SPANISH STROLL BABY

Ca-chink, ca-chink, ca-chink....That's what I heard when I was at a stop light, on a wet St. Marks Place, on my way home one night, twenty-odd years ago. Looking down at the feet next to me, well traveled pointed toe shoes, the sort of which were common in Tijuana shoe stores, but not the sort I'd been seeing on the feet of New Yorkers in the mid-eighties. I glanced to my right, and saw the pointed shoe wearer's companion, with a Ronettes style bouffant, and make-up right out of a Diane Arbus photo. Then I looked up at her man. A stoic, timelessly pompadoured, figure gazing straight ahead, waiting for the light to change. It was Willy Deville.

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I'd been in New York for a couple months, done a few clubs, did CBGB's, had a group of friends that included a D-list of grafitti writers, artists, drunks, and the drummer on the Heartbreakers "Live at Max's" LP,...in short, I had all sorts of fringe NY moments. But here was Willy Deville, with his woman, on a wet, rainy night, in the Lower East Side. Now it really felt like New York.

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Mink Deville (the band), though loved by critics, were vastly overlooked by record buyers. They first appeared on a lame CBGB's compilation, and likely because of that association, no one was really sure what to make of them. Deville's understated reverence for music that came before him was about as "old wave" as you could get, especially considering his CBGB's stablemates were the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, et al. This was a guy who had a Spector alumni producing his first three albums, wrote with Doc Pomus, hired Elvis' rhythm section for his third album, and recorded in Paris so he could use Edith Piaf's string arranger. It's telling that, while most of his contemporaries can be pegged to a certain era because of their sound, his music is just like his look was that night, timeless.

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Mink Deville - Spanish Stroll mp3 at Siblingshot

Mink Deville - Just to Walk That Little Girl Home mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Mink Deville - This Must Be the Night mp3 at Jipes Mood

Mink Deville - "A" Train Lady mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Mink Deville - Bad Boy mp3 at [Some Dutch site]

VELVET UNDERGROUND GRAB BAG

A few months ago, I was listening to mp3's on shuffle, going about my business, when I was jarred by an instrumental that I hadn't really heard. I mean, it was on my computer, so I had downloaded at some point. But I must not have listened to much of it, because I would have noticed it. It was raunchy, repetitive and kind of distorted (so, my kinda music). The playing was good, but it was basic enough that it didn't come off like hot shots. But the thing was, the mix; the mix was godhead-o-phonic. When I went to my computer to see who I'd been listening too, and saw that it was the Velvet Underground, I felt like Poseur of the Day.

Could it be, that my (new) favorite Velvet Underground song was an instrumental? And singled out, without a clue who it was? I should have recognized it, but it was from an outtakes album that I never got around to getting. And, sans vocal, it didn't sound like them. (Listen to it. The mix seems a little louder than most of their stuff.) And I like that there are breaks; the song has spots for verse, chorus and back again. And that it sounds like the Sonics doing the Velvets, (Gawd, would I like to hear Gary Roslie yelp over that!) A few months after putting it in the "save for later" pile, I figured I better put in up, before the link is dead. Do yourself a favor, get it now.

Ever wonder why all the photos you see of the Velvet Underground are in black and white?

