OH MICKEY, YOU'RE SO FINE.

Got a great compilation of Mickey Baker's fifties stuff a week ago. It's solo, duo (Mickey and Sylvia), and session work. This fucker was hot. Somewhere between rockabilly and Link Wray. After hearing "No Good Lover" (w/Sylvia) for the hundredth time I went looking more stuff I hadn't posted before. There's not much in the way of mp3s, but it put me in the mood for other similar non-rockabilly fifties obscuro rockers. Why the hell not?

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Listen:
Mickey Baker - No Good Lover mp3 at RocknDog
Joe Clay (Mickey Baker: guitar) -  Get on the Right Track mp3 at Rocky 52
Bob Taylor and the Counts - Thunder mp3 at RocknDog
The Strangers = Caterpillar Crawl mp3 at RocknDog
Grace Tennessee and the American Spirits - Pow Wow mp3 at RocknDog
Mickey Baker - Baia (streaming) at YouTube
Mickey Baker - Milk Train (streaming) at YouTube

IT IS, BY ANY NAME.

If you've been hanging around here for a while, you might have noticed instrumentals all over the place. I dig 'em. So forgive me if I already pointed you towards Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban's weekly series, aptly named "Instrumental 45 of the Week".  I probably have at some point. But, this week it's a cover of the Rumblers' "Boss" and I ain't gonna pass that up. The Rumbler's version itself is a cover of the Strangers "Caterpillar Crawl". The one Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban just posted is by Billy Vaughn "and his Orchestra", despite the orchestra consisting of only guitar, bass, sax and drums. Around these parts we call them bands. But it's a worthy take. All three are pretty badass, something like Link Wray lightening up a tad, with a sax player getting his licks in. I'm a little partial to the Rumblers version because the sax has a good honk to it. Revelation of the day? Dick Dale played it live and it wasn't the best thing I've ever heard.

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Listen:
Billy Vaughn - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 1964
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 1963
The Strangers - Caterpillar Crawl mp3 at Rockin' Dog 1959 The source
Dick Dale - Caterpillar Crawl (live) at YouTube 2011 Follows it with "Rumble". Okay then.
Visit:
Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban's Instrumental of the Week series

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING

Years ago, before any of this online tomfoolery, before home computers, you did your digging at thrift stores and garage sales. That is where the oddballs and obscurities resided. All the shit that's collectible now was there for pocket change. You took all sorts of chances, and sometimes, you scored. That's where my younger brother scored. The Fabulous Wailers. You know it, you love it. You had better. One of his more memorable finds. Another oddball he brought home was the Rumblers' "Boss". Before the internet existed, for years, all I knew of the Rumblers was that record. (Ahem, let me clear my throat here.) You damn snot-nosed iphoneheads don't know how good you've got it. Pipe down. Yeah? I don't even have a lawn, that's how off of it you are.

That little mini-tirade comes to you courtesy of the Rumblers' "It's A Gas", posted recently at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban. It got me thinking how availability is taken for granted. Fret not. The payoff of my pissy attitude is the Rumblers flotsam below, nearly all of it inaccessible pre-internet. Oh joyous day.

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Listen:
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 1963
The Strangers - Caterpillar Crawl mp3 at Rockin' Dog 1959 The source
The Rumblers - It's A Gas mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban 1963
The Rumblers - Soulful Jerk mp3 at Royal Punkness 1964
Bel Cantos - Feel Aw Right - Part 1 (streaming) at YouTube 1965 Later incarnation, produced by Barry White
Visit:
The Rumbers at Surf Guitar 101 Forum
The Rumblers at All Music

ON THE LIST

Ooohh yeah, "Caravan", one of my favorite instrumentals of all time. When I first heard my brother's surf band play it back in the eighties, I had no clue who wrote it, or that its vintage predated surf music by decades. It was catchy and it fit their sound, and like "Miserlou", there was something about it's structure that landed it in that category of songs that are so good, it's damn near impossible to fuck them up. Years later I'd find out that it was first performed by Duke Ellington, and assumed that it was written by him. I found out later that it was written by Juan Tixol. Who? Shit, here we go again. I'll get to him in a few decades. Regardless, there you have it. I had my first favorite Duke Ellington song, and another name was added to the list. This is why it never ends. If you're a fiend, you know the feeling. The, "I'd been putting music of this alleged great off for so long, looks like there's no turning back now" feeling. You know as well as I, that list will never be completed. Shake it off. Bug out to these.

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Listen:
Duke Ellington - Caravan (1962) mp3 at Space Age Pop
Duke Ellington - Caravan (1947) mp3 at Space Age Pop
Thelonius Monk - Caravan (1955) mp3 at Space Age Pop

Takeshi Teruchi - Caravan (1965) mp3 at Beware of the Blog

Santo and Johnny - Caravan mp3 at Basement Rug

George Jenkins - Caravan mp3 at Diddy Wah Go there to get it.

The Strangers - Caravan (1970) mp3 at The Basement Rug

The Skatalites - Ska-Ra-Van (Caravan) mp3 at Tanyao (?)

CIVIC PRIDE HOUR

I knew the Rumblers' "Boss", I really dig that song. It is, as the title implies, boss. I knew that it borrowed liberally from another song, but had forgotten what the song was. I just ran into it today, "Caterpillar Crawl", by the Strangers, at On the Flip-Side. Now I also now know that the Strangers were from San Diego, which might interest some of my homies, But the big reason I'm even bringing them up is because they put out some damn fine 100% hot ass instrumentals. Really, check "Rockin' Rebel" and "Hill Stomp".

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Listen:

The Strangers - Caterpillar Crawl mp3 (via DivShare) at On the Flip-Side Note: Once you get to DivShare, click on the small green "Download" button underneath the streaming thing, and scratch your head for fifteen seconds while the timer counts down. When the button reappears, you're good to go.
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

The Strangers - Rockin' Rebel mp3 (via DivShare) at On the Flip-Side

The Strangers - Hill Stomp (streaming) at YouTube

The Strangers - Young Maggie (streaming) at YouTube

The Strangers - A Lost Soul (streaming) at YouTube

Visit:

The Strangers - Profile at Way Back Attack

ANY WAY YOU CUT IT

You may be familiar with Duke Ellington's "Caravan."  And, no, you don't really need seven versions of the same song.  Really you don't.  But you may want to listen to all of the versions below to appreciate the different takes, every one of them is incredibly good, which is testament to what a great song it is in the first place.  There's so many versions floating around, primarily by surf bands, jazz artists and Latin bands, that I could have been here all night.  It's one of those songs that lends itself to multiple interpretations.  The first version below is the one that inspired the dig tonight, a Latin version that's got some badass solos, particularly the sax.  Takeshi Terauchi's like the Japan version of the Ventures.  The Strangers were Merle Haggard's back up band, so it's sorta Bakersfield does Ellington.  Chet Atkins and Les Paul.  Together.  You're just getting started.  Put the Wayback Machine in overdrive and dig on the last three versions.  You don't really need seven versions, but you might need eight.

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Listen: 

Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers - Caravan (1967) mp3 at American Athlete 

Takeshi Teruchi - Caravan (1965) mp3 at Beware of the Blog 

The Strangers - Caravan (1970) mp3 at The Basement Rug 

Chet Atkins & Les Paul - Caravan (1977) mp3 at Stranger Dance 

Thelonius Monk - Caravan (1955) mp3 at Space Age Pop

Duke Ellington - Caravan (1962) mp3 at Space Age Pop

Duke Ellington - Caravan (1947) mp3 at Space Age Pop