HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANCOISE!

Just a quick one today! And wishing a very Happy Birthday to probably my favourite French singer of all time - yep we're talking Mlle. Francoise Madeline Hardy - and only 3 days different from my own! She's on the 17th of Jan and it's mine today!

The fluky thing is that Cherry Red through their El imprint have just issued Francoise's debut album officially here in the UK for the first time which I bought just over a week ago as an early birthday present for myself (if you can't treat yourself to a bit of FH once in a while then what else can you do!). Which as well as that album originally issued in 1962 you also get the Italian language set which came out a year later.  So it's interesting to do a compare and contrast between the two sets of songs.

And while we're on the subject of Francoise sleeve art and photos - here's a few more of one of the best pop singers of the 60's! Enjoy! And to Francoise - thank you for your wonderful music!  Merci beaucoup!

 

THE MURDER BALLAD DUETS - KYLIE, POLLY & NICK

ARTIST: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds feat. Kylie Minogue; TITLE: Where The Wild Roses Grow; LABEL: Mute; FORMAT: CDS; CAT. NO.: CD MUTE 185; YEAR: 1995; COUNTRY: UK.

This tangentially links in the last post on Bowie - inspired by having a listen to Bowie's 'Baal' EP the other day, specifically one track 'The Drowned Girl' which got me thinking as to whether it's an influence on the Nick Cave and Kylie duet "Where The Wild Roses Grow" from the "Murder Ballads" album.  The song's a bit of good one - and for anyone used to the usual Kylie fare this must have come as something of a surprise, and which showed there was a lot more to her than the PWL pop stuff - and as you'd tend to expect, pretty much standard Nick Cave type stuff - ie  dark romanticism tinged with the usual gothic touches. And you pretty much know that the narrator of the song as voiced by Kylie isn't going to come out of it well.  The song also gave Nick Cave his biggest hit in the UK, getting as high as 11 in the Charts.  The other 2 tracks on the single are the wonderful "The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane" - which plays out like a scene from a Tarrantino film and a wonderful bit of black humour as well!  The final track is "The Willow Garden" sung here by Bad Seed Conway Savage.

ARTIST: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Feat. PJ Harvey; TITLE: Henry Lee; LABEL: Mute; FORMAT: CDS; CAT. NO.: CD MUTE 189; YEAR: 1996; COUNTRY: UK
The second single to be released from the "Murder Ballads" album is this wonderful duet with PJ Harvey.  With "Henry Lee" the boot is definitely on the other foot - as you'd tend to expect from a Polly Harvey related song from this period of her career - check her 'To Bring You My Love' LP for further info - and it's the bloke that gets it here in no uncertain terms!  The next track is Nick Cave's take on 'Froggy Went A-Courting' giving the archetypal Cave treatment - with blood and guts aplenty!  The last track is the rather brilliant "Knoxville Girl" - an Appalachian murder ballad where despite the deed being done - remorse gets the better of the narrator and he ends up behind bars after being tormented by his guilt over what he's done.  The song has it roots in an Irish murder ballad 'The Wexford Girl' which itself derives from an English one called 'The Oxford Girl' - which I think is the same one the Oyster Band did.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. BOWIE - DAVID JONES IN SOME OF HIS PHASES!

Hello for 2013 - and a wishing you all a Happy-ish New Year!  First up for this year is the recent birthday boy - David Bowie and wishing you a Very Happy 66th.

This is done in roughly chronological order - so that the records are from the year that they were released - rather than in the case of the reissues from when they'd first appeared.  The reason being that as is this based on my record collection it's a question of cost - especially so in the case of Bowie's stuff from the 60's!

First up here's the sleeve for the Spanish issue of "Starman" from '72.  And more than likely Spain's introduction to Ziggy.

Next we have what's probably one of Bowie's earliest classics - "The London Boys" originally released on Deram in 1966 as the flip side to 'Rubber Band', and here reissued on Decca in 1975.  

