DOWN THERE AT THE END OF THE ALLEY

I wasn't looking for this because I didn't know it existed. It's a live set from the Gories from 1989, three years after they formed. What you'll notice is a, eh, somewhat sloppy performance. If you're worried about that, can't get past it, then you're probably not Gories material. It's raw, but not in a Stooges sort of way. To be honest, it sounds like they could use meatier amps. Had I never heard the Gories or Mick Collins's next band, the Dirtbombs, and the video was my first exposure, I'd probably dismiss them altogether. That is, until late in the set when they cover the Velvet Undergound's "Guess I'm Falling In Love". It's not an earth shattering cover but they do it as an instrumental. For me, that's key, because the Velvets' instrumental version is one of my all-time favorite songs.

I'm not exactly making the case for the Gories, but they're that kind of band. You're either in the sonically malnourished garage or the fancy one. I jam econo. There's a couple songs below along with a link to another live set from a 2005 reunion.

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Listen:
The Gories - Rat's Nest mp3 at Gramotunes
The Gories - The Chick Inn mp3 at Monkey (Total Hasil Adkins thing going on here)
Video:
The Gories at Burger Boogaloo 2015 (full set) at YouTube

DAD'S COOL WITH IT

A couple of days ago in the post about LA LOM, the description of their music (lifted from their web site) was "with the twang of Peruvian Chicha and Bakersfield Country." Shit, for the past few days I keep thinking about the Bakersfield sound. If you're not familiar with what the Bakersfield sound was, it was a California rebut to the glossy over-produced country music coming out of Nashville. Sounds like a similar challenge as that of punk rock vs glossy over-produced rock 'n' roll music coming out of everywhere. That's my analogy for the night and I'm stickin' to it.

Buck Owens was part and parcel of the Bakersfield sound, due in no small part to the superb chicken pickin' from Buckaroos lead guitarist Don Rich. Check the video above, annotated with comments about the simple but effective mic placement.

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Listen:

Buck Owens - World Famous Paradise Inn mp3 at Internet Archive
Buck Owens - Loves Gonna Live Here mp3 at Rocky 52
Buck Owens - I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love Me) mp3 at Rocky 52
Buck Owens - Our Old Mansion mp3 at Internet Archive
Buck Owens - Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms mp3 at Rocky 52
Buck Owens - Johnny B. Good mp3 at Rocky 52
Buck Owens - Corn Liquor mp3 at Rocky 52

Visit:
Buck Owens Brunch: The Tragic Story of Don Rich at Bigfoot Diaries This is a great read.

I'LL HAVE THE SIX PIECE NUGGET MEAL

Post-slack fest posts are always about righting the ship and getting back to meat and potatoes rock. At different times it's been punk rock, rockabilly or garage, in other words, stuff with dirt under the nails. Throw away the candy canes, garage is for dinner tonight. Fuzz and nasally vocals, you know the drill.

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Listen:
Count Five - Declaration of Independence mp3 at Internet Archive
Chocolate Watch Band - Let's Talk About Girls mp3 at Internet Archive
We the People - You Burn Me Up and Down mp3 at Internet Archive
The Woolies - Who Do You Love mp3 at Internet Archive
Kenny and the Kasuals - Nothing Better to Do mp3 at Internet Archive
Third Bard - I'm Five Years Ahead of my Time mp3 at Internet Archive

DECK THE HALLS WITH WTF

Because you need a little yuletide WTF, here's the Blue Star Chorus. That's right, chorus. And, no, these guys don't back a chorus, let alone a single singer. Their "Silent Night" is a Ventures-like instrumental. Not entirely an odd take, but the record cover that contains it pretty much takes care of that. It's kind of uncool to make fun of things, but it is not uncool to point out that there is an errant apostrophe between the "X" and "mas", that the Christmas tree is tilted, the uke player is sitting on his ass, the drummer is out front, the seated guitar player doesn't give enough of a shit to look at the camera let alone hold his guitar. No, I'm not pointing those things out to make fun of the sleeve. Au contraire, the sleeve is brilliant. Accidental brilliance perhaps, but it's doubtful that even one of your garden variety ironic hipsters could dream that shit up.

