“Incident At a Free Festival” is a tribute to the mid-afternoon slots at Deeply Vale, Bickershaw, Krumlin, Weeley, and Plumpton – early 70s festivals that don’t get the column inches afforded the Isle of Wight or Glastonbury Fayre, but which would have been rites of passage for thousands of kids. Bands lower down the bill would have been charged with waking up the gentle hippies and appealing to both the greasy bikers and the girls in knee-high boots who wanted to wiggle their hips. And the best way to do that was with volume, riffs and percussion.

Compiled by the venerated Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs of Saint Etienne, this is the heavier side of the early 70s they summarised on the acclaimed “English Weather” collection. There’s an air of menace and illicit thrills among tracks by Andwella, Stack Waddy and Leaf Hound (whose “Growers of Mushroom” album is worth well over £1,000). Bigger names include the rabble-rousing Edgar Broughton Band and kings of the festival freakout, Hawkwind. They are represented by their rare version of ‘Ejection’

For every mystical Tyrannosaurus Rex performance there was something like Atomic Rooster’s Tomorrow Night or Curved Air’s Back Street Luv to capture the spirit of the day and stir the loins of festival goers; the tracks on “Incident At a Free Festival” were inspired by both Chicago’s percussive wig-outs and the Pink Fairies’ anarchic spirit. The sounds were heavy and frequently funky, with a definite scent of danger. Their message was clear and simple: clap your hands, stamp your feet, hold on to your mind. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Chasing Shadows - Deep Purple
2. One Way Glass - Manfred Mann Chapter Three
3. Hold Onto Your Mind - Andwella
4. Hot Pants - Alan Parker & Alan Hawkshaw
5. Do It - Pink Fairies
6. Tomorrow Night – Atomic Rooster
7. Taken All The Good Things - Stray
8. Out Demons Out - Edgar Broughton Band
9. For Mad Men Only - May Blitz
10. Back Street Luv - Curved Air
11. Ejection - Hawkwind
12. Meat Pies ’Ave Come But Band's Not ’Ere Yet - Stackwaddy
13. Lovely Lady Rock - James Hogg
14. Third World - Paladin
15. Taking Some Time On - Barclay James Harvest
16. Ricochet - Jonesy
17. Led Balloon - Steve Gray
18. Big Boobs Boogie - Slowload
19. Freelance Fiend - Leaf Hound
20. Confunktion - Dave Richmond 

If you threw a house party in London in the late twentieth century, before the smart phone rendered it redundant, you could guarantee that the following morning there would be a dog-eared copy of the A to Z behind the sofa, or under the coffee table, probably in a Tesco bag. Everybody had at least one. It was an essential aid in understanding London. It joined the dots and threw up obscure names printed over hitherto unexplored grids of streets: Alperton, Shooters Hill, Honor Oak, Tooting Graveney, Childs Hill, Ladywell. It invited you to create your own personal map of London, discover your own secret routes, your own special places.

You could peruse the A to Z with the knowledge of who lived where – Sandy Denny in Wimbledon, before she moved to Muswell Hill which was already legendary as the home of the Kinks. Arterial roads as grisly as Archway Road (Rod Stewart) or Holloway Road (Joe Meek) or could be made magic through their pop connections.

Put together by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley, this is the soundtrack of London’s centre (Bert Jansch and John Renbourn’s ‘Soho’, Nick Drake’s ‘Mayfair’) and its hinterlands (Al Stewart’s ‘Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres’, Humble Pie’s ‘Beckton Dumps’, Julie Driscoll’s ‘Vauxhall To Lambeth Bridge’) with a few transport links (Barbara Ruskin’s ‘Euston Station’, Norma Tanega’s ‘Clapham Junction’) thrown in to help you navigate your A to Z. This isn’t London swinging cinematically, but it has the exact feel of the city’s streets and suburbs in the late 60s and early 70s.

What might be lurking in these locations, waiting to be uncovered on a cold winter Saturday? Corner caffs with Pepsi signs. Second-hand record shops and rickety street markets. Many are gone, but not all. This compilation is a musical travel guide – squint, and sometimes London can still seem magical. This is its soundtrack… 

