J.J. WHAT?

When I go from the Equals to J.J. Fad in a matter of minutes, it's time to give in to distractions. So here's just the first couple legs of my fucking around tonight. It began with a funky live cut from 1968, by the Equals. It may be a full five piece, but all you really hear are the guitar, bass, and drums with the vocals. There's organ in there somewhere, but it's barely audible. Regardless, this isn't anything like "Baby Come Back" or "Police on My Back". This song, as its title suggests, is funky like a train. Funky as it is, and being an extended jam (sixteen minutes plus), you might hear James Brown, or Fela, something like that. But the sparse instrumentation, the guitar, the bareness of the beats, it kind of reminded me of no wave stuff, then it hit me, ESG. Not in structure or sound, just the feel, the naked sound of the rhythm. After a brief stop at ESG's "Moody" it was off to look for their "Erase You", It's been posted here before, but the link went dead. (Unfortunately, no mp3 just streaming, but if you've not heard it, you out to give it a listen.) After that I was off to J.J. Fad's "Supersonic", because I always follow ESG with J.J. Fad. Don't ask me why. I don't know, I just do. I just fucking love "Supersonic", just as much as "Erase You", but the two back to back is a dyn-o-mite pairing. That's where I get off.

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

Listen:
The Equals - Funky Like a Train mp3 at Art Decade
ESG - Moody mp3 at Loft and Lost
ESG - Erase You (streaming) at YouTube
JJ Fad - Supersonic mp3 at ATumblr The good stuff starts at :25

GET OUT OF MY HEAD

As you might know, the Equals recorded the original version of "Police On My Back", covered by the Clash on their 1979 double LP, London Calling. What you may not know is that they were one of Britain's few multi-racial bands from the mid-sixties, with two British members, two Jamaican, and one from Guyana, the latter being Eddy "Electric Avenue" Grant. And that's about it. There's nothing much all that remarkable about their sound, nothing extreme or crazy, and by all matters of reason I shouldn't even be attracted to their music. But, there's this thing, their songs have a tendency to get stuck in your head. "Baby Come Back", their first and only big hit, is a good example. I hadn't listened to it in years. Heard it today, and it was "Aw shit, I'll be hearing that jostle around in my head for hours". So, what the hell, let's exorcise this shit.

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

Listen:
The Equals - Police On My Back mp3 at Mr. Suave (?)
The Equals - Baby Come Back mp3 at David Fullmer (?)
The Equals - Michael and the Slipper Tree mp3 at Brobots
Covers:
The Clash - Police On My Back mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
Pato Baton - Baby Come Back mp3 at Cool Sound
Video:

The Equals - Police On My Back (Beat Club) at YouTube Hey! Check this video. It's that fräulein from the Beat Club! She introduced the Monks on another episode of the same show. (I wonder...) American television was never this cool.

The Equals - Baby Come Back at YouTube

CONTEXT KILLS

This all started with a friend posting a video of Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue," a song that I thought I hated. But the friend who posted it is one of those long time friends whose musical tastes are informed, the type that hears things that you might miss. The song in question had long left my radar, because I had dismissed it from the git-go. I'd been listening to reggae for several years when "Electric Avenue" came out, and I thought that Grant was trying to pass it off as reggae (he with the way-too-neat dreads). Because my friend posted it, I gave it another listen. And, you know what? Taken it out of any genre context, it's a great song.

The Equals, 1967 UK TV

Grant, as many of you may know, was also the singer of the Equals, whose "Police On My Back" was covered by the Clash. One of the oft-mentioned topics about the Equals was their multinational make up. Two were British, two Jamaican, and Grant was from Guyana. Their output, at least what I've heard of it, was stylistically varied. The common notion is that their varied backgrounds are reason why their sound didn't fit into one neat category. Whatever. Just get all that context stuff out of here for a minute. You're going to ruin it. (Thank you M.F.)

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

Listen:
The Equals - Police On My Back ('67) mp3 at Funky 16 Corners
The Clash -Police On My Back ('80) mp3 at Naf-anya1.narod.ru (?)
The Equals - Baby Come Back ('66) mp3 at David Fulmer.com
The Equals - Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boy ('70) mp3 at Young Manhattanite
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue ('82)mp3 at One Sweet Song
Video:
The Equals - Hold Me Closer (The Beat Club, '67) at YouTube
The Equals - Baby Come Back (Top of the Pops, '68) at YouTube
The Clash - Police On My Back (live) at YouTube
Eddy Grant - Living On the Front Line ('79) mp3 at YouTube
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue ('82) at YouTube
Eddy Grant - I'm the One (Just Remember) ('10?) mp3 at YouTube