In My Life — Fay Fife & Eugene Reynolds

Here’s an old documentary on the Rezillos I found on Google video.

I was a big Rezillos fan back in the late seventies, and I've seen them a couple of times since they reformed. If anything, I'd say they were now even better: Faye & Eugene's singing voices are certainly more powerful, and richer, too. And I'd forgotten what a good guitarist Jo "Luke Warm" Callis is, in that lead-and-rhythm-together style of, I dunno, erm, Mick Green? Wilko Johnson? (music journalism hat falls off).

And —swoon— I got to stand next to Faye & Eugene in the audience at the last Bis Christmas show at Oran Mor. Too starstruck to actually say anything, though.

Anyway here they are being interviewed in 2001, before they reformed, talking about the band's history, including their intermediate "Revillos" project. With some hard-to-find archive footage.

To watch in a bigger window, or download it, go to Google video here.

Go Raj!

The Pop Music from my area is superior to the Pop Music from your area in every way.

Perhaps I’m a little biased, but I’ve always been aware that Scottish Pop Music is the best in the world. Not to mention our choreography, costume design, and television production. Too prove it, here’s Lulu making a guest appearance on Shang-a-Lang, the Bay City Rollers’ astonishingly good TV show from the mid-seventies.

Lee Hazlewood – Six Feet of Chain

More Lee Hazlewood, here sounding more Johnny Cash than Cash himself, in a strange song which I've always assumed was about a dog.

I found this on a compilation The Many Sides of Lee Hazlewood: I think it originally appeared on his Trouble is a Lonesome Town album in 1963, but since even the CD reissue is going for fifty bucks, and I'm a skinflint, I'll just have to go by the track listing, and assume it did.

Listen:

Download Lee Hazlewood – Six Feet of Chain MP3 (rapidshare)

Annette Funicello - California Sun

I always found sixties beach movies pretty dull: though I love Buster Keaton, his appearances in them were pretty much the nadir of his career, I would say. So I would only really watch them in fast-forward mode, looking for the rare appearances of minor surf and garage bands. That's why I guess I entirely missed this song, from Pajama Party. I always associated the song with the Ramones, although I vaguely knew that it was a cover.

Update: I really should do my research before I post: turns out first hit version of California Sun was by The Rivieras, from South Bend, Indiana, and the original recording was by a guy called (showbiz Alliteration Alert) Joe Jones. Here's an article on the history of this song in, of all places, the Jewish World Review.

Listen:

Download: Annette Funicello - California Sun MP3 (rapidshare)

Carole King – Oh, Neil

Reading The NME Encyclopedia of Rock in the mid seventies, I first heard that Neil Sedaka's Oh, Carol referred to Carole King, and that Carole had recorded a reply record, Oh, Neil. More than thirty years later, I've finally tracked it down. Sounding suspiciously like she used a tweaked mix of the same backing track, Oh, Neil has some delicious lyrics, particularly when she rhymes "Mrs. Neil Sedaky" with "Chewing Tobaccy". A fabulous record, and well worth the wait.

Listen:

Download: Carole King - Oh, Neil MP3 (rapidshare)