991.com brings you this week's excerpts from the R.C. Weekly Newsletter...
Email [email protected] to receive the full unedited version every week for free!
*****
We are hurtling towards press day like Usain Bolt going down Mount Snowdon, on ice. With greased trainers. Or something. And what an issue this will be, what with a massive, in-detail interview with Ray Davies of The Kinks and a major tribute to the late and great Jon Lord. Plus we meet the greatest soul group of all time, and I’m not talking about Kiss, who also feature. It’s gonna be a classic, but there’s still lots to do before it gets packed off to the printers at the end of the week. Like… find out what a, uh, rubber pony is (see Mark Stewart, below). We did, but we don’t fancy it much, frankly. So much to learn, so little time…
It’s not been a week of great record finds for me, mostly because I blew all my spare cash at the start of the month, so I don’t dare look! Although luckily a few decent CDs are satisfying my hunger for new (if old) music. Tickling my fancy most is Ace’s Action!, which features 26 songs from Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart. If that sounds like bubblegum to you, you are partly right, although it’s the best kind – The Monkees’ Valleri, and the theme from their TV show (how much must Boyce & Hart have made from that?!), plus The Standells’ version of Clarksville, which I am lucky enough to have on vinyl, and The Flies’ cut of I’m Not Your Stepping Stone, which I don’t. There’s also Gary Lewis & The Playboys and The Shangri-Las (The Dum Dum Ditty – imagine writing a lyric like that and expecting people to sing it). But it’s all very fresh on the ear and not totally cheesy. In fact, one of my favourite sides of the 60s is here from the great soul dramatists Little Anthony & The Imperials. Of course, it’s almost impossible to do a lousy version of this tune and I remember this cover being used somewhere on Radio 1 during the 60s – but I don’t know on which show. If anyone does, I’d be glad to hear about it [email protected]
Another fantastic release – in fact, an entire set of – is the latest five reissues from Rory Gallagher, due out on 1 October but sent into the office as promos last week. They include Photo-Finish, Top Priority and Jinx, but I’m particularly taken with the first two, the wonderful Against The Grain (1975) and Calling Card (’76). Compare his playing to that of our current cover star, Jimi Hendrix, and there’s hardly a top E string’s width between them. Best of all, Sony/Capo aren’t just doing CD and download, they’ve pressed them up on vinyl, the way they were built to be heard. These records rock, and even more so on black plastic.
I’d better let you get on with it. Hope you have a good week,
Best,
Ian
|
IN
THE CURRENT ISSUE
|
 |
 |
|
Kris
Needs
on the
making of Hendrix's |
Recent Comments