Penfro Sounds

Stanley Clarke More Hot Fun / Slow Dance Epic S EPC 6353 (1978) Stanley Clarke is a musician who revolutionized the role of the bass guitar, elevating it from a background rhythm instrument to a prominent solo voice. Born in Philadelphia in 1951 he attended Settlement Music School and later attended the Philadelphia Musical Academy. From an early age he wished to play in a symphony orchestra howver a jazz gig at the age of 15 with saxophonist Byard Lancaster convinced him to change direction. Having then played with prominent jazz artists like Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, and Stan Getz, his career reached a major turning point in the early 1970s when he co-founded the groundbreaking jazz fusion band Return to Forever with keyboardist Chick Corea. Individually Clarke transformed the bass into a front-stage melodic lead instrument. Having signed as a solo artist with Nemperor Records, he released his landmark solo album, "School Days"   in 1976; its title ...

Electric Six Danger! High Voltage XL Records XLS 151CD (2002) Electric Six is an American band formed in Detroit in 1996. Originally called The Wildbunch they changed their name due to pressure from the UK collective known as The Wild Bunch. The band composed of lead singer Dick Valentine (Tyler Spencer), drummer M. (Cory Martin), lead guitarist The Rock and Roll Indian (Anthony Selph), rhythm guitarist Surge Joebot (Joe Frezza), and bassist Disco (Steve Nawara, formerly of the Detroit Cobras). They were very much a part of the Detroit scene that produced among others The White Stripes. The band had a temporary split at the end of the 90s but reformed to record and release this track. This track, recorded in 2001 was released in the UK in 2003 and proved to be a hit. The song was rumoured to feature The White Stripes frontman Jack White as the unidentified second vocalist although it was officially credited as someone named John S O'Leary. Although this was presented as fact in mul...

The Beatles Compact 7 EP Apple AP-4113 (1971) This Japanese EP was originally released in 1967 on the Odeon label. My copy is the 1971 re-issue on the Apple label. All four tracks originally appeared on the 1965 "Help!" album. This 33⅓ rpm EP is part of a series of EPs released in Japan during the 1960s under the "Compact 7" banner. The "Help!" album was the band's fifth studio album and the soundtrack to their second movie.  It also was the fifth time that Ringo's vocals were used for a released track, in this case "Act Naturally" . "Act Naturally" was a cover of the Johnny Russell song that was originally recorded by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos.  Buck's version reached #1 on the US Country charts in 1963. FLAC

Ronnie Spector & The E Street Band Say Goodbye To Hollywood / Baby Please Don't Go Epic S EPC 5185 (1977) During 1977 Bruce Springsteen was engaged in a dispute with his former manager Mike Appel and was for some time legally prevented from recording new material. That meant the members of his band were also unable to work, and Bruce was running low on cash to pay them. Some of the E Street Band had decided that they were going to leave the band and take up session work to pay their bills.   Cleveland International Records executive Steve Popovich suggested working with Ronnie Spector, who had just started singing again after several years of retirement. When Ronnie agreed to record a cover version with the E Street Band she helped ensure that the band could stay together As said by Stevie Van Zandt, the band's guitarist and also the producer of this song: "We all fell in love with that voice, that combination of innocence and a little bit of sensuality and sexuality....

The Mighty Clouds OF Dust Mr. Custer Dead On Records DOR-001 (1983) This 45 that has a lot of connections to the 80s Irish music scene.  Released in 1983 on Dead On Records, the label was created by the former co-manager of The Nips, Phil Glaston along with Deirdre O'Mahony.  The Nips of course were an early band of Shane McGowan who went on The Pogues. Basically the story goes that Phil Glaston had always wanted to make a cowboy record and this was it.  Phil was the lead singer "Big Dusty" along with Phil Chevron as "Johnny Jukebox" (Phil is better known as the lead guitarist with The Pogues). "Wild Slim Mustapha" was Ben Mandleson from 3 Mustapha 3.  "Chopper" was Ray Cooper (aka Chopper) also from 3 Mustapha 3 and later The Oyster Band.  "Hank Raven" was Charles O'Connor from The Horslips and "Paddy Guitar Paddy" was Jimmy Crashe former drummer with The Radiators. The cover for the release was an A3 printed sheet fo...

Its that time of the year again when I jump on a plane and take some R&R on a foreign shore.  This year is a bit of a mega trip so there will be no posts for a few weeks but I will be back! If you are wondering where I might be heading there is a big, big clue in the last post (& the picture below).  I expect to return with a few special 45s that will appear in the future on the blog. If you are interested in what I have you can look at my 45cat page in the link below and let me know if there is anything you particularly would like to appear on the blog. So in the meanwhile, take it easy, keep spinning those 45s and check back here later on in the month to see what is next out of my collection. 45cat