LONG LIVE THE KILLER

Hell, if there's anything worth celebrating, it sure isn't a clock hitting midnight. It's the end of the year and I suggest we all get over it. There is one thing tonight that is worth celebrating, Jerry Lee Lewis is still alive. He is, in fact, playing tonight in Memphis, possibly as I'm typing this. The Killer is 83, and he's given us more good music than we deserve. He's wrecked cars, fought audiences, been in and out of hospitals and rehab, and buried a few wives. He's always walked the walk, never hid from the real Jerry Lee, always told the truth and taken his lumps. The dude is an open book. An open book that shows no immediate signs of ending.

An awful lot of gushing I know. I just finished reading his sorta autobiography, Jerry Lee Lewis, His Own Story by Rick Bragg. It's a biography written from one on one interviews, the Killer's story not necessarily in his own words, but with enough semi-recent quotes and killerisms written into the text to make it seem like you're sitting in the same room. Bragg does a bang up job, and any blanks that I've had even after reading a couple other biographies of the Killer, along with multiple books about Sun Records, are duly filled. With this book the job is complete, at least up to 2014 when it was published. It makes no excuses for Jerry Lee Lewis, nor does he himself. He is exactly what he is, and always has been. Long live the Killer.

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Listen:
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On mp3 at Otsotm (?)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire mp3 at Bousculade (?)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Lovin' Up a Storm On mp3 at ATumblr
Jerry Lee Lewis - Wild One mp3 at ATumblr
Oddballs:
Jerry Lee Lewis - Jerry's Boogie mp3 at The Cosimo Code Earliest recording, age 16, 1952
Jerry Lee Lewis - Don't Stay Away (Till Love Grows Cold) mp3 at The Cosimo Code  Ditto above.
The Hawk - In the Mood mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People Throwaway instrumental released under a pseudonym.

HOWDY NEIGHBOR!

Oh yeah, annoying the neighbors. That was, at my partying peak, a habit of mine. I seem to remember that much. Though I don't remember it being intentional, it very will may have. If it was a weekend, I'd just let it rip. Had to, there was almost always a handful of beer drinkers over, whether there were plans for later or not. As I said in the last post, the Germs and Flipper were standbys for those sort of asshole nights. Cuttin' loose, neighbors be damned.

Flipper's "Sex Bomb", the 45 version, was the go-to when things got loud. I couldn't find an mp3, so it's YouTube only for that, but you do need to hear it. I did find the flip, "Brainwash" on an old post at Bleedin' Out that also had Anarchy 6 (Redd Kross) and Teengenerate. If you'd like some visuals check the two videos. The one above is a 1983 performance by Einstürzende Neubauten. It's a healthy racket, I tell you. As long as we're on this FTW tack, there's another link below to a demolition derby with cars pulling trailers. Total destruction. Basho dominates.

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Listen:
Flipper - Sex Bomb (streaming) at YouTube
Flipper - Brainwash mp3 (via Box, download button, top right) at Bleeding Out Go there for Redd Kross, Teengenerate and a few others.
Video:
Banger Caravan Racing, Ipswich at YouTube Demolition derby, a solid Revel Skill Level 2

ADULT ORIENTED NEIGHBOR ANNOYERS

A couple weeks ago I was listening to the jazz station, half paying attention when they introduced the song. I heard Ornette Coleman, and as they listed the other musicians I was distracted, I thought that they said Eric Dolphy and Don Cherry. As the song played, it was "Ho-ly shit, what is this?!? I just stopped what I was doing. Sat right in the center of the speakers and just soaked in it. Fuck, was it haywire.

It was late, and the computer was off, so I just made a note of the time so I could go to the station's website and look at the playlist. Wouldn't you know it, the fucking playlist listed the wrong song. For the last week and a half I've been trying to find it and I finally did tonight. It's "Free Jazz" from the album of the same name. Duh. Forehead slap, hard. The thing has been in on my Amazon wish list for over a year. The song is the only one the album, a side each for parts 1 and 2. It's crazy.

The full title, Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation, credited to the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, which included Dolphy and Cherry, as well as Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden and so on. Check the Wiki page, it lists all the personnel, in which channel you'll hear them, and has a complete play by play listing of where in the song you can hear any one of the members' solos. 

