BACK WHEN MULTI-TASKING WAS MULTI-TASKING

Man, I just love Rahsaan Roland Kirk. For starters, the guy could play multiple reed instruments at the same time. I don't know how many of you have tried blowing a clarinet or a sax, but getting even a note out of one takes quite a bit of wind. It's just crazy to play more than one and I've seen photos of him playing four at once. How does that work? You might have the wind, and a big enough mouth but you only have two hands. He was also known to play the flute with his nose. Say whaaaaa? This would be about the time that you run off to YouTube to see how he does it. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Another thing I dig about him is that more often than not, the beginning of what he's playing gives no indication of where the song, or his performance, is going. Particularly his live stuff. They'll start out one way, instruments added, some subtracted, and different sections morphing into another, and end completely different. They're engaging. He's really beyond jazz. Dude's a trip.

This first one below takes the WTF factor to another level. While Kirk's jamming all manner of reeds into his mouth, here comes Sonny Boy Williamson. Sonny Boy fucking Williamson. He's a blues harp player, Chicago blues. What the fuck he's doing sharing a stage with (pre-Rahsaan) Roland Kirk in 1963 in Copenhagen is anybody's guess.

Check out all of the Rashaan Roland Kirk posts over at Melting Pot. They love the guy over there. There's tons of stuff on YouTube as well. Never boring.

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

Listen

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Monkey Thing mp3 at Melting Pot With Sonny Boy Williamson, 1963

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Seeker mp3 at Melting Pot 1970. 17 minutes, the mid-song full wig out is worth the wait.

Visit:

Much more Rahsaan Roland Kirk at Meting Pot.

ROCK-A-RANDOM

I've got no idea how I came across these, but they were bookmarked for a reason. The first one is by Greet Hornet. I'd never heard of them. The song was good enough, some solid garage crunch, to go look for a photo. In doing so, I found out that they're from the Netherlands and they have recorded more than one song. But one song is all I've heard and I dig that one. They could suck on everything else. The other song below is by the Returnables, another band I'd never heard of. They sound like they've listened to their fair share of the Jam. What the hell.

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

Listen:
Green Hornet - Ain't Good Enough mp3 at Punk Rock Karl
The Returnables - Love Letters mp3 at Punk Rock Karl

BAND SHOT

It just occurred to me that it isn't unusual for me to remember when I first saw or heard a record or CD, even if it had been years earlier. I'm sure that only applies to records that end up being memorable later, but it's still surprising after I surveyed a few random selections. To wit, one of my earliest musical memories: I remember where I was when I first saw the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" and Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?". It was at my cousin's house. She was older than me and the first person I knew that actually owned records.

This shit came up because I ran into a song by Death From Above 1979. I remembered where I was when I first saw their CD. It was at a listening station in the back corner of a Tower Records store that has since closed. Tower Records has been out of business for some time, and after looking up Death From Above 1979's discography, I see that the CD in question was released back in 2004. But the band has been on my need to hear more list for the ensuing fifteen years, and now I'm finally getting around to it. One thing I'd remembered about them is that these crazy motherfuckers don't have horns in their band. They don't have a keyboard player either. No rhythm guitarist, and they're  not a power trio, because they don't have a guitarist at all. It's just bass and drums, and not that trippy electrowhatever either. Nor some Sly and Robbie trip. This shit is thick.

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

Listen:

Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights mp3 at Punk Rock Karl
Death From Above 1979 - My Love Is Shared mp3 at Someone's In the Wolf
Death From Above 1979 - Little Girl (MSTRKRFT edition) mp3 at Aural States
Death From Above 1979 - Blood on Our Hands (Justice Remix) mp3 at Aural States

THE ICE BREAKER, SIZE MEDIUM

Back when I was 26 I traveled around Europe solo for about five or six weeks. It was awesome trip, complete sensory overload. The history, art, architecture, food music and the people I met are indelibly etched in my memory. If you aren't settled down and have an opportunity to go solo, do it. Because nothing will make you open up to strangers more than being alone in a foreign city. So much happened and is so easily remembered, I hesitate to even touch on the subject because I could easily get carried away. So here's a snapshot.

