This post is a celebration of the lost art of the children’s record. When I was a young lad, I had numerous records for younger listeners, be it compilations of songs from Disney films, nursery rhymes or even the absolute classic ‘All Aboard’ which featured songs by the likes of Bernard Cribbins and Arthur Askey. That album was one for the inspirations of this compilation and a number of the songs on that record appear on Disc 1. The second inspiration was a compilation released by Light in the Attic called ‘This Record Belongs To’. I was initially drawn to buying that as it contained the rather wonderful ‘Pinball Number Count’ by the Pointer Sisters, which was featured in episodes of Sesame Street. I also owned a couple of records on the BBC Record label which were soundtracks to children’s shows such as Play School and Play Away.
On listening to ‘This Record Belongs To’, I wondered if there was enough material to extend this to a whole CD worth of music. It did not take me long for this to turn into a three CD set. Not every song is directly aimed at children (e.g. the songs included by Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground), but they fit the general theme of this compilation.
Disc 1
Dance Of The Cuckoos (Laurel & Hardy Theme) – Marvin Hatley
Tip Toe Through The Tulips – Nick Lucas
Trail Of The Lonesome Pine – The Avalon Boys feat. Laurel & Hardy
Whistle While You Work – Adrianna Caselotti
The Owl & The Pussycat – Elton Hayes
The Teddy Bears Picnic – Henry Hall & His Orchestra
Buckingham Palace – Anne Kinney Stephens
The Runaway Train – Michael Holliday
Nellie The Elephant – Mandy Miller
The Bee Song – Arthur Askey
I’ve Got No Strings – Dickie Jones
I Known An Old Lady – Burl Ives
Chim Chim Cheree – Dick Van Dyke & Julie Andrews
The Ugly Duckling – Danny Kaye
The Hippopotamus Song – Ian Wallace
Daisy Bell (On A Bicycle Made For Two) – Dinah Shore
Mr. Sandman – The Chordates
Robin Hood – Dick James
The Gnu Song – Flanders & Swann
Banana Boat (Day-O) – Stan Freberg
Goodness Gracious Me – Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren
Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf – Pink & Perky
Push Like A Button – Ninette
Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport – Rolf Harris
My Boomerang Won’t Come Back – Charlie Drake
Right Said Fred – Bernard Cribbins
My Brother – Terry Scott
A Windmill In Old Amsterdam – Ronnie Hilton
Puff The Magic Dragon – Peter, Paul & Mary
Lazy Moon – Oliver Hardy
Disc 2
Little Cowboy – Harry Nilsson
The Clapping Song – Shirley Ellis
Scooby Doo, Where Are You – Larry Marks
Yellow Submarine – The Beatles
Siamese Cat – The Cowslils
Simon Smith & His Amazing Dancing Bear – Harpers Bizarre
The Gnome – Pink Floyd
Lazy Sunday – The Small Faces
Barefoot & Tiptoe – Sweet Shop
Dream, Dream, Dream – Zion De Gallier
Lighthouse Keeper – Sunforest
Loop De Loop (Flip Flop Flyin’ In An Aeroplane) – The Beach Boys
Lily Pond – Vashti Bunyan
Mickey The Monkey – Tiny Tim
Best Friend – Puppet
Mabel – Procol Harum
Mellow Yellow – Donovan
Everybody Wants To Be A Cat – Scatman Crothers
London Bridge – Jonathan Moore
The Scarecrow – Pink Floyd
I’m An Urban Spaceman – Bonzo Bog Do Dah Band
(Theme From) The Monkees – The Monkees
Poison Apples – The Happy Medium
Corduroy Joy – The Staines Glass
Alice – Gil & Johnny
I’m A Lonesome Little Raindrop – Tiny Tim
The Land Where Animals Are People – Brother’s Legend
I’m Sticking With You – The Velvet Underground
Cellophane Mary-Jane – Astronaut Alan & The Planets
Oo-De-Lally – Roger Miller
Pretty Tress Around The World – Ella Jenkins
Mornington Ride – The Seekers
Laurel & Hardy – Jan & Dean
Little Cowboy (Reprise) – Harry Nilsson
Disc 3
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star – Steeleye Span
Play School Theme – Carol Chell & Brian Cant
Remember Your A Womble – The Wombles
Rupert – Jackie Lee
Rainbow – Tell Tale
Bang On A Drum – Rick Jones
Wotcher (Knocked ‘Em In The Old Kent World) – The Muppets
The Mandolin Man & His Secret – Donovan
Elementary, My Dear – Bob Dorough
Ernie (The Fastest Milkmen In The West) – Benny Hill
Gimme Dat Ding – The Pipkins
Snoopy vs. The Red Baron – Hotshots
Fat Sam’s Grand Slam – Paul Williams
The Smurf Song – Father Abraham
Pinball Number Count – The Pointer Sisters
Rubber Duckie – Ernie
Ricky & His Aeroplane – Derek Griffiths
Pure Imagination – Gene Wilder
Grandad – Clive Dunn
Two Little Boys – Rolf Harris
