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  1. 2023 Albums Thing #056 - RL Burnside “Come On In”

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    RL Burnside was a Blues guitarist, songwriter and singer born in 1926 somewhere in Mississippi (no-one knows where for sure). His actual name was either Rural (which is on his tombstone), Robert Lee, Rule, or Ruel (no-one knows for sure). He learned to play guitar from Mississippi Fred McDowell and remained pretty much unknown until the 1990’s when he began recording and touring with Jon Spencer (he of the Blues Explosion). RL passed away in 2005.

    There are a couple of reasons I own this album. Two of the tracks (“Shuck Dub” and “It’s Bad You Know”) were part of the soundtrack of TV series “The Sopranos” with which I was/am slightly obsessed. And unbelievably “It’s Bad You Know” started being played at some “Rare Soul” events I was attending in the 2010’s. The 7” started selling for astronomical sums so I bought the album instead.

    “Come On In” is a remix album, mixing Burnside's songs and playing with electronica, samples, dance music styled beats, a real drummer (his grandson Cedric) and Hip Hop techniques. What you end up with is a raucous mix of the Blues and “dance music”. Modern Drummer magazine described it as a "weird fusion of Old South and East Village."

    The album gives you everything from one man and his guitar Blues and live performances (the title track covers both of those) to full on dance floor crushers (the already discussed “It’s Bad You Know”) all interspersed with dub and trippy grooves (“Don’t Stop Honey”). 

    It’s Bad You Know - https://youtu.be/MQ-6fpuVeFA

  2. 2023 Albums Thing #055 - The Bureau “The Bureau”

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    If you’ve never heard of The Bureau I’m not surprised but believe me when I tell you that this is the second album that Dexy’s Midnight Runners never made. The Bureau were an amalgamation of members of the Donkey jackets and wooly hats Dexy’s (Pete Williams (bass), JB Blythe & Steve Spooner (saxophones) and Stoker (drums)) that had quit the band because of disagreements with Kevin Rowland. They hooked up with Rob Jones (guitar and trumpet) Tony Bischoff (bass) and singer Archie Brown formerly of the band The Upset who had supported Dexy’s at the “Intense Emotion Revue” I saw in Birmingham, and “Merton” Mick Talbot on keyboards to formThe Bureau.

    They issued just 2 singles in the UK, “Only For Sheep” and “Let Him Have It” (both on the album), the latter of which is one of my very favourite 7”s. Then they pretty much disappeared. Years later I discovered they had released an album that for some reason was only issued in Canada and Australia ! It finally got a UK release in 2005 but only on CD. I managed to find a Canadian LP last year.

    The band had the same horn driven “soul” sound we heard on “Searching For The Young Soul Rebels” and this album is in no way an inferior version of that. It stands up very well next to it and if you put Kevin Rowland on vocals it could very easily have been Dexy’s follow up.

    It all starts in a quite subdued manner. Single “Only For Sheep” and “The First One” are relatively low key but then the next three tracks (“Sentimental Attraction”, “Got To Be Now” which cheekily comes on like Dexy’s “Tell Me When My Light Turns Green” and “Looking For Excitement”) really kick things off.

    Side 2 gives us “Let Him Have It” which has always been, and remains, one of my favourite singles by anyone. If you know the film of the same title it’s the same story (although the song is nothing to do with the film) of Derek Bentley who was controversially convicted and hung for a murder he very probably didn’t commit, but he was old enough to hang which the probable murderer wasn’t. 

    “This is heinous crime, someone here is gonna pay for this

    Too bad that you’re the only one that’s old enough now

    All of us here, understand you never held the gun

    But we’re gonna prove to everyone that justice has been done”

    A sad, sad story turned into a killer single.  Over on this side you also get the joyous “Bigger Prize” and a nice run at the theme from “The Carpetbaggers”.

    And then The Bureau just disappeared leaving behind one great album and a classic single. It’s more than most manage.

    Let Him Have It - https://youtu.be/MFfRrh44rD0

  3. 2023 Albums Thing #054 - Echo & The Bunnymen “Heaven Up Here”

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    There was a time around the release of this album when there were 2 contenders for the “next big thing” crown (or so it seemed to me). It was either gonna be the Bunnymen or U2 and once again the great record buying public made the wrong choice and ultimately turned U2 into global superstars instead. Maybe the Bunnymen were just too British (opens whole can of “Scouse not British” worms) in the same way as the Small Faces, The Kinks or Slade never really cut it across the pond. But they had the songs, the pretty boy front man (who had obviously worshipped at the altar of Bowie) and a hint enough of The Doors for the US to take an interest.

    The opening tracks of “Heaven Up Here” (“Show Of Strength” & “With A Hip”) find us in the same anxious, dark, twitchy place that “Crocodiles” left us. And then we hit that bit in track 3, “Over The Wall”, where Will Sergeant introduces us to THAT riff. Three notes is all it is but you somehow know the Bunnymen have graduated to some new level of coolness with those 3 notes. If 3 notes can be considered dramatic these 3 have drama in bucket loads. The song is another nervous, nailbiting thing but it’s somehow different. Pete de Freitas drums echo and roll like thunder in the background, Les Pattinson’s circular bass line (4 notes this one) is hypnotic, they quote Del Shannon’s “Runaway” lyrically and in a guitar motif, letting you know that although this music sounds ultra-new it’s coming from a classic education in rock and roll, they’re just using it differently. It’s a beast of a song.

    “It Was A Pleasure” twitches and jerks like someone suffering St Vitus Dance in the middle of a dancefloor. “A Promise” made a great single, a bit more smoothed out, like “Rescue” before it, a simple chorus, 2 words, in Mac’s best imploring voice with the closing line of “There's Light on the water” foreshadowing the melody of “The Cutter”.

    Side 2 has many highlights (“Groovy, groovy people…”), the one for me is “All My Colours”. First time I heard it was on the “Shine So Hard” EP where it is titled “Zimbo”. Carried from start to finish by de Freitas drumming with the rest of the band barely needed, it sits perfectly in the middle of Side 2.

    As an album “Heaven Up Here” isn’t as urgent as “Crocodiles”, it’s much more “Happy death men” than the previous albums title track. Bill Drummond described it as "dull as ditchwater" in his book “45”, which says more about Bill Drummond than it does about “Heaven Up Here”. This is where me and the Bunnymen part ways which some of my friends who make the case that one of their subsequent  albums was their best will find strange but sometimes things just happen that way. They coulda been contenders but the record buying public wanted Bono instead…their loss…

    Over The Wall - https://youtu.be/daUDqtWerUg