Time for a more obscure item: ‘Standing Up‘ – an album by Scottish musician Rab Noakes, issued in 1994 by Mediart Music (catalogue MDMCD 003). I picked this up for about 25p when my local public library was having a sale of old stock. I’d never have bought it at full price (even if it were widely available -which I somehow doubt) but it was a real bargain and I’m rather fond of it.
It’s a collection 17 tracks (seven self-written plus some intelligent cover versions including Allen Toussaint’s ‘What Do You Want The Girl To Do?’ which was covered by Lowell George, David Byrne’s ‘Psycho Killer’ and Dylan’s ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie’). The reason I took a chance and bought it is that I recalled Rab Noakes as a singer-songwriter who’d issued a few LPs from back in the 1970s. I’m not sure I ever heard him – but I had heard his stuff: he was in an early version of Stealers Wheel along with Gerry Rafferty and Lindisfarne had covered his material on their first two albums. But then his name faded out for about 15 years though. It turns out he had been working as an executive for BBC Radio Scotland and had all-but retired from performing – certainly in England. On the basis of this, their gain was our loss!
nicely out of tune 