YOU NEED TO STOP BEING DORKS

I kind of fell into this one, listening to something else and when it ended, this was next on whatever random playlist I was on. I like the sound of the guitars. With a turn of a volume knob, you could have some pretty crunchy stuff there. But, no, the boys would rather concentrate on the stupid moves. Missed it by that much. Just listen to the song, but don't look at them while you do. It ruins the whole thing.

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Listen:

Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs - Poison Ivy at YouTube

BLOWFLY MEETS THE ANGELS

Clarence Reid aka Blowfly, died in January. Barely a peep from the press, not famous enough I guess. If you know him, you know that the Reid/Blowfly split is way deeper than just using the two names. One, the Clarence Reid half, is a fairly straight forward soul/funk singer. Alter ego Blowfly is a candymouthed would-be super hero of undetermined origin. It's hard to reconcile because the Reid stuff really doesn't hint at the Blowfly stuff. Blowfly is entertaining in an oddball eccentric sort of way but impossible to take seriously, while the Reid stuff totally holds up on it's own.

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Listen:
Clarence Reid - Nobody But You Babe mp3 at The Ear Hole
Clarence Reid - Twenty-Five Miles mp3 at The Ear Hole
Clarence Reid - Masterpiece mp3 at The Ear Hole
Blowfly - Blowfly's Rap mp3 at Ghost Ritual
Blowfly - She's Bad (streaming) at YouTube
Blowfly - The First Black President  mp3 at Probe is Turning-On the People
Video:
Blowfly with Isaac Hayes - Fonky Party at YouTube With Dolemite and Jim Kelly
The Weird World of Blowfly - Documentary at YouTube
Visit:
Blowfly at Wikipedia

COVER A TROMBONIST? YEAH, SURE...

Irma Thomas's "Time Is On My Side" is actually not the original version of the song as your drunk friend will try to tell you. The original was by a trombonist, Kai Winding, and it included only two lines of lyrics "Time is on my side" and "You'll come running back" (sung by Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick). Lyrics were added for Thomas's version, and that's the way it hit the charts, and that's the version the Stones heard.

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Listen:
Irma Thomas - Time Is On My Side mp3 at Groove Addict
Irma Thomas - Two Winters Long mp3 at Keep the Coffee Coming
Kai Winding - Time Is On My Side (streaming) at YouTube

DIG THE TWIST-O-FLEX WATCHBAND

There weren't many singers that recorded for Chess, Sun and Stax. Rufus Thomas did, but most people associate him with Stax, and all of those two sided "Do the" songs ("The Breakdown", "(Do the) Push and Pull", "Do the Funky Chicken", "Do the Funky Penguin", "Do the Double Bump"), He did do some comical stuff and seemed to be too aware that he was older, referring to himself as the "World's Oldest Teenager" and "the Clown Prince of Dance". That may sell records but it's not going to get you the long term respect you are deserved. That may slow in coming because as years go by, you hear Rufus Thomas's name mentioned less and less. 

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Listen:
Rufus Thomas - Tiger Man mp3 at Internet Archive Sun Records
Rufus Thomas - Juanita mp3 at Internet Archive Chess Records
Rufus Thomas - (Do the) Push and Pull (Pt 1 & 2) mp3 at Internet Archive Stax Records
Rufus Thomas - Sixty Minute Man mp3 at Internet Archive Stax Records
The Goods:
Rufus Thomas - Anthology 1 at Internet Archive 26 Songs
Rufus Thomas - Anthology 2 at Internet Archive 26 more songs
Visit:
Rufus Thomas at Wikipedia

SHE KICKED SO MUCH ASS

Dang me, I just ran into Etta James's "Seven Day Fool", I'd forgotten how good it is. Dig the production, particularly the sound of the drums. That other one,"Tough Lover", is kick ass in a Little Richard sorta way. Man, she was so good.

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Listen:
Etta James - Seven Day Fool mp3 at Boogaloo Time
Etta James - Tough Lover mp3 at Dusty Books
Other:
Large high resolution version of above photo

BEHIND ALL THAT HAIR

Wizzard was Roy Wood's band after the Move and the first couple years of Electric Light Orchestra. After those two he started Wizzard and began painting his face with stars n' shit. Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" has all sorts of shit going on, it's Phil Spector meets Mott the Hoople, sort of, really densely layered. Total Wall of Sound aspirations going on. I dig it.

