The Stairs - Mexican R'n'B

 

The weed bus takes us on a wiggy ride out of London, accompanied by the rustlings of Rizla and the popping of beer caps. We watch the dopey mess that is Help on the telly, and when we stagger off the charabanc we're properly pie-eyed and disoriented. Just about ready for planet Liddypool.
OK, so this may be an exceptional night at the (replica) Cavern, but it gives you some kind of crash course in the stuff that's both great and lacking in the music of this city. You realise just how schooled the bands are, so attentive and finicky about the tones and details that characterise beat music and early prog-rock. They're complete fans. What isn't so healthy is the way this can become so obsessive, how introverted and out-of-it the whole scene can be.
Anyway, The Stairs represent the better end of all this. They bounce around and give the impression that they're having an terrific time. Ged Lynn is a little waif of a bloke, but he goes into twang frenzy from the start, while another guy who looks like Eric Idle in tne Rutles twats his tambourine and then Edgar opens his enormous gob and produces a mass of growling, gut-bucket effects. The Stairs are fun.
I guess it was a mistake to do a set of covers before the 'real' show. It was a revelation to see them biffing out 'Over, Under, Sideways Down' - squint a little and see Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck shaking it with the Yardbirds in '66. But presently you get The Stairs' own songs, and you find that they're not so hugely different. 'Weed Bus' and 'Take No Notice...' have funny, spliff-suckin' storylines, but they sound like the other old things, and they haven't yet got the beauty in their writing - like The La's have - to transcend this.
The Stairs are good, but a wait-and-see band, deffo. They need some kind of perspective. Maybe - with all due respect - they should get out more. -[Stuart Bailie] New Musical Express

Listen:  Part 1  and Part 2 

Los Guajes - Life is like a Carousel. Review by Chusin Crochette

 

"Life is like a carousel" is the third album from the group, Los Guajes, passionate garage revival and Spanish sounds of the 60's.
For recording the third album, Los Guajes have relied again on the demolishing machinery of the Circo Perrotti analog studies, and have been back in the hands of the great Jorge explosion, which runs music production.

 "Life is like a carousel" album at hand, is a clear example of the qualities of this consolidated combo. Still apply the immediacy and freshness of the beginning of the band, and does not stop the imagination to make his lyrics sung in authentic dramas,  Hispanics vaudevilles .Their songs can range from a pure exercise in style as "Nothing in the world" to the vibrant melodies of "Carousel" or "See you is like dying", without neglecting its most villain in songs such as "Employee of the home" or "Marcelino" and without sacrificing the rawness more garajera of its chords in "Poison" or "nerves",or approaches to the psychedelia of "Crazy" and "Fiesta", or musical landismo who demonstrate, in effect more than ever in "Afine guy." And of course, if you forget, his expertise in recovering the classics, which in this example demonstrates a superbmicrogrooves and risky version of "Is It True" by Brenda Lee.
All this, combined with the excellent artistic design of this LP by John Roller.

You can find more information about Los Guajes at the bands official website: HERE 

(Use the drop down box in the top right corner to select your language) 

Chusin Crochette is bass player with Mod/Power Pop band "Stanley Road" who you can check out HERE and HERE

The Kinks - The Great Lost Kinks Album (1973)

 

After posting the Arthur album yesterday I went off on a right Kinks trip playing all my vinyl albums back to back and wondered what I was missing in amongst all the general releases and bootlegs and after very little research I came across this, I wondered how I managed to miss it.....maybe the clue is in the title?

The Great Lost Kinks Album is an Unreleased Compilation Album by the British Rock Band The Kinks.

The Kinks changed Labels. From Reprise Records they jumped to the RCA Label. Losing The Kinks was of course a great revenue loss at the time, so Reprise in an attempt to continue to capitalize the name, released this compilation, unauthorized by the Band Members. It consists mostly of Songs discarded on some sessions, the ones who weren't removed ended up appearing in the Album The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, alias the name The Great Lost Kinks Album, was the name Fans gave to the Album that was supposed to be released in 1969 but ended up becoming the Village Green Preservation... But this is not the only source, some of them were recorded to appear in British TV and Films, and of course two songs from Singles. Davies and his crew only got to know of the existence of the Album when they saw it on the billboard Charts and they immediately sued the company, forcing Reprise Records to discontinue the Album in 1975. Of course right after this it became a Collector's Item, even though it stayed in circulation for 2 years. As the songs were recorded in a 4 year span it is hard to say who were the Members that participated in this Album. I'll just put the names of the Members of the Band that played at the Time.

Best Tracks - "Til Death Do Us Part", "Lavender Hill", "Rosemary Rose", "Mister Songbird", "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" and "Plastic Man". The Cover is pretty weird, and it isn't as good as most Kinks Covers. Some strange looking ghosts and some Neon Letters with the Name of the Band.

