"Planet Beat: From The Shel Talmy Vaults" by VARIOUS (June 2018 Ace/Big Beat Records CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Almost 300 Others Is Available In My

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

Folk-Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Country Rock and more

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

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"...Gotta Have You..."

This is the third release from Ace Records and their 'Big Beat' label imprint for SHEL TALMY Productions and something fans of The Who's "My Generation" first album Producer are going to get very excited about.

Amidst the non-album A&B-sides and other uber rarities are a whopping fourteen Previously Unreleased 60ts cuts - whilst seven of the 24-sides boast a young 'guitar-slinger' called Jimmy Page who would of course go on to form some no-mark band in 1968 that never amounted to anything...anywhere (well, maybe some places). Most of these Planet sessions also included ace sessionmen Nicky Hopkins on Piano and legendary Drummer Bobby Graham who is said to have played on over 15,000 recordings...

The first Talmy CD compilation instalment came in May 2017 - "Making Time: A SHEL TALMY Production" on Ace Records CDCHD 1497 (Barcode 029667079020) and then Volume 2 in April 2018 - "Planet Mod: Brit Soul, R&B And Freakbeat From The SHEL TALMY Vaults" on Ace/Big Beat CDWIKD 336 (Barcode 029667085120). I've loved and reviewed both and this latest wad of mid-60ts Beat Group goodies is the same – a heady mix of the amazing and the poppy with room in your life for both. Here are the fuzzbox shakers and makers...

UK released Friday, 29 June 2018 (6 July 2018 in the USA) - "Planet Beat: From The SHEL TALMY Vaults" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Big Beat CDWIKD 341 (Barcode 029667089128) is a 24-Track CD compilation of rarities (14 are Previously Unreleased) that plays out as follows (55:06 minutes):

1. My Baby Is Gone - THE UNTAMED (June 1965 UK 7" single on Stateside SS 431, Non-Album B-side of "I'll Go Crazy")

2. Leave My Kitten Alone (Alternate Take, Take 1, July 1964) - THE FIRST GEAR (2018, Previously Unreleased)

3. Why - THE PATHFINDERS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

4. There's Something About You - THE ZEPHYRS (February 1965 UK 7"single on Columbia DB 7481, Non-Album B-side to "She's Lost You")

5. Lucy (You Sure Did It This Time) - THE DENNISONS (October 1964 UK 7" single on Decca F. 11990, Non-Album B-side to "Nobody Like My Babe")

6. Everybody Knows (Alternate Version, February 1965) - SEAN BUCKLEY & THE BREADCRUMBS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

7. Lonely Man - THE LANCASTRIANS (September 1965 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 15927, A-side)

8. It's Superman - THE IMP-ACTS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

9. She Said Yeah - THE PRESIDENTS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

10. She You Later Alligator (Alternate Take) - WAYNE GIBSON (2018, Previously Unreleased)

11. I'm Leaving - THE TRIBE (February 1966 UK 7" single n Planet PLF 108, B-side to "The Gamma Goochie" - the A-side is on "Planet Mod...")

12. Gotta Have You - THE LIBERATORS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

13. Casting My Spell - THE TALISMEN (April 1965 UK 7" single on Stateside SS 408, Non-Album B-side to "Masters Of War")

14. How Do They Know - THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN (February 1966 UK 7" single on Planet PLF 109, Non-Album B-side to "How Can You Tell")

15. Black Eyes (Alternate Take) - THE HEARTS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

16. Our Love Is Gone - THE IMP-ACTS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

17. What'd I Say - JOHNNY B GREAT & THE ORCHIDS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

18. Please Go - THE TREKKAS (February 1966 UK 7" single on Planet PLF 105, A-side)

19. Was She Tall (Demo, August 1964 without JP) - THE LANCASTRIANS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

20. Love Love Love - THE PATHFINDERS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

21. Talk To Me Baby - THE RISING SONS (July 1965 US 7" single on Amy 931, A-side)

22. Kids Take Over - THE UNTAMED (first issued 2001 on the CD compilation "Gimme Gimme: The Singles And Unissued Rarities 1965-1966" on RPM Records RPM 223 - Barcode 5013929522329)

23. Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead (Alternate Version, August 1964) - WAYNE GIBSON (2018, Previously Unreleased)

24. Just Can't Keep A Good Man Down - THE TALISMEN (2018, Previously Unreleased)

NOTES:

All Tracks are MONO except Track 10

Tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20 23 and 24 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (14 in Total)

Tracks 2, 5, 6, 10, 13, 23 and 24 features Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin on Guitar

Tracks 10 and 23 also feature Nicky Hopkins on Piano

The info-packed 20-page booklet with new ALEC PALAO liner notes is the usual classy Ace Records affair - Planet Records trade adverts, publicity cards, promotional band photos in black and white and colour, IBC Studios Acetates, Tape Boxes, label repros for Planet, Stateside, Pye and Amy and so on. It's a brilliant and hugely informative read.

Audio – the NICK ROBBINS remastered sound is amazingly good – like the tapes have been kept well. Listening to the fabulous fuzzed-up guitar track, crazed solo and shimmering exit provided by Zeppelin’s Page on the Alternate Take of "Everybody Knows" or his equally wild contributions with Nicky Hopkins to the alternate take of "See You Alligator" will be suitably impressed. The harmonica to The Tribe and their Them-cool R&B growler "I’m Leaving" is superb too – keyboardist Martin Lee, Guitarist Frank Torpey and singer John Neighbor all kicking up a 60ts-groovy storm.

Another winner in the series - and for Page and Zep fans and lovers of the cult Planet Records label - a must buy...

"Planet Mod: Brit Soul, R&B & Freakbeat From The SHEL TALMY Vaults" by SHEL TALMY [Various Artists] (April 2018 Ace/Big Beat CD Compilation - Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Almost 300 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 3 of 3

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Blues Rock, Prog Rock, Psych, Avant Garde, Underground

Folk-Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Country Rock and more

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

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"...Going Out Tonight..."

Tempted by the fruits of the Various Artists CD compilation "Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production" released a year earlier by Ace/Big Beat Records in April 2017 (see my review) - I lunged slippers-first in my New Breed duds at this April 2018 Big Beat follow-up CD. This time Ace focus 24-Tracks on Shel Talmy's Production credits for the hugely collectable but short-lived British label 'Planet Records' (almost all tracks are from 1966 to be specific).

All the right names and slants are here - compiled by ALEC PALAO with his usual plethora of fantastically detailed liner notes (cool period photos and memorabilia etc) - Nick Robbins mastering, mega rarities making their digital debut and a whopping 15 of the 24-track haul 'Previously Unreleased'. And as you see from the wildly eclectic artist-list provided below by yours truly - there's a world of cool 60ts music to get through and much to discuss. So once more my mod-dancing pasty-faced groovalicious Banditos unto the Daddy Longlegs and Gamma Goochie (if you catch my drift)...

UK released Friday, 27 April 2018 - "Planet Mod: Brit Soul, R&B And Freakbeat From The SHEL TALMY Vaults" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Big Beat CDWIKD 336 (Barcode 029667085120) is a 24-Track Mono CD Compilation that plays out as follows (60:11 minutes):

1. Daddy Longlegs (Alternate Version) - THE UNTAMED (first issued on the 2000 CD compilation "The Best Of Planet Records: A Shel Talmy Production" on RPM Records RPM 215)

2. Unto Us (Demo Version) - THE NEW BREED (2018, Previously Unreleased)

3. Searching - THE SOUL BROTHERS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

4. Mai Lee - JOHN LEE HOOKER (May 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 114, A-side)

5. Call Me Girl - THE THOUGHTS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

6. Take My Tip (Alternate Take) - KENNY MILLER (2018, Previously Unreleased)

7. I'll Never Fall In Love Again - JOHN LEE'S GROUNDHOGS (January 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 104, A-side)

8. Don't Let It Be - THE TRIBE (2018, Previously Unreleased)

9. Why Do You Stand In My Way - THE PROS & CONS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

10. Have You Ever Had The Blues (Alternate Take) - RAY GATES (2018, Previously Unreleased)

11. I'm Leaving - THE UNTAMED (2018, Previously Unreleased)

12. Too Much Of A Woman - THE CORDUROYS (December 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 122, B-side of "Tick Tock")

