WAIT. THE VENTURES?

Funny, last night while scrolling through images in my music files I saw a photo of Harvey Mandel and was trying to remember what site I'd seen his music posted on. Had to hear "Bite the Electric Eel" again. Just because. So today I'm browsing old posts at Melting Plot, from 2015 no less, and there he was. He really should be better known. He sure as shit paid his dues, playing with Barry Goldberg, Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmy Witherspoon, Canned Heat, John Mayall, the Ventures (?!) and on solo records by both Don ("Sugarcane" Harris) and Dewey (Terry) of Don and Dewey. The first song down there is with Musselwhite, from 1967. Dig the guitar tone (not to mention Musselwhite's harp and the organ by Barry Goldberg). The other three are from The Snake, an early (1972) solo LP. The type of playing is different, even among the three. The constant on all of these is his phrasing, none of it is really overplayed. Check out his discography and pick one at random and go look for it at a YouTube. Get sucked into the Mandel rabbit hole. Yeah, that's what you should go do. Quit standing around here..

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Listen:
Charlie Musselwhite's South Side Band - Cha Cha the Blues mp3 at Groove Addict 1967
Harvey Mandel - The Snake mp3 at Melting Pot 1972
Harvey Mandel - Peruvian Flake mp3 at Melting Pot 1972
Harvey Mandel - Bight the Electric Eel mp3 at Melting Pot 1972
Visit:
Harvey Mandel - Discography at Discogs

MICKEY BAKER. JOT IT DOWN.

I'm not sure where I first heard that Mickey Baker was a hot shit guitarist. I do know that everything I've heard him play on has been better than "Love Is Strange" the hit he had as the Mickey in Mickey and Sylvia (Sylvia Vanderpool). Their hit wasn't bad but it didn't really highlight his playing. His playing on "No Good Lover" is a much more, uh, rockin'. I kept on the lookout for more. Then I pretty much hit a wall. Recording credits back in the fifties were minimal, and really minimal on 45s. Finding things that definitely had Baker on them was next to impossible. I heard cuts that sounded like they had Baker playing, but there was no way to confirm it. Until today.

I ran into a compilation that had Mickey and Sylvia's "No Good Lover" and thought "If this is on it, the rest might be worth a listen." I listened to snippets of two other songs and they sounded like they had Baker. Now I'm interested. Then the heavens parted and there were liner notes. At the end of the first paragraph it says "A garland should be handed to Mickey Baker, whose gutsy guitar work is in the matrix on nine of these titles." Yee haw! "He was a great influence and his name should be a household word," Here, here!!! "accordingly we dedicate this album to him." Awesome. Here's the nine.

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Listen:
Mickey and Sylvia - No Good Lover mp3 at Internet Archive
Tiny Kennedy - Strange Kind Of Feeling mp3 at Internet Archive
"Big" John Geer - Bottle It Up and Go mp3 at Internet Archive
The Du-Droppers - Talk That Talk mp3 at Internet Archive
The Five Keys - Lawdy Miss Mary mp3 at Internet Archive
Roy "Mr. Guitar" Gaines - Worried 'bout You Baby mp3 at Internet Archive
Mr. Bear - Radar mp3 at Internet Archive
Mr. Bear - How Come? mp3 at Internet Archive
The Du-Droppers - Speed King mp3 at Internet Archive

PARTY WITH MR. LOW KEY COOL

I'm re-reading that Ry Cooder penned book of fiction that I read last summer, and again, in the middle of the chapter that features cameos by Merle Travis and Joe Maphis, my thoughts turn to my brother. His tastes were varied. One minute it might be Flipper, the next Esquivel. So watching an old clip of some aw shucks he knows he's awesome picker was not out of the ordinary. The picker I speak of is Merle Travis, on a cabin porch in a rocking chair, introduced thusly,  "With us today is Country and Western Hall of Fame member Merle Travis". I remember that because we, along with his roommate and assorted friends on different occasions, watched that clip many, many times. It was one of those things that you take delight in running into the ground.  Keep in mind that there was usually beer or weed involved. When Travis gets to one part of the song, in the middle of some masterful picking, he says "I usually play that part on the jug." At an impromptu weekend afternoon party, hanging with friends, it was instant hysterics. It wasn't the clip, or Travis's comment, it became all about running it into the ground. We excelled at that. Merle Travis excelled at finger picking, and he made it look easy.

