Annie Keating

Posted on by

Short mention of what promises to be a fine gig tomorrow night in the State bar. Billed as a fringe addition to the Glasgow Americana Festival Annie Keating has delivered two fine albums in the past few years. We reviewed Water Tower View here saying

“Keating comes from a folkier side with an earthy delivery, her vocals husky, at times sounding like a female John Prine, at others reminiscent of the frailty of Melanie Safka. Her subjects are the usual folk topics, tales of losers for the most part and one might wonder what more there is to say about the underbelly of American life. However Keating has the ability to take a well worn scenario such as gambling in On the Loose and breathe new life into it.
With some very sympathetic backing from a variety of players all of these songs beg to be heard but the standout songs are The Borderline with a very restrained backdrop and Keating’s vulnerability well to the fore and the closing Scene I/Scene II which, as the title suggests, is like an aural movie. Intimate and engaging, an excellent recording.”

Her latest album For Keeps continues in a similar style and received good reviews including one in The Telegraph. We’d be there for a fine Friday night out but unfortunately won’t be in Glasgow. A pity as this is what we might be hearing.

JOHN MARTYN ‘The Island Years’ 18 Disc Box Set

Posted on by

We don’t normally run straight press releases here but this is just too tempting. It’s not too long to Christmas after all and finding this in your stocking would be a tremendous present.

JOHN MARTYN
‘The Island Years’
18 Disc Box Set
Universal Music September 30th 2013

The Island Years box set is the most definitive collection celebrating John Martyn’s glory days on the Island Records label, beginning in 1967 with London Conversation and going all the way up to the last album he recorded for the label, The Apprentice in 1987.

The release date has now been confirmed as September 30th and the tracking listing has also been finalised and appears below.

This lavishly packaged box set contains 17 Audio CDs housed in 2 gatefold LP size holders and 1 DVD in a gatefold wallet and a120-Page hardcover book with brand new essay by John Martyn guru, John Hillarby, plus rare and previously unseen photographs.

Rare memorabilia also contained in the box set includes a reproduction of the 1978 Australian tour programme, a replica of the highly sought after 1980 UK tour poster and an Island Records Press folder containing A4 Press Release, A5 Flyers and a reproduction of one of John’s hand-written set list.

John Martyn’s Island Records recordings are presented in chronological order.

Disc One
London Conversation from 1967 and The Tumbler from 1968.

Disc Two
John and Beverley Martyn’s Stormbringer! from 1970, plus previously unreleased out-takes and demos and BBC sessions tracks.

Disc Three
John and Beverley Martyn’s final album, The Road To Ruin from 1970 now with alternate and unreleased takes.

Disc Four
Bless The Weather, John’s 3rd solo album from 1971 and contains 8 previously unreleased alternate-takes from the recording sessions.

Disc Five
Live at the Hanging Lamp. This is a real find in the form of a completely unreleased live solo concert recorded at the legendry Hanging Lamp folk club in Richmond. Recorded on 8th May 1972 it finds John running through songs from Bless The Weather and road testing songs from Solid Air. This is a fascinating historical document that showcases John getting to grips with his newly acquired Echoplex effects machine.

Disc Six
John’s seminal Solid Air from 1973 now with additional tracks and features 9 bonus songs – which have never been on CD before – and previously unreleased alternates.

Disc Seven
1973’s Inside Out, now with additional unreleased alternate-takes and BBC Radio session.

Disc Eight
The original version of the Live at Leeds album from 1975 plus live recordings from the London Palladium in March 1986 Glastonbury Festival in June 1986 that appear on CD for the first time.

Disc Nine
John’s 1975 album, Sunday’s Child with unreleased alternate-takes and BBC radio recording. Also included is a rare outing for John when he contributed guitar and vocals on John Stevens’ Away single, Anni Part 1 and Part 2 which make it onto CD for the first time.

Disc Ten
Another previously unreleased 10 track solo concert recorded Live in Sydney in August 1977 that finds John on absolutely blistering form.

