News, Views and Music Issue 146 (Intro)

June 2^nd:

Dear all, we’re never happy to sit still here at the AAA, so this week we’ve been busy adding a new ‘sister’ site to this one at http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/Rest assured they won’t be getting anything you won’t be getting, but one of the bits of feedback we’ve had from people is what a pain it can be to have to go to a different page, download and article and then open it up again (if there was a way round it we’d have fixed it by now, honest, but frankly the internet wasn’t built for what we want to do with it). As a result we’ve made our sister site a blog where each article will be posted along with the top five/tens (we may add the anniversaries, news and intros at a later date if we have time). Alas we can’t post our groovy graphics from clipart, there’s less of a search engine to find your articles and it’ll still take a fair bit of clicking pages to find the article you want. But this might be easier for some of you. In the meantime, we’ll keep posting up every article we do to this site at the same time and keep lots of links between the two sites back and forth (if you lose this sister address it’ll be at the top of this site’s home page). If nothing else, having two sites in search engines should hopefully allow the site to grow a bit quicker and in the future we may be able to add more Amazon adverts or go back to using Google Ad Words to help ensure our future – although to be honest I’m mighty pleased with the speed we’ve reached 17,800 views (as of this morning) considering that I still only vaguely know what I’m doing. Thanks to all of you who are still here reading these newsletters – please keep spreading the word and we’ll do our bit here (hopefully) entertaining you all. Remember if you have any ideas or suggestions for reviews (AAA albums only, remember!) keep posting them on our forum page, ‘welcome’ page or via email to pattin82@yahoo.co.uk

In the meantime, all my favourite songs crashed out of Eurovision yet again (the best ones didn’t even get through the semi-finals) and Sweden’s winning entry meant the weirdest song of the night won yet again (this is becoming a habit).For the record Latvia’s Eurovision history song was my favourite, even if it didn’t advance past the semis and Spain was my favourite in the final (it came 9^th, which is pretty good for me – usually my favourites come last!) Shame the Russian grannies didn’t win though – perhaps if they’d sent those pastries to all the judges round the world they’d have got more points? (They’d certainly have got my vote that way, little hint!)

Oh and it’s looking ever more likely that Cameron’s career might be over; a badly timed bit of swearing at Labour’s Ed Balls mean that Cameron was given a dressing down in the House of Commons (and in the papers, too, which is great news). Incidentally did you hear this year’s national meeting of GPs voted overwhelmingly without one voice of dissent to overthrow the current benefit system (where poorly trained recently hired doctors at ATOS get to decide whose ‘sick’ and who can ‘work’)? No, I thought you hadn’t – whether due to a conspiracy or negligence all the links to the meeting mysteriously got pulled from the internet about an hour after the announcement. This Government really is doing everything it can to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and make them think their overspending money on problems that don’t have an easy solution and end up making worse is the right course to take – but we know better than that, dear reader?#CameonGoneByChristmas

Oh yes, you may also have noticed that I’ve gone back to reviews of ‘proper’ albums this week after the marathon box sets of the past three issues. Truth be told there’s still a few more I could review but I’m worn out. Hence too why you’re getting the answers to our lyric competition (in issue 140) now (because it’s easier to write!) We didn’t have much response this year to say the least, but no matter – we will keep plugging away at these competitions and see if we can make a success of them! In the meantime, happy eading and it’s on with the news...

                                               

♫ Hollies News: As revealed last week, BBC2 are busy repeating a new selection of Top OF The Pops 2 compilations in their 6.30pm slot, including some rarer material only just recently added to the archives. We promised to keep you posted about anything rare – and here it is. Last Wednesday (May 23^rd) featured The Hollies performing a live version of Gasoline Alley Bred, quite different to the mimed one you occasionally see. As Mark Radcliffe’s text points out, the producer of the 1969 series messed up and featured a shot of Bernie Calvert’s bass during Tony Hicks’ guitar solo, but that aside it’s classic Hollies – how those harmonies sounded so good live under so much pressure I’ll never know!

