START THE COALS

What is typically seen as the last day of summer, is commonly know in these parts as the day before the day we get our beach back. Gone are the people from Arizona. Gone are the inexperienced surfers and boogie boarders crowding the line-ups. Gone are the long lines at Hodad's, blocking the entrance to Newport Farms. Gone are those who wear flip flops in the sand, blast boom boxes playing classic rock, and leave shit everywhere in their trail. I don't hate these people. I just hope the door does hit them on the way out.

For another month or two, there will be pleasant days and warm-enough water. And fewer people. Starting tomorrow, the day after Labor day, things return to normal (or normal for Ocean Beach anyways). The locals will still be here. The Guitar Man will still be on his rock playing the same crappy two chords that he's been playing for the past fifteen years. The guy that brings his iguana to the beach (whom he calls Elvis but everybody else refers to as "wishes it was a chick magnet") will still be here. John, the homeless guy in the wheel chair, will still be at the foot of Newport. Boston James may or may not return, depending on if they charge him with Jimbo's death (after the two had a drunken brawl). But there will be pleasant days and warm-enough water. Now, it's the locals turn to chill. And these three songs are about as chill as I get.

Jack Nitzsche - The Lonely Surfer Race mp3
The Sandals - (Theme from) The Endless Summer mp3
Santo and Johnny - Sleepwalk mp3

THIS JUST IN: It wasn't more than a couple hours after I posted the above blurb that I ran into a guy name Tim, who used to drink with Jimbo and Boston James down at the beach. I hadn't seen him for a couple years (since alcohol was banned at the beach), so I asked him if he had heard about Jimbo dying. He answered that he had, and then told me that Big Bill (known to the kids at the beach as "Mad Dog") was up the street, outside the liquor store (aka Newport Farms, which, despite it's name, sells only fermented produce). I asked if he was sure if it was Bill, because he disappeared a couple years ago. "I know," he said, "everybody thought Bill was dead. I did too." So, it was, of course, my civic duty to welcome Bill back from wherever he'd been. On my way home, I stopped by to see him. He'd been in and out of hospitals, and just recently kicked out of a convalescent home. He is now back on the street, and already dialed in to the comings and goings of that ol' gang of his. He had heard about Jimbo, and told me that Boston James, though not charged with Jimbo's death, is now banned from the streets of O.B.. So that's your local update. Jimbo's dead, Boston James is banned and Big Bill is back. And the water is still warm enough....

WORLD'S LONGEST SOPHMORE SLUMP CONTINUES

"Well this sure sucks." That's what ran through my head the first time I heard the second Modern Lovers album. Actually, the second album was credited to "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers." That should have been a tip-off.

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Not that the second one wasn't entertaining. It was, as were all of Richman's subsequent records (in various solo and Modern Lovers incarnations). But the first one had a mood, a droning vibe that just plodded along, Velvet Underground style, and was both brooding and personal. In comparison, the second sounded almost like a children's album.

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Richman's been at it for over thirty years now and has yet to come close to the overall feel of the debut album. It's all there on that first one. Jerry Harrison's organ, sometimes haunting, is always lurking. The pace of the album is steady, some songs more uptempo but all have this...feel. The guitar work, the most underrated ingredient, was amazing without being flashy or, technically, too good. (If you're gonna mention the John Cale connection, I think we can assume that it's common knowledge. Though, with thirty years, he's had plenty of time to rope Cale in for a second go, if he really wanted it.)

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Everything after his first album is just goofy shit, if you ask me. Songs about chewing gum wrappers, abominable snowmen, martians, and now a recent ditty about cell phones. While admittedly clever, it's oh-so-close to a final nail (the lyrics of which I agree with 100%, though.). The one thing that saves it? Who else would write a song about not needing a cell phone? Therein lies the appeal of Jonathan Richman. But, still, I'm running low on patience.

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From the first album:

The Modern Lovers - Old World mp3 at Siblingshot on the Bleachers

The Modern Lovers - Hospital mp3 at You Ain't No Picasso

The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner mp3 at You Ain't No Picasso

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After the first album:

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - That Summer Feeling mp3 at Tsururadio

Jonathan Richman - You Can Have a Cell Phone, That's Okay, But Not Me mp3 at Monkey X

WORTHY, I KID YOU NOT

You, like everybody else, have probably heard the Supremes' hits, to the point that you probably don't even really listen to them anymore. There so ingrained that they just go in one ear and out the other. I'm on the same boat (yeah, "Come See About Me," whatever...). So when I happened upon a Supremes' cover of "Come Together," I downloaded it with mild curiosity and that's about it. It was on the blog "Robots In Heat" which is one of those bare bones sites with no text other than song titles and artists. I check it out periodically because the head robot always puts up weird unrelated songs that invariably seem randomly picked. But the songs he chooses are always a little left of center, so, again, I bit.

