The Vinyl Countdown

The Shirelles, The Single Collection (2015)
I don’t know where or when I first heard The Shirelles – one of the bands you find out about after you hear the songs; you just sort of know them forever without ever really knowing about them…or maybe it’s the other way even, you know about them without ever really knowing them. Anyway, I can’t say I’ve been after this collection at all – I have some of the songs already on various period compilations – “Girl Groups” that sort of thing – but I couldn’t argue with the price…bargain! And though I’m not always in for and about the bargain I am not going to turn it down when I find one like this. The album – brand new, sealed, was $25. Down to $9.95. And then down to $2.97 – I can’t turn that down. Standing there, in The Warehouse, killing time. My son eyeing up Spongebob DVDs, me flicking through the vinyl bins with no intention of buying anything at all in that shop on that day let alone an LP. And then – the only one in the bins that’s as low as $3 happens to be a band I know/know of and some music I love a lot. I had to have it – for that price! Read More »

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May 31, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 116

Boris Gardiner, Everything To Me (1986)
I first learned about Boris Gardiner due to a random library-find, back in those busy toddler-caring days of finding some salvation by digging in the library’s music section. The album, Every Nigger Is A Star, a soundtrack album to a banned movie was the one. A fantastic album. Gardiner is a great journeyman reggae/soul singer. And the Every Nigger album remains a favourite – a great find, fantastic music. Since then I’ve heard a little bit more from Gardiner and this album is always around so I picked it up just recently, finally, because it was super cheap. It’s a bit 80s-naff on the production, of course but it has the smash hit I Want To Wake Up With You. And some nice-enough vibes besides. After a year or so of seeing this in the rack and then passing on by I’m glad to have it in the collection, a worthy price-is-right impulse buy. Read More »

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May 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 117

Ken Boothe, Everything I Own (1974)
Ken Boothe is a sort of journeyman Jamaican vocalist – made over in the early 1970s to sing some Johnny Nash-styled pop-reggae vibes. I like the best of his work a great deal, fantastic cover versions and he wrote a few tunes too. He has great musicians in support and production – and this album, to me anyway, is a must. The title track is a gem (I’m a big fan of the original too) but maybe my favourite cover on here is his rendition of The Godfather Theme (aka Speak Softly Love). Chuck in the drummer from Toots & The Maytals (one of reggae’s greatest) and the production skills of Lloyd Charmers (The Messengers!) and however middle-of-the-road it might have been painted to me it’s a slam-dunk! Read More »

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May 24, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 118

Chet Baker, Chet Baker Plays The Best of Lerner and Loewe (1959)
I’m big time into Art Pepper right now – which means a trip back to Chet Baker too; the two inseparable for me even though they didn’t always work together. They burst from the same scene, or created the scene and then burst out and off into drugs and sadness – and that’s probably the main connection point for me, linking them still. Movie-star looks and cool but utter sadness and addiction plaguing their stories. This Baker album is not one of my favourites – show tunes aren’t really ever my thing but there’s a few exceptions and so it is here, a few exceptions… Read More »

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May 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 119

V/A, Bunny Lee: Dreads Enter The Gates With Praise (2019)
“Striker” – Bunny Lee – one of the architects! Here he is making the selections for one of the Soul Jazz Records label’s fantastic compilations; this a representation of some of the heavy-hitters of the 1970s and is a must-have for reggae-heads. It was recommended to me as a great one-stop shop; triple vinyl (at the price of a single or double only – very good value for money). And man, what a set of tunes. Many I know. Quite a few that are new to me too. I’ve only listened to this right through once – it’s only been in the house a week or so – but I’m very happy to have this one to explore. A great thing to have. Read More »

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May 20, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 120

Augustus Pablo, El Rocker’s (2000)
I remember being introduced to the music of Augustus Pablo – early 2000s. Like many things with music (and you don’t often know it when it’s happening) it came at exactly the right time. I was a fan of some reggae and dub music but didn’t know a lot and the local scene was already building and getting me down. Then someone told me to check this out – the melodica master. And I was digging what Damon Albarn had been doing with that instrument. So it was a natural fit. And he’s been one of my guiding lights for the best of the music in that area (geographically, musically) ever since. One of the guys I go to. And yet I’ve never owned anything by Pablo on vinyl…until now…I was out for a walk during the level 3 lockdown and a mate sent me a photo showing a list that another Facebook friend had posted, records for sale. He had spotted that there was a couple of reggae titles in there and that’s what I’d been listening to a lot over lockdown (and continue to be enthused – it’s been one of dub and reggae’s ‘comebacks’ for me personally). So I dashed off a quick message hoping the Pablo hadn’t been snapped up already. A week later it was mine. Only had a quick listen but it’s a great record – puts me in such a happy mood as soon as it starts. Glad to have it. Read More »

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May 17, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 121

Bob Marley & The Wailers, Rastaman Vibration (1976)
Having made the decision, albeit belatedly, to get all the key Bob Marley albums on vinyl (I have a few already so it’s not a particularly Herculean task) and this is one of the albums I didn’t listen to a lot at the time that I first collected up the Marley discography (on CD). I liked it but in a somewhat absent-minded way; knew it had a couple of very good songs and some decent performances in general but never felt particularly connected to it. That changed this year when I spent a lot more time with this – and then bought a vinyl-LP copy just recently. Great songs. Great playing – Al Anderson showing his chops on the guitar and of course that rhythm section (the Barrett brothers). Bob is in fine voice – though no rhythm guitar from him here and not much in the way of writing either – he seems to just leave it up to everyone else to deliver the goods here. Which, thankfully, they did. Read More »

