Tuesday, January 26, 2010

SORRY, WE ALREADY HAVE YMA.


Slow loading web pages are a pisser (but you knew that). A few days ago, I was on a blog that had waaaay too many posts on the first page, so it took a painfully long time to finish loading. Yet I felt compelled to go back to it to snag an mp3 of a song by The Sound of Feeling, just for you. TSOF (as us lazy typists like to call them) were twin sisters Alyce and Rhae Andrece, whose other main "claim to fame" was as bit actresses in Star Trek and Bonanza (sometimes research leads nowhere...). I thought, maybe, one or two people might find it mildly amusing. I found it hilarious. The more I listened to it, the more I found it hard to believe that it was actually released. It's a cover of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man," a song I've never been too fond of anyways. But this cover is, well, on a different planet than the original. Really, the backing vocals make the Shaggs sound like divas. And the lead vocal sounds like somebody strangling Yma Sumac. That's no easy feat, that spread.
It starts out innocently enough, a quiet intro into the lead vocal. It's at about :34 seconds in, when the background vocals start, that you realize that something is askew. Someone had to have been sleeping with the producer. These aren't backing vocals, they're, well, closer to moans. Just about the time you get used to them, and settle in, it gets quiet. (You know in the old war movies, they used to say "it's quiet out there, too quiet."? It's kind of like that.) Keep in mind, you're only into a little over a minute of it. Then the lead vocals come back in, with a little scat sorta thing, kind of annoying, but okay.... just as soon as you drop your guard, it's staccato time. Yes. Then it slowly evolves into some high pitched theremin impressions, and you're closing in at just past 2:00 minutes, when the music dies down and is replaced by the soothing sounds of ocean surf. Then, inexplicably, in fades a street organ (that's the type that usually has a monkey attached). Okay, this is just getting all WTF, up in your face. It's exhausting. I'll leave it at that. It's five minutes and 24 seconds of misguided freakness. (And, yes, the vocals do return.)
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(Re Shaggs link source: No shit. It was labeled as "atonal" so, it must have been for a music class.)
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Friday, January 22, 2010

REALLY, WE JUST LOOK CREEPY


There's a long bio of Richie Knight and the Mid-Knights on Garage Hangover, and I'm not sure I want to read it. Not because I'm not interested, I'd just like to believe that they were, deep down, as creepy as their cover of Otis Rush's "Homework" sounds. I mean, look at them; they've got a Twin Peaks-creepy thing going on. Maybe it's just because it's a typical early 60's band of faceless white guys. I don't know. But their reworking of "Homework" does nothing to dispel that feeling.
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It's a great song, "Homework," one that seems hard to screw up. Probably the best known version was on the third J. Geils album, "Full House," a live set that had the band at their sweaty, greasy peak. It, like the rest of the album, was just straight ahead rockin' blues, but the pace and spontaneity captured on that album make it hard to ignore. (Really, don't dismiss the entire J. Geils Band output because of "Centerfold." It's like the Faces compared to later Rod Stewart: a whole different band.)
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Knight & the Mid-Knight's version, done roughly ten years earlier (and just a couple years after Rush's original), is a whole different interpretation. The creep-o-vibe is a probably a sum greater than it's parts, namely the Munsters-like tempo of the organ, the extreme echo on the vocals, the weakest space filler whines ever (listen to the "awoow-ow" at :51 seconds in) and the unusual instrumentation and overall mix. It sounds like Knight must have just got a new Wurlitzer with a few more buttons, because there's several different organ sounds buried in it, ranging from aforementioned Munsters, to roller rink to Jimmy Smith. It could be just me, but the vibe is unsettling enough that I can't get enough of it. Sadly, none of their other stuff posted on Garage Hangover sounds quite the same, so historians will probably end up theorizing that recreational drug use led to this departure from their frat party sound.
Otis Rush's original, from 1962, is of course the template. It too has a pedestrian tempo and organ rather prominent in the mix, and Rush's guitar work is perfectly understated; but it's the horns that dominate. The horn arrangement, with it's intro, pulsing rhythm and it's filthy bump-n-grind burlesque sax fills, is the stuff of Daptone drool. Makes me wish I'd done my due diligence thirty years ago.
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Alternate link:
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Monday, January 18, 2010

