Between The Wheels

I though I'd start a thread where we might share music of interest that most people probably aren't aware of.

I was fortunate in that I had a brother ten years older than myself who let me play his records, and at the age of 8 I was very fond of this tune. Credited to 'Earl Vince and the Valiants', it was actually Fleetwood Mac, with guitar player Jeremy Spencer on vocals. Jeremy wrote this tune.

I will say though that my mum hated it, and she used to tell my brother off when she caught me listening to it.

Jeremy is from West Hartlepool. I'm proud to say that my home town has contributed guitar players to two of the most successful bands in recording history, the other one being Iron Maiden.

Anyway. I hope you like this more than my mum did.

One day in 1976 I was thumbing through the LP racks in the various record shops of Hartlepool and I came across this one, a compilation album by the esteemed Krautrock band Can.

(https://i.ibb.co/H41kLK0/opener.webp)

I'd never heard of them and to the best of my knowledge I'd never heard any of their stuff. But I was intrigued by the cover and the blurb on the back so I bought it.

This was easily the most fortuitous random album purchase of my entire life (so far, I suppose there's still time). From that album, and also from the album Future Days, this is Moonshake.



Eventually I bought all the original albums but I still have a soft spot for the original compilation so since it never came out on CD, I burned my own copy using the same tracks ripped from the various album CDs.

Liked that - not a band I'm familiar with at all, beyond the name. Will do some digging :)

Maybe I could sort out a YouTube playlist with the various Opener tunes in the appropriate sequence - that'd be a great place to start.

Quote from: Slim on March 15, 2023, 08:09:16 PMMaybe I could sort out a YouTube playlist with the various Opener tunes in the appropriate sequence - that'd be a great place to start.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtQoLzWkVKErCqyXKlS2lcqjsyQdN_uGE

Nice one James, will have a listen :)

Probably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

I don't remember exactly when or where I discovered Jerry Paper. Probably about four years ago, probably a chance hearing on 6 Music.

Jerry isn't actually a real person, he's more a persona; a project - a bit like Ziggy Stardust. Anyway clearly this sort of thing will appeal to people with a sense of humour but more than that; more than the quirky charm, the songs are brilliant.

This is a live recording but the official videos are usually pure genius.

Quote from: pdw1 on March 23, 2023, 11:48:30 PMProbably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

Guthrie explains how he got the job playing on an Asia record (which led to touring with them) here, 35 mins in:

Quote from: Slim on March 29, 2023, 07:45:53 PM

Quote from: pdw1 on March 23, 2023, 11:48:30 PMProbably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

Guthrie explains how he got the job playing on an Asia record (which led to touring with them) here, 35 mins in:

Thanks

Quote from: pdw1 on March 23, 2023, 11:48:30 PMProbably more for Matt than anyone else.
Asia - Wherever You Are
with with a young unknown guitarist by the name of Gutherie Govan

Well, thanks. :)

Don't like the track though; very plodding and no discernible hooks - sorry! 🙂

This is one of those tracks that just hit me when I was watching MTV one day some years ago and I listened to it constantly for weeks. I listened to more of their stuff but none of it is as spectacular, or grabbed me, as this. Ladies and Gents: Lambchop - Up With People.

Cheese and Onions https://g.co/kgs/EnNGkM

The Rutles

A masterclass from Neil Innes in nicking all the hooks and familiar tunes from the Beatles and turning them into a wonderful new bunch of songs
The film itself is just great and funny and so spot on

I'm sure eveyone and their dog has heard this by now,. but in case you missed it, Page shared his demo idea for the Rain Song "The Seasons" and it's great. I am happy it turned into the majestic Rain Song we all know, but this is a great listen.

Quote from: Fishy on April 01, 2023, 06:27:43 PMCheese and Onions https://g.co/kgs/EnNGkM

The Rutles

A masterclass from Neil Innes in nicking all the hooks and familiar tunes from the Beatles and turning them into a wonderful new bunch of songs
The film itself is just great and funny and so spot on

I have the album somewhere. Very cleverly done.

Inspired by Neil Innes? Here's the Dukes of Stratosphear and the Mole from the Ministry.

