My first radio show.

I have always fancied having a radio show along the lines of the one from Mark Germino's Rex Bob Lowenstein. Nobody is ever going to offer me that kind of chance. How about a podcast? Well, podcasts are really radio talk shows and my show would be all about the music.
What I have decided to do is a blog with links to music on Youtube, so it will have the shape of a radio show, if you take the time to watch or listen to the links.
The first few shows, I would do would be an introduction to the sounds that form the basis of my musical appreciation.

We would, of course, have to start with The Beatles. They form the foundation of my music house. I was already listening to all kinds of music before they exploded on to the world stage. I am playing it as
I write this and the intro gave me huge goose bumps. It crosses the barrier from their early pop band stuff to their cleverer production values of later years.
They cemented my love of all forms of music because of the sheer volume and variety of their different sounds.  Now which track should I choose. That's easy. A long time ago, I decided to pick one track and use that as my stock answer to the question "What's your favourite Beatles' song?". Makes life simpler. Ticket To Ride has everything you want from a Beatles track. I once heard this playing on a really good sound system in a menswear shop in Walsall, my home town. I had heard it lots of times before, but it still stopped me in my tracks.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws9TRxGCuww

The Beatles may be my favourite band, but my all time favourite single is not a Beatles release. Stay With Me by the Faces has everything you need to make half a dozen great singles, but it's all in one record.
 One of the few tracks that I turn up the volume for when it comes on the radio. Rod and The Faces were one of the few acts I regret not going to see live. The closest I got was a BBC2 Live In Concert special. They were such a talented band and always seemed to be having a good time.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSQp7YOPdJ8

1970 was the year I really got in to buying records. I had a Sunday job on Warwick market, selling stretch covers for three piece suites.

The big record that summer was In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry. Just this week I got the 3 CD set titled Gold. All of their UK hits plus so much more. They were my 70's go to band, I would be very impatient for their next release. However, I got in to so much more in that decade and they soon dropped off  the airwaves.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM

The big Christmas record of 1970 was I Hear You Knocking by Dave Edmunds. Such a different sound from anything else around at that time. I played it almost endlessly and he became one of the musicians whose new album I would buy, on release, the week it came out.  For a guy who preferred singles, that was a big leap.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTD5_FwdiBU

One of the bands I got into, slowly,  was The Move. Roy Wood was to become a big part of my collection in all his various guises. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ8VZZ6HVb8
The only record, I ever went hunting for was Chinatown. I paid a little over the odds for it. Still can't remember why I didn't get it on release. Got it at an excellent store in Birmingham, England, called Reddington's Rare Records. They had a stall on Warwick market, the site of my first weekend job, so I would very often sneak off and look through their stock.

The closest anyone ever got to the originality, variety and quality of The Beatles, was 10CC. If they had stayed together a little longer, who knows. They made such wonderful music, especially the original line-up. When Godley and Creme went off, they left the pop half behind, but they were the half I followed.  This is the first track they ever released although only 3 of them are here, just before 10CC. Neanderthal Man by Hotlegs stood out like a sore thumb from everything else, just like the band's look did during the Glam Rock era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e0qYP_PTlY

In the pre-Beatle days and indeed sometimes afterwards, we would have a family night, playing grandad's 78 rpm records, both sides, no matter what they were. So many different voices and styles.
We never did that with 45s, but it was the 45s that stuck in my memory more. I would play all the records at both grandparent's houses, by myself. Difficult to pick out a track that stood out from the rest. However, one that strikes a huge nostalgic chord with me, whenever I hear it, is Anthony Newley's Why. Such a sweet sound from a different era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8iFpJ7_xZA

My Uncle Les was a huge classical music fan and introduced me to lots of that stuff, but the most important thing he did, was to introduce me to the novelty record. The Goons are part of the reason I am like I am [wonderful, warm-hearted and sincere]. The Ying Tong Song is the first of many, many novelty/comedy records I was to own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nebe1zuEtbc

I always prefer recorded music over live stuff, partly because I get to re-live it over and over. One band I have seen live 3 times, is Status Quo, as recorded in this old blog of mine. https://kevinspondmusic.blogspot.com/2016/12/rick-parfitt-status-quo.html I remember buying Paper Plane from a shop in Smethwick. The shop is no longer there, part of a dual carriageway through the town, now.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhwCqAmggnM
.

There are two musical genres that I have fixated on at different times.
Country and reggae. Mostly with the reggae stuff it's blue beat/ska/lover's rock, but if you stick a reggae beat on something it will nearly always make it better. Although Bob Marley was the king, I was in to so many other artists before then. I think Liquidator by Harry J All Stars was the kick start for me, although I was aware of  and liked other reggae tracks.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTn01jjEFfY

In country music, one track stands out as being the first time I knew I was listening to country and not just some music from America. I was never big on seperating music genres and still try not to, although it is handy when you are trying to find a cd in a huge record store. Faron Young's Four In The Morning is, on the face of it, very corny olde tyme music, but so memorable.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXWV15YtEcQ

Finally, for this first radio show, it's about time I included somebody from the other gender. I first saw Emmylou Harris on The Old Grey Whistle Test, a late night show on BBC that introduced me to another world of music away from the Charts. I was a member of an album of the month club and ordered two of her albums from there and never looked back. She has such a voice. I can't really explain it in a public forum. Close your eyes and drift away to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-PRts_RGeA

Many more tracks are coming to mind, so there will be a part two to this, but that's all for now.

