a tribute to Allen, without whom according to Indy , he would not have had a music career.

THE DRINK “Microsleep” (from the album “Company”)

The opening track from The Drink’s first proper album “Company”.

Like many bands their live performance takes it to another level, the set opening with some excellent if standard 80’s Sarah-records influenced indie but somewhere towards the middle of the gig a switch is flicked and singer/songwriter/guitarist Dearbhla Minogue starts making with the highlife and Irish folk riffs, and then the grunge guitar shredding, all while the the rock-solid rhythm section of drummer Daniel Fordham and David Stewart on bass never misses a beat and keeps it all danceable.

Definitely a band to catch live if you can. Check out this very early live version of “Playground” from the new album – sound quality isn’t the best but if gives you an idea of what a powerful live act The Drink are.

ULVER “Moody Stix” (from the album “ATGCLVLSSCAP”)

The title of Norwegian black-metallers Ulver’s new album is an acronym of the twelve signs of the zodiac (starting with Aries and Taurus and ending with Aquarius and Pisces)
Ulver (which means “wolves” in Norwegian) were founded by vocalist (“singer” is probably not quite an accurate description) Kristoffer Rygg in 1993.

Their debut album Bergtatt, was classic folklore-influenced black metal, but since then they have continued to evolve and blend noise, rock and electronica with the symphonic and chamber music traditions to create a unique sound.

Also from the new unpronounceable album, this is “Glammer Hammer”

ANDERSON.PAAK “Heart Don’t Stand A Chance” (from the album “Malibu”)

Growing on me daily, this is fast approaching the status of this year’s “To Pimp A Butterfly”

BIG UPS “National Parks”

From their forthcoming album “Before A Million Universes” Big Ups describe themselves as nerdcore post-punkers but I think there’s a slight possibility they may be taking the piss. To these ears they sound like dEUS – that is to say, early dEUS which is of course the best dEUS.

If Big Ups continue in this vein then the new LP could yet be a better dEUS album than dEUS can make these days. Can’t wait!

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING “Korolev” (from the “Sputnik / Korolev” EP)

This track, while conceptually in line with PSB’s second album “The Race For Space” harks back (sonologically speaking) to their debut “The War Room” EP, possibly on account of the subject matter.

Sergei Korolev was a Soviet rocket scientist who led the development of, among other things, cruise missiles during the thirties. It was Korolev who pionered the ideas and design of orbital satellites, and fought hard for these ideas to be turned into reality, including culminating in the Sputnik series of unmanned vessels and cuminating in the first manned spaceflight in 1961.

Korolev was living on borrowed time, however, having spent ten years in a Gulag labour camp in the Thirties and Forties under Stalin’s “Great Purge”, and he suffered a series of heart attacks, the first in December 1960, until his death in 1966.

Before his death he was often referred to only as “The Chief Designer”, because the Soviet leadership feared that the United States would send agents to assassinate him.[7] Only many years later was he publicly acknowledged as the lead man behind Soviet success in space.

THE CURST SONS “The Jumping Flea”

According to Americana UK the biggest appeal of The Curst Sons is ” they manage to stay true to American folk musics rich lineage, while throwing in enough curve balls to piss off the folk puritanicals”.

Their sixth album “Bad Sex And Good Whisky” is out in February and promises to be a belter. From it, this is “May Day”

Next week – look, I know I promised some Trembling Bells this week but there’s only so much I can squeeze into an hour. Next week for sure. Also Savages and Tuff Love and some records that I haven’t even heard yet!

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BEAT CITY 63 – Tinfoil Deathstar (Sleeve Notes)
25
Jan

OH BOY! – Carrot And The Stick @ohboytheband ohboytheband.com

Northampton’s noisiest pop group recently signed to the excellent Oxford indie label Alcopop Records, home of Johnny Foreigner, Sam “Got Cape. Wore Cape. Flew” Duckworth, Katie Malco and The Spills among others, and to be honest I’d put money on Oh Boy! outdoing all of the above in time.

They’ve been steadily building interest for a year or so with airplay from the likes of Steve Lamacq on 6 Music and John Kennedy on Radio X (as we must now call it)

“Carrot And The Stick” is slightly less noisy than previous records but no less brilliant.

This is “Love And Other Difficulties” from a couple of years ago.

HALF JAPANESE – “That Is That” (from the album “Perfect”)

Unfortunately most famous for being the band on Kurt Cobain’s T-shirt when he died, Half Japanese were formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in 1977, their first album release a TRIPLE set “1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts” and sonologically and attitude-wise are a candidate for being the closest band to The Fall produced by the USA. Check the vocals for a start, and add to that the use of an out-of-tune guitar by mainman Jad who has gone on record as saying “you do need cords to plug the guitar in but that’s pretty much it”

This is from 2014’s “Overjoyed” album, which was their first in 13 years, so the release of “Perfect” in 2016 shows they’re on a mission to catch up for lost time.

SKILLED MECHANICS / TRICKY – “Don’t Go”

Trip-hop legend Tricky is back with a new project called “Skilled Mechanics”, which refers to his collaborators on the album and apparently is a phrase used by the CIA for covert operatives who infiltrate organisations and governments with the aim of bringing them down.

