The Electric Prunes - Underground

Reprise 1967

01 The Great Banana Hoax

02 Children Of Rain

03 Wind-Up Toys

04 Antique Doll

05 It's Not Fair

06 I Happen To Love You

07 Dr. Do-Good

08 I

09 Hideaway

10 Big City

11 Capt. Glory

12 Long Day's Flight

Bonus tracks:

13 Everybody Knows You're Not in Love
14 You Never Had It Better


Like their debut, the second album by The Electric Prunes was released in 1967. Unlike the first album however, the band were left alone to write their own compositions (9 of the original 12 tracks were originals).

The Electric Prunes further pushed the experimentation on this album and the result was another underground classic.

By the end of recording however, creative differences meant both Preston Ritter and James Spagnola left the band.

They embarked on a tour and when they returned to the studio, it was a very different set of circumstances.

The Velvet Underground - Live at the Boston Tea Party

Bootleg 1969

01 Heroin

02 Move Right In

03 I'm Set Free

04 Run Run Run

05 Waiting for the Man

06 What Goes On

07 I Can't Stand It

08 Candy Says

09 Beginning to See the Light

10 White Light/White Heat

11 Pale Blue Eyes

12 Sister Ray

More ratching around in the Velvets bootleg folder has turned up this live show from '69.

The Nightowl Sings - Sliders E.P.

Treehouse Orchestra Recordings TOR62. 2019.

01 Don't Stand Down

02 Joy Explosion

03 Queen of K

04 Oranges

05 Dreams of Civic Pride

Another release from my own label.

In the post for 'Amsterdam/America' by Ghosts of Hobbs End I explained how those recordings took place after sessions for a new collection of songs by The Nightowl Sings. This is that collection, finally released after two years.

After the (temporary) break up of Brocken Spectre, Marc Gillen set about recording a new batch of songs. A revolving door of musicians fleshed out these recordings including myself on drums and some guitar and bass, Jill Wallace (also from Brocken Spectre) plays bass on some tracks, David Thompson (Cat of Tomorrow) contributes guitar and new contributor Jessica Lowes sings back up on these songs.

The last release from The Nightowl Sings was '1955' released in July 2016, this collection gathers together the final recordings (to date) made under that name.

Scuzzed out pop, cracked alt ballads and art rock.

Daphne Oram - Oramics

Paradigm Discs 2007

Disc 1:

01 Introduction

02 Power Tools

03 Bird Of Parallax

04 In A Jazz Style

05 Purring Interlude

06 Contrasts Essconic

07 Lego Builds It

08 Pompie Ballet (Excerpt)

09 Intertel

10 Adwick High School No.1

11 Look At Oramics

12 Rotolock

13Purple Dust

14 High Speed Flight

15 Studio Experiment No.1

16 Four Aspects

17 Kia Ora

18 Dr. Faustus Suite

19 Adwick High School No.2

20 Tumblewash

21 Studio Experiment No.2

22 Snow

Disc 2:

01 Rockets In Ursa Major (Excerpt 1)

02 Food Preservation

03 Studio Experiment No.3

04 Bala

05 Episode Metallic

06 Studio Experiment No.4

07 Adwick High School No.3

08 Fanfare Of Graphs

09 Studio Experiment No.5

10 Brocilliande

11 Mary Had A Little Lamb

12 Incidental Music For Invasion (Excerpts)

13 Costain Suite

14 Rockets In Ursa Major (Excerpt 2)

15 Passacaglia

16 Missile Away

17 Pulse Persephone

18 Adwick High School No.4

19 Nestea

20 Rockets In Ursa Major (Excerpt 3)

21 Conclusion

22 Studio Jinks

Essentially the first album to compile the work of electronic innovator Daphne Oram, this title is now out of print.

Besides co-founding the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, inventing electronic musical instruments, pioneering musique concrete and inventing Oramics, (there really isn't enough space to list her achievements), Daphne Oram left behind some startling music.

This compilation collects together sounds from her career; sound effects, original music, advertising, experiments...it really only scratches the surface, but it's a good introduction.

I really can't recommend enough looking further into the music and writings of the remarkable Daphne Oram.

Broadcast - Mother is the Milky Way

Warp 2009

01 Creation Day The Travel Flute Way

02 In Here The World Begins

03 Elegant Elephant

04 Through The Gates Of Yesterday

05 Milling Around The Village

06 The Aphid Sleeps

07 Growing Backwards

08 I'm Just A Person In This Roomy Verse

09 Never Trust A Rusty Bolt

10 Innocence In Orbit

11 Mother's Milk Means Music (At Home In The Universe)

A sweet obscurity from Broadcast now. This EP consists of song ideas, field recordings and randomness.

Only 750 copies were pressed and it was only on sale while on tour.

The Byrds - The Ballads of Easy Rider

Self made fan album 1969

01 Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins

02 Tulsa County

03 Jesus Is Just Alright

04 There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)

05 Close Up The Honky Tonks

06 It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

07 Fiddler a Dram

08 Gunga Din

09 Jack Tarr the Sailor

10 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

11 Ballad Of Easy Rider

Another fan album from The Byrds, this time, a re-imagining of 1969's 'The Ballad of Easy Rider' (hence the added 's' in the title).

The album as released saw The Byrds critical stock rise slightly after the much maligned 'Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde'. It's a laid back country album, probably better than the sum of it's parts. I've always thought the abandonment of psychedelia from the later Byrds output was a shame, this self made album variation (partially) addresses this.

I start the album with 'Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins', the original experimental closer and McGuinn's latest space obsession song. 'Tulsa County', 'Jesus Is Just Alright' and 'There Must Be Someone (I Can Turn To)' are also from the original album. I end my side 1 with a live version of 'Close Up The Honky Tonks' from 'The Byrds Live at Filmore East' and then 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)' from the 'Easy Rider' soundtrack.

Again wanting to open a side with an experimental piece, I chose the outtake 'Fiddler a Dram'. Its weird synth blurb suggesting The Byrds could of remained an experimental psych band if they had wished. Fan favorite 'Gunga Din' follows with original album songs 'Jack Tarr the Sailor' and 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' after that.

I end the album with the soundtrack version of the title song, preferring it over the album version.

Hope any Byrds fans out there will enjoy.

The Wasted Lakes - Häxan - Witchcraft Through the Ages

TOR61 2019

01 Häxan Part I
02 Häxan Part II
03 Häxan Part III
04 Häxan Part IV
05 Häxan Part V

I've always wanted to perform an improvised soundtrack to a film and last December, I done just that.

Häxan, a 1922 Swedish-Danish documentary about witchcraft, has long been a personal favourite. In its original form, it was two hours in length with dialogue boards. In 1968 a version with William Burroughs narrating was released. This was subtitled 'A History of Witchcraft'. I decided to use this shorter cut of the film.

Next, I asked Jonathan Sharp (The Heartwood Institute) and Joe Hiscoke (Holiday, Ponyland) to perform alongside me.

We had one soundcheck and decided to not prepare anything in advance.

The soundtrack was recorded, in front of the film and audience, on December the 14th and is presented here in full.



The film with accompanying soundtrack can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSCPSPhN3O4&feature=youtu.be