70’s

Way Back Wednesdays: Jimmy Campbell – “Half Baked”

January 27, 2021 — 2 Comments

I shouldn’t think this 70’s classic suffers from a case of Soggy Bottom. New post time!

  • Pictured: Jimmy Campbell with his trusty guitar (Date unknown) (Photo via DakoSuede/Last.fm)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to type up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to get writing up about a different piece of music every day! Off the back of my bumper list of my own Top 25 Best Albums Of 2020 (Which you should totally check out on the homepage) – it is time for us to go Way Back, and far before my time, for this week’s Way Back Wednesdays track. On Instagram, I recently saw a video of popular US Art-Pop singer-songwriter Angel Olsen describing the musicality of Jimmy Campbell’s “Half Baked” as one of the most influential tracks to her in the viral interview with Pitchfork, and I thought it would be an excellent choice for our weekly feature. Jimmy Campbell was a singer-songwriter, producer and guitarist from Liverpool who was around mainly during the 1970’s and the early 1980’s. He was a member of the Merseybeat groups The Kirkby’s, The 23rd Turnoff and Rockin’ Horse, before going on to produce three solo album releases. Originally, Campbell started off with more acoustic-based, indie folk music, before going on to find his feet in the Psych-Rock and Prog-Rock genres, and he loved his Funk-Rock too. Sadly, Campbell is no longer with us because he sadly passed away in 2007. Fortunately, The Guardian included his compilation album, “The Dream Of Michelangelo”, in it’s list of “1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die”, so justice was served. Let’s take a listen to “Half-Baked” below.

“Half-Baked” was the title track from Campbell’s second solo LP, which saw the light of day in 1970. Although I did not exist at the time, and neither did my parents, for that matter, my research still indicates that Campbell is a popular commodity with the die-hard modern record collectors, and he was described as “The era’s lost songwriter” by Bob Stanley, of The Times, before going on to record tracks that had later been covered by Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and The Swinging Blue Jeans. “Half-Baked” starts off as an acoustic Chamber-Folk piece, as Campbell creates a somber tone by singing “If I’d a known what would happen/I would have stayed in bed/But you know how it is, when you get something stuck in your head” as his light guitar strums begin to introduce a mid-tempo Violin melody to the fray, while the lyrics bleakly touch on depression. It isn’t long, however, until the drum beat kicks in, and we get a riotous guitar solo that evokes the Hendrix-like blues of the 1960’s. The chorus of “Half-Baked, I wasn’t ready but I couldn’t wait” remains upbeat as the guitars peak. Yet, the pace soon changes again, as we go back to the Chamber-Folk of the opening as Campbell sings about heartbreak. It soon changes again, and back again, and the track dips into Funk grooves by the end, while the same Blues-ish guitar riffs and the somber, classical instrumentation pushes and pulls the mood forward and back again. The sound is continually renewing, yet we get a fairly psychotic crescendo of Woodwinds and ear-grating strings. Campbell does a good job of keeping things cohesive enough, with the emerge-and-retreat template of the odd Chamber-Folk and Psych-Funk combination selling a narrative of mental health and emotional renewal, even though the tense String ballad at the end feels a little abrupt. Although it may have it’s inconsistencies, Jimmy clearly has a talent for songwriting, as he pairs the upbeat and somber tones of the lyrics in ways that feel drawing and expansive. Although the pacing may be a little ‘undercooked’ for me, the fresh songwriting makes up for it in the excitement, yet fragility, of the dynamics in storytelling. A genre-breaking single from an artist who deserves to be remembered.

  • Pictured: Jimmy Campbell in an “On A Monday” PR shoot in the 60’s/70’s (Photo via Pinterest.com)

I have no further discussion in store for you today – but please feel free to join me again tomorrow, when I’m going to share some brand new music for you. It’s a good old “Who Knew” affair – as we take an in-depth listen to the new album project from a US multi-instrumentalist and composer who was raised in New Jersey, and he is the co-founder of folk band The Lumineers, who scored an international chart hit with “Ho Hey” in 2012. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Ray Stevens – “Santa Claus Is Watching You”

December 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

He knows when you’re sleeping and he knows when you’re awake. It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Christmas Through A Different Window” (Released: 1997) (via MCA Nashville)

