VA - Britxotica!: London's Rarest Primitive Pop And Savage Jazz

VA - Britxotica!: London's Rarest Primitive Pop And Savage Jazz 

So you thought exotic recordings only came from Hawaii or the USA? Well, you're wrong. Here's a collection of amazing, far-flung sounds from the UK. Rare, wild, and just itching to turn your turntable into a strange pagan place of sonic worship. Just try to keep those cocktails from flowing and your clothes on. "Britxotica" (pronounced "Britzotica") is a word you may never have come across before. This term neatly describes an odd and undocumented pre-Beatles musical scene in which famed UK composers, singers, and bandleaders threw convention to the wind and went wild wild wild! Drawing influences from Hollywood, Hawaii, and holiday (any hot and frantic destination would do) they conjured up sounds to suit a modern but fledgling escape from the gray trudge of postwar London. The result is a bunch of rare, mod, wild, and naïvely experimental trips into the tribal, but keeping the white suit, shirt, and tie firmly in place no matter what the temperature. Fascinating, sometimes fierce, and often absolutely bananas, this new album of old toss is an absolute trip! 

Tracklist:

1. African Waltz - Lyn Cornell
2. Jungle Drums - Ted Heath
3. Poinciana - Allan Bruce
4. Bahama Rumba - Rawicz And Landauer
5. Follow Me - Lucille Mapp
6. Taboo - Sounds Incorporated
7. Run Joe - Nadia Cattouse
8. Street of a Thousand Bongos - Brian Fahey
9. Zambezi - Tony Mansell & Johnny Dankworth
10. Ritual Blues - Reg Owen
11. The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God - Harry H. Corbett
12. Take My Lips - Laurie Johnson & His Orchestra
13. A Night of Adventure - Edmundo Ros
14. Cha Cha Cha Calypso - Maxine Daniels
15. Cerveza - Cherry Wainer
16. The Hat - Jerry Allen

britbeatjungle 

More history and track info in comments.

VA - Britxotica Goes East! Persian Pop and Casbah Jazz From the Wild British Isles!

VA - Britxotica Goes East! Persian Pop and Casbah Jazz From the Wild British Isles!

A breathtaking follow-up to the successful Britxotica! This takes us on a magic carpet ride to a place where the Sphinx, sheiks, sand dances and caravans of camels are the magical, musical norm. But this is music made by post war jazz musicians and show girls from London - blimey! Yep, this is perfect Persian pop and killer Casbah jazz made by Eastenders. It's also British music as rare and as beautiful as Tutankhamun's treasure. You may never come across a more exotic British sound ever again…you'll be cursed if you miss it.

Tracklist:

1. Sphinx Won't Tell - The Beverley Sisters
2. Yashmak - Chico Arnez & His Orchestra
3. Caravan - Stanley Black
4. Four Beats to the Casbah - Johnny Keating & His Z-Men
5. Persian Twist - Charles Blackwell
6. Baghdad Bazaar - Philip Green & His Mayfair Orchestra
7. Sheik Or Morocco - Kenny Day
8. Marrakesh - Tony Osborne
9. Climb Up the Wall - Yana
10. Miserlou - Stanley Black
11. Delilah's Theme - Johnny Keating Kombo
12. Call of the Casbah - Laurie Johnson
13. Lonely One - Roy Tierney
14. Turkish Coffee - Tony Osborne
15. Kazoo - Reg Owen
16. The Sultan of Bezaaz - Ray Ellington

bellydance

VA - Tropical Britxotica! Polynesian Pop and Placid Jazz from The Wild British Isles!

VA - Tropical Britxotica Polynesian Pop and Placid Jazz from The Wild British Isles!

Ah exotica, that curious creature. Where (in this case) British musicians dress up as what they imagine musicians from distant lands sound like, with strange and wonderful results. Jonny Trunk and Martin Green have assembled a strong selection of rare exotica records with a tropical theme for this edition of their Britxotica compilation series: Polynesian Pop and Placid Jazz .

