Wednesday, March 8, 2023

IN-STRA-MEN-TOLLS


This happens more often than you would expect. I saw a photo of Freddie King and thought "I need to hear 'San-Ho-Zay' again". Then, just minutes ago, I ran into some Freddie King's stuff including, yep, "San-Ho-Zay".

So, without blabbing further, here's a few by King, including "Hideaway" that was covered by John Mayall's Clapton-era Bluesbreakers in 1966. On last thing I gotta add: I love King's way of dealing with songs that he either can't spell or can't remember how to pronounce. To wit, San Jose (a city in California) becomes "San-Ho-Zay", and "sensation" becomes "Sen-Sa-Shun". I guess it beats "Untitled Instrumental".

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Freddy King - The Stumble mp3
at Internet Archive
Freddy King - San-Ho-Zay mp3
at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Sen-Sa-Shun mp3
at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Untitled Instrumental mp3
at Internet Archive
Freddy King - Hideaway mp3
at Internet Archive
John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers - Hideaway mp3
at Internet Archive

Monday, March 6, 2023

LIKE THE BACK ROW OF THE SWAP MEET


So there I was, perusing Internet Archive. I ran across a collection of "Adult Film Music". Please note that it says "Adult Film" not porno. So, I'm not sure of the context but it might be just music from an adult film. Shit, I've seen my share of adult films that weren't porno. Enough splitting hairs.  The big thing that stuck out on one of the cuts, one from 1968, was by the duo of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. Some of you might recognize those names as the Bs in ABBA. That's not the most surprising thing about the cut, "Inga Theme". The crazy thing is how good it is. Breezy and psych at the same time. Fuzz makes an appearance. The other song down there is from the same movie and also good but the surprise had already happened.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson - Inga Theme mp3
at Internet Archive
Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson - She's My Kind of Girl mp3
at Internet Archive

Sunday, March 5, 2023

SHIT WEEK DIVERSION #31


Well, here's a shit week for you. Wayne Shorter, jazz saxophonist (Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Weather Report and others), David Lindley, multi-instrumentalist (Jackson Browne, Linda Rondstat, Warren Zevon, Ry Cooder, John Prine and others) and Glen ‘Spot’ Lockett, engineer (Black Flag and other SST bands), all three died in the space of a few days. I'm not going to wallow in it but I do want to point out a couple things. In Shorter's case, I'm not going to pretend I know much about his career. I've heard his work as a band member on the jazz station, but I've not done a dig.

Lindley, on the other hand, I used to follow quite a bit. I gotta be honest, much as I like his session work, once he went solo with El Rayo X I realized I wasn't crazy about his voice. Not only that but his playing, which has always been stellar, had been increasingly processed. I'm not sure what guitar effects he uses on his solo stuff but it has obscured his fretwork. This is a bummer, especially since El Ray X has him playing the bulk of the LP as rocksteady, including covers of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" and Isley Brothers' "Twist and Shout". After thinking about it last night I remembered that he was one of the first backing musicians I ever looked into. This was back in the boys' room days, when I was still living at home. I was taping the FM rock station on a second hand reel to reel deck (the only time I ever taped anything on it). They played Jackson Browne's "Redneck Friend". The slide guitar hit me hard enough that I had to go to the record store and look at the liner notes to see who it was (this was  years before the internet). From then on Lindley was on the list.

"Spot" Lockett was someone whose name I'd seen on record covers for years. The in-house engineer for SST records, handling the bulk of Black Flag records and a bunch of other other SST bands, from behind the board. So, last night I was listening to Black Flag and thinking that he was the perfect engineer for them. Here's where things took a lighter turn. Also last night, Stanley Kramer's It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was on TV. (A classic comedy must-see, seriously.) After having just rocked out to Black Flag's "Black Coffee" I realized that the aural mayhem was perfect as a soundtrack for a particular scene in the movie. The scene has Jonathan Winters as a somewhat mellow truck driver. Mellow, that is, until he gets bound by tape by two gas station attendants and gets pissed off. He destroys the gas station with brute strength and a few happy accidents. The scene and the song are almost the exact same length (only four seconds difference) and even if they don't sync perfectly, the aggression in the song fits the scene. So your take home assignment is to cue up the clip from the movie, then start the Black Flag song. Turn it up.

