THIS RECORD HIJACKED MY NIGHT

I happened to hear the Mar-Keys' "Last Night" earlier and am now stuck in their groove, which is a good thing. Sometimes it can be a little repetitive, part of the package, but the thing with the Mar-Keys is that the groove becomes so consistent after a few songs, you don't want to snap out of it. So I'm not. Fucking dishes can wait.

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Listen:
The Mar-Keys - Last Night mp3 at Internet Archive
The Mar-Keys - Morning After mp3 at Internet Archive
The Mar-Keys - About Noon mp3 at Internet Archive
The Mar-Keys - Bo-Time mp3 at Internet Archive
The Mar-Keys - Grab This Thing (Part 1) mp3 at Internet Archive
The Mar-Keys - Banana Juice mp3 at Internet Archive

PIT STOP

Shake it off, it's still Saturday. Stamina. Power through with this six pack of solid jams. Random, but all excellent, total keepers. Turn it up, shake it like it's on fire. Sunday can wait. Unless it's already Sunday when you see this. If that's the case, here's six solid jams.

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Listen:
Johnny Guitar Watson - Looking Back mp3 at Internet Archive
Richard Berry - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at Internet Archive
Toussaint McCall - Shimmy mp3 at Internet Archive
Johnny Jones and the King Casuals - Soul Poppin' mp3 at Internet Archive
The Mar-Keys - Foxy mp3 at Internet Archive
Kim Melvin - Doing the Popcorn mp3 at Internet Archive

WAIT, WE'VE GOT TOO MANY BUTTONS.

Just diggin' on instrumentals tonight, and these just hit the spot. The first one, probably too slow to even be called a slow jam, is Booker T and the MGs' version of "Summertime". The sucker is either for the slow dance of the century or some serious heavy petting in slo mo. Break out the Courvoisier, or light a big fatty, I don't care.

After that, pick things up with the Mar-Keys' "Philly Dog" (the B-side to "Last Night") and then onto the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band and "Spreadin' Honey" with hand claps so prominent that when the handclap solo comes (yes, there is one), you feel like the laughs on you.

As you exit, do take a second to revisit The Midniters' "Whittier Blvd". Love the song, could definitely do without the intro, but, man, it's a solid jam.

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Listen:
Booker T. & The MGs - Summertime mp3 at Internet Archive
The Mar-Keys - Philly Dog mp3 at Internet Archive
The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Spreadin Honey mp3 at Internet Archive
The Midniters - Whittier Blvd mp3 at Internet Archive

OH HELL YEAH

Just goofing off, I ran across some choice Mar-Keys stuff over at Groove Addict. For those of you who don't know, and you should know this, the Mar-Keys were the horns of Stax. In other words, you've heard them all over Stax stuff, often with Booker T and the MGs. backing others on songs you've heard a thousand times. Their own records are usually slower paced, trodding grooves. In a good way. Because their big one was "Last Night" and another song on the same LP was titled "Morning After", it would be tempting to call them hangover soul, but they're more like still slightly buzzed soul.

If you're familiar with "Last Night" I recommend listening to it last, as a chaser after hearing the others. Crank it up and let it rip. The louder, the better. They don't make 'em like this anymore. 

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Listen:
The Mar-Keys - Last Night mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Mar-Keys - Morning After mp3 at Groove Addict
The Mar-Keys - Cleo's Back mp3 at Groove Addict
The Mar-Keys - Too Pooped to Pop-Eye mp3 at Groove Addict

WHAT?! YOU'RE HUNGOVER?!!

Have a few too many last night? Then I have just thing for you. The soothing sounds of the Martinis. Perfect for a dull throbbing day on the couch, or at least a couple minutes of it. You'll want to stick it out until at least the :42 second mark. That's where Packy Axton comes in. He feels your pain. In fact Packy Axton probably felt your pain more than a few times, and probably to a higher degree than you ever will, amateur.

Axton paid the price for being King of the Party. He managed to get kicked off of Stax, the record label he had already had a hit on. A record label that was in full stride, coming into its glory years as a hit making machine. Just the fact that he got eighty-sixed is bad enough. It's worse when you consider that the label was co-owned by his mother and uncle. Oh, the indignity. Just soak on that aspirin hound. Packy Axton makes you look like a beginner.

Axton on the left. Post Dramamine.

Axton continued to make music regardless, with other bands on different labels, but without Stax on the label the records went nowhere. He died at the age of 32, in 1974, reportedly from cirrhosis of the liver. Yeah, it's all fun and games, isn't it? The lesson? Pace yourself. You only have so many drink tickets.

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Listen:
The Martinis - Hung Over mp3 at Rare Funk On 45
The Mar-Keys - Last Night mp3 at Rock 'n; Soul Ichiban While still on Stax.
The Pac-Keys - Dig In mp3 at Office Naps
The Packers - Go 'Head on mp3 at Public Collectors
The Pac-Keys - Stone Fox mp3 (via divShare) at Burn Wood Tonight Once you get to DivShare, click on the green "Download" button, and scratch your head for fifteen seconds while the timer counts down. When the button reappears, you're good to go.

WHO THE HELL WERE THEY?

Here we go. I've been poking around smelly bins of music minutiae for years, and I still run into stuff I can't find anything about. In this case, a band called the Parkays. First off, it may be just a small coincidence that the first time I ever heard of the Parkays is when the Mystery Suggester hipped me to their groovy "Last Date" a while back. Soon afterward, she pointed me towards the Martinis "Hung Over."

