Billy Swivs "Time Is Not On My Side" (Wick, 2021)

Late last year Daptone's sister imprint Wick struck garage pop gold with "Time Is Not On My Side" by Billy Swivs. It's a barrel of Stones-y fun with some fine tellin'-it-like-it-is lyrics:

All the people on TV

They don't believe in you or me

No, they're just trying to waste your time

Control your brain and rule your mind

I dunno, maybe it's from witnessing all the call and response at King Khan shows or Ian Svevonius's many exhortations at Chain and The Gang/The Make-up/Escape-ism etc. gigs but I just wanna punch the air at all the wee side comments such as "That I could be somebody!" (which is uttered in a manner pleasingly reminiscent of Not Unloved fave Ryan Kidd!) or "I had a dream about it!". It's nigh on impossible to bring anything new to this style of music (I'm not sure that the avid followers of it want that, mind you!) but if you have a memorable enough tune, an ear for the good stuff from the last 55 years of garage punk and the swagger to pull it all off you'll still be able to tempt my winklepickers onto the dancefloor. Hell, yeah!

Sweet Pearl / Saun & Starr

Sometimes the word 'love' just ain't strong enough. In the case of Memphis act Sweet Pearl's 1981 soft funk miracle "You Mean Everything To Me", not even 'adore' nor any other word you care to suggest that's even stronger than that can express my feelings towards it:

"So, tonight let me hold you once again

Whisper sweet encouraging words

That would make me feel that you're my only man"

So gentle, so romantic and what an admirably restrained production. It's got a real recorded-late-at-night sound, too; the musicians delivering relaxed performances wholly devoid of the urgency of daytime. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with music of this ilk, the ritual checks of collectorsfrenzy and popsike revealed original Leopard Head label copies to be pricier than my wee wallet can handle.   Thus far I haven't spotted any legitimate or even dubious grey area reissues or, for that matter, CD compilations that would tide me over until the miracle 50p charity shop find that's destined to happen at some point (dream on, Not Unloved!).  Let's hope BGP or the venerable Kent label sees fit to restore it to print on 45 in the near future. 

Q: How did Not Unloved first encounter "You Mean Everything To Me"?

A: Levanna McLean danced to it in Northern Soul Girl Dancing 17.

On a similar tip (do people still say that - probably not, I'll wager), Saun & Starr's "Look Closer" single from a bit back now crops up as the lead track on their debut lp for Daptone.  It still sounds stunning:

Easy brilliance, huh?  It's scarcely imaginable that two voices could be more complementary.  When the sun finally sticks around long enough to justify a trip to the beach, I'll jauntily paddle in the Firth of Clyde with it on my headphones and it'll be the best.

Bob and Gene had very nice labels!

Had I been scouring the 7" bins at record stores in the US when Bob and Gene's Mo Do Records 45s were originally released I would surely have snapped them up on the basis of the graphic design of their labels alone.  I don't own any of the singles but the Bob and Gene cd on Daptone wisely employed the same exquisite label design:

The music itself is pretty nifty, too.  'Sailboat', in particular, is a pleasing small scale shuffler that's not unlike a slightly muffled, less parpy take on Archie Bell and The Drells' 'Tighten Up': 

I could look (and have looked!) at record labels for hours on end.  Northern Soul scene stalwart Chalky has a nice gallery with over a thousand scans of labels from his collection including  this Bob and Gene original.  Next time the rain's battering down outside (like...ooh...tonight!) I recommend pouring yourself a cuppa and spending a wee while picking your own favourite label.