Festive tidings to you – I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s now time for me to get typing up all about today’s track on the daily music blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! “Santa Claus Is Watching You” is a quirky little Christmas track, which I found out all about when I was researching some alternative or obscure Christmas tracks to spotlight on the blog this year over the world wide web. Sadly, the name of Ray Stevens did not initially ring any Jingle Bells with me (See what I did there?), but it turns out that he’s really a very prolific Country and R&B singer-songwriter originally from the state of Georgia, over in the states. He’s also worked as a television presenter, music arranger and music producer too, and Stevens has also been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame, the Christian Music Hall Of Fame and he’s even received Gold certification sales for some of his albums, so he may be just a little bit before my time, is all. After all, what do I know, eh? “Santa Claus Is Watching You” was a track which he originally wrote and performed as a one-off single released back in 1962, before he later re-released the track as a part of his “Christmas Through A Different Window” seasonal LP collection in 1977. You can still buy the record, but the single in it’s original form is a rarity now, and it’s worth a decent amount of money. I do not have that kind of money. Anyways, let’s laugh along to the music video below.

Ray Stevens has also been inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum, which happened just last year in 2019, and so he is still trucking along with his work. The track, specifically, has actually been doing the rounds for a long time now, and you can also get hold of it from his “The Best Of Ray Stevens” compilation album which he put out in 1967, where the track was even re-recorded, electronically, to simulate stereo. As a result of this, I sadly have no real idea of when the official music video, that you just saw above, was released. However, it’s still quite charming and memorable despite it’s dated production. The track, however, peaked at the #45 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. I think that it’s still quite funny, too. The start plays out with a showering of Sleigh Bell melodies, as Stevens calls out: “Now baby-doll, sweetie-pie, sugar-plum, honey-bunch, angel-face” above a stop-and-start combination of Piano and Guitar work, before delivering the killer hook of “Be careful what you say and do/’Cause Santa Claus is watching you” on top of the jovial, care-free rhythms. It gets more romantic and unveiling later on, as Stevens attributes “You’d better kiss and hold me tight/And give me a good lovin’ night” and “When Christmas comes, you’ll be crying too” to the repeated vocal hook. A quirky bridge of doo-wop filler lines and a list of reindeer’s names who are not a part of Santa’s elite group of Sleigh pullers follow up on the verses, to add a quirky sense of fun to the lyricism. He later claims that Santa Claus is the head of the CIA, and the track ends with some form of Spoken Word freestyle about his paranoia of being watched by the White-bearded international celebrity. It makes for a fun and entertaining listen, although the cohesion and flow of the track gets a little uneven at times, as Stevens keeps dashing through different modes of his wordplay vocal delivery and his instrumental breaks during the track. I’m not sure how appealing this track would be to children either, but I think that’s a good thing, in this case, because it makes it feel different to your bog-standard festive Pop track primarily aimed at Children that Pop singers like Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber are known to have performed in recent years. Stevens also manages to deliver some good comedy throughout the single too, even if the flow loses it’s way a little bit during the middle. The Rockwell of yuletide tracks – which came an odd 20 years before, perhaps. Overall, it’s still pretty hilarious.

  • Pictured: Vinyl Copy of “Santa Claus Is Watching You” (1962) (Photo via Discogs.com/Mercury Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post! Tomorrow marks a short-lived, but celebratory, new era for our weekly Scuzz Sundays series, because we’re going to be looking at some festive-themed emo-rock and pop-punk gems taken from the late-1990’s, up until the mid-2000’s, from tomorrow onwards. Tomorrow’s Emo throwback comes from a classic American Heavy Metal band who are often regarded as “Glam-Rock” for their prominent use of makeup and female costumes. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: The Wombles – “Wombling Merry Christmas”

December 1, 2020 — Leave a comment

What is a 70’s kid’s favourite sport on Television? – Wombledon! Time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Wombling Merry Christmas” (Single) (Re-Released in 2011) (via Dramatico)

