Chuck Berry

Here's a couple of my favorite Chuck Berry sides



Around & Around - Chess, 1958



Back In the USA - Chess, 1959



These copies have had some plays on them, but it's still my favorite way of listening to Chuck Berry - scratches and all.
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Steppenwolf

Some late '60s hits from Steppenwolf.

Born To Be Wild / Everybody's Next One - Dunhill, 1968

Magic Carpet Ride / Sookie Sookie - Dunhill, 1968

Rock Me / Jupiter Child - Dunhill, 1969

The singles are all noticeably different from the album versions, some quite radically so. "Magic Carpet Ride" starts cold - instead of fading in - and contains numerous edits. "Jupiter Child" is actually longer that the stereo album version, by way of an alternate intro edit.

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Creedence Clearwater Revival / Lovin' Spoonful

A batch of 45s from a couple of '60s bands who knew a thing or two about how to make singles.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

I Put A Spell On You / Walk On The Water - Fantasy, 1968

Green River / Commotion - Fantasy, 1969

Lookin' Out My Back Door / Long As I Can See The Light - Fantasy, 1970

Sweet Hitch-Hiker - Fantasy, 1971

Interesting thing about CCR's catalog: their albums were released only in stereo, but all their singles were mixed as mono - a characteristic more of the times (top 40 was still AM radio-only) than for any artistic considerations.

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The Lovin' Spoonful

Rain On The Roof / Pow (Theme From "What's Up, Tiger Lily?") - Kama Sutra, 1966

Six O'Clock / You're A Big Boy Now - Kama Sutra, 1967

A band not particularly known for making consistent LPs, the Lovin' Spoonful cranked out a lot of strong 45 sides. Both of the singles linked here have great B-sides not found on their regular albums.

some Bowie

digging through some Bowie 45s:



"The Jean Genie" - RCA - 1972
A huge UK hit single (charted #2) released shortly after Ziggy Stardust, it went nowhere in the US market despite massive promotion from RCA (I remember having to special order it at my local record store at the time). This single features the original mix, which was later cleaned up by Tony Visconti for inclusion on Aladdin Sane the following year.

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"John, I'm Only Dancing" - second single version - 1973 (UK only)
Also known as the "sax" version, recorded during the Aladdin Sane sessions - this is not to be confused with the 1972 single (recorded shortly after Hunky Dory) - despite the fact that both singles have the same catalog number and copyright date. Both singles are extremely rare (it was banned and withdrawn from the US market shortly after its release), but this one's my favorite.

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"Rebel Rebel" - US single version - 1974
This is a radically re-worked version of the Diamond Dogs track (which has more of a "Young Americans" vibe about it), released during his "Philly Dogs" tour. Funky!

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"Heroes" - chanté en Français - 1977 (RCA France)
You've heard it in English, you heard it in German - gee, what's left?

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"Space Oddity" - B-side of "Alabama Song"; RCA (UK) - 1980
The prequel to "Ashes To Ashes" (which would be released later the same year), this is Bowie's 1980 update of his 1969 classic. I love the bleak minimalism of this version, which seems to suggest the infinite void of deep space (or the protagonist's tortured psyche, if you like).

Supremes

Here's a few underrated classics from the post-Diana Ross lineup.

Stoned Love - Motown, 1970

Everybody's Got The Right To Love - Motown, 1970

"Everybody" didn't quite make it to the top 20, but "Stoned Love" reached #7, making it their last top ten hit. My copy has a mono mix of the long version, despite the 2:49 running time printed on the label. Not sure how many of these got out.

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a few Van Morrison B-sides

a birthday post for Mr. Van Morrison:



"Mechanical Bliss" - B-side of "Joyous Sound"; Warner Bros. - 1977

A pretty rare track, from an album of the same name - recorded in '75 or thereabouts - that never was released. Too bad, I liked it way better than the A-side.

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"It's All In The Game" - B-side of "Cleaning Windows"; Mercury (U.K.) - 1979

Essentially the first half of the medley with "You Know What They're Writing About" (from Into The Music), this is Van's cover of the '50s Tommy Edwards hit. It's one of Van's finest moments on record (my opinion), and I prefer to listen to it the way it is on this single. I actually heard this single played on a jukebox in some bar once, which was a very cool thing - I felt like I was in a movie or something.

Public Image Ltd

Anybody here like Public Image LTD? I sure did, at least before Johnny boy kicked Keith and Wobble out and everything turned to crap.

Anyway, if you dig PiL and haven't heard these, it's worth checking out. Different mixes, stuff like that.



"Death Disco" / "And No Birds Do Sing" - Virgin - 1979

- the A-side was eventually renamed 'Swan Lake' on Second Edition.




"Memories" / "Another" - Virgin - 1980

- the B-side is basically 'Graveyard', but with vocals.




"The Flowers Of Romance" / "Home Is Where The Heart Is" - Virgin - 1981

- I'm pretty sure the B-side is a Second Edition outtake.

Nick, Gene & The Third Booth

some random additions:



Brinsley Schwarz - "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" United Artists - 1974

A classic slice of pre-punk British pub-rock, before Elvis Costello drained all the tongue-in-cheek hippie pathos and turned it into a hit. Exceptionally tinny production by Dave Edmunds (I guess the Flamin' Groovies sound was intentional). I love the spoken word "We MUST have peace...".

