Funky Friday - King Size

I saw him live once. I say live, it was actually Elvis's James Burton era band gigging to festival sized footage of him (in fact it's back this year). But like any soundstage size show (this was Docklands arena), after a few songs the moving dots on stage blend away and it's all eyes on screen. Build in some song introductions, jokes and band intro's from El' himself and we were captured by the Presley spell, forgetting he hadn't, at any point, actually arrived in the building.

It's become overlooked/forgotten/rewritten, but if you grew up during the seventies, Elvis was literally everywhere. Resuscitated and resurrected by the 68 Special he ascended from cultural icon to omnipresent overlord: new hits in the charts, old hits in the parents record cabinet, poster magazines, pocket money priced (50p) tribute albums and films on TV,.

By 1970 The Beatles were a bitter, bearded broken band, and a roots level Rock 'n' roll revival started in the late sixties had set in (inspiring McLaren and Westwood to open their first shop Let It Rock). Elvis was 'now'. In widescreen. With his 2001 intro and space-age stage-wear, he towered like a white giant telegraphing his style and substance to low-level pretenders and high-end contenders: Freddie Starr, Alvin Stardust, Les Gray, The Osmonds, Evel Knievel even Bowie's early glam banging was Elvis influenced.

I was at my aunt's hairdressers in Salisbury, when the news broke that he'd died . It hit me like a blow to the solar plexus. Elvis had seemed untouchable and eternal.

So forget the silly sightings, the tackery and tribute acts, the Burger King with a cheesy film portfolio - the clunkers in the catalogue are easy targets. Instead, remember the essence of Elvis for his 75th Birthday...

One Night of Sin
Not my favourite 50s track, but worth cataloguing for it's original deviant lyrics and rarity value..


Stranger In My Own Home Town
Energised by his 68 comeback the Elvis in Memphis albums are rootsy rock 'n' roll meets Memphis soul - although for my money the 90s remixes beat the original releases



It's Only Love Alternate - Take 9
From The Essential Elvis, Vol. 4 is a selection of undubbed masters from the the early seventies. The 90 second intro eavesdrops on studio banter*, vocal harmony try outs and riff rehearsal before this live take



A King size selection of Elvis treats can be grabbed here..

Watch for the improv vamped up ending at 1:04 Pure magic.






Recommended reading - of course the Guralnick biogs should be ticked off at some point. But well worth tracking down are

Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations from the Memphis Mafia

Elvis: The Secret Files

*'Jarv' Elvis is referring to in the 'Watch out Jarv, he'll jive you' line is Felton Jarvis, the producer of Elvis sessions

Your Starter For Ten

Happy New Year bloggers, blogettes and browsers. Hope you had a goody without overindulging too much. How are you naming new year? Personally I can't bring myself to say twenty ten, so it'll be the large format two thousand and ten for me..

We had The Elms Annual CD Swap last week, where a few music loving ol' gits ( Coops, Piley and I, plus others) got together for a few scoops and to swap CDs of our handpicked highlights from 2009. My selection box was probably too heavy on the vintage vibes rather than new finds, but one name that cropped up across comps was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz, an album that's had regular run outs on my trusty ol' Creative Zen last year..

If you haven't heard It's Blitz yet, there's a taste test here..If you have, you may want to lend an ear to to this stripped down alt.take.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock(Acoustic Version)



On a similarly wintery theme, why not try Nancy Wallace's folky refit of Cliff's hit..

Nancy Wallace - We Don't Talk Anymore

Rock Around the Clock

What are you doing New Years Eve?

Cork-popping, good-footing, leg-shaking, shindigging? If so I'm sure you've got your tunes sorted. If not, allow me to lively up you night with a full five hours worth of New Year's Eve floor-fillers and foot-stompers. Mixing new tunes and old acquaintances into a punch bowl of funky covers, soul shakers, new wave nuggets, theme tunes, rock 'n' rollers and rip roarers where anything and everything goes from Primal Scream to Peggy Lee, Sammy Davies to Sly Stone, Bo Diddley to Belle and Sebastian.

