(GLUG, GLUG,..) HEY, THIS AIN'T BAD.

Man, when I ran across these, I remembered the first time I heard Nirvana like it was last week. It was midday on a weekend and, as was the norm back then, OB speedballs were flowing (coffee and beer in alternating gulps). A friend had brought over a pre-release cassette of Bleach. (The big blockbuster Nevermind was still a couple years away so I was hearing the band for the first time.) The first cut "About A Girl" was okay but it really didn't convey the band at full steam. Guzzling and shit shooting continued and by the time it got to "Negative Creep" I was hooked. You know when you think "How come this band isn't huge?" Two years later that question didn't need to be asked.

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Listen:
Nirvana - About A Girl mp3 at Internet Archive
Nirvana - Love Buzz mp3 at Internet Archive
Nirvana - Negative Creep mp3 at Internet Archive

A DRUG FREE AMERICA COMES FIRST!

A random pick, never heard before: Beck's "Salt In the Wound". Man, this one has a lot of shit dangling from the same song. The opening riff, or the fuzz on the opening riff, has a definite Davie Allan feel to it. Then, eight seconds in, you have the repetitive single piano note played over and over like the piano in the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog". After that goes on for a couple measures it starts to sound like the Velvet Underground trying to become more radio friendly. At :38 seconds in, when the chorus starts, it becomes apparent. This isn't just Beck trying to sound like George Harrison in a Revolver outtake, it's Beck trying to sound like the Wondermints trying to sound like George Harrison in a Revolver outtake. Or not. I've never really bothered with Beck. Maybe that shit's always there. I should check the internet.

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Listen:
Beck - Salt In the Wound mp3 at Internet Archive
A couple more random cuts from the same album that I have not yet listened to:
Beck - Arabian Nights mp3 at Internet Archive
Beck - This Is My Crew mp3 at Internet Archive

THOSE OLDIES BUT GOODIES REMIND ME OF YOU

I'm re-reading Our Band Could Be Your Life (Michael Azzerad, 2001), and just finished the chapter on Sonic Youth. There's about twenty chapters, each a short history of a different band. Black Flag, Minutemen, Butthole Surfers, Mission of Burma, and so on. If you were around back then and into those bands, you can probably guess the rest. Anyway, since I just finished the chapter on Sonic Youth, I thought I'd go look for the film 1991: The Year Punk Broke, a documentary by David Markey (Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, and many videos), and I actually found it posted by someone else. The scrappy editing is exactly like those days were.

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Listen:
Sonic Youth - White Kross mp3 at Sonic Youth Live, Irvine CA 1990
Sonic Youth - Eric's Trip mp3 at Sonic Youth Live, Irvine CA 1990
Sonic Youth - Cinderella's Big Score mp3 at Sonic Youth Live, Irvine CA 1990
Sonic Youth - Touch Me I'm Sick mp3 at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends Mudhoney cover

RESPECT

I just heard this morning that Pharoah Saunders passed away on Friday. I'm not going to pretend that I know much at all about his history but I do like his music. I'm gonna blast these while I go school myself. Jazz is a deep pool and I like the feeling of being a beginner.  All of the stuff below is good but do yourself a favor, listen to Village of the Pharoahs all of the way through. None of this shuffle low attention span nonsense. Knuckle down.

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Listen:
Pharoah Sanders - Summun, Bukmun, Umyun mp3 at 30 Milkshakes
Pharoah Sanders - Healing Song mp3 at Melting Pot
Pharoah Saunders - Village of the Pharoahs (Full album, streaming) at YouTube

EARL HAD A FIELD DAY AT GUITAR CENTER

I listened to a lot of guitar today, all sorts. Clean pickin', rock, blues, jazz, surf and a handful of Guitar Effects Gone Wild. The wah wah part of my effects set was dominated by funk, had some Hendrix and by the time I gut to Earl Hooker's "Wah Wah Blues", I'd had my fill. Johnny "Guitar" Watson's (below) "Space Guitar" was an excellent chaser. One of those songs that has so much in it, it seems twice as long as it is, and the echo or reverb or whatever the fuck it is adds to the post-wah wah cold splash of water to the face. That's it, two's what you get, but these two back-to-back should be enough to rattle you.

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Listen:
Earl Hooker - Wah Wah Blues mp3 at Internet Archive
Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Space Guitar mp3 at Internet Archive

DEJA YIKES!

Man, do these songs take me back. It's hard to imagine now just how crazy these two sounded in the early seventies. I remember coming away from it, the first viewing of Clockwork Orange, thinking "I gotta get this soundtrack." I never did. Hearing these tonight after not hearing them in decades, I was right back there outside the theater.

