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Showing posts with label Mick Patrick (Compiler and Liner Notes). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mick Patrick (Compiler and Liner Notes). Show all posts

Monday, 6 January 2025

"You Got Me Hooked! More Marylebone Beat Girls" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Featuring 26 x UK 45-Single Tracks from 1963 to 1969 in Mono (23) and Stereo (3) by Helen Shapiro, Alma Colgan, Vashti (Bunyan), Friday Browne, Glenda Collins, Valerie Mitchell, The Three Bells, Cilla Black, Elkie Brooks, The Soul Mates and The Jet Set featuring Liza Strike, Jackie Lee, Ottilie Patterson Accompanied By Sonny Boy Williamson, Tiffany, Millicent Martin, Barbara Ruskin, Jane Hillary and more (31 January 2025 UK Ace Records CD Compilation of 26 Tracks (14 New to CD) Remastered by Nick Robbins – Eleventh Release in their 'Beat Girls' Series) - A Review by Mark Barry...





https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hooked-More-Marylebone-Beat-Girls/dp/B0DPJ3KH8B?crid=JMHDCI7FNS41&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Sxu5huREz5Oes3wxzOqYTkMWNwNjwF1pzaHi6Wo-zcRRvP5YnwdxiHLh6BdQXV4jK9QiJLYNMBiVPDNQitr7f4bnzdKivjQZfLFn---jxS7o_i2PtlzR1zsyYrHfam4IUDcX1eJvTZjwAysvvhS1l2FYSolZ3dogaOy_FAhB1BIOCHRG7_r7cpa26Bvod7h4TrPm6R_idWajRdAiE-oFiIMAciNDlAIvIsARNyyR9UE.8xvwaIMSfVe1Hd30ZTLBzoydcYBe3kzas2lBbq0Kxmo&dib_tag=se&keywords=you+got+me+hooked%21&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1736176964&sprefix=you+got+me+hooked+%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=3758590ce6579492a52f80e6728aa9cb&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

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RATINGS: 
Overall ****
Audio ****
Presentation *****

"…Cry No More…"

To look at this January 2025 UK CD smooching your New Year retinas with knowing saucy winks – you would not credit it with being release number eleven in Ace's ongoing series for 60t's trailblazing women - Beat Girls

In fact - "You Got Me Hooked! More Marylebone Beat Girls" is a second-volume follow-up to its well-reviewed predecessor "Marylebone Beat Girls 1964-1967" from June 2017 – a whopping seven years after that quietly joyful event (see full list of Beat Girls releases below). Of course, with a compilation listen like this - you do have to love Sixties Mono Singles (only three are in Stereo) and the constant angst/purring of beehive babes who may or may not know how to woo innocent Mutts and Jeffs. 

Many of the 60ts lady heroes (sung and unsung) are here – the ground-breakers like in-demand session Vocalist Liza Strike, eventual Tyne Tees TV Presenter Friday Browne whose 45 is sought-after and not just for John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page on the B-side, chanteuse Elkie Brooks before her teaming up with Robert Palmer in Vinegar Joe and then a huge solo career to this day, Just Another Diamond Day folk darling Vashti Bunyan, sexpot sister Valerie Mitchell (her sibling was Janie Jones of The Clash fame – check out their ample-assets photo on Page 14), Irish Blues nut Ottilie Patterson teaming up with visiting Chess Records legend Sonny Boy Williamson in 1964 to do a Big Joe Williams cover and of course that genre ground-breaker from up North - Cilla Black (gorgeous colour snap of Lorra-Lorra on the rear page of the chock-a-block booklet – Vashti Bunyan graces the front sleeve colour shot – new from her archive). The Black and White photos that follow each entry too are enough to make you teary-eyed – doing it back in the day when talent plus cahonies was genuinely out there for any young woman.

Marylebone was/is an area in London within earshot of Abbey Road Studios where many of these young EMI hopefuls were recorded – Columbia, Parlophone and HMV Records being the bulk of these UK 45-single releases. Amassing the Discography however for these 26 sides (14 new to CD) - it is noticeable that many entries are rated at 5 or 6 good - rather than 7, 8, 9 or 10 great – so some caution is advised for newcomers (hence the 4-star rating despite exceptional presentation). 