Discs 11 and 12
Feature the original UK mix of One World from 1977 now with 15 previously unreleased alternate takes spread over the 2 discs plus the ultra-rare extended remix of Big Muff which John Martyn co-wrote and performed with reggae legend, Lee “Scratch” Perry and Anna the title track to the 1978 Australian movie.

Discs 13 and 14
Feature the 1980 album, Grace and Danger which John recorded with the help of his friend Phil Collins. There are a total of 12 previously unreleased alternate-takes including the never before heard cover-version of High Heal Sneakers and an untitled instrumental. Also present are the 7” dub version of Johnny Too Bad plus 7 songs recorded live for various BBC television programmes and at the London Palladium.

Disc Fifteen
1984’s album, Sapphire, which now boasts a previously unreleased song, Love In Your Life plus 6 songs recorded with and mixed by Andy Lydon, but never actually used.

Disc Sixteen
Piece By Piece, released in 1986 now comes expanded previously unreleased alternate-takes and 2 rare radio adverts for the album.

Disc Seventeen
Features John’s final album for Island, The Apprentice which was delivered to Island in 1987 but never released. Although the tracks finally saw the light of day in 1990 these earlier recordings have been sat in the archive since delivery and contain the previously unreleased song, Lifeline. Also included are songs recorded live at the Town and Country Club in London that same year, plus a rare performance of Patterns In The Rain recorded live at the Island Records Birthday Party in July 1988.

Disc Eighteen
This is a DVD that contains many rare BBC performances from the Old Grey Whistle Test, Sight and Sound – In Concert and A Little Night Music plus for the first time on DVD the 1986 VHS release of Foundations which captures John and his band live at the Town and Country, London.

Extra Special bonus features on the DVD are 3 ultra-rare songs which John performed after the credits rolled at the end of the concert recorded in January 1978 for The Old Grey Whistle Test plus 5 songs which didn’t make it on to the original Foundations VHS.

Mouthwateringly tempting, the full tracklist is available to see at the John Martyn website and you can pre order it here. Warning, it’s not cheap but it equates to less than a tenner for each disc and you get the assorted paraphernalia. As for that “ultra rare” extended remix of Big Muff I’m pretty sure I have that on a 12″ single which I’m going to hunt for.

No Mean City Americana Festival

Posted on by

September 2013, sees the return of the ‘No Mean City’ Festival in Glasgow, a unique celebration of Americana music. Tipping its hat to the City’s close ties and associations with American roots music and heritage with over 20 artists performing across five of Glasgow’s best loved live music venues including; O2 ABC Glasgow and Òran Mór, Broadcast, Nice N Sleazy, and The Art School.
O2 ABC Glasgow. General Manager, Joe Splain says… “As a City, Glasgow has so much to offer, we’re lucky enough to be immersed in such a plethora of unique musical styles and Americana and new country have really pushed through in recent years. 2012 saw us host our second Festival, joining forces with some of Glasgow’s most popular venues and promoters. It really was a fabulous event, featuring the likes of Patti Smith and Grandaddy on our bill. No Mean City is the perfect addition to the eclectic music scene and this year’s programme has even more to offer, from outstanding internationally acclaimed headliners, to raw, upcoming talent”
‘No Mean City 2013’ will take music fans on a journey through the many sub genres of Americana music with performances from fresh talent including Junip (15th September) who have recently been making waves within the genre, all female alt country group The Be Good Tanyas (5th September) and a highly anticipated performance from American Alt -Rockers Eels (3rd September). ‘No Mean City 2013’ also sees the welcome return of Caitlin Rose (9th September) who played the very first ‘No Mean City’ festival back in 2011 and the month long celebration will come to a combustible end with American Country music legend and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Kris Kristofferson (28th September) as he delights fans with a very special UK performance.
The official launch for ‘No Mean City 2013’ will take place at ‘For The Sake Of The Song’ on Friday 31st August, a one-day event at O2 ABC and O2 ABC2 Glasgow and Broadcast.

