SHUCK THOSE BOOKS

Today near the beach there was some non-profit group set up with booths, a tent and a laptop DJ playing at a moderate volume. When I was walking by he was playing some seventies soul thing, I forget what song, then a cod reggae like cover of A-ha's "Take On Me", then the Four Tops "I Can't Get Next to You" with, of all things, the Lively Ones' "Surf Rider" stuck in the middle of it. It was great to hear the Lively Ones at the beach. It's never happened before. So, here's some surf music. Some of these have been posted before but blah blah blah.

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Listen:
The Lively Ones - Surf Rider mp3 at The California Girls
The Surfaris - Point Panic mp3 at mp3 at Internet Archive
Richie Allen and the Pacific Surfers - Surfer's Delight mp3 at Internet Archive
The Tornadoes - Beyond the Surf mp3 at ATumblr
Aki Aleong & the Nobels - Panic mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Torquays - Escondido mp3 at Office Naps
Dick Dale & the Deltones- Surf Beat mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Chantays - Pipeline mp3 at Rocky-52.net

BANDS YOU SHOULD KNOW #127

Talking music with a friend of mine today, a EDM DJ who knows quite a bit about music, but he's in his mid-twenties so much of what he knows is music from the last couple decades. I asked him if he had heard the Talking Heads. To my surprise he said that he had not even heard of them. My guess is that he's had to have heard them at some point, and just didn't know who it was. But it was kind of alarming. I'm thinking that a if a guy in his mid-twenties who knows a lot about music doesn't know who the Talking Heads are, it was high time to push them in front of other people who may not know them. There are a lot of people in their mid-twenties who don't know much about music that should still know about the Talking Heads. To someone my age, it seems elementary.

If you want the history of the band, look elsewhere. I'm not going to rehash shit that's already out there. In fact, the only real reason I'm posting these is so my friend can check them out. He does know Eno's Music For Airports. He blew me away with that one, and that's why I asked him about the Talking Heads. So I'm just posting a few of the Eno produced Talking Heads cuts so he can get a taste. These are from their third and fourth LPs (Fear of Music and Remain In Light), when they really hit their stride. Eno also produced their second, but it was the two that followed when things started getting real rhythmic and funky. If you've never heard the Talking Heads and don't listen to these, fuck off.

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Listen:
Talking Heads - I Zimbra mp3 at Feel My Bicep
Talking Heads - Life During Wartime (streaming) at YouTube
Talking Heads - Born Under Punches mp3 at By Way Of (?)
Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless mp3 at By Way Of (?)
Talking Heads - Houses In Motion mp3 at Three Happy People

GUESS WHAT HE PLAYS

The days are longer. I'm taking my time getting home from the post-work dip in the ocean. I get home and everything that I've thought to write about would just plain take too long. So, tonight you get a handful of Johnny Hammond Smith because he was keeping me entertained while I was cooking tamales. In the microwave. That lazy.

These are from different old posts at Groove Addict. At least I saved you the trouble of finding them. They do swing, so dig it or don't. I'm distracted. The tamales just rang. I'm outta here.

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Listen:
Johnny Hammond Smith - Goin' Places mp3 at Groove Addict
Johnny Hammond Smith - The Stinger mp3 at Groove Addict
Johnny Hammond Smith - Upset mp3 at Groove Addict
Johnny Hammond Smith - Opus de Funk mp3 at Groove Addict

THE FUCK IT IS. IT'S SPELLED N-E-W Y-O-R-K.

How do you spell New York? A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork. That's the way you spell New York. Ask anybody who's heard reggae DJ/toaster Dillinger. It's a line from his "Cocaine In My Brain". My friend Javier turned me onto the song over thirty years ago. Crucial. And Javier was from the punk scene. The cool thing about it is that it wasn't unusual back then. Punks listened to reggae. There was only a limited amount of punk records to listen to, and everybody back then had played their Stooges, Dolls, Velvets and MC5 records to exhaustion. Reggae was just another available type of rebel music. And there was so much to get caught up on.

