Saturday, June 13, 2026

VA - It's Saturday Night! Starday, Dixie Rockabilly 1955-1961 [2012] (3 x CDs)

Rockabilly

VA - It's Saturday Night! Starday, Dixie Rockabilly 1955-1961 [2012] (3 x CDs)

Issued in 2012 by Fantastic Voyage, this 3‑CD set dives deep into the Starday and Dixie vaults to capture the raw, regional pulse of southern rockabilly between 1955 and 1961. What makes it compelling is its refusal to polish or modernize the sound. These are recordings from small studios and dancehalls where country, hillbilly boogie, and early rock ’n’ roll still overlapped naturally.

The atmosphere hits immediately, slapped bass, clipped electric guitar, train‑beat drums, and echo‑soaked vocals that feel closer to honky‑tonk than to the smoother pop of later years. Many of the singers sound like country performers adapting to a new rhythm rather than chasing fame, which gives the set its charm.

Familiar names such as Sonny Fisher, Sleepy LaBeef, and Rudy Grayzell sit beside lesser‑known regional artists, yet the sequencing keeps everything fluid. One track leans toward western swing, the next toward straight rock ’n’ roll, but the transitions feel organic. The repetition of rhythms and guitar breaks becomes part of the experience, each variation revealing how musicians were shaping the earliest language of rock ’n’ roll from inside country music itself.

It’s Saturday Night! feels less like a jukebox from the late 1950s South—loud, direct, and still tied to the dancehall world that birthed it. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Sonny Fisher - Rockin' Daddy 2:23

