THE GHANA CONNECTION

Guy Warren. I knew that name from somewhere. That's what I thought when I first shuffled through the used LPs that my younger brother gave me for Christmas. He knows the evolution of my taste and can pretty much guess where it's headed since the last time we saw each other. We still compare notes. So only one selection was familiar to me, a Cal Tjader, mid-sixties vintage. The Guy Warren LP stuck out to me though. Not only was the name familiar, but the album cover was striking. In particular, the juxtaposition of the cheesy "Living Stereo" banner up top, seen on the top of all manners of vinyl cheese of that era, and the photo of a shirtless man, mouth wide open, beating on an African drum with a big ol' savage fire raging behind him. It looked like any number of savage looking LP covers of that time (1959). Les Baxter comes to mind, but there were others, many others.

My brother shot an email to me yesterday asking if I'd listened to any of the albums yet, and I was kind of embarrassed to have to cop to having only listened to the Tjader LP. (I was on a Cal Tjader kick.) So last night I picked up the others and was trying to decide what to listen to next. Let's listen to this Guy Warren, what the hell. I flip the cover over to check the liner notes to see if the guy had any cred. There it was, "Blood Brothers". Ho-ly shit. That's where I'd heard the name before! He was the guy that did "Blood Brothers" with Ginger Baker on Baker's Strativarious LP. The one on this LP was every bit as wild as the one on the Baker LP, but with African drums. I've posted the Baker version many times, but I'd never even looked into the Guy Warren name, so I didn't know his version existed. This answered one question. Which is, how did someone named Guy Warren end up on Baker's LP for the one song, when the rest of the album was done with a bunch of Fela's mob (including drummer Tony Allen if I remember correctly)? Now I kinda see what happened.

So this is all one big fat ass bonus night. I realize the Warren/Baker connection. I dig on the Warren LP. I get to research Warren. And there appears to be a lot written about him. This is just sort of a "Hey, check this!" and now you're on your own.

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Listen:
Guy Warren - Blood Brothers mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Ginger Baker with Guy Warren - Blood Brothers mp3 at Likembe
Guy Warren - Love, The Mystery of mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Art Blakey - Love, The Mystery of (streaming) at YouTube Cover of Warren's original
The full LP:
The Guy Warren Sounds - Themes For African Drums at Beware of the Blog All eight songs in individual mp3s
Visit:
Guy Warren - Themes for African Drums at Night of the Living Vinyl Excellent review and profile.

THIS EFFIN' LIST IS GETTING TOO LONG

I wasn't expecting to add a name to the list tonight. I was looking for a familiar sound, not necessarily a familiar song, just an after the holiday exhale sort of vibe. Okay, laid back. I'd done my share of running around the past few weeks, though still less than most people. I'm just not a running around sort of person. Not into holiday parties and I hate, hate, hate shopping for anything other than records, books or food. I wanted some chill time.

Whoops! After hearing a couple sedate Miles Davis cuts, the third got me all hyped up. It was the intro to "Agitation" that did me in. Roughly a minute and forty seconds of drummer Tony Williams just absolutely going off. Off. Detour! Jazz dabbler that I am, I didn't know Tony Williams. Now I do. That he started played with Davis when he was only seventeen should tell you something about his skill level. I went looking for more and ran into the Tony Williams page at Drummer World. Just a shitload of stuff over there, so, yeah, this is me making a quick exit.

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Listen:
Miles Davis - Nuit Sur Les Champs-Elysees (Take 2) mp3 at Aurgasm
Miles Davis - Final (Take 1) mp3 at Aurgasm
With Tony Williams:
Miles Davis - Agitation mp3 at Drummer World
Miles Davis - Joshua mp3 at Drummer World
Video:
The Miles Davis Quintet - Agitation (Live, 1967) at YouTube
Visit:
Tony Williams at Drummer World Much, much more music, videos and a bio.

THE FLASH FREE BRIGADE ARRIVES

Have you read any of those 33 1/3 books? They're short books, roughly 150-200 pages, each on a particular LP. Some of them are good, some are relatively lame. The best ones give you a little backstory on the bands prior to the recording of the LP and enough recording details to satisfy anyone left hungry after reading the liner notes on the actual product. [For those of you who only download music and have no interest in liner notes, kindly GTFO.]

I'm in the middle of one of the longer editions, this one on Television's Marquee Moon LP. So far it's pretty good and I'm kind of anxious to see how it develops. I'm halfway through it and Richard Hell has just left the band, replaced by Fred Smith, who was nicked from Blondie. In comes the Tom Verlaine vs Richard Hell squabbling through the press. It hit me how gossipy music journalism was. Maybe it's still like that. I don't know. I don't keep up. That might be part of the reason.