13. Goodbye Girl - THE PREACHERS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

14. The Skip (Alternative Version) - GOLDIE & THE GINGERBREADS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

15. Pretty Girl - THE THOUGHTS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

16. Stone Crazy - SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS (First issued on the January 2017 CD compilation "The Planet Sessions" on Ace Records CDCHD 1493)

17. Over You Baby - JOHN LEE'S GROUNDHOGS (January 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 104, B-side of "I'll Never Fall In Love Again")

18. Life's Too Good To Waste - TONY CHRISTIE AND THE TRACKERS (1966 UK 7" single on CBS Records 202097, A-side, A Barbara Ruskin song)

19. The Gamma Goochie - THE TRIBE (February 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 108, A-side)

20. Broken Truth - A WILD UNCERTAINTY (October 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 120, B-side of "A Man With Money")

21. Mary Ann - THE PROS & CONS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

22. Think - THE TOTAL (2018, Previously Unreleased)

23. I'm Going Out Tonight - THE UNTAMED (First appeared on the 2001 CD compilation "Gimme Gimme" on RPM Records RPM 223)

24. Goodbye So Long - THE SOUL BROTHERS (2018, Previously Unreleased)

All tracks are in MONO

Fifteen tracks are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED - they are Tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 24

JOHN LEE'S GROUNDHOGS featured TONY McPHEE on Guitar, PETE CRUICKSHANK on Bass and KEN PUSTELNIK on Drums

Who would become 60ts and 70ts Blues-Rock band THE GROUNDHOGS

The 20-page booklet is a typically splendiferous affair - pictured are uber rare release-sheets for The Tribe's single "The Gamma Goochie" (4 Feb 1966), John Lee's Groundhogs and their version of "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (21 Jan 1966), an I.B.C Studios Acetate for The Pros & Cons unreleased "Mary Ann", a gorgeous colour picture sleeve from Germany on Hit-Ton Records for John Lee Hooker's "Mai Lee", Planet Records publicity calling cards for The Thought, A Wild Uncertainty and The Untamed, an outtake photo of Screamin' Jay Hawkins with his wife Ginny, a snap of the mighty Hook with his guitar backstage at The Twisted Wheel in 1964, and a mastertape from a November 1966 session.

Paulo is the kind of geezer who has way too much knowledge but thankfully his enthusiasm and love for this music never abates. Who else would know that Danny Alexander joined Liverpool's 'The Thought' for their European Tour in 1967 and is this fellow Scouser who sings lead on "Call Me Girl" and a roaring version of The Easybeats "Pretty Girl" - both tracks unreleased (slated as the follow-up to the hugely collectable "All Night Stand" single).

NICK ROBBINS has mastered the compilation and considering the vintage - it's a bang-up Mono job. Most of these cuts are dripping with that hard-hitting Kinks garage sound – groovers and boppers – and some like the unreleased "Searching" by The Soul Brothers would have been hit-record material in 1966. OK – this CD doesn’t contain those mythical darlings of Mod – The Creation – and not everything on here (strictly speaking) has Talmy’s involvement (they admit this). But as Paulo’s notes point out – his fingers and choices are all over every cut. Frankly though – when I’m grooving to the fabulous bopper-cool Alternate Take of "Take My Tip" (dig those brass jabs) by Kenny Miller or the Hammond sexy Boogaloo instrumental "The Skip" by Goldie & The Gingerbreads (another Previously Unreleased Alternate) – I don’t care about strict rules – this stuff is wickedly good.

