From the great Charles Hawtry (and friend) on the cover to the superb track selection, if you're a fan of British comedy then you can't really miss this one! ...so sample 'There are no fairies at the bottom of my garden'-Alan Melville, 'I'm A Mummy-Douglas Byng, 'Isn't She A Sweetie-Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, 'My Last Cigarette-Shiela Hancock, 'The Writing On The Wall'-Warren Mitchell, 'Send For Me'-Terry Thomas, 'Tondre Boom'-Keith Mitchell, 'Odd Man Out'-John Inman, 'What A Gay Day'-Larry Grayson, 'I Can't Control Myself'-Les Dawson, 'That's Who'-Mike Reid, 'I Only Have Eyes For You'-Arthur Mullard, 'The Dimples In Her Cheeks'-The Two Ronnies.
More than a touch of Glam with this excellent stuff from Canadian Heavy Metal act 'Thor'. Now you can't go far wrong if you're a body builder named after the norse God of thunder, and I suppose it's only natural that Thor would perform Heavy Metal, though this is perhaps more like a cross Between Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, particularly on 'Wasted', which is no bad thing thing in my book...and what's more Thor-The rock Warrior is still at it over in Canada book him now to avoid disappointment! Check the 'storming' video below for full impact...and also his truly amazing 'Metal Bending' +'Hot Water Bottle trick' to be found on youtube, a true entertainer!
'...little good around the house and no good with an iron'
Three superb tracks from the late great John Inman...the most famous 'Are You Being Served Sir', alongside 'Sun Sign's' and 'Captain Ginger'...all from the first LP, which I prefer...though the 'brass' cover is great... It's innuendo-a-go-go here so if that's not your cuppa char then you'll have to move on...if it is then sit back and enjoy a great voice, lyrics and songs...now then, what possibly rhymes with Uranus?
'Trouble is these days you never see a dog on the pitch'
...dunno after watching the England-Germany debacle...certainly no lions on that pitch...anyhow, thought I'd post some football related Half Man Half Biscuit song form their rather marvelous oeuvre, so deep breadth, here we go with '1966 And All That', 'I Was Teenage Armchair Honved Fan', 'Even Men With Steel Hearts', 'Friday Night And The Gates Are Low', 'Dead Men Don't Need Season Tickets' and 'The Referee's Alphabet'. There are yet more HMHB footy songs, but thats enough for now!
Perhaps my favourite track from the infamous 1970 World Cup Squad album (most famous for 'Back Home) is this, 'Make Me An Island'...quite beautiful with great singing/accents...reminds of a Half Man Half Biscuit track, though can't quite remember which one...perhaps I'm mistaken?
Hold onto your gussets ladies as 'dishy' Des Lynem leads us into a few classic British sporting themes fromf The Tony Hatch Orchestra, Sound Stage Orchestra and more...how many do you know?
Wor Jackie Charlton here with what was, apparently the inspiration for Morrissey's hit single, 'Everyday Is Like Sunday'...must say, I much prefer Charlton's effort...and well, Morrissey has never kissed the Pope's ring has he?
Something from the master-Ennio Morricone here with his sublime 1978 track 'World Cup Argentina'...and as a counter to this, from the same World Cup is one of Rod's (and Scotlands) finest moment's 'Ole Ola'...superb stuff!
Superb song from the wonderful Gracie Fields...they quite simply do not write them like that anymore, or perform them like that I might add! I'd like to make this one a very special dedication to a certain Mr Blackwell of S2, with the emphasis on the 'Pass' section of the title.
You got to love Kevin Keegan, well , apart from when he managed England...but here he is with his heartfelt plea to return to his homeland after exile in Germany. Admittedly Super Kev had more success with his disc's in Germany than here, but hey, 80 million Germans couldn't be wrong...could they? Anyhow, there's a yearning quality to 'England' that touches one and you can really feel Kev's pain... if you flip to the b-side we get 'fonky-kev', sounding like he's walked into an 80's American tv show. ..future-disco if a little forlorne and plodding, particularly on the extended fade out...splash it all over...
Thought I'd stick a few footy songs up in the run up to world cup 2010 starting with this beauty from Bruce Thompson. 'My World Is A Football'...this one it has it all, big chorus,earnest vocal,a touch of brass and more than a hint of euro-pop...wonderful...
Apparently a troubled little soul, whatever the hell that means, Gary Coleman is dead and as tribute I present the original theme, a french version of the theme and Gary's infamous telephone call to some ol' hookers or others...'I may be small but I can choo-choo' of course you can dear...
...but please remember kids 'What might be right for you, may not be right for some'...very deep and very true, Different Strokes indeed!
Can Heironymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? was a film by the late great Anthony Newley, starring his then wife Joan Collins and his daughter, Tara Newley. Fair to say it got slated on release, not least for the title, being voted in the top ten worst mopive titles ever...but, as a fan of the Newley, I love it! I'm not quite buying into all this Fellini stuff mind, but suffice to say it's a fun,colourful '60's' movie and if you like that kind of stuff, you'll probably love this. As for the song's, well, here are three (also check out Brucie's prophetic 'On The Boards' here http://singingasonginthemorning.blogspot.com/2009/05/on-boards-bruce-forsyth.html ) from the soundtrack and again,they're all great! If only musicals were like this now then I might actually go along to a few...and by the way, where would Bowie be without Newley!?
Not sure what's been going on...maybe divshare dumped some stuff...something got corrupted on their servers or some such but the upshot is that quite a few tracks on this blog no lnger work! Shock horror gasp etc...so here's a few requested re-ups...I'm not going to go through and re-post all the tracks that are down, not yet anyhow, but will try and do requests as and when! So we should have here:Lewis Collins-Take It Out On Time + When You Come Home Again(how could I have omitted this b-side!?) Rosemary Clooney-Little Red Monkey, Georgio Morordo-UNderdog+Lord Release Me, Delia Derbyshire/Anthony Newley-Mooglie Booglies...
It has been brought to my attention that the 'Rape' track from my previous Peter Wyngarde post http://tiny.cc/m4isg isn't working (not sure why but who I am to question the marvels of the web..time..space and that far away look in you eye, where my life has been spent alone...waiting in vain..) anyhow as a bonus I've re-upped the track along with two more tracks from that essential album 'When Sex Rears It's Inquisitive Head'.
Ok, the rather dodgy lyrics led to this disc being banned way back in 1979...what with punk and revolution in the air you may think this a little excessive but I'm guessing the sinister tone and inference of 'play ball' or get mowed down in 'my headlights' was a bit too much for Radio 1? I've also put 'Tailights' up, which was the less offensive, more jollified country b-side.
Haunting, quite haunting...is how I'd best describe 'Mr Snuggles' by this unknown artist..., it keeps coming back into my mind and confusing me with childhood memories of the cartoon show 'Dr Snuggles', so that I can't really think of one without the other now. She must surely have been referencing the cartoon show as it does have that vibe... Speaking of 'Dr Snuggles' I never knew a couple of episodes were written by Douglas Adams and John Adams (Hitchikers Guide/Spitting Image fame) ...check out the clip below and enjoy the Snuggles...!
One of the last great 'Death Song's' to chart was Jimmy Cross's 'I Want My Baby Back'. Giving more than a nod and a wink to the Shangri-LA's 'Leader Of The Pack', this kind of reminds me of an old EC comic with it's 'twist' ending and gross lyric. Good stuff.
A few tracks from a classic Marvin album to best sum up Gordon's messy divorce from the british public...can he change, get it on and patch it up with a new love? Or is it best for a clean break and to go our seperate ways...
I know it's the British election today but I thought I'd post this track 'An American Who Loves His Country', not sure who it's by, but am sure of it's genius. Very poignant too given the current circumstances of the American people having their country sold out from under them...sadly we don't really get this kind of thing in the UK to brighten up our day, at least not in song form...'follow the yellow brick road eh?'
p.s-I'm guessing this is called 'Dear Mr President'?
Yep, I know it's not Halloween, but we've always got time for zombies, any time of the year round these 'ere parts...and this one is top, a version of 'Zombie Jamboree' by Lord Jellico...originally titled 'Jumbie Jamboree' by Lord Intruder back in Tobago and about spirit's dancing 'back to back-belly to belly in a cemetary, the location of which changed depending on who was doing the song and where, Lord Jellico's is supposedly in New York's Van Courtland Park...and why not?
Yeah-bwoy...ol' skool rap that you either love or hate...I love it so much I've embedded the video from youtube for pleasure....great accents, great sound, great track...check it out.....
Subtitled 'Country & Western for all ye Sinners 'n' sufferers 1955-1966', this is certainly one of my favourite compilations of this genre/period and a must own if you even slightly interested in this kind of stuff.
This is supposed to be one of the worst records ever made and can be found on many 'worst of' collections...I quite like it, especially the bits where everything drops out of time/tune...make your own mind up!
Back to sexuality and here comes this gem from the 'Let My People Come' theatre production of 1974. I guess it followed in the footsteps of 'Hair' and the like but was often condemned as pornographic, a view which creator Earl Wilson Jr strongly denies. Whatever, the soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy and Earl is currently planning to update the show and get it out on the road once more... Enjoy!
'The Beatles,Stones,Dylan,Hendrix,Zepplin, all tried to sing of love as it really is, but they stopped short and resorted to double-entendre' ...unlike this beauty, which may well be hard to digest on first listening but after repeated hearings goes down a treat. This is taken from the 'Love Is A Heart On' album and although the fabs et all couldn't match it's lyrical prowess I'm sure they made up for it in other ways...even so, prepare to 'explode with ecstatic pleasure!'
From the great Charles Hawtry (and friend) on the cover to the superb track selection, if you're a fan of British comedy then you can't really miss this one!
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