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. 20/08/2011.

Well, I’ve slowly been moving out of my flat for the past couple of days now and here are some of the records that have kept me from going mad…

Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three – “Live At The Newport Folk Festival 2010”:

Robert Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders’ selt titled Debut Album (1974):

Leadbelly: “Easy Rider” (3-Disc Compilation):

Big Mama Thornton: “The Original Hound Dog” (1990):

The “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” soundtrack by Jack Nitzsche (1975):

Almost 2 years have gone by since I wandered into The Strathclyde Suite in The Royal Concert Hall and saw Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three play one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen and they are STILL one of my favourite bands right now.
Still!
I got a hold of their performance at last year’s Newport Folk Festival and it’s just as good as their studio work.
I listen to these guys a lot and the Newport performance put me right in the mood for some more oldies…

Robert Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders.
– Now there’s a fucking band!
Robert Crumb is of course, THEE Robert Crumb; the World famous (and notorious) underground cartoonist and illustrator. If you think his drawings are the works of a genius, you should check out this debut album because it fits perfectly with his artwork and him and his band will take you right back to the 1920’s.
Back to when music was good and inspired and played with heart.
Back before it was cheap and disposable like most of it is now.

I’ve been playing that Leadbelly compilation up there quite a lot recently too because I don’t know how he gets his 12-string guitar to sound exactly like it does and I want to find out. I’m pretty sure it’s because he tunes real low and hits his guitar rather than plays it.

Big Mama Thorton’s version of  “Hound Dog” will always be better than Presley’s for me but this particular album has a song on it which I love just as much. It’s called “Big Mama” and I love it because it starts off like this:
“WELL…THEY CALL ME ‘BIG MAMA”BECAUSE I WEIGH 300 POUNDS!”
Big Mama Thornton is how I imagine the Woman at the top of those legs in the Tom & Jerry Cartoons to be!

I’m not moving house very far. In fact I’m moving next door to myself but that’s besides the point because moving can still drive you crazy and sometimes it’s better if you just go with it and Jack Nitzsche’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” soundtrack will take you all the way to crazy and back.
I love that soundtrack more than the six invisible penguins who helped me move my things out of the flat.
Cheers boys!

Time to lie down for a few days.
Good morning.

The Soundtrack To My Life. 22/07/2011.

Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three’s “Riverboat Soul” (2010):

The Shangri-Las’ “Myrmidons Of Melodrama” (1995):

Led Zeppelin’s “Led Zeppelin II” (1969):

Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures’ self titled album (2009):

Roy Orbison’s “Crying” (1962):

I’ve really loved Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three ever since I happened to see them play live at the Celtic Connections Festival a couple of years ago.
They’ll have you stomping the floor and occasionally shouting out “YES!” at the top of your voice.
They have a new album out called “Middle Of Everywhere” but I’ve yet to hear it.
“Riverboat Soul” is from 2009 and gets played often in my place.

The Shangri-La’s are maybe my favourite girl group behind The Chordettes and I could happily listen to them all the time.

I dug Led Zeppelin’s second album out last week because I decided that I wanted to learn “Heartbreaker” on the guitar.
I thought it would be really satisfying to be able to play that song on the guitar and it really really is!

Ever since it came out, I really liked Rob Zombie’s “Halloween II”.
No seriously, I did!
It was over the top and brutal and trippy and you know what else?
I even liked the white horse stuff in it.
Yeah that’s right, I even liked that but I only realised at the start of the week that the fictional band from the film “Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures” are an actual band! With an actual album!
Whoo Hoo!
It has “Transylvania Terror Train” on it which appeared in Rob Zombie’s film and that’s the track I’ve played most so far.
Cartoon Horror!

“Crying” is the only non greatest hits Roy Orbison album I have but you’d think it was a greatest hits collection what with all the…great…er, hits.
Actually, maybe it is a greatest hits collection.
I dunno, but it’s dark and sad and brilliant.