Hello and welcome to Season 4, Episode 56 of Vinyl-O-Matic. It's me, Your Old Pal Will, host of this fine program. Today we will continue our journey through singles with a-sides that begin with the letter S as in Sierra. First up, try not to fall asleep during the a-side because the b-side is pretty killer, in a weird country disco funk jazz kind of way.

All right, that was Cardiff's very own Los Campesinos! and the 4th and final edition of their Heat Rash zine/single subscription club from 2012. We heard "She Crows (Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown)" and the b-side "To the Boneyard". Before that we got things started off with The Gambler himself, Kenny Rogers singing an it's-hard-to-be-a-songwriter song written by Steve Gibb, which was thankfully redeemed by an actual Kenny Rogers-penned tune called "Morgana Jones". And yes, evidently Kenny can scat. Who knew?
Now let us take a little journey to Philadelphia for a classic jam.

Welcome back to Vinyl-O-Matic. If you cast your minds back, you will recall that we heard from Daryl Hall and John Oates with their smash hit "She's Gone" on Atlantic Records from 1973 backed with "I'm Just a Kid (Don't Make Me Feel Like a Man)", whatever that means. If you haven't seen the promotional video for this single, I suggest you shake the internet to find it. We followed that up with a Collectables two-fer from Al Wilson. The a-side was his 1974 number 1 single "Show and Tell", while the b-side was his 1968 Top 30 hit "The Snake". Evidently "The Snake" made an appearance on the UK charts in 1975 thanks to the emerging Northern Soul scene.
Before we continue with the music, let me remind you that KWTF is a listener-supported, non-profit community radio station that very much relies on the financial kindness of listeners just like yourselves. Please visit KWTF(dot)net(slash)donate to find out how you can help.
Next up, we have a tasty pop confection from Sweden.

Perhaps that seemed a little out there for some of you in the listening audience, but that was some delightful material by Natural Dreamers, a side project by Deerhoofers John Dietrich and Chris Cohen, accompanied by Jay Pellice. That is a 2013 release on Joyful Noise records called "Sir G" and the b-side "Just No Probs". And we got that set started off with Blue Swede and their fun song "Silly Milly" which cracked the Hot 100 in 1973, reaching number 71.
And now, the sound of a 25¢ thrift store find. My apologies for the audio quality in advance.

The Tyranny of Distance. That can be a lyric from none other than the Antipodean Finns and friends from Auckland, Split Enz. "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" is the name of that delightful shanty backed with "Make Sense of it All". That is on A&M Records from 1982 and just bubbled under the top 100 at 103. That was preceded by a crunch crackly copy of Otis Redding's "Sittin on the Dock of the Bay". The b-side "Sweet Lorene" was unfortunately in no condition to be played.
That about wraps it up for us here this time around. If you have any questions about what you have heard, please drop me a line: will(at)vinylomatic(dot)com. You can always find show notes, archived episodes, and RSS feeds conveniently located at vinylomatic(dot)com. We will continue our slog through singles with a-sides that begin with the letter S as in Sierra again next time. Join me, won't you?