Monday, June 2, 2008

"what it is ...., what it is ....,"


So here I go ... trying to explain some of the thought process for my choice of tracks for my cd circle cd 4a … (why did I picture a goldfish in a godfish bowl there?)

"What it is what it is …,"

well picking my favourite femalel singer has always been easy …. & then I change it when I’m reminded of another one I like. So here is track 1. Aretha, who is in my top two or three with the best version of a song I’ve probably heard far far too many times … and yet to me, her version makes it fresh …,

So I compiled this cd ‘my way’ … and then changed it a few times and probably ended up where I had started, with the tracks in this order.

No excuses for track 2. Pete Atkin’s “session man’s blues” …taken from my vinyl copy which has stood unplayed on the shelf for quite a few years I can tell you. This for some reason reminds me of an autumn afternoon, one of those afternoon’s when it does n’t know whether or not it wants to rain* and if it does you know it’s going to ‘chuck it down’

I never tire of track 3. the Inkspots, even though all of the starts to their songs sound the same. I must have been in a very melancholy mood. Mind you I love the refrain of “…. and that’s why it is no secret any more ..um um umph.” Classic.

track 4. Straight into a track from one of my favourite cd’s of last year. I nearly made my whole compilation around letters, must have thought I was Bobby Z doing theme time radio …drat I should have recorded my own voice overs…but then again perhaps not, you might have thought you were listening to a recording of 'big brother'

I was in a record shop which had an exhibition of artists interpretation of Harry Smith’s folk cd. You put head phones on and listened to the tracks whilst looking at the art work. track 5. John the Revelator stood out for me … and it seemed an obvious choice after “please read the letter”.

I’ve just started to listen to throat singing so this follows Blind Willie’s gruff throaty rasp. As I’ve demonstrated on previous cd’s I like ‘mixes’ and track 6. Tuva Groove has a nice beat… ( I knew it would rain* you can hear the thunder)

Which takes us nicely into track 7. a ‘modern/old’ mix … well if you are my age it's an old/old mix really.

Keeping ‘the groove’ with track 8. and here is a bit of good advice.

And then on to track 9. Cat Stevens just for a mood change, making it nice and fresh with a touch of Greece coming through the lemon and olive groves.

Ok travelogue over, back to good old soul music … I love this song and even bought a Gary Farr and the T Bones LP just for this track … however this Solomon Burke on track 10.

track 11. Straight head long into my ‘Mod’ days, hush puppies, stay press trousers, a Ben Sherman shirt and back combed hair …oh yes and a ‘swagger’ when I walked and a plastic pacamac with probably my hands in my pockets.

Great attitude song by the master of attitude track 12. Mr Chuck Berry. You Know, he must have influenced so many people.

Staying on the sixties soul theme track 13. Mr Ernie K Doe who has had a resurgence due to a ‘Boot’s advert’ … Somebody sent me the Warren Zevon version but I had to point them in the direction of the one I’ve put on here …doh!.

Well for a bit of flavour for track 14. and Bob Dylan adds just a hint of spice.

track 15. is Maximum Bob (was that deliberate) by Charlie Dore,. I like her, very easy listening and this is quite a colourful song.

track 16. My other passion (as well as mixes) is soundtrack music and this is taken from the ‘Ghengis Blues’ soundtrack featuring paul Pena… they say it’s a good film .. I’ll have to check it out…sadly Paul died a few years ago, without getting the true recognition he deserved.

‘I …Oh I …. I …. Oh I …’ …. track 17. Al Green.

and at track 18. Straight back with another track from the ‘Genghis Blues’ soundtrack.

I’m sure I have n’t got to tell anyone about track 19.Tartit ("Tartit" means "union"who are a band from the Tombouctou Region of Mali. The group comprised five women and four men, all of whom are members of the Tamasheq ethnic group, also known as Tuareg)... so I’ll not …,

I was in HMV the other week or so ago and heard track 20 being played across their great sound system…. so I thought ..."why not" … I had n't heard it in ages.

So have a great weekend .. oh yes .... and the rest of the week as well..... and remember to 'stay fly'

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

if music is the food of love ... no wonder I am overweight


so what's worse, collecting cd's or ukulele's?

let's face it, how many can you play at any one time?

Well I've decided to 'give my blog' a go .... and why not!

Hopefully I'll cover a few topics that may catch your attention,

we'll see how it goes over the coming weeks or so.

Monday, May 26, 2008

May Day... May day...


well I suppose better late than never.... so here is cd circle nos.4.

