Hello and welcome to show 119, which was dedicated to Davy Jones, the man, because of whom David Bowie became Bowie, who sadly passed away this week.
Firstly, you can listen to the show here:-
Connections 119 3rd March 2012
So...on with the music...
You Told Me by The Monkees (Colgems/ RCA Records 1967) With the count in aping The Beatles' Taxman, this was like the Beatles but with banjos!! The Monkees were of course, put together by some slick thinking tv producers, capitalising on The Beatles 'feel' but in the process set the seeds for something that had never been seen on TV before. Davy Jones being Mancunian seemed to add to the surreality in amongst the American cast. The down side of this sudden burst of fame was that their contracts sold their names and likenesses down the road, and their first two albums were The Monkees voices but the music wasn't played by them. 'Headquarters' was their first album with them playing their own instruments and having the creative rights to make something they wanted...Some say this unleashed ego's and lead to their demise eventually..but a fine, fine album. The Monkees also sang...
I Should Be So Lucky By Kylie Minogue (PWL Records 1988) No...not that one...
Confide In Me By Kylie Minogue (Mushroom Records 1994) This was a real career crossroads for Kylie, having been released from her contract with Stock, Aitken and Waterman, and throughout the mid 1990's she dabbled in quite a few different things, before deciding that she was a dance diva after all!! After the SAW productions we were used to, this Brother's in Rhythm production was a refreshing change...Thinking person's Kylie!! Kylie sang 'When All Is Said and Done in Hyde Park with Benny Anderson in 2009, which takes us nicely to...
Lay All Your Love On Me by ABBA (Epic Records 1980) I never really understood 12" singles to be quite honest, but this was an early example of one...they were literally extended grooves, usually with longer instrumental breaks intended for getting down on it at discotheques...Epic took ABBA by surprise with their release of it as a single, and so there wasn't a proper video to it, rather a montage of previous videos. The song only got to a mere number 7 in the UK, which prompted people to think their career was waning...but it's just a number! ABBA's Polar Studios connected us to...
Traveling Riverside Blues by Led Zeppelin (Atlantic Records 1996 (Recorded 1969)) With the release of The Beatles At The BBC in 1994, there was a huge chocolate laxative result on the BBC vaults releasing their wares. This is a cracking cover of a Robert Johnson song from the 1930's and was originally on John Peel's 'Top Gear' programme. The recording was mused about for many years until this CD came to fruition. Jimmy Page's brother in arms as a session man (He lent him his giutars and everything!) was...
Daydream Believer by Lord Sitar (Columbia Records 1969) Lord Sitar was none other than session man Big Jim Sullivan. The thing was that he was contracted at the time to Polydor Records, so his name had to be changed to something suitably silly! This album is a nice curio. At the time, sitars were very much in vogue and this pre dated Ananda Shankar slightly (See Show 110). Some pundits said some songs worked better than others with the sitar treatment, but as this show has a Monkees theme, I think he does this show justice! Big Jim frequently played with...
Ah! Melody by Serge Gainsbourg (Philips Records 1971) Get Jean Claude Vannier on the orchestration and record an album with rich arrangements with some leading session musicians and get Serge rapping in French seductively about crashing his Rolls Royce into a young English girl on a bicycle and voila! you have an instant classic, with a running time of just under 28 minutes! Effective, efficient...that's Gainsbourg! Serge and Jean Claude connect us nicely to...
C'est Le Vie Qui Veut Ca by Jane Birkin (Fontana records 1973) When she wasn't busy being the muse for stretchy stylish bags you can take on aeroplanes...a la...
...she was recorded albums penned by Serge that were easily as sordid as Histoire.., with Jean Claude Vannier's orchestration being a little more understated than on Serge's work. Quite a scarey cover, you wouldn't want to get the wrong side of Jane...Another staple session musician who worked with Jane was...
Night Rider by Alan Hawkshaw (EMI Records 1972) ...And all because the lady loves...Alan has been a leading session musician throughout his career as well as making some iconic tunes used in TV. This piece was the accompaniment for an ad where a sweaty palmed skier took a lady a box of chocolates!! You never actually saw if she got them, come to think of it, perhaps there's a mountain of boxes waiting for her somewhere...they might have gone past the sell by date now though...can you recycle chocolate, I suppose that could work...? Alan worked with David Bowie, who worked with...
Children Of The Revolution by T Rex featuring Elton John and Ringo Starr (Recorded for Apple Films 1972) This is a fantastic variation of Children of The Revolution...E volving rather than RE volving!! In my mind, better than the original, it was recorded in Apple Studios, no 3 Saville Row in the same room as the Beatles recorded much of Let It Be. Ringo was the director of photography for the film, which goes some way to explaining all this. They even filmed a tea party sequence at John Lennon's former home, Tittenhurst Park. Elton himself connects us to...
Idol by Elton John (Rocket Records 1976) Dark Elton. This was his second double album and one that to this day he claims is his favourite. With good reason. The delivery of this song reminds me very much of the sort of material George Michael was recording some 14 years later. This song I believe was in part based on Elvis, whom Elton had met around that time, which had given him cause for concern. Elton said after this album that he was packing it all in....for about a year...David Crosby and Graham Nash sang on this album who were affiliated to Stephen Stills, who was a mate of Peter Tork, who was in...
Daddy's Song by The Monkees (Colgems/ RCA Records 1968) Supernatural, perhaps...boloney...perhaps not... This is from quite possibly one of the most surreal psychedelic films you will ever see. Davy Jones appeared bouncing around in a variety of suits to the Harry Nilsson song. The original album cover was metallic so you could look into it and see your own head...RIP Davy Jones... :-(
..and the mysterious guest in Ece Dorsay's show, Daginlik Oda, which follows mine each week on Acik Radyo can be heard here!
Daginlik Oda 3rd March 2012
You might recognise the guest ;-)
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