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Listen:
Merle Travis - Blue Smoke mp3 at Rocky 52
Merle Travis - Sixteen Tons mp3 at Rocky 52
Merle Travis - Louisiana Boogie mp3 at Bousculade (?)
Video:
Merle Travis - The Real Deal at YouTube Compilation of clips.

YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK THE HALL.

What a joke the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame [sic] is. They take the fame part of it way too seriously. They all but ignore the rock 'n' roll part of it, and rock 'n' roll is not a game of numbers, in fans, records sold, press ink or dollars. This year Stevie Nicks was inducted for a second time, once as a member of the Fleetwood Mac, and this year as a solo artist. Rock 'n' roll? I think not.

Link Wray is not in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame [sic]. The man had more rock 'n' roll under his fingernail than Stevie Nicks has had in her entire career. If he never recorded anything but "Rumble" he'd still be a no-brainer, that is if this so called Hall lived up to its name. Fuck record sales, fuck numbers, fuck the hall.

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Listen:
Link Wray - Rumble mp3 at California Girls (?)
Link Wray - Oddball mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
Link Wray - The Fuzz mp3 at Record Brother
Link Wray - Ace of Spades mp3 at Kogars Jungle Juice
Link Wray - Tijuana mp3 at Ray Carram (?)
Link Wray - Comanche mp3 at RocknDog
Link Wray - Comanche (alternate nix) mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban Promo 45

NEVER TOO LATE TO SAY THANKS

Otis Rush died a few days ago. Confession: It never occurred to me that he was still alive. Does that make me a bad person? Well, shit, I can barely keep track of birthdays, so how would I be expected to remember who's alive and who isn't. Particularly because I don't really follow current blues. I mean, yeah, old rockers I keep track of to a certain extent (Little Richard? Still kickin'. Jerry Lee Lewis? Check. Dick Dale? Hell, he's coming to town soon so I know he's still up and around). But for some reason I still feel bad that I hadn't been appreciative enough while Rush was still alive.

Like a lot of blues lifers, most of his best stuff was recorded decades ago. Shit, "I Can't Quit You Baby" was his first single and probably his best known song (it reached #6 on the r&b charts in 1956). "All Your Love"? Late fifties. "Homework"? 1962. And with those three, I'm tapped out of song titles I actually remember.

One part of one song you should check: Little Walter's "Goin' Down Slow", with Rush on guitar. At :27, listen to the way he hammers the strings. Remind you of any other left handed guitarists?

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Listen:
Otis Rush - Homework mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
Otis Rush - All My Love (I Miss Loving) (streaming) at YouTube
Little Walter with Otis Rush - Goin' Down Slow mp3 at Internet Archive

DUDE EVEN THROWS PICKS WITH ATTITUDE

I've got no clue how I ended up running across the "Double Guitar Shred Medley". I can't imagine what part of my tastes would prompt an algorithm to put it in a suggested video pile. I clicked on it out of curiosity. What I encountered was a whole other world that I'd forgotten existed. That of the at-all-costs guitar shredder. The video is by Michael Angelo Batio and it sucks. That doesn't mean that Batio isn't a good guitarist. Technically he is excellent. Mindblowing even. But his attention, his chosen micro-field of expertise, while requiring hours and hours of practice and a rare technical gift in addition to hard work, yields nothing close to rock and roll. It's all about the guitarist, and only the guitarist, which is the point. Okay, I get that. But why? When you possess that skill and are theoretically able to handle any style of music, why would you devote that much time to this kind of thing? The same reason why guys put huge wheels on lifted trucks. Why Trump has a "bigger button".

Check the comments under the video at YouTube. It's apparent this dude has worshippers, but there's some pretty funny comments too. After watching the video I had to get the hell away from Shredville. That shit is foreign, way too un-rock 'n' roll. I had to get me some anti-venom in the way of the Dirtbombs. That I can relate to.