The excellent Music Is My Oxygen site has this to say about the album:

“Some of those on board are no stranger to the world of Adrian Thaws, including regular vocalist Francesca Belmonte who lends her sultry tones to the eerie synth-balladry of “We Begin,” drummer Luke Harris who swaps the sticks for the microphone on a haunting piano-led cover version of Corey Taylor’s “Bother,” and fellow Bristolian DJ Milo who serves as producer on five of the album’s 13 tracks.

But it’s the new recruits who make the most notable impression. Kooky Danish chanteuse Oh Land sets the bewitching tone on the creepy beatless opener “I’m Not Going,” newcomer Xdare suggests FKA twigs may soon have some tough competition with the breathless alt-R&B of closer “Unreal,” while Chinese rapper Ivy also makes the most of her guest spot on the globe-trotting hip-hop of “Beijing to Berlin.”

As with his recent prolific output, Skilled Mechanics also proves that even at the age of 47 and with 11 albums to his name, Tricky remains anything but predictable. “Diving Away” finds him transforming the tortured alt-rock of Porno for Pyros’ “Porpoise Head” into a twinkling lullaby, while the sci-fi doom of “Necessary” is interspersed with the cover of Janet Kay’s “Silly Games” that appeared on his last record.”

“Skilled Mechanics” isn’t perfect by any means but its a damn good Tricky album that benefits massively from the various collaborations.

This is “Ponderosa” from “Maxinquaye” the album that everything else he does will forever be measured against.

MECHANIMAL – “Sunlight”

There’s something about the insistent, industrial – mechanical if you like – sound of Mechanimal’s new album “Delta Pi Delta”.

From the band’s website:

“After two albums exploring the dystopian universe of their city in crisis, the Athenian group Mechanimal delve now into the outskirts of their hometown, away from the sociopolitical fragmentation of the Greek capital, inside a deep and prolonged silence of the mountain forests surrounding Athens.

“Delta Pi Delta” started with a new lineup, erasing the events of a rather tense and tough past, focusing on nature as a means of escape from the modern depression of urban life. This time with female vocals, featuring lead singer Eleni Tzavara (formerly of Film and Etten), electric guitars by Tassos Nikogiannis and Kostas Matiatos, and electronic programming by Giannis Papaioannou, Mechanimal started recording the backbone of their new album during the spring of 2015, while final editing and mixing took place during August 2015, in an isolated room by some faraway beach.

The result of these new recordings is 8 new songs plus 2 instrumentals which will be included as extra tracks in the digital version of the album. Ten new tunes captivating the mystery that lies beneath a quiet life outside a big city. The group’s own hybrid blend of mechanical beats, shoegazing guitar drones and repetitive electronic patterns, shapes now a different perspective that embraces the strangeness and the atmosphere of dreamy landscapes around Athens. The materializing of these silent places into a conceptual sound revealed a new process, which helped the group transform their vision into a tangible medium.

The symbolical acronym title “Delta Pi Delta” is referring to the lyric “giving names to stars”. As a whole it represents the existential journey of any two-footed animal. In this journey, dreams reveal desires and fears that we’re not consciously aware of, but play an important part in consciously or subconsciously helping us become better at dealing with life.

“Delta Pi Delta” is dedicated to the loving memory of Greek artist and painter Nicholas Liber (1956 – 2013), a long-term friend of the band”

NO MADDZ – “Better Must Come “

One of the best bands in Jamaica just now, No Maddz’ self-titled 2015 album was produce by Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, who also play on the album. The band are excellent in their own right, however, as this live version of the song shows – this clip also features the track “Shotta”.

HINDS – “Warts”

They’ve definitely got something about them, have Madrid’s Hinds. Frontwomen Carlotta Cosials and And Garcia Perrote met when their boyfriends were in a band whose name they’ve since forgotten.

They ended up writing songs together and recruited female rhythm section Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen (the latter from Facebook) – in an overpopulated and male-dominated Madrid garage band scene, they knew it was important for the image to avoid people looking at the band and “everyone thinking the boys were writing and we were just smiling”)

There is something of the ramshackle chaos of the Libertines about them, and indeed they’ve supported Doherty and Barat’s “ultimate lads band” a couple of times.

The album is not perfect by any means, and a lot of commentators have noted that “that’s part of the appeal” which is fair enough I suppose.

This is “Chili Town” from the album.

ANDERSON PAAK “The Bird”

Anderson Paak’s “Malibu” album is excellent, the first great album of the year as far as I’m concerned.

I love the 70s funk and soul sound to the record – not so much “Old Skool” as PRE-school – and while I haven’t yet had time to fully digest it.

Hey, you can’t possibly get the whole lyrical content of a rap album – or indeed the full force of the different samples and riffs – on the first four or five listens, which is probably why many people think they don’t like rap, but don’t get me started!

WHITE REAPER “Wolf Trap Hotel”

Ten thousand apologies for overlooking White Reaper until know, they’re superb. Not too many bands playing good hard keyboard-based garage punk these days. Similar in outlook to Hinds (above), their debut album is an absolute joy. I particularly love how the vocals sound lik ethey have been shouted down a megaphone.