Mid-trip, after stops in London, Oostende, and Amsterdam, I headed to Biefeld, Germany to hook up with a woman I met in the states. We hitched to Berlin, and the first night there went to a club I'd read about in The Face. The next night we went to an all night bar, where the bartender was Blixa Bargeld, who I found out later, after I returned to the states, was the singer from Einstürzende Neubauten, a band I'd never heard of. He was a nice guy, a nice enough impression that I later recognized him when I saw his mug on the cover of a magazine in San Francisco. Anyway, Berlin was all dreary and shit and I wanted to get to a warmer climate, so I made the executive decision to get to Florence, Italy. (Easy to do when you ride alone.)

I rode the train for twenty four hours to get to Florence. Between the train station and the pensione where I'd planned to stay (thank you Let's Go Europe!) I got lost. I ended up walking miles further than I needed to, had a slice of shitty "real" pizza and made the mistake of sampling Italian beer (insider's tip: stick to chianti), When I finally got to the pensione, I'd been on the train for a whole day and then walked for a couple hours with a heavy stuffed backpack. I was beat to shit. I went to my room and got cleaned up and then went to a common room and started chatting with a couple people from Australia. I found out that one of them worked in a record store back at home. We started talking music and she asked me what I'd been listening to. I lifted up the front of my sweatshirt and showed her my PiL T-shirt. She then lifted up her sweatshirt and she was wearing a Pil T-shirt. I nearly proposed to her on the spot. She was a sweetheart to boot. Harriet. I still have a crush on her to this day.

What did I say about getting carried away with the subject? I could have just related the PiL T-shirt part and left it at that, but noooo, I had to blab incessantly. That's why you should travel for a few weeks in Europe on your own. Here's some PiL.

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

Listen:
Public Image Limited - Public Image mp3 at Warped Reality
Public Image Limited - Rise mp3 at Punk Rock Karl
Public Image Limited - Go Back mp3 at Tumblr
Public Image Limited - This Is Not A Love Song mp3 at In Bed With Dactylo

THE "DUDES CAMPING TRIP" LOOK

Quite a few years ago I reviewed a friend's band for my fanzine, I mentioned that they were something like a new wave K-Tel record. For those not as old as I am, K-Tel records were like 70s versions of that Now That's What I Call Music! franchise. You know, those records that compile the hits of the year and plop them on one disc. I made that comparison because they had songs that sounded like new wave, some that were closer to punk rock, a song or two that sounded like Tom Waits early stuff, you know, just all over the place. Not like Top 40, but still kind of a mixed bag. I think I remember them taking offense at my description. Well, shit, that may have been the last time I ever reviewed a friend's band in print. To this day I try not to write about friends' bands unless I am absolutely positive that I'd be into them even if I didn't know who they were. Unfortunately, I usually err on the side of caution, so as a result musician friends really aren't given a completely fair shake. I'll have to remedy that at some point.

The reason I bring that up is because the Bees are another band that are alike a K-Tel record. I don't remember how I first heard of them, but once I heard "Chicken Payback" I was hooked. Talk about catchy! The other night I was listening to a mix and a few seconds after that song began playing, a song I've heard many times over the years, I found myself on my feet dancing around the kitchen. This was unusual for a couple reasons. One is that I had no recollection of actually rising to my feet from a sitting position. It was as if the song yanked me up. But there I was shaking my ancient ass. The other reason it was unusual is that I don't dance often, at least not in the kitchen. What do they say? "Dance like nobody's watching"? Well, I was, and there was nobody watching. Just seconds ago I came across this video. Technical quality be damned, this could be my favorite music video of all time.

That said, that "Chicken Payback" is an undeniable butt shaker, those damn Bees do come off as a K-Tel record. It would be frustrating as hell if you're trying to figure out what the true sound of the Bees is. The thing is that they do other other types of music just as good as the sixties swamp rock inflected dance song that dragged me into their sphere in the first place. To wit, the vintage reggae groove of "No Trophy", their cover of the Os Mutantes' "A Minha Menina", and the seventies soul sound on "Listening Man". Now that's what I call identity crisis!

