By 1995, Quentin Tarantino was riding on the crest of a wave. He had received an OSCAR for writing the film Pulp Fiction, his film Reservoir Dogs was critical as well as financial success and his screenplays for True Romance as well as Natural Born Killers had only increased profile. Four Rooms was the only blip in this upward momentum. Posters for both Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs as well as their soundtracks graced the rooms of many of my fellow students when I was at University. It is the soundtrack albums that I am going to focus on here.
Film soundtracks at that time could be classed into two categories. The first was the one which had a soundtrack specifically written for it. These tended to be, but not exclusively, classical in nature. John Williams seemed to do quite a number of these but he did not have exclusive on this. Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and James Horner are but a few of the composers who produced film scores before the rise of Tarantino. Even Queen got in on the act when the scored Flash Gordon. The other was to take a few star names with a below par song they were looking to offload, some relative unknowns and some up and coming acts who were desperate for the exposure. These songs would be shoehorned into the film and then a soundtrack album would be released with the hope that they might shift a few units or that one song would become a massive hit. Top Gun, Mallrats and Cocktail are but a few I could have mentioned that fit into this category. Then there were the films of Tarantino.
These films had soundtracks of already released music, some of which had been used in other films that seemed to have been carefully considered beforehand. The choice of music was instrumental in some of the scenes. Look at the use of ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’ by Steelers Wheel in Reservoir Dogs. Would another piece of music have worked as well as that in that scene? There were also snippets of dialogue from the films that would sometimes, but not always, introduce the song that was about to be played. This was a man, it would seem, that took the music as seriously as he did the film he was going to make.
What I was looking to produce here was a compilation of songs from Tarantino films. These would also include some the dialogue as having played some of these soundtracks to death back when they were released, I find it difficult to listen to them without the actors in there as well. This compilations includes films from Reservoir Dogs up to Grindhouse.
Disc 1
Shaw Brothers Theme
‘Pumpkin & Honey Bunny’/Misirlou Amanda Plummer & Tim Roth/Dick Dale & his Del-Tones
Jungle Boogie – Kool & The Gang
Who Is He (& What Is He To You?) – Bill Withers
Son Of A Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield
Baby, It’s You – Smith
Natural High – Bloodstone
Strawberry Lette 23 – Brothers Johnson
‘And Now Little Green Bag’ – Steven Wright
Little Green Bag – George Baker Selection
Staggolee – Pacific Gas & Electric
‘Everybody Be Cool’ – George Clooney
Truck Turner – Isaac Hayes
‘Super Sounds’ – Steven Wright
Stuck In The Middle With You – Steelers Wheel
Jeepster – T.Rex
Foolish Heart – The Mavericks
Bustin’ Surfboards – The Tornadoes
Graceland – Charlie Sextion
Hooked On A Feeling – Blue Swede
You’re So Cool – Hans Zimmer
Sentimental Journey – Esquivel
Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) – Delfonics
The Grand Duel (Parte Prima) – Luis Enrique Bacalov
Since I First Met You – The Robins
You Belong To Me – Bob Dylan
My Grudge Blues (Urami Bushi) – Meiko Kaji
‘Let’s Get A Taco’ – Harvey Keitel & Tim Roth
Disc 2
‘Kill The Band’ – Tom Savini
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Nancy Sinatra
That Certain Female – Charlie Feathers
Surf Rider – The Lovely Ones
Rumble – Link Wray & His Ray Men
‘Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest’/You Never Can Tell Jerome Patrick Hoban & Uma Thurman/Chuck Berry
Coconut – Nilsson
Lonesome Town – Ricky Nelson
Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon – Urge Overkill
If Love Is A Red Dress (Hang Me In Rags) – Maria McKee
Street Life – Randy Crawford
Let’s Stay Together – Al Green
Run Fay Fun – Isaac Hayes
The Green Hornet Theme – Al Hirt
Battle Without Honour & Humanity – Tomoyasu Hotei
The Lions & the Cucumber Vampire’s – Sound Incorporated
Flowers One The Wall – The Statler Brothers
Across 110th Street – Bobby Womack
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – Santa Esmeralda
Summertime KIller – Luis Bacalov
The Flower Of Carnage – Meiko Kaji
The Lonely – Shepherd Zamfir
‘Ezekiel 25:17’ – Samuel L. Jackson
Both the title and the cover of this compilation were taken from an actual release from 1996 which was the inspiration for completing this in the first place.
