Revisiting Out of Time - R.E.M. (1991)- Revised and Updated

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Out of Time - R.E.M.
Warner Bros
Produced by Scott Litt and R.E.M.
Released 12th March 1991
US Chart #1 *
UK Chart #1 **

#1 also in Canada, Italy, Austria, Holland and France
*Spent 109 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Album Chart and had two spells at the Top of the Charts
**Spent 183 weeks on the UK Album Chart and was on Top of the Chart for one week only

Limited Edition Free 7" 

  

 World Leader Pretend (Live/Edit)

 Turn You Inside-Out (Live)

Personnel

R.E.M.
Michael Stipe - lead vocals, bass melodica and arrangement on "Endgame", backing vocals on "Near Wild Heaven" and Texarkana"

    Peter Buck - electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin on "Losing My Religion" and "Half a World Away"     

Mike Mills - bass guitar; backing vocals; organ on "Radio Song", "Low", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Country Feedback"; piano on "Belong"; harpsichord on "Half a World Away"; percussion on "Half a World Away"; lead vocals on "Near Wild Heaven" and "Texarkana"; keyboards and arrangement on "Losing My Religion" and "Texarkana"
    Bill Berry - drum, percussion, congas on "low", bass guitar on "Half a World Away" and "Country Feedback", piano on "Near Wild Heaven", backing vocals on Near Wild Heaven", "Belong" 

  Additional musicians
    David Arenz – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Ellie Arenz – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Mark Bingham – string arrangements on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    David Braitberg – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Andrew Cox – cello on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Reid Harris – viola on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Peter Holsapple – bass guitar on "Radio Song" and "Low"; acoustic guitar on "Losing My Religion", "Shiny Happy People", and "Texarkana"; electric guitar on "Belong"
    Ralph Jones – double bass on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Kidd Jordan – baritone saxophone on "Radio Song" and "Near Wild Heaven", tenor saxophone on "Radio Song" and "Endgame", alto saxophone on "Radio Song", bass clarinet on "Low" and "Endgame"
    John Keane – pedal steel guitar on "Texarkana" and "Country Feedback"
    Dave Kempers – violin on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    KRS-One – rapping on "Radio Song"
    Scott Litt – echo-loop feed on "Radio Song"
    Elizabeth Murphy – cello on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Paul Murphy – lead viola on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Kate Pierson – vocals on "Near Wild Heaven", and duet on "Shiny Happy People", "Me in Honey"
    Jay Weigel – orchestral liaison on "Radio Song", "Low", "Near Wild Heaven", "Endgame", "Shiny Happy People", "Half a World Away", and "Texarkana"
    Cecil Welch – flugelhorn on "Endgame"

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I know I only did this a couple of years ago but there were a number of dead links etc and so in deciding to update them I thought I would fully revise the piece written back in 2017.

"The world is collapsing around our ears, I turned up the radio, but I can't hear it" - now that's an epic way to open an album! The world was doing exactly just that in 1991 with the collapse of the old Soviet Union. Gorbachov was ousted and Yeltsin became the new man at the helm. Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania and Latvia announced Independence from Russia. Operation Desert Storm would begin as the US Army marched into Kuwait to rid Iraqi invaders. Yugoslavia would crumble to pieces as Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia seceded. Refugees were fleeing Albania and this forced the Government to adopt widespread changes to its policies. Bank of Credit and Commerce International was closed as Banking regulators from 69 countries shut down the BCCI claiming it laundered money, dealt in illegal arms, and was responsible for smuggling, fraud, extortion and bribery. billion was claimed to have disappeared within it's walls. BCCI was responsible for Iran-Contra transfers, providing nuclear weapons technology to Iraq, and secretly buying three American banks. The World Wide Web was launched with great fanfare connecting worlds via technology.

Fast forward 28 years and the "world" is still "collapsing". There's lots of trouble with Russia whether it be their invading other parts of their former land, or their meddling in the affairs of other countries through spying, hacking, trying to influence the outcome of elections in other nations and killing off former spies with poison on the streets of foreign lands! 

