Got The Fever

Testing the waters

2010-08-08T18:34:00.002-04:00

Let's try another format for a few posts. I've set up shop at :

http://gotthefever.wordpress.com/

Different store location, same tawdry wares.

Learning To Fly

2010-07-31T14:10:00.030-04:00

A few light, but wordy emails sent back and fourth. They're filled with sincere and hopeful intentions. The engine's just sputtered and coughed up enough to slap the rotors to turning.

An exchanged snatch of knowledge here, and there, the tiny glitter or two of personal insight is tentatively disclosed. The rich mixture of gas through its veins lurches the whole craft alive.

A small joke, and cautious hints of encouragement are shared and wondered upon - was it the right thing to write? The first hard wheel movements rotate along with an urging from the boisterous buzz from under the hood.

Novel printed curios go across to one another, the short history of one another is discovered and thought about later, the mood is lighter, beginning to be playful and each note is sent in anticipation of a quicker reply. Craft, now moving with ease, you find yourself approaching the much sought after runway, eager to loosen the hold of molten tar lined with long, white stripes.

The replies are gobbled up almost undigested, suspense simmers, bubbling warm and slowly with excitement; smiles are effortless while reading and with vague reason, calendar availability is discussed. The deafening roar has turned to consumable background droning, straps tighten around your waist, nervousness and excitement leave a swallowed taste in your mind as you're lunged forward to a speed that will now deny returning.

Slightly overdressed, he leaned belly first into a mailbox in front of the annointed pub of destiny, drumming with fingers tapping the metal to a different beat, each tap not quite right, but it feels good on the fingers and it's the alternative to walking back and fourth in front of the impatient, waiting in-line overcrowd. Skull packed against the pillow rest, it's take off, and the deep, dizzy feeling of vertigo.

After looking at the time on the cell - the fifth or sixth time, she appears through the right window of his eyeshades. She's smiling, with long hair gracefully bending with the light summer breeze. You're level - cruising altitude; the hardest part is over, all that remains is to rely on years of experience to stay aloft, unwavering in the flight path.

Those emails, the time that moved too quickly or too slowly, those nights of imagination and fantasy brightly colored, the positive feeling of satisfaction - all led to this moment.

No longer a twelve-thirty in the morning blitz of notes, or a daylong reminding bump from the cerebellum that had him stop to think about her at the oddest times, this is culmination - the last paragraphs of chapter one to be written.

Laughed loudly, showed pictures from their phones, danced (she's wiry), imbibed, disclosed deeper, became tender at moments. They somehow made an unintentioned impression on the locals - a complete stranger from a pack in another booth came up to them, put a hand on his shoulder, looked at them both and with a warm smile remarked that they made a perfect couple.

End of evening came much too quickly, and a lingering goodnight was all too brief.

"If we meet again", she asked later via cell text, "Would we have our on-line fantasy destroyed"? He smiled as he touched finger to keypad and replied, "I prefer to think of it as fantasy come to life".

Imaginary Lover

Surely a peak of Atlanta Rhythm Section for me. Always has been. Studio musicians to begin with, their playing is tight but robust and playful. Lately it's played when there's precious few sane hours left before having to get up for work again. The perfect segue before rapid eye movement and the damaging alarm at 5:30AM. Greg Kihn said it best; they don't write like that anymore!

Imaginary lovers, never turn you down

When all the others turn you away, they're around

It's my private pleasure, midnight fantasy

Someone to share my wildest dreams with me

Imaginary lover

You're mine, anytime

Imaginary lover

Fantasy Girl

I've never been a fan of 38 Special, but this is one of those 'bubbling under' songs for me. Every other blue moon is enough time between hearing it again. But i'll be damned if this isn't one of the songs that came to mind during those emails. Lyrics are surprisingly tender at times and with just enough Strat to rip it open.

Now, I've had my share

And sometimes I swear

That I've had me enough

You end up in sorrow, broken tomorrows

Love can be tough

But, my mind's eye

Sees a vision of true love

And how it should be

Me and my fantasy girl

Hold on to me

Imaginary Lover

Atlanta Rhythm Section: Best of ARS [1991]

Fantasy Girl

38 Special: Anthology Remastered [2001]

Addendum

Being out of the light of blogging for the past year and more had not diminished my craving to continue to read what I knew well in the music sphere. A few that I still read, and continued to respect, somehow noticed that I had turned on the lightswitch and kindly took time out to say hello. Who would have thought?

Jeff over at AM, Then FM first called on me just as I Got The Fever again, Greg over at Echoes In The Wind welcomed me and gave me information, IB at Siblingshot On The Bleachers cheered me on, Vincent, stationed over at Fufu Stew, smiled and shook my online hand, and the good dj over at The Hits Just Keep On Coming actually went out of his way, sending me email and prodded his flock my way via a plug on a recent post. They're all the sizzlin' pop rocks on the rim of your musical margaritas - quality writing and superb nuggets for sampling.

I have the warmth of the (blogging) sun within me tonight.

The Romantics

2010-07-25T07:49:00.013-04:00

I'm not one for following convention, not really the type to follow the crowd or 'go with the flow' as far as listening to music is concerned - never have been. Nor am I the type to listen to obscurity for the sake of a wallow in a prideful and snotty attitude that I may know the obscure and you don't.

It's more likely that I like what I like and if anyone else didn't that was cool. But it never stopped me from listening to something that no one else had ever heard of. That's why I tend to become terribly bored listening to the same so-called Top 100, or have very little patience for listening to something that doesn't capture me after a few turns through the speaker.

Even with a semi-known band, I tire rapidly of their most well known hit and curse the music gods for letting that one hit define a band (although sometimes they actually are a one hit wonder). It's just plain cruel that a band has two, three or four albums (or more) all with little gems on them, and yet we continue to hear only the singular most familiar and recognizeable. I treasure digging deeper and smile more widely when I know that a track I've found is as good, if not better, than the musical yoke the band is forced to wear.

Actually, that's what Got The Fever is all about anyway.

It's well known that I loves me some power pop and Detroit gave us yet another band that could cause us to stand up, cheer and actually want them to crank it up a bit more - as I did when I saw The Romantics live.

A Night Like This

I believed in the power of this track so much, a band that I was in for a short time finally relented in adding it to the song list and it became a huge crowd pleaser. You can almost picture the futile, hot, long nights he's singing about - alone in a dark room, probably something strong and undiluted in a glass held by his sweaty hand and the only company are tormented thoughts that rage like an unquenchable firestorm.

Fierce lead guitar with responsible whammy-bar accentuation, grab for the throat pulsing drumms, haunting harmonica emulating the lonliness of it all and a passion in the vocals for a lost love that is inconsolable. This is surely a highlight of their song writing and playing abilities that was never bothered to be appreciated - until now.

I wanna go back to the nights I miss

Wanna go back to the lips that I kissed

Wanna hold you - don't wanna let go

Want you to love me honey, like I know you know

I need you on a night like this

I'd really love it on a night like this

Remember you love, such a good love - such a hot love

On a night like this.

Like this.

Why'd You Leave Me

The frustration of knowing that she'll never come back manifests itself in smarmy jabs - not overtly insulting, but knowing that she's made a definitive decision that will not be changed, upping the ante from outright pleading to snipping and hitting personal targets that you hardly believe come out of your mouth - all in an emotional knee-jerk of jealous hatred.

This track comes from the point of view that, OK, she's left for good, she's actually actively dating someone else and they're sleeping together. The nuclear blast of that image, brick wall closed from you and her - and all you have is anger, resentment - and a ball of phlegm shot in her direction.

Wally Palmer, lead singer, has plenty of growling distress here, and The Romantics strong card of heavy, heavy hypnotic drumming is unveiled in all it's glory. Add a tasteful guitar phlange and you have the moment captured in 3'28" of beautiful power pop.

Do you let him take you to bed?

Does he want you, or only your head?

Do you make him get out in time?

Don't you want him coming inside?

I cant believe its true

Believe you'd say good bye

I'm so in love with you - tell me why

Why'd you leave me?!?!

It's a shame that during their popularity they were stopped midstep by a lawsuit brought against their management company for royalties that were hidden from them. Same old song and dance as it were for a band that was in it for the music and trusted someone else to take care of the business side. I would have enjoyed hearing their output in the years 1987 through the mid 1990's. During that time, because of the lawsuit, they couldn't record which thus put a stranglehold on their career.

However, they're still going at it, playing here and there, recorded "61/49" which received the critical acclaim they didn't get during their hey-day, and Wally Palmer is on tour with The Ringo Starr All-Star band. You can get a lot more information on their official web site. But download these highlights and let me know if you're as excited about them as I can be.

A Night Like This

From: National Breakout [1980]

Why'd You Leave Me

From: Strictly Personal [1981]

The Concert for Bangladesh

2010-07-17T21:51:00.026-04:00

What with all the noise about Live Aid happening twenty-five years ago, I sit here remembering a more distant and more sincere charitable event that’s having its anniversary in just a few days.

The Concert for Bangladesh, which is considered the very first organized concert for aide/relief, happened in 1971 – fourteen years before Midge and Bob coupled for Africa.

It was pulled together in less than two months and rapidly booked for the only available date that was coming up at Madison Square Garden that summer – August 1^st. I couldn’t find anything on it, but does anyone know how long it took through idea, cold calls, confirmations, booking, transportation and performance date to pull together Live Aid? It was certainly a lot longer than two months.

Among the notables were Ravi Shankar (who initially asked Harrison for ideas to help the ravaged country of Bangladesh), Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Badfinger, Billy Preston and Bob Dylan. Clapton was supposed to be in full rehearsals a week before show date, but due to a lingering heroin habit, showed up the day before.

Interesting to know, John Ono was slated to play, but because it was stipulated that in order to join the mates onstage, his significant other was not to co-perform (which John agreed to). The wife and he fought over said stipulation, and it resulted in John walking away. Sir Paul was also asked to join the line, but he didn’t think it made sense, what with the Apple label lawsuit raging. Good ol’ Ringo came aboard happily, playing right alongside pal Jim Keltner.

Keep in mind that The Concert For Bangladesh was all well before it was good for exposure, and your career, to pack a multitude of ‘stars’ into a studio, record the obligatory dual-penned themed single, tape a video that zooms in showing the alternating expressive pained/hurt look on the varied faces as they lip synch the grieving lyrics (while filming also juxtaposed the frivolity of beating time with chums), releasing it all on a 12” collectors edition 45 RPM, and topping it all off with twenty second sound bites publicizing the event (shown on an incipid Hollywood palaver show) which was pre-taped at a red carpet, black tie affair just before accepting an award for their kindness, only to grandly, humbly and seriously accept the statue on behalf of the victims.

As in any event this size, what actually went to the cause in terms of hard cash has been, naturally, disputed. One hard lesson learned from this by all future charitable event organizers, was to apply for tax-exempt status – which the Bangladesh organizers didn’t realize to do. What is known for sure is that Harrison donated all money from the album sales directly to UNICEF, and that all DVD and CD sales still, to this day, go to the relief effort.

That’s The Way God Planned It

(I’m going to have to slate a post for showcasing the genius of Billy Preston.) Amidst the company of gargantuan guitar gods, Billy plays soulfully and meaningfully, parting the heavenly clouds begging for man’s heart to show the compassion and common decency that it’s capable of.

That's The Way God Planned It

Medley: Jumpin’ Jack Flash / Youngblood

(Come to think of it, I’ll have to slate a post for the inimitable Leon Russell.) An extraordinarily gifted pianist, Leon played with quite a few luminaries back in the day. Given the time, again, 1971, this tune kicks Madison Square butt. We have screaming tug-and-pull background singers, piercing guitar solo work and enough boogie-woogie to make your tail-feather vibrate. And hey, anyone that can segue into, and cover well, this Coasters tune scores a major World Cup goal anyway.

Caution: this piece clocks in at 10:12 so adjust your attention span. Once you do though, it’s well worth the recalibration.

Medley: Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood

God bless all who continue to gather succor and support for the many global misfortunes that the vast majority of us have never experienced, and may they all wildly succeed.

However, let us also acknowledge how these rock charity events all owe their inspiration to George Harrison and The Concert For Bangladesh.

"My friend came to me

Sadness in his eyes

He told me that he wanted help

Before his country died

Although I couldn't feel the pain

I knew I'd have to try

Now I'm asking all of you
To help us save some lives"

Addendum: Man, it has all of a sudden gotten so labor intensive to post! I can’t copy/paste from Word to Blogger anymore, and had to go through so many gyrations just to get this page up! Sure, I left for a while, but geez, did it have to get so difficult? Spacing is off and I can't even figure out how to embed a damn video!

Last Word: I am thoroughly humbled by those who wrote me that they still came by from time to time even though I hadn’t posted in over a year! They then had the compassion to write me words of encouragement within just these past few weeks! Words are grossly inarticulate for those kind and sincere actions. Thank you - my friends. And let it be known, that in my absence, I still visited your sites during my time away - it kept me sane. Well ...

Where to now? (14 months after the last post)

2010-07-11T09:53:00.006-04:00

So.

What's new? Anything happen lately?

As another introduction to myself has laid itself in my path, and I'm more prone right now to just "let the music do the talkin'" about what's happened. A bit of "through the past, darkly".

My Mummy's Dead
No, this isn't the album version (for those who know it in the first place), but given here in it's full length glory.

My Mummy's Dead

When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You?
Marvin was forced to do an album after his divorce with all proceeds going to his ex. Filled with monumental angst, the ex probably regretted that this was his weakest selling album.

When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You?

Where To Now St. Peter?
A sparking gem by Ann Wilson polished off with help from the singer who made it famous, Sir Reginald.

Where To Now St. Peter?

You know, everything's alright though. Time gives clarity and purpose. It's all good.

It's great to be here!

It Lives!

2010-07-10T14:12:00.002-04:00

Suddenly, I have Got The Fever again.

Is there anyone that out there receiving this weak signal?

Hello?

Breathing above the foam

2009-05-24T08:45:00.003-04:00

It was difficult to get through, and it is now easier to move on.

Without a chronology, without an apology and without fanciful fanfare or publicity- I post again.

Is there anybody out there?

Koop: Summer Song
Don't know much about this band (from somewhere around the land of the Vikings I believe), but the song is jazzy, with a dollop of pop and with horns. Love me some horns!

Lighthouse: One Fine Morning
It's about time someone posted the long version, not the AM version. Another one with majestic horns!

Koop: Summer Song
Lighthouse: One Fine Morning

Screaming Jay Hawkins

2009-03-07T12:00:00.008-05:00

Let’s dwell for a bit on one of Dad’s nightmares – shock rock.

Consider: who is considered the devil du jour today? The band or person Dad is most likely to scowl over with the paper in front of his face while he’s trying to chew his supper? Who is the one he quickly glimpses on the HDTV and hurriedly clicks ‘Next’ to with the fancy remote? Who is the one from his childhood that he fondly remembers and reminisces about as he stares and shakes his head from side to side in disbelief at the ungodly and closely sacrilegious images he spots on his son’s and daughter’s album and CD covers? Who represents all that has gone wrong with today’s youth in a culture gone anaphylactic?

Today, shock rock is old, tired and hobbled. It really has run its course what with all the overexposure. After millions of gallons of fake blood have been spilled, countless mock executions, masks that look more comedic nowadays than their original intent, films with countless sequels, contrived statements of shock, fashions of the time that are de rigueur in Halloween outlets, music with satanic overtures and pronouncements of ‘this is the real deal’, it really all has become just another bit of a Madison Avenue / corporate inspired way to try to eek out a buck in a congested field. Consider also – what can shock, or what is, truly shocking anymore to a music enthusiast who has ‘seen it all’?

The last significant blip in shock was Marilyn Manson. Dad was certainly in need of a change of the ol’ Fruit of the Looms when progeny was sniffing the ass of Marilyn, who at the time was being proclaimed the ‘anti-Christ’, which was even by then a tried, tired and clichéd mantle.

Before that, when was shock really shock rock? Was it the Plasmatics with their chainsaws, duct-tape on nipples and cars being blown up on stage while Wendy-O shouted ‘Kiss your ass goodbye’? Was it with the whole street to corporate makeover of shock to goth movement – towing Siouxsie and the Banshees and their ilk? Before that? Perhaps Iggy and his chest slicing beer bottles smeared with peanut butter?

