"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

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...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...

"Hotel California: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition" by EAGLES - December 1976 Album on Asylum Records (November 2017 UK Elektra/Asylum 2CD Reissue - CD1 1999 Remaster - CD2 2017 Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 145 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

MORE THAN A FEELING 

1976

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters

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

Just Click Below To Purchase (No Cut and Paste Crap)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MORE-THAN-FEELING-All-Guide-Exceptional-ebook/dp/B0BGT69MVZ?crid=1RTTPB6MEK9Y7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aCLqQD_0x4Xc4Kd7CEKllFnbfqhZ11PdMT_72etNzX9uk4_p_dYzE7ix7BD2qIIrl8-pAv90HElKfIB-_ZesIaS7TKJ-pDCFTgEP2k9aFX6a08GeBKgOKqyKHE6gcf0WacJEY4AKfVHlvo1EyZXb-psq6hf7c8WNvfvSSQUcNdP73WQfDavTWOHn5u81XeWCHJ47XMXWJqovt2Cx2c7BHgnvhCDYy23xFnpilpsAe90.T6uf-EhIxX_KJ8LfLu5E7Pk739m39vwP0A9sw0LfGno&dib_tag=se&keywords=more+than+a+feeling+mark&qid=1717663975&sprefix=more+than+a+feeling+mark%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-4&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=02abe7807076077061be2311e2d581b1&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"...Passage Back To The Place I Was Before..."

There's something about THE EAGLES that occasionally gets my goat. Don't get me wrong - as a Seventies kid - I lived and breathed the band and this music like so many of my pals. But on CD reissue - this quintessential Americana Country-Rock band have always seemed greedy to me - just two shades short of rip-off city. And I'm afraid this '40th Anniversary Expanded Edition' 2CD Reissue of "Hotel California" does feel like yet another cash-in on a monster album. Having said all of that, infuriatingly, there is much to love here...

First up - they can't even get the date right. December 2016 would have been the '40th Anniversary' and not November 2017 - a whole year late. Second – although the 'Original Album' is a superb Bernie Grundman Remaster – it was done over 17 years ago in 1999 - so there's no upgrade or anything new studio-wise. There's no outtakes, no lyrics, no original poster repro, no inner repro, not even a dedication to Glenn Frey whose horrible passing in January 2016 took everyone by surprise and saddened so many. And although the expanded booklet looks pretty enough in places (see photos supplied) it's over in seconds and hasn't bothered with piddly little things like liner notes or even a posted history of the copy-shifting beast of an album so newbees can get an inkling of its place in Rock's History.

Over on the PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED CD2 things are at least new - the HC band line-up with Joe Walsh on fire - but again we learn it's a truncated disc! You get a well-recorded and exciting live gig from October 1976 taped across three days at the LA Forum which debuted tracks like "Hotel California" and "New Kid In Town" as well as containing other concert killers like Walsh's "Funk 49" from his James Gang days. But we now know that there's more to the concert - yet it's only available on the lavish and ludicrously expensive 'Super Deluxe' Edition. So all tongue-lashing and finger-wagging aside - is this 2CD worth having at all - I'd still argue yes! The album is a gem of course, but that second disc has fantastic-sounding Eagles live material - Joe Walsh with the band - their playing and singing is immaculate. So here are the not-so-new details from the not-so-new kid on the block...

UK and Europe released Friday, 24 November 2017 - "Hotel California: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition" by THE EAGLES on Elektra/Asylum 081227933234 (Barcode 081227933234) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster. BERNIE GRUNDMAN remastered the Original 1976 Album in 1999: a team of Engineers in 2017 (see list below) have handled the unreleased Live Concert from October 1976 on CD2.

