David Bowie

Disk Title: The David Bowie Compilation – Volume 1

Back in Dec 2016, I had come up with a one CD project called The David Bowie Compilation that comprised mainly of recordings from his albums between 1967-1973 plus two earlier recordings from singles released in 1965 & 1966. Shocked by the news of his passing, by the end of the following year, I had decided to attach further volumes to this project, thus creating a five volume compilation of all that I found significant in Bowie’s catalogue per period. In doing so, the one CD concept germinated into a two CD per volume project. It is a testament to the high quality of the artistry and creativity of this man that in a five volume, 9CD compilation, I still feel the absence of certain songs.

Returning now to this compilation in hopes of upgrading as many sound files of inferior bit rate as possible, I felt an urge to twink the sequences, without changing any of the previous selected songs on CD1 but altering songs and re-sequencing playlist on CD2. All done and concluded by 21 Feb 2019.

Like many kids of his generation, during post world war England, the teenager David Jones felt a connection with rock ‘n’ roll and decided to become a musician. A tremendous Little Richard fan, he dreamed of being a good enough sax player to be in Richards’ band one day. Joined various bands in the early sixties that went nowhere till Jones had the initiative to write a letter to entrepreneur John Bloom explaining what a wonderful opportunity Bloom has to invest and promote a young rock band in ascension. Bloom admired this kids boldness and wrote back offering him the name and number of manager Les Cohen, who would take Davie Jones & The King Bees on to manage. After releasing a few singles, Cohn finds him another band, The Mannish Boys obtaining similar results. By the time Cohn matched him with The Lower Third, Davie Jones had already adopted the artistic name David Bowie.

By 1966, after a stint with The Buzz, Bowie was on his own trying to break through in the music business outside of rock n roll. He signed with Deram Records and recorded an album and a half worth of middle-of-the-road theater-esque songs much in the style of Anthony Newley (author and arranger of Goldfinger). The record company sat on it for six months finally releasing in June 1967. Deram was a minor label that had two young upstart artists but only one of them was achieving minor hits. Therefore, it is understandable their choice of letting David Bowie go and keeping Cat Stevens.

During 1967-68, Bowie had given up on music altogether, spending the year studing in a Budist temple in Scotland followed by studying the art of the mime with Lindsay Kemp. By 1969, he had worked in minor roles in such movies as “The Image” and “The Virgin Soldier”; and tried yet failed to get a part in the play “Hair.” After founding a multi-media theater group he named Beckenham Arts Lab, Bowie needed some funds and with a demo tape in hand struck a deal for one single with Mercury Records. That single became Space Oddity, whose theme of spaceman lost adrift in space released days before Apollo 11 lifted off to the moon, caught the public’s imagination and sold well in England making David Bowie a known name in his homeland. This success was a great incentive for Mercury to offer him a deal for a full album, effectively bring Bowie back to thinking of himself as a recording artist.

Working with Tony Visconti, he slowly began assembling a band concept where each member would be a character. The band was called The Hype and the characters, complete with costume and make-up, had David Bowie as Pirateman, guitarist Mick Ronson as Gangsterman, Tony Visconti on bass was Superman and drummer John Cambridge became Cowboyman. After Cambridge was sacked, Ronson suggests bringing in his former Rats bandmate Woody Woodmansey. This became the band that recorded the album “The Man Who Sold The World”. Because it did not sell as well as his previous album and Mercury now more excited with their two newly contracted artists Rod Stewart and Elton John, David Bowie was once again let go.

CD 1 – From Davie Jones To David Bowie – All files in wav but two @320.

101 – Liza Jane (1964 – The King Bees)
102 – When I Live My Dream (1967)
103 – An Occasional Dream (1969)
104 – Love You Till Tuesday (1967)
105 – Take My Tip (1965 – The Mannish Boys)
106 – You’ve Got A Habit of Leaving (1965 – The Lower Third)
107 – All The Madmen (1970)
108 – Space Oddity (1969)
109 – Fill Your Heart – Andy Warhol (1971)
110 – The Man Who Sold The World (1970)
111 – Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed (1969)
112 – In The Heat Of The Morning (1967)
113 – She Shook Me Cold (1970)
114 – Oh! You Pretty Things (1971)
115 – Changes (1971)
116 – God Knows I’m Good (1969)
117 – Black Country Rock (1970)
118 – Life On Mars? (1971)
119 – Memory’s of Freecloud (1969)
120 – And I Say To Myself (1966 – The Lower Third)
121 – Please Mr. Gravedigger (1967)

Total Time: 01:19:03

Meanwhile in the USA, management at RCA Records have realized that they had no artist under contract that made rock music save Elvis Presley who wasn’t really doing rock ‘n’ roll anymore. They proceeded to sign with The Kinks and were now looking really hard at Lou Reed and David Bowie. After signing Bowie and under his suggestion, Iggy Pop; by 1972 RCA will have purchased and re-released Bowie’s two Mercury albums.