First heard this on Huey Morgan's 6 Music show while out on a bike about three years ago. I have a few of the albums now but nothing else comes close to this tune for me. I love this sort of West Coast / Jazz / Soul kinda thing.

By the way those are the girls from Haim near the end of the video.

And in a similar vein, the wonderful Benny Sings.

Benny is actually from The Netherlands; real name Tim van Berkestijn. This was co-written by the lovely Mayer Hawthorne who no doubt will feature in a later post in this thread.

Back in 1989, I was a huge John McLaughlin fan. This was about the time that Channel 4 had got into the habit of putting esoteric music stuff on TV in the early hours of the morning, and one night at about 1:30 AM, they broadcast a sort of double bill of concert material featuring McLaughlin playing with Jonas Hellborg in France, followed by John Scofield playing in Denmark.

I'd never heard of John Scofield but I had plenty of space on the VHS tape I'd inserted into my parents' VCR which I'd set to record the programme, so I thought - why not? I went to bed and left it to do its thing.

The next day I played back the whole thing and I was blown away by the Scofield set, and especially this tune, Blue Matter, which I uploaded to YouTube about twelve years ago. A few weeks later I had four or five Sco albums.

What amuses me is that my upload now has over 250,000 views, so it's almost certainly been seen by more people than saw the original broadcast it was recorded from.

For me the Holy Trinity of Sco albums are Still Warm, Blue Matter and Loud Jazz which would have been the three most recent albums at the time of the broadcast I taped above. I like some of his later stuff, but not that much to be honest. A Go Go is quite nice.

I think my single favourite Sco tune is Signature Of Venus, on Loud Jazz. I love this tune that features Sco as well, from Marc Johnson's Bass Desires. It's like an aural vodka martini. With a lemon twist. Although Bill Frisell's participation is the highlight of this for me.

I am quite fond of Gov't Mule and they did a collab album with Scofield: Sco-Mule

Edit:ok not sure why not but the YouTube link is not working.

SikTh - How May I Help You? Another song/video that I caught out of the blue on MTV one day. This sort of music is really not my normal style but SikTh (with a bit of effort and repeat listens) really struck a cord with me for some reason. I love the energy and the way the 2 vocalists bounce of each other. It's extreme certainly but melodic and catchy too. Anyway this was the first I heard from them and I've liked the band ever since. This video is rather comical too and the subs help a lot - and it's a love story haha. There is a very quick glimpse of the band a part way through.

Quote from: pxr5 on April 27, 2023, 09:07:58 PMSikTh - How May I Help You? Another song/video that I caught out of the blue on MTV one day.

That's brilliant, downloaded the album.

Quote from: Slim on April 27, 2023, 11:40:44 PM

Quote from: pxr5 on April 27, 2023, 09:07:58 PMSikTh - How May I Help You? Another song/video that I caught out of the blue on MTV one day.

That's brilliant, downloaded the album.

Wow. Glad you liked it. Another favourite of mine is Such the Fool. I did have the album  "The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild" on CD, but that went with all my other CDs to MusicMagpie a few years ago.

In 1974, George Harrison and Ronnie Wood each released versions of a song they'd written together called Far East Man. The song is a wistful reflection on friendship; they were having affairs with each others' wives at the time, and I suppose it must be quite the bonding experience. I haven't tried it myself.

I much prefer Ron's version. George can be heard on background vocals here, although he wasn't allowed to be credited for contractual reasons. Urban legend (and Wikipedia) has it that he plays the slide guitar part as well, though I highly doubt that. Ron was always a brilliant slide player; George was marginally competent at best. If you listen to George's version the slide guitar part is pretty crude and basic. No doubt George played that one.

There's a notable soul influence in this tune; Ron was always a soul fan and I think that's what sets him apart from the other celebrated British blues and rock players who emerged in the '60s - Peter Green, Clapton, Beck, Page. The Faces often used to cover old Motown tunes in their sets.

This wicked slice of dark funk was composed for a film called Black Dynamite, which as far as I can tell is an homage to the Blaxpolitation movies of the '70s.

Despite that, it was recorded by two middle-aged white Englishmen, one of whom was the drummer in The Shadows.

