BIG JAY MCNEELY IS STILL HERE

Last night I was listening to a show on the jazz station, three hours of jump blues and rhythm and blues. Yeah, it's that kind of jazz station, a little bit of everything that has at least a thread of jazz in it. Which is fine when it comes to jump blues and rhythm and blues, not quite as endearing when it's blues bordering on Blueshammer (wait for it and cringe). The station was in the middle of a pledge break, too much jibba jabba, so I stepped outside for a smoke and a few pages of Steinbeck. When I came back in, Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog" was playing. Shit howdy, after a day at the beach, a bunch of coffee and some Steinbeck, it was icing on the cake.

A few songs after "Hound Dog", the DJ mentioned that it was Big Jay McNeely's birthday. Wow! He's still with us! 93 years young, hell yeah. One of the greatest honkers of time. Check "Blow Big Jay". Fuck, it's a mind-blower. An unrelenting crazy ass solo that raises the same hair as the Stooges. Look at him in that top photo. That says it all.  Oh, and dig "Psycho Serenade", the second song down there. The title fits the song. Dude could get nutty too.

NOTE: The music links that were with this post went dead. New links on the follow up post here.

CELIA CRUZ AND HER HEAVY FRIENDS

Here's a link to dozen cuts from Fania Records. Man, Fania was sure one deep well. Like the Latin Stax or something. These songs were posted a few years ago, but you likely missed it. Regardless, it's worth re-posting. And as an added bonus, an unrelated Celia Cruz cut, because it's Celia Cruz and I dig it.

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Listen:

Celia Cruz - Quizas, Quizas, Quizas mp3 at ATumblr (?)
¡Viva Fania! - 12 songs at Mixtape Riot This is really good. Downloads and streaming,

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

Richard Berry

It may not be the go-to song that it once was, but there was a time when nearly every every band played "Louie Louie" at one time or another. Need to break in a new member that's not quite ready? Need one more song to pad your set? Need to give a nod to all the garage bands that came before you? "Louie Louie" is your song. As simple as a song gets.

There's a zillion covers. Here's two from opposite ends of the spectrum. The pallid and lethargic vocal stylings of the Sandpipers vs Black Flag's louder than necessary but it sure hits the spot version, plus Richard Berry's original. And just because I ran across it, a link to a copy of the FBI investigation of the song, its misinterpreted lyrics wrongly thought to be pornographic. Fake news.

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Listen:
The Sandpipers - Louie Louie mp3 at De Discos y Monstrous
Black Flag - Louie Louie mp3 at Secret Comics (?)
Richard Berry - Louie Louie mp3 at  Beware of the Blog
Visit:
The 1964 FBI Report on "Louie Louie" at FBI  119 pages
Louie Louie at Wikipedia

BECAUSE PAM GRIER IS PRETTIER

Somewhere in that salad bowl of Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Norman Whitfield, wah-wah pedals, strings, breaks, songs about pushers and pimps, movies about settling scores, Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, and all of that, there is Willie Hutch. Even if this type of music isn't your bag, listen to them just to hear all the shit that's going on in them. These songs are packed.

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Listen:
Willie Hutch - Theme From Foxy Brown (streaming) at YouTube
Willie Hutch - I'm Gonna Hold On mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Willie Hutch - Give Me Some of That Good Old Love mp3 at ATumblr
Willie Hutch - Tell Me Why Has Our Love Turned Cold? mp3 at Crate Kings
Visit:
Willie Hutch at Wikipedia

QUESTION OF THE DAY

When I was in my teens, most of my good friends were made at the beach. I could share a class with a person, even become friends, but they would rarely become a good friend if there wasn't some sort of shared time at the beach. Among these guys were three brothers, all slightly younger than me. I would end up in a band with the middle brother, but it was short lived for me. I never made it to playing out with them. I had a habit of getting a little too lubricated before practices and the final straw, unbeknownst to me when it happened, was when the youngest brother, who was in his early teens at the time, came back to the garage and asked if he could sing a few songs. He was messing around, playing with other guys his age, and he was to be their singer. So, yeah, sure kid, "show us what you got", right? Let's try "Louie, Louie". Everybody knows that, backward and forward. Then he whipped out a spiral bound notebook in which he had transcribed lyrics. He was going cheat sheet. On "Louie, Louie". The horror. That's what my lubricated mind was telling me. I yanked the notebook out of his hand, through it against the wall and said something to the effect of "If you don't know the lyrics to 'Louie, Louie', make 'em up." I was never called for another practice. A few months later, I was relieved when I saw them playing at a party. I won't say they sucked. Let's just say that my idea of "ready" and theirs were different.

