MUSIC FOR STUFF LIKE THIS

If you've been lurking for a while, you've no doubt run across one of the posts with "shakers", oddball instrumentals known by other terms as well. At first Beware of the Blog was referring to them as "Titty Shakers", then someone made the decision that "Tassel Twirlers" was less, er, coarse. Somehow the term evolved into simply "Shakers". What they are is basically the type of instrumentals you'd hear accompanying a strip show in the fifties or sixties. Cheesy shit, but totally cool once you let it take over. Imagine you're just sitting there, in a dark room. You've got a flat top, wing tips, with the cheapest goddamn after shave the store sells. You've got a pack of Pall Malls, and an ice cold Hamms condensating next to a half full plastic ashtray and there's some drunk jerk yelling "Go Baby Go!" as if it was the first time the missus let him off the leash. Here's the soundtrack.

These are typical of the oddballs you used to be able to pick up at thrift stores for pocket change. Now, due to demand from oddball collectors they're nearly impossible to find for a cheap price. The word is out, everything is listed online somewhere, banged up thrift store finds included. Just snag the mix, there's 34 of them. They really do put you in a weird mood after you've heard a few in a row.

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Listen:

Hey Tiger! Do The Broken Hip! Kogar's Tassle Twirlers Volume 2 at Boss Radio 66 NOTE: The mix is at Mega.nz. Although there are buttons to sign in or create an account, it is not required. Takes about two minutes, a zip with 34 individual mp3s.

IT'S TUESDAY, KOGAR BECKONS.

Kogar the Swinging Ape is up to his ol' game again. I blinked and all of a sudden there are six new Tassel Twirlers, so named because there what you'd hear in jiggle clubs of yore. I can't get enough of these. Despite the fact that I don't go to strip clubs. Who wants to go see someone bump and grind to "Cherry Pie"? They probably play something else these days. Something with Auto-Tune. Blech.

Kogar is about the old school Pall Mall scented, Hamms swilling, wing tip attired flat tops. These are the soundtrack to your grandpa's night out, back when he wasn't your grandpa. Hell, you may have been conceived after one of his nights out.

Kogar seems to have an endless supply of these because he's put together several compilations over the years, all with non-hit wonders. Here's a few from 2012 and link to all of the Tassel Twirler Tuesdays, starting with the new ones and going back to 2012.

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Listen:
The Knight Beats - Naughty Rooster mp3 at Boss Radio 66
Eddie Atwood and his Goodies - Hot Saki mp3 at Boss Radio 66
Woody & Dave - Shut-Ups mp3 at Boss Radio 66
The whole shootin' match:
Tassel Twirler Tuesdays at Boss Radio 66 Dozens of bumper and grinders.

THE LURE OF THE THROWAWAY INSTRUMENTAL

Like most people who bought records at thrift stores in the golden age of pre-ebay thrifting, before everything got picked over, I accumulated a bunch of cheap 45s of bands I've never heard of. Most were bought for one of two reasons. The name of the band or the title of the song. It was usually the song title, and there's a higher percentage of instrumental records with good song titles than there are with non-instrumentals. Two reasons: one is that, because there are no lyrics, you can name the song virtually anything. You can go with the obvious, or something way out, or dark. The possibilities are endless. And the other reason that instrumentals have to have a good name is because it has to be memorable, there are no lyrics that repeat the title. That title better be badass and the tune itself better back it up. So, yeah, a bunch of instrumentals are socked away in the hall closet of curiosities. 

I really didn't play them with any regularity after a while. My brother was about the only person I knew who appreciated the oddballness of them like I did, and since he passed away in '97, I haven't dug them out very often. As my trips to the thrift stores dwindled, so did the serendipitous scores. They slowly drifted to the back of the stack, and that's where the genre stayed for me, for a good ten years. Then came a chance visit to a graphic designer's website. Patrick Broderick's Rotodesign used to have a song playing in the background, an oddball instrumental that I found myself going back to his site to listen to. At one point I found it silly to go to a website just to hear a song, so I sent him an email asking what the song was. The answer, "Panic Button" by Edgar Alan and the Po' Boys. There you go, an attractive title right there. Turned out that Broderick had found it on one of the Las Vegas Grind compilations. Talk about a can of worms. That series is oddball instrumental gold. My interest was back. Soon fortified by a surge in "(fill in the blank) shakers" interest on blogs, particularly the great Beware of the Blog and Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban, both products of WFMU in New York. In the ensuing years, I've found the oddball instrumental pot is bottomless. You will never come close to hearing even half of them. It seems that every group with four or more members was on that bandwagon in the fifties and early sixties. They were simple, easy, and cheap to record. Hell, as much as I like them, they're not Mozart. Any seventeen year old kid could play them, and most did. They served as entry level records for young recording artists as well as cash-ins for lounge bands that would never get their full due, and studio musicians looking for a quick novelty buck.

Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban is still riding on the "Instrumental 45 of the Week" series, and that's where I go if I need a fix, which I do, at least once a week.

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Listen:
Edgar Alan and the Po' Boys - Panic Button mp3 at Probe is Turning-On the People
The Jaguars - Drive-In mp3 at Plastik Props
The Gee Cees - Buzzsaw Twist mp3 at Rocky 52 Glen Campbell '61
More:
Instrumental 45 of the Week at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 
Las Vegas Grind (streaming) at YouTube
Las Vegas Grind, Vol 2 (streaming) at YouTube
Las Vegas Grind, Vol 3 (streaming) at YouTube
Las Vegas Grind, Vol 4 (streaming) at YouTube

BARBASOL VS THE HIPSTERS

I just spent a good chunk of time listening to old school strip tease type instrumentals, usually referred to shakers or twirlers of some sort, and watching old stripper footage at YouTube. The clips are part of the Something Weird Video collection. When you get there, just bookmark it. It's more than just jiggle clips. It's all sorts of oddball B-movie trailers and exploitation of this and that.

Listen:
The Executioners - Dead End Part One mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Saxie Russell - El Monkey mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Aris Garandanis - Alba's Shake mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Louie and the Fat Man - Fat Man mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Edgar Allen & the Po' Boys - Panic Button mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Frantics - The Whip mp3 at Unnecessary Umlaut

J.C.Davis - The Splib Part 2 mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

The mix:

Hubba Hubba at Music For Maniacs 27 cuts, fast download

The clips:

Something Weird Videos - YouTube channel

KOGAR DONE DID IT AGAIN

I'm not even going to mess around with this one. Kogar the Swing Ape put together a collection of Instrumental 45 of the Week songs he's posted at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban, over thirty of them. If you dig greasy instrumentals from the fifties and sixties, the heavy mix of honking sax and twangy guitar, with surface noise, the patina of ash and beer, you'll be chompin' up on this stuff. There's a couple teasers below. That's it. Scram.

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Listen:

The Premiers - Shawnee mp3 at Rock 'n'Soul ichiban
The Stantones - Sheba mp3 at Rock 'n'Soul ichiban
The Rumblers - It's a Gas mp3 at Rock 'n'Soul ichiban
Instrumental 45 of the Week at Rock 'n'Soul ichiban The individual posts
The Mix:
Switchblade Panic!! - Kogar's Instro-mental 45s at Rock 'n'Soul ichiban

NUGENT DISEASE

Fucking Charlie Daniels. I don't hate him, I hate his right wing views. I hate that I have to think about that, and then try to blank it out, just to give his music a chance, particularly the early stuff with the Jaguars. They're nothing like his Southern rock shit, something else I have to blank out. But that early stuff, man, it's a ruckus. Nothing over the top on it's own, just blasting period rock 'n' roll. Kind of. It's really Batman meets Link Wray with a heavy dose of stinky sax type shaker. The type of loud that forces you to turn it up. That makes it rock 'n' roll. Whatever, the stuff works.

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Listen:
The Jaguars - Jaguar mp3 at Rocky 52
The Jaguars - Roundabout mp3 at Rocky 52
The Jaguars - Exit 6 mp3 at Rocky 52
The Jaguars - Drive-In mp3 at Rocky 52
Charlie Daniels and the Jaguars - Two more at Rocky 52
Visit:
Rocky 52 - The Discography pages

NICE WINGTIPS

Man, it ain't like the good ol' days. I don't mean the days of old school bump and grind, I mean the old days when people used to post old school bump and grind type music. It's referred to these days as all sorts of things, tassel twirlers, shakers, burlesque, and the one that's grown to bug me, titty shakers. Whatever it is you want to call them, they used to be posted on blogs all the time. Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban posted a lot of good ones, and mixes. And for a while they had a "Tassel Twirler Tuesday" (or something like that). Diddy Wah has posted his fair share. I don't know the reason, but you don't run into them that often anymore. Damn shame. But Music For Maniacs recently posted a good mix. Though there are a few radio ads for sexploitation flicks, and not all of the songs are bona fide shakers, but there's some good ones and a few oddballs. The original version of "Baby Let Me Bang Your Box" by the Bangers, Jayne Mansfield's "Suey" with a young Jimi Hendrix on guitar, and Big Jay McNeely's "Striptease Swing" are standouts, but there are lots of them and the zip contains individual files, so you can have yourself a pick and choose party.

