Category: Hard-to-find

Hard-to-find, Most downloaded tracks

Nit-picking internet fascists

Craig McAllister

Looks like someone’s out to get me. The internet police are spying on me and coming over all Big Brother again. Received this email…

“Thanks for using DivShare. Unfortunately, our staff has had to remove one or more of your files for violation of our content standards.

This action is usually taken because a file contains adult content or copyrighted material, such as music, movies or software. We apologize for the incovenience, and ask that you not upload any similar files in the future.”

It was the Ronnie Spector vocal track. Sorry folks. Grab the rest while you can. Again. Grrr.

peter_sellers_inspector_clouseau_pi

Click here for Rockwell ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’

Click here for U2 ‘Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down’ (demo)

Click here for Trashcan Sinatras ‘Leave Me Alone’

 

 

Only joking. Hee hee.

Hard-to-find, Sampled

Woah-woa! Mercy, Mercy Me!

Craig McAllister

In football parlance, it’s getting to the business end of the year. The time of year when the winners are seperated from the losers, the wheat loosened from the chaff, the right decent records recategorised as ‘classics’ while the clunkers vanish into obscurity. It’s a couple of weeks too early for any definitive list/rundown, but 2 or 3 singles are easily near the top of my ‘right decent records’ list. The Maccabees ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ is one of them. I said when it came out that it would be one of my favourite singles of the year and time has not changed my opionion. ‘Standing Next To Me’ by the Last Shadow Puppets. Paul Weller‘s ‘Echoes Round The Sun’, ‘Oranges & Apples’ by the Trashcan Sinatras. All great records. Given time I could give you 20 more. MGMT‘s ‘Time To Pretend’ is also up there, and I intend to post a fair few MGMT remixes in the coming weeks. However, whilst those records (or downloads-only) above have grabbed me for whatever reasons, my number 1 favourite single of the year without a shadow of a doubt is ‘Mercy‘ by Duffy.

duffy

I can be quite snobbish about my music, especially when records like ‘Mercy‘ become all-conquering chart monsters and everyone from Primary 1 girls to 50+ year old secretaries can sing them. And that’s just my place of work. The elitist in me sometimes likes ‘my’ music to remain ‘mine’. But that’s my problem, not yours. Surely, only the sniffiest of music snobs could seriously ignore ‘Mercy‘ Some might say that Duffy being a bit of a looker doesn’t do any harm, but ‘Mercy‘ is a fantastic track, from the wonky ripped-off ‘Stand By Me’ bassline intro to the Sly Stone double-time handclaps at the outro, via the vocals themselves. It’s northern soul fruggery of the highest order, and as a dance track it’s right up there with ‘Superstition‘ in the ‘Songs That Make Me Dance Like The Rhythmically-Challenged White West of Scotland Male That I Am‘ list. But you probably knew that already.

duffy-bw1

To these ears, the original version is still the definitive version, but there are a number of official and unofficial remixes and live tracks out there in internetland that are worth investigating. Some don’t sound too different. Others have some interesting samples – is that Sly Stone’s bassline on the ?uestlove mix? Nah. Maybe it’s on one of those Dunproofin mixes. Anyway, here’s what I’ve found (For review purposes only of course. Buy what you can folks):

Mercy (Dunproofin’s Thankful Mix)

Mercy (Dunproofin’s Thankful Mix 2)

Mercy (Rwemix)

Mercy (Remix feat. The Game)

Mercy (?uestlove Remix) (mp4 only)

Mercy (Morsy Mix)

Mercy (Mathematikals Unmerciful Edit)

Mercy (Radio 1’s Live Lounge)

Mercy (Live on Jools Holland)

Quite a list. Every one of them worth a listen. Go on!

duffymercy

For review purposes only, of course.

Download. Burn. Use image above as cover. Voila!

Hard-to-find

Let me put you in the picture,

Craig McAllister

let me show you what I mean. Ian Brown is the flattest singer in the world, ever. When he starts to sing, and I use the term ‘sing‘ in the loosest terms, you couldn’t get one of John Squire‘s plectrums between the arse of his flared Joe Bloggs and the Spike Island toxic sludge. But you knew that already.

stone-roses2

Stone Roses, 1993

So kudos to Simon Dawson. He’s the anonymous genius who mixed ol’ monkey boy’s flat-as-a-pancake vocals into the rough polished diamond that is The Second Coming, the Stone Roses long-in-the-making second (and final) album. Why Dawson isn’t mentioned in the same breath as Nigel Godrich or John Leckie or any of those other indie-producing wunderkinds is anyone’s guess. If I was in a band and looking for that Led Zeppelin plays Sly Stone’s Greatest Funk Hits sound, he’s the man I’d be looking for.