Crikey – I really couldn’t think of anything else! Not to worry, because it’s now time for me to get typing up all about today’s track on the blog, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to help you discover a different piece of music every day! In timely fashion, since today marks the first day in which you’re allowed to open the first door of your advent calendar, we’re going to take a look at “Wombling Merry Christmas”, a festive novelty hit from 1974. For those unaware, The Wombles was a children’s television series run by BBC in the 1970’s, which was based on a series of children’s books written by Elisabeth Bereford, and it was centered on a set of pointy-nosed creatures that lived underground and recycled human rubbish. It sounds pretty trash on paper, pun intended, but it was very popular and influential at the time. Naturally, the producers of the show decided to get a group of people to dress up as The Wombles and appear on an episode of Top Of The Pops in November of 1974 to kick-start a campaign for “Wombling Merry Christmas”, a novelty single released on CBS Records, to reach the #1 spot of the UK Singles Chart that year. It nearly did so, reaching the #2 spot, losing only to Mud’s “Lonely This Christmas”. This was actually only their first attempt at it, because the track was re-recorded in 2011, with a new music video, in an effort to reach the same goal of a Christmas #1 hit in the UK Singles Chart. It fared much worse, however, I think the reason being that The Wombles were too old of a property for the new generation of youngsters, who are typically the age market who consume the most music, especially via streaming platforms. The track was released in West Germany too, yet it failed to chart. Let’s watch The Wombles perform it below.

It’s tricky to understand that it exists. This is coming from a 22-year-old who has no real experience of seeing The Wombles on television, but I’m vaguely familiar of their existence due to some early memories. You’ve got to remember that it was actually a decent commercial success, even though my research tells me that the critics mostly mocked it during its original release, for reasons that seem pretty clear. That never stopped them from performing a short set – including this track – at the Glastonbury Festival in 2011, however. It was later compiled onto the LP, “Keep On Wombling”, which was surprisingly the group’s third album release as The Wombles. “Merry Wombling Christmas” could be described as a care-free tune for the seasonal time, with the lead erm… Womble singing upbeat pop lines like: “Open your eyes/Look to the skies/When you are lonely” and “Under the ground/There is the sound of a symphony” over the top of a 70’s-centric guitar riff that evokes the contemporary Pop culture of it’s time. The comparisons to The Kinks and The Beatles are measurable, and the hook comes through at a brisk pace, as “All day, we will be Wombling in the snow” and “We wish you a Wombling Merry Christmas” comes through with an uplifting mood, before a saxophone solo provides a brief respite from the Boyband-ish vocals. I wouldn’t say that the melodies are particularly Christmassy, and I don’t think the hook is really that catchy, but it’s a fun case of something random existing and the instrumentation is varied enough for it to not get tiresome. We’re obviously not meant to take it too seriously, and it’s cheesy fun. I could argue that it’s novelty diminishes the credibility of the arts, but I’m too busy Wombling along to feel the need to get too harsh on it. It doesn’t really take the trash out of it’s opposition since there’s not very much to it musically, but I still wish you a Wombling Merry Christmas!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Keep On Wombling” (Released in December, 1974) (via CBS Records)

Thank you for checking out today’s Christmas-themed blog post – I’ve got more to come later this week! As always, you can join me again tomorrow – Where we will be looking at something more serious, but it’s still quite light-hearted. The track comes from a new French Synth-Punk group who are still in their 20’s, and they have just released their debut album on the Un Plain Simple label imprint of Sony Music. The trio have supported Blossoms on a European Tour. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Manu Dibango – “Soul Makossa”

July 14, 2020 — Leave a comment

Talk about The Lion King, this one is The Founder Of Funk! It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Soul Makossa” (Released in 1972) (via Fiesta Records (France) and Atlantic Records (USA))

Where are you, Sun? Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, as per usual, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Manu Dibango was a Cameroonian musician and songwriter who played both the Saxophone and Vibraphone, and he was born to a father of the Yabassi ethnic tribe, and to a mother of the Duala group. Manu Dibango developed his own unique style of music, covering a vast spectrum of traditional African roots music – and he fused them together with a cohesive range of genres – such as Jazz, Afrobeat, Salsa, Samba, Gospel, Reggae and Blues. His biggest hit was 1972’s “Soul Mokassa”. The name is very self-explanatory, it’s simply a fusion of Soul and “Mokassa” – an Urban Cameroonian style of Jazz that blends prominent use of Brass sections with electric Bass rhythms. The refrain has been sampled by Michael Jackson and Rihanna, and the single was a huge influence on Kool & The Gang. It also led Dibango to frequent collaborations with the legendary Fela Kuti. An interesting fact about this track is that only few copies were ever printed, and after widespread airplay on WBLS (the then-most popular Black radio station in the US), over 20 cover versions were recorded by different groups to capitalize on the high, but limited, demand. Sadly, we lost Manu Dibango on 24th March, 2020 after he caught COVID-19, whilst living in France. Let’s get lost in the sounds of “Soul Makossa” below.

