THANK YOU MR. CAMPBELL

Glen Campbell is playing tonight, the last show of what may be his final tour. He has Alzheimers. You can imagine what challenges he faced on this tour.  Forgetting lyrics, starting songs that he'd just finished playing; things like that.  Those are little things compared to what lays in store.

Guess I'm Dumb, Shindig 1965, produced by Brian Wilson

He's done it all. He was a solo artist, a temporary Beach Boy, a member of the Wrecking Crew, he had his own TV variety show. Hell, he did "Witchita Lineman". That one song would be enough for anyone's legacy. Even just the guitar solo in that song...just the guitar tone on that solo.  Fucking all-time. From here on in, it's going to be very hard to hear Glen Campbell without being more appreciative.

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Listen:
Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman mp3 at Ca Va Cool
Glen Campbell - Galveston mp3 at Cold Splinters
Glen Campbell - Gentle On My Mind mp3 at Pretty Goes With Pretty
Glen Campbell - Guess I'm Dumb mp3 at Obscure Sound Produced by Brian Wilson
Glen Campbell - God Only Knows mp3 at Cover Me Beach Boys cover
Glen Campbell - These Days mp3 at Cover Me Jackson Browne cover
Glen Campbell - Rhinstone Cowboy mp3 at Review Stalker 
Oddball:
Radiohead - Rhinestone Cowboy (streaming) at Panic Manual
Visit:
Glen Campbell official site
Glen Campbell at Wikipedia

JOE BUSSARD HATES ROCK 'N' ROLL

The guy above is Joe Bussard. He is a fiend. There are a number of things that, on paper, should annoy me about him. He thinks jazz ended in 1933. He hates, hates, hates rock 'n' roll. His attitude borders on pissy. But, you know what? It's the way he hates rock 'n' roll. He's all low key fuck-you-in-your-face about it.  This is but one exchange in a long interview at Dust and Grooves: 

Q: Is there a music genre that you avoid?

A: Rock-n- roll. Period. Any of it. Hate it. Worse thing that happened to music. Hurt all types of music. They took blues and ruined it. It’s the cancer of music….ate into everything. Killed Country music, that’s for sure.

Every one of us (assuming that you're here because you like music) has a bit of Joe Bussard in us. And I'm sure that there are others that are more fiendish than him. I don't know any, which is why the interview is such a good read.  There's also a streaming 43 minute mix of cuts he selected, and good photos of him in his record room. This guy is cool, and he didn't have to spend hours in the mirror trying to look like a rock star to be cool. He just is. He is a rock star, and he probably hates it.

Joe Bussard, 78 collector - Interview, photos and streaming mix at Dust and Grooves.

MATLOCK TIME

I used to live in a granny flat behind a married couple, the parents of some kids that had been a few years behind me in school. I was in my late twenties. The couple were into many cool things. Swimming, Dixieland jazz, scuba diving, and abalone chili rellonos. There was one thing I could never figure out. They used to watch either Matlock, or Murder She Wrote, or both; I forget which, but it was a regular thing. My Mom was into them too. Regardless, it was common thought back then that those shows were made for that age demographic. I wasn't expected to get it.

When I saw the video above, I wanted to be bowled over by it. Johnny Winter and Leslie West were two of my favorite guitarists back in the day. The thought of seeing them playing together hadn't even crossed my mind, that's how mind blowingly good the paring had the potential to be. Alas, it ain't that good. But, here's were Matlock comes in. I'm sure that the way I hear this song is way different than it would be to someone much younger than me. I gave Winter and West the benefit of the doubt, and listened for good parts, if only for their track records. I even had a moment were it took me back. Matlock. There are brief moments interspersed throughout where their guitar interplay works, fleeting as they may be. But that's how it was for me. Young rascals are not expected to get it.

