Sparks & Franz Ferdinand together! FFS - FFS (Deluxe Edition, Domino 2015) Flac & mp3

A long time in the making as well as a complete surprise on its arrival, the self-titled debut from FFS -- the collaboration between Franz Ferdinand and Sparks -- is the work of two great, and distinctive, acts at the top of their game. In fact, FFS works so well because these groups aren't carbon copies of each other. Over the years, Sparks brainy shape-shifting has touched on glam and new wave, two of the styles that were most influential on Franz Ferdinand's suave dance-rock, but that's just the tip of their musical iceberg. What the bands do share -- jaunty wit and a flair for indelible choruses -- gives FFS plenty of fertile common ground. These songs are inspired, even-handed combinations of all of their strengths, whether Ron and Russell Mael lend a dash of weirdness to Franz Ferdinand's spiky hooks, as on "Call Girl," or the Glaswegian outfit adds some heft to Sparks' flights of fancy on the satirical "Police Encounters" or the hyperactive "So Desu Ne." FFS' strongest moments bring passion to its abundant cleverness. Somewhat perversely and sometimes poignantly, the supergroup is at its best when singing about different kinds of solitude. "Piss Off," the first song Sparks sent Franz Ferdinand back in 2004 after the release of their debut album, is a cheerfully antisocial anthem for those who'd rather be alone. "Collaborations Don't Work"'s self-referential duet turns into a duel, with Alex Kapranos and Russell Mael trading barbs like "I don't need your navel gazing/I don't like your way of phrasing." However, the best showcase for their vocals is the brilliant opening track "Johnny Delusional." At once grandiose and self-deprecating, it's a vivid portrait of unrequited love that combines Kapranos' smooth baritone and Mael's anxious counter tenor like a juxtaposition of fantasy and reality. Similarly, FFS boasts so much personality that character sketches like "Dictator's Son," which tells the story of a despot's offspring who is more into creature comforts than tyranny, also rank among the standouts. A near-perfect blend of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand's skills, FFS is a collaboration that works very well and offers just about everything a fan of either band could want.(allmusic)

As i heard about the collaboration of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand i couldn't believe that. But it was true and that's good. To me as a long time fan of Sparks the album remembers me partly to their finest works of the seventies and eighties. I am not really familiar with Franz Ferdinand. I knew the first album but that was it. To me the album sounds sometimes like an Sparks album with the production done by the FF band. I know that this is not the case. It would be interesting for me to know what a Franz Ferdinand fan, who's not familiar with the Sparks, think about the album. For me it is a very nice surprise how strong the album is. If you haven't heard it give it a try.

Cheers
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Glam Pop!!! Foxy Shazam - Foxy Shazam (2010)

With a love for the musical excess of Meat Loaf and Queen, Foxy Shazam storm flamboyantly into the night with their third album, the eponymously titled Foxy Shazam. While the band is incredibly talented (especially the piano playing of Sky White), the show is really all about mustachioed frontman Eric Nally. Over the course of the album, Nally’s performance is an homage to the theatrical bombast of charismatic greats like Freddie Mercury and Russell Mael (with Nally bearing an eerie resemblance to the former). Backing up his big voice is the rest of the band, consisting of the standard rock setup plus piano and horns. The music combines the relentless drive and positivity of Andrew W.K. with the dramatic flair of Jim Steinman, with sweeping guitar riffs pushing the songs forward while the piano brings a pop sensibility to the whole thing. Given how big the presence of the music is, it’s really a testament to Nally’s over the top persona that he’s able to stand out among everything that’s happening in the background while somehow never feeling forced. Nally sings like a pop hero on songs like “Killin’ It” and “Wanna-Be Angel,” as if he’s confident he’s a superstar and whether or not anyone else knows it is inconsequential. With such a classic combination of pop and rock, this is an album that’s just dripping with crossover appeal, with big hooks for the radio and enough rock and emotion for the post-emo crowd to sink its teeth into.(allmusic.com)

At first: here are great musicians at work. The whole album is a musically hommage to Rock'n'Roll, to rock heros, to R'n'R lifestyle and always with a wink. You think automatically to the guys with long curly hair, too tight glittering pants, guitar pose, screaming girls and aftershow parties where no one gets out alive, except he or she is a real rock'n'roller.
The band plays a kind of glam rock/pop (what else..) and they do it really good. The voice of Nally often recall to Freddie Mercury. This album not only makes a lot of fun, here are also very good songs on the album.
Enjoy it!
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ModPopPowerPopRock? The Queen Annes - Released! (2016 Green Monkey Records) Flac & mp3@320

Mod Pop: Queen Annes Released!

