#Colours Top 20 (First Shade)

So, I've been participating in another (E)x-Twitter 'countdown' these past couple of weeks, songs, artists or lyrics featuring a colour.

I've played this one straight and stuck with song titles (goodness knows there are plenty of them) and today's Dubhed selection coincides with my 10th or 20 choices, which seemed like a good point to round things up. It also comes in at just under 41 minutes, which is handy.

I didn't bother with the whole 'countdown' thing so no, I don't consider Yellow Balloon by Jan & Dean to be better than Soldier Blue by Julian Cope (as if!) or a My Life Story B-side superior to one of Madness' finest songs committed to 7" vinyl. 

 

There was a little bit of method, though: in a very cack-handed way, I did try to think about the subsequent colour complementing the one that had preceded it; the fact that I managed to then find songs that (I think) didn't jar when placed in sequence was a happy accident.

Possibly the only compilation today that will take you from The Arch Drude and Lenny Bruce to Roni Size by way of Lawrence and his Mozart Estate and the Icelandic-Bulgarian-Russian triptych of GusGus, Metodi Hristov and Maksim Dark aka Maxim Surzhik. 

 

Oh, and check out the video for Ruby Red by Marc "Mohican" Almond for a reminder of the good old days when his songs and visuals were routinely banned, to the disappointment of his chart-hungry record label(s).

 

1) Soldier Blue (Album Version): Julian Cope ft. Lenny Bruce (1991)

2) Indigo Eyes (USA Single Edit): Peter Murphy (1988)

3) Yellow Balloon: Jan & Dean (1966)

4) Grey Day (Album Version): Madness (1981)

5) Pink And The Purple: Mozart Estate (2023)

6) Orange Trees (Claptone Extended Remix By Christoph Göttsch & Daniel Brems): Marina (2019)

7) Magenta (Maksim Dark Remix By Maxim Surzhik): GusGus & Metodi Hristov (2018)

8) The Return Of Emerald Green: My Life Story (1997) *

9) Ruby Red (Album Version): Marc Almond ft. The Willing Sinners (1987)

10) Brown Paper Bag (Full Vocal Mix): Roni Size Reprazent ft. Dynamite MC (1998)

 

1966: Save For A Rainy Day: 3 

1981: 7: 4

1987: Mother Fist And Her Five Daughters: 9

1988: Indigo Eyes EP: 2

1991: Peggy Suicide: 1 

1997: Strumpet EP: 8 

1998: Brown Paper Bag EP: 10

2018: Magenta EP: 7

2019: Orange Trees EP: 6

2023: Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And The Possibilities Of Modern Shopping: 5

First Shade (40:48) (KF) (Mega)

 

* I tweeted the original version of Emerald Green (B-side to 1997 single Sparkle) but I didn't have a digital copy to hand for this selection. To the best of my knowledge, there have been at least 4 other variations/sequels which appeared on various B-sides between 1997 and 1999, namely The Return Of Emerald Green, Emerald Green Strikes Back, Paint It Emerald Green and Emerald Green Blah Blah Blah. I've gone for the first one as it segued nicely into the next song.

Psychedelic Sixties

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, released on the Select label in Australia in 1988. Purchased in Perth, Western Australia for a few dollars circa 1990/91.

This is the blurb from the back cover of the cassette cover:

 

It all came together around 1967 - the Gathering of the Tribes and the realisation that rock music was actually rock culture. Musicians, the Young Gods of the Age of Aquarius, identified themselves with the romantic figures of the past - poets, painters, writers, philosophers and mystics. They (and we) truly believed the world could be changed for the better with noble ideologies and free-flowing music. And from this overwhelming optimism emerged a strain of rock unlike any heard before or since; songs employing a new range of terminologies - psychedelia, transcendental meditation, inner consciousness, mind expansion. It was a time that, most certainly, will never come again.

 

Admittedly, I wasn't around for the first era of psychedelic music but even in 1988 most of the above statements were a bit hokey. I can only assume the writer was living in isolation and the sounds of Spacemen 3 and Primal Scream, to give just two examples, had not reached their ears. I'm also guessing that there was a record label edict that the sleevenotes should in no way explicitly mention drugs.

 

As I wrote when I posted Side 1 in December 2021, the track listing had some (to me) odd choices and the connection to psychedelic music seems even more tenuous on this side. 

 

Yellow Balloon by Jan & Dean was the only single released from the album Save For A Rainy Day. Whilst credited to the duo, it was in fact solely Dean Torrence's creation as partner Jan Berry was recovering from severe head injuries incurred from a car crash in April 1966. Things didn't go well for Torrence: Columbia refused to release the album and he was forced to release it on his own label in the US. The single made little impact in the UK or US. Ironically, Yellow Balloon was a greater success in the US when co-writer Gary Zekley recorded new vocals over the original backing track and released it under the band name The Yellow Balloon, scoring a Top 30 hit. A shame as it's a good song. Sunshine pop? Yes. Psychedelic pop? I'm not so sure.

It's a fun compilation though and formed part of my soundtrack to my time travelling around Australia. Nice to rekindle those happy memories during such a dull, dark and wet month in England!

1) Barabajagal: Donovan ft. The Jeff Beck Group, Lesley & Madeleine (1969)

2) Run, Run, Run: The Third Rail (1967)

3) Changes: The Zombies (1968)

4) Yellow Balloon: Jan & Dean (1967)

5) Family Way: Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde

6) Kozmic Blues: Janis Joplin (1969)

7) Renaissance Fair: The Byrds (1967)

8) 1984: Spirit (1969)

Side Two (23:31) (Box) (Mega)

Side One here