There's a handful of other ones to get you in the mood. The ones posted by Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban are the real "Go baby go!" shit. They set the bar.

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Listen:
The Executioners - Dead End Part One mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Jimmy Heap - Gizmo mp3 at Hell's Belles
Saxie Russell - El Monkey mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Aris Garandanis - Alba's Shake mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Louie and the Fat Man - Fat Man mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Edgar Allen & the Po' Boys - Panic Button mp3 at Probe Is Turning-On the People
The Frantics - The Whip mp3 at Unnecessary Umlaut
Rock 'n' Soul Shakers, 10 prime mp3s at Beware of the Blog
The mix:
Hubba Hubba at Music For Maniacs 27 cuts, fast download

IS THAT ARAMIS?

The hippies that live in the complex behind mine are having a field day. I've been subjected to their awful sing-a-long beat on the drum renditions of what they think folk music is for the past several hours. Might be that Dev-whatever. (This guy. Is that not a hippie version of Fred Durst?) So that's the current breed of bonehead I have to contend with. While all their unshaven blissed out crap is going on, I'm undergoing treatment with an aural antidote. Imagining I am far, far away, in a dank club, wingtips on, pack of Pall Malls and a Hamms (from the land of sky blue water motherfucker), not even paying attention to all the jiggling up on the stage. I'm here because off-key hippies, particularly those who can't keep a beat, would never dare cross the threshold. (Just remember, from the land of sky blue water motherfucker.)

Sounds pretty mean spirited, huh? I exaggerate. Barking aside, these instrumentals, commonly referred to as one type of "shaker" or another, really are the antithesis of what I've been hearing.

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Listen:

The Savoys - Blo Jangs mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

Terry and the Topics - Where's My Pussycat? mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Eddie Atwood and the Goodies - Hot Saki mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

Woody and Dave - Shut-Ups mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Knight Beats - Dirty Rooster mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Wildtones - Sick Chick mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 
Carl Simmons' Orchestra - Boodoo mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Fireballs - Chop Stick Blues mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
The Gimicks - Sneaky Snail mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

WHADDYA CALL 'EMS

I'm a candy mouth, I'll admit it. I can cuss with the best of 'em. But I had to think long and hard about how I would address one of my favorite music genres. Verve Records, on one of their compilations referred to it as "the beat of burlesque." Debbie D. at Beware of the Blog refers to them as "rock 'n' soul shakers." But most people familiar with this type of music refer to them as "titty shakers." I've got no problem with the unsavoriness of the term. My misgivings about using it has to do with the fact that, well, it's not all that clever. Doesn't quite have the old school panache that old school strip music warrants. An example: Jerry Lee Lewis once referred to strip clubs as "jiggle clubs." Now, that's an excellent example of a panache-laced strip-related slang term. But the Killer isn't some record geek trying to think up a name for a compilation. Old school panache of all sorts runs through his veins.

Whatever you want to call them, there's a something about the late 50s to early 60s instrumentals that fall into the "titty shaker" category. They usually feature a honking sax or sleazy sounding organ, usually have a good beat, and quite often have just a couple words in the way of vocals. (Think, "[ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom..] Chicken Fat!") Another nutty thing is that the lion's share of "titty shakers" are by complete nobodies. Bands that made a few instrumental records that were used in jiggle clubs and forgotten until years later when "titty shaker" afficionados brought them out of obscurity. Regardless of the origins, the purpose, or the artists' level of fame, when you play several in a row, you're transported to a different time. Before lap dances, before full frontal, and, hell, before exposed nipples. But, alas, the men were always dogs.

These have all of the elements. Almost all ten, bona fide whatever you want to call thems on a Debbie D post at Beware of the Blog. And, Ms D, my hat is off to you for callin' 'em how you sees 'em.

Rock 'n' Soul Shakers, 10 prime mp3s at Beware of the Blog
Tittyshakers.com, streaming "titty shakers," forum and requisite postulating.