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May 14, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 122

Roots Radics, Dubbing At Channel 1 (2017)
Lockdown has reconnected me with reggae, with dub, with lovers rock, ska, rocksteady – and holy shit maybe even dancehall. Jamaican music and the versions of it that appear throughout the world (especially the UK scene/s) has been a crucial part of the soundtrack to lockdown in my world; my bubble has pulsed on the on-beat. It’s been a wonderful deep-dive and re connection, I’m no total reggae-head but I do like a lot of classic-era stuff and one of the bands I remember from when I first connected with some of the key names was Roots Radics. There they are on Gregory Issacs’ great Night Nurse album – as beguiling as ever (and one that’s been getting a few spins again of late). So when I put in a panic-call to Grant Smithies (self-confessed “Jamaican Music Head”) and told him to send me a care package of top reggae and/or dub he sent me a couple of the Bob Marley albums I’ve been chasing and a couple of others on his recommendation – including this. It’s fantastic. And because it’s a bunch of washy dub versions – instrumentals – I can sneak it in past the two angry gatekeepers in the house that are fucking hating reggae! Seriously though, great collection. Pleased to have it. Starting a little reggae/dub offshoot collection within my collection and this is a nice addition. Read More »

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May 11, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 123

Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield, What Have I Done To Deserve This? [Single] (1987)
My little joke – to myself – is keeping this broken record. It cracked in a way so that the label can still be read, the song-title What Have I Done To Deserve This? Seeming pretty funny, to me at least. I had it in a frame on the wall for a while, over my desk – next to the New Yorker cartoon of the dog that said he used to have his own blog but gave it up in favour of incessant barking. (I still have that cartoon in a frame on the wall – but the broken Pet Shop Boys single fell down a while ago and I found it tidying up behind the couch). I loved the single when it, erm, came out. I love it still. Huge Pet Shop Boys fan. Huge Dusty Springfield fan – and loved the collaboration. Loved (and still love) the parent album to this single. And the albums that arrived either side of it. The first three Pet Shop Boys albums are perfect. I didn’t always think that – but I do now. This version of this single – broken, unplayable – is far from perfect. It’s given me a wee chuckle across the years: What Have I Done To Deserve THIS?!

Sample Track 1: (Side A): What Have I Done To Deserve This?
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May 8, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 124

Bob Marley & The Wailers, Live! (1975)
Bob Marley & The Wailers – at least the 1975 version of the band – sound frighteningly good here on what is one of Bob’s best albums, one of the greatest live albums and possibly one of the great-great albums – unless you’re my wife, who says of it, “are you playing reggae to taunt me?” and “take off this objectively crap music”. I’ve watched the concert footage from around this time, first in fragments/excerpts and only just recently did I start getting through the full shows but I did used to have this (and then a deluxe edition version) on CD – I have only just got around to rectifying the situation of not having it on vinyl. Many of the versions here stick out as better than their studio-recorded counterparts – obviously the version of No Woman No Cry is the one most people know over the album-rendition. The version here of I Shot The Sheriff might as well be Bob saying to Eric Clapton, “ta for the assist and all but this is actually how you do it” – and of course, as is the case with all Bob’s albums really and particularly in the mid-70s, but what a fucking rhythm section! And that includes Bob – fantastic rhythm guitar player. Read More »

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May 5, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 125

Earl Klugh, Low Ride (1983)
If I have a record – and artist – that would jump in and out of the “Guilty Pleasure” category (if I did actually have a Guilty Pleasure category) then it would be this album in particular, and more generally Earl Klugh. Look, he’s obviously great – and I love some of this collaborations – but if George Benson is the Coca-Cola then Klugh is some sort of Pepsi-Max…such comparisons don’t really work at all anymore (if ever) since all of that sugary fizzy liquid-muck is utter filth. But hey, you know….hopefully you get what I was trying to say. That said, at the right (or wrong?) time this album has been a lovely balm – man, are there some great players on here. And it’s literally a case of some days I love it and think their playing is measured and sublime and other times the very same record makes me laugh with something close to embarrassment. I mean it’s not my fault! I didn’t play it. I could never be this restrained. I guess it’s just a hallmark of that era – I mean I know there’s still smooth jazz and such, and some of it is very good. But this just looks and feels and sounds So 80s. That of course is almost precisely what I love and/or admire/respect/accept about it. Read More »

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May 1, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 126

Garland Jeffreys, Escapades [EP] (1981)
One good thing about music? When you catch up with the hits you previously missed you feel a pang – you find a new hunger. I had never heard of Garland Jeffreys until a couple of years ago; until I inherited a copy of the Escape Artist album (literally three years ago, almost to the day) – next minute I’m reviewing his then-new album, 14 Steps (as good as anything he’s done). And yet here I am still catching up with the things he’s done. Like this great wee EP from the Escape Artist album and era. He’s like if Elvis Costello suddenly had an honest crack at reggae. He’s better than that of course because that’s a somewhat crude, if well-meaning comparison. But I marvel that I really had not heard of him at all until just very recently. I love that about music. It’s an ocean. Read More »