From the late 70’s right through to the mid 90’s, some of the greatest bands in power pop history were from Seattle. Bands such as Exploding Hearts, Super Deluxe, Sparkler and the greatest Seattle power pop band of all time, The Heats.
Not to be overlooked in the power pop craze at the time, Mod Pop counterparts The Queen Annes released a cassette in the early 80’s entitled Something Quick. I recall really enjoying their sound, one that had all the drive and unbridled energy of The Who. The way I understand it, they tried to follow up on the release in 1997 with a full length LP entitled Revenge. However, like so many worthwhile recordings of that time, the project was shelved.
Until Now.
Thanks to the folks at Green Monkey Records, Revenge has been unveiled in all its splendor… but re-titled as Released!. With Released!, The Queen Annes offer up a variety of styles and influences that prove to be broader in scope and so much more entertaining than their earliest work. It’s a shame that it didn’t find it’s way to the marketplace back in ’97.

The Who influence is still there of course, as on “Circus Train”, the opening track. This song has jangle to spare and the horns in the beginning are a nice touch. “She Swims Sideways” is an interesting psych-pop number and sounds almost as if it could be a Jeff Kelly composition. “What’s It All About” is another favorite and has the lyrical feel and DIY treatment of a good dBs song.
Other highlights include “It’s Not My Life” with its sideways Motown feel and well placed horns, “Kiss Me I’m Dead” (another psych-pop song that reminds me of The Green Pajamas a little bit – just a little bit). There’s a couple of great cover tunes too. The Bee Gees’ “Harry Braff” and the Brian Wilson composition “This Whole World” are great covers, the latter showing us that these guys could have been a really good harmony group if they had wanted to.

Finally, “Lady of the Waves” is a very pleasant acoustic track that offers another new texture to a very diverse, engaging record.
Whether you remember The Queen Annes or not, Released! should not be missed.(powerpopnews.com)

I needed two or three spins and than the album kicked me ....
Give it a try
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Classic Power Pop by The Posies - Dear 23 (1990 Geffen Records) Flac & mp3@320

Ken Stringfellow and Jonathan Auer, the leaders of the Posies, expressed genuine big-league pop ambitions with minor-league budgets on their early releases, so it's not especially surprising that their first album for a major label, Dear 23, found them laying on all the baroque textures that they couldn't afford on their own dime. Sounding a bit like a modernized version of the Hollies with a studio sound that crossed The White Album with Big Star 3rd, Dear 23 kicks off with two pleasing slices of glossy power pop, "My Big Mouth" and "Golden Blunders" (the latter of which was covered by an actual Beatle, Ringo Starr, doubtless a major thrill for these guys).

But by the time track four rolls around ("Any Other Way"), power has taken a cigarette break, and the album drifts into a mid-tempo dreamland where everything is either pretty and contemplative or pretty and a bit morose. (Though in all fairness, the rocking "Help Yourself" does pop up in the later innings to punch things up). Dear 23 is packed with too much good stuff to escape the notice of any true pop obsessive -- Auer and Stringfellow write great songs, their harmonies are nothing short of superb, and the arrangements and production (by the band in collaboration with John Leckie) are imaginative and flawlessly executed.

However, for all the craft, there isn't a lot of passion or heart in this music; the long hours in the studio getting the sounds right seem to have squeezed out the soul of the music. Dear 23 offers all the proof you could ask for that the Posies were major talents. However, it also made them sound like they weren't especially fun to be around or compelling to hear from, and that ultimately sinks the album.(allmusic)

I can't believe it is 27 years ago since the Posies released this album. I know it like today as i saw the cover for the first time. I buyed it immediately and since that day the album is a part of me.
Have fun
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Brix gone solo! Adult Net - The Honey Tangle 1989 (Fontana) Flac & mp3@320

This 60s revivalist pop band from the UK was fronted by Laura Elise (aka ‘Brix’) Smith (b. California, USA), performing a dual role after she relocated to England, when she was also a member of husband Mark E. Smith’s band, the Fall. The Adult Net was inaugurated in 1985 when Brix, who was brought up in Hollywood, took the phrase from a line in ‘Stephen’s Song’, from the Fall’s The Wonderful And Frightening World Of. She had previously worked in Rage and Burden Of Proof. In contrast to the Fall, whom many noted she pushed in a more commercial direction, Adult Net concentrated on vocal harmony and bubblegum pop which harked back to Smith’s Californian roots, and the Beach Boys in particular. Her accomplices at one time included three ex-members of the Smiths; Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce and Craig Gannon, the line-up that saw the band make their live debut.