02 Sonny Fisher - Hold Me Baby 2:41

03 Fred Crawford - Can't Live With E'm (Can't Live Without E'm) 2:44

04 Bill Mack - Kitty Kat 1:55

05 Sonny Fisher - Sneaky Pete 2:03

06 Link Davis - Sixteen Chicks 2:10

07 Bill Mack - Fat Woman 2:04

08 Sonny Fisher - Hey Mama 2:34

09 Thumper Jones - Rock It 2:17

10 Sonny Fisher - Rockin' and A Rollin' 1:58

11 Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell - Duck Tail 2:33

12 Sonny Fisher - I Can't Lose 2:22

13 Thumper Jones - How Come It 2:23

14 Link Davis - Grasshopper Rock 2:07

15 Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell - You're Gone 2:01

16 Rock Rogers - Little Rock Rock 2:04

17 Sonny Fisher - Pink and Black 1:59

18 Fred Crawford - Rock Candy Rock 2:10

19 Glenn Barber - Feeling No Pain 1:53

20 Rock Rogers - That Ain't It 2:13

21 Bill Mack - Cat Just Got in Town 1:46

22 Rocky Bill Ford - Mad Dog in Town 2:27

23 Glenn Barber - Shadow My Baby 2:04

24 Link Davis - Trucker From Tennessee 2:04

25 Amos Como - Hole in The Wall 3:02

26 Rocky Bill Ford - Have You Seen Mabel 2:16

27 Bob Doss - Don't Be Gone Long 2:09

28 Link Davis - Don't Big Shot Me 2:10

29 Rudy "Tutti" Grayzell & The Imperials - Jig-Ga-Lee-Ga 2:18

30 Jimmy Johnson - Woman Love 2:33

31 Jerry Hanson - I'm Doing All Right 1:58

32 Hoyt Scoggins & The Saturday Nite Jamboree Boys - Tennessee Rock 2:04

33 Arnold Parker & The Southernairs - Find A New Woman 2:07

34 Lucky Wray - Got Another Baby 2:22

35 Jimmy Johnson - All Dressed Up 2:37


CD2

01 Hal Harris - Jitterbop Baby 2:00

02 Sleepy LaBeff - I'm Through 2:15

03 Bill Mack - It's Saturday Night 2:03

04 Slim Watts - Tu-La-Lou 2:10

05 Sleepy LaBeef - Little Bit More 2:21

06 Hal Harris - I Don't Know When 2:22

07 Cliff Blakley - Want to Be With You 2:10

08 Davis Twins & Sleepy Jeffers - Pretending is A Game 2:06

09 Sleepy LaBeef - I Ain't Gonna Take It 2:03

10 Rudy Grayzell - Let's Get Wild 2:50

11 Cecil Bowman & The Arrows - Blues Around My Door 2:00

12 Cliff Blakley - Get Off My Toe 2:15

13 Benny Barnes with The Echoes - You Gotta Pay 2:21

14 Lattie Moore - Why Did You Lie to Me 2:04

15 Carl Trantham with The Rhythm All Stars - Deedle Deedle Dum 2:17

16 Cliff Blakley - High Steppin' 2:17

17 Frankie Miller - True Blue 2:25

18 Bill Browning & His Echo Valley Boys - Don't Push - Don't Shove 2:10

19 Truitt Forse - Doggone Dame 3:14

20 Truitt Forse - Chiken Bop 1:59

21 Lucky Wray with Link & Doug Wray - Teenage Cutie 1:59

22 Buddy Shaw - Don't Sweep That Dirt on Me 2:18

23 Lou Walker - Rock and Roll (Tennessee Style) 2:33

24 Rocking Martin - All Because of You 2:15

25 Larry Nolen & His Bandits - King of The Ducktail Cats 2:27

26 Lloyd McCollough - Half My Fault 2:16

27 Al Runyon - Baby Please Come Home 2:02

28 Lou Walker - Little Bitty Man 2:42

29 Fuzzy Whitener with Jerry Dykes & His Band - Sugar Buggar 2:30

30 Alden Holloway & His Tri City Boys - Loving is My Business 2:49

31 Hal Payne - Honky Tonk Stomp 2:08

32 Sleepy LaBeff - All The Time 1:52

33 Jape Richardson & The Japetts - Crazy Blues 2:08

34 Raindrops - I Don't Want A Sweetheart 2:17


CD3

01 Benny Joy - Steady With Betty 2:31

02 Doug Bragg - Pretty Little Thing 1:54

03 Derrell Felts & The Confederates - The Weepers 2:41

04 Jimmie Lee & The Playboys - Three Little Wishes 2:16

05 Benny Joy - Spin The Bottle 2:34

06 Pat & Dee - Gee Whiz 2:12

07 Derrell Felts & The Confederates - Playmates 1:50

08 Ken Hammock with Tennessee Valley Gang - Blue Guitar Jump 2:25

09 Pat & Dee - Don't Tease Me 2:06

10 Bill & Carroll - Feel So Good 2:06

11 Eddie Skelton - Keep it Swinging 2:25

12 Dee Johnson - Just Look, Don't Touch 2:06

13 Mel Price - Little Dog Blues 2:35

14 Groove Joe Poovey - Ten Long Fingers 2:46

15 Art Ontario - It Must Be Me 2:33

16 Alden Holloway - Swinging The Rock 2:17

17 Jay Gallegher - Crazy Legs 2:08

18 Orangie Ray Hubbard - Sweet Love 2:17

19 Joe Poovey & The Royal Dukes - Careful Baby 2:23

20 J.C. Sawyer - Goin' Steppin' 2:03

21 Pete Peters & The Rhythmakers - Dizzy 2:44

22 Alden Holloway - Blast Off 2:44

23 Joe Poovey & The Royal Dukes - Move Around 2:26

24 Tommy Nelson & Band - Honey Moon Blues 2:26

25 Ray Hudson & The Western Rhythmaires - The Blues Walked Away 1:55

26 Williams Brothers - Ali-Baba 2:20

27 Art Buchanan with The Pioneers - Queen From Bowling Green 2:09

28 Tommy Nelson & Band - Hobo Bop 2:14

29 Bill Willis - Boogie Woogie All Night 2:14

30 Eddie Reynolds - Wrangler 2:36

31 Pete Peters & The Rhythmakers - Rockin' N' My Sweet Baby's Arms 2:29

32 Howard Mayberry with The Sangamon Boys - This Just Can't Be Puppy Love 2:21

33 Connie Dycus - I Could Shoot Myself (If I Wasn't Afraid of A Gun) 2:05

34 Gentry Brothers - Swanky 2:17

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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Friday, June 12, 2026

VA - Summer Wine (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

POP

VA - Summer Wine (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

There are some songs that seem to define an entire emotional landscape. Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra's "Summer Wine" is one of them. Mysterious, seductive, and faintly melancholic, it occupies a place where romance and memory meet. This four-disc collection grows outward from that centre, gathering recordings that share its sense of elegance, longing, and cinematic beauty.