Autumn’s Really Here Now – Tell Tale
You Can Sing A Rainbow – Nina Simone
Love Is All – Roger Glover feat. Dio
Running In The Garden – Miss Abrahams & The Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class
Rainbow Connection – Kermit The Frog
You Give A Little Love – Paul Williams
Play Away Theme – Brian Cant, Toni Arthur, Lionel Morton, Julie Covington
The image on the front is a Fisher Price Music Box Record Player. This was a wind-up device which played plastic records. The tunes included classics such as ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ and ‘London Bridge’. I owned one back in the day and these records did better than the vinyl I was given as these were impossible to scratch. Some of the records I was given in my childhood were on the Surprise Surprise label. This was a subsidiary of EMI’s Music For Pleasure label and was designed to rerelease music specifically aimed at children. I thought that the logo of the rabbit in the box with the words Surprise Surprise above its head would be a perfect label for a release of this sort.
I’m not sure how I first heard of Hem. I can only assume that one of their songs was being played on late night radio in 2002, the year that their first album came out. I say this because I remember it being one of the first things I bought on line as I am pretty sure that it was only available on import at the time. Being so long ago, they were one of the first bands who had a website that I knew of where the band would upload songs that were not on the debut album for people to download. The bitrate of those recordings must have been very low compared to what we expect now, but it was nice to access that otherwise unavailable material.
It is hard to describe the music of Hem. Is it folkie, roots or Americana? I just think of it as beautiful. The band at the time were not really a band at all, but a studio based project for songwriter Dan Messe and producer Gary Maurer. They spent a considerable amount of time looking for a singer for this project, but after listening to a great number of bizarre and unlistenable demo tapes, they almost gave up with the project. However, Sally Ellyson contacted Messes and sent him a tape of a cappella recordings, but she did warm him she was not really a singer. However, Messe knew that Ellyson was the right person for his music and the groups debut album ‘Rabbit Songs’ duly followed.
The band then began touring and continued release music but as of this post, nothing new has come out since 2015 which is a shame. I always looked forward to a new Hem release and it was annoying when some of the songs from disc one in this collection were not available on Spotify. I would highly recommend you get yourself a copy of ‘Rabbit Songs’ and discover for yourself the beauty that is Hem especially as there looks to be a deluxe edition of that album in the pipeline, and the possibility of it being released on vinyl for the first time. Personally, I cannot wait.
To end the month, it is time to post another sampler of songs from Flying Vinyl looking at the songs that they put out on their monthly box of seven inch records for 2016.
Once again, I had a couple of rules I needed to follow.
One – none of the songs that I had used on my podcasts I made celebrating the label could be used.
Two – all of the songs had to be available on Spotify so the artist would hopefully earn some money from this, however pitiful the royalty rate is.
Three – I was looking to include artists who had been on the 2015 sampler. I did fail by including yet another song by Beach Baby, but is a cracker so I decided it should stay.
Side A
Lost Direction – Cameron AG
Baby’s Alright – Inheaven
Skin Dives – Tangerines
True – Junk Son
Joey Says We Got It – The Orielles
Dreamland – Johnny Lloyd
Making Eyes – Saltwater Sun
Side B
Make Me Better – Ten Fe
Ay Ay – Otherkin
All My Pride – Black Honey
Summer – Skinshape
Make It Go Away – Eliza Shedded
All That I Want – Royal Sons
Side C
You Stole My Blackout – Palm Honey
Cannonball – Hidden Charms
Pipedreams – Willie J Harvey
Make Up Your Mind – Trash
Make A Man – Estrons
Let’s Go Out – Alex Lahey
What We Haven’t Got Yet – Jaws
Side D
Set The Fire – Swimming Tapes
That Certain Favour – Pinemen
Sleepyhead – Beach Baby
Ice – Fake Laugh
Slipping – Treams
It’s A Secret Life – Paven
The cover is based upon the packaging that the singles came in for some of 2016.
