10CC
The Complete UK Recordings 1972-74 (Varese Vintage; 2-CD)
     10CC isn't a dirty word for open-minded pop fans. For most others (lets call them the uneducated) it is, and the name reeks of the mid-70's schmaltzy hit 'I'm Not In Love' and the blandness that filled the pre-punk void where flares, big keyboards, stadiums and everything (supposedly) bad ruled! Well, lets treat 10CC as a band we've never heard of to avoid already set in stone preconceptions… as the title suggests this anthology compiles everything cut for Jonathan King's UK label – two albums and a few singles released in '73 and '74 – and this is the first time these sides have been on CD. Debut 10CC ('73) featured hits 'The Dean And I' and 'Rubber Bullets' (brilliant approximations of Carl Wilson vocals and Zappa's inventive playfulness) and a host of comic spliff-induced-creations that blended brilliant pop (from early 60's piss takes through to psych dabbled confections) with crafted contemporary pop rock. 'Fresh Air For My Mama' rallies with The Beach Boys at their own game circa Holland! With 60's pop craftsmen working together it was bound to be good -- Eric Stewart (Mindbenders), Kevin Godley (Mockingbirds), Graham Gouldman (all round pop genius who penned The Yardbirds' 'For Your Love', The Hollies' 'Bus Stop', Herman's Hermits' 'No Milk Today', released a brill album of his songs and also lead The Mockingbirds) and Lol Crème (who recorded as The Yellow Bellow Room Boom in '68 for Marmalade records with Godley, and pioneered many a UK bubblegum single). Follow up album Sheet Music ('74) was even more special and took their eccentricity to new regions. I've never enjoyed Zappa, but I love the comic, harmonic and occasionally full frontal rocking arena 10CC explore on Sheet Music: a studio trickery filled, bendy pop album, which was more progressive, mind-bending and interesting than anything Yes or ELP could ever have hoped to concoct! Unlike the work of those behemoths it still stands up today and the lineage can clearly be traced through to recent bands like Supergrass who revel in the same weird changes, great playing and ampheto-fuelled energy! Sheet Music just has to be heard! Believe me! It takes 60's experimental psych-soft-harmony pop to new places, and it's no surprise to discover that Curt Boettcher super-fan and expert Dawn Eden has written the liners to this essential release.
www.varesevintage.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE BANNED
Little Girl (Cherry Red; CD)
     I didn't know that Acid-Folk “beards and curtain-partings” Gryphon (well, one member at least) went onto punkier things. But then, I suppose they were all at it. Bob Geldof was a smelly old hippie, Mike Kellie from The Only Ones was in Spooky Tooth and so on… And off course, the punk and then new wave boom was only six or seven years on from the longhaired era… that isn't a long time. The Banned followed the short hair and '60s suits look that The Jam, Jags and Costello styled, which was a far smarter option than the medieval look of Midnight Mushrumps. Musically they're quite cool too, having cut a quasi-yob take on garage band The Syndicate Of Sounds' 'Little Girl' and some fine Flamin' Groovies-like mid-'60s jangle. RPM's Mark Stratford and “Junkshop Glam” fetishist Phil King have brought this to you…     and more similarly obscure releases are too follow.
www.cherryredrecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE BIRDWATCHERS
The Birdwatchers (North Shore Soundworks; CD)
     The Birdwatchers were certainly the best and most prolific garage band from south Florida, and fans of the genre have long clamored for a collection like this one. The Birdwatchers is a 2 CD set, essentially alternating A and B sides, taking you from the band's early days as The Apollos to their end, when, due to various lineup changes, they were forced to used several aliases.
     Disc 1 begins in the early '60s with the Apollos sides, which vary from the Johnny & The Hurricanes -styled 'Rockin' Horses' to 'Walk By Myself,' which can best be described as Ricky Nelson meets Dean Martin (!).     In 1964 the band changed its name to The Birdwatchers, but it was the addition of vocalist Sammy Hall that solidified them.     Blue Things-styled folk rock like 'It's A Long Way Home' and 'It Doesn't Matter' foreshadow the sound that would become their signature.     The Birdwatchers hit their watermark with 'I'm Gonna Love You Anyway,' a great folk-garage tune that should have found a home on one of the Pebbles or Highs In The Mid '60s volumes (the single actually bubbled under the Billboard charts, reaching #125 on September 3, 1966), 'A Little Bit Of Lovin'' and the single 'I'm Gonna Do It To You/I Have No Worried Mind,' which fans of early Ides Of March will love.
     Disc 2 takes the band through the late '60s, and with those changin' times came a softening of their sound. 'Turn Around Girl' boasts awesome harmonies a la The Choir, 'Than You Say Bo Bah' (yes, that is the title!) predictably features lots of ba ba bahs, 'Weeping Analeah' is a nice slice of haunting soft pop, and 'Dreamin' In The Rain' (under the nom de plume The Glass Bubble) veers into Glen Campbell territory…not that this is necessarily a bad thing. The disc ends with creditable covers of 'Spinning Wheel' and 'Mr. Skin', as well as a spoken word warning against drug use by Sammy Hall, who had found Jesus, and then left The Birdwatchers, after a binge of drugs and driving had almost killed him. 'Drug Talk' takes us through Hall's history as a musician, and leaves us with “Christ has been injected into my bloodstream, in its purest form…now he's where it's at”. 'Nuff said.
     Note: The Birdwatchers CD is one of a series of discs compiled by 60sgaragebands.com and produced by Northshore Soundworks. None of these CDs are being sold for profit; they are either sold at cost, or offered as trade for other rare '60's garage bands' music, as no rights have been secured by either Northshore Soundworks or 60sgaragebands.com. However, all of these CDs were created with the complete cooperation and approval of one or more band members.
www.60sgaragebands.com
David Bash