The Middle East is still a chaotic mess and the fight this time around is to get rid of Isalmic Extremist groups like ISIS. In Syria you have a government backed by Russia (yep, them again) trouncing the opposition (supported by the US and other Countries). People are still dying in Iraq via Car Bombs and ISIS led raids on towns. Refugees are everywhere, flowing from lands across the world seeking shelter and a new life in Europe, America and beyond. 

There has been a rising again of the Right across Europe with their facist hatred for anyone who appears different to them, and of course still in the seat of power in the USA is a President that has got there by hook and by crook, funded by the Alt-Right (who are basically well dressed Nazis!) and have their minions surrounding one of the most powerful offices in the world! On a almost a daily basis he lies about pretty much everything and a number of people connected to him have been charged with various crimes and hauled off to jail (whilst the President smears them as disgruntled employees who are only seeking his downfall).

The banking system is still an utter mess as well throughout the world! And the World Wide Web whilst offering many good things has become a place where one can learn how to become a terrorist as well as learn how to make a great apple pie!....Somethings just don't ever change do they?

Into that collapsing world came Out Of Time, the seventh studio album from R.E.M. It was the first #1 album in the US and the UK for the band. It has sold absolutely bucket loads across the globe since its release in 1991 (despite a rest from touring by the group) and whilst unloved by some due to its commercial success it's an album I still find a lot of joy listening to 28 years on.

What the band had begun when they signed to Warner Bros with the excellent Green album they continued with Out Of Time as they went from a Cult Band to an International Success across the globe!

David Fricke, writing for the Melody Maker said of the album, "Out Of Time is the kind of whisper that, with time, makes you want to scream with joy...A stunning baroque beauty fashioned from dark, frank lyric testimony...It's the album REM tried to make in 1985 with Fables of Reconstruction. The 'fun' quotient is higher here as well" (March 9th 1991).  Meanwhile Terry Staunton of the NME said in the March 16th 1991 issue that "Out Of Time is easily their most eclectic and wildly inspired album yet...The greatest rock 'n' roll band tag may have been uncomfortable in the past, but this album will not make it any easier to shift". 

It all kicked off with the release of Losing My Religion as a single. Mike Mills said years later, "Without 'Losing My Religion', Out of Time would have sold two or three million [copies], instead of the ten [million copies] or so it did. But the phenomenon that is a worldwide hit is an odd thing to behold. Basically that record was a hit in almost every civilised country in the world." 

David Cavanagh, writing for Uncut's Ultimate Music Guide: REM wrote, that the song "scored three watermelons on pop's international fruit machine, and Stipe and REM could never be cult figures again".

The success of Losing My Religion and Out of Time broadened R.E.M.'s audience beyond its original college radio-based fanbase. When asked at the time if he was worried that the song's success might alienate older fans, Peter Buck told Rolling Stone, "The people that changed their minds because of 'Losing My Religion' can just kiss my ass." Michael Stipe's vocal for the song was done in a single take!

According to Stipe, in an interview with Gavin Martin for the NME back in 1991, Losing My Religion was not actually about Religion at all. When asked "How do you lose your religion?" Stipe responded, "That's a term I've heard used all my life; I thought it was a common term but obviously outside of the South it's not. People have asked me over and over again 'Are you a Catholic? Are you a Quaker?' But this has nothing to do with religion in this song. If one loses one's religion it's the same as being at the end of your rope or reaching the final straw and snapping...It's used casually - a waitress will say, 'I almost lost my religion over that table, they were such jerks.' To make it more serious would be an event so dramatic that it could cause you to question your spiritual beliefs."