Friday 31st August: O2 ABC, O2 ABC2 Glasgow and Broadcast
“For The Sake Of The Song” – a one-day event launching ‘No Mean City 2013’

Sunday 1st September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
Kat Men + Lou Hickey

Monday 2nd September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
Strand Of Oaks + Daniel Norgren

Monday 2nd September: Broadcast
Dawes

Tuesday 3rd September: O2 ABC Glasgow
Eels

Tuesday 3rd September: Broadcast
Daughn Gibson

Wednesday 4th September: Nice N Sleazy
The Barr Brothers

Wednesday 4th September: Oran Mor
The Milk Carton Kids

Thursday 5th September: O2 ABC Glasgow
The Be Good Tanyas

Thursday 5th September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
King King

Monday 9th September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
Caitlin Rose

Thursday 12th September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
Heartless Bastards

Sunday 15th September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
Junip

Monday 16th September: Oran Mor
Jim White

Tuesday 17th September: Broadcast
Joe Pug

Thursday 19th September: Broadcast
Laetitia Sadier
Friday 20th September: Oran Mor
Johnny Reid

Sunday 22nd September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
Raintown + Ash Before Oaks

Wednesday 25th September: The Art School
Stephen Kellogg

Friday 27th September: O2 ABC2 Glasgow
Ethan Johns / Zervas & Pepper

Saturday 28th September: O2 ABC Glasgow
Kris Kristofferson

For full listings and details visit http://www.nomeancity.co.uk

The O’s

Posted on by


Bit late in mentioning this as several of the gigs have been and happened but Texas twosome The O’s are hurtling around Scotland right now and there’s word of an album coming out on the Electric Honey label. Remaining dates are below and their website is here
June 12 – Aberdeen, SCOT – Cafe Drummond
June 13 – Aviemore. SCOT – Old Bridge Inn
June 14 – Dingwall, SCOT – The Mallard
June 15 – Inverness, SCOT – Madhatters
June 16 – Strathpeffer, SCOT – Richmond Hotel
June 19 – Skelmersdale, ENG – Old Toby
June 22 – Glasgow, SCOT – The Griffin

Sarah McQuaid. The Plum Tree And The Rose

Posted on by

Inevitably there are albums sent to Blabber’n’Smoke that just don’t get reviewed. Some aren’t very good, others just get swallowed up in the pending pile and by the time we get around to them the release date has been and gone so we move on to the next and more current contender. However with the best of these orphans we keep an eye out for opportunity and this time around we can dust off Sarah McQuaid’s fine The Plum Tree and The Rose from last year as Sarah’s about to go on a hop across Scotland.
McQuaid has a fairly exotic background, born in Madrid to a Spanish father and American mum she was raised in Chicago, holds dual US and Irish citizenship, and now lives in England. It may be fanciful to suggest that this is reflected in her selection of the songs here however they include a song sung in the ancient Occitan language (from Southern Europe) along with others written in 1597 and 1609! The immediate attraction of the album however is McQuaid’s voice which is warm with a low register and although it’s quite distinct from that of the late Sandy Denny’s McQuaid has a similar air of authority and empathy with the songs that Denny had.
Speaking of Denny there’s a lot about the album that recalls the blossoming of modern folk around the late sixties and early seventies. A cover of John Martyn’s Solid Air for starters. This is a tough one to consider as the original is seared in the memory but McQuaid keeps it simple with just guitar and a doleful trumpet turning it into a late night dram friendly obituary. Apart from this McQuaid is very taken with the guitar tuning DADGAD which was Bert Jansch’s calling card and the best parts of the album recall his and John Renbourne’s peregrinations with Pentangle while Kenilworth has a smidgeon of David Crosby’s ethereal If Only I Could Remember My Name about it. There are some excellent songs here all buttressed by some immaculate playing. The jazzy intimations of The Sun Goes On Rising and So Much Rain showcase the writing while the medieval feel of Hardwick’s Lofty Towers, New Oysters New and Can She Excuse My Wrongs bring us right back to the likes of Denny and Renbourne who could hush packed halls with renditions of 500 year old songs much in the same way I’m sure McQuaid would do these days.
McQuaids’s UK tour started in Ireland a week ago and she’ll be in Scotland for four shows from May 1st as part of an “in the round” presentation with Bill Adair and Richard Grainger
1 May 2013
Edinburgh Folk Club — Pleasance Cabaret Bar
2 May 2013
Falkirk Folk Club — The Tolbooth Tavern
3 May 2013
Tolbooth — Jail Wynd
4 May 2013
Birnam Arts Centre — Station Road, Birnam

