October 17th, 2008
Listen: Catch the Wind / Donovan 1-01 Catch The Wind (Single Version).mp3
I heard this song in a recent commercial, not sure which one. I think Bob Dylan was a touch too much for me back then (although ‘I Want You’ was a favorite). I found a bit more attraction to Donovan’s stuff. Maybe it’s because he was from the UK, a handy plus during the British Invasion years. This first single was a standout. In it’s day, being a summertime hit brought even more attention to it’s chilly gloom. Donovan went on to make many great records, and really broke ground production-wise during his association with Mickie Most which started in ’66. ‘Sunshine Superman’ still reminds me of how fresh it was every time I hear it now. Donovan’s a big animal protectionist, so I hope he got a ton of money for that commercial.
Posted in Bob Dylan, Donovan, Hickory, Mickie Most |
October 15th, 2008
Listen: Louisiana Man / Bobbie Gentry
Louisiana
Even when covering material, like this Doug Kershaw song, she always picked just the right stuff lyrically, as well as for her voice, often coined husky by the press. Not unlike the self written ‘Ode To Billy Joe’, thematically this is southern trailer trash. Probably more respectable descriptions prevail, but I like to think of them more as part of the America’s scummy underside. And what other singer could really pull these songs off?
‘Louisiana Man’ had the unfortunate misfortune or perfect luck, depending on your take, of reaching BILLBOARD’s Top 100 for one lonely week, peaking at #100.
Posted in Billboard, Bobbie Gentry, Capitol, Doug Kershaw |
October 13th, 2008
Listen: On My Radio / The Selecter SelectorOnMyRadio.mp3
The Ska Revival, that was it, the thing that followed punk. (see The Psychedelic Furs post below). Now I remember what we did on New Year’s Eve that Christmas holiday in London ’79. Went to Dingwalls to see The Selecter and The Bodysnatchers. What a scene. Everyone was way into making sure they looked the part. Oh yes, punk was very yesterday and the ska crowd was here to let you know it.
There was nothing not to love, yes it was a blast. The two bands just leveled the place. It was a dance party plus. Dingwalls was heaving, and it’s probably the thrill of it all that I recall to be honest. But I definitely remember The Selecter being tight and sharp.
Listen: Let’s Do Rock Steady / The Bodysnatchers BodysnatchersRockSteady.mp3
The Bodysnatchers were a mostly female band, I think a few of them went on to form The Belle Stars. And they looked super snazzed with really crazy thrift store rags proudly sewn into riches. Great singles.
Posted in Dingwalls, The Belle Stars, The Bodysnatchers, The Selecter, Two Tone |
October 13th, 2008
Listen: Heaven / Psychedelic Furs PsyFursHeaven.mp3
It was the Christmas break, 1979. Corinne and I went to stay with Howard in London for what turned out to be a Christmas to remember. He really did it up right, as always had countless things planned, on the go go go, especially hitting all the record shops. Went to see The Birthday Party at The Venue. Fuck they were, um, great. I did not appreciate it fully at the time, but in hindsight – yes, pretty great. And then there were the traditional English holiday parties. Not industry parties mind you, but family ones, like John Anthony’s Mom’s. That spread was fierce and her homemade trifle…..well we still talk about it to this day. The nights we didn’t eat our way through a party or see a band were just happily spent playing records in HT’s front room. The floor was literally covered with 45’s, row after row leaning against the moldings. An endless trove to flip through and pick from. Hours would just fly by, never a dull moment. And he had everything, all the latest releases – and there were many. Don’t forget, loads of great records were still coming out weekly. It was the tail end of punk turning into whatever the next thing was called…I really can’t remember actually. And often Richard and Tim Butler would be by. Howard had just signed them to CBS, and they were beaming about their first single ‘We Love You’, which Howard had just gotten copies of. In fact, they kept playing it over and over and over. But hey if they didn’t, we did. It was the start of a friendship that lasted years and brought loads of fun times. I realized only recently that The Furs were a really good singles band. I mean they have so many. I was very into TALK TALK TALK, not a bad track in my book, so always thought of them more as ‘albums’. But lately I’ve been rotating a bunch of the 7’s on my ipod and indeed – they were a solid singles band. I’m not sure many people rate ‘Heaven’ as one of their best but it sure is. I ran into Richard on the street about a month ago. He’s lived in NY for years. Picked up right were we left off, as if mid-sentence. We were shocked to think it’s been 29 years since that Christmas. Pretty amazing considering we’re both still 35.