So, I went looking for a clip of Television playing when Hell was still in the band, and it surprised me how easy it was. Seriously, just a few years ago even if there was a search engine good enough to verify that clips even existed, there wasn't nearly as much stuff online. And most of the stuff that is online now is uploaded by fans and collectors, and it's making a mint for Google, YouTube, and Blogger. And Wordpress, and Tumblr, and Instagram, you get the idea. Those fat cats are laughing all the way to the bank.  That's another reason I'm starting to sour on this whole online world. Shit, a crappy fanzine would probably have more readers than a blog like this one anyway. Hmmmm.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the Television clip. The link is are down there along with an early Richard Hell and the Voidoids clip. The Television video is of a rehearsal in Terry Ork's loft in 1974. The Hell video is live at CBGBs in 1977 and is slightly better quality, but that doesn't mean much. I wanted to check the early Television more for the band dynamics that I'd just been reading about (score one for books) but it's just a rehearsal clip. No drama or stage posturing so who's to know? The mp3s down there are the first Television 45, "Little Johnny Jewel" and an alternate version of Richard Hell and the Voidoids' "Blank Generation". That was good to hear if for only to hear what Robert Quine's alternate solo would be like. Very cool if you haven't heard it.

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Listen:
Television - Little Johnny Jewel mp3 at Plain or Pan
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation (alt) mp3 at Plain or Pan
Video:
Television - Rehearsal 1974 at YouTube
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Live at CBGBs 1977 at YouTube Includes footage of the Dead Boys.

FOREGOING THE SPIT SHINE

A quick one. Looking for some rockabilly I hadn't heard, I landed on Al Ferrier. His stuff was raw enough, pretty much what I was hoping to find. Dubious studio quality, slightly exaggerated vocals, simple guitar solo, in other words second, possibly third, tier rockabilly that doesn't quite get it right and in doing so, gets it right. Someone who likely lacked the pizzazz of a Elvis Presley, or Carl Perkins, but sixty years later makes for worthwhile rockabilly shake. I was still sitting on the fence until I ran into the photo above which just screams rock 'n' roll, Check him out. Messed up hair, rolled up sleeves and a Telecaster getting ten sorts of twanged. That'll do.

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Listen:
Al Ferrier - Honey Baby mp3 at Rocky 52
Al Ferrier - Let's Go Boppin' mp3 at Rocky 52

SANTA? SAY IT ISN'T SO!

When the kids wake up, tell them that you secretly taped Santa last night. "Kids, you know those party monsters that live down the street? They put out eggnog for Santa. Spiked eggnog. So Santa wasn't 100% last night. If you don't get everything you were hoping for, he likely forgot some things. It's all there on the tape. Listen to him. If he didn't get an Uber when he left here, he could be in the tank for all we know." That's the ticket. Blame it on the party monsters down the street. This is Joseph Spence, a Bahamian, and this is how he sings.

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Listen:
Joseph Spence - Santa Claus is Coming to Town mp3 at Now That's What I call BS
More Joseph Spence (streaming) at YouTube
Visit:
Joseph Spence at Wikipedia

ON THE SIXTH DAY OF SLACKFEST

Oh, just holy shit. I'd heard this song a handful of times last December but I obviously wasn't really listening. Or maybe it's just my mood tonight. Regardless, Nathaniel Mayer and his Fabulous Twilights' "Mr. Santa Claus (Bring Me My Baby)" hits the spot. Big time. And it's not all his doing, though his voice is a large part of it. It's his larynx. He leaves it on the floor. He seems to get more raw as the song goes on, to the point that you find yourself thinking about how Merry Clayton's voice cracks on backing vocals of the Stones "Gimme Shelter". Once you're into the song that far you start noticing the other elements, the guitar tone, the beating the drums get, and the decidedly "one and done" sound of the studio. It really does sound like it was recorded in a garage.

The other three down there are from the same post at Black Squirrel Amusements and are every bit as good, though for different reasons. There's plenty more over at the post, but I'm four for four. I'm taking my winnings and going to dinner.