Alice Cooper certainly is paramount in shock rock and deservedly so. Alice’s shows were stunning, bold and visually consuming. Singing of dead babies, tales of being locked up in the insane asylum and pandering for votes to be publicly elected were all considered shocking in their time. And, get this – original. Alice inspired everyone from Kiss to Gwar, and continues to be the well that the genre draws upon. But, just like any well, when it has been drawn from far too often and for far too long, it naturally runs dry and the population wanes and begins to look for a more quenchable well. It has yet to be found.

Quite likely, not many could hold a timorous candle to the shock that the Beatles caused when, in a move to toss off mop-tops and visually display a sense of a change in direction, they donned the garb of your corner butcher and laughed while the camera caught them with cleavers, knives, doll parts and slabs of meat which had bloodied their clean white costumes. This was not 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'.

No. Nothing quite captures the virtuosity, the genius born in the genesis of the movement, the first, the leader of the nascent genre, the pro-generator of shock rock.

Those endowments go to Screaming Jay Hawkins.

At a time when Johnny Be Goode was writing Love Letters In The Sand and finding his thrill on Blueberry Hill, I Put A Spell On You was severing the optic nerve, obstructing bowels, sparking damning headlines and causing an outraged Dad, for the first time in his life, to write the local paper in disgust.

His performances displayed him climbing out of a coffin, holding a smoking human skull and sharing the stage with snakes. All this was polished off in the deep luster of unholy voodoo. Out of these seemingly meager beginnings a new tributary in the rock swell was born – shock rock.

I Put A Spell On You
I struggled when deciding what tracks to feature, but no way out of it – I simply cannot omit the kernel that blew it all up. According to legend he was stinking drunk when this was recorded. What was intended to be a ballad, but through soaking intoxication and a rolling tape, turned out to be the beginning of a rock revolution.

The grunts, the squawking, the lurking, rolling demons have banded together in an effort to keep you to only myself. Despite any attempt to wriggle or plead yourself loose, you are not going to be able to wrest free from me.

This could be the original stalker soundtrack.

Covered by everyone from CCR, Nina Simone, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Bryan Ferry, Tim Curry … the list goes on. But, none faired better than this stewing, menacing orgy from shock rocker #1.

I put a spell on you.
Because youre mine.

Stop the things you do.
Watch out! I aint lyin!

Yea,
I cant stand
No runnin around!
I cant stand
No putting me down.

I put a spell on you.
Because you’re mine.

Other early classics include Feast of the Mau Mau, Frenzy and Armpit #6. By then, shock was an art form and Jay its architect. Common were the vindictive that threw his way labels such as ‘disgusting’, ‘vulgar’ and ‘crude’. He was leading Daddy’s little ones through a new rabbit hole. And according to Daddy, it was nothing short of a simmering sewer.

Constipation Blues
Rendering the tale of an awful struggle in progress, this is the track to queue up as you stare at the opposite wall so delightfully decorated with pictures of seashells and schooners lazily floating on sunny, sparkling, twinkling, foamless summer waters.

Ladies and gentlemen, most people record songs about love, heartbreak loneliness, being broke. Nobody’s actually went out and recorded a song about real pain! The band and I have just returned from the general hospital where we caught a man in the right position. We named this song Constipation Blues.

Let it go!
Let it go!
Let it go!
Let it go!
Don’t believe that I can take much more,
Let it go!

Given the time period from which the man came from, that being one who watched and lived through the difficult birth of rock and roll, he was also a product of his time – a real rocker.

Bite It (Last Night)
While we can laugh knowing what Jay’s really singing about, this must have appeared innocuous to Dad at the time. Even just a bit of harmless rock and roll with a nice little bounce to it.

That would be until he caught on and heard the sleazy slurping, squealing and sucking sounds, and the ‘yum yum’ moans. The complete giveaway would have been that while they’re merrily singing about sucking it, the added toss-in of phrases such as ‘lollipop’, ‘suck it now’ and ‘suck the hell out of it’, must have made him burst – in shock!

Oh! Let’s bite it one time!
(Bite it, …)

Oh! Let’s smell it one time!
(Smell it, …)

Oh! Let’s lick it one time!
(Lick it, …)

Oh! Let’s chew it one time!
(Chew it, …)

Oh! Let’s eat it one time!
(Eat it, …)

Oh! Let’s suck it one time!
(Suck it, …)

Screaming Jay Hawkins (1929 – 2000)
I Put A Spell On You
Constipation Blues
Bite It (Last Night)

Screaming Jay Hawkins certainly did have a profound and lasting impression on rock and more specifically as the founder of shock rock. As for today’s downy encrusted shockers trying to make a go of it? Well, after you load it all into the miner’s pan, what really sifts out turns out to have already been discovered and over dramatized to the point of no point.

Nothing can really shock us anymore with the impact that those who rode on the shoulders of Jay haven’t already done. Certainly not even remotely close to how Jay did. And those that try seem to have missed the boat – they float in the stream of the distant and useless cousin called gross out rock. Not exactly pioneers there either.

Listen to these tracks and imagine yourself in that space in time when they were first issued. Go out and shock the world.

Addendum
Quite by happenstance I stumbled on to the Screaming Jay Hawkins track that I have listed on the right of this blog under What I'm (unsuccessfully) Searching For. I had long ago though imprinted that it ws called 'Lick It'. Wrong. But, I found it! Long time searching for this one!

Monty Python

2009-03-01T07:38:00.006-05:00

Though I’ve never been a rabid fan, Monty Python sketches still occasionally litter my life from time to time. Hanging out at a bar once and a while and I can still hear some college kid yell out “Burn her – she’s a witch!” Though not as pungent as it once was for me, it still cracks me up.

Side note: isn’t it amazing, and a natural order of human nature, that most comedians who make it well beyond their comedy years, that they all end up doing voices for Disney cartoon characters or have a short lived go at serious acting?

I could have chosen ‘Sit On My Face’ or the ‘Lumberjack Song’ but that wouldn’t be me.

Martyrdom of St. Victor
To this day, one of the only the ones that still makes me laugh out loud. It was perhaps their ability to sound so serious, so … English in the delivery with of course the startling, twisted ending.

I Like Chinese
Another draw for me was the manner in which they could sound so whimsical, so cheery, and so musically innocent in a complete throw down. I can still hear Mitch roaring while this was being played.

Monty Python: Martyrdom of St. Victor
Monty Python: I Like Chinese
From: Contractual Obligation Album [1980]

Cupid's Hunt: Valentines Day

2009-02-12T21:54:00.011-05:00

First I want to thank Todd from RIBS (Rhythms In Black Satin) who invited me, along with a host of other bloggers, to participate in this Valentine's Day celebration. For a complete list of who is involved, click here.

You know, rather than try for the most certifiably unique song that no one else will post, I felt that Valentines day is all about the spirit of giving what someone would find special to them only.

If you want a creased, but sincere smile then give a traditional box of factory chocolates in a cardboard heart shaped box. If you give a dozen roses, in ten days you’ll find a mound of petals on the table and wilted stems dangling from a crystal vase of algae water. If you give the standard pink or red drug store card and begin underlining certain phrases, you end up giving something similar to what your Mom gives to you.

Some of the better alternatives might be to buy a blank card, simply decorated, and hand write a poem with timeless meaning – something they’ve never even read before. Try Shakesphere’s Sonnett XLI.

Or, perhaps you’d prefer lyrics to a song that they might not have had the opportunity to explore!

Go ahead. Write them down. Be patient and neat.

I’ll Never Leave You
Harry Nilsson has always been a good one for a well penned pop song. Most tracks off of The Point, Pussycats, Nilsson Schmilsson or Son of Schmilsson race to mind for catchy albums, but there are loads more individual tracks that are prime songsmith examples. Harry will certainly get a well-deserved blog entry here on Got The Fever soon.

The very first song that I thought of when I began to write this Valentine’s entry came from Harry. This is as heartfelt and tender as one could get without crossing the threshold over to schmaltzy. He employs not only sensitive strings and lilting piano, but also effectively blends in a banjo!

Some nights I go to sleep without you
The river’s far too deep without you
I can’t make it alone; I need you by my side

Some nights I spend alone without you
The river’s far too wide without you
I can’t make it alone; I need you by my side

I’ll never leave you alone
I’ll never leave just a memory
I’ll never leave you alone in the garden
Where nothing grows
I love you so much, baby

More Than You Know
There’s a great saying that’s bounced around a lot when you’ve gotten too lofty from where you need to be, and it’s ‘back to basics’. In an effort to find the ideal poem or music lyric we might tend to be too far reaching and on that orbital tangent we lose a lot of substance.

This is stunning in its simplicity, and Dr. John’s arrangement and vocals add a sultry and sexy slant to the Rose/Eliscu/Youmans original. Covered by everyone from Billy Holiday, to the Chairman of the Board to anyone else who ever had a yearning to grapple with the complex emotions that come with the craving for love.

A perfect so-called “retro” track that just bleeds for you to take that one special body, hold it close to yours and simmer hip to hip, soft breath caressing inner ear lobe.

More than you know
More than you know
Girl of my heart, I love you so
Lately I’ve found you’re on my mind
More than you know

Whether you’re right
Whether you’re wrong
Girl of my heart, I’ll string along
You need me so
More than you’ll ever know

Loving you the way that I do
There’s nothing I can do about it
Loving may be all you can give
But honey, I can’t live without it

Oh, how I’d cry
Oh, how I’d cry
If you got tired and said goodbye
More than I’d show
More than you’ll ever know

Oh, how I’d cry
How I’d cry
If you got tired and said goodbye
More than I’d choose
More than youll ever know
More than you’ll ever know

Harry Nilsson: I’ll Never Leave You
From: Nilsson Schmilsson [1971]

Dr. John: More Than You Know
From: In A Sentimental Mood [1989]

Hoyt Axton

2009-02-04T06:13:00.007-05:00

Well, this is what you get when you’re fortunate enough to work in an industry that’s in desperate need of someone to fill in the gaps due to lack of experienced personnel - mucho time slots available and a big fat check every week. But, in this economy, with friends either getting laid off or hours drastically getting cut if the only things I have to bitch about are not updating my music blog, a messy apartment and being dead tired most days, well then, I count my blessings.

Hoyt Axton was better known for authoring hits than for his own chart-busting ability. But, where would part our lust for alternative be without his writing Snowblind Friend (Steppenwolf), No No Song (Ringo), Lightning Bar Blues (Brownsville Station / Hanoi Rocks), Greenback Dollar (Kingston Trio) and Joy To The World (Three Dog Night)?

Though my need to hear these songs by the cover artists endures, my desire to hear them by Hoyt has never waned.

The Pusher
To hear the amped-up, psychedelic blues version by the gods called Steppenwolf is to hear the desperation and haunt of drug addiction within the poignant time frame from its debut. But to hear Hoyt sing it elicits a timeless scene of hardened hopelessness and bleak, murderous hate with a soulful growl more feral than human – accentuated within a beat driven and fuzz-bass cauldron. However, you can see where John Kay did derive most of the instrumentation from.

You know the dealer, the dealer is a man
With the love grass in his hand
Oh but the pusher is a monster
Good God, he's not a natural man
The dealer for a nickel
Lord, will sell you lots of sweet dreams
Ah, but the pusher ruin your body
Lord, he'll leave your, he'll leave your mind to scream

God damn, The Pusher
God damn, God damn the Pusher
I said God damn, God,
God damn The Pusher man

Never Been To Spain
Hoyt was a great country artist and his roots are in plain view on this track. A straight-ahead guitar and piano driven track without the snappy frills, you’ll be warmed to hear the occasional fiddle and the pulsing drive of a hearty 4/4 drum beat.

Side note: Ever hear Elvis cover this track? A bit funny to hear him sing the line “Well I never been to England / But I kinda like the Beatles”.

Well I never been to England
But I kinda like the Beatles
Well, I headed for Las Vegas
Only made it out to Needles
Can you feel it
Must be real it feels so good
Oh, feels so good

Well I never been to Heaven
But I been to Oklahoma
Well they tell me I was born there
But I really don't remember
In Oklahoma, not Arizona
What does it matter
What does it matter

Mr. Axton was also a Navy man and had quite a prolific career in film and TV – not to mention writing jingles for commercials. But what a songwriter!

Hoyt Axton: The Pusher
Hoyt Axton: Never Been To Spain
From: Joy To The World & Country Anthem [CD 2001]

What I Listened to in the 70’s: Part I

2009-01-17T14:19:00.008-05:00

To anyone who has read a little bit of this blog they certainly can testify that I’m usually all over the board when it comes to what I listen to. I know that a large part of that is certainly the influences of a few select eccentrics who have turned me on to their particular eclectic palate of musical artwork.

But, I do give a lion’s share of the influence to the medium that has long since past – the AM radio. More specifically, the radio of a time gone by before they all seem to zero in on a target range of listeners. I can’t, for the life of me, find a station that will play a soft rock, then a hard rock, then a pop, then a gospel influenced, then a prog rock, then a soul, then a show tune, then a funk beat, then a standard then a … you get the idea.

Stations now play only one genre of music for a narrow range of listeners. And I think we’re the worse for it. Listeners have lost the ability to be influenced by all styles of music and thus only have a small well from which to draw on. Because of this, when they hear the first measured strains of anything that is not within their experience of day to day listening, they tend to rapidly close out, shake their heads no and wrinkle up their nose.

But play for them an early release of something similar to the vein they’re stuck in and they pop up their forehead and ask, “Who’s that?” See, even on their own rabidly defended, obtuse station, they’ll never hear the templates for their music.

Which is why I’m very grateful indeed for the short time I had listening to stations that thrived with diversity. Though the selections I’m posting were by no means the central figure or the prototype of their genres, or even sparkling influences, they were part of the amalgam of the variety that helped shape my thirst for alternative expressions of music.

Pillow Talk
The wonderfully sultry whisper of physical and emotional love in the bedroom given without the dirty heel of gutter-banality that we find so common and normal today. I don’t believe that Sylvia had another hit, but then again, I always acquiesce to those who are more chart proficient than I am. The flowing strings, the lazy Sunday afternoon atmosphere and the soft snap of the high-hat all combine to make this selection a perfect prelude to soul style seduction.

Side trivia: she offered this to Al Green but he turned it down. She was also co-founder of Sugarhill records, them of Rapper’s Delight fame.

Ooh, I don't wanna see you be no fool
What I'm teachin' you tonight
Boy, you'll never learn it in school, oh, no
So friends who tell me wrong from right
I'll ask to borrow their pants some cold and lonely night

Ooh, hey, baby, let me be
The one who turns you on from A to Z, ha-ha
What you friends all say is fine
But it can't compete with this pillow talk of mine

I found an abbreviated performance version, from Soul Train, on YouTube.

What You Got
Right alongside some of the best rock pop, this will always hold on to me tightly. Effervescent and bright but with a heaping dose of true cracking rock this serves to slice me off a healthy portion of down and dirty pop.

The guitar fills between lines of lyrics and the choppy drum rolls have stuck to my gut long, long after Duke and The Drivers became a trivia answer. And upon repeated listening only solidify them as masterful in my mind. The a-capella portion toward the end (2’40”) reminds me of a pre Black Water. by the Doobie Brothers. Simply – a gem and a song I would have loved to see live at a dive bar!

Maybe it’s the things you do
That keeps me in love with you
It might be just the way you move
You sock it to me in the groove

One thing ‘s plain to see
You rally got a hold on me
What you got – sure looks good!

Never expecting it, I found a clip of Duke and The Drivers performing at the famed Boston Hatch Shell in 1993. Though you have to swallow a fair bit of embarrassing silliness, at about the 4’30” mark is What You Got. I was surprised and quite pleased to hear that they sound exactly the same! Not a small feat for any band!

I do sometimes bemoan the lack of diversity on the radio these days, and I certainly will not be dragged into listening to a genre centric radio station. However, even with PC’s and the availability of countless tracks online I wonder how radio was slowly cornered into a musical landscape devoid of choice.

A few hours after reading what I written above it occurred to me that the genre specific stations are also serving an audience that wants just that – only one type of music that thrills them to core – and I can’t blame them at all. Even I get carried away for a week or two at a time listening to only funk, only pop, only soul or only rock. So, maybe I’m self-debating much ado about nothing.

In any case, the tracks still stand on their own – enjoy!

