SHAPES & SOUNDS
Orange & Red Beams From The BBC Archives 1967-1969
KALEIDOSCOPE- Jenny Artichoke |
TIMEBOX- A Girl Like You |
GENTLE INFLUENCE- You've Been Cheatin' |
MONTANAS- You're Never Going To Get My Lovin' |
MONTANAS- Hey Grandma |
TOMORROW- Real Life Permanent Dream |
TIMEBOX- Beggin' |
KALEIDOSCOPE- Music |
SPECTRUM- Headin' For A Heatwave |
MONTANAS- Omaha |
TOMORROW- Colonel Brown |
SPECTRUM- I Take What I Want |
TIMEBOX- Stay There |
TIMEBOX- Yellow Van |
MONTANAS- A Step In The Right Direction |
GENTLE INFLUENCE- Always Be A Part Of My Living |
TOMORROW- Blow Up |
‘Shapes And Sounds’
offers seventeen performances taped in BBC studios for broadcast not
only on the more familiar radio shows such as ‘Top Gear’ and
Saturday Club’, but also some of the daytime weekly programmes such as
‘The Jimmy Young Show'. Check out the new
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SHAPES AND SOUNDS VOLUME 2
Shades of Deepest Purple From The BBC Archives 1967-1971
THE CASUALS- Jesamine | THE GUN- Lights On The Wall |
THE MIRAGE- The Wedding Of Ramona Blair | THE BYSTANDERS- I Am The Walrus |
KATCH 22- The Price Of Love | THE CASUALS- Take Me For A Little While |
THE ALAN BOWN- Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies | THE GUN- A Most Peculiar Man |
THE GUN- Hold On | THE BYSTANDERS- Renaissance Fair |
THE CASUALS- Midnight Confessions | THE ALAN BOWN- Magic Handkerchief |
THE ALAN BOWN- Movie Star Baby | PORTRAIT- Born To Be Wild |
THE BYSTANDERS- Royal Blue Summer Sunshine Day | KILLING FLOOR- Milkman |
With this second excavation of previously unreleased live BBC session performances spanning the period 1967 - 1971, ‘Shapes And Sounds’ becomes a series and Volume Two features a completely different line up of bands from last years’ set. Pride of place on this second edition arguably goes to the Gun, with three astonishing performances that were recorded nearly a year before ‘Race With The Devil’ which illustrate their late ’67 menu of mod and psych pop, with cracking versions of Rupert’s People’s ‘Hold On’, Paul Simon’s ‘A Most Peculiar Man’ and a quite splendid airing of their legendary ‘Light On The Wall’! The Casuals surprise with the beat of ‘Midnight Confessions’ and ‘Take Me For A Little While’ as well as a fine rendering of ‘Jesamine’, whilst the Mirage perform a live version of their May 1967 single ‘The Wedding Of Ramona Blair’. The Alan Bown play an excellent take of ‘Magic Handkerchief’ and even more interestingly offer two numbers that never appeared on any Bown release, with the self penned progressive popper ‘Movie Star Baby’ and a brilliant interpretation of the Association’s ‘Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies’. Also with three tracks on ‘Shapes And Sounds’ are Wales’ Bystanders, who turn in a lovely version of ‘Royal Blue Summer Sunshine Day’ as well as a glorious homage to the Byrds with ‘Renaissance Fair’. Even better and long talked about in collectors circles but never previously released is their absolutely stunning rendition of ‘I Am The Walrus’, which Top Sounds are sure will disappoint no-one! Sourced from an off air recording of their only British television appearance on Disco 2, Killing Floor perform ‘Milkman’ from their ‘Out Of Uranus’ LP in superb quality (the TV show was wiped decades ago) and of similarly heinous rarity are live tracks from Portrait and Katch 22, who turn in forceful renderings of ‘Born To Be Wild’ and ‘The Price Of Love’ respectively (the latter of which is better than the Status Quo cover!) The sound quality is absolutely superb throughout, with twelve of the sixteen tracks sourced from original BBC Transcription records. The other performances have been taken from excellent off air recordings and similarly shine and though few of the tracks on the collection needed much enhancement at all, all have nevertheless been professionally restored and mastered. The presentation is immaculate and as with the previous ‘Shapes And Sounds’ release, Artholeghraphics have designed a memorable period flavoured package. The LP has a sixteen page colour booklet based on a vintage Radio Times packed with illustrations, band histories and listings of all their known BBC sessions written and supplied by Nigel Lees, author of much of Record Collector magazine’s ‘The British Psychedelic Trip’ series. Except for the Mirage recording being bootlegged many years ago (in lesser quality!), none of the tracks have ever been commercially available and most have not been heard in public since the 60’s. The compact disc version will be available early in 2008. All copies are hand numbered and ‘Shapes And Sounds’ is a legitimate limited edition release, licensed from the BBC with the blessing / co-operation of many band members.