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Listen: 
Jimi Hendrix - If Six Was Nine mp3 at Electric Adolescence 
Mountain - Mississippi Queen mp3 at Liberty Avenue Don't bother, it's all ads 
Johnny Winter - Hustled Down In Texas mp3 at Review Stalker 
Jimi Hendrix - Three more cuts at Indie Rock Cafe Two of the five songs had broken links 
Oddball: 
Jimi Hendrix - Studio jams (2 with John McLaughlin, 6 with Johnny Winter) LP download at Rock On Vinyl (with the details and song lists).

THE JAM WAS AWESOME

Boy, oh boy, this here was about as close to a supergroup as you could get in the early nineties, especially if your music of choice was guitar driven and NY-centric.  Thurston Moore and Steve Shelly from Sonic Youth, a post-Voidoids Richard Hell and Gumball's Don Fleming, all together as Dim Stars.  They released three EPs (which were later compiled as an LP), and that was it.  Never played live, just pfffft! But what a racket it was. Fueled quite a few pre-bar hopping meet ups here at HQ.

Here's one song, a cover of TRex's "Rip Off" which will give you some sort of idea what these guys sounded like, which is noisy and sloppy. The real draw here though is the five song self titled EP. The first four songs are pretty straight forward, which is to say hot shit jams.  But the bonus is the untitled cut (included in the download as "You Gotta Lose" parts 2, 3 and 4). It's dissonant free style fucking around, from people who know a thing or two about dissonant free style fucking around. To further sweeten the pot, it was ripped from a scratchy copy of the record, which is, of course, the perfect way to hear it. A point of interest for you full on NY nineties type people is that it might include Robert Quine, another ex-Voidoid, because he was on some of the Dim Star sessions as well (this particular session included "You Gotta Lose" which was originally a Richard Hell and the Voidoids song). For the total listening experience, I'd recommend cheap beer and smokes, and the din of about a dozen of your barfly friends.

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Listen: 

Dim Stars - Rip Off mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

EP is here:

Dim Stars - Dim Stars EP (zip) at Pukekos  Four songs and an extended three part guitar whack off, One click quick (on "Dim Stars" at the end of the text,)
Visit:
Dim Stars at Wikipedia

NECROPHELIA'S NOT DEAD

Posthumous releases can be kind of creepy, eh? It's one thing if the artist has a complete record already in the can, or maybe one that just needs some spit shining, but most of the time it seems like there's someone involved who's just cashing in. At any rate, they seldom contain material that the artist wanted released in the existing form, so what's the point of checking them out?

In the case of this one, a Johnny Thunders boot, Sticks and Stones, it gives a little insight as to what might have come had he not died before "The Lost Album", as it's subtitled, was released. The bootleg includes some post Dolls live stuff, recorded with David Johansen and Syl Sylvain, but it's the first eight cuts that caught my attention. They're studio demos for songs that he was working on when he died, and it's pretty clear that the rock 'n' roll party, if not ending, was at least being reaccessed.  A song called "Help the Homeless" that's actually about helping the homeless?  Another song called "Children Are People" starts with the line "There's no such thing as a bad kid.". And "Disappointed", recorded just a year before his death, begins with "I'm so lucky to be alive, I have so many friends who lost their lives." Yikes. The recording is pretty good, and the songs, though not fleshed out, sound like standard fare acoustic Thunders with a touch of Sticky Fingers/Exile era acoustic Stones, mixed with the first Mink DeVille LP (Willy DeVille was his next door neighbor when he died), with just a touch of early Tom Waits gravel. You know exactly what that sounds like.

It's a bit of a pain in the ass to download. The songs are in FLAC format, which have to be converted to mp3s to be played on some players, but if I can figure it out, you should be able to do it. (Converters are available online Here's one.) If you don't have the patience, there's a few Heartbreakers songs and a link to a site with all sorts of Thunders, Heartbreakers and New York Dolls live shows. 

