Thursday, December 27, 2007

Music musings

Phred of Onetangi came up with an interesting request, for Pigbag, a song and a group out of the late 70s or early 80s he thought. Luckily Alex managed to find the song for us.

Pigbag was a group formed in 1980 by four guys who blended elements of funk and jazz into their "anything goes" attitude using percussion, clarinet, trombone, trumpet, guitar and saxophone. For the first months after their formation, the group did little more than jam together. They opted to add more of a rock element by gaining a regular drummer and a bassist, these new members had played with James Johnstone previously in Hardware. They also added another bassist and sax player.

Thanks to a successful support gig with the Slits, Pigbag found themselves signed with Y Records. A trio of singles and a pair of BBC sessions predated their debut LP, 1982's Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive. The album failed to receive the warm reception and brisk sales of the earlier singles, so the group re-released their debut single from a couple years prior -- somewhat surprisingly, "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" did even better its second time around, reaching the Top Five of the mainstream chart, in April 1982.
And from a search of; http://www.everyhit.com/dates/

UK#3 Pigbag Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag Apr 1982

UK#40 Pigbag The Big Bean Jul 1982

Jackie Brenston – Rocket 88

With the death of Ike Turner, we had a request for Ike and his Kings of Rhythm with Rocket 88. Checking with Alex’s collection; MCA Chess CHD4-9352 Chess Rhythm & Roll CD 1, we found the song was credited to Jackie Brenston and was recorded Memphis 3 March 1951. Brenston (vocal/baritone sax), Raymon Hill (tenor sax) Ike Turner (piano) Willie Kizart (guitar), Jesse Knight (bass) and Willie Sims (drums). Wikipedia on Ike Turner says

“Brenston was both the band's saxophonist and the leading vocalist of the song and Turner was the original writer though credits initially stated that Brenston had written it also. The song was one of the first examples of guitar distortion, which happened by accident when one of the amplifiers dropped before the recording.”

What is a Master Jack?

With a number of South African migrants in the Coast audience we get requests for songs from Danny Williams and The Four Jacks And A Jill. Brian Capper emailed to pose the question “What is a Master Jack"... it’s the person who is in charge of a mine shaft in South

Africa (not too sure if it is called that in other places in the world).

David Marks (of 3rd Ear Music) wrote the song when he was a mine captain (in charge of a shift working the face) in a gold mine. The Master Jack controls everything that is happening - nothing gets done without the Master Jack's say so as he has everyone's life in his hands. So, there is a piece of useless information for your listeners.

Regards Brian Capper

Film – ‘Go Johnny Go’

Heard "Go Jimmy Go" on the radio this morning. Unusual to hear that one, although it was a big hit for him here along with "Just A Dream". Just thought you would like to know that the song has no connection with the film "Go Johnny Go". Although Jimmy starred in the film, the film was named after Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" and he plays the song over the titles of the film.

Though the film was released in 1959, the artists that appear perform their songs from early 1958 and not the hit tunes advertised to be in the film, as was often the case in Alan Freed films. "Donna" by Ritchie Valens, "Lonely Teardrops" by Jackie Wilson, "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos, and "Just A Dream" by Jimmy Clanton, (huge hits that are now Rock ‘n’ Roll standards from the summer of 1958 through the end of the year) were all missing from the film.

Hope this helps, Cheers, Mark.

Hank Marvin - Sacha

Sacha is often listed as a Shadows hit, however it was a solo effort by Hank Marvin.

The Shadows split from 1968 to 1973 (according to Shadows fan Neil of Howick).

Australian #1(2) from 18 March 1970, Sacha was coupled with “Goodnight Dick” for the Australian release and coupled with “Stingray” for the New Zealand release,

Sacha/Sunday for Seven Days for Japan, France, Italy, Belgium and Holland

according to http://www.cliffandshads.co.uk/marvin.html

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