Mods and rockers Mods and Rockers

She's the Daughter of a Planter from Havana
Boogie Chillun
Talkin New York
Did You Hear John Hurt
Rudy A MEssage To You
Rude Boy Train
All the Young Punks
Rudie Can't Fail
New Generation
Highlife Fime
Message to the Messengers
Hip Hop
The Kool Herc
Kick PushII
Kick Push
Youthful Expression
Downloading Porn With Davo
NYC's LIke a Graveyard
YOuth and Beauty Brigade

Fopp

I will hopefully stick some new music in Dropbox soon from my expedition to Fopp today. I found an interesting sampler of 1970s Nigerian music that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet.

I also bought a live Sandy Denny CD that is actually her last ever performance. Unfortunately a lot of the guitar and backing vocals were added in the studio because the recorded stuff had "problems".

One weird thing, I walked past the Easy Listening section and they had Dory Previn there!

If there is one thing I'd never describe her music as, it would be Easy Listening. Far too uncomfortable and with uneasy themes.

welcome to the ville 'spill cult 2013

to set the scene (my scene, your scene, always the wrong scene) Ed Harcourt:

Hanging With The Wrong Crowd

electric riot/ jeff lewis/ blockheads
Mods, Rockers, Teds And Skins
Punk Is Dead
Dance Little Rude Boy

k-os/ specials (oh I loved skinhead ska girls!)
B-Boy Stance
Skinhead Girl

now from 18 to 23 we danced in fields titted off our heads like the nutters in the youtube clips.. my friends got vans and kitted them out and we travelled from place to place on occasions bumping into who ever was DJing with Spiral Tribe.
Me, I always got home to my big fat mattress eventually.
Seven
Candence Weapon
In Seach Of The Youth Crew

if anyone says 'Hey You' I always answer with "the rock steady crew" or "..the one that looks like Christmas, come over here and kiss me, kiss me" unfortunately my 4 year old now copies me.. he's right on the zeitgeist with his peers!
(Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew
Amateur Night at the big Top..
Scooter Girl

Simian are bound to offened.. if you're not in there then you should be offended!
(please don't listen if you are easily offended.. skip it)
Sick
El-p.. I love this track.. and yes it probably makes me a middle aged white ex-backpack (this is to do with graffiti) hip hop fan.. I love easy genres.
Jukie Skate Rock
A.R.E Weapons version of a headbanger probably isn't mine.
Headbanger Face

American Analog Set are punk as fuck
Punk as Fuck

and to finish off.. as I have restricted myself so much Galaxie 500 do a lovely cover.. and I certainly didn't waste my experiences of musical cults.. luckily we never had to settle for just one.
Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste
I just noticed we missed post 2000 because blimpy had the audacity to go on holiday and not keep an eye on things... 'spill just gets anarchic without our squire.

enjoy the tunes.... I put 27 in dropbox.. I really did restrict myself honest!

This Is Our Thing

Skinhead Moonstomp
(I Belong To The) Blank Generation
Tropicália
A Jovem Samba
Underground
Complexo De Epico
The Bridge
Old School
B Boys Will B Boys
It's A Rave Dave
Nobody Don't Dance No More (Remix)
Fuck Your Motherfucking Trucker Hats
L.E.S. Artistes (XXXChange Remix)
The Kids Don't Stand A Chance

Hope Sandoval returns

Whilst we wait for the new Mazzy Star album, Hope Sandoval releases a new record, a track from which can be heard here (via stereogum): 

Blanchard

I own the first EP that Hope released with The Warm Inventions (the band includes the drummer from My Bloody Valentine) , but never sought out the following LP, shame cos the EP was top. 

I think it's now safe to say that Mazzy Star have been one of the biggest influences on modern alternative music in the last 15 years, that smacked out, languid lushness can be heard wide and far.

Hope herself is quite mysterious, the only thing I know about her is that we have birthdays on the same day. 

RUDE BOY!

