HITTING TIPS FROM TED WILLIAMS

Opening day today, the baseball season gets underway. For the first time in few years I'm actually paying attention. To commemorate the return of even the slightest detectable interest, here's a few baseball related things. If you have no interest in the sport, skip straight to Mabel Scott (that's her above), whose "Baseball Boogie" swings regardless of topic. The same cannot be said of Pamela Neal's disco tribute to the autograph whore with the bad hair cut, Pete fucking Rose. Banned from the Hall of Fame not for bad taste, surprisingly, but because he tasted bad. He fucking bet on the game. Neal's disco thing is called "Charlie Hustle" as in "Do the Charlie Hustle". Clever.

The kid's portion of the show is "Tips On How to Become a Better Hitter". If your kid plays, throw him a room with that one. Ted Williams was one of the best hitters in the game, and his stats still stand as some of the best ever. Shit, this spoken word record couldn't possibly hurt. I know you over the top sports parents are looking for an edge anywhere you can find it. You'll give anything a shot.

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Listen:
Mabel Scott - Baseball Boogie mp3 at Keep the Coffee Coming
Pamela Neal - Charlie Hustle mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Spoken Word:
Ted Williams - Tips On How to Become a Better Hitter: Part 1 and Part2 mp3s at Beware of the Blog
Video:
Ozzy Osborne - Take Me Out to the Ball Game at YouTube

AMOS MILBURN SHREDDING

A quick one tonight. Long story short: I've been under stress lately at the day gig and just got out from under the source of it. So I'm exhaling, taking it easy tonight. I've been listening to old rhythm and blues since I got home, so I'm roping you in. First some Amos Milburn and when I finish with that, a re-watching of Rhythm & Blues Revue, a 1955 flick with some heavy hitters. Lionel Hampton, Big Joe Turner, Amos Milburn, The Larks, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, Ruth Brown and others. That'll keep me out of your hair for a while. Here's the movie (71 minutes):

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Listen:
Amos Milburn - Birmingham Bounce mp3 at Rocky 52 1950
Amos Milburn - Rock, Rock, Rock mp3 at Rocky 52 1952
Amos Milburn - One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer mp3 at Rubber City Review 1953
Amos Milburn - One, Two, Three Everybody mp3 at Rocky 52 1954
Amos Milburn - Chicken Shack Boogie mp3 at Rubber City Review 1956

KINGSTON COOL. LOOK IT UP.

If you're at all interested in the original ska from early sixties Jamaica (as opposed to later ska revivals), you know that there was a handful of go-to horn players, called into action through ska to rocksteady and a few continuing through reggae. Some of the bigger names were Don Drummond (trombone), Roland Alphonso (sax), Lester Sterling (sax), Johnny "Dizzy" Moore (trumpet), and Tommy McCook (sax), all founding members of the Skatalites, and all but Drummond alumni of the Alpha Boys School (a launching pad for many early reggae musicians). Some of them had records under their own name "and the Skatalites", others were featured players with co-billing on singers' records. Tommy McCook seemed everywhere back then. Checking this handful of tunes you'll hear what the Specials, Madness and Bad Manners, and later a thousand others, used, recycled and sometimes caricatured. Despite the sound quality (a little muddy, typical for the period in Jamaica), I prefer these to the later ultra kinetic bands.

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Listen:
Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Ska Jam mp3 at Internet Archive
Tommy McCook & The Skatalites - Rocket Ship mp3 at Internet Archive
Tommy McCook & Lester Sterling - Inez mp3 at Internet Archive
The Silvertones, Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - My True Confession mp3 at Internet Archive
Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Out of Space mp3 at Internet Archive
Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Starry Night mp3 at Music ADD
Tommy McCook - Tenor On Call mp3 at J Bird

8:00, THEATER 3

Here's some vintage rapsploitation. I haven't watched the whole thing yet but I skipped around a bit and it didn't seem as corny as I thought it would be. This is based on Russell Simmons and the beginnings of DefJam. With Run DMC, Kurtis Blow and the Fat Boys, it's definitely worth a look. Besides, as it says, "It's Chillin'".  It's a freebie at YouTube, so you have to sit through ads a few times. Just mute it. You should always mute the ads.

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Watch:
Krush Groove at YouTube Full film w/ads

UH, BLAME THE SKY.

