Red Gold & Green #8 - Sounds Unlimited

We're about to head out of town again. Mrs S has a 3 day trade fair over the weekend in London's trendy Shoreditch, meanwhile I'll be ticking off a few odd jobs for my elderly Aunt in downtown East Ham. It'll actually be over a week until I rejoin y'all in a live and direct capacity, as said Aunt is having a cataract operation while I'm there and lives alone, so I want to hang around until I'm sure she's back up to full speed and able to fend for herself - she's a force of nature, but at 87 years old you can't be too careful. On the same day as one Aunt's operation, another Aunt over in Bethnal Green celebrates her 89th birthday. She's a little more frail, but also lives alone. She has vision problems too and is currently enduring horrendous monthly injections into both eyes, though hopefully will be up for a spot of birthday lunch while I'm in town.

I've scheduled a couple of posts to keep things ticking over in my absence, but I'll leave you for now with 'Road Runner' by Sounds Unlimited, a Herman Chin-Loy production from 1971 (or 1973 depending on who you believe). Prepare yourself for a particularly unsettling interruption at the 1½ minute mark.

Sounds Unlimited - 'Road Runner' 

(Find this and many other crucial tunes on the 2004 Pressure Sounds compilation, 'Aquarius Rock: The Hip Reggae World Of Herman Chin-Loy'.)

Chook Race

We've been spoilt by an abundance of exceptional Australian releases over the past couple of years, the most recent example of which is 'Around the House', the 2nd LP by Melbourne three piece, Chook Race. If you like guitars that jangle, choruses that chime and you have an fondness for the early sound of the Flying Nun label, then you should really make it your business to check this one out. I'm actually finding it hard to listen to anything else just at the moment, it's that good. Hear the fabulous 'At your Door', watch a live version of 'Hard to Clean', then check out the whole album here.

Red Gold & Green #7 - The Soul Brothers

I was laid low by a nasty bug for much of last week, though I couldn't rightly tell you if it was of the 48, 60 or 72 hour variety, as I became so feverish that time no longer had any real meaning to me. I poured with sweat, then became teeth-chatteringly cold, then hot, then cold, with the cycle repeating over and over again as I thrashed about in vain search of sleep. I seem to get these bugs about once a year - here's hoping that was the last one for at least the next 12 months.

Ace Studio One session band The Soul Brothers (also known as The Soul Vendors) featured former Skatalites members Jackie Mittoo, Roland Alphonso, Johnny Moore and Lloyd Brevitt, though they quickly moved towards the emerging rocksteady sound. The 1967 Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd production, 'Hot and Cold', is an instrumental version of 'Let the Light Shine' by The Ethiopians, released the same year.

The Soul Brothers - Hot and Cold

Since We've Fallen Out

The new King Creosote LP, 'Astronaut Meets Appleman', is just hours away and has already garnered a clutch of favourable reviews from the music media. I posted 'You Just Want', the first taster from the album, over a month ago (here). I was getting excited then - imagine the state I'm in now. While 'Astronaut Meets Appleman' may be the official Domino Records follow-up to 2014's 'From Scotland With Love', Kenny has hardly been idle in the interim. 'From Scotland With Love' was actually one of three LP's he issued in 2014, the others, 'Loose Tea On His Wynd' and '3 On This Island', were both ridiculously limited editions and already change hands for big money on the interweb (I own neither, if anyone's feeling generous). 2015 was a slightly quieter year, with just one full length release, 'Småvulgär', limited again, though this time on CD only. In April this year KC issued 'King Creosote & The Queens of Brush County', a collaboration with female artists reinterpreting a selection of his songs and in May, 'The Bound Of The Red Deer', another collaboration, this time with Canadian musician Michael Johnston. The latter is an absolute must have and bucks the trend by remaining widely available to order. The standout tune for me from 'The Bound Of The Red Deer'  is an intense reworking of the already terrific 'Since We've Fallen Out', which originally appeared on the 2010 Burns Unit LP, 'Side Show'. Here it is, to listen only. Read more and buy the album here.

King Creosote and Michael Johnston - Since We've Fallen Out

Mark Mulcahy and Miracle Legion

Yesterday morning, while flicking through a couple of recent Marc Riley 6Music shows that I'd missed, I was surprised to discover that Miracle Legion played a session for him last week. I've been a fan of Mark Mulcahy's songs since picking up the band's 'Backyard' mini-album in (gulp!) 1984 and continued to follow his solo career following the Miracle Legion's dissolution in 1996. I had no idea they were back, though it turns out that Miracle Legion have temporarily reunited to play a few shows to coincide with a 20th anniversary reissue of their final LP, 'Portrait of a Damaged Family'. The Marc Riley session was really great (it's available here for another 3 weeks) and it prompted me to spend the rest of the day listening exclusively to Mark's music - solo, with Miracle Legion and as part of another occasional project, Polaris. Most of my physical music collection remains boxed up and inaccessible, so I was chuffed to find that all aspects of Mark's career are well catered for on Bandcamp. Here are a handful of choice nuggets.

Meatraffle at The National Portrait Gallery

As anyone who's paid even the slightest attention to my ramblings will know, I've got a bit of a thing for Meatraffle. I initially wrote about the band here and have subsequently featured their latest LP, 'HiFi Classics', over on my 'heavy rotation' sidebar on more than one occasion. While down in London on family business over the weekend, I was extremely chuffed to discover that Meatraffle had been invited to play a show at The National Portrait Gallery as part of its Creative Connections season. The high ceiling and cold walls of the room caused the band a few sound-related headaches early on, though these were quickly overcome and soon their dubby post-punk grooves were echoing through the old building. Meatraffle make a unique noise and they're very rapidly becoming my favourite band in the land. If you haven't done so already, do yourself a favour and check out the album here.

Red Gold & Green #6 - Jimmy London

As I'm currently spending a few days ensconced in this nation's capitol city, it seems a particularly appropriate moment to share my favourite tune by one Trevor Shaw - better known in reggae circles as Jimmy London. Early on, Jimmy's sweet voice was a natural fit for such vocal harmony acts as The Inspirations and The Untouchables, though it was after going solo that he found his greatest commercial success, scoring a minor hit in 1971 with a cover of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. 'The Road Is Rough' appeared on the b-side of 'No Letter Today' in 1974 and gives John Lee Hooker a co-writing credit. I know of a Hooker song entitled 'The Road Is So Rough', but it bears no relation to this one, so if anyone can enlighten me further I'd be very grateful. The jaunty tune of 'The Road Is Rough' belies the determined desperation of the lyrics. Sing it Jimmy.

Jimmy London - 'The Road Is Rough'