Wednesday, July 31, 2013

HIS NAME IS ERSEL HICKEY

How many people over the years flipped through the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll (originally published in the late seventies), saw the photo above and wondered "Who the hell is this?"? It's the photo that opens the book, and it's a classic shot, no doubt. Surely rockabilly fiends would know the name. Alas, there were very few rockabilly fiends when the book first came out, let alone compilations of obscure rockabilly artists, or Wikipedia, or the internet. You'd be patting yourself on the back because you knew who Gene Vincent was, then you'd see this, and just go, "aw, fuck". A caption was added in later editions. It read "Ersel Hickey, the personification of early rock & roll style".



What about Hickey? If you're like a lot of people, who read the whole book but failed to go back later and connect the dots not connected by the editors (Hickey isn't even listed in the lengthy index), here's the short version: His dad died when he was four, and after his mom suffered a nervous breakdown, she was put in a mental institution. He was shuffled around in foster homes until he was fifteen, when he went on the carnival circuit with his sister Chickey Evans, an exotic dancer. After his sister bailed, he continued with the carnival for a while, then ended up in a home for troubled kids. Fast forward to 1954, he hears Elvis, and becomes a rocker. Just three years later, he meets Phil Everly who tells him he should write his own songs. He goes home, and that night wrote "Bluebirds Over the Mountain", which charted at 75. (It was covered a year later by Richie Valens, and in 1969 by the Beach Boys.) That same year, he posed for that iconic photo. You should really check the lengthy bio at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll is still in print, in an edition that looks to have been last updated at the end of the nineties. Regardless, there's a bunch of good timeless reading in that book. Go to this page, you can preview it. Check out the table of contents, it's on page seven, three pages past the photo of Hickey. The list of contributors is a who's who of rock eggheads: Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, Greg Shaw, Jim Miller, Peter Gurlanick, Robert Christgau, David Fricke; you get the idea. If your knowledge of earlier rock 'n' roll is limited, this book is a good place to start.

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Listen:
Ersel Hickey - Bluebirds Over the Mountain mp3 at Rocky 52 1958
Ersel Hickey - You Never Can Tell mp3 at Rocky 52 Nice pickin' on this one
Ersel Hickey - You're No Good mp3 at Rocky 52 His first 45, 1955
Ersel Hickey - Hangin' Around mp3 at Rocky 52 1958 "Bluebird" flip
Ersel Hickey - Two more at Rocky 52
Richie Valens - Bluebirds Over the Mountain (streaming) at YouTube
Beach Boys - Bluebirds Over the Mountain (streaming) at YouTube
Visit:

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

RAISE A GLASS (OR A FIST)

Mick Farren died Saturday, on stage. He was pushing seventy, and if you're a peagreen you likely don't recognize his name. You're probably wondering why a sixty nine year old geezer you never heard of, who's music was by no means the best music of his many eras, would merit a blip. Farren was also a writer, among the truest of true believers, a guy who early on pointed to the disparity between the foo foo rock star elite, and the fans the paid for their lavish lifestyles. He walked the walk. You owe it to yourself to read up on him.
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Listen
Mick Farren and the Deviants - Let’s Loot the Supermarket Again (Like We Did Last Summer) mp3 at Town Full of Losers
Mick Farren and the Deviants - Three Headed Lobster Boy (streaming) at YouTube 
Visit:
Mick Farren - Obituary at The Guardian
Goodbye, Mick Farren, activist, rabble-rousing rocker and NME journalist by friend Charles Shaar Murray at The Guardian
Give The Anarchist A Cigarette: Counterculture legend Mick Farren dies with his boots on by friend Richard Meltzer at Dangerous Minds 
Doc 40 - Mick Farren's Blog
Funtopia - Mick Farren fan site
Mick Farren at Wikipedia

Monday, July 29, 2013

REQUISITE SHITTY SLEEVE, CHECK.