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Listen:
Nathaniel Mayer and his Fabulous Twilights - Mr. Santa Claus (Bring Me My Baby) mp3 at Black Squirrel Amusements 1962
Detroit Junior - Christmas Day mp3 at Black Squirrel Amusements 1960
James Brown - Signs of Christmas mp3 at Black Squirrel Amusements 1966
Mr. President - It's Christmas Time mp3 at Black Squirrel Amusements 2011

THE LIST NEVER SLEEPS

Chalmers, second from left, at a Etta James session, Fame Studio

Ten years ago, I would have heard "The Sidewinder" and not had the slightest clue about its origins. I probably wouldn't have even recognized the song. It might not even register how unusual it was for a song recorded at Fame Studios to be released on Chess Records and have liner notes by Jerry Wexler. But here it is and it's a nice reminder that if you taste test stuff you're not familiar with you can still learn about music, or anything really, no matter how much you've consumed over the years. I never set out to recognize a cover version recorded by some sax player named Charlie Chalmers. I never even sought out the original by Lee Morgan. I never made a point of learning about Fame Studio, that they were known mostly for the soul music recorded there, and that a large part of that music was released on Atlantic Records. And, shit, I've known Chess Records for ages (thank you Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters), but never imagined that Jerry Wexler, a journalist turned producer mainly affiliated with Atlantic Records, would write liner notes for an LP on Chess Records. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll learn that he did it all the time. But enough about me. Charlie Chalmers played sax.

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Listen:
Charles Chalmers - The Sidewinder mp3 at Groove Addict
Charles Chalmers - Velvet Soul mp3 at Groove Addict
Visit:
The Horn Arranging Secrets of Muscle Shoals, Aretha Hits at AL.com Lengthy interview with Chalmers

TWO MOONDOG FANS CAN'T BE WRONG

Just a few days ago I was talking to a friend about how, when I started this blog, I was hoping that a community of music freak square pegs would evolve. That hasn't really happened. To explain what I meant, I mentioned the correspondences that did happen with a guy from Norway. He'd been looking at my blog and his son, who was around eleven at the time, was so taken with Moondog after seeing him posted here that he wrote a paper for his English class on him. We've stayed in touch in the ensuing years and it's been cool. But that sort of stuff doesn't happen enough.

So, right after I had that conversation, a friend of mine sent me a link to an article about Moondog, from the latest issue of the New Yorker. Those two together were all the impetus I needed to post Moondog again.

If you're not familiar with Moondog, a brief description would be of a musician, poet and composer. One who sold his wares on the street in New York City, was blind, homeless, and wore capes, sandals and a viking helmet.

Here, from a Kickstarter page for a documentary, all sorts of factoids wrapped up in one nifty blurb:

"Charlie Parker and Benny Goodman hung out with him. Philip Glass lived with him, Janis Joplin covered his music, Allen Ginsberg stuck it on his fridge, Diane Arbus took his picture and Andy Warhol’s mother designed one of his album covers. Merv Griffin interviewed him, Lenny Bruce shared the bill, ..."

And that's just the teaser. There's more than one good profile online. There's a link to the New Yorker article and, even better, a longer profile at Priceonomics, a marketing site of all places. There's a short interview and an hour long radio special from 1971. Assorted other goodies are down there too. I'm feasting over here.

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Listen:
Moondog - Dog Trop mp3 at Tumblr
Moondog - Stomping Ground mp3 at Le Biglemoi
Moondog - Surf Session (streaming) at YouTube
Janis Joplin - All Is Loneliness (streaming) at YouTube Moondog cover
Full LP:
Moondog - Moondog (streaming) at YouTube Entire LP, 1969
Interview: Moondog Interview mp3 at Moondog's Corner Chicago 1972 (?)
The radio show:
Moondog: the Man on the Street - Radio special (streaming) at Internet Archive 1971, 62 minutes.
Visit:
How Moondog Captured the Sounds of New York at New Yorker
The Genius of Moondog, New York’s Homeless Composer at Priceonomics Excellent profile with song samples.
Moondog's Corner - Extensive fan site
The Viking of 6th Ave - Kickstarter page
Moondog at Wikipedia

ANGULAR HEADSTOCK ROCK

Scavenging through the old bookmarks, I came across one that I don't even remember visiting a first time. (Sounding like a broken record, happens all the time.) Usually I'll at least have a clue, but Milk Music? I didn't remember ever hearing of them. Click.

Oh yeah, this was a familiar racket. Although I'd didn't remember hearing "Beyond Life", released sometime around 2011, it sounded like a cross between mid-80s SST bands and what a lot of San Diego bands sounded like back in that micro-era when San Diego was being muttered about as "the next Seattle" in the mid-90s. Crunch and sufficiently loud with just the right amount of stoner rock. That'll git it.

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Listen:
Milk Music – Beyond Living mp3 at Someones In the Wolf
Milk Music - Violence Now mp3 at Gimme Tinnitus
Milk Music - I've Got a Crazy Feeling (live) mp3 at Internet Archive  From the WFMU studio
Milk Music - Beluga (live) mp3 at Internet Archive Ditto

MEET THE CHARMAINES. I JUST DID.