  1. 'my way' aretha franklin
  2. 'session man's blues' pete atkin
  3. 'whispering grass' the inkspots
  4. 'please read the letter' robert plant & alison krauss
  5. 'john the revelator' blind willie johnson
  6. 'tuva groove' ondar
  7. 'the spirit of ray' mixplosiv
  8. 'stay fly' (mano mix) captain planet
  9. 'ruby love' cat stevens
  10. 'won't you give him one more chance' solomon burke
  11. 'whatcha gonna do about it?' doris troy
  12. 'too much monkey business' chuck berry
  13. 'a certain girl' ernie k. doe
  14. 'mozambique' bob dylan
  15. 'maximum bob' charlie dore
  16. 'you gotta move' kongar -ol-ondar and paul 'earthquake' pena
  17. 'i can't get next to you' al green
  18. 'what you talkin about' kongar -ol-ondar and paul 'earthquake' pena
  19. 'hamoye' tartit
  20. 'funky weekend' the stylistics

Friday, May 16, 2008

for your ears only



well because Gordon of Moore needed therapy ... (he was nt in the first circle ) it seemed only right and fitting to send him a compilation for his own private use ... a one off ... a copy just for him ... made up of some tracks used on previous compilations and a couple of others that shoulda coulda 'made it'

and I think on reflection it's a canny mix ;-)

mind you he was advised to 'play it on shuffle'

and it included the following tracks ....,







  1. angelique kidjo / voodoo child
  2. phil upchurch / love is strange
  3. joe strummer / mondo bongo
  4. ismael lo / aiwa
  5. pete townsend and ronnie lane / annie
  6. beyonce and marvin gaye / baby boy sexual healing
  7. jeb loy nichols / as the rain
  8. john martyn / baby come home
  9. sonny boy williamson / bring it on home
  10. john lee hooker / chill out (things gonna change)
  11. boozoo bajou / camoiux
  12. tangle eye / chantey
  13. marvin gaye / aint that peculiar
  14. ramsay midwood / shoot out at the chinese restaurant
  15. nitan sawhney / dead man
  16. lee dorsey / get out of my life woman
  17. nick lowe / only a fool breaks his own heart
  18. howe gelb / paradise hereabouts
  19. nina simone / four women
  20. slovo / empires fall

so as I said on the last post "we all settled down in front of the television....,"

and after a hard day's work in the shipyard or from down the pit, we relaxed with a nice mug of tea and some bread and butter sandwiches and looked forward to the time in hopefully the not too distant future when all this back breaking work would be gone and we could have a television that we could record direct to and pause and play back when ever we wanted ...

but in the meantime this cd circle playlist 'hit the streets'




  1. pugh pugh barney ...
  2. hey boy / teddy bears stockholm
  3. cocaine man / baxter dury
  4. crioulo louco / edson x
  5. that's the way i like it /ce marchent debout
  6. summertime / billy stewart
  7. still moving to me / toots and the maytals
  8. that'll be the day / the bogart brothers
  9. three cool cats / the coasters
  10. let's make a better world / dr john
  11. on the road again / istanbul blues kumpanyasi
  12. just my soul responding / smokey robinson
  13. duet / howie b
  14. woman king / iron and wine
  15. summertime / wass
  16. boney was a warrior / jack shit
  17. the joker / spearhead
  18. pardon me (i've got someone to kill) /andre williams & the sadies
  19. that's all folks / porky pig

and the music goes 'round and 'round


well as it's now May '08 and it's time for a 'new' circle cd I thought it best to put a list somewhere of what I had previously sent.

so let's start at the very beginning .... a very good place to start ..... 'cos when you read you begin with
A B C ...... and when you sing you begin with ......,



Cd circle number 1

  1. slave to love / jimmy scott
  2. she began to lie / christine & katherine shipp
  3. glenmalambo /mac umba
  4. baby come home /john martyn
  5. chantey / tangle eye
  6. camioux / boozoo bajou
  7. it's all over now / the valentinos
  8. ride on / little axe
  9. hey joe / willy de ville
  10. susie q / dale hawkins
  11. i've got a woman / ray charles
  12. nadine / chuck berry
  13. surffin' / ernsest ranglin
  14. see saw / don covay
  15. hard to handle / otis redding
  16. honeybee blues / the tao of groove
  17. my culture / 1 giant leap
  18. bring it on home / sonny boy williamson
  19. blues jumped the rabbit / stefan grossman
  20. mighty good road / kelly pace
  21. madamoiselle le marsaille / mousse te le jouvents

and then we settled down in front of the tv and listened to ;-