I'd never heard of the Shine Brothers until tonight. Proceeding cautiously. So far I've heard only a few songs. "White Tears" was just interesting enough to take a chance on a second, "So Many People". Both are fine song, but, jeez, listen to them. What would you give to give be able to mess with the mix? Not permanently alter it or anything, just mess with it. I know there's software, but ain't nobody got time for that. Listened to another one, "Climb the Ladder", on their Bandcamp page. That one has a little Beach Boy's "Do It Again" thing going on, with some organ and fuzz woefully buried. Again, me want mixing board. Check out the video linked below, a live version of "White Tears". I like the whole feel of it.  The camera work. It reminds me of that time I got drunk and watched a band.



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Listen:
The Shine Brothers - So Many People mp3 at Still In Rock
The Shine Brothers - White Tears mp3 at Still In Rock
The Shine Brothers - Climb the Ladder (streaming) at Bandcamp
Video:
Same video as above, in better quality at Vimeo

Sunday, July 28, 2013

I HAVE ANOTHER SONG

Here's an oddball that isn't all that removed from Dave Allan, posted yesterday, surprising considering the source. It's the B-side of an early 45 by Michael Blessing, aka Mike Nesmith, pre-Monkees.  The A-side is an anti-war song, "The New Recruit". The record was released in 1965, the U.S. was in the thick of the Vietnam war. The flip though, "A Journey With Michael Blessing" is, I can't say it any other way, just fucking awesome. Okay, imagine Dave Allan and Link Wray, together, playing Ennio Morricone. That should be enough.

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Listen:
Michael Blessing - A Journey With Michael Blessing mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People Scroll down to "Session 180"
Micheal Blessing - The New Recruit (streaming) at Bedazzled
Michael Blessing - A Journey With Michael Blessing (streaming) at Bedazzled

Saturday, July 27, 2013

THE STOMPERS RIDE TONIGHT

Last night I was flipping around the TV and saw the opening credits of a movie. "American International Pictures" flashed on the screen, and that's all it took for me to hang around to see what movie it was. A.I.P. was known for low budget, straight to drive-in type movies, many directed by Roger Corman. They did put out a bunch of beach party and horror type movies, but a lot of their best were biker flicks and other assorted tales of rebellious drugged out dirtbags. Among the biker flicks were The Wild Angels, Devil's Angels, The Glory Stompers, and The Born Losers. Non-biker flicks included The Trip, Riot on Sunset Strip, and Wild in the Streets. Can you see why I stuck around? The movie last night was one I hadn't seen, Chrome and Hot Leather, a biker flick that had among it's cast, Marvin Gaye. (I know. What?) It wasn't the best movie, but it had sufficient genre corn. I've sat through worse. Here's one that was better, The Glory Stompers, from 1968, with Dennis Hopper.


The Glory Stompers (1968), with Dennis Hopper (the entire film), 

So, I was in the mood for some biker film soundtrack music. You know what that means. Time to dig out the old biker film soundtrack links. These have been posted before, but you may have missed them. They aren't going to go down as great art, but what the hell. Slap an iron cross on your shirt and stomp around your living room with a don't fuck with me attitude. They're perfect for that.

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Listen:
First, an obligatory Davie Allan selection:
Davie Allan & the Arrows - Cycledelic mp3 at Office Naps
And now, the main event:
Biker Soundtracks at The Big Bust Out - 13 full length LP downloads of biker movie soundtracks, in zip format. For the complete song listings, go to the Big Bust Out. I've just put those links down there for the lazy, hopped up, dropped out, filthy, sex crazed, aimless, leather clad hell heads that just don't give a damn about song titles.
Original Motion Picture Soundtracks:
Angels From Hell (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Born Losers (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Devil's Angels (zip) at The Big Bust Out
The Glory Stompers (zip) at The Big Bust Out
The Hellcats (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Hell's Angels on Wheels (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Hell's Belles (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Naked Angels (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Outlaw Riders (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Psychomania (zip) at The Big Bust Out
Satan's Sadists (zip) at The Big Bust Out
The Savage Seven (zip) at The Big Bust Out
The Wild Angels (zip) at The Big Bust Out