A few years passed and the youngest brother was still playing with the same gang. They were called the Monsters. I never bothered to see how they had developed, I was on to other things. By the time they secured a weekly gig at a local watering hole, I had been told that their gigs were a good time, so I decided to check them out. I wasn't expecting much, but I'd forgotten that they'd been playing together for several years. They had better chops, they had the confidence that comes with going through high school as the band that played at all the keg parties, and now they were of drinking age. On this particular night, they were well lubricated.

Among the Who, Kinks, surf and other cover band specials, they covered "Why Don't You Smile Now", a rather obscure choice. It's one of the first songs Lou Reed and John Cale wrote together, from the days when they were staff writers for Pickwick Records. The first recording of it was as a B-side by the All Night Workers (a band that included an ex-college roommate of Reed's). Sometime after that, the Downliners Sect covered it, and from that, somewhere around 1980, the Crawdaddys covered it. That's the version the Monsters probably picked up on, being that the Crawdaddys were a local band. The song's been covered by others as well, but I gotta say, all these years later, when I hear that song, any version of it, my memory is of the youngest brother singing that song, a drunk shitting eating grin on his face, with the looseness that only confidence, beer, and a "who gives a fuck" attitude can bring. I remember thinking on the way home, the kid did good.

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Listen:
The Downliners Sect - Why Don't You Smile Now mp3 at Internet Archive
The Crawdaddys - Why Don't You Smile Now (streaming) at YouTube
The All Night Workers - Why Don't You Smile Now mp3 at Roio
Donnie Burkes - Why Don't You Smile Now (streaming) at YouTube
Thee Headcoat Sect - Why Don't You Smile Now (streaming) at YouTube

FOUR TWENTY SOMEWHERE

Here's the oddest ballest slab of stoner rock you'll hear this week. Peruvians Los Comandos' cover of Zeppelin's "Moby Dick". It sounds like they were stoned when they did it, stoned when they first met and stoned throughout every practice and band meeting up until, and including, the day this was recorded. Wait for the drum solo. The guy sounds like he's going to fall asleep. Possibly the greatest stoner drum solo ever recorded.

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Listen

Los Comandos - Moby Dick mp3 at Super Sonido

BLACK HOLE OF THE WEEK

Every once in a while I'll get in one of those moods when it all sounds good, all good music. Regardless of what type of music it is. It might be rockabilly one minute and afro-funk the next. It doesn't matter, it all sounds good. That type of mood lends itself to meandering. Usually it's a diversion of less than a half dozen songs, then back to what I was doing. No harm, no foul. But when that meandering lands me on a page as extensive as the Red Allen Index, I'm gone. I may not come up for air for a long while.

Read the intro on the home page to get the story about it. It's all soul and soul related genres, all the stuff Allen has posted on multiple sites over the past ten years, with audio. Deeper cuts, shit you probably haven't heard. The two below were my the first random selections. After that, it was all over. When you check his index pages, the links to the other pages of his index are at the bottom. Get lost.

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Listen:
The Ramrods - Soul Express - Part 1 mp3 at Soul Detective
The Tikis - I Was Doin' Alright mp3 at The B Side
Visit:
The Red Kelly Index

"OUTTA MY WAY" SAID THE SAX

Owen Bradley Quintet. "Big Guitar" Right now that's I all know. They did at least one song, and I heard it for the first time a couple hours ago. And I listened to it a few more times. The sax, baby, the sax. I love songs that seem pedestrian until you listen to them a few times. Then they become weirder, or better, or more layered, or whatever; they change. If you're unfamiliar with the band, all the better. You can listen to the music, untainted by backstory.

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Listen:
Owen Bradley Quintet - Big Guitar mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly

SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

Well, oh well, lookie here. Another band reuniting. Fuck, this is getting old. I can't say I wouldn't do it, but it does sometimes reek of alternative motives. It could really be trying to pick up on unfinished business, "It felt like all the years just melted away" Really? Could happen, just as easy as it could be for the money or trying to reclaim some former glory. If it's for the latter you better make sure that you don't show up at the reunion looking like the out of shape burned out former football star. No one stays big man on campus forever.