There's a couple other songs down there that I came across, just as crazy. It's kind of funny, in my younger years I was like any other younger idiot. You blame the neighbors if there's a noise complaint, it's never your fault. Once the cops split, you turn it up. I have been on both ends of that shit. When I was on the snotty offensive, I'd blast Flipper or the Germs, maybe something a little WTF, like the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Now, if I was to go on the offensive, I think it would have to be some of this crazy jazz shit. You can't ignore it, it's impossible to chill. "Comin' in low, neighbors!"

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Listen:
The Ornette Coleman Double Quartet - Free Jazz (Parts 1 and 2) (streaming) at YouTube
Ornette Coleman -  Civilization Day (streaming) at YouTube
Ornette Coleman - Midnight Sunrise mp3 at Rock Town Hall

YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK THE HALL.

What a joke the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame [sic] is. They take the fame part of it way too seriously. They all but ignore the rock 'n' roll part of it, and rock 'n' roll is not a game of numbers, in fans, records sold, press ink or dollars. This year Stevie Nicks was inducted for a second time, once as a member of the Fleetwood Mac, and this year as a solo artist. Rock 'n' roll? I think not.

Link Wray is not in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame [sic]. The man had more rock 'n' roll under his fingernail than Stevie Nicks has had in her entire career. If he never recorded anything but "Rumble" he'd still be a no-brainer, that is if this so called Hall lived up to its name. Fuck record sales, fuck numbers, fuck the hall.

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Listen:
Link Wray - Rumble mp3 at California Girls (?)
Link Wray - Oddball mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
Link Wray - The Fuzz mp3 at Record Brother
Link Wray - Ace of Spades mp3 at Kogars Jungle Juice
Link Wray - Tijuana mp3 at Ray Carram (?)
Link Wray - Comanche mp3 at RocknDog
Link Wray - Comanche (alternate nix) mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban Promo 45

YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE

I don't have kids, but I remember very clearly how antsy I was on Christmas Eve when I was young. Just thinking about waking up in the morning with all sorts of new shit to play with, appearing out of nowhere. One year me and my siblings put out heads together and tried to outfox the fat man. We didn't have a fireplace, so we figured the logical place for him to enter would be through the front door, so we hatched a plan. We would put a note on the outside of the front door that said "Santa if you come in this door take this note down." Couldn't fail. I'll tell you though, that jolly fucker is smart. He sent my aunt and uncle over to our house, and they knocked front door, and when my parents answered they said "Hey, look at this note that was out here." Shifty son of a bitch. That was the last year we hassled with anything like that. In the years that followed, the word got out that the man was a fake. So, to whoever got us the Hot Wheels, thanks.

Here's some records that were sent to members of the Beatles fan club, from 1963 through 1969. They range from cocksure smart asses to appreciative wits, but if you've never heard them, they are entertaining. The first link has mp3s, just click on the record labels of each individual record. The second link has the same records streaming, but with descriptions and click-able high resolution images of the covers.

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Listen:
The Beatles Christmas Records Records - 1963 - 1969 mp3s at The Beatles Source NOTE: Click on record labels for mp3s.
The Beatles Christmas Records Records - 1963 - 1969 (streaming) at All Dylan Right click on record labels for high resolution.
High resolution source of above photo

BIG JAY CHECKED OUT

I should have known something was up. All of a sudden a Big Jay McNeely post was getting all sorts of hits. The post was from a year and a half ago, when he was still alive. Then it hit me, the reason for the hits. Sure as shit, McNeely had passed, back in September. Why the fuck didn't I hear about it? McNeely was the epitome of honking r&b sax. Crazy, wild and everything in between. He died and I didn't hear a peep about it. What a sorry fucking world this is.

Because the links on the old post are dead, here's some more of his stuff so you can get an idea of how he blew that thing. Dig the song titles. Just as crazy as he looks in that photo above. Me? I feel like that screaming dude in the photo every time I hear him. Long live the honk.