Here's another in my series of re-visiting old vinyl; albums that meant a lot to me when they were new but haven't been heard in quite a while.
This one must be one of the all-time highlights, it's an album that literally changed my life, it's another of those 'forks in the road', probably the first reggae album that I ever bought and one that set me on a path for the next twenty odd years. It's the sound track album of the 1972 film of the same name, directed by Perry Henzell and starring Jimmy Cliff. It was screened in '72 at the LA film festival, FilmEx, which is where I first saw it, I've seen it many times since then, I have a VHS copy and have also watched it everytime it came on TV or to the local Art theater.
Jimmy Cliff was originally hired to play the lead and to also write the music, when the film was in the editing stages and the music was needed Cliff backed out so Perry spent a weekend listening to Jamaican music and he then made a selection of his favorite pieces; a choice which set many like myself on a path which was almost immediately augmented by Catch a Fire, the Wailers first album, also released in '72. There's so much to say about this film, it's based on a true story, that of Rhygin, a '40s gunman - the original rudeboy, it's very honest, it shows western Kingston as really was in the 60's, it's almost a documentary of Jamaican life, it was very difficult to make, getting financing was almost impossible and almost everyone involved took IOU's in lieu of cash, it was a total labor of love. The acting throughout is amazing since many characters were not actors but real people cast to do what they did in life. It was an instantaneous smash hit in Jamaica, everyone went nuts, they'd never seen real Jamaican life on the screen before but it was a different story in the US and the UK, no one wanted to touch it, Perry couldn't get a distributor anywhere. Finally he hand carried it to all the festivals and to some college town cinemas and it slowly began to take hold; remember, no one had ever heard of reggae outside of Jamaica. The Observer's film critic, George Melly was the only English critic to see it and he gave it a rave review which also started some word of mouth and it slowly spread but it still took 6 years to recoup the production costs.
My most recent viewing was this week, I looked at the HD digitally re-mastered new release DVD and if you enjoyed this film the first time around you should get the new version and really enjoy it's pristine look and sound. Plus there's the usual package of extra treats which includes a great documentary on the making and release of the film by Chris Browne and several interviews and an excellent series of slides with music. Cliff's reneging on the music is probably the best thing that happened, it forced Perry to choose a selection of music all of which went on to become classics; the album was released on Chris Blackwell's Island label and became their all time best selling reggae album.

I have a tiny personal story related to the film; in the early '80's I was sitting on a beach under a palm tree in Negrill and off to my right, about 30ft away was a gruff looking middle aged Jamaican guy, he caught my eye as I glanced at him. He came over and said "So you recognised me eh?" I was a bit non-plussed but as I looked at him I suddenly realised that he was Preacher-man from the film, he didn't look quite the same in swim shorts and without his dog collar. So we sat and chatted for a while and when it was time to leave we swapped cards etc and he said "If you're ever in Kingston, give me a call, we could get together". His name was Basil Keane and he was a dentist, he was cast in the part because he looked like a preacher.
About 6-7 years later I was sitting in a motel in Kingston awaiting my van which couldn't arrive for another week so I gave him a call. He remembered me instantly, asked where I was and said he'd be over immediately. Well he invited me to stay with him for the week and I gladly accepted, he was an avid jazz fan and I'd brought dozens of C90's so we had lots to talk about. That was on the Sunday. We really hit it off for the next few days, he was single and I suspect a bit lonely and we spent hours chatting, drinking and listening to music: until Wednesday morning. He left, not saying where he was going or when he'd be back: later that day I assumed. Five o'clock came and went, it got dark and he didn't show, finally I went to bed. The next day, Thursday, more of the same, I ate and went to bed. Friday, late in the day he appeared looking as though he'd been on a serious binge and when I asked him where he'd been he clammed up and refused to answer. I thought all of this was very weird but since I was a guest and I'd only known him a few days I shut up. The next morning he was bright and breezy as if nothing had happened, we had a pleasant breakfast together and then he said he'd like to take me to meet his girlfriend. We drove there, she lived in a modern condo with white marble tiled floors, we sat chatting and then she said she'd fixed some lunch so we sat at the dining table, eating, drinking and being very social. Suddenly, out of the blue for no apparent reason Basil exploded, he stood up cursing, grabbed the wine bottle and smashed it to the floor and all the glasses soon followed, the white tile was covered with shattered glass. He gradually calmed down but no explanations were forthcoming, the girlfriend was obviously very embarrassed and finally we left and returned to his house; to say that the atmosphere was tense would be an understatement but since my van was due the following morning I bit my tongue and put up with it. When it arrived I departed and spent a wonderful 3 months traveling through the island and popped in a couple of times just to say hello. I never saw or heard from him after that.