But once again the NICK ROBBINS Audio is as pucker as you would expect from an Audio Engineer who must be one of the most experienced in England - and the IAN CHAPMAN and MICK PATRICK liner notes of 24-pages seriously needs to be put up for some kind of writing award – page after dedicated page of superlative in-depth researched detail collectors will love. To the go-getter backcombed gals of yesteryear – damsels who were not distressed but determined to damn the torpedoes no matter what cardigans said - to the details…

UK released Friday, 31 January 2025 - "You Got Me Hooked! More Marylebone Beat Girls" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Kent Soul CDTOP 1652 (Barcode 029667112222) is a 26-Track CD-only Compilation of Remasters from 1963 to 1969 including 14 Tracks New to CD. It is the eleventh release in their Beat Girls Series (see full list below) and plays out as follows (65:35 minutes):

1.Snakes And Snails – ALMA COGAN (July 1965, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 7652, A-side – written by Chris Curtis of The Searchers – features John Paul Jones on Bass and Jimmy Page on Guitar)

2. I'm Going Out (The Same Way I Came In) – HELEN SHAPIRO (1967 recording first issued on the February 1998 UK CD compilation "At Abbey Road 1961 to 1967" on EMI 493 4522 (Barcode 724349345225) – a Lesley Gore cover version)

3. Don't Let It Rain – KATHY KISSOON [aka Peanut] (January 1969, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 8525 in STEREO, A-side – written by John Peel and S. Roberton – became the Charting Duo Mac And Katie Kissoon in the Seventies – thereafter Katie Kissoon became a hugely popular Backing Vocalist for big names like Van Morrison, Roger Waters, Robbie Williams, George Harrison and many more) – see also Track 20 – the B-side

4. Too Late To Say You're Sorry – THE SOUL MATES (September 1965, UK 45-songle on Parlophone R 5334, A-side – featuring singer Liza Strike – song written by Brian Henderson) – for LIZA STRIKE see also Tracks 10 and 25

5. Getting Nowhere – FRIDAY BROWNE (January 1966, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5396, A-side – her real name is Maran Stockley – song written by Graham Gouldman later of 10cc – B-side (Track 24) "And (To Me He Meant Everything)" is sought after by collectors because it features Jimmy Page on Guitar pre-Led Zeppelin) – see also Track 24

6. The Town I Live In – JACKIE LEE (November 1966, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 8052, A-side – Mike Leander Arrangements) – see also Track 12 as EMMA REID

7. From Now On – CILLA BLACK (November 1967, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5652 in STEREO, B-side of "I Only Live To Love You" – both sides Produced by George Martin)

8. Cry No More – THE THREE BELLS (August 1966, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 7980, A-side – three sisters, Sue, Carole and Jean Bell from Liverpool - song written by Bert Berns and Jerry Ragovoy and first issued by Ben E. King) – see also Track 15

9. He's Gotta Love Me – ELKIE BROOKS (June 1965, HMV POP 1431, A-side – written by Kenny Lynch and Jerry Ragovoy – later joined Vinegar Joe with Singer Robert Palmer) – see also Track 14

10. How Can I Know – LIZA & THE JET SET (September 1965, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5248, B-side of "Dancing Yet" – song written by Brian Henderson) – see also Tracks 4 with The Soul Mates and Track 25 as The Jet Set

11. You Can Go – VALERIE MITCHELL (May 1966, UK 45-single on HMV POP 1529, A-side – written by Sidney Gilbert – sister of Marion Mitchell aka Janie Jones made famous (infamous) by The Clash song on their debut album)

12. Just Like A Man – EMMA REDE [aka Jackie Lee, see Track 6] (February 1967, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 8136, A-side – written by Les Reed and Barry Mason)

13. Baby It Hurts – GLENDA COLLINS (April 1964, UK 45-single on HMV POP 1283, A-side – written by Billy Page – both A&B-sides are R.G.M. Sound which was Joe Meek – B-side "Nice Wasn't It" also written by Joe Meek)

14. Stop The Music – ELKIE BROOKS (February 1966, UK 45-single on HMV POP 1512, B-side of "Baby Let Me Love You") see also Track 9

15. He Doesn't Love Me – THE THREE BELLS (October 1964, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 7399, B-side of "Softly In The Night" – three sisters, Sue, Carole and Jean Bell from Liverpool - song written by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde and covered earlier in the year by The Breakaways on their March 1964 UK 45 as the A-side of Pye 7N 15618) – see also Track 8

16. I Know – TIFFANY (July 1965, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5311, B-side of "Am I Dreaming" – real name Irene Green, ex Liverbirds – song is a Susan George cover version)

17. Baby Please Don't Go – OTTILIE PATTERSON Accompanied By SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON (February 1964, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 7208, A-side – a Big Joe Williams cover version, Irish Born singer and Blues enthusiast Ottilie sings Lead Vocals while Blues Legend Sonny Boy Williamson also provides Harmonica – arranged and conducted by Ivor Raymonde)

18. Get Lost My Love – MILLICENT MARTIN (June 1963, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5033, B-side of "Gravy Waltz")

