Between The Wheels

I though I'd start a thread where we might share music of interest that most people probably aren't aware of.

I was fortunate in that I had a brother ten years older than myself who let me play his records, and at the age of 8 I was very fond of this tune. Credited to 'Earl Vince and the Valiants', it was actually Fleetwood Mac, with guitar player Jeremy Spencer on vocals. Jeremy wrote this tune.

I will say though that my mum hated it, and she used to tell my brother off when she caught me listening to it.

Jeremy is from West Hartlepool. I'm proud to say that my home town has contributed guitar players to two of the most successful bands in recording history, the other one being Iron Maiden.

Anyway. I hope you like this more than my mum did.

One day in 1976 I was thumbing through the LP racks in the various record shops of Hartlepool and I came across this one, a compilation album by the esteemed Krautrock band Can.

(https://i.ibb.co/H41kLK0/opener.webp)

I'd never heard of them and to the best of my knowledge I'd never heard any of their stuff. But I was intrigued by the cover and the blurb on the back so I bought it.

This was easily the most fortuitous random album purchase of my entire life (so far, I suppose there's still time). From that album, and also from the album Future Days, this is Moonshake.



Eventually I bought all the original albums but I still have a soft spot for the original compilation so since it never came out on CD, I burned my own copy using the same tracks ripped from the various album CDs.

Liked that - not a band I'm familiar with at all, beyond the name. Will do some digging :)

Maybe I could sort out a YouTube playlist with the various Opener tunes in the appropriate sequence - that'd be a great place to start.

Quote from: Slim on March 15, 2023, 08:09:16 PMMaybe I could sort out a YouTube playlist with the various Opener tunes in the appropriate sequence - that'd be a great place to start.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtQoLzWkVKErCqyXKlS2lcqjsyQdN_uGE

Nice one James, will have a listen :)

Probably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

I don't remember exactly when or where I discovered Jerry Paper. Probably about four years ago, probably a chance hearing on 6 Music.

Jerry isn't actually a real person, he's more a persona; a project - a bit like Ziggy Stardust. Anyway clearly this sort of thing will appeal to people with a sense of humour but more than that; more than the quirky charm, the songs are brilliant.

This is a live recording but the official videos are usually pure genius.

Quote from: pdw1 on March 23, 2023, 11:48:30 PMProbably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

Guthrie explains how he got the job playing on an Asia record (which led to touring with them) here, 35 mins in:

Quote from: Slim on March 29, 2023, 07:45:53 PM

Quote from: pdw1 on March 23, 2023, 11:48:30 PMProbably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

Guthrie explains how he got the job playing on an Asia record (which led to touring with them) here, 35 mins in:

Thanks

Quote from: pdw1 on March 23, 2023, 11:48:30 PMProbably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

Well, thanks. :)

Don't like the track though; very plodding and no discernible hooks - sorry! 🙂

This is one of those tracks that just hit me when I was watching MTV one day some years ago and I listened to it constantly for weeks. I listened to more of their stuff but none of it is as spectacular, or grabbed me, as this. Ladies and Gents: Lambchop - Up With People.

Cheese and Onions https://g.co/kgs/EnNGkM

The Rutles

A masterclass from Neil Innes in nicking all the hooks and familiar tunes from the Beatles and turning them into a wonderful new bunch of songs
The film itself is just great and funny and so spot on

I'm sure eveyone and their dog has heard this by now,. but in case you missed it, Page shared his demo idea for the Rain Song "The Seasons" and it's great. I am happy it turned into the majestic Rain Song we all know, but this is a great listen.

Quote from: Fishy on April 01, 2023, 06:27:43 PMCheese and Onions https://g.co/kgs/EnNGkM

The Rutles

A masterclass from Neil Innes in nicking all the hooks and familiar tunes from the Beatles and turning them into a wonderful new bunch of songs
The film itself is just great and funny and so spot on

I have the album somewhere. Very cleverly done.

Inspired by Neil Innes? Here's the Dukes of Stratosphear and the Mole from the Ministry.

First heard this on Huey Morgan's 6 Music show while out on a bike about three years ago. I have a few of the albums now but nothing else comes close to this tune for me. I love this sort of West Coast / Jazz / Soul kinda thing.

By the way those are the girls from Haim near the end of the video.

And in a similar vein, the wonderful Benny Sings.