1970

I credit this year with being the time I got serious in my record collecting. I was at school. 13 years old, at the beginning of the year. Being a teenager is the time a lot of your opinions on pretty much everything, are put into place. Some stronger than others. My favourite music, apart from the Beatles, of course, is set in the first 6 years of the seventies.

The first top three of the year was, a holdover from the sixties, naturally. I remember we had those 3 records and they indicated some of the diversity that the seventies was going to contain. The Archies:Sugar, Sugar; Kenny Rogers: Ruby, Don`t Take Your Love To Town;Rolf Harris:Two Little Boys. So, a cartoon group, a country music legend and a, now disgraced, kid`s entertainer. The rest of that first chart is full of 60`s icons. The Beatles, Cliff Richard, Englebert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, Dave Clark Five, Creedence Clearwater Revival. No sign, yet, of glam rock or heavy metal or punk. Some sign of classic reggae, though. The wonderful sound that is The Liquidator by Harry J. Allstars. Played at every football match in the UK. Every band of supporters could shoehorn their team`s name into it.  Speaking of football, or should that be writing of football?

This was World Cup year. England were defending champions. They still had a lot of the world cup winning team of 1966. Mexico was calling. Colour TV had settled in since the last tournament. It was looking like it would be a glamorous occasion. The scene was set for one of the first football recordings. Still one of the best, Back Home was huge. It was uplifting and gave hope for the future. It was not to be. A poor half time substitution against West Germany, let them back in the game. I couldn`t watch the final minutes and went out in the back yard, fuming with Alf Ramsey. Sir Alf by then. I don`t think I`ve ever been that passionate about the game since. I still get a buzz, hearing the record, but when it comes to the 1970 competition, I concentrate on the glorious Brazil, showing the world how it should be done. I even had a super 8 reel of film of the final. Brazil 4:1 Italy.
A few weeks into the year came one of the biggest bubble gum records ever. Love Grows [Where My Rosemary Goes] by Edison Lighthouse. A fake band put together by the writers to back Tony Burrows, a legendary session singer and lead vocalist on a whole bunch of one hit wonder non-bands. So this was the first real number one of the seventies
A whole bunch of my music listening was done on Sunday afternoons, at my nan and grandad`s house on the Beechdale Estate, Walsall. They had an old red transistor radio and we would have the chart show on every Sunday tea time. Alan "Fluff" Freeman was the presenter and the voice of the charts back then. Very warm feelings from that small living room on Gurney Road. Very happy days. A small English salad for tea. That`s where my dislike of celery, radishes and salad cream came from. I did not enjoy those salads, but the music was wonderful. Nan and Grandad were both heavy smokers and that smell stays with me when I think of that time. Nan got my first guitar by saving Embassy coupons from the cigarette packets. I have no memory of what happened to that guitar. How great was it that they let us listen to the charts? They were real old school, but so loving and a lot of fun.

The big worldwide hit of this year was Mungo Jerry`s In The Summertime. A starting point for me collecting all Ray Dorset`s music. I can still remember that track blaring out of the school 6th form common room, on a hot sunny day, while playing coats-for-goalposts football [soccer], on the grass outside. There were no official goalposts at Queen Mary`s, Walsall. It was, and still is, a cricket and rugby school, primarily. The record was unusual, in that it had a picture sleeve and was played at 33 1/3 rpm, to allow extra tracks. Mungo Jerry did this a lot, back then. They called them mini albums. Not EPs. Later in the year, I found one of my other favourites.
Although I had several records of my own already, I Hear You Knocking is when I became a real 70`s fanboy. Dave Edmunds` incredible cover of an old Smiley Lewis track started me off collecting Dave `s stuff amongst many others. Such an atmospheric production, great guitar, amazing echo, wonderful vocals. I had no idea for a long time, that it was a cover version. Although I loved music, I was not that well informed. It puts a picture in my mind of the living room at number 9, mum and dad`s place.
The Beatles had broken up. Paul officially announced it, early on in the year. John had already had a couple of singles out and when he blasted into the chart at number 7, in its first week, Instant Karma was an instant success [groan]. It would be 1971 before the rest of the boys got their acts together [or, more precisely, apart] in the singles charts. I would continue to buy their product, singles, albums, whatever. Still doing it now.

As The Beatles, they still had one success up their sleeve. Let It Be got to number one as an album but not the
single. The single was kept at number two by one of those quirky hits that make me love the seventies so much. Lee Marvin`s wonderful Wand`rin` Star. Not the last material they made, but it was the last official album released. I was too young to be aware that there was little love for the album. I loved it and still do. Most bands would give anything for their 11th proper album release to be anywhere near as good as that.
One of the great things about the singles chart in the seventies, was the distinct sounds of so many recordings. That red transistor radio, at nan`s house, was behind the distinctiveness of so much 70` music. If your record didn`t play well on a tatty little radio, it would not be successful. You really had to make your record stand out. So many one-offs with memorable production, lyrics and melodies. One such beast snuck in low on the charts, in its first week. That`s how things were done back then. You got on to the chart and worked your way up. Spirit In The Sky by Norman Greenbaum was another one hit wonder, but such an anthem for the early seventies. It seemed to be everywhere and still plays well today. How did people make such great records, then no others?
Creedence Clearwater Revival were still having
hits. Another fanboy thing. I still listen to John Fogerty.
I had my first real crush on Clodagh Rogers, pictured left. Hot pants and cheekbones. And she could pump out a decent pop song too. Another of my long term favourites are Status Quo and they had stuff out this year. Down The Dustpipe was a great pop song and showed some signs of their rockier boogie sound that they would use later on. A band called Hotlegs released a weird sounding single, called Neanderthal Man. I loved it, but thought these guys won`t do much. Technically it was a one hit wonder as Hotlegs did not have another hit. They changed their name and became 10CC one of the greatest pop bands ever. That was to be a couple of years later, though.
I started out on a Sunday job, selling stretch covers for 3 piece suites. Warwick market. I learned about Simon and Garfunkel from the guy who drove the van. Bridge Over Troubled Water was my first album purchase. I got it for 32 shillings off Walsall