Undoubtedly driven by it’s very Saxophone-based grooves, many have claimed “Soul Makossa” to be the very first, true Disco record. There are no traditionally written lyrics to really speak of, but there is a prominent use of Lead Vocals. Manu Dibango’s claim to fame was the “Mamma ko, Mamma ka” rhythm pattern that gets scattered throughout the track, and the “Ma-mako, Ma-ma-Sa, Mako-Make Ssa” choral refrain that played a massive factor in defining the significant sound of a “Disco” record. The vocal refrain gets repeated by a choir in the backing vocals, but the instrumentation clearly has an even more lasting effect. Dibango plays beautifully on the Saxophone, and he is a great arranger. The track gradually adds layer upon layer of bright, warm Saxophone riffs. These are very upbeat and cheerful in tone, but it’s not so much of an uplifting pop sound, as there’s noticeably a tight edge of Jazz in the loose Vibraphone sections and the Congolese rumba sounds, wrapped in ensemble Conga drum patterns and ongoing, mid-tempo Trumpet shifts. He also mixes the catchy vocal patterns together with the key shifts between major and minor, to add new elements of Afrobeat and Ska to the persisting, recurring Brass-centric patterns. This is delightfully repetitive and breezy, with a summery warmth that makes it sound like the musical equivalent of grabbing a can of San Pellegrino (I assure you, this is not sponsored) on a scorching hot day, and just necking it down. Rest In Peace, old friend!

  • Pictured: Manu Dibango playing a live set at an undisclosed music festival (in 2014) (Photo via Wikicommons)

Thank you very much for reading this post! As always, I will be back tomorrow for our first-part (of two) look at the brand new double single by an indie Dream-Pop group from Lund, a city in the South-West province of Sweden. They’ve often been compared to The Postal Service, and the group got their brodcast-related name from a local petrol-station-turned-radio-station-turned-repair shop called “Radioavdelningen”, and giving you the rough translation will ruin the suprise I’ve given to you from these clues! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Funkadelic – “One Nation Under A Groove”

April 28, 2020 — 1 Comment

A message of unity that is always relevant in times like these! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “One Nation Under A Groove” (Released in September 1978) (via Warner Bros. Records)

Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, as always, I’m writing up your daily post on the blog about a specific track because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music each day! I’m going old-school today with a classic from the Funk music love affair of the 1970’s! “One Nation Under A Groove” is an old-fashioned twirler from Funkadelic, a band with WAY too many members to really mention, but led and produced by George Clinton, a Funk musician born in North Carolina in 1941. Clinton was forever fascinated by Science Fiction and psychedelic fashion, which he draws upon for the heavier, genre-blurring sound of Funkadelic, compared to it’s sister act Parliament. Clinton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1997 and he’s considered to be one of the pioneering inventors of the Funk-Rock genre, along with the likes of Sly Stone and James Brown. One of the most notable Funkadelic releases was “One Nation Under A Groove”, the tenth album release of the project, released in 1978. It is considered one of the all-time best, appearing in the book of “100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die” and ranking on similar lists by Vibe, Rolling Stone, NME and more. It’s forever remembered by it’s timeless messages of unity and together-ness! Let’s hear it below!

