I'M ALL ABOUT THE OMFUG

If you haven't seen it, here's the multi-bio flick about CBGB. Corny in parts as most bio pics go. I've only watched bits and pieces and I didn't gag, so there's my high recommendation. I've posted songs by most of the bands portrayed in the movie so if there's one that interests you, hit the search box in the top left corner of your screen. (If you're viewing this on a phone I don't know where the fuck you search.) You can also check the tags on the right (under "index"). Apologies for the commercials. Pee break or refrigerator run, you know the drill.

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

Watch:
CBGB at YouTube
Visit:
Past CBGB tagged posts

TO THE PATIO!

I gotta say, after a harried week, tonight I just feel like listening to something with a good groove. As luck would have it I ran into a bunch of links that appear to have originated on a French record label/store site, but they're all from reissues released by Strut. Nice, that label has taste. What we have here are a few African things ranging from Afrofunk to Ethio-jazz, and one with reggae singer Horace Andy singing over a track by DJ Ashley Beedle which actually sounds like early Budos Band or Mulatu Astatke, an unexpected partnering that actually works. Dig on these.

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

Listen:
Nkengas - Jungle Funk mp3 at Superfly Records
Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics - Cha-Cha mp3 at Superfly Records
Horace Andy and Ashley Beedle - Watch We (Souljazz Orchestra mix) mp3 at Superfly Records
Lancelot Layne - You Think It Soft mp3 at Superfly Records
K. Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas - Kyenkyen Bi Adi Mawu mp3 at Superfly Records
Peter King - African Dialects mp3 at Superfly Records

NOW WITH BONUS TAMBOURINE BASHING!

Oh hell yeah, I just ran into another Sugar Pie Desanto cut, Checker Records era. Spoiler alert: Once you hear the tambourine bashing you cannot un-hear it. (Good job, Basher.) The last four cuts below are others that were posted seven years ago, amazingly the links are still good. The image above is a favorite. I gotta say, it really makes me wish I was in the room. And it makes the Supremes look like cardboard stand-ups.

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

Listen:
Sugar Pie Desanto - Go-Go Power mp3 at Internet Archive
Sugar Pie Desanto – A Little Taste Of Soul mp3 at Soul Garage
Sugar Pie Desanto – Strange Feeling mp3 at Soul Garage
Sugar Pie Desanto - Use What You Got mp3 at So Many Records So Little Time
Sugar Pie Desanto - Slip-In Mules mp3 at Beware of the Blog

AS ADVERTISED, AWESOME, FROM AFRICA

Several months ago I posted a couple songs by Zara Moussa, a rapper from Niger, West Africa. In the post I mentioned "this might have been the sort of thing that the re-formed Slits would have been headed for had the late Ari Up still been alive". I finally figured out why I thought that. Listen to Moussa's "Soyeye" and then the Slits' "Ask Ma". Kinda similar. Shove that aside and listen to more Zara Moussa at Awesome Tapes From Africa.

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

Listen:
Zara Moussa - Soyeya mp3 at Awesome Tapes From Africa
The Slits - Ask Ma (streaming) at YouTube
Zara Moussa - Femme mp3 at Awesome Tapes From Africa
Zara Moussa - 11 more songs at Awesome Tapes From Africa Go there to get them
Video:

 Zara Moussa (ZM) - "Maté Gaté" Live at YouTube

THAT TIME THIS WEEK'S SHOW WAS AWESOME

This is a reminder of how well rounded late night TV used to be. Back in the late 80's sax player David Sanborn co-hosted a show with Jools Holland, a keyboard guy, called Night Music. The line-ups were varied, from Sonic Youth to Miles Davis, but always seemed geared to music nerds. The episode I just ran across is a good example of the cool-versity: Sonny Rollins, Leonard Cohen, Was (Not Was) and Ken Nordine. Those of you that know those names...never mind, you're not reading anymore.

NOTHNG TO DO WITH THE DATE.

Wow, that went fast. Gregory Isaacs has be gone for twelve years already. I was reminded of that when I ran into a few cuts that I haven't posted before. So it's clean up time. The new links are down there along with others that have been posted before that still function. Oh, wait. Maybe you don't know who Gregory Isaacs is. He was a reggae singer, so smooth he was referred to as the Cool Ruler. I can attest to his Cool Ruler-ness. I saw him live back in the day and the ladies swooned. It a more laid back version of the sort of reception Tom Jones would get back in the sixties. Okay, so there were no panties thrown on stage but there was audible sighs and such from the ladies.