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

Sync this video:
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad , Mad World (
Gas Station Scene) at YouTube (Mute it.) Jonathan Winters, Dir.: Stanley Kramer
To this song
Black Flag - Black Coffee mp3
at Pretty Goes With Pretty (play with above clip)
Battle of the David Lindley guitar tones:
Jackson Browne - Red Neck Friend
(streaming) at YouTube
David Lindley - Twist and Shout
(streaming) at YouTube

Friday, March 3, 2023

NEW ORLEANS FUNK MEETS THE BEAT


I heard the Meters on the radio today and it reminded me that I had something by Art Neville waiting in the wings. It's a two sided cover of Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" and it's a great example of how the Nevilles, in this case Art with the aid of Allen Toussaint, can funk-ify just about anything. Bo Diddley's original has a certain Diddley charm, what with the patented Bo Diddley beat, but Neville's cover is more engaging. I've no clue why anybody would cover a song about Bo Diddley, written by Bo Diddley, recorded and self-produced by Bo Diddley, but people do. Bo Diddley even covered it. Still, Art Neville...

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley mp3
at Internet Archive
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley 69 mp3
at Internet Archive
Art Neville - Bo Diddley (Pt 1) mp3
at Internet Archive
Art Neville - Bo Diddley (Pt 2) mp3
at Internet Archive

Thursday, March 2, 2023

YOU SAY ORCHESTRA, I SAY ARKESTRA


If you ever get frustrated looking for something online (photo, song, band, or whatever) just wait a few years and check again. I'm surprised sometimes when I find shit that wasn't there. I'd grown used to thinking that the global stock of stuff that could be digitized, uploaded and shared had been depleted. Nope.

I ran into an LP by Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra, a Sun Ra tribute. On it, they cover Sun Ra's "Nuclear War". It reminded me that Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra had covered the song as well. I went to find it. Dammers was a founding member of the Specials, followed by Specials AKA, followed by, you guessed it, Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra. If you follow Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra, you know. As far as recorded material, squat. And last time I looked for live videos there were three. But I checked today and, lo and behold, now there are a bunch. So I'm ass deep in that right now. I did manage to find a listing for a 45 released in 2014, one for sale at Discogs. A little rich for my blood ($85). I wish the fuck Jerry Dammers would put out an LP. That all said, I still have a lot of catching up to do. Here goes.

First a short clip of Dammers and crew to wet your whistle. More below, including a link to a Sun Ra documentary by Don Letts for any of you unfamiliar with Sun Ra. Oh, and Sun Ra's own feature length Space Is The Place.


~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Nuclear War mp3
at Internet Archive
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Somebody Else's World mp3
at Internet Archive
Barrence Whitfield Soul Savage Arkestra - Everything Is Space mp3
at Internet Archive
Video:
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Ghost Planet/Nuclear War
at YouTube
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - [Title unknown]
at YouTube
Jerry Dammers's Spatial AKA Orchestra - Samson
at YouTube Tommy McCook cover
Sun Ra videos:
Sun Ra - Brother From Another Planet (documentary)
at YouTube By Don Letts for the BBC
Space is the Place - Sun Ra (feature length film)
at YouTube 1974

Monday, February 27, 2023

FUELED BY LEIBER AND STOLLER


I don't listen to a lot of doo wop, but I dig it. Because I don't listen to a lot of it, I'm limited to the better known vocal groups. I know there were a shitload of them, but that's one of those sub-genres that I'll get around to learning more about when I get around to it. That said, there are a handful I spin semi-regularly. The Drifters, the Olympics, the Cadets and, probably the best known (or at least the most played) vocal group of the era, the Coasters. The Coasters recorded for Atlantic, and a bunch of their hits were written by the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Leiber and Stoller were a damn machine, writing hit after hit not just for the Coasters but Elvis and the Drifters, among others, as well. The Coasters though benefited the most and in return Leiber and Stoller finally bought that boat.

