if there's a better compiler than Bob Stanley out there, I'd sure like to know...

Also otm about old music - I've hardly bought anything new this year and it's totally down to hearing something on comps.

srsy, "the trip" introduced some incredible songs to me.

Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs also compiled the two-disc Glen Campbell compilation The Capitol Years...anybody with a passing interest in Glen might consider this a one-stop shopping trip...also, Bob has compiled a number of girl-group collections, also for RPM...

Link: http://www.saintetienne.com/eclipse1

Is this the same Bob Stanley? He's a member of St. Etienne and wrote this article for the Guardian about an obscure movie doc about 60s London...

this looks good too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-So-Fine-Pye-Girls/dp/tracks/B0009HL0OO/ref=dp_tracks_all_1/202-3189635-6772613#disc_1

Think harder. Folk Is Not a Four Letter Word, Prog Is Not a Four Letter Word, Vertigo Mixed, Welsh Rare Beat, Songs in the Key of Death, Music to Watch Girls Cry: unbeatable run there.

ps hiya arthur!

I have to say, though, that the Finders Keepers releases I own do not get into the rotation as much as, say, The Trip or Velvet Tinmine...

Mind you, I'm glad they do. The St Et The Trip comp is exceptional (will somebody tell me more about Mandy More?) and the Selda album which Votel's recently reissued is a thing of wonder.

Can't tell you anything about her, but here's a few titbits online about her LP:

- from a Q&A with Bob Stanley @ saintetienne.com:

"Ember Glance asks who the hell is Mandy More. Well, her mindblowing If Not By Fire appeared on The Trip. It's from an album called But That Is Me on Philips in 1972 (which includes a great cover of God Only Knows, an almost impossible feat!). I know she did a few equally intriguing non album singles including Coffee Cups which is very proto Kate Bush. Most of the album is, too."

- review @ the vinylvulture.co.uk forum:

"Mandy More – But that is me, Philips 1972
A beautiful and moving album, one I know nothing about. On playing it through I discovered that ‘If Not by Fire’ was familiar – featured on St Etienne’s Trip compilation. This is one of the 2 tracks which features some great electronic / moogy effects (freaking out at the end) and is mighty fine. But the album is so not a 1-tracker, it is one of those perfectly formed complete albums. A little like Melanie’s earlier LPs, but IMHO so much better. Mandy More has a great voice and the arrangements are gloriously baroque – strings, harp, layers of voices, piano – and great songs too. Highlights, if I must pick them are: ‘But That is Me’ (almost a single – catchy uplifting song), ‘Listen Babe’ (gentle grooving number), ‘Come to me Jesus’ (lush complex orchestral, with a great twisting and swelling ending); ‘If I smiled on Saturdays’ (catchy uptempo number featuring congas and melodica). For me the best is the closing number – a fantastic cover of ‘God only Knows’ – the moog comes back (or it might be guitar through effects) and the drums are funky even has a harmonica solo from Mandy! Produced by a certain Tony Hall, if that means anything to anyone.... Find this album if you can, you need it!"

related to xposts: can anybody tell me more about Esther Williams (not the swimmer who turned up on the cover of the first Blur LP, but the soul singer whose "Last Night Changed It All" appears on The Trip)?

I liked that Folk Is Not A Four Letter Word comp Votel did, and the welsh one he did with Gruff Rhys, but thought the prog one was just dreadful. Though I'd probably have dug the song selection if I was out at a club and those were the records a dj was playing. It didn't work so well as an at home listening experience for me.

those 2cd Virgin compilations were so beautiful.... i'm the only fan of "monster, robot and bugmen" compiled by simon hopkins and "jazz satellites" by kevin martin )and "kosmic kuruschi monster (vol.1, sigh....))? wish kevin martin would/could compile more...

Was going to say a similar thing but wanted to articulate *how* and not sure i can right now.

I've been waiting for eons for Vol. 2. Jazz Satellites Vol. 1 was a life-changer. Some key person at Virgin must've got sacked, because it seems like all those amazing comps stopped issuing forth about 5 years ago.

Check out this lineup for the unreleased second volume: http://wlt4.home.mindspring.com/adventures/articles/satellites.htm

talking of wire/tony harrington compiled comps, the wire 3cd box on Mute i think is really good, but have never seen reviewed or talked about. Check the tracklist:
http://www.discogs.com/release/125213

Anyway bored that downloading will actually be a pain for little (or big) records companies that will decide so that to issue comps, and the problems about it (licensing), it's no long useful and profitable (even if of unavailable music).

The Garbarek-Coltrane-23 Skidoo-Melle stretch on Jazz Satellites is one of my favorite sequences.

Moar!

"Saint Etienne Present Songs For The Fountain Coffee Room" is due: 31 July 2020 👍 pic.twitter.com/dY6TaZJzeM

— Ace Records (@AceRecordsLtd) June 4, 2020

English Weather sequel as good as the first one so far.

