The MOD Generation

The MOD Generation-
Reviewer:Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances is an amazingly fine (and fun) collection of mid- to late-'60s appropriate U.K. rock & roll — amazing because it succeeds despite the fact that neither the Who nor the Move, the two bands most closely associated with mod culture, are represented among its 18 songs. On the other hand, the makers have reached out to some less familiar and less often heard songs even on the best-known bands here, and the result is a quirky, clever, often surprising body of music. The Small Faces, who were very closely associated with the mods, are present, but not with one of their soft psychedelic hits — rather, they're represented by "Get Yourself Together," a deceptively defiant piece of songwriting, filled with crunchy guitar, hot drum fills, and lots of attitude. And it's sandwiched between Action's white hot "I'll Keep on Holding On" and Carnaby's crunchy, searing "Jump and Dance," with the Kinks' feedback-laden "I Need You" as the chaser. John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers' "I'm Your Witchdoctor" always showed a surprising stylistic flourish, for a group that was often too studied and practiced for its own good, and Chris Farlowe showed himself a more than competent soul shouter (with Albert Lee handling the guitar fills) on "Treat Her Good." "Michael (The Lover)" by Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band should have been a transatlantic soul hit, and Jimmy James & the Vagabonds show their most authentically soulful side on "This Heart of Mine." P.P. Arnold had no problems with authenticity, being American born and raised, and "If You See What I Mean" is a great showcase for her voice. Jess Roden never had a better showcase for his singing than "Emergency 999" by the Alan Bown Set, which belatedly became a Northern Soul standard — David Bowie also had to wait a long time after "I Dig Everything" to find an audience. Smoke's "We Can Take It" is almost as catchy as their one actual hit, "My Friend Jack," and seems to define the youthful defiance of the mods. "Circles" by Les Fleur de Lys decked out in flashy lead guitar by sessionman Jimmy Page, is actually a more ambitious rendition of the song than the Who's original version. And the Clique do an amazingly good job of putting over a song with the impossible title of "We Didn't Kiss We Didn't Love but Now We Do," mostly by energetic repetition of the central riff with some sense of purpose. "Baby Don't You Do It," which later became an important part of the Who's sets, gets energized as a screaming rocker by the Poets, while the Spectres, soon to metamorphose into Status Quo, are pretty impressive in this company with "Neighbour, Neighbour." And Timebox brings an offbeat jazz coloration to these surroundings with "Soul Sauce," which recalls the early work of Manfred Mann.




1 I'll Keep on Holding On Action 3:40
2 Get Yourself Together Small Faces 2:14
3 Jump and Dance Carnaby 2:37
4 I Need You Kinks 2:24
5 I'm Your Witchdoctor John Mayall ... 2:11 Performed by: John Mayall, Mayall, John & the Bluesbreakers
6 Treat Her Good Chris Farlowe 1:57
7 Michael (The Lover) Geno Washington ... 2:27 Performed by: Geno Washington, Ram Jam Band
8 This Heart of Mine Jimmy James, Vagabonds 2:28
9 If You See What I Mean P.P. Arnold 2:08
10 Emergency 999 Bown, Alan Set 2:29
11 I Dig Everything David Bowie 2:43
12 We Can Take It Smoke 2:44
13 Circles (Instant Party) Fleur De Lys 3:03
14 We Didn't Kiss We Didn't Love but Now We Do Clique 2:34
15 Baby Don't You Do It Poets 2:26
16 You've Got What I Want Sorrows 1:59
17 Neighbour, Neighbour Spectres 2:44
18 Soul Sauce Timebox 2:57


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Small Faces - BBC Sessions

The Small Faces - BBC Sessions (UK 1965-1968)

The Decca years

They signed a management contract with impresario Don Arden and they were in turn signed to Decca Records for recording. They released a string of classic high-energy mod/soul singles on the label.

Their debut single was 1965's "What'cha Gonna Do About It", a minor hit. The follow-up, "I've Got Mine", failed to chart. Winston was ousted, replaced by the more experienced Ian McLagan (ex-Artwoods) and they returned to the charts with "Sha-La-La-La-Lee", a major hit in England. Their first album, Small Faces was a considerable success. They rapidly rose in popularity with each chart success, became regulars on British pop TV shows, and toured incessantly up and down the country. Their popularity peaked in August 1966 when "All Or Nothing" hit the top of the UK charts, which proved to be their only Number One.

But by 1966, despite being one of the highest earning live acts in the country and scoring several Top 40 hits, the band had almost nothing to show for their efforts. After a messy confrontation with the notorious Arden (who tried to face down the boys' parents by claiming that the whole band were addicted to heroin) they broke with both Arden and Decca.

Size: 59,7 mB
Bit Rate: 192 kB

Tracks:

01. Watcha Gonna Do About It
02. Jump Back
03. Baby Don't You Do it
04. Shake
05. Sha La La La Lee
06. You Need Loving
07. Hey Girl
08. E Too D
09. One Night Stand
10. You'd Better Believe It
11. Understanding
12. All Or Nothing
13. If I Were a Carpenter
14. Lazy Sunday
15. Every Little Bit Hurts
16. Interview - Small Faces/Steve Marriott
17. Interview - Small Faces/Steve Marriott
18. Interview - Small Faces/Steve Marriott
19. Interview - Small Faces/Steve Marriott
20. Interview - Small Faces/Kenney Jones

The Small Faces - BBC Sessions (UK 1965-1968)

The Birds(Australia)

The story is, two British musicians, guitarist Terry Clarkeand bassist Brian Curtis, emigrated down under in 1969 and laying claim to being members of (Ronnie Wood's) Birds, signed to Clarion Records, they even cut the real Birds' 'No Good Without You'.

1. I Can't Let Maggie Go

2. No Good Without You

3. I See The Rain

4. Rene

5. Magic Words

6. Dust In My Pants

The Birds - Clarion Singles Collection

Mod Scene Volume 1

The Mod Scene (1962-1968)

This 25-song CD is much more than just an excursion into the farther reaches of English Decca Records' vaults — it's also a de facto tour of the playlists of some of England's hottest mod clubs of the mid-/late '60s; hardly a sound on this collection ever made it anywhere near a chart listing, anywhere in the U.K. (much less the U.S.A.), but a lot of what is here did get picked up locally in London among the mods that made up the audiences of most of these bands.
Considering how badly England's Decca Records fared in the middle-late 1960's (apart from the Rolling Stones, the Small Faces, and the Moody Blues) in signing really solid acts, this is an astonishingly good collection of soul-influenced, mod-oriented singles from the company's vaults.
A few of the acts included, such as the Small Faces, Tom Jones, St. Louis Union, Chris Farlowe, and the Amen Corner, made some kind of splash on the charts, but most of the musicians here got their chance on these single sides, failed to find success, and disappeared into the mist of musical history.

The CD jumps headfirst into the kind of hard-rocking, intense soul numbers that were played to death in London' mod clubs, even if they never scraped even the lower reaches of the charts. The sound on these singles tells you right away why most of these groups were never going to make it as world-class recording acts, being too raw and direct — without the distinctive hooks to get more than a listen from any radio deejays. By themselves, the Ronnie Jones track, coupled with those by Tom Jones, Steve Aldo, Graham Gouldman, Poets, the Eyes of Blue, and the Quik, justify the cost of this $20 import.

The sound is excellent throughout, and it's also reassuring on some level to learn from the notes that Decca is digging so deeply into its vaults that these acts are nearly as obscure to the people producing this compilation as they are to us.
(amg)


If you wanna be a MOD - then you have to download this!!
See you later.

Tamanho: 112 mB
Bit Rate: 224 kB

Faixas:

01. Bert's apple crumble - The Quik
02. Make her mine - Hipster Image
03. That's the way it's gotta be - The Poets
04. How could you say one thing - The Wards Of Court
05. Stop stop stop (or honey I'll be gone) - Graham Gouldman
06. If your love don't swing - Alan Kelly
07. Girl don't let me wait - Timebox
08. Lovingly yours - Mockingbirds
09. Expressway to your heart - Amen Corner
10. We don't know - The Attack
11. Air travel - Chris Farlowe
12. Little girl - Graham Bond Organisation
13. Just one more chance - The Outer Limits
14. I need your lovin' - Ronnie Jones & The Nightimers
15. Grow your own - Small Faces
16. Walking the dog - Zoot Money's Big Roll Band
17. Baby what you want me to do - Steve Aldo
18. Dr Love - Tom Jones
19. It's not what you do - Jimmy Winston & His Reflections
20. Elbow baby - The Habits
21. Beg me - The Score
22. That's it - Loose Ends
23. East side story - St. Louis Union
24. There you go - Paul Ryan & Barry
25. Supermarket full of cans - Eyes Of Blue

The Mod Scene (1962-1968)

The Paramounts - White shades of R&B

Reviewed by Patrick Earley (Edmond, Oklahoma USA), from amazon.com

f you like early R&B music mixed with a bit of rock and roll twist, you've come to the right place. The best way I can describe the Paramounts sound is basically the Dave Clark Five on a good day meets Otis Redding lite. The singing of Gary Brooker here is what really makes this thing go. His piano playing isn't bad either. As for Robin Trower, who looks like he's 12 years old in some of the photos in this, his guitar is nowhere to be found except for the last song on here called "Freedom". They let the kid loose on this song to do a little soloing along with some nice organ work for a bluesy song that's way different than anything on here. Besides this song though, this is a vocal album all the way. As for the songs: Their first single was a decent version of Poison Ivy. They do a killer version of "Little Bitty Pretty One" and "A Certain Girl" which was the B-side to this, that I remember Warren Zevon later covered. I also liked Jackie de Shannon's "Blue Ribbons". But I liked the B-side even better, "Cuttin' In" which has been covered by many blues and R&B artists over the years including the hot new blues talent Sean Costello. There's a lot of covers here, mainly because Brooker hadn't figured out yet that there was money in songwriting. But Brooker credits his good friend Guy Stevens and his extensive collection of obscure R&B records that he used to listen to and then perform live at the local club the Shades. Of course Stevens later went on to become the most legendary producer in rock music history. The Paramounts were one of the first white bands to perform R&B on stage. Even before the Stones got a hold of it. It's not great R&B, I mean it's white guys doing black music. But they don't embarass themselves either, like the very white Pat Boone did back then attempting to do this stuff. I'm just filing this one in P next to my Procol Harum as a reminder that everybody had to start somewhere. For Brooker, Wilson, Trower and Co. this was a good beginning.

Tracks:

1. Poison Ivy
2. I Feel Good All Over
3. Little Bitty Pretty One
4. A Certain Girl
5. I'm The One Who Loves You
6. It Won't Be Long
7. Bad Blood
8. Do I
9. Blue Ribons
10. Cuttin' In
11. You Never Had It So Good
12. Doncha Like My Love
13. Draw Me Closer
14. Turn On Your Lovelight
15. You've Got What I Want
16. Freedom

The Paramounts - White shades of R&B

HEY

I am back.

Did you miss me?

I got news!

I will repost almost all the albums once posted here and.. and then... I will keep working on it.

That's it.

See you around.

Get Away With The Very Best Of

Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames

Reviewer: amazon.com

Unique 14 Track Anthology of the Recording Heyday of the British Blues/Jazz Oriented Rocking Keyboardist (And Longtime Associate of Van Morrison) who Created a Major Chart Hit with "Yeh Yeh". He Followed with a Plethora of Albums and Great Renditions of Booker T and the Mg's "Green Onions", "Let the Good Times Roll", "Baby Please Don't Go" and Many More. This Volume is a Great Budget Collection of his Best.

1. Yeh Yeh
2. Green Onions
3. Let the Good Times Roll
4. Sitting in the Park
5. Funny How Time Slips Away
6. Shop Around
7. Baby Please Don't Go
8. Get Away
9. Eso Beso
10. In the Meantime
11. Sunny
12. Ride Your Pony
13. Night Train
14. I Love the Life I Live




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The Redskins

The Redskins - Neither Washington Nor Moscow


This group of socialist skinheads released this stirring, if strident, mix of R&B, punk, ska and swing-a-billy in 1986. They broke the mould with a completely unique style of music, keeping the Punk ethos and fusing it with classic Soul of Motown and elements of The Clash and The Jam. Choice cuts (and leftist recruitment slogans) include "It Can Be Done," "Kick Over the Statues," "The Power is Yours" and "Lean On Me." Yep, that's a still from the famed Soviet film Battleship Potemkin on the cover!


Size: 72 Mb
Bit Rate: 160 Kbps


Tracks:

1. Power Is Yours

2. Kick Over The Statues

3. Go Get Organized

4. It Can Be Done

5. Keep On Keepin' On

6. Bring It Down (This Insane Thing)

7. Hold On (Don't Run Away)

8. Turnin' Loose (These Furious Flames)

9. Take No Heroes

10. Let's Make It Work

11. Lean On Me

12. Keep On Keepin' On

13. Sixteen Tons

14. Reds Strike The Blues

15. 99 And A Half Won't Do

The Redskins - Neither Washington Nor Moscow