It sure takes all kinds. In every type of music fiend, there is a tipping point. One where it becomes less about the music than the object it's delivered on. I'd be a liar if I didn't say I was proud to own a number of really cool rare records. Mine were acquired over a long period period of time, surreptitiously. I don't think I ever went looking for a particular rare record. Shit, I'm old enough that some of the records I bought new have become rare records. Record collecting for the sake of volume or value is just so wrong. That's not about music. It might as well be dollars that you're collecting because, like monetary wealth, you take that path and you'll never be satisfied. You will always want more. Where the hell did that come from? Man, just thinking about Northern soul has got me ragging about collectors. Whoa, let's get out on the dance floor, or at least imagine it.

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Listen:
The Charmaines - On the Wagon mp3 at Soul Donuts
The Charmaines - I Idolize You mp3 at Soul Donuts
The Charmaines - Two more at Soul Donuts

THIS LOOKS LIKE A GOOD SPOT

Here's a good one to follow up yesterdays post. A Spanish beat group, Los Mustang, doing a cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in Spanish, with ample fuzz. Not half bad if you can get through the surface noise. My question is, what do you suppose was going through their heads when they chose this particular location for a photo shoot?

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Listen:
Los Mustang - Sargento Pepper's mp3 at Super Sonido
Los Mustang - No Vendras mp3 at Super Sonido

RUNNER UP ROCK

After hearing a few more Sun-era recordings by Hayden Thompson, I wondered why it was that he wasn't better known. I wondered about that for about a second. The answer(s) are obvious. One is that he only recorded for Sun for a short while. Something like a year or two. The other is that by the time he was hitting his stride, Billy Lee Riley was as well, and Jerry Lee Lewis. That's some pecking order in terms of promotion priorities. Thompson most likely got the shit ass end of the stick. Maybe that's part of the reason he moved from Memphis to Chicago in 1958. Who the hell knows, I'm too lazy to go look it up.

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Listen:

Hayden Thompson - Fairlane Rock mp3 at Rockabilly Hall
Hayden Thompson - Blues, Blues, Blues mp3 at Rockabilly Hall
Hayden Thompson - Rockabilly Gal mp3 at Rockabilly Hall

SEND YOUR KID TO SCHOOL WITH THIS

It's better than an apple on the teacher's desk, this song. It's just made for kids to learn. The lyrics are simple and to the point and they're also on the screen as the song plays. The bonus for parents is that it's Keb' Mo' and Taj Mahal.

HORACE ANDY GETS THE SPECIAL CHAIR TONIGHT

Okay, so this is the 3000th post here. Rather than muttering about any imagined significance, a milestone that really isn't, blah, blah, blah, I figured I'd just crack my knuckles and post an all-time favorite of a random genre. It wasn't hard to come up with a handful. More than a handful to be exact. Maybe it'll turn into a series of posts, but before that gets decided let's just start with one. Horace Andy's Skylarking LP, his first, from the golden age of reggae, top shelf stuff, beginning to end. Released on Studio One with a backing of a band so archetypal that their riddims still being used today. Skylarking is one of my favorite LPs of all time and as good as the music is, there are other reasons that made me re-access it after my first few listens decades ago. It was a couple of roommates and their varied and open minded listening habits that drew me back into it. We were living in a house that would become a hang out for people in the punk rock crowd. (Descriptions of the house and it's inhabitants can be found here.) Despite the huge influence of growing up living among two fellow music freak brothers (more about the listening habits of the boys' room here), it wasn't until these two roommates started dissecting the houses aggregate record collection that I fully appreciated the anything goes mode of listening. All good stuff was on the table, regardless of genre or vintage. Almost a figurative nod to Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie", "If it's a rocker, that'll get it, and if it's good, she'll admit it" with rocker taking on the meaning of any music innately cool, moving, or otherwise worthy of attention. This was one LP that really does stand as a personal milestone, because it was the constant spinning of it almost forty years ago (yikes!) that really changed how I approached listening from then on. Put it in your back pocket. One would hope it's good for another forty years.

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Listen:
Horace Andy - Skylarking mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Horace Andy - Where Do the Children Play (streaming) at YouTube
Horace Andy - Mamie Blue (streaming) at YouTube
The full LP:
Horace Andy - Skylarking (download) at Global Grooves Click on the green download button, fill in the captcha, and you're gold baby.