♫ Lulu News: What a strange programme the Piers Morgan Show is. Caught halfway between Parkinson’s reverentialness and the chest-beating of the Jeremy Kyle show, you wonder what on earth the participants get out of it, seeing as they usually end up in tears somewhere down the line. Lulu cried more than most, revealing how her alcoholic dad used to beat up her mum, Davy Jones ‘broke her heart’ by revealing that he’s been living with another girl whilst seeing Lulu, how she and Maurice Gibb were ‘too young to be married’ , her miscarriage, her son staying behind in America while she pursued her career in Britain and her regrets over how she left her manager-companion since the age of 15. To be honest, if I’d lived the life that Lulu had I’d been crying too and I nearly was along with her – though, like her autobiography, you get the feeling that Lulu stayed too long in other people’s shadows and would have had a better career still had she followed her peers and friends, not managers and record company executives. Throughout the whole interview though Lulu remained a likeable figure, always trying to do right thing and brave indeed in the way she kept away from the sex and drugs scandals that rocked so many others she hang around with. Worth watching if you get a chance to see it (the programme was on last Friday on ITV and should be around on I-player for a bit), if only to work out why none of the guests have been offended enough to hit Piers Morgan in the face yet (it only took two programmes in the American Apprentice!)

♫ Rolling Stones News: there’s a BBC6 repeat of the fascinating first radio show by The Stones, back when they were very much a blues band lead by Brian Jones. Recorded in early 1964 –somewhere between the ‘C’mon’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ singles, this is among the most fascinating of all the ‘Live Music Hour’ broadcasts that radio station has made in the past few years and a real treat if you haven’t heard it already. The show will be on in the early hours of Tuesday, June 6^th at 3am and will also feature the Georgie Fame and the Blue Fames, who were headliners at the show (yes, the Stones were just a supporting act back then – incredible!)

ANNIVERSARIES: Put those balloons away and bottle up those party poppers because it turns out that there were no AAA birthdays for this week’s date of May 30^th-June 5^th. Awwwww. Then open them again for this list of events having an anniversary this week: CSNY’s classic album ‘Deja Vu’ is released on it’s way to #1 in America (May 30^th 1970); John and Yoko record their first single ‘Give Peace A Chance’ during their second bed-in at a Montreal Hotel (May 31^st 1969); The Who break the record for the loudest ever concert at a show at Charlton Athletic’s Football Ground using a 76,000-watt ampage system (May 31^st 1976); The Rolling Stones land at JFK airport for the first time, kick-starting a 45-year love affair with the United States (June 1^st 1964); The Beatles release ‘Sgt Peppers’ (June 1^st 1967); Ronnie Wood plays his first gig with the Rolling Stones on his 28^th birthday after jamming with them the previous year (June 1^st 1975); The Rolling Stones make their first V appearance in America – being laughed at by host Dean Martin for their long hair, ho ho they got the last laugh by finishing off his career! (June 3^rd 1964), Ringo Starr collapses with tonsillitis, forcing the other Beatles to tour with last-minute replacement and ‘sixth or seventh Beatle’ Jimmy Nichol (June 3^rd 1964), The Searchers release their debut LP ‘Sweets For My Sweet’ (June 4^th 1963); Murray Wilson, manager and father to 3/5^ths of The Beach Boys dies of a heart attack, accelerating the decline of elder son Brian (June 4^th 1973); The Hollies – with Graham Nash back in the ranks for the first time since 1968 – score their first hit in nearly a decade with ‘Stop! In The Name Of Love’ (June 4^th 1983) and finally, Copyright laws in Russia are relaxed, leading to Western groups getting royalties for the first time – the Rolling Stones are the first group to benefit under the new law for some strange reason (perhaps ‘Beggar’s Banquet’ translates as a communist manifesto or something?!) (June 5^th 1976).

News, Views and Music Issue 144 (Intro)

May 19^th:

Dear all, this week has been beyond my wildest dreams! At last we collectors have a fine set of BBC recordings to go alongside the classic sets by The Beatles, Kinks, Who and Animals, it seems only a matter of time before David Cameron is kicked out of the UK’s coalition (conservative MPs are busy drawing up signatures for a ‘crisis in confidence’ poll as we speak) and I have a bona fide fan. Well, some one made some nice comments on a Lindisfarne forum anyway – many thanks for the plug Derek if you’re still reading these newsletters and I’m just sorry I didn’t find the comment earlier! By the way, now that the Shorty Awards are over for another year (see news and views 129 – we got three votes, all in different categories sadly so we didn’t win anything!) we’ve replaced that box on our site with a ‘press releasers’ one. We’re having a bit of teething trouble with it at the moment, but in theory if our site is mentioned on another site it should appear on the list – please notify us at the usual email address (pattin82@yahoo.co.uk) if you’ve heard about us on a site that we might have missed! I’m sure this run of luck can’t last – I’m still waiting for the next dreaded ATOS form which seems to be overdue and there’s another pointless job centre appointment and hospital appointment next week where the last lot tell me to work less and the first lot tell me to work harder – but that’s another week. For the moment the sun is shining, the Byrds are singing and our site is roaring past 17,000 views (17414 at the last count!) See you next issue!

