Cheers Mark Lee for 5 day tune thing. 5 records that prob shaped my record taste - will do them all straight off now, Im a busy man inspector... 1 - Ronnetes - Walking in the Rain https://youtube/results… 2 - Four Tops - Still Water https://youtube/watch?v=YSi9DJAgarw 3 - Gill Scot Heron - Home is Where the Hatred Is https://youtube/watch?v=nSpBs1ghyoo 4 - DJ Roger - Love Brought Me Back https://youtube/watch?v=hWfAP-G9bzY 5 - Sylvestor - Over and Over 12 https://youtube/watch?v=9wOE7mWZXpg Growing up, Sunday was the day in our house when the wood veneered, slatted record player masquerading as a sideboard got fired up, the lid lifted on a world of music that blew our tiny minds. Now there was some albums stashed away within the player but the real gems where to be found under our mum and dads bed, 2 suitcases fill to bursting with their old 45’s, not a sleeve insight, vinyl cheek by jowl – looking back, oh the sheer sacrilege of it. The unusual storage method and the subsequent frisbee’d landing back into said suitcase after playing ensured that no record ever sounded the same twice. There was a wealth of records in those two cases that still make up my all time favoiurites today but the 2 that jumped out at me for this listing where The Ronettes ‘Walking in the Rain’ and Four Tops ‘Still Water’. The Ronettes because this tune was the beginning of a love affair with the Ronettes and all the panda Mac eyed gum chewing hip bouncing girl groups of this period and before; the Crystals, Chantels, The Shirelles, The Chiffons… The intro to the Ronettes tune, a soundtrack of pouring rain preceding the deluge of Spectors Wall of Sound gave me a lifelong love of tunes that set out there stall by kicking off with a brief spell of pure weather – interestingly enough (or not) Terry Calliers version of the next track, Still Water and another personal fav ‘The Prayer – acoustic version by Jephté Guillaume – always take me back to that scratchy, rain filled 45. Still Water was just a mind-boggling track back then to me. From the echoed ‘Walk with Me’ intro… the hypnotic ‘Take my hand’ the lazy syncopated percussion, the hazy, filtered riff building, completely fractured tracks before Levi Stubbs breaks through and pulls it all together. Still one of my fav tracks of all time and never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Stubbs is also in my top 5 vocalists of all time – he is usually number 1 but occasionally loses a few places depending on what mood I’m in and who I’m listening to. Wee footnote, Still water was written by Smokey Robinson and Frank Wilson – Wilson now most famous for his Holy Grail Northern 45 ‘Do I Love You – if memory serves one of only 2 copies in existence was once owned by fellow Fifer Kenny Burrell. Smokey needs no introduction, one of music’s true geniuses. By the way, on the Smokey tip, check out this from Denis Sulta - https://youtube/watch?v=q4GN03jhpPk - on Glasgow’s ‘Dixon Dixon Avenue Basement Jams’, currently working on a forthcoming collaboration with these guys. The beat goes on and on and on… Gotta thank Paul Weller for my introduction to Gil Scott Heron after the Style Council covered Johannesburg for a gig against apartheid. Wasn’t there but read about it as I was pretty obsessed with TSC back in the day (still sport my ID bracelet to this day!). Anyhows Gil was now on my radar and a Saturday shopping trip to Smiths Menswear in Edinburgh to bag a denim Valentino jacket coincided with a record fair in the Grassmarket. I bought 3 Gill Scott Heron albums that day, ‘Moving Target’, ‘Mind of Gil Scott Heron’ and ‘Pieces of a Man’. Discovering Gil Scott Heron was like unleashing a minefield of untapped gems. A real eye opener, a ‘how have I not heard these? moment, another affirmation that your gonna have to dig the best stuff out. Would go on to see him live a good few times over the years, a friend of mine and her boyfriend published his books for Canongate in Edinburgh and they would have him over from time to time for some intimate wee gigs that me and some pals were fortunate to get invites to. A double header at Café Graffiti – Gil on keys and backed by a young guy on harmonica – to this day, still one of my all time favourite gigs. ‘Home is Where the Hatred Is’ was on Pieces of a Man and I only chose this particular song because it got me into Esther Philips via the version she did, the one that Aretha Franklin refused her Grammy over (she awarded it to Philips, saying she was the rightful winner). Philips version of this track is heavy, heavy rasping and evocatively sinister. Discover by Johnny Otis as a 14 year old, had one of music’s most astounding debut years when she had back to back number ones and numerous other hits before splitting from Otis before the year was out. Heroin addiction followed, Johnny Ace killing himself in her hotel room (she was in said room) and she was off the rails before being rediscovered by Kenny Rogers who got her a release with a Beatles cover, the Beatles liked what they heard and got her over to London and she was off again. For a bit anyways… DJ Roger – well just another Eureka moment. Got this from a long departed record shop in Haymarket. Motown 20th Anniversary double album was what got me hooked on soul, Motown’s ‘From the Vaults’ album – unreleased rarities, was what got me looking further afield and tracks like this from Roger where the rewards for many hours spent on my hands and knees crate digging. Bought this completely blind – only clue I remember was reading that Keni Burke played bass on it and I knew him from ‘Rising to the Top’. Got hame, aff the train at Cowdenbeath, bus along the road and the first tune on it was Love Brought Me Back – remember going to school that Monday thinking I knew something they didnae! The whole baggy, shoe gazing, indie thing completely passed me by – this was my music and all I would listen to. I’ve opened my ears a lot more as I got older but for a while – late 80’s right through the 90’s this was the only stuff I was into. I was unaware at this point of the massive Northern Modern Soul scenes that were happening all over the country – in my Lochgelly isolation I naively thought I was the only person tuned in to this stuff. What a fud. Last tune I have picked is Sylvester’s ‘Over and Over 12”. Sylvester is so synonymous with the ‘big’ songs that it’s easy to overlook his other output. Also he is one of those larger than life characters that can so easily become caricatures of themselves, the image a bit of a low winter sun in the face situation. Get the shades on though cause this man is a special talent. His voice is phenomenal and he knows how to put it down on a groove. ‘Over and Over’ was penned by the coupled genius of Ashford and Simpson – a pairing who have written probably one of the best back catalogues of music ever put on wax. I got into this from a 90’s house track – Teule’s ‘Drink on Me’ on Profile Records. I knew I recognised the sample but couldn’t quite place it till it struck me it was Sylvester. I actually had this in my collection but had passed it by. I dug it out, dusted it down and got reintroduced to and fell in love with, in my opinion, the greatest dance record ever made. Peace out.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 21:26:33 +0000
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