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Post by sandbachhatter on May 15, 2015 18:30:39 GMT
Evening ladies and gents.
Next up with his personal A-Z of music, is Archie...
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Post by archie on May 15, 2015 20:21:41 GMT
Most of an individual's favourite music will date back to his or her formative years. For me, 'the day the music died' was with Punk and so most of my selections will be from a time before many on here were born. Transporting you back to a time that proper music was played on proper musical equipment is all part of the service.
Part 1
A Argent - Hold Your Head Up A driving start with a neglected gem that neatly bookends the album with the 'Z' selection.
B Jackson Browne - Of Missing Persons God Only Knows would be the selection more often than not but I'm in a JB mood at the moment and this is one of his most personal songs.
C Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Ohio From an age when protest songs were common, one of the angriest written in response to the killing of 4 students at Kent State University by the National Guard.
D Drifters - On Broadway. Needed some Ben E King and this is the best.
E Eagles - Desperado Several good versions of this song but the original is still the best.
F Fever Tree - San Francisco Girls (Return Of The Native) Very few will have heard of this but it's a fine example of late Sixties West Coast music even though the band originated in Texas.
G Andrew Gold - Free The man wrote some timeless pop songs. This is one of his saddest.
H Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks - I Scare Myself Another obscure one. I first heard them on John Peel's radio show and I'm a sucker for a raw violin sound. Some may recognise it from the version by Thomas Dolby.
I Icehouse - Great Southern Land One for Sandy. Iva not trying to sound like Bryan Ferry for once.
J Billy Joel - Scenes From An Italian Restaurant 'A bottle of white, a bottle of red.'
K Kings Of Convenience - Winning A Battle, Losing The War Has to be a king. Already done Ben E and, although Carole is a wonderful songwriter, I'm going with the Norwegian Simon & Garfunkel.
L Love - Alone Again Or The first track on one of my favourite albums. Always gives the thrill of anticipation for the other gems to come.
M Alannah Myles - Black Velvet Probably the only track of hers that anyone could name but I just love that dirty Southern sound.
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Post by archie on May 15, 2015 20:24:46 GMT
Part 2
N Graham Nash - Chicago Another protest song from my youth that takes me back to a different time.
O Oasis - Champagne Supernova For all that Liam is a pain in the @rse, his voice was very strong on the first 2 albums and this song rounded off What's The Story perfectly.
P Alan Parsons Project - Eye In The Sky You'll probably recognise this one even if you didn't know who it was by. Class.
Q Quarterflash - Harden My Heart A difficult letter for the best group but this track is a stand-out and a staple of 80s American compilations.
R Tom Robinson - Atmospherics (Listen To The Radio) Just as a variation from the general REM (my choice in the group album) theme. I've got this on vinyl 45 and it still exudes quality.
S Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Hollywood Nights The most difficult selection of the lot, with songs like The Boxer and Goin' Back missing out, but the urgent rhythm behind a musician at the height of his powers gets this one in.
T James Taylor - Shower The People Rather like Desperado, there have been some decent versions of this - there's a particularly good live version by the Dixie Chicks on YouTube - but the original is again my choice.
U Unit 4 + 2 - Baby Never Say Goodbye Their last top 50 single and another in my 45s collection. Brings back memories of sunny student days.
V Sarah Vaughan - Summertime The song had to feature somewhere and no-one better than the Divine Sarah.
W Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way Everybody plug in your air guitar. His contribution to the guitar break on Hotel California was sublime but this one is all his own work.
X Xandria - Ravenheart To be honest, I didn't want to go with XTC so I did some googling and found this. Not half bad either.
Y Neil Young - Keep On Rockin' In The Free World Had to be Neil but the choice is almost random because of the vast choice of material covering different styles of music. In the end I went for a song that's a highlight of his shows with Crazy Horse.
Z Zombies - Time Of The Season The matching bookend for Argent.
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Post by bringbacklenwhite on May 15, 2015 20:50:40 GMT
I can work with most of these Archie. Eclectic choice of a time when music was music.
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Post by sandbachhatter on May 15, 2015 20:58:21 GMT
'Great Southern Land' wouldn't be my personal choice for Icehouse, although it's a great track, but 'Black Velvet' is a superb shout!
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Post by gazz on May 15, 2015 21:34:19 GMT
Loving The Drifters on there, but Ben didn't sing that one, matey, it was Rudy Lewis. Ben's finest Drifters song was Spanish Harlem for me. On Broadway is still a great shout though, as is Neil Young and The Zombies. I'll have to have a listen to a few of the other ones too.
Thanks for sharing, mate, excellent write up to accompany each choice too.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on May 15, 2015 23:23:13 GMT
Great selection, archie. With you all the way, in particular, so far as Alone Again Or and Rocky Mountain Way are concerned. And Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, too - which is, for me, a classic album-closer. Or, at least, an A-side closer. God, I'm getting old...
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Post by archie on May 16, 2015 8:17:48 GMT
Loving The Drifters on there, but Ben didn't sing that one, matey, it was Rudy Lewis. Ben's finest Drifters song was Spanish Harlem for me. To be honest, I never checked the singer and just assumed it was Ben because it sounded like him which was probably the intention. Thanks for putting me right. I agree about Spanish Harlem being another fine song but I've always thought it was a Ben solo. Could be wrong about that as well though. The only vinyl I have of the Drifters is 'I Count The Tears' which I'm fairly sure is Ben but didn't make the cut against On Broadway.
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Post by archie on May 16, 2015 8:25:03 GMT
And Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, too - which is, for me, a classic album-closer. Or, at least, an A-side closer. Know what you mean, Maccy. The Stranger is a top album. In his autobiography, Neil Young has a bit of a go about how he used to think very carefully about track order on vinyl because he thought it was important to get a proper balance. He tried to create 2 mini albums per LP. You can imagine what he thinks about MP3 shuffle.