Tracklist:

01 Lucille Map - Mangoes 02:27
02 Frank Weir - Hawaiian Honeymoon 03:01
03 The Sound Of Ed White - Coral Reef 02:45
04 Ron Goodwin - Tropical Mirage 02:59
05 Geoff Love - Heatwave 03:04
06 Marion Ryan - An Occasional Man 02:12
07 Edmundo Ros - Summertime 02:26
08 Dick Katz - Dreamride 02:34
09 George Melly - Run See Jerusalem 02:50
10 International Pops All Stars - Green Eyes 02:14
11 Johnny Gentle - Milk From The Coconut 02:32
12 Ted Heath - Haitian Ritual 03:33
13 Betty Smith - Stormy Weather 02:45
14 Martinas And His Music - Quiet Village 02:52
15 Norrie Paramour - Hawaii 02:01
16 Lucille Map - On Treausre Island 02:31

tropics

The Raymond Scott Quintette - Microphone Music

The Raymond Scott Quintette - Microphone Music (2003)

Microphone Music is a 2003 double CD compilation by The Raymond Scott Quintette. It is "a collection of unreleased titles, radio performances, first-rate rehearsals and forgotten gems by the Raymond Scott Quintette recorded between 1936 and 1939." (The sizes of each version are correct, these are mono recordings converted to each format.)

Warner Bros. licensed his music for the Looney Tunes cartoons. Powerhouse and few others will be familiar to fans of these classic cartoons. Enjoy.

Jazz music, always known for its spirit of improvisation, was hardly the medium for composers or producers during its first 50 years. Even the greatest early arrangers – Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman – allowed plenty of room for solos, and would've been deserted by most of their musicians if they hadn't. All of which explains why Raymond Scott was never considered a jazz artist. His pieces, impressionistic yet rigidly composed, did use all the same components of a jazz band and exhibited close superficial similarities to Duke Ellington's early jungle band and the Benny Goodman Orchestra. The difference lay with his insistence on perfection, in his recording techniques and the members of his band. The Raymond Scott Quintette was a clean, technical, utterly precise swing machine – the logical progression, in his mind, of the noisy jazz racket originally delivered on record by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917. Microphone Music, another Scott-related reissue by the Basta label, is a two-disc bonanza of unreleased titles, rarities, and rehearsals from the late '30s that will taste of manna from heaven for listeners who spent a decade in the wilderness after Columbia's greatest-hits volume, 1992's The Music of Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights & Turkish Twilights. These certainly don't sound like afterthoughts, either; Scott took quality control very seriously, and the result is a set of 40 splendid, fascinating songs that often sounds better even than the Columbia release. Most of the songs are new to CD, and even the familiar titles (like the Scott perennial "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals") are presented in radically different interpretations. Drummer and percussionist Johnny Williams (father of composer John Williams) is revealed as an extraordinary talent, not just keeping time for the quintette, but splitting it into halves and quarters with his brisk, perfectly timed fills. As for Scott, who's usually recognized solely as a compositional or arranging genius, the focus here is on his talent for sound reproduction. The title is a nod to the importance of engineering and microphone placement in his music – a reprint of a Popular Mechanics article appears in the liner notes – and his constant recording experiments produced dynamic music utterly unlike anything heard before, since sound had never been picked up and amplified the way Scott did it. The relative scarcity of Quintette recordings is enough to boost this set into recommended status, but the bounty of fabulous music inside makes it essential for fans and highly recommended for the uninformed. Really fun with headphones.

oooops- for you early adopters - disc1 is now fixed.

DISC 1
1. Egyptian Barn Dance (April 1938)
2. The Penguin (December 1938)
3. Christmas Night In Harlem (March 1939)
4. Pretty Petticoat #1 (April 1939)
5. Square Dance For Eight Egyptian Mummies (1938)
6. Moment Whimsical (December 1938)
7. Devil Drums (June 1939)
8. A Little Bit Of Rigoletto (APril 1939)
9. Hypnotist In Hawaii (April 1939)
10. Dinner Music For A Pack Of Hungry Cannibals (April 1937)
11. The Toy Trumpet (December 1936)
12. Suicide Cliff (December 1939)
13. Siberian Sleighride (1938)
14. Steeplechase (April 1939)
15. Peter Tambourine (March 1939)
16. Celebration Of The Planet Mars (January 1938)
17. Brass Buttons And Epualettes (January 1938)
18. Bumpy Weather Over Newark (June 1939)
19. Pretty Petticoat #2 (May 1939)
20. Turkish Mish-Mush (March 1939)
(UNLISTED TRACK)
21. Powerhouse (rehearsal) (1940)
DISC 2
1. Microphone Music (January 1938)
2. Twilight In Turkey (February 1939)
3. New Year's Eve In A Haunted House (December 1938)
4. Tobacco Auctioneer (April 1939)
5. The Girl With The Light Blue Hair (January 1939)
6. Sleepwalker (March 1937)
7. The Happy Farmer (April 1938)
8. Oil Gusher (January 1939)
9. Boy Scout In Switzerland (March 1939)
10. Reckless Night On Board An Ocean Liner (April 1937)
11. Swing, Swing Mother-In-Law (December 1936)
12. Girl At The Typewriter (1939)
13. Yesterday's Ice Cubes (March 1937)
14. Pretty Petticoat #3 (April 1939)
15. War Dance For Wooden Indians (February 1939)
16. Dead End Blues (January 1937)
17. Harlem Hillbilly (June 1939)
18. The Quintet Goes To A Dance (March 1939)
19. Bugle Call Rag (March 1937)
20. Powerhouse (June 1939)
(UNLISTED TRACK)
21. A Happy Frenzy At Aquackanack