NO "I" IN DRELLS

Damnit, "We're"!! "We're Archie Bell and the Drells"!! (That's been bottled up a long time.) You know that one, right? "Tighten Up"? You should. It was their biggest hit, the one with a big ol' grammatical error smack dab in the intro. There's a link to it and a half dozen covers of it, down below. (Go ahead, we'll wait.) The other one you might know is Bell and the Drells' original version of "(There's Gonna Be a) Showdown", the song the Dolls covered. It's an early Gamble and Huff song, back when their version of Philly soul was just getting wings. If you who know the first two Dolls albums like the back of your hand, you'll have a hard time not hearing their version in the back of your head when you listen to the original. Even if you don't care for them or haven't heard it, listen to their cover. You gotta cop to it. They did make it their own.



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Listen:
Eight covers of Tighten Up at DJNoDJ
Archie Bell and the Drells - There's Gonna Be a Showdown mp3 at Sale el Soul
New York Dolls - There's Gonna Be a Showdown mp3 at A.Tumblr (?)
Archie Bell and the Drells - Here I Go Again mp3 at Radio George

Thursday, July 25, 2013

THE KIDS WILL LOVE THIS

Quick, what was the B-side of Captain Beefheart's "Diddy Wah Diddy"? Yeah, no clue, right? On the Flip-Side posted it, "Who Do You Think You're Fooling".. No clue if it's been compilationized, but who the hell cares? It's the B-side of his first 45, and if the discography at Wikipedia is to be believed, it was a promo only single. Regardless, you've probably never heard it, the B-side that is, unless you're a fiend. The video below is a good one too. Imagine being one of the beautiful people in Cannes in 1968. The paparazzi part and, lo and behold, right in front of the pristine blue sea there's a band of L.A. dirt bags just screwing up the scenery.



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Listen: 
Note: Once you get to DivShare, click on the green Download" button, and scratch your head for fifteen seconds. When the button reappears, you're good to go.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

GFOS TO SOA

Boy, oh boy, is this overdue. Everything that the Daptone mob comes within ten feet of usually finds its way here, one way or another. But Charles Bradley, the plucked from obscurity ex-GFOS impersonator, has been way overlooked. (Thanks to Lady Spinsta for pointing me towards to that trailer below.) These aren't really grunt and shout workouts, this is super smooth summer soul, Summer, maybe not intentionally, but it sure goes down smooth, like water on a hot day.



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Listen:
Charles Bradley - Strictly Reserved  For You mp3 at Melting Pot
Charles Bradley - You Put the Flame on It mp3 at I Am Fuel You Are Friends
Charles Bradley - Heartaches and Pain mp3 at Glorious Noise
Charles Bradley - Why Is It So Hard mp3 at I Pick My Nose
Visit:
Charles Bradley Official site
Charles Bradley at Daptone Records
Charles Bradley at Wikipedia

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

THIS IS CARLOS MALCOLM

Here's one you don't run into every day, an early ska LP with no Skatalites. From a guy you probably don't know, but should. Carlos Malcolm was trombonist born in Panama, who got his start playing jazz with Don Drummond (okay, now there's a Skatalite). In 1962 he became the bandleader for the ten piece house band of the Jamaican Broadcasting System, and a year or so later started his own combo, his Afro-Jamaican Rhythms. That would be enough for one guy. He also managed to squeeze in studio work, notably some of the background music for Dr. No, the first Bond film. He had a degree in music and didn't limit himself to strictly Jamaican sounds. In the late sixties he was living in New York, where he branched out into funk and hybrids of Jamaican music and Latin jazz, releasing future collector meat Bustin' Outta the Ghetto, around 1970. Dig this: He dishes out musical, professional and life advice on his Facebook page, updated as recently as last week. Yes, Good stuff.