This playlist could not be reproduced on Spotify because the it would seem that that platform has not secured the rights to the dialogue.
Well, here we are with the third and final volume of ‘Endless Bummer’ the worst recordings of The Beach Boys. A quick recap first though. These collections was inspired by ‘Elvis’ Greatest Shit’ Bootleg and one dedicated to The Beach Boys called ‘Endless Bummer, The Very Worst of The Beach Boys’. As I said back in previous two posts on this topic, that Beach Boys sure does live up to its title. There is a drunk Carl Wilson trying to make his way through ‘Good Vibrations’, Mike Love making a quick buck on some adverts, a Spanish language version of their massive mid 80s hit, ‘Kokomo’ as well Brian Wilson’s father berating him in the recoding. However, all of these recording from this have not been released commercially as far as I can tell, and it is unlikely that they ever will be anyway.
In these collections, I have only looked at songs that the band officially released with this collection looking at the period between 1980 and 1996.
As the Beach Boys entered the 1980s, they were doing well as a concert band but their records of new material were not. One of the reasons for this could date back to 1974 when the compilation ‘Endless Summer’ was released. It was a massive seller, especially in the USA. All of the songs on that record had all been released before ‘Pet Sounds’, so when the public came to watch the band, they wanted to hear those old hits. What were The Beach Boys to do? Play their new material which might lose them their audience, or play those old hits which might struggle to gain them a new one. With the newer albums, should they continue with the method of working that had been artistically satisfying (for most of the band anyway) but did not sell as many records as they had been doing before etc the ill fated ‘Smile’ sessions? They sort of came up with this hybrid of new material and covering oldies. The concerts still sold out but the albums started to flow the law of diminishing returns.
This does not mean that there wasn’t quality material being recorded. Dennis and Carl Wilson put out solo albums with both either taking time out for the band or leaving, just not permanently. Mike Love was also recording plenty of material. He recorded two solo albums called ‘First Love’ & ‘Country Love’. Neither saw the light of day at the time as well as front another band called Celebration. Bruce Johnston who spent most of the 1970s out of the band also got in on the solo album act. Brian was going through a hard time due to his growing dependency on drink and drugs. He would become engaged in musical projects but he would not see them through to fruition. Dennis Wilson’s life was also spiralling out of control. Only Al Jardine seems to have taken a back seat when it came to putting out an album.
So, as we can see The Beach Boys were a bit of a mess but that does not mean they were going away. First up was the album ‘Keepin’ The Summer Alive’ as well as the only live performance with the six core members of The Beach Boys on stage when they played at Knebworth. Between that album and their next self titled album five years later in 1985, they struggled to escape their past. The band put out a best of compilation of music from 1970 to 1980. Capitol, their original label put out another best of compilation, a rarities album and a mash up single of loads of their hits. These were all the rage in the early 1980s.
‘The Beach Boys’ album followed by yet another best of in 1986, but it did at least have two new tracks on it. ‘Still Cruisin’ appeared in 1989 and was made up mostly of material that had been used in films, and could be argued to be a bit of a rip off. Out of the ten songs that made up this record, the last three were all from the 1960s that had been used in films produced up to six years earlier. We then get to ‘Summer in Paradise’. Arguably the worst record the band ever released, and one of the worst records put out by anyone. It is so bad, I could have included the whole record on this compilation and was very tempted to do so. It has been out of print for years and is noticeably absent from streaming services. There have been numerous podcasts and YouTube videos not his record, but this one by Todd in the Shadows is all you need to get an idea of how bad this record truly is (see below).
The Beach Boys finished the century guesting on a record by Status Quo as well as putting out an LP of reworking of their earlier output with country starts singing the lead vocals. The output of the band significantly slowed after this but there was still enough to collect another worst of The Beach Boys and without doubt, this is definitely the worst of the three.