Sylvia: Pillow Talk (1973)
From: Pillow Talk

Duke and The Drivers: What You Got (1974?)
From: (?)

Addendum: A huge hat’s off to reader Nate C. for hooking me up with the Duke and The Drivers track! I have been looking high and low for this for many moons (see What I’ve Been (Unsuccessfully) Looking For on the right hand column) and outta the blue, comes an email from N.Y.! Thanks Nate. Much appreciated.

Dave Clark Five

2009-01-04T11:40:00.011-05:00

It’s amazing how time in the ER has the ability to force your head to turn around and refocus on the right priorities. You can almost hear the crackling and grinding of gears in your mind being cleared just as vividly as you could when you for instance work on taking a block of stone out of the middle of the wall it’s imbedded in – the cement being ground and dusted as the sharp chips fly about and the sandy, powdery residue falls and floats suspended in midair and the heavy feel of stone on stone as the block is being extracted.

Health, among other awakenings, has given me sharper clarity as to what needs to be further refined. It’s not that those subjects of importance were ever on the back burner – far, far from the thought! But maybe it helps to ever urge and wedge them even further into a more consecrated space.

Awake alone, I was struck, yet again, with one of Cupid’s deepest arrows. Watching my youngest while she slept this morning, so serene, the picture of angelic innocence, flooded me with the crushing weight of the enormity of love and devotion I have as a parent. I was bolted with the realization that I will not ever have the capacity to give my heart so meaningfully and completely to another on Earth than I have to my children.

You can have your many undulations and interpretations that come with a multitude and history of significant others along with the requisite variations of ‘till death do us part’, but no such candle of devotion would ever be noticed in the glowing white universe of worship that encompasses the love for a child.

I imagine that any parent would tell you these same things.

Because
From the day my oldest arrived to the homestead – from the DAY I say again, I was the one to put him into the crib after he fed. I would pick him up, cradle him to my shoulder and slowly, lethargically and purposely sway back and forth and hum this song. I hummed because I knew my deep hum would be comforting.

I hummed this every night – again, EVERY night until he was just shy of his eighteenth month birthday. That is something that no stellar award given to me thus far has ever been able to swell my head with as much accomplishment and pride as this has. I did the same to my next boy, and finally to my youngest – my daughter.

To this day, just before they fall asleep, I sit on their bed, one at a time, and sing/whisper this song to them. They know the routine – just at the last ‘Because, because …’, I stop(!) and they have to fill in the last ‘I-I love you’. Sometimes it takes longer than at other times, sometimes they smile and hold their breath as they tease me, and other times it’s as if they don’t want to be bothered, but I wait. And wait. And wait. Until they fill in the last ‘I love you.’ Meaningful nighttime routine I hope they will always remember.

As for the DC5? This certainly was a hit, but not one that you hear often. Most times we hear Glad All Over, Catch Us If You Can and if we’re lucky, Bits And Pieces. But none are sweeter than this timeless piece of fidelity.

It's right that I should care about you
And try to make you happy when you're blue
It's right, it's right to feel the way I do
Because, because I love you

It's wrong to say I don't think of you
'Cause when you say these things
You know it makes me blue

Give me one kiss and I'll be happy
Just, just to be with you
Give me, give me, a chance to be near you
Because, because I love you

The Red Balloon
Well, talk about coincidence! I had visited various web sites this past week for appropriate movies for my kids to watch this weekend and one of the recommendations was for The Red Balloon! It could not happen so smoothly if I had planned it myself.

I don’t know much of the history or charting of this track, but I’m sure a few of you more knowledgeable bloggers will. I have never heard this on the radio, so I’m happy to place it here! Maybe a few of you have knowledge of hearing or enjoying this in it’s time?

In and out of the Red Balloon
Marry the farmers daughter, yeah
Sleepy heads in the afternoon
Callow la, callow la Vita

Well the old man passed me by
And he didn't hear me cry
I didn't know his name
And he didn't come again

The sun was coming out
And the kids began to shout
The dogs began to bark
In that lovely Paris park... OH!

I was turned on to the DC5 by an older music fan who inundated me with his complete album and single collection – a devout and rabit fan of all things DC5. It was he who told me that they were the rock band that had the most appearances on the Ed Sullivan show!

I remember being on the high school track team and waiting on the field for the opposing team. We could see their bus, but no one came out for quite a while. After a bit, we heard, blaring from an amazing portable PA system that they had mounted next to their bus, Catch Us If You Can. Then, the all filed out, one at at time, and ran around the track until the end of the DC5 track. An inspiring entrance if there ever was one.

Even today, I can with glee break out the soundtrack to Having A Wild Weekend and froth myself up! As for the little ones (not so little anymore)? As soon as this blog is published, we’re going to watch The Red Baloon and enjoy the rest of the day just messing around.

Dave Clark Five: Because
Dave Clark Five: The Red Balloon
From: Glad All Over Again

Just happened to peruse and found this on YouTube:

Bringing Out The Childhood Christmas

2008-12-20T22:33:00.008-05:00

I guess it’s always nice to try to reach out farther and find the eclectic, rare or hidden. But sometimes it is nice to bring out the classics into their rightful place at the right time.

Perhaps it is true that you can never go home, but maybe we can, in a way, go home once in a while – even if it’s only in our hearts.

Must Be Santa Claus
This evokes a picture of three kids sitting on a couch, Mom standing over them, Dad sawing the bottom of a too tall tree and Mitch Miller belting out in the background. Sometimes so loud it was even in the foreground.

Be that as it may, Mitch always brings back sweet memories of warm cider, bright bulbs, hand made decorations from kindergarten, the scent of evergreen potpourri and stringing yards of cranberries and popcorn.

For some reason this song has kept itself bobbing in my mind for the last three or four days. Maybe because a little girl in pigtails keeps singing it with such enthusiasm is the reason. Or, maybe because she’s been singing it over and over and over again is the real reason.

Who very soon will come our way
Santa very soon will come our way

Eight little reindeer pull his sleigh
Santa's little reindeer pull his sleigh

Reindeer sleigh, come our way
HO HO HO, cherry nose
Cap on head, suit that's red
Special night, beard that's white

Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Must be Santa
Santa Clause

I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
Leave it to Dean to bring it all together with such class.

A very cool lounge classic for the pigtail girl, and the Dad as well, to sing along to. Even the two older brothers sometimes slip up and have it rolling out under their breath before they realize it and then try to catch it back.

Great music, like great literature or great beauty, knows no particular time period or generation.

I can't remember a worse December
Just watch those icicles form
What do I care if icicles form?
I've got my love to keep me warm

Off with my overcoat
Off with my glove
I need no overcoat
I'm burning with love

Mitch Miller: Must Be Santa Claus
Dean Martin: I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

A Cheerier Christmas Post

2008-12-18T05:57:00.005-05:00

From the reactions I received online and from those I talk to, it seems the reaction to my last post might be that I’m not in the ‘spirit’. And when I read it myself I had to agree. However, I don’t mean it that way. Really!

I’m simply trying to highlight the tracks that are not being played. I certainly feel that the last tracks aren’t going to be heard on the radio (or anywhere else) no matter the station. Let’s do another two that are going to be scarce.

Frosty The Snowman
You’ll probably hear this song but I don’t recall hearing the best version of all – that of the fantastic Ronettes! Two reasons I love this and must have it as a staple every December:
1) Phil Spector – say no more
2) The way she sings the word ‘Frosty’ is straight outa Brooklyn. Listen carefully for that unmistakable accent. Sort of tough sounding and it cracks me up every year on every listen. Even my kids try to get the accent right.

The Winter Song
Yea, I featured this one last year also, but once more, I never hear this. Allow me to repost from my Angel entry last year:

Punky Meadows as a band member is one of the few trivia facts that come to mind when I think of the band Angel. Part of the LA based troupe that included The Runaways. All things considered (timing, the continually evolving state of music and the then current breed of musicians), Angel was one of the right bands at the right time. They were at once theatrical, glam, metal and ostentatious – always dressed in all white. They were ‘hard’ rock and roll that was easily digestible and if not mega-successful, they at least were what we once called a ‘cult band’.

However, conversely to their image, on this track they managed to create a magical triumph of beauty, enlisting the exquisite madrigal vocals of Seraphim and Cherubim. Intoxicating with its restrained swirl of organ, twelve string guitar and exultant bass, it has been perfectly coalesced and tempered just as the introduction of velvet wraiths join in glorious abandon.

Just as I am often entranced by this track, I am just as often perplexed as to why we do not hear this on the radio at this time of year, especially given the subject matter. But, you know my many opinions on the state of radio by now.

By the fireplace, there's a smile on every face.
The ice begins to cling, listen to the children sing.
Looking outside, the city lights all come alive.
People running all around, they fill the streets with a happy sound.

There's a feeling in the air, feel the spirit everywhere.
Winter winds on heaven and earth.
Hear the Angels join the choir, let them take the music higher.
Through winter days on heaven and earth.

The Ronettes: Frosty The Snowman
Angel: The Winter Song

Santa Clause

2008-12-12T06:16:00.004-05:00

Know how it is when you have one of those … months? Life seems to get in the way and you just have those lazy, hazy, crazy days and nights. That’s been me.

No writing automaton thoughts. Not even curious to see what’s out there that’s been written by anyone else. I’ve just been mentally arid. That’s also been me.

But, here comes that feeling again.

Musically speaking, if I hear yet another hollow version of Here Comes Santa Claus, Blue Christmas or Do You Hear What I Hear on the 24/7 radio stations, I’m gonna cut someone!

Santa Clause, Santa Claus
I mentioned last year that this is the tune that I deliberately play first during this coming season, year after year after year. And it just seems to get better with each listen. Louie doesn’t want something superfluous, he just wants lost love. Even without a bow.

Santa Claus, Santa Claus
I’m in misery I’m in misery
If you wanna make me happy
Bring my baby back to me

Santa Claus, Santa Claus
When you come this year
Forget that hydromatic kiddie-car
I just want my baby here

Even Santa Gets The Blues
Though I know the name, Marty Stuart is a new artist for me. I admit I don’t know much at all about the man, but after opening this present last week I plan on getting to know more about him. Spoken from the view of the jolly old elf himself, sometimes even St. Nick gets mellow and blase.

What I wouldn’t give for one silent night!
Just me and Mama Claus by the warm firelight.
But Christmas time is coming
Just so much to do
Even Santa Gets The Blues

Well I know every single chimney like the back of my hand.
People leave me milk and cookies,
I just think that’s grand.
As the story goes I’m a dearly loved man.
But the reason for the season,
Some folks just don’t understand!

So it’s back to the workshop, and make more toys.
Can’t wait to give them to all the girls and boys.
Im hooking up my sleigh, go ahead and spread the news,
But sometimes, even Santa Clause gets the blues.

Louis Jordan: Santa Claus, Santa Claus
Marty Stuart: Even Santa Gets The Blues

Arlo Guthrie

2008-11-27T09:53:00.008-05:00

There are swarms of bloggers straining to be original on this Thanksgiving day, using terabytes of internet resources, years of accumulated music collecting, all for the purpose of finding songs related to eating, shopping for food, being stuffed or songs with the word turkey in them. God bless them for the devotion, energy and free time.

Despite reading pages and pages of these sites, you would think that the most obvious choice would be out there duplicated time and again. However, I didn’t find even one site with the Arlo Guthrie standard! What?

Recorded in 1967, (and also known as "Alice's Restaurant Massacree") Arlo tells the true story of how he went to a friend’s deconsecrated church (restaurant for the song) and after a Thanksgiving dinner put out the trash. Not realizing that the dump was closed, he and a friend were arrested for littering. Brought up two days later in front of a judge that was blind, and unable to see the photographs that the arresting officer had laboriously marked with circles and arrows showing the littler, they were eventually given a small fine.

Forwarding a bit in time from there, his arrest for littering caught up with him in front of the draft board when they included him on a bench reserved for convicted criminals. Ironically, he famously asks:

"I'm sittin here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug?"

I’m summerizing of course, but there’a a lot more of the history and lore of the song at the Wikipedia page for Alice’s Restaurant.

Nice side note is that the area where the song takes place is in absolutely beautiful Great Barrington, which is not too far from Old Sturbridge Village (rural colonial New England way of life tourist attraction).

Today, remember to be thankful for what you have been blessed with. Too many around you are secretly envious.
Alice’s Restaurant
From: Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant [1967]

Addendum: I’ve written again for WNEW. This time the Hidden Gems post is on Ellen Foley and Young Lust. Get over there and leave a comment!

Joan Osborne

2008-11-09T11:07:00.016-05:00

I’ve expounded time and again on this blog in one way or another, about how impressed and appreciative I am when an artist can melt down and recreate a song in such a way that makes me think of the reinterpretation as being creative and individualistic enough that I can now think of it as their own.

It’s not enough to simply speed it up, or give it a new middle eight, or mix the verses, or slow it down. On the other hand, it would be going too far when it’s made so completely different that it makes me squint my eyes, tilt my head and wonder why it’s so completely unrecognizable. It has to have new life breathed into it, evolve as new genesis, and become symbiotic art.

Joan Osborne is an artist who I respect not only for her ability to release quality output that has stayed beneath the radar while gathering a respectable and growing audience, but also for the choices she has made in the music world. She’s had the obligatory hit, One Of Us (1995), she’s recorded with the Funk Brothers, toured with the Dixie Chicks and for a brief tenure joined the Grateful Dead. During all this time, she has released music that one can willing sit down to and be pleased about.

In 2002 Joan achieved what I look and listen for when taking on the task of covering someone else’s material when she released How Sweet It Is in 2002, a potent mix of soul and rock.

What added to my piqued interest was Joan’s choice of artists to cover. No middleweight choices here, she took on the heavy and holy – artists that would intimidate or become a gelatinous mess of a cover in lesser hands. She took on no less than Jimi Hendrix, Edwin Starr, Delaney and Bonnie, Sly Stone and the Band among others.

Think
Straight ahead disgust with restrained determination. The rhythm section marches in unison with resolved and focused grit right alongside Joan while the background vocals urge the sinner to “let your mind go”.

I’ll Be Around
It was a far reach for me to think that anyone could cover effectively one of my favorite tracks of all time – one I had felt was unapproachable and blasphemous to even ponder covering. However, Joan handily won me over with her downy sincere surrender of devotion that swaddles the rendering with a patina of charm and feminine grace.

Whenever I have the urge to listen to the above tracks, it’s always a difficult decision to choose from either the original or covered version. Both choices for either track are going to be the winner.

Joan Osborne: Think
Joan Osborne: I'll Be Around
From: How Sweet It Is [2002]

Addendum: How lucky we are to be able to choose from hundreds of downloads each day in this blogsphere of ours. Some days the choices are so plentiful that I find myself a whore, downloading everything I see, or with so many choices, I am sometimes stultified into apathy. That’s why it’s such a pleasure to find a well-written verse, or a beautifully written rumination of life every so often. Either can move me deeply, and more so because I am so unprepared for the beauty enveloped within the prose.

Two such blogs have recently written passages that continue to move me. I apologize for late recognition.

One, among many exemplary pieces by ib on his SbLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS, is titled ‘the library ticket’.

The other, again among many others, is by whiteray on Echoes In The Wind titled ‘A Halloween Tale’.

Prodigious writers both and towering examples of passages weaving tales that are worth reading.

Addendum 2: I continue to contribute to the great WNEW blog. My last week contribution was on the Association and Requiem For The Masses. Write a comment if you feel moved when I contribute.

Requisite (Late) Halloween Post

2008-10-30T21:56:00.009-04:00

(Been trying to upload to Savefile for days!!)

Succinct post tonight before I lay back showcasing two favorite, and underplayed, tracks that go well with the Halloween spirit.

D.O.A.
From the band that shared the talented producer Terry Knight with Grand Funk, comes this tale of crash and die in a morbid and gruesome way.

White Rabbit
Creepy, albeit growling, crunching remake of the Grace Slick/Jefferson Airplane standard. From the movie Resident Evil: Extinction.

Neither should be listened to alone in the dark.

Bloodrock: D.O.A.
Collide (Spc Eco Mix): White Rabbit

Addendum 11/04/08: I have a new post over on WNEW, Hidden Gems: Requiem For The Masses by the Association. Get over there and leave a comment when you can.

