The Little Roosters “Live!” 1983, Wrapping Great Music, featuring Alison Moyet (Yazoo/Yaz) and Garrie J. Lammin (The Bermondsey Joyriders). Seeing the name Alison Moyet on the cover, let’s just say I had expectations and preconceived notions about what this live album would sound like and those were proved 100% inaccurate! Not a bleep bloop Vince Clarke/Yazzy synthpop note to be found – just hard-rocking guitars and beats. Moyet’s appearance is also super-muted; I’m not sure she sings lead on any of the tracks. This live LP (no date or location noted, it’s also the label’s only release so likely a bootleg) is straight-up pub rock, with some glam and r&b influences. Their sole S/T album release, from 1981, was produced by Joe Strummer so that gives an idea of their fans/audience. The sound quality is pretty decent for an early 80’s bootleg live record. Most of the tracks are written by the band (Lammin in particular) – “Ain’t Proud” is particularly funky and “Scared” is glammy with some punk sneer and attitude (the full title really should be the chorus “Scared the shit right outta me!”). The encore “People Breakdown” must have been their “big hit” as it was the only single released on a somewhat major label (Polydor, 1981) and it’s just a good rock-n-roll song and I’m fairly certain this is where Moyet is actually at the mic. There are a few covers, mostly by American blues musicians. “Pills” is great, written by Bo Diddley but The Little Roosters’ version has much more in common with the New York Dolls’ cover. The Roosters cover of The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination” takes Motown to the pub – it’s raw and fun. So despite the somewhat false advertising of Moyet’s involvement, it’s a nice glimpse into the rock/pub scene of the early 80’s. 

Duran Duran “The Crystal Ship” bootleg, 2025/1993. Parachute Recording Company. Double live album recorded for live FM Broadcast at  Momentum Arena, Pretoria, South Africa on April 24th, 1993. It’s my birthday today and I usually have a stash of Duran vinyl I haven’t listened to or written about in my collection. This live LP is one of the more unusual ones that I picked up recently: the versions of the songs are radically different than almost any other live albums I’ve heard. “Planet Earth” has a whole string section and “Hungry Like the Wolf” has strings, too, plus an enthusiastic acoustic guitar and different backup vocals (which prompt Simon to most definitely go “off-script” for this classic track). “Ordinary World” is lush, elevated with that (fortunately less enthusiastic) acoustic guitar and Simon’s vocals are stellar (a note here that the photos on the LP covers are closer to 2023 than 1993 – Simon definitely did not look like that, nor was Dom playing guitar for them – 1993 was the Warren Cuccurullo era). Simon’s intro to “Come Undone” is hilarious – suggesting that instead of wearing one’s best, clean underwear just in case, he thinks it might be better to go without completely, then launches into a Cure-esque guitar intro (not Simon, that’s probably Warren); the song is slinky and suggestive. The intro to “The Chauffeur” is a total head-scratcher though: Simon talks about a guy in a car on hot day in July on Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles (while in South Africa? Ok?) before the song starts (it’s beautiful once it gets going though the spoken-word moment is a bit jarring). Of course I didn’t write the song but the dirty streets of LA are absolutely not what I envision for this song. The first LP ends with the bootleg’s namesake “The Crystal Ship” which is, of course, a Doors cover. “Girls on Film” is also really unusual – orchestral strings, lyrical embellishments like I’ve never heard, a bit of jazzy free form action: absolutely nothing like the original. “Notorious” is funky as always, but the instrumentation seemed off and a bit out of key (same with the backup vocals) and fortunately they didn’t mess with “Save a Prayer,” sticking pretty faithfully to the original (just a bit more finger-picking on the acoustic and a whisper of strings). On Side 4 there is one other cover: “Success” by Iggy Pop is really fun; but then “Wild Boys” is the most subdued version imaginable before they launch into the finale of “Rio” which is as glorious as it always is.

You can view the entire performance here:

Sugarhill Gang “The Best of Sugarhill Gang (Rapper’s Delight)” 1996. Two LP comp of classic rap/hiphop from 1979-1985. While technically not the first recorded/released, the single “Rapper’s Delight” is credited as the first rap song to be introduced to the masses; it reached #36 in the US and went to #3 in the US, #1 in Canada. The epic/full length version takes up the entire first side of comp, lasting a whopping 14+ epic minutes and was, jaw-droppingly, recorded in a single take. Funky AF, co-writing credits were given to the funk-masters Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (after a threatened lawsuit for lifting “Good Times”). The beats, the lyrics, the vibe have been endlessly copied, sampled and continue to influence multiple music genres almost 50 years later. It is on many big-name “best of” lists and is included in both the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry and the Grammy Hall of Fame. Also of note on the this comp – and my top picks – are “8th Wonder” and “Apache,” both from the 1981 LP 8th Wonder; “Apache” a cover of a cover (the first recording dates back to Bert Weedon‘s 1960 single; Sugarhill Gang’s a reworking of the 1973 Incredible Bongo Band‘s version, there has been a ton of others too). Plus singles from 1983’s Rappin’ Down Town “The Lover in You” and “The Word is Out,” from the 1984 LP Livin’ in the Fast Lane “Kick it Live from 9 to 5” and “Livin’ in the Fast Lane” and the non-album single from ’85 “Work, Work, the Body.”