SPEAR SAVES THE DAY

Burning Spear dragged me right out of a funk tonight. Not that his music is all that uplifting. What was uplifting was hearing this extended version of an early Studio One recording of "Rocking Time", reminded of how much I loved Burning Spear, how much I love music in general. That's all it took. Kicked the funk right on it's ass. The Zara Moussa cut was the very next song I listened to and made for a perfect chaser.

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Listen:
Burning Spear - Rocking Time mp3 at Pixie Radio 1974
Zara Moussa - Soyeya mp3 at Awesome Tapes From Africa

ALBUM COVER OF THE YEAR

Here goes your evening. Still In Rock posted their top 100 songs of 2019. How many had I heard? Zilch. How many bands did I recognize? Not surprisingly, few. But it sure is fun browsing. And the quality is there. This one by Amyl and The Sniffers got me going. And the Iggy cut was good, if only to see where he's at these days. I gotta say, hearing Violent Femmes again after not hearing them for years, coupled with the cover they did, "God Bless America"; it was just weird. I couldn't stop thinking that they've licensed "Blisters In the Sun" so many times over the years, it's almost like this particular cover, done in a novel way, is just begging to be put in the soundtrack of a movie or the background of a commercial. Shit, what about the simulcasts for the fireworks shows on July 4th? Money in the bank for those stinking acousticrats.

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Listen:
Amyl and The Sniffers - Got You mp3 at Still In Rock
Iggy Pop - Loves Missing mp3 at Still In Rock
Violent Femmes - God Bless America mp3 at Still In Rock
The whole list:
Still In Rock's Best Songs of 2019 100 cuts

PROTO-OLD FART

Here's a good one that I ran into, as usual while looking for something entirely different. It's a well recorded early live set from Tom Waits from a broadcast of Austin City Limits. If you're only familiar with Waits's later post-Rain Dogs stuff, these might seem a little less adventurous. Musically, that may be true, but the early stuff is what brought him to the table. His trademark gravely voice is there, but the music is more old school. There's mid-song storytelling coupled with smoky lounge jazz of the crinkly naugahyde booth variety. Considering that it was recorded in 1978 when Waits was twenty-nine and this type of music entirely  out of fashion, it's amazing to think of someone that age not grasping for that brass ring of youth acceptance.

There's another set down there from a BBC show in 1979, nine songs. I haven't got to that one yet, but that's my next stop. If you don't like early Tom Waits, well, I guess you're just shit outta luck tonight. Me, I'm diggin' in.

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Listen:
Tom Waits - Austin City Limits, Christmas 1978 at Big O Seven individual mp3s
NOTE: "To reduce spamming, the BigO website is going through Cloudflare. What it does is scan your browser to ensure the visitor is not a spam. Do not be alarmed as this usually takes only a few seconds." Letting you know so you don't freak out.
Tom Waits - Never Talk to Strangers (BBC 1979) at Aquarium Drunkard Nine songs in a zip. Once at Mediafire, click only on the green download button.

IT'S CHURCH MUSIC SOMEWHERE

We're rounding the home stretch to 3000 posts here and I was getting a bit nostalgic. I thought I'd head back to old favorites and the first band that came to mind was the Monks. They've been posted here several times but some of the older links were no longer working, so an update was in order regardless. The bonus is that I found the 2006 documentary on them The Transatlantic Feedback. Pillaging the old posts I was reminded that the first bit of writing that I ever got paid for was about the Monks, on Woodstock.com of all places. If you want to read it, there's a link below, but their story is much better told at the Monks official site. I think you might get an idea of the direction they lean by some of the song titles. It's 1967, do you think Donovan is going to be singing a song called "I Hate You"? "Shut Up"? This is punk rock.Yeah baby.

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Listen:
The Monks - Monk Chant mp3 at Pretty Goes with Pretty
The Monks - Monk Time mp3 at Pretty Goes with Pretty
The Monks - I Hate You mp3 at Internet Archive
The Monks - Shut Up mp3 at Kalifontecchio
The Monks - Love Come Tumblin' Down mp3 at The Rising Storm
The Monks - Complication mp3 at Pretty Goes with Pretty
The Monks - Boys Are Boys and Girls Are Choice mp3 at Tumblr
Video:
The Monks - Boys Are Boys and Girls Are Choice (German TV) at YouTube
The Monks - Cuckoo (German TV) at YouTube
The Monks - Oh, How To Do Now (German TV) at YouTube
The Monks - I Can't Get Over You (German TV) at YouTube
The Transatlantic Feedback - Documentary at YouTube Over two hours
Visit:
The Monks Official site
The Monks Were Manufactured Before 'N Sync Were Even Born at Vice
I Know Just What You Kids Need Earlier post here about the Monks