Recommendations - SUMMER 2002

LESBO - ALLESSANDRONI

Well I was never ever going to not buy a soundtrack called Lesbo. I mean would you leave it there? I don't think so.

KING MONKEY - JOHNNY DANKWORTH

A funny little thing this - a dance improvisation ep for schools. Now I remember only too well acting like a tree and a stream and an underwater object, but this ep was all about being in China and acting like a chimp. What's groovy here is the drum and flute break and intros. Killer.

THE CRUNCH - SMITH CRISPS FLEXI DISK

Bought this in Bristol. On the floor. A super dooper hard flexi with a boppy song all about Smith Crisps and all the flavours, all to a groovy mod beat. Surprisingly groovy.

PEAU D'ANE - MICHEL LEGRAND

AKA Donkey Skin, the surreal childrens French Fairytale. I had this on Cd because I couldn't find the Lp. Now I have the Lp, and it's better than the CD in that I actually play it and interact with it. A beautiful folky weird thing, excellent catchy songs, wonderful melodies and a sublime cover.

SOUNDS LIKE WEST CORNWALL

A bizarre collection of live recordings from way out west. Highlights for me include the Seagulls Scream by the almost aptly named Christine Quail. This is supposed to be a Mermaids Lament and she is supposed to have the voice of a Mermaid. Personally I disagree, more like a barmaid to me.

LA LAME NEL CORPO - DE MASI

"Waheey. Killer monks!! I love it! Sinister Italian beats from 1965. Quite scary for my girlfriend. Translates as "Knife in the Body".

BALEARIC OPERATION ORO - BENEDETTO GHIGLIA

I do love a spy film, and this one I was blissfully unaware of. Italian, and cashing in on Bond even to the extend of signing up olde "Oddjob" for the baddy role. A monster of a score, very diverse and will a super cool groovy number which is all drums, guitar and car horns.

THE HONEY SUCKLE BREEZE - TOM SCOTT

Aaaah. Vocal harmonies to die for. Great covers of all yer fave obscure latin stuff and also a great version of "Today". Little too much of Toms Sax sometimes but everyone I know digs it baby. Love those sandals Tom.

BUG-IN - SHORTY ROGERS

Shorty Rogers is my hero. I love his arrangements. And this Lp is a sort of concept Lp from 1969, the idea being to dedicate a whole LP to Beach Buggies. Therefore we have beach buggy noises, girls on the beach in Bikinis and about 12 blistering groovy numbers to leap those dunes too. A killer LP in every respect. Yeah baby.

DELTICS - ON ARGO

Well there's usually at least one Argo Lp on the list and this one is mad. A whole LP dedicated to the Deltics - the Diesel Electric Trains that no longer chuf around the country. My mate Tom got very excited about this and even managed to identify all the other trains on the recording that weren't deltics. Now I don't know if this is sad or just brilliant but it seems good to sample and it is one of the only Argo train recordings with a modern, full colour cover. Am I sad or what.

FOREVER TAURUS - JOHNNY HAMMOND

This is a super bit of fusion I dug out from the garage. Hadn't heard it for a while - hadn't seen it for even longer. Worth it for "Old Devil Moon" which has a great break intro and accompaniment by your friend and mine Dorothy Ashby. Great Keyboards by the man. Great cover too.

FEMINA RIDENS - CIPRIANI

Italian Sex film soundtrack - the cover alone gets me excited. As for the music, weird, camp and very groovy. I even have the poster for this "Continental Movie", but the artwork on the Lp and music are far better. A great Lp that my friend Martin wants to swap with me. However, he will have no luck there.

THE KILLER - FERRIO

Yes, a great name for a film all about Ice cream. Killer music though.

TASTE OF FREEDOM - MONTY ALEXANDER

This is the last Johnny Pate produced Lps I had to find. and funnily enough the last Monty Lp I wanted. He looks very cool o the cover and this early Monty LP is a melting joy to hear. Great happy sunshine jazz, with superb covers of "Big Yellow Taxi" and a catchy version of "The Out-Of-Towners" to lay back and dig. I think Monty Alexander is one of the most underrated jazz pianists of all time. I played this Lp out recently to some posh people and they remained unmoved. Such is life.

PAUL HUMPHRIES AND THE COOL AID CHEMISTS

Sex, drums, acid, fuzz, drums, keyboards, sleeze.

DIANA TRASK - DIANA'S COUNTRY

The oddly named singer of country fist came to me in a Taunton boot fair. Why the hell did I buy this - well I cannot resist the DOT label. I got the little fella home and there's this mental country funk work out that really cooks on side one. 50p well spent. And published by "Toad Lane", a name I like.

DWITZA - ED MOTTA

A latin genius. Killer new (yes NEW) LP that came my way. I dared to listen and have been pleasantly surprised at the great ideas, pure musicianship and frank modernity of such a weirdy bearded dude. Great.

DEVIL IN THE BRAIN - MORRICONE

A true oddity that may scare you. It scares me and that's why I like it. The master of all things filmic odd strikes me again.

KES - JOHN CAMERON

Yes, still here, still doing it for me.

SIVUCA - SIVUCA

The Brazilian Rip Van Winkle is back again for the summer. Or rather the imaginary summer.

DIRTY FAN MALE

The release of this unique and distrubing LP draws even nearer.

A SEA FOR YOURSELF

Some how or another I got myself roped in to writing all about surfing movie soundtracks. It was a wild ride baby, and I came across all these incredibly obscure movies and soundtracks. This is one of them - it even came with a free single back in OE71 that is mental. Like fast breakbeat with a crazed jazz feel. The Japanese jazz dancers would go wild. I think the single is probably rarer that the LP. During investigations I even managed to trace the Harmonica player on the LP, seems like all of the musicians were high in Malibu just jamming and surfing. They had lots of sunshine too. What a life eh?

ALADDIN SANE - DAVID BOWIE

Not the rarest or most unusual of records granted however this copy does have some unique additions to the artwork by a previous owner in a style perhaps best described as naive.