The first of a regular feature on the blog, I will be asking some mover's and shaker's to compile an imaginery mix. First up is Groovy Uncle's Glen Prangnell who has chosen some obvious and not so obvious and pointed me in the direction of an excellent Pretty Things clip! The notes are all Glenn's and I would imagine the mixes are all wonderful mono! Enjoy!
SIDE ONE:
The Beatles - "Rain" Obviously any Beatles track will do for me but this is so damn good! The bass line is exquisite that people are still ripping it off to this day and Ringo's drumming is incredible. Why do people say he was a bad drummer? There's not a single Beatles record on which he plays badly so I don't know where that notion comes from. Fantastic-see also "Tomorrow Never Knows".
Shelagh McDonald -"Peacock Lady" I've only recently discovered her work. I bought an acid folk compilation which featured a track by her called "Liz's Song" (another favourite) and was knocked out by her. It was here that I also discovered Vashti Bunyan for the first time. Shelagh McDonald is a kind of female Nick Drake I guess. There's a beautiful, haunting sadness to her music that I find compelling. She disappeared in the early 70's after a bad acid trip and only reappeared 6 years ago. This track is sublime.
The Kinks- "The Village Green Preservation Society". A criminally overlooked album for many years, thankfully it's had a reappraisal in recent times. It was made in an era when everyone else was going all "San Fransisco hippy". The Kinks were banned from America so Ray Davies stayed at home and wrote about yearning for a dying England. One of my faves.
Sammy Davis Jr. "Who Can I Turn To?" Anything by Sammy! I always rated him higher than Sinatra. If SAmmy hadn't been on this list it would have been Nat King Cole.
SIDE TWO:
Divine Comedy-"National Express" Everything Neil Hannon does is immaculate. I can't think of anyone else in today's music industry who possesses so much genuine wit and gift for melody. This song is just straight ahead good fun.
The Pretty Things- "Baron Saturday" Another underrated classic album! Don't believe what they tell you-THIS was the first Rock Opera!
Noel Harrison- "Windmills Of Your Mind" From the original "Thomas Crown Affair" movie, this was written by Michel Legrand and is often annoyingly chosen by people as a "guilty pleasure" track. It's beautiful and everything about the song is circular. Genius.
Alice Cooper- "School's Out" A bit of a nostalgia trip for me this one because I remember when it came out in the Summer of '72 to coincide with the school holidays (nice marketing!). It was just so damned exciting! Contains one of the best double meanings ever written in a pop song: "We got no class and we got no principals!"
Gilbert O'Sullivan-"Nothing Rhymed" No sniggering at the back!! Another great song listed under "guilty pleasures" by many. He wrote some terrific songs and I don't care what the cool kids say.
Jimi Hendrix- "Voodoo Chile"/"Hey Joe" 'Nuff said!
Thanks Glenn, some great choices! My sister will be happy you chose Alice Cooper, and I was happy you chose the Beatles, The Kinks and The Pretty Things!
Second part of our Groovy Uncle interview soon!
Check Out Groovy Uncle as soon as you can, before he goes massive!
great playlist, no surprise knowing the selector's good taste. I agree about poor o'sullivan, made some timeless melodies indeed
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