They’re on Polyvinyl Records, who are the model for how all record labels should be IMHO. Cool as fook roster (I first came to the label through Of Montreal), no end of excellent special offers, and they send you extra badges, stickers, and in one bizarre instance chewing gum which always makes yer day.

This is the very strange video to the single “Make Me Wanna Die”. Keyboards in the style of Martha And The Muffins.

FAT WHITE FAMILY “Tinfoil Deathstar”

The new Fat White Family album “Songs For Our Mothers” is out now. The jury’s still out for me, I love the more immediate tracks but haven’t had time to give it a proper listen – some of the more “out there” tracks are still firmly in the “WTF” category for me, although this may well change.

It does sound like they haven’t cleaned up their act, sonologically or lyrically, since 2014’s “Champagne Holocaust” – if anything they’ve gotten more impenetrable, which is a good thing since they’re probably going to take a large part of their audience with them into some pretty dark places.

And if ever a band knew how to use the video medium, this is the definitely-not-safe-for-work “Touch The Leather”

PELL “Almighty Dollar”

“Limbo” is the second album from New Orleans-based rapper Pell, the follow-up to the well-received “Floating While Dreaming”

From “Limbo” this is “Cafe Du Monde”

THE DRINK “The Coming Rain”

The suggestion was made recently to The Drink’s songwriter, singer and guitarist Dearbhla Minogue that the band could sit happily in around 1987 as a cross between the Shop Assistants, Throwing Muses and the Bhundu Boys.

I can maybe see where the guy was coming from, at least on their excellent recently released debut album proper “Capital” but I think that’s a simplification.

One of the other standout tracks from the album is “Potter’s Grave”

THE OWL SERVICE “Salisbury Plain”

From the forthcoming album “His Pride. No Spear. No Friend” which could be the Owl Service’s finest record yet.

MOH! KOUYATE “Loundo (Un Jour)”

Guinean singer / songwriter / guitaris Moh! Koyuate played a blinder at the recent Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. Here’s a link to his set which was recorded by the BBC.

Moh! Koyuate at Celtic Connections 2016

MAX RAPTOR “Blue On Red”

Another band out to demonstrate beyond any shadow of doubt that punk’s not dead.

Max Raptor hail from Burton-on-Trent. With Wakefield’s AllusonDrugs and Press To Meco who hail from Croydon they’re setting out on tour in February courtesy of the Scuzz UK Throwdown Tour.
Check the dates on this link:

Scuzz UK Throwdown Tour Feb 2016

From the “Damage Appreciation” EP – here’s the vid to the title track.

AIDAN KNIGHT “All Clear”

Describing himself on Twitter as “songwriter, producer, buttlord”. I have no idea what that means but I love this song.

Seems he’s supporting Villagers on tour soon, which I reckon is unmissable. See you dahn the front.

The album “Each Other” is out now – this is “The Arp”

Next week we’ll be playing tracks from Tuff Love, Press To Meco, Violet Skies and Trembling Bells, among others.

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BEAT CITY 62 – Shiva Is A Punk Rocker (Sleeve Notes)
18
Jan

NERVOUS TWITCH “John Power”

Nervous Twitch’s sound is a heady mix of punk from the 70s, Britpop from the 90s and the girl group sound of the 60s.

Not quite sure if this is about the former La’s bassist and Cast frontman John Power

You can pre-order the new album here

This track “Somebody Else” was a single for the band in 2014 – definite 60s girl group sound to this, kind of if the Shangri-Las had been allowed to let rip and make the records they secretly wanted to, with fuzzed up guitars.

WHITE REAPER “I Don’t Think She Cares”

Punky records with a good organ line or two will always get a hearing on Beat City!

From the album White Reaper Does It Again which came out on Polyvinyl Records last year.

Here’s the vid to another track from the album “Make Me Wanna Die” which features Death, who has a Union Jack on his bedroom wall.

Typical bloody Americans, the baddie ALWAYS has to be British.

BABYFATHER “Meditation”

This is a new track from Babyfather, one of the aliases of Dean Blunt. Co-produced with Arca this is Meditation.

Dean Blunt has a history of unconventional release methods, from premiering his music on an illegal Russian torrent sites to Ciroc Boyz, his book of receipts.

The latest movement from the enigmatic artist’s camp is no different: Blunt is selling a toy Mini Cooper on eBay, branded with the Foxtons logo and with some weed packed in the back for good measure.

It’ll cost you £250, and tucked away in the photos is an advert for Cubitt, an artist-led organisation that Blunt is involved in.

WRAY “Shiva”

From the brand new album “Hypatia” out this week that was Wray with “Shiva”.

There’s elements of shoegaze in there but also a refreshingly hard-edged garagey sound.

They have some live dates coming up throughout the U S of A, as well as a showcase at the prestigious South By South West festerval in Austin Texas later in the year.

They played a gig recently with a symphony orchestra – bands usually wait until four albums in to do this but it seems to have been a triumph.

LIZZO “Humanize”

Lizzo with one of the more laid back tracks from her excellent album “Big GRRRRL Small World”.

From her debut album “Lizzobangers” this is Bus Passes & Happy Meals.