The song deals with the darker side of the Mod Dream and showing that's it not really all it's cracked up to be - whether Bowie's putting any of himself in this character I'm not sure - and works as cautionary tale of what can happen if you get yourself into something too deep too soon! 

1978 saw Decca reissuing Bowie 1964 "Liza Jane" which had virtually zilch in the way of publicity - and unless you were a long term-fan how many people would immediately connect Davie Jones & The King Bees with Bowie?  Griping aside what's it actually like - pretty good in fact! A admirable bit of mid 60's British R'n'B - the song's one of those that been done by a lot of people down the years - and the other version that immediately springs to mind is the one Nina Simone did.  The B Side gives you a version of "Louie, Louie Go Back Home" which is no way as near as an Illustrated Record on Bowie would have you believe - OK it's got it's limitations but you can here the band giving it their all - and it is Bowie's debut after all!

The 45 for consideration is this Dutch only issue of the track from 1979's criminally neglected 'Lodger' LP - namely the Turkish/Reggae tune that is "Yassassin".  The title translates from Turkish as "Long Live" and apparantly inspired by Bowie's time in Berlin where he was living the Turkish quarter.  It's a track I like and shows that our man Mr. Jones (alongside Mr Eno) wasn't afraid of introducing non-western musical influences into his stuff! Plus you also get Hawkwind's Simon House on electric violin as well!

Here's the sleeve for the 1982 12" version of Bowie's version of the Brecht "The Alabama Song" - which confusing reuses the Ziggy era sleeve from the 1972 reissue of the 'Space Oddity' LP - whereas as anyone in the know knows that the version here is the stripped down 1980 version that acted as a primer for Bowie's return to the saga of Major Tom on 'Ashes To Ashes'.  Back to the music - "The Alabama Song" was recorded during the sessions for the 'Lodger' LP and was written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil for the 'Threepenny Opera' (also the origin point for 'Mack The Knife') and uses Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies to good effect with the drummer and bassist swapping places and shifting key changes and tempos for each verse.  Along with the stripped down version of "Space Oddity" the third track which thematically matches the other two is Bowie's version Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam".  And which despite the slagging off it gets in some quarters actually isn't that bad!

Bowie's other major bit Brecht was the 1982 drama he did for the BBC - his first major play "Baal".  The songs Bowie performed in were released as an EP and received a pretty positive response both on screen and for the music - which Bowie and producer Tony Visconti did at Hansa Tonstudios in Berlin where they'd done 'Low' and 'Heroes'.  In someways what you get with "Baal" is Bowie coming full circle. A decade after the theartrics and sexual ambivalence that brought him into the public gaze via Ziggy Stardust, here he is playing a character with at least some of those attributes on screen.  It's also pretty much the end of an era - as this would the last bit of original Bowie material that RCA would issue - before he moved over to EMI.  

And on the subject of Bowie at EMI here's the two single he did for Parlophone in 1965 reissued as a handy 10" EP by See For Miles in 1982.  Side One gives you the single released by Bowie's group of the time The Manish Boys - first up a version of Bobby Bland's "I Pity The Fool" which features a blistering guitar solo from Jimmy Page. Next up is the first Bowie song to make it onto vinyl - the distinctly Mod-flavoured "Take My Tip".  Side Two has our man billed as Davy Jones & The Lower Third - and the tracks on offer here are firstly "You've Got A Habit Of Leaving" - which if it sounds slightly Who-ish should be too surprising as it's produced by Shel Talmy who was producing both bands at the time - and again featuring a Jimmy Page solo. The proceeding are rounded off with "Baby Loves That Way" another Bowie original and somewhat typical of the period.

ELLA SINGS THE BEATLES

Artist: ELLA FITZGERALD; Title: CAN'T BUY ME LOVE; Label: VERVE; Format: 7"; Cat. No.: VS 519; Year: 1964; Country: UK

Jazz themed post for today - inspired by a local jazz singer I've had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know recently. So Nina - this one's for you.

