I’m not normally a big fan of remix albums by DJs, but when Moby released Play it was rather different. He took a very eclectic selection of soul, hip hop and old blues records and tweaked them to his talents. The album was also quite innovative in that a deal was struck to use each of the 18 tracks for various TV advertisements, which obviously proved very lucrative for the artist.
Two videos for you showing different sides of Moby’s music. The first is a remix of an old gospel-blues song and the second a chill-out ballad.
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Always way, way ahead of their time and unsung as trailblazers in the electronic music scene, sparks are a highly influential act still today.
Teaming up with Giorgio Moroder was a match made in heaven(!) for this 1979 comeback and the album spawned two top 10 hits - the title track and this remarkable composition, Beat The Clock:
A rather lowly placing in the list from these absolute gods of rock music, but this album was patchy. It’s included due to a couple of classics though and this one is right up there with their finest.
The Texan bearded blues-swamp rockers continue as they have done since they formed the Moving Sidewalks in the 1960’s. They have a great formula, they always look and sound the same but with slight twists (thank god they ditched some of the late 80’s keyboard stuff) but carry on they do.
Sometimes, record companies do not allow YouTube to use their videos (I may have problems with The Beatles later on!) but I found a trailer for this album which serves as an indication of the music present on the album.
TV Smith was the lead singer and principal songwriter for 70’s punk band The Adverts. Blatantly political but utilising strong melody in his ‘anarchistic anthems’, he continues to release low budget, low key albums and plays the appropriate small venues to match. For a change, here’s a live rendition from a few years ago of the title track to this album:
No.827: “Stop Making Sense” (soundtrack) by Talking Heads (1984)
A feature film starring Talking Heads live on stage, Stop Making Sense was a big hit of the time and highlighted the talents of the perennially strange musical genius David Byrne in an oversized suit…
I’m not a big fan of The Police as Sting irritates the hell out of me with his repetitive refrains to his songs and that squealing, howling cat voice of his, but they did release some great tunes in their time.
Swedish band Blues Pills broke through in the UK when they supported the very fantastic Rival Sons on their debut tour in 2014. Seen them twice so far. Her’es a live rendition of ‘Lady In Gold’ from this excellent album.
No.824: “Mighty Rearranger” by Robert Plant & Strange Sensation (2005)
Following Plant’s teaming with Alison Krauss on the country-bluegrass ‘Raising Sand’ (as we featured earlier), the rock legend returned with a new band (though it did containing various past members from his solo career), which showed Plant’s penchant for middle eastern vibes. A good return to form and one of best solo efforts.
That’s all for today except for a few quick mentions for the next few albums which are all relatively recent releases:
No.823: “The Temperance Movement” by The Temperance Movement (2013)
A great new band now on their third album, this being their blues-rock driven debut. I intend to see this combo live very soon.
No.822: “Oczy Mlody” by The Flaming Lips (2017)
Wayne Coyne’s bizarre outfit of misfits with their modern psychedelia and spaced out rock. Saw them on this tour live year and it’s one of the most fantastic experiences I’ve seen in concert.
No.821: “Handwritten” by The Gaslight Anthem (2012)
Great band from New Jersey and they have that particular Springsteen-esque sound to them as well. They continue to release strong, hard rock albums.
No.820: “All Hell Breaks Loose” by Black Star Riders (2013)
Already mentioned in this list, Black Star Riders is Scott Gorham’s new band. The Thin Lizzy sound prevails but they do have a unique style of their own. Again, another great live act who I saw headline in Hull with the aforementioned Blues Pills last year.
No.819: “Born To Sing: No Plan B” by Van Morrison (2012)
There are lots of Van Morrison’s albums in my list still to come, a constant favourite songwriter of mine. This was a versatile album of old and new songs and that marvellous voice never disappoints.
If you would like to see the videos from some of the albums I only mention briefly, please let me know and I’ll add them before the next instalment of albums
I appreciate your comments as always and thanks for your continued interest
Sharing the same territory with most of the above albums, May Blitz brought back a few memories with cover art becoming as important as the music inside.
Yeah I reckon, on and off, our musical paths shall cross…
I was trawling YouTube for anything from May Blitz which shows them playing live, rather than a ‘tapeover’, but to no avail but here’s another track from that debut to be going on with (and it is a live recording from Germany at least):
I definitely agree with you about Sting, Longdogs.
Apart from the quite brilliant single ‘Fields Of Gold’ there is one album I do like a lot, Mercury Falling. The rest, especially his dreary eco tosh bores me senseless.
Like your story about The Who recording their album where you worked. Did you see any of them much?
And the ‘Swindle’ album. I loved the music (and the film at the time) but as I grew older I realised what a tosser Malcolm McLaren actually was. There was one honest bloke in the whole Pistols scenario and that is Johnny Rotten/Lydon. He speaks his mind and I like that.
No.817: “Odessey And Oracle” by The Zombies (1968)
Rod Argent & Colin Blunstone eventually scored a big hit with this album but only Stateside and with the wonderful single ‘Time Of The Season’ hitting No.3 over there they looked set to hit the big time following 14 releases and 14 chart misses. Alas, it was only a 15-minutes of fame moment for them and they went there separate ways in the early 70’s. Blunstone was a moderate success solo and Argent a fairly big name with his self-named prog rock band.
In latter years they have continued to tour to popular acclaim worldwide with their combination of solo and band hits, together with various collaborations over the years.
No.816: “Welcome To The Canteen” by Traffic (1971)
A splendid album, and one of the final ones featuring Steve Winwood (on his return from the briefly-tested-but-failure that was Blind Faith) on great vocal and Hammond form. The final two tracks were a storming elongated version of the old Spencer Davis Group’s Gimme Some Lovin’, plus this 16-minute live rendition of CSN&Y’s Dear Mr. Fantasy:
No.815: “Alone In The Universe” by Jeff Lynne’s ELO (2015)
When Jeff Lynne took his new band to Hyde Park in 2015 to do a greatest hits set by the Electric Light Orchestra he was startled to discover how interested the fans still were in his old music that he release a brand new album.
Alone In The Universe has all the trademarks of this genius of a frontman’s songwriting skills and provided a nice platform for Lynne to go back out on the road again for a proper tour in 2017. On the Hull date I made sure I got a ticket and it was the best concert I saw last year - just a hitfest of ELO classics from start to finish. Here’s video from that tour featuring the lead single from this album plus Mr. Blue Sky:
A couple more briefly and that will do for today. Americana here we come:
No.814: “Somewhere Under Wonderland” by Counting Crows
The ever-satisfying Counting Crows with their umpteenth album of laid-back, bluesy-soul. Check out the track ‘Palisades Park’ in particular.
No.813: “Colfax” by Delines (2014)
Delines are a band from Portland, Oregan who were formed from remnants of Richmond Fontaine, a cult band led by songwriter and novelist Willy Vlautin but featuring a female vocalist. Very much worth checking out as well.