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I was really surprised at this one. At the time it was recorded, a post-Diana Ross, Jean Terrell-led, Supremes were headed in a new direction. This meant away from the mascara caked lashes, evening gowns and bouffants, and onto afros and turtlenecks. The sound is far different from what you would expect from Motown as well. So, of course, that means, as a music geek, it was my duty to go trompsing around online looking for production credits (I was convinced that the producer had to have been Norman Whitfield, producer of all the great psychedelic-soul era Temptation cuts). (Follow me here...)

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As it turns out, the producer was Frank Wilson, who had been recruited in 1963 by Berry Gordy to work out of Motown's newly opened L.A. office. Wilson was well versed in the classic Motown sound, as evidenced by his own 45, "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)," an impossibly rare Northern Soul favorite. (Long story short, 250 were pressed and all were thought to be destroyed when Wilson decided to concentrate on producing. Two vinyl copies are known to exist, with one selling for roughly $37,000 back in May. The full story is here.)

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"Come Together" though, sounds completely different from any Supremes I've ever heard, let alone Motown. The pace is much slower than the Beatles' original, reminiscent of Isaac Hayes' reworking of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By." It's not just the pace; it's ultra-heavy on the sitar and clavinet (!), and the vocals have enough echo on them that they'd have Sam Phillips adjusting his knobs. Worthy of a download, I promise. (So much for "one quick listen and onto other things.")

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The Supremes - Come Together mp3 at Robots In Heat
Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) mp3 at DJNoDJ
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Funky 16 Corners
"Record price for rare Motown disc" at the BBC News
Frank Wilson page at Wikipedia

DON'T KNOW JIM DICKINSON?

You should know him. You probably do. He recorded with, or produced, (...ready?) the Stones, Wilson Picket, Aretha Franklin, the Flamin' Groovies, Duane Allman, the Cramps, the Replacements, Toots Hibbert, Alex Chilton, Big Star, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dion, Dylan, Ry Cooder, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Mojo Nixon, Mudhoney and many, many more. I knew his name from album credits (remember those?) over the years but never kept a mental tally. After his death, a week and a half ago, I began seeing bloggers' tributes and was astounded by his dossier.

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He was a musician, and a producer, but he was a music freak first. Like you. Like me. And, if his output was any indication, the man had taste. His "Monkey Man," recorded with the Katmandu Quartet, sounds like the Legendary Stardust Cowboy fronting a Northwest garage band. Red Headed Woman, recorded with the Cramps and showcasing his skills on the 88's sounds like, well, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy fronting the Cramps with Jerry Lee Lewis on piano. Then there's the 1967 straight-up garage rocker he played on with Flash and the Memphis Casuals, "Uptight Tonight." And (what seems to be commonly regarded as) the last great 45 on Sun, "Cadillac Man" b/w "My Babe" by the Jesters, which he sang lead on, though he wasn't a member of the band.

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This is just a taste. Visit the blogs linked below for the entire story, and a lot more mp3s (remember, "right click, save as..."). And read album liner notes while they still exist!

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Listen:

Jim Dickinson w/the Cramps - Red Headed Woman mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Jim Dickinson and the Katmandu Quartet - Monkey Man mp3 at The Hound

Flash & the Memphis Casuals - Uptight Tonight mp3 at The Hound

Jim Dickinson w/the Jesters - Cadillac Man and My Babe mp3s at The Hound

Flamin Groovies - Teenage Head mp3 at Beware of the Blog

The Rolling Stones - Wild Horses mp3 at Beware of the Blog

The Replacements - Tossin n' Turnin' mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Mudhoney - Beneath the Valley of the Underdog mp3 at Beware of the Blog

Toots Hibbert - Hard to Handle mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the Dark mp3 at Beware of the Blog

Read:

Jim Dickinson post (excellent bio) at the Hound

Jim Dickinson post at Beware of the Blog

Jim Dickinson post at Boogie Woogie Flu

The Jim Dickinson page at Wikipedia

Visit:

His Zebra Ranch studio site

SHREDDERS' RITE OF PASSAGE

The mp3 blog Doklands refers to "C5" by Moha as "a cacphonous, distoterrific guitar and drum assault". I refer to it as "Guitar Center". Even if you aren't a musician, you may have wandered into a Guitar Center (or a similar music superstore) at some point. If you have, you know the scenario. Rabid guitar and drum fetishists let loose, to freely take their coveted ax or Bonham-sized drum kit for a test run. To the clerks, this must push the Annoy-O-Meter into the red. And the poor guys have to endure it, all day, every day. Just try listening to this song, try listening to it loud, try listening to it from three different rooms at once. Now imagine that, day in and day out. So where's the magnetic ribbons for these guys? Where are the colored rubber bracelets for these men of unrelenting patience, who put their eardrums on the line every day?

