June's Picks

1. THE STANDELLS-"Why Pick On Me"
Released when I was a mere two weeks old this track is one of my fave Standells tunes (second only to the trippy "All Fall Down"), maybe it's Dick Dodd's scowling vocals or the "Mother's Little Helper" style guitar but it gets me every time.

2. THE LIBERTINES-"What Became Of The Likely Lads"
Never been a huge Libertine's fan, but they're growing on me bit by bit and this one's been playing in my car non-stop for weeks.

3. DON FARDON-"Belfast Boy"
"Just play the way the ball bounces and bounce the way the ball plays cos you won't have long in the limelight..."
Ex- Sorrows front man Don Fardon's near anthemic 1970 tribute to footballer George Best might sound dated to some with it's funky phlanged keyboards but it's not to me, another ear worm that I still haven't tired of.  Unbelievably I had a U.S. LP of his with this, and , I believe, "I'm Alive" on it that I sold in the late 90's!  Ack!

4. MANFRED MANN-"So Long Dad"
Randy Newman's tunes never grab me unless they're being done by someone else and this '67 Manfred's go at his "So Long Dad" is brilliant thanks to Mike D'abo's cheeky chappy vocals and Manfred's keyboard squawks.

5. THE KINKS-"This Is Where I Belong" (Stereo Mix)
One of the jewels of the "deluxe" edition Kinks CD's is this bonus track on their "Face To Face" set .  You can really hear Ray's voice and believe every word he's singing and you can also hear how well brother Dave's voice paired with his on the double tracking!

6. THE ALLUSIONS-"Roller Coaster Man"
A groovy piece of 60's Antipodean delight from their rare as hell 1966 LP.  Starting off with a great "Tired Of Waiting For You" groove it has a jangly "Beatles For Sale" meets "Kinda Kinks" feel to it.

7. NILSSON-"Jump Into The Fire"
Perfectly used in the Martin Scorsese classic "Goodfellas" in the scene where a coked out of his mind Ray Liotta is convinced a helicopter is following him (and quite possibly recorded by coked out of their mind people!) this number sets a groove.  It's lead vocals and bass anticipate Joe Jackson's "Beat Crazy" LP (listen to "Mad At You" and see) while the guitar chords seem to sound alot like Mick Jone's licks on "Give 'em Enough Rope".

8. CHICO HAMILTON-"Evil Eye"
I bought this 45 on whim a good many years ago for a buck at a record show and was blown away by it's trance inducing jazz/raga guitar work courtesy of Gabor Szabo.  Fast forward to 14-15 years later and I finally got around to figuring out what LP it was on and purchased it from iTunes, 1966's "The Further Adventures Of El Chico".

9. THE HOLLIES-"Too Many People" (Live B.B.C.)
One of my fave Hollies originals delivered in crisp three part harmony live on Auntie Beeb from the new live Hollies B.B.C. CD "Radio Fun" (review to be forthcoming).

10. THE SMALL FACES-"(Tell Me) Have You Ever Seen Me?" (alternate stereo mix)
As with The Kinks I'm finding myself once again being a record company rube and buying a deluxe edition of an LP I already bought a deluxe edition of three or four years ago.  But seeing as The S.F's 2nd LP is, alongside David Bowie's Deram debut, one of the fave albums of all time I plunked down the cash and bought it for the dozen or so unreleased alternate takes, like this one where you can really hear Mac's Mellotron and slight bits of the organ trills he's playing, though not nearly enough!  It also turns out that I read in "Mojo" yesterday that these new S.F's CD's are the first time tracks have been actually taken from the original masters.

and because I went to public school (that's literally an institution open to the public for my British readers)and can't count....

11. MADNESS-"My Old Man"
Stumbled upon the Nutty Boys version of the Ian Dury classic from "New Boots And Panties" on iTunes and I'll have to say they did it nicely with a little ska flavor.  Well done!