The Blue Star Chorus is from Taiwan. But, you ask, what would Christmas sound like in India? I'm glad you asked that question. In India it would sound much like Christmas music from the west, except with sitar. Because if you want to hook those looking for authentic Christmas music from India, sitar is a no brainer. Jayran Achary knows that.

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Listen:
Blue Star Chorus - Silent Night at Radiodiffusion International Taiwan
Jayran Achary - Santa Clause Is Coming to Town mp3 at Radiodiffusion International India

JOYFUL? CHECK. TRIUMPHANT? CHECK.

Santa must have been pretty lethal to have given the late Lux Interior the bug. Here's the proof. Two Christmas mix tapes, both posted here several times in the past but it wouldn't be slack fest without repeating the seasonal repost cop out. RIP Lux. Long live Ivy.

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Listen:
Jeezus Fuck, It's Christmas!!! - A Lux Interior Christmas Tape at Boss Radio 66 37 cuts in two zips.
The second mix:
Christmas Beauty and Soul - A Lux Interior Christmas Tape at Boss Radio 66 26 mp3s in one zip.

IT'S A HAMMOND CHRISTMAS CHARLIE BROWN

The jazz station just played Vince Guaraldi for the umpteenth time. Yeesh. I'm sick of that guy, at least the Christmas stuff that gets played to death every year. You gotta realize, growing up when and where I did, I've heard the music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" every year for decades. Now, when I want keyboard driven holiday songs I need a little more meat on the bones. Jimmy Smith does a fine job. So do Booker T and the MGs.

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Listen:
Jimmy Smith - Jingle Bells mp3 at Panic Stream
Jimmy Smith - Santa Claus is Coming to Town mp3 at Review Stalker
Jimmy Smith - God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman mp3 at Panic Stream
Booker T and the MGs - Jingle Bells mp3 at The Rising Storm
Booker T and the MGs - Santa Claus is Coming to Town mp3 at The Rising Storm

PARTY IN THE TRANSPORTER ROOM

Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Todd Rundgren, Ben Folds, Elliot Easton (Cars), Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Iggy Pop and Brad Paisley. That's just a partial list of the musicians that have played on records by William Shatner. It's like this massive in-joke shared by all of the people who consume his, er, music. The fact is, it is music and in most cases good music. So, is it the guilty pleasure factor? The tongue in cheekiness? Novelty? You decide.

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Listen:
William Shatner - Silent Night mp3 at Internet Archive with Iggy Pop
William Shatner - Run Rudolph Run mp3 at Internet Archive with Elliot Reaston
William Shatner - Blue Christmas mp3 at Internet Archive with Brad Paisley
William Shatner - Winter Wonderland mp3 at Internet Archive with Todd Rundgren, Artimus Pyle
William Shatner - T'was the Night Before Christmas mp3 at Internet Archive
William Shatner - White Christmas mp3 at Internet Archive
William Shatner - Little Drummer Boy mp3 at Internet Archive
William Shatner - Jingle Bells mp3 at Internet Archive with Henry Rollins
William Shatner - Feliz Navidad mp3 at Internet Archive
Bonus cut (for a friend):
William Shatner & Henry Rollins - I Can't Get Behind That mp3 at Internet Archive

ALGORITHIM AS SELECTOR

These guys have been around for a couple years and I had to be hepped by a goddamn sidebar. I hate when that happens but it really doesn't bother me as much these days. There's just too much stuff out there to keep track of everything. These guys though, whoa, from what little I've seen, they got a good sound going. I haven't done a deep dig yet. This I do know, LA LOM stands for "Los Angeles League of Musicians", so generic they might as well be called "Los Angeles Band". Started as a trio (which I guess constitutes a league), but some videos have as many as five members (adding pedal steel and Latin percussion on some). I haven't come across a full bio yet and there's little info on their site, but this description pretty much nails it: "They blend the sounds of Cumbia Sonidera, 60’s soul ballads and classic romantic boleros that emanate from radios, backyard parties and dance clubs of Los Angeles with the twang of Peruvian Chicha and Bakersfield Country." As odd as that combination sounds, all the ingredients point directly up my alley.