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Gene Pitney - "Take It Like A Man" Musicor - 1962

An obscure B-side. I've been digging through my collection of his singles, and this one stands out. There's a tortured creepiness about it, which was sort of his trademark. Pitney was the 1960s' Morrissey.

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The Third Booth - "I Need Love" Independence - 1967



The greatest 45 ever made - this makes me feel glad to be alive every time I hear it. Everything can be found here: Ramones, Spacemen 3, BJM... you name it. Not particularly original or competent, because it doesn't need to be (like all great rock music). The only reason for its exclusion from the Nuggets series must be that it would have rendered all the other tracks unnecessary.

Shellac & Spacemen 3

Shellac - "Doris" / "Wingwalker"
Touch & Go, 1993

This is the first Shellac record I bought, prompted by hearing a 30-second clip of "Wingwalker" on Sound Opinions (a long, long time ago). The albums that came after are all good enough, but nothing else they did quite matches this.

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Spacemen 3 - "Walking With Jesus" / "Take Me To The Other Side" (demo) / "Walking With Jesus" (demo)
Earworm, 2003

Nothing too special here: A Perfect Prescription A-side, backed with two Forged Prescriptions tracks, you gotta love the packaging. Even if one of the songs is repeated (face it, they could release an entire album of "Walking With Jesus" versions, and it would still be cool). Trippy.

some Iggy & a Jesus and Mary Chain

Iggy and the Stooges - "I'm Sick Of You"/"Tight Pants"/"Scene Of The Crime" (Bomp! - 1977)



Iggy Pop/James Williamson - "I Got A Right"/"Gimme Some Skin" (Siamese - 1977)

Iggy's return to the music world in '77 coincided with these two semi-legit singles, one of them on Greg Shaw's Bomp! label (which also released his collaboration with ex-Stooge James Williamson - Kill City - that same year). My guess is that they're either demos for Raw Power, or part of the aborted 1972 album that preceded it. Either way, these tracks are fantastic.

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The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Upside Down"/"Vegetable Man" (Creation/Rough Trade - 1984)

Their first release - and probably the noisiest, most dissonant thing they ever put out. The A-side has appeared on a few comps over the years, but check out the Pink Floyd cover on the flipside.

a Nick Lowe EP & a Morrissey B-side

Nick Lowe - Bowi EP (Stiff - 1977)

1. Born A Woman
2. Shake That Rat
3. Marie Provost
4. Endless Sleep

Great 4-track 7" from Nick, back when he was on fire. Side one is subtitled 'LIVE' ("Born A Woman" - get it?) and side two is 'DEAD' (you'll get it). With Dave Edmunds, Pete Thomas (Attractions) and Steve Golding (The Rumour).

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Morrissey - "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name"

B-side to the "Suedehead" 45 (1988) - this one always seems to get left out of all the compilations. Pathetic, funny and sad at the same time - it's one of my favorite Morrissey songs. Who else (besides Ray Davies) can sum up someone's life story in two minutes?

SF Underground & Psychedelic Furs

Let's see... here's some vintage SF punk, and a rare Psychedelic Furs item...



various - "S.F. Underground"

4 track 7" EP (Subterranean Records - 1979)

1. No Alternative - "Johnny Got His Gun"
2. Flipper - "Earthworm"
3. Tools - "Asexuality in the 80s"
4. VKTMS - "Ballad of Pincushion Smith"

Back in '78-79 A friend of mine moved to San Francisco, got a job as a bouncer at Mabuhay Gardens and got into the whole SF underground/punk music scene. Occasionally he would come back to the midwest to visit, bringing lots of cool music (this is how I discovered The Residents and Tuxedomoon, to name a few) - including this EP. The No Alternative and Tools tracks on this comp actually became staples in a garage band I was playing in at the time. Good times...

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The Psychedelic Furs - "Psychedelic Furs Commercial"

Not a rip of the "Dumb Waiters" single (CBS UK, 1981) - this is the transparent flexi-disc that was laminated over the sleeve it came in (you can sort of see it in the picture), which had a 5 minute 'commercial' for the soon-to-be released Talk Talk Talk album. A Brilliant marketing idea looking back on it now - got me totally psyched for the upcoming album. I probably played the cover as often as the single itself.

Elvis Costello - Alison (US single version)

Here's one more for today, kind of similar to the previous post in that it was a failed attempt to make a UK single more 'radio friendly' for the U.S. market...



Elvis Costello - "Alison" (US single version)

The idea here seems to be: take the album version, overdub some synth strings (Steve Nieve?), add more backing vocals (obviously Elvis himself), add a ton of reverb and market the thing towards Adult Contemporary radio.
This was released by Columbia in October 1977, backed with a live version of "Mystery Dance" (my copy is a double A-side reissue with "Accidents Will Happen").

The Who - Substitute (censored version)

First entry:



The Who - "Substitute" (US single version)

It's the censored version (released as a single in the US, Canada and South Africa in 1966), with substituted lyrics (how's that for irony).
It sounds to me like Roger completley re-tracked his vocal, plus about one minute has been trimmed from the original.

The altered lyrics:

I tried walking forward
but my feet walk back

replace the original:

I look all white
but my dad was black