Since the start of the year these playlists have featured over 350 different artists and composers and over 550 tracks have been included. But only the latest five podcasts could remain online, so you always had around five weeks to listen or download before they were deleted...
But now, Playlist #21 is BACK!
This week, there are over 30 items for your audio perusal, in the usual two hour programme and, as ever, it's a varied selection...
This week's track list features music from Andy Williams, Brian Eno, Broken Social Scene, Colin Blunstone, Cream, David Bowie, Desmond Dekker, Eamon McGrath, Eddie Floyd, Elbow, Ellie Goulding, Fripp & Eno, King Crimson, La Roux, Moby, Roxy Music, Roy Shirley, Sandra, Scott McKenzie, Sumner McKane, Tangerine Dream, The Samuel Jackson Five, The Spencer Davis Group, The Upsetters, The Who and Wintersleep; classical pieces from Boccherini, Cage, Handel, Kurtág, Mozart, Rihm and Stravinsky; and, of course, some Cloudland Blue Quartet...
No chat, just the music - hope you enjoy it - press play and away we go...
Brian Eno - The Lion Sleeps Tonight - 2:53
from "Eno Box II (Vocal)"
Nothing is rare these days, what with the entire history of recorded music (almost) available to stream. But I like to think curation is important. Anyway, here's a track from a 1975 single by Eno, which I bought on its release. Of course, it got nowhere but has been a fave of mine for nearly 40 years now. No doubt you can stream it somewhere for free...like here LOL...
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Attention to Detail - 5:44
from "Callingstill Vol 1 Yellow"
Listened back to a few of my older albums this week and this track is from the 1997 3CD set "Callingstill". I can't believe how much work I put into that project. There are three separate guitar tracks on this piece but I especially like the sky-saw guitar sound in the middle of the stereo field - a sound I can no longer replicate, as the machines which I used, have long since gone the way of all machines and men...
The Spencer Davis Group - I'm A Man - 2:53
from "Their First LP"
This puts my efforts to shame of course, such an effortlessly created good time sound from Steve Winwood and his band, on the first of a few mid to late sixties singles featured in this playlist...
Cage - Sonata XIII - 4:25
from "Complete Piano Music"
Some John Cage piano music never goes amiss and calms things down just a little before...
David Bowie - The Stars (Are Out Tonight) - 3:57
from "The Next Day"
...the cracking second single from David Bowie's "comeback" album from 2013. There's a great video for this too if you can find it...
Eddie Floyd - Knock On Wood - 3:05
from "Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration"
Famously covered by Bowie on his 1974 tour, looking back to his 60's routes and also forward to his white plastic soul mid 70's period...
King Crimson - Cirkus (Including Entry Of The Chameleons) - 6:42
from "Lizard"
These tracks cover the period from last Saturday for seven days and, last Saturday morning, I listened to the "Lizard" album whilst reading through the synchronised comments on Twitter of the king Crimson listening group organised by Sid Smith. I listened to the LP with a new perspective. One of my KC faves and this is a great opening track...
Rihm - Zwiesprache für Klavier - (H.H. Eggebrecht in memoriam) - 4:01
from "Wolfgang Rihm - Piano"
Understated piano music from the pen of a comparatively recent discovery for me, Wolfgang Rihm. His string quartets are very much worthy of your investigation too...
Andy Williams - Music To Watch Girls By - 2:36
from "Born Free"
...and bringing us back down to earth is the great piece of pop nonsense from the late, great Andy Williams - give me Andy over Frank any time - possibly...
Colin Blunstone - How Wrong Can One Man Be - 2:02
from "Some Years"
Another great, underappreciated voice is that of former Zombies front man Colin Blunstone, who recorded a couple of excellent solo albums in the early seventies. This piece comes from a compilation of that very output...
Cream - Strange Brew - 2:50
from "Disreali Gears"
I've never been a fan of Eric Clapton but I do occasionally enjoy a wee taste of Cream. This is a great under three minute piece from probably the peak of the band's short career...
Mozart - Divertimento Nr.1 Es-Dur KV 113: 2. Satz: Andante - 2:53
from "Musik In Alten Städten & Residenzen: Salzburg"
Not a great recording in retrospect I'm afraid, this comes from a 10CD box of performances from the sixties, highlighting the music which was being listened to in historical centres of new music throughout Europe. A good concept - the original LP version had 19 recordings in the collection. For Salzburg, it had to be Mozart of course...
Sumner McKane - From Amity To Eddington On The Bangor Road - 7:40
from "Select Visual History"
A brilliant guitar based piece from the relatively unknown McKane who specialises in instrumental works which accompany documentaries of the history of the logging industry in his native Maine. Sorry, sounds a lot, lot better than that description. Longest track of the day but well worth it...
Roxy Music - Pyjamarama - 2:53
from "1973 Single (1977 Remix)"
An all time fave single from the Roxy boys. This isn't the original though - which seems now only to be available on a couple of rather expensive box sets (mind you, you can probably stream it somewhere for free!). The song was re-released in 1977, coupled on a 7" with "Virginia Plain", to promote their "Greatest Hits" album. The remix was subsequently included on the "Street Life" collection, released in the mid eighties at the dawn of CD. A cracker...
Scott McKenzie - San Francisco - 2:56
from "The Voice of Scott McKenzie"
No intro or comment needed really. Evocative of a time I don't remember that well as I was under 10. Mind you, such amnesia is probably much the same for many older than me who should remember it...
Eamon McGrath - Breaking Horses - 2:44
from "Young Canadians"
An unknown entity picked up this week in HMV's bargain basement. Mr McGrath is a folk singer and punk rocker - an oxymoron that kind of works, as this track seems to demonstrate...