Part one of this series looking into the releases from 2015
Deep Purple are one of the greatest rock bands of all time having released such classics as ‘Black Night’, ‘Highway Star’, ‘Fireball’ and most famously, ‘Smoke on the Water’. However, most of the songs they are most famous for date from the period between 1970 and 1975. The classic era as it were, or the Mark II line up as it also known as. It is the Mark I line up that this post is concerned with. This line up included band stalwarts such as Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice (drums). The other two members who made up this first line up were Nick Simper (bass) and Rod Evans (vocals).
The band was the brain child of ex-Searchers drummer, Chris Curtis. The idea was that there would be a core of musicians who would then be joined by other members when their particular skills were needed. The original band name was Roundabout to reflect this. Curtis was already a bit erratic and his lifestyle, fuelled by his use of LSD lead to him not sticking with the project for long. Members came and went before the Mark I was in place. All that was left was to pick a new name with Blackmore suggesting ‘Deep Purple’, which was his grandmothers favourite song.
After a period of rehearsals, the group recorded their debut album in May of 1968. ‘Shades of Deep Purple’ came out two months later with the lead single, ‘Hush’ becoming a massive hit in the USA and Canada. Neither single or album did very much in the UK and so the band focused their efforts in the USA, with a gig supporting Cream on their ‘Goodbye’ tour.
The band returned for another US tour, but this time as headliners. Their US record company, Tetragrammaton, felt that they needed more material and another album to promote. The resulting ‘The Book of Taliesyn’ was written in a rush because the band had been so busy, they had not had much time to work on new material. The sessions for the record started before their debut had even been released in their native UK.
You can tell that the band were lacking material. ‘The Book of Taliesyn’ contains only seven songs (even though one was split into the two in ‘Exposition’ and We Can Work It Out’). This also included a couple of instrumentals and three covers. The songs were longer with the cover of ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ breaking the ten minute barrier. The band were unable to take much of a break though because within four months, they were back in the studio recording what would be their third (and last) LP by the Mark I line up. Even though there was only one cover on this album, and one instrumental, the long song quota was met by the twelve minute song ‘April’.
Even though they had had some success, mostly in the USA, the core members of the band were looking to take the band in a harder rock direction. They felt that Rod Evans did not have the voice for the more aggressive material they were writing. Evans also seemed to be keen to move to the US permanently. The core members were also not happy with Simper’s bass playing, which they felt was rooted in the past. Manoeuvres were in place to recruit replacements with Ian Gillan (vocals) and Roger Glover (bass) becoming the new members. With this line up in place, the classic Mark II were ready to go.
However, what if the band had not been rushed into the studio in late 1968 and given time to develop more material. Well, this is the album that we could have had. What we have is a more concise record, rooted in psychedelic rock with prog rock flourishes. I also wanted to take out any covers and along with that, the longer songs, especially ‘April’ which takes up most of the side of an LP. Jon Lord and his classical influences should possibly have been kept for a solo project or two.
The band also released the stand along single, ‘Emmaretta’ in 1969. Said to have been inspired by Emmaretta Marks, a cast member in the musical ‘Hair’ whom lead singer Rod Evans was trying to seduce. The original UK B-Side was the instrumental ‘Wring That Neck’, but as this has been included on the LP, I put original album opener ‘Chasing Shadows’ there instead.
Side 1
Shield – The Book of Taliesyn
Listen, Lean, Read On – The Book of Taliesyn
Wring That Neck – The Book of Taliesyn
Anthem – The Book of Taliesyn
Side 2
Why Did’t Rosemary? – Deep Purple
The Painter – Deep Purple
Fault Line – Deep Purple
Bird Has Flown – Deep Purple
Blind – The Book of Taliesyn
Single
Emmaretta – Non Album Single
Chasing Shadows – Deep Purple
Would this have meant that the Mark I lineup would have continued. I doubt it, but it is interesting to see what the band could have sounded like if they did not feel they had to come up with material on the hoof, and extend their cover versions to pad out the vinyl.
For the cover, I used the name and the art work that was used when the self titled third LP was released.
This is the fifth entry in my on going series of Beach Boys yearly deep dives and this one is posted as yesterday was the 60th Anniversary of the release of the ‘Summer Days (& Summer Nights)’ album
With Brian Wilson off of the road, 1965 would be the year he could finally start concentrating on writing and producing material for the band, as well as others. A deep dive box set for Wilson’s none Beach Boys productions should really be a future project. Anyway, Wilson decided it was time to take the band away from the styles and lyrical subjects that they had used in the past. He also experimented with the LP as an art from. This was shown on ‘The Beach Boys Today!’ album where side one is uptempo tracks whereas side two is made up of ballads.