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Listen:
Carlos Malcolm and His Afro-Jamaican Rhythms - Bonanza Ska mp3 at 8106 1964
Carlos Malcolm and His Afro-Jamaican Rhythms - Ska-mania mp3 at Basement Rug 1962
The NY stuff: 
Carlos Malcolm - Bustin Outta the Ghetto (streaming) at YouTube 1970
Carlos Malcolm - Rockin in My Rocket (streaming) at YouTube 1970
The LP:
Carlos Malcolm - Ska-Mania - The Sound of the Soil LP at Basement Rug - Go there to get it, available in two different quality downloads.
Video:
Carlos Malcolm - A Jamaican Treasure at YouTube
Visit:
Carlos Malcolm
at Wikipedia
Carlos Malcolm at Facebook

Monday, July 22, 2013

NAPOLEON'S STILL AROUND?

If you've been lurking around here a while, you may have noticed. I've got a thing for early Tom Waits stuff. It might be because he was one of few non-oldies artists to survive the punk rock purge of my record collection. You may have had one of those, when punk rock powered your personal bullshit detector, and a lot of the bands that you liked became somewhat irrelevant, not necessarily because of their music, but because of their showbiz flash and all that rock star nonsense. Waits still seemed like a regular guy to me. A few years later, I happened to meet him. He was still living at the Tropicana Hotel at the time and though the conversation was short, he did seem like a regular guy, albeit a regular guy about thirty years older than his age. Anyway, the early stuff has always been my preference. Yeah, yeah, the later stuff is good and all that, but there's something about the early stuff that's so simple that it makes the bells and whistles of some of the later stuff seem unnecessary. And now I'll use the word stuff just one more time for good measure.

Aquarium Drunkard just posted a live set from 1976, from a live radio broadcast of a show in Chicago. When I went looking for a few single songs to pad things out, I found another live set from 1974, recorded at the Troubadour, in L.A. We'll wait while you empty your ashtray.

The photo above was taken outside Folk Arts, in San Diego, where he was a local, Snapped in 1974 by Virginia Curtis, wife of Lou Curtis, together the proprietors of the record store. Folk Arts Rare Records is still open. And they have one hell of a musical archive. Folk, blues and gospel.

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Listen:
Tom Waits - New Coat of Paint mp3 at Missy Oshimura (?)
Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues mp3 at Pathfinder Pat
Tom Waits - I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You mp3 at Sensuous Summons
Live sets:
Tom Waits - Live at the Troubadour, 1974 mp3 at Crooks and Liars 64 minute set, fast download
Tom Waits - Live at the Ivanhoe Theater, Chicago, 1976 (zip) at Aquarium Drunkard Go there to get it.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

BUT WHY SURF IN PACKS?

Here's some Brazil (Brasil to natives) related stuff. Some of you crazy leather wearing nuts might think it too laid back. Loosen the hell up. The rest of you, here's the skinny. Network Awesome's collection of Tropicalia related videos is what instigated all this. It does kind of skip around a bit, so if you want the story of the Brazilian Tropicalist movement, check out Brazil - The Tropicalist Revolution at YouTube. There's also a link to a post with a bunch of Gal Costa's stuff down there. She was a singer in the movement. Good stuff. Then there's another link too the top eleven bossa nova songs, put together by someone who knows a lot more than me on the subject. I'll take his word for it. There's another link to a compilation of bossa nova in spanish. Not that it matters here. Spanish, Portuguese, I don't care. This is a good mix, all light and airy n' shit. I can't figure out how to download all of the songs, so pipe in if you can, or you can just stream it. There's another ten song assortment of Brazilian stuff, all different types, at Aquarium Drunkard.


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Listen:
Os Mutantes - Depois mp3 at Pttchfork Media
Os Mutantes - Dom Quixotet mp3 at Archive.org
Gal Costa - Vou Recomecar mp3 at Super Sonido
Gal Costa - Relance mp3
at Super Sonido
Gal Costa - Acauã mp3
at Super Sonido Wait for the freakout.
Gal Costa - Pontos de Luz mp3
at Super Sonido
Gal Costa & Gilberto Gil - Sebastiania mp3
at Super Sonido Freakout endings seem to be a trend.
Gal Costa -10 more cuts, 15 in all and great copy
at Super Sonido
Jorge Ben - Mais Que Nada mp3 ('65) at Guizzz Orleans
Jorge Ben - Lalari-Olala ('65) mp3 at Guizzz Orleans