The song wasn't even on my mind, but I was visiting Funky 16 Corners, and after sampling an excellent mix (Loose and Groovy, the second one on this post), I saw the previous post, a song called "A Knife and a Fork" by Kip Anderson. I guarantee you, even today, if Javier saw that song title he'd have something to say about a bottle and a cork. I've posted the Dillinger song before, but the links are now kaput. No choice folks, time to refresh. I found both versions. The first one was recorded at Channel One and is the better of the two. More character. I don't know where the other version was recorded, or when, because I don't really care. If I'm going to listen to Dillinger doing "Cocaine in My Brain", I'm going to listen to the Channel One version.

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Listen:
Dillinger - Cocaine In My Brain mp3 at Cubikmusik Channel One version
Dillinger - Cocaine In My Brain mp3 at San-Andreas (?)

EPIC JAM FROM THIS LADY

I don't know how much Esther Phillips you've heard. I've heard only a fraction of her stuff.  Pretty stupid considering I've liked just about everything I've heard of hers, spanning decades. I've heard early r&b stuff, northern soul type stuff and blues. Somehow I never ran across a 1971 cover of Gil Scott Heron's "Home Is Where the Hatred Is". Man, it's intense, lyrically and musically. The instrumentation is insane, all the shit that's going on, yet it still sounds spare. Listen to "Mojo Hannah" first, and then "Home Is Where the Hatred Is". Only seven years separate those two songs. Oh shit, here goes.

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Listen:

Esther Phillips - Mojo Hannah mp3 at Le Mellotron 1964
Esther Phillips - Home Is Where the Hatred Is mp3 at ATumblr (?) 1971
Esther Phillips and 'Big Al' Downing - You'll Never Miss Your Water (streaming) at YouTube 1963
Esther Phillips - I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) mp3 at ATumblr (?) 1966
Gil Scott-Heron - Home Is Where the Hatred Is (streaming) at YouTube
Gil Scott-Heron - Home Is Where the Hatred Is (Lyrics)

THAT LOOK WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE THE SHIT

I heard a shitty version of Ray Charles's "Hallelujah I Love Her So" yesterday. When that happens my normal practice is to immediately listen to another version I know is good, usually the original. This time, for whatever reason, I immediately thought of Billy Zoom's version. The version that I was thinking of is from 1981 and, although live, is a near dead ringer of Eddie Cochran's version recorded somewhere around 1957-'58.

Billy Zoom Band

Zoom was the guitarist for X, which I would hope some of you knew. Before that he was a rockabilly guy with as good a credential as you could get. He was Gene Vincent's guitarist towards the end of his career, just before he passed away. Zoom went on to record with his own band for Ronny Reiser's Rollin' Rock Records, a rockabilly label in L.A. It's just insane when you think about it. With all the retro stuff going on in recent decades, roots music, classic cars, cuffed Levis, and such, you'd be forgiven if you thought there's always been a market for rockabilly since the mid-late fifties heydays. Not so, not in the U.S.. The long hairs took care of that. Okay, so there was a market, but it was a tiny market, and consisted of only total fiends, total purest types. The fact that Rollin' Rock existed at all is just crazy. At the time Zoom was recording for them, covering Johnny Carrol's "Crazy Crazy Lovin'", most of what would become L.A.s first generation punk rockers were listening to Bowie.

Okay, we can agree that that's just nuts. But what gets me is that Zoom's cover of "Hallelujah I Love Her So" was recorded in 1981, he'd already been with X, a seminal L.A. punk band, for roughly four years, enough time for three singles and a couple LPs. Yet he retained the straight up rockabilly chops with his side thing.

