Crackle, hiss and pop

Yes, folks, it’s time to take another random dip into the big pile of 7″ singles, to see what pops out. Not much time this spin around, but here’s four for you to get your teeth into.

First up is a truly dreadful piece of Euro hippy pop / rock from 1975 -’Freedom (Glory Alleluia)‘ by Mamie Carson.

Not even the internet can shed light on this mysterious pile of pap, which seems to go on and on and on forever, without actually going anywhere. This is why furriners cannot be trusted.

Praise be then for item number 2. The glory that is Thomas the Jones. He may be a puffed out old windbag these days, but back in 1971 he could breathe fresh joy into the utterly brilliant ‘Resurrection Shuffle‘. For sure, Ashton, Gardner and Dyke were good, but they were no Sir Tom Jones. Even better, all this brilliance is contained within the magic 3 minutes, 30 seconds beyond which no single should stray. Are you listening Mamie Carson?

Oof! An early return for the fabulous Mungo Jerry to these pages. As befits a man who should be ennobled, Mr Mungo belies his Mary and Midge roots with a fine piece of r’n'b. As you should all know the A-side, let’s take B-side ‘Little Miss Hipshake‘ for a rare outing.

Finally, for today, it’s some country rock, courtesy of the band with the worst name ever. Redwing. Let me repeat that. Redwing. Obviously it means something else in Northern California. They’re actually one of my favourite country rock outfits, who released five albums on Fantasy Records in the mid seventies without every breaking through. They started life as a folk trio before making a garage punk single in 1965, recording an album under the name Glad in 1968 before Timothy B Schmidt headed off for Poco and The Eagles.

But they’re really here not because of ‘Bonnie Bones‘, rather because of the awesome World War 1 flying ace moustache on the sleeve below.

Later.