Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story: MusicNear.com

Music CD 1

Geraldine - THE OLE MISS DOWNBEATS
If You Want Me You Can Find Me - LAWSON & FOUR MORE
Batarang - THE AVENGERS
White Doors - THE WALLABIES
Halfway Down The Stairs - LAWSON & FOUR MORE
Hands Are Only To See - THE BITTER IND
The Surveyor - THE 1ST CENTURY
Rocks - TERRY MANNING
Up & Down Children - THE WALLABIES
Not At All - TERRY MANNING
Looking Down - THE 1ST CENTURY
In 1852 We - THE HONEY JUG
Patches Of Dust - THE GOATDANCERS
Psychedelic Stuff (demo) - CHRIS BELL
Free Again - ALEX CHILTON
All I See Is You - CHRISTMAS FUTURE
Every Shoemaker - THE BADGERS
Miss Eleana - SID SELVIDGE
Lovely Lady - ROCK CITY
Every Day As We Grow Closer - ALEX CHILTON
Guess Things Happen That Way - TERRY MANNING
Feeling High - CHRISTMAS FUTURE
The EMI Song (Smile For Me) - ALEX CHILTON
Think It's Time To Say Goodbye - ROCK CITY

Music CD 2

In The Street (single version) - BIG STAR
Feel Alright - CARGOE
When My Baby's Beside Me - BIG STAR
My Life Is Right - BIG STAR
Back Of A Car - BIG STAR
I Love You Anyway (single edit) - CARGOE
I Got Kinda Lost - BIG STAR
Let Me Look At The Sun - THE HOT DOGS
Mod Lang - BIG STAR
She's A Mover - BIG STAR
I Walk The Line - THE HOT DOGS
September Gurls - BIG STAR
Big Black Car - BIG STAR
Lovely Day aka Stroke It Noel - ALEX CHILTON
For You - BIG STAR
Downs - ALEX CHILTON
Kizza Me - BIG STAR
Holocaust - BIG STAR
You And Your Sister - CHRIS BELL
Love You (All Day Long) - TOMMY HOEHN
Thank You Friends - BIG STAR
Blow Yourself Up - TOMMY HOEHN
My Mind - THE SCRUFFS
Don't Worry Baby (fragment) - ALEX CHILTON

Free Music Notes for Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story

Free Music Review: Great chronicle of the earlier history of the great Memphis Record Label/Studio!
Hit: 5 Stars

Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story Poster

Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story celebrates the label with a deluxe 2CD anthology that ranges from the its earliest mid-60s garage studio recordings to the halcyon days of the early 1970s, when a distribution deal with Stax established Ardent as a purveyor of the finest pop-rock. Studio owner John Fry had an eclectic yet completely professional approach, encouraging experiment, but always focused on sonic quality.

The compilation is neatly divided between the two eras of the studio/label. Disc One (the 1960s) features a mind-boggling range of rare garage singles and unissued psychedelic singles, as well as the early studio experiments of Big Star's Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. Disc Two (the 1970s) examines the Stax era and beyond, with selections from Ardent acts Cargoe and the Hot Dogs, and no less than 14 rare or unissued Big Star-related cuts, most of which have not been on CD before.

Thank You Friends benefits from full access to the Ardent tape vault and the sound quality is second to none. The lengthy sleeve notes by Alec Palao draw upon in-depth interviews with both Fry and Ardent associates Jim Dickinson and Terry Manning. It is a unique insight into a chapter of both Memphis and pop music history.