                                                    

♫ Lindisfarne News: Alan Hull played at Newcastle City Hall an impressive 120 times during his short life, both with Lindisfarne and with any number of solo and off-shoot bands. As Newcastle’s favourite musical sons, the City Hall has votes to have a plaque to commemorate the life of this great songwriter on July 19^th, when a street concert will be held featuring friends, family and bandmates. The event will mark 17 years since the singer’s tragic death at the age of 50 and is long overdue!

♫Lulu News: The singer will be the next guest on Pier’s Morgan’s ‘Life Show’ on ITV this Friday, May 18^th. Some TV listings (eg mine) had her down as guest last week where she was mysteriously replaced by Dennis Waterman – not the most fitting substitute for Lulu, even if they both do a lot of ‘shouting’! I have new respect for Morgan since his surprisingly supportive and heartfelt programme on Davy Jones’ death where he got the most out of a visibly upset Micky Dolenz and actually stopped talking for once – let’s hop the same is true for this series after some pretty lame interviewing techniques in his first series!

♫ Paul Simon News: Sweden doesn’t give out many music awards – in fact it’s main honour, The Polar Prize, is only awarded twice a year – once to a pop and once to a classical performer. This year Paul Simon’s been chosen to receive the prize, worth a cool £91,000, in a ceremony on August 28^th this year. Interestingly Yo Yo Ma is the recipient of the ‘classical’ award this year – never have the lines between pop and classical music been more thinly drawn (I can’t wait for the year Paul McCartney wins both!)

ANNIVERSARIES: Birthdays this week are for those AAA stars born between May 16^th and 22^nd: Pete Townshend (guitarist with The Who 1965-82 and various reunions) turns 67 on May 19^th. Anniversaries of events include: Pete Townshend will have bad memories of a who gig at the Fillmore East – tired of seeing fans climbing onto the stage, Pete kicks one off during the middle of the set only to find out it is a policeman! He spends a night in prison on assault charges (May 16^th 1969); The Beatles headline their first ever concert in the exotic location of Slough following the success of ‘Please Please Me’ during a Helen Shapiro tour (May 18^th 1963); Dire Straits release their debut single ‘Sultans Of Swing’ (May 19^th 1979); Three Beatles get back together for an impromptu jam session to celebrate Eric Clapton’s wedding to George Harrison’s ex Patti Boyd, the first time more than two moptops have been seen in public since 1970 (May 19^th 1979); The BBC bans a Beatles track for the first time – no, not the drugs-referenced ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ or the subversive ‘Revolution’ but ‘A Day In The Life’ (and its not even the ‘love to turn you on’ postscript but the line about ‘4000 holes’ relating to drug injections) (May 20^th 1967), Our AAA classic no 50 – the first Stephen Stills/Manassas album – is released (May 20^th 1972), two important dates for The Who on May 21^st : 1965 sees the release of second single ‘Anyway Anyhow Anywhere’ and the band’s first appearance on Ready Steady Go, the TV show that will become synonymous with the group (1965) while Pete Townshend marries first wife Karen Astley in 1968 and finally, the first – of many – posthumous CSNY releases, the live record ‘4 Way Street’ is released (May 22^nd 1971).

News, Views and Music Issue 134 (Intro)

February 24^th:

Hello again, dear readers! You may have noticed we’ve been missing for a week – don’t worry, we haven’t stopped, we just took a little ‘pause for the cause’ (to quote Stephen Stills) and had a go at getting to grips with our latest April Fool’s Day edition. Yeah, I know, it’s only February – but April looks like being a busy month and the job centre are being even more of a pain than normal. Thankfully it doesn’t affect me – yet – but keep your eyes open to the latest pointless and excruciating measure ‘workfare’, which is forcing those on benefits for even a short time to work back-breaking shifts for no pay, just benefits (Tesco’s is the first company to go all out and advertise a job for no wage whatsoever and, quite rightly, they’re taking a huge amount of flack for it). This includes people who are dying, people who can’t walk, people who can’t talk, people who can’t be held responsible for their actions because of danger to them or others, people like me who don’t know from one hour to the next whether they’re going to feel vaguely human or spend the rest of the night in bed groaning and pleading with the pain to go away. Quite frankly, its slavery and something that only our reckless, underhanded, devious Governments could stoop to – and something that only our reckless, cowardly, misguided media could allow to happen without a big fuss. So be aware of it and fight it where you can – in these days of strange measures and cuts for no good reason, it could happen to any of us any day without warning. We have to put things right where we can. We have to treat our fellow humans humanely or we forfeit the right to be human and turn the corner towards something darker, it’s that simple.