Visconti had made a name for himself as a record producer so again Ronson brought in ex-Rats bass player Trevor Bolder. This became The Spiders From Mars. Ziggy Stardust as a character was an amalgam of different people that Bowie either knew or knew about. Most notably Vince Taylor, a pre-Beatles English rocker of the late fifties that after Beatlemania hit hard had moved his place of business to France where one fine day, possibly after too much acid, went on stage and proclaimed himself to be Jesus Christ on earth, nearly getting himself lynched by his own fans as a result. Spray over that concept some Marc Bolan glitter with an injection of Iggy Pop’s suicidal aggressiveness and you start to get the taste.

CD2 – The Spiders From Mars – All files in wav except Candidate @320.

201 – Five Years (1972)
202 – All The Young Dudes (1972)
203 – Panic In Detroit (1973)
204 – Friday On My Mind (1973)
205 – Moonage Daydream (1972)
206 – Time (1973)
207 – Velvet Goldmine (1972)
208 – Starman (1972)
209 – The Jean Genie (1973)
210 – Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?) (1973)
211 – Ziggy Stardust (1972)
212 – Cracked Actor (1973)
213 – Soul Love (1972)
214 – Suffragette City (1972)
215 – Don’t Bring Me Down (1973)
216 – John, I’m Only Dancing (1972)
217 – Sorrow (1973)
218 – Candidate (1973)
219 – Lady Stardust (1972)
220 – Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (1972)
221 – Lady Grinning Soul (1973)

Total Time: 01:19:08

Frumpy

Hamburg band Frumpy was formed in November of 1969 when drummer Carsten Bohn left the relatively popular German sixties ensemble known as The City Preachers and took singer Inga Rumpf, French keyboardest Jean-Jacques Kravetz and guitarist Karl-Heinz Schott with him. In autumn of 1970, FRUMPY released their first album and proved that rock music from Germany could live up to international standards. Their music combines jazz, soul and eastern elements. If its the keyboards the main instrument, its Inga Rumpf’s voice and interpretation that makes them so memorable and loved. Inga would in 1973 help form Atlantis, another memorable German band; and continue through the seventies till today as a solo artist of importance in Germany. Expect another compilation with Inga in the future. Compilation conceived and concluded in May 2015. All files @320.

Disk Title: Frumpy 1969-1972

01 – Frumpy – Roadriding
02 – Frumpy – Rosalie, Part 1
03 – Frumpy – Otium
04 – Frumpy – Rosalie, Part 2
05 – Frumpy – Singing Songs
06 – Frumpy – Goin’ to the Country
07 – Frumpy – Time Makes Wise
08 – Frumpy – How The Gipsy Was Born
09 – Frumpy – Morning
10 – Frumpy – Release
11 – Frumpy – I’m Afraid, Big Moon
12 – Frumpy – By the Way
13 – Frumpy – I’d Like To Be A Child Again

Total Time: 01:18:25

FRUMPY

Inga Rumpf – Guitar, Vocals
Jean Jacques Kravetz – Keyboards
Karl Heinz Schott – Bass
Carsten Bohn – Drums, Bass, Percussion
Rainer Baumann – Guitar, Steel Guitar
+
Erwin Kania – Keyboards

https://www89.zippyshare.com/v/tsuIflrm/file.html

Eric Burdon

Newcastle born Eric Burdon is to my mind, an extremely under appreciated singer of phenomenal power and stage presence. Which is not to say that he’s not appreciated at all. However, generally speaking, people are more prone to listen to and talk about Van Morrison with greater deference. I dare say that Eric Burdon is a singer of equal talent and arguably more range.

Burdon is mostly remembered as the main singer of the sixties British Invasion era group The Animals. True to say that this was the period where he had more radio airtime and sale hits than any other of his career. However, although the music business is built on the foundation of hits, music as an art form is not. If it was Burdon’s voice and stage antics that put The Animals on the map, he was also responsible for helping launch the careers of American funk band War, when he became their singer for two years in the beginning of the seventies. A move that lifted a lot of eyebrows at the time.

Although his solo recording career never took off in terms of radio hits, or consistency of output, in the long run there are a lot of great music recorded in his discography. Still working today, Eric Burdon has been recording and touring actively during all his adult life. This compilation is in concept paired with a live set that will be posted sometime in the future. Conceived in Aug 2013. All files @320.