Boccherini - Sonata in E flat major, adagio - 3:15
from "Boccherini Complete Cello Sonatas"
A beautiful cello piece from Boccherini - probably my second favourite instrument in classical music following the oboe. Lovely stuff...
Moby - Lie Down In Darkness - 4:26
from "Destroyed"
From the first note, you know this is Moby - doing what he does best, a lovely chord sequence, great programming and inventive use of vocal samples - what's not to like...
Desmond Dekker - 007 (Shanty Town) - 2:43
from "Shanty Town"
Better (for me) than DD's more famous "The Israelites" hit, this was also a successful single and it appears too in the film "The Harder They Come", which I recall seeing at the old Edinburgh Odeon in the late 70's/Early 80's...
The Who - I Can't Explain - 2:05
from "1964 Single"
A brilliant, succinct statement from the Who which never appeared on an album. I have a scratchy old copy of this 7" in my collection. The recording apparently also features Jimmy Page sessioning on guitar...
Wintersleep - Hum - 2:34
from "Hello Hum"
The second of six tracks from this week's new acquisitions. Also from Canada and very much liked in their homeland but fairly unknown in the UK. Very inventive music indeed. A group not afraid to take risks with their sound...
Handel - Oboe Concerto #2 - Allegro - 1:47
from "Handel: Oboe Concertos #1-3 Suite In G Minor"
Handel's music is, in the main, quite beautiful. For me, the sound of the oboe is an excellent noise indeed. So, to combine the two certainly seems to make sense...
Elbow - Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl - 3:18
from "Build A Rocket Boys!"
A lovely quiet contemplative track from Elbow's kind of breakthrough LP from a few years back now. Love the understated electric piano - not one of my favourite sounds but just right here I think...
Roy Shirley - Music Field - 2:42
from "Bunny Lee : Reggae Going International 1967-1976"
Bunny Lee was one of the most famous and successful reggae producers of the 60s and 70s. This was, I believe, his first success. Not quite reggae as we know it but enjoyable nonetheless and worthy of its inclusion here...
Tangerine Dream - Betrayal - 3:41
from "Tangerine Dream 70-80"
Sandwiched between two slices of reggae is this piece of electronica from the German masters - taken originally from their soundtrack to William Friedkin's film "Sorceror", a remake of "The Wages of Fear". This is the main theme. The music was written without the band seeing a single frame of film and was based solely on their impressions gleaned from reading the script...
The Upsetters - Heat Proof - 2:52
from "The Upsetter"
A tasty wee slice of uplifting instrumental fun from the Upsetters. Tasty that is, unless you don't like reggae I suppose...
Stravinsky - Concerto En Ré Pour Violon Et Orchestre: 4. Capriccio - 5:55
from "Mutter Modern"
Some unbelievably versatile playing from Anne-Sophie Mutter on this piece which, comes from a great 3CD collection of her performances of various contemporary classical works...
Broken Social Scene - Our Faces Split The Coast In Half - 3:42
from "Broken Social Scene"
A quite weird piece from our Canadian chums, which seems to feature separate recordings made at different times overlaid on each other during several parts of this short piece. Interesting stuff...
La Roux - In For The Kill (Skreams Let's Get Rowdy Remix) - 5:02
from "This Is Dubstep – Anthems"
For my sins, I invested in a 2CD set of Dubstep this week. I can't say I've listened to it all but the first few tracks (this is the first) were indeed enjoyable. Eventually though, I had to turn it off and move on to something more interesting...
Ellie Goulding - Figure 8 - 4:08
from "Halcyon"
On the subject of dubstep, however, I noted its influence on another purchase this week, the second LP of Ms Goulding. I bought this because the young lady in question has an interesting voice and vocal delivery technique. She has also co written songs for German Eurovision winner Lena and the latter's own singing style has similarities to that of Goulding...
Kurtág - Un Brin De Bruyere - 2:19
from "Un Brin De Bruyere"
A couple of years ago I was in a classical music shop looking for something by Kurtág but this was all I could find. Played on a zither, it's not a conventional classical soundworld but, nonetheless it holds a certain attraction for me. I prefer his string quartets though...
Sandra - Stay in Touch - 3:51
from "Stay in Touch"
A great upbeat dance track from 2012, which harks back to Sandra's heyday in the 1980's, when her output was masterminded by then husband Michael Cretu, who went on to make his fortune as Enigma...
The Samuel Jackson Five - Never-Ending Now - 3:19
from "The Samuel Jackson Five"
A cracking wee piece of post rock from Norwegian likeables the Samuel Jackson Five, which I picked up on a recent trip to London for their label, Denovali's festival of experimental music. Very enjoyable indeed...
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Blend (Live) - 4:00
from "Starlightnight Box Sampler"
Due to cross fades, there was time left over as I approached the end of today's podcast, so I've slipped in a second CBQ piece. It's the same song as last week's but, this time, it's a live acoustic version, which comes from the 11CD box set which was made available in 2012 to raise funds for Macmillan...
Fripp & Eno - Wind on Wind - 3:09
from "Evening Star"
And we finish as we started with Brian Eno. This track is from Fripp & Eno's "Evening Star" album but is actually just an edit of "Discreet Music" from Eno's album of the same name (his first ambient LP). This week I much enjoyed listening to the original, along with a specially constructed (by me) half speed version lasting an hour and (also created by me) a 15 minute double speed version - that was actually the speed at which Eno recorded the piece - when published it was slowed to half speed - hope you follow that...
So that's it for another week - time flies - if you enjoyed the music, do pop back for more next week...
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