Charlie Gillett - Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin from The Blasters

This tape sounds a little better despite it's age . Mid 80's I would guess. City Beats 32 is all it says on the cassette.  I was never very good at documenting anything which I much regret now ofcourse.  Dave and Phil chat about their latest record and play some stuff they like.

Wikipedia says  -  "The Blasters are a rock and roll band formed in 1979 in Downey, California, by brothers Phil Alvin (vocals and guitar) and Dave Alvin (guitar), withbass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman. Phil Alvin explained the origin of the band's name: "I thought Joe Turner’s backup band on Atlantic records – I had these 78s – I thought they were the Blues Blasters. That ends up it was Jimmy McCracklin. I just took the 'Blues' off and Joe finally told me, that’s Jimmy McCracklin’s name, but you tell ‘im I gave you permission to steal it."

Their self-described "American Music" was a blend of blues, rockabilly, early rock and roll, punk rock, mountain music, and rhythm and blues. They have a devoted fan base and have received largely positive critical reviews, but have earned only limited mainstream success. Critic Mark Deming wrote of them, "the Blasters displayed a wide-ranging musical diversity [and] were a supremely tight and tasteful band with enough fire, smarts, and passion for two or three groups."

Charlie Gillett  -  The Blasters  Pt. 1

Charlie Gillett  -  The Blasters  Pt.2

Slade Flexidisc

A flexidisc from the early 70's given away with 19 magazine to publicise the release of Slade's "Something Old Something New Something Borrowed Something Blue" album.................................................................................. Wikipedia says - "Slade are a British rock band from Wolverhampton/Walsall, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles. They were the first act to have three singles enter at number one, and all six of the band's chart-toppers were penned by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea. Total UK sales stand at 6,520,171, and their best selling single, "Merry Xmas Everybody", has sold in excess of one million copies. Following an unsuccessful move to the United States in 1975, the band's popularity waned but was unexpectedly revived in 1980 when they were last minute replacements for Ozzy Osbourne at the Reading Rock Festival. The band later acknowledged this to have been one of the highlights of their career. The original line up split in 1992 but the band reformed the following year as Slade II. The band has continued, with a number of line-up changes, to the present day. They have now shortened the group name back to Slade. A number of diverse artists have cited Slade as an influence, including 90s icons Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, punk pioneers The Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Undertones, The Runaways and The Clash, glam followers Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Poison and Def Leppard and pop-rock stalwarts The Replacements, Cheap Trick and Oasis. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Music tells of Holder's powerful vocals, guitarist Dave Hill's equally arresting dress sense and the deliberate misspelling of their song titles for which they became well known.".............................................................................. Slade - 19 Flexidisc.

The Standells

Had this LP in my collection for years - probably a Cheshire Street market find from the 70's or 80's. I uploaded some tracks once before so time I did so again. Obviously a band who were highly regarded at the time but almost forgotten now except by a few fans of 60's "garage bands".

"The Standells were formed in 1962 by guitarist Tony Valentino and organist Larry Tamblyn. The early line-up included Gary Lane on bass and drummer Gary Leeds, who would later find more success with the Walker Brothers. Leeds was eventually replaced by former Mousketeer Dick Dodd. As for the name the band chose, they would later tell Dick Clark on American Bandstand, they were just "standing around" one day, trying to think up a name for the band. The quartet became a leading attraction in Los Angeles night-spots and recorded some weak selling albums and singles for Liberty, MGM, and Vee Jay. As a popular local band, they also found themselves appearing in the movie "Get Yourself a College Girl", and getting a lot of television work (most notably, a guest appearance on 'The Munsters').

The band managed to hit the upper regions of the U.S. Top 100 with tunes like "Big Boss Man" and "Someday You'll Cry", but they didn't really hit their stride until teaming up with producer Ed Cobb, formerly of the vocal group the Four Preps. Cobb wrote a song called "Dirty Water", which marked quite a change of direction from their previous clean-cut image. At first the group didn't even like the song, but six months after it was released, "Dirty Water" was the number 11 song in the nation.