Less politically charged than some of Clinton’s other releases from Funkadelic or Parliament, but still containing important messages of social acceptance without boundaries (gender, race, sexuality), “One Nation Under A Groove” was a monumental record in getting the mainstream to understand Funk music and to appreciate black musicians in a less racially obtrusive way. It’s built, as the title implies, on a mid-tempo groove. Multiple vocalists take the mic and the band have fantastic chemistry, which connotes both the lyrical and musical messages of peace in unity. However, the tone is very positive and upbeat, rather than feeling threatening or intimidating. The drums feel very rhythmic, with some tubular bell smashes and hand claps for added percussion. The chorus is one to die for – with excellently repetitive guitar licks and the steady bass guitar chords adding more formulaic activity. The track is full of many different layers of instrumentation that, though almost indistinguishable as individual sections, flow together as a cohesive whole to form a symphonic and influential rock sound. It’s very guitar-driven, but the synthesized brass chords and the early R&B sensibilities keep the sound fresh and renewing, more than justifying it’s long eight-minute duration. Lively, eclectic and accessible. It’s impossible not to tap your feet or flail your arms around to this classic!

  • Pictured: George Clinton and the numerous recurring members of Funkadelic in a press shot (1976) (via CBC Radio)

Thank you for reading this post! Stay inside and wash your hands, but turn the volume up and keep on grooving! We’ll be continuing to embrace music from different cultures tomorrow with an in-depth look back at an 80’s IDM track from a Japanese composer who was one of the members of Yellow Magic Orchestra and has scored films like ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’, ‘The Last Emperor’ and ‘The Revenant’! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: The Boomtown Rats – “I Don’t Like Mondays”

April 27, 2020 — Leave a comment

As we’re in Lockdown, I guess most of us don’t care for them! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Bob Geldof (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Harmonica), Garry Roberts (Lead Guitar/Percussion), Pete Briquette (Bass Guitar/Keyboard) and Simon Crowe (Drums/Backing Vocals) (March 2020) (Photo Credit: Standard.co.uk)

Good Monday afternoon to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! It’s Monday, so I thought it’d be a bit ironically funny if I wrote about this track today. Known as “The Citizens Of Boomtown” from their recent album, The Boomtown Rats are an Irish new wave pop-rock group led by World Aid organizer Bob Geldof. The band had several mainstream chart hits between 1977 and 1985, before they originally called-it-splits (See what I did there?) in 1986. The band became active again with a reunion in 2013 with most of the original line-up intact, but without original keyboardist Johnnie Fingers or Gerry Cott, their original rhythm guitarist. The Boomtown Rats are still releasing new music as lately as “Citizens Of Boomtown” in March this year. “I Don’t Like Mondays” is one of their biggest classic tracks and it’s perhaps their most well-known and most popular track. It was released as a single from “The Fine Art Of Surfacing”, the band’s third album, released in 1979, which climbed up to #7 in the UK Albums Chart in 1979. The single, “I Don’t Like Mondays”, was the sixth biggest hit in the UK of 1979 and it was also the band’s second single to reach the top of the UK Singles Chart. It’s writing was inspired by a shooting spree by a 16-year-old at an Elementary School in the US, with Geldof scribbling each of the lyrics down upon an immediate return to his hotel room after hearing about it on a telex report broadcast on Georgia’s university campus radio station, WRAS, as “I Don’t Like Mondays” was the first phrase the crime’s suspect said to the news anchor. Let’s have a listen below!

A piano ballad of choice, I’m not really the world’s biggest Bob Geldof fan to be entirely truthful with you, but “I Don’t Like Mondays” is not terrible and I feel that Geldof deserves his artistic credit as a songwriter for it’s due here. It starts off with a grand piano riff, beginning the track off with a haunting tome and an old-fashioned Blues sensibility. It doesn’t delve into Americana territory, but the instrumentation is chilling before a poppier backdrop gets created by synths and a fundamentally child-like vocal performance from Geldof. Geldof tells the story of the shooting case: “The silicon chip inside her head/Gets switched to overload” before studying her internal emotions driven by a troubled home life: “and Daddy doesn’t understand it/He always said she was as good as gold”, finished off by a recurring hook: “He can see no reason because there are no reasons/What reason do you need to be shown”, before the upbeat, catchy pop hook repeats: “Tell me why, I don’t like Mondays/I want to shoot the whole day down” takes centre stage with a symphonic backing vocal. I feel the earlier half of the track, with the darker tone, is definitely the most interesting, lyrically and creatively, element in play, but the relatable hooks of the chorus and the acoustic instrumentation in the form of the basic piano keys and the neat string section. The cheerful melodies feel happy and easy to sing along with, but this tone sounds daring and superficial at times, with a more complex and psychologically twisted meaning hidden beneath the joyous piano patterns. It’s not particularly brilliant as I feel the upbeat side to the tone feels very mainstream and quite generic, but the track never feels outdated and when you listen to the lyrics from a different perspective, there’s a subtle level of hidden artifice that makes it feel more rewarding.