Tony McPhee and Groundhogs fans now get both the A&B-sides of their second UK 45 on Planet PLF 104 from January 1966 – a £100-plus R&B rarity that often sells for way more (if you can find a copy). The Pros & Cons get two unreleased poppers - "Why Do You Stand In My Way" and "Mary Ann" – the first being a rather weedy Beatles copy with the second being better. Far better is "Have You Ever Had The Blues" – Ray Gates wrapping his Chris Farlowe/Jackie Wilson vocals around a great cover of a Lloyd Price song. The Untamed catch the Southbound train on "I'm Leaving" whilst getting piano-rowdy on the dancer "I'm Going Out Tonight" – our hero telling his baby that he’s going to have a drink or two and call up some girls he knows (that’ll show lad for sure). I can't get over how good the unreleased Soul Brothers finisher is - "Goodbye So Long" - a 'hey hey hey' shuffle that will have Mod dancers wishing it was on a 45 they could hunt down and salivate over.

"...You're Too Much Of A Woman! Hey Now! Oh Lord!" - The Corduroys tell us earnestly on "Too Much Of A Woman" - testifying their groovy passion. 

A rather fantastic little compilation in my books - well done to all involved...

"Making Time: A SHEL TALMY Production" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (April 2017 UK Ace Records CD Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 300+ Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 1 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 
(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Night Comes Down..."

What you have here is a Chicago Yank who came to England in the summer of 1962 at the age of 25 - produced some of the most hard-hitting and instantly recognisable Pop & Rock rockers in the mid Sixties (The Kinks and The Who) as well as genre-changers like Roy Harper, Pentangle and even an early Mod-Freakbeat David Bowie (credited under his real name Davy Jones) - and then re-exported those angry young men to the States.

"Making Time: A SHEL TALMY Production" is yet another superb CD compilation from England's Ace Records concentrating on Producers, their influence, forgotten musical history and continuing legacy. Compiled by Soul and Mod boy expert and long-time Ace associate ALEC PALAO with huge contributions from Shel and Jan Talmy - the 28-page booklet for starters is a total feast for fans and music historians alike. Crammed to the gills with sheet music, letters from LHI Records (Lee Hazelwood's company), calling card for his own short-lived but much revered Planet Records, April 1965 tape boxes for the Who's Brunswick Records classic "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", invoices to Pye for recording The Kinks and even an Acetate for Davy Jones and Test Pressing for The Rokes – there is a lot to take in...

Musically (as these things always are) it's a mixed bag. The big coup is a Previously Unreleased Version of Bowie's own "You've Got A Habit Of Leaving Me" with wilder fuzz guitars and bass where David Robert Jones of Bromley Kent discovers his inner Freakbeat - and in great audio too. Some may treat the track as a curio - but I'd say it's a bit of a find. Speaking of overall sound - although some like the chipper Billy J. Kramer bop of "Caroline" by The Fortunes, the Mamas and Papas identikit "A Certain Girl" from The First Gear, the girl-group angst of "Surrender" by Perpetual Langley and the Byrds jangle of "Stop And Watch The Children Play" by The Rokes are all so very Sixties Pop - many of the songs presented here are more hard-hitting than that.

As you wade through the list - you notice a kind of hard-edged drum-based R&B sound that was identifiably Talmy - bands like The Creation, The Who and The Kinks. The others run the gamut from the catchy-as-a-cold Trini Lopez hit "Sinner Not A Saint" (an early songwriting credit for Talmy) to Roy Harper’s hipster acoustic cool of "Ageing Raver" and fantastic B-sides like The Sneeker's "Bald Headed Woman" and Mickey Finn's "Night Comes Down" - clearly worth every penny of its £100 price tag in the 2018 Record Collector Price Guide. On top of that you get pure Mod Dancers like "Drowning in My Own Despair" by Oliver Norman where you can literally see the talcum powder being showered on the wooden floor as young British men in winklepickers are unable to resist its angst-ridden Motown backbeat.

With NICK ROBBINS Remasters and 7 of the 25 tracks in STEREO (all others MONO, see list below) - the audio also rocks. Here are bald-headed details...

