Composed by Ervin Drake in 1961 and originally recorded by Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio, “It Was A Very Good Year” is my favourite Frank Sinatra song and one of my favourite songs in general.
You can close your eyes and go back in time with that song.
Someone once told me that Sinatra nailed the performance in only two takes.
I can believe that.
Here’s a rare glimpse of the man himself in the studio during the recording and listen out at the end for the killer line, “4.12? That’s longer than the first act of Hamlet!”:
Here’s a very interesting (and very short) film about the recreation of the now famous Victorian circus poster which inspired John Lennon to write one of my favourite Beatles tracks, Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite:
The full text of the original Pablo Fanque‘s Circus Royal poster is:
PABLO FANQUE’S CIRCUS ROYAL
TOWN-MEADOWS, ROCHDALE
Grandest Night of the Season!
AND POSITIVELY THE
LAST NIGHT BUT THREE!
BEING FOR THE
BENEFIT OF MR. KITE,
(LATE OF WELLS’S CIRCUS) AND
MR. J. HENDERSON,
THE CELEBRATED SOMERSET THROWER!
WIRE DANCER, VAULTER, RIDER, etc.
On TUESDAY Evening, February 14, 1843.
Mssrs. KITE and HENDERSON, in announcing the following Entertainments ensure the Public that this Night’s Production will be one of the most splendid ever produced in this Town, having been some days in preparation.
Mr. Kite will, for this night only,
introduce the
CELEBRATED
HORSE, ZANTHUS!
Well known to be one of the
best Broke Horses
IN THE WORLD!!!
Mr. HENDERSON will undertake the arduous Task of
THROWING TWENTY-ONE SOMERSETS,
ON THE SOLID GROUND.
Mr. KITE will appear, for the
first time this season,
On The Tight Rope,
When Two Gentlemen Amateurs
of this Town will
perform with him. Mr. HENDERSON will, for the first time
in Rochdale,
introduce his extraordinary
TRAMPOLINE LEAPS
AND
SOMERSETS!
Over Men & Horses, through Hoops,
over Garters and lastly through a
Hogshead of REAL FIRE!
In this branch of the profession Mr. H challenges THE WORLD!
By Danish designer Michael Hansen, this is one of the greatest ideas for vinyl record design I’ve ever seen!
“An album cover for the modern classical composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen. My idea was to translate Allan’s sensorial music into a visual experience with elements of sensuality. The two pieces of music is separated on the records two sides. There is not an A- or B-side. Each piece has its own front page; Waves is a visualisation of the music performed by nine trompets. I made it as simple as possible with nine circles on a line. Crystal Tapestry is a pattern of crystals that has no front or back end, it refers to a crystal that merge into it self. Inside I made a visualisation that combines the two sides, a crystalized wave. On the record i created patterns that gives the design a visual sensuality. I made an analog animation with a 50 Hz strobe lamp and made it interact with the music.”
“Twisted Nerve” (OST). (1968). Artist: Bernard Herrmann. Why You Should Get It: You probably already know it from “Kill Bill“.
Recognise THIS?
“Kill Bill”. That’s where I first heard it but the full “Twisted Nerve” soundtrack is so much more than whistling. I’ve been going through Bernard Herrmann’s scores and soundtracks at a rate of one per week and I’ve yet to hear any of his music and not find myself in a complete atmospheric trance.
I’ve also yet to see “Twisted Nerve” but I’ll get around to it.
Here’s the trailer:
“Odelay” (2 Disc Deluxe Edition). (2008). Artist: Beck. Why You Should Get It: You probably have it right? Everybody has “Odelay”. Don’t they?
I don’t play this record often enough. I hadn’t listened to it for years but as soon as I put it on, that was me! I was off dancing on down the street like the honky I am.
You don’t need the 2 Disc Deluxe Edition. The second disc is full of long remixes and bland B-Sides. It’s filler with lovely cover artwork but the original album sounds better than you remember!
The late great Levon Helm kind of worked backwards. His music got better as he got older and “Electric Dirt” was his last studio album. You can hear the effort he put into every single song.
“The Lost Notebooks Of Hank Williams”. (2011). Artist: Various Artists. Why You Should Get It: Speaking of Levon Helm…he’s on this album which contains arrangements of Hank Williams’ incomplete, unreleased and unrecorded final songs.
This is a real treat for lovers of Hank Williams and his music. The lyrics to these songs were found in the car that Williams died in and were passed around over the years until they found their way into the hands of the SONY / ATV company who had the good sense to hand them over to Bob Dylan.
Setting Hank Williams’ lyrics to their own melodies, Bob Dylan completed one song and various other artists including Levon Helm, Jack White, Merle Haggard, Norah Jones and Sheryl Crow finished up other tracks and it’s really interesting to hear. There’s no honky tonking or yodelling but the words are Hank through and through.
…Which leads me to…
“Together Through Life”. (2009). Artist: Bob Dylan. Why You Should Get It…
“Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike”. (2005). Artist: Gogol Bordello. Why You Should Get It: Because it’s Ukrainian Gypsy Punk Music and frankly, it’s insane…
“New Boots And Panties!!” (1977). Artist: Ian Dury. Why You Should Get It: Because Ian Dury was a Clever Bastard…
“Sticky Fingers”. (1971). Artist: The Rolling Stones. Why You Should Get It: I’m not big on The Stones but even I can’t deny that this is a fucking peach of a record!
Due to many years of hearing pub bands cover it, I couldn’t listen to ‘Brown Sugar’ for a long time but I’ve since realised that loud, drunken heckling sorts this right out.
“The Band”. (1969). Artist: The Band. Why You Should Get It: Every single song on this album is perfect.
Every single one.
This entire album is completely perfect.
Listen to THIS, THIS and THIS and as an extra treat, here’s a documentary about the making of the album:
I had trouble even remembering his name for a while.
It was so long ago…
I would have been 8 or 9…or maybe even 10. I don’t know but it would have been the 1990’s and almost midnight and I would be awake and glued to the my wee flickery TV with fuzzy reception.
Dr. Terror would appear on the screen to introduce the scary horror film of the evening.
Dr. Terror. That was his name. He was a cartoonishly (That’s a word!) sinister horror host for the BBC. An elegantly scary class act!
Do you remember this guy?
Those were the days.
Back then, there were fields as FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE…
10 pence. That was a lot of money then y’know!
I remember it all and in those days the BBC would run horror double bills at midnight on Fridays and it really was an education.
I also grew up watching Hammer Horror flicks and Dr. Terror’s Vault Of Horror re-ran a lot of them.
I have a particularly good memory of being dog tired in my dressing gown, keeping myself awake so I could watch “Scars Of Dracula” (1970) at 2am.
Things haven’t changed much since that’s exactly what I was doing at 2am only two nights ago and I’m 30 years old now!
Anyway, it really was a great time to be young and impressionable and luckily for you and me, a few videos of Dr. Terror exist and here they are:
The Unravelling Of Al Cook... 