Side A
Wipe Out (With The Fat Boys) (Still Crusin’)
Make It Big (Still Cruisin’)
Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue – Percadella Mix (12’ Single)
Crack At Your Love (The Beach Boys)
Male Ego (The Beach Boys)
California Calling (The Beach Boys)
Happy Endings (7” Single)
Side B
Problem Child (CD Single)
Crocodile Rock (Two Rooms – A Tribute To Elton John & Bernie Taupin)
Surfin’ (Summer In Paradise)
Summer Of Love (Summer In Paradise)
Remember “Walking In The Sand” (Summer In Paradise)
Summer In Paradise (Summer In Paradise)
The Warmth Of The Sun (With Willie Nelson) (Star & Stripes Vol.1)
Bonus 12” Single
Here Comes The Night (L.A. (Light Album)
Beach Boys Medley (7” Single)
Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue – Beach Party Mix (12” Single)
Wipe Out – The story goes that this was originally meant to be recorded with Run DMC, but then Mike Love stuck a deal with The Fat Boys instead. A huge hit in the UK and a top twenty in the States, The Beach Boys seemed to be happy to trade on their past. The video was full of what could only be described as Beach Boys cliches as it includes women in bikinis, surf boards, opened topped jeeps and a trip to the beach.
Make It Big – Used in the film ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ (yes I have not heard of it either), the song tries to inspire an aspiring actress to make it in Hollywood. As will become apparent in this compilation, the lyrics were written by Mike Love who has to put in some call backs to the bands 60s heyday, or the music that inspired them. In this case, Johny B. Goode is name checked.
Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue (Percadella Mix) – As I mentioned in the notes to Volume 2, The Beach Boys were once setting the trends. By the 80s, they were following them and this is a case in point here. The production screams 80s which might have seemed modern at the time, but now sounds more dated than the records they put out in the 60s and early 70s. More references to the past in Mike Love’s lyrics with a mention for surfer girls as well as the songs Tutti Fruity and Blue Suede Shoes. The video once again includes surf boards, women in bikinis and a singer in his mid 40s ogling women young enough to be his daughter. You can work out whom.
Crack At Your Love – not the worst song on here, but this sounds more like a demo than a fully produced record. The drum machine sounds so dated and the rest of the production has not aged well either.
Male Ego – A bonus track on the CD version of ‘The Beach Boys’ album, the lyrics are all about a man who is all about the ladies and the potential for one night stands. In fact, he is so sure of his prowess as a ladies man that believes he will still be wooing the ladies well into his eighties. Oh dear.
California Calling – This is most 60s sounding Beach Boys track in, except for the 80s production that is. More call backs to their heyday with references to surfing, woodies and custom cars. I was surprised to find that Mike Love had nothing to do with writing this. It would seem the other Beach Boys were getting in on the act.
Happy Endings (7” Single) – ‘Still Crusin’ was meant to be an album of songs that The Beach Boys had produced that were used in films. That album came out in 1989 but this track which was used in the 1987 film ‘The Telephone’, which I have only heard of because it was written by Squire favourite, Harry Nilsson. Why wasn’t this used on ‘Still Cruisin’. Could it be that Little Richard who shares vocal duties on this record seems to ruin it with a performance that does not suit the sentiments of the record. Shocking.
Problem Child – This is also another song from a film, the title of which is the same as the tune. The film was a big hit, but this single was not. By the looks it, but only came out on cassette and promo CD. Once again, the production is so of its time, it has dated quite badly. The call back to previous music seems to be Da Do Ron Ron
Crocodile Rock – A band who have spent the previous five years or so writing loads of lyrics referencing the rock and roll era covering a song written in 1972 doing exactly the same thing. You could not make this up.
Surfin’ – The next four songs come for the ‘Summer in Paradise’ album and I cannot stress enough that I could have included the whole album, it is so bad. This song was their first ever single and the original recording is basic, and so is the song. However, this update has some of the worst programmed drums you can get and why would you want this old song on your album? Surely they could have written something newer? This is so overtop, I am sure that someone on the albums personal list miss being credited with playing the kitchen sink.
Summer Of Love – Mike Love raps. Now I know that Brian Wilson did the same thing a few years before but that remains unreleased. This however escaped. There should be a bingo card for anyone listening to this song, the amount of references there are to old hits by not only The Beach Boys, but The Mamas & The Papas. This was written as a potential duet between Bart Simpson and Mike Love, but the producers of the TV show wisely turned it down. The producers of Baywatch did not, and the video of this is full of more women in bathing suits, a beach and a surf board. This is getting beyond a joke.
Remember “Walking In The Sand” – An absolute classic mid 60s pop record, ruined by the production on this record. How not to produce a cover.