Kate Pierson of The B-52's featured on the next single (she actually appears on another two songs on the album as well - Near Wild Heaven and Me In Honey). Shiny Happy People is not a song that is loved by the band at all. Infact, it became "so unstoppably popular that REM diswoned it in horror (and refused to perform it until Sesame Street in 1999)" (David Cavanagh, Uncut's Ultimate Music Guide). Stipe said, "I Hate That Song!" But it was a massive hit! In 2006, the song received the #1 position on AOL Music's list of the "111 Wussiest Songs of All Time". Due to the band's dislike of the song, it was one of their few Warner-released singles not included on their 2003 greatest hits album In Time. They did a version of it in 1999 for Sesame Street called Furry Happy Monsters. "It’s a fruity pop song written for children. It just is what it is," Stipe told the BBC’s Andrew Marr in 2016. "If there was one song that was sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for the rest of time, I would not want it to be Shiny Happy People." It's actually quite funny reading an interview in the NME from back in 1991 and seeing what Stipe said about the song when the album had just come out, "It's the happiest song we have ever put out...I meant it as a happy song...I told Peter for two months that I wasn't going to write a chorus because I didn't want to blow the guitar line by singing over it. But he insisted that I did and it worked and the video, God, the video, is just the happiest thing I've ever seen...".

Near Wild Heaven was the third single released from the album. Now, I always get a bit of a grump when bands/artists release too many singles from an album and whilst this is the case with this one as a single I have to say that I actually really do like the song itself. It was a surprise that Michael Stipe was not singing the lead vocal, but Mick Mills does a pretty fine job I reckon. It wasn't released in the USA as a single but here in the UK it did creep into the Top 30 (stalling at #27).

The fourth and final single from the album was Radio Song. Although I'm not a big fan of Remixes I actually quite liked the Tower of Luv Bug Remix that was issued in the US and Germany. The single featured KRS-One, the rapper from Boogie Down Productions. Cavanagh said, that the "rapping on Radio Song sounds incongruously shoddy now". It was another Top 30 hit in the UK (stalling at #28).

I was listening afresh to the album last night and this morning as I was putting the finishing touches to this piece and was thinking about what are my favourite tracks on the album. Surprisingly it is actually none of the singles (though as I said I do like Near Wild Heaven). Belong, Half A World Away, Texarkana and Me In Honey are probably the ones I'd name as the best ones on the album and 'Shiny Happy People', no matter how much the band hate it, still has the ability to put a smile on your face as you wake up in a world that is still "collapsing around our ears" and eyes!

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Singles On Out Of Time

Losing My Religion:

12"

A-Side: Losing My Religion

B-Side: Rotary Eleven / After Hours (Live) 

Released 19th February 1991

US Chart #4

UK Chart #19

CD Single 

   1 Losing My Religion (Album Version)    
2 Fretless    
3 Losing My Religion (Live Acoustic Version / Rockline)    
4 Rotary Eleven

Limited Edition CD for UK and Europe

1 Losing My Religion    
2 Stand (Live)    
3 Turn You Inside-Out (Live)    
4 World Leader Pretend (Live)

Live tracks recorded on The Green World Tour 

Shiny Happy People:

12"

A-Side: Shiny Happy People

B-Side: Forty Second Song / Losing My Religion (Live Acoustic Version)

Released 16th May 1991

US Chart #10

UK Chart #6

 Limited Edition CD for UK and Europe

 1 Shiny Happy People   
2 I Remember California (Live)   
3 Get Up (Live)   
4 Pop Song '89 (Live)

Live tracks recorded on The Green World Tour

Near Wild Heaven:

 12"

A-Side: Near Wild Heaven (LP Version)

B-Side: Pop Song '89 (Live Acoustic Version) / Half A World Away (Live Acoustic Version)

Released 5th August 1991

UK Chart #27

 

Limited Edition CD for UK and Europe

 1 Near Wild Heaven    
2 Tom's Diner (Live)    
3 Low (Live)    
4 Endgame (Live)

Live tracks recorded at The Borderline, London 15th March 1991

 

 

 Radio Song:

12"

A-Side: Radio Song

B-Side: Love Is All Around (Live) / Shiny Happy People (Music Mix)

Released 4th November 1991

UK Chart #28 

 

 