After this she heads south. All dates are on her website

Kinky Friedman. Bi Polar Tour Live From Woodstock

Posted on by

What is there to say about Kinky Friedman that doesn’t sound as if it’s been dreamed up by a John Waters type screenwriter hoping to capture a warped vision of the American dream? Riding on the first wave of country rock in the early seventies he formed the Texas Jewboys, an outfit that thrilled and offended folk in equal manner. He toured and recorded with Dylan and was named male chauvinist pig of the year in 1973. His songs lampooned many of the shibboleths of the day be it racism, feminism, rednecks and he delivered all of this with a biting sense of irony and a huge helping of humour.
Since then he’s branched out into writing hard boiled crime stories (featuring investigative sleuth Kinky Friedman), ran for the governorship of Texas (unsuccessfully) and launched a range of products that celebrate his own legend. He continues to perform and nowadays is in the position of being a state treasure for all Texans who believe that the heart of Texas is in Commander Cody and not the Alamo. He is a raconteur, singer, songwriter, cigar smoker and all round dude.
All of this (bar the cigars) is on display on this his latest disc. Recorded live it’s a fine mixture of his songs, his introductions, reminiscences and some readings from his books. Armed only with his guitar (and undoubted charm) there’s a nostalgic sense to most of the songs as they reflect the issues and attitudes of the late sixties and early seventies and are delivered in the singer/songwriter style of those times. Nevertheless Friedman did write some fine songs and Sold American, We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You, Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In The Bed and The Ballad of Charles Whitman stand the test of time. But the primary reason for seeing “The Kinkster” these days is for the stories and ad libs as he delves into his colourful past and remarks on modern life with a fine wit and these are well captured on the disc with Waitret, Please Waitret the best example.

Kinky Friedman plays Glasgow this Thursday at St. Andrews in The Square courtesy of the Fallen Angels Club , His last appearance here in the Tron Theatre was an immediate sell out, in this larger venue there might still be a chance to grab an opportunity to see what ultimately is an Americana legend.

website

Tucson music showcase at SXSW

Posted on by

TMF HTLLG 2013 SXSW

TMF TW + KXCI 2013 SXSW

Forget Nashville. Austin, maybe, Portland, perhaps but Tucson is the city that really gets Blabber’n’Smoke salivating when it comes to fine music. We’ve mentioned several artists who are based there including Giant Sand, Naim Amor, Marianne Dissard (thanks to our friends at Vacilando ’68) and Calexico and regularly dip into the likes of Al Perry, Rich Hopkins and Tasha Bundy when we’ve a moment to spare. With honorary citizens such as the legendary Dan Stuart and Steve Wynn the Tucson connections spread far and wide and although there isn’t such a thing as a “Tucson” sound it’s fair to say that the city has been a hot bed of talent for the past few decades, Fish Karma included. So when the tickertape on our foreign affairs desk spewed out the news that the recently launched music label Tucson Music Factory was to showcase two events at the forthcoming SXSW Austin music festival we waited with baited breath for the details of our flight, sadly these were not forthcoming however we did feel honour bound to mention this.