market. Later on, I worked on Bilston market every Saturday and eventually the main stall on Walsall market every Saturday. The boss got me in to Cat Stevens, just by having his albums playing whenever I was at their house. Music was coming at me from all angles. I keep going back to the Beechdale and nan and grandad`s house and the little red transistor. There were times when I would have to take it upstairs and listen in the tiny back bedroom. Usually other people had turned up. Some aunt or uncle, so the adults would want to talk. It`s funny how some records make you think of different rooms. Tears of A Clown by Smokey Robinson and Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix both put me in that back bedroom. Just enough room for a single bed and a sideboard. On the sideboard were two toy soldiers, I made, from kits, with a little help from mum. The smell of the paint, glue and plastic, oh my.

So many long standing artists I cottoned on to this year. Some new , some old, some cool, some not. I became a fan of Andy Williams because of his fantastic TV show. I loved the cookie bear. "No cookies. Not now, not ever, NEVER!" Then he releases one of the best singles of the decade. Home Lovin` Man stood out from the crowd. Andy`s angelic voice with a great song and such a great production. So atmospheric. His show was so good. I loved that you were never sure if something funny was going to happen during one of his songs. He was so straight, which made it even funnier. But that voice was wonderful.


It was in this year that some of the great seventies bands started to make a dent. Marmalade and Deep Purple, both synonymous with this decade. Two completely different styles. Marmalade`s biggest hit was in the sixties, but they made some great stuff in the 70`s and that`s how I think of them. Deep Purple were much heavier, but that was the beauty of the singles charts then. Everyone had a chance. One of the greatest singles of all time is Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Ozzy`s voice is one of the greatest rock voices. Paranoid flows along so smoothly. Sabbath and Purple released some great singles but were really album and live bands. I didn`t get into the album stuff until much later. In the same week as Paranoid you have Montego Bay by Bobby Bloom, a reggae style number. Band of Gold by Freda Payne was another huge number one record.

I have a very vivid memory of being at nan and grandad`s. The old black and white TV was still in use. A young man sat at a piano, wearing shorts and a flat cap. Looking very odd and singing a strange hypnotic little song. Nothing Rhymed by Gilbert O`Sullivan is a wonderful example of seventies` records being so different from anything else. I bought everything he released, enjoyed all the B sides and he was the first artist, whose albums I bought, the week they came out.
When it came to Christmas, the craze for Christmas records had not yet taken hold. The closest to a seasonal release, this year, was The Man From Nazareth by John Paul Joans. If you play that after playing Neanderthal Man, you may notice similarities. It`s pretty much the same crew and almost stops Hotlegs from being one-hit wonders.
So many other wonderful singles this year. The Carpenters got Close To You. Gasoline Alley Bred by The Hollies, showed them moving on from the 60`s. The Witch by The Rattles. A huge European hit. I could just list a whole bunch of records, but I won`t. For many weeks of 1970, I would have all the top ten singles in my room. I loved pretty much everything, although, when I look back, I had not heard of a lot of stuff. I kept going back and finding other gems. 1970. So young. So innocent.

Me and The Beatles

She Loves You was the track, that got me started. I don`t know if I was aware of Love Me Do, but everybody, everywhere became aware of She Loves You. I`m pretty sure that it was my mum that bought the records in our house. Never had my dad pegged as a music lover. In later years, he showed a liking for country music, but very much the old style C&W, not the new fangled stuff. It was always mum and also my grandparents` little red transistor radio that provided the music in my life. I have no memory of who decided I would have Beatles` wallpaper on one wall of the bedroom, I shared with my baby sister. I assume it was my idea. It would have also been my idea to have a plastic wig, a jacket without lapels and a red, plastic Beatles` guitar. Oh, if only I still had those things. Not for sentimental reasons, but for the cash they would induce. Yes, that`s right, I would sell them. Aren`t I terrible?