TRACK LISTING

1. Cutty Sark – John Barry
2. Portobello Road - Cat Stevens
3. Sunny Goodge Street - Marianne Faithfull
4. Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square - Jethro Tull
5. Marcel's – Herman’s Hermits
6. Goodbye Post Office Tower - Cressida
7. Primrose Hill - John & Beverley Martyn
8. Mayfair - Nick Drake
9. London Bridge - Cilla Black
10. Hampstead Way - Linda Lewis
11. Soho - Bert Jansch & John Renbourn
12. Friday Hill - Bulldog Breed
13. London Social Degree - Dana Gillespie
14. Euston Station - Barbara Ruskin
15. Kew Gardens - Ralph Mctell
16. City Road - Dave Evans
17. Parliament Hill - Magna Carta
18. Edgware Station - Edward Bear
19. Beckton Dumps - Humble Pie
20. Notting Hill Gate - Quintessence
21. Clapham Junction - Norma Tanega
22. Swiss Cottage Manoeuvres - Al Stewart
23. Richmond - Shelagh Mcdonald
24. Vauxhall To Lambeth Bridge – Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity 

The world is full of Bee Gees fans. Yet, for a band of such renown, little is known about Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb. Weren't two of them twins? Didn't one of them marry Lulu? Where does Andy fit into the Gibb family tree? And why did they storm out of that Clive Anderson interview?People tend to have their favourite era of the Bee Gees' career, but many listeners are also conscious that there is more to uncover about the band.

This book will provide the perfect route in, pulling together every fascinating strand to tell the story of a group with the imagination of the Beatles, the pop craft of ABBA, the drama of Fleetwood Mac and the emotional heft of the Beach Boys. Uniquely, the Bee Gees' tale spans the entire modern pop era - they are the only group to have scored British top-ten singles in the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s - and includes world-conquering disco successes like 'Stayin' Alive' and 'More Than a Woman', both from the soundtrack of hit film Saturday Night Fever. But the Bee Gees' extraordinary career was one of highs and lows.

From a vicious but temporary split in 1969 to several unreleased albums, disastrous TV and film appearances, and a demoralising cabaret season, the group weren't always revelling in the glow of million-selling albums, private jets and UNICEF concerts. Yet, even in the Gibbs' darkest times, their music was rarely out of the charts, as sung by the likes of Al Green, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, and Destiny's Child. Capturing the human story at the heart of the Bee Gees, this book will be a lyrical and stylish read, delighting hardcore fans with its details while engaging casual pop readers who simply want to know more about this important and enigmatic group.

There was plenty of genuine discontent in Britain at the tail end of the 1970s, and it had little to do with bin strikes or dark rumours about overflowing morgues. In the world of popular music, the most liberating after-effect of the Sex Pistols was that anyone with something to say now felt they could make a 7” single. “Winter Of Discontent” is the sound of truly DIY music, made by people who maybe hadn’t written a song until a day or two before they went into the studio. It’s spontaneous and genuinely free in a way the British music scene has rarely been before or since.

“Winter of Discontent” has been compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, the latest in their highly acclaimed series of albums that includes “The Daisy Age”, “Fell From The Sun” and “English Weather” ("really compelling and immersive: it’s a pleasure to lose yourself in it" - Alexis Petridis, the Guardian). The era's bigger DIY names (Scritti Politti, TV Personalities, the Fall) and the lesser-known (Exhibit A, Digital Dinosaurs, Frankie’s Crew) are side by side on “Winter Of Discontent”. Mark Perry’s Sniffin’ Glue command – “Here’s one chord, here’s another, now start a band” – was amplified by the Mekons and the Raincoats, whose music shared a little of punk’s volume, speed and distortion, but all of its obliqueness and irreverence.

The discontent was with society as a whole. No subject matter was taboo: oppressive maleness (Scritti Politti); deluded Britishness (TV Personalities); gender stereotypes (Raincoats, Androids of Mu); nihilistic youth (Fatal Microbes); alcoholism (Thin Yoghurts); self-doubt and pacifism (Zounds). The band names (Thin Yoghurts!) and those of individual members (Andrew Lunchbox!) had enough daftness to avoid any accusations of solemnity.