 Limited Edition CD for UK and Europe

 1 Radio Song    
2 You Are The Everything (Live)    
3 Orange Crush (Live)    
4 Belong (Live)

Live tracks: 2 - on Tourfilm; 3-4 on This Film Is On

 

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Released as 3LP Vinyl Set
4 Disc Box Set
and 2CD Set:
CD1 Remastered Album
CD2 Out Of Time Demos

CD2-1     Losing My Religion 1 (Demo)     4:00
CD2-2     Near Wild Heaven 1 (Demo)     4:09
CD2-3     Shiny Happy People 1 (Demo) 3:14
CD2-4     Texarkana 1 (Demo)     3:50
CD2-5     Untitled Demo 2     3:33
CD2-6     Radio – Acoustic (Radio Song 1 Demo)     4:15
CD2-7     Near Wild Heaven 2 (Demo)     4:34
CD2-8     Shiny Happy People 2 (Demo)     3:55
CD2-9     Slow Sad Rocker (Endgame Demo)     4:34
CD2-10     Radio – Band (Radio Song 3 Demo)     4:22
CD2-11     Losing My Religion 2 (Demo)     4:36
CD2-12     Belong (Demo)     4:17
CD2-13     Blackbirds (Half A World Away Demo)     3:26
CD2-14     Texarkana (Demo)     4:06
CD2-15     Country Feedback (Demo)     4:03
CD2-16     Me On Keyboard (Me In Honey Demo)     3:42
CD2-17     Low (Demo)     4:54
CD2-18     40 Sec. (40 Second Song Demo)     1:22
CD2-19     Fretless 1 (Demo)     4:52

The S4L Radio Show #2 March 2019: International Women's Day

It's been a while since I last put together a playlist for the "Radio Show" and so today here's a special one. 

Today is International Women's Day and I have selected 18 tunes from bands either fronted by women or bands that are all-female. Some you will know, others maybe not so much but I do hope you enjoy this latest edition.

On the Playlist
On My Radio - The Selecter
Do The Rocksteady - The Bodysnatchers
Spellbound - Siouxsie Soux
Nostalgia - Penetration
In The Beginning There Was Rhythm
Violence Grew - Honey Bane
Jet Fighter - The Bangles
Head Over Heels - The Go Go's
Me Vs The World - Halo Friendlies
Rules and Regulations - Maid of Ace
Barracuda - Chelsea Girls
Do You Wanna Hit It - The Donnas
Emergency - Girlschool
Pace Doesn't Love Me - Spazzys
Soulmates to Strangers - Joan Jett
Gravity - Blondie
The Daily Fail The Ramonas
Fairytale In The Supermarket - The Raincoats

Revisiting My Dark Places - Stiff Little Fingers

(2017 Reissue Cover)

My Dark Places - Stiff Little Fingers
from the album
No Going Back
Rigid Digits
Released 2014
Reissued as 2CD set on Ear Music 2017

I wanted to follow up the piece I just posted regarding the Springsteen song, 'This Depression' by returning to a song that I have over the past few years shared on this blog and I hope that you are not fed up with me mentioning it again!

The reason I thought I should post this one again is that unlike the Springsteen song, which doesn't really go into any great details regarding the impact of Depression upon a life, this one written by Jake Burns and performed by Stiff Little Fingers does.

I don't think I need to give a running commentary on the lyrics (see below) as they are pretty clear at what Jake Burns was wishing to communicate with the song. 

I love the fact that SLF have been speaking about this issue now for many years and that the song 'My Dark Places' sits in their set as one of their finest songs to date and that pretty much every night they hit the stage that Jake takes time to talk about Depression before they unleash the song.

If you need help with issues relating to Depression please speak to your Doctor or even one of the many helplines that are available in many countries that are dedicated to helping people in times of trouble.

If you live in the UK here is a link that provides some information regarding such helplines and agencies. CLICK HERE.