Hope that bit wasn't too boring, anyhow here's the music:

1. You Can Get It If You Really Want - Cliff
2. Draw Your Breaks - Scotty
3. Rivers of Babylon - The Melodians
4. Many Rivers to Cross - Cliff
5. Sweet and Dandy - The Maytals
6. Harder They Come - Cliff
7. Johnny Too Bad - The Slickers
8. Shanty Town - Desmond Dekker
9. Pressure Drop - The Maytals
10. Sitting in Limbo - Cliff

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Yoof

40 Miles Of Bad Road
Superbird
Yul Brynner Was a Skinhead
White Man In Hammersmith Palais
Staring At The Rude Boys
All Mod Cons
Suzi Is A Headbanger
Punkrocker
The Classical
Roots Commandment
For Milton Mapes
Rave On

2009 (WTF is going on?)

I can't log in to the Mothership, despite an hour of trying, so here's a nomination just for us, Joni Mitchell performing 'Woodstock' at . . .y'know . . .





P.S. Tatanka, I've just been able to log in. Sorry for wasting everyone's time with this post. Unless you enjoy the video, in which case a Partridge-like 'back of the net!'is in order.

So which one?

Two very different versions of the same song.

Do you prefer this one?



Or this one?



Obviously I have a clear bias...

Mazzy Star - Into Dust

Nothing to say except that I love this. Check it out:

More Time-wasting Ideas

Hallbow

Evening all. I'm not in a position to say much right now, for two reasons. The first is that I'm at my parents en route from Manchester to a 1930's garden party themed wedding in Hereford (cravat ahoy!).

The second is that I simply don't know what I CAN say about the gig I was at last night: Elbow and the Halle Orchestra at the Bridgwater Hall in Manchester. Specially arranged and orchestrated by the Halle's Joe Duddell, the gig was part of the 2009 Manchester International Festival. It was, to say the least, an event.

Put simply I'm not sured I've ever been so overwhelmingly moved in a huge variety of ways by an evening of music in my life. At the interval, after the immense first half, Mrs Frod, myself and our two companions all agreed that we felt like we had been 'catharsised'. I was in bits during 'Switching Off' and '...Tower Crane Driver' defied belief.

The arrangements were sensitive and inventive. The orchestral additions and adaptations were thematically appropriate and musically rich. The whole crowd knew they were witnessing something special (even a rather passive R. Wainwright, sitting near us, was roused by it all in the end) and the communal sense of a tangible occasion was a real treat to experience.

Plus, to top it all, Guy Garvey was gracious enough to admit that winning the title of 'Spill album of the year 2008 had really made the whole thing worthwhile for the band...

If you don't believe me, you can read Dave Simpson's five star review on the Guardian right now. I think the Indo gave it five too. The only slight downside is that music may now have been ruined for me forever. But we'll see how that goes.

First Landing?

If you don't like tapdancing, fast forward to the last 5 seconds.

Can we do it? Yeth we can!

On another thread, 'Anonymous' said about RR closing early: ''Everyone should come over here & partee & parley instead, are we not the Overspill?''

You know what I say to that Mr. Effing Anonymous, and people like you?

I say darn good idea, old chap.

So here's an open thread. Post at will (don't worry, Will's wearing protective equipment).
.

Can you say wankers on here?

The wan*ers who closed the blog early are in good company. The wa*kers at Firefox upgraded the program to 3.5 but downgraded the UK to, well, ocean.

So to defy the gods, I'll post my dialogue bloody donds here:

This is a week when the obvious really is the best. You hunt and hunt for unknown treasures, but the standards really have earned their place. They just don't, he says in his old nostalgic man voice, do songs like that anymore.
Carla Thomas & Otis Redding - Tramp (Nick76) Sadly zedded
Ray Charles & Betty Carter - Baby It's Cold Outisde (RockingMitch). This is THE killer version. Ray's voice is so sweet, and those horns!
Harry Belafonte & Eartha Kitt - Hole in My Bucket (RockingMitch)
...the only modern song that holds a candle is Pogues w Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York (BalearicBeat)
Eminem - Stan (isotope) has great dialogue, but lacks the urgency of a face-to-face encounter.