Hastily arranged in order to impress Geffen Records, the band nevertheless acquired a contract from Fontana Records. ‘Incense And Peppermints’ (Strawberry Alarm Clock) and ‘Edie’, a tribute to the Andy Warhol protégé, attracted plenty of press attention but few record sales. A cover version of the Grass Roots’ ‘Where Were You’ preceded The Honey Tangle, an album of seamless and occasionally sickly pop. The line-up had transformed to include Clem Burke (ex-Blondie) and James Eller (ex-The The), while Gannon was retained from the earlier formation. A previous album, recorded in 1987 for Beggars Banquet Records and titled Spin This Web, remained unreleased. As Honey Tangle, named after a racehorse, was released, the personal and professional split between Brix and Mark E. Smith became public. Subsequently a version of Donovan’s ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’, featuring new boyfriend Nigel Kennedy on violin, was shelved when Fontana dropped the band in October 1990.

Smith laid low for a while before tentatively rehearsing with Hole as replacement bass player. In 1995 she returned to the Fall to guest on that year’s Cerebral Caustic, having temporarily made up with one-time husband Mark E. Smith.

Something must Brix have fascinated to the name ''Smith''. But the ex members of the Smiths had gone and Mark, too. But this very fine effort still sounds great.

Have fun
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Earth Quake - Two Years In A Padded Cell (1979 Vinyl Beserkley)

Most listeners who remember them think of Earth Quake as a mid-'70s band, but the group's roots go back a decade earlier. Indeed, the band started out as part of the mid-'60s band scene in San Francisco, where -- originally known as Purple Earthquake -- they were more than a little bit unusual. The most visible groups working in the city at the time tended to put a combined druggy/folkie spin on electric music, but Earth Quake, consisting of John Doukas (vocals), Robbie Dunbar (guitar, piano, vocals), Stan Miller (bass, vocals), and Steve Nelson (percussion, vocals), were more of a power-pop-cum-hard-rock outfit. They were much closer in spirit to the Flamin' Groovies or the Chocolate Watchband than, say, to the Grateful Dead. They were good enough to attract the attention of Matthew King Kaufman, an aspiring manager who hoped to carry them to national fame and, toward that end, landed them a contract with A&M Records in 1970. At the time, A&M, which had specialized mostly in MOR pop and light jazz releases, was signing some acts with harder and more diverse sounds (it was around the same time that Tarantula was added to their roster), and Earth Quake was among the first hard rock bands on the label. Unfortunately, the label never knew how to market them, and a pair of albums -- a self-titled debut and Why Don't You Try Me? -- failed to ignite any interest from the public. They left the label in 1972, frustrated with their lack of success, though there was one fortuitous event during this period that enabled both the band and their manager to move past this experience in short order -- for reasons that are not exactly clear, the makers of the movie The Getaway (1972), a high-profile, big-budget (and highly successful) thriller starring Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw, used some of the band's music without getting all of the necessary clearances from the parties involved. When the smoke cleared, this accident proved profitable for the band and, even more so, for their manager.

Kaufman used a portion of the settlement money to set up his own record label, Beserkley Records, in 1973. And Earth Quake, along with Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers, the Rubinos, and Greg Kihn, comprised the core of the company's roster. Their debut album for the new label, Rockin' the World, was assembled from live performances and captured the group -- now a five-piece with the addition of Gary Phillips (late of Copperhead) on guitar and vocals -- in some pretty inspired moments, and got them more notice than either of their A&M LPs had. They became something of the house band at Beserkley, playing behind Richman on his signature tune, "Roadrunner" (a song that, as much as any other, defined what he and the label were about). Their later records for the label also included backing vocals by Greg Kihn. The group's final album, Two Years in a Padded Cell, showed up in 1979, and the band finally called it quits a couple of years later. In 2003, two decades after that breakup, a pair of compilations -- Purple: The A&M Recordings (Acadia), assembling their two A&M albums, and Sittin' in the Middle of Madness (Castle), covering the Beserkley recordings -- were released, showcasing the two halves of their history.(allmusic)

