45s SOUL ON 45


As Shirley Ellis once said, “It’s time for soul time”, so let’s have PAUL RITCHIE dig into the Shindig! 45s bag and pull out the latest seven inchers from Kent


First up is the delightful JACKIE DAY. ‘Naughty Boy’ and ‘Get To Steppin’ are two irresistible


pounding numbers.


The cheeky lead track would get any party going, horns blaring, bass booming and Jackie’s saucy come-on vocals are enough to make any man break into a sweat.


Detroit producer DAVE HAMILTON is next up with a jazzy funky piece called ‘Pisces Pace’ which sounds more like a backing track than an out-and-out instrumental. On the flipside THE BARRINO BROTHERS’ ‘The Bad Things You Said To Me’ adds a gritty vocal to a similar sounding backing track and becoming another sound altogether. Also from the Dave Hamilton stable is ORTHEIA BARNES’ gorgeous ‘Never Ever Leave Me’ coupled with an instrumental version of the Little Ann favourite ‘What Should I Do’, credited to THE


DAVE HAMILTON ORCHESTRA. The gutsy EDDIE WHITEHEAD pleads that he’s ‘Just Your Fool’ over a marching rhythm and rough-hewn production. This recommended 45 is paired up with the hypnotic and atmospheric ‘Losing Control’ by MARY SAXTON who sounds a dead ringer for Tina Turner. ‘You Better Let Him Go’ is doubled up


with ‘The Panic Is On’ by king of the beat ballads, LOU JOHNSON. Personally, I can’t see the point of issuing slow paced ballads like this on 45s. Much prefer to see dance floor friendly numbers on plastic and thankfully we are talking serious dance action with the effeminate sounding DARROW FLETCHER. ‘What Good Am I Without You’ is a 100 miles per hour pilled-up Detroit cracker from the ’60s, while the more modern sounding ‘No Limit’ dates from the ’70s making it a must-buy. The slow mean ’n’ bluesy side of R&B


is showcased on PAT HUNT’s sultry ‘I Ain’t Talkin’’ and ‘My Baby Waited Too Long’ by MAMIE PERRY both culled from Kent’s recent Flash Records story CD.


Finally, why not blow your mind to the


colourful DARONDO doing his best Sly Stone-meets-Al Green on the sassy ‘Didn’t I’ and the wonderfully unhinged ‘Saving My Love’?


92


THE METHOD Art Gallery/The Gatekeeper & I See Monkey Do Monkey


Being one of the best live bands on the circuit was not enough for The Method. They have to keep releasing fantastic singles


too. In keeping with their general brilliance, a London mod clothing label have launched some Method-shaped product. In return The Method have written a song entitled after them. A mutually beneficial hook-up or cynical marketing ploy? Who cares when the results are this good! Marriage is rarely this well-matched. Well-known for their energetic songs, this is probably their most overtly psychedelic track yet. ‘Art Gallery’ is a pounding salute to the perils and pleasures of getting high on a night out (“Slow down and you’ll suffer”) that leaves you startled by its inventiveness. The Coral/Dead 60s/Zutons are probably recent inspirations, but to be honest this unhinged pop song is pulling in its own direction. Phil Istine


PURSON Rocking Horse/Twos And Ones Rise Above Purson (named after a Goetic demon, natch) have been causing a stir in internet land with demo recordings that mix prog with


folkish melodies and add a dash of gothic doom. This, their debut single, provides a really intriguing taster of their album to come. Both tracks here are slow-burn killers, with bewitching lead vocals from Rosalie Cunningham and spidery insidious guitar work. ‘Rocking Horse’ is a reflective creepy number that combines a folky lilt with progressive flourishes to create a dark shadowy atmosphere. The B-side, ‘Twos and Ones’, is easily its equal with a really stunning guitar outro that proves the band have chops in abundance. The charm of the band is their ability to appeal across several different, yet intertwined genres and overlay it all with a doomy vibe that evokes the best of the early ’70s scene. On this evidence Purson are going to go on to great things. Austin Matthews


VARIOUS ARTISTS Graham Dee’s Hitsville London Acid Jazz EP


A clutch of leftovers from 2011’s hugely enjoyable The 60s Collection, from the illustrious writer, producer and session


bassist/guitarist, leaves this listener undecided. Whilst The Fantastics’ ‘We Got Good Lovin’’ is a half-decent mid-paced groove, the remaining cuts confirm that, in life, certain tracks must never see the light of day. Maxine’s ‘A Love I Believe In’ is miles from a groundbreaking vocal, James Patterson’s ‘Silent’ features an out of tune rhythm guitar (ouch!) and Donnie Elbert’s alternative take on the Holland/Dozier/ Holland classic ‘This Old Heart Of Mine’ doesn’t even feature a vocal! And there’s no way Mr Elbert was in sniffing distance of the studio when Polydor house band Fleur de Lys helped cut this “backing track”.


