Texas – Southside (1989)

I don’t know much about this band, except of course the brilliant Scottish singer Charlene Spiteri.  It is apparently a small three piece formed in 1986; Charlene was a hairdresser at the time.  But although they made albums mostly in the Nineties there sound was timeless, these songs could have been written and recorded anytime from the Seventies onwards; they are a gentle blend of Americana and timeless rock and soul – the production leaves plenty of room for Charlene’s sumptuous vocals.  This album was a big hit upon release but the next two didn’t fare so well.  Their fourth ‘White on Blonde’ had been their most successful along with it’s follow-up ‘Hush’.  They have been pretty inactive this Century – a malaise that seems to have infected many Artists, with longer and longer gaps between albums and tours.  May be the rampant music industry deperate to feed so many hungry music fans of the Sixties and Seventies demanding at least one album a year wasn’t so terrible after all; all this studio time and little pressure may not be so good really.

10cc – 10cc (1973)

The band members had all been trying to breakthrough for a few years under various combinations and were friends working in Strawberry Studios in Stockport.  Eric Stewart had been in ‘The Mindbenders’ and Graham Gouldman had written hits for ‘The Yardbirds’, ‘The Hollies’ and ‘Hermans Hermits’ while Godley and Crème had hits with ‘Neanderthal Man’ under the name ‘Hotlegs’.  Working together on cheap American releases under various names they finally settled on the name 10CC and having written and recorded a pastiche of 50’s doowop ‘Donna’ they approached various record companies.  Eventually the weird and self-promoting Jonathon King took them on and released it as a single on his UK records label.  It was an instant hit and went to number 1.  The album was written by all four members who were all exceptional writers as well as performers and had 3 hit singles on it.  It is varied and quite brilliant too with Beatles influences and is pure early Seventies ‘pop’, although the band would morph into a more Arty style before Godly and Crème split in 1976 to form their own highly successful duo.  Gouldman and Stewart continued the band through the Century and Gouldman still tours the band as the only founding member.  Best songs on this debut are ‘Rubber Bullets’, ‘Headline Hustler’ and my favourite ‘The Dean and I’. 

James Taylor – Sweet Baby James (1970)

This was James second album, his first released by Apple in 1968 is quite difficult to get on CD except in a Japanese release which is pretty expensive.  But he fell into a bad drug habit after leaving London for New York and was in a pretty bad state before being rescued by his father who drove him back to his North Carolina home for recuperation.  He then had an motorbike accident breaking both hands and feet.  It seems almost a miracle that he ever got back to playing and singing and releasing this splendid album on new record label Warner Brothers.  One result of his Apple days was meeting Peter Asher, girlfriend of Paul’s then girlfriend Jane – he became James’ manager and record producer and life-long friend.  This album was a huge success reaching number 3 in America and he was one of those artists promoted by Noel Edmunds on his Sunday afternoon show.  James has a laid-back style and mostly soft, soothing vocals which belie his skillfull songwriting and guitar playing.  This album is simply sublime from opener ‘Sweet Baby James’ to closer ‘Suite for 20g’ (which refers to the pay he would receive from Warners on the album release as he cobbled together the last song) he doesn’t put a foot wrong.  Favourites are ‘Steamroller’, ‘Blossom’ and of course ‘Fire and Rain’.  The rest is, as they say, History.

Tangerine Dream – Phaedra (1974)

The group has had many personnel changes but founder member Edgar Froese had been a constant until his death in 2015; the group continues.   Formed in 1967 they were largely unknown outside their native Germany until signing with Virgin; this was their breakthrough record.  Influenced by Terry Riley ‘A Rainbow in C’ and possibly Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells Tangerien Dream were leaders and innovators in what became known as Electronic Music and was mostly entirely instrumental. They have released over 100 albums (rivalling even Frank Zappa) many are film soundtracks, the most famous maybe being ‘Sorcerer’ and ‘Force Majeure’.  But Phaedra and it’s follow up ‘Rubycon’ remain their most successful.  I saw them, or rather I saw banks of electronic cabinets and a couple of heads appearing occasionally from the stacked keyboards, once at North London Polytechnic.  The sound was amazing, complex and slowly weaving in and out strange slow melodies.  Hard to pick out even phrases and the music drifts by while your mind wanders onto other things.  Still, a remarkable record, and quite hard to conceive that this sort of thing would even get a release today, or be successful. 

Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings And Food ( 1978)

Actually their second album, but my first of theirs, this is a very different sounding record.  Pretty rocking but combining a feeling of punk and rebellion, but also and especially in the vocals a sense both of paranoia and ordinariness.  It is Social Comment too and reflects a dissatisfaction with the boring lives of most Americans.  The band had met at Art college and became the pioneers of ‘New Wave’ music in the late Seventies and Eighties, combining all earlier forms of ‘pop’ music into a new and remarkably melodic form; catchy tunes and most important quite meaningful lyrics.  Vocalist Davis Byrne had a deadpan expression but just as important were Chis Frantz on drums and Tina Weymouth on bass and guitarist Jerry Harrisson.  The band were always innovative and looking for new sounds.  This album was their first to be produced by Brian Eno and he was an instigator and collaborator as much as a producer.   This was their breakthrough album and my favourite of theirs; it has a wholeness and fifty years later it still sounds fresh.  Best songs are ‘The Girls Want To Be With The Girls’, ‘Take Me To The River’ and @The Big Country’.