I can`t remember wearing the wig outside the house, but I definitely wore the jacket to Saturday morning ABC Minor`s Club at the ABC cinema in Walsall town centre. I probably also wore it on my first "date". I was 9 and went to see Hard Day`s Night with a girl from school. I say "date", we just happened to be going in the Odeon cinema at the same time, by ourselves. You could still do that in 1965, as a 9 year old. We noticed each other, in the queue, and decided to sit next to each other. She screamed a lot. A lot of girls did. But it was The Beatles that caused it, not me!
When the boys were going to appear on Sunday

Night at the London Palladium, it was a big deal. The show was a hugely popular variety show. It was October 1963 and I was desperate to see it, but it was after my bed time and, wouldn`t you know it, dad was going to be home from work. He was a train driver and had very strange hours. I have no idea how mum and I managed it, but I saw the show from under the dining table, in the living room. Quietly eating a cheese sandwich. Dad must have known. He must have.
In 1967, I went to Grammar school, got more into records. I started to siphon off the house collection over to my burgeoning box of delights. Around 1970, I had a job on the Sunday market in Warwick. Followed, later on by Bilston  market on Saturdays. Just weekends of course, I was still at school. I finally ended up working the foam rubber stall at the top of Walsall market on Saturdays. That was when the world came to an end or, rather, The Beatles as a group came to an end. I was 14 in 1970, the age when the music you like is the music that you will always like. I don`t remember it being a huge deal, as their music persisted.

One memory I have from those school days is not being able to go on the ski trip with my mates. I had a Grammar school education, but my parents did not have grammar school income. When my mates came back, they told tales of apres-ski, listening to Don`t Let Me Down over and over again. I was jealous of the shared memory they had. While still at school, I bought two Beatles albums off a kid, for ten bob. Ten bob was a popular price for everything. We hadn`t quite got into decimal then. They had no sleeves, but it still seemed a bargain and I immersed myself in With The Beatles and A Hard Day`s Night. I still have them, although I replaced them, later on in the 70`s, with really nice copies from a guy who ran a second hand shop in Smethwick High Street. They were out of his personal collection, so he said. No idea why he would part with them. I have not parted with them. I started to buy singles in abundance and the occasional album. The first Beatles related record I remember actually buying for myself was

Paul McCartney`s Another Day, still one of my favorites of the disbanded boys. I very soon had a complete set of the original albums on vinyl. I also have a copy of The Early Years with Tony Sheridan. Some interesting pieces on that. Especially a Harrison/Lennon instrumental track called Cry For A Shadow. When the full album collection was released in a box set, 1978, I bought the Rarities disc. It was released separately. One track on there was a slightly different mix of Across The Universe. That was one track I already owned, courtesy of a World Wildlife fund LP. Much later, I picked up an old copy of A Collection Of Beatles Oldies. An interesting mix of tracks. Somewhere along the line I got a copy of an album called Let It Be and one called Beatles Ballads. Since moving to the States a few years ago, I have picked up a couple of American releases. Copies of Sgt. Pepper and Help which are the same as everyone else`s apart from this weird thing with a lot of American albums. They seem to be blank sleeves with 12" x 12" stickers on the front and back. I also got Meet The Beatles and The Beatles Yesterday and Today. Actual American releases with track listings not found anywhere else. All 4 of those were found in a tatty box of old albums at a yard sale for 50c each. Yes, that`s right 50c each!!!

I still collect Beatles stuff. Several vinyl re-releases , including Let It Be Naked. A CD box special edition of Sgt Pepper`s 50th Anniversary. Vinyl editions of the Live at the BBC albums, Mono Masters and Live at the Hollywood Bowl. My step-son got me the box set of Christmas fan club releases. A very odd collection of sketches and music with varying degrees of quality. A more recent addition to my collection is a birthday gift, also from my step-son. It is a 10" vinyl recording of the New Musical Express poll winners concerts. These shows were massively influential in my life. The only place I would see this amount of talent in one show, all playing live. Freddie and the Dreamers, Rocking Berries, The Searchers, Rolling Stones and many more. They were great shows. They loom large in my memory. Event television it would be called now.
I bought most of my records during the 70`s and they became even more popular, so it seemed, as each individual release came out. The Beatles inform all of my musical tastes. They didn`t seem to care about pigeonholes and took influence from all forms. That became the way I listen to everything. Don`t want to know what the style is. Is it any good? The boys were always good. Always. I have no preference in early, mid or late Beatles. I love it all.

It`s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I know, I know. It`s not even Thanksgiving yet. 
Christmas music is with us again, in the stores, on the radio and, yes, in my house. Of course, some people have already been listening to it for some time. Hello daughter! Christmas for a lot of Brits, does not start until Noddy Holder says so. See picture, left.
There`s always a discussion on how early you can play Christmas music. My answer? As early as you like. There`s a lot of it to listen to and not really that much time to do so.
I have a large collection of Christmas cds and a few vinyl albums. I never intend to buy more, but yard sales yield some great bargains. Among this year`s stash I got Joe Diffie, James Taylor, Mannheim Steamroller, Pentatonix and Lady Antebellum cds plus yet another various country artists disc. All for a dollar each or less. Country music, especially, leans towards themed albums at this time of year.
When it comes to new releases, this year, there are quite a few to go round. John Legend, Englebert Humperdinck, Jessie J, Diana Ross. Even Captain Kirk in his alter-ego of William Shatner. I have bought three new releases. Eric Clapton, The Monkees and The Mavericks.