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Listen:
Big Jay McNeely - Jay's Frantic mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Psycho Serenade mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Just Crazy mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Wild Wig mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Jay McNeely - Mule Milk mp3 at Internet Archive

TOO MUCH GO POWER

I don't care if you've heard these before. They're awesome and there's only about a three week period when they're not premature or wholly inappropriate. That's Christmas music for you. Just dig on these, before they go back in the rafters for another year. They're textbook GFOS. You could do much worse.

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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 mp3 at Panic Stream

SHOW ME JOLLY

Yeah, another repost, but it's tripled in size. The blabbing below is about a Christmas mix made by Lux Interior and Ivy Rorschach from the Cramps, fourteen songs. Added this year, a Christmas mix given to Kristian Hoffman by Lux a zillion years ago. That one, Jeezus Fuck, It's Christmas!!!, is in two parts, one for each side of the tape. Thirty-seven songs when you add them up. Here's the old shit:

I gotta admit after just a few holiday posts I'm kinda over it. I hardly ever listen to holiday music even during high season (the obvious exception being Halloween themed music which usually yields more crackpots). That said, I'm not the one hosting a gathering, so you party planners rejoice. You'll be getting a few more things to free up time to perfect your eggnog spiking.

Here's a short mix made by Lux (RIP) and Ivy from the Cramps. Not quite as crazy as the series of Lux and Ivy's Favorites (which, by the way, are highly recommended), but there are enough oddballs to keep you guessing. If you're curious, the mix includes songs by the Sonics, John Lee Hooker, the Diablos, Elvis, the Youngsters, Jack Scott, the Vel Mares, the Five Red Caps, the Castelles, King Curtis, Washboard Pete, and the Brown Dots. Fourteen individual mp3s in a zip. Have at it.

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Listen:
Black Christmas - Holiday mix from Lux and Ivy at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 14 cuts in a zip, with high resolution artwork.
Jeezus Fuck, It's Christmas!!! - Lux Interior Christmas Tape at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 37 cuts in two zips

I'LL TWEAK THIS SHIT UP GOOD

You gotta like Esquivel. A perfectly capable musician, composer and what not. Talented, probably had non-stop work. In the face of everything, he decided to inject normal with just a little weird, just enough to keep his job. Sure, he's no Can, but I'll tell you what, Can sure ain't no Esquivel.

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Listen:
Esquivel - Frosty the Snowman mp3 at The Decibel Tolls
Can - Silent Night mp3 at The Decibel Tolls

SPIN IT, JUNIOR.

Been reading a lot lately. After four books in a row about UK punk followed by a autobiography by surfer Israel Paskowitz, I needed me some fiction. Raymond Chandler, yo. I've read him, but never read one of his books a second time, so they've been sitting there for years, glaring at me. "Fuck you Mr. Four Punk Books In A Row." So, I'm a third of the way through The Big Sleep and having a hard time putting it down. I forgot how packed with oddball descriptions and wisecracks under fire Chandler's books were. During a break in the hard boiled action, I went for some associative tunes. I knew just where to find them, in the dusty back pages of Office Naps. It occurred to me that it might be a good time to remind you that Office Naps exists. It's a blog with lots of music, mixes and profiles of long gone obscure bands and such, but the highlight for me are the posts that include handfuls of 45s thematically grouped. There's good stuff, most from the fifties and sixties and most songs that you probably won't experience elsewhere. That wouldn't be a big deal, but the music is all good, interesting at the very least, and the back stories are well researched. Just the kind of shit I'm too lazy to do.

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Listen:

Alvino Rey and His Orchestra - The Bat  mp3 at Office Naps
Paul Dunlap - Lili’s Theme (from The Rookie) mp3 at Office Naps
Det Moor Orch. - Jazz Dramatic mp3 at Office Naps

ANOTHER FESTIVUS MIRACLE!

Holy shit. Steady yourself. Keith Richards quit drinking. I never thought I'd live to see the day. I could make a thousand jokes about this but I won't because making a decision like that is a humbling thing to do, and if there was ever a person who would benefit from it, it's him. If you've followed the Stones for more than a few years, you know his rep. How he's still walking around is anybody's guess. But this is a good thing. Personally, I don't give a shit if he ever plays another note (but then, I haven't really cared since Goats Head Soup). Actually, it'll be interesting to see how this sober Keith thing shakes out.