My first impression as i heard the album was that i thought where the hell they want to go? Real good pop songs here and also harder songs. Maybe they never reached the top because of the different directions they played on their albums. Is it power pop? In some songs definitely but here is like i said before harder 70's stuff on the album, too. Try it by yourself.
Enjoy
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Various Artists - Love Is The Song We Sing - San Francisco Nuggets 1965 - 1970 4 Disc Box (2007 Rhino Records) Flac & mp3

As the fourth Nuggets box from Rhino -- following the Children of Nuggets set, which may not count for some listeners as a true entry in the series as it documents the reverberations of Nuggets instead of the original big bang -- Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970 is easily the most specific and idiosyncratic yet, a set devoted to a time and a place: namely the Bay Area that sowed the seeds of the Summer of Love in 1967. Released in conjunction with that 40th anniversary (although sadly missing the summer of nostalgia in 2007, reaching the stores that fall), Love Is the Song We Sing is surely a time capsule, but it may not be as much interest to those who lived through it as those who pine for the glory days of free love, hippies, and psychedelia.

No less of an authority than legendary rock critic Greil Marcus noted in his Interview magazine review that many of these bands are obscure to him -- and he lived through the time, in the Bay Area, so he should know. If Marcus has a gripe, chances are the average listener looking for a heavy dose of nostalgia will also find Love Is the Song We Sing rather overwhelming in its reliance on momentary sensations and obscurities, but that's kind of the point of all the Nuggets set: to dig way deeper than the surface and find the best of its chosen subculture.

Fans of Nuggets -- whether in its original double-LP Lenny Kaye incarnation or in the subsequent box sets -- know this, and that's who Love Is the Song We Sing is truly aimed at, but the odd thing is that they may not be entirely satisfied with this set either, as it deviates from the Nuggets formula in a couple of crucial ways. First, there are some genuinely huge songs by genuinely huge bands -- like Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit," Country Joe & the Fish's "I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag," Blue Cheer's "Summertime Blues," and Santana's "Evil Ways" -- a few more marquee names than normal (including the Grateful Dead, Steve Miller Band, Janis Joplin, Sly & the Family Stone, and Moby Grape), and bands are occasionally repeated, but the biggest musical difference is that this is a decided shift away from the wild, wooly guitar rock of the previous Nuggets, lacking both the raw garage and hard, swirling psychedelia that has been the hallmark of the series. Instead, Love Is the Song We Sing is firmly within the camp of the hippies, documenting their rise, their peak, and softly disguising their fall by ending the set in 1970, when the Summer of Love was still echoing strongly but just beginning to fade.

This set takes its time to get to 1967, as that legendary summer doesn't roll around until disc three, but the pace never seems leisurely, as the first two discs document how that summer came to be, beginning with Dino Valenti's "Let's Get Together" (which provides the chorus to the Youngbloods' "Get Together," the '60s standard that closes the set), then winds its way through a lot of folk-rock before tougher, bluesier, trippier sounds work their way into the mix toward the beginning of the second disc. Just like the hippies, Love never really abandons these folkie beginnings and that communal vibe is always present even as soul, jazz, bluegrass, blues, and avant-garde bubble toward the surface.

Ultimately, it's best to view this box set as a document of the era of the hippies, a piece of pop culture anthropology that might not be perfect -- it's always possible to quibble over the featured tracks by the biggest names, or notice a missing act that should have been here (most notably the Sir Douglas Quintet, setting up shop in San Francisco while in exile from Austin) -- but there is no comparable compilation to this, no other set that has the same scope or ambition. And few other box sets succeed so well at capturing a specific moment in time, or explaining how that moment in time happened, as those first two discs do a terrific job in pulling together the disparate strands that added up to hippie culture. If there are a bunch of little-known names here, that only helps illustrate how far-reaching the movement was -- after all, if it was a limited phenomenon, could it have spawned so many bands that were forgotten? Plus, these forgotten gems are the reason why Nuggets exist, and in its CD incarnation, there has been no better psychedelic or garage series that serves the passionate record collector who nevertheless isn't quite dedicated enough to sort through all the hard-to-find reissues of quasi-legality to find the good stuff.

