The Bay City Rollers and I Pt.II

Part one was more reflective looking at what being that Rollers fan was to me and some of those records we bought while this looks at the four core albums and their reception.

The first album had a good start with Saturday Night, the first single since September 1971 to actually go top 30 in late 1973 and Remember from early 1974 recorded with Nobby Clarke on lead vocals before Les joined the band.

The success of Shang-a-lang in the Spring made recording an album by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter easy and those first two songs were re-recorded together with Summerlove Sensation which meant by release in October it didn't just come out as the bans popularity was on the march, it had four hit singles.

The album sold extremely well.

Ain't It Strange is a favourite of mine from it.

All Of Me Loves All Of You, a non album single had done well in October and so they were the poster child of a new brand of hysteria in pop.

In March of 1975 Once Upon a Star, the second album had been released recorded with them playing most of the instruments following criticism of the use of session players which was very common place back then.

The packaging of this album was something special for it had five posters that form part of the front cover with pictures of each Roller.

This album had a high proportion of self composed songs too.

Timed for the Christmas market, Wouldn't You Like It was released December 1975 featuring Give A Little Love which had been a Number 1 single but interestingly missed out Money Honey their newest.

Again apart from being a gatefold, initial copies also had a tartan bag that contained pictures of the individuals .

As you would expect, it was highly promoted in the music press.

The following review shows just how much respect reviewers had for their maturing musical and lyrical talent, something the band has over the years been unfairly ridiculed for.

By September 1976 things were changing in the UK as North America experienced Rollermania and this lead to the fourth album being recorded in Toronto, Canada which captured their maturing sound and was the only album Ian Mitchell who had replaced Alan at the end of 1975 played on before he too left.

Interesting the UK edition did feature 1975's Money Honey but ignored both Love Me Like I Love You and the cover of I Only Wanna Be With You, the latter did make the Canadian and U.S. versions of this album.

To me this is easily their best album.

In many ways things would never be the same, the music scene was changing with popularity of funk based "disco" music and the Punk/New Wave scene as we, the fans got that bit older but we never forgot what the band and these four albums meant to us.

It is telling I still own my original vinyl editions.

The Bay City Rollers and I

Sometimes I talk about things that almost sum up an era for me and the period 1974 through 1977 has this one.

I had this craze for a pop group that was more than just a liking, it was a obsession at the time where I had to have, watch and generally speaking experience everything connected with them taking chunks of my time and dare I say it, my allowance.

It also had a certain social cache helping me make friends as we exchange gossip, played their records and worked on our scrapbooks together during the day and in the Dorm.

The Rollers at London Heathrow airport back in'75.

Talking about my love for their music was the ice breaker at my high school which was a boarding school

Now the thing is I've still got those records the very ones I had back then when I had my very first stereo phonograph that also had a built in AM radio to hear the pop shows featuring singles chart countdowns on Tuesdays and the new records played by the DJ's.

This is the massive selling cover of the Four Season's song Bye Bye Baby that was released on February 28 1975 and had a six week run at the #1 slot.

Although compared to my current stereo that phonograph was primitive and the record deck played the discs with a bit more playing force than you'd use today, those discs by the Bay City Rollers play extremely well which I suppose has something to do with the care I took of them back then.

I got today a new to me copy of original hit single from late 1973 called Saturday Night in a picture sleeve that was made in what was West Germany.

In North America a re-recorded version was issued in late 1975 and this became the no.1 hit  in the States in January 1976 this featured on later copies of the Dedication lp from 1976.

The version I got didn't have Leslie on Vocals which the version on the UK Rollin' and North American self titled album did but the original vocalist Nobby Clarke together with it's UK b side Hey! C.B.

Here's the cover:

Here's the 1976 and 1977 Annuals from the UK I had back then that needless to say got read from cover to cover hundreds of times including at school.

They had a TV show that started on Tuesday April 22nd 1975 called Shang-A-Lang that featured other artists and had a bit about looking after bikes and cars that I watched on our new colour telly straight after Junior school.

Another vivid recollection of that time was tuning in at 10 am on New Years Day 1976  to the The Bay City Rollers' 1976 New Year's Day Special which lasted for two hours.