‘The Beach Boys Today!’ was also their first album of the year. Like the previous two years, the band put out three albums in 1965, even though ‘Beach Boys’ Party’ was essentially a stop gap made up mostly of covers. However, it was still something different as it was made to sound like an impromptu session recoded with acoustic instruments with a party atmosphere. The recording was anything but. The songs were recorded individually in the studio having been rehearsed beforehand. Some consider this to be the first unplugged album.
Even though albums up to and including Beach Boys Today! had dedicated Stereo mixes, for some reason, in 1965, it was decided that these would be replaced with Duophonic mixes. Duophonic mixes consisted of two mono signals with an almost imperceptible time delay (measured in milliseconds) between them. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two master recordings of ‘Graduation Day’ on Disc 9 is that one has a spoken intro and the other does not.
I have not included the sessions for the ‘Beach Boys’ Party!’. This is down to the fact that the Party LP has received an official multi disc sets that the albums before then had not. Therefore I felt that this was a good place to stop (so no ‘Pet Sounds’ etc in future).
Sources for the songs included on this set.
1 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 8 – The Alternate “Today’ Album, Part 2 (Bootleg)
2 – Today!
3 – Today! (2012 Remaster)
4 – Summer Love Songs
5 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 9 – The Alternate ‘Summer Days (and Summer Nights!)’ Album, Vol. 2 (Bootleg)
6 – Summer Days (and Summer Nights)
7 – Summer Days (and Summer Nights) (2012 Remaster)
8 – Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys (2003)
9 – The Warmth of the Sun
10 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 7 – The Alternate ‘Today’ Album, Part 1 (Bootleg)
11 – Today!/Summer Days and Summer Nights!) (1990 Reissue)
12 – Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace Of A Musical Legacy
The 12” single is a curious beast. The first commercially released single* in that format was “For Once In My Life/Glad Rag Doll’, by jazz guitarist Buddy Fite. The numbers pressed were quite small and only available at two Tower Records sites in California. The label proudly boasted that this was ‘The World’s First 12 Inch Single’. It was pressed to play at 33rpm which meant that there was a lot of dead space on the disc. It also took away one of the main selling points of the 12” single but I will come back to these two points later. More were to follow but these tended to be promotional items. It would take until the early days of the disco era for the format to really take off.
This could arguably be down to one man, Tom Moulton. Inspired by DJ’s who would mix between the instrumental and vocal side of Ultra High Frequency’s single, “Walk On The Right Track” as well as other singles were an instrumental version of the title track was included, Moulton managed to pursued the Sceptre Record label to experiment with an already released song. This was “Dream World” by Don Downing. Moulton took the track and extended it to almost twice its original length. The single was re-released with the extend mix as the A-Side with the subheading, Disco Mix Version. Could this be the first disc designated as such? It was not released on 12” though.
The disco mix on the longer form single would be a happy accident. Moulton wanted to test a mix he had completed of “I’ll Be Holding On” by Al Downing. As there wasn’t any 7” acetates available, it was decided to use a 10” instead. Moulton felt that there would be a lot of wasted space pressing this if this was for a 7” so he asked mix engineer Jose Rodriquez to cut it with the grooves more spread out. To do this, Rodriquez needed to increase the sound level which made the sound ‘hotter’ . This was due to the wider grooves allowing an overall wider range which went down well with the DJs. This also gave Moulton the idea to test run his remixes in the clubs before they were let loose on the public.
Other labels took note and throughout 1975, several 12” singles were made for promotional use only. These were designed to help sales of the 7” as they were thought of as not being commercially viable. However, pressure from record shops to have these mixes released to the public eventually lead to the first commercial released 12” of the disco era. That being, “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure. The era of the 12” single had begun.
What I have looked to do is compile some of these 12” mixes from he disco era, so from 1976 until 1982. By the early 80s, disco was all but dead but other genres such as rap were also using the format so I have included some of these pioneers as well. I have also tried to put them in as close to chronological order as possible.
The 12” single is till produced today but it is nowhere near as popular as once it was. It might be time to re-evaluate the format.
