Nobody's Children

During Ceausescu's rule of Romania, attempts to boost the country's population included a ban on abortion and contraception.  This led to thousands of unwanted children being abandoned by their parents.  With their already pitiful resources orphanages were unable to cope and the result was an unimaginable toll on the physical and mental health of a huge number of Romanian children.

At the end of 1989 Ceausescu and his wife were executed after the government was overthrown. The wider world became aware of the terrible conditions in these hundreds of orphanages and the suffering that was taking place.

Many charities were spurred into action and many new charities formed.


George Harrison's wife Olivia founded the Romanian Angel Appeal (RAA) along with the other Beatle wives Linda McCartney, Barbara Bach and Yoko Ono.  Together with a raft of friends and contacts they organised a fundraising album called Nobody's Child in 1990, a copy of which I found at one of yesterday's car boot sales for £1:

Nobody's Child - Romanian Angel Appeal (1990)

It consists of fourteen songs "donated" by an array of musicians including Elton John, the Traveling Wilburys, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and the Bee Gees, but the crowning glory of the album must surely be the epic "Civil War" by Guns 'n' Roses.  I was in high school at this time and thoroughly obsessed with G'n'R.  I remember that this song was also used as the b-side to the single "You Could Be Mine", which I still have somewhere on cassingle!

The RAA Foundation was registered in Romania in 1991 and continues it's work with vulnerable children to this day.  Since a secondhand purchase of the LP wasn't really in keeping with the original spirit of the album I donated £10 to UNICEF, one of the RAA Foundation's partners/sponsors.  You can too here.  Here's "Civil War".

Not me baby, I've got you to save me

Today I've been watching some of the epic four-hour documentary "Runnin' Down a Dream", the story of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which was repeated on BBC4 last Friday night.  It reminded me that I'd picked up a copy of Tom's debut solo album a couple of weeks ago at a car boot sale for £2:

Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (1989)

His first post-Wilburys work, it is in fact produced by fellow Wilbury Jeff Lynne, who also provides background vocals, bass, guitars and keyboards.  In addition George Harrison plays acoustic guitar and sings on I Won't Back Down, and Roy Orbison contributes backing vocals on Zombie Zoo.  Most of the Heartbreakers feature as well, so it may be termed a "solo" album, but it's clear that Tom likes to have his band members around him.

It's a great set of songs and it sounds like just what it is really; a Heartbreakers' album with a heavy dose of Jeff Lynne i.e. polished, radio-friendly heartland rock, full of hooks, riffs and harmonies.  The album sleeve is a bit boring but the inner is better, with a great drawing of Tom in Native American headgear:

Front, back and inner artwork

The album sold very well, reaching no.3 on the US Billboard chart and no.8 in the UK, making it his best-selling LP and providing five singles in all.  Here's the excellent vid for Yer So Bad, followed by the whole album on the new super-whizzy Spotify embeddable player:

American hearts

Last Sunday's car boot sale was a busy one (despite the cold) but unfortunately I came home empty-handed.  There were no gems to found hidden away amongst the usual piles of Mantovani, James Last and Englebert Humperdink and so today I thought I'd talk about a particular favourite used-vinyl find.

A couple of years ago I was in a local charity shop when I found a filthy-looking record in a scruffy plain card sleeve - so of course I had to take a look!

It turned out to be an album called 'Hearts' by America; a band I'd heard of but then only knew the song 'A Horse With No Name' (not on this album).  Once cleaned up, the LP was in fine condition and I played it a lot over the next few days.  I can't tell you how much I now love this.  It's the record I reach for when I'm feeling a bit frazzled, tired or stressed and it never fails to stop my teeth from grinding or my brain from twitching.  It almost always leaves me feeling calm and clear-headed.

America - Hearts (1975)

Like most of America's output it's fairly light folk/country rock.  Their fifth studio album, and the second to be produced by George Martin, it reached no.4 in the US in 1975 and produced three singles; the fantastic Sister Golden Hair, Daisy Jane and Woman Tonight.

I'm always on the look out for more of their records at boot sales and charity shops - I mentioned their album Hat Trick last year here.


The CD version was never released in the UK so I bought a US import via eBay, as it's a record I don't ever want to be without!  Top tracks:

America – Daisy Jane         America – Half A Man         America – Company  

America – Woman Tonight      America – Seasons




The guitar intro to Sister Golden Hair was apparently unashamedly nicked from George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord'.  I forgive them.

Handle With Care

After two rather disappointing car boot sales over the Easter weekend I resorted to eBay for a vinyl fix and ended up with two very different albums from 1988.

The first was Bomb The Bass' debut Into The Dragon, for 99p:

Bomb The Bass - Into The Dragon (1988)

I've mentioned this fantastic album before in a post about the lead single 'Beat Dis'.  The other singles were 'Megablast', 'Don't Make Me Wait' and a cover of 'Say A Little Prayer'.  The album's blend of of hip-hop, breaks, funk samples and movie dialogue is sewn together with between-track faux pirate radio announcements from the great and good including Jazzy B, Westwood and Mark Moore from S'Express.

Top tracks:  Bomb The Bass – Don't Make Me Wait feat. Lauraine - 7" Mix

                            Bomb The Bass – Megablast - Hip Hop On Precinct 13 (7" Mix)

                                    Bomb The Bass – Say A Little Prayer feat. Maureen

Next was The Traveling Wilburys' Vol.1, for £2.99:

The Traveling Wilbuys - Vol.1 (1988)

These guys were the epitome of a supergroup.  The driving force was George Harrison, who together with ELO's Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty recorded this great album of heartland rock which reached no.3 in the US and no.16 in the UK.  I thought I only knew the lead single from the album; the joyful 'Handle With Care', but on playing it I realised that I knew every single song.  My Dad bought a cassette copy when it came out and he must have played the heck out of it around the house!

You can tell that the group really enjoyed making the album (apparently recorded in just ten days at the home of Eurythmics' Dave Stewart) as the sense of fun really seeps through into the music.

It's not on Spotify so here's 'Handle With Care' on Youtube:



It's a really sweet video and all the more moving when you remember that two of the group are no longer around.

Ticket To Ride

I bought The Beatles' Help! a couple of weeks ago, a seventh pressing (Oct 1980-Oct 1982) for £4.  First released in 1965 it was their fifth album and features seven songs from the film of the same name on Side 1.

The Beatles - Help! (1965)

It produced two number one singles at the time; Help! and Ticket To Ride, which were both Lennon and McCartney songs.  The album also features two cover versions; the country song Act Naturally sung by Ringo and Larry Williams' Dizzy Miss Lizzy sung by John.

Two Harrisongs are also present; I Need You and I Like You Too Much.  Paul's evergreen Yesterday (recorded by Paul alone) wasn't released as a single in the UK until 1976 once their contract with EMI had expired.  The Beatles had originally refused a release because they felt it was really a solo record that didn't fit in with their work as a whole.  It then reached no.8.  The song is famously one of the most-covered songs, with versions running into the thousands!

The front cover does not actually spell out 'help' in semaphore as originally intended, as the sequence was deemed not aesthetically pleasing.  The UK version actually spells out 'nujv', although it is a partial reverse print of the original photos that spelled 'lpus' or 'help us'!

The album reached no.1 in the UK.  The US version is very different, featuring only songs from the film plus parts of the original score.  It also reached no.1 on the Billboard chart.

Top tracks: