Quote: Horseradish @ September 12 2013, 7:05 PM BSTJimmy Scott - On Broadway
What an astonishing voice; a new artist to me. Thanks.
Quote: Horseradish @ September 12 2013, 10:00 PM BSTPentateuch - Kingston
I did not know anyone was still making roots reggae like that. Terrific.
Quote: Tursiops @ September 12 2013, 10:34 PM BSTWhat an astonishing voice; a new artist to me. Thanks.
He is an extraordinary singer. Apparently his voice, quote, "is due to Kallmann's syndrome, a very rare genetic condition. The condition stunted his growth at four feet eleven inches until, at the age of 37, he grew another 8 inches to five feet seven inches. The condition prevented him from reaching puberty, leaving him with a high, undeveloped voice, hence his nickname "Little" Jimmy Scott." Today he is a young 88.
I was pleased that you liked the John St Field track. That album "Control" is the first by Jackie Leven - with St Field as a pseudonym - recorded in 1971 and released in Spain in 1975. I was vaguely aware of Jackie in the late 1970s/early 1980s when he headed up Doll By Doll. The band was terribly underrated by the music press because he wouldn't kowtow, either being vilified or ignored. I came across his solo work around 2007 although it had commenced in the mid 1990s. Almost immediately, he became one of my ten favourite artists of all time. Not to be placed as highly as Dylan and Morrison but only very marginally one step further down.
Quote: Horseradish @ September 10 2013, 10:16 PM BSTGreen Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends
The video kind of killed that one for me.
Quote: Horseradish @ September 12 2013, 10:42 PM BSTI was pleased that you liked the John St Field track. That album "Control" is the first by Jackie Leven - with St Field as a pseudonym - recorded in 1971 and released in Spain in 1975.
Ah ha! Long time admirer of Jackie; his songs are great but his anecdotes are even better!
Quote: Tursiops @ September 12 2013, 10:44 PM BSTAh ha! Long time admirer of Jackie; his songs are great but his anecdotes are even better!
But you know that sadly he is no longer with us? A great bloke who went through an awful lot as well as being a fantastic artist. I have never been so disappointed not to have been to a concert of someone since Jeff Buckley and before him The Clash. Well, Nina Simone too but she was very variable towards the end.
Jackie Leven - Classic Northern Diversions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APNVVMp0AF0
Quote: Tursiops @ September 9 2013, 11:39 PM BST
Loved this one.
Quote: Tursiops @ September 10 2013, 1:08 PM BST
Interesting. From the great music year of 1970 and apparently a new, second, album is due soon. She is working at exactly the same pace as the Aerovons. In comparison, the Stone Roses were like lightning.
Quote: Horseradish @ September 12 2013, 10:47 PM BSTBut you know that sadly he is no longer with us? A great bloke who went through an awful lot as well as being a fantastic artist. I have never been so disappointed not to have been to a concert of someone since Jeff Buckley and before him The Clash. Well, Nina Simone too but she was very variable towards the end.
Jackie Leven - Classic Northern Diversions
I had not heard about Jackie 
Saw him live a couple of times; an entertainer who spun his wry humour from a life dogged by tragedy and a poet whose songs had an aching beauty.
Quote: Chappers @ September 9 2013, 10:47 PM BSTAnd his brother Tam Paton managed the Bay City Rollers.
He was a diabolical bloke. I hadn't realised he and David were related.
Quote: george roper @ September 11 2013, 12:36 AM BSTOur House - Crosby Stills etc - http://youtu.be/c7goifK_2qY
I've always loved that song - plus there is a nice OFAH connection.
Quote: JohnnyD @ September 11 2013, 10:32 AM BST
Bill Fay - a good artist who really got his career back on track last year.
Quote: Tursiops @ September 12 2013, 11:28 PM BSTI had not heard about Jackie
Saw him live a couple of times; an entertainer who spun his wry humour from a life dogged by tragedy and a poet whose songs had an aching beauty.
Sorry to break that news to you and I am pleased you got to see him. It must have been a treat. I can't think of any writer in music who has been able to convey the male condition so well. There was a rawness to his lyrics that no one else would dare trying, knowing that it would come across as soppy or self-pitying, but in his capable hands it worked. Springsteen is the only one with a similar ability. Dylan, the master, is more posturing and defiant. Nick Drake, who was excellent on two albums, was more of a conventional poet.
Jackie's gypsy roots gave him a sense of isolation when growing up in Scotland. I think he was in the same town as Gordon Brown. He in essence remained a gypsy and he was always something of an outsider but culturally he was astute. That first album, largely forgotten, captures 1971 as well as any other record. You can almost breathe that era when listening to it. It's wholly organic. In contrast, Doll By Doll were described as ferocious and even very frightening live. A difficult band to place, there was definitely a punky, new wave thing to them even if the critics dismissed them as rockist. And I can hear a bit of Thin Lizzy in them too. I guess there are comparisons with Phil Lynott. By the fourth album in 1982, they were disillusioned. It's synth-folk and indie disco. On paper, awful, but there are some really extraordinary and classic moments.