Donds too for:
Black Box Recorder - The Art Of Driving (laurenzi)

Tindersticks - Travelling Light (richardrj)

Jimmy Castor Bunch - Troglodytes (nidhogg)

sly, slick & wicked - sho' nuf (mototom)

Roots - you Got Me (steenbeck)

Schwervon! - Dinner (saneshane)

Pony Up! - I Heard You Got Action (saneshane)

Tommie Young - Take Time To Know Him (steenbeck)

Velvet Underground - The Gift (tonymulryan)

Long Blondes - you could have both (technopeasant)


DOND OF THE WEEK:
Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth (Shoegazer)

treefrogdemon got the blues

They've closed comments over on RR, which is why treefrogdemon is singin' the blues.


In the Pines - Leadbelly
Kosmic Blues - Janis Joplin
Weary Blues From Waiting - Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott
Rollin' Blues - John Lee Hooker
Young Man Blues - the Who
Piss and Moan Blues - the Gourds
Old Rub Alcohol Blues - Dock Boggs
Pass You By - Gillian Welch
Freight Train Blues - Bob Dylan
Zimmerman Blues - the GPs

THE EXPAT. CHRONICLES

This is a subject that's long interested me, I even tried to introduce here once, long ago, unsuccessfully.
There seems to be a significant portion of the Spill/RR community that are living away from their native countries plus another group who've lived abroad for long periods and then returned. Times change and now there's a large expat population in Europe, though mostly retired, that choose to live in sunnier climes, ie; Spain, France, Morocco etc. The economy, cost of living, taxes and the weather all are factors in their decisions to leave, but they're not who I'm thinking of here, our group, I suspect are still working, still active but have chosen for a variety of reasons to to live 'abroad'. I'm curious re. those reasons, is there a common thread that we expats all share? I probably hold the expat record for longevity, I've lived away from the country of my birth for over fifty years, though I've visited there many times. I have very warm feelings for many aspects of England, but conversely there's also many reasons that I couldn't live there now; it's not the country that I left, it's changed so dramatically in 50 years that it's almost unrecognizable but the core culture is the same and that's what attracts me.
The following questions, I hope, will be a basis for some interesting discussion on the topic, I'll kick it off by answering them and then hopefully some of you will chime in, I realise that this topic by it's nature excludes some of us but that shouldn't prevent general comments and maybe ideas of places you might have thought that you'd like to live and reasons why you chose not to.

1. Why and when did you choose to leave your home country? Would you return to live there?
2. How long have you lived abroad?
3. Was it a good decision, if so why? Would you recommend it?
4. What do you miss/what are the advantages? Any regrets?
5. Which culture do you feel that you belong to? Are there aspects of your new culture that you don't share?
6. Is language an issue, even if you speak it, do you feel totally comfortable and understood with it, the way you are in your native tongue?
7. If married, is your spouse/partner of your native country or your adopted one? Does this affect your expat life?
8. Music: What effect, if any, has your expat status had on your musical taste?

1. England was in a very depressed state for at least a decade following WW2, food rationing lasted well into the 50's, the country was economically bust! The US emerged from the war very wealthy and had acquired huge technological assets, ie jet aircraft, radar, rockets, magnetic tape plus thousands of German scientists who came to work in US industries.
I had only the most basic education and no real skills, I didn't see much of a future for me in mid 50's East Anglia. A friend who'd emigrated to California persuaded me to join her there, initially for a visit but it almost immediately became permanent, we later married.

2. 51 years: since Aug. 8th, 1958 and the entire time with the exception of 1 year I've lived in California, about 35 years in LA and 15 in northern California. I think of California as my adopted 'country' rather than the USA.