ERIK
Look Where I Am (Radioactive; CD)
     Ahem, anyone got a magnifying glass I can borrow for this one please? For this reissue the original (quite period and groovy looking) sleeve has simply been shrunk to CD jewel case size which means that the track list cannot easily be read unless you want to risk your eyesight (there's a nerve in my left eyeball that's twitching from the strain already!). So I'm not gonna quote track titles here ok! Also there are no liners or contextual info on who Erik was and what happened to his LP originally. Yeah sure, you can look all this stuff up on the net but when a sticker on the front of the jewel case rather rashly proclaims Radioactive to be a hip and happening label, you might want to query it before you have even opened the box! Anyway if you're paying for this why should you do their work for them!
     Any road up, stop griping Martin and tell us what the music's like. OK, at the risk of sounding like a wine taster, it's an interesting concoction. The comparisons that came most readily to mind include David Hemmings' Happens album (just reissued on Rev-Ola) in that there are some quite longish one beat things going on in places and a similar almost improvisational vocalising on them. Erik clearly did not have the strongest voice in the world and in places almost warbles, sounding something akin to nascent David Sylvian but he also seems to know what his limitations are and works well within them over a good range of styles. There are some sub-Jimmy Webbisms in the lightly orchestrated poppier songs. Elsewhere there are shades of Billy Nichols had he been from L.A rather than London plus some definite acid folk touches and strong comparisons to Jake Holmes's second album (Letter To Katherine December) crop up. Altogether an interesting and likeable album (11 songs over 42 mins). Worth getting if you enjoy albums with a broad pallet approach and a sprightly light touch.
http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/erik.html
Paul Martin

BILL FAY
From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock (Wooden Hill; CD)
     If, like me, you've ever wondered what happened to Bill Fay between his 1967 single 'Some Good Advice/Screams In My Ears' and his 1970/71 solo albums, Bill Fay and Time Of The Last Persecution, here's the answer. In Bill's own words, he continued to write and record material which Decca simply chose not to put out. While other artists tackled Fay's compositions during this time (Sadie's Expression cut 'Yesterday Was Such A Lovely Day (Elsie)' and The Crocheted Doughnut Ring had a good stab at 'Maxine's Parlour'), the man himself spent those crucial years without a release to his name. OK, if the songs were trash then this might be understandable - but they're not - as this collection of demos and outtakes from 1966 to 1970 proves in aces.
     In contrast to the perceived image of Fay as a troubled loner cutting stark, disturbed odes the apocalypse in between spells in the nuthouse, the warmth, humility and skewed commerciality of these tracks paint a very different picture indeed - that of a pop songwriter with no time for traditional love songs and little patience with the musical styles of the day. While the bulk of this disc features Fay accompanied by himself on piano or guitar, openers 'Warwick Town' and 'Maxine's Parlour' are full-on folk-pop outings, cut with members of Honeybus (who also recorded them for BBC sessions around this time) and featuring beautifully ornate Pete Dello arrangements. 'Maudy La Lune' comes straight from the Magical Mystery Tour-era McCartney school, all chipper Franglais cool and eyebrow-raising chord changes but with Fay's lassez faire vowel shapes making it all his own. Indeed, it's Fay's deadpan delivery of lines like “excuse my words if they don't make sense / somebody has just jumped a twelve-foot fence” that prevent 'Just Another Song' from becoming lost under the weight of its ukeleles and tubas.
     It's Fay's lyrics that continue to engage and amaze this listener. “Her every word is music to my ears / especially when she's had one or two beers” and “Doris on my settee / with her children three / but she wants one more to form a string quartet” ('Doris Comes Today') are just two of many that spring to mind. 'Garden Song', 'The Sun Is Bored' and others which cropped up on his eponymous debut appear here in demo form as does 'Be Not So Fearful', recently covered by Wilco and featuring a vocal delivery which, to these ears, must have rubbed off on Honeybus' Colin Hare who employed it on his subsequent solo album March Hare (see review below).
     This is a fascinating release courtesy of David Wells' Wooden Hill label, offering a glimpse into another side of one of our most unique and unfairly overlooked maverick songwriters. Highly recommended.
www.marmalade-skies.co.uk/wooden.htm
Andy Morten