I have always been a Monkees fan. I had two second hand albums in the early 70`s. Their first, eponymous, one and the third one, Headquarters. I bought them  from the guy that lived in the house at the bottom of our garden. Not in our garden, people, but joined to our garden. I was still at school, just starting to build my collection. 15 Albums for ten bob [ten shillings or 50 pence]. A great bargain. Wish I still had all of those. I once had to give an occasional 10 minute talk, in a music lesson, at school. I chose The Monkees for one of those talks. I only had the information on those albums. How I managed to make it last 10 minutes, I don`t remember. This was, of course, well before the internet.
The Monkees Christmas Party has a few original tracks, written by some interesting people. Andy

Partridge is a particular favorite of mine, from his days with XTC. His track, Unwrap You At Christmas, starts the album off energetically. It sounds like it`s going to be a Spector style cover, but turns into a double entendre track about unwrapping someone for Christmas. It is better than that makes it sound. Of course, time will tell if any of the original tracks, on here, will become standards, played on the radio, year after year. The best tracks on here, just happen to be the original ones, written for this album. Rivers Cuomo, from Weezer and Peter Buck, from REM,  contributed. There are a couple of decent versions of classics, like Mele Kalikimaka and Silver Bells, both using vocals from the late, lamented Davy Jones. They also have a stab at a couple of more modern classics. No-one will ever beat Roy Wood`s original with Wizzard, but the boys do a decent, standard pop version of  I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day. Also a very nice version of Paul McCartney`s Wonderful Christmastime. There`s even a cover of an old song about Jesus written by Alex Chilton. That doesn`t happen a lot on mainstream Christmas albums. The instrumentation, all the way through, is fairly basic, but sounds pretty good for all that. Adam Schlesinger produced and mixed most of the album. A couple of the tracks sung by Michael Nesmith, were produced by Michael`s sons.
Adam Schlesinger is no stranger to Christmas, having been heavily involved with Stephen Colberts`s Christmas album, ten years ago. My favorite song of Schlesinger`s has to be Masters of the Sea from Ice Age, Continental Drift. Lots of ice, but no Christmas. Overall, a pretty good contribution to the long, long list of Christmas albums. Every now and then it actually sounds like The Monkees of old, especially the Davy Jones` tracks. He was always the most distinctive of the voices. I will be using a few tracks for a future Christmas mix CD for the car.

Eric has done a Clapton on his disc. Full of the usual easy, relaxed blues sound and Eric`s laid-back

vocal style. That`s really what I`m looking for from a Christmas album, music that fits in with the usual sound of whatever artist it is. An Eric Clapton album is always welcome. I came late to the Eric Clapton is God party. I remember going to a record store, in my hometown, Walsall. It was the 70`s. I had spotted a second hand copy of All Things Must Pass by George Harrison in there. My kind of price too. It was a triple vinyl album. The hippie behind the counter [that`s what I thought at the time] took each of the records out and checked both sides. When he pulled the last one out, he said "now, this is the one that matters, right?" I nodded. I had no idea what he was talking about. Eric was what he was talking about. Slowhand Clapton. Years later, I got into Clapton through his version of I Shot The Sheriff. Now I`m buying a Christmas album by this guitar god.
How would his relaxed blues style transfer to a Christmas album? Very well, it turns out. Starting out with THE Christmas song, White Christmas. I usually do not like it when vocalists mess with a tune, but this version seems to work very well. Next up, I did not know that Away In A Manger was a blues tune. Fantastic. The rest of the album is filled with a mix of Christmas classics and blues/soul tracks. For Love On Christmas Day is a self-penned track, along with Simon Climie [co-producer] and Dennis Morgan. His version of Jingle Bells is an, almost totally, instrumental gem. The whole album makes for a gentle evening of Christmas music. A great alternative to the Bing, Spector, Country and Buble albums that dominate so much, here in the States. Nothing wrong with that stuff, I have those in my collection and they will be listened to. If you want some Christmas on the stereo, but without a lot of jingly jangly stuff, this is your choice. Some of it would not look out of place alongside Nat and Dean and Frank. Very cool. His Silent Night is one of the best I have heard. A "heavenly choir" backing and Eric`s soulful vocal chipping in. Also the collector in me is happy with the free flexi-disc I got when I bought the album.

The third new Christmas album I bought, this year, is The Mavericks` Hey! Merry Christmas!. A Christmas classic in the making. Somehow, their distinctive sound, especially Raul Malo`s voice, lends itself to Christmas music very easily. In the UK, I got turned on to these guys by a DJ called Nick Barrowclough who had a nice turn of humour and presented a weekly show of, what was then called, New Country. They became huge in the UK, for a while, with Dance The Night Away, which gave them a solid fan base. We saw them live once. They did not disappoint. Like most country artists, they can play. The album starts off at a cracking pace, sounding familiar but not quite. These are songs that may get covered. Should get covered. Standard Christmas themes like Christmas is coming, Santa knows what you do, I want you for Christmas, it`s for me and you, more Santa, Christmas without you, that kind of thing. Of the 10 tracks, on the standard issue, 8 are Mavericks penned songs, with a couple of classics. Baby, Please Come Home and Happy Holidays sound like original Mavericks tracks, so natural is their feel for them. It slows down a little in the middle, but comes back with Hey! Merry Christmas, a track I am confident will be played on Christmas radio for many years to come. They should be made to do this every Christmas.
All in all, I am very pleased with these new additions to my collection. They will be coming out to play, for many Christmases to come.
Just as a side note, why is there so little music for Thanksgiving? It`s as big a holiday as Christmas for a lot of people.