Here's a handful. Not rock 'n' roll enough for you? "Poison Ivy" was covered by the Stones, "Bad Detective" was covered by the New York Dolls. That's just two. Good enough for me.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
The Coasters - Poison Ivy mp3
at Internet Archive
The Coasters - Down in Mexico mp3
at Internet Archive
The Coasters - Bad Detective
(streaming) at YouTube
The Coasters - Young Blood mp3
at Internet Archive

Sunday, February 26, 2023

LET THE DAY GO WHERE IT GOES


This song changed my day. I heard it, started thinking about Chess Records and before I knew it the boxed set was out and splayed all over the stacks of mail on the coffee table. Everyone ought to have a stash of Chess. Here's John Lee Hooker's "Walkin' the Boogie", along with Little Walter's "Juke" because that was the next song that I listened to before falling into the Chess abyss.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
John Lee Hooker - Walkin' the Boogie (alternate) mp3
at Internet Archive
Little Walter - Juke mp3
at Internet Archive

Saturday, February 25, 2023

A BOYS ROOM STEREO WARS SUCKER PUNCH


Good gawd. After that post last night, I was thinking about the other shit my brothers and I used to listen to. One thing I remember is that we were always looking for deep cuts that were as good or better than the popular songs from albums. Case in point: A song by the Edgar Winter Group came to mind. Not "Frankenstein", not "Free Ride", not even on that album, by far his best selling. It was a song on the album that followed, Shock Treatment. The song, written and sung by Dan Hartman, normally the bassist, was "Queen of My Dreams". It actually rocks harder than just about anything I've ever heard from Winter. Then again, Winter is on it but on "ARP bass" (ARP was a synthesizer). Derringer is absent and Hartman plays all the guitars. So, effectively a power trio. The guitar is good and crunchy. During the solo it's the speaker to speaker bean bag toss thing. Whatever, it was 1973. The drums are good too, classic seventies ham, "I've got a big kit and I'm gonna use every fuckin' piece of it" (in spirit if not in practice). Overall, it's a great rock 'n' roll song.

Steady yourselves folks. A horrible thing happened after that song became a favorite. After Hartman sort of disappeared (or maybe I wasn't paying attention), I kind of forgot about him, but not completely. Because a few years later I saw that he had a solo record. Alright! I thought. Another "Queen of My Dreams"!! No, friends, it was not. It was "I Can Dream About You". Think Rick Astley-era ear worm, you'll recognize it. It was a huge hit. I fucking hate that song. Thankfully that didn't change "Queen of My Dreams" to me, it just meant that Dan Hartman saw where the money was and went. What a dick.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Edgar Winter Group - Queen of My Dreams
(streaming) at YouTube 1973
Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You
at YouTube 1984

Friday, February 24, 2023

SOUNDS FROM THE BOYS ROOM


Here's one tested in the Boys' Room Stereo Wars. When I was growing up, I shared a large bedroom with my twin and my younger brother. There was one bedroom, two stereos and three record collections. What could go wrong? A lot. But with three teenagers buying records you could afford to take chances more often. Peter Kaukonen was one for me. I'd never heard of him but saw an image and a blurb in the back pages of Creem magazine, him jamming with Johnny Winter. I took a chance. It's pretty good, enough so that I still have it. This song was my favorite and still is. I used to play it occasionally when I DJ'd. I've looked for a download to link to for years and have never run across one. Download or not, check it out. If you like seventies guitar rock you'll dig it.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Peter Kaukonen - Dynamo Snackbar
(streaming) at YouTube