“Winter Of Discontent” is the definitive compilation of the UK DIY scene, and a beacon in grim times. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: A soundtrack to a generation of discontent in the late 70s. DIY music that spontaneously smashed through the British music scene in the wake of the punk revolution.
Mark Perry’s Sniffin’ Glue command, “Here’s one chord, here’s another, now start a band” was the fuse and these tracks are the light that shone through those dark days.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
1. WHERE WERE YOU? – The Mekons
2. VIOLENCE GROWS – Fatal Microbes
3. THE TERRAPLANE FIXATION – Animals & Men
4. WORK – Blue Orchids
5. SMALL HOURS – Karl’s Empty Body
6. SOMEBODY – Frankie’s Crew
SIDE TWO
1. CONFIDENCE – Scritti Politti
2. DRINK PROBLEM – Thin Yoghurts
3. LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT – Anne Bean & Paul Burwell
4. BROW BEATEN – Performing Ferret Band
5. NO FORGETTING – The Manchester Mekon
6. FAIRYTALE IN THE SUPERMARKET – The Raincoats
SIDE THREE
1. CAN’T CHEAT KARMA – Zounds
2. BORED HOUSEWIVES – Androids Of Mu
3. IN MY AREA (Take 2) – The Fall
4. THE SIDEWAYS MAN – The Digital Dinosaurs
5. ATTITUDES – The Good Missionaries
6. THE WINDOW’S BROKEN – Human Cabbages
SIDE FOUR
1. KING AND COUNTRY – Television Personalities
2. IN THE NIGHT – Exhibit ‘A’
3. NUDES - Performing Ferret Band
4. DIFFERENT STORY – Tarzan 5
5. THE RED PULLOVER – The Gynaecologists
6. PRODUCTION LINE – The Door And The Window

“76 In The Shade” follows in the footsteps of Bob Stanley’s hugely successful comps for Ace, including “English Weather” and “The Tears Of Technology”. It suggests bright yellow sunshine, hot plastic car seats, cats lolloping on the lawn. A few tracks (Smokey Robinson, Cliff Richard, David Ruffin, Carmen McRae) act as necessary splashes of cooling water; most of them sound like it’s just too hot to move. Luckily, you don’t need to.

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.

Getting out of the sun, you might have sat inside with the radio on, and heard the dreamy wooziness of Liverpool Express’s ‘You Are My Love’, 10cc’s ‘I’m Mandy Fly Me’, or the Emotions’ ‘Flowers’. Or maybe you flopped out in front of the telly, where you heard an alternative summer soundtrack – the music libraries that provided the bulk of the testcard’s music gave us Simon Park’s minimal ‘Stoned Out’ and John Cameron’s deeply immersive ‘Liquid Sunshine’; the Californian jazzer Spike Janson provided the wordless vocal harmonies of ‘Walking So Free’.

“76 In The Shade” follows in the footsteps of Bob Stanley’s hugely successful comps for Ace, including “English Weather” and “The Tears Of Technology”. It suggests bright yellow sunshine, hot plastic car seats, cats lolloping on the lawn. A few tracks (Smokey Robinson, Cliff Richard, David Ruffin, Carmen McRae) act as necessary splashes of cooling water; most of them sound like it’s just too hot to move. Luckily, you don’t need to.

TRACK LISTING

1. WALKING SO FREE - Spike Janson
2. SUGAR SHUFFLE - Lynsey De Paul
3. MIRACLES (SINGLE VERSION) - Jefferson Starship
4. GET OUT OF TOWN - Smokey Robinson
5. I’M MANDY FLY ME (ALBUM VERSION) - 10CC
6. STONED OUT - Simon Park
7. NOTHING TO REMIND ME - Cliff Richard
8. DISCOVER ME - David Ruffin
9. 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

It wasn’t really a movement, barely even a moment, but the Daisy Age was an ethos that briefly permeated pop, R&B and hip hop. The name was coined by Long Island trio De La Soul; they claimed D.A.I.S.Y. stood for “da inner sound, y’all”, but then De La Soul said a lot of things. Playfulness and good humour were central to their 1989 debut album, which cast a long, multi-coloured shadow. The 90s, it promised, would be a lot easier going than the 80s.

In Britain, the timing for De La Soul’s “3 Feet High And Rising” couldn’t have been better. The acid house explosion of 1988 would lead to a radical breaking down of musical barriers in 1989. Just 18 months earlier, snobbery had been so rife that Bomb The Bass’ ‘Beat Dis’ was faked as a US import (pressed in the States, then imported back) to get club play; by the summer of ’89, however, something as previously unhip as Chris Rea’s ‘Josephine’ could become a dancefloor hit and indie veterans Primal Scream would be reborn as space-seeking Sun Ra initiates and still taken seriously. Ecstasy was largely responsible, of course, and its associated look – loose clothing, dayglo colours, smiley faces – chimed with the positivity of rising New York rap acts the Jungle Brothers and De La Soul, both at the heart of a growing collective called Native Tongues.