GET DOWN AND GIVE HELP


No matter how crappy things get for you, just remember, you've got it good compared to others suffering in third world countries. The good guys at Soul Strut have organized a record auction to help out the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, and they've got some gems posted. Among the dozens of titles are an original Studio One pressing of the first Burning Spear LP (with the awesome silkscreen cover), an ultra rare Jackie Mittoo private pressing, a Daptone test pressing of the Menahan Street Band, Thee Midnighters "Unlimited" on Whittier Records,...drooling yet? When was the last time you paid (probably) too much for a record and felt good about it? Really, the champs are the guys donating the records. That's another rarity: generous record collectors!
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Friday, January 15, 2010

VELVET UNDERGROUND GRAB BAG

A few months ago, I was listening to mp3's on shuffle, going about my business, when I was jarred by an instrumental that I hadn't really heard. I mean, it was on my computer, so I had downloaded at some point. But I must not have listened to much of it, because I would have noticed it. It was raunchy, repetitive and kind of distorted (so, my kinda music). The playing was good, but it was basic enough that it didn't come off like hot shots. But the thing was, the mix; the mix was godhead-o-phonic. When I went to my computer to see who I'd been listening too, and saw that it was the Velvet Underground, I felt like Poseur of the Day.

Could it be, that my (new) favorite Velvet Underground song was an instrumental? And singled out, without a clue who it was? I should have recognized it, but it was from an outtakes album that I never got around to getting. And, sans vocal, it didn't sound like them. (Listen to it. The mix seems a little louder than most of their stuff.) And I like that there are breaks; the song has spots for verse, chorus and back again. And that it sounds like the Sonics doing the Velvets, (Gawd, would I like to hear Gary Roslie yelp over that!) A few months after putting it in the "save for later" pile, I figured I better put in up, before the link is dead. Do yourself a favor, get it now.

Ever wonder why all the photos you see of the Velvet Underground are in black and white?

This of course, gave me the excuse to post the backlog of Velvets/Lou Reed mp3s and links that I had. So here's the rundown: The first is the aforementioned instrumental version, followed by the live "gymnasium bootleg" version, with vocals. That's followed by the live gymnasium recording of "I'm Not A Young Man Anymore" (the only known recording of that song). "Pale Blue Eyes" is on here because it reminds me of my brother. "The Gift" is on here because it reminds me of a long lost friend, Doug Diaz, who transcribed the whole damn thing and turned it in as his own short story back when he was in high school. Then there's nine songs (at Beware of the Blog) from the "Ultra-Rare Acetate," unreleased studio recordings that were found in a stack of old records and sold for some ungodly sum a while back. Next is a Lou Reed interview from 1974, just because I find funny; it's right out of the Warhol interview hand book (you know: short, inconclusive answers). Then there's one of very few videos that's labeled as the Velvet Underground and Nico on YouTube (though it seems like it's just Lou Reed and Nico) doing an acoustic "Femme Fatal". I followed that with Nico, from the mid-80's doing "All Tomorrows Parties". I included that because it was about the time I saw her live in Amsterdam (and, you know what? The bitch didn't even look at me). After that is the Primitives, a demo-only pre-Velvets group of Reed and Cale's, who were working as songwriters for Pickwick at the time. Somehow "Do the Ostrich" got released and became a minor regional hit, forcing them to throw together a group to promote it. (A complete pre-Velvets discography can be found here.) I had to include "Perfect Day" not only because it's beautiful, it's also a go-to tear-jerker for anyone DJing a wedding. The promo for the BBC using the song is pretty tight too. (Don't turn it off when Bowie flashes on your screen. You'll be rewarded with snippets of Burning Spear, Shane McGown, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, and Tom Jones as compensation.) Then there's the mildly amusing "Sister Ray" mash-up with the VU dubbed over a video of a Lawrence Welk band. Next is an interview with Reed at Kung Fu magazine, about the "Tai Chi of Rock n' Roll," which I haven't read, but still induced a nice smirk when I saw his poses (here's the cover). Last on the list is yet another mash-up by Go Home Productions, this time mashing Christina Aguilera and the Velvets.