FUNKADELIC
Motor City Madness: The Ultimate Funkadelic “Westbound” Compilation (Westbound/Ace; 2-CD)
     Wow! The great Funkadelic… Where should we start? Obvious tie in answer: Here. If you're new to the band, have heard they're pretty mind-blowing… but are not quite sure where they're coming from then here is the place to begin your musical odyssey. Along with Sly & The Family Stone, Funkadelic proved that a black man had far more to offer than radio friendly soul in and could rock the early '70s as much as any long-hair with a Marshall stack! The group ethic was fully taken on board and man could they play (bassist Bootsy Collins being as important as any singer). Dropping LSD all the way and dressing in psychedelic garb (along with a mad mythology) this bunch of black brothers and sisters were as hip, cred and out-there as every single “white” acid rock band. Blending relatively straight ahead soul with Hendrix-like guitar bashing (the mind melting 'Maggot Brain'), freaked out brotherhood rave-ups one step up from The Temptations' Psychedelic Soul-era (the fantastic wah-wah rock 'I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody's Got A Thing Going'), regular forays into mad comedic genre bending and as time passed jazzy disco, with a sharp metallic edge (which okay, isn't “that” good), with an abundance of full on heavy bassed funk (which is). George Clinton and co. certainly could never be accused of being predictable or boring! Covering Westbound material released between '70 and '76 – the band's best era; I for one, don't find the P-Funk disco-rock-fusion era anywhere near as enjoyable – this non-chronological compilation, with a weighty Dean Rudland penned booklet, is most definitely the best place to start if you think Funkadelic appeal. It's also a solid two-hour plus over view of the band's growth period!
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

COLIN HARE
March Hare (Runfast; 2-CD)
     33 years separate Colin Hare's two solo albums with his sophomore effort, Free Together, appearing just this year (see April http://www.shindig-magazine.com/reviews-apr2004-2.html reviews). When March Hare appeared (and disappeared) in 1971, nobody would have expected the former Honeybus guitarist/singer to come up with such a well-crafted collection of original material, his previous attempts being limited to one Honeybus b-side and a couple of cuts on their classic Story album.
     Recorded in the same flurry of sessions that spawned Pete Dello's Into Your Ears and the Honeybus' ill-fated reunion album Recital, March Hare is a UK troubadour classic which still sounds fresh and innovative today. Colin, Honeybus drummer Pete Kircher and Rockpile guitar whizz Billy Bremner laid down a dozen tracks which run the whole gamut of early 70's pop, rock, folk and country influences. Highlights are too numerous to mention but the beatific waltz of 'Bloodshot Eyes', the effortlessly commercial pop of 'Alice' and the haunting folk ballad 'Find Me' still send shivers down the spine. As a bonus, Hare has added a second, miniature vinyl replica disc containing his previously uncomped 1972 single for Warner Brothers, 'Didn't I Tell You/Seek Not In The Wide World'. The topside is an unusual ballad with a grandiose arrangement while the flip is sparser and reminiscent of Cat Stevens' work of the time. Both tracks are cut from the same cloth as the album but neither would have fitted into the long player's watertight running order. It's odd then that the remaining non-album sides, 'Grannie Grannie' and 'Fighting For Peace' have been omitted here.
     The excellent re-mastering of this new edition on Hare's own Runfast imprint makes it aurally the best version yet although the lack of new liner notes, slightly clumsy design work and those two missing tracks will ensure that you'll have to hang on to last year's deluxe Japanese Air Mail digipak or the old See For Miles edition until the definitive version appears.
www.colinhare-and-honeybus.co.uk
Andy Morten