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Moha! - C5 [Guitar Center] mp3 at Doklands

Doklands also has Beefheart's Kandy Korn!

BOSS SOUNDS FROM THE TRASTOS HI-FI

One advantage of being a certain age is that, when it comes to reggae, your objectivity isn't necessarily skewed by hippies, hacky-sack, Bob Marley, trustifarians or other such reggae cliches. My friends and I were lucky enough to be turned on to reggae as an ersatz chaser to a punk rock cocktail. When all other mellow music was getting tossed aside, reggae was not. Simply put, it was the best rebel music with a soulful beat available. It was an awesome awakening: the hunt for reggae on the shelf, any store shelf (Ratner's Electric in downtown San Diego?!?), the booming sound system of the reggae disco at North Park Lion's Club (you could feel the bass in your chest), the kind recommendations from reggae freak elders, and learning the proper way to spell New York ("a knife, a fork, a bottle, and a cork, that's the way you spell New York..."). And all of that discovering of this other acceptable genre comes flooding back when I hear anything from Horace Andy's first album, "Skylarking".

At the time, a lot of earlier reggae was getting licensed in the U.S. and issued at bargain prices. Marley had yet to break and it seemed like the reggae that was being released as if spattering paint, just hoping some of it would stick. The reissues were typically released with bland packaging with total disregard of the exotic covers of the originally issued LPs. It boggles the mind to think about what could have happened if these LPs were released with the original packaging (as seen here). What if the significance of these reissues was more widely recognized, and what would have happened if reggae music as a whole had broken before the rampant one dimensional Marley mania?

Before any miscreants start whining about how great Bob Marley was, let me pose this question: what would rock n' roll be like if the only artist most people were familiar with was the Rolling Stones? You get the picture, so make room on your plate. There is so much more essential reggae.

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Horace Andy - Skylarking mp3 at KinoSport

All the ingredients are here: an essential 1969 Studio One classic
Horace Andy - Skylarking, the entire LP download at Global Groove
Sound Dimension - Real Rock mp3 at The Suburbs are Killing Us
The house band at Studio One with the rhythm that backs 250+ early reggae classics
Sound Dimension - Real Rock Version mp3 at The Suburbs Are Killing Us
The Heptones -Hypocrite mp3 at Ear It Now
The Maytals - Pressure Drop mp3 and 6 other Maytal cuts at I Predict A Riot
Sister Nancy - Bam Bam mp3 and 11 early reggae & rock steady cuts at I Predict a Riot
Bam Bam, from 1982, had to have been on MIA's turntable at some point
Alton Ellis - I'm Still in Love With You mp3 at Grand Panda
If the rhythm sounds familiar, you must have checked Althia and Donna's Uptown Top Ranking
Big Youth - Screaming Target mp3 at Djnodj
The Slickers - Johnny Too Bad mp3 at Motel de Moka
King Tubby - Take Five mp3 at 8106
How this is a King Tubby cut when there's no dub is beyond me, but a cover of Dave Brubeck with a groove keeps me from asking too many questions...

Augustus Pablo and King Tubby - King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown mp3 and 3 others at Dollar Bin Jams

Another all time classic: melodica + dub = chill bliss

MAYDAY! BILLY LEE RILEY ILL AND BROKE!

UPDATE, MAKE THAT SAD UPDATE:
From the Rockabilly Hall of Fame website:
"Billy Lee Riley R.I.P.
One of the greatest original Sun recording artists, peacefully passed away on Sunday August 2nd, 2009 at 5:20 AM. His family was at his bedside."
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[The following was written before his death.] Not to sound like a complete jerk, but here's a novel idea: Before another legendary early rocker passes away, and the requisite "woe-is-me" eulogizing pours out of a thousand blogs (guilty here too), let's help a ailing rocker live. Billy Lee Riley has stage four bone cancer, and he's broke..

Why you should care: Riley was in the early crop of Sun Records artists, and was never fully given his due. Though revered among rockabilly fanatics and record geeks everywhere, he's practically unknown to John Q. Gotta-Lotta-CDs. Few know that he and his band, the Little Green Men, were the studio house band at Sun. And Riley, a solo artist as well, literally coulda been a contender. "Red Hot", the closest he ever got to a hit, was passed over by Sam Philips so he could promote Jerry Lee Lewis. As the story goes, Riley was in the Sun office when Phillips cancelled advance orders of 30,000 copies of "Red Hot," telling distributors to push "Great Balls of Fire" instead. Riley then did what any self-respecting rocker would do: he went out and got loaded, returning later to demolish the studio..

Whether or not every part of the story is true, it does speak to Riley's refusal to be a patsy. His disillusionment with the label would later force his exit, landing at Brunswick for a short time, before starting his own label. In the PBS produced documentary, Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records, while in conversation with other early Sun artists, Riley was the only one that mentioned getting the short end of the Sun stick. Meanwhile, the others hemmed and hawed about the good ol' days.

Bottom line, gang, is that he is part and parcel of the reason rock n' roll exists. Even if you whittled his career down to his two best known songs ("Red Hot" and "Flying Saucers Rock n' Roll," both essential fuel in the original fire), we would owe him a debt. But he was one of the Sun second-stringers, slightly wilder (ergo less marketable), who kept the stars from getting too, well, soft, during their tenure at Sun.

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He's racked up big medical bills. He and his wife, Joyce, are having a tough go of it. For the love of whatever rocks you, help Billy Lee Riley live. Here's his address:

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Billy Lee Riley

723 Crest Drive

Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401

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Or you can donate via PayPal at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame home page

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Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

(w/Jerry Lee Lewis on piano)

Billy Lee Riley - Flying Saucers Rock n' Roll mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

(One of the earliest recorded whammy bars)

Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot (alternate take) mp3 and two others at The Hound Blog

Billy Lee Riley's bio, in his own words at Delta Boogie
(NOTE: Scroll halfway down the page)

Billy Lee Riley page at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame

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A special thank you to Boogie Woogie Flu for putting it out there.

THIS MP3 KILLS FASCISTS

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Woody Guthries - This Land is Your Land mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - This Land is Your Land mp3 at Evil Vince

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WTF?: VELVET SUGAR

Velvet Sugar is a mash-up, by Go Home Productions (aka Mark Vidler), who puts them together as seamlessly as anyone. His imaginative "Ray of Gob.", which mixed Madonna and the Sex Pistols seems to pop up somewhere every few months, as does this bizarre juxtaposition: the Velvet Underground/Archies "Velvet Sugar."

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Go Home Productions - Velvet Sugar mp3 at Covert Curiosity

Go Home Productions - Abba and the Bunnymen mp3 at Covert Curiosity

Am album of recent work, including the Stones-Temptations "Rolling Confusion", T-Rex/Stones "2000 Lightyears from Bolan" can be downloaded (via Rapidshare) on his site (and there's video too).

Another curious mash-up of the Stooges and Salt n' Pepa by 2 Many DJs is posted at the end of this post on Pogo a Go Go.

SKY SAXON: THE SEEDS, THE ZEROS AND THE LEGACY OF REBELLION

Last Thursday morning, on the Zeros' Javier Escovedo's Facebook page there was a simple one line tribute "I got the Seeds on the stereo", a line lifted from the Zeros song "Wild Weekend", one he wrote thirty years ago. To anyone who knows the Zeros and the Seeds, the message was apparent, and there was perhaps no more fitting tribute. When "Wild Weekend" was originally released, that simple nod to the Seeds added much to the Zeros' pedigree. While a lot of punk bands at the time cited the New York Dolls, the Stooges, the MC5 and other post-garage bands (which the Zeros did too), few mentioned the Seeds, the Standells, and others from the first garage era. It was clear that the Zeros were not jumping on some sort of bandwagon, this was pure lineage.

Unlike the "destroy (something)", "anarchy (something or other)" prevalent in '77 era punk lyrics, the Zeros, like the bands of the garage band era, touched on the pulse of teen angst. They didn't have to scare parents, they just reminded us not-quite-adults that parents were the opposing team. Nowhere did they convey it better than their in-your-face second single "Wild Weekend". We enter the scene, with the parents gone, a girl on the way over, and a six-pack procured:

Baby, baby, I can't let go,

I got the Seeds on the stereo,

If they walked in now,

Man, I'd get get hung,

but I don't care,

Fuck them, I'm young,

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It gonna be a wild weekend,

and I just know it,

I'm feelin' crazy,

and I gotta show it.

The fact that Javier chose that for his Facebook header on Thursday says volumes. It was the same day the original Zeros line-up was reuniting for a hometown gig, for the first time in years. He could have plugged the show, or the recently released "Zeros Live in Madrid" DVD, but he didn't. The tip of the hat did not go not unnoticed. It was, in fact, how I figured something in the Sky Saxon Seeds camp had happened.

