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R.I.P. Dennis Edwards, Temptations Lead Vocalist 1968-1976.

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Dennis Edwards, a former singer with The Contours, replaced David Ruffin as lead Temps tenor voice in 1968 after the rest of the group fired Ruffin, who was demanding star billing a la Diana Ross and had taken to travelling to gigs in his own personal limo. His recruitment coincided with a change in the group’s style to what became known as Psychedelic Soul, songs such as “I Wish It Would Rain”, “Cloud Nine”, “Runaway Child, Running Wild”, I Can’t Get Next To You”, “Psychedelic Shack” and “Ball Of Confusion”.

His later post-Temps career included the wonderful “Don’t Look Any Further” with Seidah Garrett.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzly6jrepRU

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/the-temptations-dennis-edwards-dies-rip-music-a8192261.html

Has Pop Music Lost It’s Fun?

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I hope the link for this article isn’t restricted to just the UK.

I mentioned this in passing on another thread here, but I think there’s enough “meat” in this article for us Afterwordniks to chew over a bit.

Various data from various studies cobbled into an article suggesting (or does it?) that standards may have slipped.

Whaddya reckon?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/fb84bf19-29c9-4ed3-b6b6-953e8a083334?intc_type=mixedcards&intc_location=bbcmusic&intc_campaign=iplayerfooter&intc_linkname=article_funinpopmusic_contentcard10

Now this is how you do a CD box set. “Cheap Xmas: Donald Fagen Complete”

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All four of his solo albums in replica cardboard sleeves plus a disc of 10 extras, three of them live. All in a robust little clamshell-type box complete with individual booklets for all of the original albums and a fact-sheet for the extras disc. £26.56 from Amazon.

Truly terrible cover photo for both the box and the extras disc, mind you. Donald looks like he’d rather be somewhere else and his apparent lack of a neck is evident. Donald has never been known as one of the handsome ones, but surely Warners could have come up with something better than that.

RIP George Avakian

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George Mesrop Avakian, Գևորգ Ավագյան (Armenian), Геворк Авакян (Russian)

American record producer, artist manager, writer, educator and executive. Among his many achievements, he produced and edited the Golden Era Series of important jazz recordings for Columbia, culled from the original masters of various defunct labels Columbia had acquired. These were sets of ’78s, the original format of the Record Album. He was later closely involved in the launch of the vinyl LP as a musical format. Discogs.com lists 266 production credits for him, mostly jazz but some of the earliest pop albums too.

Born March 15, 1919 in Armavir, Russia. Died November 22, 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

98 is not bad going.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Avakian

Stumbled Upon.

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I was looking for Brazilian Electronica for KFDs thread and saw a name of a duo who turned out to be Argentinian. I discovered they’d put up some free tracks on the Free Music Archive Site and I started exploring there. Found this under “Jazz” which it almost entirely isn’t, but nevertheless I found myself listening to the whole thing, which if it was a vinyl album would probably be a 4-disc box. My attention wandered at times, but nevertheless there was enough interesting stuff to make it very worthwhile, I thought. Of course you might disagree and call it a right old load of cobblers. Such is your right.

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lobo_Loco/My_Scifi_Sofa_Visions/

Musicians Talking About Music

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When they’re not playing music, those musician-types can often be cajoled into talking about the stuff. Sometimes what they say is unintelligible rubbish but you can’t shut the buggers up. Sometimes you get one who’s got interesting things to say. I chanced upon this clip of jazz & funk guitarist Jim Mullen having a chinwag with bassist Phil Chen. I found it not only interesting and entertaining, but also informative. I’d already figured Phil Chen must be of Chinese heritage somewhere along the way, because of his name. Didn’t know he was Chinese-Jamaican.

Maybe you know of an interesting clip of musicians shooting the shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdNBK87VoVo

The Afterword Cheese Challenge.