Disc 1
Ten Percent (Special 12” Disco Mix) – Double Exposure
Space Age (12’ Promo Mix) – The Jimmy Castor Bunch
Gotham City Boogie – Ultra Funk
Brick House (Original 1977 12” Special Length Disco Version) – The Commodores
Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) (Original 1977 12” Full Version) – Joe Tex
You Should Be Dancing (Special Disco Version) – The Bee Gees
Everybody Dance (Original 1977 12” Single Mix) – Chic
Devil’s Gun (12” Tom Moulton Mix) – C.J. & Co.
Shame (12” Disco Mix) – Evelyn “Champagne” King
Got To Give Up, Pts 1 & 2 (Original 1977 12” Full-Length Promo SingleVersion) – Marvin Gaye
Native New Yorker (Original 1977 12” Disco Version) – Odyssey
Disc 2
Le Freak (Original 1978 12” Single Version) – Chic
Contact (UK 12” Edit) – Edwin Starr
Running Away (Original 1977 12” Long Version) – Roy Ayres feat. Ubiquity
Rasputin (12” Single Version) – Boney M
Got My Mind Made Up (German 12” Mix) – Instant Punk
In The Bush (Original 12” Special Disco Francois K Mix) – Musique
Love Hangover (Original 12” Promo Mix) – Diana Ross
Disc 3
Good Times (Original 1979 US 12” Single Mix) – Chic
Got To Be Real (Original 12” Version Single Version) – Cheryl Lynn
Blame It On The Boogie (John Luongo Disco Mix 12” Version) – TheJacksons
Street Life (12” Full Length French Disco Mix) – The Crusaders feat. Randy Crawford
Funkytown (Original 1979 12” Single Mix) – Lips Inc
Can’t Live Without Your Love (Original 12” Mix) – Tamiko Jones
Boogie Wonderland (Special Disco Mix) – Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions
Let’s Start The Dance (Original 12” Promo Mix) – Hamilton Bohannon
Boogie Oogie Oogie (Original 1978 12” Single Mix) – A Taste Of Honey
Rivers Of Babylon (Original US 12” Single Version) – Boney M
I Will Survive (12” Version) – Gloria Gaynor
Disc 4
Is It Love You’re After (US 12” Promo Version) – Rose Royce
Flashlight (Extended 12” Mix) – Parliament
The Boss (Original 12” Mix) – Diana Ross
He’s The Greatest Dancer (12” Mix) – Sister Sledge
Spacer (12” Full Length Disco Mix) – Sheila & B. Devotion
Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now (12” Mix) – McFadden & Whitehead
Love Sensation (Tom Moulton Long Remix) – Loleatta Holloway
Rappers Delight (Long Version) – The Sugarhill Gang
Rapture (12” UK Special Disco Mix) – Blondie
Disc 5
Super Freak (Original 1981 12” Disco Mix) – Rick James
Jump To The Beat (Original 1980 12” Single Version) – Stacey Lattisaw
Need Your Lovin (12” Version) – Teen Marie
Pull Up To The Bumper (Original 12” 1981 12” Long Version)
The Message (Original 1982 12” Single Version)
Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag (Original 12” Single Mix) – Pigbag
You Got The Floor (12” Version) – Arthur Adams
Sexy Dancer (UK 12” Long Version) – Prince
Last Night A D.J. Saved My Life (Original 1982 12” Single Version) – Indeed
Going Back To My Roots (Original 1981 12” Extended Version) – Odyssey
Forget Me Nots (Original 1982 12” Special Dance Mix) – Pattrice Rushen
Dance Freak (Original Club 12” Mix) – Chain Reaction
*There was a 12” single released by Old Town Records in 1966. This was Betty Lou & Bobby Adams with their song, “Soul Stirrer”. This was a promotional item with the same song on both sides. Being a promo, it was not available for commercial release.
10cc released their first record, ‘Donna’ in September in 1972. A parody of doo-wop records, it was a number 2 hit on the UK singles chart. The follow up, ’Johnny Don’t Do It’ was also an homage to late 50s music but was too similar to ‘Donna’ and did not chart. However, their third single, ‘Rubber Bullets’ hit number 1 and the band continued to have success in both the singles and album charts for the rest of the decade.
10cc did not come out of nowhere either. All four members had been in the recording industry in one form or another since the early 60’s. Graham Gouldman had been in a band called The Whirlwinds which had recorded a song by Lol Creme on the B-Side of their one and only single. Kevin Godley had been in a band with Lol Creme but would join Gouldman in ‘The Mockingbirds’. Godley and Creme reunited and released records under a series of pseudonyms such as The Yellow Bellow Room Boom, Fratboy & Runcible Spoon as well as Doctor Father.
