The Club Is Closed

Things moved on - I got lazy and now post here: - 

picknmixed on instagram - my home page - family, books and music

My soundlink - my music only Insta page - each record has a link to the previous and the next

picknmixed blog - my blog on all things records and music from my career in the record business during the 70s and 80s - including working on Elvis; Bowie; Motown and my own label Blue Moves

David Bowie - Fame And Fashion RCA CD (1984)

Compilation from 1983, converted to CD in 1984 during the conversion of his catalogue to the new format.

For the Story of the First Bowie CDs ...Ever! see Here

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars RCA CD (1984)

The album that made everyone sit up.  The iconic shot under the K West sign in Heddon Street, London.  This has the whole package.  Great artwork, image, music at a time when Glam was about to go really pop this set a standard that others could only dream of.  Fantastic.  This is the CD cover from 1984.

See the Story of the First Bowie CDs...Ever! Here

David Bowie - changesonebowie RCA CD (1984)

An early best of Bowie but a soundtrack to the first half of the 70s as well.  Artwork followed standard of Station To Station and it works well.

The RCA Bowie CDs link

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane RCA CD (1984)

As a 15 year old in 1973 this was one of the releases we were waiting for, could he follow Ziggy?  Absolutely yes he could.  Remains my favourite Bowie album.  I converted it to CD in 1984 as part of the team at RCA.  There are two mistakes on the artwork (or possible misjudgements)  firstly moving the artist's name to the left hand side to accommodate the corporate RCA CD logo and secondly the (c) date on the back of the booklet and the inlay reads (c) 1981 when they should read (c)1973.

Billy Joel - Turnstiles (1976)

Billy Joel appeared on my radar via Capital Radio's much respected drive time show hosted by the late great Roger Scott. Billy had an earlier hit in"Piano Man" which I didn't really appreciate at the time. Scott was a true fan and plugged his favourites with great enthusiasm, sad that programming and the celeb "DJ" has put an end to that. So when "Moving Out (Anthony's Song) was issued it got heavy rotation on Capital. It was a good intro to what proved to be a great hit album ("The Stranger").

I discovered Turnstiles around the same time when my mother played her new, very different , Barbra Streisand album ("Superman"). One song "New York State Of Mind" really struck me and seeing Joel as the composer I looked for the album. It is bloody marvellous. Wonderful songs, "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" (later covered by Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band); "James" and; "Angry Young Man"; and obviously NYSOM.

Mid 70's singer songwriter stuff particularly American was getting a bad name (possibly rightfully so due to some bland west coast output). It seemed that Joel was part of a new generation. Not a hangover from the 60's but a new name (yes with a history but out of the mainstream and public eye here in the UK).  He was smooth but had an everyman approach.

He obviously went on to huge success after this via ("The Stranger") and "An Innocent Man"; has a great string of classic hits but behind it is a treasure of high crafted albums by someone well aware of not only the value of his various influencess but of the art of story telling - it' a great combination.
Start here and follow quickly with "The Stranger"; "An Innocent Man" and "Storm Front". If in doubt one of the many hits comps will convince- but my advice is go deeper via these albums in sequence and they'll remain favourites.

The Undisputed Truth - Face To Face With The Truth (1972)

 

You have to have this.

Norman Whitfield at his very best - giving this his second string his full attention and reinventing some Motown classics in his own way as a result.  This is Motown as soul not pop but the benefit is obvious.  The man reinvented the label after Holland Dozier Holland defected in my view - not that he wasn't succesful beforehand.

 

The stand out here is the slow burn of "What's Going On" (worth it for the really crying guitar track alone)  - how can anyone do this within a year of MPG and still deliver a definitive version.  Brave or just darn mad? but so good.  Other songs are familiar in name but differ in arrangement "Take Me In Your Arms" beautiful; "Heaven and Hell Right Here On Earth" poignant; "What It Is" a funky workout; "Superstar" surpasses Norman's take with the Temps (and for me that's saying something special).

 

You've got to have this record

Thank God It's Friday (1978)

This seems to have got better with age - a poor movie strung together with a few hits, some no hope tracks and some decent stuff.  A Casablanca double album with an additional 12" single of Donna Summer doing J'Taime (Moi Non Plus)  produced by her aces Moroder and Bellotte.  Other highlights are Natural Juices Floyd's Theme, Summer's stand alone hit "Last Dance" and Paul Jabara's pop hit "Trapped In A Stairway".  I have to say the billing for the movie as the next "Fever" was overdone but Casablanca still shifted van loads of this - swelling their ever draining funds (a complete other story - well documented in Larry Harris' label history "And Party Everyday").  Canny label heads got together with Gordy's Motown to co-produce the film, licensing hit tracks from Diana Ross, Thelma Houston and the Commodores to boost the set but basically the two and a half LPs were a stretch and a shorter highlights could have been a better seller.  The film is dire - watch it when wide awake or wanting of sleep!

Donna Summer RIP

Bill Withers - Just As I Am (1971)

Bill's debut. and what a way to start.  Gritty but danceable soul anthem "Harlem" together with the plaintive tender love song that is "Ain't No Sunshine".  His interpretations of "Let It Be" and "Everybody's Talkin" both stand up as he makes them his own.  To the fore are the personal writings of a regular guy whether talking about relationships with girls or recalling his "Grandma's Hands".  This later track would be covered by many, latterly on John Legend and The Roots "Wake Up" which was a faithful but full-on tribute to a classic.  I love "Do It Good" and "Hope She'll Be Happier With Him"

This is a great album which together with the follow-up "Still Bill" shows how to start a career - they still feature on my playlist with great regularity.  Both of these are available on CD and as a twofer on one CD from Raven Records.  If you don't have them you are missing out.

Another album from that classic year 1971

10cc - The Original Soundtrack (1973)

My favourite 10cc album - with "Second Sitting For The Last Supper" - an heavier track than you get with most 10cc fare.  What they were known for - fantastic 4 minute story telling is also featured here in the shape of one of the greatest British singles ever made - the classic "I'm Not In Love".  The mix of Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and Graham Gouldman was a foursome made in heaven and, whilst Stewart and Gouldman carried on the 10cc brand long after the other two went stage right (and had major hit success) the albums didn't meet this standard.  This, "How Dare You" and "Sheet Music" are full on albums and have to be heard in their entirety.  The later ones, Especially "Deceptive Bends" came close but were more patchy in my view.  The suite "One Night In Paris" is their Bohemian Rhapsody (before such a thing existed - maybe they paved the way) and they deserve recognition for producing a string of well written, fantastically produced and complete pop albums - which progressed with each new release.  Start with "Sheet Music" but get to this treat fast.

Mercury/PhonoGram
CD has two additional tracks

Lianne La Havas - Forget (2012)

The Forget EP from the beautiful Lianne la Havas.  More...

Lianne La Havas - Lost and Found (2011)

The wonderful Ms La Havas debut EP - as played on Later.. (available on YouTube) or via her website
More...

Robert Palmer - Double Fun (1978)

He's at it again - I really like that we can expect a great story type cover from these releases.

Now, if you were going to buy just one RP album this is the one I would recommend.  It has all the funk playing and soulful singing of the earlier three (see below) and the strings and arrangements learnt from playing and recording with the best.  The story goes that these tracks were recorded mostly then remixed by Tom Moulton (who would around this time remix a lot of Philly soul for the dance crowd, also see Gloria Gaynor) - so much was his influence that Tom ended up with the producer credit on many of these final cuts.  I'd like to hear the originals as they would show just how far Palmer had got with his mission to deliver US funk (is there any other kind) in a British way.

No end of great racks here, Andy Fraser's "Every Kinda People" and title track "Best Of Both Worlds" continues the theme with the rockier "You're Gonna Get What's Coming" and a fine version of the Kink's "You Really Got Me ".  "You Overwhelm Me" brings on strings in the Gene Page vein.  One of those albums I have to play in it's entirety - not just a recommend on this one - just go and get it - now!

footnote: Much of Palmer's career, certainly the early albums in this run of posts, features in the book - Are We Still Rolling? by Engineer and Palmer's friend, Phill Brown

Robert Palmer - Some People Can Do What They Like (1976)

Makes great music and gives great covers - this one features strip poker win with Playboy gril Denise Michele.  Third in the trio of southern soul funk influenced albums that broke the mould for british soul boys - no one from these shores had done this sort of work before.  Little Feat were there again alongside stUnfortunately under appreciated in the face of later sounds of "Clues" (electronics) and "Secrets" (soft rock) and "Riptide" (80s power pop) - all good but working through the history of RPs releases is a quality journey worth embarking upon.  Of the three this was the point where he needed to change - it's good but the songs aren't so immediate.  The change was good as next came "Double Fun"....

Robert Palmer - Pressure Drop (1975)

Here's Robert Palmer in early cool.  Another of his LP covers with some aspect of sex in it - this  would be a feature of his sets for Island.  This, his second, album continues on the same vein as "Sneakin'" and takes it a bit further.  The basic tracks were recorded around during the same period as that excellent first album.  Thi has the benefit of Gene Page arranged strings (known for his work with Barry White).  My favourites here are "Work To Make It Work"; Give Me An Inch"; "Back In My Arms" and; "Which Of Us Is The Fool?" engineered by Phill Brown and produced by Steve Smith.  Lowell George and Little Feat feature again. I came across this in a library in Camden along with an early Vinegar Joe album which of course featured RP and Elkie Brooks on vocals.  Highly recommended.  Give Me An Inch has been covered but never surpassed.