  • Pictured: The Boomtown Rats in a still image from their “I Don’t Like Mondays” music video (1979) (Taken via MTV)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as always, with an in-depth look at another classic, vintage record that was recorded during the 1970’s. This time, it’s a legendary Funk jam taken from the tenth album of a band who pursued a heavier and more psychedelic-rock driven sound to their peers and expressed a universal theme of unity and acceptance in their music… Particularly in tomorrow’s aforementioned track on the blog! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: The Specials – “A Message To You, Rudy”

February 6, 2020 — Leave a comment

Give it a listen and you might find something Special about it! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Lynval Golding (Lead Guitar), Horace Panter (Bass Guitar), Terry Hall (Vocals), Jerry Dammers (Keyboard), Silverton Hutchinson (Drums), Roddy Radiation (Lead Guitar) and Neville Staple (Vocals, Percussion) in the cover artwork for “The Specials” (1979) (Original Line-Up)

It’s Thursday and I’m sitting at my desk, accompanied by a bright array of sunshine outside of my window in Stoke-On-Trent, as the nights are getting longer and the cold frost is momentarily disappearing. It seems like a great day to listen to a little bit of 2-tone or ska, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me, Jacob Braybrooke, to write about the 1979 track, “A Message To You, Rudy” by underrated British band The Specials, although it was originally performed as a slow Jamaican Rocksteady ballad by Dandy Livingstone back in 1967. Interestingly, the trombone parts of the original track were recorded by Cuban Jazz icon Rico Rodriquez, who also recorded the trombone parts for The Specials’ cover version of the track, which reached the #10 spot of the UK Singles Chart in 1967. Let’s bob our heads along to the track below.

A band who have become iconic for challenging the political and social barriers surrounding their native country of the UK, The Specials manage to recreate a classic Rocksteady track by conveying upbeat Ska tones and a 2-step Dub rhythm, infused by punk’s attitude and energy, to create a fairly safe but love-able new take on a vintage Jamaican classic. The lyrics remain unchanged, as then-vocalist Terry Hall croons: “Stop your messing around/Better think of your future”, which is layered above Rodriquez’s euphoric trombone and a light drum pattern which bounces along to the beat of the vocal harmonies. There is also the use of a Harmonica at the beginning, as the instrumentation gets established to have a highly organic heart. Hall continues on: “Rudy, a message to you Rudy”, as a Trumpet solo unfurls with the pure Ska sound and the old-school Rocksteady center. The original version was an ode to the youth of Kingston in the late 60’s, and it seems like The Specials’ cover version has been morphed to address a wider British audience, but it doesn’t seem to miss it’s roots with it’s bass-led impact. Overall, it’s still a very uplifting ska number which, although not wholly original, feels distanced enough from the original track to say something new. There’s no wonder it’s still used in films and TV shows fairly regularly.

  • Pictured: A LEGO recreation of the “A Message To You Rudy” music video (Photo Credit: Musical Brick) (2018)

Thank you for reading this post! As always, I’ll be back tomorrow and I will be celebrating the release of La Roux’s “Supervision” album with an in-depth overview of the latest single to be released from the album, “Automatic Driver”! If you’ve read the blog before, you’ll know that I’m very, very excited for the release of this one, as it’s been six years since the release of her previous LP record, 2014’s “Trouble In Paradise”! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Greg Lake – “I Believe In Father Christmas”

December 27, 2019 — Leave a comment

He’s already been and he left crumbs of mince pies on my kitchen table! Like an After Eight mint at the end of a Christmas dinner, It’s time for a Post-Christmas festive post!

  • Pictured: Greg Lake performing an intimate live concert (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Well… It’s all over! For another year at least! I hope that you had a lovely Christmas Day and a great Boxing Day Celebration and it might be over, but I’m sure your fridge is still filled with Buffet delights and there are still some Mince Pies left at the front of your cupboard, so it won’t stop me from sneaking in a few more Christmas-themed posts on the blog to tide us over until New Year’s Day! Happy holidays, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and today, I’m blogging about Greg Lake’s “I Believe In Father Christmas”!