19. Take Me Away – JANE HILLARY (May 1966, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 7918, B-side of "You've Got That Hold On Me" – Produced and Written by Don Charles and Peter Lee Sterling aka Don And Pete who had released one UK single "And I'm Crying Again" on Columbia DB 7881 in April 1966 – Jane Hillary is Brenda Hill of The Ravons who appeared on Opportunity Knocks in 1965)

20. Will I Never See The Sun – KATHY KISSOON (January 1969, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 8525 in STEREO, B-side of "Don't Let It Rain" - became the Charting Duo Mac And Katie Kissoon in the Seventies – thereafter Katie Kissoon became a hugely popular Backing Vocalist for big names like Van Morrison, Roger Waters, Robbie Williams, George Harrison and many more) – see also Track 3 – the A-side

21. Come In To My Arms Again – BARBARA RUSKIN (October 1967, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5642, A-side – written by Barbara Ruskin – was later covered in the USA by The Vogues for their July 1970 45-single as the B-side of their 50ts Medley song on Reprise 0931)

22. Train Song – VASHTI (May 1966, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 7917, A-side – real name Vashti Bunyan) – for its B-side "Love Song" see also Track 26

23. You Kissed Me Boy – LESLEY DUNCAN (February 1964, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5106, A-side – written by Lesley Duncan and Jimmy Duncan)

24. And (To Me He Meant Everything) – FRIDAY BROWNE (January 1966, UK 45-single on Parlophone R 5396, B-side of "Getting Nowhere" (see Track 5) – her real name is Maran Stockley – "And (To Me He Meant Everything)" is sought after by collectors because it features Jimmy Page on Guitar pre-Led Zeppelin) – for Friday Browne see also Track 5

25. You Got Me Hooked – THE JET SET (November 1964, Parlophone R 5199, A-side – The Jet set featuring Lead Vocalist and Session Singer Liza Strike – see also Track 4 by The Soulmates and Track 10 by Liza & The Jet Set

26. Love Song – VASHTI (May 1966, UK 45-single on Columbia DB 7917, A-side – real name Vashti Bunyan) – for its A-side "Train Song" see also Track 22

NOTES: All Tracks in MONO except Tracks 3, 7 and 20 in STEREO

The listen stretches through a surprising number of flipsides - from the cool kitsch of June 1963 (Millicent Martin) through to January 1969 (Katie Kissoon) – but mostly concentrates on the mid-years inbetween. Clever-inclusions come in the shape of the sought-after Millicent Martin B-side from 1963 "Get Lost My Love" on Parlophone – later to become globally famous as a version of the brassy theme song used in The Austin Powers Movie – an almost vaudeville nugget that offset the terrible "Gravy Waltz" A-side. Working with The Yardbirds as he toured England and Europe – Chess Records giant Sonny Boy Williamson was boozed and schmoozed by the young men and ladies of Blighty – enjoying a renaissance not afforded in his native land. Northern Ireland vocal belter Ottilie Patterson (County Down) lets rip with her Bessie Smith growl and purr on the Big Joe Williams classic "Baby Please Don't Go" – her fantastic pairing producing a winner. Another Six Counties genius Van Morrison would also tackle this gem with Them on Decca a few years later – but you have to say that the liner notes are right to claim that Ottilie was a firebrand singer now overlooked – smart stuff to put the track on here. 

A definite move forward in sound and feel and back when she was called Kathy – Katie Kissoon gets all melodrama Soulful with her fab 1969 B-side "Will I Never See The Sun" – great stuff and one Mods and Northern Soul fans will dig. Speaking of Soulful girlies – Barbara Ruskin belts out her own "Come In To My Arms Again" in a very Phil Spector Ronettes fashion – all Wall of Sound melodrama over-produced (on purpose) by Jack MacLeod. The sheet music to the Lesley Duncan song "You Kissed Me Boy" appears on Page 3 – a pretty song at best - but LD would go on to write so much better stuff in the Seventies – see my review for the 2CD anthology "Sing Lesley Sing: The RCA and CBS Recordings 1968-1972" on RMP Records from June 2017. Fantastic is the only way to describe the slink of Liza Strike as she vocally elevates the title track "You Got Me Hooked". Soft and mellow and pretty does it as all five foot eight and half-inches tall (her EMI bio) Vashti Bunyan (then trading as Vashti) travels North for her "Train Song" – longing for her man on a British Rail rustbucket in that ever-so-slightly fay whispered vocal of hers - the equally lovely blue-eyed B-side "Love Song" (Track 26) ends the compilation in a perhaps too mellow manner (but collectors will love their inclusion).