Mixes:
Clifton’s Corner: Volume 20 – Brazilian Favorites at Aquarium Drnnkard 10 songs
Top Eleven Bossa Nova Songs of Past and Present at Caipirinha Lounge 
España Hits No 1: Spanish Bossa at Estudio el Sonido Esnob
Video:
Brazil - The Tropicalist Revolution Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
at YouTube
Tropicalia Collection at Network Awesome
The Garden of Sound at YouTube Narrated by leaping gnome Devendra 
Visit: 
Troplicália at Wikipedia
The Best Troplicália Albums
at Sounds and Colors

Saturday, July 20, 2013

DUDE HAS MY EAR

I'm normally pretty suspect of any "new" reggae, and by that I mean post-eighties, and the eighties just squeak in. I'll spare you the details, but I thought I'd be forthcoming with my bias. So, with trepidation I clicked on a cut at You And Me On A Jamboree. It was only because their taste in reggae, particularly the early stuff, is pretty dead on. (You should check it out.)

Anyway, I see a thing by Roger Rivas, keyboard player with the Aggrolites, Organ Versions, Volume 2. After one track, I stopped to find out more. From what I could gather the songs are Rivas playing over are vintage reggae backing tracks, On a Hammond. Like Jackie Mittoo. And it works. There's two volumes of Organ Versions, both of which are available at his site (a couple samples below). They're available as single songs or full downloads of each of the two volumes.



The one related thing I ran into that I really really dig is a reggae remix of a Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' song, "Keep On Looking", mixed by Rivas. I'm not sure who did what. Jones sings "reggae" in the lyrics, so it could have been a reggae cut to begin with, that Rivas just added organ to. But it's reggae + Hammond + Sharon Jones. I don't care who did what. It's a summer jam and a half.

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Listen: 
Roger Rivas - Cold Serenade (Organ Version) mp3 at Roger Rivas
Roger Rivas - Organ Shakedown (Organ Version) mp3 at Roger Rivas
Roger Rivas - Make Your Move (Organ Version) mp3 at Roger Rivas
Roger Rivas Organ Versions (complete) at Roger Rivas
Video:
Interview with Roger Rivas at Vimeo
Visit:
Roger Rivas bio at Roger Rivas
You And Me On A Jamboree

Friday, July 19, 2013

PERUVIAN FAKE

Okay, "Moby Dick" by a band called Los Comandos. I'm not all that nuts about Led Zeppelin, but what the hell, I'll bite. Holy shit, what is this? I'll tell you what it is. Vintage Peruvian stoner rock, that's what it is. This is one slab of fuzzed out low rent dirge, featuring the most anemic drum solo you'll ever hear.

If you don't understand the appeal, and prefer "perfect" songs, let me say this: Sooner or later, you will tire of perfect music. You will. Weird has a way of creeping in, and you will welcome it, Don't be a tight ass. Play more scratched records.

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Listen

Thursday, July 18, 2013

SONGWRITING AT 2 AM

I mentioned a while back how my uncle unknowingly turned my brothers and I onto the Ventures and surf music. He also had Santo and Johnny in his stash, which wasn't much of a leap considering his obsession with instrumental guitar bands. (To wit, he shared Duane Eddy's last name, and my Mom later told me that he would tell his classmates that he was related to him). Somehow, my brothers and I ended up with his copy of Santo and Johnny's 1961 LP Hawaii which we played incessantly (our favorite back then was "Hawaiian War Chant"). It was the first record in our collective heap that had steel guitar on it. (Try describing the coolness of that sound to your friends when their primary exposure to music is Boss Radio.)

David Lynch wishes...

Fast forward to drinking age, let me rephrase that, heavy drinking age. When you've grown past keg party age and graduated to barstool, or rather barfly. When I used to go to the bar, every night, the bar in question was Pacific Shores. An awesome bar it was, pre-mob scene, and the last few years I was a regular there, the jukebox was the best in any bar I've ever been in, particularly because it was more informed than the clientele. So you had the day crowd, largely geezers, listening to Love's "Little Red Book", and the night crowd which was younger (but still contained relatively few music geeks), listening to "Sleepwalk". Imagine that, in a bar that opened on Pearl Harbor day, and had been updated little since. That's heaven right there.