Disk Title: The Eric Burdon Compilation – Vol. 1

A-EB – 01. San Franciscan Nights (with The New Animals)
A-EB – 02. House Of The Rising Sun
A-EB – 03. Mama Told Me (Not to Come) (with The New Animals)
A-EB – 04. I Used To Be An Animal
A-EB – 05. Black And White World
A-EB – 06. Home Dream (with Jimmy Witherspoon)
A-EB – 07. Cry To Me
A-EB – 08. Spill The Wine (with War)
A-EB – 09. Monterey (with The New Animals)
A-EB – 10. Tobacco Road (with War)
A-EB – 11. As The Crow Flies (with The Animals)
A-EB – 12. Out of My Mind (with The Greenhornes)
A-EB – 13. All I Do
A-EB – 14. Sixteen Tons
A-EB – 15. Home Cookin’ (with War)
A-EB – 16. Real Me (with The Eric Burdon Band)
A-EB – 17. Devil’s Daughter
A-EB – 18. Sun Secrets (with The Eric Burdon Band)

Total Time: 01:19:31

https://www80.zippyshare.com/v/IZ7YySeK/file.html

Tom Waits

With a voice that has been compared to a drawer full of loose gravel, Tom Waits embodies the image of a modern beatnik poet if there is such a thing. His songs are brilliant, almost always championing the hard luck lonely straggler who refuses to be beat by life’s sucker-punches. Compiled in Nov 2004. All files @320.

Disk Title: Tom Waits – Four Sheets To The Wind

01 Tom Trauber’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind in Copenhagen)
02 Hang On St. Christopher
03 Shore Leave
04 Rain Dogs
05 Please Call Me Baby
06 The Heart of Saturday Night
07 Jockey Full of Burbon
08 Shiver Me Timbers
09 Invitation To The Blues
10 I Never Talk To Strangers (with Betty Midler)
11 Swordfishtrombone
12 The Ghosts of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone’s Pizza House)
13 Diamonds On My Windshield (Looking For)
14 Heartattack And Vine
15 Innocent When You Dream
16 Burma Shave
17 Romeo is Bleeding
18 Somewhere (from West Side Story)
19 Franks Wild Years

Total Time: 01:17:11

https://www104.zippyshare.com/v/ei2OvEGm/file.html

Jane Relf’s Renaissance

When the Yardbirds broke up after June 1968, Chris Dreja became a professional photographer and the other three members went on to form bands of their own. Jimmy Page searched and formed an entirely new band he initially called The New Yardbirds, but by the end of Nov. 1968 had changed its name to Led Zeppelin. No need to talk about the powerful impact of Led Zeppelin on the music scene in the seventies and thereafter. What many seem to miss is that the remaining two founding members of The Yardbirds, Keith Relf and Jim McCarty, would together also form another band that would make a grand impression on the music scene in the seventies. That band is Renaissance.

Although an unknown up to this point, Keith’s sister Jane Relf would prove to arguably be an even more talented singer then her more famous brother. Although her departure from Renaissance would open the door for Annie Haslam to step in and take a reformed version of the band to a different level of fame, Renaissance with Jane Relf is the formation that paved the way in style and content for what was to come.

After the passing of Keith Relf, who perrished in a freak studio accident, electrocuting himself with a microphone that short circuited, the original members got together and decided to record again. With the name Renaissance taken, they resurfaced as Illusion, producing two albums before going their separate ways once again. A third reunion would occur and render another album at the end of the eighties. Jim McCarty has promoted the occasional post millennium get together, generally under the name Renaissance Illusion. This compilation was conceived and completed in Dec 2018. All files minus two are in wav.

Disk Title: Jane Relf’s Renaissance – A Collection of Jane Relf Recordings 

01 – Love Goes On – Renaissance – 1971
02 – Wanderer – Renaissance – 1969
03 – Getting Into Love Again – Illusion – 1989
04 – Roads To Freedom – Illusion – 1977
05 – Kings And Queens – Renaissance – 1969
06 – Louis Theme – Illusion – 1978
07 – Wings Across The Sea – Illusion – 1978
08 – Island – Renaissance – 1969
09 – Sunset Point – Stairway – 1988
10 – Never Be The Same – Illusion – 1978
11 – Golden Thread – Renaissance – 1971
12 – Face Of Yesterday – Renaissance – 1971
13 – Man Of Miracles – Illusion – 1978
14 – Bird of Paradise- Stairway – 1988
15 – Love Is All – Renaissance – 1971

Total TIme: 01:17:58

http://www.imagenetz.de/faefc0a64/009–Jane-Relf-s-Renaissance.rar.html