So, I've pretty much depleted my stock of oddball Velvets/Reed links. Now a challenge: Five, count'em five, American dollars to anyone who sends me an mp3 of their own (or someone else's) vocals over the instrumental version of "Guess I'm Falling In Love". The only criteria is that it can't be Reed's vocals. You can make up lyrics, do a mash-up or whatever. If there's more than one sent, I'll post them all and let people vote on them. If you drop Gary Roslie's vocals over it, you'll be an instant winner of ten American dollars. Just throwin' it out there...
One more thing, just remember folks, per Reed, his reissued Metal Machine Music is "the perfect holiday gift for your loved one."
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

OK, I'LL SAY IT: HE AIN'T HEAVY

The photo above is pretty telling. It's of my brother Tim, gazing lovingly at a Telecaster that had been hanging in a guitar shop. Left for dead, it's body scarred by fire, and deemed unsavable, it was a magnet for Tim, who took it home and rebuilt it, from its naked charred body up. After adding a new neck, tuning pegs, bridge and all of the electronic gizmos, it turned out to be more than playable. And, although he had about a dozen better guitars at the time, it held a much more significance for him. It was, first and foremost, oddball. But it was also something that no one would want. Discarded, overlooked, unloved, funky, challenging, weird, dirty and pretty fuckin' homemade cool.

Today is our birthday, we are twins. He passed away roughly 13 years ago. And he is the reason for this blog. Because he was my primary source for musical dialogue. And, if you knew him, you know that he was wild about music. Let me rephrase that: he was wild about wild music. And he loved to talk it. So, I had to start doing this to make up for the conversations I so missed.
Because of our impending birthday, last night I wrote a friend of Tim's, to thank her. She was one of the last really good friends Tim had made, and really special to him. So, I wrote her and didn't think much more about it. I looked at a few photos of Tim and, while doing so, the terms "big shot" and "bad ass" both came to mind. Not really in a chest-beating sort of way, but kind of self effacing, but also with a little bit of truth. Then today, I received an email back from Tim's friend. It was a long, stream of consciousness email, in which she splattered some of the best words written about my brother. She's was one of the last people to know Tim well, and she pretty much summed him in one particular spurt (of many). She described him as "one amazing freaky free rock n' roll sweet bad ass nice guy..." I give. That pretty much pegs him.
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Happy Birthday bro. I'll post some music tomorrow.
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Monday, January 11, 2010

ENTRY LEVEL COUNTRY


Everyone who's really into music has done it. You find out someone you're not quite familiar with covered a song that you already know like the back of your hand. So, you buy their record, and find yourself liking it. You notice other covers, so you check out the originals, and all of a sudden you find yourself working backwards, getting closer to the source. So it is that the Rolling Stones can lead to Merle Haggard, or Commander Cody can lead to Red Sovine or Bob Wills, and so on. Pretty soon, you're looking for session players like Sneaky Pete, Don Rich and Phil Baugh. To paraphrase the Talking Heads, "You might find yourself saying, 'how did I get here?'" It seems especially true for genres left under explored in your younger years. But that's the cool thing about music.

There's a neat quote that was on some blog somewhere, that was from a sign in a record store. It was directed at music fiends, but, shit, it applies to everything, across the board. It said "You will never know everything. You will never hear everything. You will never own everything. You will never remember everything." I'd like to think that it came from a wise old sage, but more than likely it came from a snotty record store counter guy who was being a little profound completely by accident.

I can think of at least a dozen people in my past who have emphatically pointed me in the direction of a country artist of some sort. All had different starting points, and all were followed up on. But, still, I'm a country neophyte, so a rather obvious starting point was Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers. I got as far as Buck and Merle, realized that I was opening up a can of worms and just cut to the chase, one of the aforementioned session guys, Phil Baugh. As a side note, I've got to add that Dave Dudley's "Two Six Packs Away" is a personal favorite. Not only does he sound drunk, but those perky backing vocals piping in repeatedly with "Two Six Packs Away" always manage to slay me.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
The Flying Burrito Brothers - Christine's Tune (Devil in Disguise) mp3 at Rock-52.net
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Saturday, January 2, 2010