Goudman meanwhile became a songwriter of note, providing songs for ‘The Yardbirds’, ‘The Hollies’ and ‘Herman’s Hermits’. He also spent some time in ‘The Mindbenders’; the lead singer and guitar of which was Eric Stewart. As ‘The Mindbenders’ came to an end, Stewart invested in a recording studio that would eventually be known as Strawberry Studios. Gouldman started recording demos at the studios and soon he would also be a financial partner there. Godley and Creme were also using the studios and eventually all four members would record together, the first being a single called ‘Sausalito’ released under the band name of Ohio Express. The four musicians ended up recorded a lot of what would be called today, bubblegum records for American writer-producers Kasenetz-Katz. The deal meant that they recorded a number of forgettable songs but it did mean that they had the financial backing to upgrade the studio.
Some of this equipment needed testing and out of these experiments came a single called ‘Neanderthal Man’, released under the name of ‘Hotlegs’ (Gouldman was not on this record). The single was a number 2 hit in the UK, but the resulting album was not a success. The musicians continued to create their own music as well as back others who were using the studios. These included Ramases, Dave Berry, Wayne Fontana and most importantly of all, Neil Sedaka.
It was whilst recording with Sedarka that the four musicians decided they should try and make a more concerted effort at not just being sessions guys, but promote the material they had been working on. They released a single under the name of Festival which only reached the promo stage, and then they took a song to Apple Records who rejected it for not being commercial. It was then they came up with Donna, and Eric Stewart later said that there was only one person mad enough to realise it. That mad man was Jonathan King. King heard the track, loved it and signed the band to his UK Records label and the rest is history.
With this, I was looking at releasing a compilation of 10cc that concluded all of the single edits and B-Sides that were different to the versions released on their albums. I was quite surprised at how many there were. It would seem that 10cc were one of the last bands who truly made their single edits different for m the album versions. The cover art is based upon the 2017 compilation During // After – The Best of 10cc. Being a vinyl nut, I also thought it should be released in that format even though it would need to be a triple with a bonus 7″ single thrown for good measure.
Side A
Donna (Single Mix)
Hot Sun Rock (B-Side To Donna)
Johnny, Don’t Do It (Single Mix)
4% Of Something (B-Side Of Johnny Don’t Do It)
Rubber Bullets (Single Mix)
Waterfall (B-Side To Rubber Bullets)
The Dean & I (Single Mix)
Bee In My Bonnet (B-Side To The Dean & I)
Side B
The Worst Band In The World (Radio Version)
18 Carat Man Of Means (B-Side To The Worst Band In The World)
The Wall Street Shuffle (Single Version)
Gismo My Way (B-Side To The Wall Street Shuffle)
Life Is A Minestrone (Single Edit)
Channel Swimmer (B-Side Top Life Is A Minestrone)
I’m Not In Love (Single Edit)
Side C
Good News (B-Side To I’m Not In Love)
Art For Art’s Sake (Single Edit)
Get It While You Can (B-Side Of Art For Art’s Sake)
I’m Mandy Fly Me (Single Edit)
Hot To Trot (B-Side To I’m many Fly Me)
Don’t Squeeze Me Like Toothpaste (B-Side To Good Morning Judge)
Side D
I’m So Laid Back, I’m Laid Out (B-Side To People In Love)
Nothing Can Move Me (B-Side To Dreadlock Holiday)
For You & I (DJ Edit)
One-Two-Five (Single Edit)
Les Nouveaux Riches (Single Mix)
Dreadlock Holiday – Live (B-Side To 10” Of 24 Hours)
Side E
I’m Not In Love – Live (B-Side To 10” Of 24 Hours)
Feel The Love – Oomachasaooma (Radio Edit)
She Gives Me Pain (B-Side To Feel The Love)
Food For Thought (Radio Edit)
The Secret Life Of Henry (B-Side To Food For Thought)
Side F
Woman In Love (Radio Edit)
Man With A Mission (B-Side To Woman In Love)
Welcome To Paradise (7” Edit)
Don’t (B-Side To Welcome To Paradise)
Lost In Love (B-Side To CD Single Welcome To Paradise)
I was trawling through the soundtrack section of my record collection when I came across a selection of Muppet Show LPs, so I decided to give them a play.