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Listen:

The Heartbreakers - Born To Lose mp3 at Town Full of Losers
The Hearbreakers - Chinese Rocks mp3 at Event Magic
The Heartbreakers - All By Myself mp3 at The Vague 
LP Download:
Johnny Thunders - Sticks and Stones (via ADrive) at Teenage Dogs In Trouble NOTE: It's a rar file that contains FLAC files that will have to be converted to mp3s. Here's a converter that can be downloaded.
Live shows:
Proud to Be a Pirate Several Thunders, Heartbreakers, and NY Dolls live shows. NOTE: Download links in the comments of each post.

FOR SISTER LADY SPINSTA

I had me a Sugar Pie Desanto craving earlier, and it ultimately led to an hour or so ass deep in some righteously groovy stuff.  Just a couple clicks into a Sugar Pie crawl...bam! Two welcome diversions, one of Northern soul type stuff at Aquarium Drunkard, and the other featuring sisters telling it like it is, at Beware of the Blog. I won't go any further than that, because the descriptions at the posts really tell the whole story. I'd budget an hour or so. If you're short on time, there's a few ticklers below.

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Listen: 
Sugar Pie Desanto and Etta Jame - In The Basement (Part 1) mp3 at Dr. Mooneys
Sugar Pie Desanto and Etta Jame - In The Basement (Part 2) mp3 at Dr. Mooneys
Sugar Pie Desanto - I Want To Know mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Oddball:
Feelin' Bitchy Monologue Medly mp3 by Stenski  at Beware of the Blog
The posts with the most:
Clifton’s Corner - Volume One/Northern Soul & R&B at Aquarium Drunkard 10 cuts with Sugar Pie, Betty Harris, Johnny Nash and others. 
Feelin' Bitchy compilation at Beware of the blog 14 cuts with Sugar Pie, Irma Thomas, Denise LaSalle, Vera Hamilton and more. Phew!

OLDIE BUT GOODIE

I always thought that the Subway Sect were kind of bland, but that's kind of what I like about them. They weren't really punk rock, in terms of making an imposing racket. They were some sort of egghead punk rock. They wore sweaters, that kind of band. This song would have sounded great if the middle era Talking Heads covered it.

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Listen:
Subway Sect - Ambition mp3 at Art Decade

BUTTERFLY EFFECT

If you've ever wondered why the hell there's reggae all over this place, along side rock 'n' roll and other seemingly disparate types of music, there's a reason probably only obvious to old punk rockers. For a lot of us geezers, even here in the states, it can be traced back to DJ Don Letts. He worked at the Roxy, a London night club, back in the seventies, spinning records between punk bands.  There was very little punk rock on vinyl at the time, so he turned to the music he knew, and that was reggae. Like punk rock, a lot of it was rebel music, and that loose connection essentially all it took for early UK punk bands to embrace the music. Many became well versed in reggae, even if it wasn't necessarily absorbed into their music. But the influence was there, most notably with the Clash, who covered reggae songs like "Police and Thieves", wrote their own versions ("Guns of Brixton", "White Man in Hammersmith Palais") and recorded with Lee Perry producing.  But the Clash weren't alone. Generation X's "Wild Dub", the B side on their "Wild Youth" single, was a somewhat feeble attempt to bridge the dub gap (before it became commonplace). The Slits, who wholly embraced reggae, brought a whole new low tech/high imagination hybrid to the table. 