Fortunately, the compilers of Nuggets, here led by producer Alec Palao (who also contributes excellent notes here, along with Ben Fong-Torres and Gene Sculatti), sift through these pebbles to get the gems, and then present them in logical yet loving fashion, so listening to the box is both illuminating and entertaining. It's possible to argue that this hippie-dippy music -- and make no mistake, this confirms hippie stereotypes as much as it explodes them with its far-ranging musical reach -- is the opposite of the nasty noise of the first Nuggets and perhaps there will be some unrepentant garage rockers who will sneer at this set, but it will be their loss because Love Is the Song We Sing is a remarkable historical document filled with as much great music as Nuggets, Vol. 2. And when all is said and done, it is a set that is for fans of those first three boxes, the kind of rock & roll fan who loves an exceptional guided tour through the past, instead of listeners looking for a quick dose of nostalgia.(allmusic)

Hello Folks, since a few days i have problems with my internet connection. The provider just sucks. Nearly all thirty minutes the router starts new. That's the reason why it takes more time to post. Anyhow, here is the fourth of the Rhino Nuggets series and it's a very well done compilation. After in the Nuggets releases before the most stuff came from british bands of the time then (the sixties :-) )
herenow the wonderful american artists. I don't need a collection of music as history book, that's not really important to me, for me it is the music that counts the most. If i want to know something about the movement and how that all began, i think there are better sources than a music collection. Sure, the booklet it's nice done by Rhino, and to me it made a lot of fun to read it and maybe i must correct my opinion about ''... better sources...blah... history...blahblah'', lol and music collections are still the better history books :-).
Musically this is a real top notch collection about the american music that happened in the sixties.

Enjoy it
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Simon Dupree And The Big Sound - Part Of My Past - The Simon Dupree And The Big Sound Anthology 2 Disc ( EMI. 2005 ) Flac & mp3@320

There's a rule of human nature that applies here: just as when a letter arrives marked "important" or "urgent" and chances are good that it's anything but, any group using the adjective "big" in its name is probably not going anywhere. Such was the case of Simon Dupree & the Big Sound, who neither had a "Simon Dupree" nor a very big following for much of their existence. Not that they weren't good. But apart from Big Country and maybe the Big Bopper, not too many acts using the name "Big" have gone very far with the public.
"Simon Dupree" was vocalist Derek Shulman, one of a trio of brothers (Ray and Phil being the other two) from Portsmouth, England, who started out in music as R&B fanatics and first formed a group in 1964. Their musical interests can be glimpsed by the choices that the Shulman brothers made between 1964 and 1965 in naming their bands, which included the Howling Wolves and the Road Runners. Those names aside, their repertoire was focused a lot more on the songs of Wilson Pickett, Don Covay, and Otis Redding than on the Wolf or Bo Diddley. "Simon Dupree & the Big Sound" came about in the course of their search for a flashy name.

 

The name change worked locally, because the group prospered on the club scene, its earnings reaching £300 a night, split after expenses between Derek (vocals, bass, saxophone), Ray (bass, guitar, violin), and Phil (sax, trumpet) and their bandmates Tony Randell (drums) and Pete O'Flaherty (bass). Additionally, they were signed to EMI's Parlophone label, under producer Dave Paramor, and cut a pair of powerful R&B-style songs in 1966, "I See the Light" and "It Is Finished." Success on the club scene didn't necessarily result in serious record sales, however, and the group's debut, as well as its follow-up records, "Reservations" b/w "You Need a Man" and "Day Time, Night Time" b/w "I've Seen It All Before," didn't make much of an impression. Their debut album, Without Reservations, containing the first fragmentary examples of the group's original songwriting, was released in August of 1967, just in time to be overlooked as cheerfully irrelevant in the wake of Sgt. Pepper's, Magical Mystery Tour, et al.

 

Then, in October of 1967, the group's management and record label decided to try moving Simon Dupree & the Big Sound in the direction of psychedelia. It's entirely possible that they were looking at the huge sales and international recognition suddenly accruing to the Moody Blues, an R&B-turned-psychedelic outfit who had gone from near-oblivion to scoring a pair of hit albums and singles with their new sound.