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

Listen:
The Bees - Chicken Payback mp3 at Audio Drums
The Bees - No Trophy (streaming) at YouTube
The Bees - A Minha Menina (streaming) at YouTube

IT'S LOUNGE MUSIC SOMEWHERE.

There I was, just listening to the jazz station. It can be hit or miss sometimes. There are good shows, featuring sub-genres like Latin jazz or free jazz. There's also some less thematic shows could easily veer into the dreaded new age-y shit, softy light jazz ("cool" or otherwise). Tonight I was walking out the door to head out to the alley and they started playing a tinkly, almost lounge-y version of the theme to Star Wars. It was complete total crap. (Though it did remind me of the old SNL clip of Bill Murray as a lounge singer doing a vocal cover of it.) I had to get me away from there. I turned off the radio. Melvins to the rescue.

Switching the fuck away from lounge-y jazz corn, you couldn't ask for a better route than straight to the Melvins. The first thing I checked out was kind of lame. Them doing "Let It All Bee" as part of some sort of CD Rom magazine (remember those?). It's linked at the bottom. The video directly below though is great. From 2018, with Steve McDonald (Redd Kross) on bass. Or second bass. That's part of what makes it sound so thick. One guitar, two bassists and a drummer. This is some heavy shit.

Check the song "Hooch". Try to figure out what he's singing, then go to one of the lyric sites to see how they heard it. Yee haw.

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

Listen:
The Melvins - Hooch mp3 at Tumblr
The Melvins - The Kicking Machine mp3 at Wired
Video
The Melvins - Let It All Be at YouTube Launch CD Rom magazine
Visit:
The Melvins - Hooch lyrics at Genius
The Melvins - Hooch lyrics at AZ Lyrics

IT'S SUNDAY SOMEWHERE

I've been meaning to mention these two gospel songs for the past several weeks but I wanted to post them on Sunday Morning. Problem was I was getting up too late to get them posted on a Sunday Morning. I have to fittle fart around for a couple hours before I do stuff like that. So guess what? Tonight it finally dawned on me, to post these Sunday morning songs on a Saturday night (technically early Sunday morning) before I go to bed. Duh. So here are two kick ass gospel songs.

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

Listen:
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth For Christ Choir - Ever Since mp3 at Art Decade
Pastor T.L. Barrett & The Youth For Christ Choir - Nobody Knows mp3 at Art Decade Go there to get it

AFRICA GAVE THE BEAT. WE GAVE DAVIE ALLAN.

This is a rare jam. I'm sure that it is almost impossible to find a vinyl copy, but it has been on at least one compilation that I own. The introduction to the post read as so: "A massive Nigerian psyche/Afrobeat number for you today. Babalawo was the b-side to The Thermometers' 1973 single...". It had me at "Nigerian psyche/Afrobeat" and "1973". I was in disbelief, not because of it's scarcity, but because of where I ran across it. Fucking Hype Machine. That used to be a go-to music blog aggregator for me. There used to a bunch of good music blogs linked there, but it's become total crap in recent years. This weeks flavor, over and over again. And you know as well as I do, this weeks flavor usually sucks. I hadn't checked it in a long time, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Imagine my surprise when I actually came across a worthy blog, doubly satisfying because I'd been to it a number of times in the past. Go visit Doklands. Tell 'em "Hype Machine sucks. You're cool."

The song itself is great. I'm sure you read "psyche/Afrobeat" with a little skepticism. I'll be damned if the description doesn't fit. Oh, but that fuzz tickles my innards.

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

Listen:
The Thermometers - Babalawo (streaming) at YouTube
The Thermometers - Babalawo mp3 at Doklands Go there to get it.

COOL UNRELATED PHOTO OF THE DAY

Here's enough. A cool photo by Charles "Teenie" Harris and a cool song by Lloyd Nolen. I couldn't find a photo of Nolen, but Harris's photo popped up in the search and it's a hell of a lot cooler than some old 45 label. The image above has been cropped, but you can see the original at the National Museum of African American History and Culture site, accompanying the article "Traveling Through Jim Crow America", As for Nolen, his "Fun Fun" has been here before, but it hit the spot tonight and that's enough. You will notice a similarity to the Sonics' "The Witch", but you forget about that by the time it gets to the sax solo in the middle of the song. At one point it sounds like it short circuits. Squawk baby, squawk.

