September's Picks

1. SLADE-"Omaha" (Live B.B.C.)
Slade kick the guts out of the already powerful Moby Grape number by wiping it clean of any West Coast "love your brother" hippy bullshit and turning into a 100 mph amphetamine sulfate stomper delivered at breakneck speed with solid precision from an 1969 Beeb session. Musos to a man.

2. DAVID ESSEX-"So Called Loving"
Before you all recoil in horror....this number was unearthed by Decca/Deram for their "Northern Soul Scene" CD eons ago and I've finally gotten into it no doubt thanks to the VERY British production/backing which is tops in my book.  I'm still no closer to figuring out when the fuck this number is from as the CD liner notes are vague and it's not showing up in any of Mr. Rock On's discogs.

http://youtu.be/miVEcELbztg

3. DEE AND THE QUOTUM-"Someday You'll Need Someone"
One of the sad things about owning just way too much music is you'll have had a track on a comp for ages and then it gets comped again and your mind is blown, only to discover you've had it all along.  Case in point this Canadian group's trippy phlange masterpiece from 1969 originally on "Rubble 18: Rainbow Thyme Wynders" and recently pricked up my ears on RPM's "Keep Lookin'" box set!

http://youtu.be/t1zMicmj06I

4. THE WILDWEEDS-"No Good To Cry"
I was first familiar with this number via Jimmy James & The Vagabonds and after some research tracked down the original by this blue eyed soul band from Connecticut from April 1967 which in my book slays all comers (including John Fred & The Playboy band who also covered it).  My pal Edmund Rudolph tells me they were fronted by one Al Anderson who went on to form NRBQ.

http://youtu.be/g52IEEhAnSk

5. FABIENNE DESOL-"When My Mind Is Not Live"
My old friend Layla turned me onto this incredible cover of Status Quo's track recently and though not being a fan of much "new" music I was bowled over by this immediately.  The backing music is spot on to the original and Fabienne's dead sexy French accent just turns the whole thing into nothing short of KILLER.

http://youtu.be/V8EroK0bnKY

6. GEORGIE FAME-"Try My World"
August 1967 saw Georgie Fame release his second single on CBS with his revamped sound and band.  I imagine most of his hardcore r&b loving fans were put off when this happened but I think the brilliant production touches by Denny Cordell and the sophisticated feel of this number pulls it off.  I've always imagined this playing in some cheezy Swinging London film with it's harp, muted trumpet solo and muzaky piano.

http://youtu.be/FRR5EsiPlk8

8. GILBERT SHELTON ENSEMBLE-"If I Were A Hell's Angel"
I've no idea how I came across this hysterical little groover from 1966 on the legendary ESP Disc label that I'm totally besotted with.  The lyrics are hysterical and the mildly r&b-ish groove is damned infectious and deserves to be comped somewhere. One wonders what the Hell's Angels M.C. thought of this number.

http://youtu.be/tzhlgbMm8U8

9.THE MOODY BLUES-"Peak Hour" (Live BBC 1967)
One of my main gripes with The Moodies essentially brilliant "Days Of Future Passed" album is the annoying orchestral bits linking all the amazing songs together.  The live BBC CD released a few years back remedies this while giving a glimpse of how amazingly tight they were both vocally and musically as this session from '67 proves.

 http://youtu.be/ZKR7i5cboXY

10. DAVID BOWIE-"Maids Of Bond Street"
One of my fave tracks from Bowie's eponymous debut 1967 Deram LP is this ode to an actress who has it all except for the boy who's shunned her and the bright lights and big city that took her away.  It's one third Left Bank (as in Parisian sense with it's accordion, not the NY band ), one third jazz (check out the swing to the drums, bass, piano and choppy guitar chords)  and one third "light program" (dig the strings).  And it works!  And contains one of Bowie's most unusual lines "gleaming teeth sip aperitifs" . Criminally left off the U.S. edition!!

http://youtu.be/sMf0naLL2FU