 

Thursday, February 23, 2023

STOP THE REUNIONS. START A NEW BAND


Here you go, a loud blast of Refused at the BBC. Unsurprisingly, I'm fucking out of touch. The LP was a limited edition of something like 5500 and yet it sells used for as low as seven dollars? There's really that little interest in them that there aren't 5500 people that like the band so much they ain't sellin'? I happen to like the Refused. They kinda had their own sound, or it might just be me. Anyway, these are from that BBC thing. It was released in 2020, but I'm not sure of the actual recording date. Discogs says that it was first broadcast in 2019 but that would mean that, wait. Either the record was released decades after it was recorded or,...no, really? Yep. I checked. Those rascals reunited. Years ago. Hey, I told you I was out of touch.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Refused - Economy of Death mp3
at internet Archive
Refused - I Wanna Watch the World Burn mp3
at internet Archive
The whole thing:
Refused - Not Fit For Broadcast (Live At The BBC)
at internet Archive
Visit:
Refused - Not Fit For Broadcast (Live At The BBC)
at Discogs

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

THE BOTTLE TIMES THREE


Just last Sunday I was lamenting how the Latin show on the local jazz station had gradually become lightweight. Not the gut punch it used to be. So I was achin' to hear something with some umph. I ran into a 2009 cover of Gil Scott Heron's "The Bottle" by Joe Bataan (a Fania/Salsoul guy). It did have umph, even compared with Heron's original. Recorded in 2009, long past his "prime", with a regular band. A little rawer than his earlier stuff, in a good way. Bataan had, as I found out about ten minutes ago, recorded the song originally in 1975. Unfortunately that version is all laden with strings n' shit. The sax sounds like the background music on The Love Boat. It was 1975. Anyway, here you go, three versions of "The Bottle" to play around with.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Joe Bataan - The Bottle mp3
at Internet Archive 2009
Gil Scott Heron - The Bottle mp3
at Internet Archive 1974
Joe Bataan -  La Botella (The Bottle) mp3
at Internet Archive 1975

Saturday, February 18, 2023

PARTY AT LARRY'S


Yikes! I flaked last night. Ordinarily skipping a night of posting is not a big deal. But last night was the last Friday night before Fat Tuesday so a little party fuel would have helped...Wait, who am I kidding? The real Mardi Gras monsters do it up on Fat Tuesday. Regardless, here's a couple mixes to fuel what's left of the weekend parties, courtesy of Funky 16 Corners. The host there, Larry, knows his shit. One look at the song lists should tell you that, a lot of B-sides and lesser known cuts from the heavy hitters. You real deal Fat Tuesday freaks can pause it for the next couple days and then get out there charging on Tuesday.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Funky16Corners Mardi Gras! at Funky 16 Corners Two fine mixes, Mardi Gras Boogaloo and Keep the Fire Burning. One click and mix the drinks.

Thursday, February 16, 2023

AND I THOUGHT IT WAS SOME SMART HIPPIE.


I know exactly when I first heard Professor Longhair. Back when we were in our twenties my brother, ever the music fiend, bought his New Orleans Piano LP because he'd heard so many people referencing his music. It was the first time my brothers and I realized that there even was a New Orleans-centric type of music. Yeah, rabbit hole, this way.


New Orleans Piano was a great place to start the dive. A 1972 compilation of early 45s and unreleased material recorded from 1949-1953, this is early stuff, the very stuff digested by subsequent New Orleans greats Fats Domino, Huey "Piano" Smith, and (him again) Allen Toussaint, among many others.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

