Hands Off...She's Mine- The English Beat
Some Kind Of Wonderful- Soul Brothers Six
Honey Are You Straight Or Are You Blind- Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Peanut Butter- Compass Point All-Stars
Art School Canteen- Kevin Godley & Lol Creme
Insider - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers w/Stevie Nicks
Can't She Tell- Billy Preston
Hands Off...She's Mine- The English Beat
(Is the Beat's follow-up anywhere near as good as the debut? I don't remember.)
Some Kind Of Wonderful- Soul Brothers Six
(Didn't realize this wasn't a Grand Funk original until the early 80's.)
Honey Are You Straight Or Are You Blind- Elvis Costello & The Attractions
("King Of America," "Blood & Chocolate," and five nights on Broadway! Elvis absolutely peaked in 1986.)
Peanut Butter- Compass Point All-Stars
(Just about finished with Grace Jones' memoir where I found out among other things that, "Pull Up To The Bumper" from one of my favorite albums of all time "Nightclubbing," was actually first released as this song and Grace decided that she must steal it.)
Art School Canteen- Kevin Godley & Lol Creme
(Gorgeous genius from 5cc.)
Insider - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers w/Stevie Nicks
(This one stood out from last week's spin of "Hard Promises.")
Can't She Tell- Billy Preston
(Discovered this gem this week on a compilation of Sly Stone productions. This is a Stone/Preston co-write from 1965 and it's pretty damn good.)
7 comments:
luv 5cc, 1/2 a wad will do in a pinch
Excellent SOTW!
Some Kinda Wonderful indeed!
The Beat's aka The English Beat's first and third albums (I Just Can't Stop It and Special Beat Service) are truly great. The middle album Wha'ppen? is solid, good and well worth hearing. It just pales in comparison to the other two, but hardly a travesty. And for me, the compilation What Is Beat? is sensational. In a way, it's all you need, though you'd be missing out on two terrific albums if it's where you stop. And me, I just can't stop (it).
Looks like a really cool mix.
Speaking of 5cc or 10cc, I was reading an article about the Yardbirds in a recent MOJO and learned that 10cc's Graham Gouldman wrote "Heart Full Of Soul." fascinating!
@Noel,
Graham also wrote:
Evil Hearted You
For Your Love
Bus Stop
No Milk Today
Look Through Any Window
Pamela Pamela...for starters.
Michael G. said what I was going to say, which is that the (English) Beat's first and third albums are both great and the middle one is OK. Hand's Off She's Mine is a particular favorite.
I'm embarrassed to say I had never heard of Soul Brothers Six, so thanks for rectifying that!
Marc
Re: Godley & Crème
A lot people abandoned ship on these guys after the awful Consequences. The rest of their stuff is pretty inconsistent, but better. Sal found a good one.
Re: Noel M & Sal’s Graham Gouldman sidetrack:
"Evil Hearted You" is one of my favorite Yardbirds songs. It sets itself apart from other Gouldman compositions in style.
In the United States we got "I'm a Man," while the UK got "Evil Hearted You." In San Bernardino we got both, plus, their mutual B-Side, "Still I'm Sad." Double-sided Number One in Berdoo on both competing stations. Saturation of requests led to heavy rotation of the import "Evil Hearted You." This made it a virtual 3-sided hit. Got my import copy at Lewin’s Record Paradise on a Hollywood excursion with my beloved uncle. Also caught the Enemys’ afternoon gig at the Whisky.
The Soul Brothers Six version of "Some Kind of Wonderful" is definitive. Sandy had a cousin who was a young protestant minister in the Grosse Pointe area. He used to visit Sandy’s family every Labor Day weekend and shower Sandy & her brother with gifts. In 1967 he gave Sandy the SB6 single along with Bob Seger’s “Heavy Music.” Also Stax-Volt Revue Live Vol. 1 & 2. Both singles were big hits in Michigan but nowhere in SoCal. Sandy’s uncle was pretty cool for a minister. A couple years later he had to resign in disgrace for committing adultery with the married church organist. Nobody’s perfect. But there were two more women from the congregation he was providing "comfort" to. His wife left him and ratted everybody out.
Grand Funk also did a good job on "Some Kind of Wonderful". It pops. Definitely better than Fantastic Johnny C's version. Not long ago I listened to Grand Funk Railroad’s double-live “Caught In the Act.” Liked it quite a bit.
Love Petty's "Insider." Used to do it and his "You Tell Me," in a SoCal cover band that I was keys, vox. That is, until I got pregnant and the lead singer's mom in Philly got terminally ill. I don't think Petty ever did "You Tell Me," in concert. "Insider" was done only when Stevie Nicks could guest in 1981 and 2006. Last time I saw him and Stevie perform it was 2006 at Indian Wells. I was still using a Sony DAT-8 then. I got a killer tape of the concert. As per usual, I plugged the D-8 into my car stereo and checked what kind of results I got. It was amazing! We cranked it while we crawled out of the parking lot. David Spade walked by our car with his bodyguard. As we were immobile, he stuck his head in the window and asked if we were playing that night's concert. We told him yeah and invited him in car to listen. He joined us for about ten minutes till he was where his car was parked. We never said anything about him being David Spade and neither did he. It was all about the music.
Even cooler, earlier in the day, we ate at Las Casuelas in Palm Springs. I love the enchilada suizas there. And I'm picky. At any rate, Petty and most of the band were having their pre-soundcheck dinner there. The host sat us next to their table. We kinda know them. There's more, but fuck it for the sake of “brevity.”:)
VR
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