November 2015 finds

[amidar]

Ditto!

Edit: I have the Parsons discography, I wont use anything obvious as 'Spacefin' says 'IRobot' has lots of cool analog synth action on it, too easy, I'll edit out some bits from his 80's oeuvre. I'll have to call my mix 'Where's Parsons?' now! NOT!

Waist size? Certainly true in my case.

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

Alan Parsons manifesting himself Palmer Eldritch-style in every VG+ thread.

Soon to be a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[amidar]

I'm thinking more along the lines of a 'Brian Blessed' , 'Robbie Coltrane' or 'Geoffrey Rush' (He'd have to bulk up for the part.) as AP. I'm there on opening night! EDIT: A young 'James Brolin' has him down to a tee!

Maybe we could change the logo of the forum to just a picture of AP's head. I dunno what it is at the moment but since that other thread every time I hear his name or see one of his albums I get the chuckles.

Parsons update: Working late and clicked on a quiz chat room for a break and someone posted a YouTube to link to 'Eye in the Sky' I swear I'm being stalked by AP now.

Alan Parsons manifesting himself Palmer Eldritch-style in every VG+ thread.

Soon to be a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[giantchicken]

More finds from various charity shops, record shops and the ritawebb.....(nothing on EMI though....)



Ruthann - 'Carry On (Glittering Dancer)' - my birthday treat from a few weeks back - threw a bit of money at it as they tend not to hang around, but it's a damn fine copy - don't think I'm the first to big this up on here, but in case you don't know. the 'Ruthann' in question is Ruthann Friedman, best known as writer of 'Windy' and for her excellent 1969 psychefolk album. 'Constant Companion'. Only available as a promo. this, from 1970. is quite a giant sidestep from those things though, a twisting, turning latin jazz flavoured confection with sweet multi-layered vocals over an impossibly intricate interwoven arrangement by producer/arranger Kirby Johnson, one of 'executive producer' Van Dyke Parks' sometime collaborators. Clocking in at 2:28 it leaves you always wanting more....play it loud....

Various - 'Capitol Classics 1942 - 1958' - A passable soundtrack to the US postwar boom, and a trip down Memory Lane for anyone like me who was weaned in a Light Programme/Radio 2 household - the standout is Nellie Lutcher's racey 'Hurry On Down', but since I'm well stocked up on Nellie (as you all should be), the main points of note for me are the tracks featuring Ella Mae Morse, 'Cow Cow Boogie' and 'Blacksmiths Blues' which do for the cowherd and blacksmith respectively what 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' did for the reveille blower...hit it, 1940's DJ!....

Bloodstone - 'Natural High' - As discussed on the '70's guilty pleasures' thread. I was hoping the flip, 'This Thing Is Heavy' would be a full on funk workout, but it's an odd hybrid of soul and reggae that can't quite decide if it wants to be on or off the beat...

Karina - 'En Un Mundo Nuevo' - I believe there's the odd Karina track worth owning, but this Eurovision entry isn't it...



Tony Ac Aloma - 'Dim Ond Ti A Mi' - Yaaaay! - once again it's time for THE WELSH CONNECTION! This collection of the best songs of Tony and Aloma compiles three of their late 60's EPs as part of the 'Daffodil Series' on Qualiton, which seems to have been some sort of Decca subsidiary. Tony and Aloma's songs don't really rock in any way, but they harmonise sweetly enough on their self written efforts which sit somewhere between The Seekers and Tony Hatch & Jackie Trent. They became very popular in the clubs of North Wales and immortalised in song the legendary 'Caffi Gaerwen' on Anglesey, epicentre of the swinging North Welsh psychedelic 'tea drinking' scene. Unfortunately, their lasting popularity would make them something of a target for the unruly future generations of Welsh musical youth...

...and finally....



The Phase One Steel Orchestra - 'Task Force EP' - It's rare enough to find a record that includes both versions of Rossini's 'Wedding Dance' and John Miles' 'Music', and even rarer to find them performed by a Steel Band*. This 1983 record by the long running Coventry based community band Phase One ticks all boxes, as well as providing some more traditional banging carnival fare - It's a shame I can't find a Youtube link for these tunes - they're brilliant!

*STOP PRESS - there always has to be one smartarse to prove you wrong, eh?

More to come....

[moecurlythanu]

swinging North Welsh psychedelic 'tea drinking' scene.

Ah, mushroom tea...I remember it well.

[Grim Lounge Cowboy]

Ruthann well nice. But best if I don't listen to her too much. I've enough on my plate with my recent jazz-tinged forays into the early-mid 60's.

[treeboy]

Secoded, Ruthann 45 is a beauty. Sounds like a lost Tropicalia number. Thanks for making my wants list a little bit longer GC. No really, thanks, I love that

[giantchicken]

Strange isn’t it? You know, how all these threads within threads converge on a single point?

The year is 1976….

We don’t yet know it, but it will prove to be something of a watershed…

We are bona fide rock stars…

We are living in America…

We play stadia and can compete with Kiss and Johnny Winter and Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult…

We do lots of drugs…and lots of hookers…

We have heard the great god EMI proclaim how everything will be ‘A Night At The Opera’…

We hear our studio neighbours sing of ‘Hotel California’ as we clean out their wasted cocaine from the mixing board…

We have heard our manager tell us we must be more ‘Opera’, more ‘California’, more ELO…

We are working on new songs, they are about the things we know, managers and hookers and drug dealers…

We are adding new experimental dimensions to our sound…

We have employed a keyboard player and like the Eagles, encouraged our drummer to sing…

We are expanding in all directions, covering all options…

We have heard the future and believe it will be influenced by southern-fried blues boogie…

We are, more or less, more 'more' and less 'less'...