Some of the UK bands would mention this person or that, and that's when it the sound really spread in punk circles. For instance, when Johnny Rotten name dropped reggae toaster Dr Alimantado in an interview, UK record sales for Alimantado spiked. But it wasn't limited to the UK for long.  As UK punk zines slowly reached the U.S., a whole other crowd was turned on. Hell, my very first reggae 45, "New Star" by Tapper Zukie, was bought via a recommendation by some long forgotten punk taste maker (Poly Styrene?).  In the second issue of my short lived zine, contributors submitted Top Ten lists. Mine included Tapper Zukie and U Roy records, both of which were bought at the same independent record store that had the hot punk shit.  To put this into period context, it all happened before Bob Marley became a household name around hippie flop houses and college dorms. He was pretty much just another reggae artist. That said, his song, "Punky Reggae Party", celebrated the unlikely alliance, name dropping punky reggae party attendees, starting with his own band name, followed by the Damned, the Jam, the Clash, the Maytals and Dr. Feelgood. (Well intended as it was, Marley, in an slight case of randomized bullshitting, picked a few there that don't quite belong, eh?) The lines that follow the name dropping verse were music to punk ears, "No boring old farts, no boring old farts, no boring old farts, will be there!" Punky reggae party. OK.

  

It's really pretty remarkable when you think of how many people were tuned onto reggae via this very real butterfly effect. Letts himself cites the film The Harder They Come, punk rock, and Bob Marley, in that order, for the rise of reggae. And the whole punk rock part of the equation came about because Don Letts didn't have any punk records. 

Notes:: Letts later began film making, and was a member of Big Audio Dynamite. In  2005, he produced Punk: Attitude, what may be the definitive documentary of punk rock. Really, he gets it right. It's good, and it's authentic (highly recomended). About the music below, it's a smattering of related stuff, all worthwhile hot ass shit. Read the little blurbs for the reasons. I could have hunted for more, but I gotta sew this thing up.

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Listen: 
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Punky Reggae Party mp3 at You Sound Like a Robot 
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Stir It Up mp3 Original JA version 
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Soul Rebel mp3 at Review Stalker Produced by Lee Perry 
Jimmy Cliff - Guns of Brixton mp3 at Groove on Fire Clash cover 
U Roy - 006 mp3 at Groove on Fire Produced by Lee Perry 
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose 
Live set: 
The Clash - Live at the Palladium (1979) at Captain's Dead Complete set as a zip and individual songs as mp3s. Good quality soundboard recordings, for those who care. 
Video: 
Don Letts interview at Red Bull Academy "The cultural revolution of two spliffs and one beer, told by the man who unified punk and reggae" (Text version below) 
Visit: 
Don Letts - Interview at Red Bull Academy 
Don Letts at Wikipedia 
Don Letts - Radio show at the BBC

MORE YOU NEED THIS

For all six of you who liked the Lennie Hibbert Creation LP posted last week, here's the follow up, the imaginatively titled More Creation. There's a couple on this one that aren't quite as solid as the one posted last week, but you should get it now and sort any iffy ones out later, because the link may be dead if you sleep on it. Me? You could slap a Studio One label on dog shit and I'd still give it a shot, so I'm probably not the one to ask. Hey, I actually took the extra minute or two to track down some YouTube posts, so you'll know what you're getting yourself into. If I were you, I'd dig in.

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Listen:
Lennie Hibbert - Chinese Beauty (streaming) at YouTube
Lennie Hibbert - More Creation (streaming) at YouTube
Lennie Hibbert - Snow Bird (streaming) at YouTube
LP download:
Lennie Hibbert - More Creation LP at Ghost Capital Full LP zip with 12 individual mp3s. Download link right above song listing. NOTE: If the link at Ghost Capitol doesn't work, try here.
Lennie Hibbert - Creation The previous LP was posted last week.

A GRAND OCCASION

Though I'm not one to celebrate in public, I feel like I'm getting to know you guys well enough that I can sort of let my hair down. I apologize for not sending out "save the date" notices. Yesterday was a big day, a day my family thought would never happen. I took out the trash. I will now celebrate this event by the traditional bouncing off the walls of my apartment while listening to the Sonics.