(Original Release Cover)

Acoustic Version


My Dark Places - Jake Burns
Well it cuts just like a knife
Takes away your love of life
Puts out your fire and leaves you in the ashes
And you lay there in the hole
What you loved now leaves you cold
It's hard to get the strength to face the morning
Somedays you really feel like hiding
Somedays you you swear you'll never go out anymore

And I'm not going back
I'm not going back to my dark places
And I'm not going back
I'm not going back to my dark places

Well the days drag slowly by
All you want to do is cry
Nothing makes sense nothing has a reason
And the world is not the same
And you're the one to blame
Before too long you feel just like a prisoner
Some days you really feel like screaming
Some days you swear you'll never smile anymore
And I'm not going back
I'm not going back to my dark places
And I'm not going back
I'm not going back to my dark places

It's something they can't see yet it seems so real to me
Can't explain just how I feel when what I feel is no emotion
It's not a tragedy, yet that's how it seems to me
I wish you could see or even for one minute be me

Well, I got there in the end
With the help of many friends
Some who helped by simply just believing
And the days look brighter now
yet I know someday, somehow
I could end up back there in an instant
Some days I really feel like laughing
Some days I realise I must stay on my guard

And I'm not going back
I'm not going back to my dark places
And I'm not going back
I'm not going back to my dark places

Live At Glasgow Barrowlands
from the album
'Best Served Loud'

This Depression - Bruce Springsteen

This Depression - Bruce Springsteen
from the album
'Wrecking Ball'

Released 2012

Album Version

I have posted previously on the subject of Depression and it's a subject that's always worth revisiting because it is something that doesn't just disappear overnight or if you are not talking about it.

I was just recently listening afresh to the Wrecking Ball album by Bruce Springsteen as it has been seven years since the album was released. The track 'This Depression' was not one that immediately jumped off the record as a particular favourite but over time it is a song that has begun to be etched a little on my psyche.

Now I am no Doctor and so I would not pretend for even a split second that I have the answer, the cure for Depression because I don't. But one thing I have learned over the years is that it is good to talk about it.

In days of old of course such things would never be spoken of, there would be a challenge to "Grin and bear it", "Man up", "Don't be so soft!", "Pull yourself together and stop being so weak" (I'm sure you have probably heard a hundred and one more examples from people who just don't want to confront the issue and think they can wave it off with a dismissive jab. 

But the days are changing and Mental Health is something that is being spoken about in the media an awful lot (especially when a high profile celebrity or musician begins talking about it or sadly takes their own life as a result of it).

In the world of music there are many songs that deal with the issue of Depression (just do a Google Search with the line "Songs About Depression" and you will find endless lists spotlighting some of these songs - here's one from the NME: 50 Songs About Depression). 

Bruce Springsteen has actually spoken for a number of years about Depression, going right back to the start of the nineties when he begun mentioning that he had been going to therapy. His autobiography, Born To Run, also touches on the subject and when the book was first published many writers and reviewers zoomed in on that issue as if it was some grand revelation but as I said, he has spoken about it in interviews a number of times over the years before the book even came to pass.

The actual song 'This Depression' does not go into any great depth about the issue but it does spotlight a few things that are characteristic about it (feeling down, lost, low, faith shaken, appearing strong when you are actually weak, and a sense of hopelessness and being unloved).

One of the standout things from the song I think is the sense of desperation and the willingness to recognise that someone else (a loved one, a friend or the family) is vital in the process of dealing with Depression: 

"This is my confession

I Need Your Heart

In This Depression

I Need Your Heart"

That speaks to me about the need to have people in your life who love you and want the very best for you and demonstrate by their actions (whether by being a good listener or just being there when you need a shoulder to lean on) that they have "Heart". Also, the fact that you recognise that you need help is not to be regarded as a sign of weakness but rather one of strength.

Another reason for posting about the subject is that I am very much aware in my own personal life, due to my own health issues and the medication I take for my Epilepsy, that I can be prone to bouts of Depression. So in a way it's a sort of reminder to myself about the value I place upon people in my life and what "I Need" to breakthrough and begin to flourish a little. 

