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(The Charlatans (UK) - still very much alive and kicking)
Since I mentioned them last night during my Catherine Wheel entry, I thought I should include the headliners from that 1995 gig, The Charlatans (UK) - or just The Charlatans if you're overseas.
As much as everyone talked nonstop at the time about Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets and the rest of the Madchester scene in the early 1990s, The Charlatans have to be mentioned in the same breath. It's something of a misnomer to consider them Britpop, because they have many more layers than just one you could identify. Testimony to that fact, they are still recording and gigging around, and are just as popular as ever. Even though the band have gone through a number of personnel changes over the years, they are still fronted by Tim Burgess whose distinctive vocals are fresh as ever.
I thought I would refresh your memory with a cut off their second album, actually two cuts since they fade into one another. Weirdo and Chewing Gum Weekend.
And if you've never heard of them before . . . . . where have you been?
(Catherine Wheel - Couldn't have been the 90s without them)
Don't know about you, but one of my favorite concerts of the 90s was when Catherine Wheel was opening act for The Charlatans (UK) at The Hollywood Palladium in 1995. It took me straight back to the Delicado/Dope/Red Mountain/Orange blossom-scented days of 1968 when the Shrine Exposition Hall concerts in L.A. went on every weekend and people spent hours mesmerized by whoever was on stage at the time - soaking up sounds.
Because of that association, those two bands that night in 1995 will always have a warm place in my heart. It pointed out to me that times don't change - perceptions do. Good music is timeless.
Catherine Wheel were a band with a long history - one that went from 1990 to 2000; the whole decade. And they were always changing and evolving and going in different directions. No two albums ever sounded the same. They had, and still have, a loyal following. So maybe including this track tonight isn't going to be much of a surprise. But it's nice to be reminded if you haven't played them lately.
This track was issued as part of the Show Me Mary ep, shortly after their second album Chrome was released. These Four Walls didn't wind up on an album until their compilation, "Like Cats and Dogs" of singles and b-sides was issued in 1996.
I think you'll get the idea they influenced a lot of bands in the 90s - and those bands would freely admit it.
(Duster Bennett - the real U.K. deal)
Unfortunately, in his all-too-short career, Duster Bennett never made it to the States and only recorded a few albums before his untimely death in 1976 (falling asleep at the wheel and hitting a truck). But in the short time he was around, he made a deep impression on audiences and musicians alike with his raw and unpretentious style. This track "My Lucky Day" is off his first album "Smiling Like I'm Happy". It was recorded in 1968 and features pretty much all of Fleetwood Mac (John McVie on Bass, Mick Fleetwood on drums, Peter Green on guitar) as backup band. It was also produced by Mike Vernon (Fleetwood Mac's producer during their early incarnation) and was issued on Blue Horizon (Mike Vernon's label) - certainly not the kind of treatment you'd accord a flash-in-the-pan/one-hit-wonder, which Duster Bennett was not. Very little of his material has been reissued, which is tragic. However, a new compilation has come out that chronicles the recordings he made for Blue Horizon.
It's about time and it's worth checking out.