THE CORAL “Chasing The Tail Of A Dream”

2016 sees the welcome return of The Coral after getting the solo albums and side projects out of the way with their first new album since 2010’s Butterfly House. The album is called Distance Between and the first track from it to be is Chasing The Tail Of A Dream.

Sounding like it would be very much at home on Beat City’s ‘older sister’ show ‘Retro Beat 66’

I say “sister show” but its the disreputable kind of older sister who drinks a bit too much and is often seen in the company of unsuitable men.

LAURA MVULA “Overcome”

Two and a half years after her breakthrough album “Sing To The Moon” we’ve got some new music from Laura Mvula.

While she’s been “between albums”, among other things she’s made an excellent programme for BBC 4 “Nina Simone and Me” which I think may have fallen off the iPlayer now but you can watch on Youtube.

ALLUSONDRUGS “Magic College”

Allusondrugs with a single from last year called Magic College.

The band are heading out on their biggest tour to date – the Scuzz UK Throwdown Tour, 16 dates co-headlining with a couple of other excellent punk bands Press To Meco and Max Raptor.

You can see them in Birmingham,Glasgow,Aberdeen,Dundee,Carlisle,Edinburgh,Newcastle,Manchester Deaf Instutite, Derby, Tunbridge Wells forum (as far as I know the only venue on the toilet circuit that is actually a converted public toilet – true story) Milton Keynes, Norwich, Southampton Joiners (blimey I’ve started so I’ll finish), Bath,Cardiff and finishing at the Borderline in London, so no excuses for not getting along if you can – support great live music.

Full list of venues and dates

CONNIE CONSTANCE “Answer”

In The Grass’ is the first release from North/West London born artist Connie Constance.

In 2015 a friend introduced Connie to UK musician Blue Daisy, their friendship was instant and Blue swiftly became her producer and mentor.

Together they set about carving a uniquely tripped-out sound.

At just 20 years of age, Connie’s aura surpasses the time she’s been on this planet.

She wanted to create music for her generation that breathes escapism from the cuts and bruises of young British life, penning lyrics on buses and trains. Her style owes as much to Pete Doherty’s old school off key dialogue as Erykah Badu’s freestyle soul.

You can get the EP on Bandcamp as well as the track featured in the show “Answer” which came out at the back end of 2015.

BEAR’S DEN “Agape”

Sal’s first Indietastic Classic selection for this year is from Bear’s Den’s 2014 “Islands” album.

Also from the album is the tragically beautiful “Elysium”.

SEA PINKS “I Don’t Feel Like Giving In”

The opening track from Sea Pinks’ album Soft Days

You can get the album from bandcamp, which I’d recommend – its a superb grower of a record.

DAVID BOWIE “Lazarus”

As far as final hits in yer lifetime go, Elvis Presley had Way Down, John Lennon had Imagine and Johnny Cash had Hurt. I’d say Bowie wins by a canter with that one.

Among the tributes to Bowie – and I’m certain there will be plenty more to come – Bruce Springsteen played “Rebel Rebel” in Pittsburgh on the first night of his 2016 tour.

Bruce messes up the introductory riff big time but so what? Heart’s in the right place!

KENDRICK LAMAR “Blue Faces”

Also known as “Untitled 2” this track was premiered by Kendrick on the Jimmy Fallon chat show a week or so ago.

Also, Kendrick put this video out on New Year’s Eve – entitled “God Is Gangsta” (and ain’t THAT the truth!) it mixes tracks from the “To Pimp A Butterfly” album which, by the way, everyone should own.

THE BLACK FEATHERS “Down By The River”

The Black Feathers are an award winning duo from Gloucestershire in England.

The perfectly paired voices of Sian Chandler and Ray Hughes intertwine effortlessly to create a genre-defying sound, combining elements of folk, roots, americana, and southern rock. The duo have been touring all over the UK for the past 2 years, winning over new fans of all ages everywhere they go.

This is the loved-up video for “Strangers We Meet” from their 2014 EP.

We’ll be doing a one-off David Bowie special so look out for that but the next show proper will be available to download or stream from next Sunday and will feature among others Max Raptor, Mechanimal, Hinds and (fingers crossed) Fat White Family.

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Beat ’66 Show #2 – The Blurb
14
Jan

These Sleeve Notes refer to the second Beat Sixty-Six podcast which you can download by clicking

A new show will go up every Thursday throughout 2016, with the sleeve notes following by the Saturday.

You can follow Beat City on Twitter here:

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NANCY SINATRA “These Boots Are Made For Walking”

This track entered the US Top 100 early in January 1966 and would become one of the biggest records of the year, and one of the most lasting, from Nancy Sinatra

Still sounds so fresh, so sassy and so damn sexy after all this time.

Nancy Sinatra’s breakthrough and biggest hit These Boots Are Made For Walking.

If you’re on Twitter she’s well worth following, very human and very smart,follows everyone back (unless you’re a total knob) and is one of the nicest, least pretentious celebs on there.

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THE STRANGELOVES “Night Time”

Second highest chart placing in the US for the Strangeloves

Next The Strangeloves who consisted of producers Bob Feldma,Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer but were promoted as being three Australian sheep-farming brothers named Giles, Miles and Niles Strange.