Disc 1 – "Hotel California" - The Original Album (43:27 minutes):

1. Hotel California [Lead Vocals, Don Henley] – Side 1

2. New Kid In Town [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

3. Life In The Fast Lane [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

4. Wasted Time [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

5. Wasted Time (Reprise) [Instrumental] – Side 2

6. Victim Of Love [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

7. Pretty Maids All In A Row [Lead Vocals, Joe Walsh]

8. Try And Love Again [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

9. The Last Resort [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fifth and biggest selling album "Hotel California" – released December 1976 in the USA on Asylum 7E 1084 and in the UK on Asylum K 53051 - Produced by BILL SZYMCZYK. It went to Number 1 in both countries and has subsequently sold over 30 million copies. "New Kid In Town", "Hotel California" and "Life In The Fast Lane" were all US 45s in December 1976, March and May 1977 – with both "New Kid In Town" and "Hotel California" hitting the coveted No. 1 spot.

Disc 2 – "Live At The Los Angeles Forum, October 20-22, 1976" (48:38 minutes)

1. Take It Easy [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

2. Take It To The Limit [Lead Vocals, Randy Meisner]

3. New Kid In Town [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

4. James Dean [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

5. Good Day In Hell [Lead Vocals, Glenn Frey]

6. Witchy Woman [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

7. Funk No. 49 [Lead Vocals, Joe Walsh]

8. One Of These Nights [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

9. Hotel California [Lead Vocals, Don Henley]

10. Already Gone [Lead Vocals, Glenn Fry]

Original Production by Bill Szymczyk - Reissue Produced by Don Henley and Richard F.W. Davis - Mixed by Jeff Balding at Sonic Boom Room, Assistant Engineers Matt Coles and Zack Johnson with Additional Engineering by Kell Katero, Alan Black and Tom Scott.

The three-way foldout card digipak has blurry repro photos of the original artwork and both CDs reflect the iconic label artwork. The 16-page booklet has ‘Rare Photos and Memorabilia’ pictured – concert posters, ticket stubs, the ’77 Tour Program cover, a Trade Advert from the summer of 1978 as they toured July and August as well as period live photos of the famous line-up. The BERNIE GRUNDMAN Remaster has always been great – only amplifying an already beautifully recorded album. And you forget how good tracks like Joe Walsh’s "Pretty Maids All In A Row", Randy Meisner’s "Try And Love Again" and the magnificent Don Henley/Glenn Frey compositions of "Wasted Time" and "The Last Resort". Band fave and almost sixth Eagle J.D. Souther gets two credits – one for the impossibly catchy "New Kid In Town" and a co-write with Felder, Henley and Frey on the hard-hitting guitar-chug of "Victim Of Love". The big surprise comes with how good Disc 2 is...

The Audio for instance on the live "New Kid In Town" is fantastic - almost a good as the album version - plus of course it has a 'newness' to it - the band debuting it for an ecstatic hometown crowd two months the album hit the shops. The guitar solos are almost note-for-note perfect and the group harmonies are superlative. I suspect "James Dean" was the opening song - Walsh ripping into that trademark guitar sound of his - Meisner harmonising with Frey while Felder licks away on his axe - Walsh following in that stunning two-guitar combo they had. Huge slide guitar kicks "Good Day In Hell" into Boogie Mode while stretching back to the 1972 debut album "Witchy Woman" slinks into the set with the first lead vocal from Don Henley. It has meaty guitar solos coursing in its veins as they run alongside that tom-tom beat. What you also notice is that although Timothy B. Schmit had a gorgeous lead and harmony voice with the later line-up - unsung hero here is Randy Meisner's high falsetto that adds so much to a lot of the tracks as he harmonises with either Frey or Henley.

Joe Walsh breaks up the Folk-Rock and Americana repertoire with his stunning "Funk No. 49" - a guitar chomping Funk-Rocker that livens up proceedings before they give the crowd the number-one hit they crave - "One Of These Nights" - Henley oohing and aahing and coming up behind you - searching for an angel in white. Felder and Walsh give it some fab guitar pings as the song romps home - Henley sounding uncomfortable with those impossibly high notes. Even without introduction "Hotel California" elicits cheers from a crowd who are clearly digging the multiple guitars and brilliant words. This could be Heaven or this could be Hell, Henley sings - luckily this is an audio in-between. The duet guitars are wildly impressive - Henley finally getting his amazing voice around lyrics he actually likes and believes in – but there are moments when the in-and-out audio mix just seems to lose it a tad. The band then brings the whole thing to a rip-roaring guitar-wailing finish with the bopping rocker "Already Gone" – feeling strong and singing a victory song.