I heard Al Green in my car yesterday, on the radio. It was followed by Marvin Gaye. It was a good drive. When I got home I put on some Al Green. After a few songs I was headed out to the alley to have a smoke and read a few pages.  When I opened the door and looked toward the ocean, the sun had just set and the sky had that blue fade and high up at the darkest part a crescent moon, just below it a star. With Green singing as I took it in, it was one of those moments when the music matched what was happening in feel, not necessarily lyrically. More like a soundtrack. There's so much to choose from with Al Green. You've heard the hits so here's a handful of covers. It's great  hearing how he reworks them.

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Listen:
Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand mp3 at Internet Archive
Al Green - The Letter mp3 at Internet Archive
Al Green - I Can't Get Next To You mp3 at Internet Archive

NIGHT OF THE COUNTRY DOWNERS

You've heard the old joke about what happens when you play a country and western record backwards, right?. The wife returns, the dog comes back to life, the home foreclosure is cancelled and the boss re-hires the the singer. It's an old joke. Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen made a joke out of sad country songs along the same line. In "Seeds and Stems" Bill Kirchen sings "You know, my dog died just yesterday and left me all alone, the finance company dropped by today and repossessed my home, but that's just a drop in the bucket compared to losing you, and I'm down to seeds and stems again, too." Hi-yuck. Stoner country.

I happened on a couple cuts from a Monument Records compilation that are what the poster called countrypolitan which I'm assuming is psuedo-country sung by fancy city folk, at the least country light. Regardless, whether cry in your beer or cry in your martini, these are sad sack gold. "The Runt" is about bullying and "Apology at Bedtime (My Little Boy)" is sung (or spoken) by a dad to a sleeping son, apologizing for riding him too hard. Don't get me started about the latter. An apology is all fine and dandy, but when the kid is asleep? What good is that going to do? Sure, real sincere apology there. From a dad too cowardly and egotistic to apologize when his son is awake. And, no, my dad's name isn't Jim Mann. There's a B-side in there someplace.

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Listen:
Dave Rich - The Runt mp3 at Internet Archive
Jim Mann - Apology at Bedtime (My Little Boy) mp3 at Internet Archive
Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airman - Seeds and Stems (streaming) at YouTube

MUSIC FOR SPRING BREAKERS

I was going to post the Legendary Stardust Cowboy so I had to check to see how long it had been since I've posted his stuff. There's a lot of guys like him that I post every few years so they don't get forgotten, whether they're alive or dead. I want to make sure the younger generations know who he is. They can cruise through their twenties not knowing who the fuck Paul McCartney is but, goddamn it, they better know the Ledge.



When I was checking the old posts I was surprised that I really didn't repeat myself over the course of them and was considering cut and pasting them into one long post. Alas, I'm too damn lazy. You can just go to the old posts, right? It's worth it. Between the two below you can read about Bowie borrowing "Stardust" for his Ziggy Stardust persona and years later covering one of his songs. Oh, and the story about the Ledge leaving two messages on my answering machine (serious). Here's just a couple early cuts. "Paralyzed" is like his "Johnny B. Goode", that's what put him on the map. Oh yeah, T-Bone Burnett played drums on it. I'm cutting out before I really run off at the mouth.

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Listen:
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralyzed mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Who's Knocking At My Door mp3 at Beware of the Blog
More at the earlier posts:
What Becomes a Legend Most? 2014
The King of Pop is Alive 2009

THE SONG THAT WON'T LEAVE

I was twelve years old when I bought my first LP, Cosmo's Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Like other Creedence LPs, there were covers as filler, four on this LP. Creedence was good at choosing covers and even better at putting the Creedence stamp on them. Being my first LP, it was the first time I heard any of the covers. So I didn't know "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" at all. Being twelve, I was not yet into doing the cover version backward crawl. It was was a few years before I heard any of the Motown versions.

There were three Motown versions. The Temptations were the first to record it but Gladys Knight and the Pips' version was the first to be released. After those two were released, Marvin Gaye's came out and kicked ass, becoming the version most people think of. Anyway, Creedence's version is eleven minutes long, and it has the sound of a long Creedence song, their sustained notes swamp thing going on. I like it but that's because I've heard it so much it's ingrained in my skull. When it comes to doing the song in a band's unique style and sound, the Slits totally made it their own. Shit, their version came out just nine years after Creedence's.