What was so new about De La Soul’s sound? Previously, sample material for hip hop had been almost exclusively taken from 60s and 70s soul and funk, especially from James Brown and his extended family – Bobby Byrd, Maceo Parker, Lyn Collins, the stuff of purists. The freewheeling collage of “3 Feet High And Rising” gleefully raided the non-U catalogues of Billy Joel and Hall & Oates; soul heroes Wilson Pickett and the Mad Lads were now abutting such unlikely material as the Turtles’ ‘You Showed Me’ and French Linguaphone lessons. The Invitations’ sweet, Drifters-like ‘Written On The Wall’ provided the hook for De La Soul’s first single ‘Plug Tunin’’ which, along with follow-up ‘Potholes In My Lawn’, referenced “the daisy age”. With the album including a cover of Bob Dorough’s ‘Three Is The Magic Number’ from Schoolhouse Rock – a song every American kid knew from Sunday morning TV – the essence of Sesame Street was everywhere.

By 1989 hip hop had made major inroads in Britain with rock fans (via Run DMC) and pubescent teens (the Beastie Boys), while NME writers had voted Public Enemy’s “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” the best album of 1988. Still, it had an air of exclusivity, with Tim Westwood its mirthless UK gatekeeper. De La Soul were also fans of Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and Run DMC; they were fans in general, and threw their love of music into the blender, giving more time to melodies and mind-expanding samples while most contemporary rap records still revolved around the biggest sounding beats.

Above all, De La Soul were welcoming. They had grown up with their parents’ eclectic musical taste, a TV culture grab bag, and black radio stations that played Hall & Oates and Steely Dan alongside the Spinners and Brass Construction. They had also attended the same high school as producer and Stetsasonic member Prince Paul who, intimidatingly, was two years above them. He knew their faces but it wasn’t until he heard a demo of ‘Plug Tunin’’ that he realised they were all on the same wavelength; working with their rough sketch, Paul added a sample from Billy Joel’s ‘Stiletto’ into the mix.

In 1990, the third Native Tongues act to release an album was A Tribe Called Quest, and “People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm” was heavily indebted to “3 Feet High”’s airy nature. The Native Tongues’ charismatic aura spread west to the Bay Area’s similarly minded Hieroglyphics crew (Del Tha Funkeé Homosapien, Souls Of Mischief); Canada’s Dream Warriors used the “3 Feet High” colour palette and, borrowing Count Basie and Quincy Jones riffs, scored a brace of major UK hits; Naughty By Nature were mentored by Native Tongues heroine Queen Latifah, while Londoner Monie Love was also adopted by the collective, resulting in her Grammy-nominated ‘It’s A Shame (My Sister)’.

A Tribe Called Quest’s second album, “The Low End Theory”, would pick up the baton, giving a platform for and inspiration to Leaders Of The New School (who included future superstar Busta Rhymes) and the abstract technique of Brand Nubian. Meanwhile, the Jungle Brothers’ second album, “Done By The Forces Of Nature”, was in essence a concept album about Africa, fusing hip hop with jazz, doo wop, soul, Harlem – a new direction for the Native Tongues, away from ‘Multiplication Rock’, bubble writing and the gently psychedelic.

As hip hop rapidly became a bigger commercial concern, rights owners smelt money and – for the rest of the 90s – made sample clearance unfeasibly expensive. Robbed of their pick-and-mix approach, some Daisy Age-era acts moved towards consciousness and a jazz-leaning live feel, which down the line would lead to the rise of Arrested Development, and beyond them the Fugees and the Roots; meanwhile, on the West Coast, the gut-churning violence and misogyny of Dr Dre’s “The Chronic” took rap to a whole new commercial level. Neither direction, sadly, would involve much use of Sesame Street, Turtles samples, or magic numbers.

By mid-1968 there was a growing consensus that something had gone horribly wrong with the American dream. The nation’s youth had loudly made their feelings clear, but now the older, pre-Beatles generations began to look at the country – with urban riots, Vietnam, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy – and wonder what the hell was happening. This album includes rare classics (The Beach Boys’ ‘Fourth Of July’), lost masterpieces (Roy Orbison’s seven-minute ‘Southbound Jericho Parkway’), and forgotten gems by some of the biggest names in the business (Elvis Presley’s ‘Clean Up Your Own Back Yard’).

Reactions to America’s existential crisis ranged in subject matter from divorce (Frank Sinatra’s ‘The Train’) and the break-up of the nuclear family (The Four Seasons’ ‘Saturday’s Father’), to eulogies for fallen heroes (Dion’s ‘Abraham Martin and John’), sympathy for Vietnam vets (Johnny Tillotson’s ‘Welfare Hero’), the church’s institutional racism (Eartha Kitt’s intense ‘Paint Me Black Angels’), and even questioning the ethics of the space programme (Bing Crosby’s terrific ‘What Do We Do With The World’).

Compiled by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, State Of The Union follows on from their highly acclaimed English Weather and Paris In The Spring compilations. With clear parallels between today's fractured country and the USA fifty years ago, this is a fascinating condensation of what Americans were thinking when they turned on the TV, or the radio, or simply walked down Main Street in 1968.