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Listen:
The Sonics - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at Sugartown
The Sonics - Money mp3 at Sugartown
More:
Previous Sonics posts 

NEVER THOUGHT I'D HEAR THIS

I don't have to have everything. Still, I marvel at what slowly creeps out over the years. Take this sucker for instance. A couple of Modern Lovers sets from two different nights, by the classic line up (Jonathan Richman, Ernie Brooks, Jerry Harrison and David Robinson). It's bootleg quality, but if you like their first LP (you had better know that one), it's worth a listen. These are from 1970-71, and the Cale produced stuff on that first LP was done in 1972, just as a reference point. In any case, if you don't know the band at all, you may want to sample the single songs below. If you're still not interested, there's still another live set by the Velvet Underground at the another post. This is what I mean. So much stuff has crept out over the years, that a Velvet Underground live tape has started to become a ho-hum moment.

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Listen:
Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso mp3 at DJNoDJ
Modern Lovers - She Cracked mp3 at The Rising Storm  
Modern Lovers - I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Live Stuff:
The Modern Lovers - Live at Stonhenge Club at Aquarium Drinkard Two sets in one zip. 1970-71 Ipswich, MA.
The Velvet Underground - Live at the Boston Tea Party at Aquarium Drunkard 1969

A DREAMY MASTERPIECE

I'm not sure what it was that struck such a chord with my friends and I, but when George Lucas's American Graffiti was released in 1973, we couldn't get enough of it.  Even though the tag line on the poster, "Where were you in '62?", was undoubtedly aimed at those who actually grew up in the era the film depicted, it didn't stop us from seeing it multiple times and devouring the soundtrack album. Most of us had already been listening to oldies stations, but the soundtrack, a two LP set, was as good a primer in early rock 'n' roll and doo wop as was available at the time. There were the oldies stations favorites (Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and the Comets, etc) but there were also vocal numbers rarely heard by our teen ears. For most of us, it was our first real introduction to doo wop and fifties vocal groups.

The Spaniels, the Diamonds, the Crests, the Platters, the Regents, the Del Vikings,...jeez, there were a ton of them on the soundtrack.  Lucas spared no expense, licensing all of the songs in their entire form, rather than snippets, so he could curate what is one of the most comprehensive soundtracks-as-time-capsule albums ever released.  There were forty one songs, and all but two (by Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids) were by the original artists, dating from 1953 to 1962.  Due to the licensing fees, it wasn't a cheap album, but in terms of cost versus spins, it was a bargain.

I'd been meaning to do a thorough dissection of the album at some point, but when I ran into a cover of the Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes For You" by Beck, I figured it was high time to quit cutting bait for a minute. His version is actually pretty good, and faithful enough that it sent me looking for the Flamingos' original. I'm glad I did, because I was reminded what a beautiful song it is.

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Listen:
The Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes For You mp3 at Motel de Moka 
Beck - I Only Have Eyes For You mp3 at L.A.D.R.I. 
Visit: 
41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti at Wikipedia

BONE UP PUNK

Now, this is what I'm talkin' about. Diddy Wah, the UK DJ and host of the Diddy Wah blog, has put together a killer radio show featuring only Specialty Records releases, presented in chronological order. Every few songs he pipes in with a few factoids, which makes for a quick overview of the label and some of the artists that recorded for it. Quick, in that the hour duration just wets your appetite. This is a real good one you guys, and it's available streaming, or as a download. I raided old link drawer for some other Specialty singles as a teaser.

Listen:
Specialty Records Radio Show Special at Diddy Wah Streaming and download
Individual songs:
Don & Dewey - Justine mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Larry Williams - Slow Down mp3 at Mercury Paradise
Little Richard - Long Tall Sally mp3 at One Sweet Song

SLIGHT RETURN (LITERALLY)

How do you know when things are inching toward normal?  When you've suffered some damage from a storm called Sandy, and you're a hot ass blog in New York City, it's marked by a return to Tassle Twirler Tuesdays. So it's time to catch up on a backlog of these fine oddball instrumentals posted at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban. If you dig these sort of anthropological knuckle dragging nuggets, a whole lot of them have been posted before (all of the links can be found here). Easy on the greasy kid's stuff, it may be a long night.