So, guess what? Now you get his cover of Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" along with Chuck Berry's version, and Berry's "Merry Christmas Baby". And a sigh of relief, because no matter how many he days he had in front of him as a drinker, he has more now. He's given us enough good music (pre-Goats Head of course) that he deserves it. He deserves more days to sit around with his wife and kids.

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Listen:
Chuck Berry - Run, Rudolph, Run mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
Chuck Berry - Merry Christmas Baby mp3 at Panic Stream
Keith Richards - Run Rudolph Run mp3 at Panic Stream
Stop the presses:
Keith Richards has given up drinking: “It was time to quit” at NME

TONIGHT AT THE STAPLES CENTER

Aw hell, it's bound to happen. Poking through sites on my route, I run into something that is dig-able, start looking for related stuff and before I know it there's some enough tidbits to qualify as a "Here you go, now get outta my hair" type post. Then I check the old posts and realize that most of the stuff I've just tracked down has been posted here before. Then would come the "fuggit" moment. Fuggit.

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Listen:
Ramsey Lewis - Why Am I Treated So Bad? mp3 at Groove Addict
Melodiya Ensemble - Why Am I Treated So Bad? mp3 at Soul Sides
Staple Singers - Why Am I Treated So Bad? (streaming) at YouTube
Staple Singers - I'll Take You There mp3 at The Skin Divers (?)
Staple Singers - Respect Yourself mp3 at Inventati (?)
Staple Singers - Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas mp3 at Tommy Gibson (?)

I CONCUR, LIKE TOTALLY

Yep, you betcha, the first lazy repost of this holiday season. It had to be these guys.

If it's a realist's Christmas you want, the Sonics have got you covered. The whole thing's a sham. No presents, the fat man's a no-show, and the mistletoe doesn't work. Everything sucks. Ho, ho, ho, commiserate.

Make sure you check the guitar solo (at 1:12) in "Santa Claus". It sounds like it's falling apart right from the beginning. It's got the certain thing, it's just off enough.

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Listen:
The Sonics - Don't Believe in Christmas mp3 at Clayton Counts
The Sonics - Santa Claus mp3 at The Decibel Tolls

THE PUNK D.I.Y. PIONEER

Pete Shelley has died. Heart attack, age 63. Front man, guitarist and lead vocalist, of Buzzcocks, the embodiment of DIY, from the formation of the band to their debut record, a self-released four song 45 (to call it an EP is a little inaccurate), Buzzcocks broke into it with no industry connections. A great quote by Shelley regarding that first record says it all, "It just shows what can happen if you’re stupid enough to believe that you can do something. History is made by those who turn up.” That's as succinct as it gets.

If you're of a certain age, you know these songs like the back of your hand. Let yourself be reminded of what a pure band Buzzcocks were. Nice hooks, trademark buzz guitar sound, and, yes, musically inoffensive, as in you might not like it but there's no denying the craft. Like a punk rock version of Abba. Not in sound, but in relative stature.

Claven asks, did you know the Roger Daltrey, Elton John, and Robert Plant sang on a Buzzcocks cover, on the same record? It was a benefit tribute to John Peel a year after his death. A cover of "Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" that also had Shelley and a bunch of other people, and was produced by Andy Gill from the Gang of Four. Fuckin' weird.

Here's a mess of prime-era Buzzcocks, a couple videos and a few things to read. Definitely check the How Buzzcocks invented indie thing at The Guardian to truly appreciate the impact of the early Buzzcocks.

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Listen:
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't 've?) mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Buzzcocks - Autonomy mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Buzzcocks - Fast Cars mp3 at Internet Archive
Buzzcocks - Why Can't I Touch It mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Buzzcocks - You Tear Me Up mp3 at Nodel
Buzzcocks - Love You More mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Buzzcocks - Promises mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Robert Plant, Pete Shelley, and others - Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've?) (streaming) at YouTube
Video:
Buzzcocks - What do I get? (Live 1977, The Electric Circus) at YouTube
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (1978 Top Of The Pops) at YouTube
Visit:
Pete Shelley, lead singer of punk band Buzzcocks, dies at 63 at The Guardian
How Buzzcocks invented indie (with help from the Sex Pistols, a Renault and the Quo) at The Guardian
Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley Dies At 63 at NPR

WHO DOSED MY LINK?