Before The Beatles

I honestly do not remember my introduction to music. Probably traditional nursery rhymes about monster eggs falling off walls or babies falling out of trees on a windy day. Simple stuff. However, I do know that I loved music of all kinds from an early age. I was born in 1956, long before The Beatles came along and changed the world forever. The number one record in England, on the day I was born, was the ballad, No Other Love by Ronnie Hilton. He was known as a housewive`s favorite. A very old term, thankfully, no longer in use. It describes a "safe" easy listening, middle-of-the-road, personality. In the USA, it was Poor Little Fool by Ricky Nelson. He starred in my favorite Western movie, Rio Bravo. Neither of those records left a lasting mark on me. However, I do recognize the Ricky Nelson one if it comes on a jukebox or radio somewhere. That`s not because I heard it on my birth day, of course. However, they are both very middle of the road, mildly pleasant, recordings, which were never going to change the world.
My abiding memory of those years probably comes at the start of the sixties. My nan and  granddad Aldridge had a large collection of 78 rpm records. They had a huge stereo-gram, a dinosaur of music playing equipment in both size and age. Mind you, we had more fun on the Decca portable record player, that we took there from our house.

As we waited for the thing to warm up and it started to quietly hum, I would get to choose which records we would put on. 6, 7, 8 at a time. These machines were made to take the punishment. A 10" 78 dropping onto the turntable and whizzing round at super-speed, is a wondrous sight to behold. They would be spinning round so much faster than the music seemed to indicate. It played ballads, waltzes, comedy and, very occasionally, a rock `n` roll record. We would make an evening of it, playing both sides of every record. Mostly, we didn`t know which one was the `a` side and we didn`t really care.
I remember the Sandy Powell comedy routines. The Marrow Song by Billy Cotton, which,  at the time, I did not know was kinda naughty.  Other tracks were by people like Brenda Lee, Tommy Steele. All the family friendly style rock `n` roll stuff. Then other older stuff by artists long dead, even then.

Later on, these evenings would be held at our house rather than at my grandparents`. I remember a couple of my Uncle John`s 78`s joined our collection. Be Bop A Lula by Gene Vincent was one of those. My sister, Jane, broke it, as I recall. He was not happy. That was always a worry with the very brittle 78`s. There was also Bird Dog by The Everly Brothers. Then there was a family favorite, The Donkey Serenade by Allan Jones. Father of Jack and star of a couple of Marx Brothers movies.
Eventually, of course, the 7" 45 rpm single started to make its way into our homes. Smaller, less breakable, it seemed like a huge leap in technology. At the start, for me at least, the music did not change much. No Elvis, no Little Richard, no Chuck Berry. I do remember Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino being in there somewhere. It is still one of my all time favorite recordings.
Little Christine by Dick Jordan got played a lot, because my cousin`s name was Christine, which

I thought was great. I was only 4 years old after all. It was 1960.
Dreamin` by Johnny Burnette is another one from that time, that I still get a kick out of hearing today. Then came Cathy`s Clown by the Everlys, not sounding like anything else that came out around then. It has an other-worldly feel to it and, of course, marvelous harmonies. It still sends shivers up my spine when I hear it. They wrote it themselves, which seems extraordinary in the pre-Beatles era.
Cliff Richard and The Shadows loomed large at this time. I still prefer that early Cliff stuff like Apron Strings, A Voice in the Wilderness, Please Don`t Tease. The Shadows guitar sound is, to me, the sound of the early sixties. Possibly the first two bits of music trivia I ever learned were that Cliff had changed his name from Harry Webb and that The Shadows were previously called The Drifters. The Shads changed their name to avoid clashing with the American vocal group.
However, possibly my favorite from those times would be from 1959. Running Bear by Johnny Preston. I had no idea, as a kid, that it was about native Americans. Nowadays, it would probably not get made. The sound takes me back all the way to my childhood. Again it`s partly how much it stood out from the other musical offerings that endeared me to it. And, of course it`s as catchy as hell.
There would be classical music around. Usually when I stayed with my Aunty Viv and Uncle Les. He seemed to know everything about all classical music. Although I don`t particularly remember most pieces from then, I know he introduced me to

The Sleigh Ride from Prokofiev`s Lieutenant Kije. Now he is no longer with us, I have his original copy of that beautiful piece of music. Same goes for The Karelia Suite by Sibelius. That was also familiar as the theme tune to a tv show called This Week. However, the most influential piece of music that he introduced me to, was The Ying Tong Song by The Goons. By that time I had not yet heard Spike Milligan`s masterpiece on the radio. Uncle Les`s 78 of that song and then the television version of the Goons changed my life forever. I also have his copy of the Telegoons theme tune. Priceless.
There was no music that I did not enjoy in those years. When you are a kid, you have no hang-ups over whether or not something is cool or schmaltzy. You either like it or you don`t.

I carried that lack of bias right into the seventies and my teenage years. But then, teenagers are a breed apart from the rest of humanity. The music I love the most is from when I was a teenager, but some of that stuff from the early 60`s and late 50`s still stays with me, even now.
My musical tastes are still ridiculously broad and I will listen to anything.
Then those other guys arrived on the scene. At first, Love Me Do barely made an impression on me but then She Loves You exploded all over the country. More on that at another time.

Sergeant Pepper is 50 years old.