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[7/4/09: The LA Times July 4th account of the Zeros' reunion show concludes with "Earlier in the day came news of Michael Jackson's death, yet the Zeros have another musical icon in mind. The final encore song is "Pushin' Too Hard," a garage rock classic and anthem of romantic angst by the Seeds, whose singer Sky Saxon also had passed away that day."]

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You've no doubt heard that Sky Saxon, lead singer of the Seeds, sneered his last on Thursday. With him, a piece of our team passed. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he never really crossed over to the other side. To wit: most middle-aged people would feel comfortable, even honored, to sit down and dine with Mick Jagger. But you put a sixty-something Sky Saxon in front of them and they would run. On the other hand, twenty-somethings would look at him and instantly know that he had something going on, at least enough to know that he wasn't like their parents. The phrase "cool old dude" comes to mind.

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"I ran out of gas one day, so I took Michael Jackson's album in, and all I could get was a dollar" - Sky Saxon, 'Rolling Stone' #456

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Back in 1976, Lester Bangs, wrote an excellent essay "Protopunk: The Garage Bands," in which he described the Seeds appeal:

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"For my money, the Seeds best epitomized the allure L.A. had then: there was real smog in Daryl Hooper's organ melodica and Sky Saxon's Mick Jagger routine seemed somewhat more convincing, though every bit as trashy as all the others of the era. Perhaps it was because Sky Saxon really believed every moronic word that he was singing in their rattling little songs, each sounding the same as their one big hit, 'Pushin' Too Hard.'"

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"All the bikers around San Diego thought the Seeds were the apocalypse, then. I recall one hog-ridin' couple, Candy and Smacker, who didn't take the Seeds first album off their turntable for three solid months."

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Take it from Candy and Smacker...and Lester Bangs...and the Zeros. No further endorsement is neccesary.

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The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard mp3 at For the Sake of the Song

The Seeds - Can't Seem to Make You Mine mp3 at For the Sake of the Song

The Seeds - No Escape mp3 at For the Sake of the Song

The Seeds - Mr. Farmer video on YouTube

The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard video on YouTube

The Seeds - Can't Seem to Make You Mind video on YouTube

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The Zeros - Wild Weekend mp3 at Last Days of Man On Earth

The Zeros - Beat Your Heart Out mp3 at Last Days of Man On Earth

Zeros Reunite for Summer Shows at the L.A.Times

Lengthy Zeros bio at Che Underground

Sky Saxon photo by Mark Berry

THE KING OF POP IS STILL ALIVE

Several years ago, I came home from the beach and there was a message on my answering machine. After tracking sand all over the living room, as is my habit, I played the message, and practically fell on the floor. "Tom Griswold, this is the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, I want to play in your town..." the message started. Lower jaw agape, I listened to the rest of the short message, and wrote down the phone number he left. It was the same one I had left a message at a few weeks earlier, after seeing it on the bottom of a promo 8 x 10. When I called it a few days later, it turns out that it was a record store that "the Ledge" hung out at, and the record store employee told me that everyone at the store was kind of amused by his eccentric ways, but that he could be kind of a pest. ("Every record store has its pests," I was thinking, remembering a past visit to Tasha's, a old beater of a record store in downtown San Diego, arriving just as Wildman Fisher was getting 86'd.) I left my phone number with the employee and just kind of forgot about it. About a year later, I came home , and, again, there's another message from the Ledge. "Tom Griswold, this is the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. I have a new record coming out on New Rose Records...," it began. This call, more than the first, amazed me. I could just picture him, dialing every goddamn phone number he had, long distance be damned, to promote his record, simultaneously wiping out any royalties he may have earned. It defied rational explanation; a hallmark of an outsider.

Perhaps the most endearing quality of a real outsider is that they do not share the usual motivation of most artists. Their primary reason for creating is not profit, fame, adulation or to get laid. They simply do not know how not to create. And, while they may be cognizant of criticism, they are not beholden to it. (Talent is subjective anyways.) In short, it's punk rock with an added dose of sincerity, minus the swagger and (all too frequent) veiled intent.

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralyzed mp3 at Beware of the Blog

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Who's Knocking At My Door mp3 at Beware of the Blog

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy page at MySpace

The Official Legendary Stardust Cowboy site

Lengthy Ledge bio by Irwin Chusid at Perfect Sound Forever

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Videos: TV appearances, live clips and interviews on YouTube

NOW GET READY FOR THE REAL WORLD

If you have kids, or know kids, who have that tough guy attitude, think that an outfit, a little ink and a goofy haircut makes the cooler than shit, and you're ready to slap 'em upside the head, there is hope. You don't have to resort to physical violence, just try a little aural assault. Let Flipper help. Yeah, Flipper. How to best describe Flipper? You know how it is when you go swimming and you get out of the water, and you just can't help yourself; you just have to do the do the one nostril snot rocket? That's what Flipper can do for someone who's had too much, well...(for lack of a better term) pussy music..