I was watching some recreational adult art fiction recently, and as the mature woman who had a prominent role in the piece started to disrobe for her massage, my attention was drawn to the incidental music. Rather smooth, I thought. So I put Shazam to work, and it turned out to be this:

Kandace Springs and an old Stylistics tune. This is a bit better than her album version which is a bit flat. Here she plays with David Sanborn's band as part of his "sessions" series. Seems to have been taken down, but someone else has uploaded a copy.

The bass player on this is killing it, don't know who he is but bravo.

EDIT: Dead YouTube link removed. This one's been taken down as well. Boo.

Did you ever have that experience where a song you've known for years suddenly just "clicks" and comes alive? I've known this tune for a bit more than four decades but never thought of it as one of the strong songs on the album it's from. Then the other day I happened upon a Patti Austin cover of it, and out of nowhere it resonates with me in a way it never did before. Went back to the original and got goosebumps.

Despite that, I don't actually like Patti's version. I just don't think the lyrics about spandex jackets and undersea railways suit her. 

This song stirs many emotions for me. I would be in my thirties when I began a gradual drifting migration from my local's lounge bar to the public bar where an older crowd spent their weekend evenings. As a result I met a group of about half a dozen really great folk of greatly varying personalities. They were all about ten years older than me or slightly more. I introduced a couple of them to Rush and two of them accompanied me to Rush concerts at different times.

One who didn't tune in to Rush was Jim. He was a really quiet person with a background in science, but he really came into his own when he'd had a few pints to loosen his tongue. I did a fairly good impression of his voice which had definite James Stewart type drawl characteristics. I got away with that mainly because I was the young whippersnapper in the group which was a great feeling and one which I miss very badly these days.

Sometimes, if there was nothing on after the pub, three or four of us would buy a few tins at exorbitant pub prices and go back to Jim's house. His mum lived with him as she wasn't very well which was great because if she hadn't yet gone to bed she would always appear with toast or sandwiches which were very welcome after several lagers and the inevitable appearance of a bottle of whisky from the cocktail cabinet.

Jim was a big Steely Dan, Donald Fagen fan so a lot of his vinyl got played. Jim was a decent guitar player but would give me his acoustic to mess about on while he played some chords and runs on a tiny battery keyboard. We'd sometimes make an accidental melody over some DF track despite the drink and my very poor playing. The song above was a particular favourite of Jim's and it's distinctive atmosphere transports me immediately back to those contented evenings. Jim died a few years ago. He had been fighting a form of that dreadful disease we hear about so much.

The last time I met him in the village he was in remission and looked as well as he ever did. A few months later he was gone, but not forgotten and today was a welcome reminder. Great guy.

This nearly brought a tear to my eye. I reckon Larry Carlton would have been happy with that guitar solo (except Larry would have made it last about two minutes)

Didn't know this one, from 1971. Lovely jazzy funk tune. Came on the PA before the band at a gig in Shrewsbury last week.

Supposedly Spiro Agnew wanted to have the album it's from withdrawn due to certain political content.

 

I suspect most people are aware of this perfect pop tune from 1975. I was reminded of it this morning because a Rick Wakeman performance at a festival in 1988 came up in my YouTube suggestions, and I noticed the singer / bass player (David Paton) in his band.

I've just read that he plays on the first two Kate Bush albums. He also played with Camel, Elton John and Fish. And he was in the Bay City Rollers in 1968. Didn't know they started in the '60s.

Quote from: Slim on October 31, 2024, 10:10:51 AMI suspect most people are aware of this perfect pop tune from 1975. I was reminded of it this morning because a Rick Wakeman performance at a festival in 1988 came up in my YouTube suggestions, and I noticed the singer / bass player (David Paton) in his band.

I've just read that he plays on the first two Kate Bush albums. He also played with Camel, Elton John and Fish. And he was in the Bay City Rollers in 1968. Didn't know they started in the '60s.

I think he popped up on my fb feed recently, his birthday is 29th October.
January was a great song that was on K-Tel's 40 Supergreats. What a compilation that was! Possibly, the first LP I had featuring original artists after only ever owning a few of the 'Top of the Pops' and 'Hot Hits' compilations (studio bands performing cover versions)

This has been on YouTube for nine years but I've only just found it .. imagine a band with Pete Townshend on guitar, Mick Karn on bass, Phil Collins on drums and Kate Bush on vocals! From 1982.