This of course, gave me the excuse to post the backlog of Velvets/Lou Reed mp3s and links that I had. So here's the rundown: The first is the aforementioned instrumental version, followed by the live "gymnasium bootleg" version, with vocals. That's followed by the live gymnasium recording of "I'm Not A Young Man Anymore" (the only known recording of that song). "Pale Blue Eyes" is on here because it reminds me of my brother. "The Gift" is on here because it reminds me of a long lost friend, Doug Diaz, who transcribed the whole damn thing and turned it in as his own short story back when he was in high school. Then there's nine songs (at Beware of the Blog) from the "Ultra-Rare Acetate," unreleased studio recordings that were found in a stack of old records and sold for some ungodly sum a while back. Next is a Lou Reed interview from 1974, just because I find funny; it's right out of the Warhol interview hand book (you know: short, inconclusive answers). Then there's one of very few videos that's labeled as the Velvet Underground and Nico on YouTube (though it seems like it's just Lou Reed and Nico) doing an acoustic "Femme Fatal". I followed that with Nico, from the mid-80's doing "All Tomorrows Parties". I included that because it was about the time I saw her live in Amsterdam (and, you know what? The bitch didn't even look at me). After that is the Primitives, a demo-only pre-Velvets group of Reed and Cale's, who were working as songwriters for Pickwick at the time. Somehow "Do the Ostrich" got released and became a minor regional hit, forcing them to throw together a group to promote it. (A complete pre-Velvets discography can be found here.) I had to include "Perfect Day" not only because it's beautiful, it's also a go-to tear-jerker for anyone DJing a wedding. The promo for the BBC using the song is pretty tight too. (Don't turn it off when Bowie flashes on your screen. You'll be rewarded with snippets of Burning Spear, Shane McGown, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, and Tom Jones as compensation.) Then there's the mildly amusing "Sister Ray" mash-up with the VU dubbed over a video of a Lawrence Welk band. Next is an interview with Reed at Kung Fu magazine, about the "Tai Chi of Rock n' Roll," which I haven't read, but still induced a nice smirk when I saw his poses (here's the cover). Last on the list is yet another mash-up by Go Home Productions, this time mashing Christina Aguilera and the Velvets.

So, I've pretty much depleted my stock of oddball Velvets/Reed links. Now a challenge: Five, count'em five, American dollars to anyone who sends me an mp3 of their own (or someone else's) vocals over the instrumental version of "Guess I'm Falling In Love". The only criteria is that it can't be Reed's vocals. You can make up lyrics, do a mash-up or whatever. If there's more than one sent, I'll post them all and let people vote on them. If you drop Gary Roslie's vocals over it, you'll be an instant winner of ten American dollars. Just throwin' it out there...

One more thing, just remember folks, per Reed, his reissued Metal Machine Music is "the perfect holiday gift for your loved one."

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The Velvet Underground - Guess I'm Falling In Love (Instrumental) mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

The Velvet Underground - Guess I'm Falling In Love (Live) mp3 at Dead Flowers

The Velvet Underground - I'm Not a Young Man Anymore (Live) mp3 at Dead Flowers

The Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes mp3 at Pinglewood.com

The Velvet Underground - The Gift mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

The Velvet Underground - The Ultra Rare Acetates (9 mp3s) at Beware of the Blog

Lou Reed 1974 interview at YouTube

The Velvet Underground & Nico - Femme Fatale video at YouTube

Nico - All Tomorrows Parties video at YouTube

The Primitives - Do the Ostrich and Sneaky Pete mp3s at Beware of the Blog

Lou Reed - Perfect Day mp3 at The Walrus

Lou Reed and others - Perfect Day video at YouTube

Lawrence Welk meets Velvet Underground (spoof) video at YouTube
Lou Reed on the Tai Chi of Rock n' Roll at Kung Fu magazine

Go Home Productions -Girl Just Want to Say Goodbye to Rock n' Roll (VU vs Christina Aguilera mash up) mp3 at Beware of the Blog

ENTRY LEVEL COUNTRY

Everyone who's really into music has done it. You find out someone you're not quite familiar with covered a song that you already know like the back of your hand. So, you buy their record, and find yourself liking it. You notice other covers, so you check out the originals, and all of a sudden you find yourself working backwards, getting closer to the source. So it is that the Rolling Stones can lead to Merle Haggard, or Commander Cody can lead to Red Sovine or Bob Wills, and so on. Pretty soon, you're looking for session players like Sneaky Pete, Don Rich and Phil Baugh. To paraphrase the Talking Heads, "You might find yourself saying, 'how did I get here?'" It seems especially true for genres left under explored in your younger years. But that's the cool thing about music.

There's a neat quote that was on some blog somewhere, that was from a sign in a record store. It was directed at music fiends, but, shit, it applies to everything, across the board. It said "You will never know everything. You will never hear everything. You will never own everything. You will never remember everything." I'd like to think that it came from a wise old sage, but more than likely it came from a snotty record store counter guy who was being a little profound completely by accident.

I can think of at least a dozen people in my past who have emphatically pointed me in the direction of a country artist of some sort. All had different starting points, and all were followed up on. But, still, I'm a country neophyte, so a rather obvious starting point was Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers. I got as far as Buck and Merle, realized that I was opening up a can of worms and just cut to the chase, one of the aforementioned session guys, Phil Baugh. As a side note, I've got to add that Dave Dudley's "Two Six Packs Away" is a personal favorite. Not only does he sound drunk, but those perky backing vocals piping in repeatedly with "Two Six Packs Away" always manage to slay me.

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

Listen:
The Flying Burrito Brothers - Christine's Tune (Devil in Disguise) mp3 at Rock-52.net

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Wheels mp3 at Rocky-52.net

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Wild Horses - mp3 at bpfastball.com

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Six Days on the Road mp3 at Leaky Sparrow

Gram Parsons - Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man mp3 at bpfastball.com

Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris - Love Hurts mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen - Seeds and Stems mp3 at Cover Lay Down

Dave Dudley - Two Six Packs Away mp3 at Rocky-52 .net

Buck Owens - Close Up the Honky Tonks mp3 at Big Rock Candy Mountain
Buck Owens - Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms mp3 at Rocky-52.net

Buck Owens - I Don't Care (Just As Long As You Love me) mp3 at Rocky-52.net

Merle Haggard - Sing Me Back Home mp3 at Rocky-52.net

Phil Baugh (with Vern Stovall) - Country Guitar mp3 at Beware of the Blog

WANT TO SEE A GROWN MAN CRY?

Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer cover Bob Marley. All three are gone. Play this sucker a couple of times in a row, and reflect. Because a little reflection won't make you a wuss, and it might do you some good. Motherfucker.

Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer - Redemption Song mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

MAYDAY! BILLY LEE RILEY ILL AND BROKE!

UPDATE, MAKE THAT SAD UPDATE:
From the Rockabilly Hall of Fame website:
"Billy Lee Riley R.I.P.
One of the greatest original Sun recording artists, peacefully passed away on Sunday August 2nd, 2009 at 5:20 AM. His family was at his bedside."
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[The following was written before his death.] Not to sound like a complete jerk, but here's a novel idea: Before another legendary early rocker passes away, and the requisite "woe-is-me" eulogizing pours out of a thousand blogs (guilty here too), let's help a ailing rocker live. Billy Lee Riley has stage four bone cancer, and he's broke..

Why you should care: Riley was in the early crop of Sun Records artists, and was never fully given his due. Though revered among rockabilly fanatics and record geeks everywhere, he's practically unknown to John Q. Gotta-Lotta-CDs. Few know that he and his band, the Little Green Men, were the studio house band at Sun. And Riley, a solo artist as well, literally coulda been a contender. "Red Hot", the closest he ever got to a hit, was passed over by Sam Philips so he could promote Jerry Lee Lewis. As the story goes, Riley was in the Sun office when Phillips cancelled advance orders of 30,000 copies of "Red Hot," telling distributors to push "Great Balls of Fire" instead. Riley then did what any self-respecting rocker would do: he went out and got loaded, returning later to demolish the studio..

Whether or not every part of the story is true, it does speak to Riley's refusal to be a patsy. His disillusionment with the label would later force his exit, landing at Brunswick for a short time, before starting his own label. In the PBS produced documentary, Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records, while in conversation with other early Sun artists, Riley was the only one that mentioned getting the short end of the Sun stick. Meanwhile, the others hemmed and hawed about the good ol' days.

Bottom line, gang, is that he is part and parcel of the reason rock n' roll exists. Even if you whittled his career down to his two best known songs ("Red Hot" and "Flying Saucers Rock n' Roll," both essential fuel in the original fire), we would owe him a debt. But he was one of the Sun second-stringers, slightly wilder (ergo less marketable), who kept the stars from getting too, well, soft, during their tenure at Sun.