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Listen:
Billy Zoom Band - Hallelujah, I Love Her So (live) mp3 at Billy Zoom 1981
Billy Zoom Band - Crazy Crazy Lovin' mp3 at  Billy Zoom Rollin' Rock 1975
Billy Zoom Band - Bad Boy mp3 at Billy Zoom Rollin' Rock 1976
Billy Zoom Band - Say When mp3 at Billy Zoom Rollin' Rock 1975
Eddie Cochran - Hallelujah, I Love Her So (streaming) at YouTube
Ray Charles - Hallelujah, I Love Her So (streaming) at YouTube
Johnny Carroll - Crazy, Crazy Lovin' mp3 at Rocky-52.net
Visit:
Billy Zoom interviewed by Buddy Seigal (Buddy Blue) from the OC Weely, 1998
Billy Zoom's Official site
Rollin' Rock Records

NO, TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK.

This could be greatest song ever recorded. Unfortunately, it isn't. But, how can I say this, it's like the "Johnny B. Goode" of negativity. It's perfect, a minute and a half of FTW goodness. I don't really need this tonight, but I will at some point. I know this mood. Someone should make a dub version. Tee hee.

You really need to go to the hosting blog, Killed By Death. Tons of independently released punk rock and hardcore 45s; the good, the bad, and just plain stupid. Besides, you need to hear the other cuts by No Thanks, "Are You Ready to Die?", "Poseur", and "Office Jerk/Rat Cheese", Oh yeah, these guys are just a barrel of fun.

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Listen:
No Thanks - Fuck Everything mp3 at Killed By Death
No Thanks - Three more at Killed By Death
Visit:
Killed By Death homepage

THE REGGAE FREAK CHALLENGE

The Melodians didn't have the label support that some of their contemporaries had. But then there were countless other reggae vocal groups that never got close enough to sniff a major label appearance at all. The Melodians landed on the soundtrack of The Harder They Come, released on Island Records, and that's where most people outside of Jamaica first heard them. "Rivers of Babylon" was almost like gospel, the harmonies striking. It's one of those rare reggae songs that is remembered more for the vocal component than the booming this or that, the groove or the dance-ability.

The Melodians recorded for several people, notably both Duke Reid and Coxsonne Dodd. If you know those two names and consider yourself schooled, try guessing who produced what below. Reid? Dodd? Other? Answers can be found at their page at Discogs. C'mon hot shot. Show us what you got.

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Listen:
The Melodians - River of Babylon mp3 at Brendnmcgetrick (?)
The Melodians - You Don't Need Me mp3 at ATumblr (?)
The Melodians - Sweet Sensation mp3 at Renan Maitre (?)
The Melodians - I'll Get Along Without You mp3 at ATumblr (?)
The Melodians - Passion Love mp3 at Pixie Radio
The Melodians - Holiday mp3 at Brothers Gibb
Visit:
The Melodians at Discogs

THE BLACK HOLE OF THE BEAT

Forget about everything tonight. That's what I aim to do. I was looking for a link to a video to send a friend. Ginger Baker's travelogue of his post-Cream trip to Lagos, Nigeria. It includes vintage live footage of Fela. Couldn't find it. But I ran across a lot of better quality footage of Fela that hadn't been there when I last looked a while ago. It must have been a long time ago because there's a shit ton of Fela there now. After gorging on that stuff, a clip of Newen Afrobeat {from Chile) popped up. It was all over folks. I'm still digging their stuff, particularly "Opposite People", a Fela cover with Fela's son Seun Kuti guesting. This thing is so damn tight. I have posted it in the past, but there's more recent stuff now on their Bandcap page. Reason enough. I also ran into a download of their first LP. But, you know, just for a preview. You really should buy their stuff. There's a lot of mouths to feed, what with three people just on shakers, about four of five horn players, two guitarists, two percussionists, a wood block player, a bassist, two keyboard players and phenomenal drummer. That's about sixteen people without Kuti. Yeah, go buy.