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Listen:
Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday mp3 at Desuchan (?)
Video:
Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday at YouTube

THE SOFT SPOT

One thing about Slade didn't strike me until years after my first exposure, I neither hated them nor loved them. That doesn't mean I was indifferent. Slade ingratiated themselves by being oddballs. Ridiculous outfits and bad haircuts, even for the time. Oh, and Noddy Holders ratty ass beard. Actually it was mostly Dave Hill and Holder that always looked goofy. But these guys endeared themselves to me. They were either clueless, or simply couldn't give a shit. I don't care, they were different and loud, and Holder's voice sounded like an hysterical old lady with a two pack a day habit. I would bet that most of my friends that are cognizant of Slade probably feel the same way. I've never met a true hardcore Slade fan, but I've never met anyone who hated them either.

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Listen:
Slade - Merry X'mas Everybody mp3 at Panic Stream
Video:
Slade - Merry X'mas Everybody at YouTube

YOUR HOLIDAY SECRET WEAPON

That up there is the Sir John Trio, from left to right, Ebby Hardy the drummer, Chuck Berry, and Johnnie Johnson, the pianist and band leader. Johnson hired Chuck Berry to fill in for an ailing member who ended up never returning. It was Berry's first big break. He was not yet the master of licks he would become, but he had a strong onstage personality and with Johnson's guidance became the Chuck Berry we all know and love. Johnson is on nearly all of Berry's significant hits though sometimes not as audible as others. "Merry Christmas Baby" is a slow one and you can hear both well. Understated genius, both with a light touch, respecting each others space.

Now, here's the plan for tonight. Grab your squeeze, head for the mistletoe. Get under it. Play this song. Close the deal.

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Listen:
Chuck Berry - Merry Christmas Baby mp3 at Panic Stream

SAYS SO RIGHT THERE "ROCK"

How did I miss this one? Cathy Sharpe inna Wanda Jackson stylee. I've linked to the hosting site many times, even to the particular multi-song post, but I never checked this one. Hot diggity. 1960 goodness, with a Chuck Berry chaser.

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Listen:
Cathy Sharpe - North Pole Rock mp3 at Black Squirrel Amusements
Chuck Berry - Run Rudolph Run mp3 at Cause Equals Time
 

YOU'RE BRINGING ME DOWN, MAN.

This sucker may come in handy in the coming days. William Burroughs's "The Junky's Christmas" is one piece of work. Talk about taking the wind out of the sails. It is a sourpuss tour de force. And that makes it perfect for clearing a party out. I'd keep that in mind.

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Listen:
William S. Burroughs - The Junky's Christmas mp3 at Music Like Dirt
Video:
William S. Burroughs - The Junky's Christmas at YouTube

BLAME KRAMPUS

Because (again), why the hell not? If Can wants to fuck with "Silent Night", who am I to stop them? 

The photo might not be all of the same members that are on the song, I just like the photo because they look like they're sitting on a mountain of potatoes.

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Listen:
Can - Silent Night mp3 at The Decibel Tolls
Video:
Can - Mother Sky at YouTube Totally unrelated, because you could use an art hippie freak out right about now.

SCROOGE ROCK

The Sonics are not in the mood. Defective mistletoe, no presents, all sorts of gripes crammed into "Don't Believe in Christmas". Their attempt to make nice with the fat man in "Santa Clause" doesn't come off as entirely sincere. They're probably screwed. 

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Listen:
The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas mp3 at Scratch Bomb
The Sonics - Santa Claus mp3 at The Decibel Tolls

GO POWER? HELL YEAH.

You can just about see the light at the end of the tunnel. If you're the type that has shopping to do, it's time to get that shit done it you want to have a weekend of whooping it up. Otherwise you'll be sitting around your pad wrapping presents listening to Perry Como whilst your friends are shakin' their asses to the Godfather at the house of nuts.