JOSHUA
Opens Your Mind (Rockadelic; LP [500 copies])
     Sacramento's Joshua didn't get signed… but after taking over the lease of Blue Cheer's old pad and becoming friends with the band they did receive label interest. It didn't happen, but they certainly had the right goods, which if a little more honed could have made for a winning formula. As singer Mick points out in the liners they had the rhythm section of Cream and the dual acid guitar interplay of Quicksilver Messenger Service. This limited edition album compiles studio cuts, live recordings and radio sessions, which are a clear indication that if Joshua had had the money to spend time in a studio they could have been blinding. Nevertheless, their drugged-out and radical hippie rock still sounds pretty good, and fans of Kak will take to 'G.I Peace' and other notable band originals. Cool stuff.
www.rockadelic.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

MARMALADE
The BBC Sessions (Sanctuary; CD)
     Oh, I pity those Marmalade boys. Forever associated with that Beatles cover, tarred as the ugly ducklings during the year of British pretty boys that was 1968 and only recently afforded any of the credibility they plainly deserve. Those of you who still haven't succumbed to the charms of 'I See The Rain', 'Man In A Shop', 'Reflections Of My Life', 'Rainbow' and the rest should waste no further time in laying the ghost. This 27-track anthology of their late 60's BBC sessions could be the perfect place to start.
     Like so many bands of their generation, Marmalade had already served their apprenticeships knocking out soul and r'n'b covers under a variety of guises in sweaty Scottish clubs for the first half of the 60s before they hit the big time in 1968. Therefore, they were much more at home recording live sessions for auntie Beeb than many of their fresh-faced contemporaries who struggled in the absence of overdubs, session men or an audience!
     It was customary at the time for artists to record recent hits or popular tunes for BBC sessions, as well as their current single and maybe it's b-side or a recent album track. Consequently, we get all of the Marms' post-1966 singles bar 'Man In A Shop', including a wonderfully shaky 'I See The Rain' – hell, it's just great to hear an alternate version of this song – and brass-free takes of 'Lovin' Things' and 'Wait For Me Mary-Anne' which prove (along with omnipresent presenter Brian Matthew's interviews) the session man rumours were untrue. Covers of The Temptations' '(I Know) I'm Losing You', The Who's 'I Can't Explain', The Isley Brothers' 'This Old Heart Of Mine', The Byrds' 'My Back Pages', Joe South's 'Hush', Crazy Elephant's 'Gimme Gimme Good Loving' and Crosby, Stills & Nash's 'Judy Blue Eyes' perfectly reflect the band's sonic influences and are played with the kind of passion and effortless confidence that makes you wish all their records had been cut live.
     Oddly, only English drummer Alan Whitehead is interviewed and references to 'translation' abound. Ah, those wonderfully enlightened 1960s.
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
Andy Morten

NEUTRAL SPIRITS
Neutral Spirits (Gear Fab; CD)
     Totally inept fuzz, outta key raunch from 1972 cut by a bunch of young lads from a small town in Tennessee. It's garage all the way, with shaky playing and crap vocals riding on top of the most basic tunes. I guess they liked Zep, Sabbath, Purple etc, but you won't be able to tell. This is so musically primal that time bares little relevance. Garage-Perverts that revel in ineptitude will adore this, but it certainly won't appeal to everyone.
www.swiftsite.com/gearfab/
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS
The Lost Cabin Sessions (Varese Vintage; CD)
     I must admit to not having known about these guys prior to hearing this CD, and from judging what's on offer here they're a wonderfully, melodic hippy rock/country rock unit; and they've definitely bowled me over! After a bit of research I discovered that this is perhaps the best set of songs they ever recorded, even though at the time the band were without a name and unsigned. (In '74 they signed to A&M and are still going today (if anyone could CDR me the early albums I'd be very grateful)). The Lost Cabin Sessions recorded in '72 and '73 was cut by the band when they were nothing more than musical hippy friends who had moved to the beautiful mountain region in search of a back to the country existence, living the rural life and writing and performing songs that embodied it. These sessions were cut as demos and shopped around, and like all happy ending, things took off... At this early stage the breadth of material the players engaged in --gentle folk and country, to roots rock, melodic pop and rock -- was sublime. Fine, fine harmonies, basic but emotive playing and a vibe that portrayed the peace and love ethic. A favourite of mine is 'You Know Like I Know', which is carried by a gentle piano and jazzy guitar refrain and is performed with the same lite touch as Nazz at their balladeering best. Wonderful! 'Rainbird' is another beautiful number, consisting of chiming acoustic guitars, gorgeous chilled out lyrics and harmonies that recall the San Fran vibe of '67 . Not necessarily what you'd expect from an act labelled country-rock! Although a great number of the songs, like 'Lovin' Again' and 'Leatherwood' (which are dead ringers for Richie Furay's Buffalo Springfield and Poco delicacies) have a definitive country rock feel, and thus classifying the Ozarks as country rock is probably the easiest. The entire CD is a treat and has opened my eyes. If I had to play an inquiring mind something that typified what post-psychedelic hippy bands were playing in the early '70s this would be my example. In the words of 'Feelin' Good' (a magnificent funky rocker, with a Stones' swagger) "When you're livin' in harmony, anyone can take a drink from the spring, ain't no strangers in the company, feelin' good is just a natural thing"... now exhale, and do it again.
www.varesevintage.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