Summer In Paradise – The parent album was said by Mike Love to be a record about environmental protection. Well, ‘Summer in Paradise’ did do its bit for the environment as it reportedly sold less than 1000 copies in the USA and led to the company that distributed it to go bankrupt. This song about environmental protection starts of with a verse about having fun, fun, fun, singing about surfing and rocking with Rhonda and Barbara Ann. Recycling lyrics, that’s environmentally friendly isn’t it.
The Warmth Of The Sun (With Willie Nelson) – Written in response to the assignation of John F Kennedy, ‘The Warmth of the Sun’ is a beautiful song. The harmonies are great, the production subtle but perfect. The voices of The Beach Boys on the original 1964 recording are an example of harmonies done brilliantly. Well, Willie Nelson has written some great songs but a great vocalist, he is not. It is almost as though he is talking through this rendition.
Here Comes The Night – Originally released on the ‘Wild Honey’ album, this recoding was made in 1979 when The Beach Boys were releasing disco records, two years later than its heyday and just before the Disco Sucks movement kicked into gear. The original version was just under three minutes but this breaks the ten minute barrier. Sometimes less is more people.
Beach Boys Medley – Medleys were big in the early 80s. Even The Beatles released one even though you would be hard pushed to find one on a singles collection from after 1982. Anyway, the idea was to take lots of songs, edited them down and then put them to make continuous listening experience. This one made the top 20 in the USA, but really is a novelty that soon wore out.
Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue (Beach Party Mix) – The same as above really, but with more of it. 80s production has a lot to answer for.
The cover for this was taken from the ‘Keeping The Summer Alive’ and/or ‘Living With A Heartache’ (depending on where in the world you lived) single picture sleeve. It perfectly sums up the band at that time. Bruce Johnson and Mike Love seem to very happy to be there. Brian Wilson looks ill and Carl Wilson looks like he would rather be anywhere else. Possibly where ever Dennis is as it looks like he is off having fun somewhere else. Al Jardine, well I’m not sure. The title and a different logo were added.
The YouTube video by Todd In The Shadows regarding the ‘Summer In Paradise’ album is well worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DoFMALzWZI
Looking at classic albums came out 1973 (because everyone loves a 50th anniversary re-release don’t they), one name really does stand out. That is ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ by Pink Floyd. I had a think about what I could post to celebrate the anniversary of this release? How about a live album based around the concert recorded for the BBC performed at the Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena) back in 1974. Why pick this? Well, up until this point, it has never seen an official release as a stand alone release, having been put out piecemeal on the Immersion Edition’s and ‘Early Years’ box set over the last ten years. If it hd been released back in the day, say early 1975, it would have been a nice stop gap between ‘Dark Side’ and whatever the band were planning on releasing as their next album. I say this because ‘Dark Side’ was such an albatross around the bands neck at this point, they did not have that many ideas knocking about as that what their next album should be. There was a proto version of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ which would be the centre piece of the next album they would eventually release in the shape of ‘Wish You Were Here’. There was also the infamous abandoned project, ‘Household Objects’ which saw the band used sounds such as wine glasses filled with water, elastic bands tuned to sound like a bass guitar and aerosol cans instead of hi hats. Needless to say, common sense prevailed on this one and the band just picked up their actually instruments and produced another classic album.
So, what material could be included in this release? Well, the whole of the ‘Dark Side of The Moon’ album of course. I was a bit reluctant to follow the actual LP when it came to sequencing this album. That was because the second side of ‘Dark Side’ clocked in at over 31 minutes. Not only is this very long for an LP, especially in the 70s, but Pink Floyd were always keen to present their music in the best sound quality as possible. 31 minutes on an LP would compromise the fidelity some what. Anyway, I would start thing off with ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. Even at this stage, the song clocked in at over 20 minutes so that would take up the whole side of an LP. Sides 2 and 3 would follow the ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ album. Side 4 would include the encore, ‘Echoes’.
A double album would be the perfect format for this album. However, it could have been a potential triple because there were two songs which I did not include. These were ‘Raving & Drooling’ and ‘You’ve Got To Be Crazy’, early version of songs that would eventually appear on the ‘Animals’ album. Both were quite long, but ‘Raving & Drooling’ was only 12 minutes long so this additional disc would be quite short in comparison to the other two. Triple albums are quite rare even though not unheard of at the time. For example, ‘Wings Over America’ from Wings was a live triple and that came out in 1976.