Posted in CBS, Columbia, Howard Thompson, John Anthony, The Birthday Party, The Psychedelic Furs |
October 11th, 2008
Listen: King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown / Augustus Pablo King Tubby Meets The Rocker.mp3
Often credited as one of the singles to open up reggae and dub to the world outside of Jamaica, this record and Augustus Pablo have a twisted history. Duane educates me on it’s varying specifics: the vocalist here is actually Jacob Miller who achieved some notoriety with Inner Circle and Augustus Pablo somehow was able to make off with the rights to this sorta instrumental, sorta dub version and release it as his own.
Well whatever, it’s a classic. Might be the first reggae single that I actively sought out after a glowing review in one of the UK music papers, SOUNDS. Not only because it got the lead review and you could trust them in those days, but the description. Whatever it was as I don’t recall exactly but I do remember needing this record because of it. It was so worth it.
Posted in Augustus Pablo, Duane Sherwood, Island, Jacob Miller, Reggae, Sounds |
October 11th, 2008
Listen: Rock The Nation / Montrose
Rock The Nation / Montrose
Montrose. If it’s good it’s always good. You may remember a time in punkcentric ’77 when Montrose was a nasty word, representing the hard rock, metal hair band, LA Sunset Strip. A frozen in time culture when we were all teens and knew way more than those folks did. Yeah right. Like the reality of every musical movement, there were great things happening which we happily turned our nose to at the time. I secretly didn’t. Montrose was one. I went to LA for the 1st time in May ’73 at the invitation of Rich Fazekas, then promotion guy for United Artists. We’d stuck up a friendship (lasting until this day) as a result of him promoting their UK signings (The Move, Family. Hawkwind, Man, Help Yourself). This resulted in my self-serving position of playing them on my college station even though no one was probably listening, which was basically the situation for all of us in small towns acting as cities. Still it got me a relationship with Rich. So in May ’73, at his invitation, I schlepped to LA. Bless his heart, Rich introduced me to mexican food, took me to the Troubadour for a jaw dropping Tim Buckley show, we raided a publishing company with Greg Shaw that was dumping all their 7″ singles (I got many sick things like several copies of The Alan Price Set’s ‘I Put A Spell On You’) and took me to see The Pretty Things 1st US shows at the Whisky (which was the ultimate point of the trip originally). Somewhere in that 4 day blur, we went to Warner Brothers Studios to see Montrose making their 1st album. I vividly remember this song being recorded – but I’m not choosing to post it for nostogia or show off reasons – instead becuase it is so ‘the real thing’ and sounds it until this day – and in mono my friends, straight from my 7″. I hope you love it like I do. I never hear it anymore – not that I did then. Hopefully someone will discover it here and make Montrose some well deserved $.
Posted in Hawkwind, Montrose, Rich Fazekas, The Alan Price Set, The Move, The Pretty Things, Tim Buckley, United Artists, Warner Brothers |
October 4th, 2008
Listen: Feathers From Your Tree / Blue Cheer
Feathers From Your Tree / Blue Cheer
OUTSIDEINSIDE, Blue Cheer’s second album, was their pinnacle. They recorded some of it on a pier in NJ, and had mikes on the NY side of the water as ambient devices. You can really get the resulting effect on tracks like ‘Come & Get It’. This was the most inviting scam yet – at the time. I listened to Side 1 over and over and over. It was a favorite for ages. They had just come off a massive Top 10 single with ‘Summertime Blues’ and album VINCEBUS ERUPTUM. Now let me clue you in: you need both the mono and stereo versions of VINCEBUS ERUPTUM. It is massive in mono and in stereo, well it’s the only album I know of that has complete left/right separation with drums all in the left channel, guitars all right. It sounds fantastic, why others have never followed is a surprise, although probably some have and I’m forgetting.