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Listen:
James Brown - Funky Christmas mp3 at SB Dave
James Brown - Go Power At Christmas Time mp3 at The Sound of Indie
James Brown - Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto mp3 at The Mob Third Coast
James Brown - Let's Unite the World at Christmas mp3 at Panic Stream
James Brown - Please Come Home For Christmas at Panic Stream

STATUS: DUNNO

I'd forgotten all about the Dynamics. I don't even know if they're still together. Too lazy to go look. I just happened to run across an old post from six years ago and was digging on these two covers they did. Since I don't know what became of them, and you never hear anything about them (at least I don't), my guess is that you might not have heard these. One recommendation: Dismount your purist high horse and just take them at face value.

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Visit:
The Dynamics - Whole Lotta Love mp3 at Radio Milwaukee
The Dynamics - Music mp3 at Cover Me

THE GUITAR FACE MORATORIUM

If it weren't so obvious, you might notice how nutty this combination is. Dudes in lucha libre masks playing surf music covers of Christmas songs. You know 'em, Los Straitjackets. And yet another novelty, a kooky name. This would be enough to get your eyes rollin' if they weren't so damn good at it. A little clean for my tastes but you gotta cop to the so-lame-it's-good package.

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Listen:
Los Straitjackets - God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman mp3 at Now That's What I Call BS
Los Straitjackets - Marshmallow World mp3 at Indie Rock Cafe
Los Straitjackets - Here Comes Santa Claus mp3 at Dennis Moody

KICKING AND SCREAMING

Okay, so I go, begrudgingly, to the Christmas bin. As is the case with holiday themed posts, there's going to be quite a few that have been posted before. To you locals who have been lurking for a year or more, I apologize in advance for posting some stuff that I have in the past. But I will try to keep you homeboys on your toes. So, lets do this.

First up is Clarence Carter's "Backdoor Santa", sample fodder for Run DMC's "Christmas In Hollis". What hadn't occurred to me before was that this choice of sample was somewhat of a deep pick, particularly because the sample itself, without being from a well recognized Christmas song, was from a Christmas song. It's the most dominant sample in a song that also includes pieces of "Frosty the Snowman", "Jingle Bells", and "Joy to the World". For as little known as Carter's song was, they could have used a  sample from any song and most people wouldn't have noticed one way or another. But had they done that, I wouldn't have been able to ramble on about their sample choice some twenty nine years later. You gotta hand it to them, that blast of horns makes the song.

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Listen:
Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa mp3 at AM Then FM

Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis mp3 at Said the Gramophone

IT"S DUKE REID ODDBALL TIME

It's that time again, time for the periodic reposting of the weirdest song Duke Reid ever produced. Reid was a producer and label owner of Treasure Isle, one of the big two in ska, rocksteady and early reggae (the other being Coxsone Dodd's Studio One). He was an ex-cop who didn't allow weed in or around his studio, was not a big fan of monkey business in general, and was known to fire a round or two into the ceiling to get a point across. No weed? So how do you explain this undefinable oddball?

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Listen:
Nora Dean - Angie La-La mp3 at Art Decade
The Jamaicans - Ba Ba Boom mp3 at Smashing Magazine A more typical early Reid release

HO, HO, HO.

If we must do this, let's start it right: Lemmy, Hasil Adkins chaser.

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Listen:
Lemmy w/Dave Grohl and Billy Gibbons - Run, Run Rudolph mp3 at H8ter
Hasil Adkins - Santa Claus Boogie (streaming) at YouTube

THE STYLE ISSUE

John Glenn died a couple days ago. A lot of you might not know who he is; he was the first American to orbit the earth.  Not the first ever, that went to the Russians, but the first American. Before he did it he was a fighter pilot (flying missions with the greatest hitter in the history of baseball, Ted Williams), and after his career as an astronaut, he was a U.S. Senator. He returned to space for one mission in 1988, at the age of 57. And you have an office job.

The most dominant image I've always had of Glenn was of him in his space threads. When I hear "John Glenn" I think of that silver spaceman. Iconic, Elvis of NASA. I wanted to post a photo of him in his get-up as a sort of tribute to a boyhood hero. The problem was, what song to put with it? No one is going to sing a song about John Glenn, and "Space Oddity" and anything by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy were out of the question, so I didn't bother thinking about it any further.