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He's racked up big medical bills. He and his wife, Joyce, are having a tough go of it. For the love of whatever rocks you, help Billy Lee Riley live. Here's his address:

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Billy Lee Riley

723 Crest Drive

Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401

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Or you can donate via PayPal at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame home page

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Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

(w/Jerry Lee Lewis on piano)

Billy Lee Riley - Flying Saucers Rock n' Roll mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

(One of the earliest recorded whammy bars)

Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot (alternate take) mp3 and two others at The Hound Blog

Billy Lee Riley's bio, in his own words at Delta Boogie
(NOTE: Scroll halfway down the page)

Billy Lee Riley page at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame

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A special thank you to Boogie Woogie Flu for putting it out there.

THIS MP3 KILLS FASCISTS

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Woody Guthries - This Land is Your Land mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - This Land is Your Land mp3 at Evil Vince

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THIS WOMAN IS A SAINT

That's my Mom. I can't even start to list the reasons why she was a saint, but trust me on this one. She had five kids in five years and anyway you add it up, that's non-stop diapers for a long-ass time. Never mind five sack lunches a day, the grocery shopping, the school clothes shopping, the PTA meetings, the laundry, the swimming lessons, the housework, the Christmas shopping, the enchiladas done until they were just crispy around the edges and the sloppy joes made with onion soup mix. After we hit our mid-late teens, my Pop split and she handled the rebel years of her kids solo, with grace and acceptance. That's just the beginning. (If I continued, we'd be here all night.) She was, and is, the coolest Mom I have ever met.

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It's Mother's Day, and although she would have preferred Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton or Gene Krupa, I'm sure she would pound the minute steaks for dinner to the beat of "Mother Popcorn" by the GFOS James Brown.

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(Thank you Boogie Woogie Flu for posting it.)

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James Brown - Mother Popcorn mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

INFECTIOUS GROOVE TIME

Everyone has a song that's like a security blanket; one that is comforting to know is around when you need it. Althia & Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking" is one of those songs for me. I've dragged it out of the 45 closet on a regular basis for years. And it never fails to put a smile on my face, no matter how shitty I feel.

It was a hit in 78 in the UK, one of scores of reggae one-hit-wonders. Everything about it rubs cheerfulness; the groove of it, the lyrics, the light Jamaican patois. I can't put my finger on it, but if it does one ounce of good to you that it does to me, it's worthy of a download.

As much as I like the song, I was a little hesitant to watch a video, for fear that it might wreck the long-running vibe it held for me. Thankfully, that fear was ungrounded. The video clip from Top of the Pops (on YouTube) is downright adorable.

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

Listen:.

Althia & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Rhythm source:
Alton Ellis - I'm Still In Love With You mp3 at Stop Okay Go
Video:
Althia & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking video at YouTube

NYUK NYUK 101

These may very well be elementary for some, but for any of those who may not have these, do yourself a favor and get them now. All of them (and don't dismiss "We Will Fall" until you listen to it at 3 in the morning). I don't know...I'm so out of touch, I really have no idea if anyone other than Stooges fiends listen to the Stooges (or are even cognisant of them) these days. Even if you do have these, there's also a thing from Legs McNeil's book Please Kill Me about the Stooges era romancin' of Iggy Pop and Nico.

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All this and and the original stereo and mono mixes of "Search and Destroy"! Yowza, no? From the Stooges third Raw Power, these are significant because the album was remixed for the CD reissue, and now lacks the bite. There's also a lofi demo version for afore mentioned fiends.

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As good (and essential) as this stuff is, this isn't even the Stooges finest hour. That, of course, would be their second LP, Funhouse. Sadly, no live mp3 freebies to be found. (Hey, come on...they'll pop up sooner or later). As a consolation, see the link to Lester Bang's 1970 review below.

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The Stooges - 1969 mp3 and the rest of the first album at This Recording (Scroll to the end of the post for the mp3s)

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Search and Destroy (original mix) mp3, mono version and two other mixes at Boogie Woogie Flu

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Lester Bang's legendary long-ass review of Fun House, originally published in Creem, in 1970. This is how engrossing rock journalism can be. Read all of it, and then take your latest issue of Spin or Rolling Stone to the recycling bin. (You should just burn Blender.)