When I'm By Myself...

Side 1 of a cassette compilation, recorded May 1992.

 

A bit of an oddity in my collection, this one, as it was never recorded by me or for me, but by my brother's then-fiancée. Both the relationship and the cassette were subsequently discarded and, if memory serves, I rescued this and a few other tapes that my brother had binned and intended for landfill.

I think I was curious about this collection in particular because it contains lots of singer/songwriter heavyweights that I recognised by name but was largely ignorant of. So, it was a good opportunity to dip my toe into the waters.

I'd like to say that this was my springboard into the worlds of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne. It wasn't, but it opened my eyes and ears and eventually I started dipping into Bob, Joni and Jackson's respective back catalogues. Although I've yet to own a Sting album and I'm in no particular rush to do so.

 

The collection opens with 80s Dylan, but it's okay, it's one of the good ones. I'm not familiar enough with Joni Mitchell's vast body of work to know if there are similarly certain periods and/or album that should come with their own "enter at your own risk" warning, but Hejira presents no such threat.

On paper, The Cure's debut B-side seems the errant choice, nestled between Sting and Sinéad, but it fits right in and still hits the same sweet spot as it did when I first heard on the double play greatest hits cassette, Standing On A Beach: The Singles (And Unavailable B-Sides), in 1986.

 

My Special Child was a standalone single by Sinéad O'Connor, peaking at #42 in the UK in June 1991. I was still travelling around Australia at the time, which probably explains why I had no recollection of the song. It's an okay song, though with that voice, Sinéad's 'okay' is still way above many other artist's 'excellent'.

The original compilation featured the album version of Airwaves by Thomas Dolby from his 1982 debut, The Golden Age Of Wireless. I've swapped it out here for the earlier demo version, which appeared on the 1980 cassette From Brussels With Love, on the now-legendary label Les Disques Du Crépuscule. I love this pared down, less tech-y version, which sits better with the warmer, organic sounds infusing this collection.

I know The Beautiful South were big back in the day, and had lots of hit records. Even so, I still don't think Paul Heaton gets the level of recognition and appreciation he should, as one of the finest singers and songwriters to emerge in the 1980s. I don't listen to his music as often as I should. Hearing a song like Let Love Speak Up Itself makes me question why.

I heard Cowboy Junkies' cover of Powderfinger before I heard the song as written and recorded by Neil Young. it followed the achingly slow template of the Trinity Sessions album and remains the definitive version for me. 

 

The same month that my brother's girlfriend put I'd Rather Go Blind by Chicken Shack, I also acquired the song via Vox magazine's cover mounted cassette freebie, Radio Daze (The John Peel Sessions). The fact that the opening song was 10.15 Saturday Night makes me think that she included both songs from the very same compilation. 

 

I'd Rather Go Blind is another example where I was deeply immersed in the cover long before I heard the original version, in this case Etta James in 1967. The song has been covered many, many times since by the likes of Rod Stewart, Ruby Turner, Janet Kay, Paul Weller, Beyoncé and Dua Lipa. Chicken Shack's version is hard to beat, not least for the sublime vocals by Christine Perfect aka the much-missed Christine McVie.

The Road by Jackson Browne is a bit of an oddity. Taken from his 1977 album Running On Empty, according to Iffypedia, "the entire album was recorded on tour, either live on stage, or in locations associated with touring, such as backstage, on tour buses, or in hotel rooms".

The song itself is a prime example. The first half was recorded in room 301 of the Cross Keys Inn in Columbia, Maryland on 27th August 1977. The second half switches to a live recording at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey on 7th September 1977. The latter pretty much sounds like an entirely different song to the sparse acoustic section that preceded it.

Rounding off the collection is The Manish Boys featuring one David Jones who, like Christine Perfect, changed their name and enjoyed slightly more success as... David Bowie. The session guitar player also went on to greater things, a young whippersnapper by the name of Jimmy Page.

Today's headline photo, nicked from t'internet, is a contemporary photo (April 1992) of the Redcliffe flyover and the George Railway Hotel near Temple Meads station in Bristol. The flyover was a narrow, single-track curved bridge opened as a temporary measure in 1968...which ended up staying there until 1998. As a kid sitting in the back seat of my parents' car, a journey into the city centre via the flyover was the equivalent of a free rollercoaster. Without seat belts. Fearless times, eh?

1) Man In The Long Black Coat: Bob Dylan (1989)  

2) Mad About You: Sting (1991) 

3) 10:15 Saturday Night (Single Version): The Cure (1978)

4) My Special Child: Sinéad O'Connor (1991)

5) Airwaves (Demo): Thomas Dolby (1980)

6) Let Love Speak Up Itself (Album Version): The Beautiful South (1990)

7) Powderfinger (Cover of Neil Young): Cowboy Junkies (1990)

8) Coyote: Joni Mitchell (1976)

9) I'd Rather Go Blind (Cover of Etta James): Chicken Shack (1969)

10) The Road (Cover of Danny O'Keefe): Jackson Browne (1977)

11) I Pity The Fool (Cover of Bobby 'Blue' Bland): The Manish Boys (1965)

1965: I Pity The Fool EP: 11

1969: I'd Rather Go Blind EP: 9

1976: Hejira: 8

1977: Running On Empty: 10

1978: Killing An Arab EP: 3

1980: From Brussels With Love (Les Disques Du Crépuscule): 5

1989: Oh Mercy: 1

1990: Choke: 6 

1990: The Caution Horses: 7

1991: My Special Child EP: 4

1991: The Soul Cages: 2

Side 1 (46:56) (KF) (Mega)