I suppose you could argue that "The Studio Collection" 6CD Mini Box Set (1972 to 1979) is a far better way to spend your money - all those great hits and the one in-between that you've forgotten. But if you must own a snazzy variant of "Hotel California" - then this belated 40th Anniversary twofer will make your diddly-daddy happy...his expanded waistline digging this expanded edition...

"Atlantic Rock & Roll Series" by VARIOUS ARTISTS featuring 1950s albums by Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Ray Charles, LaVern Baker and Ivory Joe Hunter (July 2017 UK/EU Atlantic/Stateside 6CD Mini Box Set of Remasters with Mini LP Repro Artwork) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Over 230 Others Is Available in my

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

"MANNISH BOY" 

BLUES, VOCAL GROUPS, DOO WOP, ROOTS

RHYTHM 'n' BLUES and ROCK 'n' ROLL ON CD 

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 

Thousands of E-Pages

All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00NED95TW&asins=B00NED95TW&linkId=0061fb4ca8224304480e8a6f1c505bce&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"...The Sun Comes Shining Through..."

A little explanation is due on this one. Issuing original Jazz, Blues and especially Rhythm 'n' Blues music - Atlantic Records had been around a decade when they launched this series of six themed albums in July 1957 (all six albums in the same month - this July 2017 6CD reissue is a 60th Anniversary celebration of that). Trying of course to cash in on the rave-craze that had been sweeping the USA and the world since Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" LP on Decca Records in December 1955 – the generic series title Rock 'n' Roll was however a bit of a porky pie.

In truth Atlantic Records had very little to do with Rock & Roll as we now know it (Atlantic was one of the premium race music labels of the day). But that hasn't stopped this legendary series of six LPs from being treasures – all of which are listed between two hundred and four hundred dollars as collectable vintage vinyl. By the time October 1957 had come round - Atlantic were offering these long-playing platters to US dealers at knocked-down rates and thus many of these affordable gems made there way to Blighty as imports where hungry white kids were gagging for the real deal - black singers and bands playing the originals - Rhythm 'n' Blues with a bop and a driving beat and not saccharine covers of Little Richard songs by the likes of Pat Boone.

This UK/EU-issued '60th Anniversary' "Atlantic Rock & Roll Series" 6CD 84-Track Mini Box Set Reissue from July 2017 on Atlantic/Stateside 0081227934354 (Barcode 0081227934354) offers you the six 14-track themed albums in the 'Rock & Roll' Series (straightforward reissues, no extras) as exact repros in 5" card sleeves of the July 1957 US LPs with the original artwork front and rear (see photos below). It's accompanied by a fairly functionary 12-page booklet with new liner notes from Florence Joelle Halfon - most of which is taken up with more detailed tracks lists of the LPs and a picture of the album's front artwork at the top of the page. Each Mono album was comprised of 7" hit singles and their flipsides - some stretching back as far as 1953 and 1954 - along with a couple of new stragglers thrown in to entice buyers of the day. A nice touch too is that the CD labels actually reflect (in a way) the Black & Silver coloring of the those sought-after 50ts originals.

You get  "Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters" on Atlantic 8003 (37:22 minutes), "Ruth Brown" on Atlantic 8004 (38:05 minutes), "Joe Turner" on Atlantic 8005 (39:05 minutes), "Ray Charles" on Atlantic 8006 (41:38 minutes), "La Vern Baker" on Atlantic 8007 (38:21 minutes) and "Ivory Joe Hunter" on Atlantic 8008 (38:06 minutes). In the case of Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters, Ray Charles and Ruth Brown - these long-plays were their debuts on the album's market. For Ivory Joe Hunter and LaVern Baker, "Rock & Roll" was their second album, whilst the older Big Joe Turner (even as early as 1957) saw "Rock & Roll" as album number three. 