On a happier note, our april fool’s day edition has now been sent in via a timeloop, black hole and a gap in the space-time continuum vortex and we’ll be publishing it soon! Did anyone see the finale of last year’s Dr Who season where all time fell apart and seemed to exist at the same time? Erm, that might have been our fault as well, so if you suddenly end up seeing your long-dead ancestors peering in through your window or your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren call round to have a look at your record collection that might be our fault too. Oops... Back in this time-zone, though, it’s on with the news...  

                                

♫ Beatles News: Shock! Horror! There’s a member of Alan’s Album Archives in the UK top 3 album chart (for the first time in more than five years if you discount the various members of Oasis!) Even more amazingly its Paul McCartney, who last scored a top 10 hit in 1997 (with – yuk – ‘Flaming Awful Pie’) and its with an album full of pre-WW2 cover versions! ‘Kisses On The Bottom’ made it all the way to #3, one place higher than Adele whose ’21’ album has been in the charts for over a year now. If you’re quick you can also hear two Macca radio interviews plugging the album, from Jamie Callum’s surprisingly good chat last Tuesday, March 7^th on Radio 2 (he’s so much better as a presenter than a musician!) and Front Row last Thursday, March 9^th on R4. Even more amazingly there’s another AAA star in the top 3 of the singles chart – read on to find out who!

♫ Kinks/Lulu News: At long last we can finally mention the three-part re-run of classic TOTP clips on Saturday nights because, in the last part, we finally have not one but two AAA stars. Our bet is either ‘You Really Got Me’ from 1964 or ‘Days’ from new year’s eve 1969 for the former and either ‘Shout’ from 1964 or ‘The Boat That I Row’ from 1967 for the latter...STOP PRESS: Due to our week’s delay I did get to see this compilation before publishing and we were right on the Kinks but wrong on the Lulu clip (it was ‘You Really Got Me’ for the former – when Ray Davies’ cold was still really bad – but *shudder* it was ‘Boom-Bang-A-Bang’ from ‘A Song For Europe 1968’ for Lulu. Horrors...By the way, the best clip in the whole series came right at the end of the third part with a recently-returned-to-BBC-archives clip of The Walker Brothers (never have I seen such a long close up on a singer as at the beginning of this clip!)

♫ Rolling Stone News: The other AAA star in the charts this week is Mick Jagger, who is guest on the latest spin-off single by Black Eyed Peas star Will-i-am and had made it all the way up to 3 in the UK singles chart (strangely enough the same number as Macca in the albums chart – a hint of the old rivalry there?!) Amazingly this is the first time since 1985 that Mick has made the top 10 of a singles chart (and that was for ‘Dancing In The Street’ with David Bowie, raising money for LiveAid – the Stones haven’t had a top 10 hit since ‘Start Me Up‘ in 1981!)

BREAKING NEWS: Thursday March 1^st sees The Rolling Stones’ ‘Some Girls’ featured as Johnnie Walker’s classic longplayer (see the news story below), alongside some Rod Stewart rubbish.

♫ Paul Simon/Cat Stevens News: Apologies for the delayed mention (caused by our absence last week) but Johnnie Walker has recently started a  documentary series studying two albums by different artists each week. ‘JW’s Longplayers’ sounds similar in style to the great and much missed ‘classic album series’ and can be heard each Thursday on Radio 2 in the 11pm slot. Last week (Thursday, February 16^th) featured Paul Simon’s ‘’Still Crazy After All These Years’ (alongside some Lou Reed nonsense) whilst this Thursday features Cat Stevens’ ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ (AAA classic album no 41 dontchaknow!) alongside some David Bowie trash.

♫ Small Faces: Breaking news from record label Universal is that they are going to be re-releasing deluxe 2CD versions of all five Small Faces records for Decca and Immediate (that’s ‘Small Faces’ (1965) ‘Small Faces (1967), Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’ (1968) and the two compilations ‘From The Beginning’ (1967) and ‘The Autumn Stone’ (1968) this May. Amazon have started taking orders already and have revealed the pictures (the sets look very like the Who and Cat Stevens deluxe sets with ‘fold-out double CD covers and a slipcase reading ‘deluxe edition’), but no one has revealed any track listings yet. Candidates for issue include mono/stereo mixes (so far only ‘Ogden’s and a few of the singles have been available on CD in mono), the various alternate mixes included on the hard-to-find Small Faces box set and various low-budget compilations, the alternate ‘Green Circles’ and rare b-side ‘Understanding’ only available on the ‘Tin Soldier’ Steve Marriott anthology, the handful of oddities, backing tracks, live recordings and backing-for-PP-Arnold songs included in the excellent ‘Darlings of Whapping Wharf Laundrette’ compilation. There’s also two tracks available on Youtube but officially unreleased: ‘Get Ready’ and ‘Jump Back’. We’ll keep you updated if we hear anything else!