A more recognisable festive track than some of the efforts I’ve been writing about on the blog in recent weeks, “I Believe In Father Christmas” was Greg Lake’s earliest solo single recording since his membership as a part of King Crimson! It was originally released in 1975 and it went on to become one of the true Christmas classics, but he didn’t think it would pan out that way! It was written as a protest song against the greed of over commercialism during the gift-giving season at the end of the year! The lyrics focus on the rekindling of adolescent excitement at Christmas. Lake recites: “They said there’ll be snow at Christmas/They said there’ll be peace on earth/But instead it just kept on raining”, later adding, “They sold me a dream of Christmas/They sold me a silent night/And they told me a fairy story/’Till I believed in the Israelite”, before further stirring the pot near the end of the track: “I wish you a hopeful Christmas/I wish you a brave new year/All anguish, pain and sadness/Leave your heart and let your road be clear”, as Lake ends the track on a hopeful note by essentially declaring that the magic of Christmas comes from ignoring the materialistic elements created by the Corporations, instead offering his friendship and an open mind as a true gift for the season. The lyrics are delivered underneath a conventional Indie Rock sound, with all of the sleigh bells and the acoustic guitar whistles you would expect the track to give you. The track went on to reach #2 on the UK Singles Chart in it’s first release, with some controversy surrounding potential anti-religion lyrical themes in the track. However, it’s more based on the promises that get unfulfilled by nature and the impossibly overhyped tropes suggested by the big corporations. It’s a fairly solid and enjoyable track, with a grand structure and a large, orchestral climax, albeit a little overplayed. I love the huge Falsetto effect near the end as Lake declares: “Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell”. This track gives you the festive feeling you need, while Lake wishes for us to get the Christmas we deserve.

  • Pictured: Greg Lake in a photoshoot before a live concert in 1994 (Photo Credits: Ian Dickson/Redferns)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, as normal service resumes on the blog with an in-depth look at the new track from a British Psychedelic Rock band from Hackney, London who are named after one of the original Pokémon creatures! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Christmas Day Special: Sir Paul McCartney – “Wonderful Christmas Time”

December 25, 2019 — Leave a comment

That’s Sir to us! A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to each and every one of you, my dear readers! Thank you for continuing to follow and support my musings!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Wonderful Christmas Time” (1979) – Is it really the worst Christmas song of all-time?

Thank you for taking a moment to be anti-social and keeping your fingers off the party food for a few minutes to have a look at my blog today! As with every day, the support really does mean a lot to me! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and today, since it’s Christmas Day, I think it would be a great chance for us to briefly revisit a Christmas Classic from a man who is, simply, royalty! He’s got a knighthood from our Queen in the UK, after all! He’s recently been confirmed as one of the headliners for The Main Stage at Glastonbury between 24th-28th June. McCartney will be drawing up a crowd as the Saturday night (27th June) headline act. He’ll be joined by Taylor Swift on Sunday night (28th June), with Friday Night’ (26th)’s act yet to be confirmed. I’m personally hoping for a big rock band, such as Muse or Kasabian, to do it! We all know the song already, so I’m not going to introduce it in a lot of detail, but “Wonderful Christmas Time” is a seasonal track released by Sir Paul McCartney in November 1979, as the first solo single since he cut ties with his band following The Beatles, The Wings, back in 1979 after the release of their final album together, “Back To The Egg”! Many publications have given it scathing reviews and have called it “the worst christmas song of all-time”, so I’m here to give it a listen and decide whether it is or not!