Why did Pink Floyd not release this at the time? Essentially, they would be releasing the same material they had release just over a year before. Even though this was a live version of ‘Dark Side’, this would not have been seen as good value for their fans who had only just purchased the original LP. It would also have released a track that would be on their next album in the shape of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. Why put songs out that you may wish to out out on your next album before you have even recorded it?
Anyway, not long after I had written this entry together, Floyd announced that they were putting the ‘Dark Side’ part of this concert as a stand alone release as part of their own 50th anniversary celebrations. It would be interesting to hear what Side 2 sounds like considering how much music there is on there.
Side 1
Shine On Your Crazy Diamond
Side 2
Speak To Me
Breathe (In The Air)
On the Run
Time
The Great Gig In The Sky
Side 3
Money
Us & Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse
Side 4
Echoes
What amazes me that when I was looking into this is that the band had been performing the ‘Dark Side Of the Moon’ album in its entirety (granted, not in its final form) a whole year before the studio album came out. What successful band these days would preview their new album before it had even been recorded int he studio. They did not learn their lesson as songs previewed during the 1974 tour would contain songs, some of which would not been recorded in the studio until three years later.
The cover was taken from a post by andrewskyDE on a Steve Hoffman post regarding this album.
The second volume of my trawl through the Psych years and both of these discs have songs taken from ‘The Rubble Collection’ compilations. This was originally a series of 20 LPs released by the Bam-Curoso label, intent on digging up rare gems from the psychedelic period. The series started in 1984 and continued until 2002 before being collected in two rather fine box sets in 2003 (which is where I first heard them). As a side note, the band Argosy could be argued to be something of a supergroup in the making as both songs were written and sung by Roger Hodgson, who would later go on to form Supertramp. Also included on the disc was Elton John, Caleb Quaye (who was responsible for the rather good song ‘Woman of Distinction on Disc 1) and Nigel Olsson. Quaye and Olsson would later become members of the Elton John band.
Disc 1
Faster Than Light – The Mirror
Woman Of Distinction – Caleb
Hold On – Ipsissimus
Cast A Spell – The Open Mind
Tracy Took A Trip – The Executives
Here We Go ‘Round The Lemon Tree – Jason Crest
Lollipop Minds – Wimple Witch
William Chalker’s Time Machine – The Lemon Tree
Barricades – The Koobas
Celestial Empire – Dragonfly
On The Beach – Finders Keepers
Daughter Of The Moon – Sharon Tandy & Fleur De Lys
Matrimonial Fears – The Cymbaline
Anymore Than I Do – The Attack
Anniversary Of Love – Ice
Love & Beauty – The Moody Blues
My World Fell Down – The Ivy League
Tales Of Flossie Fillet – Turquoise
Why May I Now Know? – Waterloo
You Know That I’ll Be There – Peter & The Blizzards
For many year, I didn’t have a lot of Otis Redding records in my collection. A couple of singles and a best of, but this changed in 2015 when Rhino decided to put out the great man’s albums in a box set called Soul Manifesto 1964-1970. This contained all of the albums he released during his life time, and the most of the posthumous albums with the exception of 1992’s Remember Me. What was most surprising about this posthumous releases was the high quality fo the music that was on them. When an artists has died, these releases can be seen as a cash grab for the record label and full of substandard material that the artist had felt was not worth releasing at the time. Not so in Redding’s case. He seemed to have a knack of writing a good tune, but also picking out awesome ones to cover. Hence this three disc set. I set out to make a single or double disc compilation at most, but there was so much good material, it was hard to keep it to three. The story of Redding’s life and untimely death have been told many times so I came going to let his music do the talking, especially as I am still putting the finishing touches to my next post and that one is taking a lot longer to research and put together than all of the other posts I have put together before this put together. Well, that is the way it seems anyway. Enjoy.