Oh fuck, this song is amazing. I don't know what the hell it is. The mix of oddball instruments swapping licks throughout. Surf type guitar, tablas, cheesy farfisa, what sounds like a Casio, fuzz guitar and accordion, plus assorted percussion instruments. Oh, and the backing vocals, yeesh, Kora Pandit only wishes. I've listened to it a half dozen times and still haven't gone one step further other than seeing that they're from Pakistan. Here goes. I'm going to savor this.

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Listen:
Tafo Brothers -  Bura Honda Juwariyan Da mp3 at Radio Diffusion Intl If link doesn't work, go there to get it.
Tafo Brothers -  Sun We Bilori Akh mp3 at Radio Diffusion Intl Go there to get it.

YEAH, SURE, THE STYLISTICS.

"There have been many great performers, but only four great stylists—Al Jolson, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, and Jerry Lee Lewis." said Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the four great stylists. Now, I love Jerry Lee Lewis's music, and I do think he is a great stylist. I'll take any of his boasting if his music is part of the package, and he really does make just about any song sound like a Jerry Lee Lewis song. But I take issue with the number of stylists he cites. C'mon, four? I guess the Killer's criteria is different than mine.

Out of curiosity, I decided to listen to the Hank William covers I knew that he did, back to back with Hank Williams's versions. Great stylist versus great stylist. It doesn't work. It's total apples and oranges, each with their own different distinctive style. Then I tried the same exercise with a Jimmie Rodgers song. This was a little tougher because Rodgers was a god of yodeling, and that shit's hard to do convincingly. In that regard the Killer ain't Rodgers, nobody is, but he yodels just fine. It sounds like a Jerry Lee Lewis song. The stylists job is done.

I've no idea if Jerry Lee Lewis ever covered Al Jolson. I did a cursory search, squat. For now, step one is done. I still have to go find a fifth great stylist.

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Listen:
Jerry Lee Lewis - Jambalya mp3 at Internet Archive
Hank Williams - Jambalya mp3 at Internet Archive
Jerry Lee Lewis - You Win Again mp3 at Internet Archive
Hank Williams - You Win Again mp3 at Internet Archive
Jerry Lee Lewis - Waiting on a Train (streaming) at YouTube
Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting on a Train (streaming) at YouTube

LIKES TO SAY "LOOK AT THAT"

Out and about today, just about all the music I heard was holiday music. It's way too early for that shit. I can deal with it for a week or two, and then only intermittently. I know I lean on it as it gets closer to the day, but that's really because I'm lazy and holiday music, be it Halloween or Christmas, is easy to find and it keeps the party planners satiated. But not yet.

What I was listening to at home was Dr. Alimantado. He'd been on my mind after reading (again) that John Lydon was a fan and seeing him on a Paul Simonon playlist. Nothing new to me, but it had been a while. Lydon mentions a fondness for "Born For a Purpose" while Simonon goes with "Poison Flour", an all time favorite within these walls. Simonon wins.

"Poison Flour" is on the Best Dressed Chicken In Town LP, as is "I Killed the Barber". That LP is awesome all around. Great title and one of the best cover photos of all time.

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Listen:
Dr. Alimantado - Born For a Purpose mp3 at Surrepptitious Music
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour (streaming) at YouTube
Dr. Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Full LP:
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town (zip) at Compartilhando Reggae

WHAT THEY DO?

I went to the local Christmas parade earlier tonight. I'm not particularly jolly, but the thing is only two blocks away so you would almost have to make an effort to avoid it. I figure I can just walk home if it's too boring, and sometimes I do. It's usually lame, and this year was no exception. The first music I heard out of it was was some band playing the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues" on the back of a flatbed. Sorta tells you what the town is like. Hey, the hipster invasion is kept at bay, so what the hell.

The other music was three different jam bands, same set up, flatbeds. There was an Irish thing, bagpipes 'n' shit, a ol' timey hillbilly band, again, flatbed. (They must have all seen that Mops clip.) There was also a dj, a samba group and a band, Bump City Brass, doing the O'Jays' "Love Train". A great version with a woman singing lead. Musically, it was the one shining part of the parade. The rest was the same as any other year. Oh, this was odd, there was a group, roughly fifty people dressed head to toe in black with Guy Fawkes masks and signs that said "truth". I'll have to Google that shit.