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Watch:
LA LOM - Their YouTube channel with a bunch of videos
Visit:
LA LOM - Official site
LA LOM - Online store Two 45s! (They're pricey though.)

GOT IT, FUNKY WITH GO POWER.

Yep, another Holiday Slackfest All-Star, the GFOS, once a year whether you need it or not. These reposts are getting to be a season all their own. Really though, were you gonna listen to these in July?

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Listen:
James Brown - Funky Christmas mp3 at SB Dave
James Brown - Go Power At Christmas Time mp3 at The Sound of Indie
James Brown - Let's Unite the World at Christmas mp3 at Panic Stream
James Brown - Please Come Home For Christmas mp3 at Panic Stream

CAN 2,218 COPIES BE A CASH-IN?

I gotta say, unless there's a good reason, Christmas records ought to be limited to 45s. A full album of Christmas tunes just seems too much like a cash-in. And if the Christmas songs are limited to a 45, all the better if they're original songs. I mean, c'mon, if we're even going to hope for new Christmas classics, there's going to have to be new material, and a steady supply because most aren't going to make the cut. While some might cite the Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" or Run DMC's "Christmas In Hollis" as modern Christmas classics, even those are a bit worn. I've got my own not-yet-worn playlist, and it includes Jon Spencer's 1992 Subpop Singles Club 45 (limited to 2,218 copies), "Big Yule Log Boogie" b/w "My Christmas Wish". Hell yeah.

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Listen:
Jon Spencer - Big Yule Log Boogie mp3 at I Am Fuel You Are Friends
Jon Spencer - My Christmas Wish mp3 at I Am Fuel You Are Friends

IT'S THE EGGNOG BABE.

I'd forgotten all about this one. Obviously, you can see it's the Hives with Cyndi Lauper. Ho-hum, right? Go on thinking that. Go on, play it for your granny without listening to it first. Ho-hum it up. I wish I could be there.

There are some colorful lyrics in this one, made more potent with the big production. It really is like a Spector Wall of Sound thing. Loud.

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Listen:
The Hives and Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel mp3 at Blogbdon

ATTN: PARTY PLANNING COMITTEE

You knew this was coming. The holiday tradition, at the peak of laziness and in need of breathing room, the annual reposting of Reverend Tom Frost's Bloody Xmas Mixes.

For all of you party planners running around like headless chickens, a reminder is in order. Spread the Good Word's Bloody Christmas mixes are still online. They used to be downloads, but they're now streaming (click on the "download" links below the song lists). Though they are streaming, I'm sure someone you know is savvy enough to run them through your sound system.

The Mixes:
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 9
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 8
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 7
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 6
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 5
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 4
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 3
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 2
Spread The Good Word Bloody Holiday Mix 1
From the Reverend
Reverend Tom Frost - A Bloody Life (streaming) at YouTube
Reverend Tom Frost - Much more at YouTube
Visit:
Reverend Tom Frost at BandCamp

CHRISTMAS CAROL THIS

Let's just get this out of the way. Ninety percent of Christmas is just total crap. You might argue with that figure, but you know that it's drifted far off course. It's just an excuse to spend a lot of money on unneeded crap, and eat more food than your body is designed to handle. Are we fucking nuts? 

We all have our varying beliefs, and I can totally see why many devout Christians take offense at their day of reflection and worship being appropriated for financial gain. How'd you like it? Let's say you, Joe Blow, it's your birthday. We are going to mark the day, nay, the season, by buying so much worthless crap, and eating so much total junk, that we'll forget who you even are. 

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Listen:
The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas mp3 at Clayton Counts

THERE IS NO ESCAPE

Here's a mixed bag of Christmas themed reggae cuts. I tried to avoid the overly corny covers that were overt cash-ins (most of them heavy with synthesizers). The few familiar songs are at least interesting to hear ("Santa Claus is Ska-ing to Town", "Santa Claus Dub"). I think some of these are originals, I'm not sure. Gotta say, I'm diggin' the Lord Stitt cut. (Stitt was one of the very first DJs, recording before the big DJ explosion ushered in by U Roy, followed by I Roy, Dennis Alcapone, Dillinger, Dr. Alimantado, et al.) Christmas themed reggae covers aren't really my bag but, hey, it's better than Bing Crosby. Along those lines, I had to add the song "Reggae Christmas" because it's funny, obviously a parody. With a generic reggae riddim it includes lines like "Reggae, is totally unrelated to Christmas", It's lame and brilliant at the same time, perfect for those like myself that have a mild aversion to reggae Christmas songs. Avert these.

