Various Artists - Somewhere Between Heaven & Woolworths

Oddie But Goodie

Released by the titchy Fortune Teller Press people in a limited, hand-numbered run of 1000 and compiled by author and director Graham Bendel, this has nothing to do with The Easybeats’ 1967 documentary of the same name. Moreover, it brings together the absurd (Stuart Home’s reading of the deadpan, playgroundish joke, William Burroughs In Hell; Television Personalities covering Kelis’ Milkshake; the fabulous Alan Parker: Urban Warrior track) through the exclusive (X-Ray Spex doing The Day The World Turned Dayglo at 1978’s Rock Against Racism – they claim to have fished the tape out of a skip… it certainly sounds like it) and the truly splendid (Minor Threat contributing a growling, eponymous demo).

The sleevenotes cast a little light on proceedings (apparently the mastering engineer on the project once built a submarine) and are suitably snappy. Totally schizophrenic in its skittering between acts, genres. artists, poets-doing-music, vintage tracks and their contemporary cousins, it’s inadvisable to try and pin this compilation down to anything other than a collection of occasionally skew-whiff, often grinchy, and usually very fine sonic scraps put together for the sheer love of the project. Worth the time, though, on every level.

Fortune Teller Records | FTP 207

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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