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Listen:
Newen Afrobeat - Debut LP (via Mediafire) at The Curtain Width Full LP in zip.
Newen Afrobeat - Newen Plays Fela (streaming) at YouTube
Video:
Newen Afrobeat at Teatro San Joaquín at YouTube Full live set
Newen Afrobeat page at YouTube
Visit:
Newen Afrobeat - Bandcamp page

THIS IS THE OMFUG PART

A few days ago a friend mentioned on Facebook that he had just heard Powersolo (above)  for the first time. I had two thoughts. One is that he hadn't seen the Powersolo post that was here a few years ago. Not surprising since I think most of the people I know forgot long ago that this blog existed. No big deal. The other much more immediate thought was "Hell yeah, I know that feeling!" The moment that you hear a good band for the first time, just out of the blue. That's a thrill and a half.

It reminded me of the first time I heard Reverend Beat Man (below). "Come Back Lord", it was. Shit, that came out around 2000 so it was already about ten years old when I ran across it. But what a piece of work it was, opening a door to Beat Man's Voodoo Rhythm Records, a label with all sorts of noisy miscreants. "Records to ruin any party." There was a thread of roots, twisted as they were, along with garage. You know the drill.

After hearing that again, I thought of another song that I first heard around the same time. I've wanted to post it for years, but hadn't been able to find online. I initially found it as a throwaway download on the site of Flapping Jet Records. "Save Your Tears" by the Weekend Blacks, a short-lived band that I don't think had any official releases. It disappeared from the site shortly after I ran across it but I figured that it might have found it's way to YouTube if nowhere else. I was surprised when I found it along four other songs by them on Flapping Jet's Bandcamp page. Holy shit, the other four songs are good as well, sounding like vintage late seventies punk rock. The good news is that I can now hep you to "Save Your Tears". The bad news is that you will have to pay for it. But, wait, there's more good news. Five solid cuts from these Weekend Blacks for four measly bucks.

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Listen:
Powersolo - Baby, You Ain't Looking Right mp3 at ATumblr
Reverend Beat Man - Come Back Lord mp3 at Go Retro
Weekend Blacks - Save Your Tears (streaming) at Bandcamp Also available as download.
Visit:
Weekend Blacks at Bandcamp
Flapping Jet Records at Bandcamp
Voodoo Rhythm Records

WELL PLAYED, HIPPIE RASCALS.

I had something totally different planned for tonight. That changed about a half hour ago. I was out in the alley having a smoke and and the neighbors on the other side of the fence, ordained Deadheads, actually had a lapse in their bad taste. Seated around a fire pit, they were playing Hank Williams's "Lovesick Blues". Yeah, changed the whole damn night. Those sneaky unwashed fuckers just earned some bonus points on this side of the fence.

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Listen:
Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues (streaming) at YouTube
Hank Williams - Your Cheatin' Heart mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin' mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Move It On Over mp3 at Rocky 52
Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Hank Williams - Mind Your Own Business mp3 at ATumblr (?)

TAILGATING IN THE LIVING ROOM

The other night after listening to some of the Radiohead/Thom Yorke stuff, I decided to watch the ball game. I came to a startling discovery. I cannot go from Radiohead to baseball in one step. That was a close one. Shit, the whole season could have been tainted. So I went to some good ol' American rock 'n' roll for the warm up. Worked like a charm. Peanut shells all over the place.

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Listen:
The Blasters - Marie Marie mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
The Blasters - American Music mp3 at Adios Lounge OG Rollin' Rock version
The Blasters - Red Rose mp3 at AM Then FM
The Blasters - Dark Night mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Video:
The Blasters - I'm Shakin' (live) at YouTube

MAKIN' LEMONADE WITH RADIOHEAD

Someone hacked Radiohead's no longer OK computer and tried to hold unreleased demos dating back to, er, OK Computer for ransom. Radiohead responded by putting them online for eighteen days, beginning today. Here's a link to the description of what happened and to their Bandcamp page where you can stream them or download all for an $18 donation to Extinction Rebellion, which Wikipedia describes as "a socio-political movement which uses nonviolent resistance to protest against climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse." Eighteen bucks might seem like a lot, but it's over a gigabyte of music. Fiends only, perhaps, but if I was a Radiohead-head, I'd be on this like stink on pigs. Hell, I don't care if they sound like Mantovani, I like the way they handled the situation.

