Live From The Statler Hilton & Roseland Hotels 1950's - Xavier Cugat

Advantages: For completists only
Disadvantages: Sterile renditions, not representative of Portishead live.

...PNYC is a recording of the band's concert at the Roseland Ballroom, New York to promote the then new album, Portishead. To release this subsequent to the album doesn't seem to serve a great deal of purpose. To my mind, there are several ways of looking at this. The first is a Portishead's Greatest Hits (live) album... unfortunately, Portishead aren't the kind of band who would be suited to such a record, as they write *albums*, records which hold together as a whole, and to lift songs from one album and mix them with those from others does not seem wholly sensible. The other is that this is a record of the Portishead live exprience for fans. This isn't the case - Roseland was a carefully planned, thoroughly rigid performance with a full orchestra, and thus entirely different from the real-world experience of seeing Portishead... Read review

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Advantages: James Brown before he went global
Disadvantages: Very dated, none of his big hits

...-fame hit. As he starts the opening vocal parts, the crown cheer and whoop. In fact, not just through this late 50s weepie, but through the whole album the crowd go wild at everything Brown and the Famous Flames do. And that only heightens the reality and electricity of atmosphere to this recording as a whole. 4. Think Another great early tune. You can tell this is authentic live stuff because occasionaly a word or two becomes inaudible as Brown - presumably - steps away from the mic to perform a little dance. This is soulful, frenetic stuff in all under two minutes. 5. I Dont Mind Going back to the slow pace of Try Me this track is unique on this album because the crowd actually sit back and listen to the soulful outpouring of Brown and his more than able backing singers. Some nice bluesy guitar penetrates the track halfway... Read review

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Advantages: beautifully evocative, calming, wistful, romantic and pastoral
Disadvantages: veers close to being a little twee at times, but that only adds to the charm

..., the daughter of renowned composer Edwin 'Ted' Astley, responsible for the music for a huge number of TV action serials of the 1950s and 1960s, with The Saint and Danger Man being two of the best remembered. In the early 1980s she formed the Ravishing Beauties; a short lived, all female band comprised of Virginia, Kate St John and Nicky Holland. They played a few gigs supporting Teardrop Explodes and recorded a John Peel session before splitting in 1981. Astley struck out on her own, worked on demos with John Foxx and in 1982 released a well-received single "Love's A Lonely Place To Be." It reached number 5 on the indie charts and featured two simple tracks on the b-side, "A Summer Long Since Passed" and "It's Too Hot To Sleep." The evocative titles exactly summed up the delightful instrumentals and in 1983 Rough Trade issued the From... Read review

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