‘Spillin’ The Beans – “Daybreak” by The Divisionists

This week I am ‘Spillin’ The Beans on the new album by London band The Divisionists. The album is entitled “Daybreak” and is available here on Bandcamp.

So , what’s new ?

I am always being asked “What is new in Japan, musically speaking ?” *
And here’s my reply. A selection of some of the new sounds from the Land of the Rising Sun.
Some Rock, some Indie, all good. I hope you enjoy them.

Summer Psych, Surf, and Stoner Rock

And some groovy garage and punk too. Some older stuff, some newer stuff, and more females than usual for me.

Sunday Sequence

the answer to last week’s Sunday Sequence: Advertising

Sunday Sequence

Thank you to DarceysDad for keeping the Sunday Sequence seat warm for me.

I’ve returned from from my travels and British Summer Time began this morning so let’s hope the wet winter is now fully behind us.

Sunday Sequence

As it was world book day on Thursday last weeks theme was that the songs were all book titles:

“TV” On The Radio

Eagerly Awaiting Friday Night at 10:00 p.m.

As a young boy my formative music years were spent ear pressed against a transistor radio every Friday night when I was supposed to be asleep, listening to the ‘dulcet’ tones of one Tommy ‘the’ Vance and the Friday Rock Show.

I expect most spillers have fond recollections of TV on the Radio!

Perhaps it was the illicit nature of listening under the bed clothes or straining to hear because the volume was so low or later using those single mono white plastic earphones but I was captivated by his voice, every word, song, drum solo and electric guitar chord.

The Friday Rock Show introduced me to and cultivated my interest in ROCK MUSIC; these were great bands: Led Zep, Genesis, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and this underpinned my love of this type of music and got me to explore the genre further. With my pocket money I saved to buy LP’s and of course I bought Kerrang to read about and see pictures of my ‘heroes’, oh to have had the internet then.

Each week about half way through the show there was the Friday Night Connection; three songs that listeners had to identify and if I recall suggest a fitting fourth song (but I might be making that last bit up). Anyway the basis of this challenge is here’s three songs: What’s the connection? And which song / group would you choose to be the fourth? 

Remember that it wasn’t just the title of the song that provided the link it could be but the theme, the group, the singer or even album title could provide the connection; sneaky!

For the first week let’s have a relatively straight-forward one:

Answers on a post card to …

So as not to spoil it for anyone else please don’t post the theme but suggest a fitting fourth song; if you can’t guess the connection or cannot think of a fitting additional tune simply enjoy some Friday Night Rock music.

Best Cover Artists Ever? Black Crowes

Haven’t done one of these posts in a long time, but really feeling like it’s time to give these guys the shout that they deserve. (And maybe you need a little something to listen to before the list goes up.) For starters, because not just anyone can take on the Midnight Rambler and do it justice.

What makes these guys such great cover artists? Well, you start with a southern boy with pipes to die for, (and Chris Robinson certainly has them) a definite requirement if you want to take on the likes of Mick, Joe Cocker, Stevie, Plant, etc. But you don’t do great Stones covers with pipes alone, and the band is more than up for the job. Brother Richie on guitar, and Chris on harp, do the Stones proud on this and many, many other Stones covers. (If i’m missing Mick and Co. at all here, it’s only because i’ve become addicted to the coke fueled live bootleg versions.)

Don Letts Jamaican Independence Special

 

Here is nearly three hours of music chronicling 50 years of an independent Jamaica. That’s it – you just press play and listen/dance/jump/prance …

[audio https://readersrecommend.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/jamaica-independence-special-part-1.mp3,https://readersrecommend.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/jamaica-independence-special-part-2.mp3,https://readersrecommend.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/jamaica-independence-special-part-3.mp3,https://readersrecommend.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/jamaica-independence-special-part-4.mp3 |titles=Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4]

How I discovered . . . . . . Jim Croce

I hate Moustaches ! ! ! He was so handsome without it ! ! !

I wanted to start a series of occasional posts about how I came to discover some different artists and this will be the first of the series. So this series will be about how I discovered some different English language artists and I tell the story by including tracks by the artists that lead me to the discovery.

New Vintage Stones

Prompted by Zala’s call for extra special earworms, i figured it might be time to check out the new tunes on the Some Girls re-release. Had no expectations, as i was generally underwhelmed by the bonus tunes on the Exile re-release. Well blow me down, some of the tunes are fucking great. (And seem to lack the tinny sound of the Exile remasters too). Now i can maybe see why they didn’t include these on Some Girls – they didn’t fit with the disco / punk aesthetic the Stones seemed to be shooting for, and maybe they wanted to look forward musically instead of back. But guys, if it ain’t broke, no need to fix it. Lotta baby got tossed out with the bathwater there.

Keep Up Blues, Petrol Blues, and the (Ron Wood penned) When You’re Gone are wonderfully sleazy little blues numbers. Tallahassie Lassie is a Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon cover which trumps the original, imho. And a pair of country covers to round off this little sampler – Hank Williams’ You Win Again, and Waylon Jennings’ We Had It All (sounds like Keith on vocals). Enjoy.

1. Keep Up Blues
2. Tallahassie Lassie
3. Petrol Blues
4. You Win Again
5. When You’re Gone
6. We Had It All

AOTW: The Cult – Love

Does the Spill still do AOTWs? Ok then, do we do proper rock albums? (be nice, you hecklers in the front).

1985. MTV Launched stateside in 1984. The US was flooded with pretty Britpoppers making pretty Britsongs. A quick gander at the top tunes of the year shows the charts populated with the likes of AHA, Simple Minds, Wham, Duran Duran, Paul Young, Thompson Twins, Sting, etc. Meanwhile rocks offerings were neutered down to the likes of Starship, REO Speedwagon, Bryan Adams, and Foreigner. (Thank fuck for Prince and the Smiths).

A somewhat recent (ok, so it’s been 2 years by now) university grad sits catatonically in front of MTV. Somewhere in between drooling over Power Station and AHA videos, the strains of a Within You Without You-ish guitar intro leads into another band setup that’s very pretty indeed. The lead singer looks like he wandered into the video from the Summer of Love. Guitarist switched at birth with Dolph Lundgren. But wait a minute…that sounds like proper hard rock! And it’s so pretty! Sweet balm indeed to RTJ’s poor rock starved ears.