3. It was an amazing decision, you wouldn't believe the changes I went through in a very short period. Financially: my paycheck for doing a similar job to the one I had in England increased about tenfold within a couple of years, we were earning so much money compared to the cost of living that there was a bowl on the dining table where we put uncashed pay checks, we'd let them accrue 'til there was enough to make a trip to the bank worthwhile. in England I drove a 1937 Austin 7, in that same two years I'd bought a XK 150 Jag and a new Citroen, it was a land of literally 'eternal sunshine', we travelled extensively all over the western states and visited England on holiday. I had a very good job as the Southern California Technical representative of a major paint company, based in large part on my being English, I learned as I went along. Compared to England there was enormous freedom in terms of lifestyle, work, leisure, travel and simple things like having a swimming pool and a large apartment. It was obviously a very good decision, it was one of those 'forks in the road' that we spoke about here recently, my life changed. I tried to influence friends back in England to come and check it out but there were no takers. England was black & white, California was Technicolor.

4. Throughout that period, the decade of the 1960's, I evolved through many changes, I quit that job, left the USA at the time of the Cuban missile crisis and returned a year later to enter a university. I don't think that I would have had that opportunity in England, I was 31 by then. It was the time of the cold war and we were subjected to constant anti Soviet propaganda and US jingoism, I tried to close my ears to it all but it was always there, as was the eternal advertising whether on radio, TV or print, it demeaned everything. I missed the 'culture' of England, specifically the history, the literature and the arts, I think I saw every English film produced during that period and not many American ones.

5. I'm not sure that I identify with either totally, it's bits and pieces of each with a few international spoonsfull tossed in. Black music and reggae both were influences as were the early US trade union movement and the civil rights movement and the songs that evolved from them.

6. Language is obviously not an issue except that my accent always opened doors, England and all things English were always very popular.

7. My first wife was English and we shared many of the foregoing ideas and attitudes, we divorced after about 12 years. My current wife is American and it's always intriguing to see how she's interested in all thing English, she probably knows as much or more than the average Brit about English culture and society, I enjoy the 'international' aspect of our marriage.

8. My love of jazz started long before I left but my being here allowed it to develop by having constant access to live jazz in LA, the 'English Invasion' of the '60s was significant in that it was a connection to the homeland in addition to being a new music. I was able to buy records and attend concerts in a manner that I might not have done in England, so I'd say there was a positive effect in that way. Similarly, later when reggae struck and then 'world music' I was able to travel and become fairly involved.

So overall it's been a definite positive experience for me, I don't know who I'd have become had I stayed in Bury St Edmunds and continued working at ICI but it would have been light years away from what California created.

EOTWQ- Summer Special No. 1

Start of summer special.. the questions are written in Czech on the two A4 pages shown in the photo... what, you can't read them? OK, here's a precis..

1.Hot, humid evenings, too much alcohol, overheated flats... nerves tend to get frayed when the mercury is rising. I like to think I'm pretty tolerant online, but face to face I've been known to roll my eyes if someone ever chews with their mouth open.. which (other) inexcusable breaches of etiquette get your goat?

2.Favourite ice-cream flavour? Optional extra- are you a cone or a pottle person?

3.We'll possibly be heading to the beach at some stage, where I'll lie around in the sun and wonder what it's like being able to swim properly, rather than just take a few unconvincing strokes before stopping to gasp for air... I think this dates back to school swimming lessons in early autumn, in an unheated, uncovered pool in the deep south ... what basic life skill do you lack, and why?

4.Summer fashion.. Open toed shoes, sandals, flip flops... do you wear socks or not? (Be very careful with this one- your continued presence on the Guardian website could depend on it)

5.Summers in NZ, at least on the west coast, aren't complete without sandflies, which appear in swarms and leave very itchy bites.. everyone has their „secret“ insect repellent, whether it's Vitamin B in industrial quantities, running around the whole time, or smearing yourself in a mixture of garlic paste and petrol.. what's your failsafe insect repellant, or do you simply take a more holistic view and try to ignore the little buggers? In which case, I suggest you don't visit Milford Sound between October and April..

Album of the Week - Wildbirds & Peacedrums

The Snake
"Swedish husband-and-wife duo Wildbirds and Peacedrums are closer to Siouxsie and Budgie's Creatures than the White Stripes.
from Dave Simpsons review:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/10/wildbirds-peacedrums-snake-review

"These Swedes seem to pick anything up and play it. They'd probably even make beautiful music out of garden furniture. The giddy ride through tonal ups and downs, timbre switches, key changes can almost be too much to take, and if Wildbirds & Peacedrums were more than a duet, it almost certainly would feel excessive. Negotiating The Snake for the first time is a journey riddled with surprise – that almost nothing can be nailed down or predicted even after the seven-minutes-thirty of closer of 'My Heart' is pure 'lucky dip' stuff. Each time you dip in, you seem to come out with an even bigger handful of sweetness."
Luke Slater- Drowned in sound.



