THE MAN AND HIS MACHINE

Every type of music has that guy. The non-musician, be it producer or engineer, that is attached to a gigantic swath of the genres best music. In jazz, Rudy Van Gelder is that guy. Over three thousand sessions by the biggest names in jazz. Here's four, selected because they're all named after places (Could be wrong about "Afreaka".) The Sonny Rollins cut is the shit.

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

Listen:
Sonny Rollins - A Night In Tunisia mp3 at Internet Archive
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Arabia mp3 at Internet Archive
Lee Morgan - Afreaka mp3 at Internet Archive
McCoy Tyner - African Village mp3 at Internet Archive
Visit
Rudy Van Gelder at Wikipedia
Rudy Van Gelder Discography

WHAT NOW? I GUESS WE'LL FIND OUT.

The copy below is from an old post but Ive added a six pack of related L.A. post-punk cuts. They capture the vibe at the time. The band above is Monitor. The photo makes them look dangerous but they were super nice. Anyway, here you go:

I'm not going to get in your way for this one. If you have any interest in the L.A. scene from 1977-1987. Scavenged Luxury will keep you busy all night. As billed, it's "post-punk, art rock and power pop", and that includes all points in between. Read the whole description once you get there. This is just gluttony, the good kind if there is such a thing. There's a ton, I mean dozens of mixes, most so long that they're posted in two parts. If you're from that era and lived in Southern California, you'll recognize a lot of names, many that you forgot about. From the better known Sparks and Kim Fowley, to 100 Flowers, Rain Parade, Human Hands, Peter Ivers, the Deadbeats, the Romans, Minutemen, Twisted Roots, the Crawdaddys, and on and on. The playlists are well informed cross sections with enough obscurities to keep even the geeks of that era busy.

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

Listen:
Monitor - Beak mp3 at Internet Archive 1979
B People - Can Can't mp3 at Internet Archive 1981
Human Hands - Blue Eel mp3 at Internet Archive 1981
Wall of Voodoo - Passenger mp3 at Internet Archive 1980
Savage Republic Next to Nothing mp3 at Internet Archive 1982
Kommunity FK - Something Inside Me Has Died mp3 at Internet Archive 1985
Visit:
Scavenged Luxury: L.A. Post-Punk, Art Rock and Power Pop

I WOULD LAUNDER THEM.

I need to take a break from all this shit. There was a band called Pissed Jeans. I've posted about them before, describing them as a cross between the Germs, Flipper and post-Damaged Black Flag. I've been on a punk rock binge the last couple days and this fits right in as a copy of what 1980-ish punk rock sounded like decades earlier, on the West coast anyway. I'll post the OGs again in the future but I had to post Pissed Jeans because I didn't realize they were still together, at least they were as recently as March when they played SXSW. Seriously, these guys copy that era and those bands, particularly the Germs and Flipper, so well that you'd be tempted to call them a cover band. Hey, it's loud in the right way in the right places. I'm good with that. The video below was my first impression roughly eleven years ago. The lack of pizzazz is overwhelming.

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

Listen:
Pissed Jeans - Closet Marine mp3 at Pissed Jeans
Pissed Jeans - Dream Smotherer mp3 at Subpop
Pissed Jeans - False Jesii Part 2 mp3 at Subpop
Pissed Jeans - People Person mp3 at Subpop
Pissed Jeans - I've Still Got You (Ice Cream) mp3 at Subpop

ROBERTA'S STOKED

A couple of days ago I was listening to the jazz station, a weekly show called Saturday Night Fish Fry. If you know the song of the same name by Louis Jordan, you'd probably guess that the show featured jump blues and you'd be right. Also mixed in is pre-rock 'n' roll rhythm and blues. Good shit. The show is only a couple hours long and nearly every week I cut out early to post something else. Not this week. Fuggit, I thought. I was going to listen to the whole thing. What good is posting music if you don't allow yourself the time to actually listen undistracted? So I had me a rhythm and blues binge for the past two days and did little more than scratch the surface. Thought I might drag you along with me.

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

Listen:
Ray Charles - Mess Around mp3 at Internet Archive
Jimmy Liggins - Drunk mp3 at Internet Archive
Bull Moose Jackson - I Know Who Threw the Whiskey mp3 at Internet Archive
Big Maceo - Chicago Breakdown mp3 at Internet Archive
Louis Jordan - Caldonia mp3 at Internet Archive
T Bone Walker - Sail on Boogie mp3 at Internet Archive
Sonny Boy Williamson - Shake That Boogie mp3 at Internet Archive
Bill Moore - We're Gonna Rock  mp3 at Internet Archive
Johnny Otis and His Orchestra - Harlem Nocturne mp3 at Internet Archive