Subtitled A Collection of Dreams, Desire and Distant Days, the set explores a rich meeting point between American and European pop during the 1960s and early 1970s. Sunshine pop, orchestral pop, chanson, folk-pop, soundtrack music, and soft psychedelia sit comfortably alongside one another, linked less by genre than by mood and emotional character. Whether drawn from Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome, or Nashville, these recordings share a refined melodic sensibility and an ability to suggest entire worlds within a few minutes.

The first disc establishes the collection's foundations. Nancy Sinatra, Claudine Longet, Dusty Springfield, Françoise Hardy, Mina, Michel Legrand, and Brigitte Bardot create a sequence filled with youthful romance, sophistication, and wide-screen atmosphere. Familiar classics sit naturally beside lesser-known gems, each contributing to a feeling of warmth and possibility.

The second disc leans further into continental influences. French pop, chanson, film music, and carefully crafted orchestral arrangements bring a more intimate and reflective character. Artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin, Juliette Gréco, and Ennio Morricone deepen the collection's cinematic qualities while maintaining its emotional restraint.

By the third disc, the emphasis shifts toward songwriting of exceptional depth. Bobbie Gentry, Scott Walker, Glen Campbell, Love, The Zombies, and The Beach Boys deliver recordings where melody, lyric, and atmosphere achieve a remarkable balance. Some of the era's most enduring songs appear here, carrying themes of memory, distance, and quiet reflection.

The final disc gradually moves toward twilight. The mood becomes more contemplative, with Nancy Sinatra, Marianne Faithfull, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Kevin Ayers, and others exploring themes of departure, change, and remembrance. The closing sequence, culminating in "Arkansas Coal (Suite)" and "Some Velvet Morning", returns to the world that inspired the collection while revealing new shades within it.

Summer Wine is not simply a gathering of favourite songs but a carefully shaped journey through some of the most evocative corners of popular music. Its strength lies in the way familiar classics, overlooked treasures, European pop sophistication, and American songcraft coexist within a single emotional landscape. The result is a collection that rewards repeated listening, revealing new connections and subtle moods with each return. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Summer Wine 4:15 1966

02 Claudine Longet - Wanderlove 2:36 1967

03 Petula Clark - Downtown 3:07 1964

04 Sandie Shaw - Girl Don't Come 2:14 1964

05 Dusty Springfield - The Look of Love 3:31 1967

06 Association - Never My Love 3:08 1967

07 Free Design - Kites Are Fun 2:36 1967

08 Paris Sisters - Always Waitin' 2:39 1962

09 Jackie Deshannon - Come and Stay With Me 3:06 1965

10 Nancy Priddy - You've Come This Way Before 2:52 1968

11 Françoise Hardy - Le temps de l'amour 2:25 1962

12 Françoise Hardy - Voilà 3:21 1967

13 Sylvie Vartan - La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser (The Most Beautiful to Go Dancing) 2:32 1964