BARBARA RUSKIN
A Little Of This: The Barbara Ruskin Songbook (President; CD)
     Barbara Ruskin had already been the guitarist in The Dimensions, written songs for Tony Christie and Valerie Mitchell, released singles on Pye and Parlophone (all featured here) and had her own BBC radio show by the time she arrived at President Records in 1968. Her ambitions were always in song writing but her modish good looks and striking Jackie De Shannon style 12-string guitar playing ensured that she found her way onto vinyl and TV as a performer in her own right.
     The President label continues its rebirth with this, the first ever Barbara Ruskin collection, containing singles and previously unreleased demos cut between 1965 and 1972. Most tracks are strongly signposted by their year of origin, moving from melancholy Brill Building-influenced pieces like 'Wishing Your Life Away' through Motown ('Song Without End'), London vignettes ('Euston Station'), bendy pop ('Pawnbroker Pawnbroker'), brassy bubblegum ('A Little Of This') to her final single in 1972, the soulful 'Yesterday's Coffee'.
     Barbara's voice is part Sandy Shaw, part Sharon Tandy and carries the material well. The demos are intriguingly ragged and we're left speculating how good a 1968/69 Barbara Ruskin album might have been.
www.president-records.co.uk
Andy Morten

THE SCOTSVILLE SQUIRREL BARKERS
Blue Grass Favourites (Big Beat; CD)
     As a Gandalfian looking folky pointed out to me at work after spotting my neighbouring buddy and I looking at this CD, “that's Chris Hillman from The Byrds there!”.
     “Yes, we know” we replied, in hope of him going away. And luckily for us he did.
     And that simple fact my friends is the reason that this album sells. It's representative of a small egg in a nest that would eventually hatch a Byrd. As an authentic sounding early '60s bluegrass album goes it's perfectly acceptable, with decent harmonies, lightning fast picking and a host of old tunes arranged by the lads. Of course at this stage there's no hint of the folk-rock Byrds whatsoever (you need to hear Rev-Ola's Hillmen album for that), but the influence Hillman bore on McGuinn as The Byrds turned to country cannot be overlooked, and it is at this early stage on this album, released in 1963, that the young Hillman first aired his roots music talent.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

THE ULTRA V
Denizens Of Dementia (Green Cookie; CD)
     The V offered a slightly twisted take on late '80s/early '90s garage. They were from NYC and in keeping with the district dressed up like The New York Dolls flirting with The Cramps, Fuzztones, drag queens and denisons and actresses of seedy porno theatres whilst musically coming across with very few thrills and a gothic glam stance captioned with Jaggery snarls and Ig-like grunts, rounded off by Vox gear, crypt-shaking Farfisa and lottsa fuzz. Some folks are getting into the spooky 90's garage punk sound again, and there is a market, but for me it's something I left behind. Anyhow, if it still fires you up – and I'm sure it may – this CD certainly piles it all onto one plate (the CD even includes two videos). Although not one of the stronger bands from the period, The Ultra V's heroin-chic and sound still kinda fits in with what's going on today, and I guess some kids may still dig it….
www.colorcookies.moonfruit.com
Mike Maroon