Disc 1
Shake
Love Man
Any Ole Way
Pain In My Heart
Tramp*
Chained & Bound (Single Version)
Direct Me (Mono)
Hard To Handle (Mono)
Security
That’s What My Heart Needs
These Arms Of Mine (Single Version)
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)
Come To Me
Down In The Valley
You’ve Made A Man Out Of Me
Tell The Truth
634-5789
That’s A Good Idea
Your One & Only Man
Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down & Out)
Bring It On Home To Me*
It’s Growing
I’m A Changed Man (Mono)
Don’t Mess With Cupid
Tennessee Waltz
When Something is Wrong With My Baby*
For Your Precious Love
Change Gonna Come
Disc 2
Stay In School
The Boston Monkey
Trick Or Treat
Look At The Girl
Home in Your Heart
A Woman, A Lover, A Friend
I Love You More Than Words Can Say
I’m Coming Home To See About You
The Hucklebuck
Got To Get Myself Together
I Got The Will
Lovely Dovey*
Johnny’s Heartbreak
Remember Me
I’m Coming Home
Open The Door
Groovin’ Time
I Can’t Turn You Loose
Let Me Come On Home
You’re Still My Baby
Free Me
Are You Lonely For Me Baby?*
Give Away None Of My Love
The Happy Song (Dum-Dum-De-De-De-Dum-Dum)
Champagne & Wine
Everybody Makes Mistakes
You Don’t Miss Your Water
Amen
Disc 3
Demonstration
She Put The Hurt On Me
Tell It Like It Is*
Rock me Baby
Don’t Leave Me This Way
I Need Your Lovin’
It Takes Two*Living By The Pund (Take 1)
The Dog
I’m Sick Y’All
Something Is Worrying Me
I Want To Thank You
Keep Your Arms Around Me
You Got Good Lovin’
Mary’s Little Lamb
The Match Game
You Left The Water Running
Sweet Lorene
A Lover’s Question
Nobody’s Fault by Mine
A Little Time
Love Have Mercy
Think About It
The Glory of Love
That’s How Strong My Love Is
My Lover’s Prayer
I’ve Been Loving Too Long
Try A Little Tenderness
* Otis Redding & Carla Thomas
Only Disc 1 could be reproduced on Spotify to some of the songs not being available on that platform.
A bit of an odd one here, or just different; I’ll let you decide. I knew that ‘Hey Joe’ was not an original song by Jimi Hendrix but it could be argued that it is the most well know of all of the versions that have been recorded. I must admit that I I wasn’t really aware of any others until I started listening to American Garage bands of the mid 60’s. The excellent ‘Nuggets’ box set from 1998 introduced me to the version by The Leaves, which was considerably faster than the version released by Hendrix. Later on when I started to buy up the expanded editions of The Byrds back catalogue at the turn of the century, they had included a version of the song on their ‘5th Dimension’ album, but this was of a similar speed to The Leaves version. It would seem that any band worth their salt in the Southern California music scene was playing it.
The authorship of the song has been contested down the years. Some recordings list it as traditional, some by Dino Valenti (which was a pseudonym of Quicksilver Messenger Services’ Chet Powers) or Billy Roberts.
Roberts copyrighted the song in 1962 and is said to have been performing it for a few years before this. Roberts may well have taken inspiration from other songs for his own, being as he was part of the folk tradition and in that authorship can be a lot more fluid. Just look at some of the works of Bob Dylan. Roberts could well have taken inspiration for his song from the following. ‘Little Sadie’, a traditional folk ballad which does go by a number of other names (such as Bad Lee Brown and Late One Night). It tells the story of a man who is arrested after a shooting a woman, the identity of whom changes depending on the version. The earliest version of this song I could find was released in 1930 by Clarence Ashley. ‘Hey Joe’ by Carl Smith which not only shares the title but the idea of questioning between the characters in the song. Lastly, there is ’Baby Please Don’t Go to Town’ which was written by Roberts’ girlfriend, by Niela Horn. This last one shares a similar chord progression and melody.
While the authorship of the song was contested even back in the 60’s, the song itself became a garage rock classic. It it even made its way to the UK when it was recorded by Kenny Barnard, even though he changed the lyrics so he could claim a writers credit for himself.
It was upon hearing this version by Bernard that inspired me to think about a compilation of the versions recorded before Hendrix did. The Hendrix version is so famous that the slow version became the norm after it was released and the garage rock version played at a much higher tempo has therefore been all but forgotten. I wondered if there were enough versions of it to compile a LP’s worth of material and to my surprise, there was. I have included the demo recording that Roberts made in the early 60s as the opening track followed by The Rogues. This is not strictly ‘Hey Joe’, but seems to be more of an answer record, something we don’t see very often these days. It uses a very similar chord sequence and structure but it is a bit odd to have an answer record to a song that has yet to have a release.
