It's the same room but everything's different (Crowded House) #457

Crowded House Distant Sun/ Walking On The Spot/ When You Come (Live)/Skin Feeling/Weather With You (Live) (EMI, 8809962, 1993)

The older I get the more I see Beatle clues in The Crowdies songs, the older Nil Fun gets the more he takes on a McCartneyesque post Wings persona.

In that the catchy amazing chunes of his Enz and Crowded House daze (read Beatle/Wings era) recede more and more into a wonderful past and the more a barren melody run stretches on and on.

Is it a case of been there dun that, don wanna do it no more? I don't know but it sure is a puzzler how these great men refuse to toe the genius line into their post mega selling output.

Distant Sun sounds like a Macca outtake circa Red Rose Speedway. That's a good thing btw. It's a cool song and a stand out from Together Alone.

Hidden gems: Most of the B sides are from Together Alone including the feeble Paul Hester effort Skin Feeling. Poor bloke - being in a band with Paul McCartney...oops - I mean Neil Finn.

The real hidden gem here is the live version of Weather With You: one of my fav CH songs. The crowd singalong is pretty good in this loose-ish version. Let's face it though - any version of this kiwi classic is pretty fine!

The hero knew what he had to do (David Crosby) #456

David Crosby Hero/ Coverage/ Fare Thee Well (Atlantic, a7360CD , 1991)

The Croz!

David Crosby can write some jaw droppingly quirkily magnificent songs - pick anything on the first classic solo album (If I Could Only Remember My Name) or anything done as a Byrd or his stuff on the first albums of CSN and CSN&Y.

You're right - that's all stuff before 1971! 

Since then it's been a little more spotty in the jaw droppingly quirky department. 

This track came from the Thousand Roads album, which I quite like actually, but which sounds a lot like a Graham Nash album with the Croz's vocals replacing Nash's. 

Hero is a nice catchy song and having Phil Collins on it at his gazillion mega selling peak doesn't exactly hurt.

Hidden gems: Both these are not included on the parent album. Both are fine songs but both suffer even more from a dose of the Graham Nash association. 

Don't get me wrong - I'm a fan of Graham but I do miss those jaw droppingly quirkily magnificent songs. Instead David sounds cool (as always) but it's a normal cool as opposed to the weird cool that I REALLY love!

So I look in your direction (Coldplay) #453 - 455

Coldplay Shiver/ For You/ Careful Where You Stand (Parlophone, CDR6536, 2000)
Coldplay Talk (radio edit)/ Sleeping Sun (Parlophone, CDR6679, 2005)
Coldplay Prospekt's March EP (Life In Technicolor ii/ Postcards From Far Away/Glass Of Water/Rainy Day/Prospekt's Mark, Poppyfields/Lost+/Lovers In Japan/Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground  (Parlophone, 2647372/5099926473727, 2008)

Owning up to liking Coldplay is almost a guilty pleasure. 

Yeah - okay - I like Coldplay. I have all their CDs and that includes some live ones that are less than essential. I can even name three members of the band (Guy something, Jonny Buckland and Chris Martin - the fourth member alludes me though).

There - I've said it.

Chris Martin seems like a genuine bloke, writes well, sings well, and he records for Parlophone!! Nuff said.

Shiver is a great song that has managed to remain in the live set over the years. 

Talk and Life in Technicolor ii are also up tempo Coldplay songs with heft. I like them. Yes, I do!

The guitar from Jonny is a Coldplay trademark and when it's used well the song is (usually) a cut above the rest. That's certainly the case in those three A sides.

Hidden gems: the B sides to Shiver were not on the parent album (Parachutes). Sleeping Sun was also not on XandY. Most of the Prospekt's March EP was also not included on Viva La Vida.

So you definitely get value for money with Coldplay CD singles. 

Any hidden gems though? The raft of songs on the Prospekt's EP are gems. Only problem is, because of the various snippets and styles, they all kinda roll into a seamless whole rather than their separate parts. That's cool though - means repeat plays bring out a load of little hidden nuggets.

I'm the Carnival of Peace (Bon Iver) #452

Bon Iver Blood Bank/ Beach Baby/ Babys/ Woods (Jagjaguwar, Jag 134, 2009)

The Blood Bank EP was Justin Vernon's follow up to the amazingly brilliant debut For Emma, Forever Ago.

Pretty cunning that. The expectation after Emma was immense so, go with an EP.

Blood Bank itself is a haunting song but it was left off the album and that was a good decision. It's slightly at odds with the vibe of For Emma. It just lacks the gravitas of that album at its best.

Hidden gems: Beach Baby is amazingly good - would have fitted the vibe of For Emma without any problem. Has that same wonky guitar sound and vocals that linger in the air and drift off in sadness. 

The other two are more sound experiments and an acquired taste. They do show him thirsting after new soundscapes which is great but one listen of this kind of thing lasts me a long time.

Can't help myself, 'cause baby, it's you (The Beatles) #451

The Beatles Baby It's You/ I'll Follow The Sun/ Devil In Her Heart/ Boys (Apple, 7243 8 82073 2 4, 1995)

The song itself will be very familiar to Fab fans as it appeared on Please Please Me.

This particular Beatles version of a song first made popular by U.S. girl band The Shirelles is from a BBC session at The Paris Theatre, London town, first of June 1963.

It's a cute pop hit and the fascination by the Fabs for U.S. girl bands meant they embraced it wholeheartedly.

John's vocal is full blooded and superb but they have me from the first Sha la la las!

Hidden gems: Three of this EP's songs made it to the second volume of The Beatles at the BBC releases but this live version of Devil In Her Heart is peculiar to this EP only. RARE!

These BBC versions are pretty cool - there's the banter with presenters and between themselves and a naturalness (read - without studio gloss) to the versions that's pretty special. 

From this moment on I know exactly where my life will go (The Beatles) #450

The Beatles Real Love/ Baby's In Black/ Yellow Submarine/ Here, There And Everywhere (Apple, 7243 8 82646 2 4, 1996)

The second single released to tie in with the Anthology series in the mid nineties was also an unreleased John Lennon demo that the Threetles tarted up.

This one accompanied the Anthology 2 CDs (which are beyond awesome btw).

For me, the song isn't as strong as Free As A Bird which had George and Paul's vocal embellishments to the fore. Real Love sounds good but doesn't quite work.

It's like the backdrop to a Hollywood western where the support network to the buildings on Main St. is showing. A bit all fur coat no knickers.

Very doubtful. I can't see the song ever appearing on a legit, of the time, Beatles album (or single). Can you?

John's lyric and music was basically untouched from his 1979 demo (and so, bizarrely, it is the only Beatle release credited solely to John) and takes on a special poignancy in hindsight.

Seems we never know exactly where our lives will go.

Hidden gem: Again, a Beatles CD single gives value for money. 

There's a live version of Baby's In Black with a great intro from John, and alternate takes of Yellow Submarine (with excessive sound effects - clearly the released version is far superior) and a less essential Here, There and Everywhere.

One two three FOUR (The Beatles) #449

The Beatles Free As A Bird/ I Saw Her Standing There/ This Boy/ Christmas Time (Is Here Again) (Apple, 7243 8 82587 2 2, 1995)

Long time followers of Goo Goo will remember I've already written about Free As A Bird as a vinyl single. By 1995 the 45 single was already a nostalgia item. The CD single had supplanted it unfortunately.

Good old Apple didn't miss a chance to put the song out in multi formats back in 1995.

The good thing on this version (produced in Holland btw) is that Apple retained the green apple for the centre of the CD and added a couple of tracks as a bonus as...

Hidden gems: The 45 had Christmas Time so a particularly spirited version (take 9) of Paul's I Saw Her Standing There is added (with great Ringo drumming intact) along with a couple of studio outtakes of John's This Boy; all those 'that boy', 'this boys' confused the lads big time.

Neither of these gems appeared in this form on Anthology 1 - so...rare!!