As you will know, he was then attacked in a violent assault which left him unable to speak and turned to heroin. He cured his addiction with alternative therapies before becoming a charity mate of Princess Diana. The last thing he was, though, was a creature of celebrity. That was one of the reasons why he was cruelly overlooked. And then those solo albums, released independently each year. The intelligent, emotional and sometimes strange lyrics; the complex and unusual arrangements; a voice that was among the best of all time. It is an awesome body of work and, as there is so much of it, I'm still investigating it. It is just like having a favourite author. Plus as you rightly suggest, he was also brilliant at very humourous anecdotes.
That he was stuck in later years on the folk circuit, great as it can be, was simply ridiculous. There is no doubt in my mind that he was one of the best Britain has ever produced. His death was a big loss to music.
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines purely out of curiosity after reading the I read news today oh boy! thread.
The brunette is a candidate for the Who do you fancy? thread, but the song is meh at best.
Change Is Now by The Byrds
Quote: Tursiops @ September 13 2013, 4:13 PM BSTRobin Thicke - Blurred Lines purely out of curiosity after reading the I read news today oh boy! thread.
The brunette is a candidate for the Who do you fancy? thread, but the song is meh at best.
This.
It's the Daily Star as if it had been in a washing machine and lost its dye. Contrast with, say, "Loco" by Fun Lovin' Criminals and marvel how the latter is full of life. Sure, that too was designed with money in mind.
In this, though, each component has been calculated in a boardroom for potential profit. The two blokes in the video are tax saving advisers. The women probably represent his father's three wives.
In other respects, it is how George Michael would be if he was a successful stockbroker and happily married with kids, ie a bloke who couldn't write a tune to save his life. And it's a lesson. A lesson in how those who are raised in a soulless celebrity mansion can only ever reproduce its charmless, cynical vibe.
Next....................! 
Quote: Horseradish @ September 13 2013, 12:02 AM BSTIt is an awesome body of work and, as there is so much of it, I'm still investigating it.
Indeed, and for me that includes his work with Doll by Doll, which I have yet to touch on.
There is no doubt in my mind that he was one of the best Britain has ever produced. His death was a big loss to music.
Most definitely.
Quote: Tursiops @ September 13 2013, 5:39 PM BSTIndeed, and for me that includes his work with Doll by Doll, which I have yet to touch on.
"Gypsy Blood" for the typical rock output of Doll By Doll. I posted the magical "Stripshow" many weeks ago. You will like the folk classic "Main Travelled Roads" from the mainly experimental eponymous fourth. Also on that album is this track which is different from everything else they did. It is as bizarre as it is impressive and might have been the closest they got to success. I can't emphasise enough that it isn't at all typical of them. But, if I had ever been asked to DJ in a club, which I wasn't, I would have played it every night.
Doll By Doll - Caritas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6kCGa7TCnw
Oh to hell with it, I will post "Stripshow" again because it is a brilliant lost classic. Should have been a No 1.
Doll By Doll - Stripshow
Quote: lofthouse @ September 1 2013, 9:39 PM BSTBrecklands Dawn chorus (part III)
I like that one. It's quite a leap then to GBH and the 4-Skins. I haven't a clue about The Harpoon!
Quote: JohnnyD @ September 12 2013, 11:02 AM BST
Nilsson had a unique talent. I didn't know Amaryllis or Fields so checked then out. The first few tracks of the album you mentioned by the first and a track called "Three Minstrels" by the second. I preferred Amaryllis as they were more unusual. When the guy sang, he reminded me of Gordon Lightfoot. Overall, I thought they sounded like the forerunners to Irish band The Big Geraniums and especially the rather good Tunng. I see that Fields were linked to King Crimson and Rare Bird and that one member went onto Greenslade.
Quote: George Kaplan @ September 3 2013, 12:03 PM BSTCharlotte Gainsbourg - The Operation
Very French - and cool. I listened to a couple of tracks by Swim Deep. They reminded me a little of MGMT.
Quote: Ben @ September 8 2013, 7:05 AM BSTThe new Arcade Fire single:
http://www.music411blog.com/2013/09/hear-new-arcade-fire-song-two-days-early.html
Sounds a bit like Metronomy. And I like it.
A great band. Not sure yet what to make of this song. I think it sounds a bit like the Human League but also agree with you on Metronomy. I liked the seaside feel of their track "The Look". The Nick Drake song was very nice. My favourites by him will always be the ones with Robert Kirby's magnificent string arrangements.