I take reunions with a grain of salt, low expectations and all that jazz. So, no, I didn't run down the new Boss Hog LP. If it's good, it'll find me. I did go looking for a few samples of the new stuff, but I got totally sidetracked by a live set from 2008 and another live studio thing from last year. I'll move on to the new thing, most likely when it's no longer new.

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Listen:
Boss Hog - Hustler mp3 at Ten Bulls
Boss Hog - Jaguar mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Boss Hog - I'm Not Like Everybody Else mp3 at One Woman Show
Boss Hog - Live at WFMU at Internet Archive 12 songs 12/20/2008
Note: In the right column at Internet Archive, under "Download options" click on "VBR MP3 Files"
New stuff:
Boss Hog - Formula X (streaming) at Soundcloud
Boss Hog - Wichita Grey (streaming) at Soundcloud
Boss Hog - 17 (streaming) at Soundcloud
Boss Hog - Ground Control (streaming) at Soundcloud
Video:
Boss Hog - Live on KEXP at YouTube 4 songs, 2016

I'M NOT LIKING THIS SHIT AT ALL

You can argue amongst yourselves about this one. I think we can all agree on the most basic level. When it gets to the point that people are getting blown up, whether it's one or a thousand, something is broken. Point your fingers all you want, you are not going to tell me that anyone blowing up anyone else is a good thing. It is awful, just about the worst thing done in the worst way, So, let's just back up and calm down. You, go over and sit on the lawn. You'll get your turn.

What scares me is that it's starting to remind me of some evil cocktail, the end of Dr Strangelove mixed with the Weirdo's "(We Got the) Neutron Bomb". Check the lyrics to the Weirdos song, released around 1978 (I think).:

"We got the neutron bomb, gonna drop it all over the place. You're gonna get it on your face. Foreign aid from the land of the free, but don't blame me.

We got the neutron bomb...Don't understand you, don't know what you mean. We don't want you, we want your machines. United Nations and NATO won't do, it's just the red, white and blue."

They had another song, "Fort USA" with the refrain "You're never going to blow away Fort USA!". Oh, and "I oppose gun control, I don't even like rock 'n' roll!" These punkers are a laugh riot.

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Listen:
The Weirdos - We Got the Neutron Bomb mp3 at Killed By Death Go there to get it
The Weirdos - Fort USA (streaming) at YouTube
The Weirdos - Solitary Confinement mp3 at Killed By Death Go there to get it.
The Weirdos - Destroy All Music.mp3 at Killed By Death (Ditto)
The Weirdos - A Life Of Crime.mp3 at Killed By Death (Ditto)
The Weirdos - Why Do You Exist.mp3 at Killed By Death (Ditto)
Video:
The Weirdos - Life of Crime (Live) at YouTube Los Angeles 1978
The Weirdos at the Dive (Live) at YouTube Las Vegas 2014, a full set, 56 minutes

THE LP AS LEGACY

J. Geils died today and you may not give a shit. If you learned about the J. Geils Band from their MTV era hit "Centerfold" you probably think of them as a bland also-ran. I'm here to tell you that back in the day, they were contenders. Their first two albums, the self titled debut and The Morning After, were both worthy of attention; they had decidedly more grease in their game than their contemporaries, but nothing that would really grab you enough to bug out. Their reputation was really made by their live show. I remember my brother coming home after seeing them right around then, telling me that everyone was moving and sweat was flying. That's what impressed him. Then their third album came out, Full House, a live set that did...not...quit. From beginning to end it really did sound like everyone was moving and sweat was flying. I've listened to that LP consistently in the ensuing decades and it still ranks up there as one of my favorite live albums of all time.

Geils greased, second from right, High res version here,

If you don't know Full House, you may have dismissed the J. Geils Band long ago. I can't say I'd blame you. But in the interest of giving Geils his due, I consider it my duty to set the record straight for you late comers. Listen to Full House in its entirety and see if you don't come away with a different view of them. Blast it from beginning to end. It's all sprint.

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Listen:
J. Geils Band - Full House (Full LP) (streaming) at YouTube

BLOW UP THE PERFECTO

Man, have I been out of the loop. Apparently all this soul music got released and nobody informed me. Soul Donuts posted a year end list a while back and I was cognizant of.maybe a half dozen of them. Here's four. There's a lot more over there with little blurbs about each one. An excellent post.

