Sex Pistols – Holidays In The Sun (1977)

Can’t believe I’ve taken so long to post this.

One of my all time favourite songs from one of my all time favourite albums.

The opening line is particularly pertinent for those with a penchant for exotic gap years and career breaks …..

Cheap holidays in other peoples’ misery …

I don’t wanna holiday in the sun …

I wanna go to the new Belsen …

I wanna see some history …

Cos now I got a reason of economy …..

Tourists of the world, name anyone your presence liberated!

Patti Anne With The Flames – Shtiggy Boom (1955)

In the mid 1980s, the NME released a series of “paid for” cassettes that showcased a fantastic range of music from blues to jazz to rock’n'roll to indie, etc.

In the days before t’internet and before we lived in a world where any track that has ever been recorded is only the click of a mouse away, this series of cassettes was a window into another world. Of tracks long gone and potentially forgotten. Only to be retrieved, if at all, by painstaking hours in  the secondhand record shops that then filled the country and which I spent many of my waking hours in.

One of my favourite cassettes was the “Little Imp” compilation, showcasing tracks from the Aladdin and Imperial record labels of the 1950s and 1960s.

One of the all time great compilations – from it, I’ve already previously posted the staggering “I Ain’t Drunk” by Jimmy Liggins (here); “Messy Bessy” by Louis Jordan (here), “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer” by Amos Milburn (here) and the peerless “Who Drank My Beer While I Was in the Rear” by Dave Bartholomew (here).

Joining this pantheon of greats is Patti Anne and the Flames’ “Shtiggy Boom” – another jump blues classic. Killer guitar, bass, piano and vocals ….

Bo Diddley – The Great Grandfather (1959)

No better way than to welcome the New Year with a classic Bo Diddley album track from 1959 ….

“Go Bo Diddley” was Bo’s second LP and is a fantastically diverse affair starting with the classic Diddley guitar sound and moving on to slower tracks like this – a funereal, downbeat rhythm with understated guitar and a killer piano accompaniment.

For earlier post of Bo Dilddley’s classic “Pills” check here.

New York Dolls – Human Being (1974)

Wonderful track from the second New York Dolls LP “Too Much Too Soon”.

The handful of fans of the blog will know that I have tried to propagate a new “relentless” musical genre …. check here, here and here for just three pieces of evidence for its claim to fame ….

However, if “relentless” is accepted as a genre then this is one of the early texts and founding documents.

Five and a half minutes of rock and roll perfection that, quite literally Brian, never relents ….

And when it gets a bit obscene

… I’m a human being

Quite.

Tricky to find the original on Youtube but this does the business. Ignore any visuals and play LOUD!

Duane Eddy – Peter Gunn (1960) (composed by Henry, not Roberto, Mancini)

Ah, Mancini

He came from Italy to manage Man City

One of the greatest performances of one of the greatest instrumentals of all time.  Duane Eddy’s take on the Henry Mancini classic is, without doubt, one of the towering achievements of 20th century music.

As John Peel observed , the point where Duane Eddy’s guitar kicks in around 1:18 is a moment that transcends time, space and pop music.

 

AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long (1980)

Now, I like to think I’m someone fairly familiar with the tides of late 20th century philosophy. Building on the underlying principles of Marx (and, indeed, Darwin), I’ve followed the seminal writing of Foucault, the dead end of Derrida and the proto, then radical, feminism of Simon de Beauvoir and Sheila Rowbotham.

All of which encourages me to consider Brian Johnson’s second generation of AC/DC as worthy contributors to this canon.

Now, some may baulk at this judgement.

But, those who do, I invite you to consider the enticing ambiguity and comfort of seeing everything as a “metaphor”. Sometimes people speak literally.

When Johnson observes, in his opening lines, that “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean”, those thinking metaphorically may well come to a dim view about where he is coming from.

However, if one considers a more literal interpretation, then it is clear that Johnson is celebrating the postwar empowerment of women; their enhanced independence, and, by extension, their greater unmediated access to the most potent symbol of self expression and independence – the motor car. So, a song that, quite literally, celebrates the opportunities of women in the late 20th century.

Probably.

For me, you can’t beat the bit around 57 seconds when the bass guitar kicks in ….

Dr Feelgood – Roxette (1974)

Classic pub rock mayhem featuring one of the great lead/rhythm guitarists in Wilko Johnson – just chops out the rhythm in a way only ever bettered by Nile Rodgers!

“Roxette” was released in 1974 as a single and then appeared as a key track on the superb “Down By The Jetty” LP released in January 1975.

The band are so tight that the live performance pretty much replicates the studio version.

So, check out a stunning performance from the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975. Killer harmonica and the coolest guitar playing of 1975!

Neil Young and Crazy Horse – My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) (1979)

Stranded in 1979. Following the genius of The Jam, I had little option to get this onto the blog.

The opening track on the sublime “Rust Never Sleeps” LP, this song is notable for three reasons. Firstly, Kurt Cobain quoted the line “it’s better to burn out than to fade away” as an influence ….; secondly, there is a rare tribute to John Lydon (nee Rotten), and; thirdly, this is simply one of the best records ever made.

So many Neil Young songs to choose from but this takes some beating.

Just the track with blank Youtube video … it’s all you need.

Louis Jordan – Messy Bessy (1954)

I’m a relative newcomer to all this “Twitbook” © malarkey but it has given me a new perspective into the lifestyles of my friends, family and colleagues…..

The main two, related, questions that this new insight has raised for me are: (a) how come my life seems to be so much less interesting then everyone else’s, and; (b) why does adding a new post to this blog pretty much represent the pinnacle of my excitement?

Having logged those questions for further consideration, I do note that a few people appear to be constantly in the pub. With this in mind, I think this track might provide useful advice for how to manage this lifestyle.

Another classic track on the fantastic Aladdin Records label by the towering king of the jump blues, Louis Jordan, with sage advice for the women of the world…..

Don’t get messy Bessy

Keep your whiskey quiet

When you’ve had a couple of drinks, woman

You might just start a riot

Quite.

Rolling Stones – Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) (1978)

Okay, two tedious segues, one backward looking to The Temptations and then one to the next post.

Having posted the sublime “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by The Temptations, I remembered that the Rolling Stones did a fantastic cover version of the classic Temptations tune “Just My Imagination” on their “return to form” LP “Some Girls” released in 1978.

I am feeling a tad guilty that I haven’t already posted “Gimme Shelter” or “Sympathy for the Devil” or “Rocks Off”, etc, and that this might be an odd place to kick off the Stones posts. But no matter.

I just love the guitar on this. A classic cover version.

The LP version then two killer live versions from 1981 and 1982ish. Click through to Youtube to see!