I often find the idea of these compilations better than the actual listen – but "You Got Me Hooked! More Marylebone Beat Girls" achieves that double-whammy that Ace Records does so well – a surprising and uplifting tinkle on the memory glands whilst at the same time satisfying the lust of collectors for rarities on Remastered Digital. 

Well done to the good chaps praising ground-breaking ladies – admirable and fun. And as I eye the black and white promo photos of a Five Point Cut Helen Shapiro on Page 5 or the gorgeous Updo Styled Katie Kissoon on Page 6 or even a brooding Bob Bouffant Millicent Martin on Page 18 – I think of their classiness and the sheer hutzpah they had to take on such a male dominated world. 

I'm Going Out (The Same Way I Came In) - Helen Shapiro and her fellow goers sang in the Sixties – yes you are and yes you did…recommended…

 Beat Girls Series from Ace Records of the UK
CDs and LPs Issued from March 2016 to January 2025

1. "Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970" (24 Tracks)
CD (24 Tracks):
Released 25 March 2016 on Ace Records CDCHD 1456 (Barcode 029667074629)
VINYL LP as "Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1963-1970" (12 Tracks, 180 Grams, Sunshine Yellow Coloured Vinyl)
Released 25 March 2016 on Ace Records XXQLP 041 (Barcode 029667004312)
 
2. "Scratch My Back! Pye Beat Girls 1963-1968" (24 Tracks, CD-only)
Released 29 April 2016 on Ace Records CDCHD 1472 (Barcode 029667075923)
 
3. "The Girls Want The Boys! Sweden's Beat Girls 1964-1970"
CD (24 Tracks):
Released 28 October 2016 on Ace Records CDTOP 1482 (Barcode 029667077224)
VINYL LP (12 Tracks, 180 Grams, White Coloured Vinyl LP)
Released 28 October 2016 on Ace Records XXQLP 048 (Barcode 029667005319)
 
4. "Marylebone Beat Girls 1964-1967"
CD (25 Tracks):
Released 30 June 2017 on Ace Records CDTOP 1492 (Barcode 029667078726)
VINYL LP (12 Tracks, 180 Grams Weight, Orange Coloured Vinyl):
Released 30 June 2017 on Ace Records XXQLP 050 (Barcode 029667005715)
 
5. "Beat Girls Español! 1960s She-Pop From Spain" (Torrelaguna Sound and Yé-Yé)
CD (25 Tracks):
Released 26 January 2018 on Ace Records CDTOP 1512 (Barcode 029667086325)
VINYL LP (14 Tracks, 180 Grams, White Coloured Vinyl LP)
Released 26 January 2018 on Ace Records XXQLP 053 (Barcode 029667007115)
 
6. "She Came From Hungary! 1960s Beat Girls From The Eastern Bloc"
CD (24 Tracks):
Released 25 September 2018 on Ace International CDTOP 1519 (Barcode 029667088329)
VINYL LP (14-Tracks, 180 Grams, Translucent Red Coloured Vinyl LP)
Released 25 September 2018 on Ace International XXQLP 054 (Barcode 029667007917)
 
7. "Live It Up! Bayswater Beat Girls 1964-1967" (25 Tracks, CD-only)
Released 30 August 2019 on Ace Records CDTOP 1550 (Barcode 029667095327)
 
8. "She Came From Liverpool! Merseybeat Girl-Pop 1962-1968" (24 Tracks, CD-only)
Released 29 November 2019 on Ace Records CDTOP 1561 (Barcode 029667096829)
 
9. "Don't Blow Your Cool! More 60s Girls From UK Decca" (24 Tracks, CD-only)
Released 29 May 2020 on Ace Records CDTOP 1568 (Barcode 029667097826)
 
10. "She Wants You! Pye Records' Feminine Side 1964-1970" (25 Tracks, CD-only)
Released 26 February 2021 on Ace Records CDTOP 1596 (Barcode 029667101028)
 
11. "You Got Me Hooked! More Marylebone Beat Girls" (25 Tracks, CD-only)
Released 31 January 2025 on Ace Records CDTOP 1652 (Barcode 029667112222)

Sunday, 2 April 2023

"Guerrilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" by VARIOUS ARTISTS featuring Patti Smith, The Bags, X-Ray Spex, Mary Monday & The Bitches, Blondie, The Raincoats, Essential Logic, pragVEC and more (January 2023 UK Ace Records CD Compilation with Nick Robbins Remasters and Mick Patrick Notes) - A Review by Mark Barry...





 

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"...Anything's Allowed..."

 

Ace Records of the UK specialize in CD compilations – always on the hunt for that collection they know you need in your urbanite domicile like an audit of the Trump Tower accounts system.