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The challenge is to name a totally cheesy “so bad it’s actually pretty good” song from your youth that you know all of the words to and can sing along with. The bigger the cheesy topping the tastier the dish, IMO. Mine is yodelling English-born returned-Australian-emigrant easy-listening/country singer Frank Ifield and the first of his 3 successive UK #1s from 1962-3. Now aged 79 he is still, surprisingly, active. At least one fact fiend among us will no doubt already know that he was the first UK-based artist to ever have 3 successive No. 1s. The only previous three-in-a-row chart-topper here was Elvis Presley. Our Australian contingent will probably point out that he was moderately successful “down there” before repatriating “up here” in 1959.

Over to you…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xYPg5tIenQ

“Late At The Library: The Radiophonic Workshop And Guests” – an event at The British Library

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13/10/2017

The Radiophonic Workshop are one of the most influential electronic music groups of all time. As the in-house composers of music and effects for the BBC they created the sonic backdrops for Doctor Who, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Tomorrow’s World and countless others.

They soundtracked the childhoods of several generations, now they’re back to soundtrack your Friday night with a two part set. The first is a live version of their first studio album for 25 years, the improvised work Burials on Several Earths, with guest collaborator Martyn Ware (Heaven 17, The Human League and BEF). The second is a heritage archive set in which the Workshop perform some of their best known material – including the high water mark of early British electronica – the signature tune for Doctor Who.

Join the Radiophonic Workshop at 18.30 for a special in-conversation event Soundhouses: The Radiophonic Workshop at 60. Tickets include entry to the Late event. Audio installation provided by Bowers & Wilkins Visuals for the night are performed by Obsrvtry, a collaboration between Michael Faulkner, founder of D-Fuse and Ben Sheppee, creator of Lightrhythm Visuals. Guest DJ Tom Middleton (Global Communication)

» Continue Reading.

“The Last Word” – Miles Davis Warner Brothers Box: Get It While It’s Hot (and cheap).

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An 8-CD box comprising the studio albums “Tutu”, “Amandla” & “Doo Bop”, the film soundtracks “Siesta” & “Dingo” and live albums “Live with Quincy Jones At Montreux”, “Miles Davis Live Around The World” & “At The Nice Festival”.

“The package is presented in a stiff black clamshell box with each of the 8x CDs in its own sleeve complete with original artwork. A high-quality 60-page booklet details the history, development and production of all the music, complete with genuinely engrossing & literate essays penned by people like Ashley Khan and Leonard Feather.

The music is all remastered to perfection and the sound (even the live-on-stage stuff) is excellent. At the offer price, it’s a steal.”

I expect it’s available from other retailers, if spending money with Amazon is not your preference.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016E29ZIK/ref=pe_1229711_212818321_em_1p_3_ti

Jim Mullen live at Chandos Arms Jazz

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17/09/2017

You may or may not be interested to see Jim perform with house band Just East (Jeremy Shoham – alto & soprano saxes, Neil Angilley – keyboards, Phil Scragg – electric bass, Rick Finlay – drums) at this friendly pub venue for the princely sum of £7. Jim is a founder and current member of those fine UK funksters Kokomo and was also with the legendary Morrissey-Mullen and Average White Band. He’s an astoundingly good player still out there and doing it. It would probably be wise to get your ticket in advance, as the venue is quite small and both seating and standing room is limited. Buying an advance ticket also gets you a 10% discount if you decide to try the food, which is pretty good. Usually, proceedings get under way at The Chandos at 7pm on Sunday jazz nights but this particular one starts a bit later at 7:30. Two 1-hour sets with a short break inbetween. Finishing at about 9:45. I have my seat booked already.

An Old Mixtape Cassette

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I have a big box full of old cassettes, many of which I haven’t played in years. A small set of them (about half a dozen) used to live in my old car which didn’t have a CD player or an audio input for an mp3 player. This one, a Sony C-90 entitled “Red Hot International/C’est La Dance” is not one of these, however. This one is much older and was recorded from ’80s BBC radio shows such as Peel etc. and copied over from a couple of those legendary NME cassettes.