As you can see from the total playing times provided above - as original albums they must have been a total blast - but as present day CD compilations they come up a tad short in terms of chock full of goodies. But don't let this put you off. Each unbreakable long player acts as a sort of mini 'Best Of' and the Remastered Mono Audio is spiffing. You also have to take the 'Rock & Roll' Series title with a pinch of musical salt. The music offered here is mostly Rhythm 'n' Blues - and even as you play the opening Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters tracks - Crooner tunes and Vocal Group slowies will come at you too.

The outer box is pretty - as are the card sleeves within and the 'Atlantic Records' label bag pictured on Page 2 of the booklet - but as you can't read the actual liner notes on the rear of each album (penned by Guy Remark). It might have been smarter to reproduce those in the booklet instead of track lists that are already on the rear of the box. The AUDIO is superb however - Remastered versions - all very clean and full of life a full 60 to 65 years after the event. I got my copy secondhand for eight quid - which with post cost me about a tenner - way better than the rather greedy eighteen pounds price tag for one as new.

And musically what these albums lack in hair-gelling Gene Vincent, Elvis Presley excitement - they more than make up for in boppin' R 'n' B and dancefloor Blues shufflers. The La Vern Baker, Ray Charles, Ruth Brown and Big Joe Turner records especially are fantastic fun and properly great listens. And for nostalgia nuts like me (lads of a certain age) - I can't resist that iconic artwork - LPs I've admired and loved for most of my life.

"Flip, Flop & Fly" as the might Joe Turner sang. As a lifetime fan of this stunning record label and a huge lover of Fifties Blues, Rhythm 'n' Blues and Vocal Groups - you could say that the lack of extras here is a tad disappointing and as a voracious collector of the label there's not a lot I don't already have. But as a newcomer - I absolutely envy you the journey...

"Mirage" by CAMEL - March 1974 UK Second Album on Decca/Gama Records featuring Andy Latimer, Peter Bardens, Doug Ferguson and Andy Ward (June 2002 UK Universal/Decca 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With Over 354 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

CADENCE /CASCADE 

PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

Just Click Below To Purchase

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

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Lady Fantasy..." 

Camel's self-titled debut album from February 1973 had clocked up modest sales of 5000 within its first year of UK release (MCA Records MUPS 473) and launched the band into a Prog Rock landscape dominated by giants like Yes, ELP and Genesis. But it was their third LP "(Music Inspired By) The Snow Goose" - an instrumental concept album with 'music inspired by' Paul Gallico's 1941 short story and presented in a classy laminate sleeve (with insert) that turned them into genuine Prog Rock stars and saw Camel finally make a chart presence in the UK (albeit at a modest No. 22).

The success of album number three also made fans and newcomers alike look back to their equally good second platter - "Mirage" from March 1974 on Decca/Gama SML 1107 with its striking artwork and lengthy Progtastic tracks. Sales wise "Mirage" did considerably better than the debut in the UK even if it hadn’t exactly stormed the citadel when it came to chart placing (it didn't register). Now considered by fans as a bit of a classic (even if the public didn't see it at the time) - "Mirage" did however dent the Top 200 in the USA at No. 149 in November of 1974 prompting a US tour and enough momentum for them to get to "The Snow Goose" where real success lay. Speaking of stepping stones and stepping on toes - the artwork used on the British LP for "Mirage" had to be hastily withdrawn in America after the Camel Cigarette Company complained about unauthorised use of their famous brand logo - so the Janus Records LP was released in the USA in different artwork - pictured on Page 6 of the booklet.

Always somehow in the shadow of its more famous follow ups "Music Inspired By The Snow Goose" in 1975 and "Moonmadness" in 1976 - "Mirage" is ripe for rediscovery. So let's get Shimmering in the Nimrodel (if you know what I mean)...