Back to the diner theme!

https://acerecords.co.uk/saint-etienne-present-songs-for-the-fountain-coffee-room

https://acerecords.co.uk/cache/images/CDCHD-1575_1200_1200.jpg

The latest in the popular “Saint Etienne Present” series – soundtracks for places both real and imaginary. This time, Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have put together a selection to fit a bar in mid-70s Los Angeles, the kind of place where Warren Beatty and Julie Christie might meet in the afternoon for a secret rendezvous between shooting scenes for Shampoo.

--

01 Only Love - Bill Quateman
02 Where Are We Going? - Marvin Gaye
03 Get Closer - Seals & Crofts
04 Tell Her She's Lovely - Batteaux
05 One Way Or The Other - The Fifth Avenue Band
06 Lilly (Are You Happy) - Daryl Hall & John Oates
07 Love Is The Answer - Utopia
08 Oh Honey - Delegation
09 Easy To Love - Leo Sayer
10 A House For Sale (Single version) - Millie Jackson
11 Tin Man - John Edwards
12 Thunder In The Afternoon - Bobbie Gentry
13 Save It For A Rainy Day - Stephen Bishop
14 Love Don't Come No Stronger (Than Yours And Mine) - Jeff Perry
15 Hollywood - Boz Scaggs
16 A Love Of Your Own (Album version) - Ned Doheny
17 Natural High (Single version) - Bloodstone
18 Hickory - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
19 Touch Me Baby (Reaching Out For Your Love) - Tamiko Jones
20 Sunshower - Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band

Ah missed Jeff's post there. Well a double notation, then!

Ooooh, my kind of thing. That Jeff Perry track is a particular favourite, I’ve played it out many times.

Good to have the track list, Ned. This looks like a must buy.

"Natural High" I remember, the others I couldn't approximate the tune or.

Friend of mine who knows Bob took him to the actual spot named, thus the title. Apparently it's amazing.

It never rains but it... um, never rains

Bob Stanley presents "76 In The Shade" is due 31st August ☀️ (link in bio) pic.twitter.com/HkgXONJmT0

— Ace Records (@AceRecordsLtd) July 7, 2020

Great! He had mentioned this was coming down the pike in a recent Ace podcast interview.

The months without rain and airless days and nights might not have been something out of the ordinary in the Algarve or the south of France, but it was without precedent in Britain. The Summer of 1976 has remained a benchmark for long, hot summers – there may have been scorchers since, but none have seemed quite as relentless or enervating. The country melted into a collective puddle. “76 In The Shade” probably wasn’t anyone’s real life soundtrack of the year – that could have included Bowie’s “Station To Station” and Abba’s “Greatest Hits”. Instead, Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley has put a compilation together that sonically evokes the summer of 1976 itself, its sweet heat and almost narcotic lethargy.

01 Walking So Free - Spike Janson
02 Sugar Shuffle - Lynsey De Paul
03 Miracles (Single version) - Jefferson Starship
04 Get Out Of Town - Smokey Robinson
05 I'm Mandy Fly Me (Album version) - 10cc
06 Stoned Out - Simon Park
07 Nothing To Remind Me - Cliff Richard
08 Discover Me - David Ruffin
09 You're The Song (That I Can't Stop Singing) - Hollywood Freeway
10 You Are My Love - Liverpool Express
11 Liquid Sunshine - John Cameron
12 Not On The Outside - Sylvia
13 Stay With Me - Blue Mink
14 Wild Mountain Honey - Steve Miller Band
15 Fallin' In Love - Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
16 Flowers - The Emotions
17 Montreal City - Azimuth
18 Rock'n'Roll Star - Barclay James Harvest
19 Miss My Love today - Gilbert O'Sullivan
20 Music - Carmen McRae

Surprised not to see 'Oh Lori' by Alessi on that compilation - released on a 1976 album, although not a hit single until 1977.

lol dude needs to slow down!

There was a curious exchange on Twitter where someone suggested that Bob makes all these compilations but actually spends his evenings listening to the Lighthouse Family.

"I don't get it," replied Bob.

I was bemused he engaged, to be honest.

This is out today... almost forgot to mention it! Actually suits the weather. Didn’t see that coming. pic.twitter.com/qCVDYIzQ16

— Saint Etienne (@bobpetesarah) July 31, 2020

Yeah, I was streaming this over the weekend and it sounded wonderful.

When Bowie and Iggy escaped LA to go interrailing in the mid 70s they heard a new European music that was largely devoid of Anglo American rock influence. In Berlin one of their favourite haunts was Cafe Exil - this is it’s imaginary soundtrack. Out in December. pic.twitter.com/udkClxv7ev

— bob stanley (@rocking_bob) October 5, 2020

Track list:

https://acerecords.co.uk/cafe-exil-new-adventures-in-european-music-1972-1980-1

would buy for the cover alone

I already know and adore Jan Hammer Group "Don't You Know", the rest look intriguing.

Allegedly a new one on the horizon called Choctaw Ridge Country Fables but no details yet.

The Cafe Exil comp is fantastic, really does take you on a journey.

Drunk thought: I wonder how long Bob (and collaborators) spend compiling these?

(I'm not really sure how widely he can draw from?)