The Muppet Show dates to the mid 1970s, but their origin dates back to 1955 when a puppeteer called Jim Henson created a character he called Kermit the Frog. Henson also coined the term Muppet as a portmanteau of marionette and puppet. As the cast of muppet characters increased, so did their exposure. They appeared on shows such as ‘Sam & Friends’, ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and most famously, ‘Sesame Street’. Henson was keen to develop his own show and a couple of pilots were produced for the ABC Network, but neither was picked up.
However, someone in the UK was watching. That person was Lew Grade. He had had experience of producing puppet shows for TV in the form of ‘Thunderbirds’ and ‘Captain Scarlet’. The show ran from 1976 to 1981 and consisted of 120 episodes. It can best be described as a variety show as it included sketches, musical numbers and running gags. It was also famous for the guest stars who took part. Names such as Steve Martin, Christopher Reeve, Vincent Price, Elton John, Leo Sayer and Alice Cooper all signed on to take part in this unique show.
So back to the records. After a quick spin, it made me realise what a wide musical pallet they had introduced me to. There was folk, rock, pop, music hall, blue grass, light opera, jazz, novelty and even a song featured in an Italian modo movie. The people who put together The Muppet Show must have been well versed in the music of the 19th as well as early to mid 20th Century. This got me thinking. What about the original versions of those records.
What I have tried to do on this compilation is to include the oldest recorded version of each song where possible spread over four sides of a vinyl record.
Disc 1
You Are My Sunshine – Pine Ridge Boys
Lydia, The Tattooed Lady – Groucho Marx
Mississippi Mud/I Left My Sugar – Paul Whiteman’s Rhythm Boys
Blue Skies – Al Jolson
Mad About The Boy – Phyllis Robins with Jack Hylton & His Orchestra
Baby Feet – Jan Garber & His Orchestra
Who – George Olsen
A Foggy Day – Fred Astaire
Side 2
Happy Feet – Paul Whiteman Orchestra with The Rhythm Boys
Sixty Seconds Got Together – The Mills Brothers
On A Tree By The River, A Little Tom-Tit – The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company
Pennsylvania 6-5000 – Glenn Miller
I’m Five – Danny Kaye
Pachalafaka – Irving Taylor (Vocal by Earl Brown)
Cuanto Le Gusta – Carmen Miranda & Andrews Sisters
The Gypsys Violin – Abe Burrows
It Was a Very Good Year – The Kingston Trio
Side 3
There’s A New Sound – Tony Burrell
Mr Bass Man – Johnny Cymbal
Do Wah Diddy Diddy – The Exciters
Simon Smith & His Amazing Dancing Bear – Alan Price Set
I’m In Love With A Big Blue Frog – Peter, Paul & Mary
For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
Dog Walk – Paul Tracey
Just One Person (From Snoopy, The Musical) – Ensemble Cast
What now My Love – Jane Morgan
When – Abe Burrows
Disc 4
Macho Man (Single Version) – The Village People
Coconut – Harry Nilsson
New York State Of Mind – Billy Joel
Mah Nà Mah Nà (Single Version) – Piero Umiliani
Time In A Bottle – Jim Croce
The Wishing Song – Paul Tracey
Garden Song – David Mallett
Just to finish off, the albums I have in my collection and were the basis for this compilation were ‘The Muppet Show’ (1977), ‘The Muppet Show 2’ (1978) and ‘Jim Henson’s Muppet Show Music Album’ (1979). I also have an EP of music hall songs and ‘A Christmas Together’ which The Muppets produced along with John Denver. However, neither the EP or the Christmas album got much of an airing but the other three albums did. All the music comes from the first four season of the show.
Disney bought the Henson Company and so I thought it was appropriate to have this LP appear on Walt Disney Records.
In April of 2015 (or around that time anyway), something popped up on one my socials about a subscription service where, for £20 a month each subscriber would receive a box of five brand new 7” inch singles. Well, in June of that year, the first of those singles boxes dropped through my letter box and for the next six years, a new box would be on the door matt waiting for me.
This would continue until 2021 when supply chain issues, Brexit and Covid made producing those box sets became increasingly difficult for the company to produce so they decided to stop production. So, in the 76 boxes that did come out and the 400 plus artists that featured on there, a lot of excellent music was produced by bands that I may never had heard of otherwise.