They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore! (1976)

2008-10-13T20:58:00.011-04:00

You know, one day you’ve got long wavy hair, you’re riding a monster jet-roaring, pocket-rocket, get in all the cool clubs for free because you work at the coolest one of them all that’s right down the street, get to see all the crowd-drawing bands for free, drink free all night long, have a great bachelor pad with three female roommates, have a respectable, cushy bill-paying day job and you’re also whimsically dating the local Helen of Troy.

Then the next day you look in the bathroom mirror and with shock in your voice exclaim ‘Who the hell put up the poster of my Father?’

Good ol’ Dad. You can’t help but notice that as time has passed you not only look like Dad, but you act like Dad in so many ways, and even speak like Dad at times!

One of the things Dad used to say that’s particularly ringing true in my head is “They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!” He used to listen to a few of his favorite LP’s, sit up, smile and with genuine joy utter that famous line as if proclaiming creativity and drawbridges to the heart stopped thirty years ago.

Funny how I hear myself using that same phrase every once in a while.

Disco Lady
Johnny Taylor was no stranger to success. He replaced Sam Cook in the Soul Stirrers, had a monster 1969 hit with Who’s Makin’ Love, signed to Stax, recorded Cheaper To Keep Her and his 1996 album Good Love! For the Malaco label went to #1 on the blues charts. Talk about longevity, the man even went on to DJ for a bit in Dallas/Ft. Worth.

In 1976 Johnny had one of the smoothest, groovin’, slick songs on the chart with the smash Disco Lady. Don’t let the title jerk you - this was not to be confused with the Shake Your Groove Thing disco, this was humid, clothes wet, animal, sexual soul that pleases from within. Featuring an electric piano opening that bores to the core right away, a surgically precise guitar and wah-wah that can’t go unnoticed, a silky voiced Johnny shows that he also has the range to pivot into a sexy growl. Dig it!

Move it in, move it out
Shove it in round about, disco lady

Hey, sexy lady
Girl, you drive me crazy
You dance so fine and your right on time

Girl, you driving me out of my mind, ya
If it wasn't for the girl sittin' next to me
I'd jump right up and outta my seat you see
You got me hyp-no-tized, so mes-mor-ized

Girl, your movin' me
Girl your groovin' me

Dazz
Showing that you can fuse any combination of music together, Brick actually penned the title Dazz by combining their two major influences, disco and jazz.

Side thought and cause of constant consternation: the short version of this track that you hear on the radio (yea, when was the last time?) clocks in at 3’22. The version I always play (and you also) is a hefty, hearty and more pleasing 5’39. For an extra 2’17 you’d think they would play it – if only to chew up airtime. But alas, there’s no fulfillment there.

Everybody go on and dance if you want to
Music makes your body move, well all right
Funky dancing get up, get down, shake your booty
Music makes your body move, well all right

Jazz dazz (disco jazz)
Jazz dazz (disco jazz)

The killer for me is at 2’31 where the flute and whistler come in together. Think a flute can’t be killer? This’ll prove you wrong. Kicking in at 3’14 is the bass line that someone sampled sometime ago and I’ll be damned if I can’t remember right now. Any help? This is the track to play to get everyone’s ass off the chair.

These are pure, satisfying, comfort songs. Both from 1976. Let me now quote for you something you may find yourself saying from time to time, “They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!”

Johnnie Taylor: Disco Lady
Brick: Dazz
From: Rhythm & Blues [1976] (No link found. ?Not available anymore?)

Addendum 1: I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that my reason for thinking of Dad in the first place came directly after reading darcy’s blog Feel It. The Dad that he had been blogging about for some time now has sadly passed away. I know that all of our sincerest and most heartfelt condolences are with him and his family in his time of need. Make the time to get over and help him along.

Addendum 2: Apparently I did alright (also thanks for the encouragement – again – from the good dj), and WNEW is going to post my second article. It’s shaping up that I’m going to concentrate on, and feature, “Hidden Gems”. This time I write about a band that I blasted in my own blog on August 2nd ‘08 in the Addendum section. But, I insist that they have a few that have endured and can still make me cheer!

What I listened to in the 80’s (Part 1)

2008-10-06T18:01:00.024-04:00

When I hear a radio retro 80's weekend filled with Culture Club, Duran Duran, Soft Cell, Stray Cats, the Bangles, Pat Benatar, Tears for Fears, Foreigner, Quarterflash and Fine Young Cannibals I have to take pause. There was so much more than that during the eighties that I remember!

Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Fixx, the Smiths, the Clash, PIL … and countless others were mainstays of the alternative party/club scene that never get a reflection on any station. Seriously, when was the last time you EVER heard a Ramones song on the radio? And, damn it, you could not miss them - they were everywhere!

Don’t get me wrong; I dug on Oingo Boingo, Madness, Joe Jackson, the Motors and other Top 40 - 100, but where is the representation of the rest of the era? Where’s the justice?

But, I feel a rant coming on, so I’ll let it slide. The great thing about having way too many tracks, as the music whore I am, is that I can reminisce freely and play what I remember being revved up on.

Homicide
These are a few angry, angry men here. Bellowing with the call for murder, one can almost see the froth dripping and spittle catapulted from the lips of these Brit punkers.

Amazingly, they guys turned away Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders) and Tony James (Gen-X) when they auditioned for the band. I personally prefer the live version, which gave it so much more of a livid stamp, but this’ll do.

Listen for the slight chuckle at the end. I like to think it tongue in cheek.

I believe in homicide i rest my case,
Don't cast a sigh you'd better believe it,
That's the truth of it take it or leave it, resign to it
Homicide!
No one cares when someone lies they'd rather say
That it's a red alert
You'd better believe it,
That's the truth of it take it or leave it,
Resign to it
Homicide, homicide, homicide, homicide!

Skin Deep
Why wasn’t this a ‘hit’? It certainly was with the crowd I ran with, and we’d hear it on our local favorite station WFNX 101.7 in Boston quite a lot. They played all the alternative music that we craved. Matter of fact, I think it was on FNX that I heard the term ‘alternative’ used for the first time as a station format.

The Stranglers weren’t punk, not quite goth, not pop, but could have easily fit nearly into any one of those slots. When the Ramones toured the UK for the first time, the Stranglers warmed up the crowds, and it was in the UK that Skin Deep peaked the charts at #15. Shame it never charted in the US as it’s a good composition and a nice dance-to as well.

Many people tell you that they're your friend
You believe them
You need them
For what's round the river bend
Make sure that you're receiving the signals they send
'Cause brother you've only got two hands to lend
Maybe there's someone who makes you weep
And some nights loom up ahead

When you're asleep
Some days there's things on your mind you should keep
Sometimes it's tougher to look than to leap
Better watch out for the Skin Deep

So when someone throws out Kangagoogoo, Lipps Inc., Cristopher Cross, Queen, Kenny Rogers, M, Human League or Phil Collins, sure, I’ll take a listen and have me some guilty pleasures once in a while. But I also remember that the music scene was a hell of a lot deeper than what the Top 40 tells me it was.

999:

Homicide [1977]
Can be found on: The Best of 999 [1998]

The Stranglers: Skin Deep [1984]
Can be found on: Aural Sculpture [2001]

Addendum 1: Adding video starting with this post.

Addendum 2: The folks over at WNEW have asked me to write for them! I’ve always thought my style (if I do indeed have a style) is rather rough and stream of thought, and not as polished as what I read there. Joel, my contact man, really put me through a lot of rewrites to get it just right for the site, but I had fun doing it. I’ve always admired the site and a few of my fellow bloggers that I read voraciously (such as the good dj over at The Hits Just Keep On Coming) post there. So, that was really the tipping point for me. My first post is on the Motels and the song Dressing Up. If you get a chance, get over there and leave a comment letting me know what you think.

Reexaminating Ziggy Stardust

2008-09-29T06:22:00.012-04:00

It’s a sorry statement that even the best of bloggers tend to have the habit of condensing and boiling down an artist’s catalog into the most base and common denominators.

While we tend to roll out with gleeful delight and snobbish superiority our bangles of track obscurities and private elitist delights, some of us from time to time need someone to grab, with a skilled and muscled arm, the poles of our private, twirling musical calliopes and forcibly grind the damn machine gears to a halt.

Me? I on occasion tend to be one of the more blatant examples of trumpeting out the ‘hidden’ or the ‘buried’ and have even been called eclectic to that end.

When showcasing tracks from colossal and prestigious albums past, instead of stating the all too obvious, we sorely sometimes need to take pause and decelerate enough to cull, peruse and pick apart the essence of a monumental album - in hindsight. Such is the case with Bowie’s 1972 Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

I am going to, from time to time, enjoy reexamining albums that are carelessly tossed about in snobbish trivia parlor games as among the “greatest of the greatest” with more attention to the not forgotten, but lesser of the well remembered tracks that made the album worth listening to.

While we could extol the virtuoso that is “Moonage Daydream”, the majesty of “Ziggy Stardust” and the impact of “Suffragette City” we tend to forget that this was not just a short playing EP. This was a full length LP brimming with musical impressions that went far beyond its release! I believe that here, we have an illustration showing that the sum of the album is not greater than the parts.

To start off with, let’s revisit a few of the missing parts and pieces of Ziggy Stardust that helped make this the gargantuan Titan it still is today, realizing that this isn’t a definitive sampling, but merely a wedge into further review.

It Ain’t Easy
This is the only song on the album not written by Davie Jones but who would have known? I’ve always felt that one of the hallmark traits of a great artist is their ability to embrace a song, work their original machinations on it and have the output sound as if they had indeed spawned it on their own.

Intensely powerful with thumping bass keeping time, and alternating between David’s vocal and acoustic guitar and Mick Ronson’s distinct, godlike lead, this is some of the most dynamic 2’58 Bowie has ever laid out.

Here’s a candied tidbit: among many others, did you know that Three Dog Night covered this song?

When you climb to the top of the mountain
Look out over the sea
Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be
Then you jump back down to the rooftops
Look out over the town
Think about all of the strange things circulating round

It ain't easy, it ain't easy
It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down

Lady Stardust
Without a doubt, one cannot escape the time period in which Ziggy was released – the glorious glam rock trend. Ziggy was actually a steeled stamp upon it. Written with the original title of ‘A Song For Marc’ - Marc Bolan, he of gigantic stature and influence in glam, this is a monster, marble cornerstone of the album, placed on track one, side two.

Understood within the Glam context, the track unquestionably takes on a different meaning reflecting on Marc. But, given that we’re interpreting it with reference to a star man, we now have a unique perspective into the story, and persona, of Ziggy.

The piano is played in such an exquisitely expressive manner that I can clearly see this standing alone as an instrumental!

People stared at the makeup on his face
Laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace

The boy in the bright blue jeans
Jumped up on the stage
And lady stardust sang his songs
Of darkness and disgrace

And he was alright, the band was altogether
Yes he was alright, the song went on forever
And he was awful nice
Really quite out of sight
And he sang all night long

Yea, we could sit back on our haunches and talk of “Rock and Roll Suicide”, “Five Years” and “Soul Love”, simulating verbally that we know the core of the album lying beneath the usually defined tracks. But, I strongly feel that the above two are seldom discussed and much too easily overlooked.

It’s time to give reverential due not only to the body as a whole, but to the supporting cast. Let's dispense feigning expertise without complete knowledge.

David Bowie: It Ain’t Easy
David Bowie: Lady Stardust
From: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars [1972]

Mood Mellow

2008-09-21T23:20:00.019-04:00

Sometimes, one feels in a ‘mellow mood’. Not melancholy, not introspective, but joyfully serene. As I came out of my three hours hike through the forest, I was in a calmer mood than I had been in a while.

The beauty of having such a large musical palette is that for the many, varied moods I naturally have, I can most times, if I make the effort, find an appropriate track or two. Today, I am fortunate to have suitable tracks to fulfill my mellow mood.

Wind
Jerry Jeff Walker should not be a reach for anyone who knows music. He’s a fine songwriter that’s been around for years and has in his pocket a few tracks that have been covered. ‘Mr. Bo Jangles’ is most likely his most noted. Though he didn’t write ‘Wind’, when Jerry was in the 60’s psychedelic/country/folk band Circus Maximus, there was one song that used to be played, and appreciated on FM, from the self-titled album that you never hear anymore. This was around the time that ‘White Bird’ by It’s A Beautiful Day was also popular on FM. (I could have easily also chosen 'White Bird' for this post.)

There’s so much beauty in this song that it’s hard to not play it over and over. Soft, with jazz overtones, it has a tendency to fill me with joy and peaceful contentment. Listen and become more enriched.

You say that once you knew for sure.
Now you’re walking in the shore, to wonder.
The more you learn the less you know.
The more you move, the more you go to nowhere.

You ask the bird as she files by,
Just where she’s at?
She says ‘where the wind blows’.

Ask her by that what she means,
She says she doesn’t know.
But as she flew away she seemed to say
The wind is -
Love.

Is the wind.
Wind, is my love.
Who knows the wind?
Who knows my love?
Where blows the wind?
The wind is -
My love.

Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)
Music Of My Mind was without a doubt a major milestone for Stevie. But, it’s this particular song from that album that is sadly overlooked when playing Mr. Wonder - which, for me, is among the most elite compositions he has ever graced us with. In actuality it can be justly taken as two tracks melded into one, but the conjoining is well placed and pleasing.

Any platitudes would be banal in comparison to the listening experience, so I’m not going to try to climb over that gorge.

Mary wants to be another movie star.
But is that really in her mind?
And all the things she wants to be
She needs to leave behind.

But, very well, I believe I know you very well.
Wish that you knew me too-very well.
And I think I can deal with everything
Going through your head.

Very well, and I think I can face very well.
Wish that you knew me too-very well.
And I think I can cope with everything going
Through your head.

Enjoy the brightness of this, one of the last days of short sleeves with a few tracks that augment the joy of a tranquil tone of mind.

Circus Maximus: Wind

From: Circus Maximus [1967]

Stevie Wonder: Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)

From: Music Of My Mind [1972]

Addendum: I'm having a very difficult time trying to find the Genya Raven album I've listed to the right of my postings under 'What I'm (Unsuccessfully) Trying To Locate'. Any ideas?

Richard Wright

2008-09-16T01:07:00.008-04:00

Founding member, pianist, composer and vocalist with Pink Floyd has fallen.

The Great Gig In The Sky
From: Dark Side Of The Moon [1973]

Wearing The Inside Out
From: The Division Bell [1994]

The Rings

2008-09-14T10:23:00.012-04:00

Patience is a virtue. Or so they say. Who the heck are ‘they’ anyway when someone says that?

Mike at Fusion 45 has been asking for a while now for something about The Rings, a Boston based band from the early 80’s that made it nationally with “Let Me Go".

Let me tell you, few bands, seen live, could excite me as much as The Rings did back in their heyday. I used to see them at Boston Mecca’s like The Rat, Spit, Cantones and I believe I saw them at Bunratty’s. The crushing power pop, hooks that dug deep and a tightness rarely seen out of a studio saw me going time after time and playing their freshman offering over and over. It’s one of those albums that when you hear a track off of it you transport mentally to a certain time and place.

Originally named ‘The Rings Of Saturn’, the band included Bob Gifford on bass and vocals, Mark Sutton on guitar and vocals, Mike Baker on guitar and Bob Woodbury on drums. To me, they’re another one of those ‘should have been huge’ bands from Boston that for one reason or another didn’t quite grasp the brass hook – along with ‘The Atlantics’. Shame too, because they were a quality band that didn’t need gimmicks to get the music across.

There's a great writeup of The Rings - and info on lots of other Boston bands, at a nice storage facility I found recently called Boston Rock Storybook held together by Joe Harvard. Joe's got a good rock and roll story to relay, and he's 'been there, done that', playing with the likes of Unnatural Axe (who I saw numerous times) and has even played with, and calls among his friends, Willie "Loco" Alexander (personal favorite of mine) and the great Johnathan Richmond.

Third Generation
No nonsense rock with a fast beat, superb lead that accentuates without a need to be pushy, drums that actually sound as if they’re contributing instead of being just part of the backbeat and with enough continuity but diversification of sound that pulls it all into one cohesive brawny blast.

Third Generation got nothing to say!
Second generation don’t get in the way.

We don’t ever want to take no time,
We just wanna steal it.
Don’t you ever think its gonna be a crime?
Don’t you every feel it?

Standing out lazy make you crazy.
Make you wanna scream and shout.
Never put it out never put it on,
You’re inside looking out!