And Zoe Williams didn't quite get their name right in her review of Late Junction, Radio 3 (otherwise good point made!)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jul/01/radio-head-zoe-williams

I do have a couple of free downloads, but they asked nicely not to re-distribute them.. I'm all up for artist wishes, so I won't post them.
(just for us in the 'spill to discuss.. have a dropbox listen)

What's your verdict?

Just talk quietly amongst yourselves

The Old Dance - Oysterband
Bonny May - June Tabor
Long Lankin - Steeleye Span
Willie o'Winsbury - Richard Thompson
Thomas the Rhymer - Steeleye Span
Queen Among the Heather - June Tabor
The House Carpenter - Maggie Holland
Geordie - Joan Baez
The Bay of Biscay - Waterson:Carthy

Pressed rat and warthog discuss BEANS

Schwervon! Make diner … I always expect them to post a recipe on the ‘spill

Pony Up! Discuss baseball.. yeah right.

Buddy Wakefield gets into the idea of flockprinting (this means a lot to me and touched my Ms. when it started her last birthday compilation.. getting the right peach skin feal to my t-shirts bores her to death –this out pouring makes up for it – almost.

Glasvegas – as with Buddy- not quite discussion – but an inner monologue.. brilliantly sentimental.

DJ Format Featuring Abdominal – no idea about this – being the hottest sibling!

Sister Vanilla – I can’t even work an excuse for this – but it’s family J&MC.

Saul Williams – talking to strangers can be interesting. The usual great rant.

Noah And The Whale – I just love the thought of projecting into the future what might be discussed in the passed – or something.

I just need to know the last word in the article to get the covers download!!!!

Coldcut – don’t play in front of the Grand parents.

Diner
I Heard You Got Action
Flockprinter

Geraldine
Ugly Brothers
The Two Of Us

Talk To Strangers
5 Years Time
Bob George
I'm Wild About That Thing (The Lost Sex Tapes: Position I)

How I Discovered RR

This week's topic of dialogue moves me to relate how I discovered RR in the first place. I had compiled topical CDs before - mainly Christmas songs - but a couple of years ago I found myself interested in songs with talking parts. The most famous one is probably Elvis's Are You Lonesome Tonight which features a 50 second long soliloquy in the middle. There were others that came to mind such as The Diamonds' Little Darling. So I set about looking for other songs with spoken parts to put together a CD. But my limited musical knowledge only produced about 15 songs so I decided to do a Google search. The right combination of search words finally led me to the RR column on Spoken Word songs ( http://rrindex.com/topics/spokenword.htm) I had not heard of a single one of the songs so my reaction was, "Damn! I've hit the motherlode!" Even more so when I checked out the blog leading up to it.

After that I compiled not one, but two 20-22 song CDs which I called Talkies Volume 1 and Talkies Volume 2. I even wrote liner notes for the first one explaining that there were five different kinds of songs with talking in them and I even designed CD covers (from an image I scrounged off the net).

The liner note for the first CD went as follows (it includes the songs for the first CD as well).