POP THE COURVOISIER


That's right, it's Black Moses time. Another long, totally reinterpreted, cover by Isaac Hayes. Here he stretches the Beatles "Something" to almost 12 minutes. (Could you imagine if he did a Fela cover?!?) Some of his extended songs can be hard to appreciate, but you really do have to listen to the whole thing and not try so hard. For that reason, it makes for good driving music.
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I found it on the blog, Ear Hole, which also had about its pages tons of assorted soul and funk jams, making it yet another blog on the "must really dig in to one of these days" list. I'll limit it to two, the Diplomats of Solid Sound and Spanky Wilson, two keepers. (Remember the drill, right click on title and "save as...")
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Spanky Wilson and the Quantic Soul Orchestra - I'm Thankful mp3 at Ear Hole
Diplomats of Solid Sound - Plenty Nasty mp3 at Ear Hole
Isaac Hayes - Something mp3 at Ear Hole
Ear Hole's main page
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Thursday, December 31, 2009

2010 PREDICTION: THE NEXT ALBUM WON'T STINK


Flipping through Rolling Stone at the drug store about a week ago, I saw a short article about the Black Keys recording at Muscle Shoals, the legendary Alabama recording studio (Aretha, Wilson Picket, Stones, etc.). I made a mental note to check out the details online (Rule #143: Never buy a magazine with a teen heartthrob on the cover), but before I got a chance to, I was told by an old acquaintance, Dave Doyle, that his ex-band mate Mark Neill was producing. I got all sorts of worked up, for a few reasons. Number one is that the Black Keys shit don't stink. Number two: neither does Neill's. There's two right there. And Muscle Shoals studio has produced some epic shit in the past, so it seems like it could be the perfect storm for a landmark album.

When the first Black Keys album, The Big Come Up, came out in 2002, there were all these stories of guitarist Dan Auerbach honing his chops and blues cred hanging out with T-Model Ford for an extended length of time (not something your everyday guitarist would bother doing). Their sound was extraordinarily full for a two piece, more so than the White Stripes, the "other two piece" band that they were often compared to. The production, by drummer Patrick Carney, was awesome and meaty. They referred to it as "medium fidelity" ("equal parts broke ass shit and hot ass shit") and had somehow tapped into that missing link between distorto-blues and the heavy thud seventies guitar sound of bands like Mountain, Cactus, and raunchier Led Zepplin. It was an impressive debut and, other than producers, they've pretty much stuck to the same formula in their subsequent releases. That's not to say they don't branch out; they do. But they do so with other projects.

A year or so ago, Auerbach released a solid solo album (mixed by Neill), and Carney followed that up with his side band, Drummer (self described as shoegaze on the MySpace page...blech). And recently, as Blakroc, the two teamed up with a hip hop A-listers, which has probably brought unfair comparisons to other hip hop/rock collaborations. It's a bit more significant, to team up a primarily roots type band with rappers doing new material, than, say, Aerosmith and Run DMC teaming up for "Walk this Way." Time will tell if it carries the weight of some sort of groundbreaking fusion, but as a concept it clearly kicks ass.

How the Black Keys know Mark Neill, I've got no idea. He's familiar to many of the old San Diego punk rock/retro crowd through his work as guitarist for the Unknowns. One of the few local bands in the early eighties that could actually play well, they somehow managed to mesh a sixties reverb drenched sound with a little organ and, surprisingly enough, actual singing. To call them a punk band is inaccurate at best, but that's the crowd they were lumped with, such was San Diego's sad state for non-cover bands at the time. Singer Bruce Joyner was studied, and really into good singers (Del Shannon and Roy Orbison come to mind). Neill was all about Mosrite guitars and the Ventures/Semie Moseley lineage, showing a keen interest in sound, not just songs. It was that interest, and his disappointment with the production of the Unknowns early output, that led him to open his own studio (in '82 or '83).

Neill's studio, Soil of the South, is, at this point, very well known for it's retro sound and vintage equipment. Not unlike Liam Watson's Toe Rag Studios in the UK, bands record there to get that stamp of authenticity. Neill's recorded the elite of the pomade army, notably Deke Dickerson, Big Sandy, Rip Carson, and the Paladins, along with Billy Zoom, Carl Rusk, the Tell-Tale Hearts and surf stalwarts Los Straightjackets. Suffice it to say, with Neill's equipment, the Black Keys sensibilities and the walls of Muscle Shoals, there's every reason to expect good things to come out of the ten day recording session. That Neill's been quoted as saying that the album would be "their biggest statement...the equivalent to Radiohead's 'OK Computer'" not only raises expectations, but begs the question: Mark Neill was cognizant of Radiohead?

