The Soundtrack To my Life. 03/07/2012.

“Born To Add: Great Rock & Roll” (1983).
By: Sesame Street.
Why You Should Get It…

“Bringing It All Back Home” (1965).
By: Bob Dylan.
Why You Should Get It…

“Highway 61 Revisited” (1965).
By: Bob Dylan.
Why You Should Get It…

“JAWS” (OST): Anniversary Collector’s Edition (2000)
By: John Williams.
Why You Should Get It… I feel that I should point out something about the soundtrack to the cinematic classic, “JAWS”.
If, like me, you have the original soundtrack on vinyl, you don’t have what you think you have. The original vinyl soundtrack was a re-recording of the film score specifically for the soundtrack. Make sense?
Basically, if you have the original soundtrack to the film “JAWS”, you don’t.

This my friends, is why you really need the ‘Collector’s Anniversary Edition’. It IS the same recording as used in the film without the 70’s tape hiss etc… and it sounds better than ever!

“Banga” (2012).
By: Pattis Smith.
Why You Should Get It… The really (un or intentionally) freaky cover of Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold Rush’:

Which leads me on to…

“Americana” (2012).
By: Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
Why You Should Get It… Hands in the air? Honest engine? I don’t think you should get this album. Not because it’s bad, just because as far as Neil Young & Crazy Horse standards go, “Americana” is just not that good. It also has a lot do with Neil’s choice of songs. See, there are hundreds of better versions by other people and bands out there.

That said, every single video for the album is old timey and brilliant!
This is my favourite:

“Rock Around The Clock” (1954).
By: Bill Haley & The Comets.
Why You Should Get It… Whenever I think of Rock & Roll, I think of Little Richard, Berry, Jerry Lee and then Presley. I almost never think about Bill Haley and yet he was the one who made it all popular.

“Rock Around The Clock” is a peach of a song and the album is brilliant too with none of the filler you’d expect from an old Rock band like this BUT! Sadly, this record was deleted from circulation some time ago.

I found a mint condition copy in Glasgow’s Panopticon Shop and it only cost me ₤1! I was lucky that day and that night, I danced around my house to the sound of this:

“The Complete Million Dollar Quartet” (2006).
By: The Million Dollar Quartet.
Why You Should Get It… This is one of the greatest records I own. The Million Dollar Quartet was the name given to a one-off chance jam session at Sun Records in 1956 between Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. The results are GOLDEN! I’ve spoken to hardcore Elvis fanatics and they don’t even rate this record! That’s how good it is!
Never trust an Elvis fan who loves his entire discography!

See, The Million Dollar Quartet session was an unplanned jam. There are bum notes, studio chat, giggling and false starts ALL OVER THE PLACE!
It’s an utter joy to listen to and you feel like you’re right there in the room with these people.

Elvis is obviously the star of the show here and you can actually hear the awe coming from the other 3 whenever he says something.
The Million Dollar Quartet session actually highlights how amateur Presley was as a guitar player and how mesmerisingly fiery Jerry lee Lewis was as a piano player.

There’s a great moment where Elvis explains how he saw some unknown and unnamed singer do a song called “Don’t Be Cruel” and how he himself took some of Wilson’s mannerisms for his own version. The singer Presley was talking about was Jackie Wilson and you can hear it here:

Johnny Cash is particularly quiet during the entire session and Carl Perkins is…Carl Perkins but for me, Jerry Lee Lewis is the main man of the quartet and you can easily pick up on him silently plotting to wipe the floor with Elvis and as far as I’m concerned, that’s exactly what he does when he rattles this off on his piano at the end of the record:

“The Chess Story 1947-1975” Volume 1 (1999).
By: Various Artists.
Why You Should Get It… I’ve mentioned this 15 disc set before and I’m sure I’ll talk about it more in the future because it’s ASTONISHING! It’s probably the greatest collection of popular and rare blues music that exists. I keep being caught off guard by little tracks that I’d maybe missed before and a few days ago, this wee shiny gem had me cracking up right in the middle of the street…

I couldn’t get enough of the 15 Chess Story discs. I needed more! I dug around and discovered THIS:

“The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968” Volume 1 (2003).
By: Various Artists.
Why You Should Get It… I managed to get my hands on Volume 1 of 3 which is 9 Discs worth of some of the greatest music that’s ever been!

