Happy Halloween

Bea just carved a Watchmen pumpkin which put me in mind of this song...

Bill Murray and the Little Theatre

This image was shown to me by Bea who is a big Little Theatre (Bath) fan - she was saying to me - 'it's a picture of Bill Murray asleep by the Little Theatre' and I thought she meant Bill Murray asleep by A little theatre and I was thinking 'so what' but it actually staggering...it is a model of Bath's own indie cinema The Little Theatre! WTF! Apparently some of the sets in Fantastic Mr Fox are based on sites around Bath...anyway now you know what a cool little cinema the Little Theatre is!

Bright Star

Susan and I are going to see this at a preview screening at the Little Theatre Bath. It's the new film by Jane Campion and is based on Keats the poet and his relationship...well watch the trailer - it looks really worth seeing. And no cannons in it!

Lee Dorsey 'Working in a Coal Mine'

A contender for the greatest record ever made by anybody. I always associate it with Radstock as when I was a kid and we'd come here visiting relatives back in the 60s the song was about the only frame of reference I had for the industry so it always popped into my head as we drove past the pits and stuff. I'd like to cover it but it's been done by Devo - not as good as this version of course - but its been done. I keep waiting for someone to upload the clip of Lee Dorsey miming and mining to it on a programme with Jools Holland on about New Orleans. Anyone out there got it?

Chi-Lites 'Are you my woman'

I am getting a bit of an education on songs I don't know too - listen to this and see what big hit of recent years took elements from it. I'm shocked!

Johnny Littlejohn 'Bloody Tears'

WFMU played this last night on their rock and soul stream - I was moved - I love this song and it's great to know you're not alone in appreciating this great 1968 song - muscular blood stained and a piece to prove that some 1960s blues was up there with the best.

Taking Woodstock trailer

The new movie by Ang Lee looks fun. 'A man working at his parents' motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert in the summer of 1969'.

The Shirelles 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow'

A live version from 1964 complete with raunchy guitar in place of the strings, perfectly demonstrating the point that the Beatles owed a great deal from their early pop sound, that propelled them to fame to the Shirelles.

Dionne Bromfield 'Mama Said'

It's been a while since I had a current pop video on this blog but this goes on for it being a great rendition of the Shirelles' hit - it's always been the case that the Shirelles haven't really had the recognition in recent years as they should have (considering the beloved Fab Four took a lot from them) and this proves that their sound is still enjoyable. This is a spirited version and I am sure it's going to charm its way to the top.

James Brown on Soul Train in 1973

This is for my son who I know will appreciate this - THE Man in his prime..the hardest working man in showbusiness...I used to always play James Brown on my birthday as a kind of tradition as it always put me in the right mood.

Otha Turner & The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band - Bouncin' Ball

Crank this bad boy up - love this stuff - wish I could play the fife like that - I've been trying... drumming-wise I could probably manage it but that's the easy bit.

Morrisey in 'stable condition'

Maybe he's a little hoarse.

I'm too heavy for the light brigade (1964)

'Can I be excused from the gallant 600?' As it's the 25th of October, the date of the battle of Balaclava how about listening to this old comedy song from Charlie Drake - listen here.
'I'm too heavy for the Light Brigade, had to have another pair of trousers made.' Very funny. To me.

700 little records - all rockin' rhythm and jazz

I know we keep raving about WFMU's Rock and Soul stream (scroll down the page and it's on the bottom left - day or night) but it is brilliant and has become a constant source of enjoyment and wonder as we quaff the juice of the bruised apple. If you haven't tried it what you get is classic oldies - rockabilly, instrumentals, garage, hillbilly, swamp blues, novelty records - not the obvious ones but like a compilation made by someone who's got good taste. Interspersing the songs there are crazy vintage ads for exploitation movies, public service announcements (like Johnny Cash talking about nuclear survival or James Brown advising kids on how to get a summer job) - they just played this one which will make you laugh, I'm sure. Anyway - please try it - you'll love it - you can get involved and upload your own rarities and gems on the blog apparently.

Jiants 'Tornado'

Heard this for the first time on WFMU just now and fell in love with its wobbly Diddleyesque guitar - see if you don't immediately start a rocking...

The Animals 'We gotta get out of this place'

I love this song. Ichiban just played a version by Les Monsruos and it got me wanting to hear the original - this must be the Animals crowning song... forget 'Rising Sun' - this one is full of attitude. Of course the attitude it embodies is an attitude that I don't really subscribe to - it seems more in tune with my parent's or the 60s generation's view on life. My feelings on leaving places is that people should not try and run away from their poverty stricken backgrounds but try and improve their own place where their friends and relatives are living...not escape to reinvent yourself as some sort of reborn person. Maybe I can't identify with the slaving their lives away bit - anyone who worked with me and my father wouldn't say we slaved our lives away - I seem to remember us spending a lot of time going round chatting to people, killing time. But then I don't suppose Eric Burdon was talking about proof reading. Maybe I should try and find an answer song - something like 'We've gotta not despise our roots'.

Pinball Millionaire

Since we discovered the WFMU Ichiban stream our house has been jumpin' with the sound of great oldies. They played the original of this - by Gene O'Quinn - this is a version pretty faithful to the original by the Western Aces - it's very good. Can't find the lyrics on the web but I think you should be able to enjoy this version anyway.

Weird

Strange sort of day today - about lunchtime a robin flew in our kitchen - we took photos which I'll put up and then a squirrel came and knocked on our front room window. What's going on?

Gene Vincent 'Rip it Up' 1958

You can't have Eddie Cochran without a little Gene Vincent can you?

Woody Guthrie 'The Live Wire'

Red was enthusing about these recently released live recordings of Woody Guthrie . The first ever example of such a thing - details here. Apparently recorded by a fan it's an interesting document of a show in Newark New Jersey in 1949 complete with on-stage banter and so on. If you don't know Guthrie's work than watch this little film. I haven't heard these recordings yet but I imagine it might be a good place to start an appreciation.

Bo Diddley 'Bo Diddley'

I'm pretty sure we have had this clip from 1955 on this blog before but you can never have too much Bo. This is one of the best clips I've seen of vintage Diddley with the band really in a tight groove and the guitar hypnotically throbbing. Magic.

The Monks 'Oh How to do Now'

Hope this clip doesn't make Red feel homesick down in Exeter...been a while since we visited the Monks for our does of enlightenment. I'd like to say the Monks were an influence on Animals and Men but we'd never heard of them at the time in the 70s and 80s - we only discovered them about 6 years ago - which is funny as one of our songs 'No Faces' is very similar to 'Higgledy-Piggeldy' but of course just a coincidence - we were probably both trying to rip off 'Night Time' by the Strangeloves!

Warfare in the Age of Steam

OK - I've started a new blog. It's http://1815-1918.blogspot.com/ - nothing much up there yet and mostly it will be simply moving posts on that subject from this blog to be among other posts of a similar subject, but eventually it will have some more original material.

Far From the Madding Crowd

Another 60s film (67) that deals Victorian England (the other is the 68 film Charge of the Light Brigade) that was influential to me was this one set in rural Dorset. You could happily watch the two movies as a double-bill that goes to explain the 1960s obsession with all things Victorian a little. This was the subject that intrigued me when I first started this blog - why were the artists in the 1960s so interested in Victorian England? Anyway this clip is filmed at Maiden Castle, an Iron Age Hill Fort.