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| From | Mark Smith <markmsmith@gmail.com> |
| Subject | SOTT 19 - Feelgood By Numbers |
| Date | Wed, 9 Mar 2005 22:02:56 +0000 |
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Hi
Because others seem to be posting SOTT listings to the audities list
this time around and because those on the sott group already getting
two copies of this clearly isn't enough I thought I would stick my
notes up here for all to see.
SOTT 19 - FEELGOOD BY NUMBERS
1 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Burn It Down
(from Searching From The Young Soul Rebels)
The lead track from the first Dexy's album this has as great a start
as any debut album could wish for. Horn driven soulful pop from before
they metamorphosed into Celtic Soul Brothers for Come On Eileen.
2 The Soul Survivors - Expressway To Your Heart
(from The Philly Sound box set)
I almost included the Amen Corner version of this until I discovered I
had this version which I presume is the original. I thought less
people may have heard this version.
3 The Jam - Shopping
(from the Direction, Reaction, Creation box and b-side to final
single Beat Surrender)
I've been rediscovering my love for The Jam recently, a band who were
really important to me when I was in my late teens. This helps show
why they were never truly just a punk band. Its jazzy tune, brass
arrangement and Rick Buckler on brushes show Weller heading further
away from the style of music that had typified The Jam. The flute
towards the end leads nicely into this...
4 Granny's Intentions - Nutmeg, Bitter Suite
(from Legend Of A Mind)
Don't know anything about this beyond the fact it's a jazzy flute
driven instrumental with a breezy tune and I found it on a box of late
60's/early 70's Prog.
5 Chrysalis - Summer In Your Savage Eyes
(from The Trip compiled by St Etienne)
The two guys from the band St Etienne (Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley) put
together a wonderful 2CD comp in a series called The Trip and I can
highly recommend seeking it out. Both discs have so many good things
on them although the two tracks I've included here come from the
second disc. Don't know anything about the band again but this again
features flute, a wonderful vocal and is just too damn short.
6 Mouse & The Traps - Sometimes You Just Can't Win
(from the Mojo compilation Instant Garage)
I know Mouse & The Traps from the Nuggets box and on the evidence of
the tracks on that and this they were a fine little band. This is a
sweet harpsichord driven ballad complete with strings where the lead
vocal sound less Dylan like than the other things I'd heard by them at
least until the last line anyway.
7 Lulu - Love Loves To Love
(from A Break From The Norm)
I have this on a comp of tracks sampled by Fatboy Slim which is also
worth getting for Bill Withers live version of I Can't Write Left
Handed amongst other fine things.
Lulu's in as fine voice as ever on a really infectious track with some
stinging psychedelic guitar throughout.
8 Suzanne Vega - When Heroes Go Down
(from 99.9F)
It had been a long time since I had heard this before I chose it to go
on here. I had always had it in my head that this would be a really
good unusual song to do a great jangly cover of. Hearing it again
though it's actually got a much more full production than I remember.
It's more straightforward and snappy than much of her stuff and may
surprise those who only know her for Luka and Marlene On The Wall.
Produced by (then?) husband Mitchell Froom.
9 Danny Wilson - The Second Summer Of Love
(from Be Bop Mop Top)
Had this album on cassette from when it came out so was glad to find
the CD really cheap in a second hand sale and relive the thing after
so many years. Featuring the song writing talents of Gary Clark,
Danny Wilson were a Scottish band from Dundee maybe best known for the
hit Mary's Prayer. This is a great upbeat song with acoustic guitars
to the fore that I'm glad to find I still love after so many years of
not hearing it.
10 Sondre Lerche - Suffused With Love
(from Faces Down)
Sondre Lerche's records sound wonderful. The production and
arrangements always seem to be spot on but I've often thought that
there's something missing melodically from his two records so far. On
this though he hits all the bases, production, arrangement and
songwriting.
11 Motorpsycho - BS
(from Phanerothyme)
You can keep the overrated Soundtrack Of Our Lives who seem to plough
the same furrow over and over, I'll take these guys for my
Scandinavian psychedelic rock specifically the albums It's A Love Cult
and Phanerothyme. Stunning stuff. This is the second of their tracks
I've compiled having added Neverland to a previous SOTT.
The release after those two was a collaboration with a Norwegian jazz
outfit 'The Jaga Jazzist Horns' and that was followed by a rerelease
of a Gram Parsons and Michael Nesmith influenced country rock album,
I hear their latest album is also country rock. So they're never
boring.
12 Joy Zipper - 33x
(from American Whip)
Evoking hazy, Summer evenings this is a swoonsome track with slide
guitar, strings and female vocals
13 Donovan - Sunny Goodge Street
(from Uncut CD Paul McCartney's Glastonbury Groove)
I have this on a couple of CD's but I took this from a comp McCartney
put together for Uncut. A good choice as this song is amazing, very
evocative and smoky with wonderful stand up bass and subtle brass.