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Listen:
Walter Carlos - March From A Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement - Abridged) mp3 at Internet Archive
Walter Carlos - William Tell Overture - Abridged mp3 at Internet Archive

"YES ROB, WE CAN SMELL" THEATER

Yee haw, dig it. There are three categories. Those that are into MC5 and have seen MC5 - A True Testimonial, the 2002 documentary about the band, those who dig the MC5 and haven't seen the film, and those who don't know the MC5 and couldn't care less. The latter are likely not here. Anyway, here's two hours of great footage, most rare, and a lot of interviews and storytelling. Cliff Claven on dope.

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Watch:
MC5 - A True Testimonial at Internet Archive Two hour documentary. Watch it soon, it may not be there long.

CLUELESS, PER USUAL

Alright, I know that there are bands with shorter songs than the Hard-Ons (posted a couple days ago) but as basically unlistenable as this really is (as far as getting into it), I'd give this record an "A" for the concept. A Japanese band (I think) whose name I don't even know (it's posted in Japanese), with 28 songs in less than seven minutes, the shortest being one second long. So, yeah, technically listenable, but there's no real getting into it. The text accompanying the post says "Vinyl rip of the Signalwave microsong album, originally limited to 140 copies on green vinyl." which tells me three things: Signalwave could be the name of the label, genre or the band (though, when I used an online translator, the Japanese characters were translated as "glacier"), they refer to these as "microsongs" and that, at 140 copies, chances are this is the only opportunity you'll get to check it out. I'm posting it for two reasons. One is that some of you are probably into this high concept stuff (John Cage's 4′33″ anyone?) and, two is that I've always wanted to post a song so short it made Wire sound like a jam band. Seriously. one second?

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Listen:
氷河 - 27 B10 Tone 13 mp3 at Internet Archive 00:01
氷河 - 7 A07 Tone 3 mp3 at Internet Archive 00:05
氷河 - 26 more at Internet Archive

YOUNG, LOUD AND AUSSIE

I've got a thing for bands with a single minded vision. I'm not sure if that includes the Hard-Ons, because what seems like a vision might just be an accident. No matter, I also dig bands that make extreme music that is repelling to, well, straights. The Hard-Ons do that, well. Intentional or not. These three, from 1988, clock in at two minutes and thirty-one seconds. That's for all three songs. They're short, fast, loud, in-your-face, and you can barely understand the lyrics. No matter, they'll clear out the suits but quick. That's good enough.

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Listen:
The Hard-Ons - Fuck Society mp3 at Internet Archive
The Hard-Ons - Nerds mp3 at Internet Archive
The Hard-Ons - Yuppies Suck mp3 at Internet Archive

CH-CHECK IT OUT

Before I ever knew what it was, if someone would have asked me what library music was I'd probably have guessed it was music that's played in a library, which would have been incorrect ('"Shhhh!"), or perhaps music that you could check out from a library, which is a little closer in concept. Library music, also referred to as production music, is generic music used in films and TV shows. Generic as in almost anonymous. It's not necessarily bad or bland music. On the contrary, some of it is pretty nuts. You can have airy background vocals, killer drum breaks, wild ass flute, wah wah and fuzz all in the same song. This is music meant to spice up filmed footage. I'm not sure how it was distributed but at the time it is recorded it's not meant for general consumption. It sits in some library to be pulled for a chase scene, love scene or what have you. But it can be pretty far out.

Take Janko Nilovic, that's him above. Not exactly a rock star. But apparently he was big in the library music end of musical spectrum. From what I've heard his stuff does in fact sound like something you'd hear in a cop show. You know, all those Quinn Martin Production type shows: Cannon, Rockford Files, Mannix and the like. It's good stuff to stick in a mix. Make someone scratch their heads and think "What the fuck is this?". The few below were selected for their titles. Some seem to suggest the type of scene or mood they're intended for. Others are throw away titles probably because it doesn't matter anyway.

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Listen:
Janko Nilovic - Drug Song mp3 at Internet Archive
Janko Nilovic - Man of Genius mp3 at Internet Archive
Janko Nilovic - Soul Impressions mp3 at Internet Archive
Janko Nilovic - Super America mp3 at Internet Archive
Janko Nilovic - Push Push mp3 at Internet Archive

DRUMMOND! MONDAY! IT'S DRUMMONDAY!

Dig it or don't: Here's a few from ska OG Don Drummond. Lucky for you, I'm not in the mood for blab. Those of you not familiar with Drummond, it's your night to make up your mind with zero input from me. I carry the card, licensed to be lazy.

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Listen:
Don Drummond - Far East mp3 at Groove Addict
Don Drummond - Alipang mp3 at Groove Addict
Don Drummond - Dewdrops mp3 at Groove Addict

(I'VE STILL GOT) SAND IN MY SHOES

The beach was awesome today. The surf was small but there was no wind and some doubling up of the small swells, giving them a little umph. The water was crystal clear, 70°. It was the first post-Labor Day weekend and the football season began so the beach was back to a locals only vibe. It was great. I came home and started playing random shit listening for something that would fit the mood. Ebo Taylor won.

