45s 'n 33s
In these days of MP3s, podcasts and whatnot, it's good to see the 45 is still around, the ultimate quick-fix when it comes to diggin' new sounds.
Slovenly Recordings outta Reno has a nice pair of 7 inches available by the Black Lips! from their first ever recording sessions way back in the year 2000. Good, good R&B influxed garage sounds w/ wailin' harp. By the time someone rounds up their best stuff for a comp, the world is gonna wonder why it never investigated these guys in the first place. The D4's 6Twenty LP is one of the finest full-lengths in recent years, holding up easily along such classics like L.A.M.F and Saturday Night Fever. So yeah, yeah, yeah, I was really lookin' forward to their follow up. What I Want is the first 45 taken from their second album Out Of My Head and it's, well, OK-ish. And that's about all I can say about it. One of these days I'm gonna give OOMM a spin (it's been waiting next to HQ's hi-fi for weeks) but judging by this it still might take a while. NYC's Astralwerks has put out a great twin spin with archive material by Joe Strummer's 101ers. Both tunes (Letsagetabitarockin' and Motor Boys Motor) have been around before but this band's stuff works surprisingly better in short doses. Do I give a shit about the latest Rolling Stones 45? Well, in fact I do. At least in the flipside that is tho'. Rough Justice is as good a Stones tune as you're gonna get these days. Dig Keith's slide parts! From Warner come two very authentic lookin' Stooges singles with material taken from the recent CD re-issues of their first two LPs. John Cale's original mix of Real Cool Time and the original mono 45 mix (w/ organ) of Down In The Street are the main attraction here and deserve whatever amount it takes to nail 'em. The good news is that double-disc vinyl sets of the above mentioned CDS will be out anyday soon. So there you have it. And to round things up, here's a couple o' longplays to be on the lookout for.
1. Reigning Sound - Home For Orphans (Sympathy)
The long promised acoustic set and serious contender for disc of the year. (and while you're at it, don't forget the new Live At Maxwells, less essential, but would you wanna be without any of their stuff?
2. v/a - Soul Power (Trojan/Sanctuary)
Amazing set of early 70s English/Jamaican funk/reggae. Get in the groove!
3. v/a - Return Of The Funk Soulsisters (BGP)
Mucho anticipated follow up to the initial Funk Soulsisters full o' top drawer material once again.

Lez Zeppelin? Read all about 'em.... maybe they'll consider next year's Edinburgh Festival?

Actually, sticking with the "memory-man" theme, I drove past Grangemouth Stadium and the fence there has been replaced by one of those fantoosh jaggy type impaler deals. You can see straight into the grounds and on to the area where I worked in the Record Tent at the Grangemouth Pop Festival. I seem to recall this being in August 1972 or thereabouts and that Uriah Heep didn't turn up amongst other things. Anyway, I can remember selling alot of copies of the first Roxy Music album too for some reason. And Lindisfarne's "Dingley Dell" getting some kind of advanced availabilty specially for the event. Anyway, it was possibly the most ill-conceived bill ever put together in terms of appeal. I remember Billy Connolly, Sunshine, Lindisfarne, Status Quo, The Everly Brothers and Beck, Bogert and Appice. The Average White band may have been involved as might The Sleaze Band. Anyway, there's not much on this worldwide web beastie to help me jog those fried braincells but I did find the very entertaining FALKIRK MUSIC SCENE portal which will whisk anybody who wishes to be back to certain points and persons in the history of this area's "scene". It comes right up to date and offers current happenings too so it's not just a place for daft auld duffers like me to "fouter aboot" in.

As my memory gets more fragmented by the minute, I'm prone to bursts of recall. While these don't happen as frequently as I'd like - one of these flashbacks came to me this afternoon. I don't think that I intimated that the long running rock and roll bible published in Toulouse, France put out DIG IT 34 some months ago.

Though they publish in French, the spirit is very much international and Gildas and his crew have been flying the flag for fine music for longer than any of us possibly care to remember. They are tireless and passionate and if you "reada da lingo" that can only serve to make you enjoy this print more. Like J was saying a wee while ago, there aren't many printzines left. We need to support folks like this crew that are prepared to go that extra mile.

Ben (Gart via the Staysick Board) flagged up the problem of having been connected to a blackjack/poker site when he tried to visit us yesterday. Far as I can tell things are all operating fine now but it's hard to keep up with all the "rapidly spreading threats". If you were in the same boat then apologies but I "divnae ken" what happened but will keep an eye on it. This kind of bollocks makes me hark back to better times when communications were less prone to the interference of fuckwits who basically exist to put a spanner into whatever works that they can. Several recent occurrences have made me consider just retiring from the whole shooting match. If it weren't for Jeroen and Steve then I probably wouldn't be in this virtual fracas anyway but it is fun. Sometimes. Particularly when you make contact with a long, never heard from amigo, or when you discover something really great that you just have to share. But with all that, there's the spam and similarly irritating pish to contend with. All sent to try us I know, but when you consider how far down the pan the human race is in general, isn't it feasible that enough people would realise that and at least attempt to pull us out of the whole big tailspin. Wouldn't it be great if you heard on the news that there were no suicide bombings today anywhere? Anyway, it's not likely and that kind of optimism has been sparring with my mostly dark mood of late.

I'd like to take this opporchancity to wish the great Long Ryding Sidney Griffin all the best for his impending half-century. More geezers with that sorta chutzpah if you please. If you're in London, go help him celebrate...