 

Well, along comes this unladylike left-field little bruiser to sort us boys out good and proper. "Guerilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" offers you 25 remastered odes of joy from the emergence of Seventies Punk and New Wave to Girl Power and the resurgence of Power Pop and She-Punk bands of the Twenties. "Guerilla Girls!" takes in many famous names – all of who have been telling their mum since the age of fifteen that an office job is not their primary goal just at the moment.

 

And what a great listen it is too – cleverly compiled by Ace's Mick Patrick with notes by fellow admirers Lucy O’Brien, Vim Renault, Lena Cortina and Patrick himself – you literally get 79-minutes of early giants like Patti Smith, X-Ray Spex, Blondie and The Slits - to new goers on the block like Babes In Toyland, L7 and Bikini Kill (with many other worthy points inbetween).

 

I love this little CD and have been giving it some since I first spotted it on their release schedules back in January 2023. It looks good - a cool digipak, huge 40-page booklet, great audio - top stuff. Time to honor the Punkettes who put the riot in Grrrls way back when nice ladies didn't engage in such lurid botherations. To the Day-Glo details...

 

UK released Friday, 27 January 2023 - "Guerrilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1599 (Barcode 029667102827) is a 25-Track CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (79:00 minutes):

 

1. In Excelsis Deo / Gloria (Version) - PATTI SMITH (from the December 1975 US LP "Horses" on Arista Records AL 4066 - Full Album Version 5:40 minutes)

2. Survive - THE BAGS (December 1978 US 45-single on Dangerhouse BAG 199, A-side)

3. Iama Poseur - X-RAY SPEX (April 1978 UK 45-single in EMI International INT 533, B-side of "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" - and on the November 1978 UK LP "Germfree Adolescence" on EMI International INS 3023)

4. I Gave My Punk Jacket To Rickie - MARY MONDAY & THE BITCHES (1977 US 45-single on Malicious Productions (no catalogue number), A-side)

5. I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No - BLONDIE (from the 1977 album "Plastic Letters" on Chrysalis CHR 1168)

6. You're A Million - THE RAINCOATS (from the 1979 UK album "The Raincoats" on Rough Trade ROUGH 3)

7. Popcorn Boy (Waddle Ya Do?) - ESSENTIAL LOGIC (October 1979 UK 45-single on Rough Trade RT 029, A-side - and on the December 1979 UK LP "Best Rhythm News - Waddle Ya Play?" on Rough Trade ROUGH 5)

8. Expert - prayVEC (June 1979 UK 45-Single on Spec SP 002, A-side)

9. My Cherry Is In Sherry - LUDUS (July 1981 UK 45-single on New Hormones ORG 8, A-side - and on the 1981 2LP-set "The Seduction" on New Hormones ORG 16)

10. Kray Twins - MO-DETTES (from the October 1980 UK LP "The Story So Far" on Deram SML 1120)

11. Earthbeat - THE SLITS (August 1981 UK 45-single on CBS Records A 1498, A-side - and on the October 1981 UK LP "Return Of The Giant Slits" on CBS Records CBS 85269)

12. Das Ah Riot - BUSH TETRAS (May 1981 UK 45-single on Fetish FET 007, B-side of "Things That Go BOOM In The Night")

13. Bitchen Summer (Speedway) – BANGLES (from the December 1982 US Compilation LP "Rodney On The ROQ Vol.III" on Posh Boy PBS 140)

14. Shakedown – AU PAIRS (from the August 1982 UK LP "Sense And Sensuality" on Kamera Records KAM 010)

15. It's About Time – THE PANDORAS (1984 US 4-Track EP "The Pandoras" on Moxie MM 1044)

16. Come On Now – THE PUSSYWILLOWS (from the 1988 US LP "Spring Fever!" on Telstar TR003)

17. Rules And Regulations - WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE'RE GONNA USE IT!! (From the 1986 UK LP "Bostin' Steve Austin" on Vindaloo Records FBOX 1)

18. Her Jazz – HUGGY BEAR (February 1993 UK 45-single on Wiiija/Catcall TROUBLE 001, A-side)

19. Bruise Violet – BABES IN TOYLAND (from the 1992 CD album "Fontanelle" on Reprise 9 26998-2)

20. Rebel Girl – BIKINI KILL (from the 1992 LP "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" on Kill Your Rock Stars KRS 206)

