Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps

I don't know what it is with the recent Theme Thursdays but I have not been able to get my brain into gear properly. Initially I struggled to find something appropriate for this week's theme of 'sleep', but eventually, and not for the first time, my music collection came to my rescue. This is Neil Young's brilliant Rust Never Sleeps album from 1978. Prior to this I'd probably heard the odd track from Harvest, but I remember Rust Never Sleeps the most as John Peel played tracks from it and it first opened my mind to the fact that it was ok to like music from different genres - until then I'd pretty much forced myself into having a self-imposed playlist.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps - MP3 link for UK viewers ...




Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps - MP3 link for US viewers ...



More details about my music collecting habits can be found elsewhere on this music blog and also on my web site, where I'm selling off a load of records and CD's that I no longer need, or have space to store, in their physical format

Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship - a musical rediscovery

Over the past week I've deviated a little from my recent discoveries of folk music, and re-discovered my love for the late 60's west coast scene of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. It all started whilst on the beach on holiday when I wanted to musically 'get back to the land'. The obvious choice would of course have been 'Woodstock' by Crosby, Stills and Nash, which features that line, but instead I opted for Blows Against the Empire by Jefferson Starship. Although this album was actually released in 1970, it feels distinctively late 1960's.

My favourite track is easily A Child Is Coming, which features and was co-written by David Crosby ...

"What are we going to do When Uncle Samuel comes around
Asking for the young one's name, Looking for the print of his hand
For the files in their numbers game.
I don't want his chances for freedom Ever to be that slim.
Let's not tell them about him!"

Inspired by this album, I decided to give some of the others a listen on the iPod and also during some Easter weekend driving. I recalled Crown of Creation as being one of the Airplane's best CD's so that was the next one to listen to. It was good but still not what I was craving. Eventually I put Volunteers into the car CD player. This was it ... this was what I'd been looking for. Stand out tracks for me are We Can Be Together, Wooden Ships and Volunteers. Despite thinking that the Crosby, Stills and Nash version of Wooden Ships was 'untouchable', the Airplane do a pretty decent version. I should also mention that their cover of David Crosby's Triad on Crown of Creation is also excellent.

Links to these CDs in amazon.co.uk ...

Links to these CDs in amazon.com ...

Some more recent musical discoveries - Sunforest, Linda Perhacs

I've had a bit of a break from lastfm recently as I realised that I had a huge backlog of CDs I'd bought but hardly listened to. However, this week I have started listening to lastfm again and have discovered some more wonderful music.

Some of my favourites of the week include a group called Sunforest, who made just one album in 1969 called Sound of Sunforest and an artist called Linda Perhacs who also made just one album, Parallelograms in 1970 (and then apparently spent the next 25 years in dentistry).

Find these CDs on amazon.co.uk ...

Find these CDs on amazon.com ...

For more of my favourite music and books, have a look at my UK amazon aStore

Bridget St John - Songs For The Gentle Man

As I continue to track down the albums mentioned in Rob Young's excellent Electric Eden book, I came across this gem a few weeks ago. "We ran away for a day from the city" ... this is the first line of the opening track, A Day A Way, on Bridget St John's 1971 album Songs For The Gentle Man. I only bought this album recently but it's been played constantly since. With vocals reminiscent of Nico, backed with jovial flute and a string section sounding a little like Nick Drake, particularly on the 2nd track, City-Craze and the 5th track, Seagull Sunday, this is an exceptional album. It was originally released in 1971 on John Peel's Dandelion Records label, which further validates it as an outstanding album. The insert of the CD re-release I have contains a heart-felt message of loss and thanks to John Peel. So far I only have this album but am looking forward to getting her other 2 albums, Ask Me No Questions and Thank You For ... shortly. As I was only 4 in 1969, and as I've mentioned before, I can only imagine what it would have been like to have been old enough to have remembered the late 1960's and early 1970's, but if it was all like this (although sadly I know it wasn't) then take me there now.