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Listen:
Radiohead - Minidiscs [Hacked] at Bandcamp
Visit:
Dead Air Space - Description of the attack and response at Radiohead's official site
Extinction Rebellion - Official site

IT'S MUDDY WATERS TO SOMEBODY

Mourning the change of a band is a funny thing, particularly if their sound, while not unique, is different enough that you're hard pressed to find a replacement once they start changing. When they do, you go back to their source, the music that they're drawing inspiration from. I'm talking about the Budos Band. After their first few LPs their music didn't, to me, seem to have the same feel. So, the bandaid that I put on the broken leg was going back to Fela's stuff. Not Antibalas or any other logical choice. Nope, I went to the good ol' Lagos safe harbor. Really, you can't go wrong with Fela. He's got so much stuff that I haven't come close to hearing everything. But it is surprising, given how many people like Fela's music, how few bands play that type of music, Afrobeat or Afro-funk, whatever you want to call it. A few days ago I ordered the Shaolin Afronauts, an outfit from Australia. That sucker arrives tomorrow. So I'm prepping myself with Antibalas, and the Mexico 68 Afrobeat Orchestra, both post 2K bands, neither from Africa. What the hell, the Stones weren't from Chicago and that didn't stop anyone.

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Listen:
Antibalas and Jojo Qou - Uprising (Parts 1 And 2) mp3 at ATumblr (?) Their first 45
Mexico 68 Afrobeat Orchestra- Soon Dem Come mp3 at The Melting Pot

NICE TIE. YOU'RE OUT OF TUNE.

Last night I went to my brother's house for his birthday. His daughter and son in law gave him tickets to see the Who at Fenway Park. (For those of you not familiar with baseball, that's the home field of the Boston Red Sox, his second favorite team after the San Diego Padres.) Going thousands of miles round trip for a concert might seem more hassle than it's worth (it would be for me) but he's such a Who fiend and a Sox fiend that it's a perfect combination. I was more impressed with something else. A jukebox, a late fifties Rockola, one that he got for nothing but one that needed a lot of work. He first attacked the cosmetics. Then he got down to business. He did what he could mechanically, took it to a jukebox guy for the intricate stuff, then tinkered with it again at home. He got it running, and and while there are still a few glitches (the records sometimes don't change without a nudge), it's amazing that he got it done. If I'd been in charge with the project like that, there'd still be parts all over the garage. But he's a crack the knuckles and get to work sort of guy, one of the things that makes me so proud of him. Nevermind the fact that he put himself through law school, got married, had kids, bought a house, and then when his house burned down cracked his knuckles again and rebuilt his house, and replaced basically everything else. Never once did I hear him complain about the job at hand. He's that kinda a guy. Last night he told me that he curated the first hundred singles for the jukebox carefully, wary of my scrutiny. I was kind of flattered though I thought it pointless for him to worry about what I thought. Then I remembered. Brothers.

Right about then, Ricky Nelson's "Hello Mary Lou" started blasting. Yee haw. Good choice, that one. So here's a mess of Ricky Nelson. Dig the picking on most of his early stuff. That's James Burton (the guy with his back to the camera above).