 

Listen: HERE

The Aerovons - Resurrection

 

The dozen songs that would have been on the Aerovons' album had it come out (though a couple of the songs did come out on a 1969 single) form the core of this release, Resurrection,the U.K. bonus edition also tacks on four bonus tracks. The Aerovons' unusual story -- a band from the American Midwest recording in Abbey Road in 1969, led and produced by their 17-year-old singer-songwriter -- might be the main reason there was interest in excavating these sessions, but this CD is not a mere curio. It's quite respectable late-'60s Beatles-style pop/rock, if a little green around the edges and pretty derivative. In fact, in a couple of spots it's downright imitative, with "Say Georgia" taking licks from "Oh! Darling," and "Resurrection" itself lifting from "Across the Universe." (Neither of those songs had yet been released by the Beatles at the time of the sessions, but the group heard them by virtue of working in Abbey Road.) Fortunately, those are the only blatant cops, though Beatles comparisons abound throughout, particularly in the Paul McCartney-esque piano-playing. Songs like "With Her" and "The Years" recall the acoustic outings of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney on The White Album, while "Bessie Goodheart" uses McCartney's more vaudevillian Sgt. Pepper-era outings as an obvious launching pad, and "Something of Yours" brings to mind "Michelle." To this list you could also add the very Lennon-esque echo on the vocal of "The Children." The Aerovons leaned more toward wistful and sadness-tinged moods than the Beatles did, though. One of the best tracks, "World of You," brings out that quality very well, recalling the better late-'60s orchestrated Bee Gees opuses. The bonus tracks include both sides of a non-LP 1969 single ("The Train," their poppiest number, which echoes both the Hollies and the Bee Gees), the outtake "Here" (very much like McCartney's piano ballads), and a demo of "World of You."  

Listen: HERE

The Kinks - 1969 - Arthur or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire

 

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) extends the British-oriented themes of Village Green Preservation Society, telling the story of a London man's decision to move to Australia during the aftermath of World War II. It's a detailed and loving song cycle, capturing the minutiae of suburban life, the numbing effect of bureaucracy, and the horrors of war. On paper, Arthur sounds like a pretentious mess, but Ray Davies' lyrics and insights have rarely been so graceful or deftly executed, and the music is remarkable. An edgier and harder-rocking affair than Village Green, Arthur is as multi-layered musically as it is lyrically. "Shangri-La" evolves from English folk to hard rock, "Drivin'" has a lazy grace, "Young and Innocent Days" is a lovely, wistful ballad, "Some Mother's Son" is one of the most uncompromising antiwar songs ever recorded, while "Victoria" and "Arthur" rock with simple glee. The music makes the words cut deeper, and the songs never stray too far from the album's subject, making Arthur one of the most effective concept albums in rock history, as well as one of the best and most influential British pop records of its era. [Castle's 1998 CD reissue of Arthur contained ten bonus tracks, including mono and stereo versions of the non-LP singles "Plastic Man," "Mindless Child of Motherhood," and "This Man He Weeps Tonight," mono versions of "Drivin'" and "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina," the B-side "King Kong," and the previously unreleased "Mr. Shoemakers Daughter."]  

 

Listen: HERE

The Mama's and the Papa's - 1966 - If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears

In the spring of 1966, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears represented a genuinely new sound, as fresh to listeners as the songs on Meet the Beatles had seemed two years earlier. Released just as "California Dreaming" was ascending the charts by leaps and bounds, it was the product of months of rehearsal in the Virgin Islands and John Phillips' discovery of what one could do to build a polished recorded sound in the studio -- it embraced folk-rock, pop/rock, pop, and soul, and also reflected the kind of care that acts like the Beatles were putting into their records at the time. "Monday, Monday" and "California Dreamin'" are familiar enough to anyone who's ever listened to the radio, and "Go Where You Wanna Go" isn't far behind, in this version or the very similar rendition by the Fifth Dimension. But the rest is mighty compelling even to casual listeners, including the ethereal "Got a Feelin'," the rocking "Straight Shooter" and "Somebody Groovy," the jaunty, torch song-style version of "I Call Your Name," and the prettiest versions of "Do You Wanna Dance" and "Spanish Harlem" that anyone ever recorded.

If the material here has a certain glow that the Mamas & the Papas' subsequent LPs lacked, that may be due in part to the extensive rehearsal and the exhilaration of their first experience in the studio, but also a result of the fact that it was recorded before the members' personal conflicts began interfering with their ability to work together. The work was all spontaneous and unforced here, as opposed to the emotional complications that had to be overcome before their next sessions.

Listen: HERE

SPLITSVILLE - THE COMPLETE PET SOUL

Splitsville's fourth album is a complete departure from anything the band had previously done. Originally recorded as a four-song EP to be given away as a sort of party favor at the first International Pop Overthrow festival in Los Angeles, the much-expanded The Complete Pet Soul is, as the title implies, a dual tribute to both Pet Sounds and Rubber Soul. On the original EP, the Pet Sounds influence came through more strongly, thanks to the heavily orchestrated feel, but on this full-length version, the orchestral tracks are nicely balanced with several new songs that recall the low-voltage, almost folk-rock sound that predominated on the original U.S. edition of Rubber Soul. Still, the Pet Sounds pastiche tracks are the real standouts simply for being done with such obvious affection and good humor, especially the swooning "Caroline Knows" and the almost Smile-like multi-part mini-operetta "The Love Songs of B. Douglas Wilson," which is the album's high point. Musically, it should have been the album's closing track, but instead, a cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" recorded for the soundtrack of the cheerleading film Bring It On is tacked on at the end. It doesn't quite match the mood of the rest of the album, and it's certainly not a patch on Dionne Warwick's version, so it's an odd, equivocal ending to an otherwise superb album.-AMG

Listen: HERE