THE FUNKY MULE IS TIGHT AS HELL

Aw, screw it. I was going to go into some early stuff by Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm, but then I got sidetracked by stuff from 1969. Sucked in. Check these, all from the same LP. Do not skip "Funky Mule", you'll understand why. Check the drums. Dig the beat baby. It is insane.

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

Listen:
Ike Turner and The Kings Of Rhythm - Black Beauty mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Ike Turner and The Kings Of Rhythm - Getting Nasty mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm - Funky Mule mp3 at ATumlr (?)

I TOO AM DIGGING IT

You all know Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88", right? It was a very early recording done at Sam Phillips studio, then sold to Chess Records, who whipped into a hit in 1951. Phillips, realizing that it was a relatively bonehead move, took his cue and started his own damn label. That worked out for him.

"Rocket 88" was actually recorded by Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, and Brenston, a member of the band, just happened to sing lead. The Chess brothers decided that Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats had a little more pizzazz, so they exercised the label asshole option, and that's how the record ended up being credited.

"Rocket 88" is a fine song, no doubt about it, but most of you have heard it enough to know that. No matter, the song that got me all worked up is another recorded the same year, "Juiced". I ran into that at Diggin' It!, and although you have to jump through a few hoops to download it, believe me, it's worth it. Just the guitar tone alone is worth it, but that Phillips Studio sound...yeesh! Add to that Brenston's yelp in the intro, and the yelp buckshot unleashed during the seriously tweaked guitar solo, and what you have is a two and a half minute party.

To get that one, once you get to DivShare, just click on the green "Download" button and scratch your head for fifteen seconds. When the button reappears, you're good to go.

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

Listen:
Jackie Brenston - Juiced mp3 (via DivShare) at Diggin' It!
Jackie Brenston - Leo the Louse mp3 at Rocky 52
Jackie Brenston - Trouble Up the Road mp3 at Rocky 52
Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88 mp3 at Rocky 52

SUN SECOND STRINGERS

Sun Studio. Yeah baby. You  know what happened there. Try to forget all of the familiar stuff you've heard before, the Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins stuff, all of it. There was a ton of stuff recorded there that you haven't heard, from people you've never heard of. A lot of it wasn't released on Sun Records, so you won't find it on Sun Records compilations. That's the reason I need to give a rare endorsement. I'm not a completist by any means, but I've got four Sun Records compilations, several single artist LPs and a handfull of 45s, and I'm here to tell you that by far, the best bang for your buck comes from a four CD set called "Rockin' Memphis", that can be found at online retailers for as low as seventeen bucks. All Sun related music is represented, blues, hillbilly, rockabilly, boogie; it's a gold mine. There's 118 cuts in all, that's less than fifteen cents per song. Like most Sun comps, there's a decent share of the hits, but there's predominantly second stringers, some unfamiliar. Many of the cuts were released on other labels. I don't think I have to spell it out. An also-ran recorded at Sun is still hot shit.

These are just random songs that I found that weren't by the big guns. There might be one or two from that box set, I haven't checked. But the point is this: just about everything recorded at Sun during it's glory days in the fifties was good. The cuts below are just a random selection.Yeah I know, this might be a rather obvious tip, but I don't have a clue who I'm talking to.

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

Listen:
Andy Anderson - Tough, Tough, Tough mp3 at Rocky 52
Warren Smith - So Long I'm Gone mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Mack Self - Mad at You mp3 at Rocky 52 
Ike Turner - Get It Over Baby mp3 at Kollege Daily
Billy Emerson - When It Rains It Pours mp3 at Paul Altobelli
Visit:
Sun Studio at Wikipedia

IKE TURNER DEAD

Ike Turner died today, at age 76. Say what you will. Yeah, he fucked up; we all fuck up. But he made some kick-ass music. This one is sufficiently tweaked.

Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm - The New Breed Pt 2 MP3, obituary and profile at Funky 16 Corners

Details about his death at GuideLive.com

Added 12/13/07: Six more MP3s from 1952-2006, an interview MP3 and lengthy write-up at Moistworks.