Tucson Music Factory along with the Tucson Weekly newspaper and community radio station KXCI-FM are promoting two nights at the festival, the first on Wednesday 13th March at the Brass House, 115 San Jacinto and then on Saturday 16th March at the Speakeasy 412 Congress Av. Details of the line-ups are below and while it’s Giant Giant Sand who might be the attention grabbers we’d urge you to have a listen to the others especially the mighty Gabriel Sullivan & Taraf de Tucson who should be first in the queue for the next Tarantino soundtrack. These promise to be two fine nights of the finest south west/border music around with dusty trails and Mexican exotica leavened with a European sensuality and it’s with envy that we can only sit here in the old UK and listen to the records at the moment. If any readers do manage to attend do let us know and send a review in.

Brass House 115 San Jacinto Wednesday March 13th

Spain http://www.spaintheband.com/
Marianne Dissard & Budo http://www.mariannedissard.com
Sammy Decoster http://www.myspace.com/sammydecoster
Fredda http://www.fredda-music.com
Transcription Of Organ Music http://transcriptionoforganmusic.bandcamp.com
Naïm Amor http://naimamor.com/

FB event : https://www.facebook.com/events/252994248143719/

Speakeasy 412 Congress Av. Saturday, March 16th

Giant Giant Sand http://giantsand.com/
Y La Orkesta http://www.myspace.com/ylaorkesta
Gabriel Sullivan & Taraf de Tucson http://gabrielsullivanmusic.com/
Chicha Dust http://hotelcongress.com/music/chicha-dust/
Tesoro http://www.tesorotucson.com/
Andrew Collberg http://andrewcollberg.com/

FB event : https://www.facebook.com/events/130849980389037/

And just to whet the appetite here’s a slice of Gabriel Sullivan & Taraf de Tucson

Topic Records to make out of print material available digitally

Posted on by

Topic Records logo

Weird how things happen at times, synchronicity, chance etc. On Friday, the 21st December I was busy ignoring the end of the world message from the ancient Mayans while browsing in a record bin in a charity shop in the city centre eventually coming up for air with a fine find. A Martin Carthy album, Because It’s There, on Topic Records, score! Later that day (ahem, Mayans) this press release popped up regarding a plan to make the Topic Records catalogue available on line. For folk nuts this is big news. Details below.

From January 2013, the venerable and redoubtable Topic Records (now 74 years old) will be making available another of its ‘gifts to the nation’, in the form of The Great Big Digital Archive Project. Thereafter, a programme of 6 – 10 additional titles will be released every month throughout the year. With the possible exception of Smithsonian Records in the US, this will probably constitute the largest digital project of its kind undertaken by an independent record company anywhere in the world.
Topic has always had the underlying philosophy of making traditional based music as widely available as possible. The ambition of the label is now to make as much of its vast historical catalogue available using the current format – digital. What makes this project distinctive is that at the moment, digital delivery all too often divorces the audio recording from all artwork, documentation and sleeve-notes. The plan at Topic is to restore and include all of the information that accompanied the original releases of the past.
In January 2013, 84 of these albums will be available to download complete with digital booklets. The digital booklets will be available from the Topic website as well as iTunes. There will also be a short YouTube film explaining the project in detail and the content of specific digital booklets.
The first tranche of 84 digital releases will include albums originally released on vinyl LP in the late 1950s, the 60s, 70s and 80s. Many have been out of print for twenty years or more and include titles which were championed by John Peel and other influential broadcasters.
Much of the repertoire on the field recordings included in the Topic archive has fed into the latest British folk revival, whilst many recordings of Irish traditional music are of cultural and political significance and date from a period when there were few domestic labels in Ireland releasing such music.
Example :
TSDL070
The original recording of Davy Graham’s ‘Angi’ was made in Bill Leader’s Camden Town basement flat in 1962 and released on the seminal Topic 7″ vinyl EP – 3/4 AD. The vinyl release appeared in three different sleeves during the early 60s and with slightly different sleeve notes by Alexis Korner. Our digital booklet will incorporate all the sleeve notes and illustrate the variant sleeve designs. ‘Angi’ is widely regarded as one of the cornerstone compositions of the sixties’ acoustic guitar movement, famously recorded by Bert Jansch, Paul Simon, Ralph McTell, etc.