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Listen:
Johnny Clarke- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus mp3 at Internet Archive
The Ethiopians - Ding Dong Bell mp3 at Internet Archive
The Maytals - Happy Christmas mp3 at Internet Archive 
King Stitt - Christmas Tree mp3 at Internet Archive
The Aggrovators - Santa Claus Dub mp3 at Internet Archive
Lee Perry and Sandra Robinson - Merry Christmas mp3 at Internet Archive
Granville Williams Orchestra - Santa Clause Is Ska-ing to Town mp3 at Internet Archive
TimDrum - Reggae Christmas (streaming) at YouTube

SOUNDS DIFFERENT

You might have heard, Shane MacGowan passed away a week ago. He was the lead singer of the Pogues. I've thought about him and the Pogues over the past few days but not nearly as much as I thought about my friends. Back in the day, a lot of my friends from the music scene were into the Pogues and, looking back, I realized that there was a certain type of person that liked the band. I can't really put my finger on it but it was beyond the binary cool/not cool classification. It was like a secret that this small slice of the scene "got" while others were trying too hard to be the coolest in the room. I started thinking about those friends, some now deceased, and got all warm and fuzzy, remembering the Christmas Eve DJ gigs my friend Julie and I had (at the Pink Panther and later the Casbah) and the reaction that "Fairytale of New York" would get whether we played it or one of our DJ friends did.. All of the faces of drunk friends, cigarette smoke softening the view, a few on the plywood covered pool table that did double duty as a dance floor when things got crowded. Shane MacGowan was one of us on those nights.

I didn't post "Fairytale of New York" right away because I was hoping to find a quality mp3 version and this will have to do. There really is a lot going on in it. The video above is my favorite live version. In doinking around looking at Pogues stuff the past few days I ran into a trailer for a documentary, Crock of Gold - A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan that I didn't know existed (link below). It's by Julian Temple who did the Sex Pistols flick The Filth and the Fury. But, back to the song, it does something to me. It's very real, a lot of it is the interplay between MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl. At points you forget it's a song.

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Listen:
The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York mp3 at Internet Archive
Documentary trailer:
Crock of Gold - A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan - Official Trailer

THE GODMOTHER (SLIGHT RETURN)

Man, it's kind of disheartening how many younger kids can't name a single Rolling Stone or even one of the Beatles, let alone knowing who Muddy Waters or Chuck Berry were. Even with the internet at their disposal, they seem to lack the interest in looking backward to find their favorite musicians early influences. That kills me. I had to wait for the internet to arrive to find out who Sister Rosetta Tharpe was. If you don't know who she is, she's one of the few musicians that Chuck Berry had cited as a guitar influence. Before the internet I had no clue who she was. That occurred to me yesterday as I happened to run across a sidebar link to a Sister Rosetta Tharpe documentary. I checked, I'd posted it nine years ago, but the link to it no longer functioned. It was about time for a refresher anyway. So here it is again, along with a few songs. I also ran across a compilation clip of her guitar solos from various films and live clips. As you'll see, she really was a link between gospel and rock 'n' roll. Consider her essential. If you don't know who any of the Rolling Stones are, go back to square one.

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Listen:
Sister Rosetta Tharpe -  Didn't It Rain mp3 at Keep the Coffee Coming
Sister Rosetta Tharpe -  Up Above My Head mp3 at More Things
Sister Rosetta Tharpe -  Strange Things Happen Every Day mp3 at More Things
Sister Rosetta Tharpe -  Rock Daniel mp3 at Internet Archive
Watch:
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Guitar Solos in Motion Pictures at YouTube

KIDS GET A PASS.

