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BOB STANLEY

Bob Stanley

Bee Gees: Children Of The World

    Everyone has their favourite era of the Bee Gees' career, but so much is still unclear about this celebrated but often misunderstood band. This book will provide the perfect route in, pulling together every fascinating strand to tell the story of these pioneering, melancholic masters of pop. 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 & Dolly Parton and Diana Ross.


    Various Artists

    Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs Present Incident At A Free Festival

      “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 

      Bob Stanley

      Bee Gees : Children Of The World

        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.

        813547029638Various Artists

        Bob Stanley Presents 76 In The Shade

          “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

          “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


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