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Listen:
Ricky Nelson - My Babe mp3 at Diddy Wah
Ricky Nelson - Boppin' the Blues mp3 at Rocky 52
Ricky Nelson - Stood Up mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Ricky Nelson - Be Bop Baby mp3 at Rocky 52
Ricky Nelson - Lonesome Town mp3 at Diddy Wah
Ricky Nelson - Hello Mary Lou (streaming) at YouTube

MASSIVE

Dr. John died today, heart attack. Shit. Another lifer with an all-time resume gone. Between his pre-L.A. career in New Orleans, his studio work on keys in the Wrecking Crew, and his solo work, he played with everybody. The Wrecking Crew alone is big, but before leaving New Orleans he was a guitarist and played with Professor Longhair. Check the instrumental "Storm Warning" below. That wicked guitar playing is his younger self, eighteen year old Mac Rebennack. He switched to piano after getting shot in his ring finger during a scuffle at a gig. 1960, he wasn't even famous yet. Check his page at Wikipedia. It's long, with a whole lotta shit you probably don't know. He deserves it.

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Listen:
Mac Rebennack - Storm Warning (streaming) at YouTube
Dr. John - Right Place Wrong Time mp3 at Billy Chic (?)
Dr. John - The Patriotic Flag Waver Time mp3 at Cold Splinters
Dr. John - Big Chief mp3 at Le Mellotron
Dr. John - Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya mp3 at Essentially Eclectic
Dr. John - Quatre Parishe mp3 at David Fullmer (?)

I'M GETTING LOST OVER HERE

I'm rarely in the mood for out-of-copyright music because that means it's really old. You can't shake your ass to it, there's no loud distorted guitar, no boogie woogie piano. no breakbeats, no honking sax and, shudder, no reverb. But when I'm in the mood for out-of-copyright music, I pick one random name or tag after another at Open Music Archive. It doesn't take long to find yourself ass deep in old timey tar. I just go with it. Tonight it started with a name not known to me, selected totally at random. It led to me to Clara Smith, born in 1894, and active from the 1910s though 1935, recording over a hundred songs. Over a hundred songs I haven't heard.

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

Listen:
Clara Smith - Deep Blue Sea Blues mp3 at Open Music Archive
Clara Smith - Court House Blues mp3 at Open Music Archive
Out-of Copyright music at Open Music Archive
Visit:
Clara Smith at Wikipedia

DUH. THIRTY SEVEN FUCKING YEARS LATER

I really didn't expect to become excited again about Dream Syndicate. Seriously, the last album I was apeshit about was their first, The Days of Wine and Roses. After that LP, bassist Kendra Smith split and it just didn't seem the same. Shortly after Karl Precoda, carrier of the feedback torch when it needed carrying, left. That's when my interest waned. Paul Cutler, no slouch himself, took over guitar, but it might as well of been Clapton taking over guitar duties in the Jimi Hendrix Experience as far as I was concerned. Just not right. I made a half effort to give their ensuing releases hoping for a return to form, then I just plain stopped checking. It had been a long wait, that first LP came out in 1982. The wait ended last night.

I ran into a post of recently recorded covers, The Lagniappe Sessions: The Dream Syndicate at Aquarium Drunkard. That still didn't completely rope me in. It was interesting, Pere Ubu's "Non-Alignment Pact", John Cale's "Gun" and the Stylistic's  "People Make the World Go Round", but it wasn't quite there. Then I decided to see what this current line up was made of. I stumbled on the track "How Did I Find Myself Here". Ho-ly shit. It may not be the semi-controlled chaos of Precoda's feedback, but if you want eleven minutes of distorted feeding back noodling, this is your song. The pace, particularly the drums, and the stony meandering makes it sound like an Exile on Main St. outtake. And the piano, though a Rhodes, doesn't hurt. I'm not going to front. I could very likely have been wrong. Who gives a shit? There's feedback!