The next day the jazz station played just the type of song I would have been looking for, had I continued looking. Lightnin' Hopkins. Ho-ly shit. How cool is that? Lightnin' Hopkins singing about John Glenn. That's like baseball, apple pie, hot dogs, Ford and Chevy and all things American all rolled into one. But first, Hopkin's office threads:

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Listen:
Lightnin' Hopkins - Happy Blues For John Glenn (streaming) at YouTube
Lightnin' Hopkins - Lightnin' Strikes One More Time mp3 at Music Like Dirt
Lightnin' Hopkins - Lovin' Arms mp3 at Music Like Dirt
Lightnin' Hopkins - Coffeehouse Blues mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Lightnin' Hopkins - Shake That Thing mp3 at Clayton Counts
Lightnin' Hopkins - 20 more cuts at Internet Archive NOTE: At Internet Archive, in the right column, under "Download options" select "VBR MP3"
Video:
The blues according to Lightnin' Hopkins at YouTube
Lightnin' Hopkins - Playing at a party at YouTube Nice washboard.

BECAUSE WHY THE HELL NOT

It's not that unusual to listen to a song and have it lead to a couple hours worth of detours both at the computer and in front of the stereo. That shit happens all the time around here. But last night it was an accidental click that did it. Not a random "wonder what this sounds like" click. I was wildly scrolling the list of songs at Mp3 Rockabilly when the mouse slipped and I accidentally clicked on a song that started playing what sounded at first like a cover of Larry William's "Boney Maronie". I let it roll. After a couple lines it became apparent that the the song was just borrowing a couple lines from Williams's song, but that became irrelevant because the singer, who ended up being some dude named Larry Brinkley, was the show. He seemed to be trying to cop the vocal stylings of two or three of his contemporaries in one song. It was crazy and it was unfamiliar, and that was the whole reason I was at that site to begin with. I wanted to hear some vintage rockers that I wasn't familiar with. This Brinkley fit the bill.

I went looking for more Brinkley and ran into "Move Over Rover". If his vocal stylings seemed all over the map on the first one, on this one it seemed like Larry Collins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis in low mode all swapping lines. Though credit must be given for actually making a rockabilly record in 1962, there might be a reason that I'd never heard of this guy. He couldn't even stick to a particular singing style for two and a half minutes. So, back to the site, just for the hell of it, I checked out other guys named Larry I wasn't familiar with, hence the Larry Lee Phillips, Larry Dale and Larry Terry cuts. Do check out "Down to the Bottom" the Dale cut. More of a New Orleans type feel but, holy shit, the sound on that sucker kills me. On top of that, I have to pat myself on the back for correctly recognizing the guitar of Mickey Baker. Man, his tone. What I didn't recognize was the piano of Champion Jack Dupree. That song was payoff for fucking around for a couple hours.

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Listen:
Larry Brinkley - All Night Long mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly
Larry Brinkley - Move Over Rover mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly
Larry Lee Phillipson - Bitter Feelings mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly
Larry Terry - Hep Cat mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly
Larry Dale - Down to the Bottom mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly

DAVE BRUBECK EATING A HOG DOG

I was listening to Dave Brubeck in the car today, Time Out, the one that everyone with a passing interest in jazz has. One of the best selling jazz LPs of all time. An album meant to be an experiment in odd time signatures that his label, Columbia, only allowed him to make under the condition that he give them a "straight" LP, Gone With the Wind, first. No one expected Time Out to be a big seller, and no one expected "Take Five" the LPs signature song, to be a Top 40 hit.

When I got home, a friend had posted the video below so it was fully Brubeck around here. I was just going to post "Take Five", but then I ran across the whole damn LP. If you don't have any jazz at all, you could do worse for a first LP. And if you do have some jazz, you likely have it and understand why it's almost too obvious of a pick. There's a reason for that.