If you frequent Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban, you probably know that WFMU, the host of their most awesome blog, took a serious hit from Sandy. If you're so inclined, you can donate to help them pay for the damage incurred here, and as long as you have your plastic out, it might be a good idea to help out Norton Records as well. If you're unfamiliar with Norton, take a stroll through their site and keep in mind that a lot of the music they've reissued would be lost forever if not for their efforts. Sandy flooded their warehouse, so they could use some of your pocket change. Tightwads repent! 

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Listen: 
Dave and the Detomics - Detomic Orbit mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Premiers - Orbit Bound mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Torques -  Stcky (Part 1) mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Johnny Little John and Guitar - Johnny's Jive mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Maximillian at the Piano - Baby You're the Utmost mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Couplings -Dill Tickle mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Visit (and donate!):
Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Norton Records

YOU NEED THIS

Lennie Hibbert was a vibraphonist and frequent member of the Studio One house band, Sound Dimension. He did a few solo LP's on Studio One, Creation being the second, released in 1969. It's one of the best instrumental albums I've heard in the past thousand years, albeit with a preference for reggae, funk and.other ass shaking matters. It's not just straight reggae. There's some really funky stuff going on, close to jazz in some places, but this thing is piece of work. It's a groove goldmine. No kidding. I don't know how to say it otherwise. Don't sleep on this one.

  

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Lennie Hibbert - Creation at Ghost Capital Full LP zip with 12 individual mp3s. Download link right above song listing. Quick two minute download.

NOTE: A couple people noted that the download link at Ghost Capitol didn't work for them, if so try clicking here. But do check out the post at Ghost Capitol for the song list.

SALUTE TO A COMPLETE DICK

I had to post the above photo. If you're someone familiar with the history of the Beach Boys, you probably know why it's so snicker inducing. If not, a good primer would be Why I hate Mike Love, a post on the blog, Man vs Clown.  The flipper in the photo is Dennis Wilson, and the face in need of a slap in the lower right corner is Mike Love. Almost as funny as the photo is a comment from Gene Taylor, left on Facebook, where I found the photo.  As many of you may know, Taylor was the piano player for the Blasters. A few years before that, he toured with Canned Heat. Here's what he had to say: "When I was with Canned Heat in the mid-1970s, we toured with the Beach Boys (minus Brian). Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston were friendly, Carl was friendly but quiet, Dennis was always on us to share our stash and Mike Love was a complete dick." So, here's a couple Beach Boys songs with Dennis on lead vocals, and an outtake from his solo LP Pacific Ocean Blue.  Tee-hee.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Beach Boys - Forever mp3 (via Box.net) at Plain or Pan

The Beach Boys - Never Learn Not to Love mp3 (via Box.net) at Plain or Pan

Dennis Wilson - All of My Love mp3 (via Box.net) at Plain or Pan
Hogpig - Fuck You Mike Love (streaming) at YouTube 
Visit:
Why I hate Mike Love at Man vs Clown

PRE-PINK FLAG

A version of the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner" that's over five minutes long by Wire? Well, blow me down. If you're into Wire, you're wasting time reading this filler text.  You might just be curious, and if that's the case, it's a quick download, so have at it. Demo quality, yes, but what do you want?  I didn't even know this sucker existed until a half an hour ago. There's another link below to the Pink Flag album with sixteen bonus tracks. Ditto my ignorance of that one.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Wire - 1976 Demos at Ghost Capitol  14 mp3s in one download file. One song preview streaming.
Wire - Pink Flag at (La) Luna 1995 Japanese reissue with 16 bonus tracks

WHO? WHAT STATION?

For you hard core hillbilly and country freaks, Lefty Frizzell needs no introduction. But, the rest of you country dabblers and retro nuts may not have ventured much past Hank Senior. Suck it up, due diligence is in order.  Listen to a few of these and try not to be moved.