I did discuss an idea with him (online) which happened about 2 years later. I don't know if he'd already thought of it before, but.

anyone else stuck between not wanting to buy CDS any more but finding it hard to justify £29 for the LP? :-(

I’m not quite at the ‘no more CDs’ stage but yeah the price is driving my format choice in the case of these Ace comps

New comp done with Tim Burgess

https://acerecords.co.uk/tim-burgess-bob-stanley-present-tim-peaks-songs-for-a-late-night-diner

Finally picked this one up at the end of last year and it's so great - concept/execution etc. Hadn't given ISAN much thought for 15 years but in context it's perfect.

The second CD of The Trip *still* gets a monthly airing, pretty much

I've managed to avoid paying £29 for the doubles, but yeah.

One on ebay was £12, because the seller "was expecting something else" when buying it. Nm, his loss, my gain (it's great - the three-day-week one).

> Hadn't given ISAN much thought for 15 years but in context it's perfect.

that track is about 23 years old (which is about 8 years older then i'd've guessed) was a single in '98

Think I first heard it on the excellent Blue Room mix cd that came with the October 2002 edition of Muzik magazine

https://www.discogs.com/Chris-Coco-Rob-Da-Bank-The-Blue-Room-70-Mins-Of-Lazy-Space-Grooves/release/63182

ISAN are worth keeping up with. I like this from last year: https://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-picked-and-placed-nowhere

Thanks - will investigate. I've just realised how much ISAN product there is from the past 20 years...

Cafe Exil also now acquired and is a joy

Another favourite from a few years back is: https://acerecords.co.uk/saint-etienne-present-songs-for-the-carnegie-deli. You sense he could churn these out in his sleep, but the hit rate here is incredibly high and it's low-key glorious throughout

I think my very favourite Bobcomps are those where he's trying to evoke an incredibly vague ill-defined mood, rather than the sort of 'primer in genre X' ones. But maybe they're all this really, to some extent

My favs of this recentish crop that I haven't seen receive much acclaim: State Of The Union (the squares react to the social changes of the 1960's, in a liberal rather than reactionary mold - semi socially conscious tracks from Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis) and 76 In The Shade (very much in that vague mood setting technopolis mentions, just these lazy, hazy grooves from all sorts of mid 70's sources).

I'm super jealous of Bob Stanley, and dig what he does.

Is there really almost anyone else who gets to do what he does, these days? Make comps (not like Numero does, of mostly-unheard, primary-source stuff, but of good stuff of all levels of known-ness) that get pressed into physical media? I've got a few dozen Musicophilia mixes I'd love to see go legit like that...

Oh hello

I'm working on a compilation of 98bpm tracks, all from 1990/91 - hypnotic, post -acid, neo-psych (at least that's how I hear it), ... does this sound even have a name? Things like this by One Dove... it'll be beautiful. https://t.co/nnxDVJXpZH

— bob stanley (@rocking_bob) April 13, 2021

street soul revival is firmly underway!

is that track Stanley posted street soul?

I feel like I should know the answer to this ... but is there significance to 98bpm?

Was a bit of a thing at the time

http://www.oakenfoldmixes.com/press-articles/mixmag-october-1995

In 1990, Paul Oakenfold bailed on house music. "The scene split, the scene went rave and I didn't feel comfortable with rave music. The noises were more cheesy and we were more song-oriented. Where I wanted to go was keep the energy and go downtempo. We'd be caning it for four years, we were ready to go out on a different vibe.
"That's the kind of person I am musically. I could have made a fortune out of being a big rave DJ - I played all those Biology's and Sunrise's - but it wasn't about that for me."
So began his 98bpm movement, a combination of dance grooves, indie rock and hip hop that ended up finally reappearing as indie dance with old Future regulars, the Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, at the helm. And on his releases as Movement 98, top slowed up groovers like 'Joy And Heartbreak'.

Thanks groovypanda.

I was trying to work out in my head if there would be a particular physical sensation related to it. It's sort of top of resting heart rate or maybe bottom of moderately exercising heart rate in a young un'.

"Joy And Heartbreak" is such an incredibly perfect song

Anyway, to answer your question, Jon Savage's latest collection 1972-1976 is one I'm currently on. It might be because it's the only correct reissue of the Faust polydor 7" of "So Far", um, so far.

Waltz Darling doesn't fit genre-wise but the BPM and the era work just about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOGX-x9UlLs

New from Ace Records: ‘Chocktaw Ridge’, compiled by Bob with Martin Green
https://acerecords.co.uk/choctaw-ridge-new-fables-from-the-american-south-1968-1973

Best songs from Elvis' 60s movies. That's what a colleague of mine reckons will be a Bob Stanley compilation project in the future.

Followed by the best songs from Cliff Richard movies.

Lol

A guy's gotta pay the rent.

remembered the 98bpm chat earlier this week and the mention of a compilation being put together.
well, it has just been announced :

https://acerecords.co.uk/fell-from-the-sun-1

He has an Oh Brother I haven't heard yet too. JUst getting the John Leckie one starting at the moment.