Their biggest hit was “I Want Candy” which has been much covered over the years but this one, Night Time, is just as good and has also been covered notably by George Thorogood & The Destroyers and, in quite an authentic garagey manner, Bauhaus.

MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS “My Baby Loves Me”

Everything you could possibly want to know about this record can be found by clicking Motown Junkies on Martha Reeves & The Vandellas ‘My Baby Loves Me’

EDWIN STARR – Stop Her On Sight ( S O S)

A slightly bigger hit in the UK (35) than in the US (48) – the B side “I Have Faith In You” is just as good:

THE SUNRAYS “Andrea”

Originally known as the Renegades and playing rock and roll covers, the Sunrays’ career took of in 1964 when Murry Wilson, the father of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, started managing them, tweaked the personel a little (removing the sax player) and changed their name to The Sunrays.

As well as Andrea their hits included “I Live for the Sun” (1965) (below) and “Still”.

They supported the Beach Boys on several US tours, but never made it big as their sounds were probably a little bit too similar …

BEACH BOYS “Barbara Ann”

Dean Torrence from the group Jan & Dean sang lead on this song of teenage desire.

Capitol Records released this without telling the band. The Beach Boys were trying to gain credibility as a serious musical act, and didn’t want to put out such a simplistic song.

The release date may have been influenced by the first appearance of heartthrob actress and model Barbara Anne Feldon as Agent 99 on the TV show “Get Smart”.

A bar-bar-bar-bar-Barbara-Ann (probably THE bar-bar-bar-bar-Barbara Ann)

A bar-bar-bar-bar-Barbara-Ann (probably THE bar-bar-bar-bar-Barbara Ann)

Here’s the Regents’ original version, with harmonies the Beach Boys replicated, complete with kazoo, which they very sensibly didn’t.

DELROY WILSON “Dancing Mood”

Delroy Wilson was the first child star of the Jamaican music scene, cutting his first records in 1962 for Sir Coxsone’s Studio One, including “Spit In The Sky”, one of many records made at Studio One attacking the rival Prince Buster (which to be fair was well reciprocated by Buster).

“Dancing Mood” is regarded as one of the very first rocksteady records (as opposed to the faster ska beat that ruled the island’s airwaves until then)

BUCK OWENS “Buckaroo”

Buck Owens, along with Merle Haggard, was the leader of the Bakersfield sound, a twangy, electricified, rock-influenced interpretation of hardcore honky tonk that emerged in the ’60s.

Owens was the first bona fide country star to emerge from Bakersfield, scoring a total of 15 consecutive number one hits in the mid-’60s. In the process, he provided an edgy alternative to the string-laden country-pop that was being produced during the ’60s.

Later in his career, his musical impact was forgotten by some as he became a television personality through the country comedy show Hee Haw.

Nevertheless, several generations of musicians — from Gram Parsons in the late ’60s to Dwight Yoakam in the ’80s — were influenced by his music, which wound up being one of the blueprints for modern country music.

This track, the instrumental “Buckaroo” (named after his backing band The Buckaroos who were named in turn by Merle Haggard), was his fourth country No 1 in the USA as the year turned from 1965 to 1966. The Byrds did a cover of it but I wont lie to you, its not their best work. Seekit out if you absolutely MUST, but I’m not going to enable you by giving you the link. Sorry.

This was the B-side – “If You Want A Love”, a standard country number that benefits from Buck’s straight-ahead, unsentimental delivery. It’s not the most innovative music in the world, but you wouldn’t turn it off either.

And if That ain’t enough country for ya, here’s a live version of Buck’s huge crossover hit from the previous year “Love’s Gonna Live Here Again”.

Now skedaddle before I fill your pants full of lead.

THEM “Hello Josephine”

One of the better songs on “Them Again”, originally written and recorded by Fats Domino

LEE DORSEY “Get Out Of My Life Woman”

Written by Allen Toussaint who passed on recently – what with Lemmy on bass, Bowie on vocals and rhythm guitar, Allen Toussaint on piano and Alan Rickman introducing the band there’s pretty much a whole supergroup in the recent arrivals section of heaven just now.

The song has been sampled in excess of 150 times by such artists as Naz, Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, The Fugees, Beck and Compton’s Most Wanted (below)


JACKIE WILSON & LAVERN BAKER “Think Twice”

A minor hit, reaching no 93 in the Hot 100, there’s an intriguing “Version X” of this song that was never released for some strange reason. Warning – this is really filthy.

POETS “Baby Don’t You Do It”

On Immediate Records (the Small Faces’ lanel), Glasgow’s Poets released this astonishing freakbeat take on Marvin Gaye’s “Baby Don’t You Do It”.

It just builds and builds on what is a very simple riff and then takes off towards the end.

The B-Side “I’ll Come Home” is by contrast a jangly Beatles-style tune proving the Poets had more than one trick in their box.

SAM AND DAVE “You Don’t Know Like I Know”

This tune only just scraped into the Hot 100 but it was the start of a run of eight hits for Sam and Dave, a vocal match made in heaven with the gravelly baritone of Dave Prater the perfect counterpoint to tenor Sam Moore’s sweet tenor voice in the style of that other great sixties soul Sam (Cooke).

They were one of the most exciting live acts of the era, with a live act filled with animation, harmony and goodwill.

