May 2010 Newsletter ------------------------------------------- Yesterday & Today Records P.O.Box 54 Miranda NSW 2228 Ph: (02)95311710 Email: [email protected] Web: www.yesterdayandtoday.com.au ------------------------------------------------------ Post: 1 cd $2/ 2 cds $3/ 3-4 Cds $6.50 Registered or express post available. ------------------------------------------------------ This may be a bold statement but I believe this is the best newsletter I have ever put out. There are Literally hundreds upon hundreds of great titles. If you would like to order from this newsletter you can email, phone or post an order. If phoning please feel free to call after hours From 8.00am up until 7.00pm is fine. I have a couple of pieces of bad news. Firstly my dear mum, Rose Reid, passed away on February 23rd. Many knew her as she worked Wednesdays at the old Parramatta store from 1990-2000 and filled in when I went on buying trips. It has been a trying period but I can honestly say she loved her time in the shop especially meeting and talking to many fine people and was a keen music buff, something that has passed on through the genes. Secondly, we lost a dear friend in Norm Pyne. Many who went to the Parramatta store would have seen a blind guy getting round with only a cane. My admiration for Norm was limitless. I never considered him handicapped in any way and he was always thankful for his independence. It is a sad irony of life that it is probably this independence which saw him involved in an horrific accident which cost him his life. But he wouldn’t have changed anything. He did things we could only hope to have done and lived his life to the fullest. He will be missed but anyone who ever met Norm would be better for the experience. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Merle Haggard – “I Am What I Am” $25 Merle Haggard “Kern River/ Chill Factor” $30 Merle Haggard “Out Among the Stars/ A Friend in California” $30 There can be no question that Merle Haggard is the most popular country artist we carry. In fact daylight is second. It is also apparent that he continues to be a viable and as good as ever. “I’ve Seen It Go Away” is a superb opening song. He sings of all the things he has seen and experienced and reflects he has “Seen it go away”. As much a confessional as you’d hear but what as superb song. Long time Strangers Norm Hamlett & Biff Adam still back Haggard and Scott Joss, a wonderful artist in his own right is the new “right hand” man playing guitar and fiddle and providing harmony vocals. “Oil Tanker Train” is one of the best train songs he has ever done. A nostalgic look at a train that provided a moment of stability in his self proclaimed “chequered past”. “Live and Love Always” is the swing number in which Hag picks up his beloved fiddle and matches strides with the dexterous Joss. He even allows his wife Theresa a part of the lead. She does well as does his son, Ben, who (along with the great Reggie Young) provides much of the lead guitar. Freddy Powers’ (who has written some great songs for Merle) provides the bluesy “The Road to My Heart” and has some nice piano from Doug Colosio. Hag seems totally at ease as he tells him,”Play it Dougie”. “How Did You Find Me Here’ is a wonderful confessional, a reflection on his relationship with his wife who lifted him out from the depths of depression. “Bad Actor”, the only co-wrote with his group is a another brilliant confessional “I have a problem of knowing what’s real” he tells us in a reflective manner. As on most tracks there are few nice dobro runs from Rob Ickes. “Mexican Bands”, rather unsurprisingly has the feel of a Mexican cantina. The title track concludes the album as Hag tells us all at what stage of life he is now in. A very simple track with Hag playing acoustic guitar it is a perfect conclusion to an album I had to press the play button again after it had gone through the first time. Wonderful! In addition we get 2 x 2-fer reissues. Now, I may be out a little but I reckon if you go through all the Hag albums I have in this newsletter you are probably only missing 1 and that is “Amber Waves of Grain”. “Kern River/Chill Factor” is a US issue whilst “Out among the Stars/ Friend in California” is from BGO label in the UK. The former has the dramatic “Kern River” title track followed by a superb version of Hugh Moffatt’s wonderful “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You” and