So OUTSIDEINSIDE was the terrific followup, and everything was all set for world domination. Then clunk. Promotors started blackballing them, beginning with Bill Graham’s Fillmores, because of volume. He seemed to have a mean streak that fellow, he did the same thing to Family. Then radio didn’t play either single from this second album and it all just went cold. Guitarist Leigh Stephens decides to leave. Boom. End of story. ‘Feathers From Your Tree’ was the second single, even came with a picture sleeve – and in headphones (like all the tracks on the album) it was a drug takers dream come true. Right up there with The Pretty Things’ SF SORROW and The Pink Floyd’s THE PIPER AT THE GATES albums. Sounds swirling and switching speakers at record pace. Dickie Peterson is one of the world’s greatest vocalists too, that’s just fact.
Posted in Blue Cheer, Family, Fillmore East, Philips, The Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things |
September 30th, 2008
Listen: Everybody Needs Somebody / King Floyd 01 Everybody Needs Somebody.mp3
King Floyd is pretty famous for ‘Groove Me’, a song hard to top, and coincidentally a B-side when originally released in ’70. I still hear it occasionally these days. In ’72 he had a decent sized hit in the US with ‘Woman Don’t Go Astray’. I probably would never have listened to it’s B-side ‘Everybody Needs Somebody’ except that became the A side in Britain. Good move, it’s a better track.
Posted in Atlantic, King Floyd |
September 28th, 2008
Listen: Grandma’s Hands / Bill Withers GrandmasHands.mp3
He’s got so many great tracks, and seminal singles. This was the followup to ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ and directly preceded ‘Lean On Me’, but didn’t get much traction at Pop and Top 40 in the day. In fact it only went to #18 in the RnB charts, but it has slowly turned into a deserved classic. I don’t know if it’s that well known, but Booker T produced this, and ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, who is another higher form of life to us earthlings.
Posted in Bill Withers, Booker T, Sussex |
September 28th, 2008
Listen: Never Ending Song Of Love – Delaney & Bonnie & Friends 06 Never Ending Song Of Lov.mp3
I never got too deeply into that American country sound, the occasional single by The Band or Poco once in a while, I guess. In hindsight, the more country/blues, loosely shambled records actually appeal from time to time. Seems like everybody has forgotten about Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. Probably best known for letting Eric Clapton join their band after the success of The Cream, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds was just too much to handle, they seemed to fade away as soon as he left. Don’t know about you, but I never hear them anywhere. Bonnie Bramlett got into a scrabble with Elvis Costello after he’d made a racial slur towards blacks in a hotel bar once. So I do give her props for that. Once in a while, I like the laziness of their back porch sound to be honest.
Posted in Atco, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Elvis Costello, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Poco, The Band, The Cream, The Yardbirds |
September 25th, 2008
Listen: She Bangs The Drums / The Stone Roses SheBangsTheDrums.mp3
I remember seeing The Stone Roses in the smallest place, somewhere along Portobello Road. Damn if I can remember the name, but it was definitely a pub. I saw Pulp there a year or so later, playing to about 30 people. Jarvis had his best Scott Walker outfit on: brown wide courds, hip huggers, complete with a thick white belt and matching jacket. Everyone I was with turned their noses up and met me down the way instead of watching. Duh. The Stone Roses though had a mob scene going on their night – must have been around ‘91-ish. I never thought they looked amazing. There was just something clutsy about their stage language. Ian Brown couldn’t really sing of course. Still, this one did sound great live. That I vividly recall. I’m right back to the moment every time I hear it. It’s one of the defining songs of that period (another is The Charlatans ‘Sproston Green’), although everyone sights ‘Fool’s Gold’ as The Stone Roses’ seminal track. I disagree.