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SHAPES AND SOUNDS VOLUME 3
SHAPES AND SOUNDS Volume THREE TSLP 004 Vinyl £14.49 (to follow) TSSCD 004 Compact Disc £12.99 Top Sounds Records return once again with another collection of music recorded live for BBC radio and TV during the late 1960s and early 70s, with a significant proportion of wonderful material long thought lost. Available as usual on vinyl and CD the compilation begins and ends with some most welcome performances from BILL FAY, documenting his appearance on the Disco 2 television show in early 1971. With the TV programme being wiped this is the only known evidence of Bill playing live, and he performs in superb audio quality ‘Tell It Like It Is’ and a song he never recorded anywhere else called ‘After The Revolution’. Three tracks from THE PRETTY THINGS late 1968 session for Top Gear have been widely available for a while but the fourth, a version of ‘Old Man Going’, was never retained by the BBC - needless to say Top Sounds have located a master tape of the performance and are pleased to inform the Pretties’ fans that its even better than the album version, with the fuzzed guitar cranked up to maximum! A double CD of DAVE DEE, DOZY, BEAKY, MICK and TICH’s BBC sessions was released in 2008, but Shapes And Sounds Three adds to that considerable legacy with a better version of ‘Frustration’ and more spectacularly, the band’s fantastic psychedelic rock assault on the First Edition’s ‘Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)’. Long time favourites with psych pop enthusiasts are THE END who have had much previously unreleased music released in the past, their BBC sessions however have always proved elusive as the BBC wiped their tapes. Rescued from off air recordings Top Sounds present two numbers from their 1968 ‘Top Gear’, with an atmospheric rendering of ‘Shades Of Orange’ and a brilliant take of ‘Under The Rainbow’ which is wildly different from the studio version on ‘Introspection’. Like The End, Geordie psychsters SKIP BIFFERTY have been well served by compilations - ‘In The Morning’ and ‘Follow The Path Of The Stars’ however now appear in pristine quality straight from transcription disc whilst ‘On Love’ and ‘Yours For At Least 24’ (from their first ever radio session) make their debut and were previously presumed lost. BBC material by CUPID’S INSPIRATION similarly emerges for the first time with a quite splendid mix of pop, blues and rock across four numbers, only one of which was ever released in their original discography. Especially noteworthy is a crunching take of ‘Dream’ and a frantic version of Garnet Mimms ‘As Long As I Have You’. GULLIVERS PEOPLE prove admirably they could deliver psych pop with an excellent performance of the Bee Gees’ psych opus ‘Horizontal’ whilst ‘On A Day Like This’ improves on the single, then finally Plymouth group THE EARTH offer some rather good tunes with live versions of ‘Everyone Sing The Song’ and the prog rock favourite ‘Resurrection City’ from 1969. The music has all been professionally restored and mastered and the presentation is immaculate and as with the previous ‘Shapes And Sounds’ volumes, Artholeghraphics have designed a memorable period flavoured package. The LP will have a sixteen page colour booklet based on a vintage Radio Times (the CD has a twenty eight page book) packed with illustrations, band histories and listings of all their known BBC sessions written and supplied by Nigel Lees, author of much of Record Collector magazine’s ‘The British Psychedelic Trip’ series. Bar the appearance of some of the Skip Bifferty recordings which have previously appeared in off air quality, none of these performances have ever been commercially available and most have not been heard in public since the 60’s. ‘Shapes And Sounds Volume Three’ is a legitimate release, licensed from the BBC with the blessing / co-operation of many band members. The compilation will be available on both vinyl and CD, the compact disc is out now and projected release date of the LP version is late May 2008.
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