To celebrate the ten years since the foundation of Flying Vinyl, I have deiced to produce a series of sample records. Unlike the samplers I made for Blood Records, there is no way I could feature every artist that featured on this singles, so I had a couple of criteria. One was that the song has not already featured on the podcasts I made celebrating the label. I only did the first two years so that would not be too difficult. The second was that the songs had to be available on Spotify so the artist would hopefully earn some money from this, however pitiful the royalty rate is.
What was interesting was finding that even though these songs are available on that streaming service, some of them are not available in the same version as on the single. What would be interesting to know if these versions were only available on the Flying Vinyl singles? As there was so many good records, I have followed the Blood Records Sampler template and made this a double album.
Side A
Misty Maker Stomp – Jouris
Saviour – Groves
Made Of Concrete – Cagoule
Something In The Water – The Amazons
Fly – Meadowlark
Side B
Eureka Moment – The Big Moon
Shaking Hands – B.Miles
All My Love – Trudy & The Romance
Shalala – Moses Gunn Collective
Ladybird – Beach Baby
World’s Too Fast – The Jar Family
Side C
Father Of The Universe – Venice Trip
Joy In A Small Wage – Asylums
Dove In Your Mouth – Eaves
Voices – The Belligerents
Go – Pleasure Beach
Side D
Hold Me Closer – Lanka
Booored – Magic Potion
Time Won’t Leave – The Temperance Movement
Water’s Fall – Oh So Quiet
Oslo – Holy Esque
The front cover is based on the logo that Flying Records had when they first launched.
For those of a certain vintage, like myself, Marty Wilde was Kim Wilde’s dad. Marty, along with his son Ricky were the songwriting team behind most (if not all) of Kim’s early hits, including the classic ‘Kids In America’. What I didn’t realise until much later was that Marty had been a performer in his own right and was one of the first British rock ’n’ rollers along with Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard. Performing with his backing band the Wildcats, Wilde had a number of hits in the late 50s and early 60s as well as being a regular performer on early British music shows, 6.5 Special, Oh Boy! and Boy Meets Girl. His marriage to Vernon Girl Joyce Baker lead to a decline in his popularity as a teen idol but Wilde was not finished with the music business.
He appeared in a West End production of the musical ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ as well as becoming a noted songwriter. This included penning such tunes aa ‘Jesamine’ for The Casuals, ‘I’m A Tiger’ for Lulu and ‘Ice In The Sun’ for Status Quo. However, Wilde also continued to perform and throughout the late 60s and 70 he released a number of singles under pseudonyms. What this compilation does is collect all of those singles together and present them in chronological order.
Side A
Abagevenney – Shannon (1968)
Alice In Blue – Shannon (1968)
Jesamine – Shannon (1969)
Lullaby – Shannon (1969)
When You Wish Upon A Star – The Scrumpy N Dumpy (1972)
The Scrumpy N Dumpy Boogaloo – The Scrumpy N Dumpy (1972)
Caterpillar – Cold Fly (1973)
Yesterday Started For Judy – Cold Fly (1973)
Side B
Rock & Roll Crazy – Zappo (1973)
Right On! – Zappo (1973)
20 Fantastic Bands – The Dazzling All Night Rock Band (1973)
20 Fantastic Bands (Continued) – The Dazzling All Night Rock Band (1973)
Shang-a-Lang Song – Ruby Pearl and The Dreamboats (1974)
Will You Stop That – Ruby Pearl and The Dreamboats (1974)
Come Back & Love Me – Shannon (1975)
She’s A High Flyer – Shannon (1975)
The front cover of the LP is adapted from the picture sleeve of the ‘Rock & Roll Crazy’ single that was released under the name of Zappo. A good deal of the these records came out on the Magnet label that was bought up by Warner Brothers. That is why that companies logo is on the front cover.
As a bonus, here is a mini album with all of the songs that Marty Wilde recorded under the name of ‘The Wilde Three’. These recordings came out on two singles and featured not only Wilde, but his wife and a pre-Moody Blues Justin Hayward. Side A contains these singles whereas the B-Side contains demos/alternative versions of songs that the group did not release at the time.
Side A
Since You’ve Gone – The Wilde Three (1965)
Just As Long – The Wilde Three (1965)
I Cried – The Wilde Three (1965)
Side B
Well Who’s That – The Wilde Three (1965)
Since You’ve Gone (Alternative Take) (1965)
Just As Long (Alternative Take) (1965)
I Just Wanna Dance (Demo) (1965)
There aren’t that many pictures out there of this group, but this is one of the better ones and is made to look like a Decca EP sleeve from the 60s.