Here Eric Faulkner, Les McKeown, Stuart 'Woody' Wood, Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir and their Manager, Tam Paton presented exclusively for Radio 1 their own show, including all their hits, their new LP Wouldn't You Like It which featured the 1975 summer smash Give A Little Love and their own choice of records, with David Hamilton in the chair.

I taped the show on cassette but that recording is no longer with me.

The April 1976 single that reach the #4 position, Love Me Like I Love You was a song we sang along to on the school bus on trips.

Leave It To Jennings

Today I'm writing about another of my Jennings books.

Leave it To Jennings is the thirteenth book in the Jennings series and was written in 1963.

The plot revolves around Madame Olivera from the Inscrutable East (otherwise known as Miss Tubbs of the Linbury Post Office bacon counter) telling Jennings's fortune and predicting a journey over land and sea, an unexpected legacy and that he will succeed in an ambition close to his heart. 

However no one foresees the chaos during the term as the three predictions come true.

My copy is from 1964 with the original dust jacket in good condition.

The Police and Supergrass on vinyl

 Here we go starting off the month when I didn't move much making for the lowest key start to the new year for decades.

Anyway another phase of the vinyl project is almost complete where if you recall I mentioned this incomplete state of it after two decades of cd buying and yes rebuying cds.

Phase two was about a group whose albums I've always loved and whose music - power reggae - appealed to a very wide audience in much the same way as Abba did.

That's right we're talking about The Police, three white guys one of which as an an American who sold this sound across the world and can be seen in hindsight as one of the starting points behind the popularity of 'World' music.

As with the Stones my collection had been deplete to just two albums on vinyl.

Outlandos d' amour 1978 UK A&M

One of the survivors my copy had a fair bit of wear, a deep scratch on the second and the cover had been damaged by the cat!

Recorded in a village hall near Leatherhead, Surrey and home to the singles Roxanne, Can't Stand Losing You and So Lonely, this on never was a good sounding recording so I got a regular copy in better physical shape to replace my old one with.

Regatta de blanc 1979 UK A&M

This album issued October '79 was extremely popular housing the singles Walking On The Moon and Message In a Bottle but I've been missing a vinyl copy for twenty years.

I got hold of a copy last week in decent shape although there's a slight tear on the rear cover but may try the current 'Back to black' re-issue lp.

Zenyatta Mondatta 1980 UK A&M

The last album with the funny naming thing, this one issued October 1980 was responsible for the thought provoking single Don't Stand So Close To Me that touched on illicit affairs between teachers and school children and De, Doo, Doo, Doo, De,Da, Da, Da.The instrumental "Behind My Camel," written by Andy Summers, won the band a Grammy for the best instrumental performance and as some one who just loves the track I can see why.

My copy was mint but one of my cats knocked down a unit I used to store the discs in back then it crushed the top right hand side of lp jacket badly so although the actual record is almost as new the jacket is a mess. I'll get a cheap copy for the jacket and swap them over!

Ghost In The Machine UK A&M 1981 (sterling)

Issued in 1981, it was the most political album by the police to date referencing "The Troubles" - a move that led to a television ban on the video to Invisible Sun in the UK, fascism (Rehumanize Yourself) and Geopolitics (One world (not Three). It also featured the singles Everything She Does Is Magic and Spirits In The Material World. This one went from my collection in 1992 but as able to get a EX grade copy recently with the original Sterling mastering that sounds extremely good.

Synchronicity UK A&M (sterling)

The last studio album featuring the hits King Of Pain, Synchronicity II, Every Breathe You Take and Wrapped Around Your Finger released in June 1983.

Today I received my mint used first pressing of this album made here in the UK using the mastering engineers own cutting

 It's been a revelation with the quieter tracks such as Walking In Your Footsteps expanding beautifully after the brash opener with great soundstages and to my ears subjectively better than my mid 90's cd issue (I really dislike the 2003 cds) enhancing my experience of hearing this album having gone through 8 track, 'audiophile' Chrome cassette and cd versions.

I honestly feel until today I've never really heard everything it had to offer, it's that good.

It's the one I'd recommend.

Supergrass:

Here at the Blog Team (tm), we like Supergrass and I'm putting together a little list for the vinyl project.