wowser d1

wowser d2

Smoke That Cigarette - Pleasure To Burn

RYP at Twlight Zone - see sidebar isn't the only one with cool oldies comps.

You know that you can trust Bear Family to come up with some truly bizarre collections, and Smoke That Cigarette is no exception. While you may think that nearly 90 minutes (on one CD!) of smoking songs will become redundant, this collection expertly balances the novelty songs with the old country weepers. Chances are good that you haven't heard about 80 percent of these songs, but Bear Family throws a life preserver to those who crave the familiar by including such standards as Sinatra's "These Foolish Things." Great from the first hacking cough that begins the CD to the last vintage commercial that ends it, Smoke That Cigarette is like a good Chesterfield: It Satisfies. There's a lot of music on this little disk.
01. Jimmy Martin — I Can't Quit Cigarettes
02. Marty Robbins — Cigarettes and Coffee Blues
03. Les Paul & Mary Ford — Smoke Rings
04. Jerry Reed — Another Puff
05. Glen Glenn — One Cup of Coffee and A Cigarette
06. Lillian Leach & Mellows — Smoke from Your Cigarette
07. Joe & Rose Lee Maphis — Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music)
08. Rev. J. M. Gates — Smoking Woman in the Street
09. Patti Page — While A Cigarette Was Burning
10. Roger Miller — Dad Blame Anything A Man Can't Quit
11. Autry Inman — Does Your Sweetheart Seem Different Lately
12. Johnnie Ray — Coffee and Cigarettes (Thinking it Over)
13. Slim Dusty — Sad Cigarette
14. Bobby Edwards — You're the Reason
15. Jimmy Dolan — Nicotine Fits
16. Peggy Lee — Don't Smoke in Bed
17. Baker Knight — Smoke
18. Patsy Cline — Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray
19. Paul Clayton — My Last Cigarette
20. Homer & Jethro — Are You Kissing More Now (But Enjoying it Less)
21. Billy Walker — Down to My Last Cigarette
22. Frank Sinatra — These Foolish Things
23. The Sons of the Pioneers — Cigareetes, Whusky and Wild Women
24. Bonnie Guitar — Three on A Match
25. Curtis Gordon — Caffeine and Nicotine
26. Wilf Carter — What Cigarette is Best
27. Bill Mack — The Smoke, the Bottle and the Wine
28. Tommy Collins — Cigarette Milner
29. Little Jimmie Dickens — Twenty Cigarettes
30. Tex Williams — Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (that Cigarette)
31. Advertisment — Dragnet Advertisement (March 20, 1952)
32. Advertisment — Richard Diamond Advertisement (February 2, 1951)

smokesmokesmoke

You Heard it Here First (Original Versions of Famous Songs)

Another ace from ACE. Excellent CD. It's hard to fathom why some of these weren't hits first time around. In many cases, some of the originals on this CD are better than the latter hit versions e.g. 'This Diamond Ring', 'California Sun', 'Go Now' & 'I just don't know what to do with myself'. The jewel in the crown here is 'Rock Arouind the Clock', while not exactly 'a great record', it is a 'must have' for any genuine record collector of the 'pop era'. Ace Records of London has come up with yet another winner in this volume which chronicles the origins of some of the biggest hit singles of the 1950s and 1960s, and in the 28-page booklet, Rob Finnis and Tony Rounce provide detailed track-by-track background information that reads like a history lesson on the development of popular music. Throughout the 28 pages are 45 rpm and poster reproductions related to the cuts, along with photographs of many of the artists. On the reverse, as is their norm, Ace shows the full label details and year of release for each track.

Understandably, without having had the luck which often make the difference between an also-ran and a hit (some were also handicapped by the "small label" curse - no funds for proper promotion or "payola" when that was rampant), most are so obscure that photos likely are just not available. But there are some that Ace was able to dig up which likely would never have come to light again but for their unmatched efforts in providing us with the unusual.