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Listen:
Their first LP:
Santo and Johnny - Santo and Johnny at Basement Rug In a zip. (Click on "This self-titled 1959 LP")
Visit:
Santo and Johnny at Basement Rug Excellent bio and all the goods

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

HELL YEAH OF THE WEEK

This song flat out jams: Jimmy Smith's cover of Lalo Schifrin's "Theme from Mission: Impossible". Listen to the first half minute, there's a whole lot going on. It's already pretty wild, then Smith comes in about 40 seconds, and it just takes off. Hammond, horns, bongos, this song packs it all in. This three and a half minutes will change your something or other.

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Listen: 

LOW CAL SPECIAL

In 1969, Rainbo, a singer from New York, took exception to the cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Unfinished Music #2: Two Virgins, picturing the couple butt ass naked. So she produced what is thought to be the first white whine ever committed to vinyl. She didn't get it, so she quit singing, took up acting and went back to calling herself Sissy Spacek.

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Listen:
Visit:
You Went Too Far at The World's Worst Records A couple paragraphs down, the story behind this record.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

DO ME

I dig Ken Boothe and it's been a while, so here's a handful from him. But this time we turn the tables on Mr. Never Met A Song I Couldn't Cover.  But first, a couple covers by Booth; of Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime", and Bill Withers's "Ain't No Sunshine", both solid. Then, his "Old Fashioned Way", followed by U Roy's version, "Dynamic Fashion Way". And finally, Boothe's "Artibella", followed by a cover by Robert Walters's 20th Congress, which is so damn fine that it was the reason for this Boothe-fest. And that is how you make a paragraph out of a song list.

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Listen:
Ken Boothe - In the Summertime mp3 at Cubik Musik
Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime mp3 at LZ Center
Ken Boothe - Ain't No Sunshine mp3 at Hearsay
Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine mp3 at AMPS
Ken Boothe - Old Fashion Way mp3 at Daniel Johnson Writes
U Roy - Dynamic Fashion Way mp3 at Miafiori (?)
Ken Boothe - Artiebella mp3 at Le Mellotron
Robert Walters's 20th Congress - Artibella mp3 at Aquarium Drunkard Go there to get it. Hey, there's three other songs too.

Monday, July 15, 2013

CHEER UP SAD SACK

I'm not one for birthday posts, but a friend of mine linked to a nice video of Johnny Thunders (born July 15, 1952), and it was hard not to be a little moved. It's a video of him with three kids and I'm not sure what the story is behind it. It looks like they were going to use clips for a future music video. It was nice to see him clowning around with young bullshit detectors. One of his last recorded songs, "Kids Are People" plays intermittently in the background and at one point the kids are singing along. The song was recorded for what was to be his next album (See Sticks and Stones, linked below).

Here's just a few other songs, the last of which, a rerecorded version of "Born To Lose", was recorded with the German band Die Toten Hosen just 36 hours before he passed away. A whole lot of other Thunders related stuff has been posted here before, scroll down these posts. A lot of the links are still good.

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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 - Can't Keep My Eyes On You mp3 at Raven Sings the Blues
Johnny Thunders with Die Toten Hosen - Born To Lose (streaming) at YouTube His last recording
LP Download: Johnny Thunders - Sticks and Stones (via ADrive) at Teenage Dogs In Trouble (1990) 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.
Video:
Johnny Thunders - Pirate Love, German TV 1985 at YouTube
Visit:
Earlier Johnny Thunders posts
Johnny Thunders at Wikipedia

Sunday, July 14, 2013

LEFT COAST

It was a Dick Dale sorta day today. Rather than dish out the ones we've all heard a zillion times, here's a few lesser know songs. (If you're a dick head, you know these.) Did you know that Hal Blaine, Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, then in the Wrecking Crew, all played on Dale's major label debut LP, King of the Surf Guitar? It was his second LP, and his first on Capitol, so, without looking it up, my guess is that the label was throwing money into their new act. None of the songs down there are from that album. The first two are from his first LP, Surfers' Choice, self-released on Del-Tone Records. "Let's Go Trippin'" and "Miserlou" are on it too. If you're going shopping, start with that one.

