Trying a New Filehost--and The Girl-Group Gr8ness of The Chiffons!

Much ado about musenick since my last post. My music-dedicated external hard drive of several years up and died. I've grieved its passing, and mourned the many rare tracks I'll likely not have again. So it goes. Trying a cloud-based backup called Backblaze; we'll see how that goes.

It's high time for something on here, so here's one of the first "lost" albums that I hunted down. The Chiffons' star had long since paled when this odds and sods album was issued in 1971. The group has one of the more substantial catalogs of the girl-group genre, with powerhouse classics like "My Block," "He's So Fine," "Oh My Lover," "One Fine Day" and "Nobody Knows What's Goin' On In My Mind But Me," to name five. Their lead singer, Judy Craig, has one of the most appealing voices of her musical era. 

Why this album was cobbled together is one of the mysteries of musical history. Perhaps it provided a much-needed tax-write off for a failing independent record label. Perhaps The Mob had something to do with it. Whatever the reason, My Secret Love is a first-rate valediction to one of the most solid girl groups of their day.

Its 10 tracks had never been issued during the group's chart heyday on Laurie Records. They span the group's hit-making career. The second track on the album is reason enough to download this. "You're The Love of a Lifetime," written by Ronnie Mack, who penned "He's So Fine," "Lucky Me" and "Oh My Lover" prior to his 1963 death, couldn't have returned from the grave (far as we know), so this recording must date from that year. With two chords, tribal percussion and a driving, repetitive melody, the song is hypnotizing, exotic and maddeningly catchy.

To spew a little music theory here, the song is built around the IV and V chords. There is no resolution. The I chord needs to be there to complete the circuit. The tension this effect creates is magical. The song is over in 1:42 but begs repeated listens. It might have been commercial suicide in 1963, but it sounds great in 2019.

Every song has something to recommend it here--including an otherwise-unheard song by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, "My First and Last." Other writers of note here are Jimmy Radcliffe, Toni Wine, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. It's a who's who of New York pro pop songwriting circa 1963-66. 

Never available on CD, this album, which was pressed in teensy numbers and commands $300+ from savvy record dealers, has recently been reissued on vinyl, and may sound better than the 1971 original. I hope you can see, after a listening, why this was one of the first "oh, crap, I don't have ________________" moments I had after external HD failure.

This accidentally perfect album can be had HERE. I hope this filehost not cad-like. My Box links will stay put until they give me the complete boot. Not being able to upload new zipped files there makes them doomed to dullness.

Otis Blackwell Volume Three: 28 Songs You've Probably Never Heard

Many years ago, I put together the first two volumes of Otis Blackwell compositions (both which are still available elsewhere on this blog).

I knew that, eventually, I'd get around to putting together another volume. Eight years passed, and with it much personal drama, illness and huge life changes. But I never forget my back-of-the-mind goal to get this set together.

Despite the host of big names you see at the left, I'll bet you a dollar to a doughnut you've never heard one single song on this compilation. Almost none of these songs were hits in their day. Many were stuck on the B-sides of singles, or were flops on the music marketplace when new.

50 or 60 years later, what didn't pass muster back in the day sounds pretty damned wonderful now. As I mention in the extensive liner notes I've drafted for this set, not every song here is a masterpiece, but all have their charm, and certain ones are guaranteed to knock your footwear off and become your new favorites.

I'm in recovery from my second go-round with non-Hodgkins' lymphoma. In April, I had a stem cell transplant and spent 20 days in the hospital. During this recovery time, I can't work and have a LOT of time on my hands. Thus, I decided to create an honest-to-gosh booklet for this compilation, as if it were a real CD.

This is my version of fantasy football--putting songs together for the sake of the music. If I attempted to do this disc for real, I'd be looking at dealing with massive corporations like Universal Media, and having to shell out thousands in licensing fees for old obscure songs the current holders could care less about. So much music from this period is trapped in this snare. 

This put a bit of a damper on the one legit CD project I've created, Ace Records' P. F. Sloan/Steve Barri compilation, which came out back in 2010. Many tracks I wanted were too expensive to license, and we had to make do with some sub-par recordings to take the place of those unattainables. I'm happy with that CD, overall, but wish that two or three blah tracks weren't on there. Oh well.

HERE are the 28 songs; HERE is the booklet and CD tray. If you're so inspired, print out the booklet and tray and mock up an old-school CD for your music shelf. But do listen to the music. "Stick Close" by Estelle Brown will brighten your day immensely, and I dare you not to tap your foot to Johnny Thunder's "Am I Right or Am I Wrong."

Since I wrote about each song in the liner notes, I'll cap this post and let it go. Hope you enjoy this compilation. And who knows--I may do another post here soon!

