Glenn Miller - Moonlight Serenade

ORIGINATION i forget
LAST LISTENED TO not idea about this either
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT really quite small then
RATING

I suspect that it may not really be fashionable to like this kind of jazz, especially this tune which always seems to turn up playing in nursing homes in films. But i do like it. I love its warm, soft buttery textures and the relaxed pace. The tone of the brass is so nice too, having just enough edge to hint at the power that it is holding in check, whilst never once breaking out. It's all quite like having an aural bath and i mean that in the very nicest way. After a few nights of rogh sleep, i couldn't ask for better than this.

Grant Green - It's Your Thing

ORIGINATION The Lost Grooves (v/a Blue Note)
LAST LISTENED TO yesterday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT fairly good probably
RATING

Grant Green was one of the most notable guitarists on Blue Note Records during the early '60s, recording over 20 albums in the first half of that decade. His easy-sounding style of playing and habit of recording with organists meant his music became very popular on the soul jazz scene. Sadly his prolific output slipped somewhat towards the end of the decade due to a drug habit, which was to ultimately help bring about his early demise in '78.

However, before that sad event he made a return to Blue Note, with a slightly altered style that was moving more towards jazz-funk. This track, a cover of the Isley Brothers hit, was an out-take from his strongest LP of the period, 1970s Alive!.

Green plays in his usual laid back style and although he takes some fine solos, his style is somewhat over-shadowed by both Ronnie Foster on organ and Claude Bartee on trumpet, both of whose solos posess more fire than Greens. To be fair, this may be because Green solos first, but it is probably more to do with contrasting styles and on this track it is not his that stands out. No doubt the reason why this wasn't put out on the original album.

A final mention must be made to the ever-great Idris Muhammad on drums, whose hard, funky rhythms really dominate the track. He is supported by some conga and, apparently, vibes, although you'd be forgiven for not noticing them as they are buried deep in the mix. I never noticed them 'til i looked at the personnel listing.

Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls Of Fire

ORIGINATION it's everywhere, isn't it?
LAST LISTENED TO too long ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT too small
RATING

What's not to like? It's huge-sounding, rambunctious rock 'n' roll, full of energy and fire. Lewis recorded it in 1957 at Sun Studios with only a drummer accompanying him and it is to the credit of Sam Phillips that Lewis' excitement and personality are so abundantly clear. From the jangling boogie-woogie piano to the high tone leaps in vocal pitch, this had become not just one of the defining songs in rock 'n' roll but also one of the key moments in rock history.

Queen - Another One Bites The Dust

ORIGINATION greatest hits
LAST LISTENED TO friday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT better than i'd like
RATING

You surely know this song and require no input from me on this. On Friday Suse requested some Queen to song along to on our 5 hour car journey to snowy north Wales. We both found it hard to sing the chorus to this song, after having both been exposed to Weird Al Yankovic's version of this a few years back. It is one of his better 'covers' and is titled Another One Rides The Bus.

Actually, i do quite like this Queen song. It feels a bit like them trying to do funk. I only wish that, like every other Queen song, that curly haired expletive wasn't on it. My dislike of that guitar-playing member is as irrational as it is large. Grrrr.

The Wonder Stuff - Welcome To The Cheap Seats

ORIGINATION Never Loved Elvis
LAST LISTENED TO thursday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT good
RATING

What in hell is going on around here? Three bloody Wonder Stuff songs in a row? I don't really like them that much. Really i like them only a bit and just the one album and even then apart from the last month i haven't listened to it in years. Jeez. Thanks brain.

Anyway, Welcome To The Cheap Seats is really quite fun, from its opening 'Arribarriba!" to its playful lyrics and, of course, the song title which i have always enjoyed. Less silly is Kirsty MacColl's supporting vocals on the chorus and the great violin work throughout the track. It was picked as one of the singles from the album and with good cause.

The Wonder Stuff - On The Ropes

ORIGINATION 7"
LAST LISTENED TO thursday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING

This track was the first single from the last Wonder Stuff album (before they got back together again in 2000). It's not all that bad, but it's nowhere near as good as even the poorest song from the previous album, Never Loved Elvis. There are some nice little stringy moments and the chorus is ok-ish, but that's it.

The Wonder Stuff - Radio Asskiss

ORIGINATION 7" (Size Of A Cow b side)
LAST LISTENED TO thursday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT small
RATING

A quite poor effort from the Wonder Stuff here. I only listened to it because i was curious about the supporting material for Never Loved Elvis. If ever there was a song that wasn't good enough for the album, this is it. It's barely good enough for a b side.

The Congos - Congoman

ORIGINATION Heart Of The Congos
LAST LISTENED TO last year?
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT barry white on the northern line
RATING

To cut a long and complicated story short, it can be seen that in Jamaican music the producer is often responsible for writing the music and organising the musicians in his productions. Therefore the name of the artists on the recording was more often than not that of the vocalists only. In many ways these albums can be seen as more belonging to the body of work of the producers, as opposed to the vocalists. With this album that is almost the case.

The Congos were a roots reggae duo composed of vocalists Cedric Myton and Roydel 'Ashanti' Johnson. The combination of their voices was quite unique in the genre: Myton's voice is a clean falsetto and Johnson's a rich tenor. This contrast is one of the things that is particularly attractive in their music. The other was that the Heart Of The Congos album was produced by the legendarily bizarre producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Here he showed his superlative skills in turning out settings for this unique combination of voices. The album is hailed as one of the very finest in the genre, although at the time it was turned down by the likes of Island records and sank into semi-obscurity.

Congoman is the second song in the set and was chosen as a single back in '77. It has a more stripped back feel than almost all the other tracks on the album and is driven by a combination of tribal drumming and 'regular' percussion (as well as, one suspects, copious amounts of weed). In behind this percussion is as big a bass as one could hope for, with further instrumentation present, albeit buried below the rhythm. (This murky sound was all part of the character of Perry's famed Black Ark studio and is part of the ambience that makes this a classic album.) Myton and Johnson's righteous vocals soar over this rich soup of sound, repeating many of the same phrases many times over, giving something of a religious vibe.

It makes for one of the key tracks not only on this album but in roots reggae as a whole. Anyone with the slightest interest in Jamaican music should hear this.

The Wonder Stuff - Maybe

ORIGINATION Never Loved Elvis
LAST LISTENED TO yesterday
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT time to change the record, i think
RATING

The Wonder Stuff doing here what they do best: shiny indie-pop (with added violin). On this track it is indeed that violin that takes centre stage, along with Miles Hunts' vocals. This is a song of what ifs and maybes. A song about daydreaming and, possibly, dithering. Or at least it might be. I'm not feeling very trusting of my interpretation skills this morning. Mrs Burns would be so disappointed.

Ennio Morricone - Titoli

ORIGINATION A Fistful Of Dollars
LAST LISTENED TO not very sure
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT too low, too low
RATING

Ennio Morricone is simply a genius. He is one of the most distinctive composers in film, so much so that his cultural impact is beyond reckoning. This is particularly true for the music he composed for just a fistful of Western films. The success of that music has caused it to be forever linked in the western consciousness to the Western film genre, in fact to be the very defining music of that genre.

This tune was the main title music to the first Western he scored. As such it would have been the first piece of such music that reached a mass audience. With hindsight, it clearly points the way for the music that was to follow. From the opening Spanish guitar picking, to the whistling, brass, semi-incoherent male grunting and all the other usual and not at all usual film instrumentation, it carries in it both space and high drama, the perfect combination for a Western.

Although this tune has become less well known than Morricone's Main Title for The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, it will always be for me the superior piece.