Mark Neill's Soil of the South studio (with excellent in-studio photography by Dave Doyle)
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Saturday, December 26, 2009

WANT TO SEE A GROWN MAN CRY?


Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer cover Bob Marley. All three are gone. Play this sucker a couple of times in a row, and reflect. Because a little reflection won't make you a wuss, and it might do you some good. Motherfucker.
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

SANTA'S GOT A MIXED BAG


Here's another mixed bag of last minute holiday downloads. The quick lowdown on these: Nathaniel Mayer is, well, Eli "Paperboy" Reed lite. The ladies probably dig him as some sort of dreamy soul dude version of Chris Issacs (he, in his Herb Ritts meets Roy Orbison thang). Personally, I like my guy soul singers with a little more grunt, but he does have a good voice. The next one, by El Vez, is a surprisingly good rockabilly song, easy on the usual El Vez shtick. The Dirtbombs cut is of interest, if for no other reason, because, it's uncharacteristically mellow. Same goes for Rocket From the Crypt, although I'd put in on anyways to give props to my homeboys, in my opinion one of the best bands ever to come out of San Diego (really, their rockin' stuff is way better). The John Lennon song should be familiar to everyone (I really dig the "War is over, if you want it" background vocals). The Ramones cut woulda been better it it was on one of the first three albums, if'n you know what I mean. But, hey, it's the Ramones. Ooh, ooh, the Jimmy McGriff cut is way cool, in a smokey lounge sorta way. (The dude could take a shit on a Hammond B3 and I'd probably dig it). Pee Wee Dynamite's in there for a little international flava, but really, when you think afro-funk, do you ever think of Christmas? Threw in Gary Walker's take-off of the James Brown classic, I guess to represent all of those bands back in the sixties that would cover a song, right after the original came out, because either they actually thought they could do a better job or because they figured that people loved the song so much that they would buy it twice (ala the Raiders and "Louie Louie"), The Busy Boys are in here because I love the sparse DIY sound of early rap, when small labels popped up out of nowhere, and total unknowns had their own crews. The Marquees cut is straight out of the Cadets' ("Stranded in the Jungle") playbook. As much as I appreciate the smooth doowop, I really like the slightly more colorful oddball stuff. Finally, what Christmas would be Christmas without Link Wray? Leave it to Billy Childish to throwdown with some yuletide grease..
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On that note, I'll now retire to getting the shit done that I've been putting off for weeks. Happy Holidays to all of you knuckleheads.
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El Vez - Santa Claus is Sometimes Brown mp3 at Big Rock Candy Mountain
The Dirtbombs - My Last Christmas mp3 at Big Rock Candy Mountain
Rocket From the Crypt - Cancel Christmas mp3 at Liquid Dilemma
John Lennon - Happy Christmas (War is Over) mp3 at Yosemite Lanes
The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight) mp3 at Mp3.61baobao.com
Jimmy McGriff - Merry Christmas Baby mp3 at Liquid Dilemma
Pee Wee Dynamite - Groovy Christmas and New Year mp3 at Liquid Dilemma
Gary Walker - Santa's Got a Brand New Bag mp3 at Liquid Dilemma
Busy Boys - Funky Fresh Christmas mp3 at Liquid Dilemma
The Marquees - Christmas in the Congo mp3 at Big Rock Candy Mountain
Wild Billy Childish and the Musicians of the British Empire - Comanche (Link Wray's Christmas) mp3 at Liquid Dilemma
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Saturday, December 19, 2009

