Judy Singh "Look Around"

 Judy Singh.

How is it possible that Not Unloved had never heard the name Judy Singh until last weekend? Honestly, it shows a complete lack of curiosity or whatever that a voice as warm and pure as Judy's could have eluded us until now. It took the appearance of a reissue of her 1970 album, "A Time For Love" (Majikbus, 2018), in the sale section of an online store for her to finally come to our attention. On first spin, the lp is a total joy which is sure to be reached for whenever a reminder is needed that the world can be a friendly, beautiful place. Judy's voice is so perfect, like some heavenly combination of Margo Guryan, Blossom Dearie and Dionne Warwick. The arrangements are straight out of the Bacharach & David school of subtlety and richness and the incredibly endearing "Look Around" has some timely advice for those of us who have just entered spring:

"All the innocence of spring in a blade of grass

Look round, just look around

Let the childhood in you sing when you look around"

Protruders "No More" 7"

Italy's Goodbye Boozy cranks out an admirable but unmanageable (not to mention unaffordable) number of 7"s so I have to be choosy. Within seconds of hearing "No More" by Canadian chaos-bringers Protruders, however, I was scrambling to Paypal Julian at Drunken Sailor Mailorder the pennies to secure a copy. "No More" is a sandwich of 2 blasts of premium blend 142mph scrap-punk either side of a minute or so of derailing noise. Mayhem seldom sounded more fun!

Les Mystics "Mon Père Est Millionnaire" (Vedettes)

Sometimes I pity the poor folks around me.  Ever since I heard "Mon Père Est Millionnaire" by Quebec mid-60s dandies Les Mystics yesterday morning, I've wittered on about very little else.  How to find an as close to mint as possible copy of it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning (the copies I've found online so far don't sound quite pristine enough).  It's an obsession, for sure.  Last week,   "Cryptique" by The Karovas Milkshake proved a timely reminder of just how great Francophone pop can be so YouTube couldn't have nudged me in the direction of "Mon Père..." at a better time.

 What a voice! Those 'aaah, aaah, aaah, aaah's, too - sublime.  Thanks YouTube algorithm, you're a pal!

The Deverons "She Is My Life"

"She Is My Life" by Winnipeg, Canada's The Deverons is one of the most endearingly romantic wimp-garage singles of the 60s.  Derek Blake's lyrics are pure tongue-tied, love-struck teen:

"When she's with me my knees feel weak
 When she's near me I cannot speak"
 ...
 She has my heart
 She has my soul
 Eveyone knows she has me"

The killer keyboard break expresses beautifully the protagonist's rush of boyish adrenalin at the mere sight of the object of his love.  Not many singles are perfect but, for me, this is one of the few.  It is the most instantly lovable track on "Turn To Stone 2 - Long Lost Sixties Garage USA" (Astray Records).  I got mine from Cornucopia Records - a pop-up shop in the basement of Offshore on Gibson Street, Glasgow.  Unfortunately, tomorrow is the last day it's open but the smitten can buy it from their website.

(As ever, original 45s are pricey.)

Young Pretender

(picture from last.fm)

The ole canny shopper instincts kicked-in the other day as I was buying Sauna Youth's latest 7" from Static Shock.  I figured that if I was buying one 7", I might as well buy 2 to save a few bob on postage (that kinda logic'll see me to the poorhouse!) so I went digging around in their mailorder catalogue, a trusty browser to hand for the purpose of music sampling.  "Young Pretender" by Toronto's Dangerloves was the record that set my pulse racing the fastest and which was added to my cart with relish.  As power pop singles go, it's up there with the best I've heard in recent years (it was released in  May, 2008).  It starts off at quite a lick in full Peechees mode but when Zoe Dodd bursts into "Young pretender you don't know who you are!" things go up a gear or two.  Sparky!