Shit, it's only December 3rd and I'm already reposting a Christmas thing. I was planning on going light on the holiday fare this year. The big reason is that I can't really, with a good conscience, continue to be a part of the rampant consumer gluttony. Granted posting holiday songs isn't quite like whispering "buy more useless crap" into someone's ear, but it sure doesn't discourage the practice. Think of it, starting with the most ridiculous: a fucking giant red bow on a brand new car. Really? To me that's just obscene. But what do you have at the other end? Stocking stuffers that might get a chuckle before they're added to the landfill. And even stocking stuffers are expensive. Then you have the actual food gluttony. I could go on and on and sound like a Scrooge but the reality is that everyone has been conditioned to think that all that is normal. We've been hoodwinked into thinking this behavior is acceptable. Of course all of this goes out the window if there are kids involved. Do you want your kid to be the first one at school to say that Santa is made up bullshit?

So why a Christmas song? I was at the grocery store yesterday and it was the first appearance of the Salvation Army's red kettle. The person manning it has been the same for the past three or four years, an elderly guy with reddened eyes that appears almost animatronic. Like years past, he was repeating "Thank you very much god bless you thank you very much god bless you..." over and over, in a gruff voice that out-Waits-ed Tom Waits.  All the time ringing the bell. He even did it when there was no one near him, as if he was in a trance and couldn't break it. Then he would stop for a minute, as if to re-charge, and then start up again for four or five minutes. (All this culled from several observations over the years.) Yesterday it finally hit me. The guy's voice sounded just like Joseph Spence (seen above), a Bahamian folksinger that, well, sounded like he was drunk. Come to think of it, I wonder if the Salvation Army dude carries a bottle?

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Listen:
Joseph Spence - Santa Claus is Coming to Town mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Oddball bonus:
Jayran Acharya - Santa Clause Is Coming to Town mp3 at Radiodiffusion International India

WHOA, DODGED THAT BULLET.

I can relax now. I managed to avoid it for years and in now looks like I'm in the clear. Kiss has played their final concert and I can rest assured that for the years going forward I shall never have to fear turning a corner and finding myself in the thick of it at a Kiss concert. Nor will I ever have to hear inane stage banter from Paul Stanley. If I had accidentally found myself at a Kiss concert and heard the insipid remarks coming out of Star Face, I'd also find myself rushing the stage to slap him upside the head. And then I'd find myself in the clink for assault. Man, I lucked out.

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Listen:

45 Minutes of Paul Stanley Stage Banter - Curated by Chris Ames at Soundcloud

DOUBLE DYNAMITE. AS ADVERTISED.

One of the first soul LPs I ever bought was The Best of Sam and Dave. It was a great one to start with. It had hits and a lot of songs that I didn't recognize. Even though I bought the LP long after the material was recorded, if the rest of the songs were hits, they weren't big enough to make it to the oldies stations a decade or two after being released. It was a great LP. They recorded most of the songs, if not all, at Stax backed by Booker T and the MGs. Their voices are perfect together and the unscripted "ad-libs" between lines makes it feel like you're there.

I'm sure many of you have heard "Soul Man" their biggest hit, probably a million times. Even if you have, listen to it again without distractions. Really listen. It's an excellent song. There's one part, at 1:14, where one of them says "Play it Steve" right before a guitar lick. I remember how proud I was once I put together pieces of liner notes from different LPs and deducted that "Steve" was Steve Cropper of the MGs. This was years before the internet so without the aid of liner notes it would have taken a trip to the library or contacting a music egghead. Liner notes, folks, liner notes.

I still listen to that Best of LP pretty often...oh, that reminds me. If you really like a song, or multiple songs, by a particular artist, do yourself a favor. Don't just download a song or two. Shell out for a compilation of the artist, Greatest Hits or other. You really can't judge any artist by one song. And, if you're like me, it might open up a rabbit hole leading to other artists on the same wavelength, or recorded at the same recording studio or with the same producer or just give you a tip for a record label with similar fare. Though the Sam and Dave LP was on Atlantic, because they recorded at Stax that opened up a plethora of other artists to check out.

