Nice Enough To Eat!

Today is a Bank Holiday and I'm going nowhere, so instead let me tell you about some of the records I picked up at a boot sale on the previous Bank Holiday weekend.  On the Sunday (May 5th) I took advantage of a seller's 3-for-a fiver offer on LPs.  First was this:

The World of David Bowie (1973)

This is a 1973 reissue of an album originally released in 1970, with an updated cover photo.  A fascinating collection of songs from his 1967 debut on Deram plus other previously unreleased tracks, this cynically re-packaged set of folk and music-hall style material was presumably intended to attract Ziggy fans expecting something quite different.

It's interesting of course, and very enjoyable in places, but essential to only the most hardcore of Bowie-philes.  Many of the songs here feature on the 1985 double album David Bowie - The Collection (which I have on cassette!).

Next up, the 1969 self-titled debut from Santana:

Santana (1969)

Released the same month as Woodstock where they played on the 15th of August, this is an album of powerful, Latin-infused guitar rock, enveloping the listener in a heady fug of Hammond organ, unbelievable percussion and THAT guitar from Carlos.  Its incredible cover image of a line-drawn lion incorporates how many faces?!

Last and certainly not least I chose Nice Enough To Eat, also from 1969:

Various Artists - Nice Enough To Eat (1969)

 An Island Records label sampler of folk rock, prog and hard rock from artists including Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Free and Spooky Tooth, NETE originally cost under 15 shillings which was half the price of a regular album at the time.

Tracklist:

Side 1.

1.  Cajun Woman - Fairport Convention

2.  At The Crossroads - Mott The Hoople

3.  Better By You, Better Than Me - Spooky Tooth

4.  We Used To Know - Jethro Tull

5.  Woman - Free

6.  I Keep Singing That Same Old Song - Heavy Jelly

Side 2.

1.  Sing Me A Song That I Know - Blodwyn Pig

2.  (Roamin' Thro' The Gloamin' With) Forty Thousand Headmen - Traffic

3.  Time Has Told Me - Nick Drake

4.  21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson

5.  Gungamai - Quintessence

6.  Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal - Dr. Strangely Strange

An important album to many, it served as an ear-opening introduction to the current Island roster and this kind of music in general.  It certainly worked its charms on me - at the Bank Holiday Monday car boot sale the following day I was driven to buy The Best of Spooky Tooth on CD (£4) which includes this HEAVY cover of I Am The Walrus:

Nice!

The Dog's B*ll*cks

It's been a long, cold winter with a couple of false starts, but today's car boot sale had some vinyl worth flicking through and I returned home with a 1981 reissue of Bowie's 1974 album Diamond Dogs (INTS 5068), bought for £4.

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (1974)

This was his first post-Spiders album and is essentially a glam-rock record, but with a different sound to its predecessors due to Bowie playing most of the lead guitar parts himself (not to mention several other instruments).  Also present are the first signs of the R'n'B/Soul that would inform 1975's Young Americans.

The original concept for the record was based on Orwell's 1984, but when permission for this was denied by Orwell's widow, Bowie kept his head and worked the existing songs into a dark, fragmented narrative of his own, set in Hunger City where,

"Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats
And ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes".

Yikes!

The cover was painted by artist Guy Peellaert, and the original artwork featured genitalia on the lower half of the Bowie/dog hybrid.  This was airbrushed out as you can see from this photo, although some copies with the original image did make it onto the shelves.

I love the segue from the epic Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing into its biggest hit Rebel Rebel, but my top picks are the Stones-y title track and the cinematic 1984.
Here's the 30th anniversary album remaster on Spotify:

Living To Music April 2013

Join in if you can, alone or with friends, this Sunday, April the 7th at 9pm with Greg Wilson's Living To Music worldwide communal listening experience. This month's selected album is John Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2013/04/living-to-music-john-lennon-john-lennon-plastic-ono-band/

Living To Music March 2013

Join in if you can, alone or with friends, tonight at 9pm with Greg Wilson's Living To Music worldwide communal listening experience. This month's selected album is Bjork's Debut (1993).

http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2013/02/living-to-music-bjork-debut/

Apologies for the very short notice - I seem to have dropped off Greg's mailing list and forgot to check his website. 

Space Cadet

With a lack of car boot sales at this time of year, I occasionally succumb to the temptations of eBay to satisfy my desire for musical diversion.  At the beginning of January I bought this album for £3.99 on the strength of the cover alone:

The Lime Spiders - The Cave Comes Alive! (1987)

The Lime Spiders were - and still are - an Australian rock band.  Formed in 1979 by lead singer and constant member Mick Blood, their declared influences are 60s garage rock and psychedelia.  However, to these ears the overriding sound is more 80s hair metal/hard rock.

This was their debut album released on Virgin and represents the height of their success. The unremarkable songwriting and dreary vocals are somewhat redeemed by some sterling efforts from guitarist Gerard Corben, in particular the latin outro to final track Theory of Thira, below.  Excellent album cover though!




Tracklist:
Side 1.
My Favourite Room
Are You Loving Me More
Ignormy
NSU
Just One Solution
Blood From a Stone

Side 2.
Just One Solution (Reprise)
Action Woman
Rock Star
Jessica
Space Cadet
Theory of Thira

Living To Music February 2013

Join in if you can, alone or with friends, this Sunday at 9pm with Greg Wilson's Living To Music worldwide communal listening experience. This month's selected album is Shuggie Otis with Inspiration Information (1974).

http://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2013/01/living-to-music-shuggie-otis-inspiration-information-2/

Blowin' Hot and Cold

This snowy, blowy Sunday morning called for something warming to get the circulation moving, so I dug out two of the very few jazz albums I own and wiggled my toes to the groove.

The first on was Hot & Heavy by Herbie Hancock, bought for 50p at a local chazza:

Herbie Hancock - Hot & Heavy (1984)

My first encounter with Mr. Hancock was in summer 1983 when I was eight years old and he released the groundbreaking breakdance anthem Rockit.  His lengthy career as jazz pianist, composer and bandleader has included membership of the Miles Davis Quintet and recordings on Blue Note in the 60s, and moves towards funk and electronic music in the 70s and 80s.  His eclectic tastes have led him to dip his toe into many other styles including classical, pop, soul, R&B and hip-hop.  I can't find much info on this album, although it appears to be a collection of early 60s sessions recorded around the same time as his soundtrack to the 1966 movie Blow Up.  Many of the tracks were included in an album called The Blow Up Extra-Sessions:  http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-blow-up-extra-sessions-mw0000963723

Next onto the turntable was this, bought on eBay for about £3 last year, partly for the great cover:

Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery -
Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo (1967)

Master of the Hammond B-3 Jimmy Smith joins jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery for their first outing as a duo (before The Further of Adventures of Jimmy and Wes later that year from the same sessions).  Although this UK pressing  is from 1967, it was released elsewhere in '66.

The two musicians complement and propel one another wonderfully on tracks like 13 (Death March) and James and Wes, while the big band treatment does little to detract from their command on Down By The Riverside and Night Train.  My favourite, however, is their take on the classic Baby, It's Cold Outside, where the interplay between the boy (organ) and girl (guitar) is just sublime.  Here it is - and dig those sleigh bells too!