I like Redd Kross, just fine. But not fine enough for me to go through all the unsorted records I have laying around to find my copy of Neurotica. Really, I know I had it, I never knowingly got rid of it, but it's probably been well over ten years since I last heard it. So I don't remember "Beautiful Bye-Byes". I heard a demo of it today I had no recollection of ever hearing it before. It sounded like an Imagine-era John Lennon demo with the Beach Boys singing back up, though that's probably because the demo quality gave it an unauthorized clandestine feel. I think I'll try to fool one of my Beatle freak friends.
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Here's some super slick pop shit (in a good way), well informed and all that jazz. Ten cuts of Wondermints over at the Vinyl Villain, with little blurbs about each one by someone way more studied than I am.
This stuff may be too light for you. Try listening to "Tracy Hide" when you're exhausted. Or drunk. Or stoned. Or any other time you just feel like surrendering and letting your mind go blank.
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The Beastie Boys are one of those bands I avoid going off about because they were around for so long, and had such a good track record that there's just too much to be said. Once you get started..., you know.
Earlier today I just happened to see the clip of them doing "Sabotage" on Letterman. Man, I gotta say, that clip holds up pretty damn well, considering it looked cool in 1994 and still does today. Good fucking screams in that one, right up there with the greats. After checking that out, I followed it with "I Want Some" which is pretty damn close to punk rock.
Now here's the thing that sets the Beasties Boys apart. Check out the instrumental, "Son of Neckbone". Same band. No vocals, no samples, just groove. That's just insane the they could play both types of music without sacrificing authenticity, because they always did seem authentic if only because growing musically was their first priority. They were just playing their record collection, a collection that was good and varied. They could have followed "Licensed to Ill" with a half dozen records just like it and cleaned up, but they didn't. They started fucking with things right out of the gate.
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When it comes to pointing you towards something good, even if I have posted it before, there's no shame in a periodic re-posting of something I consider essential, especially when it's not easy to find. Todays refresher is in the debut LP of Horace Andy on Studio One. Released in 1969, when Andy was eighteen and just a voice, before he came with associations, collaborators or otherwise. Just a kid with a voice. And it's on Studio One, perfectly situated. The label had it's own sound, by most accounts, the best in town. Regardless of what degree of significance you put on the early recordings of a reggae legend, or just a damn good record on a damn good label at the right time, any combination of Horace Andy and Studio One is something you need to hear.
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Did you know that Augustus Pablo did a cover of "Viva Tirado"? I did not. Cool, I have an excuse to re-post El Chicano's version too. And the original by Gerald Wilson. What the heck.
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It's a wonder that J.J. Jackson's "But It's Alright" hasn't been covered a zillion times. The riff that opens it was practically made for loud crunchy guitar. On the record it's a jazz session guy. Not that it needs it, but I'd love to hear it with a little more meat. I did a cursory check for covers and found only bar bands and one by Huey Lewis and the News, who might as well be a bar band. Actually, it might be better that there hasn't been a really great cover of the song. It makes the original all more the precious.
The two other songs "I Dig Girls" and "Boogaloo Baby" forced my hand. Fuck, here we go. Add to want list...
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Everybody has those records that they can't objectively evaluate because they have personal associations entwined with the music. That happens to me all the time. Is it good? What would it be like to hear it now, for the first time? Shit, I can't answer that. This wasn't old music when I heard it. And all that crap you listen to was years in the future. Where were we? The Heartbreakers' debut LP, L.A.M.F., has been a friend for many years. There are many good associations with that one, long lasting friendships and reoccurring interactions. Chicken Soup Rock.
So, I can't be objective. I dig the originally released version. The one I ran across tonight was the "Lost '77 mixes". I can tell the difference a little, but I don't care. It's just good to hear them again. It's not just music on this one. It's like a club.
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I haven't really done much more than briefly scan the backstory of the Cosmic Tones. There's an interview with one of them at Garage Hangover that I'll get to, but I had to post this first. Pre-Weird Science kids singing about building a woman in their bedroom. Everything about this one is low-budget in a good way. The real star of the show is the singer, who sounds like his voice just cracked earlier in the week but is bound and determined to get that Howlin' Wolf thing down.