So, when I got home "Love Train" ended up an O'Jays orgy. "Back Stabbers" sent me right back to an old hang, a bar called the Pink Panther, late eighties. It was a punk/mod crowd, the bar co-owned by the current owner of the Casbah. The Panther didn't have live music, just DJs at night and a jukebox during the day. The jukebox had all sorts of cool shit. Punk, rockabilly, mod shit and a few odds and ends. One was "Back Stabbers". It was unlike the others and I must have heard that song a thousand times there. I added three to that tonight. That song is so badass, particularly for seventies soul. "What they do?" might as well be a power chord. Fuck, listen to it, loud. So badass. Then it was on to the long version of "For the Love of Money". That's when the wheels came off. Dancing around like a fool in a cramped living room. I'm outta here. Going to check out more O'Jays, and I ain't coming back tonight.

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Listen:
The O'Jays - Back Stabbers mp3 at The Industry Cosign
The O'Jays - For the Love of Money mp3 at Man In the Maze
The O'Jays - Love Train mp3 at Mark Candleshore

GET TO WORK YOU LAZY POSEURS

I've just finished reading Jon Savage's The England's Dreaming Tapes for the second time. It consists of the interviews he conducted for his earlier book England's Dreaming, an overview of the English punk scene. There's a shitload of take-aways in it, as far as common pre-punk tastes (Roxy Music, Bowie, Mott the Hoople, the Stooges, and the MC5), what gigs they went to, when they first became acquainted with the Sex Pistols, the impact of the Pistols, and so on. Everyone saying that the pre-Nancy Sid Vicious was really nice, surprisingly smart, and funny. I haven't read the book that the interviews were conducted for, but this follow up is deep, I can't imagine the earlier book adding all that much.

I haven't listened to punk rock all that much in recent years because I've listened to all of the seminal stuff so much I'd practically memorized much of it. You can debate all that you want about whether or not "punk is dead", but to me much of what has been labeled punk rock in the last thirty years is derivative, just banging out three chords and showing an angry face. All the mosh pit and stage diving nonsense, everybody's seems to forget the part about thinking for yourself and debasing what came before. Well intended or not, most of it seems disingenuous. Punk rock is decidedly dead. The spirit of punk is not, but you'll have to look elsewhere for it (the first thing that comes to mind is the lone protester standing in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square. Oh, and the Pussy Riot thing).

In the midst of reading the book I did some poking around online and while looking for the current status of Jamie Reid, the situationist pal of Malcolm McLaren who did all of the Sex Pistols graphics, I ran into his semi-recent revisit of the original "God Save the Queen" graphic, this time around with Trump the target. It got me to thinking that if punk rock did truly still exist, shouldn't there be an anti-Trump anthem by now? There may very well have been an attempt, but if I haven't heard of it, the splash wasn't big enough. You can't leave all that to Uncle Neil. I mean, jeez, show us what you're made of.

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Listen:
The Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen mp3 at Marty Sport (?)
The Clash - I'm So Bored With the USA mp3 at Review Stalker
The Buzzcocks - Boredom mp3 at Inside Pulse (?)
The Damned - Neat, Neat, Neat at Jorge Farah (?)
Plaster these around the hood:
God Save the USA - Jamie Reid, high resolution version of above
God Save President Trump, God Save Us All, alternate version  

LET'S TALK, MAD MAN.

Me, after a trip in a time machine to 1958. Location: The office of East West Records. Addressing Mad Man Taylor:

Dude, if you haven't the imagination to come up with better lyrics, or come up with less derivative themes, you'll be seen as a bandwagon jumpin' opportunist. Don't you know that using "rock 'n' roll" repeatedly in your lyrics is so '57? Dude, you're late, and you come off as a disingenuous poseur. Sorry to say, because you quite definitely rock something.

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Listen:
Mad Man Taylor - Rock 'n' Roll Espanole mp3 at Internet Archive
Mad Man Taylor - Rumble Tumble mp3 at Internet Archive

PHIL'S LEGACY IS IN GOOGLE HELL.