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Listen:
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five mp3 at Internet Archive
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Blue Rondo a la Turk mp3 at Internet Archive
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Five more songs at Internet Archive
NOTE: At Internet Archive, in the right column, under "Download options" select "VBR MP3"

SCROOGE CRACKS EARLY

It might be early to dip into the holiday pool, but I can't resist this one. Boogaloo Time just posted It's a Holiday Soul Party by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, the whole LP, and it might not be up for long, so get it while the gettin's good. The first track is a Hanukah song that is actually good. Very seventies soul, with the pay off the ad libs towards the end. When Jones lets out "Talk-in' a-bout that Me-nor-ahhh!!" towards the fade out, I just busted up. Don't ask me why, maybe the juxtaposition of the subject and the vehicle.

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Listen:
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - 8 Days Of Hanukkah mp3 at Boogaloo Time
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Ain't No Chimneys In The Projects mp3 at Boogaloo Time
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Nine more songs at Boogaloo Time

THE QUICK EXIT COP OUT (LATIN EDITION)

I don't even fight it anymore. I was over at Groove Addict, dinking around looking for Whitfield-era Temptations stuff when I ran across a Ray Barretto cut (and LP download). Yeah, hot diggity, off I went. You know how that happens, one minute you're listing to one thing, that leads to another, and another, until a couple hours have been sucked right out of you. I know when it's time to throw my hands up, step away from the keyboard, and just go listen.

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Listen:
Ray Barretto - Power  mp3 at Groove Addict 1970
Ray Barretto - Babalú  mp3 at Groove Addict 1963
Ray Barretto - Boogaloo Con Soul  mp3 at Groove Addict 1967
Ray Barretto - Search For Vulcan  mp3 at Groove Addict 1965, from the album above.

HUMBLE THYSELF BIG TIME CHARLIE

I weighed all sorts of thing to post tonight, most from familiar names. Then I ran across the Dogs and all that went out the window. Sometimes, even after taking a look at that ridiculous sleeve above, you gotta be objective, bite your tongue and remind yourself that the very nature of DIY is that it does not discriminate. Stupid sleeve? Bad band? Shitty production? Hey, it only takes one person that likes the package enough to fund it. Besides, I may need to reassess. On second thought, that sleeve is no worse than something you'd see in one of the old National Lampoon magazines of the same era. After seeing the back of the sleeve, I was sold. Okay, so you have that sleeve, a band named the Dogs, that's the front, and on the back it has an address in Decorah, Iowa. Where the fuck is that? Let's move on. Take a look at the guys in the photos from the back of the sleeve. Where do you file that?

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Listen:

The Dogs - Rot ‘n’ Roll mp3 at Killed By Death Go there to get it

The Dogs - Teen Slime mp3 at Killed By Death Ditto

DON'T NEED YOUR MILKCOW BLUES ANYMORE

Fuckin' Chocolate Watch Band, those sneaky sapsuckers. They recorded "Milk Cow Blues" and gave it a different title, "Don't Need Your Lovin'". That I knew. You know what else they did? They recorded a different version with the correct title. I can't believe I just noticed this, despite the fact that I've owned a greatest hits package that has both of them for years. Maybe because there were scant liner notes so I never bothered to look at the song listings as I was listening and it never registered the I heard the same song twice. They are slightly different, but the both sound like the Chocolate Watch Band. Who knows. But here's both versions a few other good songs by them.

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Listen:

The Chocolate Watch Band - Don't Need Your Lovin' mp3 at Mango Bongo (?)
The Chocolate Watch Band - Milkcow Blues mp3 at Mango Bongo (?)
The Chocolate Watch Band - Let's Talk About Girls mp3 at Mango Bongo (?)
The Chocolate Watch Band - Sitting There Standing mp3 at Mango Bongo (?)
The Chocolate Watch Band - Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)? mp3 at Mango Bongo (?)
The Chocolate Watch Band - Nine more at Mango Bongo (?)

HOWDY FROM SUNGLASS DEPOT

I'm sick, head cold or flu or who knows what. The official diagnosis: I feel like shit. So, I'm gonna let Mudhoney take it out, and since misery loves company, Sonic Youth covering Mudhoney.

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Listen:
Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick (LP Version) mp3 at Chewing Water
Sonic Youth - Touch Me I'm Sick mp3 at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends