Connections 115 4/2/2012 (2/4/2012 US)

Hello and welcome to show 115! Firstly, here's a look at the weather....

From dis....

...to dis....

in 4 days!! This show had been designed with a slight Winter theme in mind, but it seemed it got frightened away!!
First things first! You can listen to the show here:-

Connections 115 4th February 2012

The 'base card for this week, is the very unwintry...

 Everything's Gonna Be Alright by P.P. Arnold (Immediate Records 1967) Patricia Ann Cole, or Par Arnold just doesn't have the same ring as P.P. does it? She came from a family of gospel singers and managed to get herself an audition for the second flush of Ike and Tina Turner's Ikettes (Presumably something quite dreadful happened to the first flush!) The Ike and Tina  Revue toured with the Rolling Stones in the UK in 1966...and, well, P.P. just sort of stayed in the UK. Their then manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who was famous for his work being a party, and the party being work, signed Ms Arnold to Immediate Records, quite possibly the first British independent label and P.P. became the First Lady of Immediate...Steering a course for future folk to indeed utilise initials in a stage name...See P.J. Harvey et al...The connection was rather an obvious one...

 
 I Idolise You by Ike and Tina Turner (Philles Records 1966) It's no secret that theirs was no recipe for domestic bliss, and when another fella who was a notorious control freak, the erstwhile Mr Philip Spector, came along and wanted to weave his magic with Tina, he paid Ike to literally go and shoot pool or something whilst he produced his wife. The result of course, was the legendary River Deep Mountain High...and not content at stopping there, Phil produced some more tracks, say half an albums' worth. Ike had produced some earlier unreleased stuff that was lumped on to the album... 

 ...which a very hard up Dennis Hopper shot, on a day out to a gas cylinder or something. Despite staying away, Ike still got a co credit for the work that Mr Spector produced, so everyone was quids in!! This track is an Ike produced track, which despite it's slightly sinister title is a show stopper!! Ike and Tina et al toured with (as aforementioned)....

2000 light Years From Home by The Rolling Stones (Decca Records 1967) Some Rolling Stones affectionados really really didn't like this album very much. 1967's Between The Buttons album (from which the 'Connections' theme tune comes, had shown leanings to that dirty word, psychedelia. Heaven forbid...This was the order of the day. If you put sitars on it in 1967, it was trendy..See The Beatles, The Hollies, The Byrds etc etc...but with the Rolling Stones, it just didn't seem to wash and as such this album stands as a sort of snapshot of what the Rolling Stones looked like as a full on psychedelic outfit. It didn't help matters having 3 Stones in and out of courts and prisons, by way of Brian, Keith and Mick, so you get Bill Wyman popping up and singing. This song was about to be thrown away, allegedly, but then Brian got his mellotron out... and that was that. A psychedelic gem!!As this was a Jagger Richard composition, so was another well known tune...

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by Devo (Warner Bros Records 1978) Kent State University in the early 1970's was quite a spawning ground of radicals. 'Devo' came from the notion that humankind was DE volving. They caught the attention of David Bowie around 1977/8 and had he not been filming 'Just A Gigolo' around that time, he would have been their full time producer! As it was, this was done by Eno, with Bowie at the weekends. 'Just got to go and film Just a Gigolo now, seeya!!' The irony here was that apparently Eno was suggesting all kinds of wonderful things and Devo just wanted to do their own thing! The picture on the sleeve was going to feature golfer Juan Chi Chi Rodriguez (No one knows why...) but this had to be compromised for a morphed image of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, as the WB Chairman was a golf fan...Not really sure what they gained there...This was a Jagger Richard song, as was....

 Blue Turns To Grey by The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra (Decca Records 1966) Andrew Loog Oldham was a bloke that had it all, even by the age of about 21!! There comes a point surely, in such a person's life where they say, 'Sod it, I'll form my own orchestra...' Arranged by David Whitaker who unfortunately passed away last week, the orchestra was a random collaboration of session musicians of the day, allegedly including the Rolling Stones themselves. Incidentally, this was the album with THAT version of 'The Last Time' on it, as heard on The Verve's 'Bitter Sweet Symphony.' David Whitaker had a hand in this recording, as he did...