Fill your boots with bangers, bankers and belters below..

Rock Around the Clock 1
Sparkly, bubbly ice-breakers to soundtrack the to-ing and fro-ing



Rock Around the Clock 2
Tunes to warm up the room



Rock Around the Clock 3
Tunes to lively up your legs



Rock Around the Clock 4
Rocking the roof right off..



HAPPY NEW YEAR and see you in the sci-fi sounding 2010!!!

Clocking Off For Christmas...

View from our upstairs window last Friday..

Well that's almost it from me for this decade..Happy Christmas, Feliz Navidad and Mele Kaliki Maka to everyone who's chipped in with contributions, comments, recommendations or link ups. And a discreet nod to those stealthy footed silent types who read but never write..

I say almost, as I'll be back on the 31st. Having been asked to do the tunes for a New Year's shinding, I've rattled up a roll call of 'bangers', 'bankers' and rootin' tootin' tunes - running to a total four CDs worth. Tune in New Year's Eve and you can grab the full set for a limited period only...

So that'll be me blogging off, logging off and leaving you with two tunes used in the last poddy - The Ventures (soundtracked our cracker test) and Big Tiny Little (the piano madness used to close the 'cast). So until then, have yourselves a swinging little Christmas playmates and go easy on the scoops and stodge..

Big Tiny Little - Tiny's Christmas Medley



The Ventures - Jingle Bell Rock



If you haven't checked it out yet, you must get your snow-boots over to Fades In Slowly, where Adam has created a 'bloggers of the world unite' selection box in the style of Peely's festive 50 with between tune links from St John of Peel...

Podrophenia 7 - Christmas Podding

Artwork by Paul Oddsock

Following in the tradition of festive specials Piley and I bring you a bumper edition for the Christmas Podrophenia : 10 tinsel tunes, 8 celebrity messages (can you spot them all) and 2 special guests as Marmite Boy and Coops join us for a sleigh ride through cyberspace..

Brian Setzer, Sufjan Stevens, Shonen Knife and Barbara Streisand are a few of the tunes hand-picked for the playlist. While in other news there's a cracker consumer test, possibly the most miserable Christmas song ever, retromania with Burley aftershave, Ronco adverts and Avon Boosters. A Wood Watch update and find out which one of us has, ermm, 'fiddler's fingers' ~ I say!

It's perhaps rowdier than our usual poddies as assorted other halves, 2 Mini-Mondo's and 1 Tiny Piley add some background clatter to the goings on ..

Serving suggestion - play it while you're writing or delivering cards, wrapping prezzies, enjoying a glass of egg nog (what is egg nog?) or trimming the tree. Whatever you're doing fill your boots and raise a glass ~ or is it fill a glass and raise your boots? ~ for Christmas.

Podrophenia 7 - Christmas Podding



Or via iTunes (should be up later today)

Breaking A Birthday Rule....

For the first time - EVER. I'm lumbered with working on my birthday. I never work birthdays - it's just not done is it? And, really, shouldn't they be public holidays anyway?

Historically it's booked off and I'll indulge in one full day of lazing and loafing broken only by a trip to Wah Hing for a lunchtime special (L3 - sweet and sour chicken with rice). But, due to some annual leave confusement, I'm here in the office. Ho hum.

Hopefully I'll be able to swing a late(ish) start, an early(ish) finish and an extended trip to Orbital or Gosh comics with spot of Denmark Street window shopping in between.

So what do we do for tunes? Perhaps a few about someone I share birthdays and barnets with...

The Sonics - Roll Over Beethoven




Walter Murphy - A Fifth Of Beethoven

Funky Friday - The Hardest Working Man In Snow Business

It's a Pop Quiz - I can guarantee - guarantee, you won't unmask the secret Santa performing the opener from today's sackful of goodies. Although, in all fairness he's mainly famous in the States. Full marks to Coops for putting this slice of fleet-footed festive funkery on my 'sleighdar'. Santa's Got A Brand New Bag is a cracker that shimmies and shakes likes James Brown on ice..

