Friday 30 April 2010

so high that we won't ever stop


charity shop blog tennis with the club pro



IanLevine — 06 December 2007 — "This record started my music career. I started DJing at Blackpool Mecca at the tender age of seventeen, and within a year, I had broken this record massive, till it first got bootlegged, and then reissued legally, and made number two on the national pop charts because of it. John Peel came up to Blackpool from Radio One, to interview me, to find out how an obscure 1960s soul record had suddenly appeared at number two on the pop charts, and all down to just one DJ originally. This was in 1973, and then twenty six years later, I got to film Robert performing it for our documentary "The Strange World Of Northern Soul". Born on the 24 April 1945, in Franklin, Tennessee, USA, Knight made his professional vocal debut with the Paramounts, a harmony quintet comprising school friends. Signed to Dot Records, they recorded "Free Me" in 1961, a US R&B hit, outselling the cover version by Johnny Preston. After this initial success their subsequent releases flopped and resulted in the group breaking up. Unfortunately, they also broke their contract with Dot and were prevented from recording for four-and-a-half years. Knight continued his studies in chemistry at the Tennessee State University where he formed vocal trio the Fairlanes. In 1967, Knight was spotted performing with the Fairlanes in Nashville, and was offered a contract as a solo artist by the Rising Sons label. His first recording, "Everlasting Love", written by label owners Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, was an immediate success and earned him a US Top 20 hit. This enduring song was an even bigger success in Britain the following year where a cover version by Love Affair reached number 1, and in doing so, kept the singer from progressing further than a Top 40 position. Knight scored two further pop hits at home, "Blessed Are The Lonely" and "Isn't It Lonely Together". In 1973, he overshadowed his previous chart entry in the UK when "Love On A Mountain Top" reached number two. However, the reissued "Everlasting Love" went some way to making amends the following year, this time achieving Top 20 status. He continues to occasionally perform and record."

and looks sharp as sharp

oh we all adore everlasting love and to be honest i prefer the love affair version if only for the triangle solo but the b side version of the association smash is a true heavyweight lip trembler

robert knight - never my love

and we can't not wallow in the always glorious association. beardy weirdy and tambouriney



be weekendy people. and don't forget your brolley

x

Thursday 22 April 2010

the final countdown



riah - zhooshed
drag - bona
slap - trowelled

do troll along duckies if you're that way inclined

creative source - you can't hide love

be bold

x

Wednesday 21 April 2010

backslappers



head over to caught by the river quick sharp duckies for all manner of goodness and get signed up for the latest installment in the superfine series of birdsongs compilations this time round brought to yous cackling cawing and falling off the fence like those roobarb and custard birdies by me here. i know. what were they thinking ?

it's a funny and wonderful thing that whole caught by the river whatsit. i shouldn't really like it i'm sure what with fishing being rotten and the countryside being terrifying and all but then there's the rivers they sent us exploring you know that river lea bit that hooked us then all the way out to erith which really went and did it and on to purfleet and grays and early morning super low rotherhithe tides and rust and little fishes and more rust and awesome wideness and that's before we even get to the tweety birds and owl gawping and somerset house bowels thrilling and tracey thorn on gardening. heavens. do have a gander if you've not already.




and i got a wren look a little fluffy bottomed wren. isn't that the sweetest thing

terea - pretty bird

(a didn't quite make the final cutter)




x

Friday 16 April 2010

countdown



the world's strangest babies are here. you've talked about them, wondered about them, now you owe it to yourselves to see them. once you've seen them, you'll agree this is a show the whole family should see. mothers bring your daughters. fathers bring your sons.
you've read about them, heard about them, now come in and see them. look at all the pictures - read all the signs, buy a ticket and come on in. you owe it to yourself to see these strange babies. the world's strangest babies are here. see the famous siamese twins. the gorilla baby. the baby born to a twelve year old mother. mothers bring your daughters. fathers bring your sons. buy a ticket and come on in

okay so there won't be the world's strangest babies but there'll be hilariously shoddy record playing and booze a plenty

do pop along if you're about. it'd be stupidly lonely without you

i'll be playing this for starters...

the radiants - voice your choice

x

(with thanks to w.p. kinsella)

Wednesday 14 April 2010

double decker



the dells sing terry callier.

