Recommendations - WINTER 2002

RAINBOW THEME / WINDY DAY

Well there I was minding my own business in Cancer Research looking for a pair of nearly new dungarees when all of a sudden there's this little single just waving at me. As a sucker for nostalgic nonsense I quickly paid little for it and rushed home and have been playing it ever since. This is a great little single, the original theme stretching to about three and a half minutes with lots of folky breakdowns. I listen to this lots.

JIMMY SCOTT - THE SOURCE

This has a sexy lady on the front. And it looks like a funky soul LP. But it's not. It's all smoky and laid back and when you hear it you say"wow, hasn't she got the most beautiful voice" and then I say, "well actually she is a he with a glandular problem that meant he always sings with a ladies voice". Quite freaky and quite awesome.

PEOPLE THE SKY - MICHAEL CZAJKOWSKI

Another daft title to yet another daft electronic LP. However this one features the seminal Buchla Modula music system which has loads of wires and plugs all over it but more importantly you play it using a rubbery hand pad. So you can thump it or wiggle your digits all over it. Great sounds, I want one.

THE WOZARD OF IZ - MORT GARSON

Well whaddya know. Another daft electronic LP. This time with the crazy journey of Dorothy and little Toto as a focal point. Personally I cannot follow it at all but it's definitely worth a listen and also has a groovy cover.

LOVE IS A HAPPY THING - THE MIKE SAMMES SINGERS

Yet again those prolific vocal harmonists get me going. Superb production, very camp LP cover and surprisingly cool beats for something you'd leave if you saw.

ROGER GLENN - REACHIN

Blimey. Not heard this for a while and then did and I realised why I bought it in the first place. This is a killer record. Produced by the Mizell brothers this thing flies in all sorts of crazy jazz directions, all of which I approve of. Sometimes fast sometimes furious and sometimes all twisty and funk like.

NUCLEUS PLUS - LABYRINTH

Another of those proggy jazz recordings - hey guys, lets make and LP all about the myth of the Minotaur. Well they did and for once it's all cool and quite funky for a British jazz LP. Also features the lovely Norma Winstone on vocals and she always makes me all clumsy.

BETTY BOOP - MUSIC FROM HER FILMS

Did you know that Betty began life as a dog? Anyway, these are recordings of her Talkatune shows and definitely have their insane moments. She's also got quite a good voice if you stick cotton buds in your ears and then stand in the room next door.

Derek here - Betty did indeed start out as a pooch, but not the one that's on the cover of this album - that character is her companion Bimbo. The original Betty, designed by the gloriously named Grim Natwick first appeared in 1930. Though recognisably human she truly was a bit of a dog. Her dog ears eventually morphed into earings.

BEAST

Yes, Beast. On that Cotillion label. Fat bearded hippies singing sweet vaguely psychadelic songs about boats and rivers and lost love. A beautiful underrated LP you should look out for.

ENTERTAINING MR SLOAN - GEORGIE FAME

B side of the moddy "Somebody stole my thunder" 7", this is the lilting theme by lill'ol' Georgie to that strangely erotic film with Beryl Reid in. Yes that's right, Beryl Reid in weird saucy underwear etc etc.

MICHAEL BUNDT - JUST LANDED COSMIC KID

This is fabulous. And very different. One track on this LP is like a hard house track from today. Made in 1977 this nutter was obviously beamed in from another time and told to make an LP no one would like until about twenty year on. If you have any interest in in electronics or house music or just madness seek out this LP. It is essential.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND FRIENDS

His last ever LP and a true swansong. This LP is fab. Hear Louis rock out and get down for the first and last time in his life. A masterpiece in every respect.

ISN'T THIS WHERE WE CAME IN - LIONEL BART

Do not buy this LP if you see it. A very strange attempt at doing something different in the late 60s by the master of show tunes. At the time old Lionel was spending most of his time tripping his tits off and this LP is the result. Just about everyone is on this LP and although Lionel is on it, he's off it most of the time. Sounds fantastic when you play his acid ramblings underneath a good record. Interestingly enough, Jonathan King writes the liner notes.

APE SHUFFLE - THE GEOFF WAYNE SPACE SHUTTLE

Very hip kiddy LP that plays all the themes from your sci-fi favourites. Has a track called Ape Shuffle which all the knodders want, but for me the go-going "Journey into Space" makes me want to buy a beach buggy and pick up girls and ride around town looking like a right arse.

LOCAL GENTRY - BOBBY GENTRY

Now if you do not own this cheap LP by the sexy lady lovin' Bobby Gentry then you must go and find it straight away. It has everything. Love, funk, happiness, sadness and other stuff like that. One for the ladies. And it's produced by Shorty Rogers who is dead cool and possibly dead as well.

KENNY RANKIN - SILVER MORNING

Another truly beautiful record by that bloke who always seems to write beautiful records. This has a few very hip numbers on it too including a funny little Romeo and Juliet thing and a great version of "Berimbau" that doesn't sound like any other version I have heard.

THE POPPY FAMILY - WHICH WAY YOU GOING BILLY

Terry Jacks wrote all the songs and his sister - smouldering Susan sings them all. And god would I like to get into that catsuit she's wearing. Great hippy songs with sitar tinges which means all sorts of people call it "soft psych". I just call it super.

MERV AND MERLA - SOUNDS OF FRESH WATERS

Looks like a comedy LP and these two twittering religious types do have the last laugh. This LP is mental, I mean there's one track where they are both acting like birds in the morning (the dawn chorus) and really not getting away with it, but they do somehow in the end. They must have God on their side, or maybe he just produced the LP. Or took the picture on the front. Anyway, he's definately involved.

THE SNOW IT MELTS THE SOONEST / SCOOBY DON'T

Yes a merciless plug for the first single on "teeny tiny trunk records". This is a sexy little 7" limited to 300 copies. It features a very spooky folk track with dark electronic washes and a hangmans' beat. On the B side is a remix we did for the Mount Vernon Arts Lab, taking an obscene and scary BT phonecall and dropping it over his track. Must be heard. Hey, why not buy it direct from us right now...£3.50.