This was their first single for Stax from 1965, which inexplicably failed to trouble the charts, but its a great tune.

SMALL FACES “Sha-La-La-La-Lee”

After their second single “I’ve Got Mine” failed to build on the chart success of their debut “Whatcha Gonna Do About It?”, the Small Faces’ manager Don Arden brought in professional songwriters Mort Shuman and Kenny Lynch to write “Sha-La-La-La-Lee” for the band.

The Small Faces hated this song, and it did mark them down as a pop band rather than the R&B / soul band they in fact were (although there IS an absolutely cracking piano intro by Ian McLagan, almost hidden in the production).

It did get to number 3 in the British charts though, and those fans who flipped the disc were treated to a scorching instrumental (and the theme tune for Retro Beat ’66) “Grow Your Own”:

THE EYES “The Immediate Pleasure”

Evolved out of an instrumental band called The Renegades, and you can kind of hear that on this record, which would in fact stand on its own as an instrumental, with that descending guitar lead line.

The vocals almost act as an extra layer on top giving the whole thing a lot of depth

The band didn’t last beyond 1966 – recording an ill-advised tribute album to the Rolling Stones under the name The Pupils (geddit?) for some quick cash didn’t really help their credibility.

You can tell their hearts weren’t really in it, check this version of “19th Nervous Breakdown”.

BOBBY BLAND “I’m Too Far Gone To Turn Around”

It’s easy to come to the conclusion that by 1966 Bobby Bland’s classic R and B “big band” style sound was old hat but a look at the chart performance of his hits doesn’t really bear that out – sure, his days of hitting #1 in the US R&B chart were gone but his singles still regularly made the R&B Top 20 and the overall Hot 100, so he clearly had a strong and loyal fanbase.

The B-side “If You Could Read My Mind” is another clue as to why – a fairly ordinary MOR song and arrangement raised by Bobby’s sweet, sweet voice to another plane.

SPENCER DAVIS GROUP “Look Away”

A brave choice for the opening track from the Spencer Davis Group’s “The Second Album” – rather than going with the hit single from the previous year “Keep On Running” they chose the tragic heartbreak tune “Look Away”, which it has to be said is a lot more typical of the album.

Another atypical track from the album is the country-style “This Hammer”

MARVIN GAYE “When I Had Your Love”

The B-side of “One More Heartache” which you can hear in either next week’s Retro Beat City or the week after, but I think this is actually a better track.

Incidentally, Marvin’s most recent album at that time (released in November 1965) was a tribute album to his hero Nat ‘King’ Cole who died the previous February. From it this is “Its Only A Paper Moon”

THE EASYBEATS “Sad And Lonely And Blue”

Among the recent losses in the world of music around the end of2015 / beginning of 2016 was Stevie Wright, singer with Australia’s finest group of the 60s, the Easybeats.

Click here for Stevie Wright’s obituary and ten of his greatest songs

There is a story about Good Times, that the first time he heard it, Paul McCartney pulled over and rang the radio station, asking them to play it again. Six months later, the Beatles released Get Back, which revolves around the same GDA progression.

Beat ’66 Show #1 – The Blurb
8
Jan

A new show will go up every Thursday throughout 2016, with the sleeve notes following by the Saturday.

13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS “You’re Gonna Miss Me”

“The saga of the 13th Floor Elevators was an Old Testament tale and Roky Erickson was its Job,” – Julian Cope.

Roky Erickson was a misfit kid who loved rock and roll. In 1965, he dropped out of high school a month before graduating to become a musician. Later that year he and his first band, the Spades, made their first single, the crude and hypnotic “We Sell Soul.” Written by Erickson using the pseudonym Emil Schwartze, it has the bare-boned elements of what would become the sound of his next step.

Shortly after the Spades dissolved, Erickson formed the 13th Floor Elevators with other like-minded souls. The band signed to the Texas-based International Artists label and released their classic debut single, “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” in early 1966.

Their mind-blowing debut album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, would follow that summer.

“You’re Gonna Miss Me,” was a minor hit, making it all the way up to No. 55 in the summer of that year, staying on the charts for nearly two months.

TEMPTATIONS “Get Ready”

The original Temptations version of “Get Ready”, produced by Smokey Robinson, was designed as an answer to the latest dance craze, “The Duck”. The Temptations’ falsetto Eddie Kendricks sings lead on the song, which Robinson produced as an up-tempo dance number with a prominent rhythm provided by Motown drummer Benny Benjamin. In the song, Kendricks informs his lover to “get ready” because “I’m bringin’ you a love that’s true”. Melvin Franklin sings lead on the pre-chorus: “fe, fi, fo, fum/look out/’cause here I come” along with several other similar lines. The song made it to number one on the U.S. R&B singles chart, while peaking at number twenty-nine on the pop charts.[1]

The group’s previous singles since “My Girl” had all landed in the U.S. Pop charts (and R&B charts) Top 20. However “Get Ready” only just scraped into the Top 30.

The song did eventually become a Top 10 pop hit, but not by the Temptations, but by the Motown rock band Rare Earth.

In 1970, Motown’s rock band Rare Earth released a massively successful cover version of the song as a single.