I like that line in the song "Now the morning sun, the morning sun is breaking" which speaks of the new day dawning and the possibilities that lie ahead even when we are dealing with such a difficult issue in our lives. 

If you need help with issues relating to Depression please speak to your Doctor or even one of the many helplines that are available in many countries that are dedicated to helping people in times of trouble.

If you live in the UK here is a link that provides some information regarding such helplines and agencies. CLICK HERE.

Live Version
First Direct Arena, Leeds
24th July 2013


This Depression
written by Bruce Springsteen

Baby, I've been down, but never this down
I've been lost, but never this lost

This is my confession
I need your heart
In this depression
I need your heart

Baby, I've been low, but never this low
I’ve had my faith shaken but never hopeless

This is my confession
I need your heart
In this depression
I need your heart

I haven't always been strong, but never felt so weak
All of my prayers, gone for nothing
I've been without love, but never forsaken
Now the morning sun, the morning sun is breaking

This is my confession
I need your heart
In this depression
I need your heart

This is my confession
I need your heart
In this depression
I need your heart

This is my confession
I need your heart
In this depression
I need your heart

Rewind: This Day in 1986: Pretty In Pink Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Released

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Pretty In Pink Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Various Artists
A&M Records
Released February 28th 1986


 

Side 1

A1 –Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - If You Leave 4:24
A2 –Suzanne Vega - Left Of Center 3:32
A3 –Jesse Johnson - Get To Know Ya 3:33
A4 –INXS - Do Wot You Do 3:17
A5 –The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink 4:40

Side 2

B1 –New Order - Shellshock 6:04
B2 –Belouis Some - Round, Round 4:06
B3 –Danny Hutton Hitters - Wouldn't It Be Good 3:43
B4 –Echo and The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses 3:58
B5 –The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want 1:50

(2012 Record Store Day Release on Pink Vinyl)

From what I can recall I don't think I have ever done a series of posts focusing on Soundtracks so if this is a first then I picked a good one to possibly start with.

Released on this day in 1986.
Enjoy

Tidy Tunes 2019 #28/28 The Best of Everything (Alternate Version) - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

The Best of Everything (Alternate Version / Extra Verse) - Tom Petty and The Heatbreakers
Taken from the album
'The Best of Everything - The Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection 1976-2016'

Released 1st March 2019

Another previously Unreleased Track on the Compilation:
For Real  - Tom Petty and The Heatbreakers

Track listing for the album
Unless mentioned otherwise all tracks are by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Disc 1
1. "Free Fallin’" - Tom Petty
2. "Mary Jane’s Last Dance"
3. "You Wreck Me" - Tom Petty
4. "I Won’t Back Down" - Tom Petty
5. "Saving Grace" - Tom Petty
6. "You Don’t Know How It Feels" - Tom Petty
7. "Don’t Do Me Like That"
8. "Listen to Her Heart"
9. "Breakdown"
10. "Walls (Circus)"
11. "The Waiting"
12. "Don’t Come Around Here No More"
13. "Southern Accents"
14. "Angel Dream (No. 2)"
15. "Dreamville"
16. "I Should Have Known It"
17. "Refugee"
18. "American Girl"
19. "The Best of Everything" (Alt. Version Previously Unreleased)

Disc 2
1. "Wildflowers" - Tom Petty
2. "Learning to Fly"
3. "Here Comes My Girl"
4. "The Last DJ"
5. "I Need to Know"
6. "Scare Easy" - Mudcrutch
7. "You Got Lucky"
8. "Runnin’ Down a Dream" - Tom Petty
9. "American Dream Plan B"
10. "Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around" (feat. Stevie Nicks)
11. "Trailer" - Mudcrutch
12. "Into the Great Wide Open"
13. "Room at the Top"
14. "Square One" - Tom Petty
15. "Jammin’ Me"
16. "Even the Losers"
17. "Hungry No More" - Mudcrutch
18. "I Forgive It All" - Mudcrutch
19. "For Real" Previously Unreleased)

This was originally scheduled for release last year and was announced at pretty much the same time as the release of what turned out to be my album of the year, An American Treasure Boxset. I'm guessing they did not want to dent sales on either product and delayed the release of the this collection until now.