Flipper is back at it, with a new studio album, "Love", an upcoming live album "Fight", and a recently reissued back catalog. Of course, there are those who might say that Flipper's been going downhill since the release of their second 45, "Sex Bomb" a quarter century ago. I, too, was dismayed when it appeared on their first LP, Generic Flipper, with saxophone and no car crash. But you know what? Even the mellowest Flipper has the requisite dirge to do the job.

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Here's Flipper's latest, "Be Good" (which has Bruce Loose sounding almost like John Denny) and their opus, the original version of Sex Bomb. (The yelp right after the car crash at 4:14 still has me in stitches...)

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Flipper - Be Good mp3 at MBV Music
Flipper - Sex Bomb mp3 at Lil Mike's [Pop-up filled] Last Known Thoughts
Flipper's Official Site

ANOTHER HUMDINGER FROM DAPTONE HQ

A laid back Afro-funk vibe, perfect for a summer evening BBQ mix, on one of those after beach sunburn-nursing nights. The Budos Band is a horn heavy twelve-piece, made up of different Daptone band members. Can you dig the Budos beat? I know that you can....

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The Budos Band - The Proposition mp3 at Silence is a Rhythm Too

The Budos Band - Adeniji mp3 at Rollo and Grady

The Budos Band -Chicago Falcon mp3 at World's Fair

The Budos Band at Daptone Records

THE ONLY CARD I NEED

Ever wonder what "Ace of Spades" would sound like as a full-on funky soul send-up replete with screams, breaks and horns? Dig it, this one's a keeper!

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If you're a little skeptical about how it translates, you're not alone. But, unless you know the original well...no, even if you know the original well, it might not hit you until you hear Lemmy's future epitaph, "That's the way I like it, I don't want to live forever!" It works, primarily because Reed has the pipes and the soul sensibility to interpret it remarkably well. Now, you wanna feel old? The original (which should be a staple in the collection of everybody over 40) came out in 1977, 32 years ago. Reed is 23. Yeah, uh-huh, his parents probably hadn't even met...

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Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves - Ace of Spades mp3 at Ryan's Smashing Life

A KING KHAN PRIMER: DUDE'S A NUT

I don't know what to make of King Khan and I don't have to. All I need to know is his batting average, in terms of how often I dig a random download of his. That would be a long winded way of saying he's pretty much batting a thousand. A little suspect, I would agree (so don't bother saying it). But, I have to add that I picked up a used CD of his, and it's pretty damn good, beginning to end. Dare I say it, but I haven't heard a anything he's done that I don't like. Not bad for a Canadian (I'm kidding, maple leafers!).

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So what's he sound like? Jeez, let's see, a little garage, a little psych, a lot of rock n' roll, a little bit o' horns, some tamborine and farfisa, and an ounce of ballad. Oh, and not entirely retro. Confused? You don't have to know what to make of him either. Just dig the vastly under-rated boss sounds of the guy with the Bollywood looks and the Pabst beer gut.

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King Khan & the Shrines - Land of the Freak mp3 (with video!) at Stereogum

King Khan & the Shrines -Torture mp3 at AW Music

King Khan & the Shrines - Welfare Bread -mp3 at Quiet Color

King Khan & the_Shrines - I Wanna Be a Girl mp3 at Melophobe

King Khan & the Shrines - 69 Faces of Love mp3 at Local Vertical

King Khan & the Shrines - Don't Walk Away Mad mp3 at Music Alliance Pact

King Khan & the Shrines - Outta Harm's Way mp3 at Sailor Jerry's

King Khan & the Shrines - Fish Fight mp3 at Rollo & Grady

King Khan & the Shrines - Destroyer mp3 at Rollo & Grady

King Khan & the Shrines - Took My Lady to Dinner mp3 at Rollo & Grady

King Khan & the Shrines - No Regrets mp3 at Rollo & Grady

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Teenage Foetus mp3 at BrooklynVegan

The King Khan & BBQ Show - I'll Never Belong mp3 at BrooklynVegan

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Zombies mp3 at BrooklynVegan

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Blow My Top mp3 at BrooklynVegan

The King Khan & the Shrines MySpace page

The King Khan & BBQ Show at Wikipedia

King Khan and the Shrines at Wikipedia

ROCK OUT WITH DEBBIE D.