We are working on a new look for our output – more like Pink Floyd or The Alan Parsons Project…

We do not realise that as we work, the great god EMI has already contracted the virus that will change everything…

We are BLACK SABBATH…and we are not feeling ourselves today….



Black Sabbath - 'Technical Ecstasy'

[cratedigger]

It's been a fair weekend record wise. Started out when I had the opportunity to leave the office at noon on Friday, which meant I could take the opportunity to visit a tip shop that I read about, it's in a suburban industrial estate and is only open midday a few days a week. Council run, providing employment for the unemployable.
I turned up, followed the signs and stepped into the typical warehouse tip shop setup. No one was about though. I took a walk around assuming someone would emerge. In a corner I found a box of 45s, many without sleeves and looking beat up. I browsed through the box and found 15 that were not too badly damaged. When I walked towards what looked like the counter a woman emerged with a surprised look. She wondered what I was doing there, as they're not open this Friday, and didn't I see the sign on the door? She was still kind enough to sell me the records, and wanted £2 for the lot. As I left I took a look at the door. There was no sign besides the regular sign "Open Fri 11-15".



This is the best of the lot. A few spares going to a friend are not pictured.
The curiously looking A440 record is by a blind pop group that made a record in 1969. Apparently they were on the Saturday evening show at the time.
The Don Fardon - I'm Alive in a tattered Swedish pic sleeve is the star for me, along with the Scott Walker - Joanna/Always coming back to me.
The black label is by Swedish group Annabee-Nox - Where have you been.

The following are from the record fair that was here in Malmö today. I was mostly disappointed about what was on sale. A large number of cheap bins that mostly had stuff that wouldn't sell at charity shops. And some not so cheap bins still containing stuff that barely would sell at a charity shop. And some very overpriced crates.
I went for 45s and managed to find a few reasonably priced wants, and some that I didn't know that I wanted.



Nothing that is really unusual here that I need to point out, just that it shows my penchant for picture sleeves, most of them are Swedish issues. The Shangri-Las is in red vinyl.



The 2 top right I actually found in a record shop on Saturday.
Örjan is actor Örjan Ramberg who made this 45 in 1969 with Göran Lagerberg of Tages who wrote and produced. From what I read now, Lagerberg actually does the vocals as well as when Ramberg was about to lay down the vocals, they found out that they had recorded the song in the pitch natural to Lagerberg, a quite different pitch than Ramberg was singing in.
So Örjan is actually just on the cover picture.
We 4 was bought without sleeve as the shop had 2 copies, with sleeve was £20, without sleeve £2. This was a good deal for me as I had a spare sleeve at home, albeit with a tear.
Of the rest, the Scott Walker - Plague has been a want for a long time.



I'm sure I've read about The Hobbits here on VG+. At 5£ for a very nice copy of their 2nd album I thought it was worth taking the punt. I think it's a mixed bag, some very good songs with some that just sound like any pretty-vocal-soft-rock that was so abundant.
And they are always marketed as PSYCH.

[Milesago]

Strange isn’t it? You know, how all these threads within threads converge on a single point?

The year is 1976….

We don’t yet know it, but it will prove to be something of a watershed…

We are bona fide rock stars…

We are living in America…

We play stadia and can compete with Kiss and Johnny Winter and Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult…

Time to nit pick!

Sabbath were much bigger than Kiss or Blue Oyster Cult in 1976 and would have headlined over both, and probably over Johnny Winter.

They'd already used keyboards (and synths and orchestration) on several previous albums, particularly since Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

They were in slow decline since the highs of Vol.4, and Technical Ecstasy is arguably their worst 70s record, along with Sabotage. The cover (Hipgnosis, naturally) is supposed to be two robots having sex, a literal 'technical ecstasy'.
Never Say Die! was far better and altogether showed signs of recovery - but then they fired Ozzy.

It was Tommy Iommi rather than the manager Don Arden who was pushing for the band to keep pace with current trends and 'sound more like Queen' or try other approaches, because he seemed to have a fear of the band repeating itself and it all falling apart, a paranoia not helped by the copious drugs they were all inhaling. It is true that Don Arden's seemed to have turned his attention away from Sabbath, who were probably a pain in the arse to deal with, and was concentrating on other bands such as ELO who were just starting to take off in the USA.

BTW in 1976 I was 11-12, and none of this meant anything to me yet.

[Saint Jude]

Time to nit pick!

Sabbath were much bigger than Kiss or Blue Oyster Cult in 1976 and would have headlined over both, and probably over Johnny Winter.

[Milesago]

I can't wait for the Kiss LP thread.

[giantchicken]

Time to nit pick!

Bloody nitpickers... - yes, I realise that much of what you say is true - I was merely using a little dramatic license to do a bit of a slick Hollywood style summation of the situation and perhaps convey some of my impressions about the album at the same time.

Now relax everyone - I'm a tough and weathered old bird and had a good idea of what I was getting into by buying 'Technical Ecstasy' - it was the only Sabbath album from their original run on sale in Kingbee on Saturday, and the price was about right - I was just kind of curious to hear it, that's all.

I've also ordered a reissue of their self-titled debut which should be on it's way soon. To continue the Hollywood theme, in my personal version of the Black Sabbath story, we're beginning with the car crash and then going back through the years to see how it all came about....

[treeboy]

LOOK OUT! SCARY MAN COMING OUT OF THE BLOODY TREE.....AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH

[giantchicken]

LOOK OUT! SCARY MAN COMING OUT OF THE BLOODY TREE.....AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH

Scooby Doo & Shaggy: "YOIKS!"

The Gang: "GENESIS P. ORRIDGE!!!???'

Velma: "So it was you who invented Black Sabbath to scare the relatives away - so you could inherit the Manor House and the family fortune!"

GPO: "Yes, and I'd have gotten away with it too - if it weren't for you meddling kids!"