HEY! GO OVER THERE!

Electric Banana? Who the hell is that? I know, I was thinking the same thing. It's the Pretty Things using a different name to record for a different label. Such oddballs cannot be ignored. These are from 1967-1969. In other words more psych than Bo Diddley. There's an interesting story behind them that you can check at The Rising Storm. It's worth the read and if you're really into the Pretty Things, dig around over there. They/he/she (?) are Pretty Things fiends so there's a bunch of their stuff.

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Listen:
Electric Banana - Alexander mp3 at The Rising Storm
Electric Banana - Eagle's Son mp3 at The Rising Storm
Electric Banana - Love, Dance and Sing mp3 at The Rising Storm

THE FOURTEEN MINUTE SOUNDTRACK

I was just listening to this at a high volume while making dinner and putzing around. It starts out kind of quiet and then,,,changes. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Pick an activity that will last about fourteen minutes without interruption, let it rip. It's like having a soundtrack in real time. Turn it up. Start moving.

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Listen:
Mythic Sunship - Resolution (streaming) at YouTube

A BELATED BOW TO A LIFER

Man, I guess this is what I get for not paying attention. I just heard that Phil May died last month. I would have thought that someone would have mentioned it, but no, nothing. Considering the fact that he was a contemporary of the Stones with similar influences and in a band that played the same venues early on, one can't help but compare the lack of shits given stateside compared to the howling that would have come with Mick Jagger's death.

May was the lead singer and a founding member of the Pretty Things. a band he started with Dick Taylor who had been in the earliest incarnation of the Rolling Stones. (Prior to that, Taylor had been in Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Keith Richards and Jagger). There were other similarities, bands named after blues songs, gigging the same places, etc. but you know what? If you take a photo of 1966 May and put it next to a photo of 1966 Jagger it's like comparing photos of Johnny Thunders and Elvis Costello. In a cool contest May wins hands down. I'm sure there's a reason why they never made it big in the states, but it wasn't the quality of the music or May himself. That's another thing. Every person I know that's a Pretty Things freak is someone who really knows music, much more than your garden variety Stones freak. So somehow this turned into a fuck the Stones post. Anyway, here's some Pretty Things stuff.

Dig this video, the way the thing devolves into a rhythmic dirge and bounces back again. After watching it, it hits me. I now know what Redd Kross listened to, some of the vocals sound a lot like the McDonald brothers and the overall sound isn't far off either.

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Listen:
The Pretty Things - Don't Bring Me Down mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - Big Boss Man mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow is Born mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - Trust mp3 at Tumblr
The Pretty Things - I See You mp3 at Tumblr

RANIL FAVORED HIS LEFT KNEE

Last night a buddy of mine posted a link to a compilation that he'd just received from Analog Africa, Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical. Ranil, born Raúl Llerena Vásquez was a Peruvian bandleader whose career was spent in a part of the coastline that was surrounded by a forest so dense that it was only accessible by sea or air, so as you would imagine no one knew who the fuck he was. Few outside of his region anyway. So, yeah, my buddy jumped on this release. He's one of the few people I know that digs international music as much as I do. I only run into him about once a month despite the fact that he lives about a half block away.

When he posted that link to the compilation, knowing his taste, I went to check it out. It was good, really good, so I bookmarked it for a purchase in the future. Then I looked as Analog Africa's other offerings and noticed that they had a compilation, Stay Safe and Sound, that was posted for those of us that are housebound. It's one of those Bandcamp "name you price" things. Guess what it is? A second compilation of Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical. Okay, so already jazzed, I bookmarked that that as well. This is late last night. So I get up this morning and step outside, and what do  I run into? My friend walking towards me with a burned copy of the first compilation. So, all signs say that I'll know a lot more about this Ranil dude before the month is out.

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Listen:
Stay Safe and Sound - Ranil Selection - Free "Name your price" psych-cumbia jams at Analog Africa
Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical (Limited Dance Edition) at Analog Africa Buy the goods.

I DON'T CARE

A Mexican psych band well acquainted with fuzz and F-bombs, doing a song called "The Second Smoke", from their 1969 album titled Society Is a Shit. The LP was banned two weeks after its release. That's enough. I'm listening.

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Listen:
Pop Music Team - The Second Smoke mp3 at Vuelve Primavera
The whole LP:
Pop Music Team - Society Is a Shit (zip via Mediafire) at Garage Latino
Visit:
Pop Music Team at Wikipedia

YOU FIGURE IT OUT

You can't just stand there and look at a link to a song by a band called Shark Move, titled "Evil War", and do nothing. You bite or move on, Then you find out it's Indonesian psych-prog whatever, Now, that sounds like it just could be the right type of fucked up. It is. It has elements that I love, and some I hate. On top of each other. There are parts that are just mind numbingly repetitive, Then it'll go into a this pretty part and you'll be all "aw c'mon guys, don't do that to me". Then they throw in a few solos. Before you know it you're in the middle of second string Emerson, Lake and Palmer type organ jam, With a buzz saw fuzz guitar. I know, and yes. It is that kind of fucked up.