Released in 1964 this is Ella's take on the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" - which until recently (ie last weekend) I didn't realize that she'd recorded at Abbey Road studios.  As she wanted to record her version in the studios where the original was created.  It's this rather excellent version, that Ella pretty makes her own, that open a lot of doors for Lennon & McCartney/The Beatles as it meant that the serious music establishment began to take notice of what they were doing. Plus also giving them a lot more creative control as a consequence.

The flip side is Ella's version of the Richard Rogers' "The Sweetest Sounds" - again recorded at Abbey Road - with arrangements like those on the A Side by Johnnie Spence.  Although I'm wondering who's the producer on this - was it Verve's label boss Norman Granz - or could it even be George Martin?

Artist: ELLA FITZGERALD; Title: SAVOY TRUFFLE; Label: REPRISE; Format: 7"; Cat. No.:RS 20875; Year: 1970; Country: UK

Next up this promo copy of the other Beatles track Ella did - and one that probably not a lot of people are aware she did.  A cover of George Harrison's "Savoy Truffle".  It's from Ella's first album for Reprise - and the parent LP also includes a cracking N. Soul styled version of 'Get Ready' as well as a sublime cover of Smokey's 'The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game'.  It comes within a year of another cover of George Harrison song - Sinatra's version of 'Something' which was also released on Reprise (and ironic that of all the Beatles songs out there - Ole Blue Eyes went for one of George's).  Back to the music, and again as Ella genereally does she makes the song pretty much her own.

The flip side is an okayish version of Bacharach & David's "I'll Never Fall In Love Again".

VINYL INTERNATIONAL - (CONT.) EUROPEAN DECCA 45s

Slightly different format for this entry - as I'm just concentrating of the sleeve art of these three european 45s and one LP - all released on Decca in the 60s.

ARTIST: Lulu & The Luvers; TITLE: Shout; LABEL: Decca; FORMAT: 7"; Cat. No.: DL 25 148; YEAR: 1964; COUNTRY: NED.
First up is this 1964 offering.  Which I think is the  Dutch issued version of Lulu's debut - and here still credited alongside her backing band The Luvers.  And a cracking version of the Isley's tune - which I fairly certain most people SHOULD know!

ARTIST: Lulu; TITLE: Can't Hear You No More; LABEL: Decca: FORMAT: 7"; Cat. No. (Not Given); YEAR: 1965; COUNTRY: NED.
This second one from Lulu is from around 1965 - and def is Dutch - having picked up a couple of Dusty Springfield single form this favorieten express series the last time I was in Amsterdam, and is the Goffin & King penned "Can't Hear You No More" - which carrying on with the Dusty connections also crops up her 2nd LP 'Everything's Coming Up Dusty' issued around the same time as this single.

ARTIST: The Who; TITLE: Out On The Street; LABEL: Decca; FORMAT: 7"; Cat. No.: 45-GO 6409; YEAR: 1965; COUNTRY: NED.
The next one is this Dutch issued single from The Who "Out On The Street - and the opener to their debut LP 'My Generation'.  Interesting to note that it's part of Dutch Decca's 'American Series' - were the marketing people attempting to push the band as a US/black R'n'B act I wonder?

ARTIST: Them; TITLE: Them (One More Time); LABEL: Decca; FORMAT: LP; Cat No.: (Not Given); YEAR: 1965; COUNTRY; NED.
Last up is the sleeve of this Dutch LP from Them - and I'm guessing is the follow up to the debut 'Angry Young Them' as the track listing's comprised of single A & B sides and the tracks their EP's issued in the UK.  And the fact that tracks like the cover of Dylan's 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue aren't listed.