the dells - just as long as we're in love

the dells - i'd rather be with you

x

ps

why have i only just discovered the dells huh ? why didn't i know ? i mean it's a charles stepney production a charles stepney production for gawd's sake and on cadet yes that cadet that cadet that on far too many days to mention might just be my favourite all time record label of all time what with that little seahorse thing going on and all or whatever it is it is a seahorse isn't it ? of course it is (goes to find record... yes it is i told you it was i knew it was...)

and are there more callier covers ? none i know that's for sure

x

Monday 12 April 2010

your heart out


it's everyone's favourite london nobody singser/anywhere else but here todayer/yr heart outer's go at minding the shop while i swan off babycakes and oh heavens what sounds the boy has brought...

you'll just melt...

your heart out (zip)

and for the muddled and unbuttoned ...

o grupo - alvorada

jose mauro - apocalipse

pat bowie - feeling good

johnny harris - footprints in the sand

the lewis sisters - it matters not at all

cynara e cybele - januaria

betty blake - moon and sand


don't say i didn't warn you




x

Friday 9 April 2010

countdown



only 15 days to go sweet things. don't leave those essential wardrobe decisions too late now

i'll be playing this... as much because it's by a gal called edna as anything. well that and it being a total joy

edna wright - ooops here i go again

i do so hope to see you there

x

Thursday 8 April 2010

mixed doubles


my word but we're collaborative little lot round here right now aren't we just and i don't know bout yous but i'm sure adoring it to itty little bits and there ain't no stopping us now neither not with dolly ol' davy's smiling hour sarah vaughan gorgeousness getting me in a right flipping tizz digging all over the gaff for a lovely bit of factory samba (fac87 as it goes chaps) only for it to pooof like magic straight into my inbox just like that flying from the big heart and kind brain of the very same mr h so i'd best get on pooofing it right over to all you treasures too

kalima - the smiling hour

and then there's stumbling tumbling even on another super fine bunch of pages perfect popsongs and finding this oh so fabe film and notes from yet another of our comrades ol' yr heart out his very self. it's a big huge massive world children but some beautiful things make sense all over it



Kalima put out the Smiling Hour single in 1984, complete with a fantastic video which appeared on the Factory Shorts VHS. More recently it has appeared on the LTM Umbrellas in the Sun DVD, and 25 years on provides a perfect snapshot of city life. Nice story line, too.

Ann Quigley (Kalima singer) as office worker, packing up, headling home, buying some fruit at the market, drops something from her carrier, and handsome guy picks it up, and they smile, oh you know. Cut the night time, Ann heads for a basement bar, where aha the handsome boy is working, and various ACR (A Certain Ratio) types are hanging out like it´s a 50s jazz club in Paris, and eyes meet and smiles take over. Aww. Fantastic song, too. The Jazz Defektors´backing vocals making it really work.

It would be many years later that I would hear Sarah Vaughan sing the same son, on one of the sets in her brazilian trilogy”

(Your Heart Out magazine - “Look sideways”)

and a joyous chaotic great big callaborative ps

the factory all stars play

*those of a nervous disposition may be startled by donald johnson's shorts - look away now*



Tuesday 6 April 2010

paul haig day II



the vinyl villain says do it and we goddam do it goddam it. so it's paul haig day all over the bloomin' place. everywhere you look nearly. and here too. gee but i adored josef k as a nipper. what a gorgeous flipping racket. let's celebrate









and why edit out just one session when you can have half a tape. it's messy and hissy and i wish i'd left more of peel rattling on there but hey. i was going to put the other side up too but it's mainly bloody awful to be honest so i'll spare us all

a john peel shows tape
(side one)
x

Saturday 3 April 2010

mick's up



it's ace this guest spot thingy. i just get to lounge around knocking back highballs willy nilly while the tunes and whatnot come tumbling in. this week it's the 99p soul brains behind the operation and chief pomade supplier slick mick bierne... sock it to em mb...

"You may have noticed that I've jumbled together a not too coherent selection - I love them all of course. They are a loose basket of originals, covers and a bit of theft - that's the I Know a Man Who and That's Love. One of them has nicked the chorus from the other (I suspect Sugar Hill are the guilty party, but I don't really know) - thought it might be of some interest, (maybe not)"

the intruders - rainy days and mondays

joe bataan - crystal blue persuasion

dee dee warwick - i'm gonna make you love me

tony joe white - what does it take

sammy davis jnr - up up and away

rance allen - i know a man who

sugar hill - that's love

and for the determined easy accesser...
mick's up
(zip)

yes it is of some interest thank you very much dearie. lovely. anyone else want a go next ?

x