Welcome to the Modslist Music Picks page for January 1998. This page will be updated monthly with contributions from modslist subscribers. All modslist subscribers are welcome to participate. Write me at modsli

New this month:

Here are this month's contributors. To save some time with this time around, you can now click on the name of whosever list you'd like to read. You can still scroll down as before, as well if you choose.

Eneida:

What a brilliant track by a great guy! Top dance song, a Garage Beat tune that will become a killer.

These hip british geezers knew who to make you feel sad with their lyrics but the song is absolutely beautiful; deep chorus and voice, it's becoming one of my fave ones.

Mary Mary you're on my mind... listen to it and you won't stop dancing! One of the most danceable songs of all times from this australian band. Freakout!!

My favourite hammond groove that drives my mad. I play it again and again and again...

A wild freakbeat killer that I just have listened by one DJ. Very catchy and danceable. Just clap your hands and join the gang!

German band that recorded that track and really took a breath... as the song is cracking! Mixing psychedelia and Beat, it has become a top dance song in the spanish do's.

Oh dear... it makes me cry! To listen in a cold rainy day. My favourite Small Faces song, doubtless.

Difficult to keep the rhythm dancing but it makes you jump on the dancefloor!

Hard Blue-eyed Soul track by a spanish band recorded in 1967. Great bass line and wild voice. Top spanish song.

Here's the one 90's band of my list. My favourite "new" band playing their last recorded song that reminds me The Who meets The Fleur de Lys. Ace!!

Bill Luther:

A brilliant U.K late 60's hammond and horns groover from their "Out Of The Frying Pan" lp.

Clive's take on the Stax instro classic extended into a soulful jam with the band wailing snatches of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Nowhere To Run" at one of the many false endings. On the U.S lp "Getwaway" and it's slightly different U.K release "Sweet Things".

Insane shrieks punctuated by blasts of brass and ace hammond swirling. Graham Day of The Prisoners liked it so much he nicked it note for note and re-wrote it as "The Drowning" and took time to listen to Arthur's untitled debut and help himself to two more plagarisms.

Liverpool's own London based Brit r'n'b combo score with proof that white British soul combos weren't all bland. Available in the U.S on MGM and in the U.K. on Decca both in seven inch vinyl format.

American soul at it's best! Impassioned lead vocals with tight falsetto backing vox, strings,heavy rhythm section action and crisp production.

From the pens of Liverpudlian ex-Pete Best Combo sidemen Tony Waddington and Wayne Bickerton who took this American soul trio (then based in the U.K) and wrote and produced the most intense soul sides of the 60's. This is no exception and is the most powerful of all their Deram 45 rpm sides.

Forget visions of Droog brutality this is the only recorded example of 60's surf mod! From the pen of Dave Dee and Co. mentors Blaikley/Howard comes a merge of The Beach Boys vocal harmonies and U.K mid 60's mod pop with archtypical catch phrases like "ready", "steady" and "go". Released in the U.K on 45 rpm on the Ember label in and the U.S on Liberty (hot on the heels of a Jan and Dean single).

Scotsmen in loud trou who cut a kitsch Bowie throwaway composition in '67 on the CBS label. Full of throbby bas, excellent pop hooks and goofy lyrics. Reissued on CD this year on a V.A. comp. "The David Bowie Songbook".

The hedonist anthem of 1966. Down and out Davey evokes typical swinging London with his devil/dandy may care lyrics with all the comforts of full session men backing with Hammond,congas,scratch percussion, flute and fuzz guitar. Issued on a Pye 45 reissued on the e.p's "Don't Be Fooled By The Name" and "1966" and the Rhino CD comp "David Bowie:Early On".

A follow up to The Untamed's take of Pete Townsend's "it's Not True", "Daddy.." was an ode to an arachnid long before "Boris The Spider" with John Barry-esque horns and competent r'n'b horns. Released on Planet records on seven inch 45 rpm. Anybody want to sell me a copy?

Billy:

Andrew Mccullough:

(this LP must always be listened to in its entirety, I can't list one song)

Mr. Suave:

The best collection to throw in the disc player when you want to listen to the best mod-power-pop over and over.

Very cool collection of Jam rarities and unreleased stuff. Early cuts of Soldi bond in Your Heart, Beattles and Who covers. A good compliment to any Jam collection.

Absolutely some of the best jazz ever recorded. Gordon does things with a sax that are unbelievable.

This album continues to amaze me. I can't stop listening to it.

Art Blakey was one of jazz's hottest drummers, and this release is a scorcher. Some of the best modern jazz out there.

Still one of my favorite albums of all time. I've been playing this album almost daily for 17 years. Finally got the Goldmasterd CDs so I don't have to wear out my vinyl and cassettes anymore.

Okay, I cheated that's two albums. But it's so damn hard to pick since they're both great albums. The Standell's have to be the most underrated garage band of all time.

If you like jazz-pop vocalists, you should get this comp. Cool collection of Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Prima, Sam Butera, Nat King Cole, and the always sultry Julie London.

What can I say? I think that in some ways Weller topped his Jam days with TSC, but it's almost like comparing apples and oranges. Still, TSC is a great jazz-soul-pop band.

Liked P.D. Heaton with Housemartins, and love him now. Beautiful South has a great quirkiness to it. Any of their albums are worth listening too, but especially the latest ("Something Blue" I think) and "Move on up the charts."

Additional comments: Wish this list was longer because I'm listening to Small Faces, The Creation, Count Basie and so much more that deserves to be recognized.

Ed:

Justin Warring:

The SAS's first release. These guys tear it up with their special brand of traditional ska and killer reggae beatz. Check out track 12 (Lietenant) for some intensifed dub action.

This album rocks. The follow-up to "Better Late than Never" blends an element of soul and rock music never before attempted by any other band I've ever heard. You must own this record.

This album contains some of my favourite Jam tunes. It's a very well put together compilation of old Jam stuff. Go get it.

What else can be said about these boys other than "Damn!". This album includes some of the most rockin' Kinks tunes out there.

The Mad Professor is at it again with his killer dub beatz. This album has more bass than my stereo can handle. This CD's a must for any respectable DJ.

The rock tunes are more rockin' and the pop is more poppy. Pick it up. If you like them you won't be dissapointed.

This record is amazing! McCoy and others pay tribute to one of the best sax players of all times, John Coltrane. A must for those chill evenings with the ladies.

WoW! I can't decide which is better, this or Open Season. The second release by the SAS's mixes more elements of roots reggae and soul music than the last release. Pick it up if you're truley a ska fan.

These guys are the best band of all time. Their special brand of ska music makes you want to love the world. A friend of mine once said Hepcat = sex. It's true. Pick up the CD, you'll see what I mean.

What else can you expect from Redding other that sweet soul music? This man delivers it in a way undescribable by man. The CD is a must have for any music fan.

Seth Hodes:

-this stylish boys from the city of New York know how to rock,baby!

Susie:

Jeffrey Craddick:

GREAT BAND OUT OF CHICAGO...CAME ACROSS THEM ONLINE!!

NEW CLASSIC SOUL

GREAT BAND FROM BURLINGTON VT...ALSO CAME ACROSS ONLINE!!

SECOND GREAT RECORD FROM THIS CUBAN TRUMPETER!!

GREAT NEW ORLEANS BAND...ALSO FOUND ONLINE!!

CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC!!

MODERN JAZZ AT IT'S BEST...FRIEND OF MINE TOO!!

DIDN'T LIKE IT AT FIRST AND NOW LOVE IT!!

GREAT LA AREA BAND...ALSO FOUND ONLINE!!

THE BEST SOLO OFFERING YET FROM THE "MODFATHER"!!

Mark Sandon:

Brian Poust:

A fellow lister taped this for me some months back, and I just realized the 45 (US pressing on Jerden) had been under my nose all along at one of my fave record haunts. When I bought it, the dealer quipped "I was wondering when you were going to get this!" Written by Ray Davies, with the session guitar work of Jimmy Page.

A bit of a novelty beat group, this is one of their many medlies. This time they send up "Little Red Rooster", "Baby Love" and "Love Me Do", with the refrain "but Rii-iin-iin-gooooo's, On the Dole". Sure to tickle any 60's angliphillic phunny bone.

Another novelty song, this is the same McNee we all know better as Steed. My copy is a 1990 reissue, but it initially came out in '64. Now we know why "The Prisoner" wasn't more popular.....Patrick McGoohan never made a pop record!

Maybe a little too "mid-tempo" for the dance floor, but still a top tune from the Loot on Page One, regardless of the Troggs connection.

Papa Freakbeat turned me on to this particular track, a killer B-side to the otherwise forgettable "Okay!" single. I was recently able to pick it up for myself. This one meets if not exceeds "You Make It Move".

Dean was a fairly bland vocalist, but it's the backing band that matters this time around. The song itself is also fairly amusing, lyrically.

Flip to the Ray Davies penned "All Night Stand" which they recorded for Planet (PLF 118), and I think it's just as good without the Davies seal of excellence. Yes, this is the same Thoughts that backed Paul Dean.

My fave of the late 60's Kinks material. It pretty well recalls their early days without sounding like a throwback.

I was going to just chuck it and say the whole "Zombie Heaven" box set, but that would be cheating. This is one of my fave Zombies tracks, right up there with "Woman". Not to be confused with the Kinks track listed previously.

The band is not the US band, and the song is not the Bacharach song we all know Tom Jones for. Rather, this is an obscure UK beat group who had this 45 released on Laurie in the US. I think that it's compiled on one of the English Freakbeat comps as well for easier access. Great tune about bad relationships.