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Talk about a faceless band. Can you name them without reading any further? I wouldn't have been able to, and it's just as likely I won't remember who they are if asked next week. It's total wallpaper up there. The foursome above is the American Breed who had a hit with "Bend Me, Shape Me". If you're into oldies, you've heard it a million times but chances are, you've never seen a photo of the American Breed. Oh, but you have, You saw them yesterday, but you don't remember. That faceless.
Scrounging around the old posts over at De Disco y Monstruos, I ran into their "Short Skirts" a topical throwaway save for the fuzz. And what a fuzz fest it is. Doesn't even sound like the same band, and they were both released in the same year, 1967. Go figure. Another oddball factoid, some or all of the members became Rufus, as in Chaka Kahn Rufus. Damn chameleons these guys.
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Here's a mixed bag of reggae cuts, a compilation called 200% Dynamite!, with all sorts of odds and ends. I'm not sure what the underlying theme is; it really is all over the place. Toots and the Maytals' "Funky Kingston" is probably the best known. There's a U Roy ("Tom Drunk"!), Augustus Pablo, a surprisingly funky cut from the Skatalites, Prince Buster, the Upsetters, Jackie Mittoo and a bunch of others. Check out the Abyssinians' "Mandela". That thing is stoney.
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Larry Williams. If you don't know that name, you should. He was an early rocker, filling the void for Specialty Records when Little Richard went back his religious thing in 1957. His star rose and dimmed within the space of a few years, but it was long enough for him to be heard by the Beatles, who covered three of his songs ("Slow Down", Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Bad Boy") and the Stones ("She Said Yeah"). He did record later, but it was those early records that have been covered a million times. "Boney Moronie", for instance, was covered by Johnny Burnette, the Standells, Dick Dale and Bill Haley just to name a few. "Short Fat Fannie" was covered by Ronnie Self, Billy Preston and Little Richard. You get the idea. This is a guy you should be hep to.
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Man, check that photo out. The 13th Floor Elevators playing for young lovers. Yowza. It's hard to believe that the man with the guitar, Roky Erickson, will soon be taking all the acid he can gobble up. That may be exaggerating, but he did his fair share and may already have been when that photo was taken.
Here's a collection of singles from the International Artists label that may leave you wondering. Back then, 1966, if a song was released as a single the record company usually had designs, or at least hopes, that it would become a hit. So why would you release a five minute cover of Dylan's "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" by a bunch of acid heads on a 45?
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The earliest rockabilly band? That's a tough one. You would guess someone would have done sped up hillbilly with hiccupy vocals before Elvis, but who would be considered the first? The Rockabilly Hall of Fame says "Sid King and his band were often credited as being the first to create, record and play rockabilly music...the first sounds of rock and roll" citing a date of 1952. I was unable to come up with anything that sounded like rockabilly by them that was that early. (Maybe that's the reason for the "were often credited". Blame it on someone else. Good job Rockabilly Hall, it was your job to make the definitive call and you lamed out.) King and his Five Strings did get loose by 1955, that much we can ascertain.
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I certainly wasn't expecting any wildness when I saw this. What the hell, the host said it was an "exceptionally cool" and it was from 1966, a good era for exceptionally cool music in general. The song was from Malaysia and was by an outfit called Rosnah and the Siglap Five. There's the curve ball. If you dig oddball stuff, you know as well as I do that your mouse acts like that thing on a Ouija board, the click comes from another force. The song starts out a respectfully novel pop song, with some good organ backing, then at 1:20 the guitar solo. About four notes of harmless guitar, and then the fuzz comes on and things get freaky, exceptionally cool as it were. Twenty seconds of, not only tweaked fuzz, but a drummer laying into the cymbals like he's had two pots of coffee.