With their image now considerably toughened, the group issued four albums in quick succession in 1966 and 1967, as well as appearing in (and contributing the theme song to) the psychedelic exploitation movie "Riot on Sunset Strip". Cobb, in addition to writing "Dirty Water," also penned their other singles, including "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White", "Why Pick on Me" and 'Try It" (the last of which was widely banned for its suggestive delivery). The group did write some decent material of their own, such as "All Fall Down", which bears an interesting similarity to some of Pink Floyd's early work.

Tower Records, as was the case with most of its artists, didn't apply intelligent long-range planning to the band's career, releasing too many albums at once. The group didn't help their own cause by issuing an awful vaudeville-rock single, "Don't Tell Me What to Do", under the transparent pseudonym of the Sllednats (Standells spelled backwards). It would be their last recording."

Songs on Side One are -

1, Why Pick On me
2. Paint It Black
3. MiHai Fatto Innamorare
4. Black Hearted Woman
5. Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White

The Standells - Side One

Captain Beefheart 1941 - 2010

An old bootleg tape with various odds and ends from Don Van Vliet and various bands including early work with Frank Zappa. I was lucky enough to see Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band back in the early 70's at the Royal Albert Hall ( with Foghat who were awful ) and it was amazing - even better live than on record despite the sound problems. Always a fan since hearing a terrific session on the John Peel show in 1967.

Wikipedia says -

"Born January 15, 1941(1941-01-15)
Glendale, California, U.S.
Died December 17, 2010(2010-12-17) (aged 69)
Arcata, California, U.S.[1]
Genres Experimental rock, blues-rock, avant-garde, psychedelic rock, progressive rock,[2] free jazz, protopunk, surrealist, spoken word, outsider, alternative rock,
Occupations Songwriter, singer, musician, artist, poet, lyricist, composer, record producer, film director
Instruments Vocals, harmonica, saxophone, clarinet, oboe, french horn, shehnai, recorder, flute, piccolo, piano
Years active 1964–1982
Labels A&M, Buddah, Blue Thumb, ABC, Reprise, Straight, Virgin, Mercury, DiscReet, Warner Bros., Atlantic, Epic
Associated acts The Magic Band, Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention, The Tubes, Jack Nitzsche

Don Van Vliet (pronounced /væn ˈvliːt/), born Don Glen Vliet (January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians he called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12 studio albums. Noted for his powerful singing voice with its wide range, Van Vliet also played the harmonica, saxophone and numerous other wind instruments. His music blended rock, blues and psychedelia with free jazz, avant-garde and contemporary experimental composition. Beefheart was also known for exercising an almost dictatorial control over his supporting musicians, and for often constructing myths about his life.

During his teen years in Lancaster, California, Van Vliet acquired an eclectic musical taste and formed "a mutually useful but volatile" friendship with Frank Zappa, with whom he sporadically competed and collaborated. He began performing with his Captain Beefheart persona in 1964 and joined the original Magic Band in 1965. The group drew attention with their cover of Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy", which became a regional hit. It was followed by their acclaimed debut album released in 1967 on Buddah Records, Safe as Milk. After being dropped by two consecutive record labels, they signed to Frank Zappa's newly formed Straight Records. Zappa as producer granted Beefheart the unrestrained artistic freedom in making 1969's Trout Mask Replica, ranked fifty-eighth in Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1974, frustrated by lack of commercial success, he released two albums of more conventional rock music that were critically panned; this move, combined with not having been paid for a European tour, and years of enduring Beefheart's abusive behavior, led to the entire band quitting. Beefheart eventually formed a new Magic Band with a group of younger musicians and regained contemporary approval through three final albums: Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978), Doc at the Radar Station (1980) and Ice Cream for Crow (1982).