21-minute version of the track appears on Rare Earth’s first album but it’s not for the faint-hearted.

THE UGLY’S “The Quiet Explosion”

Far superior B-side of “A Good Idea” :

The choice of name for Birmingham’s “The Ugly’s” was deliberate and not a reference to the physical appearance of band members as their van became covered in messages lovingly scrawled in lipstick from their many female fans. When interviewed for the Midland Beat newspaper, the group said; “It brings us embarrassing moments but we are achieving our object by using the name. You see, interest is aroused as soon as we are advertised to appear anywhere. People come along to see if we really are ugly!”

The Ugly’s third single for PYE featured Steve Gibbons playing a ‘kazoo’ on the A-side titled ‘A Good Idea’ which in retrospect may not have been a good idea as the single’s B-side is really the stand-out track. ‘The Quiet Explosion’ is a lost psychedelic classic complete with freaky organ and echoey bass.

This was certainly ahead of its time when considering The Beatles had only just started experimenting with strange sounds on their ‘Revolver’ album.

Despite a promotional TV appearance on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’, this Uglys single sank without trace and three decades passed before its flip side gained rightful recognition on a CD release.

DAVID BOWIE & THE LOWER THIRD “Can’t Help Thinking About Me”

If “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” was David Bowie trying to sound more like the Kinks than the Kinks did, and succeeding , then the B-side “And I Say To Myself” found the young pop chameleon trying on the teenage hearthrob crooner’s sweater for size – “Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be Peter Noone”

THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR “I Fought The Law”

It is a misconception not universally acknowledged that when an artist is known for one hit and no others, that one hit was the absolute peak of their songwriting and musical creativity. They concentrated everything into those two and a half to three minutes and made no other records worth hearing.

Of course in some cases this is actually true – but not in the case of the Bobby Fuller Four.

Bobby Fuller is remembered as something of a Fifties throwback who recreated old-fashioned Buddy Holly-sounding records with precision and perfection, culminating in his most famous song “I Fought The Law”

He did so much more than the admittedly classic “I Fought The Law” though, including “My True Love”, “Only When I Dream”, “Never To Be Forgotten” and “Fool Of Love” (below).

THE GUYS FROM UNCLE “The Spy”

A cracking Northern Soul track about which very little is known. Check out the intro, a full six years before Isaac Hayes’ the Theme From Shaft

There was a vocal version credited to “The Girls From Uncle” called Agent Of Love, equally great, equally obscure.

THEM “Could You Would You” (from the album “Them Again”)

The band’s second and, for all intents and purposes, last full album was recorded while Them were in the process of breaking up.

Apart from Van Morrison’s vocals and Alan Henderson on Bass, it is not clear who actually played on the album although Jimmy Page probably played guitar on a few tracks at least.

The songs here are a little less focused than the first LP, they don’t really fit together as an album, encompassing too many different styles, but there’s still some excellent songs here

The material was cut under siege conditions, with a constantly shifting lineup and a grueling tour schedule; essentially, there was no “group” to provide focus to the sound, only Morrison’s voice, so the material bounces from a surprisingly restrained “I Put a Spell on You”

to the garage-punk of “I Can Only Give You Everything.”, both of which you’ll hear in forthcoming shows but this week we’ve picked the opening track Could You Would You.

You’ll hear a track every week on Retro Beat Sixty-Six throughout January from Them Again, one of our two albums of the month for January 1966.

THE MANHATTANS “Follow Your Heart”

Best known for their soft 70s soul hit Kiss And Say Goodbye …

… the five members of The Manhattans hailed from New Jersey which seems to be the origin of the name – “You could see the Manhattan skyline right across the water from Jersey City. It was an easy name to remember, and we just thought it sounded classy”. Either that or they were named after the Manhattan cocktail – the surviving band members are a little hazy in recollecting which version of the story is correct.

TAGES “Bloodhound”

Tages were a Swedish band formed in the early sixties near Gothenburg.

The band released a number of singles and LPs in their native Sweden to considerable success, making the Swedish Top Ten more than a dozen times.

Later in the year Tages released “Extra Extra”, regarded as one of the world’s first psychedelic albums.

Though remembered as one of the finest non-English speaking bands of the 1960s, they failed to ever really break into the US or UK markets.

Accepting that they would never break the Anglophone markets their later records mix in traditional Swedish folk music influences culminating in their fifth and last album, “Studio” (recorded, oddly at Abbey Road in London)

Here’s another track from 1966 with some dodgy miming (hey, you think it’s hard to mime, try it in a language other than your native tongue)

BOB DYLAN “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window”

Recorded during the sessions for Dylan’s 1965 album “Highway 61 Revisited”, “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” was released as a non-album single in late 1965 and performed creditably onm both sides of the pond. Dylan is backed for this song by he Hawks – Robbie Robertson on guiter, Rick Danko on bass, Richard Manuel on piano, Garth Hudson on organ and Levon Helm on drums

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS “Just Like Me”

One of the most popular and entertaining rock groups of the 1960s, Paul Revere & the Raiders enjoyed seven years of serious chart action, and during their three biggest years (1966-1969), sold records in numbers behind only the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

They were very much aware of and played up the theatrical side of rock and roll and were unfairly dismissed by critics of the time as being “a bit too showbiz” but their string of hits – “Steppin’ Out,” “Just Like Me,” “Hungry,” “Him or Me — What’s It Gonna Be,” and “Kicks” in particular — are actually decent unpretentious pieces of ’60s punky rock & roll.