PARTY PLANNERS ALERT


The holiday cash-in shit is pretty thick, though it's pretty much always been that way in music. I wonder what it would be like if every artist who has ever cut a holiday song or album, instead chose a different unifying theme. Let's just say, I don't know, trees, or birds, or even a different day, maybe the first day of summer. Really, it's kind of a moot point, because there have been a gazillion songs written about everything so chances are that there are a whole bunch already about trees, birds, the first day of summer and everything else. They're just not packaged, and marketed as such, and pushed during a particular time of year. That may explain why there's so much holiday shake on music blogs this time of year. (Plus, people eat that shit up, so...)
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If you are into holiday music (disclosure: I'm ambivalent/suspect), some holiday albums are pretty much essential. Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift For You" is one that should be in every cane-head's quiver. You should already know it: Darlene Love, the Ronettes, the Crystals and Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans doing straight-up Wall of Sound versions of classics. Here's the Ronette's "Frosty the Snowman" and Darlene's goosebump inducing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)."
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The Black Crowes have a pretty decent version of "Backdoor Santa". (The original by Clarence Carter was sampled on Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis"). No idea of the details as the mp3 is buried of a fan site, the content of which I'm hesitant to wade through. (They're just a little too close to the whole Grateful Dead type fanaticism for me to go through all sorts of live shit.) But the bitchen horns reminded me of the Daptone horns, so it lead to a search for Daptone related holiday music. I quickly found Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings "Ain't Chimney's in the Projects." And serendipity struck, on the same post was a Julian (ex-Strokes) Casablancas version of the endearingly silly Saturday Night Live classic "I Wish It Was Christmas Today."
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Though this may be sacrilegious to some, there's a remix of Billie Holiday's "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" by some hooligan named Yesking, who has dropped a rocksteady rhythm over the original. Verve has allowed their catalog of classics to be pillaged for a handful of remix compilations and the results are always sketchy, but at least this one answers the question "Could Billie Holiday have cut it in mid-sixties Jamaica?"
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Another unlikely DJ JA mix comes courtesy of Go Home Productions' mash up of the Carpenters "Sleighride" with reggae backing legends Roots Radics. GHP is DJ Mark Vidler, whose Archies/Velvet Underground mash-up still gets laughs in these parts. Speaking of reggae, here's a bizarre treatment of the fatman by Lee "Scratch" Perry. Posted here for reggae curiosity seekers only (sorry to say, this madcap's best days are behind him as this pales next to his legendary work from the 70's).
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More later if I get all of my running around done...
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Saturday, December 12, 2009

QUIEN ES MAS HEAVY?


Good singer, catchy songs, turn-it-up party jams on some stuff, mellower vibe on others. Hey, any band that can figure out how to toss an Ennio Morricone vibe into an acoustic song with Curtis Mayfield type vocals is A-OK in my book. On the rare occasion that my Dad would make dinner for us kids, he would mix all the leftovers in one pot and call it "stuff." The Heavy deal in "musical stuff." How is this band not huge? Fuck....kids these days...
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Thursday, December 3, 2009

ANDRE GETS SQUAT


I know the Nat King Cole Christmas album by heart. Likewise with the Burl Ive's pre-Rudolph outing. Both were on constant play when I was a kid, So you'll have to excuse my tipping of the hat to a few ne'er do wells. At least they're bold enough to get in the fatman's face. These two songs are for those who find the holidays are often a cone of silence over misdeeds perpetrated during the first eleven months of the year.
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In "A Christmas Duel," over Spector-esque sleigh bells, Cyndi Lauper fesses up, "I burned the Christmas tree, and I slept with your brother. I wrecked your daddy's car, and went down on your mother," all before admitting to the most grievous offense "I burned your record collection"! Oh, sweet straw covered manger rat! Getting stiffed on the money day is not enough! Cyndi, I always kinda liked your cute offbeat shtick, but that's just fucking unforgivable! And Andre, dude, you're the Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot incarnate, after decades of forgetting. You get nasty, but you do leave my records alone. Still...

On a side note, if you are really into holiday music, but not necessarily the traditional type, you'll do well to stop by Big Rock Candy Mountain. An excellent blog year round, at this time of year they are indeed "serving up heaping platters of trash/soul/country/blues Xmas joy" including everybody from the Sonics to trucking god Dave Dudley. More nog, less egg!
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EXPLICIT: I would advise previewing these songs before playing them in a public gathering, family, office or otherwise. In other words, they are explicit, but in a strangely amusing way.
The Hives & Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel mp3 at Snuthing Anything
Andre Williams - Poor Mr. Santa (Andre Williams is Naughty mp3 at Big Rock Candy Mountain
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Saturday, November 28, 2009