Exhibit A: The Martinis featured one Packy Axton, a sax player who was in the Mar-Keys, and partied his way out of a steady gig at Stax (owned by his mother and uncle). He went on to form a series of combos, among them bands called the Packers and the Pac-keys. Exhibit B: You will note that similarities between the Mar-Keys' "Last Night" and the Parkays' "Green Monkeys." Exhibit C; The similarities in band names, the Mar-Keys, the Parkays, and the Pac-Keys. Exhibit D (the only sketchy one): All references to the Parkays point to the ABC-Paramount label, who, though based in New York, "licensed finished masters from independent producers and purchased regionally-released records for national distribution" (according to the Wikipedia entry for the label).

This is where I get off. I may continue the poking around later, and I may not. Who knows? I might get a wild hair and become the unofficial biographer of the Parkays, seeing as how there doesn't seem to be anybody else stepping forward. Maybe I'll just start a Parkays Locator Club. Wanna join?

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Listen:
The Parkays - Green Monkeys mp3 at Diddy Wah
Visit Diddy Wah for another Parkays cut
The Mar-Keys - Last Night mp3 at Rock 'n; Soul Ichiban
The Pac-Keys - Dig In mp3 at Office Naps
The Packers - Hole In the Wall mp3 at The Hound Blog

FULL ON STAX SWEAT

It might have been because Sam and Dave were the first Stax act that I latched onto. It might have been because I was seeing a choice video clip unexpectedly, without actually looking for it. Whatever the reason, last night, while working on the Packy Axton post, I ran into the clip below, of Sam and Dave and, literally, got goosebumps. Not the kind that go away in a few seconds. Folks, I looked at my arms halfway through the clip and it looked like I was breaking out in hives. As if I needed a reminder what good music is capable of.

It's not just Sam and Dave's performance that got to me. It was the sight of Booker T and the MG's backing them, with the Mar-Keys on horns. Take a look at it. This is what a groove driven, exceptionally tight band looks like. Check out Duck Dunn, the bassist; he knows. On the first song, "You Don't Know Like I Know," he's got it bad. And drummer Al Jackson is just as into it. You out to watch all the videos below. They're all from a Stax Volt revue, in Norway in 1967. Besides Sam and Dave, there are performances by Booker T and The MGs, Arthur Conley, Eddie Floyd, the Mar-Keys and Otis Redding. Phew!

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Listen:
Sam and Dave - Soul Sister, Brown Sugar mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Sam and Dave - You Don't Know Like I Know mp3 at Lumberjack Thief
Sam and Dave - You Got Me Hummin' mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Sam and Dave - Wrap It Up mp3 at The Soul Girl
Sam and Dave - It's a Wonder mp3 at Mr. Suave
Sam and Dave - When Something Is Wrong With My Baby mp3 at Eddie Watkins Jr.
Video:
Stax Volt Tour of Norway, 1967: Booker T and The MGs, Arthur Conley, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, the Mar-Keys and Otis Redding.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Visit:
"You Know I've Got Soul": The Legendary 1967 Stax European Tour at The Selvedge Yard

THE STRYCHNINE'S ON ME GUYS

There are a handful of people that first sucked me into the can of worms that is music bloggery. The two biggees were a couple of folks who unknowingly tugged at my tired ass rock and roll heart stings, and convinced me that true believers still tangled. Every few days I could visit their space, and it was like my brother bringing home a thrift store score. That was roughly four or five years ago, and they're still my first two clicks when I start prowling.

These guys just kill it, consistently. This here is a bookmark alert. (If you don't bookmark them, there will always be links here in the "Get Lost" list.) Here they are: DJ Diddy Wah's Diddy Wah (an Australian ex-pat in the UK), and the Reverend Tom Frost's Spread the Good Word (from South of Hell, France).

Reverend Frost used to post a little more regularly, but he's now doing complete mixes, every few weeks. If you're leery of committing to a whole mix download, you shouldn't be. Trust me on this, there's nary a stinker in the bunch. He's also a musician, and there's a link below to a post with an mp3 of his two man project, the Bloody Tomahawks (as seen above), doing a cover of the Cramps' "Garbageman." If you dig that, there's a link or two to other places with samples (Facebook, etc.). It's good stuff.

Diddy Wah hits it just about every post. Usually just a song or two, but always worthy. A sampling is down below, but you really should just go there. The dude's been on a roll lately. His mixes are also dyn-o-mite.

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The Mar-Keys - The Dribble mp3 at Diddy Wah
Irma Thomas - Break-A-Way mp3 at Diddy Wah
Jody Reynolds - Endless Sleep mp3 at Diddy Wah
Ernie Fields - Teen Flip mp3 at Diddy Wah
Diddy Wah's mixes
Diddy Wah's home page (bookmark this!)

The Bloody Tomahawks- Garbageman mp3 can be found at Spread the Good Word

Spread the Good Word - A Bloody Evil Party Mix, Part 3: Go there for Rev. Frost's latest mix, 26 tunes with the Tielman Brothers, Vince Taylor, Howlin' Wolf, Gene Vincent, Sandy Nelson, Jody Reynolds, and a few other familiar names; mixed a whole bunch of bands I've never heard of.

Reverend Tom Frost's music site
Spread the Good Word's home page (bookmark this!)