I got stung by a stingray again today. That's three times in the space of five days. I'm about ready to go get some steel cleats and shin guards, and go stomp some stingray ass. Slimey ass creatures.

After it happened while soaking my foot, I tried to keep songs out of my head. Particularly because the first that came to mind, "Oops! I Did It Again" didn't bode well. What the fuck? As soon as I excluded song titles, the first stingray related thing that came to mind was Johnny Stingray, the former guitarist of the Controllers. So here's a Controllers song, a sturdy early L.A. punk slab. And one each from the Eyes and the Skulls as well. This is period perfect, Masque-era, 1978.

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Listen:
What Records Comp. E.P. 7″ - The Controllers, the Eyes and the Skulls (three mp3s) at Killed By Death

A WHITE BOY WHAT?

I think everybody knows that Elvis Presley's first record was a cover of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right". Maybe not. Even if most of you did know that, how many have actually heard Crudup's original? I didn't hear it until long after hearing Elvis's cover.  It was on my list for years, the frustration compounded by wanting to hear the original of "My Baby Left Me", a song of his covered by Creedence as well as Elvis. But nothing. Squat. There was no internet, and the demand for Crudup's work was not sufficient enough for even the blues bins. You kids have it so easy when it comes to finding music. Why do you concentrate on recent crap? Oh yeah, before I forget, get the fuck off the lawn.

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

Listen:
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - That's All Right mp3 at Internet Archive 1946
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - That's All Right mp3 at Internet Archive 1962
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - My Baby Left Me (streaming) at YouTube 1950
Elvis Presley - That's All Right (streaming) at YouTube 1954
Creedence Clearwater Revival - My Baby Left Me mp3 at Adios Lounge 1970

HOWDY FROM THE BACK OF THE STACK

Fuck, I'm lame. Ever go walking around with nothing but disdain for people that cherry pick LPs and don't listen to them in their entirety? Not that many LPs before the late sixties were actually conceived as a full albums, rather a handful of recent singles with some filler B material, but still, to know a band is to know more than the hits, the "deep cuts". So I'm an asshole. I believe all of that, yet I still came across a Mitch Ryder song, "I Got It Made", that I don't remember ever hearing, despite having owned the LP it's from for well over twenty years. It could be that I never really listened to it closely enough to hear the battle of the honking saxes, because once you've noticed the sax interplay in in, you cannot un-hear it. Check it out, an :57 right after the second verse and sporadically through the second half of the song. How the hell could I have not noticed that? There is only one answer. Guilty as charged: cherry picker.

Thankfully, "Sock It to Me Baby!" never suffered that fate. Had that one on a  45 with a picture sleeve, courtesy of the thrift store that used to be on Market Street, just past Thirteenth (records in the back room to the left). Funny, the shit you remember.

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

Listen:
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels - I Had It Made mp3 at Groove Addict
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels - Sock It to Me Baby! mp3 ATumblr (?)

TRUST ME, THEY LOOK LIKE DORKS

Songs will return when they do, at the oddest moment a song that you forgot about. Today for instance, I got stung by two stingrays, within minutes. Twice. If you know how painful one stingray sting can be, multiply it by two. Fucking ouch is right. And for some stupid reason, "Double Shot (of My Babies Love)" by the Swinging Medallions started going through my head. Probably the "double shot" part, there was no baby or love involved. Okay, too much pain right now, I'll go with that one.

The song has the sound of a band playing at a party, which I'm sure was just a bunch of assorted people in the studio, but it does lend itself to imagining a not-quite frat house band, not quite garage, but a good time nonetheless. Too bad it doesn't work as a pain killer.

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

Listen:
The Swingin' Medallions - Double Shot (of My Baby's Love) mp3 at ATumblr

IF YOU CAN'T WIN, CHANGE THE GAME

In the early to mid-sixties, American bands had to compete with the British Invasion. Around 1966 they threw in the towel, as if Rubber Soul convinced them to just be their simple three chord selves. Snotty vocals, fuzz, a little organ and an air of arrogance. Two and a half minutes on plastic. Done. Not rocket science here.