UK released 26 May 2017 (9 June 2017 in the USA) - "Making Time: A SHEL TALMY Production" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1497 (Barcode 029667079020) is a 25-track CD compilation (18 Mono, 7 Stereo) of Remasters that plays out as follows (71:34 minutes):

1. Making Time - THE CREATION (June 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 116, A-side)

2. Bald Headed Woman - THE SNEEKERS (October 1964 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 7385, B-side to "I Just Can't Go To Sleep")

3. Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James - MANFRED MANN (October 1966 UK 7" single on Mercury TF 757, A-side)

4. That's Why I Love You - GOLDIE & THE GINGERBREADS (April 1965 UK 7" single on Decca F 12126, A-side)

5. Tired Of Waiting For You - THE KINKS (January 1965 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 15759, A-side)

6. Bye Babe - LEE HAZELWOOD (from the 1969 US LP "Forty" on LHI Records S 12009 - a co-write between Talmy and Jon Mark later of Mark-Almond and Sweet Thursday)

7. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere - THE WHO (May 1965 UK 7" single on Brunswick 05935, A-side)

8. Night Comes Down - THE MICKEY FINN (March 1965 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 7510, B-side of "The Sporting Life")

9. Light Flight (Theme From "Take Three Girls") - THE PENTANGLE (October 1969 UK 7" single on Big T Records BIG 128, A-side)

10. Stop And Watch The Children Play - THE ROKES (from a 1966 Spanish LP "The Rokes" on VIK Records VIK 3021)

11. A Certain Girl - THE FIRST GEAR (October 1964 UK 7" single on Pye 7N 15703, A-side)

12. Surrender - PERPETUAL LANGLEY (May 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 115, A-side)

13. You've Got A Habit Of Leaving - DAVY JONES [David Bowie] - Previously Unissued Alternate Overdub from 1965

14. Ageing Raver - ROY HARPER (from his January 1968 debut LP "Come Out Fighting Genghis Smith" on CBS Records S 63184)

15. Lisa - THE EASYBEATS - Previously Unissued Alternate Version - Recorded 1967

16. Daddy Long Legs - LINDSAY MUIR'S UNTAMED (June 1966 UK 7" single on Planet Records PLF 113, A-side)

17. A Summer Song - CHAD & JEREMY (July 1964 UK 7" single on United Artists UP 1062, A-side)

18. Jack O' Diamonds - BEN CARRUTHERS & THE DEEP (June 1965 UK7" single on Parlophone R 5295, A-side)

19. Toymaker - WILD SILK (January 1969 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 8534, B-side to "(Vision In A) Plaster Sky")

20. I'm Coming Home - THE NASHVILLE TEENS (March 1967 UK 7" single on Decca F 12580, A-side)

21. Caroline - THE FORTUNES (January 1964 UK 7" single on Decca F 11809, A-side)

22. Drowning In My Own Despair - OLIVER NORMAN (July 1967 UK 7" single on Polydor 56176, A-side)

23. I Don't Need Your Kind - THE ROCKIN' VICKERS (October 1966 UK 7" single on CBS Records 202241, A-side)

24. Jamie Sue - TIM ROSE (from his 1970 US album "Love, A Kind Of Hate Story" on Capitol Records ST 673)

25. Sinner Not A Saint - TRINI LOPEZ (1962 US 7" single on DRA Records 315, A-side)

Tracks 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14 and 24 are in STEREO – all others are in MONO

Tracks 13 and 15 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED.

Pages 16 and 17 of the booklet features a fab black and white of a young Bowie looking skinny-tie Mod and in need of a good meal - itself sat above the staggeringly rare I.B.C. Sound Recording Studios Acetate for Davy Jones - while over on the other side is a photo of the Spanish "Rokes" LP. I can safely say I've never seen either of these in decades of frequenting dens of vinyl inequity. Other rarities include the Ray Davies track "I Don't Need Your Kind" by The Rockin' Vikers and a dapper Roy Harper staring out at us all on the rear cover of his debut LP - no doubt thinking about calling up Jimmy Page for "Stormcock" in 1971.

I love sheer adventurousness and future-feel to Pentangle's brilliant "Light Flight" - but I find Tim Rose's "Jamie Sue" hard to take. Not all of the tracks are brill by any means (that Easybeats unreleased version should probably have stared in the tins) - but there's still plenty on here to get the juices of even the most jaded 60ts fan flowing. And it's beautifully presented too.

Another CD winner from those upstanding dudes and dudettes over at Steel Road - I'm already 'making time' for Volume 2...