It may surprise some but actually every single Supergrass album and single has actually had a vinyl release but most have been ahem... limited and are not on catalogue as new although you may come by the odd one in a store left from a few years back.

Throw in the 'in demand' cult status of this recently disbanded group and expect to to do some serious hunting to build your collection as they are scarce as well as getting expensive.

I Should Co-Co 1995 UK

The home of Strange Ones and Alright, mine has a bonus 45 thrown in which I brought new and goes for a minimum of £30 these days when you see it.

In It For The Money 1997

A ground breaking album with such gems as Late in the Day and Sun Hits The sky but while the cd is very loud sounding, the vinyl I believe was mastered separately and not so loud.

I was very fortunate after several failed bids to spot a copy just come in at Vinyltap while at work - this that was very naughty of me to be scanning the bay when i was meant to be working but I spotted this copy in said to be Ex cond for the textured sleeve and the actual vinyl on sale at a fixed price not to far removed from the last auction prices so i snagged it and paid on the spot. luckily my boss didn't spot me logging into Paypal!

It arrived today and was more like Near mint!!!

Supergrass 1999 album with Pumping On Your Stereo. I have the cd and minidisc versions but was able to get the vinyl with the limited edition poster from dealer in Japan and it was mailed 1 hours after the devastating earthquake.

It sounds much more dynamic compared to the cd version.

Life On Other Planets 2002

Includes Grace was able to get used in Excellent condition without breaking the bank

Road to Rouen 2005

Musically adventurous album from the jazz inspired Coffee In The Pot through hard rock it's a highly enjoyable album. I have a copy but it's condition bought used wasn't anything like the vendor said it was.

Diamond Hoo Haa 2008

Have brand new copy as it was still in stock at a number of specialist retailers.

The OJays

The reason why this entry happens to here is because it was the story of the OJays and specifically their recordings in my own music library predates my main blog.

The OJays have a long history but it wasn't until Gambol and Huff produces take them into their Philadelphia International label in the early 1970's that they broke big and it was around that era that I first got to hear of them.

Strangely enough once source of hearing them was the journey to school as one of the drivers who took me always had their stuff plus a shedfull of other acts on that label playing out of his car stereo.

Several things hit you of which the first was the production being sparse allowing the musicianship to rise and the vocals to come through clearly.

The second was the arrangements with a strong jazz influence and finally them words - the OJays famously had had 'a message in our music' talking about the state of society - family breakdown, integrity, backstabbers, racism, the importance of love and so on in what in other respects was a cynical no future era. 

In the OJay's world you could rise above what maybe holding you down.

They were played also on the radio in the metropolitan area nearby.

I was late into getting anything buy the OJays on compact disc and the first title I did get was "Collectors Items" originally released on lp in 1977 which is a collection of special mixes of their earlier songs. 

Shortly afterwards in the States a number of their early albums got issued by Sony legacy but these were very hard to find and in fact I've only just completed my set with the Backstabbers, Ship Ahoy and Survival studio albums plus the Live In London album issued in 1974.

In late 1998 it was announced that WestSide were to re-issue all their post 1976 albums in the UK the following year and in that period I bought each issue as soon as it came out.

They came in the form of either 2 albums on a single cd or three on 2 cds with one album kind of split between the discs which wasn't ideal but they had very good notes about what was happening with the band, all the singles issued with their 'b' sides and so on.

There were all re-released by Edsel in 2004 in the much better 2 album on one cd format.

A year of experiments

2010 was an important year where with encouragement I did pick up my baton and run with it which was better than the period before where I just didn't feel anyone actually understood this whole thing.

It was more like "You want to be a girl then?" or people thinking you were a transvestite and there was enough arguments in the LGBTQI camp between those two without bringing into it that you might be mainly male and pretty happy with that but with some feminine traits people had issues with wanting to stick you at the extremes.

At the end of the day what were were is just a piece of cloth cut and sown different that's all.

I experimented a bit with shorter skirts as most of skirts I ever got to wear were more just above the knee or longer  wanting to see just how I felt as the only really short stuff I wore back then was very brief gym shorts we had to at school  that left much leg bare.

I came to conclusion I wanted to do mix more of this in with wearing shorts because I just felt better looking like the child I feel.