I said, Third Generation got nothing to say.
Second generation don’t get in the way!

Got My Wish
Indeed, it was The Rings ability to diversify that was part of my attraction to their music.

This track was (is) probably the one I played the most frequently well into today’s writing. It almost reminds me of Alice Cooper (circa Ballad Of Dwight Frye) with an inference to being let out of the loony bin and then his hesitant peek and foray into freedom that within a short time ultimately puts him back into another stretch of Lithium heaven.

Yesterday at eight, they let me out
The door slammed with a clang.
They gave a new pair of shoes, a shirt and pants,
But I don’t they fit me quite right.
Well I think the scarf’s too tight.

Last night I walked again in the open.
Well I think it’s been about 10 years.
I don’t mind, I’ve been doing all kinds of thinking!

I got my wish last night
I got my wish last night
I got my wish last night

Side note: I use this track as one of the cool down songs after a workout. Weird writing it down, but, there it is.

Let Me Go
Anyone that reads this blog is well aware of my propensity for not highlighting a track that was popular on the radio, but for all of those not familiar with The Rings, this is the one that was played on the radio that broke them out, and I feel a disservice for not including it.

Well I been checking on you,
You been checking on me.
I been checking all over town girl,
Ill tell you what I see.

I see all the strange faces.
I hear all the strange names.
You say yes, I say no,
All my life yea!

Oh no, let me go.
Well I don’t need your suspicion, oh no!
Oh no let me go.
Oh why you being so vicious?

Does power pop, or just plain power rock, get better than this? As a composition that has you either fast pacing toward the dance arena or playing the air guitar, it won’t dissuade me from the opinion that it doesn't get much better than this.

And, thanks for your patience Mike.

The Rings: Third Generation
The Rings: Got My Wish
The Rings: Let Me Go
From: The Rings [1981]

Addendum: Special thanks to Zack and Andy who helped me listen to some of the lyrics over and over until they sounded correct (we think)!

Anyone have a line to Duke and The Drivers "What You Got"?

12" Of Raw Power

2008-09-03T21:33:00.007-04:00

Was a time when extending a three or four minute single into a long-playing disk was all the rage. Some went to five minutes and some went all the way to twenty minutes and longer.

Actually the point brings me to an opposing tangent – was a time when a long playing track was cut down to an AM palpable three to four minute time – “Time Has Come Today” by The Chambers Brothers and “Inna Gadda Da Vida” by Iron Butterfly jump up to be noticed. Or, “Riders On The Storm” by The Doors comes to mind along with The Temptations “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”. There are many, many more you can trump out I’m sure.

But, from the disco era forward (think Donna Summers and over sixteen minutes of “Love To Love You Baby”), 12” singles were wildly in vogue and could be bought at any mom and pop vinyl venue. I touched on this quickly in my Kinks post a short while ago when I posted “(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman”. Even long established artists such as The Rolling Stones, Greg Kihn, Kiss, Blondie, Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Echo And The Bunnymen, Gene Loves Jezebel and a slew of others jumped on the fad. And guess what? They sold millions! Matter of fact, I’m amazed that I can’t find more of these on other sites that offer music downloads. Know any?

Anyone with a ‘hit’ single started to release not only the shorter original singles, but a 12” extended play to go along with it. I’m imagining that with the exception of die-hard fans of the band, or compulsive music catalogue completists (ok, I’ll raise my hand), these long playing singles sold mainly within the club scene. And as for myself, I can see why. A great song, a truly great song can withstand the strain of elongating the intro, or the mesmerizing melody, or a haunting phrasing, or an instrument passage that begs to be let loose with expansion.

Out of the flood in the market of these singles I would sometimes find amazing extended plays that today I could never imagine as short singles. Or, if I happen to hear the original studio version, I can’t shake the burden of somehow feeling cheated out of listening to the full 12” version.

Walk The Night
Truth is, I never have heard the ‘short’ version of this song – if one does indeed exist. I only know this 5’21” crusher and I’ll take it. Meant to be played loud and to make you slightly uncomfortable with the content, this has been a top 40 single of mine for years.

How can I begin to describe the brutal cerebral imagery this conjures up or the quickening of pulse that’s so involuntary?

The opening hits you mercilessly and pries your senses agape as effortlessly as you’d bust a clamshell with a hand held piece of granite. The bass is proud but sinister and the beat impossible to resist. The unsettling scraping of a guitar pick on electrified strings certainly makes its presence and its evil known but is still periphery action - like a side kick thug who is just as malicious, but waits and watches for his leader to gesture him into action. And then, at 0'17”, a scream – is it a scream of pain, or a scream of pleasure? Follow this with a deep, threatening, disturbing chuckle (a taunt?), a crisp, precise top hat clicking time and the guitar that is the building lull before razor jawed judgment spews?

The onslaught is upon us. The central drive of all that is the track drives forward with one terrible upward thrust. And the front wavers, with a rippling affect that’s felt right to the back of the line.

And, then comes the scream - ONE of the screams in fact.

But, one cannot but help being drawn into the circling musical vortex, this track is magnificent in its force! As dark of a picture I’ve probably painted, can’t you feel how unceremoniously magnetized you’d be pulled onto the dance floor?

At 2’48” can you almost feel the vertigo, the loss of bodily function as another scream seems to plummet forever through an infinite shaft that can’t reasonably be fathomed.

And then, as your senses have regrouped and begun to coagulate once more, at 3’46” they turn the track onto unmapped territory and transform into something that’s completely at odds with what’s been established - wholly different. What a turnaround and what a surprising and pleasing twist! This is a track that’ll stick to your ribs!

Upon his lips the taste of pain.
Venom kiss of love insane.
He's got a rod beneath his coat,
He’s gonna ram right down your throat.
Make you grovel on the floor
Spit, bump, and scream and beg for more!

He'll whip ya!
And strip ya down.
A hotshot!
Gotcha!

True story: Just before I went back to my pad for the first time with a date (long, long time ago), I played this track in the car – loud, and mouthing the lyrics with a grin. She suddenly opted out of the opportunity to spend the night. In retrospect, I can now see why, what with the gay s/m sheen all over it, but back then I was just so into the music and mood, that it never occurred to me that when playing it for someone else, it might be misinterpreted as ... I don't know, dangerous maybe? To me, it's still just music. A few years later, the same scenario with someone else - but she really dug it, laughing out loud and bopped right along with the beat.

Go figure.

Sun City
I remember I bought this right after I heard it for the first time on one of the local Boston stations – WBCN I think. They played the whole 7’03” and I devoured it. It’s the constant singing of the lyrics “I ain’t gonna play Sin City” that hit me, just as I had mentioned in the opening paragraphs. Over and over, it’s infectious without being sickeningly repetitive.

Long story short, Sin City is (was?) a casino resort in South Africa. South Africa, of course, was still practicing apartheid, but despite that misery, bands would still go and play there – reaping tidy sums of money.

So Steve Van Zandt (Little Steven) of Springsteen fame, wrote this as a square fist against a round face to the artists who reaped rewards playing for segregated audiences. As was also customary at the time it was written, more than a few noted artists played on the track including The Boss himself, Miles Davis, Darryl Hannah (!), Gil-Scott Heron, Kurtis Blow, Ruffin, Kendrix, Ray Barretto – yea, heavy hitters. There’s a nice article on Wikipedia that talks the details.

For me though, it’s the backing vocals, the screeching horns, the punishing beat and the length that all combine to make this a favored 12” single. Again though, if one exists I never heard a shorter 45 version.

Our Government tell us "we're doing all we can"
Constructive engagement is Ronald Reagan's plan
Meanwhile people are dying and giving up hope
This quiet diplomacy ain't nothing but a joke

I ain't gonna play Sun City
I ain't gonna play Sun City(Everybody Say)
I ain't gonna play Sun City (No baby)
I ain't gonna play Sun City

I have a whole case and a half of these 12” singles buried among the too-large vinyl collection, and I treasure them. Somewhere around six or seven years ago someone offered me (what I thought was) an outrageous sum of money for the whole lot of ‘em. I declined. I still love listening to them!

The Skatt Brothers: Walk The Night
Artists United Against Apartheid: Sun City

Billy Paul

2008-08-31T11:36:00.014-04:00

So, am I the last one in the joint that’s been turned on to Billy Paul’s ‘Greatest Hits’?

But, in a way I’m thinking that it’s not such a bad thing when I think of it in terms of being turned on to something I’ve never heard before. And, I loves me music I’ve never heard before – especially by an artist that I only know as a one hit wonder. Which in Billy’s case is “Me And Mrs. Jones.”

I literally only heard something different by Billy just around one month ago driving back home from a friend’s house – I think it was on an NPR station here in the Worcester area, 90.5. And, as it’s playing I’m thinking, “I know this voice, but who is it?” Turns out, much to my surprise, to be Mr. Paul.

I thought it so different, that I knew that I had to have the complete album pronto. To my surprise it has many, many tracks that are simply wonderful! Filled with melody, somewhat radical interpretations and all delightfully soulful.

Your Song
This is the tune my ears were treated to as I drove home that night. As many of you know, I’m a sucker for a tune that almost redefines the original and I believe that this is the case here. At first, I thought it a bit of a stumble when he pauses and elongates the phrases beginning with “How wonderful life is …”, but now I can feel just how much it adds. I try to imagine that Sir Elton smiles when he hears this.

It’s Too Late
Some improvisation displayed here alongside a fine flute, bongos and tight as can be arrangement. Yet again, I think that the original composer - Carole King, is happy knowing that her song is in good adopted hands. This is ‘Light and breezy’, without drifting into bedtime, background music – which in a lesser hand, would have been so easy to do.

Billy Paul: Your Song
Billy Paul: It’s Too Late
From: Greatest Hits

Addendum: Thanks to two readers of this blog, bubblehead and G Simmermaker, I have successfully acquired a title from my 'What I'm (unsuccessfully) Searching For' list which is located to the right of this blog. They both found that I could get it for FREE through the generosity of Tom Robinson on his own web site! Thank you to you both, and thank you to Tom Robinson.

Cecilia Noel and The Wild Clam

2008-08-17T15:53:00.011-04:00

I live in the ‘penthouse’, the 11th floor, of a very tall building nestled in a cosmopolitan area here in Mass. Unbeknowenced to me, and to my shocking surprise and giddy delight, a cultural festival is taking place directly on the very next block, just across the street, right outside my windows.

The Latin festival, I found out, is a yearly celebration here frothing over with vendors selling beads and baubles of dazzling colors and dozens of configurations twisted into jewelry, earrings, bracelets and mini statues, t-shirts of a thorny crowned, bloody Jesus right next to t-shirts of the grim reaper, a Goya tent with samples and coupons, someone in a costume of the sun (?) shaking hands while posing for the occasional picture, banners representing each and every Latin country from all over the world and food merchants selling dozens of exotic foods tearing gently at my nostrils and which somehow have a direct gravitational pull on my wallet.

The air is filled with an intermittent burst of lost balloons plummeting skyward that compete absentmindedly with the churning waves of the crowd that ebb and flow to one area or another in this densely packed throng struggling with baby carriages, social clots that stand and chatter wherever they collide - bursting with smiles, cheers, handshakes and kisses, and flag wavers, swaying the flag of a certain country left and right, proud of their lineage but oblivious to the head ducking of those around them. The streets around my building are barricaded off for blocks, allowing foot traffic that must have come from miles around judging from the multitudes that have descended.

It’s a tumultuous and exciting festival, crowded and thick with hundreds of colorfully clad people – and I am surprised that many of the women dress as if they’re straight out of a Univision skit.

Not able to withstand the torture of smelling without tasting, I decided on a fried plantain split down the tender middle and filled with a melted, spicy cheese. Almost decadent in taste, I offered a bite to my kids and they nibbled at it like it was asparagus warm off the stalk. More appealing to them were the dozens of unfamiliar fruit smoothies with chunks of guava, pineapple, tamarind and coconut. I also was beckoned, like a dowser with a rod, to the empanadas that are larger than an oversized fist clogged with spicy, hot sausage, mixed vegetables and cheese.

Smack dab in the middle the festival, the centerpiece is a stage set up from the back of an enormous trailer truck that has given performer after performer a vehicle to stand above the crowd and give it their all for about fifteen minutes apiece. Let me be the first to tell you that they brought plenty of excess wattage!

They opened the festival around 11:00AM on Saturday with Santana’s ‘Europa’ hovering over the sound system, followed by a few more of his smoother highlights. But then, it was a free for all in terms of talent and variety of act. A highlight for me were what I first thought was going to be a clown act. From my vantage point in my kitchen, high above the throngs, I can see behind the stage, and noting the clown costumes, I groaned under my breath. But, once onstage they pounded into a Latin musical number that just blew me away! Tight, horn-filled, they buckled the passersby’s with a rhythm designed to sway hips and nod heads. Simply put, outstanding!

The rest of the day (and night) found the stage with every sort of musical act from little girls in very pretty white dresses along with little boys in white ‘peasant’ clothes and straw hats, dancing and singing, then to traditional mariachi and samba acts, over to crooners and toward 6:00 or 7:00PM heavily doused with Latin rap performed by younger kids with the usual crotch grabbing and belt lines near their groins. Kind of tough to listen to in your apartment until 9:00PM – I could literally feel the bass from the system on my windowpanes and it made for a difficult ‘winding down’ time for my kids. Let alone, we had to switch channels multiple times in order to hear the television over the music.

All in all though, knowing it’s only until tonight (Sunday), and the pulsing stops at 9:00 (thank you), it was, and will continue to be today, a much welcome and staggering display of ethnic showcasing and diversity. I’d like to see it happen for many other ethnicities around the year.

Oh yes, it’s very cool to live here.

9069
I found Cecelia on a free download site that I used to frequent every single day called MP3.com. I think (maybe incorrectly) that they now charge for downloads, but back about five or six years ago I used to download with a frenzy like a like a wino that found a lost case of Korbel. I was rabid and incessant, grabbing everything I could that held my interest, and my friends could attest to that fever. What a diverse and rich offering they had that chiseled and picked away at my musical base and inspired me to buy way more than I ever downloaded!

Bawdy, outrageous, brash, sexy, audacious … all are under performing quaint adjectives when trying to describe the incendiary firebomb known as Cecilia Cruz and the Wild Clam. Infectious by a mere one time listen, Cecilia grabs you by the short and curlies and makes you howl in pleasure for, please - more, more, more!

This has got it all senor and senorita, cracklin’ horns, driving harmonica, slithering guitar, congas, timpani’s and drums from the jungle, brazen, sensuous backing vocals and a killer, humping beat.

Listen at 3’20 for the shout out to Cream.

Dance you minions, I say dance!

She knocked 2/3 clave
And ordered champagne
She’s ready to party
Don’t wanna behave
She bends for her glass
And you’re melting for those tender thighs.

She shows you the meaning of lust and foreplay
She acts with experience, you want her to stay
Her mouth on your skin
Drawing pictures of rivers from dark until morning light.

She says "What's that number?"
9069

Crazy Salsa
Have you found yourself needing a sizzling Latin drum fix? My friends, you may listen right here. You and the significant other need this pronto!

Liberating the spirit, free flowing and outrageous in joy one cannot remain in touch with reality while hands and waist part the waves around you in wild abandon. Smile firmly affixed; sing praise to Bacchus with a golden goblet of sangria! Even properly debauched you now have only a timorous taste of Cecilia.

Sadly, I don’t know enough about the band, but I did in fact find a web site! I have vowed to all that is holy in music that I must see Cecilia if they ever venture to my part of the universe. For now, I bask in the heat of what I can.

For me, it’s back down to the whirl of the crowd to eat and experience authentic Latin performances! Adios!

Cecilia Noel and The Wild Clam: 9069
Cecilia Noel and The Wild Clam: Crazy Salsa
Available: On her web site

Addendum: Heads up! Just hours after I wrote this post, my friend Jeff over at AM Then FM, wrote a comment connecting Cecilia and Colin Hay! Wha? I read about them touring together while looking at her site, but never connected the two. He's written a fine post about Colin and Cecilia that highlights the two of them on a remake of Colin's Men at Work number 'Down Under'. Both a track from the album and a video with yet another remake of the same tune. Thanks Jeff!

Vinyl Record Day

2008-08-12T05:11:00.023-04:00

Today, August 12th, we celebrate the birth of the phonograph.