The result was "Kites," a song recorded in the early fall of 1967 at Abbey Road. The bandmembers were unhappy with the new song and the sound they were being asked to create, but they tried to make the best of it -- they experimented with a Mellotron for the first time, and used it pretty much as impressively as the Moody Blues did. The melody was Asian-sounding, and the presence of actress Jackie Chan reciting some poetry over the music didn't detract from the single's "Eastern" sound. "Kites" wasn't R&B, but it was the right song at the right time, and it made the British Top Ten, a major commercial breakthrough for the group. Unfortunately, the band was never able to follow it up, and after several abortive attempts at another psychedelic-style single -- including the first songwriting efforts by the Shulman brothers -- Simon Dupree & the Big Sound called it quits in 1969.

By then, however, their thinking about music had changed. In 1970, the Shulmans were back at the core of a new group, having made the leap past psychedelia and far from R&B in the progressive rock group Gentle Giant.(allmusic)


Wonderful collection of sixties pop but the band was completely underrated.
Hope you have fun
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Luke Haines - Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop 2006 Flac & mp3@320

One of the sharpest and most prolific British songwriters of his generation, Luke Haines -- who began modestly enough in a string of obscure '80s bands, including the Servants -- helmed the glam noir of the Auteurs, the broken funk of Baader Meinhof, and the (mostly) downbeat pop of Black Box Recorder, in addition to releasing material under his own name. During the last seven years of the '90s, Haines issued six albums that ranged from fine to spectacular, from the Mercury Prize-nominated New Wave (1993) to the sleek, bleak How I Learned to Love the Bootboys (1999). After the release of Black Box Recorder's second album, 2000's The Facts of Life (the title track hit the upper reaches of the U.K. singles chart), Haines issued his first true recordings.

Christie Malry's Own Double Entry and The Oliver Twist Manifesto were released within a couple months of each other in mid-2001 -- the former a soundtrack to the darkly comic film of the same name, and the latter a surprisingly effective fusion of Haines' typically snide and downcast melodies over springy hip-hop-oriented production. (The week the disc was released, Haines called for a weeklong National Pop Strike, a period in which any musician could turn in his or her wares and receive amnesty for any and all "crimes" committed against pop.) Two years later, Haines sidestepped a typical best-of release with Das Capital, a set of Auteurs material recorded with orchestral backing. Luke Haines Is Dead (2005), however, summarized Haines' career to that point across a wide span of three CDs containing highlights, B-sides, and radio sessions.

Haines' second proper solo album, Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop, came in 2006. A year later, he published Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall, a book that rankled former colleagues (he referred to Auteurs member James Banbury only as "the cellist") and longtime enemies alike. In 2012, Haines released the typically idiosyncratic (and self-explanatory) Nine and a Half Psychedelic Meditations on British Wresting of the 1970s and Early '80s and the career overview Outsider/In: The Collection, followed in 2013 by the conceptual adult fairy tale Rock and Roll Animals and, a year later, by New York in the 70's, another ambitious concept album. In the summer of 2014, he collaborated on a theatrical piece with artist Scott King called Adventures in Dementia: A Micro Opera, whose story centered around a Mark E. Smith (lead singer of the Fall) impersonator's caravan holiday. The brief six-song soundtrack was released in January 2015, with the electronics-driven new conceptual full-length British Nuclear Bunkers arriving that October. His sixth album in seven years, 2016's Smash the System, saw Haines ditching the conceptual architecture of past outings in favor of a more singles-oriented, though no less idiosyncratic, set of new material.(allmusic)

This guy always do interesting and astonishing things and that's what i like in his work.
Enjoy the album, very fine tracks here
                       
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DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-DELETED-

Hello Folks, a filehoster where i am a customer deleted this week two files from my account. I got a note ''Due to a complaint the files are deleted''. Until today if there was a problem with any posts the artists or the rightholder sended me a mail and i deleted immediately the posts. Everything okay. This is the first time somebody don't talk to me directly but give a complaint to the hoster anonym. I know things like this happen everyday but i ask myself amongst other things: Who was the person or company and, more interesting: Was the reason really a violation of copyrights in any kind or maybe there are other reasons?
I will see how this go on...

