"just around midnight..."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here's a little something for "just around midnight". Thought you might like to hear PHIL LESH AND FRIENDS playing "Brown Sugar" from a couple of weeks ago, on December 12 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA.

BROWN SUGAR (PHIL LESH AND FRIENDS)

VASHTI Alert!

Stop what you're doing and head over to BEDAZZLED to grab a Quicktime movie of VASHTI singing "Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind". You'll thank me later. Now go!!!

BEDAZZLED

Adventures in Advertising, Part 1

Here are two old album ads, I don't know what magazines they're from. Most likely CREEM or CIRCUS. When the "Black and Blue" ad was used on a billboard on Sunset Boulevard with the words "I'm Black and Blue from The Rolling Stones - and I love it", the organization "Women Against Violence Against Women" picketed and held a press conference. They called it "a perpetuation of the myth that women like to be brutalized", and Atlantic Records whitewashed the billboard. "Sucking In The Seventies" is a case where the ad looks much better than the actual album cover. I'll be delving into some of those '70s and '80s mags from time to time. Lots of fun stuff there. More to come.

A couple of covers

Here are a couple of things I found recently on MP3 blogs. I don't know anything about either of these artists, so if anyone can enlighten me, please do. As I found these posted at a couple of the usual sites, I thought there'd be no harm in putting them up here for a week.

Its always fun to hear a good cover. Allison Crowe turns in a nice strong vocal on "Shine A Light". And check out some of the different lyrics in Greg Brown's "Can't Always Get...".

SHINE A LIGHT (ALLISON CROWE)

YOU CANT ALWAYS GET (GREG BROWN)

and one more

Okay, one more re-posting by request. Then we'll be getting back to our regularly scheduled blog with some more rare Stones, some Lou, some Pete, some Mop Tops, and of course more Stones. Here again is "Think I'm Going Mad", the B-side of "She Was Hot":

THINK I'M GOING MAD

By request

By popular demand, I've re-posted some of the earlier tracks. Most tracks are only available for seven days, so try to check in often - I hope to be able to post something new at least a few times a week, maybe more.

Here they are, but you'll have to scroll down or hit the "previous posts" links on the right for track info. Enjoy!

TOO MANY COOKS

ITS ONLY ROCK'N ROLL (OUTTAKE)

ALL DOWN THE LINE (45 mix)

Cops And Robbers

This is one of my all-time favorites. COPS AND ROBBERS from the Camden Theatre, according to the sleeve recorded March 19, 1964 and broadcast May 9, 1964. A great live track - check out Brian's harp throughout the song - and Mick delivers a wonderful vocal. This is probably on some boot CD, but I haven't seen an MP3 turn up as yet, so here it is, sourced from a vinyl boot 7" EP of the same name:

COPS AND ROBBERS

And check out that classic William Stout cover!

12-inch heaven, part 2

For some reason I just cannot get the CHANTILLY LACE link to work. Sorry. I've tried four times now, and still nothing. Oh well. Maybe I'll try again another time.


So getting back to the 12-inch re-mixes, here's one that does seem to be working. A very nice dub mix. This stuff was all very new to me back in 1978, and this track just blew me away at the time. This was the B-side of the Tosh/Jagger "Don't Look Back" 12-inch, suitably titled "Don't Look Back (Don't Space Out)":

DON'T LOOK BACK (DON'T SPACE OUT)

Chantilly Lace

"Chantilly Lace" was a hit for THE BIG BOPPER in 1958, and the Stones dusted it off for the first half of their 1982 European Tour. Here it is, date unknown, sourced from a vinyl boot called "Germany 1982":

CHANTILLY LACE

12-inch heaven, Part 1

I always loved those old 12-inch singles. They'd always have some kind of wacky dance or "dub" mix on the B-side. Sometimes a lousy single could be at least partially redeemed by having a totally weird re-mix included. And most of those things have never been released on CD. So its CULPA DIRECT to the rescue! This begins a series of occasional postings of some of the more amusing dance re-mixes of some of our favorite "rock" artists. Starting things off, here's "DANCING IN THE STREET (Dub Mix)" from the B-side of DAVID BOWIE and MICK JAGGER's 1985 12-inch single. (Actually, Bowie's name comes first on the front and back covers and spine, while the labels read "MICK JAGGER/DAVID BOWIE"). Musicians include G.E. SMITH and EARL SLICK on guitars. Also on the B-side is the "Edited Version", and the A-side is the "Extended Dance Mix". But for now, we're off to Dub City:

DANCING IN THE STREET (Dub Mix)

OOPS, We Love You

At the time of the release of the "Sgt Pepper" LP (June 1, 1967) it seemed like all of London was having one big groovy party. On June 8, Brian Jones came to a Beatles session at EMI and played saxophone on "You Know My Name (look up the number)". Then at some point in June or July, Lennon and McCartney recorded backing vocals for what would be the next Stones single, "We Love You" (released in August).

Through the miracle of OOPS technology (out-of-phase stereo) we're able to hear a little better those legendary backing vocals. Here then is an OOPS'ed version of "We Love You":

WE LOVE YOU (OOPS)


Click here to read more about OOPS.

And a great big bottle of wine

In February 1971, George Harrison and Phil Spector decided to produce some tracks for Phil's wife Ronnie Spector. Together with Leon Russell, Gary Wright, Jim Gordon, and Carl Radle, they recorded, or at least began, six songs before the sessions were abandoned. (George would then go on to produce a few tracks for Badfinger, including "Day After Day", and abandon those sessions too.) One of the songs started at the Ronnie Spector sessions was "You", which would end up on George's "Extra Texture" LP in 1975. Two other songs, "Try Some Buy Some" (written by Harrison) and "Tandoori Chicken" (written by Harrison and Spector), were released as an Apple single. "Try Some Buy Some" would also turn up on George's "Living In The Material World" in 1973. "Tandoori Chicken" was one of the songs in the sing-along heard on the tape of John Lennon's birthday party on 10/9/71.

Here's the single, never released on LP or CD:

TRY SOME BUY SOME

TANDOORI CHICKEN

Going mad

Here's one that could have been on the recent "Rarities" CD. Instead they decided to concentrate on the R'nB-type stuff, and even gave us a few tracks that were already available on CD. Somehow, tracks from "No Security" are considered "rarities". And then there's "Mannish Boy", which was already available on two different CDs! (Its becoming their "Imagine"!)

So here's a real rarity, from 1984, never on LP or CD, the B-side to the "She Was Hot" 45:

THINK I'M GOING MAD

A love song so divine

Continuing with 1974, this is an early mix of "Its Only Rock'n Roll", with a different lead vocal:

ITS ONLY ROCK'N ROLL

Too many cooks

To start things off, we go back to 1974 when John Lennon was producing the "Pussycats" LP for Harry Nilsson. Briefly considered as a possible Apple 45, Mick Jagger singing "Too Many Cooks", and featuring Jim Keltner, Bobby Keys, Jesse Ed Davis, etc:

TOO MANY COOKS