131 years ago today the first phonograph ripped its way out of the birth canal, leaving behind a sparkling, hemorrhaging wake and an unprecedented impact on mankind’s communication consciousness.

To celebrate in an appropriate fashion, the good DJ over at The Hits Just Keep On Coming, has for the second year, refereed an all-star tribute made up of those blogs, which are held in high esteem among their peers, to showcase all things vinyl. I’m proud to say that I am among those participating.

This year, for my part, I am showcasing from among my abnormally large and passionate collection, the slightly odd cover. The cover skewed in bad taste. The cover that made me wrinkle my brow wondering ‘What the heck were they thinking?’ A few so out of the usual mainstream. Some are simply bad, some are tasteless and a few off the wall. Some simply appealed to the collector in me. Yet, for me, they all have one thing in common.

I could never forgive myself if I threw them away. Such is my passion for vinyl.

Nothing like a little self-promotion. Herbie did it in 1971. Jazz leaning toward pop, this also had the genius of Duane Allman throughout. Luckily, Duane didn’t have to stand next to Herbie’s sweaty flute.

I had to have it. I didn’t know, I didn’t ask, I just paid something like $2.50 at the counter, walked home, put it in the bin and never listened to it.

You have to look really close into the slice of apple pie to see why this cover was so coveted. I never opened this and still don’t know what the band sounds like, but that’s not the point – I own it.

A new entry, from 2006, and another that I bought on cover lust alone. I mean, I’m also passionate about baseball, but I never once saw a picture of Yaz or Dewey or Ortiz lick their bat. Had to have it and keep it.

The Scorpions had a few, back in the 80’s, that had us vinyl kiddies (and those just browsing the store bins) staring, laughing and wondering if we missed the deeper meaning. I’m not sure there is.

In case you need more, another Scorpions that elicited gasps from our parents. Unless, of course, we hid it until we went to our room, hiding the album behind an innocuous white-bread album.

Speaking of offensive, how about the Nuge? Loved the high power, the madman persona and the metal god angst. But, this? High art, indeed.

Bjork from 1997. And they cried out in anger over Yoko?

A very rare, round disk packaging of the Small Faces. Again, never opened it, but when given to me for free I almost bounced with joy.

Again, one I own just for the thrill of the cover. However, I have listened to this due in large part to Nelson who went through his P.J. Harvey phase.

A portrait of the champion of plastic surgery - second only to Joan Rivers. I also at one time owned the music store stand-up cardboard cut-out that I left in my apartment hallway. Someone, in their terror, or good taste, hijacked one night after a party.

Roy Wood as an artist. Even for glam he was always ‘out there’ for me. But, a cover I could never part with.

ManOWar. Always with the misogynist covers! Always in bad taste! But, they’re always so over the top that you have to laugh.

Just as I did in last year’s celebration, I’d like to now feature a few of my rare Beatles related disks. Don’t bother to bid – though I need the cash, I would never let them go.

The first bootleg. Breath and stand in awe as I did when I picked it up for about $50 as a kid.

The alternative White Album. Rare, but can be had if you look around a bit. The bootleg has been bootlegged many a time. But, this is the original.

The John and Yoko classic ‘Two Virgins’. A real prize for me. I have TWO of these unopened! I’ll spare you the front cover showing the private parts and show you a rock star bum. Outrageous in its time and a must-have for Lennon fans.

After being forced to repackage, they smartly decided upon a brown bag approach. Again, I also have TWO of these unopened.

I’m not qualified to critique an avant garde artist, so I never understood Yoko’s approach of putting the bloodied glasses of her assassinated husband on the cover of her album called ‘Season Of Glass’. But, there it is.

And now, for totally frivolous reasons, I present a small sampling from my ‘off the wall’ collection.

Get it? I ‘dig’ chicks? Get it?

Let’s close out with a hearty ‘Aloha!’ from Jimmy in Hawaii during the festive Christmas holiday. A ‘must own’, never to be throw away disk of goodness.

Be sure to get out there, beginning with The Hits Just Keep On Coming portal, and celebrate with all, who are enjoying the 131st anniversary of the phonograph during Vinyl Appreciation Day!

Isaac Hayes

2008-08-10T20:43:00.008-04:00

Black Moses has fallen.

Isaac Hayes: Walk On By
Isaac Hayes: Hyperbolicsyllablecsesquedalymistic
From: Hot Buttered Soul [1969]

Joan Armatrading

2008-08-02T10:50:00.022-04:00

Joan has always been a treasured choice of artist to me. One of those artists that you smile about because she’s so inverse from the banality of the “he done me wrong” female artists that pop in and out of the landscape every so often with a minor hit or two only to become an answer to a trivia question a year later.

Personally, she’s what I classify with the adjectives intelligent, reliable, sensitive, temperamental, sophisticated, gifted and wholly entertaining.

She had such an eclectic string of memorable tracks among her albums that it confounds me why she isn’t on the lips of those who make lists of the most influential female artists. “Me, Myself, I”, “I’m Lucky”, “Drop The Pilot” and “The Messenger” are but the first few that come to mind. She’s a sparkling treat when needing a stew of sensitivity and thought.

Presenting two songs of love, one throbbing and unanswered, the other wicked and erotically painful.

Love And Affection
There is a tender, malleable interplay between the brutal hunger of lyrics, the sensual backing bass vocal, the warmth of the string arrangement and a sax that puts emphasis on, and beseeches, for the deepest and basest desire we all so desperately pray for and so commonly call a “soul-mate”.

Desperate in its honesty and delicate in its sensuality, this is an anthem for the unrequited romantic who knows painfully well that even while in the company of others, they are desperately alone. I also feel that this is one of the best opening lines I've ever heard.

I am not in love
But I'm open to persuasion

East or West
Where's the best
For romancing
With a friend
I can smile
But with a lover
I could hold my head back
I could really laugh
Really laugh

Thank you
You took me dancing
'Cross the floor
Cheek to cheek
But with a lover
I could really move
Really move
I could really dance
Really dance

Now if I can feel the sun
In my eyes
And the rain on my face
Why can't I
Feel love

Just make love
With affection
Sing me another love song
But this time
With a little dedication
Sing it, sing it
You know that's what I like
Once more with feeling

(I Love It When You) Call Me Names
Joan could hammer it out as evidenced by this knocker that seems to me to be about the loving vice of pain. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong with my interpretation. What better way to spend a consensual and passionate round of love than to beat each other up?

I remember hearing this for the first time live (in Boston) and thinking “what a kickin’ guitar lead!”

Big woman
And a short, short man
And he loves it
When she beats his brains out

He's pecked to death
But he loves the pain
And he loves it
When she calls him names

She's wearing heavy leather with lace
He dresses up in cowboy taste
They punish then they think up a crime
It's their way of loving - not mine

I love it when you call me names!

Joan Armatrading: Love And Affection
From: Joan Armatrading [1976]

Joan Armatrading: (I Love It When You) Call Me Names
From: The Key [1983]

Random thoughts:

Is it just me, or does the music of The Cars seem surprisingly dated?

Props to Fusion 45 for the range that's presented. Always fun. And he's been requesting one of my fave Boston bands that I used to frequent - The Rings for a while now. It's coming!

Be ready August 12th for the annual "Vinyl Record Appreciation Society" hosted by the good DJ over at The Hits Just Keep On Coming.

Been addicted lately to Slingshot On The Bleachers. Fine, fine choice of tracks that's always fresh.

As usual, RIBS (Rhythms In Black Satin) keeps on taking more and more space on my download directory.

Looking for 70's and 80's albums? Babakazoo's Classic Groove is the stop to shop.

Could only be me, but I'm tired of downloading Blues albums with great reviews only to listen to them and find out that they're the same old, same old.

Finished Hope's Boy (A Memoir) by Andrew Bridge. Foster care memories that never go away. However, they do harden the heart enough to overcome and to eventually not just succeed, but to excel.

Lately, I'm listening to a lot of Big & Rich, Carly Simon, Motels, Association, Diana Krall, Killers, soundtrack to Aspects Of Love and thanks to my daughter's ever bubbly facination, Hanna Montana and Miley Cyrus. It is hilarious to hear my boys listening to Zepplin, Ozzy and Deep Purple as if they're new artists.

Before you leave the house in the morning, give a listen to WICN public radio, New England's Jazz & Folk station. Never get tired of being surprised and asking myself "Who does that?"

Saw Journey to the Center of the Earth - 3-D. Very entertaining and worth the price of admission!

Scored one more from my list to the right titled "What I'm (unsuccessfully) searching for" - The Skatt Brothers and "Walk The Night". Coming to this blog soon.

“Hot, Sweaty Soul”

2008-07-21T19:02:00.013-04:00

We were talking about music a little over a week ago and debating the greatest in different genres, when an acquaintance from work told me that he didn’t really have much knowledge of Soul. Well, he said he knew of Earth, Wind and Fire, some Aretha, the over played James Brown radio selections, a few hip drops of George Clinton and whatever his parents had played back in the day from the swinging sixties.

As a few of them had rambled previously about favorite “older” (from the 70’s) bands, I wondered aloud if they knew that a lot of their selections were previously recorded by great Soul artists. For instance, someone mentioned that they used to really dig J. Geils. When I told them that “I Do” had been done by The Marvelows and “First I Look At The Purse” by The Contours he was amazed! So, I went ahead with “You’re No Good” (Van Halen, Linda Ronstadt) done originally by Betty Everett, “The Chokin’ Kind” (Joss Stone) done by Joe Simon and B-A-B-Y (Rachel Sweet) by Carla Thomas. Of course, there are dozens more (and, maybe a blog of these in the future).

But, what I really wanted to do, because they already knew these tunes, was to turn them on to stellar Soul music that they hadn’t even heard yet - pity their hearts.

So, dismissing the tracks that they may by chance hear on a “Soul Weekend” radio extravaganza, and not wanting to get too obscure while losing their interest, I made a few of them a CD of tunes that, in my opinion, are just too damn good to be held back from the uninitiated.

These are a few that that I dropped onto the play list.

Memphis Soul Stew
Let my pale accolades begin as I praise King Curtis. Connoisseur of the sax, he was also a producer, composer, highly sought after session man and worked for everybody running the gamut from Buddy Holly, Aretha, Stevie to John Lennon. Matter of fact, his solo on Lennon’s “It’s So Hard” (from Imagine) was his last recording. In the R&R Hall of Fame (natch), the man died in the heat of the summer (if I remember right). As he was lugging an air conditioner to his apartment, druggies who were in the hallway wouldn’t move and they stabbed him there on the spot.

“Memphis Soul Stew”, to me, is what my elders used to refer to as “Hot, Sweaty Soul”. Though it’s not by any standard a long track, it does in fact pack a lot of Soul vibes in three minutes. The instruments that are introduced one by one (similar to Archie Bell and The Drells’ “Tighten Up” and Sly's "Dance To The Music") are taught, lean and extraordinary. I believe that this was a hit (anyone ?), but you’ll never hear it.

Snatching It Back
If you only knew Clarence for “Patches” or “Slip Away”, consider this a remarkable gift. Carter was originally with another blind artist Calvin Scott (another blog idea and a completely fascinating read) until they split after a car accident.

How badly do you wish you could play guitar like this? Horns that snatch you from note one are in total harmony with the fundamental nature of this track. As I usually do, I try to picture the time and mood of the session and for this one, I visualize a perspiring session room with booze, cigarettes and smiles. Not a bad place to be.

As an aside, today, the few who received the CD, all raved about the quality of music and how fresh and exciting it seemed to them. One even played it as background at a card game this past weekend and said one by one guys were asking him “Who is this?” I’ll take that type of applause.

King Curtis: Memphis Soul Stew
Clarence Carter: Snatching It Back

From: Beg, Scream & Shout! The Big Ol' Box Of 60's Soul (vol. 3) [1997]

Mink Deville

2008-07-15T21:25:00.012-04:00

Where would my musical direction have progressed to without Mark? I wonder if it would have evolved without him, or would it have grown as much? Mark was a profound mentor of music who influenced me deeply and thoroughly thought he never knew it. Never specifically playing anything with me in mind, he simply played music that he dug and I absorbed the ambiance like a black hole.

He unknowingly exposed me to a thick, potent, glossy maze of a music jungle that incorporated 45’s, albums, artists, groups, and whole genres that I most likely would not have uncovered, or explored as deeply, on my own or in lesser company.

Mark was the one who first turned me on to Southside Johnny, which was my very first post. Although, when I was a guard at Wingersheek Beach the girl I was seeing (Sherri?) did in fact play a track or two from an album of Southside, but Mark played the whole rich catalogue, dunking my head and giving me total immersion.

I’ve long since lost touch with this amazing friend but his legacy lives on in me. One out of the boundless ranges of artists that he played around me, and that I will always thank him for, was Mink DeVille. What memories would I think of during the soundtrack of the late 70’s and early 80’s without Mink Deville? Thank you Mark – wherever you may be.

Mink DeVille was part of the CBGB heyday along with Blondie, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Tuff Darts and Television. While the mix there was birthing punk, new wave and art pop, Mink gave us a palpable taste of the Soul, R&B and Blues, which was distinctly unlike the aforementioned – especially because he also brought the ethnicity of a diverse New York with him on stage. Lead singer Willy DeVille had an ominous growl that could next turn to warm doo-wop and then channel dripping wet spirit.

The band had none other than Jack Nitzsche as producer, Willy wrote songs with Doc Pomus, they toured with Elvis Costello and I can tell you from first hand experience that to see them perform live was an encounter that I should have by rights paid triple for. Willy would snarl and make the mike back up in fear on ‘Gunslinger’ or ‘Soul Twist’, drop to his knees denting the stage floor and achingly plead for love on ‘Little Girl’ or ‘Guardian Angel’ and it was precisely when you felt as though you had fingered through the band’s full brunt of atmospheric force and emotions, he’d pull out stunning and shocking covers of Moon Martin’s ‘Rolene’ and 'Cadillac Walk’ that might have had Moon smiling, nodding his head and muttering “Yea – that’s how I meant it to be.”

And I wonder, how can I possibly do justice to the band, most especially for those with little or no knowledge of Mink DeVille, by dispensing only two tracks? Which album to choose? And I certainly did consider spotlighting only Willy with his ‘Backstreets of Desire’ because it is an example of how an artist can grow and still retain his essence by recording material that does not leave his base audience behind and at the same time enriching the intoxicating mix of musical flavor while attracting new legions.

Well, I just have to choose.

Mixed Up Shook Up Girl
Quintessential Mink DeVille, this is a blend of Latin late night, smooth as silk a cappella by The Immortals, confident and crisp guitar licks and Willy’s voice focused from deep with his soul.

I chose this one because this was one of the first tracks that I heard through Mark and one that just happened by chance to pop into my head on the way back from work today.

This clearly illustrates the music that they would be playing on the CBGB stage. Can you imagine that amongst all the burgeoning scenes and cacophony that was on stage at any given night that Mink would bring down the house with something as tender as this? That’s a reputation!

One could think of this first selection as if on a date, a first date - suave, all grins and best foot forward.

She's a mixed up, shook up girl,
Got me so strung out.
I don't know what to do.
She's a mixed up, mixed up, shook up girl.

Take a breath, in the night.
Hurry over, she said,
But there was no one in sight.
Now break away, is in her eyes.
You know that little girl,
She cut me deep, inside out.

She's a mixed up, shook up girl,
Got me so strung out.
I don't know what to do.
She's a mixed up, mixed up, shook up girl.

Turn You Every Way But Loose
The smell of week old spilt beer on the floor and tables has been wafting through your nostrils. A small clutch of groupies standing off to the left of the stage stare – anticipating. Cigarette haze, not yet outlawed, has everyone inhaling slow, steady breaths. Sweat drips in sequence to the beads of condensation outside the mixed drink tumblers.

The band builds fury.

Early in the morning
Don’t you hearing me calling
Howling like a dog at the moon
It’s all right, I don’t mind

Cause, I just wait for that sign
In just a wink of an eye
I’ll come runnin’ to you
Any ol’ time

With a shaker like a fever
Getting close to heaven
Just think of your receiver and breath (ha!)
Its alright, I don’t mind

Cause, I just wait for that sign
In just a wink of an eye
I’ll come runnin’ to you
Any ol’ time

I wanna turn you any way but loose
If I can only get my hands on you

Savoir Faire
This is a rough and dirty homage to an eye popping and captivating woman that he happens to catch a glimpse of. All wild hormones are on full alert, rational thought has been sliced at the throat and objectivity hanged on the spot leaving hindsight running for safe harbor.