The Sutherland Brothers – The Sutherland Brothers Band (1972)

Born in Scotland the brothers Iain and Gavin, both incredibly talented singers and writers and musicians, were in a couple of local bands before securing a record contract with Island records, who at the time were in the forefront of discovering many great Artists.  I am not sure if I bought this album before or after their Masterpiece ‘Lifeboat’ released later that same year.  I saw them in ’73 with their new backing band Quiver and have been a solid fan ever since.  Mixing rock with folk they wrote all their own material and released 5 albums as The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver and one final album in 1979 on their own.  I don’t know why they stopped recording but like many artists maybe they found the treadmill of writing, recording and touring just too much after 8 years.  They have both released a handful of very acoustic solo albums since they split up, and Iain died aged  71 in 2019.  Best tracks on this lovely debit are ‘Medium Wave., ‘Where In The World’ and ‘The Pie’ – but during their whole recorded career they never released a poor song.

Rod Stewart – An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down (1969)

Rod (the Mod) was in several blues bands in the Sixties, such as Jeff Beck Band, but remained largely unknown.  He joined the Small Faces in 1969, along with Ronnie Wood and the band became The Faces.  One issue was that Rod had recently signed a solo record deal with Mercury, while The Faces had a deal with Warner Brothers.  Despite a growing following neither the bands first two, or Rod’s first two albums were hits.  They released these albums under different names, but largely it was the same players on all of them.  Not until Rod’s third, ‘Every Picture Tells A Story’ with the number one hit ‘Maggie May’ did the general public take them to their collective bosom.  This debut was a pretty decent effort; a mix of blues and rock with just four original songs on it.  Mind you, two of the best tracks were Mike D’Abo’s ‘Handbags and Gladrags’ and Ewan Macoll’s ‘Dirty Old Town’.  Actually until quite recently Rod has combined his own songwriting with songs by others. Rod’s gravelly vocals are of course superb on this, especially on ‘I Wouldn’t Ever Change A Thing’ and the Jagger/Richards recent hit ‘Street Fighting Man’.  Incidentally the cover photo (of an old man in a dirty raincoat either playing with or chasing a young girl and of course the title) which may have been entirely innocent, or a band joke has been recently changed to a bland Orange cover and the name ‘The Rod Stewart Album’. 

Sting – The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (1985)

After an incredibly successful career with his band ‘The Police’ Sting decided to go solo.  I think the three band members felt the group had run it’s course (about ten years) and were growing stale, despite having almost their greatest success with ‘Every Breath You Take’ in 1982.  Anyway Sting also changed direction again as he took on a more jazz infused sound with a new band composed of jazz musicians.   The album was an instant success, reaching Number Three in the UK and Number 2 in America.  It hasn’t really dated too much either with several of the songs still sounding fresh.  Sting would go on to worldwide fame as a solo artist and has released 15 studio albums, though I have only a few; he has also released a few strange diversions (lute music and almost spoken word).  He was also one of those artists that many seem to dislike, like Phil Collins and Bono – he has been quite outspoken over the years.  His last studio album was three years ago, but he is preparing another World Tour as I write this, so who knows when his story will end.  Best songs on this Brilliant debut are ‘If You Love Somebody (set them free)’, Russians’ (which is still relevant today of course) and ‘We Work The Black Seam’.

Vivian Stanshall – Sir Henry At Rawlinson End (1978)

Well, there once was a time when comedy records were quite accepted as a genre, I am not sure that applies now; I am not sure that ‘records’ are even going to continue to be made for much longer – but there you go.  Vivian, or Viv was a leading member of a mildly successful outfit – The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, or the Bonzos as they were known.  Playing a mixture of jazz, comedy and music hall and pop they had a devoted following.

They split up (apparently friendly) in 1970 and Viv formed a couple of groups, had a nervous breakdown and was drinking heavily.  He was a regular on John Peel’s late night show, sometimes with drinking partner Keith Moon in tow; these forays sometimes included an upper class character ‘Sir Henry’.  The album of which, his second solo adventure has become a cult and is considered his masterpiece.  It is a mix of spoken word comedy and almost antique musical songs.  Viv vocalises all the characters in a splendid range of voices and styles.  It is hilarious and ridiculous in equal measure, a truly eccentric exercise but is a great favourite of mine.  It is well worth a listen, if only to be amazed that a record company ever allowed it to be released.  He sadly died in a fire, which rumour has it that Viv started by smoking and drinking heavily in bed, in 1995.  He was never a great success, despite a cameo appearance in ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, and the voice of the announcer in ‘Tubular Bells’.  He was loved by many of the musicians of the time. 

Squeeze – Cool for Cats (1979)

Formed by main songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook the band broke on the scene in the late Seventies.  They were NOT punk but had a DIY sort of sound, raw and real rock and roll and then there were those lyrics.   They were from Deptford, East London and sung unfashionably in London Accents and their songs were famously about ordinary working-class life in what was then the poor East End.  A completely original sound and quite successful at the time, squeezed between punk and the New Romantics.  They had Jools Holland in the band for a few years too.   Hit singles from this album were ‘Up The Junction’ and ‘Cool For Cats’ which both reached number 2.   This was actually their second album but the first to break through really.  My favourite tracks are ‘Up The Junction’, ‘Goodbye Girl’ and ‘Slap and Tickle’ which was great social commentary.  As usual it was the incredible songs which made both this record and the group the success they were.