14 France Gall - 03 Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son 2:29 1965

15 Christophe - Aline 2:50 1965

16 Mina - Se Telefonando 2:58 1966

17 Michel Legrand - The Windmills of Your Mind 2:19 1968

18 John Barry - The Theme From The Persuaders 2:12 2026

19 Nancy Sinatra - Sugar Town 2:23 1966

20 Brigitte Bardot - Bonnie and Clyde 4:17 1968


CD2

01 Dionne Warwick - Walk on By 2:52 1964

02 Sheila, Ringo - Les gondoles a Venise 3:45 1973

03 Claudine Longet - Here There & Everywhere 2:29 1967

04 Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By 2:38 1964

05 Sandie Shaw - Il a De La Peine 3:00 1967

06 Millennium - There is Nothing More to Say 2:23 1968

07 France Gall - La Petite 2:41 1967

08 Jane Birkin - La Decadanse 5:15 1973

09 Brigitte Bardot - Harley Davidson 2:30 1968

10 Jacques Dutronc - Les Cactus 2:42 1966

11 Juliette Gréco - Déshabillez-moi 3:29 1967

12 Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Revolver 2:40 2006

13 Françoise Hardy - La maison où j'ai grandi 3:39 1966

14 Dalida (And Alain Delon) - Paroles Paroles (Words, Words) 4:06 1973

15 Brigitte Fontaine, Areski - Il pleut sur la gare 1:47 1972

16 Seekers - When Will The Good Apples Fall? 2:29 1967

17 Free Design - An Elegy 3:25 1969

18 Ennio Morricone - Metti Una Sera a Cena 4:11 1969

19 Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin - 69 Année Erotique 3:18 1969

20 Coralie Clément - Ca Valait La Peine 1:51 2005


CD3

01 Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe 4:16 1967

02 Suzi Jane Hokom - Need All The Help I Can Get 2:20 1966

03 Hamilton Camp - Here's to You 2:18 1967

04 Anita Harris - The Playground 3:25 1968

05 Peter & Gordon - I Go to Pieces 2:23 1964

06 Pozo-Seco Singers - Look What You've Done 2:47 1966

07 Everly Brothers - Bowling Green 2:54 1967

08 Nancy Sinatra - Sand 3:46 1966

09 Hollies - Butterfly 2:42 1967

10 Zombies - Care of Cell 44 3:54 1967

11 Silkie - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away 2:13 1965

12 Jane Birkin - Jane B 3:01 1962

13 Richard Antony - J'entends Siffler Le Train 3:19 1969

14 Scott Walker - Plastic Palace People 6:05 1968

15 Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell - Sunday Mornin' 2:30 1968

16 Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman 3:04 1968

17 Beach Boys - God Only Knows 2:56 1966

18 Love - Alone Again Or 3:08 1967

19 Lee Hazlewood - For A Day Like Today 3:59 1969

20 Lee Hazlewood - For One Moment 2:34 1966


CD4

01 Dusty Springfield - Summer is Over 3:42 1964

02 Marianne Faithfull - Something Better 2:43 1968

03 Lulu - Morning Dew 2:48 1968

04 Bobbie Gentry - Courtyard 2:58 1968

05 Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - The Circus is Leaving Town 5:35 2006

06 Gosdin Brothers - She's Gone 2:09 1968

07 Nancy Sinatra - Drummer Man 3:20 1969

08 Walker Brothers - Make it Easy on Yourself 3:14 1965

09 Sheila - Bang Bang 3:11 1966

10 Sonny & Cher - Little Man 3:22 1966

11 Twangsville Revisited - Come Undone 5:44 2017

12 Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Shadow in The Corner of Your Mind 2:52 1967

13 Gene & Debbe - Playboy 2:55 1968

14 Liminanas, Emmanuelle Seigner - Shadow People 3:11 2017

15 Ian & Sylvia - Four Strong Winds 3:29 1963

16 She & Him - You Really Got A Hold on Me 3:59 2010

17 Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Honey Child What Can I Do? 3:44 2006

18 Kevin Ayers - Girl on a Swing 2:49 1969

19 Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Arkansas Coal (Suite) 5:39 1970

20 Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning 3:41 1967

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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Thursday, June 11, 2026

REUPLOADS # 142

REUPLOADS # 142

NEW LINKS for reuploads can be found here:

Click on the links and it will take you to the requested page.


The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings 1956-64 [2011] (7 x CDs)

https://butterboycompilations.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-modern-jazz-quartet-complete.html


Artie Shaw - Classic Artie Shaw Bluebird And Victor Sessions [2009] (7 x CDs)

https://butterboycompilations.blogspot.com/2023/05/artie-shaw-classic-artie-shaw-bluebird.html


Bunny Berigan - The Complete Brunswick, Parlophone and Vocalion Sessions [2003] (7 x CDs)

https://butterboycompilations.blogspot.com/2023/05/bunny-berigan-complete-brunswick.html


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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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BB LUCKY DIP #532

BB LUCKY DIP #532

Lucky Dip's will be a mystery gift to those who choose to pick them up. 

