GRAB BAG CRAP SHOOT

It's the weakest of threads here folks. Four semi-obscure bands, four songs that you probably haven't heard, and all four exceedingly tight. These would fall loosely under the category "future use for mid-mix surprises". Here's the quick rundown (but you should visit the hosting blogs for the full skinny). The first one by Australia's Ray Hoff and the Offbeats is a damn fine mid-sixties rhythm and blues instrumental, with some Jimmy Smith type organ and early Stones type harp. The second one by Mashmakhan, a Canadian band, is psych-vocal light, but it still swings. The third, from one of the Walker Brothers, Gary to be exact, was originally only released in Japan where they apparently had an unquenchable thirst for anything Walker sibling related. It has much fuzz. 

That brings us to our last oddity. I don't know how many of you were initially drawn to Lou Reed back in the early seventies via the back-to-back live albums, Rock 'n' Roll Animal and Lou Reed Live. If you were, you were probably too late for the first go-around of the Velvet Underground, and didn't think there was anything strange going on.  I didn't really know Reed's early work until I started back tracking, and that's the only thing good about those particular LPs. They got people to the Velvet Underground via backtracking Reed's work to hear the originals of the Velvet's songs that were so thoroughly desecrated on the solo live versions. These LPs featured two guitarists, Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, that could not have been further from the Velvet Underground sound and feel. These guys played long drawn out solos, and you knew they just thought they were the show. In hindsight, they sound like shit, particularly if you were expecting, you know, the crust. But I wasn't, back then I was into long over indulgent solos. I know better now, and I'd avoided both Wagner and Hunter for years because of it. But guess what? I ran into an early Wagner 45 that's really good. Go figure.

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

Listen:
Ray Hoff & The OffBeats - My Good Friend Mary Jane mp3 at Nitro-Retro! 
Mashmakhan - Afraid of Losing You mp3 at Nitro-Retro! 
Gary Walker and the Rain - Francis mp3 at The Rising Storm 
Dick Wagner and the Frosts - Sunshine mp3 (via DivShare) at Estudio del Sonido Esnob