Topic Records

Richard Thompson album news

Posted on by

There are certain musicians who have accompanied Blabber’n’Smoke throughout the journey from adolescent to gray haired wisdom and Richard Thompson is one of them. From his days in Fairport Convention to the fabulous pairing with then wife Linda which produced classic albums I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight and Shoot Out The Lights, followed by his lengthy solo career he’s always been one of our favourites. Perhaps the quintessential UK guitarist he’s been a beacon for an Anglicised rock and folk sound since the sixties so we were intrigued to hear that for his upcoming release, Electric, he’s teamed up with Buddy Miller, ace producer of numerous Americana icons. Miller produces and guests on the album include Alison Krauss who of course, with Miller and Robert Plant delivered the very fine Raising Sand album a few years back.
Electric’s not released until next February but here’s a sneak preview of one of the songs, Good Things happen To Bad People. which will be released as a single. Can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

Thompson will be touring in support of the album release, no Glasgow date so far but he does play Edinburgh’s Usher hall on February 28th.

Charlie Lankester And The Mojo Killers, Song In A Minor Key (Midmoor Music)

Posted on by

A few days ago we had no idea who Charlie Lankester was then, serendipitously, Glasgow Bluesmeister Dave Arcari alerted his Facebook fans that he was supporting the said Lankester and then this album plopped into sight. Strange days indeed compelling us to follow this particular Mojo magic. A quick search revealed that Lankester is an Australian who dropped out of medical school to follow his muse back in the seventies. Failing to hit the big time down under he busked around Europe eventually ending up in London where he trained as an osteopath and played the local circuits as a piano for hire. Last year he gathered some of his compadres on the circuit (Derek Mandel and Mark Hawkins ,guitars, Dave Cuthbert, bass, Daniel Howard, drums, Paul Silver saxophone, Gavin Broom, trumpet and Nick Mills, trombone ) and together they strode forward under the moniker of The Mojo Killers for what is his debut solo album. So far so good but as they were finishing off the album Lankester was diagnosed with a liver cancer, a blow which might have felled lesser men. Several months later however he’s well enough to tour in support of the eventual album release.
His particular Mojo must be working.
Mojo is the operative word here. With its magical and mystical hoodoo voodoo blues roots it’s as good a way to describe the music here. Lankester draws deep from the well of the masters of the genre. Tom Waits, Muddy Waters, Ben Sidran, Dr. John and dare I say it Richard Hawley. All of these and others are picked up and thrown into a gumbo stew that hubbles and bubbles with an intoxicating come on.
They kick off with Greed, a dramatic Tijuana flexed workout that sounds as if Jacques Brel came from Mexico, the trumpet is the sleazy underbelly of Mexico, think of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil, monochrome and bad. Drink My Blues Away slinks along with an early Tom Waits vibe while Brixton Road recalls Waits’ latter work. The Spinning Of The Wheel is the masterstroke here. The horns amplify a grim tale of street life, almost like a Scorsese movie as the guitars squeal and bend and Lankester turns the old Blood Sweat and Tears song upside down. The clattering and skeletal blues of In My Time Of Time Of Dying is another highlight while the title song pins the Hawley connection. A pining love song beautifully dramatised by a bluesy trumpet it swaggers and sways in a magnificent woozy fashion.
Suffice to say that this is a cracking slice of modern rythym’n’blues, the grooves crackle and burn and the band are superb. Coupled with Arcari their gig at the O2 ABC Glasgow it looks like it should be a blinder. It’s on Sunday 9th December, be there or be square, it’s the only Scottish date, the others are on the
website