Be quick. No re-uploads.


Today's topic: MIXED BAG


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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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Wednesday, June 10, 2026

VA - 50 Hronia Elliniko Rock [2012] (4 x CDs)

GREEK ROCK

VA - 50 Hronia Elliniko Rock [2012] (4 x CDs)

What makes Greek rock distinctive is how naturally it absorbed outside influences without losing its own identity. By the mid-1960s, groups like The Forminx (which included composer Vangelis),, The Olympians, and later Aphrodite's Child were already shaping a local version of rock music that sounded connected to Britain and America but carried different melodic phrasing and atmosphere. During the years of the military dictatorship, that music took on additional weight. Artists such as Dionysis Savvopoulos, Kostas Tournas, and Socrates Drank the Conium pushed progressive, folk, psychedelic, and political elements together while working inside an increasingly tense cultural climate.

Issued in 2012 by Lyra in association with ETAIPIA, 50 Hronia Elliniko Rock works because it follows that long evolution without flattening it into a simple history lesson. The earlier material still carries traces of beat music and psychedelic experimentation, but as the discs unfold the sound widens into progressive rock, politically charged songwriting, punk, new wave, and heavier electric music from the 1980s and 1990s.  What holds the set together is the persistence of mood and language. Even when styles shift dramatically, from the progressive structures of the 1970s to the sharper post-punk and alternative sounds that followed, the music keeps a strong melodic and lyrical centre. Greek rock rarely abandons emotional weight entirely, even at its loudest or most experimental.

The sequencing allows those decades to speak to each other naturally. One movement flows into another, showing how later artists inherited and reshaped earlier ideas rather than breaking away from them completely.

Over the 4 CDs, the set feels like a living musical conversation stretching across generations, shaped by politics, local identity, and the constant effort to make international rock language speak in a distinctly Greek voice. (B)