THE 3 TEMPTATIONS OF THE ROLLING STONES

Like most bands who started in the 60's the Stones did their amount covers in their early years - obviously in the case of Jagger and Co it's mainly blues, but like The Beatles before them they also did a fair amount of Soul stuff too.  There's a version of Marvin Gaye's "Hitch Hike" on the 1965 'Out Of Our Heads' LP (Decca SKL 4733) (along with versions of Don Covay's "Mercy Mercy"and Barbara Lynn's "Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Going)"), but what I'm concentrating on is the 3 cover of tracks by The Temptations spread over a 12 year period - i.e. 1967-1978.

Artist: The Rolling Stones; Title: Flowers;  Label: DECCA/NOVA; Year: 1967; Format: LP; Cat. No.:6.21.407;  Country of Issue: Germany.
First up is "My Girl" which appeared on the non-UK album 'Flowers' issued in 1967. The track is unreleased for the session for 1966's 'Aftermath' LP and was my own introduction to the song - having heard this ahead of the Otis Redding version and then eventually the Temptations' original version.  It's a good version and Jagger treats it with the respect it deserves.  It finally made its UK debut on the 1971 'Stone Age' (SKL 5084) comp that Decca put out after the Stones had set up their own label via Atlantic.

Artist: The Rolling Stones; Title: Ain't Too Proud To Beg; Label: ROLLING STONES/ATCO/CONTINENTAL; Year: 1975; Format: 45; Cat. No.: 3-05-101-004; Country of Issue: Brazil.
Next up is 1975 version of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" - which I hadn't realized they'd done - and from the 'It's Only Rock 'n' Roll' LP and again unissued as a single here in the UK.  And rather good it is too - well worth checking out - as the previously owner of this Brazilian copy, someone called Vitor thought too, as he was happy to put his name to it twice!!!!

Artist: The Rolling Stones; Title: Some Girls; Label: ROLLING STONES/EMI; Year: 1978; Format: LP; Cat. No.: CUN 39108. Country of Issue: UK.
The 3rd Temptations cover they did (as far as I'm aware) is the version of "Just My Imagination" that's on 1978's 'Some Girls'.  Again a creditable cover and like the version of "My Girl", my own first experience of the song.

DELIA & THE DOCTOR

Artist: Delia Derbyshire & The BBC Radiophonic Workshop; Title: Dr. Who (Theme); Label: Decca; Format: 7"; Cat. No.: F.11837; Year: 1964; Country: UK.

Today's post celebrates the unsung genius of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - namely the late, great Delia Derbyshire, and the one tune that's indelibly linked & associated with her - namely the "Doctor Who" theme.  And quite apt as the second half of the current series gets underway at the end of the month - 27th August according to the Facebook Doctor Who page.  BBC One in the UK, and BBC America in the US.

Released on Decca in 1964 this still has to be one of innovative (as well as most recognizable) TV themes created - and one the first to be done through electronic means.  Composer Ron Grainer's reaction was such for him to attempt to get Delia credited as co-composer, only to fall foul of BBC policy of not allowing company employees to profit from their creations, and the attitude of keeping the actual members of the Workshop effectively anonymous. (The other classic case in terms of Doctor Who being the designer behind the look of the Daleks Raymond Cuisick.)

Vinyl trivia for the B Side - as it features a Bert Berns produced (done whilst supervising the sessions for Them perhaps?) version of "This Can't Be Love" by Brenda & Johnny.  Who were...?

Next up is the 1973 reissue of the "Doctor Who" theme - this time in stereo on the BBC's own label - RESL 11, and which this time does give the 'Realised by Delia Derbyshire' credit on the label (and on the 1976 reissue of this actually credited on the sleeve.  Although somewhat ironic as she'd left the BBC by this point.  The flip side of the has "Reg" composed and performed by Paddy Kingland - who fufilled a similar in the 70's at the Radiophonic Workshop as Delia had done in the 60's.

Valuewise - you're looking at £30 for a mint copy of the original Decca issue, £10 for the 1st issue of the BBC version in the Tardis picture sleeve, and £6 for the 1976 reissue in its picture sleeve.