So far, my favourite track is ‘Last Night’ by The Mar-Keys and the Rik Mayall fans among you may find it to be very familiar…

All of these albums and records come highly recommended from me to you!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

…Of course, you could spend a lot of time and money tracking all of those records down OR you could spend 11 bucks on a 12″ vinyl copy of “Love Lust Tales” from HERE which I designed the artwork for…

You May Also Be Interested In…
* The Soundtrack To My Life 07/06/2012
* The Soundtrack To My Life 08/05/2012
* The Soundtrack To My Life 15/04/2012

The Soundtrack To My Life. 04/02/2012.

“The Chocolate Invasion”. (2004).
Artist: Prince.
Why You Should Get It: IF you can get it! This was released at the time through Prince’s website but you could probably download it somewhere in an illegal fashion. – And you should because it contains some of the sexiest music you’ll hear since you last turned the lights down low and spun your copy of Barry White’s Greatest Hits!

“The Chess Story: 1947-1975”. (1999).
Artist: Various.
Why You Should Get It: You’ll probably HAVE to illegally download this because if you can find it, it will set you back HUNDREDS of dollars and that’s only IF you can find it. 

What we’re talking about here my friends, is 13 discs packed full of the best known and most obscure blues music and artists from 1947 all the way through to 1975! It’s a helluva lot to make your way through but if you love the blues as much as I do then you will love every minute and when you get done, there are 2 more discs chock full of interviews from some of the key players associated with the Chess Recording Label.

“Love And Theft”. (2001)
Artist: Bob Dylan.
Why You Should Get It: It’s Bob Dylan. You should already have this!
Interestingly enough this record was released on September 11th, 2001. I don’t play this a lot at home and I really don’t know why. It’s a GREAT record and Dylan has an amazing band behind him. It’s especially interesting to listen to the song “Mississippi” what with the 3 different versions which were released on the “Tell Tale Signs” records.

For my ears, the best version of “Mississippi” is on the first disc from “Tell Tale Signs” but “Love And Theft” has loads going for it. I have pals who tell me that Bob going through the Rock & Roll bluesy motions just doesn’t do it for them but (And as I often tell my pals) MY GOD MAN! Just take a listen to ‘Po’ Boy’! You can actually see those cherries falling off the plate!

“Rarities”. (2003).
Artist: Ron Sexsmith.
Why You Should Get It: Ron Sexsmith’s voice and songwriting skills are worth whatever he wants to charge. We should think ourselves lucky really.

There are a few gems on here but most notably; his take on The Boomtown Rats’ ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ and his original recording of his own ‘Gold In Them Hills’ before Chris Martin from Coldplay had the AUDACITY to overdub his own vocals over it without even asking Ron’s permission.

“Kisses On The Bottom”. (2012).
Artist: Paul McCartney.
Why You Should Get It: You probably don’t really need this. I love Paul McCartney and I always listen to whatever he comes out with even if it’s only once. I think this is an album for McCartney and an ‘only once’ album for me.

It’s McCartney doing old dance hall hits and poppy jazz standards which we’ve all heard a million times and a million times better by other folk. “Kisses On the Bottom” is nice enough (Funny title too) but it’s the kind of thing you’ll end up hearing for free if you sit in a bookshop or a coffee shop for long enough.

“City To City” .(2001).
Artist: Gerry Rafferty.
Why You Should Get It: I don’t know whether you should get this or not. This is one of those albums that I bought at the time because I liked the front cover only to find that the music didn’t do much for me. I suppose you either love Gerry Rafferty’s music or just think it’s…okay.

His biggest hit ‘Baker Street’ is on this album and it’s still great but a lot of the other songs mostly just sound like any other 70’s guitar records to me. Of course, that’s not a bad thing and the difference is that Rafferty’s recordings are so much more polished than most of the music from other arrtists from the same time.
I liked his “Can I Have My Money Back” album better because it sounded more honest and if I’m honest here, I don’t like ‘Hits’.

“Alice’s Restaurant”. (1967).
Artist: Arlo Guthrie.
Why You Should Get It: The title track.

As ever, I’m always interested in hearing anything that I haven’t already so if there’s something which you think I should listen to, drop me a line.