Yeah, you're wondering who Debbie D is, right? She's been posting on WFMU's Beware of the Blog, and after looking through her posts, you'll find yourself thanking her. She was the one who posted over four dozen killer mp3's under the title "Songs the Wobbles Taught Us", which was the original versions of songs the Wobbles have covered. Turns out she's done a series of these, most recently "Songs We Taught The Blasters", 33 songs that the Blasters have covered. You can guess what's on that post. Everything from Little Willie John and the Staple Singers to Don & Dewey and the original version of California Sun (by Joe Jones, not the Rivieras...who knew?!). She also did a "Songs We Taught the Fall", which is eclectic as all get-out. The Sonics (aka Godhead), the Monks, the Saints, Lee Perry, Leadbelly, Merle Haggard, Dean Martin, Beefheart...you get the idea. (Which, of course means that if I were getting tanked at a record party, I'd rather have Mark E. Smith spinning than one of the Alvins. Though Phil or Dave could take over during a pee break, no problem.)

When you add similar posts featuring songs that the Mummies, Untamed Youth and the Gories have covered, you're pushing 120 awesome mp3s, even if you discount the few "don't need thats". Granted it takes a total freak to dig the range of music on these posts, but if your tastes are anything like mine, you're wasting time reading this, just go there and start clicking!

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

A sampling of some of the posts:

Little Junior Parker - Barefoot Rock mp3

The Rockin' R's - Crazy Baby mp3

Little Willie John - I'm Shakin' mp3

Little Richard - Keep A Knockin' mp3

Big Joe Turner - Roll 'em Pete mp3

Lee Allen - Walkin' With Mr. Lee mp3

Staple Singers - Samson & Delilah mp3

Don & Dewey - Justine mp3

Joe Jones - California Sun mp3

Gene Vincent - Rollin' Danny mp3

The Sonics - Strychnine mp3

Hank Mizell - Jungle Rock mp3

The Saints - This Perfect Day mp3

The Scotsmen - Beer Bust Blues mp3

Muddy Waters - I Just Want To Make Love to You mp3

Rolling Stones - I'd Much Rather Be With the Boys mp3

The Monks - Oh, How to Do Now mp3

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: All of Debbie's posts at WFMU's Beware of the Blog

THIS WOMAN IS A SAINT

That's my Mom. I can't even start to list the reasons why she was a saint, but trust me on this one. She had five kids in five years and anyway you add it up, that's non-stop diapers for a long-ass time. Never mind five sack lunches a day, the grocery shopping, the school clothes shopping, the PTA meetings, the laundry, the swimming lessons, the housework, the Christmas shopping, the enchiladas done until they were just crispy around the edges and the sloppy joes made with onion soup mix. After we hit our mid-late teens, my Pop split and she handled the rebel years of her kids solo, with grace and acceptance. That's just the beginning. (If I continued, we'd be here all night.) She was, and is, the coolest Mom I have ever met.

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It's Mother's Day, and although she would have preferred Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton or Gene Krupa, I'm sure she would pound the minute steaks for dinner to the beat of "Mother Popcorn" by the GFOS James Brown.

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(Thank you Boogie Woogie Flu for posting it.)

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James Brown - Mother Popcorn mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu

SERENDIPITOUS SCORING

[NOTE: After testing the mp3 links in this post, I realized that the the hosting site Pogo A Go-Go has disabled direct links, which is his perogative. Rest assured though, all of the tunes can be found and downloaded at his site: Pogo A Go-Go, with links to specific posts below. In other words, I'll be damned if I'm going to delete this post after going through the hassle of writing it...]
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Every once in a while, in need of something to post, I'll start browsing blogs that I haven't been to in a while and find a few mp3s that scream "download me now you hack, or you'll forget where you saw me!" Today's screaming mp3s come from Pogo A Go-Go. There's plenty to devour there, and some, well, some of that screaming variety. Case in point: "A Different Story", by the Subway Sect. The Subway Sect were contemporaries of the Sex Pistols (they were in the early punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue for cryin' out loud!) and that whole first wave of UK punk, but were already leaning toward a post-punk kinda "I'll let those guys bang out the chords, I'm a little smarter than that..." type of sound. Despite the fact that they may have thought themselves above three chord simpletons, they came and went after only two proper 45s (a comp of stuff came out later).

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Fil, the host of Pogo A Go-Go, demonstrating that he's clearly got his head on straight, is currently ranting about some really messed up venture called "The Rock n' Roll Experience." It's some really fucked up hoity-toity thing where you can pay a few thousand dollars and go to Hawaii to jam (and play golf) with "rock legends" like Gerald Casale (Devo), Earl Slick (one time guitarist for Bowie), Al Jardine (the second lamest Beach Boy, after Mike Love) and Glen fucking Matlock (yeah, a former Sex Pistol). Oh yeah, there's also Clem Burke (the drummer from Blondie) and, it pains me to even mention it, Wayne Kramer (from the MC5). Get out your sticks kids, it's definitely time to draw the line. (Remember the scene in Animal House when John Belushi, as Bluto, says "...Neidermeyer? Dead!!"? It's kinda like that...)