21. Pretend We're Dead – L7 (from the CD album "Bricks Are Heavy" on Slash 9 26784-2)

22. What's Wrong With You – BRATMOBILE (from the 2002 CD album "Girls Get Busy" on Lookout! LK 280)

23. Let Go Of The Past – THE TUTS (from the 2002 CD album "Update Your Brain" on Dovetown DT007)

24. Hot – THE REGRETTES (from the 2015 CD album "Feel Your Feelings Fool" on Warner Brothers 557260-2)

25. Silver Spoons – SKINNY GIRL DIET (from the 2015 CD album "Heavy Flow" on Fiasco 013)

 

The card DigiPak is cute but the chunky 40-page colour booklet is a serious bit of writing genius and investigation – each track with its 45 or LP or CD pictured above. LENA CORTINA and VIM RENAULT of PunkGirlDiaries.com have contributed and the factoids come at you fast and furious. This is a compilation that celebrates the not-so-pretty – the girl who is not asked to dance but wants and deserves love and sex just as much as the rest. Their voices come seeping through and as you can expect, some of it none to pleased with the norms of a male-dominated industry (an impossibly likeable Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex is on the cover).

 

NICK ROBBINS did the Remasters and power and passion comes a roaring out – from the near church silence of Patti Smith to the velvet-glove rock guitar of Skinny Girl Diet – there will be more than one occasion where you may need to turn down the stereo for fear of neighbour intervention. To the chunes...

 

Even now in 2023, the Patti Smith reworking of the Van Morrison Them 60ts classic "Gloria" into her "In Excelsis Deo" is a stunning listen – years ahead of its let's go wild and damn the torpedoes attitude. DJ and National Treasure John Peel loved the privately pressed Mary Monday track, while Poly Styrene sends up herself and everyone else for that matter in her "Iama Poseur" jab – a great X-Ray Spex single side. When you listen to The Raincoats strumming urban guitars and do-it-yourself Talking Heads angst - it's hard now to imagine the impact of ROUGH 3 - a label that would become dominated by The Smiths in the Eighties. They sounded like a homeless Patti Smith dreaming of Them's "Gloria" and somewhere to get a nice bag of chips - extraordinary stuff and a brill choice for left-field lovers. That is then reinforced by Essential Logic's "Popcorn Boy..." who sounded like the lovechild of Sparks and Cockney Rebel and early Jam acoustic guitar - all mad vocals and heavy-on-the-bass and social lyrics. It's a right slice of Joy Division barbed wire - love it. The earth is busy burning energy and light bulbs as clouds cough in The Slits drum-pounding ya-ya "Earthbeat" - another quirky you will either love or loathe or both. 

 

Marriage, brothers and violent men creep about the decidedly uncomfortable upbeat rhythms of "Kray Twins" - the Mo-Dettes taking on East End notoriety with a very British New Wave cavalier feel. And again the long shadow of David Byrne's Talking Heads and their neck-jerk beats permeates the brilliant "Das Ah Riot" by Bush Tetras - sounding huge here. I must admit to lack of knowledge on the very cool instrumental "Bitchen Summer (Speedway)" by The Bangles - an early 1982 stab at Link Wray greatness. The Au Pairs want us to give everything we are told by the media and Government a little thought and not be so willing to be brainwashed – their "Shakedown" a forgotten goody. Byrds type guitar jangles via The Smiths Johnny Marr run through the veins of The Pandoras EP-track "It's About Time" while that Sixties retro vibe bops out of "Come On Now", a short but very cool under two-minutes cover of The Kinks song by The Pussywillows.

 

There must be more to life, rules and regulations to blindly obey – Fuzzbox rile in their 80ts Punk vs. 60ts Girl Group "Rules And Regulations". But the first real sign of hurt and rage and pent-up anger hits hard with Huggy Bear when they tear into "Her Jazz" – which is in turn followed by the even more Nirvana-screeching attacks in "Bruise Violet" by Babes In Toyland – said to be about Courtney Love. Born of the same ripped-shirt in a nunnery attitude is "Rebel Girl" – a grungy in-yer-face shouter that sounds like a call to revolution rather than an invitation to waltz. L7 smartly break up the riffage and Hard Rock of "Pretend We're Dead" with a great middle eight and C'Mon C'Mon chants that give it a girl-Ramones feel. And on it goes...

 

For sure "Guerilla Girls! She-Punks And Beyond 1975-2016" is not the faint of heart and those needing a few quiet moments to contemplate Zen consciousness. It wants to shake you up, like they did, and I for one think these brave pioneers have pulled it off big time. Ace does it again...

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

"Hard Workin' Man: The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 2" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (October 2006 Ace Records CD - Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...


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"...Like Someone In Love..."

I worked in the rarities department of a well-known and well-respected London record shop for 20 years and music-biz insiders (for the want of better words) know the name JACK NITZSCHE well - a behind-the-scenes arranger and producer of real genius. We know him well - most others don't.