This one is released tomorrow so I thought I would slip a little something into the Tidy Tunes series seeing as it is the last day. 

The Best of Everything (Alternate Version) was recorded during the making of the 'Southern Accents' album and it contains an extra verse in it that has not appeared on record before (but you just know the bootleggers have had it for years!).

Now while I recognise that this "Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection" might be appealing as an introduction to the catalogue of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, his Solo releases and Mudcrutch, I am also a little skeptical of labels just cashing in on his name and legacy by presenting an album that only features two songs out of 38 that have been unreleased before. 

All of these tracks have been available elsewhere and many on previous Greatest Hits, Best Ofs, and Anthologies.

Tidy Tunes 2019 #27/28 She's The One / I Wanna Be Sedated - Ramones

She's The One / I Wanna Be Sedated
- Ramones
from the album
'Road To Ruin'
Originally released 22nd September 1978
40th Anniversary Edition released 21st September 2018

US Chart #103

UK Chart #32

She's The One


I Wanna Be Sedated

Listen Here:

As we draw close to the end of the month and the end of Tidy Tunes (maybe we will do it again later in the year) I thought today I'd go with an A-Side and a B-Side from one of my favourite bands, the Ramones.

'She's the One' was the third and final single released from the 'Road To Ruin' album in 1978.  'Don't Come Close' only reached #39 in the UK Charts whilst the second single, a cover version of 'Needles and Pins' failed to chart as did the 'She's The One'.

'Road To Ruin' was the first album to feature Marky Ramone (Marc Bell) on the drums (he began recording the album only three weeks after joining) as Tommy stepped back into a more studio role. It was deemed as an attempt by the band to get more airplay and more sales by adopting a more gentler sound (though when you listen to the album maybe only a couple of tracks fit that description, especially the first two singles!). Obviously this step didn't work out so well as the album was a flop in the their homeland. In the UK the album fared better than 'Rocket To Russia' (which had only reached #60!).

Charles Shaar Murray once said that "every Ramones song should be a hit single" and sometimes looking back you wonder why on earth they didn't have more chart success because there are absolutely loads of singles that sound like they should have been massive hits.

Regardless of the lack of Chart placing this single is an absolute gem and that's why they are a Tidy Tune for today.

Tidy Tune 2019 #26/28 I Can't Resist - The Reaction (Mark Hollis R.I.P.)

I Can't Resist/I'm A Case - The Reaction 

Island Records 

Produced by Ed Hollis 

Released 1978

Listen To Both A and B-Sides Here:

Living In Another World (12" Extended Mix) - Talk Talk
EMI
Released March 1986
UK Chart #48

 Mark Hollis
4th January 1955 - 25th February 2019
Rest In Peace

Most people's introduction to Mark Hollis would have been via his band Talk Talk during the the 1980s but for some of us it came a few years earlier when his band The Reaction first appeared on vinyl performing 'Talk Talk Talk Talk'  on the Beggars Banquet compilation 'Streets' in 1977 along with a bunch of other punk/new wave rogues like The Art Attacks, The Drones, Slaughter and the Dogs, John Cooper Clarke, The Members, The Doll and The Lurkers.

His older brother, Ed Hollis was already involved in music particularly working alongside Eddie and the Hot Rods. The Reaction were very 60's influenced and it's no wonder a few Mods who sprung up in the Mod Revival frequently name their one and only single (which Ed produced)  'I Can't Resist' as a worthy catch.

After releasing the single the band went their separate ways and via his brother Ed, Mark met Simon Brenner, Lee Harris and Paul Webb, with whom he would form Talk Talk in 1981.

I must admit that I was not a huge Talk Talk fan (though I'm sure today you will find many articles or people on Social Media touting them as if they were the best thing since sliced bread, but in these matters it's always best to be honest. It was probably because they got lumped in with the New Romantics that I didn't take to them) but there were quite a few singles I enjoyed and listening back to them since I heard the news last night of his death I was amazed at how a few of them still hold some clout today ('It's My Life', 'Life's What You Make It' for example).

