Song of The Day: DC Fontana "Meshkalina"

Here's some cheerful Sunday Night Soul from DC Fontana to pre-empt those Monday Morning Blues...

The Wild Shore - Psychedelic sounds from Stockholm...

The Wild Shore

I had an email from The Wild Shore from Stockholm introducing themselves and their music. I was immediately taken with their great guitar sound, especially on the excellent "Chinese Birds" which has been stuck in my head for days. They do have tracks available to listen to and download from their web-site and I'd recommend you giving them a try, especially if you like The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Black Angels and Elephant Stone for example. Here's a press release from the band themselves:

"The Wild Shore was harmonised in Stockholm during the cold winter of 2009. After a brief period of experimentation in the studio, two releases "Renaissance In Reverse" and current "Return to Dreaming/Ruins" came to light. In September 2011 they released the "Chinese Birds EP". The Wild Shore combine the chimey 12-string guitars of The Byrds, the hypnotic landscapes around Spacemen 3 with the perfect simple structures of Velvet Underground. With elements from psychedelia, krautrock, post-punk and raw power...untamed and well calculated, without opposites no attraction..."

 Here's a live video of the band recorded at Club Probation in Stockholm.

My Favourite Records Part 3: 7" Vinyl From The Singles Box

Here's more from the 7" Singles box...my favourite Punk Rock vinyl out of the collection...

The Clash "Gates Of The West" / "Groovy Times" - CBS/Epic 1979 Promo given away with the US release of The Clash debut album (which has a blue cover instead of the more familiar green).

 



The Damned "Don't Cry Wolf" / "One Way Love" Double-D side Pink Vinyl - Stiff Records 1977



The Damned "Problem Child" / B-side "You Take My Money - Stiff Records 1977

The Skids "Charles" / B-side "Reasons" & "Test Tube Babies" - No Bad/Virgin 1978

The Show Stoppers "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" - Song of The Day

No other reason for posting this other than to say it must be my favourite "Northern Soul" classic - is there any better feel-good song? What's your number one Northern Soul track?

My Favourite Records Part 2: 7" Vinyl from the Singles Box - 60's

Here's some more favorites from my 7" Singles box, although I didn't start buying my own records (from my limited pocket money) until the late 70's, I had to track down some 7" vinyl from my favourite 60's bands. Sometimes you don't need a picture sleeve to make the record special - the Record Label logo is often more than enough...

The Pretty Things "Don't Bring Me Down" / B-side "We'll Be Together" - Fontana 1964

The Rolling Stones "Not Fade Away" / B-Side "Little By Little" - Decca 1964

The Beatles "Can't Buy Me Love" / B-Side "You Can't Do That" - Parlophone 1964

I love the product placement on the back of the sleeve!

The Monkees "I'm A Believer" / "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone - RCA 1966

Joel Gion "Extended Play" - New solo record out now!

Joel Gion, the iconic percussionist and vocalist with The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dilettantes, has a new solo record "Extended Play" out now, it's available as a download from itunes and Limited edition vinyl (with alternate tracks) from www.joelgion.com or The Committee To Keep Music Evil at www.ctkme.com

Joel must be Rock's only virtuoso tambourine player, elevating the instrument to a cool must-have item - taking it centre stage at most of the Brian Jonestown Massacre's gigs, where he was often the main focal point. In fact seeing the BJM without Joel, as I did a couple of times, just didn't seem right! His calm nature and relationship with the fans could sometimes defuse the sporadic violence at their shows where the sad ritual of audience versus Anton occasionally reared it's ugly head. I mean "Dig!" was a fantastic Rock'n'Roll movie but it did inspire a lot of knuckleheads to go to BJM gigs with the sole intention of provoking Anton into losing the plot. Joel just seemed to radiate this coolness and charisma that somehow had a calming effect.

Joel formed The Dilettantes during a break from the BJM and they released a fantastic album called "101 Tambourines", which was superb, extremely underated but certainly worth getting hold of. It is a really strong record with some sublime chiming guitar work and great, catchy songs - not forgetting some top notch tambourine playing of course!

And now Joel has his own solo record released "Extended Play" and I'd thoroughly recommend it. There are individual videos to each of the tracks which you can see on You Tube or on his web-site, here's a taster...

Here is a great interview with the man himself - where he takes us through his collection of vintage tambourines - including, amazingly enough, an electric tambourine! Check it out...

Photos Courtesy of Joel Gion

The Kinks Night at The Clissold Arms November 12th

I went along to a Kinks fan get together at The Clissold Arms on Saturday night, apparently it was a warm-up for the real Kinks Konvention being held on the Sunday at the Boston Arms, and it turned out to be a really enjoyable evening. 

We arrived quite early, around 6:30 pm and already people were up dancing and singing along, I must admit it took me a couple of pints before I dared to join in! The band, Geoff Lewis and the Kinksfan Kollektiv, comprising of fan/musicians from America, Holland, Spain and the UK enthusiastically went about performing a huge selection of tracks from The Kinks back catalogue. I'd already visited The Clissold Arms, which you can read all about in my previous feature on my little Kinks Walking Tour excursion, and it really is a great pub. The owners have done a fantastic job in paying tribute to the important part it played in The Kinks story and have made it a place that any fan of the band should be proud of.

There was a superb atmosphere and despite the large presence of die-hard fans, a lot of whom seemed to know each other very well from similar get-togethers, it was very friendly and welcoming to us more casual visitors. We spoke to a lovely father and daughter from Biarritz in France and to Bruce, a charming American proudly wearing his "Number One Kinks fan" T-Shirt. We also encountered fans from Scandinavia and Spain too, it would have been interesting to know how many countries were represented. 

I would definitely go again next year and hopefully also get along to the full blown Kinks Konvention too. You can keep up to date on future arrangements at the Kast Off Kinks site here.

Here's a few photos taken on the night, sorry for the poor quality but singing juggling pints and taking photos at the same time proved a little difficult...!

Geoff Lewis (keyboards) and the Kinksfan Kollektiv - photo by Steve Worrall

Fans sing along to covers of all the hits and a few more obscure tracks too - Photo by Steve Worrall

Come dancing in the aisles of the Kinks Room - Photo by Steve Worrall

Geoff Lewis and the Kinksfan Kollektiv - photo by Steve Worrall

Geoff Lewis and the Kinksfan Kollektiv - photo by Steve Worrall

By the end of the evening The Kinks Room is jammed by happy fans.

The chap on the left is Bruce from Washington, USA, proudly displaying his Kinks Fan of The Year T-Shirt