Kind regards to all who like what i am doing here...
                                                                                   Frank/SB1

Vanity Fare - The Sun The Wind And Other Things 1968-70 (1991 Repertoire) Flac & mp3@320

Best remembered in the U.S. for the classic "Hitchin' a Ride," harmony pop ensemble Vanity Fare formed in Kent, England in 1968. Comprising vocalist Trevor Brice, guitarist Tony Goulden, bassist Tony Jarrett, and drummer Dick Allix, the group originally dubbed themselves the Avengers; soon local entrepreneur Roger Easterby signed on as manager, orchestrating a contract with the Page One label and instructing the group to cover the Sunrays' "I Live for the Sun" for their debut single. With their sophisticated harmonies and clean-cut image, the Avengers needed a suitably genteel name, remixing the title of William Makepeace Thackeray's most famous novel to create Vanity Fare; "I Live for the Sun" cracked the U.K. Top 20 in the summer of 1968, although it would take the group a year to return to the charts, with "Early in the Morning" reaching the Top Ten on both sides of the Atlantic. Around this time, Vanity Fare jettisoned its tailored suits for neckerchiefs and fashions direct from Carnaby Street; more importantly, they also added keyboardist Barry Landeman,

previously a member of Kippington Lodge, alongside Nick Lowe and Brinsley Schwartz; Landeman would prove the dominant instrumental element in the group's biggest hit, 1969's infectious "Hitchin' a Ride," which sold over a million copies in the U.S. alone. A North American tour was met with little interest, however, and soon after Vanity Fare returned to Britain. Goulden quit, quickly followed by Allix; Candy Choir guitarist Eddie Wheeler and Canterbury Tales' drummer Mark Ellen signed on as their replacements. The new lineup scored a minor hit with 1972's ballad "Better by Far," and concentrated on touring the cabaret circuit, performing as many as 14 dates a week; the grind ultimately forced Jarrett to resign, with former Tranquility bassist Bernard Hagley signing on for "I'm in Love With the World," Vanity Fare's first single for new label Phillips.

In the wake of 1974's "Fast Running Out of World" their recording career screeched to a halt, but the group continued touring, including several passes through Scandinavia. During one trek to Denmark, Brice fell in love and quit the group, with singer Phil Kitto taking his place. Kitto also exited a few years later, with vocalist Kevin Thompson installed as frontman by the time Vanity Fare
recorded 1986's "Dreamer," its first single in over a decade. With 1993's "Rain," their recording career again went into mothballs, but the band continues touring, with singer Steve Oakman replacing Thompson in early 2002. (allmusic)

What i like here on this guys they had very different and good songs in my opinion. Carolina's Comin' Home in my opinion was a top pop song like many others here on the compilation.
Have fun
               SB1      Flac p1 & Flac p2 & Flac p3     -  mp3@320

Great Pop/Sunshine Pop by The Peppermint Rainbow - Will You Be Staying After Sunday 1969 (Rev-Ola 2008) mp3@320

Baltimore's the Peppermint Rainbow got their big break when Cass Elliot of the Mamas & the Papas caught their act at a club in Georgetown, VA, and was impressed enough to help them land a record contract and a management deal. The happy irony is that on their first and only album, Will You Be Staying After Sunday, the Peppermint Rainbow sound much less like the Mamas & the Papas than their rivals on the charts Spanky & Our Gang, right down to their fondness for songs about the first day of the week, and singer Bonnie Lamdin was a dead ringer for Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane. Paul Leka, the producer responsible for the Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine," was the man behind the controls for the Peppermint Rainbow's recordings, and his talent for top-shelf sunshine pop with just a hint of psychedelia is very much in evidence here; the group's two hit singles, "Will You Be Staying After Sunday" and "Don't Wake Me Up in the Morning, Michael," boast splendid harmonies and rich, dynamic arrangements that buoy the arrangements with strings, horns, and well-punctuated drumming. Those two songs are the best things on the album, but the rest of the tracks are more than just filler (except for a curious cover of "Green Tambourine" in which Leka appears to have recycled the backing track from the Lemon Pipers' original version). "Pink Lemonade" was the group's first single and should have enjoyed the same success as its siblings, the French-accented "Jamais" has a string arrangement the Left Banke would have been proud of, "Rosemary" features a curious "Asian"-flavored arrangement that melds well with the harmonies, and "Sierra (Chasin' My Dream)" is a welcome detour into folk-rock. Will You Be Staying After Sunday is a pleasant surprise, a solid and thoroughly enjoyable album from an all but forgotten band, and it suggests the Peppermint Rainbow might have had a few more hits in them if they'd lasted long enough to cut a second LP.(allmusic.com)

The Peppermint Rainbow were a project of real great talent and one of the finest bands at their time in this kind of music. What happened? There were a lot of lesser talented bands with big pop careers in that time. Whatever, enjoy this very fine album (only mp3, sorry) of sixties sunshine pop.

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