THE FIXTURE


Of all the people that you can say truly epitomize New Orleans music one near the top would have to be Allen Toussaint. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. This coming Tuesday, February 21 is Fat Tuesday, the big ass party crescendo of Mardi Gras week, and I'm getting a jump on it lest I forget. So, Toussaint night, Sansu Records to be exact. Sansu Records was started by Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn in 1965. There's a sort of a Nothern Soul sort of thing on some, unlike his more syncopated early stuff. It was just moonlighting for Toussaint, who was playing music, writing music and producing in addition to running successive record labels for decades. Dude has a massive discography in every category. Here are a handful on Sansu.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
John Williams and the Tick Tocks - A Little Tighter mp3
at Internet Archive
Omar Khayyam - Rubaiyats mp3
at Internet Archive
Betty Harris - I'm Evil Tonight mp3
at Internet Archive
Curly Moore - Get Low Down (Pt 1) mp3
at Internet Archive
Curly Moore - Get Low Down (Pt 2) mp3
at Internet Archive
Prime Mates - Hot Tamales (Pt 1) mp3
at Internet Archive
Prime Mates - Hot Tamales (Pt 2) mp3
at Internet Archive

Monday, February 13, 2023

ADD FLOWERS OR CANDY AND YOU'RE SET.


Holy shit! Tomorrow's Valentines Day! Not to worry, not for me anyway. Alas, another year without a squeeze. (Not a big deal, I'm used to it.) That said, I'm posting these to make you look like you didn't need reminding. Three mixes by Reverend Tom Frost, musician and former blogger at Spread the Good Word who has kept his Bloody Love Mixes online long after he stopped blogging. There's a handful of other single cuts to for those of you that find a way to get your significant other get frisky to a streaming mix.

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

Listen:
Ronnie Self - You're So Right For Me mp3
at Rocky-52.net
The Sonics - Have Love Will Travel mp3
at Hey Cool Kid
Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love? mp3
at Rocky-52.net
Little Willie John - Fever mp3
at Clones Project
The Mixes:

Spread the Good Word's A Bloody Love Mix, Volume 3
John Buck & The Blazers, Bobby Freeman, Dorsey Burnette, Donnie & Ronnie, the Del-Vikings, Don Johnston, Marvin Rainwater, Piano Red, B.B. King, Ann Cole, the Valentinos, Soul Brothers Six, the Duetts, the Highway Q.C.'s, Del Shannon, Tom Reeves, Jimmy Kirkland, Lord Creator, Johnny Burnette, Sanford Clark, Eddie Cochran, the Four Dreamers, and the Animals

Spread the Good Word's A Bloody Love Mix, Volume 2
The Cramps, the World Famous Upsetters, Ronnie Love, Lavern Baker, Mickie Most & His Playboys, the Mustangs, the Righteous Brothers, Johnny Cash, the Wild Ones, Etta James, Benny Joy, Elvis Presley, Roy Hamilton, Bracey Everett, Shouting Thomas Torment, Billy Fury, Little Willie John, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Renato Carosone, Irving Aaronson & His Commanders, Ric Cartey, and the ever amorous Wild Man Fischer.

Spread the Good Word's A Bloody Love Mix, Volume 1

Joe Houston Orchestra, The Phantom, The Victors, Sonny Terry & Buster Brown, Heavy Trash, Kris Jensen, Sammy Myers, The Royal Jokers, Fire Escape, The Del-Rios, The Raelets, Wanda Jackson, Eddie Taylor, Johnny Angel, Ole Miss Down Beats, Ronnie Hawkins And The Hawks, Bernie Hardison, Ric Cartey, Johnny Watson, The Blues Busters, Slim Whitman.

Saturday, February 11, 2023

R.I.P. WRITER OF RAW MATERIAL

One thing I dig about good songwriters is that after you've heard a handful of versions of a particular song, the original version, sometimes a hit, sort of dissolves and every version becomes more about the song and whether, depending on the amount of tweaking, it is still there. Burt Bacharach's songs are like that. I can't remember what any of his own versions of his songs sound like, though "The Look of Love" comes to mind. I can think of some hit versions, mostly Dionne Warwick stuff and I've never been a big fan of hers. Nothing personal, I'd just rather hear Isaac Haye's Quiet Storm version of "Walk On By". That one's hitting the bong filled with Courvoisier.

