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:

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.

Electric Dreams

The 1984 movie Electric Dreams about a love triangle between a geeky architect, his computer (Edgar) and his pretty new neighbour is probably best remembered for the lead song from it's soundtrack; Together In Electric Dreams by Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder.

I picked up both the 12" extended single and the soundtrack album at yesterday's car boot sale for 50p each:

Giorgio Moroder with Phil Oakey - Together In Electric
Dreams (Extended) (1984)

Electric Dreams OST (1984)
(Note the vinyl LP slipcase)

The album absolutely screams "EIGHTIES MOVIE!" from beginning to end, packed as it is with 808s, gated drums and the like and featuring tracks from Culture Club, ELO's Jeff Lynne and Heaven 17.  Don Was produced the title track that opens the movie, sung by PP Arnold, and on listening to it I could feel that magical thrill of expectation which accompanied the beginning of so many 80s films.  Giorgio Moroder produced much of the rest, his emotional electronics perfectly suiting the tone of the film.

Here's the movie trailer.  The song featured in it is actually my least favourite; Jeff Lynne's Let It Run, which I'd describe as an Art Of Noise-meets-Status Quo electro-chugger.



Both the soundtrack and the movie were Virgin productions. In fact Richard Branson is credited as the film's co-producer.

The single Together In Electric Dreams (which also features Peter Frampton on guitar) reached no.3 in the UK and the album peaked at no.46.  Top tracks:

http://youtu.be/3OLEAeky8is

http://youtu.be/dLgI6vS_NSw