Robert Palmer - Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley (1974)

My first knowledge of Robert Palmer the solo artist was from hearing a great band play the first three tunes from this in the Green Man pub in Leytonstone.  It was a favourite place at weekends in the 70s and the quality was very high.  In "74 the house band played "Sailing Shoes", "Sneaking Sally" and "Hey Julia" as one long sequed medley in their set - just as it can be found here.  I thank them for the introduction as this and subsequent albums from Mr Palmer are amongst my favourites.  The base tracks were recorded at Muscle Shoals, in Alabama, in New Orleans with members of the Meters and, with Lowell George of Little Feat - what a way to start.  The feel of this is soundly a British white soul album and with the class of musicians involved and Palmer (and producer Steve Smith's) vision of how it should be - the results are amazing.  The original tracks are from an initial list of songs which also bacame the base for the follow-up  "Pressure Drop" - another gem.  Phill Brown's Book - "Are We Still Rolling?" - narrates the recording of these two albums and informs the idea of a quest for the right feel and sound for this Yorkshire boy making fabulous american music in his own way.  This was actually quite ground breaking in it's straightforward approach - I was a soul fan who did think that white men could sing the blues - if ever i needed evidence this was there waiting.

Seek this and his others out in their original forms - as albums - and forget all those compilations of Palmer's work.

A note on the artwork - aparently the cover shot was taken in the middle of the night in the Heathrow airport tunnel with the photographer hanging out of the back of a pick up.  Palmer fans would see him wearing that rocket/bullet belt in various shots and get used to the Robert with beautiful woman covers - this was long before the image projected by the "Addicted To Love" video.

Island Records

Man On The Moon (1969)

To commemorate the first moon landings in July 1969 Philips put out a single via the Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK.  This included the radio transmissions from the moon and included the welcome back; the Kennedy speech committing the US to go to the moon within a decade; the first words from the surface "One small step..." etc.  The pack includes graphics of the trip (a Map!); schematics of the Saturn 5 rocket and the various stages  of seperation to the Command and service modules and the LEM itself.  This was rushed out and (I was told) issued within three weeks of the astronauts return.

Combines my two main interests at the time - records and space travel!

Philips Special Projects - 88457 DE

45Cat - Man On The Moon

Marvin Gaye Live At The London Palladium (1977)

This is from the later dates added to the original tour of Sepember 1976.  I was lucky enough to attend the first gig at the Royal Albert Hall and so this has a special importance for me (see Review). This represents the last tour Marvin made in the UK.  It was just before his exile to Belgium and subsequent return to the top of the charts with "Sexual Healing" and his eventual return home to the USA - their were a couple of tours stateside after this.

The album runs the career of Marvin through his original solo hit; his duets period and the later, more mature "What's Going On" through "I Want You " albums.  The live set fills three of the four sides here with the the final side gien over to a full length version of the later hit "Got To Give It Up".

the full tracklisting is:-

1. Intro

2. All The Way 'round

3. Since I Had You

4. Come Get To This

5. Let's Get It On

6. Trouble Man

7. Medley #1

Ain't That Peculiar/Wonderful One/

Stubborn Kind Of Fellow/Pride and Joy/

Little Darling/Grapevine/Hitchhike/

You/Too Busy Thinking 'Bout May Baby/

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

8. Medley #2

Inner City Blues/God Is Love/What's Going On/Save The Children

9. Medley #3 (with Florence Lyles)

You're All I Need To Get By/Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing/

Your Precious Love/It Takes Two/Ain't No Mountain High Enough

10. Distant Lover

11. Closing Theme

12. Got To Give It Up (studio 11'.54")

It is a good live album, a good record of a long and varied career and with a whopping bonus of the studio track - a worthwhile find.

This was released as a double album in 1977 and

then as a single CD in 1986 (orginal number ZD 72213) - the art was scanned of the Cd

Gloria Gaynor - Never Can Say Goodbye (1975)

The great disco album of 1975 - this was a game changing album which was a pre-cursor for the genre to come - long instrumental passages with the song in their somewhere.  It's said that Gloria wasn't best pleased when she heard the results (due to her lack of presence for most of the time) but she was wrong this is a great album particularly side A which features just sublime disco versions of Reach Out, Honey Bee and Never Can Say Goodbye.  Here's a radio interview with her and producer Tom Moulton about the making of this.

Extract from Norman Jay's BBC "Story Of Disco" part two  

There is a CD release on this with a number of added songs - worth every penny (probably cent as you'll end up getting from the US)

Here's a review of the LP when released in 1975 from Blues and Soul.

 UK: MGM 2315 321

(cover shown is US version but same art was used - see my second hand purchase price!)

Avoiding The Bleedin' Obvious

On reviewing my posts over the last year or so I realise that, for some reason, I have avoided my ultimate must have records from this blog.  My intention was to post about sleeves that I have that are potentially lost and possibly rare or where I have a personal story to tell around them.  I acknowledge that nothing is infinitely gone these days as a constant search on the internet tends to turn things up at some point.  But I have shied away from some of own personal heroes and favourites as they are, well obvious. This is going to change so expect lots of Motown, Philly, Stax, Atlantic etc etc...