reni2

Reni & Mani do a Brown

As a band, the 3 non-singing musicians can really play. Listen to this, the vocal-free rehearsal track that became ‘Daybreak‘.  8 minutes long at the fade-out and not an overdub within earshot. Or listen to this, John Squire and Reni jamming on effect-heavy guitar and drums. Like, cosmic man! They can really play. But. Add the vocals and you get this. The 1993 demo of ‘Love Spreads’ sounds like heavy funk soup. It was my favourite record when it came out. I played it to death. I’ve never played the demo to death, though it is something of a curio. But the demo version lets you appreciate the lengths Simon Dawson had to go to at the controls in order to get the whole thing sounding fantastic.

In more innocent times, I used to de-tune my guitar to open G, grab an empty botle of Stella as a rudimentary slide and freak out in front of the mirror as I played along loudly to ‘Love Spreads’. In actual fact, all you need to do is drop the thick ‘E’ string to a ‘D’, get yourself a decent £5 slide and play along to the tab below. S’easy, man!

E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
d|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|-------5-----5/8---5/8---5/8---5-------0---3-5---5/10---8---5---0-5------|
D|-0---------0-----------------------0----------------------------------0--|
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----7-----------------------------------------7----------------------------|
--7---7\----------------------0---0-------0--------------------------------|
----------0-5/8---5/8---5/8-----3---5/8-----------0-3---5---8---5-8---5----|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------------------------10-----8---|
--7-------------------------------------------------------------9------7---|
--7-------------------------0-------5---5\--0--/5--/6--/7----/7-7---/5-5---|
------0---5/8---5/8---5/8--------------------------------------------------|
--------------------------------0------------------------------------------|
                                           
--------------------------------------||
8-------------------------------------||
7-------------7-----------------------||
5-------------7-----------------------||
----5/8---5-----0---3---5---8---5-8---||
--------------------------------------||

squire1

John Squire, Glasgow Green

A wee ned punched me full in the face at this gig. Sore, yes, but not as painful as the bootleg I have of the show. Those flat vocals. Ouch!

Hard-to-find

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3!

Craig McAllister

I’m in the process of checking out the best online file sharing sites. I’m not too keen on the ones I’ve been using since the nice folk over at Box.net cancelled my account. I want one that’s a) cheap, b) advert-free, c) that is easy for me to keep tabs on that will enable me to see how many downloads I’m getting etc and d) one that once an mp3 is uploaded rings a bell somewhere and search engines such as Hype and Elbow start picking up on it. This is where a lot of my visitors come from. Cheers!

What I’ve just said to you may make no sense at all, but bear with me. Here‘s a test file. It’s only the vocal-only take of Ronnie Spector doing ‘Be My Baby’, one of the most popular Plain Or Pan? posts ever. I’m testing the water to see if the trial version from the host is any good before I spend money on it. The proper paid-for version is advert-free. I think I will be going with it over the next couple of days. Then I’ll be back to blogging like a maniac. Thanks for yer patience.

Dylanish, entire show, Hard-to-find

“I don’t care about the leaking, or the loss of sales, or anything like that, but I just don’t like it when someone comes and opens the curtains on my vaudeville show before I have my pants on.”

Craig McAllister

The name’s White. Jack White. Iffy Bond themes notwithstanding, Jack White can barely do wrong. Even without his pants on, as you’ll hear below. In the past I’ve posted some fairly essential White Stripes shows and Raconteurs radio sessions. If you’re very quick and look in the darkest corners of Plain Or Pan? they’re still available. But not for long.

raconteurs2

I know many people prefer the basic blues riffs and rudimentary style of the White Stripes to Jack’s more considered approach in The Raconteurs. I like them both. What I particularly like about The Raconteurs is that at any given time, Jack and Brendan Benson are both singing. And as I mentioned a couple of posts ago, much like The Beatles and even The Last Shadow Puppets, it’s often difficult to tell them apart. Those close harmonies really define The Raconteurs. Coming on like a 21st century The Band, The Raconteurs wipe the floor with the White Stripes. Uh huh, These boys can really play. As Jack says, “LJ’s a great bass player.”