Side A: Come Back (original) – The Mighty Wah Shellfish Bamboo – Frank Chickens Bring It On – James Brown See-Saw – Aretha Franklin Hand On My Heart – Shriekback Hot Lava (party mix) – B-52s One More Heartache – Marvin Gaye Five Minutes – Bonzo Goes To Washington Red Hot International – Zeke Manyika Abele Dance – Manu Dibango Good Rockin’ Daddy – Etta James

Side B: What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend – Special AKA How Soon Is Now – Smiths Out Of Sight – James Brown C’est La Dance – African Connexion Mi God, Mi King – Papa Levi The Wildstyle – » Continue Reading.

Kokomo.

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Venue:

The Half Moon, Putney.

Date: 26/07/2017

Not so many of the original lineup were present as the last time I saw them (April 2016, same venue) but the new faces were all excellent. Tony O’Malley(vocals, piano), Frank Collins (vocals), Jim Mullen and Neil Hubbard (guitars) as usual with Helena-May Harrison (default female vocalist since Dyan Birch’s forced retirement) and Charlotte Churchman (replacing Paddy McHugh) on vocals, Jennifer Maidman on bass (replacement for the late Alan Spenner for some years now), Andy Treacey on drums, a guy whose name we were told but I forget on percussion and surprise stunning lead vocal on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” and Ross Stanley on Hammond replacing Mel Collins’ sax and flute. All four vocalists got solo spots to shine (and they did) and harmonised well throughout. Ross Stanley played some lovely churchy organ on some slow ones. Big Jim Mullen played several fantastic solos and Neil Hubbard got a few good ones in too. The percussionist’s surprise vocal spot was a well-received treat. Doing justice (and he did) to “Let’s Get It On” is no mean feat. Andy Treacy’s drums were solid and funky. Jenny Maidman got a couple of » Continue Reading.

Music While You Work?

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When I was very, very young indeed, The BBC broadcast Music While You Work on The Light Programme in the mornings. It was instrumental music intended to be listened to in workplaces. Bright and breezy undemanding stuff to hum along to while you did your job and earned your pay. When I finished my education and went into the world of work, Radio One had begun transmitting and it was common for radios to be softly playing the hits of the day in the electronics assembly workshops where I earned my weekly pay packet. Later on, in the later ’70s working in Hotel kitchens, there was usually a radio playing. Still later, as musical styles divided and stations proliferated, when I was working on building sites there would be competing radios. Painters in particular seemed incapable of working without a radio playing. By the time I retired, early last year, radios and other music players were banned on all major building projects (noise nuisance) and personal stereos too (health & safety*). Shops still tend to play music as you browse. The occasional clothing shop still blasts music out into the street but they’re rare these days.

What’s your view on » Continue Reading.

Kokomo gigs later this month and again in November

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26/07/2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRl4pdp5OOs

Top British funksters Kokomo are playing 2 gigs later this month at The Half Moon in Putney. The 25th and the 26th, to be precise. They will be back there again on the 8th & 9th of November, if you can wait that long. They’re also at Colston Hall in Bristol on November 12th on a double bill with their old pals The Average White Band and finally on 16th November they’re playing at The Stables near Milton Keynes. Of the original band, singer/keyboardist Tony O’Malley, singers Frank Collins and Paddie McHugh, guitarists Neil Hubbard & Jim Mullen, sax/flute man Mel Collins and conga player Jody Linscott are still on board, with Helena-May Harrison taking over from Dyan Birch on vocals, Jennifer Maidman replacing the late Alan Spenner on bass and Andy Treacey on drums. I’ve booked for the 26th July. Only £15 (plus just over a quid booking fee). These Half Moon gigs will sell out, so if you’re interested, don’t hang about.

ATM: Vivian Stanshall – Sir Henry At Rawlinson End

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No, not the album or the movie.

I have been working my way through a load of “Recordings Of Independent Origin” on an old hard drive and, having arrived at a folder entitled “Sir Henry At Rawlinson End” thought it still contained dodgy copies of the “Sir Henry” BBC radio episodes. It seems the files within are all corrupted and unusable. Any Stanshall fans here have these important hysterical artifacts?