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Come Fly With Us (Psychodelic; LP - 500 copies only)
     Yummy, it's on red vinyl with a groovy coloured sleeve. There, that's the kid in a sweet shop bit done. Subtitled 'A psychedelic blast from the past with 18 rare USA Nuggets!', this comp is a strange mixture of average and above average garage psychers. A lot of these although perfectly fine, don't really stand out at all. However, there are those that do such as The Wailers (no, not them) two numbers 'You Can't Fly' and 'Bad Trip', both bouncy numbers. The Spike Drivers are the only name I recognised here and their released version (as opposed to demo version on their anthology CD) of 'Strange, Mysterious Sounds' is a highlight of the comp and almost worth buying for this track, what a cool little guitar break! Side Two actually holds a greater number of revs per min that does Side One. In The Evergreen Blueshoes 'Maybe Someday', The Reign's ''In The City' the Wild Childs 'Closer To You' and Probable Cause's 'Chain Reaction' there is some definite movement and solid tune. These sort of vinyl comps are cheap and cheerful, are full of intrigue and offer the odd real discovery. Come Fly With Us is not to be taken that seriously perhaps, but it offers plenty of fun which is what the music was about to start with!
www.soundflat.de
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Instro Hipsters A Go-Go Vol 5 (Past & Present; CD)
     This is a very nice selection combining the futuristic monophonic synth sounds of the likes of Les Yper Sounds 'Too Fartiche' or Galactic Federation's 'Man Shot' with softish jazz fusion grooves. More strident brassy attacks by studio orchestras, led by people usually called Reg, Roy or Ray are also included with only one or two lapses into supermarket musak (there's always a couple!). Cool stuff like Gabriella Brass's 'Ride your Pony' rubs shoulders with “out thereisms” like The John Schroeder Orchestra's 'Explosive Corrosive Joseph'. Interesting to hear Tony Crombie (of     “& The Rockets” fame for having released the first ever R&R 45 in the UK, even if it did still sound like swing jazz!) with Mike Carr on 'The Tag'. Velvet Fogg's 'Owed To The Dip' and The Mike Cotton Sound's 'Like That' are the rock / beat group contributions along with Graham Bond's excellent take on 'Wade In The Water'. In short, if you have been following this series and enjoyed it, then this one won't let you down.
www.soundflat.de
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
New Directions Vol 2 (Past & Present; CD)
     First off the gripes and grumbles. For all of these new P&P releases the artwork is virtually non-existent and there are no liner notes for any of them. The art work such as it is looks like an 1980s Silk Cut ciggies hoarding board advert (you know, purple silk sheet with a slit in it) that's been badly photocopied, tsk, tsk. These comps are long in coming, having been delayed week on week for a few months, plus the Megaworld website seems to have bitten the dust. There is probably a story to all that but let's not get side tracked. Ok, so apart from the crap packaging, what's the music like. Well, as I've always said, they're cheap and cheerful. Mid-price 30 track CDs of obscure and interesting sounds despite what they look like, are not a bad deal.
     If you bought Vol.1 of this new series you will be familiar with the tight sylistic feel of it's blue-eyed horn section pumping club-soul stylings, striking a fine balance between beat and soul (as with Sanctuary's Doin' The Mod Vol.1 for instance). I was impressed, it was indeed a fresh sounding take on the mod soul approach. It also had very nice and appropriate cover art. Vol.2 is the Silk Cut ad again with no visual connection whatsoever to what's inside the jewel case. I don't know what the problem is here or whose fault this is but it really seems to highlight the sloppy approach to how all these titles have been presented. Musically, this is not really anywhere as good as the first volume. The interesting and tightly focused blend of white boy mod and imported Motown and Stax-a-like soul that made it so interesting have lapsed. Here we do have (in Alan Bown for instance) some adherence to the concept, but too often these are just blue-eyed soul covers; The Persuasions - I'll Go Crazy, Teddy & The Tigers 'Hold On I'm Coming', Alex Harvey 'Agent 00 Soul' etc. If this goes to a third volume I can see it being nothing more than another northern soul collection which is a very old direction. Nonetheless, the music is perfectly good in what it is, it just doesn't have the same coolness that Vol.1 had. Something to keep in mind rather than rushing out to buy I'd suggest.
www.soundflat.de
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Party! Party! Party! (Cheep! Cheep!; CD)
     This compilation is 60's party music. Some of it is in the spirit of the classic “holy trinity” of frat music, The Trashmen, Kingsmen and Rivieras, i.e. beat-y, dumb, amazingly catchy pop. If songs like 'Louie Louie', 'California Sun' and 'Surfin'Bird' don't move you, you don't dig rock'n'roll. Although this CD includes some obscure Kingsmen-wannabees doing songs in the spirit of the above, there aren't enough of them.
     The problem is that quantity isn't always value. There are 34 songs here but it is hard to listen all the way through. I had to listen in three different sessions, or “parties” – as the title suggests. On a double LP it would have been possible to have four more easily digestible sides. Every time a couple of decent songs pop up they are followed by a real clunker. I would have preferred to lose some of the mediocre material, leaving about 20 real winners.
          You should be able to slap on a good party album and watch everyone get up and dance to song after song, like a Tony the Tyger cassette. The random sequencing and inclusion of some weaker songs eliminate this possibility.
     This CD is like a party in a big house with lots of rooms. In each one a different band is playing.     In some rooms people are way too drunk and are doing things they shouldn't, things they'll regret it in the morning. In this category is Shorty & The Enchanting Souls' excruciating cover version of     'Gotta Get Out Of this Place', which is embarrassingly bad. The other covers, of songs like 'Hey Joe', are also disposable.
     You wander into other rooms and the band make up for lack of ability by cheerful enthusiasm, exuberance and a sense of fun. The opener, The Gallows 'Come To The Party' is a good example. The Velveteens, the Little People and The Mark V are basic and wildly derivative but infectiously catchy.
     In another room a crazed, sloppy and raucous instrumental is playing. The tune is unfamiliar but the whole room is really bopping and you start to dance madly and badly. Dr. T & The Undertakers' 'Undertakers Theme' is great. There are eight other good dance floor groovers.
     You drift into another room. They are playing your parents version of what they think you'd like to hear at a party. (Five stupid gimmick 'party' records cranked out by session guys, with animal noises and screams. 'Diamond Coated Banana Bush' is a good title but the worst example.) They are unlistenable, so you flee. The trouble is there are too many rooms, and you keep wandering into more uncool rooms you don't want to stay in, then you briefly find the room where everything is swinging, only to quickly lose it again!
     The lowdown; nine decent dancers/instros, 14 good frat/pop songs, five gimmick songs ruined by jungle noises etc, four unnecessary covers and two very badly recorded live cuts.
www.arfarfrecords.com
Phil Suggitt