a great mix of ballads permeated by the great “Big Butter and Egg Man”, a top jazzy swing number. “Chill Factor” has perhaps his last charting number one in “Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star”, though the cowrite with Hank Cochran, “We Never Touch at All’, may even have you thinking you were listening to George Jones. “Out Among the Stars” had been almost impossible to get on cd and it has some great songs such as the Gordon Terry ballad “My Life’s Been Grand” though Red Lane’s “Tell Me Something About Tulsa” is even better as is his take on “Almost Persuaded”. Hag’s own “Bleachers” is a classic about life on the road and his swing number is a superb version of “Pennies from Heaven”. Five songs on “Friend in California” come from the great Freddy Powers of which the highlight is the pseudo answer song “The Okie from Muskogee’s Coming Home”. Hard to believe these are 24 years old. They sound like “new”. MAY IS UNOFFICIALLY PROCLAIMED “MERLE HAGGARD MONTH”. Georgette Jones “Slightly Used Woman” $30 12 tracks from the daughter of George Jones and Tammy Wynette shows she has it all! Spookily like her late mother this album has you wondering why she hasn’t made an album before. “You and Me and Time” was on George Jones’ “Gonna Burn Your Playhouse Down” and is also here where it is much more appropriate given her superb song “I Hope You Know”, a sad song written by Georgette and sung for/to her mother. Play these 2 together and be unmoved…it is impossible. Most of this album was recorded in Texas under the direction of Justin Trevino with the great Amber Digby providing backing vocals. Jamie Lennon, who the notes tell us is Georgette’s fiancé is terrific on steel guitar. The great Swedish Cowboy has been waxing lyrically over the shuffles “Second Time Around” and “You Don’t Hear”, a nice Tommy Cash song. She does great versions of 3 songs intrinsically associated with Tammy. The title cut is chilling, but is more than just a copy with Justin’s great production touches. Glen Martin’s epic search for hope on “I Still Believe in Fairy Tales” is handled wonderfully by Georgette. On the Nashville cuts a duet with Mark McGuinn, “Better a Painful Ending” is the type of song George & Tammy would have done. Mind you these two do it great justice. He tries to sound very Jones-ish and he succeeds. The only track I am not overly fond of (but I am warming to it) is a take on “The Race Is On”. But it is grand overall and I hope there is another soon. I think any cynical opinion about the merits of this album as some novelty (prior to listening of course) will be well and truly eradicated on first listening. Great stuff. It must be the genes. You would not expect anything else. Miss Leslie “Wrong Is what I Do Best”$30 Miss Leslie is as good as it gets. As on her previous album, that is the official Y & T album of the year (2008) she sings with the spirit and nuances of George Jones, the only female who could ever carry that off. Funny in the notes she thanks Jason Allen for being her “George Jones” on “Let’s Start Over”. To be honest she is the one like George!! What can you say except that it is as great as her previous. 14 new originals (13 by “Miss Leslie” Sloan and one by Hilary Sloan, assumably her sister) show she is certainly not experiencing any writer’s block. These are as fine a selection of honky tonk songs as you’d ever hear. Classic irony in the title track. “Every Tuesday Night” is a classic honky tonker…set in a honky tonk! The tag at the end of that song is so Jones-ish it is amazing. She has actually improved her band this time round. Her husband, steel guitar player Ricky Davis shines especially in tandem with Bill Kirchen, the former Commander Cody man. Along with Miss Leslie ( a fine fiddler) we have the three main soloists. “Some Things They Can’t Take Away” is a classic tear jerker about hard times and the resolve to overcome them. Long time Miss Leslie fans will even notice how she almost smiles on the cover. On the back cover she is smiling….well she is smiling upside down anyway so that probably constitutes a frown. “She Gave Up on Herself” is a classic tale of a slide of a woman trying to keep her man. “The Last Time I Drank” is as good a honky tonk ballad as you’d ever hear, and it owes more than a passing debt to Stoney Edwards great “Two Dollar Toy” though with a more tragic consequence.