Since moving to Nashville, the odd fiddle and honky tonk piano riff has crept into the sound and whilst this isn’t always a good thing – it springs to mind Ringo’s ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ on the White Album – in the case of some of the songs below, it fits just fine. It’s a wee bit Bob Dylan ‘Desire‘, to these ears. And anyway, if country hoe-downs ain’t your thang, it’s worth considering that by the time The Raconteurs are playing live near you, the songs could well have undergone a Dylanesque reshaping. That’s why they wipe the floor with those runny-nosed White Stripes.

raconteurs

Yesterday, KCRW‘s ‘Morning Becomes Eclectic’ broadcast 2 sessions by the band. The first was recorded at The Village Studio, Los Angeles, on Sept 23 2008. The radio broadcast featured 4 songs followed by an interview:

Top Yourself

Old Enough

You Don’t Understand Me

Pull This Blanket Off

Interview

I can’t listen to the above version of Pull This Blanket Off without hearing REO Speedwagon‘s Take It On The Run. Yep. Jack’s moved on somewhat from De Stijl. Take It On The Run‘s a great track by the way, no matter how uncool that just made me. KCRW then broadcast 3 tracks from the Greek Theater, Los Angeles, from the same date as above.

Many Shades Of Black

Salute Your Solution

Rich Kid Blues

All files should be downloadable from here. It’s my first time trying this new file host, so bear with me. Fingers crossed. Let me know ease of use, speed of download etc etc. Cheers.

raconteurs-logo

Cover Versions, Double Nugget, Hard-to-find

It’s The Aptly-Named Billy Fury!

Craig McAllister

Billy Fury. Your granny knows him from such staple Hit Parade fodder as ‘Halfway To Paradise’, ‘Wondrous Place’, ‘Last Night Was Made For Love’….. do I need to go on? Billy and Cliff Richard battled it out for the dubious tag of ‘British Elvis’, but the more sussed among us really knew that Elvis was in fact the ‘American Billy’.

billy-fury

Upturned collar? Check. Lip curl? Check. Half-collapsed quiff? Check. Forget the songs listed above and instead listen to this. ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Shakin’ But The Leaves On The Trees‘ is a hand clappin’ enhanced primal rocker that could’ve sat neatly on any Nuggets-type compilation you care to mention. How Fury got from garage band howling blues to slush like ‘Colette‘ is anyone’s guess but, wow, when he was on form there was clearly no-one like him. His manager obviously gave him his stage moniker round about this time, otherwise he’d have been forever known to the world as Billy Ballad. Incidentally, The Beatles version of ‘Nothin’ Shakin’…‘ can be found on their ‘At The BBC’ album. It sounds pish.

Morrissey was a big fan, so much so that he nicked half his look from Fury. Look here.  As too are those talented wee fuckers in The Last Shadow Puppets. They stuck their own version of ‘Wondrous Place’ on the b-side of their ‘The Age Of The Understatement‘ single. Understated indeed – a churchy organ, some brooding bass, a top vocal and some Duane Eddy twang halfway through. What I like about this lot is that they all look similar, they even sound similar when they sing and they are clearly very talented. A bit like The Beatles. But then, obviously nothing like The Beatles. I’ve already posted their version of Bowie‘s ‘In The Heat Of The Morning’ (here) and if they keep up their high standards of self-imposed quality control I think these two youngsters could be around for years to come. A bit like The Beatles. But then, obviously as I’ve already said, nothing like The Beatles as well.

dave-berry

2 more decent UK garage band rockers to follow. These days, Dave Berry may be more comfortable touring the country in those terrible 60s nostalgia shows alongside such 3rd divison outfits as The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Tremeloes. Back in the day he was equally comfortable blasting out tough R&B tunes as he was crooning pop ballads. One such record was July 1964’s‘The Crying Game’ (number 5, fact fans), much later also a hit for Boy George. The A-side was the pop ballad. The B-side was something else entirely. Along with his backing band The Cruisers, he came up with this proto-punk snarling rabid dog of a record. ‘Don’t Give Me No Lip Child’ is a belter, and given that the Sex Pistols strangled and choked it into something resembling a cover version, John Lydon thought so too.

lip-child-label

Before they became The Who, The High Numbers released ‘I’m The Face’. The sound of Swinging London, it was written by Peter Meaden, their amphetamine-fuelled manager stroke publicist. This tune is essentially Slim Harpo‘s ‘Got Love If You Want It’ with new lyrics designed to reflect the culture of the times – a classic mod-stomper of a record that was a paen to all things Modern (not modern). Of course, as is more often than not the way with fantastic records, the single was a flop. According to some sources, the only copies that were actually sold were bought by Meaden himself, in a crap attempt at chart rigging. Ivy League jackets. Buck skin shoes. I’m the face baby, is that clear? Clear as crystal, little Roger!

high-numbers

Gone but not forgotten, Hard-to-find

Hands in the air, this is a stick up!

Craig McAllister

Now, this is a good bit of music. I’ve noticed that I’m getting a whole load of new people finding Plain Or Pan? by Googling ‘Elliott Smith’, so especially for those folks and also any regular visitors who are partial to a bit of introspective melancholia, here follows some assorted versions of 2 of the greatest songs George Harrison never wrote.