BREAKING IT IN WITH THIS GUY

Man, it was a long three weeks. I think I mentioned that my car stereo took a shit. I had to bring it to a repair place and wait, and wait. Finally got it back. Loaded into the CD player before the deck died was a reggae compilation that I'd already listened to a couple times. So I brought a CD with me to listen to after the repaired rig was installed. I wanted something that would be good loud,  that would have a variety of sounds and would have a good groove. For whatever reason, the first thing that came to mind was Tony Allen's  No Accommodation For Lagos, a 1979 afrobeat classic with him fronting Fela's band, of which he was the drummer anyway. I've listened to the album a shitload, but it never sounded good. Because of shared walls and the fact that I'm no longer a drunk twenty-something asshole with a fuck the neighbors attitude, the only place I can let it rip with wall-shaking bass is on the road. So be it, I drove around aimlessly listening to Tony Allen bust the stereo cherry.

The cool thing is that I found a bunch of Allen's stuff for you. There's a few mp3s that have been posted before and a load of stuff that hasn't. One link is to 21 songs, of what vintage I'm not sure. The couple I checked were from 2003, but even his later stuff is baddass. There's also a link to a two hour (!) mix that is billed as Meet The Beat Of Tony Allen. If this all sounds really slipshod, let me cut to the chase. All Tony Allen music is great, all of it. It doesn't matter where you start. His beat is so earthbound, so organic that it feels like it's connecting to your pulse. Let the percussion, his and his accompanists, make you forget all about the fuckhead at work. Make like this light's out living room lunatic, boogie your ass off.

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

Listen:
Tony Allen - Crazy Afrobeat mp3 at Augasm
Tony Allen - Cella's Walk mp3 at Internet Archive
Tony Allen - Elewon Po mp3 at Aurgasm
Tony Allen and Africa 70 - No Accommodation For Lagos (streaming) at YouTube
Tony Allen - 21 individual songs at Internet Archive NOTE: To download, look in the right column, under "Download options" click on "VBR MP3 Files"
Meet The Beat Of Tony Allen - Two hour mix at Internet Archive

IT'S PECKIN'

So, tonight I was on the beach after a dip in the ocean and I ran into a good friend and old roommate Kelly and her sister, Dena, both originally from Wisconsin. First topic of conversation: Dena's fresh score from the record store's 99¢ bin, the first Robert Gordon LP with Link Wray. She was jazzed about the Link Wray appearance. Heart be still. Let me just say this, when a women is excited about a Link Wray related score she has won bonus points. I already liked Dena, but this just made her even cooler. I mean, come on, you're fresh out of the water, on the beach talking Link Wray with two of the coolest people you know? Hard to beat. Of course yours truly had to point out that the lead songs on both sides of the LP were Billy Lee Riley covers and that his backing band included Jerry Lee Lewis. Sometimes I just can't help myself. It's been a while since I've posted Riley and this was the perfect excuse.  

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

Listen:
Billy Lee Riley - Flyin' Saucers Rock 'n' Roll mp3 at Rocky 52
Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot mp3 at Rocky 52
Billy Lee Riley - Is That All to the Hall (Mr. Ball) mp3 at Rocky 52
Billy Lee Riley - Rock With Me Baby mp3 at Internet Archive
Billy Lee Riley - I Want You Baby mp3 at Rocky 52

EXTRA CURRICULAR BADASS

I don't know about you, but I see a benefit in not having all of your records and CDs stored in alphabetical order, or even by genre. I'd say that about 75% of my collection is easily located by some sort of organizing method. But that other 25% is mixed all the fuck up. The benefit of being too lazy to re-file records is that when you grab from the middle of the stack, you might grab something you haven't heard in a while or forgot you even had. Such was the case last night when my chance pick was the Kashmere Stage Band.

The Kashmere Stage Band was a high school band. Ho-hum you say? Okay then, don't listen. Those that do will be treated to an exceptionally tight and well recorded funk powerhouse. Before they were subjects of multiple compilations and a documentary (roughly twelve years ago) their privately pressed records were changing hands at top dollar. Check these random selections and hear what the fuss was about. Listen to the breaks, the bass, the slinky wah wah, the percolating horns. The arrangements suiting the band. Being in a band like that might have made some seniors think about flunking just to keep playing. Hell, I'd be tempted.

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

Listen:
Kashmere Stage Band - Super Bad mp3 at Internet Archive
Kashmere Stage Band - Scorpio mp3 at Internet Archive
Kashmere Stage Band - Take Five mp3 at Internet Archive
Kashmere Stage Band - Shaft mp3 at Internet Archive
Kashmere Stage Band - Do You Dig It Man? mp3 at Internet Archive
Watch:
Thundersoul (trailer) - Kashmere Stage Band documentary at YouTube

SONGS JACKIE BROWN TAUGHT US

William Hart (center above), lead singer of the Delfonics passed away last Thursday. It got me to thinking when I first started paying attention to them. It was in the Quentin Tarantino film, Jackie Brown, in 1997, when Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is playing the Delfonics. A bail bondsman, who's. kind of going soft for her, asks who it is and then later buys the tape. I've done shit like that so I can relate. Tarantino played a good trick there. By building that into the film, he was knowingly turning other people onto the Delfonics. Having been endorsed by a character in a film would hit not have worked had the character not been like Jackie Brown, cool, strong and, yes, attractive. Hey, it's Pam Grier, you cannot ignore that.