Talkies - Volume 1

Many pop songs from the 50s and 60s had talking parts – spoken monologues as part of the song. The quintessential “talkie” which is the first song in this collection was Elvis Presley’s Are You Lonesome Tonight. About halfway into the song, Elvis speaks those classic lines:
“I wonder if you’re lonesome tonight. You know someone said that the world’s a stage and each must play a part. Fate had me playing in love with you as my sweetheart. Act 1 was when we met. I loved you at first glance. You read your lines so cleverly and never missed a cue. And then came Act 2. You seemed to change. You acted strange. And why I’ve never known. Honey, you lied when you said you loved me and I had no cause to doubt you. But I’d rather go on hearing your lies than to go on living without you. Now the stage is bare and I’m standing there with emptiness all around. And if you won’t come back to me, then they can bring the curtain down.”
This passage takes up a full 50 seconds, almost a third of the song.
Spoken parts like this add a certain dimension to a song and so I started cataloguing songs with recitations as part or all of the piece. There are, I discovered five different kinds of talkies. The first kind are like the Elvis number – A bit of singing, a bit of dialogue and some more singing to end the song.
The second kind are songs with spoken narration only at the beginning of the song to set the scene for the song that follows. An example of this is Tom Dooley by the Kingston Trio also in this collection. A variation of the intro narration is a dialogue involving more than one person as is heard at the beginning of the Shangri-Las classic Leader of the Pack.
“Is she really going out with him? Well there she is. Let’s ask her. Betty, is that Jimmy’s ring you’re wearing? Mm Mm.”
The introductory monologue is popular in songs from musicals such as the opening number from Little Shop of Horrors. Interestingly, a throw-away spoken line from Leader of the Pack – “Look out! Look out! Look out!” just before the motorcycle crash, is reprised in a different context in Little Shop of Horrors. (It’s also used in New Girl in Town from the 2007 movie Hairspray – not included here.)
The third type of talkie is the aside or comment. The best example is the Barenaked Ladies If I Had a Million Dollars which has asides about stocking a fridge in a treehouse and eating Kraft dinners.
The fourth type is the song that is mostly spoken with the possible exception of a sung chorus line. Classics of this type include Jimmy Dean’s Big John.
The fifth type is only spoken word with musical background music. A brilliant example of this is the hilarious Judge Dread by Prince Buster.
Here is the playlist with “talkie type” indicated:
1. Are You Lonesome Tonight? – Elvis Presley – Type 1
2. Little Darling – The Diamonds – Type 1
3. You Can Depend on Me – Brenda Lee – Type 1 (Brenda Lee is big on monologues and has four songs featuring them in one of her greatest hits collections)
4. A Letter from Sherry – Dale Ward – Type 1 (This song differs than the preceding ones in that the monologue is recited by someone other than the singer)
5. Have You Seen Her? – The Chi-Lites – Type 1
6. Deep Purple – Nino Tempo and April Stevens – Type 1
7. Tom Dooley – The Kingston Trio – Type 2
8. Leader of the Pack – The Shangri-Las – Type 2 (with a touch of Type 3 thrown in)
9. Little Shop of Horrors – Soundtrack – Type 2 (with a touch of Type 3 thrown in)
10. Miss Otis Regrets – Bette Midler – Type 2
11. If I Had a Million Dollars – Barenaked Ladies – Type 3
12. Mr. Custer – Larry Verne – Type 3
13. Dentist – Steve Martin – Type 3
14. Big John – Jimmy Dean – Type 4
15. The Boll Weevil Song – Brook Benton – Type 4
16. Hot Rod Lincoln – Commander Cody – Type 4
17. Patches – Clarence Carter – Type 4
18. Somewhere Down the Crazy River – Robbie Robertson (The Band) – Type 4
19. Judge Dread – Prince Buster – Type 5
20. Past, Present and Future – The Shangri-Las – Type 5
21. Say Man – Bo Diddley – Type 5
22. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott-Heron – Type 5

I have enough songs to put together a third CD but haven't got around to it yet.

Anyways - that's how I discovered Readers Recommend. I loved the concept and have been a loyal fan ever since

Talk to me ... no, not you, you one-eyed freak!

A gratuitous and juvenile link, I'll grant you. But it is a DsD fave, and everyone on the mothership is playing "too cool for school" to give it any donds [Dondle, in this case, surely?! - Ed.] And yes, it does put me in conflict with my own stance on artists and their off-stage antics, but what the hell!

No, my REAL reason for posting today - before we head off to Cleckheaton, so I'm not around again until this evening - is to ask for individual line-by-line, idiot-step by idiot-step, instructions on how to use my newly-installed Audacity. I can't follow their own tutorials past the first sentence without glazing over. If I can get it together, the inaugural DsD podcast will follow shortly.

So over to you . . .

SINCE IT'S SUNDAY...

