Melancholia Vol 19 - Singers and Songwriters

Time for another themed edition of  my Melancholia series just in time to finish off the year. This one focuses on the singer/songwriter genre that peaked in the early 1970s. Many of these artists are among my favorites and this genre is close to being comfort food for me so it surprises me that it's taken me so long to put this together. It has become a regular listen between everything else I've been listening to.

Some of these artists, Joan Beaz, Fred Neil, have their roots in the pre and early sixties folk movement and others, Neil Young, Glen Campbell, are on the fringe of the genre. Shawn Colvin is more contemporary but has carried on the tradition nicely, I love her first album.

Because many of these artist have appeared on other Melancholia editions, song choice was dictated as much by the need to avoid track duplication as it was by my own tastes and likes. Enjoy.

Tracklist

01 Loggins and Messina - House At Pooh Corner
02 Anne Murray - Danny's Song
03 Dave Loggins - Please Come to Boston
04 Joan Baez - Diamonds & Rust
05 Glen Campbell - Gentle on My Mind
06 Steve Goodman - The Dutchman
07 Harry Chapin - Cat's In The Cradle
08 Paul Simon - Something So Right
09 Carole King - Will You Love Me Tomorrow
10 Bruce Cockburn - Wondering Where The Lions Are
11 Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
12 Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze
13 Cat Stevens - Moonshadow
14 Jim Croce - Lover's Cross
15 John Denver - Rocky Mountain High
16 James Taylor - Carolina in My Mind
17 Joni Mitchell - The Circle Game
18 Fred Neil - Everybody's Talking
19 Shawn Colvin - Shotgun Down The Avalanche
20 Harry Nilsson - Me And My Arrow
21 Neil Young - Old Man

The Beatles - Alt-Debut

On the first of January 1962, The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records. During that audition they recorded 15 songs specially selected by their manager Brian Epstein, three of those songs were originals. Decca chose 12 of those songs and licensed two songs the band recorded in Germany during sessions with singer Tony Sheridan.

The record made a few ripples but in the end Decca felt the band had no future and let them go. After changing drummers they were picked up by Parlophone/EMI. Paired with producer George Martin the group skyrocketed up the charts and went on to record 12 more classic albums and numerous singles that dominated the charts and pioneering many now standard recording techniques along the way.

Side One
01 To Know Her Is To Love Her
02 Sure To Fall
03 Like Dreamers Do
04 Besame Mucho
05 Three Cool Cats
06 Hello Little Girl
07 September In The Rain

Side Two
01 Cry For A Shadow
02 Searchin'
03 Take Good Care Of My Baby
04 Crying Waiting Hoping
05 Love Of The Loved
06 The Sheik Of Araby
07 Ain't She Sweet

Reality Notes

So what if Decca had signed The Beatles? Would they have made as many albums? Would they have had the same success and creative output they had working with George Martin? Ultimately Decca turned the band down and Epstein used the tape to shop the band around to other labels. It was common practice at that time for new artists to release a few singles before making an LP so I'm sure some of these songs would have ended up released that way.

I removed three songs from the original 15. Two, Till There Was You and Money, because they appeared on the Parlophone debut and Memphis because I put a better version on the BBC album. Now these songs can sit alongside the rest of the albums with no duplication. I had to fold down the two songs from the Tony Sheridan sessions to mono to sit nicely with the rest of the tracks.

When I was sequencing the album I kept the idea in the back of my mind that Decca was trying to make the band fit in with the balladeers and crooners of the day by putting focus on the lighter and humorous songs. Another reason for removing Money and Memphis from the running.

The cover features an early promo pic with Pete Best, the drummer that would be replaced by Ringo when they made their jump to EMI.

The Byrds - Jet Set

In 1965 The Byrds released their debut album on Columbia Records but most of us know that that was not the start of their recording career. There are enough tracks that predate the first album to fill several discs. Most of those were gathered on the ever expanding Preflyte album. But what if they released an album in 1964? This is my take on what that alt-debut album might have contained.

I've seen many alternative Byrds albums lately and this is me throwing my hat in the ring so to speak.

Side One
01 You Showed Me
02 Tomorrow Is A Long Ways Away
03 The Reason Why
04 The Airport Song
05 For Me Again
06 Boston

Side Two
01 It's No Use
02 Don't Be Long
03 Please Let Me Love You
04 The Only Girl I Adore
05 She Has A Way
06 You Movin'

Reality Notes

My goal on this one was to focus on only those songs that were recorded by the band. No demos, no solo recordings, no alternate versions or songs that appeared again later. All in glorious mono. Just The Byrds even if they weren't called that yet. I threw this together rather quickly with just a little research so forgive me if I misidentified a song or two but I'm confident and happy with my choices.

I must confess to not being that big of a fan of the band. I prefer Sweetheart of the Rodeo over the earlier albums. They've always been a bit hit and miss for me, some great songs and some meh. I was more into Buffalo Springfield I guess.

While I was compiling this I had the realization that many markets and genres had a "good boy" vs "bad boy" imaginary feuds. In England it was The Beatles vs The Stones, here we had The Byrds vs The Buffalo Springfield. Even the crooners back in the day had Bing vs Sinatra. Of course those feuds were all for publicity and did not reflect reality.

The cover image is an early promo pic. I named the album after their previous incarnation seeing as many of these were recorded while still performing under that name.

Melancholia Vol 18 - The MTV 80s

Time for another themed edition from the Melancholia series. This one revolves around the 80s at the peak of MTV influence. I first heard each of these songs while watching MTV in the eighties, back when MTV actually played music. While still not a big fan of the era these songs stuck with me. There are a couple bands on this comp that I further explored but for the most part, to me, these are mostly one hit wonders in my book. But such cool songs that seem to perfectly encapsulate what the eighties were for me.

I have one more themed edition to post and two non-themed volumes that I may or may not post which are more catch all type collections that I enjoy playing but don't seem to have the same emotional impact the others do. I might revisit and restructure them.

Tracklist

01 Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
02 Tears For Fears - Everybody wants to rule the world
03 Scandal - Goodbye To You
04 The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another
05 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink
06 Animotion - Obsession
07 Fine Young Canibals - She Drives Me Crazy
08 Glass Tiger - Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone
09 Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
10 Human League, the - Fascination
11 Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
12 Katrina and the Waves - Walking On Sunshine
13 Madness - Our House
14 Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me
15 OMD - If You Leave
16 Talk Talk - Talk Talk
17 The Outfield - Your Love
18 Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me)
19 Soft Cell - Tainted Love-Where Did Our Love Go (Extended Version)
20 Split Enz - I Got You
21 Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days