Posted in Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, Scott Walker, Silvertone, The Stone Roses |
September 24th, 2008
Listen: Strictly For The Beat / The Executives 01 Strictly For The Beat.mp3
This could be the title track or endless bed music for any black and white 60′s British spy or youth film. It reeks of teens dancing to beat groups. I used it as the theme song to a radio show I did years ago – then lifted the title for a compilation CD we released on Island years later. A fellow named Roy Carr, who was quite a respected music journalist in the 70′s, was a member. It’s still a fun one to listen to.
Posted in Columbia UK, Island, Roy Carr, The Executives |
September 20th, 2008
Listen: Happy New Year / Beverley 01 Happy New Year (01) (01) 1.mp3
The year was 1966. UK Decca are about to launch their hip subsidiary Deram. The first release was a now period piece by Beverley, before she married John Martyn and became one half of the Island act, John & Beverley Martyn. ‘Happy New Year’ was the first of two solo singles, both on Deram and both produced by Denny Cordell. The record is so ‘live’ and was mastered so loudly – it’s just the ultimate vinyl sound with some very extreme production ideas – not out of line for Denny Cordell.
Luckily I got to work with him years later at Island. He was just full of stories and info. Never a day would pass without him dropping some tidbit my way. He knew I was a trainspotter and fed it well. You know the loud techno sound in The Move’s ‘I Can Hear The Grass Grow’ at exactly 2:08? I asked him once how he got such an other worldy electronic sonic back then. He simply raised his two little fingers to the corners of his mouth and whistled. Exactly like on the single. Awesome.
Posted in Beverley, Decca, Denny Cordell, Deram, Island, John Martyn, The Move |
September 1st, 2008
Listen: Love Is Dead / Brett Anderson 01 love is dead (01).mp3
My first time seeing Suede was March ’92 in Brighton, opening for The Fall. I’d missed them the night before and was in a state. I loved their demo that had been made at the Island studios just before I left the label. After the show, I was jaw dropped and wide eyed. This was the real deal. They captured the ultimate British sound, bringing to the grooves, well, all the poison of London. Suede hit me dead center – I realized what I’d been waiting for. Even though it’s not that long ago, I harken back to that early 90′s period with Blur, Pulp, and The Stone Roses getting their footholds in pubs along Ladbroke Groove and Camden Town. Still, for me, Suede glistened above them all. Never did they disappoint live. No small contribution coming from Mat’s bass on that front. Brett had the physical swagger, and Mat the rhythmic. I really wanted to sign them and so took the band round to meet all the Warner Brothers people in Burbank a few months later. It was a memorable trip – these English guys very out of place in LA – and for their first time ever. We crammed into a rented convertible (that somehow I ended up with) and went to Santa Monica Pier, stopping at a few garage sales along the way, everyone wearing long sleeves and pants in blazing California sun. Before leaving town, the earthquake of ’92 hits. It’s pretty freaky driving to LAX without one working traffic light on the way, yet risking it just to get home. Even though he started out with a bang, Brett’s writing just kept getting better and better. COMING UP, their third album, is a masterpiece. A formula was patented and kept working. So it’s brave and commendable that Brett chose a more stark and personal path for his solo releases. He’s begun to establish himself as a songwriter and singer of real depth, his voice more powerful than ever. This solo single, his first, was a nice treat on release. Don’t know what I was expecting, so the unexpected really worked – it’s a much played favorite.