I've long wanted to play this piece here, I've no idea who or what it is. Many years ago I was working on something in the house and I switched on the radio, this is what was playing; I had a blank disc in my minidisc deck so I hit 'record'. I listened for a while but it didn't work with what I was doing so I hit mute and forgot about it, when I came back to it the disc had filled up with no breaks or announcements, it runs for over an hour. I think it's an amazing piece of music, I've listened to it dozens of times and always wondered what I was listening to. It isn't background music, it deserves a serious listen, preferably with headphones, the relationship between the lead and the chorus and the soloists and the musicians is just amazing, I'd love to know how it's structured and how they all inter relate. The second cut is in a different language and I've no idea which one, does anyone here recognise it? I have a hunch it may be West African, the waveform has clues in it that indicate that it is vinyl so it could be quite old. I faded it out, it just goes on and on.
It's in the dropbox in the 'Gospel' folder.

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What is the use of talking, and there is no end of talking.

This is Not the Stove to Brown Your Bread
Rough Alley Blues
Riddles Wisely Expounded
Gone Fishin
Take Time to Know Her
Go Limp
I'm Sticking With You
Anyone Else But You
Salute to a Switchblade
Shallow Days
He Say She Say
You Got Me
Payback is a Grandmother
You Never Know
Da Art of Storytellin Part 1
Miss Fat Booty
Check the Rhime
Rewind
Poor Georgie
She Said
Tell Me

Old RR Blogs Got Spotified....

Erm. Hullo. I dont know if anybody else did this already but I've created a set of Spotify playlists with links to as many songs nominated in each old blog as possible. If you're interested, links below. So far I've only done 2005's RR columns. Rest to follow....

CHANGE - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/2acqG6UD4qOary6a6DjNTe
SCHOOL - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/17j5uLykllI6SvZi8JVNUe
AUTUMN - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/6oSpJA9ePM4hi7nJ9TtX1T
WOMEN - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/1nzCB1LqYBOUd4dKOD8wsX
GOD AND DEVIL - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/5N5zbFmWR6iuXvfyFEQw0c
HATCHET JOBS - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/2EUCJyNqwhX49cHS2RQclw
HALLOWEEN - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/0mLhPr16xYK4hoa4wvd5DO
CELEBRITY - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/4Fusifa72MIqMA8CdEldcO
PROTEST - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/4bnBkqG0w6XCm2d6eo5ixZ
BAD WEATHER - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/2xxrhDigpjtQqAqeCYi0Q6
REDEFINED BY FILM - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/2xxrhDigpjtQqAqeCYi0Q6
DANCE - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/22x16kHJ23qqat6KytdRx2
SMOKING - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/6iHZynLOesTm1vW7xihs9s
DRINKING - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/1LqINwRsGxjMvcpRmqI7HR
CHRISTMAS - http://open.spotify.com/user/fourfoot/playlist/68dirHb4S9k5VdNd5Av7PT

Spotify tends to update by the nano-second (!) so feel free to copy and update your own, I'll revisit them eventually myself.

Hope this is of use and enjoyment....

Please Discuss

Bah, Mothership down for maintenance, it's late & I'm busy tomorrow, so just a quick list, even more tangenital than usual. If any of these are on topic (it get's a bit duety here & there) & not taken, feel free to carry them over for me. Gracias.
I'm 89
That Leaving Feeling
Henry Lee
Alone In The Makeout Room
Broken Telephone
Telephone Thing
9 Crimes
Angles
Buried Bones
Special One
Primative Painters
Caciocavallo

Hello, it's you I'm looking for.

Hello, everyone. It's been a long time since I've been involved, thanks to the usual family tragedies etc. that can take a person back into the real world and away from relative frivolities. I've been trying to keep up with the Mothership as much as possible, but I haven't been here in some months. I flatter myself that it's been noticed (as a result of two emails that are woefully overdue answers, I hope you know who you are, and accept my apologies), but I'm going to try to be more of a part of the community again. Anyway, having said that, what better way to reestablish myself than with a fantastic song cast in a wholly different light?



And on that bombshell, I'll hand it over to a pro to help me sign off on my first post in way too long. I've missed you all. Play me off, keyboard cat!

MJ: Not like other guys

I've run across a bunch of rootsie Michael Jackson covers, and thought I'd share a handful with you nice people.

Wish I could do the little MJ yelp for ya. You'll have to settle for my moonwalk:

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Kesang Marstrand - Say Say Say
Neja - Man In The Mirror
Robbie Fulks - Black or White
Chris Cornell - Billie Jean