I was standin’ on the corner of the avenue
I was watching all the girls go by
And there she was in a five and dime
Somehow I got to make her mine
Yea! Somehow I got to make her mine

I was way uptown, I was lost in a crowd
I was in the blood bank, I was standing in line
And there she was, she was checking my car out
Somehow I got to make her mine
Yea! Some how I got to make her mine!

She got style she got taste
She got a beautiful face
She got - Savoir Faire!

She don’t need hooks
She got more than good looks
She got - Savoir Faire!

I love the way you paint your face
Yea I love the way you move your hips

Still, I struggled trying to determine what to feature. While you could find all of these on a ‘Best of’, you’d be better of with the individual disks to allow you a heady, musky scent. So, though this is a small DNA strand of the band, I strongly recommend that you get your oily prints all over two or more CD covers that house the greatness of Mink Deville within.

Mink DeVille: Mixed Up Shook Up Girl
Mink DeVille: Turn You Every Way But Loose
Mink DeVille: Savoir Faire
From: Cadillac Walk: The Mink DeVille Collection

The Kinks

2008-07-06T21:41:00.017-04:00

I’ve long wanted to put up a few by The Kinks. More specifically I’ve wanted to showcase the magnificence that is ‘Sleepwalker’. The album brings back long glorious nights of hanging with the mates and the heady effluvium that accompanies so many of us teenage boys while driving around with no particular place to go - cheap beers between the knees, an old worn out smoking device and the occasional long haired, tube topped, micro short-shorted, sandal wearing girlfriend with a crisp heady giggle. Now, you’ve got memories that may be one of the last that you’ll remember as your gasping, flickering ember is wheezing and finally extinguished long into the future.

So, I lay claim to squatter’s rights where 'Sleepwalker' will occupy a blog somewhere ahead of me.

However, amazed by the alarming and precipitous rise of the cost of gas brought yet another of my favorites by The Kinks, the album “Low Budget”, to mind. To me, this is another, among many, of the album pinnacles that the long and storied career of the Kinks have graced us with.

If my mind is right, at the time I was also listening to Herman Brood, Kiss ‘Dynasty’, Roxy Music, Ry Cooder, The Babys, Clash, Lena Lovitch, Undertones, XTC, Little River Band, Elvis Costello, Ramones, Nazareth, Stranglers, Patti Smith … at least those are the ones that leap with excited, raised hands. And wasn’t that around the time of Dave Edmunds? BTW, see the great AM, Then FM for Dave Edmunds.

The Kinks drop of ‘Low Budget’ was one of the Titans among the gods of music for me around that time. A return to their garage ways, it sounded edgy, raw and angry. But, the album also kept in line with the contemporary, adding a few tracks that were put out as 12” long playing singles that so many of the bands of the era were doing to keep pace, and expand their popularity, with the disco singles that so proliferated those years.

Gallon Of Gas
When I think back of how much gas was back then, and the worry of affording it as a teen, I wonder how the heck the legions of cruisers of today are able to come up with the fold to travel the aimless miles that we used to.

A simple I-IV-V blues riff, Ray and band mates squeeze it red and blue at the windpipe. Dave Davies on lead is always imaginative, and he allows a guttural quality to the fill-ins.

At the time this was written, Davies was referring to the gas shortage. But, one can easily make a leap of faith and with imagination attach the lyrics to the outrageous cost of the gas itself.

I've been waiting for years to buy a brand new Cadillac
But now that I've got one I want to send it right back
I can't afford the gas to fill my luxury limousine
But even if I had the dough no one's got no gasoline!

Low Budget
Squeals and moans right from ‘Go’, this is a head knocker with balls and venom. They talk of how their clothes and shoes don’t fit, but they can’t afford anything better that has a higher price tag. Even where they can buy is important – Woolworth’s instead of the higher retail outlets. Doesn’t it sound familiar in these times of rising fuel that keeps stretching its tentacles through everything we now purchase?

I'm not cheap, you understand
I'm just a cut price person in a low budget land
Excuse my shoes they don't quite fit
They're a special offer and they hurt me a bit
Even my trousers are giving me pain
They were reduced in a sale so I shouldn't complain
They squeeze me so tight so I can't take no more
They're size 28 but I take 34

I'm on a low budget (What did you say?)
I'm on a low budget (I thought you said that.)

The Kinks: A Gallon Of Gas
The Kinks: Low Budget
From: Low Budget [1979]

Damn, I just can't let this go without one of their 12" extended play singles. Here's "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman [Disco Mix Extended Edit] ". Get it while it's hot.

Addendum: Get yourself over to Feel It for (as always) supreme quality tracks that are eclectic and powerful. He continues to wrestle with boulder heavy personal issues, and yet he still has time to keep up his own blog and write comments on other blogs? A towering inspiration as a blogger and an undeniable humanist, our prayers at WZJN continue to be with him and his family.

Leo Sayer

2008-06-29T20:50:00.010-04:00

Call this pick, for lack of a better term, one of my many, many ‘guilty pleasures’. Or, call it one of my flights of fancy, diggin’ into the carotid artery of an artist that others might not venture into - the pulsing montage of what an artist truly has to offer. Heck, even call it misguided.

Whatever – I’ve always dismissed even those closest to me when it comes to skinning and placing into view the naked, exciting marrow of what an artist has to offer. Not out of an elitist view (God knows I can get precipitously off the target), but rather that I prefer to see the artist as a complete offering, and not as an AM single. You all know that I’ve written about my compulsion to go beyond the chart placing as a means to judging an artist more than a few times before.

I offer Leo Sayer. One of the rarities among artists who made it big-top for a short slice of time on both his solid songwriting abilities, his ability to clutch and launch himself onto a piece of the top charts, and even his interpretation of someone else’s material, all allowing an entry into the vaunted Casey Kasem Top 40. The two following will focus on his collaboration and variation of an original.

Endless Flight
To me, this has similarities, hard to ignore, that rivaled Elton John at his “Yellow Brick Road” peak. Gilded strings, echoing, hallowed vocals and a damn good musical fornication experience as we listen. A musical high, a breathless trajectory enveloping us within its rich, warm score. Written by Andrew Gold.

Look around you
And tell me what you see
Are you afraid or is it me?
I hope we make it
I hope we don't fall in the sea

And it's gonna be an endless flight
Until we reach the ground tonight
Yes it's gonna be an endless flight I know
Like a flyin' bird in the night
The wind is strong but I hope I'm right
An' this is the end of this endless flight

The Show Must Go On
Lifted almost note for note, Three Dog Night had a smash with this Leo Sayer (and David Alexander Courtney) composed nugget. There are times that I feel that I am not able to decide which version I like better. Though the TDN version contains much warmer, and certainly more lush backing vocals, I am drawn back to Leo’s version for the banjo and the raw one-man feel show of the composition. I picture him on stage with the banjo, baggy pants, ‘banjo’ knees, face paint and floppy shoes, calliope backing. A contradictory front hiding just how lonely and monotonous his life in a circus is.

Baby, I wish you'd help me escape
Help me get away
Leave me outside my address
Far away from this masquerade

'Cause I've been blind Oh, so blind
I wasted time Wasted, wasted, all too much time
Walkin' on the wire, high wire
But I must let the show go..
I must let the show go..
I must let the show go..
I must let the show go on

Listen to them both. Passively bask in their glow. Be joyful for the originality and diversity. Be thankful for the Leo Sayer you may not have known.

Leo Sayer: Endless Flight
Leo Sayer: The Show Must Go On
From: The Very Best of ...

Donovan

2008-06-22T13:53:00.011-04:00

I’m not as knowledgeable or as erudite in chart placement as say The Good DJ as to how high a track placed on Billboard. I’m more of a ‘feeling it’ listener for the time and place that the track takes me to, or the purest delight a track will continue to radiate despite its age or novelty. If I relish the song, I will be hard pressed to recant my feeling for it.

Though I do certainly profess my weakness for popular tracks, I have always been one of those who must play the offering (album, tape or CD) from start to finish most every time. I have always believed that this gives me a broad sheet with which to display the breath, depth and scope of an artist. I simply have to devour everything on the offertory platter.

I believe that is why I’m so stubbornly attached to the songs that were once so freely played when FM dominated the music world and which they now proudly categorize as the so-called ‘deep cuts’ when they want to throw us a bone on one of their special promotional weekends. And even then it’s not an expression of what went to the sinews of an artist or the time of release. I’m talking of the tracks that your friends would tell you that you must listen to in order to really know or appreciate the artist.

A case in point would be Donovan and his album ‘Barabajagal’. We know the stations will always pound ‘Sunshine Superman’ and ‘Mellow Yellow’ through the airwaves, but we never do hear the creeping foreboding of ‘Season Of The Witch’ which was a monster FM track so huge that it was included on the Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Steven Stills Super Sessions album and was also covered by Vanilla Fudge and countless garage bands. We also do not ever hear the Jimmy Page fuzz laced ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’, or the wistful and elegant ‘Wear Your Love Like Heaven’ a track that was so indelibly identified with Donovan.

The man could surround himself with vaunted musicians (I also have recordings of him and McCartney together) and producers – Mickey Most being the one who produced ‘Barabajagal’. As well as being identified as a voice of the hippy and flower children movements, he could charge with lance and guitar very well thank you.

Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)
With the Jeff Beck band backing him up and Robert Plant on backup vocals you have a majestic mounting of holy musicians biting at the bit to swell forward.

Ingest the stuttering guitar riff and the rhythm that smoothes it out. This could easily be prolonged into a heaqvy middle eight jam, and longer, but is tastefully restrained and held just on the edge of madness. What a joy to hear the maracas and drums busy and bristling, spreading the paste that binds the track with rhythmic frenzy.

This is one song that I find myself wishing I could have seen live.

She came, she came to meet a man, she found an angel
Goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal was his name now.

He very wise in the herbal lore's, got young cure now
She came, she came to free the pain with his wild flower.
Goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal was his name now,

True true, true true the song he sang her while the leaves cooked
Ting ting, ting little bell he rang her, sleepily she looked.
He filled, he filled a leather cup, holding her gaze
She took, she took a little sip while this song he sang:

Goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal was my name now.

Superlungs – My Supergirl
This always seems to remind me of The Yardbirds, especially the intro – circa 'Still I’m Sad'. Phase effect vocal, fuzz lead riff and of course Donovan’s flowing acoustic. I can easily see this covered by someone along the lines of say, REM.

At only 2:42, it is short and sweet as they say. But, it’s a track that plays continuously time and again in my head after an occasional resurrection. You may find yourself humming the chorus absentmindedly after only a few plays.

You see this kind of chick in every town
Whenever there's a scene she's always hanging around
She's so naïve and innocent, stares at you with awe
She's only fourteen but she knows how to draw

She never gets involved with blowing her cool
She's too busy painting sky with her classmates in school
Teachers they ignore, they would if they could
She ain't quite grown up yet but her breathin's real good

Supergirl She's my supergirl and I love her

Donovan: Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)
Donovan: Superlungs – My Supergirl
From: Barabajagal [1969]

Well, after such a long introductory rant I guess the central point is that among all those albums or CDs that you own, are countless gems that lie dormant, waiting alongside the one or two tracks that you may have purchased the platter for in the first place. Do your musical inclinations a favor and spin the whole shebang.

Split Enz

2008-06-15T21:24:00.015-04:00

Well. Apparently the maelstrom does indeed come to a conclusion. Ten months that led to a new W-2 designation, a new city and a new place of employment. Ten months through a triple whammy. And guess what? All’s well that ends well. And end well it all did.

Without my abnormally large music collection with me where I’ve had to stay during these past ten months, I’ve listened to whatever I happen to have previously stored on my computer. Although, truth be told, it’s significant all on it’s own. So, I’ve perused through gigs of tracks and had the joyful opportunity to revisit many times music that’s more valuable to me than many of my other possessions. Hearing Split Enz has been one of those joys.

I remember first hearing, and constantly playing, “I Got You” when it was an import only. I worked for a record distributorship in the Boston area and once in a while had the opportunity to work in one of their retail outlets. At the time, I worked in the only ‘cool’ record store in Harvard Square. Tons of vinyl with local celebrities and nationwide acts comng in to peruse. Big thrill for me back then.

Bigger thrill was that I had total control of what would be playing in the store and always relished digging on the import section and acting like a DJ. The above mentioned single was on ‘constant rotation’ when I worked there (along with The Stranglers, The Clash, Flash And The Pan, Siouxsie, Tom Petty, Tom Robinson, Angel City, Millie Jackson and way too many more to impress you with a petty list). When Split Enz came out with their fist few albums, I was all over them, and even during these past ten months I’m still smiling with their rock and pop.

So many of their tracks had a certain snap to them that just screamed “you’ll remember me long after this time period has ended”, and how true that is. “Shark Attack”, “What’s The Matter With You”, “I Wouldn’t Dream Of It” and “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” launch from the lobes immediately. But, they also could write a searing ballad.

I Hope I Never
For my record budget money, it’s going to be hard to enter the sphere from where this resides quite comfortably. Minor chords, swooning vocals, eloquent ivory playing and melodic string section make this an automatic high bar for musical aspirations. An easily chosen selection to accompany a fine single malt scotch matched with a rare, clear, breathtaking molestation of white stars against a calm, black sky.

Carefully chosen lyrics are the solder that melt tranquilly against the musical accompaniment. The libretto transcends teary-eyed sentimentality in favor of soul inspired facts of faith.

It should be possible I know
To see you without stress
But I can see I’ll have to go
I’m changing my address

My urge to cry, I have failed to conceal
Life – it’s no fun when you’re haunted
By the things that you feel.

I hope I never, I hope I never have to sigh again
I hope I never, I hope I never have to cry again

I’m for living while you can
I’m an optimistic man
I hope I never, I hope I never have to see you again.

One Step Ahead
Oh, that awful conundrum wondering if you’re doing the right thing. The wave upon swirling wave of ‘should I stay or should I go’ that sometimes pounds against your rock of fortitude and, of course, eventually over time erodes it down into the fine grainy sands that settle at the bottom of anguish.

The Finn Brothers certainly did justice to this palate of emotions when they recorded this to vinyl. To me, and perhaps only to me, it was tracks like this that set them apart back in the heyday, and continue to defy the common logic that they should be long forgotten along with their then contemporaries.

At times fee and flowing and at others, tense with uncertainties it becomes the accurate abettor to that uncertain riddle.

One step ahead of you
Stay in motion, keep an open mind
Love is a race won by two
Your emotion, my solitude

If I stop I could lose my head
So I’m losing you instead
Either way I’m confused
You slow me down, what can I do?
There’s one particular way I have to choose.

Split Enz: I Hope I Never
Split Enz: One Step Ahead
From: History Never Repeats (Best Of)

Though these both can be found on the above album, get more than a passing acquaintance of Split Enz by digging out the albums and digesting a thorough helping of these ~~Aussie~~ New Zealand greats.

A large thank you to those who for some unknown reason continue to support me though emails. I'm amazed and more than humbled by those who have never met me but have lifted me higher and higher. 'Pay It Forward' comes to mind.

Chubby Checker

2008-04-10T12:09:00.006-04:00

One is struck by the incongruity when you first become aware of it. Thinking of Chubby Checker immediately causes the body to bend slightly, knees and hands shaking side to side opposite of each other doing the dance and accompanied by the song known as the Twist. What was that, 1962?

In 1971 Chubby released an album titled “Chequered/New Revelation” released only in Europe. Actually, they were released by a man well known for his unscrupulous behavior. This man, Ed Chalpin, had the habit of recording popular chart hits with the help of unknown musician, releasing them in South America and Europe, and thereby evading copyright laws. This was the guy who also released the bootleg that had King Curtis and Jimi Hendrix playing together.

Anyway, this album, especially in these tracks that I’m presenting shows a lot of funky psychedelic soul. Now that’s something you don’t hear often and why I’m so pleased to be offering it here.

Goodbye Victoria
A lurking piano intro pulls this one right at you from the beginning. By the time the Hammond organ meet up with it, Chubby has his best soul vocalization going on to conquer.

This has an almost gospel choir feel to it when the chorus takes its turn. You might get a mind tingle from the organ break because it could be reminiscent of the legendary Jimmy Smith.