As is often the case with any cover that Isaac Hayes does, as the slow down and chill part of the Bacharach speedball, there is a more upbeat version that bears just a skeletal resemblance of Hayes's source material. In this case it's Roland Raashan Kirk, the man with more reeds than hands. His version is a goddamn party.

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

Listen:
Isaac Hayes - Walk On By mp3 at Internet Archive
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Walk On By mp3
at Melting Pot
Isaac Hayes - Close to You (streaming) at YouTube
Isaac Hayes - The Look of Love (streaming) at YouTube

Friday, February 10, 2023

SHIT WEEK WAS CANCELED.


You've probably heard that Burt Bacharach passed away. That would be reason enough to start off another Shit Week. That was negated in these parts with the news that Celia Cruz is slated to appear on a U.S. minted quarter (a twenty five sent piece). Holy shit! A Cuban (exile) salsa singer (the first Afro-Latina!) on a coin. Small consolation I know but I gotta say that when I heard that within minutes of hearing about Bacharach it was as if she canceled Shit Week from beyond. I'm looking forward to having some azucar in my pocket. Bacharach will be covered later, most likely with some of Isaac Hayes's interpretations which are still my favorite.


~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Celia Cruz - Yo Vivre (I Will Survive) mp3 at Clones Project
Celia Cruz - Mi Cuba mp3 at Baby In Vaggio
Celia Cruz - Cuba Libre mp3
at Tumblr
Celia Cruz - Guantanamera mp3
at Tumblr
Celia Cruz - Sopita en Botella mp3
at Computer Whiz Guru
Celia Cruz with Fania All-Stars - Cuando Despiertes mp3 at Internet Archive
Celia Cruz with Johnny Pacheco - Quimbara mp3
at Internet Archive

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

EDDIE'S SAFE.


Oh,  wow. I ran into a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Something Else" by Led Zeppelin, from a live 1969 BBC thing. The music backing is pretty straight, about the way you'd expect them to sound covering it. Then, Robert Plant. Gads! While Plant almost quivers you can't help but wonder if he's just having a laugh. It's a really wimpy delivery. Hell, Sid Vicious sings it more convincingly, albeit with more attitude than is really necessary (it is Sid Vicious). I just added the Flamin' Groovies because it was done the same year as Led Zep's. Yee haw, contrast and compare your ass off.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Eddie Cochran - Something Else mp3
at Rocky 52
Led Zeppelin - Something Else (live) mp3
at Internet Archive 1969
Flamin' Groovies - Something Else mp3
at Internet Archive 1969
Sex Pistols - Something Else
(streaming) at YouTube Sid Vicious, vocals

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

AFTER HOURS ROCK 1980


It's hard to describe how odd it was for Wall of Voodoo to cover "Ring of Fire" back in 1980. Reaching back for unlikely covers happened, that's always happened, but hearing Johnny Cash covered by a band that featured a synthesizer, as ho-hum as that sounds today, was a bold move in 1980. Even bolder from a group of guys in the L.A. punk scene (members were from the Skulls, the Eyes, and Black Randy and the Metro Squad). They also covered Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "Hang 'em High". That one kind of makes sense since Stan Ridgway was running a film score company when the band formed. (His business was across the street from the Masque, a small gritty club that was the epicenter of the L.A. punk scene at the time, which is how the band ended up with a bunch of punk rockers). Here's a handful for those of you who can only drudge up "Mexican Radio" when Wall of Voodoo gets mentioned at the after work mixer.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Wall of Voodoo - Ring of Fire mp3
at Internet Archive
Wall of Voodoo - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/Hang 'em High (live) mp3
at Internet Archive
Wall of Voodoo - Longarm mp3
at Internet Archive
Wall of Voodoo - Granma's House mp3
at Internet Archive Effective