Poly Styrene RIP

Really sad to hear yesterday that Poly Styrene ( real name Marian Joan Elliott-Said) died yesterday after a long battle against breast cancer.  She was a lovely woman.. I adored her back in the 70's for just being so herself and she seemed to have kept that attitude through her life, right through to the end despite the cancer by all accounts.  I first saw them at the Rock Against Racism concert at Victoria Park in April '78 and then at my first proper punk gig with X-ray Spex and Adam & the Ants at the Roundhouse in May '78 and finally at the Hammersmith Odeon (with seats..boo!) when they were having some chart success.. just wish I'd been a bit older and able to start seeing them sooner and more often!  I'm cursing myself for missing the recent 'reunion' gig at the Roundhouse..I've just been watching some clips on You Tube and it looked a great one.

The Maytals - Walk With Love

Just a quick one today.. one of my favourite Toots and the Maytals tracks and one that doesn't turn up on most compilations.  I came across the version of this on a Trojan compilation back in the 90's and had to hunt down a Jamaican copy to get the vocal version and it was well worth the effort.  This track is from 1971 on the Beverly's label.. (Interestingly the UK version on Summit which I picked up later is totally different recording and about 20 seconds shorter.. )

As I mentioned it..here's the UK version.

The Fat Man

I've had a bunch of music post ideas knocking around for a while.. gonna start off with some stuff today by Fats Domino.  He tends to be remembered for tunes like 'Blueberry Hill' and did record a lot of more middle of the road popular R'n'B but some of his 50's tunes were solid rockin' New Orleans rock'n'roll. He was also a massive influence on Jamaican music.. particularly in songs like 'The Big Beat' and 'Sick and Tired'. I was well into old Rock and Roll before I got into punk and the two overlapped for me.. I never bought into any of the punks v Teds rubbish of the late 70's (apart from dodging gangs of teds late at night on my way home from gigs in Camden Town!).. The first records I bought were Fats Domino and Elvis LP's and the first gig I went to was Fats at the Hammersmith Odeon in May '78, (a couple of weeks before I went to see X-Ray Spex and Adam & the Ants at the Roundhouse.. from 'Be My Guest' to 'Beat My Guest'!)).

Fats is still hanging in there in New Orleans, (having survived Hurricane Katrina..) He gave up touring a long time ago and just enjoyed living on the royalties he'd racked up over his 40 years of recording...  great stuff.  Here are a few of my favourites.. all solid mono direct from the 45's.

The Big Beat

 
Sick and Tired

Be My Guest