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Listen:
The Dirtbombs - Ever Lovin' Man mp3 at Switchblade Comb
The Dirtbombs - Chains of Love mp3 at Indie Rock Cafe

EDDIE HAZEL AT HOME WITH HIS MOTHER

You have to know my sister. Parliament and Funkadelic are about the furthest thing from her playlist that there is. And she is not one to suggest a subject to post knowing that I often poo-poo other people's ideas. Not often, almost always. So when she suggested posting something by Eddie Hazel my first thought was where in the hell did she pull that out of?!  I mean it, she's a seventies soft rock lady. This was weird. After the idea festered for a few days I figured the thought of her suggesting Hazel was too monumental to ignore. It may not happen again, and I'd be remiss if I didn't document it. In a years time I'd convince myself that it was an imagined event.

Hazel was the guitarist for that whole Parliment/Funkadelic mob, but he shouldn't be associated with funk alone. He was one of those guitarists' guitarists, capable of rock and blues and everything in between. But he was clean and his licks, er, tasty. "Tasty licks", high school descriptions never die. Before the recording of "Maggot Brain", George Clinton suggested how it should be played, and his instructions were for Hazel to think his saddest thoughts. Hazel thought of his deceased mother and cried through his guitar. For ten minutes, the guitar sobs. And that would be the second use of douchy high school era guitar playing slang in one post.

Hazel's solo cover of "California Dreamin'" is something like the missing link between Isaac Hayes and Hendrix. Laid back, drawn out soul with guitar all over the place. As good a cover as there is, and not at all like the original. I always thought the Mamas and Papas' version was too sunny anyway.

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Listen:

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain mp3 at Margauxville
Eddie Hazel - California Dreamin' mp3 at Place.org (?)

DJANGO. ON THE RADIO. PLUG WORTHY.

Yesterday I was out back just chillin', as they say, digging on the weather which was unseasonably warm, slight breeze, birds chirping and all that shit. I took a break from what I was reading and succumbed to a lack of proper sleep, listening to the jazz station as I semi-dozed. The show that was airing was a big band show, but it typically veers from straight big band stuff and yesterday was no exception. Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea" came on and it hit the spot. I like the song, but at that particular moment with no distractions I succumbed and decided that it is a really great song. I'm pretty much ambivalent about Bobby Darin, but that song at that particular moment was impossible to ignore.

A few hours later, I'm in the kitchen cooking tacos listening to the same station. It happened to be a show that featured guitar jazz, and the DJ played Django Reinhardt's version of "Beyond the Sea" ("La Mer"). I'd no clue that Darin's version wasn't the original. Maybe I should have. Reinhardt's version, with Stephane Grappelli on violin, is from the forties. I'd never heard it before. Let me tell you people, it is an insanely beautiful song, goosebump type beautiful. In our parlance, absolutely the shit.

Different song, but way cool.

A plug is due here: Jazz 88 plays a lot of good stuff on weekends. If I'm lazy I just leave it on for hours. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the show Jazz West Coast, airing 3:00 - 5:00 Pacific time with the king of deadpan old school cool, Phil Dinsen. Believe me, once you get used to his dry subtle humor, you'll be looking forward to the back announcing for guaranteed chuckles. Plus, where else are you going to hear Bud Shank and Ken Nordine?

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

Listen:
Bobby Darin - Beyond the Sea mp3 at ATumblr (?) That mini-yelp at 2:04 always slays me.
Django Reinhardt with Stephane Grappelli - La Mer (Beyond the Sea) mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Django Reinhardt - The Sunshine of Your Smile mp3 at Pasumansky (?)
Visit:
Jazz 88 (streaming live) at Jazz 88
Jazz 88 program schedule at Jazz 88
Jazz 88 playlist archive at Jazz 88

HAD ME AT "HUH, HUH, HAAAWW!"

Jan Davis didn't screw around. He was in B. Bumble and the Stingers, did the yell at the beginning of Dick Dale's "Miserlou", and years later popped up on an Exene Cervenka album. Over the span of a few decades, he played everything from rockabilly to flamenco. And he played some really, really wacked out surf. I can't believe I walked around for years not even knowing Jan Davis existed. Don't you be that fool.