George Benson is probably best known as a practitioner of accessible soul / pop music, but he also happens to be a killer jazz guitar player as well. Absolutely brilliant extended improvisation in this rendition of a classic Dave Brubeck tune.

Magical live version of What a Fool Believes, ripped from a Laserdisc. I just love this song.

Quote from: Slim on December 29, 2024, 11:17:49 PMMagical live version of What a Fool Believes, ripped from a Laserdisc. I just love this song.

I keep listening to this; I never get tired of it. Some of the chord changes are exquisite but the band never makes a meal of them, they never linger on a wistful moment, they just drive straight through them like they weren't there. It feels unstoppable.

This young man has learned John Scofield's guitar solo from a live performance of Sunny and he's got it note perfect. Sco is one of my favourite guitar players ever and this solo was completely improvised.

I wanted to share this version of it, this Xerox copy because there's something about seeing it laid bare like this that really brings home how unorthodox it is. Sco doesn't use conventional melodic devices. Often he plays right outside the key. But he just makes it work.

Back in 1992 a few of us members of the Rolls-Royce Guitar Society went to see Gordon Giltrap and Martin Taylor perform the musical interlude on Pebble Mill At One. They were both very well established artists in their own right - Martin had been Stephan Grappeli's guitar player a few years earlier and I had a couple of his albums by then as I recall. They'd collaborated on an album called A Matter Of Time.

It's the only time I've ever been in the studio audience at a TV show. It was a fun few hours. The warm up guy was hilarious. It was a live show so I programmed my VCR to record the occasion.


Years later I transferred it to a DVD-R then uploaded it to YouTube.

The only Giltrap song I ever knew was Heartsong

I once pretended to be Gordon Giltrap on a Gordon Giltrap forum, thanking everybody for saying what an amazing genius I was.

It prompted the real GG to turn up and call me out for being an impostor...

Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on August 27, 2025, 09:44:28 PMI once pretended to be Gordon Giltrap on a Gordon Giltrap forum, thanking everybody for saying what an amazing genius I was.

It prompted the real GG to turn up and call me out for being an impostor...

you mean you are not the real Nickslikk2112  :o

Giltrap doesn't wear album covers on his head.. that was the giveaway

Quote from: pdw1 on August 28, 2025, 12:19:34 AM

Quote from: Nickslikk2112 on August 27, 2025, 09:44:28 PMI once pretended to be Gordon Giltrap on a Gordon Giltrap forum, thanking everybody for saying what an amazing genius I was.

It prompted the real GG to turn up and call me out for being an impostor...

you mean you are not the real Nickslikk2112  :o

Unfortunately that's exactly who I am.  Apart from the fact he never really was me.  :o

You don't have to be a fan, but I am. And there's no denying that Waits is a fantastic artist. This is more than tune then, just a lovely watch.

Loving this. Check out the microtonal guitar.

Yes they are blowing up, I expect them to be the festival hype anytime now. It feels like Primus for the new age.

^ Love that - thanks James.

I see Angine de Poitrine's first album is available on vinyl. You may need to win the lottery to afford a copy though:

https://shorturl.at/VoKjn

Just download a digital copy, make scratchy noises with your fingernails on a piece of card, have some Rice Krispies nearby and throw an overcoat over your speakers. If really keen, downsample to 13 bit. Much cheaper.

Been listening to what is sometimes called "Yacht Soul" just recently. I wouldn't have given this the time of day when it came out. I might have thought "that's nice" if I heard it on the radio but ultimately I would have thought of it as wallpaper music. It's far more than that. This is glorious.

Here's a bit more jazz-inflected pop soul. Gorgeous.

Hadn't heard this in a while. Beautiful song

Quote from: Slim on March 20, 2026, 10:04:16 PMLoving this. Check out the microtonal guitar.

Angine De Poitrine playing a couple of tracks on Later...With Jools Holland SE68E06:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002y4yp/later-with-jools-holland-series-68-episode-6

At least the Piledriver got to have sex with him, but now Battlesnake have killed Satan!
This is what music is all about.

Nice tone!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1404446448173258/?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e

Enjoyed that - his style reminded me of Gary Moore