“Just Like Me” was their biggest hit to date and led to the rush-release of the album “Just Like Us”, which you’ll hear tracks from later in January on Retro Beat Sixty-Six.

SLIM HARPO “Baby Scratch My Back”

“Baby Scratch My Back” was Slim Harpo’s only #1 on the soul singles chart where it stayed for two weeks. “Baby Scratch My Back” also crossed over to the Top
40 and was Harpo’s most commercially successful single.

Never a full-time musician, Harpo had his own trucking business during the 1960s.

He needed to tour constantly and play as much as possible; times were frequently lean financially and you have to put food on the table, when it comes right down to it.

But, by 1964, several of his tracks had been released on albums and singles in the UK,[8] and British rock bands like the Rolling Stones, the Pretty Things, the Yardbirds, the Kinks, Pink Floyd and Them began to feature versions of his songs in their early repertoires. The Moody Blues reportedly took their name from an instrumental track of Slim’s called “Moody Blues”

Slim Harpo was no purist – his material proved to be quite adaptable for white artists on both sides of the Atlantic (see the Rolling Stones and others’ versions of “I’m A King Bee”.

A crowd-pleasing club entertainer, he certainly wasn’t above working rock & roll rhythms and country and western vocals into his music.

He had his biggest commercial success in 1966, when the predominantly instrumental “Baby Scratch My Back” reached no.1 on the R&B chart and no.16 on the US pop chart. Harpo described it as “an attempt at rock & roll for me.”

Here’s the B-side “I’m Gonna Miss You Like The Devil”

THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP “Let Me Down Easy” (from “The Second Album”)

One of the most exciting and influential groups to come out of Birmingham in the early 1960s, the Spencer Davis Group is recognized for their classic and ground-breaking recordings as well as for launching Steve Winwood’s music career.

The Spencer Davis Group comprised Spencer Davis on organ, Steve Winwood on guitar and vocals, his brother Muff Winwood on bass and Pete York on drums.

It was Muff Winwood who came up with the name ‘Spencer Davis Group’ on the pretext that the articulate Davis could do the interviews while the others stayed in bed – maybe not the best idea since the band became associated with Spencer’s name whereas their major unique selling point, sonologically speaking, was Stevie Winwood’s incredible strong, rangy voice.

Up to mid-1965 this time, the songs performed and recorded by the Spencer Davis Group were covers of existing blues and R&B standards but Chris Blackwell brought in Jamaican singer/songwriter Jackie Edwards to compose the next three singles for the group. The first was ‘Keep On Running’ which was transformed by the group into a rocking R&B number with the addition of a driving bass riff and a unique (for that time) electric fuzz guitar effect. The result it had on the record charts was spectacular with the song knocking The Beatles from the top spot and going to Number

One before the end of 1965. The Spencer Davis Group’s first LP was rushed to the shops and the band members now had to endure the side-effect of being pursued by screaming girls!

SHAWN ELLIOTT “Shame & Scandal In The Family”

Originally written in 1962 by Trinidadian calypsonian Lord Melody, “Shame And Scandal In The Family” was a hit in Europe for Puerto Rican singer Shawn Elliott Santiago. Oddly, the British satirist Lance Percival had the hit in the USA. Lord Melody never had a hit with it outside the Caribbean.

CHAD & JEREMY “Teenage Failure”

Banned from appearing on Thank Your Lucky Stars and Top Of The Pops because of the line “I’m Gonna Smash Your Face In”.

By mid-1966 Chad and Jeremy had cleaned up their act to the point where they could appear as themselves in an episode of the TV show “Batman”. The story involves Catwoman stealing their voices 8=)

Note Batman’s reference to “5000 screaming teenagers” – can’t be more than 50, surely Batman? Holy exaggeration!

THE McCOYS “Fever”

The McCoys, basically revamping their big hit “Hang On Sloopy” using the words and (vaguely) the tune of Peggy Lee’s smoking classic torch song “Fever”. Here’s the original:

BILLY STEWART “Mountain Of Love”

Co-written by Shena deMell and the legendary Sugar Pie deSanto that was Mountain Of Love by Billy Stewart, the B-side to the more commercial-sounding “Because I Love You”

THE MAMAS AND THE PAPAS “California Dreamin'”

Written by John Phillips on a frigid winter night in Manhattan when his young wife, Michelle, was homesick for Southern California, “California Dreamin’ ” is one of the all-time sunniest songs of longing.

It was first done by Phillips’ folk group the New Journeymen and later given to Barry McGuire as a thank-you after McGuire, riding high with “Eve of Destruction,” introduced the group to producer Lou Adler, who convinced the Mamas and the Papas to cut it themselves.

Due to its popularity, the song has appeared on numerous film soundtracks and as plot elements in other movies and television shows.

Notably, the song is used repeatedly in the 1994 Wong Kar-wai film Chungking Express, in which a character played by singer Faye Wong obsessively listens to it.