I HEARD IT ON THE AM RADIO


About a year ago, a neighbor of mine was hanging out and listening to music in my apartment when the subject turned to the incredible ease of finding music in this mp3 age. I was relating that when I started getting into music, there was one source. A beat up clock radio hand-me-down from my parents that all five kids shared. The clock had ceased to function, as did the on/off switch, but my parents, resourceful as they were, had patched it together rather than throw it away. (My Dad installed a new toggle switch and power cord, and my Mom gave it a cosmetic makeover with self-adhesive Contact paper.) I explained to my friend that the radio represented the only means of listening to our own music, and as such was our lifeline to everything "boss." The only problem was, we only had access to a limited choice of music. The looser FM radio format hadn't really arrived yet, so we were weaned on the top hits of the day. It was what it was, and not knowing anything else, we were quite satisfied with what music we did have. But, as I explained to my neighbor, if you liked a particular song, you would have to wait until it was played. That sometimes meant enduring "Sugar, Sugar" (#1 on the weekly playlist in the image above) to get to "Honky Tonk Women" (#3 that week). And it also meant that the radio was on almost constantly. It was, quite literally, the soundtrack to our early adolescent years.

Right at this point in our conversation, my neighbor (who had musical tastes remarkably similar to mine in everything from blues, soul, and reggae to punk rock and afrobeat), ran up to his apartment and brought back an Everclear CD. "Everclear?" I thought, "Geez, I knew we'd have a miscue at some point, but Everclear?!?" As it turns out, he had one particular song in mind. It was "AM Radio," the lyrics of which pretty much mirrored everything that I'd been ranting about. The song starts with L.A. boss radio mainstay KHJ's station ID, then sequeys into a tinny sample from Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff", a groove familiar to anyone who grew up in that era. Right about then it kicks in, and I'm thinking that I can be proven wrong about just about any artist. (I should add here that on this same night, my neighbor told me about the exact moment when his dad's copy of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" opened his ears to jazz. So, yeah, he was someone whose taste I implicitly trusted.)

An important marketing tool for "boss radio", was the weekly surveys. The surveys (or hit lists) from that era were invaluable to a young persons rock n' roll education. Before we bought records and had liner notes to dissect, they provided the song titles and artists names, to songs that would feed our nostaglia jones years later. They were handed out at record stores, and other places kids would hang out (i.e. the newly opened Speedee Marts, before the name was changed to "7-Eleven"), and were a size handy enough to keep in your pocket for the duration of the week. One look at them now will tell you why a lot of old farts have pretty varied tastes. One random list, from 1971, includes the Stones, Marvin Gaye, Jerry Reed, the Osmonds, the Doors, Joe Cocker, the Partridge Family, Buddy Miles and a couple even I don't remember, Fuzz and Tin Tin.

It's kind of mind blowing to think back about the era of AM radio and how far things have come: the beginning of the album oriented FM format, the death of 8-track tapes, then the death of vinyl and cassettes, the advent of MTV, CDs, mp3s, and more recently, the resurgence of vinyl. You can now carry around a years worth of "top 30" hits in a doohickey the size of a credit card. But no matter what sort of fancy song-matching software they throw at you, you'll never be able to plug in the Stones and have it respond "You might also like Jerry Reed."

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Everclear - AM Radio mp3 at Star Maker Machine
History of Boss Radio in San Diego (includes song surveys)
Station Surveys (weekly hit lists) for San Diego at ARSA
ASRA (Airheads Radio Survey Archive) (search by city!)
Boss Radio at Wikipedia
Bonus, surprisingly decent, cover:
Everclear - Search & Destroy mp3 at Cover Me
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Thursday, November 26, 2009

SEE YOU ON THE COUCH


Here's a good selection of dub. Dub aids digestion when prone on a couch, semi-comatose from a tryptophan overload. It's also great for making plans on how to spend all the time you'll free up by not shopping or buying anything for one day. Friday is Buy Nothing Day, which I highly endorse. How many days can you celebrate by not doing anything?