A Twist In The Tale

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Story songs. There are loads of them in just about every genre or style. What I’m interested in is story songs with an unexpected twist. Here’s one to get you started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZyhxMtDft0 I’m sure you lot can think of some more that I’ve not heard yet, which is after all the point of starting a thread you hope will be full of video clips of songs and stuff. Over to you…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZyhxMtDft0

So… BBC Dramas. Are You Up To Date on them?

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I’ve caught up on Hinterland. I was a bit late on series 3 of this so binged on it the other night. The usual, really, but none the worse. An interesting underlying thread, sure to develop, beneath a couple of good story lines. West Wales gloom and plenty of death. As a former resident of the area there were some things that irked, among them being the tendency of poilce officers attending investigations and incidents at the hotel in Devils Bridge seeming to always arrive by the Cwmystwyth road which goes in the complete opposite direction to the police station in Aberystwyth. Actually, everywhere they go when they leave Aberystwyth police station appears to involve a long drive along a single-track road with passing places. You’d think every road in the area is single-track across rolling hills. I watched all of Clique, which I found very entertaining despite numerous areas of complete preposterousness. The very idea of 1st year female students being recruited to a dodgy bank by a professor whose brother happened to be the CEO of said bank was ludicrous. Getting past that the fact that all of the said students appeared to be able to dress in » Continue Reading.

Free Ticket for Gig featuring Former Word-Magazine Person Alex Gold @ The Islington

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22/03/2017

Alex and his Small Faces Boys compadres are shortly to go on tour in “All Or Nothing – The Musical”, celebrating the Small Faces and their music and times. They’re playing a celebratory gig in this very small venue prior to hitting the theatres in the show proper.

I grabbed a ticket, for the princely sum of £3 plus 75p booking fee, and then remembered half an hour later that I already had a ticket for “Manuel Gottsching & The Ash Ra Tempel Experience” at The Barbican on the same night. If you want my ticket for an evening of Small Faces music at The Islington, send me a PM and I’ll email you the PDF of the ticket at no charge whatsoever. Sha-La-La-La-Lee.

Books you could have sworn you’d read before, but…

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The current TV adaptation of Len Deighton’s “SS-GB” has prompted me to embark on a Len Deighton reading binge. I’ve always had a liking for quality spy fiction a la Deighton or Le Carre. I’ve read and watched adaptations of quite a few of Deighton’s books but there are loads of gaps that I’m now filling. As part of my recent birthday present to myself, I now have on my Kindle “The Harry Palmer Quartet”, the set of four early espionage novels featuring Deighton’s un-named spy who was turned into Harry Palmer in subsequent film adaptations.

Now I could have sworn I’d read “The Ipcress File” long ago but, having started it a couple of days ago, obviously I was mistaken as I’m sure I’d have remembered the depiction of such a deeply conservative-yet-rebellious, wisecracking, chip-shouldered, food-and-drink-loving character. Michael Caine’s film depiction barely brushes the surface of him, good though it is. I’m completely certain I’ve read “Funeral In Berlin” before, as I had an old 2nd edition hardback copy until fairly recently when it was inexplicably lost. The movie version of that differs very much from the novel, but at least has the wonderful Oskar Homolka (sp?) playing the » Continue Reading.

Copyright Craziness. And Time Machines.

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A friend’s YouTube video which he shot himself, of his baby daughter singing and dancing along to a well-known song, has been blocked and a copyright claim filed by WMG. Quite apart from the pettiness of making such a claim in the first place, they assert that the content was copied in 2011 from something that they copyrighted in 2014. So how does that work?

Time travel is real, folks and here’s the proof.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B46pv3NQJw&feature=share

Uncut’s 101 Weirdest Albums Of All Time

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Plenty to squabble about here, I should think.

Ones that are included but seem pretty tame to you? Disgraceful omissions? Albums given ridiculously higher/lower placings than you think they merit? The merits (or otherwise) of the descriptions in the article?

Those listed that you have in your collection, or have had in the past, or have heard at some time?

Full list in comments.