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Showing his kindred soul side, Fil writes:

"Dearest Friends, this is a travesty. This is not rock 'n' roll. This is balding, fiftysomething, system analysts with their remaining strands of hair scraped behind their heads into dork handles. This is Euro trustafarian brats decked out in Bench and Von Dutch. This is the annoying, botox-injected fucker who cut me off today in his Porsche Boxter. This is whore meets john." Sting like a bee!

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Besides Subway Sect's cut, he's also posted "The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle" which has always been credited to the Sex Pistols, but was actually the music of Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, with all of the people auditioning to be Johnny Rotten's replacement trading vocals (including the wonderful stylings of Edward "Who Killed Bambi" Tudor-Pole, who was chosen to be Rotten's successor). And, to take us back to a time before trustafarians, he's also posted Chuck "I see see London, I see France" Berry's "Johnny B. Goode".

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Proving he's not a one trick pony, Fil's previous post featured five vintage ska tunes, including Daddy Livingstone's "Rudy, A Message To You" (covered during the Two-Tone era by the Specials). And an earlier post has Mudhoney's "This Gift". A whole bagful of stuff over there; this is just the few I found in a matter of minutes.

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Subway Sect - A Different Story mp3 found on this post

Sex Pistols - The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle mp3 found on this post
Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode mp3 found on this post
Daddy Livingstone - Rudy, A Message To You mp3 found on this post
Mudhoney - This Gift mp3 found on this post
All found on Pogo A Go-Go

INFECTIOUS GROOVE TIME

Everyone has a song that's like a security blanket; one that is comforting to know is around when you need it. Althia & Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking" is one of those songs for me. I've dragged it out of the 45 closet on a regular basis for years. And it never fails to put a smile on my face, no matter how shitty I feel.

It was a hit in 78 in the UK, one of scores of reggae one-hit-wonders. Everything about it rubs cheerfulness; the groove of it, the lyrics, the light Jamaican patois. I can't put my finger on it, but if it does one ounce of good to you that it does to me, it's worthy of a download.

As much as I like the song, I was a little hesitant to watch a video, for fear that it might wreck the long-running vibe it held for me. Thankfully, that fear was ungrounded. The video clip from Top of the Pops (on YouTube) is downright adorable.

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

Listen:.

Althia & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Rhythm source:
Alton Ellis - I'm Still In Love With You mp3 at Stop Okay Go
Video:
Althia & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking video at YouTube

RAISE A GLASS OF STRYCHNINE

I'm in my boss' office. He's on the phone with his son. "You're going to band practice? Be home by eight..." (I'm thinking, if he is home by eight, he has no career in rock n' roll.) I ask my boss, "What kind of music does he play?" "Just 'klang, klang klang!!!' " he says, making wild motions with his arms that looked like a combination of a good guitar thrashing, and what appeared to be Keith Moon destroying a drum kit. (Hmmm, I think, maybe his son is cut out for it.) I walk out of his office and into a coworker. He says "the singer of the Cramps died" Within about a half second, I was dipped in shit.

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Lux Interior wasn't just the singer of the Cramps, nor was squeeze Ivy just the guitarist. Equal parts archeoligists and interpreters, they did our dirty work. Digging through dusty records in thrift stores and watching late night creep shows; distilling everything through a four piece filter and into young impressionable faces. And the death of Lux, most assuredly, means the end of the Cramps.

Huge loss. They were everything that the fat cats hate: Elvis, from the waist down. They reminded us that there was a part of rock n' roll that could, and should, discourage parental affinity. And they taught us. They taught us about about the true common vein in all savage rock n' roll, rockabilly or garage record. Not just the sound, or the song, but that certain thing; the old fart repellent. They taught us Ricky Nelson could be cool, Johnny Burnette could be really wild, Little Willie John could be creepy, and that "Surfin' Bird" was damn close to rock n' roll Dada.

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They were B-culture geeks; trash historians cum sex machines. Creedence with balls. They were the "klang, klang, klang!" that my boss heard. They were the unsavory that we so savor. Long live the Cramps. Long live rock n' roll.

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The Cramps - Tear It Up mp3 with live footage at Colour Me Impressed

The Cramps - Fever mp3 and TV Set mp3 at Undomondo

The Cramps - Lonesome Town mp3, The Way I Walk mp3, and Drug Train mp3 at For the Sake of the Song

The Cramps - Shortnin' Bread mp3 at Hypercorrect