ANNIVERSARIES: Birthday greetings to this week’s varied bunch of AAA stars, born between February 14^th and 20^th: Mick Avory (drummer with The Kinks 1964-85) turns 68 on February 15^th, Yoko Ono who turns 79 on February 18^th and Alan Hull (singer-songwriter with Lindisfarne 1970-74 and 1978-95) who would have been 67 on February 20^th. Anniversaries of events include: The Who play a gig at Leeds University that will go on to be one of the most famous live records of all time when released as ‘Live At Leeds’ (February 14^th 1970); JohnandYoko begin a week-long stint as guest hosts on the Mike Douglas show, introducing guests including Chuck Berry (February 14^th 1972); ‘Meet The Beatles’ – the first American Beatles album made up of singles and tracks from the band’s first two albums – begins a then-record 11 week stint at the top of the charts (February 14^th 1964); The Who play the first of their ill-fated ‘Lifehouse’ shows at London’s New Vic Theatre for a film of the project that will never be released (see ‘news and views 81’ for the full story); The Beatles leave the cold winter weather of Britain to fly out to India to study transcendental meditation under the Maharishi (albeit only John, Cynthia, George and Patti fly out on this day, February 16^th 1968); The Beatles release their first recordings after an unprecedented six-month gap, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’ (February 17^th 1967); Pink Floyd premiere their new live show ‘Eclipse: Songs for Assorted Lunatics’ which, after a few changes, becomes the album ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ (February 17^th 1972); The Beach Boys release their last album for four years ‘Holland’ (February 17^th 1972); John Lennon releases his last album before his four-year sabbatical, the covers album ‘Rock and Roll’ (February 17^th 1975); The Who release their first single (under that name at least) ‘I Can’t Explain’ (February 18^th 1965); David Gilmour officially joins Pink Floyd, appearing alongside an ailing Syd Barrett for a few shows before taking over the role completely (February 18^th 1968); Lulu marries Bee Gee Maurice Gibb in a Buckinghamshire Church at the age of just 20! (February 18^th 1969); Otis Redding releases his best-selling album ‘Otis Blue’ (AAA album no 4, remember!; February 19^th 1966); Paul McCartney and Wings have their single ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish’ banned by the BBC (February 19^th 1972) and finally, George Harrison is found guilty of plagiarising The Chiffons’ ‘He’s So Fine’ on ‘My Sweet Lord’ in one of the silliest court cases that has ever been held (February 19^th 1976).

And for week two: Amazingly there are no birthdays for AAA musicians born between February 21^st and 27^th. Instead here are anniversaries of this week’s events: A busy day in 1964 sees ‘breakthrough’ discs by two AAA bands – The Stones’ first top five hit ‘Not Fade Away’ and the Hollies’ first top five hit ‘Just One Look’ (February 21^st); The Beatles start filming for their second film ‘Help!’ following a busy month at Abbey Road recording the first side of the soundtrack album (February 22nd 1965); Lennon’s last pre-retirement hit ‘#9 Dream’ charts – at no 9 very neatly – in America (February 22^nd 1974); 10cc sign with Mercury Records after two years with Jonathon King’s UK label (February 22^nd 1975); Cat Stevens’ first LP is released: named ‘Matthew and Son’ if you live in Britain and ‘Cats and Dogs’ in most of the rest of the world (February 24^th 1967); The Byrds fly away for good after a farewell show at New Jersey’s Capital Theatre on February 24^th 1973; The Beatles’ first American single is released – no, not Capitol’s record breaking ‘I want To Hold Your Hand’ but the smaller Vee Jay label with an un-charting ‘Please Please Me’ (February 25^th 1963 – the band are infamously mis-spelled as ‘The Beattles’ on the label!); A bill proposing to ban all sale of r and b and rock music is rejected in the American House of Representatives. Thank goodness for that – or this website would be talking about the 101 greatest Garden Gnomes or something equally unlikely (February 26^th 1954); Pink Floyd’s first ever recording session takes place at Abbey Road – it results in debut single ‘Arnold Layne’ (February 27^th 1967); Paul McCartney releases his first solo single ‘Another Day’ February 27^th 1971) and finally, the watershed moment in Rolling Stones history takes place – Keith Richards’ drugs bust in Toronto which came close to seeing him spend the rest of the 70s behind bards – takes place on February 27^th 1977.