So what else is on the Christmas list today? The Godfather Christmas of Soul shaking a festive leg with Shrek and Boogaloo Santa busting full bearded moves.

? - Sock It To Me Santa



Brat - Funky Christmas



J.D. McDonald - Boogaloo Santa Claus

Countdown To Christmas - Ho, Ho, Ho-down

The spirit of the season and a Christmas tingle finally took hold over the weekend. Fired by a medley of : the New York Dolls tinsel, glam and glitter at Friday's gig - how loud? Choco Girl popping by with homemade cards and crocheted tree trims. Piley, Coops and Marmite dropping round to record the Christmas podcast. A trip to my favourite pub decked out in festive finery and a rewatch of Scrooged starring NY Doll David Johansen as the cab-driving, stogie-chewing Ghost of Christmas past. All lit by a low-lying golden December sunlight.

All of which means it’s time to unwrap some winter warmers and set the yule blog ablaze by way of a blugrass shinding on Christmas Time's A Comin, and a ragtime tear-up on the jolliest, jauntiest version of Here Comes Santa Claus

The Grascals - Christmas Time's A Comin'



Big Tiny Little - Here Comes Santa Claus






Oh and the newly remastered It's A Wonderful Life has been bought and tucked away for a closer-to-Christmas treat..

Funky Friday - These Are A Few Of My Favourite (Soul) Things...

As featured in Kill Bill

You may remember a while back we posted Keith Mansfield's 'Lola' sound-a-like Soul Thing on the blog. It's a track that's popped, shuffled and randomised it's way into becoming one of my most played tunes of the year. Which, is why when Adam from Fades In Slowly kindly invited me to find five tunes for his Festive Fifty - Soul Thing was a shoo-in.

Digging deeper into variants of Soul Thing becomes a cat's cradle of endless editions: orchestral, strings, stereo and mono madness. However, I won't slump your shoulders with every available flavour - but, guide you to selection of covers, reworks and highlights..

James Royal's Vocal version! With lyrics n'everything

James Royal - House of Jack



Tony Newman's Hammond fired hip-shaker

Tony Newman - Soul Thing



Keith Mansfield retitled versh. Refitted with funkmungous breaks and brass

Keith Mansfield - Funky Fanfare



And the theme to 'The Queen Street Gang'? No, me neither

There's No Business, Like Seventies Show Business

Had a visit to the local 'Unseen 1963' exhibition recently, possibly the most historically-boggling photography collection I've ever seen. Piley's got all the info on it, but in essence, 'Unseen 1963' is over fifty candid, posed and offstage shots of sixties Pop Stars snapped at Southend's Odeon cinema. A mixture of dead-legends and heavy-hitters including The Beatles, the Stones, Cliff, Bo Diddley, Roy Orbison, the Everlys and The Kinks all caught backstage or meeting and greeting local competition winners in our very own Southend cinema .

One of the faces, I recognized was Samantha Jones. Originally one of The Veronons Girls, a group orbiting in shadow of The Beatles early career. Samantha eventually went solo, becoming something of a hit with the Lowlanders in Belgium, the Netherlands and winning the Knokke-Heist music festival. During the seventies she settled into the showbiz circuit of clubs, cruises and occasional TV appearances.

So what does she sound like? Well there's two sides of Samantha on offer today

A cheeky hotpants, Bakers Boy hat and suede boots sounding slinky piece of pop-funk. The sort of tune you'd get during a disco scene in Please Sir

Samantha Jones - Today Without You



And a belting evening-dress and show-closer 'Handbags and Gladrags' type soul ballad

Samantha Jones - Do I Still Figure In Your Life



Morecambe & Wise


Wheeltappers & Shunters (it's well worth watching this clip to the close, for the 'all together now' sing-a-long of Show Me The Way To Go Home)



That's Samantha, sat on Macca's lap..