Snapshots #376: The Snapshots Sale Is Now On!

Now that the Snapshots Sale has officially been started by Robin Zander, lead singer of Cheap Trick, you can all bag yourself a bargain - while stocks last! 

20. Tony Pollard is very confused.

Hard as it may be to believe, "Tony Pollard" is an anagram for a very young...

Dolly Parton - The Bargain Store

19. Don't tell your other half about these guys.

Keep that affair secret, whatever you do...

Secret Affair - I'm Not Free (But I'm Cheap)

18. Foibles.

The Kinks - Massive Reductions

17. Mr. Loverman (not Shabba).

He's the man from Love...

Arthur Lee - You Can Save Up To 50% But You're Still A Long Ways From Home

Short but sweet, that one.

16. Wayward Prince, initially Jesus, every one famous.

Prince Harry is rather wayward, the first letter of Jesus is J, but they're all stars...

Harry J. All Stars - Liquidator

15. Octopus Alfred wearing a hockey mask.

Alfred Molina played Dr. Octopus... Jason wore a hockey mask.

Jason Molina - It Costs You Nothing

14. Eastenders without a cause.

Cockney Rebel - Big Big Deal

13. The riddle of who's steering the ship.

Jimmy Riddle at the Helm...

Jimmy Helms - Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse

12. Four sub-par Stewarts fly high with mock King. 

They're a quartet of B-Rods in the Sky... with an Elvis who's not the King.

Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet - This Offer Is Unrepeatable

11. Use your powers of deduction to describe Cilla's laughs.

You needed a lorra lorra logic to figure this one out...

Lora Logic - Wonderful Offer

10. Overweight and covered in spots.

Fats Domino - What A Price

9. Tired / Hippocampus.

Hippocampus is the Latin name for seahorses. If you're tired, you need a Sleeper.

Sleeper - Sale of the Century

Seahorses - Sale of the Century

8. Useful for chipping away at the igloo.

Cold Chisel - Cheap Wine

7. Better than Steve Mason and Gordon Anderson.

Steve Mason and Gordon Anderson were the Beta Band.

T-Bone Burnett, Steven Soles, and David Mansfield were...

The Alpha Band - Cheap Perfume

6. Senegal Intelligence Agency.

That would be the SIA...

Sia - Cheap Thrills

5. Crazy boys.

The Mad Lads - Don't Have To Shop Around

4. An insult to the Irish, and a Young man who talks to walls.

Faron Young sang Hello Walls, Mick is a derogatory term for the Irish...

Mick Farren - Half Price Drinks

3. Desperate / not depressive.

Desperate (Steely) Dan and the Manics (not depressives).

Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go

Steely Dan - Everything Must Go

2. What a Doctor and a Baker do at the bus stop.

Tom (Baker) Waits...

Step right up
Everyone's a winner!
Bargains galore!
That's right you too can be the proud owner of...
The quality goes in before the name goes on!

Tom Waits - Step Right Up

1. Get her out of the other way and you'll hear a crazy organ playing in your new build home. 

Remove "her" from "other way" and you get Otway. A crazy organ might be a wild willy... in a Barrett home.

John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett - Really Free

The Snapshots Sale Must End New Year's Day! Join us then for our final crazy reductions!

Wilko

I’m not going to pretend to be the world’s biggest expert on Wilko Johnson – a quick glance through the archives of this blog, and I doubt you’ll find his name mentioned more than once or twice. I only really know him from the obvious Dr. Feelgood tracks (although he'd left the band by the time of Milk & Alcohol). However, when I heard about his death last week and read a little bit more of his story, I was tempted to dip my ears into the swirling pool of the interweb and see what random nuggets might surface. I didn’t do this with a post in mind, but I found some pretty groovy tunes to share, so why not?

Wilko Johnson – Ice On The Motorway

Think about the girls in California
I tell you man, I’d rather stay at home

I spend a lot of my time trying to survive the motorway, so I was naturally drawn to this one.

There's also a version of this on Wilko's collaboration with Roger Daltrey, a double act that appears to have got together purely to use the radio shorthand Roger Wilko... and then not actually used it.

Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey - Ice On The Motorway

This next one was co-written by Wilko...

Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Sueperman’s Big Sister

I presume the spelling was to avoid a lawsuit from Friedrich Nietzsche.

You know she’s Superman’s big sister
Her X-Ray eyes see through my silly ways
Superman’s big sister, superior skin and blister
It doesn’t seem surprising nowadays

Which leads us to this entertaining weirdo...

Mick Farren – I Want A Drink

One of three tracks Wilko played guitar on from Mick’s 1978 album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money. The lyrics speak for themselves.

And here's one for any Celias out there... 

Celia & The Mutations – You Better Believe Me

Written by Celia, along with Wilko, Jean-Jacques Burnel and Terry Williams, who would go on to play the drums in Dire Straits.

Let's close with a track from when Wilko was still in Dr. Feelgood, and one he wrote too...