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Listen:
Gladys Knight and the Pips - I Heard It Through the Grapevine mp3 at Internet Archive
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine mp3 at Internet Archive
Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Heard It Through the Grapevine mp3 at Internet Archive
The Slits - I Heard It Through the Grapevine mp3 at Internet Archive

"...FUCKIN' HIGH SCHOOL, BULLSHIT JIVE ARTISTS"

Drum solos are a weird thing. Rarely are they dance-able and, unless a talking drum is utilized, there's no melody. Sometimes they're just ridiculous. When is all said and done, it's really just an opportunity for the drummer to show off. If he can. Buddy Rich could.

Yesterday I came across of a reissue of an LP I own, Krupa and Rich. If you know drummers, you know who Rich is and you probably know who Gene Krupa is. Both of them were their era's Keith Moon or Ginger Baker, i.e. drummers' drummers. Just full on kick ass relentless beating. They actually had several more joint LPs, at least two titled Drum Battle and there is a live version of "Drum Battle", the song, on Jazz at the Philharmonic, Volume 15, a 3 LP box set from 1954. (Just mentioning that one so I can brag that I scored a copy in great shape - in a dollar bin.) The Krupa and Rich LP, while at times restrained, really goes off in spots. There's only one song that they do together so at least you get to hear their chops within the same context. The reissue I came across had a couple added tracks, one was a Buddy Rich (no Krupa) called "Monster". If you know me, that's a Pavlovian click. Buddy Rich + Monster = no brainer. So, I'm listening and it's a nice jam with the rest of the band taking their turn in the spotlight. Then after six minutes, it's all Rich. Five minutes of arms flailing sweat dripping teeth gritting mayhem. One guy. I actually went to the listing at Discogs to verify that Krupa or another drummer weren't also on it. Hard to believe that someone could go at that intensity for that long. It's crazy man.

Speaking of Rich, monsters and crazy, I have to link to Rich berating his band after a gig. Buddy Rich loves to say the word "fuck". So much so, there's no "almost", it is comical. Total all caps.  There's four segments, only one below with a link to the other three and the story about the tapes. Show off, asshole, good guy or bad guy, he was 100% his own person.

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Listen:
Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich - Bernie's Tune mp3 at Internet Archive
Buddy Rich - Monster mp3 at Internet Archive Solo starts at about 6:17
Buddy Rich - Workin'my fuckin' ass off (Audio 1) mp3 at Track Drummer
More fuckin' tirades at Track Drummer

DETOUR OF THE NIGHT

It's one of those things where you're looking for something and end up finding something else. In this case, I was trolling for Howlin' Wolf, specifically stuff on Chess where he really hit his stride. Amongst the songs was "Mr. Airplane Man" which reminded me of the duo of the same name who I hadn't heard in a few years. So, I went looking for stuff by Mr. Airplane Man, the band. I found a podcast with them playing and being interviewed. That's down there along with a handful from the Wolf. I tried to select some lesser known cuts but with "Mr. Highway Man" that goes out the window, particularly when it's an alternate version I hadn't heard. Now I'm off to check YouTube for Mr. Airplane Man to catch up with them. Never ends, this shit.

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Listen:
Howlin' Wolf - Mr. Airplane Man mp3 at Internet Archive Takes 1 & 2
Howlin' Wolf - Mr. Highway Man (alt) mp3 at Internet Archive
Howlin' Wolf - California Boogie mp3 at Internet Archive
Howlin' Wolf - Baby, Ride With Me (alt 3) mp3 at Internet Archive
The Legendary Lost Mr. Airplane Man Session! (Episode 249) - Heritage Radio Network at Internet Archive 20 minute podcast.

I MISS THRIFT STORE SCORES

Here's a few things from the late fifties or early sixties, kind of straddling rhythm and blues and early soul. They're all solid candidates for mixes, you know, the ol' mystery jam trick where you look like some full-on musicologist simply because you drop in a few quality songs by people most listeners don't know ever existed. The only name I recognized was Little Willie John. The J.J. Jackson that did "Oo-Ma-Liddi" is not the same J.J. Jackson that who did "But, It's Alright" (nor is he the ex-VJ of the same name that used to be on MTV back in the day). All four of these were selected at random and all four kick ass.

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Listen:
J.J. Jackson & The Jackaels - Oo-Ma-Liddi mp3 at Internet Archive
Charles Sheffield - It's Your Voodoo Working mp3 at Internet Archive
Little Willie John - Uh Uh Baby (No No Baby) mp3 at Internet Archive
Prince Conley - I'm Going Home mp3 at Internet Archive

ME NEITHER.