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Listen:
Ebo Taylor - Ayesama mp3 at Bama Love Soul 
Ebo Taylor - Victory mp3 at Mixtape Riot
Ebo Taylor - Mizin mp3 at Mixtape Riot

Ebo Taylor - Twer Nyame mp3 at J-Bird

PREMATURE BOWL CUT

Two and a half minutes to get noticed. Start with a guitar lick or some organ, up the tempo, throw in some fuzz and maybe some harmonica and, by all means, try to sound like you're a tough guy. Remember, job #1 is to piss off the parents. Okay, maybe getting laid goes before that, but now you're thinking about it too much. Just plug in and keep at it. If you can't write songs, lean on covers. Just remember, sound tough, piss off parents and get laid. What? Money? It's way too early to start talking about money.

Here's a handful of random garage sides. It's Friday, they sound good. [He sneers.] Soccer moms and scout dads, the pot luck is across the street.

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Listen:
The Rationals - I Need You mp3 at Internet Archive
Third Bardo - I'm Five Years Ahead Of My Time mp3 at Internet Archive
The Woolies - Who Do You Love mp3 at Internet Archive
The Uniques - You Ain't Tuff mp3 at Internet Archive
The Count Five - Declaration Of Independence mp3 at Internet Archive

FUCK MONEY. IT'S SECURITY STUPID.

If I can go on a mini O'Jays binge every three years, you can too. These three songs are the shit. Gamble and Huff produced Philly soul from '72-74. I just happened to hear a snippet of the intro riff of "For the Love of Money" tonight and fell smack dab into it. The version below is the seven minute LP version. If you've only heard the single version, you really need to listen to the whole thing. Crank it up, listen to the opening bass riff, an effective use of echo and phase shifter, and feel it when the drums come in. Whatever the intent, when the drums come in it feels like the song is bobbling in water. Then the chunka chunka of the guitar, a harmonica buried in the mix; there's a lot to pick apart.

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Listen:
The O'Jays - For the Love of Money mp3 at Man In the Maze
The O'Jays - Back Stabbers mp3 at The Industry Cosign
The O'Jays - Love Train mp3 at Mark Candleshore

BRAGGING RIGHTS, UP FOR GRABS.

You ought to know Ruth Brown by now, she was an early pre-rock 'n' roll rhythm and blues singer who basically set the course for Atlantic Records in the early fifties, so much so that some referred to Atlantic as "the house that Ruth built". Her big one, the one that ends up on all sorts of r&b compilations, was "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean". It's a great song, but not the one that concerns me, which brings me to your assignment. Listening to Brown's stuff the other night, in the mix was her "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'". The guitar licks on it are sharp, precise and fluid. Alas, no guitar solo. Nevertheless, it was enough to make me think it was Mickey Baker. For some inexplicable reason, I'm usually pretty good about identifying Bakers tone and playing when I hear it, so I went on a search to see if I was right. Alas, I couldn't find any credits for that particular song other than King Curtis is playing sax. I widened my search to include compilations and did find a Baker credit but with two other guitarists and no mention of who played on what song. So there you have it, that's your assignment. One of you has gotta know if it's Baker on that song or not. Spill it.

Here's a few of hers and a bonus, directly below: Rhythm & Blues Revue a 1955 movie with Ruth Brown, Lionel Hampton, Big Joe Turner, Amos Milburn, The Larks, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, and others.

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Listen:
Ruth Brown - This Little Girl's Gone Rockin' mp3 at Internet Archive
Ruth Brown - (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean mp3 at Internet Archive
Ruth Brown - I Don't Know mp3 at Soul Garage
Ruth Brown - Wild, Wild Young Man mp3 at Internet Archive

HIS OWN COOL

Years ago I saw Isaac Hayes on a late show, Letterman or some other show, I've forgotten. He was conducting a big band, might have had strings and a horn section, I've forgotten that too. What I do remember is there was a shitload of musicians and he was leading them through a note for note rendition of "Shaft" that sounded exactly like the record. I knew he was multi-talented as a performer, songwriter and arranger, but watching this performance it hit me that he was not unlike Brian Wilson, Phil Spector or some other producer in that the huge production was heard first in his head. All the building blocks were there. Everything I've heard since has been informed by that viewing. There are very few people who can stretch a song out like Hayes. The tension raising and lowering, climaxing, exhaling, crescendos and all manners of dragging you back in.

Hayes's cover of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" (hit version by Dionne Warwick), is a perfect example. It's also an excuse to repost the song yet again, because the old link went dead. We can't be sitting around here without a working link to this tour de force. So there's that and his cover of "Come Together". Six minutes of top 40 turned into twenty four minutes of trippy layered downtempo subtly psychedelic soul.

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Listen:
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Internet Archive
Isaac Hayes - Something mp3 at The Frump