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Listen:
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Deltone Rock mp3 at Review Stalker 1961
Dick Dale and His Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog 1962
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones- Riders In the Sky at Massacritica (?) 1963
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Mr. Eliminator mp3 at Hell's Belles 1964
Dick Dale and His Del-Tones - Peter Gunn mp3 at ATumblr.com (?) 1975
Dick Dale - Miserlou (acoustic) mp3 at Dinosaur Gardens 1993
Pre-surf:
Dick Dale - Ooh Wee Marie (streaming) at YouTube  1959
Visit:
Previous Dick Dale post Videos and what not
Dick Dale official site
Dick Dale at Wikipedia

COMMENCE TWITCHIN'

For the life of me, I can't figure out why Benny Joy's stuff hits me as crazed. Maybe because, if  it's not over the top, it's not for lack of trying. The echo, his enunciation, his random shouts during the solos, everything is a little over done, in a good way. All three of these have novel approach sprinkled throughout. Not to say it's not good rockabilly. On the contrary, this is my favorite type. If you're not top tier and you know it, do whatever it takes to make yourself stand out. Get bold you crazy rockabilly man.

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Listen:
Benny Joy - Button Nose mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Benny Joy - Steady With Betty mp3 at Rocky 52
Benny Joy - I'm Gonna Move mp3 at Rocky 52
Visit:
Benny Joy bio at Black Cat Rockabilly
Benny Joy records available at Norton Records

Saturday, July 13, 2013

SKITTLES

Lester Chambers, former member of the Chambers Brothers, was attacked on stage tonight, after dedicating "People Get Ready" to Trayvon Martin. His son Dylan Chambers posted on Facebook eight hours ago that he was on his way to the hospital. More about this sad event can be found here. So, crazy lady attacking a seventy year old man, I'm right here, and this is dedicated to Trayvon Martin.

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Listen:
Curtis Mayfield - People Get Ready mp3 at Leave Them Wanting More
Visit:
Classic Rock Muasician Lester Chambers Assaulted at Blues Festival at Examiner.com

THOSE OLDIE BUT GOODIES

Earlier tonight I was attempting to get through the Germs bio-pic, What We Do Is Secret, for the third or fourth time. Though, I gave up a little further into it in this viewing, it just seems too corny, like an After School Special. After I lost interest this time, I just left it on and went about my business. When I was in the kitchen, I heard "Forming" from their first 45, from the other room. If you weren't around when it came out, you'll probably think it sucks. Hell, most of the people who were around when it came out think it sucks. But when I heard it, albeit a reenactment, it might as well have been "Johnny B. Goode", for the amount of times I've heard it, and how familiar it was. And I think the song sucks. But there was a very small window of time, I think it was just weeks, when "Forming" was the only L.A. punk single out. Things like that carry with them strange attractions. I saw the Germs live back then, their second show. It was a "Kim Fowley Presents New Wave" showcase at the Whiskey. I think bands just signed up to play, I don't think there were auditions. So it was a real crap shoot. They sucked, and here I am, all these years later, and I'll be damned if that shitty song doesn't feel like Chuck Berry.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
The Germs - Forming mp3 at ATumblr.com (?)
A little later:
The Germs - Richie Dagger's Crime at The Adios Lounge
The Germs - Communist Eyes mp3
at Punk Sounds
The Germs - Lexicon Devil mp3
at 7 Inch Punk

Thursday, July 11, 2013

SHAKE SCRATCH BUZZ

It's Slim Harpo month over at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban. Their first helping has a couple songs you might know...no, make that you should know. No excuses. "I'm a King Bee" and "I Got Love If You Want It", pretty elementary for most of you. Having never really looked at his chronological discography, I was not aware that those two oft covered songs were both from his first 45. From his first 45. Yeah. So go to Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban to get them. There's another down there, "Shake Your Hips". You know that one.

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