Animals. Specifically, birds.
Should the embeded version fail in it’s role the show can also be found on Mixcloud itself. For more themed music try here.
1 00:00:07 Peter E. Tevis – Hello
1976. From the Album Train Your Bird to Talk. On the PET Records label which specialised in LPs teaching different types of song bird to talk. Tevis was originally a folk singer who worked with Ennio Morricone on songs for westerns when he lived in Italy in the 1960s.
2 00:00:27 The Trashmen – Surfin’ Bird
1963. Single A-Side . Based on two songs by doo-wop group The Rivingtons, ‘The Bird’s the Word’ and ‘Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow’. A number four hit for ‘the premier landlocked Midwestern surf group of the ’60s’.
They don’t write lyrics like they used to.
3 00:01:46 Jean Pierre Massiera & Bernard Torelli – Indian Duck
1977. From the Album Turn Radio On. By the half-brother composers, producers, studio owners and session players the latter of whom started and runs the audio plugin makers Nomad. Massiera who’s been described as the French Joe Meek usually released projects under one off band names which encompassed freak beat, progressive rock, soundtracks and disco.
4 00:03:35 The Icicle Works – Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)
1983. Single A-Side and on the Album The Icicle Works. Named after the 1959 short story ‘The Day the Icicle Works Closed’ by Frederik Pohl they were amongst the era of Liverpool bands that included Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes and the various incarnations of Pete Wylie’s Wah!
Like Aztec Camera they came out of the gate incredibly strongly but didn’t reach the same heights again.
5 00:06:39 emamouse – Pigeon’s Point
2018. From the Album Pigeon’s Mum. An interview with the prolific Japanese electronic musician from the time of this release can be found here.
6 00:08:03 The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company – On A Tree By A River A Little Tom-Tit
1945-1953. From the Album Highlights & Overtures. From Act II of The Mikado this is one of the biggest hits written by comic opera dramatist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan and tells a cautionary tale of heartbreak and suicide.
Cashing in on a craze for all things Japanese The Mikado isn’t entirely historically or culturally accurate.
The longest running of Gilbert & Sullivan’s productions it’s estimated that 150 companies were performing by the end of the year of its release 1885.
7 00:10:25 Kankanaey Musicians – Eagle Dance (Turayan)
2017. From the Album Exploring Gong Culture Of Southeast Asia: Massif And Archipelago. Recorded in the Kalinga Province in the northern Philippines with the name derived from the Ibanag and Gaddang noun “kalinga”, which means “enemy”, “fighter”, or “headtaker”.
8 00:11:34 Monstrance – Black Swan Black
2007. From the Album Monstrance. A collaboration between Andy Partridge of XTC and two members of Shriekback – drummer Martyn Barker and keyboard player Barry Andrews who was a member of the former band for their first two albums.
Monstrance is an edited version of several long improvisations.
9 00:14:37 Leon Russell – Hummingbird
1970. From the Album Leon Russell. A professional musician from the age of 14 Leon Russell spent the 1960s as a composer, producer and session player before releasing his eponymous debut LP.
Despite his gospel tinged southern rock sound he was at the forefront of advances in music technology throughout the mid to late 1970s after hiring a certain R.Linn as his live guitarist and recording engineer.
10 00:16:26 BB King – Hummingbird
1970. Single A-Side and on the Album Indianola Mississippi Seeds. The tail end of the version of the prior song by former DJ ‘Blues Boy’ King. Leon Russell at the keyboard.
11 00:17:20 1000say – Canary
2008. From the Album Stargazer Orchestra. Mainly active between 2008 and 2015 but still rockin’ in the relatively free world having played Osaka the day before this mix was first streamed. Website.
12 00:20:50 Killing Joke – The Raven King
2010. Absolute Dissent. Not knowing much about Killing Joke I hadn’t realised until after I did this compilation that their bass player from 1982 was Paul Raven.
Jaz Coleman, “It’s not a song about Paul Raven it’s about Raven’s anger and things he felt passionately about. It’s a song for Englishmen.”
Showing my age Youth was the bass player when I listened to them.
13 00:24:26 Chester Chicken – Tie A Yellow Chicken ‘Round The Old Barnyard
2000. From the Album Clucking The Classics. A second Loud Hailers appearance for Chester who’s re-imagining of ‘A Hard Days Night’ appeared in Episode #4 The Beatles – Dyddiau Fu.
The complete album has been uploaded by its creators to the Internet Archive
14 00:25:44 Pere Ubu – Birdies
1980. From the Album The Art Of Walking. ‘Avant-garage’.
15 00:27:05 T. Rex – Ride a White Swan
1970. EP A-Side . This first release after shortening the band name from Tyrannosaurus Rex and the introduction of a poppier sound took eleven weeks from first entry in the UK Charts to reach number two where it stalled in the face of Clive Dunn’s ‘Grandad’ as written by the original singer of Creation Kenny Pickett and bassist Herbie Flowers of Blue Mink, Sky and many sessions including Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On The Wild Side’. Herbie later joined the final line up of T.Rex.