Here's just a few from Sam & Dave. You really need check the video. It's a Stax Volt tour in Norway in 1967 with Otis Redding, Booker T and the MGs and Sam and Dave. (Otis Redding opens it, with Booker T and the MGs at 2:58, Sam and Dave at 7:18 and more Otis Redding at 17:38.) This is the good shit with a lot of sweat.

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Listen:
Sam and Dave - Soul Man mp3 at Internet Archive
Sam and Dave - Hold On, I'm Comin' mp3 at Internet Archive
Sam and Dave - You Don't Know Like I Know mp3 at Internet Archive
Sam and Dave - You Don't Know What You Mean to Me (streaming) at YouTube
Sam and Dave - It's a Wonder mp3 at Mr. Suave

ONE HAS JACKET ENVY

I miss the early Black Keys. For their first few LPs they were raw, living up to their "part broke ass shit, part hot ass shit" sound. I'm not saying their later stuff isn't worth listening to, I just really dig their first few LPs.

Here's three covers that found their way onto their first three albums. You should know the originals. If you don't, they're easily found. I really dig the way they deconstruct them and put them back together with fewer parts. It's kind of like what the Ramones did, but the Black Keys didn't rely on the "1,2,3,4!" nothin' but chords approach.

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Listen:
Black Keys - She Said, She Said mp3 at Internet Archive 2002, Orig: Beatles
Black Keys - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at Internet Archive 2003, Orig.: Richard Berry
Black Keys - Summertime Blues mp3 at Tumblr 2004, Orig.: Eddie Cochran

UNEVENTFUL DAYS HAVE EVENTS

Here's one of the many reasons I love living in Southern California. It's been getting chilly lately and the water temperature slowly dropping. It was supposed to be cloudy and rainy today, and the water temperature had dropped to 62°. It looked like the end of the beach days for the year. Regardless, I ran errands early, just in case. By the time I got home the clouds had parted and the temperature was a few degrees warmer than forecast-ed. I figured that one of the perks of living five minutes away from the beach is that if you go down there and it starts raining, you just shuffle back home without wasting half a day driving, parking, and driving back. So I grabbed my shit and started down there. Got as far as Newport Farms, the convenience store two blocks away, and ran into David, a Spicoli type character who's a master carpenter and covered with tats. (My favorite: bread, cold cuts and garnishes tattooed on his knuckles. A knuckle sandwich.) So I walk with him to the tattoo shop and then ran into Kevin, another local. While talking to him, Gil, still another loc', comes cruising by on his bike. I went for a short walk to the other end of the beach, and when I come beach, who's plopped down right by my unattended shit? Bob, who lives across the street from me. On the way home I had two more friend run-ins. To cut to the chase, I whiled away most of the afternoon shooting the shit with friends and getting wet at the beach. (Bonus: The water temperature actually went up to 64°!). This on a day that wasn't supposed to be accommodating to goofing around outdoors. I was resigned to getting shit done. It turned out to be an awesome day to be "unproductive".

When I got home, the song below came to mind. What's not to like about a well crafted pop song about a nice day with a heavily accented Euro-babe singing with bonus bird tweets?

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Listen:
Persephone's Bees - Nice Day mp3 at Audio Drums

BACKSTAGE AT THE CALVACADE OF KNOCKERS

Thematic mixes are usually a double edged sword. On one hand, they can suck. In the struggle to find songs that fit the theme, some crappy ones creep in. The quality of a thematic mix is really a measure of the selector's collection and know-how. This one is by Phil X. Milstein, aka Probe Is Turning-On the People aka Snidely Whiplash, and it is great. He has really good and well informed taste. Another sign of a like minded fiend? Of all the contending song titles available as a title of his post, he chose the song "Who's Knocking On My Door" by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Sucked me in.

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Listen:
Little Richard - Keep A Knockin' mp3 at The New LoFi
The mix:
Who's Knocking On My Door at Boss Radio 66 47 song mix in a zip. Note: The download link appears to still be good despite being from an old post. I didn't follow it through to the end because I'd already downloaded (shortly after it was posted) .