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Listen:
The Dream Syndicate - How Did I Find Myself Here (streaming) at YouTube
From the first LP (1982)
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Tell Me When It’s Over mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Then She Remembers mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Until Lately mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Video:
The Dream Syndicate with Kendra Smith - Kendra's Dream (Live, 2017) at YouTube

CRAWL

I heard "Wang Dang Doodle" on a blues show the other night. I think it may have been Willie Dixon's version. It just made me want to hear Koko Taylor's version, the one that always make my hair stand on end. Then I remembered the real hair raiser, holy shit, if you haven't heard "Insane Asylum" by Dixon and Taylor, you need to listen to it. It goes beyond blues, actually beyond music, with its doom and gloom pace, the stops and starts punctuated by perfectly minimal drums. When Taylor's vocals come in, and the drums come back in, at about 1:17 it's goosebumps all over the house.

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Listen:
Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle mp3 at Le Mellotron
Wille Dixon and Koko Taylor - Insane Asylum mp3 at Beware of the Blog

WELCOME TO THE GROOVE-B-Q

It was all fun and games when I started listening to Jungle Fire today. Wanting to do a post about them and frustrated by a lack of link-able shit, I hemmed a silent "fuck it" and went shopping. Try doing a search for Jungle Fire and you know what you get? Jungle Fire, the LP by Pucho and his Latin Soul Brothers, another solid outfit and another addition to the shopping list. I've heard both bands before and liked them, so it's plunge time. This shopping shit can get kind of hairy, so I'm cashing out my cart before the paycheck slips out of my hands. Dig these jams, the two bands only remotely similar, but close enough. Like having a hamburger and a hot dog at the same barbecue. There's nothing wrong with that.

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Listen:
Jungle Fire - Fire Walker mp3 at Melting Pot
Jungle Fire - Live on KPFK’s Melting Pot mp3 at Melting Pot five songs and an interview
Pucho And The Latin Soul Brothers - Heat! mp3 at Groove Addict Pucho And The Latin Soul Brothers - Alligator Boogaloo mp3 at Groove Addict
Pucho And The Latin Soul Brothers - Homeland mp3 at Groove Addict

THE OBVIOUS EPITAPH

Roky Erikson passed away yesterday. He was the lead singer and guitarist of the 13th Floor Elevators, one of the first psychedelic bands. An early adopter of acid, diagnosed as schizophrenic, and at one time thought he was an alien. All signs point to a mentally unstable person and he was at times. (In his later years, with the aid of his brother and medication, he pulled it together.) But he managed to put out quite a bit of good music and had a career that spanned five decades. Most of the people I know first heard the 13th Floor Elevators on the double LP Nuggets compilation, originally released in 1972. The song, "You're Gonna Miss Me", was a regional hit in 1966. There weren't any other garage compilations back then (no Back From the Grave or Pebbles compilations, let alone three Nuggets boxed sets), so when the '76-'77 wave of punk hit, that first Nuggets got a lot of plays, which is why I think that his death hits a little harder for old farts. If you had Nuggets, you likely knew who Roky Erickson was, and likely kept up with his career, and sporadic output. He was one of the few from the Nuggets era that kept making music (Sky Saxon also comes to mind). He was like a weird uncle that had a band.

Those of you who don't know his music should keep your eyes peeled for the documentary You're Gonna Miss Me. It pops up from time to time (it was posted at YouTube as of yesterday, but was taken down in the last 24 hours), or look for the site and buy it, or stream it, whatever,  that's your business.There's a lengthy obit at Pitchfork that ends with a great quote from Billy Gibbons.

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Listen:
The 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me (stereo) mp3 at The Rising Storm
The 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me (mono, 1966) mp3 at The Rising Storm
The 13th Floor Elevators - Roller Coaster mp3 at Rocking Classic
Roky Erickson - You Don't Love Me Yet mp3 at Review Stalker 2007
Roky Erickson - I Think of Demons mp3 at On Radar (?) 1981
The Spades - You're Gonna Miss Me (streaming) at YouTube Pre-Elevators Erickson
 The Spades - We Sell Soul mp3 at Rocking Classic
Video:
The 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me (pool party version) at YouTube
Roky Erickson - Interview and The Creature With the Atom Brain (1980) at YouTube
Interview with Roky Erickson (2010) at Vimeo