Benny is actually from The Netherlands; real name Tim van Berkestijn. This was co-written by the lovely Mayer Hawthorne who no doubt will feature in a later post in this thread.

Back in 1989, I was a huge John McLaughlin fan. This was about the time that Channel 4 had got into the habit of putting esoteric music stuff on TV in the early hours of the morning, and one night at about 1:30 AM, they broadcast a sort of double bill of concert material featuring McLaughlin playing with Jonas Hellborg in France, followed by John Scofield playing in Denmark.

I'd never heard of John Scofield but I had plenty of space on the VHS tape I'd inserted into my parents' VCR which I'd set to record the programme, so I thought - why not? I went to bed and left it to do its thing.

The next day I played back the whole thing and I was blown away by the Scofield set, and especially this tune, Blue Matter, which I uploaded to YouTube about twelve years ago. A few weeks later I had four or five Sco albums.

What amuses me is that my upload now has over 250,000 views, so it's almost certainly been seen by more people than saw the original broadcast it was recorded from.

For me the Holy Trinity of Sco albums are Still Warm, Blue Matter and Loud Jazz which would have been the three most recent albums at the time of the broadcast I taped above. I like some of his later stuff, but not that much to be honest. A Go Go is quite nice.

I think my single favourite Sco tune is Signature Of Venus, on Loud Jazz. I love this tune that features Sco as well, from Marc Johnson's Bass Desires. It's like an aural vodka martini. With a lemon twist. Although Bill Frisell's participation is the highlight of this for me.

I am quite fond of Gov't Mule and they did a collab album with Scofield: Sco-Mule

Edit:ok not sure why not but the YouTube link is not working.

SikTh - How May I Help You? Another song/video that I caught out of the blue on MTV one day. This sort of music is really not my normal style but SikTh (with a bit of effort and repeat listens) really struck a cord with me for some reason. I love the energy and the way the 2 vocalists bounce of each other. It's extreme certainly but melodic and catchy too. Anyway this was the first I heard from them and I've liked the band ever since. This video is rather comical too and the subs help a lot - and it's a love story haha. There is a very quick glimpse of the band a part way through.

Quote from: pxr5 on April 27, 2023, 09:07:58 PMSikTh - How May I Help You? Another song/video that I caught out of the blue on MTV one day.

That's brilliant, downloaded the album.

Quote from: Slim on April 27, 2023, 11:40:44 PM

Quote from: pxr5 on April 27, 2023, 09:07:58 PMSikTh - How May I Help You? Another song/video that I caught out of the blue on MTV one day.

That's brilliant, downloaded the album.

Wow. Glad you liked it. Another favourite of mine is Such the Fool. I did have the album  "The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild" on CD, but that went with all my other CDs to MusicMagpie a few years ago.

In 1974, George Harrison and Ronnie Wood each released versions of a song they'd written together called Far East Man. The song is a wistful reflection on friendship; they were having affairs with each others' wives at the time, and I suppose it must be quite the bonding experience. I haven't tried it myself.

I much prefer Ron's version. George can be heard on background vocals here, although he wasn't allowed to be credited for contractual reasons. Urban legend (and Wikipedia) has it that he plays the slide guitar part as well, though I highly doubt that. Ron was always a brilliant slide player; George was marginally competent at best. If you listen to George's version the slide guitar part is pretty crude and basic. No doubt George played that one.

There's a notable soul influence in this tune; Ron was always a soul fan and I think that's what sets him apart from the other celebrated British blues and rock players who emerged in the '60s - Peter Green, Clapton, Beck, Page. The Faces often used to cover old Motown tunes in their sets.

This wicked slice of dark funk was composed for a film called Black Dynamite, which as far as I can tell is an homage to the Blaxpolitation movies of the '70s.

Despite that, it was recorded by two middle-aged white Englishmen, one of whom was the drummer in The Shadows.

I was watching some recreational adult art fiction recently, and as the mature woman who had a prominent role in the piece started to disrobe for her massage, my attention was drawn to the incidental music. Rather smooth, I thought. So I put Shazam to work, and it turned out to be this:

Kandace Springs and an old Stylistics tune. This is a bit better than her album version which is a bit flat. Here she plays with David Sanborn's band as part of his "sessions" series. Seems to have been taken down, but someone else has uploaded a copy.

The bass player on this is killing it, don't know who he is but bravo.