Posted in Blur, Brett Anderson, Mat Osman, Pulp, Suede, The Stone Roses |
August 30th, 2008
Listen: Scuba Scuba / Revillos 15 Scuba Scuba.mp3
I always regretted not making that very long drive – about 3 hours – to see The Rezillos open for The Ramones at Cornell University. Talk about a perfect package. Not long after, essentially the same lineup changed their name to Revillos, I think to side step a recording contract with Sire and move on to Virgin, but I may be wrong. Didn’t matter, the sound, songs, look, speed and humor remained. It was only about three years ago that I saw them at all. They luckily came over to New York and were as great as I’d hoped they’d be back then. Drums still being played so fast they didn’t even sound like drums. Faye dancing silly, but lovable too. And so many good songs. Nowadays they play both Rezillos and Revillos gems. I have a bunch of favorites, and really loved the ‘Scuba Scuba’ video the one time I saw it in 1980 on the big screen at The Peppermint Lounge a week before it closed. The Cramps were playing. I was in a youtube late night loop recently and searched for it. The video was up, but has kinda lost it’s punch, with the now outdated effects. Still, the memory was enough for me to pull the single out. Such a nice clean amphetamine sound.
Posted in Peppermint Lounge, Revillos, Rezillos, Sire, The Ramones |
July 28th, 2008
Listen: Mr. Apollo / The Bonzo Dog Band
Mr. Apollo / The Bonzo Dog Band
The Beatles lifted so much from these guys. Tell me ‘Yellow Submarine’, or lots of SGT PEPPER and MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR weren’t influenced by the work of The Bonzos, and I’ll know you haven’t bothered to listen to them. It may have been innocent flattery, but I’m not too sure about that. Paul McCartney did produce their hit, ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’. He may have felt guilty. I do pick on The Beatles when I can, too vaudeville for me and they were quitters but admittedly had many good singles. It’s that Beatles vs Rolling Stones rivalry I can’t quite shake.
Last year, a friend at EMI in London sent me the entire set of Bonzo Dog Band reissues on cd. I still play them a lot, very worth seeking out. As for the 7″ vinyl, ‘Mr Apollo’ was the first to be released after they dropped the Doo Dah from their name. The US was lucky enough to see them at The Fillmore East, opening for Spirit and The Kinks, their first US shows in three or four years after the Musician Union’s ban, we’re talking 1969 and ARTHUR had just been released. This was October 17 & 18 to be exact.
Posted in Fillmore East, Paul McCartney, Spirit, The Beatles, The Bonzo Dog Band, The Kinks |
July 8th, 2008
Try to ignore the trendy song title. Heavily sampled, well known to breakbeaters of the world, not surprisingly with a drum sound like that. Even though Monk Higgins had some blips of notoriety in jazz circles, he was actually best as an A&R guy, working for One-Derful Records in the 60′s and signing Otis Clay.
The guy did a lot of writing and producing into the 70′s for Imperial, Minit and UA. While there, he recorded a few albums and released ‘Gotta Be Funky’, his biggest hit. He gave his cousin, Barbara Acklin her start (as Barbara Allen on Chess) as well. Seemingly, a pretty great fellow.
The B side of this, ‘Big Water Bed’, is a riot – worth searching out.
Posted in Barbara Acklin, Imperial, Minit, Monk Higgins, One-Derful, Otis Clay, United Artists |
July 7th, 2008
Listen: Black Byrd / Donald Byrd DonaldByrdBlackByrd.mp3
If I am musically all over the place with these posts, it’s because I like everything. Pretty much all kinds except…modern country or classical, and even then I admit not appreciating those genres and therefore, don’t listen enough to truly know. But I can easily have a foot in both RnB and 60′s UK rock at any given moment (or on the two turntables waiting to do a segue as I amuse myself playing deejay). So, Donald Byrd. I love the Blue Note label for one, it’s 7″ designs were really appealing to me. Not big on brassy jazz, there are always exceptions. Donald Byrd is one, and because this promo copy makes me shake at the knees, an extra break is cut. Plus ‘Black Byrd’ is such a period piece. It’s his only charting single – and one that could probably never be a hit nowadays. At the time, it was just the urban/jazz/funk sound of the street. Today it’s associated with the films of that moment, conveniently coining them and the music as blaxploitation. BLACK CEASAR, FOXY BROWN, SUPERFLY, SLAUGHTER’S BIG RIPOFF etc – I can watch them endlessly. The cars and clothes and shots of a very changed Harlem keep my eyes peeled. ‘Black Byrd’ could have placed perfectly in any. Edited down from the lengthy album version, I was working for a one-stop record distributor upon it’s release and they both sold like hot cakes. Now, it’s getting really difficult finding a clean copy of the single or album for that matter.