That said, Acid Jazz comes up trumps


again with their lavish Clarifoil EP sleeves. This collection will definitely appeal to Acid Jazz completists, but otherwise... Louis Comfort-Wiggett


VARIOUS ARTISTS Hang It Out To Dry! Big Beat


After surfing the waves with The Chantays, Downey became the home of some mightily fine folk-rock/ garage-punk. The


lovely orange sleeve featuring a cool shot of The New Breed mocks itself up as an original EP with fabulous period artwork and suitably informatively dry notes by Brian Nevill.


Featuring Bud & Kathy’s boy/girl garage


gem ‘Hang It Out To Dry’ (that classic we all know from the amazing Hang It Out To Dry bootleg garage comp which now changes hand for £100 – or so I’m told), The Last Word’s Them-like Pebbles fave ‘Sleepy Hollow’, Craig & Michael’s groovy ‘Drifty’ (a kinda hipper, slightly-delic reimagining of The Righteous Brothers) and, the icing on the cake, a brilliant – and unreleased – psychedelic folk-rocker by The New Breed, ‘One Gross Dream’. Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills


Loneliest Purson in the world BEAT ON 45


LENNY HELSING rounds up the latest garage, psych and beat vinyl offerings


A new, loud and raucous contingent from across the wastes of the north west – that’s Wigan and Liverpool, not Seattle – are The Shook-Ups, whose debut 7”, ‘Second To None’/‘Burden On Me’ (Rotosonic) is out now. Already stalwarts of the Doktor Combover and Stags scene, amongst others, The Shook-Ups celebrate psyched-up garage-rock noise, their enthusiasm and infectious sounding brain scree totally alive, and brimming with organic fervour. The Riots are Russians on a German mod label (Time For Action) who want to get ‘Out Of Control’ and ‘Dance On Your Problems’ on not one but two sevens. But couldn’t this besuited three-piece have found better things to do with the time they spent in London than try to re-write weak Jam songs? The new art school this ain’t. Annoying trait: A-sides at 45 and flips at 33.


A bunch who


have their boot- heels in the beat hall and their shirt- sleeves in the soul kitchen are Les Spadassins who


sweat it out on a new EP (Croque Macadam). Like their previous 7” on Tryptic, it’s all banged out with feeling and purpose. Face A is French and Face B Anglais, where the deliberations of ‘This Heart Of Stone’ moved me most. Out of that hotbed of revitalised passion for the ’60s that is Mexico comes the latest femme garage-rock and psych- quartet Las Vinylators. Both sides of their debut 45 ‘Acosador’/‘La Selva’ (Groovie) fill the air with queen-size fuzz drone, cool organ, attitudinal vocals and clattering drums, giving any of the current names a decent run for their money. The hype from Austin TX elders The Freddie Steady 5 says their ’60s rock sound is brought roaring into the present, but knowing the scope of such terminology, and hearing their 1000 Miles EP (Steady Boy), I’d say over-earnest polite jangle pop ’n’ roll is closer to the mark. Les Aspirateurs are a Berlin-dwelling French trio whose debut ‘Le Crime (ne paie pas)’/‘La Mer No 2 (Le coquillage magique)’ is a none too bad, three chord, reverb-soaked, basic beat-rock affair issued on their own label (Les Aspirateurs). ‘Or Forever (Live Without)’/‘Fresh As A


Sweet Sunday Morning’ (Get Hip) is the first solo venture from Higher State lead singer and 12-string man Marty Ratcliffe. These plaintive, pleasant and non-fussy acoustic musings are the sort you’d have happened upon in some late- night coffee bar of decades long past. A successful outing that bodes well for future days.


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