Donovan demands further investigation I think.
14 Magnet - Lay Lady Lay
(from On Your Side)
I was disappointed in the album as a whole but this is a great
mellifluous cover of the Dylan song with a lovely co-vocal from Gemma
Hayes. Jason Falkner headed to Norway recently to work on the next
Magnet album so I have high hopes for that being better than the
first.
15 The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love
(from The Concretes)
A Swedish eight piece this is atypically upbeat compared to the rest
of the album. The rest manages to skirt round the ballpark where
Nico's tracks on the first Velvets album reside. This is not a cover
of The Supremes song but rather an organ and brass driven beauty that
is perfectly short.
16 Charlotte Hatherley - Summer
(from Grey Will Fade)
I was shocked how good this album was and this track in particular I
have played to death. Tim Wheeler really needs to relax the
songwriting reigns in Ash (Charlotte
is their guitarist) because on the evidence of this record she would
only be a benefit. Great guitar pop although I almost edited out part
of the coda.
17 The Delgados - Everybody Come Down
(from Universal Audio)
Scottish pop from the owners of the chemikal underground label. This
time out they ditched the orchestral arrangements featured on the last
couple of albums and proved they didn't need them to make a great
record. They have a tendency to be quite downbeat at times but this is
uplifiting pop.
18 Billy Nichols - London Social Degree
(from Mojo comp Maximum '65)
From a poorly named compilation as most of the tracks don't seem to be
from 1965 at all. Pretty good swingin' London track with some nifty
harpsichord and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Seems to lead nicely
into...
19 Glen Campbell - If This Is Love
(from the Capitol Years1965-77)
...the very nifty guitar of Mr Campbell. On this evidence you can see
how he got session work and ended up touring with the Beach Boys.
Never mind how good the song is it's the acoustic guitar playing that
you have to look out for on this one. Astounding.
20 The Searchers - Popcorn Double Feature
(from Mojo comp Maximum '65)
My Searchers knowledge maybe isn't what it should be but if I hadn't
read it from the cover I would never have placed this as by The
Searchers. Very American sounding to my ears and a fine song which was
covered by The Fall on the album Extricate it would appear
21 The Bystanders - When Jesamine Goes
(from Almost Famous)
This is the original of this track and not the version that was a hit
for The Casuals with basically the same arrangement. Members from this
band later formed Man.
22 Jim O'Rourke - Something Big
(from Insignificance)
Jim O' Rourke has been prominent in the Chicago avant garde scene for
years and in recent times has been a member of Sonic Youth as well as
working on the last couple of Wilco records. This made it really
bizarre to see him pop up on the extras for the film School Of Rock
coaching the kids and directing the music. This is from one of his
solo albums and is a rather nice cover of the Burt Bacharach song
23 Laura Nyro - Stoned Soul Picnic (Demo)
(an extra track on Eli and the Thirteenth Confession)
A demo maybe but still a wonderful performance with solo piano and
multi tracked Nyro's doing the vocals. If you haven't heard her solo
stuff before, check out the first couple of records and then go and
listen to the first couple of Todd Rundgren albums. Definitely a big
influence.
24 Mandy More - If Not By Fire
(from St Etienne's The Trip comp)
No, not Mandy Moore. Another track from this brilliant comp and from
someone that I can turn up no information on. She released one album
in the early 1970's and the sleevenotes to the comp describe her as
'unhinged' on this track and that about sums it up with it's processed
vocals that verge on sounding like Madeline Kahn (sort of). It's
brilliant but also brilliantly strange and I wish I could hear the
whole album.
25 The Go! Team - Feelgood By Numbers
(from Thunder! Lightning! Strike!)
This is from my favourite album from the tail end of last year which
mixes two live drums kits with piano, obscure sampled 80's theme tunes
and double dutch style female MC'ing. The sum of these parts makes up
a short infectious album that makes you feel 8 years old again and
causes much jumping around in an imaginary duffle coat. This track is
a relatively straight forward piano instrumental with harmonica which
perfectly evokes all those great Vince Guaraldi pieces for the Charlie
Brown cartoons. Get this album.
26 The Zombies - I'll Call You Mine (overdubbed version)
(from Zombie Heaven)
Ah, the wonderful Zombies. This is the overdubbed version that would
have gone onto the unreleased RIP album had it been released. It
features extra piano and vocals from the 1965 recording. As much as I
loved the writing of the sadly now deceased music writer Ian MacDonald
(Revolution In The Head, The People's Music, Uncut mag) I very often
disagreed with what he wrote, never more so than when he gave this box
set a two star review when we all know it's a joy from first note to
last.
All comments gratefully recieved.
Mark
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