Van Vliet has been described as "one of modern music's true innovators" with "a singular body of work virtually unrivalled in its daring and fluid creativity". Although he achieved little commercial or mainstream critical success, he sustained a cult following as a "highly significant" and "incalculable" influence on an array of New Wave, punk, post-punk, experimental and alternative rock musicians. Known for his enigmatic personality and relationship with the public, Van Vliet made few public appearances after his retirement from music (and from his Beefheart persona) in 1982 to pursue a career in art, an interest that originated in his childhood talent for sculpture. His expressionist paintings and drawings command high prices, and have been exhibited in art galleries and museums across the world. Van Vliet died in 2010 after many years of suffering from multiple sclerosis."


Captain Beefheart - Raities Side One

RIP Don Van Vliet

His obituary in the Guardian HERE

The Sound

Another dusty cassette from the 80's. This time a band who deserved more success than they got at the time. Here they play a short set on the In Concert spot on BBC Radio One back in the mid 80's just after their second album came out. I think its DJ Pete Drummond who you can hear briefly at the end.

"Founded from the remnants of The Outsiders, the original lineup of The Sound consisted of Adrian Borland (vocals, guitar), Graham Bailey (bass), Mike Dudley (drums) and Benita "Bi" Marshall (keyboards, saxophone, clarinet). In 1979, the band signed a contract with Korova Records, a small label under Warner Brothers, to produce three albums. They debuted with Jeopardy, which received favorable reviews.

The second album, From the Lions Mouth, saw the replacement of keyboard player Marshall with Colvin "Max" Mayers, and more accolades from the critics, but neither record caused the band to break beyond a cult status. Korova pressured Borland and his mates to come up with a more commercially successful third album. In an act of rebellion, the band responded with All Fall Down, an album that took them even further away from that direction. Drummer Mike Dudley told it this way: "We thought [the label wasn't] giving us the support that we were due and that if they really wanted a commercial album, they had got to put plenty of money behind it, which with both Jeopardy and From the Lions Mouth they hadn't really done....So when they turned around and said 'The solution is for you to write more commercial songs,' we thought, 'Fuck you,' and went ahead and produced All Fall Down."

During the early 1980s, The Sound toured throughout Europe, covering the UK and much of the continent. Like their contemporaries, the Comsat Angels (whom they toured with in 1981), they enjoyed perhaps their greatest success in the Netherlands, developing a substantial following there. The Sound recorded several Peel sessions and performed the single "Sense Of Purpose" on the TV show Old Grey Whistle Test (circa 1981). In 1983 and 1984, they made two short tours of the US."


The Sound - In Concert

Albert Lee

My old mate Jim in Basingstoke sent this tape to me recently of a concert he attended back in 1998 at the Woolwich Tramshed in London. It's Albert Lee and his band - the first headliner gig in the UK apparently. Up until then Albert played on many sessions and in bands such as Heads Hands and Feet and The Thunderbirds.

Wikipedia says-

He grew up in Blackheath, London. His father was a musician, and Albert studied piano. During this time, like many of his age, he became a fan of Buddy Holly, and also of Jerry Lee Lewis. He took up guitar in 1958 when his parents bought him a second-hand Höfner President which he later traded in for a Czechoslovakian Grazioso, the forerunner of the Futurama. Later, he wished he had bought a Fender instead. Albert Lee left school at the age of 16, to play full-time.


Lee was with a variety of bands from 1959 onwards, playing mostly R&B, country music and rock and roll. In addition to Buddy Holly, his early guitar influences included Cliff Gallup, The Everly Brothers, Scotty Moore, James Burton and Jerry Reed. Lee first experienced commercial success as the lead guitarist with Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds. Lee says that he enjoyed playing the Stax-type material, but he really wanted to play country music. Consequently he left Farlowe and the Thunderbirds in 1968.
During his time playing with Heads Hands & Feet, Lee became a "guitar hero", playing his Fender Telecaster at breakneck speed.[ Heads Hands & Feet became a very popular live band in the UK, making appearances on The Old Grey Whistle Test and also in Europe, where they appeared on the German music programme Beat-Club and later performed with German bassist Georg Grimm who discovered Nasville Singer-Songwriter Sylkie Monoff."

Discover more about Albert Lee and Hogan's Heroes HERE.


Albert Lee - Woolwich Tramshed 1998