Various - Working Man’s Soul 2 (Licorice Soul)

Though the dust may have settled and the bands long since crumbled to dust, their memories live on in scratched and battered pieces of vinyl. Working Man's Soul 2 celebrates the golden era of the cabaret band in all their velveteen glory. In the 1960s and '70s every provincial town had a cabaret venue. Our local one was called Bunny's Place and was run by a former trawlerman called Bunny Newton. On a regular night you'd get a comedy turn, a desperately unfunny compère, some chips and scampi in a basket and, of course, a cabaret band. It was magic, our Morris. Many of the bands made their own recordings to sell at gigs and the boys at Licorice Soul have sifted out the many dreadful LPs to distill some of the brilliance that could be occasionally found among the covers of Come On Over To My Place (see if you can spot Russ Abbott lurking in there somewhere). Listening to this almost makes you yearn for Dubonnet, Watneys Red Barrel and the three-day week (almost, but not quite).