Sunday, July 9, 2023

VA - Looking Back 80 Mod, Freakbeat & Swinging London Nuggets [2011] (3 x CD's)

SWINGING LONDON NUGGETS

VA - Looking Back 80 Mod, Freakbeat & Swinging London Nuggets [2011] (3 x CD's)


One of the greatest - perhaps...no most certainly the greatest - statement ever made defining what the 60s was all about consisted of just four words: The Weekend Starts Here! With that notional call to arms, UK teens stepped away from their weekday drudgery and entered a non-stop fashion and fun party fueled by the latest music. Doing this -what Pete Townshend referred to as "not solving your problems but sort of dancing over them," required a lot of good music, because if it wasn't good; well, there just wasn't any need for it. And, the major groups - The Beatles, the Stones, The Who, Small Faces, etc. - couldn't meet all the need. And, stepping up to fill the gap between 1964 and 1968 (a time period longer than RSG was on the air) was a plethora of bands the names of which range from familiar to almost unknown.

This superb three CD set chronicles a goodly number of these bands, showing not only the depth of the talent to be found on the "London Scene," but also the evolutionary processes underway that moved the music from its Motown/Soul influences through power pop and early psychedelia. We move along this path, listening to groups mostly not known outside the UK, but with a few familiar names: The Spencer Davis Group, already without Stevie Winwood; The Birds, probably still with future Face and Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood and John's Children, a mainstay in the 1967/68 period. There are also the expected and unexpected covers. The Who's `La La Lies' by A Wild Uncertainty and The Fadin' Colours version of `Just Like Romeo & Juliet' meet the former , while Jacki Bond doing `Reviewing the Situation' fulfills the latter

That's the main thrust of the set, but, not the only one. Disc Three allows one to stare over the garden fence, if you will and observe a smidgen of what the 1970s would bring. First, we get to hear some material that sounds a lot like proto-Pub Rock, played by The Picadilly Line (`Gone, Gone, Gone'). Then, there is The Flies version of `I'm Not Your Stepping Stone." Time-wise, the version by The Monkees must have only recently hit the store, but here we already are exposed to the anger this rant could deliver and eventually did deliver with the onset of punk. othing bad at all about this set! (Amazon)

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Track lists

CD 1


01. The Spencer Davis Group - Looking Back (3:48)
02. The Arthur Brown Set - Don't Tell Me (2:28)
03. The Untamed - It's Not True (2:25)
04. The Syndicats - Crawdaddy Simone (3:16)
05. The Bats - On The Waterfront (2:08)
06. John Lee's Groundhogs - I'll Never Fall In Love Again (2:12)
07. Lloyd Alexander Real Estate - Watcha' Gonna Do (When Your Baby Leaves You) (2:57)
08. The In Crowd - Things She Says (1:48)
09. Lindsay Muir's Untamed - Daddy Long Legs (2:47)
10. The Rockin' Vickers - I Don't Need Your Kind (2:31)
11. The Midnights - Show Me Around (2:38)
12. The Other Side - Out My Light (2:40)
13. The Tribe - Gamma Goochie (2:56)
14. Ray Singer - Ah Oop (3:06)
15. Mood Mosaic - Bond Street Pm (2:15)
16. Laurel Aitken - Bongo Jerk (2:18)
17. The Others - Oh Yeah (2:50)
18. Ray Hoff & The Offbeats - My Good Friend Mary Jane (2:17)
19. The Ministry Of Sound - Mary Mary (2:34)
20. Trekkas - Please Go (2:31)
21. The Alleykatz - The Friendly Undertaker (3:08)
22. Tommy Bruce - Can Your Monkey Do The Dog (2:20)
23. The Couriers - Done Me Wrong (2:11)
24. The Quiet Five - Tomorrow I'll Be Gone (2:00)
25. Wild Uncertainty - Broken Truth (2:08)
26. The Thoughts - Call Me Girl [Previously Unissued] (2:31)
27. Earl Preston's Realms - Daddy Rolling Stone [Live] (2:43)

CD 2

01. Soul Purpose - Hip Huggin' Mini (2:15)
02. Brothers Grimm - Looky, Looky (2:23)
03. J.J. Jackson - Come See Me (2:56)
04. The Arthur Brown Set - Baby You Know What You're Doing (1:51)
05. Lloyd Alexander Real Estate - Gonna Live Again (2:33)
06. The Mirage - You Can't Be Serious (1:59)
07. Laurel Aitken & The Soulmen - Last Night (3:20)
08. The Knaves - Ace Of Clubs [Previously Unissued] (1:51)
09. Fadin' Colours - (Just Like) Romeo & Juliet (2:20)
10. Glen Ingram - I'll Be Doggone (2:34)
11. Tony Rivers & The Castaways - Can't Make It Without You Baby [Previously Unissued] (1:57)
12. Wild Uncertainty - La La La Lies [Previously Unissued] (2:19)
13. The Mike Stuart Span - Workout (3:04)
14. The Spencer Davis Group - Every Little Thing (2:49)
15. The Couriers - Take Away (2:21)
16. Bobby Johnson & The Atoms - Tramp (3:19)
17. The Corduroys - Too Much Of A Woman (1:44)
18. Maynell Wilson - Motown Feeling (3:32)
19. Watson T. Browne & The Explosive - I Close My Eyes (2:45)
20. Ram John Holder - Yes I Do (3:04)
21. Hoagy Benson - Kangaroo (2:35)
22. John Lee's Groundhogs - Over You Baby (2:24)
23. The In Crowd - Stop Wait A Minute (2:08)
24. Trekkas - We Got A Good Thing Going [Previously Unissued] (2:32)
25. The Valentines - Love Makes Sweet Music (2:17)
26. The Sorrows - Ypotron (3:41)
27. John's Children - But She's Mine (1:59)

CD 3

01. Kris Ife - Hush (2:28)
02. Watson T. Browne & The Explosive - Crying All Night (2:28)
03. Stu James & The Mojos; The Mojos - Until My Baby Comes Home (3:20)
04. The Ministry of Sound - White Collar Worker (3:20)
05. Katch 22 - Baby Love (2:06)
06. John's Children - Just What You Want, Just What You'll Get (2:59)
07. The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone [Demo] (3:05)
08. The Birds - No Good Without You (2:39)
09. The Renegades - Thirteen Women (3:26)
10. The Kirkbys - It's a Crime (2:14)
11. The Mirage - Hold On (2:20)
12. The Alan Bown Set - Jeu De Massacre [The Killing Game] (4:18)
13. The Sorrows - Which Way (2:36)
14. Hardin & York - Little Miss Blue (3:55)
15. Picadilly Line - Gone, Gone, Gone (2:18)
16. The Salon Band - Sweet Motion (3:44)
17. Sugar Simone - Take It Easy (3:06)
18. Twinkle - Micky (2:26)
19. Val McKenna - I'll Be Satisfied (2:27)
20. Jacki Bond - Reviewing the Situation (2:53)
21. Barbara Ruskin - Pawnbroker, Pawnbroker (2:13)
22. McKinleys - Sweet and Tender Romance (2:07)
23. The She Trinity - Climb That Tree (3:32)
24. Explosive; Watson T. Browne & The Explosive - Step Out of Line (3:05)
25. Ray Singer; The Fenmen - What's Done Has Been Done (3:04)
26. Episode Six - Jak D'Or (3:14)

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6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi g8rrick.
      You're welcome.
      I posted this previously, but the links were dead.
      Cheers.

      Delete
  2. Mod or Rocker? Those were choices back then. I never had the money to be a Mod. Haircut, clothes etc. Rockers seemed to violent, so I opted out and was just a music fan. Still am 60 years later. Thanks for sharing this again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi lemonflag,
      The genre is not as important as the music itself. Fashion always plays a part in the music we listen to as well.
      I always felt like a moody ModRocker.
      Cheers.

      Delete