or more information on the music, please e-mail me at rodney@isles.fm or rodney.collins@offshoremusicradio.com or fax me on 08716619278.

Playlist w/c March 07 (UK labels where available)

High Class Baby/Cliff Richard (Columbia, 1958)

It’s Now or Never/Elvis Presley (RCA, 1960)

Forget-me-Not/Eden Kane (Decca, 1962)

Conscience/James Darren (Pye International, 1962)

Hippy Hippy Shake/Swinging Blue Jeans (HMV, 1963)

I’ll Never Fine Another You/Seekers (Columbia, 1964)

Taste of Honey/Herb Alpert (Pye International, 1966 from the album ‘Whipped Cream & Other Delights’)

Love’s Just a Broken Heart/Cilla Black (Parlophone, 1966 see our CD list below)

I Can’t Turn you Loose/Otis Redding (Atlantic, 1966)

Who Can I Turn To/Mark Murphy (Immediate, 1966)

Our Mann Flint/Herbie Mann (Atlantic, 1966 from the album ‘Our Mann Flute’)

I’ve Passed This way Before/Jimmy Ruffin (Tamla Motown, 1967)

Celeste/Scott McKenzie (CBS, 1967 written by Donovan)

Hello I Love You/Doors (Elektra, 1968)

Anything/Eric Burdon & the Animals (MGM, 1969 from the LP ‘Winds Of Change’)

Love is Life/Hot Chocolate (RAK, 1970)

Doin The Best I Can/Paddy Maguire (Ember, 1970 featuring Stevie Winwood & Fotheringay from ‘Looking Towards the Sky’ - see our CD list below)

And I Love You So/Don McLean (United Artists, 1971)

We Dont Make Each Other Laugh Anymore/Gladys Knight & the Pips (Buddah, 1973)

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE: Alfie/Dionne Warwick (Scepter-US, 1967)

Check out these CD’s & books:

A new Sinatra release is now with us from Reprise with a collection of ‘live’ performances over several decades…our plays started last week. The 4-CD and DVD set includes excerpts from live concerts in New York from the 50’s to the early 90’s, never issued before. He was never better than in front of a live audience as this set shows. This isn’t cheap (over £60) but worth it. And EMI Gold  have a collection of Sinatra’s 50’s classics collected on one CD (pictured above). Recorded at the peak of his vocal powers, this is a must for fans and worth it for ‘Come Fly With Me’ alone.   We’ve received a lot of enquiries about Lhasa’s album from Warners since the very sad news that Lhasa died after a 21-month battle against cancer at the beginning of this year.  Lhasa and an earlier album are available from Warner Classics & Jazz.

EMI Gold have the finest collection yet for Cilla Black. It includes all the hits, some that should have been and weren’t, plus album tracks and a DVD as well. Well-packaged and with a note from Sir George Martin who was reponsible for producing nearly all of Cilla’s successes in the 60’s and 70’s. And from Reprise a mention for the Very Best of Fleetwood Mac. It’s already sold well, charting for weeks, with tracks like ‘Dont Stop’, ‘Go Your Own Way’ and ‘Rhiannon’. We’re featuring tracks this month.

Go to Zone Records’s home page where you will find the Richard Harris CD ‘My Boy’. ‘MacArthur Park’ may have been his best single - but this Zone CD (originally issued on Probe in the UK) was certainly his finest album. Zone also has a few copies of ‘Continental Dusty’  available as well. Order these and other Zone releases from artists like Petula Clark, Doris Day and Rod McKuen from http://www.zonerecordsltd.com/ and look for the Jackie Trent CD pictured here; it includes the ‘Positive Thinking’ track, featured on TV ads recently. You can order product direct from: P O Box 203, Cobham, Surrey KT11 2UG.

Two original Epic albums from the 70’s Soul Children are combined onto one Shout Records CD. ‘Finders Keepers’ and ‘Where Is Your Woman Tonight’ feature some great tracks - mid 70’s soul at its best. It’s on our playlist this week. Check out this and Shout’s other releases at www.shoutrecords.co.uk

Also, worth seeking out is a Matt Monro 5- CD set from EMI Gold. He really was one of the UK’s finest singers, and this package includes virtually all of Matt’s single releases over the years from his days recording with Fontana, Decca, Parlophone, Capitol and EMI. All the hits are here, naturally, but some tracks are appearing on CD (and in stereo) for the first time.

Now for details of an autobiography, written by Jeffrey Kruger, whose career has spanned six decades as a concert promoter, club owner, record company chief executive and film distributor. His book ‘ Angels and Assholes - My Life With The Stars’ is available now. In the book, Jeffrey Kruger gives you a fascinating insight into names like Sinatra, Julio Iglesias, Noel Coward, Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Jack Benny and dozens more. The book costs £35 (to include recorded delivery). Make your cheque out to: MOVIE GEMS LTD and mail it to PO BOX 130, HOVE, EAST SUSSEX BN36QU.

Back to the CD’s and from Fantastic Voyage comes ‘Looking Towards The Sky’ which is the latest in the collection of Ember re-issues. This one features progressive, phsychedelic and folk rock tracks, some of them unavailable for years, including Blonde on Blonde and 9.30 Fly. This week we are featuring a track which includes guest appearances by Stevie Winwood & Fotheringay.

Watch out for the re-issue of David McWilliams’ album including ‘Day of Pearly Spencer’ - one of the most haunting songs of its day. David was regularly featured on Radio Caroline in the time after the Marine Offences Act was introduced…because his record company Major Minor supported the station financially. The CD called ‘Days Of David McWilliams’ is due out from RPM Records.

And lastly a mention for the wonder Elkie Brooks, celebrating 50 years in the business, with two releases. One, a double-CD on Universal is titled ‘Sunshine After The Rain - The Collection’. All the hits are here from the A&M, Island and Decca days such as ‘Pearl’s A Singer’ and ‘Lilac Wine’ - listen out for tracks later in the month. The other release from Elkie is a new album ‘Powerless’ released by EMP and this includes top-quality versions of songs like ‘Purple Rain’ and ‘A Song For You’. Wonderful stuff.

Our weekly regular programmes are broadcast over OMR:- Sundays 1200 - 1320 Wednesdays 1300 - 1420 Thursdays 2000 - 2120 Saturdays 0800 - 0920 Isles FM to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland:- Mondays 1005 - 1130 Wednesdays 1400 - 1520 Thursdays 0000 - 0130 and you can now tune into Isles FM on the web - go to www.isles.fm Our programmes are also broadcast at www.replayradio.net on Sundays 1400 - 1520 ALL times are GMT Rodney Collins has worked in the media since the mid 1960’s and was responsible for Record Mirror’s coverage of the pirate radio stations for Billboard inc until 1970 when he joined the management at ATV, Stoll Moss Theatres and Pye Records. He later moved to BBC Radios 1 & 2 as Publicity and Presentation Officer then onto Radio Luxembourg as Director of News Programming. At RTL he did the first Eurovision television interview with Margaret Thatcher, shown throughout Europe. He’s also worked as Managing Director of several local radio stations in the British Isles. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1790935.stm and http://www.bridlingtonfreepress.co.uk/news/Broadcasting-to-the-world-.3702707.jp Since 2000, he has operated small hotels with his wife and daughter (currently Radcliffe House in Bridlington) while continuing to broadcast and produce music CD’s. If you are interested in staying with the Collins family, see www.theradcliffeguesthouse.co.uk and, if they can’t fix you up, they will suggest other B&B’s or hotels nearby! And if you are planning meetings or conferences, contact us via our web-page and see how they can help.

Published Saturday, March 06, 2010

Rodney Collin's Page