DIVERSIONS RULE

I ran into a bunch of what's referred to as Mod Jazz. It's not the first time I've heard that term. Being an American too young (never mind on the wrong continent) to experience the whole mod thing in the sixties, I get my mod-ucation as hindsight. So I might have it all wrong. It seems to me that the music the mods favored, outside of mod bands like the Who, the Small Faces and so on, included ska, Northern soul, jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues. Not sure where mod jazz is in the middle of that. Tonight, after hearing a half dozed cuts, it occurred to me that this "mod jazz", along with Northerrn soul and soul jazz, was very similar to what was referred to as Popcorn by scenesters in Belgium. [This way to the black hole.] I tracked down the short documentary about the popcorn scene that I'd posted eight years ago (it's good, watch it) and then the wheels came off. I'm all over the place right now so these will have to do.

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Listen:
Booker T and the MGs - Soul Jam mp3 at Internet Archive
Bobby Bland - Honey Child mp3 at Internet Archive
Jack McDuff - Hot Barbeque mp3 at Internet Archive
Mac Rebennack = The Point mp3 at Internet Archive
Ray Bryant Combo - Sack O' Woe mp3 at Internet Archive

THAT VOICE

A couple days ago a live clip of Toots and the Maytals from 2017 popped up on my feed. I hadn't seen live footage of Toots Hibbert in a long while so, what the hell, right? Sheeit! I was amazed at how well his voice has held up over the years. I mean it's not like he's Sinatra, his voice has always had a gospel-like roughness to it. Even with that, he was at it for roughly fifty years and he still sounded pretty much the same. This is good shit.

Here's a handful of early things (mid-sixties to early seventies) and a studio clip from the 1972 film The Harder They Come. My favorite part of that clip is the moment at 2:13 that Jimmy Cliff (in the yellow hat) has a lightbulb go off, thinking "Hey, I could do that." One last thing: As I often do when I see a video that's good, I check to see what other stuff is posted on the user's channel. The user that posted the live clip turned out to be Quincy Jones ("Qwest"). As I suspected, that dude has taste. There's a ton of good stuff. Dig it.

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Listen:
The Maytals - Do the Reggay mp3 at Internet Archive Very early, if not first, use of the word "reggay" [sic] in song.
The Maytals - Monkey Man mp3 at Internet Archive
The Maytals - Pressure Drop mp3 at Internet Archive
Toots and The Maytals - 54-46 That's My Number mp3 at Internet Archive
Toots and  The Maytals - Funky Kingston mp3 at Internet Archive
Video:
Toots and the Maytals - Sweet and Dandy at YouTube From the film The Harder They Come 1972

THE SANTA ANA SOUNDTRACK

You wouldn't know it from looking at them but after years of listening to the Budos Band, I can't help but associate them with the beach, the walk home after a swim during Santa Ana weather conditions (warm and dry, offshore winds). Something to do with when I first started listening to them, they were on heavy rotation at home that year the water and weather stayed nice well into November. They don't look very beach-y, particularly in the video below. The funny thing is, now twenty years in, they look like half the people in my neighborhood (which is the beach). In other words, they look a little scroungy. Their sound has gotten harder as well. I wasn't crazy about the more in-your-face sound a few years ago but after seeing the video below, I'm re-thinking that. The video is great. Filmed this past August. There's a handful of their early stuff down there too so you can see what a couple decades of evolving does.

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Listen:
The Budos Band - King Kobra mp3 at Internet Archive
The Budos Band - Unbroken, Unshaven mp3 at Internet Archive
The Budos Band - Origin of Man mp3 at Internet Archive
The Budos Band - Monkey See, Monkee Do mp3 at Internet Archive

The Budos Band - Budos Dirge mp3 at Internet Archive

FULLY BAKED GROOVES

Well, here we are, a couple Fela Kuti cuts. Characteristically long: one is fifteen minutes, the other seventeen minutes. That Fela. Dude loves his long jams. At that length you can let 'em rip and go about your business. Make a sandwich whilst shaking your ass and your lunch will taste better. One nice thing for you locals is that these are solid and despite having posted Fela's stuff many times over the years, I've never posted these.