One such is Sunny Dae & The Knights, a four-piece Philadelphia group who actually recorded Max Freedman's now immortal Rock Around The Clock in the year preceding the Bill Haley version, which initially charted in 1954 (not "three years before" as intimated in the above blurb) and also released it in 1954 on the small Arcade label. It isn't surprising that this didn't make any charts. First, Arcade didn't have the resources to get it heard and besides, Sunny (real name Paschal Vennitti and actually an acquaintance of Bill's) had neither the voice nor the arrangement designed to grab anyone's attention, unlike the Haley version, released as (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock. Still, it's great to see it available on disc and you won't want to miss the full tale behind the recording as told by Rob Finnis.

Other extremely interesting stories lie behind Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go? by The Leaves (they recorded it twice - this is the initial rendition), Barbie Gaye's My Boy Lollipop (shown on the actual record as "Lollypop"), which she recorded 7 years before Millie Small for the tiny Darl label, and Richard Berry & The Pharaoh's Louie, Louie, a 1957 recording that came out in 1957 on Ember E.P. 4527 Volume 3 and was promptly forgotten until a group from Portland, Oregon calling themselves The Kingsmen recorded it and launched a legend.

And when you hear songs like Something Stupid by Carson & Gaile, Ain't That Loving You Baby by Eddie Riff, Go Now by Bessie Banks, A Rockin' Good Way by Priscilla Bowman & The Spaniels, and I Fought The Law by The Crickets you will realize that these could just as easily have been as big as the later versions to come - if not better in a few cases.

1. Tainted Love - GLORIA JONES 2. Suspicious Minds - MARK JAMES 3. Wild Thing - THE WILD ONES 4. I Fought The Law - THE CRICKETS 5. The Red Rooster - HOWLIN' WOLF 6. Hanky Panky - THE RAINDROPS 7. Go Now - BESSIE BANKS 8. A Rockin' Good Way - PRISCILLA BOWMAN & THE SPANIELS 9. This Diamond Ring - SAMMY AMBROSE 10. Tobacco Road - JOHN D. LOUDERMILK 11. I Found You - YVONNE FAIR 12. Ain't That Loving You Baby - EDDIE RIFF 13. Louie Louie - RICHARD BERRY & THE PHARAOHS 14. My Boy Lollipop - BARBIE GAYE 15. Little Bit O' Soul - THE LITTLE DARLINGS 16. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town - JOHNNY DARRELL 17. Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand - HOAGY LANDS 18. You Need Love - MUDDY WATERS 19. A Groovy Kind Of Love - DIANE AND ANNITA 20. You Were On My Mind - IAN & SYLVIA 21. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - TOMMY HUNT 22. Let's Get Together (Live) - THE KINGSTON TRIO 23. California Sun - JOE JONES 24. Something Stupid - CARSON & GAILE 25. Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go - THE LEAVES 26. Rock Around The Clock - SUNNY DAE & THE KNIGHTS

yhihf

Dick Bartley Presents: Classic Oldies 1965-1969

Summertime was family vaction time when I was a kid and that mostly meant visiting my Grandparents and relatives for 2 months. So to keep from going totally crazy, I listened to A LOT of radio. Here is a summer post for you guys - maybe it will bring back some fun memories too.

Dick Bartley is THE master at playing "Oh-Wow Oldies"...Eric is the master at finding the highest quality source of them. This collaboration has yielded what may be Eric's best release yet! Bartley's "Classic Oldies 1965-1969" comes packed with many elusive tracks from the bygone MGM-Fontana-Mercury and UNI (MCA-Universal) catalog. New Colony Six fans-read on with glee...BOTH of their desperately sought after Mercury-era pop hits are here! Not since Rhino axed the "Colonized" compilation several years back, have "I Will Always Think About You" and "Things I'd Like To Say" been available on CD outside an inflated online auction. This collection includes essential British "Oh-Wows" from The Walker Brothers, Fortunes, Troggs, and Silkie that disappeared many years ago--again, courtesy of Rhino--when they discontinued the nine-CD "British Invasion" series. Also in attendance are several "delicious" out-of-print Top-10 tracks including: Desmond Dekker & The Aces' "Israelites" from the UK-Island label's prog-reggae period in the late 60s; A rare stereo mix of Shirley Ellis' sound-alike follow-up to "The Name Game"--"The Clapping Song"; and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown's #2-charting "Fire"--one of the initial introductions of R&R psychedelica to a broader Top-40 audience. While there are a few easily-available staples here, much of this disc truly meets the "hard-or impossible to find" standard, including: The Sir Douglas Quintet's final 1969 #27 hit--"Mendocino"; The Ides Of March first chart appearance in 1966--"You Wouldn't Listen"; and yes...Dee Jay & The Runaways' 1966 oldie from hell week--"Peter Rabbit"...Your frat reunion will thank you! Finally, as a nice bonus, the "extended intro" alternate take of The Righteous Brothers' "Soul And Inspiration", and a STEREO version of The Trogg's "Love Is All Around" are EXCLUSIVE to this compilation.