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Round The Gum Tree: The British Bubblegum Explosion! (Sanctuary; CD)
     After a proliferation of Buddha and Super K comps, magazine articles, even a brilliant book (Bubblegum Is The Naked Truth) extolling the merits of this oft maligned genre (that in one form or another has been the basis for chart pop for four decades) it was about time someone bit at the heels of the euphoria and released an anthology of our own dear nation's response to the teeth rotting US hits machine. Mid to late '60s Brit pop aimed at the kids always bore similarities to Kirshner's smiling Frankenstein; The Monkees. The same bright clothes, beaming grins, moppish hair, catchy child-friendly melodies (embodied by The Tremeloes and their 'Sunshine Games' – a Brit bubblegummer so good that yanks The Music Explosion covered it) were commonplace in the charts of '67-'70 and were touched upon by everyone from The Small Faces (who hated teenyboppers), Dave Dee and his trousers and teen femme shouter Lulu (note: last three acts not included on this compilation). Irish showbands favoured straight covers of US hits (the least interesting tracks here) whilst Status Quo made better use of the The Lemon Pipers brand of bubble-psych – something they did brilliantly, but soon shunned. As the '60s aged genres regularly cross-pollinated, and the UK pop-psych formula that became a doctrine after Revolover hadmade its mark flirted with the sugary US winning formula (The Smoke's 'Girl In The Park', Scrugg's 'Lavender Popcorn' and Sun Beam's 'Blueberry Blue').
     David Well's liners and track selection illustrate the notion of British bubblegum successfully; and indeed some good music is included. If trimmed a little this could have been quite something, as it stands it's illuminating – and a little annoying. Well, it needed to be done.
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Shadows Falling (Past & Present; CD)
     Shadows Falling has been touted by pre pub. as the first in a series but there is no tell-tale 'Volume 1' on the sleeve, so maybe it' a one-off. In any event this is a mix of the been there, done that's and some stuff I've not heard before, all under the banner of punk-sike. You know, the crossover where garage bands start really upping the quotient. Classics of the genre are of Course Stereo Shoestring's 'On The Road South' and The Orange Wedge's 'From The Tomb To The Womb' not on here for once (they're on everything else, check 'em out on the comps database at Ugly Things if it's up and running there yet). Many of these tracks lost their reissue virginity on comps like Bam Caruso's Garagelands and the potent if rather badly transferred Mayhem & Psychosis LPs back in the 1980s; The Endd's 'Come Into My World', The Burning Bush's 'Evil Eye' (another genre classic), Groundspeed's 'In A Dream' and The New Breed's 'Want-Ad Reader'etc. But these (even by CD standards) are old enough for newer adherents to need this little comp.
     It's all American of course but then so was the genre. The Kitchen Cinq ('Determination') and The Poor ('Hey, Puppet Man') are perhaps a bit less expected in this kind of company, but fit in pretty well nonetheless. Yes go on, if you like this sort of fuzzbender stuff and don't already own half of it elsewhere, it represents good value for your “hard-earned” (dubbed as always from vinyl of course). Newer fans of the Psychedelic Experience series or For A Few Fuzz Guitars More for example will want to get this.
Paul Martin

VARIOUS ARTISTS.
Sigh Cry Die (Cheep! Cheep!: CD)
     A summary of this CD in 26 words:

“Brushed drums. Jangling guitars. Minor chords. Mournful, reedy organs. Heartbroken boys wallowing in misery after being dumped by their first serious girlfriend. A massive Zombies influence.”