UK released June 2002 - "Mirage" by CAMEL on Universal/Decca 8829292 (Barcode 042288292920) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster of the 1974 album with Four Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (68:08 minutes):

1. Freefall [Side 1]

2. Supertwister

3. Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider

4. Earthrise [Side 2]

5. Lady Fantasy: Encounter/Smiles For You/Lady Fantasy

Tracks 1 to 5 are their second studio album "Mirage" - released March 1974 in the UK on Decca/Gama Records SML 1107 and November 1974 in the USA on Janus JXS 7009 in different artwork. It was reissued 1977 on Passport Records PB 9855 in the original UK artwork (the original US artwork is pictured on Page 6 of the booklet). Produced by DAVID HITCHCOCK - the album peaked at No. 149 in the USA (didn't chart UK)

BONUS TRACKS (Previously Unreleased):

6. Supertwister (Recorded Live at The Marquee Club, London, 30 Oct 1974)

7. Mystic Queen (Recorded Live at The Marquee Club, London, 30 Oct 1974)

8. Arubaluba (Recorded Live at The Marquee Club, London, 30 Oct 1974)

9. Lady Fantasy: Encounter/Smile For You/Lady Fantasy (Original Basing Street Studios Mix)

CAMEL was:

ANDREW LATIMER - Guitars, Flute and Vocals

PETER BARDENS - Organ, Piano, Mini Moog Synthesiser and Vocals

DOUG FERGUSON - Bass

ANDY WARD - Drums and Percussion

PASCHAL BYRNE - an Audio Engineer of serious experience - has done the tape transfer honours here and like the others in this 2002 series it's a sweetly warm and musical job done. The 8-page booklet has liner notes from MARK POWELL (later of Esoteric Recordings) that features the usual period photos of the boys in various long-haired serious-muso poses as well as the cartoon artwork for the US LP that seemed to depict a Gryphon type flying dragon perched for action on some moon landscape. The CD re-release is dedicated to Keyboardist Peter Bardens who had only just passed away in late January 2002 as the reissue was going to press. It's nicely done and the Bonus Tracks are just that - genuine Extras for Camel fans - the three live tracks from a 1974 Marquee gig and an alternate version of the 13-minute "Lady Fantasy" centrepiece on Side 2. Let's get to the music...

A swirling bank of keyboard drones introduces a pounding Bass line as the Side 1 opener "Freefall" unfolds whereupon a very Crimson-like guitar jab soon morphs into men with beards getting Prog Rock about snowflakes falling helplessly to the ground (Andy Latimer’s fretwork shines throughout). Things become very Focus with the three-minute instrumental "Supertwister" - Latimer giving it some flute flourishes as Bardens underpins his note warbles with smoochy keyboards - what you might call 'pretty' Prog. One of the album's centrepieces end's Side 1 - nine-minutes and sixteen seconds of "Nimrodel". It's first part "Procession" does exactly what it says on the tin - a marching rhythm - but that segues into a gorgeous combo of Mellotron and Guitar - Bardens warbling about a 'land beyond the night' (the lane at the back of The Clissold Arms in Finchley mate) only to hurtle towards its otherworldly finish with a heavy synth line and an echoed guitar solo.

Side 2 commences with the near seven-minute "Earthrise" - an instrumental that for me represents excess rather than success - soloing for the sake of it. Which brings us to the LPs big moment - all 12:43 minutes of "Lady Fantasy" - a band composition broken into three parts - its famous opening keyboard repeats and Crimson guitars virtually defining Prog in one minute flat. The monster soon settles into some bippity-boppity keyboards and a tune about a lady he can never hold (reminds me of you). The part I like most is the mellow guitar break at 5:17 - beautifully played and recorded. The 'Original Basing Street Studios Mix' Bonus Track has subtle differences and the live tracks are amazingly well recorded and played. 

"Mirage" isn't a masterpiece - but it's a quality album given an even better lease of life on this exceptional CD Reissue and Remaster - and it's only four squid into the bargain. Seeing double indeed...

"The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society" - A Review of the 2018 Film by Mark Barry...

"The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society"

A Review of the 2018 Film

https://youtu.be/HTDNGv61-Dk

"...This One May Work Its Magic On You..."