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

Listen:
Gregory Isaacs - Rock On mp3 at Internet Archive
Gregory Isaacs - Loving Pauper mp3 at Internet Archive
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse Dub mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - Cool Down the Dub mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - Poor and Clean mp3 at Wailers Discography
Live stuff:
Gregory Isaacs - Live at the Roxy at Fresh Bread 1982, Los Angeles. Twelve individual mp3s

FROM THE LAND FAR AWAY FROM OKI-DOG

Time to clear out the ol' ear canals. Flipper's "Sex Bomb". Yeah baby. It might not have the same punch as it did back in the day. But, man, the first time I heard it was like a revelation. A record could be intellectually barren but still physically felt. It came out in 1981, right on the tail end of the late seventies punk rock era. Hardcore was big, but no one yet knew what would be next. Flipper was not hardcore. They weren't punk rock, or they were punk rock to the extreme. Think about it. Take, for instance, the Ramones. They dumbed it down by reducing the amount of chords to three, eliminating solos and having lyrics that were, well, stupid. Structurally, the songs were good, and volume helped. That said, they were like a metalflake paint job to Flipper's primer gray. Flipper took what the Ramones (and the Stooges, and...) did and took a dump on it. A sloppy, grinding monotonous dirge with hardly any lyrics ("Sex Bomb" has only seven words in it). The only things that really resemble regular rock 'n' roll is that there are guitars bass and drums, there is volume, and it is repellent to some. But that's way over-thinking it. Flipper's like eating jalapeno peppers with your ears.

A post over at Primitive Offerings has a zip of thirteen songs, including their first two 45's and five live cuts. The original 45 version of "Sex Bomb" is in the mix, and also below as a YouTube link if you're on the fence. And "Ever" is down there just because I had a link to it.

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

Listen:
Flipper - Sex Bomb (original 45 version) (streaming) at YouTube
Flipper - Ever mp3 at 30 Milkshakes
Flipper - Sex Bomb Baby compilation at Primitive Offerings 13 song zip

MOPED? HONDA 90? SOME WEAK ASS BIKE.

Man, it's been too long. I forgot how good early Motown is. I had been saturated with Motown for years so, while I enjoyed hearing it, I kinda of eased up and didn't actively seek out any more. Worse though, I have all three of these records and I can't tell you the last time I dug them out. I'm an idiot.

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

Listen:
Barret Strong - Money mp3 at Internet Archive
The Contours - Do You Love Me mp3 at Internet Archive
Marvin Gaye - Hitch Hike mp3 at Internet Archive

HUGS FOR HARRIET WHEREVER SHE IS.

Years ago while traveling in Europe I met an Australian woman named Harriet. In our first conversation we had already connected about music (both of us happened to be wearing the PiL T-shirt that everyone "in the know" seemed to have). It turned out that back at home she worked at a record store (crush starting to develop). Then, in the course of conversing she asked me if there were any Australian bands that I liked. Not knowing of many Australian bands I responded that I fucking hated Men At Work (who were big at the time) but that I loved the Saints. To my surprise she said that she had been a roommate of Chris Bailey's, the lead singer of the Saints. From that moment on (and this was over thirty years ago) the Saints ceased being the Saints to me. From then on, they were Harriet's ex-roommate's band. Every  time I thought of the Saints or listened to them, I thought of Harriet. Yesterday, when I heard that Chris Bailey had died this past Saturday my first thought was that I hoped Harriet was doing okay. That's how crushes are, I guess. I knew a woman for three days over thirty years ago and never spoke to her again, yet I worried.

As mentioned above, Bailey was the lead singer of the Saints, an early Australian punk band. He had a unique voice, kind of unforced and nasally, and snotty. It kind of conveyed a no-fucks-given attitude without destroying his vocal chords. That made for a voice that lasted decades without changing much. I like almost all of the Saints music, including the slightly lighter stuff. The Saints did sound different over the years, going from punk rock to more of a semi-wall of sound (strings horns), the constant being Bailey's voice. Tonight I'm really digging on "Know Your Product", the video above. I've long thought that loud rock 'n' roll, with crunchy guitar and whatnot, combined with a raucous horn section is the best of all possibilities. Not to sell the Saints short at all but "Know Your Product" is about as close to sounding like Rocket From the Crypt without being Rocket From the Crypt as is possible. And Rocket was all about crunchy guitar, raucous horns and whatnot.

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

Listen:

The Saints - I'm Stranded mp3 at Indie Pulse
The Saints - No, Your Product mp3 at Mod Punk Archives
The Saints - Erotic Neurotic mp3 at Killed By Death
The Saints - Two more at Kiiled By Death

FUNKY FRIED CHICKEN DOG AND HOT GRITS

Rufus Thomas always reminds me of one of the loud boisterous laughs that you hear from the other end of the room at a party. The person always having a good time and seemingly everywhere. So it makes perfect sense that, in looking for something on Hi Records by Willie Mitchell, Rufus Thomas steals the show. I ran into a Thomas track that was supposedly from a Hi compilation, and seeing as how Thomas did pretty much all of his stuff at Stax, I thought I'd compare the sounds. A couple songs later, at present I'm about to drop into an offline Rufus Thomas rabbit hole. I should have known that he recorded for Hi.

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

Listen:
Rufus Thomas - Fried Chicken mp3 at Internet Archive Hi Records
Rufus Thomas - Funky Chicken mp3 at Sunrise Music Stax
Rufus Thomas - Walking The Dog mp3 at The Ear Hole Stax
Rufus Thomas - Funky Hot Grits mp3 at The Ear Hole Stax

THE EIGHTIES DIDN'T ENTIRELY SUCK.