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Guess who else did "B-Gas Rickshaw"? The Raybeats, everyone's favorite instrumental no wave supergroup; part Eight Eyed Spy, part Contortions, a brand of severely twisted surf music, heavy on periodically reverb-enhanced guitar, bass bordering on minimalist funk, Farfisa and sax. Some really tweaked shit. Whammy bar doing overtime. Dig "Tight Turn". So entirely badass. Their whole debut LP is like that. Whatever you want to call it, I'm buying in.
Raybeats, the shit. 1980
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An instrumental credited to a vocal duo? How does that work? From a Jan and Dean LP, Jan wrote it, the Wrecking Crew played it. Don't know where Dean comes in, but hey, you only have so many hits that you can put on an album, you gotta fill the rest of the LP with something. The Wrecking Crew was used to being that mystery band, on the filler type sessions. This is over-qualified surf music, study hall stuff they did in their sleep.
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Here's some early Maytals, two on PriNce Buster's label and two on Coxsone. Early as in pretty darn close to ska. at least a couple. There's also a couple from when they were on Island label; cleaner and still well done, but they just don't push the same buttons.
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Adam West died on Friday. He was Batman in the TV series, from 1966-68. There have been a bunch of other Batmans on film, but he really owned that role. Totally dry, with every other line total corn. Even the fight scenes were total corn, so bad they were good, with "Pow!" "Bam!" "Whack!" and other impact exclamations. No one did that shit better. He got a lot of mileage out of that role, appearing in one TV show after another for over forty years, usually as a guest star based on his Batman notoriety.
The theme song from the TV show has been recorded a thousand times and there's been a bunch of Batsploitation knock-offs as well. Here's just a few. You'll probably be sick of the song before you listen to all of them.
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Here's a couple semi-tearjerkers, Kris Kristofferson's version of "For the Good Times" (made a hit by crossover geezer Ray Price), and one of the last Gun Club songs recorded before Jefferey Lee Pierce went solo. Both are at For the Sake of the Song where there's always a lot of interesting stuff that you don't see anywhere else.
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I'm currently reading David Byrne's How Music Works, his tome on everything music, from making it, to selling it, hearing it, making a scene, succeeding in the music biz and so on. It's like a fucking text book. It can get dry at times, but is pulled up, peppered with humorous references and great insights every time it seems to lull. If you're a serious musician or a total eggheead that likes music, both of which Byrne is, it should be considered required reading. I'm nearing the end and I've reached the chapter titled "Amateurs!" and there was this gem: "The 'don't give a shit' attitude of the amateur is another precious commodity." and then this "Amateurism, or at least the lack of pretension associated with it, can be liberating." Amen, egghead brother!
So, how do you pull on the heart strings of some cynical "I know what I like but really know what I hate" blogging asshat? The equation is something like this: take one part Hasil Atkins, one part Cramps, one part Flat Duo Jets, and a small town locale, and subtract finesse, budget, and the fucks that they (the band) do not give. You end up with Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands. Waylon Thornton plays guitar, and the Heavy Hands are just that, two hands belonging to his wife, who plays the drums, which are just that, two drums. Their music is simple, loose, spirited, are completely devoid of pretension. And not only is there a lot of it (and yes, there are some misses), it's hard to buy it. You have to want to buy it. The bulk of it is either at Bandcamp as a "name your price" download, or at the Free Music Archive.
I've posted Thornton's stuff before, a couple years ago. The reason I'm posting his stuff again is not because I'm too lazy to think of something else. It's just that, in reading Byrne's book, every few pages I found myself thinking about Thornton and his wife, in some room someplace, making music because that's what they do (did). Not just in the book's chapter about amateurs. When Byrne starts to go into the business of music, you start to realize that it's all math and money, accounting. Who wants to think about that? That's time away from rocking out, time away from making music. Wayne Thornton and the Heavy Hands appear less concerned about selling their music than making it. It remains pure. Unheard by the vast majority of even the most fiendish of fiends. But you want to know if it's listenable. If you dig, for instance, the Adkins/Cramps/Flat Duo Jets ersatz trinity of trash, you'll probably dig them. I know some of you may think that their stuff is just total slop, total crap. I'd better not hear that from anyone who worships at the alter of Pussy Galore's cover of the Exile on Main St. That is total crap, total slop, but we all dig the idea right? If you do know that one, ask yourself, is the Pussy Galore Exile folly a bit pretentious? Self conscious "don't give a shit"-ist? Something to think about.