Our condolences to his family at this sad time.

Tidy Tunes 2019 #25/28 My Only True Friend - Gregg Allman

My Only True Friend - Gregg Allman
From the album
Southern Blood
Rounder Records
Produced by Don Was
Released 8th September 2017

US Chart #11

UK Chart #79


"My Only True Friend"
Written by Gregg Allman and Scott Sharrard
You and I both know this river will surely flow to an end
Keep me in your heart keep your soul on the mend

I hope you're haunted by the music of my soul
When I'm gone
Please don't fly away and find you a new love
I can't face living this life alone
I can't bear to think this might be the end
But you and I both know the road is my only true friend

Another night alone but I see you in my dreams sometimes
No matter where I go lord knows
You were always on my mind

I hope you're haunted by the music of my soul
When I'm gone
Please don't fly away and find you a new love
I just can't face living this life alone
I can't bear to think this might be the end
But you and I both know the road is my only true friend

Still on and on I run it feels like home is just around the bend
I got so much left to give
But I'm running out of time, my friend

I hope you're haunted by the music of my soul
When I'm gone
Please don't fly away and find you a new love
I just can't face living this life alone
I can't bear to think this might be the end
But you and I both know the road is my only true friend
You and I both know the road is my only true friend  

Listen To The Album Here:
 

The Southern Blood album was the eighth and final album by singer/songwriter Gregg Allman. It was released three months after his passing (27th May 2017). The album had been recorded over a period of nine days at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

I chose 'My Only True Friend' for today's Tidy Tune as I was listening to the album last night and it struck me again what an amazing song it is and one filled with such emotion as co-writer Scott Sharrard had specifically written the lyric to be like the voice of long departed brother Duane Allman speaking to Gregg! 

The whole album is pretty precious I think. 'My Only True Friend' and 'Love is Like Kerosene' are the only original songs on the album. Allman had intended there to be more but due to ill-health and the fact that not long after recording these set of songs he passed away that plan was somewhat scuppered. But the covers all meant something to Allman.

There's more on the album on a previous Blogpost I did back in December 2017 when I was running down my favourite albums of the year, this one fell into the #11 spot (I realise on the link that there are maybe some out of date things and a dead link or so, I will try and get around to fixing them at some point).

 "I hope you're haunted by the music of my soul
When I'm gone"

New Music 2019: Psychedelic Country Soul - The Long Ryders (February)

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Psychedelic Country Soul - The Long Ryders
Omnivore Recordings (USA)/Cherry Red Records (UK)
Produced by Ed Stasium
Released 15th February 2019

First studio album of new material from The Long Ryders in three decades!!

The "fathers" of the Alt-Country scene have returned in great fashion with a magnificent 12 song collection. Eleven are written by band members and one is a an excellent tribute to Tom Petty in 'Walls' (that features Debbi and Vicki Peterson from the Bangles).

This one is already in the pile for contender for The S4L Album of the Year 2019.

Tidy Tunes 2019 #24/28 It's So Tough - John Mayall feat. Steven Van Zandt

It's So Tough - John Mayall feat. Steve Van Zandt
from the album
'Nobody Told Me'
Forty Below Records
Released 22nd February 2019


 

Listen to the Album Here.

John Mayall OBE is one of the Premier British Bluesmen (although he's actually lived in the States since the end of the Sixties). He's been up and at 'em since 1956 and at aged 85 and counting he's just released another fantastic album called 'Nobody Told Me'. He's gathered around himself for this album some notable exponents of the Electric Guitar and peforms seven covers and three songs of his own.

Age has not slowed him down at all as he is due to kick off a  tour in Europe in two days time starting in Finland right through to April when he finishes up in the Netherlands. Inbetween there are dates in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Italy and back to Germany again. No doubt after a much needed rest there will also be dates in the USA.