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

Listen:
Lloyd Nolen - Fun Fun mp3 at Diddy Wah
Visit:
Traveling Through Jim Crow America at National Museum of African American History and Culture

PROTO-NORMCORE SWEATER ROCK

I don't remember exactly when or where I first heard these songs. Two are affiliated with films, but I've only seen one of them and that was after I already knew the song. The only place I can think of that I might have heard them would be on an oldies radio station. That was one of the good things about oldies stations. Because of the format, they'd be playing oldies 24 /7, so there would have to be some somewhat deeper cuts, songs that weren't massive hits but still had chart showings, though if you blinked you probably would have missed them. I do know that I started really liking them at roughly the same time. They were regular spins at a studio apartment I lived in for four years, at a time sandwiched between short residences in San Francisco and New York. It was a great granny flat behind a nice couple that were rarely home, with a pool and jacuzzi right out my front door. Don't get me started about that place. It was awesome. Anyway, downers though these songs are, all three are excellent. (I generally hate Johnny Rivers but "Poor Side of Town" is too good to ignore.)  They're well written, nicely produced bummers. I do emo differently.

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

Listen:
Gene Pitney - Town Without Pity mp3 at Fimoculous #32. 1962
Johnny Rivers - Poor Side of Town mp3 at Smokeys Trail #1, 1966
Glenn Yarbrough - Baby, The Rain Must Fall (streaming) at YouTube #12, 1965

TO LONGEVITY

What started out as just a quick listen to a couple covers by Stevie Wonder ended up being a Stevie Wonder Appreciation Night listening party for one. For a few hours last night, it was all over the place, there's just so much good stuff spread out over decades. I'm not going to sit here and say that he didn't put out his share of dogs, but dogs to me because they're overly sappy. Not a huge crime, just not my bag. But you really do have to look at his career as a whole to realize that he's an all timer. Shit, he's shared the stage with the Stones and Dick Dale. You'd be hard pressed to find someone else who did that. He had a mess of hits while still in his teens. And when his original contract with Motown was over, he negotiated to get more control and his music became his own. He no longer had the hit machine type Motown sound. His records got better, uniquely Stevie Wonder (see "Superstition").

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

Listen:
Stevie Wonder - We Can Work It Out mp3 at Foo Surfer 3 (?)
Stevie Wonder - Light My Fire mp3 at The Frump
Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed and Delivered mp3 at Keilwerth (?)
Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground (live) mp3 at Troubled Souls Unite 1974 Long intro, song starts at about 2:26
Stevie Wonder - Superstition (live) mp3 at Troubled Souls Unite 1974

A NICE BREATHER

Someone posted this on Facebook and I about peed my pants. Then I went looking. I came to find that it's nearly impossible to find anywhere but Facebook. It might be because it is easily searchable under the original title and was being taken down all the time. Who knows? I looked elsewhere, used different search terms and eventually found it. That's the good news. The bad news for those lacking in a sense of humor is that it is not a vintage live performance. It is a piss take, a shred video. It's silly and it's just what I need. Watch the first thirty seconds. If you don't at least chuckle, I don't know you.

APPLES AND ORANGES

Still trying to wrap my head around this one. I like Ricky Nelson's early work. I like Mississippi Fred McDowell's stuff as well. They both covered Little Walter's classic "My Babe" (which is what led to that video I posted yesterday). Both did bang up jobs, neither sounding like Walter's original. Nelson delivers with his usual restrained style. If you're into Ricky Nelson, you know that the guy never really cut loose, which is fine. He had James Burton backing him, so he had that going for him. Plus it was a good choice for a cover, a relatively deep cut for the time in which he recorded it (the late fifties). But, oh man, McDowell's version is so raw it almost makes Little Walter sound like Sinatra, never mind what it does to Nelson's version.