‘Stickman’ is just one of many unreleased gems in Elliott Smith’s grand body of work. Leftover from the recording sessions that spawned the material that appeared on the posthumously released ‘From The Basement On A Hill’ album, it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on ‘Figure 8’, his sophomore major label release (as our American friends would say). I have a collection of unreleased tracks loosely titled ‘Basement II‘. Elliott’s original idea was for ‘From The Basement On A Hill’  to be a double, but once he died that idea was vetoed. Shame, as ‘Stickman;’ would undoubtedly have been on it. But which version?

Stickman (Version 1) is the clearer version, with full band, backing vocals and everything in place. It features a fantastic wonky sounding guitar riff and this version is my favourite Elliott recording in the world….ever! Stickman (Version 2) is the more introverted acoustic demo, featuring some nice shakers, backwards percussion, some lovely “aaaah” backing vocals and a honky tonk piano towards the end. Kind of psychedelic naked soul bearing. Here it is.

The ghost of George Harrison playing slide guitar is all over ‘Dancing On The Highway’. Or ‘Still Here’. Or ‘Here If You Want Me’. Yep. Three titles for the same song. Each version features an assortment of chiming guitar riffs, “wooo-ooo” backing vocals just behind the George Harrison guitar part and backwards percussion. Very Beatles and very, very good. Happy downloading!

All images taken from this book. It’s a good buy.

Comes with a free CD too.

Have a poke about the site – there’s quite a bit of Elliott Smith material still available for download.

Hard-to-find

Larry, Moe, Curly and Iggy

Craig McAllister

I was watching the BBC’s fairly decent Alan Yentob-presented 3 part documentary on the history of the guitar last night. The Johnny Marr bit was excellent. You’ll find it here. Learn how to play ‘There Is A Light..’ from the man himself! Iggy Pop was also on, waxing lyrical about how being a guitar player was all just about being a bit of a prick (!) He must know something I suppose, and given that The Stooges only recently became friends again, he may be right.

Ron Asheton was the bit of a prick he was referring to. At the tail end of the 60s he was the proto-punk, perma-shaded, primal riffmeister on ‘The Stooges’ and ‘Funhouse’,  The Stooges first 2 albums. By the mid 70’s, James Williamson’s introduction as co-writer and lead guitarist had relegated Asheton to bass playing duties on the Bowie-assisted and aptly named ‘Raw Power’. To these ears, the riffs became less prowling and menacing as a result. Iggy talks about writing the riff for ‘Search & Destroy’ here. It’s very funny. Johnny Marr rates ‘Raw Power’ highly, and while it’s still a fantastic record, for me it’s just shaded by the first two albums, in particular ‘Funhouse’.

When I first got broadband I went absolutely nuts, downloading anything I could get my hands on. Well, not anything. I wasn’t interested in the latest Bloc Party album (is anyone?) or The Doors back catalogue (I’d buy that), but I actively sought out hard-to-find gems. I was in heaven when I found the Complete Funhouse Sessions, a 7 CD set that presented in chronological order every take of every track that The Stooges recorded for Funhouse. Plus all the studio chatter you could want. “Someone’s guitar string was ringing on that one!” moans Iggy at one point. Clocking in at 7 hours and 52 minutes long, it’s not the sort of thing you’d want to play all day. Well, maybe you would. But it would drive you crazeeee. The box set was quickly out of print (only 3000 made for sale), so I had no qualms about downloading it.

Dipping into it now and again reveals wee bits and pieces I had never noticed before, and it gives you a great insight into how the tracks developed as the sessions continued. Some of the squaking sax that made the final cut isn’t on these sessions. Other tracks had the squaking sax and wah-wah mayhem taken off before the final album was sequenced. Much as I love them, Spacemen 3 clearly made a career out of re-hashing these cast offs. Much of this is uneasy listening. In fact Mrs Pan hates this stuff when I play any of it, so I tend to keep it for when I’m washing the floor. Mop in hand, I’ll strut about like Iggy. Only, with my trousers on.  Here’s some of my favourite outtakes.

Down On The Street (take 2)

Fun House (take 1)

Loose (take 3 – false start)

Studio chat regarding drum roll in ‘Loose’

Loose (take 4)

See That Cat aka TV Eye (take 1)

1970 (take 1)

now go and get yer mop!

