The Purple Bottle: January 2009

Five For Friday

John & Beverley Martyn - The Road To Ruin

Fairport Convention - Full House

The Flamin' Groovies - At Full Speed (The Complete Sire Recordings)

Stephen Stills - Just Roll Tape

Jim Ford - Harlan County

http://chrisgoesrocks.blogspot.com/search?q=jim+ford+harlan+county

The Alternate Walls And Bridges

I've been a stone-crazy Beatlemaniac since the age of 11 and always erred to the Lennon side of things (although I've come to appreciate Paul and George a lot more in recent years). However, I've never been able to get into Walls And Bridges, apart from the two hitty-toppers, Whatever Gets You Through The Night and #9 Dream. That's until I heard the stripped down early versions on this excellent collection from Pear Corps. The songs themselves are allowed to shine through and John seems to sing them with more passion and conviction. It's still not up to the standard of Imagine or Mind Games (a particular flavourite of mine despite the general consensus) but it's a very good listen. I must dig out my vinyl copy of the regular LP and give it another spin. You can get the Alternate Walls And Bridges here:

http://juliocmail.blogspot.com/2009/01/john-lennon-alternate-walls-and-bridges.html

Julio's blog is a veritable treasure trove of Fabs and solo stuff. If you've the slightest interest in Beatles' ROIOs, it's definitely a great place to start. Cheers, Julio!

Comments Please!

I'd be very grateful for any comments you have on this blog, even if it's just to say "Hello". Then I'll be able to tell if anyone's reading it and whether or not it's worth continuing. The future of The Purple Bottle is in your hands, folks!!

Pure Pop For Lowe People

Amongst the candidates for the title of Greatest Living Englishman, the name of Nick Lowe must figure quite highly. From his early work with Brinsley Scwarz to his current mature grooves he's hardly put a foot wrong in this writer's humble opinion. His songwriting is shot through with his wry wit, wisdom and melody and that's not to mention his production work on some of my flavourite records. The good folks over at t.u.b.e. have posted an excellent live set from 2001:

http://theultimatebootlegexperience.blogspot.com/2009/01/nick-lowe-2001-10-14-london-uk.html

And Kihn at PVAc to 44.1kHz has put up the BBC Four show from 2007 plus another disc of radio sessions:

http://digivinyltal.blogspot.com/2007/08/nick-lowe-2007-basher-back-at-bbc.html

Many thanks to these great bloggers!