Remember by AIR (Virgin Records 1998) A.I.R is a backronym...that is to say, an akronym that was created just to form the word 'air' from, amour, imagination, reve. Jean Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Gdin were Mathematics and Architecture graduates from  Versailles...so this was a bit of a treat-y ...sorry!! I think bearing in mind some of Pink Floyd were architecture students, this does affect the way that such folk approach their composition. That and they have to listen, in this case, the Beach Boys Do It Again at some point in their lives!! David Whitaker is the connection again to...

 Winter Song by Nico (Verve Records 1967) This is the point where 60's pop meets baroque folk. Nico (Always sounds like a biscuit!) of Christa Paffgen had had a cameo role in Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita.' She was for all intents and purposes, an actress who hadn't got the same musical background as some of her contemporaries. This might have been a factor in her seemingly 'cold' delivery (Well, it IS Winter Song!!) and see also her bananary offerings with the Velvet Underground. She didn't much like this album at the time, citing that it was too flutey!! The saxophonist and flautist, Gary Barnacle, who has played with a plethora of folk, connects us to...

 
 She Left Me On Friday by Shed Seven (Polydor Records 1998) Heard in many a bar room jive circa 1998, and even now...and mainly danced to by spurned blokes, this was a bit of a departure for Shed Seven, who were better known earlier that decade for their delicate, Smiths gibi arpeggios..this was a foray into the wonderful world of power chords! Sounds good though...Shed Seven were on Polydor Records as were...

One Bad Apple by The Osmonds (MGM Records 1970) Eee it sounds uncannily like The Jackson Five, does this, possibly because it was offered up to them, but they chose ABC allegedly. The Five's loss is the Osmond's gain, and marked their move away from MOR variety shows. Still remaining very wholesome and American! There was a version of this I really enjoyed that Norman Cooke alias Fatboy Slim produced circa 1988, but I can't source it anywhere...did I dream it...? Surely not...The connection is one of those complicated ones to cut a long story short, Polydor records and defunct record company, Kapp  are all part of the Rock n Roll chocolate orange that is now Universal Music...

 Paper Mountain Man by Linda Perhacs (Kapp Records 1970) For every legendary album from this era, there must be a thousand who disappeared without trace. We have to remember in the days before My Space, You Tube and the like, you really were depending on the record company to push your material, or you were screwed, and this album by Linda Perhacs did absolutely nothing in 1970. On reflection, it stands square with other female 'folk' divas such as Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchell, who had a lot more success. Linda gave it all up to go back to dental nursing...something presumably she could erm...get her teeth into, before recently being one of those folk who are 'rediscovered.' It really makes you wonder what on Earth went wrong first time round...Kapp Records connected us to...

 Oscillations by Silver Apples (Kapp Records 1968) Originally quite a straight forward electric beat combo called The Overland Stage Electric Band, one of the members, Simoeon Coxe III, did insist on bringing his massive oscillator...which then became a plural...on to the stage, literally pushing other members away, except for Danny Taylor, the percussionist. It was no surprise that their debut album as The Silver Apples opened with this number, all about oscillating....I love the album cover...does exactly what it says on the tin!! Remember too, that this sound pre dated Autobahn et al by some 6 years...A very complex connection which comes down to the fact that a certain Japanese company are the conglomerate that own these recordings connects us to...

 Born To Be Together by PP Arnold (Immediate Records 1967) Phil Spector did have a hand in writing this, but as far as I can tell, not producing it, although it does have that sound! 

What the recording of the show misses out is the 5 minute silence after the show, owing to some technical problems...I just put it down to me playing out with John Cage's 4'33...so you see, it wasn't dead air!! I hope you've enjoyed the show...Spread the love and keep connected!

TimX