Takedowns Galore

I managed to be under the radar for the first group of takedowns that were hitting seemingly everybody else. I had a visit from the 'web sheriff' asking politely to take something down but that was all.

This week I've had FOUR removals. To be honest it doesn't bother me that much, the thought of some big corporation scanning the web looking for these things. Copyright law is copyright law, like it or not. And that's a whole blog worth of thought and argument right there.

What does bother me is the fact that two of the tracks removed are pretty rare. You can't buy them, so nobody's sales are being affected. Which leads me to believe, (because anybody can make a complaint and get your post removed, it doesn't have to be a big corporation bullying us little folk)that it was actually some collector worrying about the value of his/her collection being affected by the availability of a tune.

Yup that's right. I think it was somebody just like me. One of the little folk.

And that's really sad.


(Any more removals may just lead to the blog disappearing. Blogger do that from time to time. If that happens don't panic. Take note of my blog list to the right and keep an eye open on their comments. I'll be back if my pages do a disappearing act.....)

Sounds For Sunday

Here's a little Otis for today. It was 41 years ago on the 10th of this month that we lost the man, who was only 26 when he went.

Party Chambers

Adam over here is talking about The Style Council and their first album Introducing today. It made me think about their first b-side, Party Chambers, which to me is one of those Weller B-sides that stay with you long after you're sick of the A-side. It's also pretty typical of a Weller strand that sort of got lost. It's jazzy, but it's not really jazz; it kind of sounds like 60s film soundtrack music, but modernised and Weller-fied. I'd sit it alongside The Jam tracks like The Great Depression and Shopping, both for quality B-side status and for their musical similarities.

I love the Moogy solo over the finish, it ends too abruptly for me: I could listen to that for hours.

I was 14 when I heard this first and in the midst of a huge teenage crush/unrequited love thing. It reminds me of wet pavements and Benson & Hedges; of really good chip shop chips and Coke of the cola variety. It sounds like the ups when she chose to smile at me and the downs when she ignored me completely.

"Let me sink in sadness, cause I can't forget her;
She was on my mind and
Try as I might I spend all my time thinking about her"

The Style Council - Party Chambers

Carnaby Street

A lesser known tune by Booker T & The MGs here today.

Carnaby Street was a tribute to and inspired by the British groups as they moved from beat pop to psychedelia. It appeared on their Hip Hug-Her album in 1967. It's quite unusual for Booker and the boys; it's less of dance track and more jangly 6ts pop, that autumnal sound that I associate with 1966-67: it's very very Small Faces in it's style, with some lovely riffs and changes and an absolutely soaring Hammond chorus. Enjoy!

(Some research made today found an interview here with Ian McLagan of the Small Faces that suggests they were 'inspired' by this instrumental in their creation of their own classic Tin Soldier.)

Booker T & The MGs - Carnaby Street

Sounds For Sunday

There's a scary version of Try A Little Tenderness on the TV as I'm sitting here, which is so shouty and forced and completely un-soulful that it's making me feel a little ill.

So here's some classic tunes that pretty much define soulful without even breaking a sweat. These are in their full length form too, so watch out: there's about half an hour's music in these three tracks!

Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up
William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You've Got
The Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Sounds For Sunday

1983 was a turning point for me in a lot of ways. Where music was concerned it was the moment where I stopped simply discovering music from it being played to me via the radio or TV and went out and found it. It was the year I became a soul fan.

Several things came together to make that happen. I started to become interested in what influenced the bands I liked. Before then the records they made seemed to be in a vacuum. They came fully formed and I didn't really care who the bands had listened to to come up with their music. It was all new.

But in 1982-83 I started to realise that these bands didn't exist in a bubble of their own, they were part of a bigger thing. Weller would talk about Motown and The Clash and The Who. Joboxers took over presenting a radio show and talked about Northern Soul, Madness did something similar and talked about Costello. Costello would talk about Burt Bacharach. And then when you would work your way backwards through those people you would then find that, hey wait a minute that sounds familiar and work forwards again through other bands. So, while Weller loved Motown, so obviously did the Human League. Joboxers loved Northern Soul and so did Soft Cell.

And so it began.

A couple of years ago my mum was retiring, moving out of London and going back to her hometown in Wales. When she packed up I gave her a hand and found a couple of suitcases in cupboards filled with my own stuff, leftovers from my teens that I'd never taken with me when I left home. There were old comics and pin-ups, copies of Smash Hits and old school jotters. Some of those were filled with lists of songs that I would hear on the radio and make note of so I could get them later. One in particular was kept by the radio specially for a show that I used to listen to on Capital Radio, Pete Young's Soul Cellar. In the winter of 1983 that became a huge favourite of mine as I claimed that particular style and sound for my own.

Flicking through that one I realised that I actually owned most of the tunes listed these days. But back then though you couldn't get some of the sounds for love or money. Well you could, but you had to be prepared to spend loads. Today's sounds are a selection of that list. Listening to them now I can remember that feeling in the pit of my stomach, that excitement at hearing them, but also that desire to own them myself.

Booker T & The MGs - Slim Jenkins' Place
The Soul Sisters - I Can't Stand It
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - If You Can Want

Sounds For Sunday

This is something a little bit special today. "I Cried" by Tammi Montgomery was a single in 1963. Tammi was 18 years old and signed to James Brown's Try Me label. This song was her only release for the label. You can hear James Brown all over it, the backing track is pretty much note for note one of his more famous ballads. I'll leave you to work out which one.

It's a beautiful track though, with an amazing vocal, and the gorgeous flute parts just send shivers down my spine.

It's even more special for it's place in soul history. Because, two years later Tammi was signed to Motown and became the more well known Tammi Terrell. Tammi died at the tragically young age of 24 after leaving behind some great music, especially the ballads with Marvin Gaye. And this:

Tammi Montgomery - I Cried

Enjoy.