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Listen:
Jan Davis - Destination Love mp3 at Rocky 52
The Ricco-Shays - Damascus (streaming) at YouTube
Jan Davis - Snow Surfin Matador mp3 at Clayton Counts
Jan Davis - Watusi Zombie (streaming) at YouTube
Jan Davis - Two more recent songs at Reverbnation

LEAVE ME OUTTA THIS

Roughly seven years ago I posted a thing about the origin of the fuzz on Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio's cover of Tiny Bradshaw's "Train Kept a Rollin'", and the debate over who actually played lead on it. Some people claim it was Paul Burlison, Burnette's regular guitar player, and the fuzz was a serendipitous accident, the result of a loose tube in his amp. Others claim it was Grady Martin, a Nashville session musician, having found fuzz on a previous recording session through different accidental means, a faulty channel in a mixing board.

I'm not trying to further the debate. Actually, that's not really the case. A little innocent shit stirring never hurt anyone. But, to be honest, I don't care who was playing on it or who invented fuzz.  It's killer song no matter who played the lead guitar. But after seeing the debate occurring again at Rubber City Review (which is an excellent blog by the way), I figured I'd post some other stuff Grady Martin did play on, because there is no debating that he was hot shit. The bonus, the feel good moment if you will, is that one common thread that Burlison and Martin share. Regardless of who played lead on "Train Kept a Rollin'", the fuzz was found by accidental means. Fuck ups rule.

Martin was on a hell of a lot of other stuff, and a lot of it you're heard. He's the only guitarist to play with both Hank Williams and Elvis Presley (I read that somewhere, but, yeah, citation needed). He played on Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman", Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again", and sides by Lefty Frizzell, Brenda Lee, Marty Robbins, Johnny Horton. Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Kris Kristofferson, and on and on. Here's a handful.

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

Listen:

Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio - Train Kept a Rollin' mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Don Woody - Bird Dog mp3 at Rockabilly Bash
Wayne Walker - All I Can Do Is Cry mp3 at Rocky 52
Inman Autry - It Would Be a Doggone Lie mp3 at Rocky 52

Johnny Carrol - Crazy, Crazy Lovin' mp3 at Rocky 52

Marty Robbins - Don't Worry mp3 at Beware  of the Blog Extreme country fuzz, wait for it.

Visit:
Grady Martin: Roughneck Blues at Rubber City Review Excellent, with sound snippets and three videos with Grady shredding.
Here Come Da Fuzz - The old post here. Bulison's son chimes in, in the comments.

Did Paul Burlison or Grady Martin play guitar for Johnny Burnette & The Rock'n'Roll Trio? Long dissertation by Victor Gordon & Peter Dijkema at the Rockabilly Guitar Page

Grady Martin at Wikipedia

THIS GUY SANG WITH ROBERT WARD

Here's a couple early Wilson Pickett cuts from his days with the Ohio Untouchables. Once you're done digging the original version of Pickett singing "I Found A Love", check "Let's Kiss and Make Up" for some seriously twisted licks. The guitar is by Robert Ward, the founder of the band and apparently king of the Magnatone amp. Three online souces cite his tone and choice of amp as being influential, and who am I to argue? I never heard of Magnatone amps until a couple hours ago. But the solo in "Let's Kiss and Make Up"? That's got me going to Robert Ward Town tonight.

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

Listen:
The Ohio Untouchables - I Found A Love mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Ohio Untouchables - Let's Kiss and Make Up mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Visit:
Robert Ward RIP [2008] at Boogie Woogie Flu A couple more Ward cuts
The Untouchable Soul of Robert Ward at Rubber City Review Profile and several samples

KING OF THE BOYS' ROOM

Johnny Winter died yesterday. It hits kind of hard around here, because he was my biggest musical influence from the age of 13 to about 18. Yeah, those years. I'll spare you the personal sobbing (if you're curious, here's a couple posts about growing up as a Johhny Winter freak, here and here).

He was a blues man, capable of rocking, and a freakishly good guitarist. By that I mean at times fast, really fast, but always fluid. Sometimes just on the cusp of overplaying. By rotating styles (acoustic bottleneck, electric blues and rock 'n' roll, oft times on the same record), he always sort of directed the focus to the center of the Venn diagram, the blues.

Here's a smattering. Keep in mind when listening to his chops, he was born in 1944. So, for instance, on the Johnny and the Jammers tune, he's fifteen years old. On "Dallas" he's twenty five. How many twenty five year olds can play like that?