Now, right about here is what made me just call it a night and just post that video last night. Walter and McDowell were contemporaries, and unlike Nelson both were blues artists. I associate Little Walter with Chicago blues, city blues, because he was on Chess Records. Okay, so he was city blues. McDowell is country blues. There's a big difference. I've never really read up on either Little Walter or Mississippi Fred McDowell, but being reasonably sure Walter was from Chicago, one question remained. Where was Mississippi Fred McDowell from? No online search, no Wiki; I know this one. Wait, wait, why do I think I know this one? Shit, it'll come to me. I was racking my brain. Where was Mississippi Fred McDowell from? Can you see why I walked?

So, guess what? He did play music in Mississippi, but he was born in Tennessee and he died in Tennessee. Now on to the next big question. Who the hell cares about where Mississippi Fred McDowell is from?

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

Listen:
Ricky Nelson - My Babe mp3 at Diddy Wah
Mississippi Fred McDowell - My Babe mp3 at Frederator Blogs
Little Walter - My Babe (streaming) at YouTube

STOPPING AT THIS ONE

There it is. Hound Dog Taylor, Little Walter and Koko Taylor on the same stage. Hell yeah, that shit will work. Put it on repeat and zone out to it. After that you won't feel like doing a proper blog post either. I'm here to tell you, I have a thousand excuses and behind that are a thousand more. And, I might add, nobody's paying me. I have every right to be lazy.

THAT "I KNOW I'M THE SHIT" LOOK

In the five years that I've known who James Black was and five years of sporadically hearing stuff he's played on, it is now well ingrained. He was one hot shit drummer. There's no doubting that. Ginger Baker hot. Earl Palmer. Tony Allen. Funky when it's called for, swinging on jazz stuff, breaks up the ass. That said, he's played on his share of dogs. Some so mediocre that his drumming is out of place once you start listening to it. He's too good. I kind of like that juxtaposition. Say there's five other musicians on the record. Four of them could suck. But if one member is James Black, the record will never suck 100%.

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

Listen:
Eddie Bo - Hook and Sling mp3 at Drummer World
Inell Young - The Next Ball Game mp3 at Drummer World The drums on this rule.
Roy Ward - Horse With a Freeze mp3 at Soul Garage 1968 
Sonny Jones - Sissy Walk mp3 at Soul Garage 1971
Mary Jane Hooper - I've Got What You Need (streaming) at YouTube 1969
Eddie Bo and the Soul Finders - We're Doin' It (streaming) at YouTube  1969
The Explosions - Hip Drop (streaming) at YouTube 1971
This is good: James Black - Guardian of the Groove - Audio documentary at YouTube
Note: This is part one. At YouTube, check the right column for the rest.
Visit: James Black bio and discography at Drummer World

IS THIS THE LINE? OH. YOU'RE THE BAND?

I ran across a misfiled Shaolin Afronauts CD the other day, and after listening to it in the car I thought I'd look for something of theirs to post. It was a long shot, I didn't expect to find much, and I expected right. Squat. But I saw a few by some outfit called Shaolin Temple Defenders. Fucking ridiculous name. Of course I took the bait. It ended up being some pretty good shit. Good solid funky soul. Here's all I've gleamed about the band: They're white, one woman and the rest men. They might have been inspired by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and least that's what it seems to say in their bio. Then again, the bio reads like a poor translation so I may have misinterpreted what they were saying. Regardless, the few that I ran into were solid; completely derivative, but solidly so. They kinda remind me of The Commitments.

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

Listen:

Shaolin Temple Defenders - Growing Up Master mp3 at Shaolin Temple Defenders
Shaolin Temple Defenders - International Soul mp3 at Shaolin Temple Defenders
Shaolin Temple Defenders - Funky Chick mp3 at Shaolin Temple Defenders
Shaolin Temple Defenders - Temple of Soul mp3 at Bama Love Soul
Visit:
Shaolin Temple Defenders Official site

BOSS SONG ALERT

This a most awesome song. Something about it, the whole feel, all kinda dark and smoky. Dig it: The song has been sitting there at Office Naps for eight years, on a post with two other songs, by Marv Johnson and Bobby King, every bit as good. He's got the story behind all three as well, so you should really just go there.

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

Listen:
Charles Sheffield - It's Your Voodoo Working mp3 at Office Naps
Two other early 60s obscuros at Office Naps Good reading too.