Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen (1977)

28/05/2022

Bonus this week because the world has truly gone to shit.

Our dear leader has just now changed the rules to suit his fucking self and avoid any further legal scrutiny by breaking a ministerial code.

Trump tried all this bullshit and this fucking pound shop Mussolini shill is trying the same.
Here in the UK we have a burgeoning Third Reich on our hands.
And on top of all that, the forelock tuggers love all this bullshit of Royalty.

Bring On The Republic

Destroy all monsters

God save the Queen
She ain’t no human being
There is no future
In England’s dreaming

Don’t be told what you want, you want
And don’t be told what you want to need
There’s no future, no future
No future for you

RH X

Junior Wells - Two Head Woman (1957)

27/05/2022

Greetings Heads of Sound,

A relatively early stomper from Mr Wells – who in my eyes at least, is high on the underrated list and dare I say it, maybe never truly gets the plaudits he deserves on the great RnB chart in the sky.
A beautiful growl to his voice and a fierce harp slinger makes him one of my faves that I can only recommend you dig deep in his brilliant array of singles in the 50’s & 60’s.
This one ‘ere is my personal favourite… and here’s why…

A somewhat paranoid Wells is seeking help for being spied on by his lady and with a slicey dicey guitar supplied by the equally underrated Syl Johnson and a bass run to end all bass runs by the legend that is Willie Dixon, this shifts at faster miles an hour and stomps all over yer face.
Too fast for yer blues really and too angular for the soul, it cuts a furious rug and them feets would surely be afire after stomping to this.

Lay it down with a fierce bourbon and get workin’ Sisters and Brothers

And with all that shit going on outside yer door, let music cure your soul cos fucking guns don’t cure shit

FUCK THE NRA
FUCK GREG ABBOTT

Peace
RH X

The Supremes - Nathan Jones (1971)

20/05/2022

Hola Soundheads Supremos

So, Diana Ross has fucked off for some would say lesser pastures, creatively anyways.

The sublime Mary Wilson is now the only original member left, but Jean Terell more than ably fills in Ross’ vacant sparkly shoes.
All sung in unison with Cindy Birdsong, who had replaced Florence Ballard, this sublime phasetastic stepper will put the stamp on that the later period Supremes are certainly ain’t nothin’ to be fucked with.
I love late period Supremes, Ross wasn’t missed by me.
Terrell had a fantastic voice and although this line up was short lived, they laid down some great slabs o’ wax.

The sun is out (here at least) and once the Martinis have kicked in, roll back the rug (forget the Bananarama nonsense of a cover) and let the gold topped phasaramabamalooma Frank Wilson production of the Funk Brothers backing get them steps a steppin’.

Soul out brothers and sisters

RH x

The Soft Boys - I Wanna Destroy You (1980)

13/05/2022

Good Day to you oh heads of sound,

So what we have here is a little bit of an odd man out single in the array of Soft Boys singles.
But then again, The Soft Boys were always the odd men out in the great scheme of things.
With the mix of Syd Barrettesque quirkdom from Mr Robyn Hitchcock and the sound that never truly fitted into the stale end of pub rock or punk or even post punk, they carved their own path with a series of neo-psych oddness and perhaps too much of a foot in the door of jangly popisms for tastes of the time.
Briefly flirting with major contracts for Radar, which produced only one release, the ‘(I want to be an) Anglepoise Lamp’ 7” and an album worth of recordings that could have been, but weren’t.

But their finest hour wasn’t far away…
The Underwater Moonlight album.

Not many gave a fuck about it when it was released – hence the not quite fitting in bit – but it’s now considered a psychedelic masterpiece of the true British kind by many.
Better late than never I suppose.
This single is taken from said album, but like I said, it actually sticks out like a sore thumb in their whole catalogue, let alone the album itself.
It’s visceral nature is so unlike anything else they did before or after.
The Hitchcock bent for off kilter lyrics and titles have vanished for this brief few minutes, it snarls and agitates. Not overly sure who it’s aimed at, but it doesn’t leave much in its wake when it’s over.

And then… they were gone.
A series of outtakes and rarities kept the fan base happy for a couple of years after and Hitchcock released some great solo albums before being almost the soft boys again with the Egyptians featuring Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe.
Kimberly Rew formed Katrina and The Waves, but we’ll try to not hold that against him forever.
It depends on how many times I hear Walking On Sunshine in a decade, because contrary to Katrina’s pleas… It doesn’t make me feel good.

They’ve flirted with reforms off and on but I think that’s over with now.
Sadly, Matthew Seligman lost his life to Covid in 2020.

Anyhoo, wrap yer ears around this slice of audio gold and if haven’t before, invest some time into the SB’s back catalogue.
It’s been reissued many many times in various forms so easy enough to track down, and you won’t be disappointed.

Only The Stones Remain
RH X

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqoULJrhk3w

John Lee Hooker - New Boogie Chillen' (1950)

06/05/2022

Greetings Heads of Sound!

Now before all you purists out there get in a snit because this isn’t the original 1948 version, but the re-recorded version from 2 years later… sit down and pray with me on this ‘un

The original version is pretty much held up as one of the prime examples of what launched a fair few into the trade o’ the blues that led to the blues boom of the early 60’s.

This version is the slightly uptempo version and dare I say it… gets you right in the hips.
Primitive minimalism at its finest, it’s clean and mean and there’s still no one like John Lee for that hammer and pull open G tunin’.
Let’s not forget that they actually used to mic up his foot for it’s percussive insistence on top of that.

Partly autobiographical of his earlier days in Detroit and visiting joints in Hastings Street and his insistence of stayin’ out late, getting into trouble at home with the parents.

To say it’s infectious is an understatement, it lays itself on you immediately and it’s one of those that needs to be put on repeat a few times after because it’s so fucking good.

Now let tha’ chile boogie woogie

RH x