Well - England's Ace Records are determined to rectify our collective musical myopia on a musical force whose legend only grows since his way-too-early passing in 2000 at the age of 63 – Chicago's Jack Nitzsche.

Nitzsche's resume is jaw dropping in its sheer variety - initial arranging stints with visionary loon Phil Spector and the Specialty Records label in the Fifties (Crystals, Ronettes, Darlene Love and Larry Williams) - shaping the sound of Sixties luminaries like The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, The Righteous Brothers, Bob Lind, The Turtles, Neil Young - aiding and abetting The James Gang, Crazy Horse, Ry Cooder, Mink DeVille, Graham Parker and The Ramones in the Seventies – moving into soundtracks like "Head" (The Monkees), "Performance" (Mick Jagger), "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", "Blue Collar" (with Captain Beefheart) and later on in the 80s and 90s on "Hot Spot" (with John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis and actor Dennis Hopper). His final discovery in 1999 was the Willy DeVille soundalike CC Adcock from Louisiana (there's a four-page interview with Adcock at the end of the booklet that makes for revealing and affectionate reading).

Some say Jack was a direct descendent of the German classical composer Wagner and a relative to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. In fact legend has it that Jack's Mum (a renowned witch apparently) was the one responsible for dropping the 'e' in the family surname because she felt it conjured up some numerical bad vibes and dodgy voodoo jabberwocky of some kind (don't you just want that on your Facebook page). The e-less Jack even nabbed an award for co-writing "Up Where We Belong" from the 1983 global film smash "An Officer And Gentleman".

This is the second volume of three Various Artists CD compilations Ace have put out chronicling his amazing legacy - the first "Hearing Is Believing: The Jack Nitzsche Story 1962-1979" on Ace Records CDCHD 1030 (Barcode 029667008327) came out 28 March 2005 and the third installment "Night Walker: The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 3" on Ace Records CDCHD 1430 (Barcode 029667059923) finally arrived 30 June 2014. We're going to deal with an overlooked nugget - piggy-in-the-middle – Volume 2 from 2006. Here are the Hard Workin' Men and the Teardrops At Dawn Women...

UK released 9 October 2006 - "Hard Workin' Man: The Jack Nitzsche Story Volume 2" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1130 (Barcode 029667022323) is a 26-Track CD compilation stretching from 1960 to 2004 (Volume two in a series of three) that plays out as follows (76:25 minutes):

1. Hard Workin' Man - JACK NITZSCHE with vocals by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (from the 1978 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to "Blue Collar" on MCA Records 40897) - written by Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder and Director Paul Schrader)
2. Surfer Finger - JACK NITZSCHE (Previously unissued 1966 Reprise Recordings instrumental recording)
3. Just Like That - THE ROBINS (1960 USA 7" single on Avree 5001, A-side)
4. I'm Gonna Be Strong - FRANKIE LAINE (1963 USA 7" single on Columbia 4-42884, A-side)
5. You Just Gotta Know My Mind - KAREN VERROS (1965 US 7" single on Dot 16780, A-side)
6. Some Of Your Lovin' - EMIL O'CONNOR (1962 US 7" single on Columbia 4-42617,A-side - Phil Spector co-write)
7. Nobody Needs Your Love More Than I Do - TAMMY GRIMES (1966 US 7" single on reprise 0487, A-side - a Randy Newman song)
8. It's In His Kiss - MERRY CLAYTON (1963 US 7" single on Capitol 4984, A-side)
9. Don't Put Your Heart In His Hand (1963 US 7" single on Reprise R-20176, A-side - written by Jackie DeShannon and Sharon Sheeley)
10. Just Once In My Life - THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (1965 US 7" single on Philles Records 127, A-side - Spector, Goffin & King song)
11. Teardrops 'Till Dawn - TIMI YURO (1965 USA 7" single on Mercury 72478, A-side)
12. Like Someone In Love - BOBBY VEE (Previously unreleased 1965 Liberty Records recording)
13. Baby I'm So Glad It's Raining - THE SATISFACTIONS (Previously unreleased Sunset Sound Recorders 1965 recording)
14. Blow Your Mind - THE GAS CO (1965 US 7" single on Mirwood 5501, A-side)
15. Woman In Love (With You) - DONNA LOREN (Previously Unissued 1968 Capitol recording)
16. As Long As You're Here - ZALMAN YANOVSKY (1967 US 7" single on Buddah BDA 12, A-side)
17. A Man Needs Love - NOONEY RICKETT (Previously unissued 1966 recording)
18. Mr. Soul - THE EVERLY BROTHERS (a 1968 Warner Brothers recording first issued on the "Nice Guys" UK LP on Magnum Force Records MFLP 1028 in September 1984 - a Neil Young song from his days with Buffalo Springfield)
19. You Know What I Mean - THE TURTLES (1967 US 7" single on White Whale 264, A-side)
20. Porpoise Song - THE MONKEES (1968 US 7" single on Colgems 1031, A-side - Goffin & King song)
21. I Don't Want To Talk About It - CRAZY HORSE (from their February 1971 debut LP "Crazy Horse" on Reprise Records MS 6348 - Danny Whitten song later made famous by Rod Stewart)
22. I'm The Loneliest Fool - JACK NITZSCHE (1974 unreleased solo LP first issued 2004 on the "Three Piece Suite" CD album on Rhino Handmade RHM2 2287)
23. Don't Touch Me There - THE TUBES (June 1976 US 7" single on A&M 1826-S, A-side)
24. Bank Robbery - JOHN LEE HOOKER, MILES DAVIS and TAJ MAHAL (1990 US CD and LP to the Dennis Hopper Soundtrack "The Hot Spot" on Antilles 846 813-2)
25. Break Away - THE NEVILLE BROTHERS (from the 1978 US LP "The Neville Brothers" on Capitol 11675)
26. Stealin' All Day - CC ADCOCK [Charles Clinton Adcock] (from the 2004 CD album "Lafayette Marquis" on Yep Roc CD 2040)
Tracks 2, 12, 13, 15 and 17 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Tracks 1, 10, 18, 19, 21 to 26 are in STEREO – all others are in MONO