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Post by gazz on May 16, 2015 9:52:19 GMT
Spanish Harlem being another fine song but I've always thought it was a Ben solo. Could be wrong about that as well though. You are indeed absolutely 100% correct on that one, matey. Although they seem to include it on many 'Best of the Drifters' collections for some reason, so cheers for clearing that one up!
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Post by archie on Jul 20, 2015 14:19:14 GMT
When I did my original selection, and indeed when Sandy was having us vote on the original CD, I thought that 'B' was the most competitive letter so I've had a little think and come up with this 26 track compilation from different Bs in my own collection.
1. Bachman Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet LP Not Fragile (1974)
2. The Band - The Weight 1968 single
3. Barclay James Harvest - Mocking Bird LP Once Again (1971)
4. The John Barry Seven - The Magnificent Seven 1961 single
5. Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby CD Made In The USA (1986)
6. Beatles - Ticket To Ride CD Help (2009) Original recording 1965
7. Beautiful South - I'll Sail This Ship Alone CD Welcome To The Beautiful South (1989)
8. Pat Benatar - Invincible CD Seven The Hard Way (1985)
9. Black - Wonderful life CD Wonderful Life (1987)
10. Mary Black - The Urge For Going CD Babes In The Wood (1991)
11. Black Sabbath - Paranoid LP Paranoid (1970)
12. Blood, Sweat & Tears - You've Made Me So Very Happy 1969 single
13. Bloomfield, Kooper, Stills - Albert's Shuffle LP Super Session (1968)
14. Gary US Bonds - Jole Blon LP Dedication (1981)
15. Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead Or Alive CD Cross Road - The Best Of Bon Jovi (1994)
16. Bo Street Runners - Baby Never Say Goodbye 1965 single (Mick Fleetwood on drums)
17. Bread - The Guitar Man LP Guitar Man (1972)
18. Brinsley Schwarz - Shining Brightly LP Original Golden Greats (1974) featuring Nick Lowe
19. Bronski Beat - It Ain't Necessarily So LP The Age Of Consent (1984)
20. Elkie Brooks - Sunshine After The Rain LP Two Days Away (1977)
21. Jackson Browne - The Pretender LP The Pretender (1976)
22. Tim Buckley - Once I Was LP Goodbye And Hello (1967) Jeff's dad, died of an overdose at 28
23. Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth LP Buffalo Springfield (1966)
24. Johnny Burnette - You're Sixteen 1960 single
25. Kate Bush - Cloudbusting CD Hounds Of Love (1985)
26. Byrds - So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star LP Younger Than Yesterday (1967)
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Jul 20, 2015 15:04:59 GMT
Good stuff, archie. I, too, found that 'B' - along with perhaps 'S' - offered the widest array of quality acts from which to choose!
The Bo Street Runners track is one that I need to search out. Presumably, you are familiar with this later little nugget that Mick F and the Mac boys (as were) recorded under the 'Earl Vince & the Valiants' pseudonym:
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Post by archie on Jul 20, 2015 16:07:55 GMT
Flipside of Man Of The World, in my view the finest track cut by either version of the group. I used to have a copy but gone missing over the years. The Bo Street Runners track is by Moeller/Parker of Unit 4 + 2 who also did a version. Interesting tale about the record on wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bo_Street_RunnersI think it has some rarity value. I didn't think I'd find 26 x S but I have so I'll sort them out as well for a bit of fun. To be continued.......
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Post by archie on Jul 20, 2015 19:58:12 GMT
...and we're back with the S CD.
1. Sade - Why Can't We Live Together CD Diamond Life (1984)
2. Santana - Samba Pa Ti CD Ultimate Collection (2000)
3. Searchers - What Have They Done To The Rain 1964 single
4. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - We've Got Tonight CD Greatest Hits (1994)
5. Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt 1962 single
6. Glenn Shorrock - Rock'n'Roll Soldier LP Villain of the Piece (1983 Former singer with the Little River Band
7. Judee Sill - Jesus Was A Cross Maker LP Judee Sill (1971)
8. Carly Simon - Anticipation LP Best of Carly Simon (1975)
9. Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer LP Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
10. Simply Red - Holding Back The Years CD Greatest Hits (1996)
11. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars CD Eyes Open (2006)
12. Spandau Ballet - Through The Barricades CD Through The Barricades (1986)
13. Spooky Tooth - That Was Only Yesterday LP Spooky Two (1969)
14. Dusty Springfield - Goin' Back CD Blue For You (1993)
15. Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland LP Born To Run (1975)
16. Stands - I Need You CD All Years Leaving (2004)
17. Steely Dan - Hey Nineteen LP Gaucho (1980)
18. Jim Steinman - Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through EP with LP Bad For Good (1981)
19. Cat Stevens - Father and Son LP Tea For The Tillerman (1970)
20. Al Stewart - Life and Life Only LP Love Chronicles (1969)
21. Rod Stewart - Handbags and Gladrags LP Sing It Again Rod (1973)
22. Stephen Stills - It Doesn't Matter LP Manassas (1972)
23. Sting - They Dance Alone (Gueca Solo) CD Nothing Like The Sun (1987)
24. Barbra Streisand - Woman In Love LP Guilty (1980)
25. Supertramp - Give A Little Bit LP Even In The Quietest Moments (1977)
26. Sutherland Brothers & Quiver - Dream Kid LP Dream Kid (1973)
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Post by bringbacklenwhite on Jul 20, 2015 21:06:10 GMT
Barclay James Harvest !!
Good old college time late night coffee music. Remember Galadriel ?
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