After listening to this song (below) for the first time in a while, I've had it on repeat for the last day and a half. It's fucking awesome. I love the production, the arrangement, the song and the singing. It's about as close to perfect as you get.

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

Listen:
The Delphonics - Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) mp3 at Tumblr
.

DE-ACCELERATION MUSIC

There aren't many singers smoother than Al Green. You've heard his stuff, "Take Me To the River", "Love and Happiness" and so on. Hearing him sing covers of other people's hits is a little different. His cover of the Doors' "Light My Fire" begs the question: Is stoner soul a thing? Because  that sucker sounds like  someone got blazed. Not because of studio trickery or unintelligible singing. It's the pace of it. So fucking laid back it's hard to listen to without sinking into an overstuffed couch. But you know what? I dig it. Part of it is Green's delivery, but what really sells it is Willie Mitchell's production.

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

Listen:
Al Green - Light My Fire mp3 at Internet Archive
Al Green - Summertime mp3 at Internet Archive
Al Green - Get Back mp3 at Internet Archive
Al Green - The Letter  mp3 at Internet Archive

THE SLASH-ERA LINE-UP. DON'T ARGUE.

My car stereo took a shit about a week ago so I've been listening to portable FM radio when I'm driving. The reception pretty much sucks, but the Mexican radio stations, due to not being subject to FCC regulations, came in loud and clear. It reminded be of the old days when XPRS, a station in Mexico, broadcasted Huggy Boy's show, loaded with r&b and oldies with a decent chunk of lowrider type oldies. The station could reach most of the west coast so it was great for road trips. Huggy Boy was on XPRS from 1981 to 1982. Right about the time the Blasters came out with "Border Radio". So, when I was listening to one of the Mexican stations, my thoughts went to songs about Mexican radio stations, "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo, "Heard it on the X" by ZZ Top and "Border Radio". Blasters win this one. I saw them several times live and one show was one of my most memorable musical experiences ever, it still kinda gives me chills. So, there's the Wall of Voodoo and ZZ Top songs down there in case you're curious.  Tonight, though, belongs to the Blasters.

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

Listen:
The Blasters - Border Radio (streaming) at YouTube
Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio (streaming) at YouTube
ZZ Top - Heard it on the X (streaming) at YouTube
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 Tumblr
Video:
The Blasters - I'm Shakin' (live) at YouTube

YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU KNEW HIM

Monty Norman died. I know, me neither. He wrote the "James Bond Theme". I have to give him props. Even if it was the only thing he'd ever written, the song has logged an inordinate amount of spins over here, due in no small part to the fact that there are so many varied covers and, really, it's kind of a hard song to fuck up. Here's the original and two great covers.

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

Listen:
John Barry - James Bond Theme mp3 at Tumblr
Billy Strange - James Bond Theme (streaming) at YouTube
John Zorn - James Bond Theme mp3 at Pat's Lies Killer.

POST-BBQ COVERS

I went to a barbecue yesterday, hosted by a couple friends of mine. One was someone who I've known since the early San Diego punk days, the other used to work for Cargo Records, a label that scooped up the cream of the San Diego crop in the nineties (Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Fishwife, Fluf, etc.). The other people at the get together were also scene fixtures in the same span of time, with a couple of them ex-record store employees. When I arrived at the barbecue they were playing a Spotify playlist based on the Budos Band. Definitely a good sign. While walking through the house I spotted the Frigtnrs LP. Cool.

I hadn't been trading notes with any of the friends in recent years so it had been a long time since I asked them what they've been into. After we ate, I popped the question "What have you been listening to lately?" That's always a fun question to ask music freak friends. Keep in mind that these are people that I know from punk rock through post-punk, grunge and post grunge. Here's the weird thing. Our listening habits had evolved almost the same. Heavy on obscure soul, international music (African), funk and other traditional sounds (one guy had a Billy Strings T shirt on). One of the hosts mention that he'd been listing to long streaming mixes of Studio One stuff, and you know me. Studio One is one of my favorite labels of all time. I was off to the races, Coxsone Dodd vs Duke Reid, reggae vs rock steady, a couple shout outs to Leroy Sibbles and Jackie Mittoo, blah blah, blah. I caught myself, I was getting too excited and, to my ears, force feeding info that they might not have that much interest in. I wasn't buzzed. I was just so happy that my peers had followed semi-parallel paths. Five minutes later we were talking about Guitar Wolf. I braced myself.