The version by The Leaves is considered to be the first cover of ‘Hey Joe’ but even this is in dispute as very lo-fi recording by a band called The Swamp Rats seems to have come out first. Strangely, The Leaves version is the only recording of the song to break the top 40 in the US Billboard single chart. The version by the Jimi Hendrix Experience did not even make the charts.
The remainder of the songs are not in any particular order. They only had to have been recorded before Hendrix released his version. The band, The `Warlocks included here are not the same ones that would change their name to the Grateful Dead.
Side A
Hey Joe – Billy Roberts
Wanted: Dead Or Alive – The Rogues
Hey Joe – Swamp Rats
Hey Joe – The Leaves
Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) – The Standells
Hey Joe – Love
Hey Joe – Tim Rose
Hey Joe – The Music Machine
Side B
Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) – The Byrds
Hey Joe – Safaris
Hey Joe – Gonn
Hey Woman – Kenny Bernard
Hey Jo – The Warlocks
Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) – The Cryan’ Shames
Hey Joe – The Shadows of Knight
Bonus 7” EP
As this is my compilation, I thought I would include a bonus 7” EP of the songs that could be said to have inspired the original song. I have included an extra song with ‘Penitentiary Blues’ by Buddy Baker. This shares similar lyrics to ‘Little Sadie’ and could be the earliest version of this songs to be recorded.
Side A
Baby, Don’t Go To Town – Neila Miller
Hey, Joe – Carl Smith
Side B
Penitentiary Blues – Buddy Baker
Little Sadie – Clarence Ashley
To find out more on this, I would recommend ‘Hey Joe: The Unauthorised Biography of a Rock Classic’ by Marc Shapiro.
The front cover based upon the US picture sleeve of the Jimi Hendrix’s Experiences Hey Joe Single. I included the K-Tel logo because I felt that this was the sort of compilation they may well have released if they had had the inclination. I do remember they liked a themed compilation even though I am sure they would not have released one solely based around one song.
t has been a while since I did a Beatles post, and even longer since I mentioned about the possibility of putting together a compilation of the songs that The Beatles covered on their albums. I actually covered this sort of thing in a podcast back in 2017 when looking at the original versions of the songs*. This play list creates a virtual album of all of the cover version the band released on their studio album, with the exception of Maggie Mae**.
I took the view that this album would have been one of the numerous compilations that EMI put together in the late 70s after the bands contract ran out. I was surprised when looking into putting this together that EMI didn’t do this themselves back in the day. I pretty much followed the chronology of when these songs came out back in the day, except swapping some around so the length each sides is similar to the other corresponding side. That is down to the fact that this release if it had happened would have been put onto cassette tape. I also made the tracks on mine be the mono versions as these were the mix the band were happiest with. Annoyingly, I could only use stereo versions on Spotify which is the format EMI would have no doubt used if they had put this out themselves.
The cover is taken from an Italian release called The Beatles in Italy.
I really love the period of music that is known as the Psychedelic era. No other time period of music (in my opinion) was so experimental, or interesting on the ear. This was because artists were keen to push the boundaries. The most famous of these is arguably The Beatles. Just look at their output between the 1962 and 1967. Their first single of ‘Love Me’ had the classic two guitars, bass and drums line up. I know there is a harmonica in there as well but the lyrics are not exactly earth shattering. Move forward to ‘Sgt Pepper’ and we have songs about parking meter ladies, victoriana and whatever ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ is about? The instrumentation includes sitars, tambours, swarmandals, piano, organs as well as combs and tissue paper.
Where The Beatles led, others would follow. What we got was songs with modulations, influences from what we would now call World Music (especially India at this time), surreal or whimsical lyrics and extended instrumental passages. The studio also became an instrument in itself, with artists employing panning across the stereo spectrum, tape effects, reverb as well as employing early synthesisers.
So here is my first of a year long set of compilations looking at this era with some of the most well know bands of the era rubbing shoulders with a good deal of those who did not make much headway at the time, but their contributions have been recognised and compiled since. There is even a well known act going under a different name (Idle Hands is really Supertramp).