The track, “Wonderful Christmas Time” is a light-hearted and settling yuletide anthem. To be fair, it hasn’t been written with a lot of complex depth and hidden purpose, but “The Moon is right/The Spirit’s up” has a rhythmic twang to it and the light Guitar chords have a nice simplicity to them, although I don’t really see what the Moon has to do with Christmas, but here we are. We later get the choir singing “Ding-Dong-Ding-Dong” under a Falsetto, which I find to be irritating and annoying. However, it’s a pop song from the 70’s performed by Paul McCartney and it’s very amusing to hear the electronic synthesizers begin to come creeping in. It’s a precursor to the biggest music craze of the 80’s. If I’m completely honest with you, there isn’t a lot that I like within this track. The lyrics: “The word is out/About the town/To lift a glass/Ah, don’t look down” are nonsensical and based on easy rhyming, as opposed to having thought behind them. What’s down there? Spiders? Trump? “The party’s on/The feelin’s here/That only comes/This time of year” is a 30-second verse that tells you nothing and the ” “The choir of children sing their song/they’ve practiced all year long”, followed by “Ding-Dong Ding-Dong, ooo-oooooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-OOOHHHH-oo-oo-oo” is excruciating and it feels like it’s obviously there to just fill in a gap, as it goes on seemingly forever. It juggles weirdly-placed Space Synths with Jingle Bells, which is mixed to a questionable effect. The pause always confuses me. Did the Children forget a ding dong? However, it’s Christmas, so a redeeming factor is the it’s very amusing to hear the electronic synthesizers begin to come creeping in. It’s a precursor to the biggest music craze of the 80’s and it’s a Paul McCartney pop song from the 70’s, so it’s accepted for what it is, even if Paul’s scraping up the millions from royalties for a crap song where he toys about with a music machine and enlists the help of a droning choir that he doesn’t actually use. Right, I need to get back to sitting in front of the TV and enjoying the company of the family around me! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year again…

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “McCartney II” (1980) – “Archive Collection” (2011 Remastered Edition)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be celebrating Boxing Day on the blog tomorrow with a quick post on a lesser-known vintage Christmas tune which you might not have heard before! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Sly & The Family Stone – “Running Away”

October 12, 2019 — 1 Comment

It’s the weekend! So, here is a timeless tune from 1971 that you can’t run away from!

  • Pictured: Vinyl Cover Artwork for “There’s A Riot Goin’ On” (Released on 20th November, 1971) (via Epic Records)

Sly & The Family Stone were a psychedelic soul and funk band in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. They were formed in San Francisco in 1966 by Sly Stone, a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and record producer, who formed the band with family members and close friends, a band who went down in history, not only as an early pioneer in the development of the funk, soul and psychedelic jazz genres, but also as the first racially integrated group from the US. “Running Away” is a track which was released in early 1972 as a single from the group’s fifth studio LP, “There’s A Riot Goin’ On”, which was recorded at Record Plant Studios, California in 1970 and 1971, later being released on November 20, 1971 by Epic Records. The record’s sound is dominated by soulful drum melodies, hard funk rhythms and overdubbing mixes, which makes it ripe for sampling by many artists who did so in later decades. “Running Away” has been covered by the likes of Paul Haig, The Raincoats and The Colourfield. The track was also a commercial success upon it’s original release, as it reached #17 on the UK Singles Chart and #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US.

“Running Away” is about how “at a certain time, everybody runs away from something”, which Sly Stone told an interviewer for Mojo magazine back in March 2010. This meaning, to me, is perfectly communicated by the vocals and the horn-based instrumentation, which kicks in at a very early point in the track. The track is complemented by an upbeat funk and soul sound that is created by a very broad arrangement of production methods, which Stone famously doesn’t like to talk about during interviews. The track is full of trippy guitar licks, intertwined female vocals that are very intelligently layered and wickedly funny, especially created by the mocked laughing in each verse of the track, and the luminous tone created by the vibrant bass guitar chords. The track isn’t nauseous, but it’s very light and psychedelic, which is mainly down to the care-free lyrics which are easy to hum along with: “running away/to get away/you’re wearing out your shoes”. The brass-filled sections are also happy in emotion. The track is a combination of elements that fit together like a glove, which makes it hard to believe the age of the record. The result of the overall sound is a musical experience which feels surreal, if uplifting! Timeless!

  • Pictured: Sly Stone (Vocals, Percussion), Freddie Stone (Guitar), Cynthia Robinson (Backing Vocals/Trumpet), Jerry Martini (Saxophone), “Little Sister” (Backing Vocals), Larry Graham (Bass Guitar) and Gerry Gibson (Drums)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with a new weekly edition of my themed punk Scuzz Sundays blog posts! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/