When I heard this was coming out, I got very excited. I don`t usually go in for these expensive box sets, with several versions of the same tracks and an all-singing, all-dancing, super duper re-mix and a documentary on dvd. However, for some reason, this one got me going. I got permission from my boss, the wife, before ringing up Bull Moose Records and placing it on order. We have a limited budget and this was a big expense. As the days got nearer, I had a change of heart and almost cancelled my order. It was all about the money. Then I decided to make some of the cost up by getting rid of a bunch of cds, I probably wouldn`t listen to again. However, I put them on file before taking them. Took nearly $40 off the cost.
This was released when I had just turned 11 years old. It did not get "dropped" [what an idiotic expression that is]. I had finished junior school and was about to go to the poshest grammar school in the town. I was not yet buying records myself, so we didn`t own the album. My knowledge of it was listening to it on tiny little radios or occasionally on an old black and white tv, with a miniscule speaker. In those days tiny speakers meant tiny noise and televisions didn`t get decent sound until well into the 90`s. So, I grew up listening to this adventure in sound, on poor equipment, but, in those days, music was made to be heard that way. If it didn`t sound good on a tiny transistor radio, then it wouldn`t sell. Fortunately, of course, it did sound good, great, in fact. The Beatles were still the biggest thing on the planet and this album got played all the time, even with no single release. [In the UK anyway, don`t know about the USA]
The first time, I heard it on a reasonably decent stereo system, it was at school. We had an English teacher, who liked to break away from the normal english lesson. We dissected and studied I Am I Said by Neil Diamond, in one lesson. Listened to the entire cast recording of Under Milk Wood over several weeks, at another time. He brought this particular album to class, primarily, as I remember it, because it had the words on the back. So we got to talk about the lyrics, why certain tracks sounded the way they did, that kind of thing. When I`m 64 having an old music hall feel to it, because it was about growing old, How, She`s Leaving Home was sad, musically and lyrically. This was an english lesson! Hence, this record has a special place in my mind as well as my audio heart.

It did not put me off the music. I was a die-hard Beatles fan already. Plastic wig, collar-less jacket and plastic guitar. And one wall of Beatles wallpaper, in a bedroom I had to share with my sister. Wish I`d kept that stuff. I still have my sister, but she is thousands of miles away.
Well, I just listened to the new stereo mix cd. Yes, I can hear it more clearly, but, it doesn`t make it a better album. Remember, I grew up hearing this on poor quality equipment. When I had my own decent stereo and, finally, purchased a copy of Pepper, it was like hearing a new record. Probably in the same way a lot of people are hearing this new stereo mix. I have not heard anything, in this new version, that makes me enjoy the album any more than I did. It was never my favourite, but would still be in a top twenty of all time albums, I like, if I could ever be bothered to do a list like that.
The Sessions cds are another thing, of course. I already have all the BBC stuff and the Anthology set, so I am used to hearing this kind of stuff. I even had a dodgy cassette of, what was known as The Black Album, with a lot of recordings, used later, on the Anthology. They are always very interesting, musically. Always interesting to hear slightly different versions of classic tracks. However, I prefer hearing more of the chat that went on.  Hearing the tone of voice, when instructions are being given. I like that part. Also, they have such interesting talking voices. They may have been four cocky young Liverpudlians, but they all had a distinctive tone to their voices. Could have done with more of that. I do, however, love the humming version of the final chord. The two sessions discs have a feel of a soundtrack album. Incidental music played under scenes from a movie, to get a feel for the whole album.

Listening to the mono version, I can hear the difference in clarity, but it`s still a great record and this is how I would have heard the tracks, first time around. They would have been on vinyl and that may have made a difference too. Of course, there are extra tracks, including Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane, extracted to give Brian Epstein a single release. They are forever singles, in my mind and I feel they would be out of place on Pepper. Here they are just additions, which is fine.
So I decided to get my stereo vinyl version out. I bought it sometime in the seventies, when I finally started to collect the Beatles catalogue of work to add to my, already increasing, record collection. This is probably still my favourite version, with the crackles and pops. It may be because this is the copy I played the most. It may be a little vinyl snobbiness. I certainly enjoyed hearing it the way it was in my head. My head is full of vinyl.
To top off the audio experience, I brought out my 1987 stereo release of the album. Let`s go for a whole day of Pepper, I thought. This stereo cd is a good quality recording giving us the great album in nice clear tones, but still keeping the memories of first hearing the songs, intact.
I have now listened to  4 different versions of the album from across the years, 2 cds worth of sessions from the recording. What do I think? It`s still a great album and has sounded fresh every time I have played it, today.
Let`s have a special mention for Getting Better, Fixing A Hole and Lovely Rita. Tracks that are often overlooked when discussing this record. All tracks would be celebrated on other albums, but are almost seen as fillers here. They are not. They are, of course, part of the overall soundscape of the work. Part of "the concept". Without them, this is a completely different piece. Isolate them, give them an extra listen. They are melodic, inventive and fun, as is the rest of the album.
There is a large "coffee table" book, included in this box set. A few articles by people with their own memories and takes on the relevance and importance of the album. Entertaining and irritating and informative in turn. However, I got to the chronology section, the one with the dates and facts in coloured searchlights. A pet peeve of mine is the use of coloured fonts against coloured backgrounds. We have to read this, people. It should be easy. In fact, some of the sections have perfectly clear writing with a dark font and light background. There`s a reason newspapers have black print on white paper. It`s called contrast and makes for easy reading. This spoiled, what would have been, an excellent way of matching other events to the Pepper timeline.