Wout Steenhuis? Shit, I don't know. I heard a few cuts from his 1965 LP Hawaiian Surf Ride, Hawaiian as in the lap steel variety. It was good, very clean and precise. But what of that name? Curious of his origin, I read the bio of him at Wikipedia. Ho-ly shit. His Dutch origins are just the beginning. Really, read the bio. How come none of you ever told me about this guy?

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Listen:
Wout Steenhuis - Haitian Hula mp3 at Internet Archive
Wout Steenhuis - Hawaiian Surf Ride mp3 at Internet Archive
Wout Steenhuis - Sweet Lelani mp3 at Internet Archive
Wout Steenhuis - Hawaiian Twilight mp3 at Internet Archive

LEIBER AND STOLLER WON'T LEAVE.

I know I just posted the Coasters a while back but here's a couple curiosities. Songs by Leiber and Stoller that were hits by the Coasters but recorded earlier by women. "Down In Mexico" by Ella Mae Morse and "Riot In Cell Block #9" by Vicki Young. Both awesome, more rhythm and blues than doo wop. As a bonus, an early version of "Hound Dog" (also written by Leiber and Stoller) by Freddy Bell and the Bellboys that pre-dates Elvis's version (not sure about Big Mama Thornton's). All three of these are pre-1956 because they're from Leiber and Stoller's California era, before they exploded back East with the Coasters and others.

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Listen:
Ella Mae Morse - Down In Mexico mp3 at Internet Archive
Vicki Young - Riot In Cell Block #9 mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy Bell and the Bellboys - Hound Dog mp3 at Internet Archive

IN-STRA-MEN-TOLLS

This happens more often than you would expect. I saw a photo of Freddie King and thought "I need to hear 'San-Ho-Zay' again". Then, just minutes ago, I ran into some Freddie King's stuff including, yep, "San-Ho-Zay".

So, without blabbing further, here's a few by King, including "Hideaway" that was covered by John Mayall's Clapton-era Bluesbreakers in 1966. On last thing I gotta add: I love King's way of dealing with songs that he either can't spell or can't remember how to pronounce. To wit, San Jose (a city in California) becomes "San-Ho-Zay", and "sensation" becomes "Sen-Sa-Shun". I guess it beats "Untitled Instrumental".

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Listen:
Freddy King - The Stumble mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - San-Ho-Zay mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Sen-Sa-Shun mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Untitled Instrumental mp3 at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Hideaway mp3 at Internet Archive
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers - Hideaway mp3 at Internet Archive

LIKE THE BACK ROW OF THE SWAP MEET

So there I was, perusing Internet Archive. I ran across a collection of "Adult Film Music". Please note that it says "Adult Film" not porno. So, I'm not sure of the context but it might be just music from an adult film. Shit, I've seen my share of adult films that weren't porno. Enough splitting hairs.  The big thing that stuck out on one of the cuts, one from 1968, was by the duo of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. Some of you might recognize those names as the Bs in ABBA. That's not the most surprising thing about the cut, "Inga Theme". The crazy thing is how good it is. Breezy and psych at the same time. Fuzz makes an appearance. The other song down there is from the same movie and also good but the surprise had already happened.

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Listen:
Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson - Inga Theme mp3 at Internet Archive
Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson - She's My Kind of Girl mp3 at Internet Archive

SHIT WEEK DIVERSION #31

Well, here's a shit week for you. Wayne Shorter, jazz saxophonist (Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Weather Report and others), David Lindley, multi-instrumentalist (Jackson Browne, Linda Rondstat, Warren Zevon, Ry Cooder, John Prine and others) and Glen ‘Spot’ Lockett, engineer (Black Flag and other SST bands), all three died in the space of a few days. I'm not going to wallow in it but I do want to point out a couple things. In Shorter's case, I'm not going to pretend I know much about his career. I've heard his work as a band member on the jazz station, but I've not done a dig.