I ran into a post about Frizzell on Deke Dickerson's blog, and although his post is just a cut and paste of liner notes, you should check his place out. He does write other posts and, as one of my fiend heroes, he can write about the San Fernando Valley, or a lost triple necked guitar and still get my attention. While you're at it, dig Dickerson's Muleskinner Blues for an elementary education in effing.

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Listen:
Lefty Frizzell - Confused mp3 at Rocky-52 
Lefty Frizzell - Always Late With Your Kisses mp3 at Pretty Goes With Pretty
Lefty Frizzell - Long Black Veil mp3 at Rocky-52
Lefty Frizzell - She's Gone Gone Gone mp3 at Rocky-52
Deke Dickerson - Muleskinner Blues mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Visit:
Lefty Frizzell at Musings of a Muleskinner

I, JAZZ PLEBIAN

I don't know much about jazz, but this mix of Miles Davis, from 1956-1965, sure got me on a good night. It kept me busy for the duration. No surprise there. For some reason, what little jazz I have usually gets played while I'm picking things up around this God forsaken place. But it works for that, so if that's the way jazz creeps into my life, so be it.

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Listen:
Miles Davis - October 2012 SFJAZZ Hotplate Mix at Village Dance Radio Nine songs, with short introduction at the beginning. Streaming or download

BUDGET A HUNK OF TIME

Derek's Daily 45 is one you should check out. This Derek guy posts a 45, "almost" daily, and they're usually good, always interesting. Like one of those good old fashioned "what the hell" thrift store crap shoots.  There's links below to a couple that created movement here.  "Mental High" gets to me in a weird way, and I know better than to try and figure out why. These are just two of many, so go over there and graze.  

Another nice thing is that he has them streaming so you can just listen to them there.  If you want something to take home, they're all available as downloads, via DivShare, which is a bit of a hassle, but it's pretty quick once you get used to it.  (Ready? To get the DivShare link, click on the "Share" button on the streaming player. It'll reveal another couple options, one of which is "Download", click on that and you'll go to DivShare, click on the green "Download" button there, and wait for fifteen seconds until the "Download" button reappears.)

Because all of the songs are posted on streaming players, you can play a whole mess of songs at once. This is a bonus. Just scroll down and click play on each player.  It sounds like one crazy, chaotic mess, like it's about to explode. It is awesome.

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Listen:
Tony Clarke - Hurricane mp3 (via DivShare) at Derek's Daily 45 
Herman George - Mental High mp3 (via DivShare) at Derek's Daily 45

NO, YOU'RE THE MAN.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen: 
James Brown - Funky President mp3 at Beware of the Blog

SIX BY THREE

Maybe the Sugarman 3 can help you concentrate while you vote. Actually, they just happened to be handy, and funky, and I'm lazy. But they hit the spot for me tonight. Give one a shot.

 

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Sugarman 3 - Rudy's Intervention mp3 at Magnet
Sugarman 3 - Funky So-and-So mp3 at DK Presents
Sugarman 3 - Pure Cane mp3 at Ear It Now
Sugarman 3 - Down To It mp3 at Ear It Now
Sugarman 3 - Soul Donkey mp3 at If There Is Hell Below
Sugarman 3 with Lee Fields - Stand Up mp3 at One Track Mind
Visit:
Daptone Records
Sugarman 3 at Wikipedia

PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE

While vacationing, he traveled with the family dog strapped to the roof of his car. In college, along with his chums, he chased after a student, tackled him, and cut his hair off. Because the kid had the audacity to be different. Those two incidents show a lack of character and judgement. And that's just the beginning. How is it possible that anyone would trust him to look after their pet, or their kids, let alone their country?