As for the dvd, the first thing I watched was The Making of Pepper, made on the 25th anniversary, I believe. I do like a documentary with access to the original masters, producer and a mixing desk. You get to hear the beautiful simplicity of the melodies, underpinning the whole process. An extremely complex album, but it`s full of good tunes and that was always the Beatles strongest asset. Good to hear George Martin talking about it, with such fond memories. What on earth would have happened if they had not found each other? Could have done with some up to date material, revealing the impact of the band and this album, especially, on current musicians. We have already seen this and the "music videos" included. This is, possibly, the biggest disappointment of the set. The audio part is there, I assume, so people don`t have to get up from their couch after watching the dvd. You get the album plus Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane.
So, was it worth it? It`s a heavy piece of kit and will look great alongside my other Beatles albums. Unless you have the fanboy urge, like me, it`s probably best to stick to one of the smaller editions of the release. I`m glad I bought it, I have enjoyed taking a step back in time to listen to a piece of pop music history and reading about how it all came together.
Looking forward to a similar treatment for the White Album and Abbey Road, now. I must start saving.

Fierce Mercy by Colin Hay

Since seeing Colin appear on Scrubs, the medical sit-com, I have re-engaged with Colin`s voice and overall sound. I have enjoyed his last two albums and looked forward to this one, when I heard it was on the way. I was not disappointed. It`s a beautiful, total album. Not just a disjointed bundle of tracks, but a piece of sound where all the individual, and enjoyable, parts make for an even more enjoyable complete work.
I started to see why I like this guy so much. Not just his easily recognised voice, his sincerity, his easy way with a melody, some catchy hooks and all the usual stuff, but also he fits right in with some of my other favourites, Andy Fairweather Low, Gilbert O`Sullivan and Nick Lowe, to mention three.
It is good to see his popularity increasing. I am already looking forward to future works and may even delve in to his back catalogue.
Of course, most people know him from his days with Men At Work. I had their first two albums and

loved that sound. One world beater of a single, Down Under, and a masterpiece, Overkill, along with a whole host of other enjoyable tracks.
Usually, I like to give an overview of an album, but thought I would delve a little deeper into this one. I found some very personal stuff and was amazed at the variety of subject matter, some personal, some general. Here is my take on the individual tracks of this new addition to my cds that will stay in the car and be played regularly. His last one`s in there too.
I must also mention his songwriting partner, on most of these tracks. Michael Georgiades, who was also
with him on his previous two albums.

Starting with an uptempo number, Come Tumblin` Down, with a country-lite feel. Seems there will always be songs lamenting how “Fings Ain`t What They Used To Be”. Very sunny sound for a downbeat subject. Great starting track.

Secret Love is not from the Doris Day musical, Calamity Jane, where she claims the love is not so secret anymore, but a song about unrequited love that will go on unrequited. He has said this was influenced by Roy Orbison, Gene Pitney and The Righteous Brothers, but it puts me in mind of James Blunt`s “You`re Beautiful” . One of those songs where Colin pushes his voice to the edge. I`d like to hear someone like Raul Malo have a crack at this.

A Thousand Million Reasons seems to tell us that we can never be really alone in a world full of people, there should be someone out there for each of us and. If we find them, we will have a thousand million reasons to be thankful.Quite ethereal in places.

The Best In Me has a Gilbert O`Sullivan feel to the lyrics, I can almost hear Gilbert`s voice and distinctive piano bashing this one out.

Frozen Fields Of Snow seems an appropriate track, living in Maine and the snow is coming down. Again. The lyrics feel like a meandering train of thought, while looking out of the window across the frozen fields of snow.

The Last To Know puts me in mind of a sad-sounding Andy Fairweather Lowe vocal. They have a similar overall feel and it shows particularly on this track.

I never have a problem with drug based songs. I just don`t have a frame of reference. Never been tempted and can never understand the need. Having said that, I`m Gonna Get You Stoned feels a little weak compare with the other stuff on here. More formulaic than some of his other stuff. However, still a good listen.

The stand out track for me is I`m Walking here. You may be forgiven for thinking “where did that rap come from?” However, it fits seamlessly and adds another dimension to Colin`s soulful sound with the rap by Joe Manuel "Deploi" Lopez. A song reflecting on how people are not always free to just walk home. Inspired by the sad event in Florida when a young guy, called Trayvon Martin was shot down, just walking home.

Two Friends starts off by letting us know the singer had two friends who died last week. Where do you go from there? A sombre backing track and Colin`s natural haunted vocal make for a heartfelt lament with a hopeful chorus. “Carry on, my brothers”

She Was The Love Of Mine is a very personal song about the loss of his mother and the time they had left together. As such it feels a little intrusive, listening in, especially if, like me, you did not have that kind of relationship. A haunting melody with a lush string and brass arrangement makes for a beautiful sound.

Ordinarily that would be the end of the album and a really downbeat ending, but I got the extended edition of the cd. The first extra track is I`m Inside Outside In, a very upbeat number, that would not be out of place on the waltzers at a travelling fairground.

Blue Bay Moon is a slow, smooth, swing number with a plush arrangement, very country. A generous helping of pedal steel guitar, courtesy of Jim Hoke, Nashville`s master of all trades. Makes me want to hear a real country album from Colin. He has the voice and songwriting talent for it.

Love Don`t Mean Enough is the last of the extra tracks, the last of the whole cd and, possibly, the weakest track on the album. That only means it is pretty good alongside all the “very goods” and “excellents” on here.