King Tubby - Satta Dread Dub mp3
Augustus Pablo - Keep on Dubbing mp3
The Upsetters - Black Panta mp3
Scientist - Babylon Fight Dub mp3
More dub at For The Sake of the Song

More about Buy Nothing Day:
Buy Nothing Day at Wikipedia
Buy Nothing Day at Adbusters.org
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

REST IN PEACE EVIE


There is no easy way to say it. Evie Bibo, one of San Diego's original punk rockers, has passed away. She died of a brain aneurysm, by all accounts suddenly. She was a rare individual who dearly loved rock n' roll (and classic films), yet made it all seem like curtains around the real show, friendship. She was a sweetheart, all substance, no bullshit. Never saw her angry. Ever.

We go way back. She was, at different times, a fellow fan, a roommate, and the object of a crush. But most of all, she was a friend. With all the shared tastes and in-jokes that real friendship implies. I'd lost touch with her, and had just recently reconnected via Facebook. It was enough for me to know that she seemed healthy and happy. Though sad as that sounds, I know that she felt the same way. I knew our paths would cross again at some point.

She was ultra cool. And I mean that as a fan of a friend. It is a rare thing, to be cool without swagger, but she was. If she dug something, you checked it out, because she was always dead on. I think of her everytime I see a listing for "It's a Wonderful Life," and I think of her everytime I hear Johnny Thunders. During my crush phase, I made her a little stuffed doll of a "Too Much, Too Soon" era-Johnny Thunders. During the roommate phase, she turned me on to the Heartbreakers. So I had to post these songs, not of any lyrical relevance, but because they were something we shared. They're cool. But even Thunders couldn't do it without swagger. Evie could.

Goodby sweet Evie. "Stoned yet?"

Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory mp3
The Heartbreakers - Born to Lose mp3
The Heartbreakers - All By Myself mp3
The Heartbreakers - Chinese Rocks mp3
Above photo: Evie, San Francisco, mid-80's by Jacqueline Ramirez
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Saturday, November 21, 2009

LAST CHANCE TO GET BUSY


For the first few years "Harlem Nocturne" had been in my record collection, it was just a cool instrumental. Part film noir soundtrack, part slowed down burlesque, it had one of those uncommon vibes that transgresses tastes. That was before there was a story attached to it.
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I don't even remember who it was who told me the special significance the song held for them. I do remember that it was someone older, who had been at high school dances in the sixties. Though I've known a bunch of rock n' roll elders/mentors over the years, I can narrow it down to someone I knew in the late 70's or early 80's. So, I'll tip my hat to all the likely candidates: Harold Gee, Rick Fortune, Pat Looby, Frank Gutch and Michael Page. Every one of those guys shared valuable "I was there" rock n' roll stories with me, and I could write entire posts on the significance of each of their shared memories. Suffice it to say, they were all like big brothers and are allowed the huge respect that comes with that.
All I remember is being somewhere, a party or a barbeque, when the Viscounts version of "Harlem Nocturne" was being played. In shit-shooting mode, mysto-elder (whoever he was) said that he had always loved that song, because so many bands had played it as their last song at high school dances. Before I could ask why, he told me that when the chaperons signaled to the bands that they had one more song to play, they invariably picked "Harlem Nocturne," because it was a slow dance favorite. To be more specific, it was a proven make out, grab ass inducing, no-brainer, and selected primarily because the band wouldn't get shut down, and the students wouldn't get kicked out, during the last song of the night. It was like sticking it to the teacher, and getting down with your girl, in one fell swoop.
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Years later, when I was pulling records to DJ, I came across the 45, and it became the last song I would play whenever I was spinning at the Pink Panther. Though it was in a different context, the song now reminds me of people slowly filing out of the smokey bar, smelling of beer and cigarettes, chaperons absent, to go home and finish the job.
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The Viscounts - Harlem Nocturne mp3 at WFMU's Beware of the Blog
42 other versions of Harlem Nocturne at Beware of the Blog
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Thursday, November 5, 2009

WELCOME HATERS


Above: April March

I'm not a pop nut. One per mix, tops. Feels a little wussy a lot of the time. I'm talking classic pop, too. Spector, Bacharach, Abba, the Rasberries, the whole lot of them. It wears on my sourpuss side. But, when you're in a sourpuss mood, things are getting you down, the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and the fucking Yankees have just won the World Series, just remember, it's all just bullshit. All of it. Even your sacred serious music.
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These suckers sound like Fresca tastes:
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