Posted in Blaxploitation, Blue Note, Donald Byrd |
July 7th, 2008
Listen: Free Me / Cast
Free
I hadn’t realized Cast scored eight UK Top Ten’s between ’96 – ’99, and more chart success into ’01. I always thought this to be a pretty under appreciated record, but indeed it reached #7. Very good. Well deserved.
I suppose it’s a bit too early in their curve to hear the press singing praises just yet, but then again I don’t read most of it, well any of it to be precise, so they might be. Except RECORD COLLECTOR and MOJO, but haven’t spotted a Cast mention in ages. John Power was the guitarist for The La’s, and it’s all politically correct to like them so…
I’ve been very lucky, ever since Howard gave me that Elektra job, I’ve gotten to visit the UK many, many times. Always liked hearing Cast on the radio there, it just was a natural soundtrack. But I’ll never forget when this came on one morning. You know those moments when a song is an everlasting imprint of a time and place on the brain? I remember that moment, right down to the weather, what I’d just eaten for breakfast and the hotel room I was in while listening to Radio 1′s Breakfast Show, readying myself for work. It sounded modern and perfectly ’60′s at the same time. I had to have the record that day. I immediately called my pal, Jim Lahat, at BBC London and asked if he had a copy. Bless him, he always made sure I got everything, still does. He said, don’t worry, it’s in your pile, adding ‘why do you want it anyways?’. He’s a riot like that. We were seeing each other later at our usual haunt, EAT & 2 VEG, which, by the way, a is killer vegetarian joint just down Marylebone High Street from his office. And Jim outdid himself, getting his Polydor guy to bike over one of the promo-only vinyl pressings they’d done as a surprise. Jim has a heart of gold this way, always doing generous things for friends.
So ‘Free Me’ has great memories attached to it. Despite endless plays, I still can’t put my finger on exactly who this reminds me of, let’s say The Who and The Creation for sure. Anyways, it’s a classic.
Posted in BBC Radio 1, Cast, Howard Thompson, Jim Lahat, Mojo, Polydor, Record Collector, The Creation, The La's, The Who |
July 1st, 2008
Listen: Ready For The Floor / Hot Chip Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor.mp3
If you know me, then your are aware of two things. I loathe coloured vinyl and love Hot Chip. I have seen every New York show the band has played, starting with their opening slot at the now closed Rothko for Maximo Park (steer clear). That night, they got by on very little equipment (it seemed like a bunch of lap tops set up on ironing boards) with only great songs and happy vibes. They are a strange looking bunch, so strange that I think it’s part of the appeal. A few tours ago, they had a live drummer at Webster Hall. It was thunderous. The peak of their percussive brilliance. This past April, they suddenly had several guitars in the mix, at one point three being played simultaneously. Stop guys. Step back please. Don’t do the guitar thing – it reeks of trying to make it in America, even if that isn’t the purpose. But Hot Chip live still pretty much dwarf the competition and I will gladly issue them an out of jail free card on the guitar front. Despite most of their 7″ singles being released on coloured vinyl, I need them all. At least some of them are pretty, tangerines and pinks. The sleeves are always great. ‘Ready For The Floor’ is a big big big favorite. It was the only song on my shuffle for about six weeks. I didn’t need anything else. I’ve clocked in about 400 plays of it. Classic.
Posted in EMI, Hot Chip, Maximo Park, Rothko |