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Track lists

CD01

01 Pavlos Sidiropoulos - Welcome to The Show 4:39

02 Socrates Drank The Conium - Ilektrikos Socratis 10:03

03 Forminx - Say You Love Me 3:14

04 Ippokratis Exarhopoulos - Atlantis (Magiki Politia) 3:46

05 Peloma Bokiou - To Filahto 2:32

06 Despina Glezou - Esi Pou Milas 3:00

07 Nikolas Asimos - Bataria 4:21

08 Dimitris Poulikakos - To '69 Me Kapio Filo 3:02

09 Antonis Tourkogiorgis - Afti Ine I Gitonia Mou 3:59

10 Giannis Giokarinis - Kitharistas I Dramer 3:35

11 2002 GR - Ipes Pos 2:32

12 Magic De Spell - Sti Zoni Tou Piros 3:25

13 Ypogia Revmata - Mikri Angelia 4:36

14 Mavro Kokkino - Athina, Mi Fonazis 4:16

15 Kollektiva - Katalipsi Xana 2:53


CD2

01 Despina Glezou & Ippokratis Exarhopoulos - Dos' Mou to Heri Sou 2:54

02 Despina Glezou - Aposmitika 3:38

03 M.G.C. - Foxy Lady 3:47

04 Damon & Phidias - Apogoitefsi 2:40

05 Exadaktilos - To Xehasmeno Pigadi 8:37

06 Pavlos Sidiropoulos & I Aprosarmosti - Tis Ethnikis Simfiliosis 2:20

07 Peloma Bokiou - Mari, Maria 3:00

08 Vassilis Papakonstantinou - Giousouroum 6:43

09 Magic De Spell - Sarajevo 4:19

10 Dimitris Poulikakos - Giro Giro Sti Skopia (All Along The Watch Tower) 3:27

11 Antonis Tourkogiorgis - Stella S' Agapao... Takis 3:39

12 Trypes - I Asfalia 2:49

13 Kitrina Podilata - Tha Paro Fora 3:52

14 Freedom of Speech (Origin K, Konstantina Forou) - S' Alli Hora 3:56

15 Sotiria Leonardou - Paraxenos Kosmos (Things Have Changed) 4:32


CD3

01 Vassilis Papakonstantinou - Hronia Fortono 4:10

02 Magic De Spell - Nipson Anomimata 3:44

03 Kitrina Podilata - Ti Ine Kratos 4:07

04 Magioneza Mavri - Mentores 4:13

05 Endelexeia - In' Edo Endelexeia 3:20

06 Dimitris Poulikakos - Skilisia Zoi (I Mira Tou Epafti) 3:59

07 P.Sidiropoulos, H.Periklis, D.Glezou, Th.Gkaifilias, P.Savvopoulos - I Fantasia Stin Exousia 2:40

08 Nikolas Asimos - Shizofrenovlaviosi 6:54

09 Despina Glezou - Stis 15 Iouliou Tha Gini Eklipsis Iliou 2:52

10 Pavlos Sidiropoulos & I Aprosarmosti - Blues 6:59

11 Peloma Bokiou - Garifalle - Garifalle 3:41

12 Ippokratis Exarhopoulos - Mi Milas Gi' Aftous 3:07

13 Damon & Phidias - O Gero Mathios 4:51

14 Exadaktilos - O Aneprokopos (Road Ladies) 5:23

15 Grecophon - She is Cool 2:18


CD4

01 Stella Gadedi & Bourboulia - Mavri Thalassa (Apospasma) 9:25

02 Despina Glezou - Ta Epikera 4:00

03 Nikolas Asimos - O Mihanismos 3:08

04 Despina Glezou & Ippokratis Exarhopoulos - Ti Simveni 2:30

05 Pavlos Sidiropoulos & I Aprosarmosti - To Agnosto Theo 6:15

06 Peloma Bokiou - I Magi 2:43

07 Dimitris Poulikakos - Apo to Dasos Tou Sherwood Ston Melana Drimo 4:50

08 Cazuama Sinchartchas - Anipsosi - Apotinaxi 4:38

09 Daltons - O Trelos 3:00

10 Socrates Drank The Conium - Visitor 3:41

11 Magic De Spell - Asilo 2:50

12 Savra Ton Vasilikon Dromon - Afton Ton Kosmo Ton Kalo 4:48

13 Giannis Giokarinis - Nostalgos Tou Rock 'n' Roll 3:52

14 Ypogia Revmata - M' Aresi Na Mi Leo Polla 3:27

15 Trendy Hooliguns - Kani Kalo 4:08

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Pere Ubu - Elitism For The People 1975-1978 [2015] (4 x CDs)

ROCK

Pere Ubu - Elitism For The People 1975-1978 [2015] (4 x CDs)

By the middle of the 1970s, Pere Ubu already sounded detached from nearly everything around them. Formed in Cleveland from the remains of the city’s underground rock scene, the group pulled together garage rock, industrial noise, avant-garde structure, and fractured pop instincts into something that felt unstable but strangely deliberate. Issued in 2015 by Fire Records, Elitism For The People 1975–1978 gathers the band’s foundational recordings across their earliest and most influential period.

The music rarely settles into a comfortable shape. Rhythms lurch forward, guitars scrape and pulse rather than riff conventionally, and the electronics drift through the background like damaged transmissions. At the centre sits the voice of David Thomas, part narrator, part observer, moving through the songs in an uneasy half-spoken style that gives even quieter passages a sense of tension.

What becomes striking across the set is how carefully the chaos is organised. Albums like The Modern Dance and Dub Housing sound abrasive at first, but repeated listening reveals recurring melodic fragments, structured repetition, and a strong sense of atmosphere beneath the noise. The music often feels urban and industrial, but never mechanical. There is always movement underneath it.

The additional singles, rehearsals, and rarities deepen that impression. Rather than alternate versions existing as curiosities, they show how the band reshaped material continuously, allowing songs to mutate between sessions and performances.