EVERY one of the 18 tracks on "Bartley--Classic Oldies 1965-1969" exhibits audio quality that is equal to-or better than any previously-released source material. The Gentrys' "Keep On Dancing" (never a protege amoung hi-fi master tapes) featured here, is the finest currently available. Only a long-unavailable version on Mercury's "45s on CD" series (1988) is comparable in fidelity.

1. (You're My) Soul And Inspiration - The Righteous Brothers (With Rare Long Intro) 2. The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore) - The Walker Brothers 3. I Will Always Think About You - The New Colony Six 4. Bend Me, Shape Me - The American Breed 5. The Clapping Song (Clap Pat Clap Slap) - Shirley Ellis (Orig. Version Debut) 6. Israelites - Desmond Dekker & The Aces (Rare) 7. Mendocino - The Sir Douglas Quintet 8. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight -Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart 9. You've Got Your Troubles - The Fortunes 10. Keep On Dancing - The Gentrys 11. Peter Rabbit - Dee Jay & The Runaways (Cd Debut) 12. You Wouldn't Listen - The Ides Of March (Rare) 13. Things I'd Like To Say - The New Colony Six 14. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - The Silkie 15. Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking) - Janis Ian 16. Love Is All Around - The Troggs (Stereo Debut) 17. A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procol Harum (Stereo Debut) 18. Fire - The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown

dbp

Lost & Found in the Sixties

Despite some flaws, this is a very satisfying collection of some of the biggest hits of the Sixties. First, let's examine the flaws. I have no problem with a sixties collection focusing on the post-British Invasion era. After all, when I think of the Sixties it means 1963 to 1969. With that said, the Tokens' 1961 hit "The Lion Sleep Tonight" seems out of place. In fact, only two other songs on this set predate 1966: Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" (1965) and the Swinging Blue Jeans' "Hippy Hippy Shake" (1964). In addition, Shocking Blue's "Venus" and the Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" were chart hits in 1970. [This may be nitpicking, but these two songs could have been included on LOST & FOUND IN THE SEVENTIES.] The real puzzler is the inclusion of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "I'll Never Get Over You." While it was their highest charting hit in the U.K. (No. 4 in 1963), it didn't even dent the Hot 100 in the U.S. In fact, none of their singles charted in the U.S. A better choice would have been their earlier U.K. hit, "Shakin' All Over," which was later a stateside hit for the pre-Burton Cummings Guess Who. For a decade dominated by British Invasion bands, fewer than a third of the artists represented here hail from the U.K., but there are a few choice inclusions. "Itchycoo Park" is one of my all-time favorite singles, "Hippy Hippy Shake" is a classic rave-up of a Chan Romero song, and an 18-year-old Steve Winwood oozes blue-eyed soul on "Gimme Some Lovin'."

Like the previously released 70s volume, this collection focuses on the big hits. All but four made the top ten, and nine were No. 1 hits. Don't be misled by the album title though; these songs were never "lost," but it's nice to have them "found" on one disc.


1. Get Together - The Youngbloods 2. Summer In The City - The Lovin' Spoonful 3. The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) - The Tokens 4. Somebody to Love - Jefferson Airplane 5. Itchykoo Park - Small Faces 6. Time Won't Let Me - The Outsiders 7. Different Drum - Stone Poneys (with Linda Ronstadt) 8. Venus - Shocking Blue 9. Spooky - The Classics IV 10. Gimme Some Lovin' - The Spencer Davis Group 11. Hippy Hippy Shake - The Swinging Blue Jeans 12. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - The Hollies 13. I'll Never Get Over You - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates 14. Happy Together - The Turtles 15. Time Of The Season - The Zombies 16. San Francisco - Scott McKenzie 17. Monday Monday - The Mamas & The Papas 18. Dizzy - Tommy Roe 19. See See Rider - Eric Burdon & The Animals 20. Last Train To Clarksville - The Monkees

lfsx