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

Listen:
Budos Band - My Girl mp3 at Internet Archive
Charles Bradley - Heart of Gold mp3 at Internet Archive
Eli "Paperboy" Reed - Ace of Spades mp3 at Internet Archive
Solomon Burke - Maggie's Farm mp3 at Internet Archive
Lee Fields - Moonlight Mile mp3 at Internet Archive

SOUNDS FROM MY DREAM CAR

These couldn't be more perfect for the mood I'm in. As you may have gathered from past posts, I'm lucky enough to live near the beach. It's been a few days since the sun was out, today it was. That coupled with the water temperature warming early this year and the daily early evening swim already had me in a good mood. A few reggae covers certainly couldn't hurt. These really hit the spot and, beach or barbecue, would be great as recognizable mysto-covers stuck in the middle of a mix.

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

Listen:
Sly and Robbie - Inner City Blues mp3 at Internet Archive
John Holt - Sister Big Stuff mp3 at Internet Archive
Chezidek and Skarra Mucci - Sunny mp3 at Internet Archive
Faye and Mystic - California Soul mp3 at Internet Archive
The Pioneers - Papa Was a Rolling Stone mp3 at Internet Archive
Horace Andy - Ain't No Sunshine mp3 at Internet Archive
Jimmy Riley - Sexual Healing mp3 at Internet Archive
Visit:
Swing-A-Ling Mobile Record Shack at YouTube

FILE UNDER "WHAT?"

I don't know anything about Livy Ekemezie. Or I didn't when I heard this song.  It was too unusual to pass up. So I went digging and it looks like Ekemezie only had one LP to his name. I've no clue what the rest of it sounds like, but this one is out there. It sounds like a gang of stoned Stevie Wonder fanatics cut loose in the keyboard department at Guitar Center. Recorded in Nigeria, 1983, it looks like the LP was reissued at some point. That's all I got.

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

Listen:
Livy Ekemezie - Delectation mp3 at Internet Archive

"BOMBS BURSTING IN AIR"? NO THANKS.

It's a simple song, simple enough that you learn it in grade school. It's written by one of America's greatest songwriters and it's one of the best songs about America ever written. Maybe it's lost it's shine for grade school, but I don't remember ever not knowing the song. Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" is ingrained in my head. And most people have only heard two thirds of it.

A year ago Mental Floss posted a story about the song that speculates that the two missing verses were omitted because of what could be perceived as political content, but to me read more like truth and common sense. Per the article "It may have had something to do with the mounting anti-communist furor that would lead to the Red Scare of the late '40s and early '50s." The article includes the two missing verses and an anecdote about how, when Bruce Springsteen joined Pete Seeger to play the song at an inauguration event for Barack Obama, Seeger was insistent that they include the two verses.

My favorite version of the song is the one recorded by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. It's a groove and a half, really, an awesome reworking. They include the two additional verses and another with slightly re-written lyrics. But, guess what? There was a real seventh verse too, one that I'd not known about until I looked at the official Woody Guthrie web site, run by his daughter. There's a link to it below. Remember, "Antifa" means anti-fascist. To be anti-fascist is to be patriotic. Happy 4th.

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

Listen:
Woody Guthrie - This Land Is Your Land mp3 at Rocky 52
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - This Land Is Your Land mp3 at Tumblr
Video:
Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen - This Land Is Your Land (live) at YouTube
Visit:

This Land Is Your Land: The Story Behind America's Best-Known Protest Song at Mental Floss
Woody Guthrie official site - Full lyrics

LET'S CHANGE THIS SHIT

It will not get a thousand "likes" or a single thumbs up. It won't be on a computer screen or phone either. Look out in the street.

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

Listen:
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised mp3 at Box.net

SAYS SO RIGHT HERE, "WILD MAN".

I'd never think of looking for Louisiana rockabilly, it would never occur to me. It's more like these cuts found me. I don't know a lick about any of the artists except Mickey Gilley, who is Jerry Lee Lewis's cousin and was later a country star and owner of a nightclub. But that's it. The songs themselves are great in an oddball sort of way. Sun Records they're not, but their off-ness is what makes them.

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

Listen:
Mickey Gilley - Drive In Movie mp3 at Internet Archive
Norman Wood - Black Lake Boogie mp3 at Internet Archive
Hunter Watts and His Southern Pals - Wild Man Rock mp3 at Internet Archive
Erwin Babin - Black Cat Boogie mp3 at Internet Archive
Ray Vict and His Bop Rockers - Gonna Bop, Stop, Rock mp3 at Internet Archive
Gil Gilroy and the Jolly Rockers - Laura Lee mp3 at Internet Archive