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Listen:
Fela Kuti - Dog Eat Dog mp3 at Internet Archive 1977
Fela Kuti - Go Slow mp3 at Internet Archive 1972

FUCK THE HALL

You know the butterfly effect? It's the theory that a small change somewhere can cause another change with  something else, which leads to another change and after this happens a bunch of times pretty soon something distant and more significant changes. I'm bringing this up because there is no doubt that people like me complaining that Link Wray was not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [sic] lead to his being inducted this year. Let me make it clear that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a piece of crap. It's just a record industry way of pumping itself up. They don't know rock 'n' roll. Case in point, the Bee Gees were inducted in 1997. Would you call any song of theirs rock 'n' roll? And they were inducted twenty five years before Link Wray! Should I twist the knife a little more? Wray was inducted with a Musical Influence Award, not as a performer. What the fucking fuck?!

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Listen:
Link Wray - Rumble mp3 at Internet Archive
Link Wray - The Swag mp3 at Internet Archive
Link Wray - Rawhide mp3 at Internet Archive
Link Wray - Ace of Spades mp3 at Internet Archive
Link Wray - Run Chicken Run mp3 at Internet Archive
Link Wray - The Black Window mp3 at Internet Archive
Link Wray - Jack the Ripper mp3 at Internet Archive

IL MONDO MORRICONE

I ran into a post at Radio Diffusion Internasionaal Annexe that was international covers of Ennio Morricone songs. Yeah, you know where this is going. The songs are from the Sergio Leone's "Man With No Name" trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. That sent me into a Morricone bender. If you are familiar with his work on those three films, you'll know that he uses pretty unique instrumentation, including whistling, jaw-harps, and choruses singing non-words, some bordering on grunts..

This is awesome.

I've heard Morricone covers plenty of times. Almost without exception they were period covers, done at the time of the films to cash in. Most of the covers have been pretty straight forward, so the international covers (also period cash-ins) were interesting to hear, particularly with the traditional country relevant instruments in the mix. They're from all over the place: Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Guyana, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago, Brazil, the Phillipines and Singapoe.

Here's the OG himself, Morricone, a few American covers and just one of the songs from Radio Diffusion. There's a link to his post, I'm only posting the one so I have an excuse to use that badass sleeve above. Mint condition, I swear.

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Listen:
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly mp3 at Adhocc
Ennio Morricone - A Fistful of Dollars mp3 at Gyerekek Kedvencei
Ennio Morricone - For A Few Dollars More mp3 at Blondin
Hugo Montenegro - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (streaming) at YouTube
Billy Strange - For A Few Dollars More (streaming) at YouTube
Al Caiola - For A Few Dollars More (streaming) at YouTube
The Golden Palominos - For a Few Dollars More (streaming) at YouTube
Hugo Montenegro - Theme from A Fistful of Dollars (streaming) at YouTube
Los Bad Boys - Por Unos Dolares Más (For a Few Dollars More) mp3 at Radio Diffusion Intl
Seven more international Morricone covers at Radio Diffusion Intl
Watch:
Morricone Segreto - Celebrating Ennio Morricone: The Secrets Behind His Genius at YouTube Documentary, 25:53 minutes

THE LAST POST

That time you run into a band that you haven't thought about in ages. You know you have a copy of their first LP that you've had for years and it's miss-fuckin-filed. You know you'd never have sold it because even back in the day you knew that it was a kind of milestone for the late seventies L.A. punk scene. There weren't many bands in 1979, that had that sixties garage band thing going without copying it. You listen to the recordings and it's evident that their recording budget was next to nothing. Then you remember that they were so strapped that they hand wrote the titles of the songs on their first 45. Core.

The Last was an awesome band, more so because they straddled multiple scenes. They were part garage band, part punk, part jangly mid-sixties band, they had good songs and didn't seem concerned about looking cool. I can't think of another band that was on both Bomp (a retro/pop oriented label at that time) and SST (home to Black Flag). Respect.

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Listen:
The Last - L.A. Explosion mp3 at Internet Archive
The Last - She Don't Know Why I'm Here mp3 at Internet Archive