Ugly Feuds

Based on the much loved, timeless fairytale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling and Me tells the story of Ratso, a wheeler dealer city rat, and Ugly, a baby duckling with a striking appearance. But Ugly isn't your average duckling and Dollar signs flash before Ratso's eyes as he recognises Ugly as a potential source of income. However, as the pair embark on an unlikely adventure, Ratso comes to realise that there is more to life than making a quick buck and so begins a lifelong friendship. A must for fans of classic fairytales and more recent films such as Ratatouille and Happy Feet this offers pure delight for the whole family.

Tapestry Of Delights:

This is an impressive crew of studio/session musicians, embarking on what could have been the umpteenth boring exploitation album. Luckily, it turns out to be surprisingly good. Side one of this all-instrumental LP is made up of covers of songs like "Scarboro' Fair", "My Babe" and Stephen Stills' "Hung Upside Down", while side two comprises Parker originals. Strangely enough, side one is actually better, pairing imaginative arranging with expert playing. Not as good or disturbing as the similarly-inclined Blue Phantom on the same label, this is nonetheless listenable, though nothing very special. Alan Parker was also involved in Blue Mink and Hungry Wolf and made a solo album in 1970 too.

“The enormous, long river of storytelling, fed by ancient headwaters, shoring up time, bounded by landscape and people and witness to the beauty and anguish of each. Deconstructed ballads and reveries of drunk ghosts, obtuse and palatable superimposed. The relatable not just accompanied but defined by the very weird. Kitchen-table images from a spotty memory, beater cars mystically lifted, characters coming and going, old friends on the porch. In this town everyone knows each other, knows each others’ business, and everyone’s got strange trouble. Big Ugly is beer-fisted radio country from a post-verbal hermit; “Oh what country, friends, is this,” a line from “Twelfth Night,” uttered by Viola after being shipwrecked on an unfamiliar shore, one that might hold new life or prove to be another disappointment. Nobody moves. The voice is home, but home is a mystery. We get older and learn nothing, our world barely recognizable. We help each other out. We stay in a place that is losing its future, whether out of commitment or despondency. Big Ugly is Southern mountain rock, Southern lit, made and dedicated to the inextricable entity of land and people, to visions of community and utopia and testament to erosion. The country is a steady drum beat and fried guitar. The language is a dream.” – Dan Wriggins

17 songs. Recorder in 1977, released in 1996 on Other Peoples Music, Produced by Chris Spedding & Peter Moore from the original 4-track master tapes. 12 page booklet designed by Rodney Bowes, with rare pics and liner notes.