I may add blurbs about each song, and I know I'll add some videos. I just wanted to hep you to these right now. A little something to help you contemplate the loss of one of the greats, because that's what Johnny Winter most assuredly was, one of the greats.

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

Listen:
Johnny and the Jammers - School Say Blues (streaming) at YouTube 1959
The Insight featuring Johnny and Edgar Winter - Please Come Home For Christmas mp3 at Cloudfront (?) 1966
Johnny Winter with the Traits - Parchman Farm mp3 at Lake Tahoe Real Estate (?) 1967
Johnny Winter - Meantown Blues (streaming) at Hell Hound on My Tail 1967
Johnny Winter -Be Careful With a Fool mp3 at Smokestack Lightning 1969
Johnny Winter - When You Got A Good Friend mp3 at Cover Me 1969
Johnny Winter - Dallas mp3 at David Fulmer 1969
Johnny Winter - Hustled Down In Texas mp3 at Review Stalker 1969
Johnny Winter And - Johnny B. Goode (live) mp3 at Ghost Whisperer 1971
Johnny Winter - Still Alive and Well (full LP), streaming) at YouTube 1973
Johnny Winter - Ain't Nothing to Me (streaming) at YouTube 1973
Muddy Waters with Johnny Winter - Mannish Boy (streaming) at YouTube 1977, Produced by Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter - Trick Bag mp3 at David Fulmer 1984
Video:
Johnny Winter - Full set, Copenhagen at YouTube 1970, 23 minutes

WILSEY RIDES ALONE

If someone would have told me years ago that I'd be still be listening to James Wilsey in this day and age, I'd think they were nuts. Wilsey was the bass player for the Avengers, one of the preeminent California punk bands back in the late seventies. Roughly ten years later, he was in Silvertone, a San Francisco band that featured Chris Isaak. Later, when Isaak became a solo performer, Wilsey was still there, and a big part of Isaak's sound. If you've heard the twang in any of Isaak's early stuff, songs like the lady killer "Wicked Games", you've heard Wilsey.

There's something to be said for restrained guitar playing, particularly when you have chops, and Wilsey is a great example. Check the video above, an instrumental cover of the Carpenters' "Superstar". Once the goosebumps subside, there's a part in it towards the latter half where he lays into it, playing like a drunk Duane Eddy. Wilsey though, is no mere copy cat. He's got a little of Eddy in his playing, in addition to surf, the Bakersfield sound, and rockabilly, a touch of Billy Strange and the pacing of Link Wray thrown in for good measure. You'd think he'd be a big deal, but I've been on the lookout for Wilsey link meat for ages, and it's almost as if he doesn't exist online. So dig the one below while you can. If'n you dig it, grab his solo LP El Dorado. Good stuff Maynard.

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Listen:
James Wilsey - A Man Comes Around mp3 at NHAC (?)
James Wilsey - Several songs streaming at Reverbnation
Video:
Silvertone - Gone Ridin' at YouTube Wilsey on lead
Visit:
James Wilsey at Facebook
James Wilsey at Wikipedia

OH, WHAT THE HELL

Here's a couple that feature guitarists playing on instrumentals under names you might not recognize.  The first is a restrained Link Wray playing with the Moon Men, presumably a name used for throwaway instrumentals.  Playing almost as if he's looking at his watch, it sounds like he's hearing the rhythm for the first time, like he's just making it up on the spot.  Just a reminder that Link Wray, contrary to what was commonly thought around here, was, in fact, mortal.  Nowhere near his sinister sounding best.  The other song features a young Roy Buchanan, who put out some blues rock stuff that I used to go nuts over when I was in my mid-late teens.  (Listen to his version of "Hey Joe" at YouTube.  Listen to the lead that starts at about 2:57.  Hard to believe that I used to get off on that sort of stuff.  How do you even come close to shaking what you got to that?)  In the case of these two songs, I think I'd appreciate them more if I didn't know who was playing on them.  I tell you what though, I will not rest until I can acquire twenty four hours of faceless dime store variety instrumentals; and these suckers will take up about five or six minutes.  Get outta my way, I've got a project goin' here.

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Listen: 
The Moon Men - Some Kinda Nut mp3 (via Box.net) at The Slow Drag
Bobby Gregg - Potato Peeler mp3 at Diddy Wah