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Listen:
Shirley Davis and the Silverbacks - Black Rose mp3 at Soul Donuts
Lack of Afro feat. Elliot Cole - I Got the Rhythm mp3 at Soul Donuts
The Soul Snatchers - How Ya Do It mp3 at Soul Donuts
Nick Waterhouse -The Old Place mp3 at Soul Donuts
22 more at Soul Dounts

THE PARTY BAND

I ran into a Joe Cuba Sextet cut over at Soul Sides. You know that lead-in. Yeah, I ended up revisiting some of their other stuff. Those guys slay me. When they decide to go goofy, it's like some Latin version of Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts. I only have the "Bang Bang" LP, so my initial  exposure included "Bang, Bang" and "Push, Push, Push". You can guess what they're getting at with those titles. If not, check "Pud-Da-Din", which is about as subtle as a frat party band doing Donna Summers's "Love to Love You Baby".

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Listen:
Joe Cuba Sextet - Bang, Bang mp3 at LP Cover Lover
Joe Cuba Sextet - Push, Push, Push mp3 at Alejandro Borrero
Joe Cuba Sextet - Pud-Da-Din mp3 at Super Sonido
Joe Cuba Sextet - Ooh Ah! mp3 at Super Sonido
Joe Cuba Sextet - Una Nenita mp3 at Soul Sides Go there to get it.
Joe Cuba Sextet - You Better Believe It mp3 at Groove Addict
Joe Cuba - Around the World mp3 at Groove Addict

RANDOM CLICK PAYDIRT

A couple hours ago I'd never heard of  Zara Moussa, so I can't fill you in on anything that you can't already find with a simple web search. She's a rapper from Niger, West Africa. The blog that has her music, Awesome Tapes From Africa, speculates that the language used is "zarma and maybe hausa?", and one commenter says that the lyrics are French. Whatever it is, I can't understand a lick of it;  other than the international language of badass. I'm a sucker for this shit.

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Listen:
Zara Moussa - Soyeya mp3 at Awesome Tapes From Africa
Zara Moussa - Femme mp3 at Awesome Tapes From Africa
Zara Moussa - 11 more songs at Awesome Tapes From Africa Go there to get them

THE VERSATILE POST-SUBTLETY LADY ROCKER

Lest you think Sam Phillips was all Sun Records, country, blues and rockabilly, dig this one by Barbara Pittman. Though she's much better known for her big rockabilly side, "I Need A Man" (incidentally the only song I could think of off the top of my head), she veered. This one, "Handsome Man" is credited to "Barbara Pittman with Gene Lowery Singers", which should tell you something right there. It is not rockabilly, but some mix of torch singing, jazz and r&b. Still completely dig-able.

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Listen:
Barbara Pittman with Gene Lowery Singers - Handsome Man mp3 at Office Naps
Barbara Pittman - I Need A Man (streaming) at YouTube

DOWN WITH MATCHING TUXES

Fuck, the intro to "It's A Shame" sure does it's job. Once everything comes in and the vocals start, you're in it, deep. After listening to it a few times in a row, I went looking for whoever it was that produced this nice slice of layered seventies soul. Turns out Stevie Wonder produced it. 1970. Dude owned it.

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Listen:
The Spinners - It's A Shame mp3 at Inernet Archive

STILL MADE THE ALMANAC

It's just insane how cheap rockabilly compilations have become. Actually, compilations of other types of old music too, but I bring up rockabilly because that's what I was listening to. It was Essential Rockabilly - The King Story, a budget compilation, two 2 CDs/40 songs for ten bucks. The thing smokes. And there's more in this rockabilly series, somewhere around ten or so, each for a different label, Columbia, Decca, RCA, Sun, and Imperial among them. Shit, add them to the list. I was listening to the King one, and "Guitar Playin' Fool" was blasting. It's a cool song, Teddy Humphries. I realized I didn't really know much about him, and I knew where to go, Rocky-52. Blow me down, I had no idea he was more of an r&b singer. That's cool. Even if "Guitar Pickin' Fool" was his lone rocker, it's rocker enough.

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Listen:
Teddy Humphries - Guitar Pickin' Fool mp3 at Rocky 52
Teddy Humphries - What Makes You So Tough mp3 at Rocky 52
Teddy Humphries - Firm Foundation mp3 at Rocky 52
Teddy Humphries - Theif In the Night mp3 at Rocky 52