16 00:29:01 Tom Lehrer – Poisoning Pigeons In The Park
1959. From the Album More Of Tom Lehrer. In 2022 Mathematician and satirical songwriter Lehrer made all his songs, lyrics and recordings Public Domain. He became popular in the UK when it became known that Princess Margaret was a fan.
Originally self released his songs were unplayable on the radio in the United States because of the lyrics. “Lacking exposure in the media, my songs spread slowly. Like herpes, rather than ebola.”
17 00:31:11 Choir Of St John’s College Cambridge – Nightingales
2002. From the Album Lo, The Full, Final Sacrifice And Other Choral Works. One of ‘Seven Part Songs’ written by English composer Gerald Finzi between 1934 and 1937 setting poems by Robert Bridges to music for unaccompanied singing.
My favourite Finzi composition: Eclogue for Piano and Strings Op. 10.
18 00:34:09 Paul Brett – Snowbird
1973. From the Album Clocks. After playing guitar and later replacing the eponymous singer* in ‘Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera’ worked for a number of artists before switching largely to 12 string acoustic guitar and performing under his own name. He later wrote for music magazines and designed instruments for the world’s worst named brand of guitar to search for, ‘Vintage’.
*Real name Dave Terry.
From whence the name came:
Paul demonstrating some of the guitars he designed in a compilation from 2021:
19 00:36:31 Anne Murray – Snowbird
1969. From the Album This Way Is My Way and 1970 Single A-Side. ‘World’s best female celebrity golfer’ and fifty five million LP selling Anne Murray was the first Canadian women to reach number one in the USA singles chart with this song written by fellow countryman Gene MacLellan.
20 00:38:37 Johnny Wakelin – Where Seagulls Fly
1983. Single A-Side . Having had hits with a brace of songs about Muhammad Ali in the mid-1970s Wakelin continued the formula on and off throughout his career without success – as was also the case with this tie in with Brighton & Hove Albion’s appearance in the 1983 FA Cup final where they lost in the replay.
21 00:40:50 Ronnie Ray’s Playboys – The Vulture
1959. Double A-Side Single . This and the flip, ‘Mean Mama Blues’ were the entire recording career of the combo put together by Concordia College student Ray Rekken.
Ray does not appear amongst the list of notable alumni of the Minnesota College.
22 00:43:27 Stratis – Birds In A Cage
1983. From the Cassette Album New Face. A Greek-German duo of Antonios Stratis and Albert Kleinwho formed Stratis in 1981 in Cologne who originally lasted until 1984 but returned between 2004 and 2006.
23 00:46:35 Barenaked Ladies – Here Come The Geese
2008. From the Album Snacktime!. This is from the third album aimed at children by the Canadian band that reached number ten in the album charts of their home country and sixty one in the USA.
24 00:49:00 Frank Zappa – Penguin In Bondage
1974. From the Album Roxy & Elsewhere. Zappa often used Live albums as the basis of his releases by editing together parts of different shows and overdubbing instruments.
One of the vary performances from which the album was garnared.
25 00:54:13 Miranda Sex Garden – The Nightingale
1991. From the Album Madra. This is from the early phase of their career which started with busking madrigals where Barry Adamson came across them, had them sing on a soundtrack he wrote, and leading to the label he was on, Mute, signing them. That later became a goth-ish band ultimately breaking up in 2000 and later reforming in 2022.
Katharine Blake, the only member throughout, formed the Mediæval Bæbes with Dorothy Carter during the second incarnation of Miranda Sex Garden which performs traditional medieval songs and poetry set to music.
Amongst many other things singer, violin and viola player https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_McKevitt who joined in 1992 worked with Dreadzone on Second Light and Biological radio. That included playing viola on ‘Little Britain which was featured on Loud Hailers #8 Doing Europe No.1 The UK.
26 00:55:12 Peter E. Tevis – Bye, Bye, See You Later
1976. From the Album Train Your Bird to Talk. On the PET Records label which specialised in LPs teaching different types of song bird to talk. Tevis was originally a folk singer who worked with Ennio Morricone on songs for westerns when he lived in Italy in the 1960s.
Do you ever get a feeling of déjà vu?
27 00:55:39 Eels – I Like Birds
1999. From the Album Daisies Of The Galaxy. The third album by the American band and a little lighter in mood than the previous ‘Electro-Shock Blues’ about his sister’s suicide and mothers terminal cancer.
28 00:57:57 The Thyme Machine – The Amateur Taxidermist’s Bird
2011. From the Album Top And Tail With The Thyme Machine. ‘A band, based in North Lancashire who enjoy watching football and playing pub quizzes in their spare time’.
This is a companion piece to ‘The Amateur Taxidermist’.
Thirteen other varieties.