Lindley, on the other hand, I used to follow quite a bit. I gotta be honest, much as I like his session work, once he went solo with El Rayo X I realized I wasn't crazy about his voice. Not only that but his playing, which has always been stellar, had been increasingly processed. I'm not sure what guitar effects he uses on his solo stuff but it has obscured his fretwork. This is a bummer, especially since El Ray X has him playing the bulk of the LP as rocksteady, including covers of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" and Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout". After thinking about it last night I remembered that he was one of the first backing musicians I ever looked into. This was back in the boys' room days, when I was still living at home. I was taping the FM rock station on a second hand reel to reel deck (the only time I ever taped anything on it). They played Jackson Browne's "Redneck Friend". The slide guitar hit me hard enough that I had to go to the record store and look at the liner notes to see who it was (this was  years before the internet). From then on Lindley was on the list.

"Spot" Lockett was someone whose name I'd seen on record covers for years. The in-house engineer for SST records, handling the bulk of Black Flag records and a bunch of other other SST bands, from behind the board. So, last night I was listening to Black Flag and thinking that he was the perfect engineer for them. Here's where things took a lighter turn. Also last night, Stanley Kramer's It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was on TV. (A classic comedy must-see, seriously.) After having just rocked out to Black Flag's "Black Coffee" I realized that the aural mayhem was perfect as a soundtrack for a particular scene in the movie. The scene has Jonathan Winters as a somewhat mellow truck driver. Mellow, that is, until he gets bound by tape by two gas station attendants and gets pissed off. He destroys the gas station with brute strength and a few happy accidents. The scene and the song are almost the exact same length (only four seconds difference) and even if they don't sync perfectly, the aggression in the song fits the scene. So your take home assignment is to cue up the clip from the movie, then start the Black Flag song. Turn it up.

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Sync this video:
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad , Mad World (Gas Station Scene) at YouTube (Mute it.) Jonathan Winters, Dir.: Stanley Kramer
To this song
Black Flag - Black Coffee mp3 at Pretty Goes With Pretty (play with above clip)
Battle of the David Lindley guitar tones:
Jackson Browne - Red Neck Friend (streaming) at YouTube
David Lindley - Twist and Shout (streaming) at YouTube

NEW ORLEANS FUNK MEETS THE BEAT

I heard the Meters on the radio today and it reminded me that I had something by Art Neville waiting in the wings. It's a two sided cover of Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" and it's a great example of how the Nevilles, in this case Art with the aid of Allen Toussaint, can funk-ify just about anything. Bo Diddley's original has a certain Diddley charm, what with the patented Bo Diddley beat, but Neville's cover is more engaging. I've no clue why anybody would cover a song about Bo Diddley, written by Bo Diddley, recorded and self-produced by Bo Diddley, but people do. Bo Diddley even covered it. Still, Art Neville...

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Listen:
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley mp3 at Internet Archive
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley 69 mp3 at Internet Archive
Art Neville - Bo Diddley (Pt 1) mp3 at Internet Archive
Art Neville - Bo Diddley (Pt 2) mp3 at Internet Archive

YOU SAY ORCHESTRA, I SAY ARKESTRA

If you ever get frustrated looking for something online (photo, song, band, or whatever) just wait a few years and check again. I'm surprised sometimes when I find shit that wasn't there. I'd grown used to thinking that the global stock of stuff that could be digitized, uploaded and shared had been depleted. Nope.

I ran into an LP by Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra, a Sun Ra tribute. On it, they cover Sun Ra's "Nuclear War". It reminded me that Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra had covered the song as well. I went to find it. Dammers was a founding member of the Specials, followed by Specials AKA, followed by, you guessed it, Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra. If you follow Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra, you know. As far as recorded material, squat. And last time I looked for live videos there were three. But I checked today and, lo and behold, now there are a bunch. So I'm ass deep in that right now. I did manage to find a listing for a 45 released in 2014, one for sale at Discogs. A little rich for my blood ($85). I wish the fuck Jerry Dammers would put out an LP. That all said, I still have a lot of catching up to do. Here goes.

First a short clip of Dammers and crew to wet your whistle. More below, including a link to a Sun Ra documentary by Don Letts for any of you unfamiliar with Sun Ra. Oh, and Sun Ra's own feature length Space Is The Place.

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Listen:
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Nuclear War mp3 at Internet Archive
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Somebody Else's World mp3 at Internet Archive
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Everything Is Space mp3 at Internet Archive
Video:
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Ghost Planet/Nuclear War at YouTube
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - [Title unknown] at YouTube
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Samson at YouTube Tommy McCook cover
Sun Ra videos:
Sun Ra - Brother From Another Planet (documentary) at YouTube By Don Letts for the BBC
Space is the Place - Sun Ra (feature length film) at YouTube 1974