This just in: All of my previous attempts to find Thornton's music as a physical product (45, LP or other) were fruitless, but tonight I did find a 45 for sale, from 2015, him playing in another two piece, Strange Lords, with some other dude (not his wife). There were only 200 pressed. Get it while you can here.
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If you don't know the Beach Boys music beyond Pet Sounds and their early hits, then you're likely not to know "Feel Flows", which was Carl Wilson's baby. He co-wrote it, he sang it, and, among other instruments, he played the wicked fuzz. It's about as psychedelic as they ever got. Fuzz and flute going off at the same time? How could that possibly work? Somehow it does.
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Oh holy hell. A random click at Boogaloo Time, landed me on an awesome selection of songs on a post titled Hey Soul Sister. It's just what it implies. Heavy on Northern soul, including a Spector produced Darlene Love cut, "Lord If You're a Woman", best described as "'Wall of Motown' looked good on paper". Though not as epic as Spector probably imagined, it's a great cut.
Now for something that will make your hair stand on end. Did for me. There's a transition in the Sugar Pie Desanto song, "Do the Whoopie", where she ends a verse with a scream and her voice cracks, followed two seconds later with a honking sax solo. Even the short two seconds between the two fits in a micro drum break. Bliss. But don't skip ahead, it's much better if you're already locked in the groove. It's at :51.
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Here's a classic case of an A side of a 45 being completely different from a B side, and in my opinion, the B side is better. The band is Head, who I'd never heard of before last night. The song I dig is "Killed By Death", which has a late seventies punk sound; surprisingly informed in that way, considering it was released in 2002. After looking at the lyrics at One Base On an Overthrow, it appears that the song is about the inflated prices on small run 45s based on rarity, not quality. So maybe the style of the song was supposed to infer that they were singing about the inflated prices of punk records, or maybe that's how they usually sound. But they sure don't sound like that on the A side, "Spend the Night Alone", albeit the intro sounds like the Buzzcocks. But when the vocals come in, it loses me. Too poppy. Anything that comes within a hundred miles of pop punk, with those sort of Blink 182 vocals, that repels me. I hate that shit. Which is weird, because I like punk rock and I like pop music, and bands like the Buzzcocks and the Ramones who definitely approached pop at times. I just know that there is this blurry line in regards to nasally late-to-the-party pop punk vocals. Once you cross over it, you're in that Blink 182 shit category (Green Day, you're being watched). These guys are straddling that line, good thing for them it's blurry.
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A song called "Aphrodesia" by those guys above. You know it's gonna be either really good or really bad. I hadn't seen a photo of them when I heard the song for the first time, so I can't say that it swayed my opinion. But, man, just look at them. Nice wigs hipsters. They're the Pop Concerto Orchestra, but it sure ain't no orchestra I know. It sounds like Italian library music, or Morricone in the seventies. There's another song on the album I've yet to hear, "Lady Milady". Oh, and there's "Girl's Room". What the hell are these guys all about? I'm not so sure I want to know.
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Here's a whole heap of stuff from Coxsone Dodd's Studio One. If you're not familiar with the label, there's some links below to get you caught up. Suffice it to say that it was one of the most important reggae labels of all time, particularly during the sixties and seventies. There's over a hundred and fifty cuts and they run the gamut. Vocals, instrumentals, dub, ska, some with excellent sound and some with surface noise and occasional pops and skips. (I miss skips in records.) If you dig golden era reggae, there'll be some names you'll recognize and many you won't. Even if you consider yourself knowledgeable about Studio One, there's some surprises. There's also a link to a two part documentary, which can lag in parts, but just seeing Dodd in conversation should be enough for some of you fiends.
A note about downloading from Internet Archive: Once there, in the right column, under "Download options" click on "VBR MP3 Files".
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