The box feels like entering a self-contained world where the sound is difficult, funny, anxious, and unexpectedly human all at once. What once seemed abrasive gradually becomes coherent, until the logic of the music begins to reveal itself from inside its own disorder. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Pere Ubu - Non-alignment Pact 3:18

02 Pere Ubu - Modern Dance 3:29

03 Pere Ubu - Laughing 4:35

04 Pere Ubu - Street Waves 3:05

05 Pere Ubu - Chinese Radiation 3:28

06 Pere Ubu - Life Stinks 1:52

07 Pere Ubu - Real World 4:00

08 Pere Ubu - Over My Head 3:51

09 Pere Ubu - Sentimental Journey 6:05

10 Pere Ubu - Humor Me 2:43


CD2

01 Pere Ubu - Navvy 2:40

02 Pere Ubu - On the Surface 2:35

03 Pere Ubu - Dub Housing 3:39

04 Pere Ubu - Caligari's Mirror 3:48

05 Pere Ubu - Thriller! 4:36

06 Pere Ubu - I, Will Wait 1:45

07 Pere Ubu - Drinking Wine Spodyody 2:43

08 Pere Ubu - (Pa) Ubu Dance Party 4:46

09 Pere Ubu - Blow Daddy-o 3:38

10 Pere Ubu - Codex 4:54


CD3

01 Pere Ubu - 30 Seconds Over Tokyo 6:21

02 Pere Ubu - Heart of Darkness 4:43

03 Pere Ubu - Final Solution 4:57

04 Pere Ubu - Cloud 149 2:36

05 Pere Ubu - Untitled 3:31

06 Pere Ubu - Street Waves 3:05

07 Pere Ubu - My Dark Ages 3:59

08 Pere Ubu - Modern Dance 3:28

09 Pere Ubu - Heaven 3:04


CD4

01 Pere Ubu - My Dark Ages 6:53

02 Pere Ubu - Heaven 3:55

03 Pere Ubu - Sentimental Journey 6:56

04 Pere Ubu - Over My Head 7:38

05 Pere Ubu - 30 Seconds Over Tokyo 6:56

06 Pere Ubu - Life Stinks 2:29

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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Monday, June 8, 2026

Helen Merrill - Sings The Beatles [1970]

COVERS

Helen Merrill - Sings The Beatles [1970]

By 1970, interpretations of The Beatles had already become common, but Helen Merrill approaches the material from a quieter direction on Helen Merrill Sings The Beatles. Issued by Victor World Group (Japan), the album slows the songs down emotionally rather than dramatically reshaping them.

The arrangements lean toward small-group jazz and restrained orchestration, leaving enough room for the melodies to remain recognisable while shifting their atmosphere completely. Familiar songs lose some of their pop brightness and settle into something more reflective. Merrill’s phrasing is central to that change. She rarely pushes a line, instead allowing the words to drift naturally through the arrangements.

What makes the album hold together is the consistency of tone. Even when the source material varies, the pacing remains measured and understated. Piano, bass, and light orchestral touches frame the voice rather than compete with it, giving the recordings a calm, late-night feel.

As the sequence unfolds, the Beatles catalogue begins to sound less tied to its original era and more like part of a broader song tradition. Left to play, the album feels intimate rather than revisionist, shaped by mood, restraint, and careful phrasing rather than reinterpretation for its own sake. (B)

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Track list

01 Helen Merrill - Let it Be 4:15

02 Helen Merrill - Lady Madonna 3:13

03 Helen Merrill - Because 3:17

04 Helen Merrill - The Word 4:44

05 Helen Merrill - Norwegian Wood 5:13

06 Helen Merrill - Here There and Everywhere 2:54

07 Helen Merrill - Golden Slumbers 3:13

08 Helen Merrill - And I Love Him 2:28

09 Helen Merrill - In My Life 3:12

10 Helen Merrill - Mother Nature's Son 2:43

11 Helen Merrill - If I Fell 3:30

12 Helen Merrill - I Want You 0:42

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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