The other band down there, Haa! is just as all over the place. Their song sounds like it was conceived after a lengthy band meeting, going back and forth about whether to go the trippy Beatles route, or Led Zeppelin. They just threw their hands up and said, "let;s do both". They did their damnedest, I'm sure.

Both of these should be heard in their entirety. You'll hear parts you like and some you hate. They keep changing, like movements. Maybe that's what prog or psych is supposed to do. Whatever, these nuts keep it interesting.

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Listen:
Shark Move - Evil War mp3 at Now Again
Haa! - Panber mp3 at Clumsy and Shy

NICEST HAIR: FOUR WAY TIE

What you have here is a band of Texas psych dudes deciding to cut costs on the band photo by going to a Sears photo studio. Just going on a hunch, my thinking is that they had to save the dough for their killer outfits. You gotta hand it to them, this promo photo worked. It made me want to hear them, though not necessarily for the intended reason. Regardless, it prompted one of those "I gotta hear what these guys sound like" click reflexes. I have to say, I was surprised. The host, Brobots, says it "may be the greatest, most perfectly realized rock and roll song of them all. I guess." While I beg to differ, it does sound pretty tough for this well groomed of a group, however fleeting that moment may have been. I'd like to thing that when they actually hit a stage, it was ramshackle, they smelled of sweat and smokes, and hadn't seen shampoo for a week.

Duly hard sounding through the intro, a little proto-stoner rock thing going on, until the vocals come in. Aw, crap. They're all "la, la, la" in contrast to the backing tracks. That's what bugs my about a lot of music that falls under the ever-widening (because it sells to hipsters) umbrella of "psych". I mean, look at the name of the song, "Hot Smoke and Sassafrass". Listen to the hippy dippy lyrics. Guys, just, just,..don't get heavy on us, bros. Get HEAVY on us! Sheesh! (Wait, what's this?! Where did this VO5 come from?!)

You probably want to know more about this band. Check out Brobots for that, and dig around over there. There's a lot of good stuff in the old posts. This one was posted in 2009.

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Listen: 

Bubble Puppy - Hot Smoke and Sassafrass mp3 at Brobots

BANDS UGLY THINGS TAUGHT US

Q65's cover of Lee Dorsey's "Get Out of My Life" is..., fuck, I don't know what it is. Something like the Yardbirds produced by Allen Toussaint, with Lara Logic playing sax. There might be a handful of you that know what I'm trying to get at, but I know who will, the Mystery Suggester. And that's who I thought of when I listened to it.

In the studio, 1967

Q65 had different lineups, and their music varied in style depending on the era, but there's always something in the mix that's a just little bit out there. There is an undercurrent of wildness, even in their more restrained stuff. Blah, blah, blah. In short, they're Dutch freaks. You dig that sort of stuff, right?

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Listen: 
Q65 - Get Out My Life mp3 at Stop Smiling 1966
Q65 - Cry In the Night mp3 at Tumblr (?) 1966 (Someone's been listening to "Fortune Teller")
Q65 - I Despise You (streaming) at YouTube 1966
Q65 - Injection/Love Is Such a Good Thing mp3 at Tumblr (?) 1971
Visit:
Q65 at Wikipedia
Ugly Things
Q65 - The book at Ugly Things

THEY CALLED SHOTGUN

It's not always all about the music. Sometimes it's partly because of the goofy ass shit behind the music. That would be the case for the Speakers' "Un Sueño Magico" ("A Magic Dream"). I have no idea how I came across it, it could have been the fuzz divining rod at work, but I had to post it because it's got a few qualifiers. It's from Colombia, it's old, it's weird and it has fuzz. Colombian psych to be a little more exact. Actually, if you want to get exact, it's whacked out shit. And look, the dudes aren't wearing any clothes. Lovely visual guys. Despite being from Colombia, where you would think they'd be called "Los Speakers" they used "The". They must of thought that international stardom was not far away. Yeah, listen to it and tell me it doesn't sound like a Top 40 hit. Seriously, these guys have "we don't give a shit" written all over them. Awesome. Viva la don't give a shitters. Anyway, if you bother going to the post, which you should because it's a good one, you'll find out what they did as payment for studio time. Even that's whacked out. Nope, tonight's all about the weirdos. Music on its own merit will have to take a backseat.

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Listen:
The Speakers - Un Sueño Magico (A Magic Dream) mp3 at Super Sonido
The Speakers - Si La Guerra Es Un Buen Negocio Invierte a Tus Hijos at Super Sonido
Visit:
La Colmena de Humo - This is the blog of the guy who did the guest post at Super Sonido. I haven't checked it out, but a quick scroll tells me I will. Look in the right column for a "translate to English" link.