Hard-to-find

Kinks, Konkers and Kids in Kasualty

Craig McAllister

Autumn. The nights are drawing in and the curtains are drawing shut. The heating comes on a bit earlier than normal and stays on that wee bit longer. You can smell winter coming in the air. The leaves are turning red and yellow. Conkers are on the ground and in the playground. Kids are off to the medical room for a good dose of TCP and a telling off. It’s round about now that I like to dig out ‘Autumn Almanac’ by The Kinks, a song that so perfectly sums up this time of year. You don’t even have to be quintessentially English to appreciate lines such as, “I like my football on a Saturday, roast beef on Sundays, alright! I go to Blackpool for my holidays, sit in the open sunlight.” No doubt about it, it’s one of my all-time top 5 favourite songs ever. Just behind ‘There She Goes’ by The La’s and just ahead of ‘Ally’s Tartan Army’ by the Scotland World Cup Squad 1978. Lee Mavers once lectured me on the brilliance of Autumn Almanac and Waterloo Sunset for a good 10 minutes, but that’s for another time. “I wish I’d written Waterloo Sunset,” is one of the things he said.

Autumn Almanac

David Watts
Sunny Afternoon
Susannah’s Still Alive

Mr Pleasant

 

My computer’s playing silly buggers. Can’t get the spacing to work out. You don’t mind? Recorded for Top Gear on October 25th 1967 in BBC Maida Vale Studio 4 and broadcast 4 days later, the above 5 tracks are taken from a well-known Kinks bootleg called ‘The Songs We Sang For Auntie’, a 3 CD set that compiles most of (or all?) the unreleased BBC session stuff from 1964-1994. A must-have for any fan of a band who were matched only by The Beatles in terms of high quality output. But that’s just my opinion.

 

The voice between tracks is Brian Matthews (I think), who still presents the Sounds of the 60s show on Radio 2 every Saturday morning. The time really is ripe for a Kinks re-appraisal. The single version of Autumn Almanac was recorded in September 67 and released 3 weeks later. No great strategic marketing campaign with focus groups, target audiences and avoidance of any other big act’s single being released at the same time. Get in the studio, cut the record, release the record. Times being simpler then, Autumn Almanac climbed to either number 3 or number 5 on the charts, depending on which music paper you were reading. But ask anyone to name 3 Kinks singles and it’d be unlikely Autumn Almanac would feature in too many lists. It’s an under appreciated stone cold classic. Just ask Lee Mavers.

Yes, yes, yes! It’s my Autumn Almanyac!

 

Dylanish, Hard-to-find

Unmasked And Unanimous

Craig McAllister

(Dylan fans’ll get it)

Unmasked? That’ll be the files for disc 3 of Tell Tale Signs, volume 8 of the excellent and seemingly never-ending Bootleg Series.  Unanimous? That’ll be the verdict from you, the paying public who don’t like being ripped off and conned into paying an extra £85-odd for a 3rd disc of rarities.

I ordered my copy of Tell Tale Signs a few weeks ago, to make sure it would land on the day of release. I think internet retailers are becoming increasingly lax with their service. It used to be you could order a new release about a week before it was due out and it’d arrive on the Saturday before release. These days, you can order something 2 weeks ahead of it’s release and not receive it till the Wednesday or Thursday after the release day. Yes Mr Play.com, I’m looking at you. Anyway. After I ordered the 2 CD set I read about a 3 CD set. With a free book. Shit. Too late to cancel my order. I’ll maybe order it anyway. Then I saw the price. £99.99. £99.99!!! Free delivery mind. But £99.99. For an extra CD of 12 tracks (some of which are featured on discs 1 and 2) and a nice big book. Screw that, I thought. Some enterprising kind soul will put the files up on the internet somewhere. A quick look about on Monday night and, voila, there they were. And here they are. In mp4 format though. It’ll play on iTunes and you can burn your CD from there. Stick it to The Man!

Tracks (in a .rar file) are:

  1. Duncan And Brady (Unreleased, 1992)
  2. Cold Irons Bound (Live, Bonnaroo, June 2004)
  3. Mississippi (Unreleased Version #3, Time Out Of Mind)
  4. Most Of The Time (Alternate Version #2, Oh Mercy)
  5. Ring Them Bells (Alternate Version, Oh Mercy)
  6. Things Have Changed (Live, Portland, Oregon, 2000)
  7. Red River Shore (Unreleased Version #2, Time Out Of Mind)
  8. Born In Time (Unreleased Version #2, Oh Mercy)
  9. Tryin’ To Get To Heaven (Live, London, England, 2000)
  10. Marchin’ To The City (Version #2, Time Out Of Mind)
  11. Can’t Wait (Alternate Version #2, Time Out Of Mind)
  12. Mary And The Soldier (Unreleased, World Gone Wrong)

(looks beautiful right enough)