     Subtitled “29 tales of woe and despair”, this collection is a worthy successor to previous LP compilations of epic teen misery such as Shutdown 66 and I Can Hear Raindrops. If I could see the small print on the original 45 labels reproduced in the booklet, I'm pretty sure it would reveal that most of the songs were B-sides. Gnarly, raunchy mid-60's garage combos influenced by The Pretties, Stones and Kinks liked to show their more sensitive natures on the B-side. A lady friend of mine once explained that, as young girls, she and her friends really liked bleeding heart ballads for three reasons. It was empowering to hear songs where girls were in control, songs by and about boys who were decimated after being dumped. Secondly, she liked to be reminded that (some) guys had a sensitive and romantic side after all. Finally, bands played these songs towards the end of a live show, so couples could slow dance and smooch.
     The lyrics are sometimes unintentionally hilarious, such as The Changing Tymes' classic “She laughed at me, and then she walked away”. However, there are lots of decent tunes, and different ones stand out on each play. Like other Cheep! Cheep! releases, few have been reissued elsewhere. None of the songs are world beaters, but all are decent and fun, (if you can call songs about crying alone in misery “fun”.) A really enjoyable collection.
www.arfarfrecords.com
Phil Suggitt

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Sue Label Story - Vol 1: The World Of Guy Stevens
Vol 2: Sue's Rock 'n' Blues (both Ace; CDs)
     Now these are utterly compelling! Truly brilliant! And good enough for every Shindigger with an interest in the early '60s and late '50s blues, soul and R&B sides that spawned London's club scene and shakers. Yes, we're talking main player Guy Steven's label and its roster of releases, staple faves with the original mods. Working with Chris Blackwell, Stevens ran the UK division of Sue records and leased American releases for the British market. Everything really started to get into gear in '64, just as the influence of R&B was becoming prevalent in British pop. Innez & Charlie Foxx's 'Mockingbird' was even a hit (the siblings had toured with the Stones), but Sue was mainly a “special something” enjoyed by those in the know. And you can bet your bottom dollar that a lot of “pop stars” took note! Releasing everything from vintage blues to rock and roll, it was a cult in the making – one that is most known for bringing killer R&B and soul out into the open! Faultless in scope and choice these brilliantly mastered sides and the great journalism and images of the hefty booklets     make for two archivist treasures. From the vintage '48 blues of John Lee Hooker's seminal 'Boogie Chillun' through to the rock and roll of Bobby Hendrick's 'Itchy Twitchy Feeling', the white R&B of Paul Revere & The Raiders' 'Like Long Hair' and pre-Band Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks' 'Forty Days' through to the Hammond grooves of Billy Preston, Phil Upchurch     and Jimmy McGriff and a hefty dose of early soul music's finest sides (Lowell Fulson, Joe Tex, OV Wright…) there's more than enough here to recreate the early '60s… forever … better still, volume three is on the way.
www.acerecords.co.uk
Jon 'Mojo' Mills

VARIOUS
That Driving Beat Vol 5 (Past & Present; CD)
     TDB, I have to say, is perhaps the most consistent in the P&P ongoing thematic series. However many tracks you recognise in these comps, there's always a shed load more you've never heard of. The beat factor is always high and I do genuinely feel satisfied when reaching the final track, which on this comp is The Outlaws' 'Keep A Knocking' replete with freakbeat guitar solo, a good way to end. Elsewhere Pentad's 'Silver Dagger', Mel Turner & The Mohicans' (!) 'Doin' The Ton' (which sounds more like a rocker's number than a Mods!), The Zephyrs' 'Sweet Little Baby', Brian Diamond & The Cutters' 'Bone Idol' and too many others to squeeze in here, provide a sound platform you just can't help stomping your cuban heels to. Cool, crisp and to the point, no pretensions, just the beat and youthful exuberance. You can't bottle it but you can trap it on wax, so enjoy this one.
Paul Martin