Compiled by MICK PATRICK and TONY ROUNCE - the 24-page booklet is a veritable feast for the eyes and a properly in-depth read – 26-tracks expertly put together by two names synonymous with good reissues. You get rare pictures sleeves for The Righteous Brothers on Spector's Philles and Merry Clayton on Capitol, a promo photo of The Turtles in colour and an NME front cover that features the Spector Girl-Group-pastiche "Don't Touch Me There" by The Tubes. Apart from occasional forays into the late Seventies and beyond – the vast majority of the songs are Sixties and come in evenly spread dollops of hard-hitting Mono and speaker-spaced Stereo. I've never heard the Beefheart track with so much muscle and that huge soundstage that Spector got is wonderfully realized on The Righteous Brothers track (superb NICK ROBBINS remasters).

Featuring 12-tracks new to CD - the compilation starts on a very oddly-placed but still mightily catchy 1978 Stereo cut – the fantastic Muddy Waters 'I'm A Man' blues riff of the compilation's title track - "Hard Workin' Man". I mention this because much of the CD plays like a Sixties Pop and Rock fest rather than a late Seventies Johnny Winter stomper – so don’t be expecting a lot of that. The ladies bring up the melodrama Soul sides in real upbeat chest-bracing style – Tammy Grimes, Merry Clayton and a Northern Soul Scene fave – Timi Yuro. Nitzsche's own instrumental "Surf Finger" gets a CD airing for the first time too and damn good it is too. Overlooked discoveries include The Everly Brothers doing a very cool cover of the Buffalo Springfield song "Mr. Soul" penned by our favourite Canadian whinge bag Neil Young. It's a 1968 Warner Brothers out-take that would have to wait until 1984 in the UK to see release on vinyl. Loving this...

And its slightly trippy vibe makes for perfect bedfellows with The Monkees, The Gas Co and the hilarious Tubes track towards the end of the disc - "Don't Touch me There" (I'll try not to honey). Emotional wallop comes with the 1971 Danny Whitten masterpiece of heartbreak he penned for Crazy Horse and their brilliant debut album - "I Don't Want To Talk About It" – a song that would of course be made into a global smash by Rod Stewart in 1975 on his "Atlantic Crossing" LP on Riva Records. The other inclusion likely to send you running for a whole album purchase is the incredibly sexy and cool "Bank Robbery" theme from "The Hot Spot" Soundtrack of 1990. It features a truly stellar line up of groovy types - Miles Davis on Trumpet, Taj Mahal on Vocals and Guitar, John Lee Hooker on Second Guitar with Roy Rogers on Slide Guitar. And what a fantastic groove it is. The compilation ends on the Seasick Steve/Willy DeVille Blues mojo of CC Adcock bringing the production values right up to the present day.

It’s not all genius for sure (some of the Pop tracks can feel period twee) – but the best thing you can say about any CD compilation called Volume 2 is that it made me want to own Volume 1 and 3 as well. And I will admit that Jack Nitzsche Volume 4 will be welcome too.

Jack Nitzsche Volume 2 is recommended...e or no e...

INDEX - Entries and Artist Posts in Alphabetical Order