TRACK LISTING

1. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN BACK YARD - Elvis Presley
2. BRAND NEW DAY - Della Reese
3. ABRAHAM, MARTIN AND JOHN - Dion
4. THE TRAIN - Frank Sinatra
5. SATURDAY'S FATHER - The 4 Seasons
6. 4TH OF JULY - The Beach Boys
7. WINE IN THE WIND - Anita Kerr & The Anita Kerr Singers
8. WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE WORLD? - Bing Crosby
9. LORD OF THE MANOR - The Everly Brothers
10. HITCHHIKER - The Four Preps
11. PAINT AMERICA LOVE - Lou Christie
12. MR BUSINESSMAN - Ray Stevens
13. PAINT ME BLACK ANGELS - Eartha Kitt
14. SOUTHBOUND JERICHO PARKWAY - Roy Orbison
15. QUESTIONS - Bobby Darin
16. THIS CRAZY WORLD - Paul Anka
17. TAKE A LETTER MARIA - Mel Torme
18. CHERRYSTONES - Eugene McDaniels
19. SOME PEOPLE SLEEP - The Tokens
20. CARDBOARD CALIFORNIA - Buddy Greco
21. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS TOWN - Dean Martin
22. WELFARE HERO - Johnny Tillotson
23. SAVE THE CHILDREN - Teresa Brewer
24. REVOLUTION - The Brothers Four

“Paris In The Spring” is a collection of the new music, put together by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, that emerged from France between 1968 and the mid-70s, an extraordinary blend of several previously independent strains – French chanson and yé-yé, American jazz and funk, British chamber pop – shot through with the era’s underlying mixture of optimism, uncertainty and darkness. This is the first collection of its kind, released on the 50th anniversary of the Paris uprising.

Serge Gainsbourg – a jazz pianist with a chanson past and a pop present – was in a position to play a key role in soundtracking France in flux over the next five years. His “Histoire de Melody Nelson”, with its heavily atmospheric arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier, was the acme of this new, unsettling French sound. “Paris In The Spring” includes other equally dazzling Vannier arrangements (for Léonie) and Gainsbourg compositions (for Jane Birkin and Mireille Darc).

Prior to 1968, 60s French pop had been dominated by yé-yé, the country’s unique brand of upbeat pop, a world of primary colours, minijupes and discothèques (a French invention, after all). Its stars either faded fast after May ’68 or adapted to the new era: Jacques Dutronc (‘Le Métaphore’) and France Gall (‘Chanson Pour Que Tu M’aimes un Peu’) discovered a moody side they had previously kept hidden, while Françoise Hardy released the Brazilian-influenced, after-hours classic “La Question”, from which we have picked ‘Viens’.

New bands like Triangle emerged, influenced by Soft Machine and Gong who became regulars on the Paris club scene. French library music from Janko Nilovic and film soundtracks (François De Roubaix, Karl-Heinz Schäfer) reflected the era’s edginess. All are represented on “Paris In The Spring”, making it a continental cousin to Stanley and Wiggs’s hugely popular 2017 Ace compilation “English Weather”

TRACK LISTING

1. LA VICTIME - Karl Heinz Schäfer
2. HÉLICOPTÈRE - Mireille Darc
3. LES AVENTURES EXTRAORDINAIRES D'UN BILLET DE BANQUE - Bernard Lavilliers
4. ROSES AND REVOLVERS - Janko Nilovic
5. L'ELU - Ilous & Decuyper
6. LA METAPHORE - Jacques Dutronc
7. DOMMAGE QUE TU SOIS MORT - Brigitte Fontaine
8. LES GARDE VIOLENT AU SECOURS DU ROI - Jean-Claude Vannier
9. LOOKING FOR YOU - Nino Ferrer
10. CHANSON D'UN JOUR D'HIVER - Cortex
11. VIENS - Françoise Hardy
12. COULEURS - Léonie
13. LESLIE SIMONE - William Sheller
14. LITANIES - Triangle
15. BALEINES - François De Roubaix
16. ENCORE LUI - Jane Birkin
17. EVELYNE - Serge Gainsbourg
18. LE BAL DES LAZES - Michel Polnareff
19. LILETH - Léonie
20. YSTOR - Ys
21. CHANSON POUR QUE TU M'AIMES UN PEU - France Gall
22. LA VICTIME - Karl Heinz Schäfer
23. LA CHANSON D'HÉLÈNE - Romy Schneider & Michel Piccoli