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

Listen:
The 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me mp3 at Internet Archive
The Standells - Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White mp3 at Internet Archive
Love - My Little Red Book mp3 at Internet Archive
The Barbarians - Are You A Boy or Are You a Girl mp3 at Internet Archive
Syndicate of Sound - Hey Little Girl mp3 at Internet Archive
Count Five - Psychotic Reaction mp3 at Internet Archive

COULD'VE BEEN THE SUITS.

Doinking around with old random bookmarks again, ran into a few of the Jam. Haven't heard them in ages. After their second LP I lost interest and never really went back. They've been in the back of the stack for years so if there was ever a chance to hear them objectively it would be now. But no. Something about them bugs me still and I can't peg it. Might be the way they tried to distance themselves from punk rock, or something like that.

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

Listen:
The Jam - Art School mp3 at Internet Archive
The Jam - Slow Down mp3 at Internet Archive
The Jam - In the City mp3 at Internet Archive

SONG THE NOMADIC HIPPIE TAUGHT ME

I was down at the beach today, shooting the shit with a guy who lives in a converted school bus ("Adam, like the first fuck up" is how he introduced himself a while back). Nice guy, and a good talker, with an opinion about everything. Today there was another converted school bus parked by his, and it was his buddy's, the guy lounging on the grass doing some sort of art project. That guy had a speaker thing hooked up to his phone. I was drawn by Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay", a song I wouldn't expect to be on the playlist of some long hair with those Frisbee things in his ears. As I was talking to the first fuck up, the next song was Al Green's "Tired of Being Alone". At this point I'm paying more attention to the playlist than the conversation.

The next song was "He Was Really Saying Something" by the Velvelettes. Well shut my mouth, I never realized that Bananarama's "Really Saying Something" was a cover. I shouldn't be surprised because Bananarama did a ton of covers, and it's been so long since I listened to them, or even thought about them, I'll give myself a pass. Full disclosure: I liked them for about a year or so back in the eighties. I gotta admit, I thought they were cool looking gals, I mean, look at them. Pretty, yes, but not the sort of band you're going to latch onto for years to come.

They did pick some good covers. When I went searching for the Velvelette's original, I found that Bananarama's first 45, "Aie a Mwana" was a cover as well. Theirs seems to be based not on the original by Le Monde fabuleux des Yamasuki, but another cover by Black Blood. Ah, Black Blood, never heard of 'em, but the live video of them at YouTube has me going in an entirely different direction. Time to cut out before this turns into one of those all night webs of distraction. I'll report back.

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

Listen:
Bananarama - Really Saying Something mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Bananarama - Aie a Mwana mp3 at Narod.ru (?) Note: Russian site, phasers on stun.
Bananarama - No Feelings mp3 at Narod.ru (?) Sex Pistols cover. Ditto above warning.
Video:
Black Blood - Aie a Mwana at YouTube

LOOK WHAT THEY DONE TO MY SONG MA

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, probably around the late sixties. Prior to that, early rock 'n' roll bands covered older songs, but it was basically just different ways of interpreting them. But as soon as big amps started showing up, rather than interpreting songs in a different way, it seems it was all about destroying the songs. Not necessarily with bad intent, just a louder, more amplified way. And a lot of people first heard old blues or jazz songs through whoever the guitar hero of the day was, which could be said to be a good thing. There were some musicians that kind of straddled the line, that really thought they were being reverent (Johnny Winter, a blues guy at heart, comes to mind). But somewhere in there, it got loud, really loud, the covers often unrecognizable, which may have been the whole point. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

It hit me recently when someone posted the Who's version of Mose Allison's "Young Man Blues", which is just about the most stark example of obliterating the original that there is. Given that Allison was so laid back in his delivery, it wouldn't take much, a standard rock 'n' roll band could have done it, but the Who completely destroyed it. Yeah, Clapton, suck on that.

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

Listen:
Willie Dixon - Spoonful mp3 at Le Melletron
Cream - Spoonful (streaming) at YouTube
Willie Dixon - I Just Want To Make Love to You (streaming) at YouTube
Foghat - I Just Want To Make Love to You mp3 at Internet Archive
Mississippi Fred McDowell - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl mp3 at Keep the Coffee Coming
Ten Years After - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (live) (streaming) at YouTube
Mose Allison - Young Man Blues mp3 at Blog Noblat (?)
The Who - Young Man Blues (live) mp3 at ATumblr (?)