Alternate download link for this set HERE.

"Assault The Vaults:" Brothers Gibb Prove Adept Mimics of Changing Song Trends in Early 1960s. Ultra Rare CD in Great HQ Sound! RE-UPPED MAY 11, 2014

Postings on Musenick are as rare as this 1998 Australian release, which quickly went out of print and now commands high prices.

I enjoy the Bee Gees' Australian recordings, despite their admitted flaws. Young Barry Gibb was a promising, if overly ambitious songwriter. He used this period (1963-67) to make a lot of mistakes and learn his craft. Still, the Bee Gees' best early recordings, such as "Claustrophobia," "Wine And Women," "Exit Stage Right" and "Playdown," are adorable Beatlesque confections. Maurice Gibb wrote songs, too, and some of his efforts are included in this set.

Brilliant From Birth, the Festival 2 CD-set of their Aussie output, is also now out of print. When I first posted this in 2012, it was easy to lay one's paws on. Assault The Vaults remains impossible to find. It's my pleasure to share these HQ sound files with you of the album's 31 tracks. I don't have scans of the booklet, tray, or anything else, but there is a wordpad doc with the track listing info.

From pretty-good imitation country to great Merseybeat emulations to varying girl-group attempts and psych-pop experiments, these songs cut a wide swath through the sounds of their times. Ironically, the quality of songwriting, overall, exceeds that of the Brothers G's own recordings of the era. (The two tracks by Jenny Bradley are sickly pre-pubescent pop, and not recommended for hypoglycemics.)

Here's the track listing:

1. (Underneath The) Starlight Of Love - Col Joye (Festival FK 364, 1963)
2. I'd Like To Leave If I May - Lonnie Lee (Leedon LK 415, 1963)
3. Walkin' Talkin' Teardrops - Jimmy Little (from Festival LP New Songs From Jimmy, 1964)
4. One Road - Jimmy Little (Festival Records FK 508, 1964)
5. I Don't Like To Be Alone - Bryan Davies (HMV EA 4362, 1964)
6. Love And Money - Bryan Davies (B-side to above)
7. And I'll Be Happy - Trevor Gordon & The Bee Gees (B-side, Leedon LK 829, 1965)
8. House Without Windows - Trevor Gordon & The Bee Gees (A-side to above)
9. Watch What You Say - Bryan Davies (HMV EA 4669, 1965)
10. Here I Am - Trevor Gordon (B-side, Leedon LK 924, 1965)
11. Little Miss Rhythm And Blues - Trevor Gordon (A-side to above)
12. I Should Have Stayed In Bed - Bryan Davies (1965 HMV single side?)
13. Who's Been Writing On The Wall - Jenny Bradley (Festival FK 1006, 1965)
14. Chubby - Jenny Bradley (B-side to above)
15. Everybody's Talkin' Michelle Rae (Leedon LK 971, 1965)
16. I Wanna Tell The World - Michelle Rae (B-side to above)
17. A Girl Needs To Love - Sandy Summers (B-side, Downunder UK-1455, 1966)
18. Messin' 'Round - Sandy Summers (A-side to above)
19. Hey - Bip Addison (Downunder UK-1454, 1966)
20. Young Man's Fancy - Bip Addison (B-side to above)
21. Talk To Me - Annie Shelton (Downunder UK-1456, 1966)
22. Don't You Go, I Need Your Love - The Mistics (B-side, Downunder UK-1362, 1966)
23. A Long Time Ago - April Byron (B-side, Downunder UK-1513, 1966)
24. He's A Thief - April Byron (A-side to above)
25. All The King's Horses - Ronnie Burns (Spin EK 1578, 1966)
26. Don't Say No - Jenene Watson (Spin EK 1715, 1967)
27. So Long Boy - Jenene Watson (B-side to above)
28. Town Of Tuxley Toymaker Part 1 - Jon Blanchfield (Leedon LK 1662, 1967)
29. Upstairs Downstairs - Jon Blanchfield (B-side to above)
30. As Fast As I Can - Barrington Davis (Spin EK 1771, 1967)
31. Raining Teardrops - Barrington Davis (B-side to above)

Some of this is dross, some wear out their welcome after a few listens, but most of it's surprisingly good. The original 45s go for a king's ransom. This is hard-to-hear stuff, for the most part. Sorry the song files are so gigantic (they average 20 MB apiece), but I don't have time to convert them and find them a new home on the internet. You can make them more manageable mp3s, etc., if you wish.

Get Part One (tracks 1-15) HERE, Part Two (16-24) HERE and Part Three (25-31) HERE.  They're newly hosted on still-reliable Box.com, as of 5/11/14.