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~ 

Listen:

Steinski - Mitt vs The Truth mp3 at Beware of the Blog

VISIT THE SOUL CLUB

Over thirty mixes are neatly tucked away at Funky 16 Corners. I did not know that. Even as often as I visit over there, I never happened to click on the Funky 16 Corners Soul Club link. He (Larry Grogan) has posted them as regular posts before, but here they're all on one page. The sheer amount, not to mention the breadth of styles, is almost good shit overload. I'm not kidding. Soul, funk, jazz, blues, reggae and everything in between. Some are guests mixes, but if the guests are DJ friends of Larry Grogan, I'm all in.

The image above is for an all reggae guest mix by DJ Prestige. Top notch shit, I'll tell ya. (Scroll to the bottom of the Soul Club page for the link.). I just picked that one because it happens to be the one I'm listening to. I've listened to a few others. All have been solid, informed, and they've all flowed well. These are good DJ sets, fine jams for the entire family. You'd do yourself well to check them out. 

The Funky 16 Corners Soul Club - 30 plus mixes (description above), mp3 format, fast downloads (roughly a minute).

A recent post of a damn fine song:

Betty Harris - Mojo Hannah mp3 at Funky 16 Corners Go there to get it. If you don't dig it, I don't know you.

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO

Holy shit. They grow up so fast. Someone shared this photo and I had to post it for all of you old farts. Before punk, alternative, grunge, and bullshit, there was rock 'n' roll. It's true. I read it on Wikipedia.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~ 

Listen:

The Heartbreakers - Born To Lose mp3 at Town Full of Losers
The Hearbreakers - Chinese Rocks mp3 at Event Magic
The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog mp3 at Olcros
The Stooges - 1970 (Take 4) mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Stooges - See That Cat (TV Eye alt. take) mp3 at Boogie Woogie 

MAINTAINING COOL

As if there wasn't enough that sucked about Sandy, the warehouse of Norton Records flooded. And I don't mean that with any sort of smart ass tone. It was bad. Yes, other people lost everything, people died.  There are things that suck, and things that really suck. And there was a lot about this storm that really, really sucked. A flooded record warehouse may seem trivial. Where it lands on the suck-o-meter depends on who you are. You could sit in your easy chair, detached, and think that none of this will affect you. Try thinking that when the time comes to get a vinyl copy of the first Sonics LP to play on your cushy little dry turntable.

It's high time to donate; to someone, something, or some organization that can help someone feeling the sting. The Red Cross might be a place to start. The Norton folks could use volunteers to clean up their mess (see links below). And Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban's server took a dump, so them too. This is a triage situation for everybody. Let's all just help somebody. Roll up your sleeves and get out your wallets. We're all in this together.

American Red Cross
Norton Records Emergency Update at Nortonville Contact info for Norton volunteers
Norton Records Warehouse Takes Massive Hit from Sandy at Village Voice
Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban - Server donations

STEALTH LATIN WEIRDNESS

It doesn't matter how much you like music. None of us will hear every excellent record ever recorded. They'll be there, for all time, just waiting for you to discover them, one by one. Excellence is boring. Sometimes you need that extra thing that excellence lacks. Not sure what it is, but it's a common thread running through much of the really interesting stuff, be it music, art, film, or just standing around not being excellent.

That's what drew me to these two songs. The first one, by Anibal Valesquez, sounds like some sort of a Latin Legendary Stardust Cowboy. He's just yelping and making weird noises and stuff. It's a good thing I can't understand the lyrics, what few there are, because if they were meaningful, it would just ruin the whole thing.  The other song is a cover of Led Zep's "Moby Dick", by Los Commandos. It's either got that certain something, or it's lacking a certain something else. One thing is certain, you'll be reminded how hard it is to pull off a long boring drum part. So now you really have to hear it.

Both of these are at Super Sonido, a perfect hang out if you like interesting unfamiliar Latin stuff that you may never come across elsewhere. I get lost over there.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Anibal Valesquez - Descarga Loca mp3 at Super Sonido plus seven others 
Los Commandos - Moby Dick mp3 at Super Sonido plus two other songs