Disc 1
So Much In Love – McGough & McGear
10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box – Aquarian Age
Granny Takes A Trip – The Purple Gang
Dream On My Mind – Rupert’s People
Imposters Of Life’s Magazine – The Idle Race
Light Of Your Mind – The David
Shine On Brightly – Procol Harum
Strange Walking Man – Mandrake Paddle Steamer
Mind’s Eye – Ramases & Selket
Life Is Short – Billy Nicholls
Hurdy Gurdy Man – Dondvan
Monday morning – Tales of Justine
Am I The Red One – Mick Softly With The Summer Suns
Subway (Smokey Pokey World) – Tickle
Dr. Crippen’s Waiting Room – Orange Machine
Talkin’ About The Good Times – The Pretty Things
Screams In The Ears – Bill Fay
Model Village – Penny Peeps
I’m A Man – the Spencer Davis Group
Relax – The Who
Pools Of Blue – Barclay James Harvest
I Can Take You To the Sun – The Misunderstood
Sky Pilot – Eric Burdon & The Animals
Reputation – Shy Limbs
Disc 2
Path Through A Forest (Sound Effects Version) – The Factory
London Social Degree – Billy Nicholls
Peru – Chimera
Shirley – Cliff Wade
Painter Man – The Creation
Michaelangelo – 23rd Turnoff
The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime) – Scott Walker
Run The Night – Wicked Lady
I’d Like To Walk Around In Your Mind – Vashti Bunyan
Time Of The Season (Mono Mix) – The Zombies
Red Chalk Hill – John Pantry
Drop Everything & Run – Thame Russal
The Otherside – Apple
Smokey Wood – Peter & The Wolves
She’s A Rainbow – the Rolling Stones
Forty Thousand Headmen – Traffic
I Don’t Know Where I Stand – Fariport Convention
Julia Dream – Pink Floyd
The Days Of Pearly Spencer – David McWilliams
Hole In His Hand – Jesse Harper
Meditations – Felius Andromeda
Remember – The Idle Hands (Supertramp)
The Bird – Nimrod
The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) – Fleetwood Mac
The cover is a stock photo, which I believe was on Microsoft Windows but given some effects to make it look a bit more psychedelic.
Disc 1 is made up of tracks from the ‘Mojo Presents Acid Drops, Spacedust and Flying Saucers’ compilation from 2001.
I find it hard to fathom that this month is the 30th Anniversary since the release of Belly’s first LP, ‘Star’. I remember watching the video to their song ‘Feed The Tree’ on some late late music show and then going down to my local Virgin Megastore (which was in Cardiff at the time) and picking myself up a copy. I absolutely loved this album and was excited when, a couple of years later, they released the follow up which was called “King’. That was it though. Two albums, a few single B-Sides and the odd song that had appeared on soundtrack albums. I was gutted that they did not make another album (at the time) and even though I followed the solo career of Tanya Donnelly, it just wasn’t the same. There was a ‘Best Of’ album (which was really more of a compilation of single mix, B-Sides and rarities) in 2002 and then in 2018, there was a new album. I was also able to see the band live, which was something I missed out on the first time around.
However, it was in their initial spell that I was most interested so I wondered if there was enough material from the B-Sides and rarities to make a third album. Well, there was and on the whole it is pretty good. I did consider including a couple of cover version, as I particularly liked their version of ‘Hot Burrito #1” and ‘Think About Your Troubles’. These would have made the record a bit on the long side.
As it is, the album includes a raft of B-Sides, including ‘Broken’ which was initially only available on a vinyl single and one previously unreleased song, (Lilith) which would see the light of day on the ‘Sweet Ride’ compilation in 2002.
As for the title, I picked ‘Broken’ as it symbolises that the band had split up and also because Belly have only ever had one word album titles.
Side A
Spaceman – Seal My Fate
Dancing Gold – Slow Dust EP
Lilith (Previously Unreleased) – Sweet Ride (The Best of Belly)
Broken – Seal My Fate (7” Version)
John Dark – Now They’ll Sleep
Side B
Baby’s Arm – Now They’ll Sleep
Sexy S – Feed The Tree
Dream On Me – Feed The Tree
Diamond Rib Cage – Seal My Fate
Sweet Ride – Gepetto
Thief – Now They’ll Sleep
The cover is adapted from the 7″ sleeve of the ‘Feed The Tree’ single.
The second and final sampler looking at all of the LPs Blood Records released in 2022, and this one does not have any exclusive releases so I was able to produce a Spotify playlist for you.