What, what? Once a year whether you like it or not. Here are two traditional "I can't think of anything else to post" selections, this time with a difference. Two weeks ago, the old school r&b station was advertising an upcoming one hit wonders weekend. In the ad they plated a snippet of J.J. Fad's "Supersonic". The damn song has been stuck in my head ever since. After you regulars who have seen it posted several times over the years finish with your eye rolling, I suggest you turn it up and lead with your ass. ESG is down there too because "Erase You" always comes to mind after hearing "Supersonic". Don't ask why, it will just confuse things. If you need help identifying which group is in which photo, read the hats.

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

Listen:
JJ Fad - Supersonic mp3 at Tumblr The good stuff starts at :25
ESG - Erase You mp3 at Tumblr

BEATLES LIVE IN '66? OKAY...

This is really good. It's like watching a home movie except that it has good sound, better picture quality and happens to be of the Beatles in 1966. It's the editing that's home movie like but that's because it's pulled from several sources. Everything is well synched. The description at YouTube is in French, so here's a rough translation (via Google Translate).:

"Montage with various archives of this double show... The shows took place at 5:15 pm and 9 pm. The second broadcast was filmed by the German television channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) and followed a brief afternoon rehearsal scheduled for the cameras. The footage was shown under the title Die Beatles on the second channel on Tuesday, July 5 from 8pm to 8.45pm."

Dig it, its raw but the performance is great, and in 1966 they really were on top of their game.

SUCRETS HAS A POSSE

Well ain't that about a suck. I ran into an old link to a Mickey Hawks song and it was kaput. I went to the hosting site and only the home page was still functioning.That wouldn't be a big deal except that there are several links sprinkled around here that I'll have to double check and update if possible. I wouldn't bother but most of the cuts were prime, as in essential, rockabilly. Mickey Hawk was what I was looking for, so let's start with him.

Hawks was a singer and piano player that recorded under his own name and with his band as the Night Raiders. A couple things to note: On the first song, an instrumental, the lead instrument is guitar, and not Hawks at all. Still good though, notable because the guitar player and writer of the song, Bill Ballard, was only sixteen years old at the time. He joined the band at age fourteen. The other thing is Hawks's voice on "Bip Bop Boom" and "Screamin' Mimi Jeanie". It's my very favorite type of rock 'n' roll voice. Enough of a continuous scream that you know they're doing major damage. He's up there with Little Richard, Nick Curran, Gerry Roslie and Bunker Hill. Here we go, I feel myself getting pulled away. Before I go run off to the Land of the Shredded Larynx,  a tip. Read the Hawk profile at the Hound. He does a more thorough job than anybody else.

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

Listen:
Mickey Hawks - Cotton Pickin' mp3 at Rocky 52
The Night Raiders - Bip Bop Boom mp3 at Rocky 52
The Night Raiders - Screamin' Mimi Jeanie mp3 at Rocky 52
Mickey Hawks - Rock and Roll Rhythm mp3 at Rocky 52
Visit:
Mickey Hawks and the Night Raiders at The Hound Blog

GET SLAP HAPPY

I'm not sure if the term "gimme some skin" is used anymore, what with and fist bumps and high fives. Oh yeah, now elbow bumps too, thanks to covid. Back in the sixties "gimme some skin" was like a high five but at a more natural waist high level, a medium five, like the type a ball player gets from the third base coach on his home run trot. The songs below were posted a while back, but they stand up to repeated listens. There's another down there from of one of the Numero Group's Eccentric Soul compilations. Unrelated to all of that, a belated RIP for Sandy Nelson (above) who passed away a few months ago.

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

Listen:
Sandy Nelson - Gimme Some Skin mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
Iggy and the Stooges - Gimme Some Skin mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
James Brown - Give Me Some Skin mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
Frank Penn - Gimme Some Skin (streaming) at YouTube

LET'S DO A SONG ABOUT PANTS.

I was sifting through some links to funk stuff and was reminded that hot pants were a hot topic among funk people. Everybody knows James Brown's "Hot Pants", but there were others, many others. There's a handful below including two James Brown related acts, the J.B.'s and Bobby Byrd.

The image above has only the shorts in common, it sure  doesn't look too funky to me. As a matter of fact, it looks like sponge cake. My bet is that this was either a poster or a full page ad, it had the caption (before cropping) "Lee Leens hot pants" and in the corner the Lee jeans logo. I gotta say, it's kinda creepy. I think it's just the dude's attitude. I'm not sure how it would motivate a woman to buy hot pants. It seems to be implying that hot pants are a gateway to a three-some. That said, I bet a lot of guys went out and bought them for their "ol' ladies".  And one extra.

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

Listen:
20th Century - Hot Pants (Part 1) mp3 at Internet Archive
Jimmy Bee - Hot Pants mp3 at Internet Archive
Hank Carbo - Hot Pants mp3 at Internet Archive
Carleen & the Groovers - Hot Pants mp3 at NowAgain
Soul Tornados - Hot Pants Breakdown (streaming) at YouTube
The J.B.'s - Hot Pants Road mp3 at Internet Archive
Bobby Byrd = Hot Pants (I'm Coming, Coming, I'm Coming) mp3 at Tumblr