I can understand how someone could find "The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society" twee and even a tad schmaltzy. But the audience I saw it with loved the movie and wiped away a few tears as the credits rolled.

Defying her extraordinary beauty so it doesn't work against her like she did in "Darkest Hour" - once again actress Lily James shows what she can do when given a leading role. She is properly great as author Juliet Ashton – a young female novelist in London post WWII doing a small book tour she doesn’t believe in to pay the bills. Using the pseudonym Izzy Bickerstaff – she is a dreamer that longs for real connection. Her literary agent offers a lifeline when she is suddenly commissioned to do a story for the Times Newspaper. Ashton will travel to Guernsey to investigate a group of like-minded word-lovers who used a book club to survive the slow drain of all freedoms as the Nazis occupied the Chanel Island in 1941. What she doesn’t expect is friendship, life-changing stories that will inspire a book and the unconditional love of those who had to endure years in servitude whilst now struggling with the consequences, the strange aftermath they find themselves lumbered with.

It helps that the clever story and cast are perfectly matched - Matthew Goode as her literary agent Sidney Stark whose more than a little in love with his own client - Glen Powell as her well-to-do American soldier Mark Reynolds who has put a huge sparkler on his beau's index finger (although she proclaims her love for him she seems unwilling to wear it once she gets to the English Chanel island and meets a local farmer she's been corresponding with) - and Dutchman Michael Huisman as the handsome and goodhearted islander pig-farmer Dawsey Adams who feels a kindred spirit with the English lass from London – a gal with a hankering for Jane Austen and Charles Lamb and can quote whole passages to prove it.

Other notables are Jessica Brown Findlay as the feisty Elizabeth McKenna whose heart and compassion have her taken away by the Germans leaving behind a trail of secrets and wounded hearts - Ireland's Bronagh Gallagher as the embittered religious zealot landlady who seeks to poison Juliet Ashton's enquiries into what really happened to Elizabeth - and especially Penelope Wilton as the frail hurt-to-her-core Amelia Maugery - a woman who has lost too much to the enemy and is unwilling to retell their island stories of occupation for fear of more of the same. Throw in great parts for Katherine Parkinson as the naive and yet magical Isola Pribby and Tom Courtenay as the big softy postmaster Eben Ramsey - and you're firmly in the silver-haired arena of movies. Special mention should also go to little Florence Keen who almost steals the show as the child Kit who looks up to handsome farmer Dawsey and calls him 'dad'. The flashbacks to WW II and then forward to a post-war island one year after work well and are at times amazingly informative - giving insights into a side of that very British War that is rarely discussed.

For sure there are those who will cringe at ah-shucks humour, poo-poo the good-looking leads as unrealistic representations of ordinary folk despite Huisman and James’ fabulous onscreen chemistry, find factual continuity errors and wonder at the sheer size of Lily James' costume wardrobe when she packed one case with some typing pages, an ink fountain pen, wool hats and a possible pair of lacy knickers. But that rather distantly cold assessment does this lovely little movie a massive disservice. Using a team of three screenplay writers - Director Mike Newell has taken a beloved book and done it proud - even if the fishing harbour and town scenes framed by Zac Nicholson's cinematography come over at times like a Downton Abbey Reunion or that Ridley Scott Hovis Advert cranked up to two hours instead of two minutes. And anyone who loves books and the connections they make will quietly quiver inside with page-turning delight as the scenes unfold and favourite booky discussions take centre stage – by the end probably succumbing to an urgent need to crack open a classic right quick.

The accusations of triteness, nostalgia stroked and throwbacks to a simple-life world that no longer exists probably have a real-world point - but bugger them all and knob to their cynicism. There's heart in this film, pathos, sadness, bravery, romance, gentle wit and ultimately a satisfying redemption of sorts. And the audience I was with 'felt it all'.

2018's "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society" is a gorgeous big-screen watch - an uplifting story - and another win for seriously good writing, direction and ensemble casting. I urge you to seek out this audience-warming gem of a movie...