Time Won't Forget You Victoria
Time Just Won't Let You Victoria
Goodbye Victoria
Goodbye Victoria
Everybody's Going to the Moon.

Stoned in the Bathroom
This begins with an organ sounding like it comes from the innards of a calliope. Later joined by a funky guitar this just drips with heavy soul. We even get a scream out of Chubby towards the end, which leads to a fiery banter between the organ and guitar.

Stoned in the bathroom
On a Sunday afternoon
Stoned in the bathroom
Just sitting on the moon

Who would have thought it, Chubby Checker? Apparently, to this day he prefers to not talk about this release. But, here you have it dear faithful.

Chubby Checker: Goodbye Victoria
Chubby Checker: Stoned in the Bathroom
From: Chequered/New Revelation [1971]

Addendum #1: Of course it was a scam last week, an April Fools joke. Did you notice that I didn’t call him ‘Elvis’, but always The King? But, I’ll be damned that only an hour after I posted the blog an anonymous person left a comment telling whom it was exactly! An hour after posting!

The tracks are done by someone called The King who was found at an Elvis show somewhere and sounding so much like Elvis, was offered a contract to sing more contemporary songs in the style of E.P. I’m telling you, I love this album "Return To Splendor" and the follow up "Gravelands".

Addendum #2: Been reading like I haven’t done in years. Seeming as I have SO much spare time lately, I hate to be stuck watching the vast wasteland, so I go not to the library, but to the bookstore and spend literally hours there in a comfy chair reading everything and anything my whim takes me. You’ll never guess where my whim took me on one sweep of the aisles - to the series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim F. LaHaye, the first in the series being “Left Behind”. Hey, I’m at a bookstore and I can indulge a capricious itch!

So, I read the first one in the plush chair in two successive visits to the bookstore. And I liked it a lot. Liked them enough so that I began to read the next in the series, and the next and the next. Well, I’m at book 11 out of 12 and after this post I’m going back to finish the 11th and begin the 12th and last. Here’s the list:

Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days
Tribulation Force: The Continuing Drama of Those Left Behind
Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist
Soul Harvest: The World Takes Sides
Apollyon: The Destroyer Is Unleashed
Assassins: Assignment: Jerusalem, Target: Antichrist
The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession
The Mark: The Beast Rules the World
Desecration: Antichrist Takes the Throne
The Remnant: On the Brink of Armageddon
Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages

And I also had time to read Sick Girl by Amy Silverstein.

The King

2008-03-31T11:17:00.004-04:00

I have to admit that I haven’t been posting as often as I should (could), but life happens. However, once in a while I get the real passion back again and I just captured an abundance of passion this past weekend.

I have a cyber friend from Germany, Helmut, who every so often turns me on to a few outstanding tracks, or in this case, a whole album!

He’s given me advance tracks to an album by The King! Who wouldn’t want this? From what he’s telling me, an album will be released this summer consisting of unreleased sessions. Apparently around 1971-72 The King (given the material, I think in an effort to reach an even wider audience that was into ‘harder’ rock) recorded versions of then so called ‘FM’ rock staples.

Listening to a few of these I can really picture the sessions that led from his ‘Suspicious Minds’, and ‘Burning Love’ tracks into these.

LA Woman
You’re kidding, right? The Doors classic? I can only believe that he picked this, as I mentioned earlier, in an effort to reach the ever splintering masses who were moving away from AM and were flocking to album oriented rock. Although, this was an AM hit.

Nothing radical about the approach, but when done by The King it’s special anyway. But, you are not going to believe just how cool it sounds and how well he’s pulled it off!

Whole Lotta Love
What? The King doing a Zep song, and this one in particular? No way!

Way!

Don’t expect Jimmy Page and company, but really get the feel for him stoking the flames and giving it the King’s treatment! This is an extravagance as only he could do it! It’s more controlled than the original, but he doesn’t dampen the feel one iota. Rather, it has a more studio feel to it, but it’s sharp nonetheless. I think you’ll be very surprised and pleased by this!

The quality of these recordings is amazing and I have to assume that they, the producer(s) went through many processes (maybe overdubs to the originals?) to get them to this level. I know these will be soon popping up all over the net, but I'm glad to offer them here as soon as I got my hands on them!

I’m curious as to what the cover art will look like and also track listing and what session players were used.

Many thanks to Helmut (link held by request) for giving me such a treasure. Certainly gives me more to appreciate about The King and another reason why many consider him still on top!

LA Woman
Whole Lotta Love

Mash Ups

2008-03-26T09:27:00.007-04:00

Sure, I’m addicted to music collecting. I admit it freely.

I gather, download, buy, trade, accept freebies and distribute to friends music of all styles. Yes, I am a music whore.

I am continuously listening to music during all times of day or night, I have to have a mix CD for traveling anywhere – short trip, long trip, driving around, going to work, visiting someone, coming back from work, special events and a mix, or certain album, for most every reason I can think of.

I’m sure I am not alone. There are lots of music whores like me who simply must listen to SOMETHING at any given moment.

However, there is one downfall to this. While trying to constantly find the just perfect mix of eclectic tracks, we tend to gloss over old staples. Songs which are perfectly good, could be even slight degrees better, in favor of the specialized assortment.

Which is why I was really happy to find a few sites that took sometimes unfairly overlooked tracks and gave them a whole new angle with which to approach them by. It’s the ‘mash-ups’ phenomenon.

You take two (or more) great tracks and with the help of technology, they’re integrated - playing seamlessly simultaneously, and when done correctly and with imagination, perfectly augment each other, making for a fresh and unique listening experience.

Sure, yet one more way for a music whore to continue to enjoy great music that he’s always had. Great for mix CD’s!

The selections I chose for today are from the Wax Audio blog who seem to (for this fairly new convert to the new technique) do a spectacular job of track selection and final product. Allow me to use his quote from the original posting from where these tracks are taken from:

“
Wax Audio presents...MASHOPOLOS
So... on a somewhat less serious note, this is MASHOPOLOS! It's a pop, hard-rock, metal, disco, movie-soundtrack, hindi-pop, bhangra type album put together using other people's music. Each pairing was achieved by loving cajoling and violent contortion of the source materials and was produced here in Athens, Greece (hence the album title) throughout February and March 2007. I was supposed to be resting and recouperating after 15 months hard overland slog across Asia - but just couldn't resist getting my hands dirty again. Stay tuned for more traditional Wax Audio fare later in the year!
“

Mashing Up That Hill
I quote now from the individual track listing:
“
Mashing up that Hill
KATE BUSH - RUNNING UP THAT HILL / PRINCE - SIGN 'O' THE TIMES

These two artists have collaborated before - I was disappointed with the result. So here's my version - especially for those who love Kate Bush (sacred territory for me). Special thanks also to Robert Fripp from King Crimson for his unwittingly supplied ambient guitar noodlings.
“

I had to have listened to this a dozen times before reeling myself back in. Kate and Prince together? A pairing of two brilliant tracks, both sacred on their own, and yet derive such power from each other in this new format. This is a clever and inventive mash that takes nothing at all from the originals, and yet produces a novel and extraordinary pairing.

Whole Lotta Sabbath
Again, from the original posting:
“
Black Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Sabbath
BLACK SABBATH - WAR PIGS / LED ZEPPELIN - WHOLE LOTTA LOVE

Ever wondered what might have happened if Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin got together for a studio session 37 odd years ago? Wonder no more...
“

Packed with raw energy times two, I was blown away to hear this pairing. Raucous and unyielding, I was astounded and smiling at the same time when I first played this from the limited confines of my Dell. Two peerless, unlimited gods who gave birth to a new category of rock are mashed together in another unlikely pairing. But, guess what? It works, complete with images of fireworks! I only wish it could have been about a minute longer.

I invite you to take in a sparkling sprinkling of this twist on favorites. I want to thank the folks over at Wax Audio for turning me – and now you, on to these tracks. Be sure to browse through their site for a complete listing of all their work and mashups.

Mashing Up That Hill
Whole Lotta Sabbath
From: Wax Audio

Jeff Healey

2008-03-07T20:38:00.013-05:00

I was saddened this past week to hear of the passing of Jeff Healey. As late as it might have been, my first exposure to the man came in 1989’s “Roadhouse”. As the cliché goes, I was ‘blown away’ by his sweaty, gritty version of “Roadhouse Blues” and also swept up in the voluminous rendition of “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man”. The latter has such visual representation for me taken from the scene in the film when it was played.

The Jeff Healy tracks, for me, were more than the sum of individual songs that appeared on the soundtrack, they were an equal to the film itself and gave the awesome sword the film was its mighty sharpened edge.

I feel that Jeff accomplished and proved his edge in many of his releases that include “See The Light”(1988), “Hell To Pay”(1990), "Get Me Some”(2000) and “Feel This”(1992). A man with many styles that encompassed rock, jazz and blues. Truly he’s a guitarist that could please most.

If I was to be forced to pick a favorite album though, you might find it curious that I choose one that’s comprised of all covers.

Stuck In The Middle With You
Picture a swell rising below you. You stand on the board and begin to rise up. Much too quickly you lose balance and tumble beneath the curling crush of the white crest of the wave. Misjudging due to loss of direction, you realize that you’re far too deep under to take a breath and that breath you need is pounding at your expelled lungs. You struggle, panic lurking beneath a pallid veneer. Finally, surface, air and sun came back all at once.

This could what you might feel like listening to this stupendous version originally done by “Steeler’s Wheel”. Playing a cover, you best be sure that it’s packed with original attitude, and built with presentation and presence. Could you pick a better cover to hear in an overcrowded dive, deep past midnight, swilling with no thought of consequence, gyrating no matter your style and shouting at the top of your now raw voice?

Stop Breaking Down
Do you realize that the man was not only blind and played guitar, but played guitar in an unnatural way? The guitar lied flat (yes, flat) on his lap and he placed his fingers on TOP of the fretboard! Sans palm around the neck of the guitar! I don’t know but one or two who could lay claim that they could play this well without Beck, Clapton, Blackmore or Cray themselves as personal instructors. And, this guy does it blind. Can I have an ‘Amen’?

I venture that Robert Johnson had to have been smiling when he heard how well manipulated his song had been covered. Totally engrossing and immensely entertaining this bedrock jewel gives us but a glimpse of the true artist behind it.

Let it be known that Jeff left behind not only many fine recordings for us all to remember him by, but more importantly, a wife and children who would trade in all the recordings and fame for just a little more time.

Like another cliché goes: tough act to follow. Look for his just completed album "Mess Of Blues" to be released within the month.

Jeff Healy Band: Stuck In The Middle With You
Jeff Healy Band: Stop Breaking Down
From: Cover To Cover [1995]

Sissy and Jodi

2008-02-19T09:49:00.012-05:00

Going through my drive the other day I happened to hit upon a few tracks that are oddities of sorts. They are tracks from actresses turned singers, or, perhaps the other way around. Now, that’s not so unusual per se as there are copious examples of this phenomenon with one or two quick hops onto the charts – Richard Harris anyone? Dare I mention the great William Shatner? Unfortunately, there are many more tracks out there by those who try to venture into the recording studio that I’m sure have caused more than one to try to buy all available copies and melt them into blissful blobs of bubbling blackened goop.

John, You Went Too Far This Time
I am a big Sissy Spacek fan. Who could forget the image of her in “Carrie” with sticky, pig’s blood streaming down her face, eyes wide open in a trance, arms apart with the spotlight highlighting each body nuance? Or, can you forget her aloof coolness at the end of “In The Bedroom” when she says that she’ll make her husband some breakfast after knowing what he’s just done? Then there’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, “The Straight Story” and many other great appearances and characters.

Before her acting career vaulted off, Sissy was one of those cutie sixties teenaged flower girls trying to get a break. Lennon had remarked during an interview that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus, and everyone knows the backlash that ensued. Sissy recorded this lilting, folksy treatise against Lennon’s statement under the name of ‘Rainbo’ in 1968. Anyone else have a copy of this?

I recall you turned me on with “Pepper”.
The tour we took with “Lucy” was a trip I won’t forget!
And John I loved you when we both wore flowers,
But putting down your guru brought confusion and regret.

John I love you
But you went too far
This time

La Vie Ces’t Chouette
Jody has even more of an acting resume what with “Taxi Driver”, “The Accused”, “The Silence Of The Lambs” (… it puts the lotion on …), even “Foxes” (with Cheri Curri) and an episode of “The Partridge Family” and “The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father”!

From a movie made in 1977 titled “Moi, Fleur Bleue” and released only in France, Jodie, at her teenaged height of virginal innocence, declares that she is looking to get her cherry popped (actual dialog). Like I said, released only in France. I don’t know French, except for the obligatory swear words, so I don’t know a damn thing she’s saying. Except when spoken English appears. Typical French disco in which she giggles and breaths into the microphone. Again, anyone have a copy of this?

That girl next door she’s got a guy.
But I’m alone just skateboard and surf.
And I’m dreaming, of loving,
One whole night through.
But with who?

One whole night through
But I’m with who?

Yea, I’m sure Sissy and Jodi want to forget these.

Or, perhaps, they listen to them from time to time in smiling embarrassment - much as the rest of us all do when we see photos of ourselves when we thought we were cool, or see videos of ourselves singing or acting.

And, maybe that’s the way I’ll leave it. Remembered as an artifact from the past that we’re not overly excited to see or hear, but a part of us nonetheless and a statement of where we were at the time.

Sissy Spacek: John, You Went Too Far This Time [1968]

Jodi Foster: La Vie Ces’t Chouette [1977]

Addendum: I have been reading voraciously for these past months. So quickly do I read that no sooner do I read one then I begin another right away. I quickly forget just exactly what I've read! I'll keep track of them on this blog - if only for myself, but heck, see if you like any of them.

"Love In The Time Of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Best quote "Marriage is not about happiness, it's about stability".

"Ronnie the Autobiography" by Ronnie Wood. Debauchery, mayhem, art and music.

"An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness" by Kay Redfield Jamison. Unsettling, disturbing and acute insite as to what happens to those with this affliction. Very lush and well written.

"Deltora Quest" by Emily Rodda. All eight books. Kind of in the vein of fantasy/Harry Potter, that sort of thing. Suggested by my 13 year old son. Hey, I have to keep up with what he's reading, right?

"Born Standing Up : A Comic's Life" by Steve Martin. How he grew to be what he is today. Intelligently written and without all the drawn out details of childhood.

Many more, but as I read so quickly, I can't remember them all!

Bread

2008-02-06T10:07:00.001-05:00

Usually when one thinks of the band Bread, images of doe eyed girls sighing with their hearts going pitter patter come to mind with tracks such as “If”, “Diary”, “Everything I Own” (actually written about his grandfather), “Make It With You” and “Sweet Surrender” – Cupid gently calling out and inviting couples to romp within the garden of love.

But, I fondly remember Bread as having a bit more of an edge to them from time to time – albeit I admit to that edge being softened somewhat due to production. I remember the wah-wah of “Guitar Man”. That, above all, was the highlight for me listening to that track on my cheap-o transistor radio. I had the 45 and probably ground it transparent playing it over and over.

There are a few others that Bread did that may be forgotten by you – or, even better, you haven’t even heard yet.

Mother Freedom
This is an anti-Bread kind of track. Starting off with a chuga-chuga-chuga distortion rhythm guitar it almost (dare I propose this?) sounds like a garage band crunching it out with the best of them. Simple chord progression, straight to the point skin banging and crisp pied-piper lead all add up to a song that just begs to be noticed again – for good reason. I can easily see a lot of bands covering this and transitioning it as their own.

Freedom - keep walkin'
Keep on your toes and don't stop talkin' 'bout
Freedom - get goin'
Lots to be learned and lots to be knowin' 'bout
People - gotta reach 'em
Sit 'em right down and then you gotta teach 'em 'bout
Freedom - gotta win it
Gotta put yourself smack dab in it

Hey tomorrow
Now don't you go away
'Cause freedom
Just might come your way

Let Your Love Go
Another riff that you can’t believe that you forgot. There’s simply no choice but to slit your eyes in acquiescence while tapping your foot unconsciously – a classic example of well thought out rhythm guitar. Listen at 1’51 where it sounds as if the rhythm and drums both seem to lose the timing a bit and stumble trying to get it back on the track. But, in the true spirit of ‘garage’ type bands, they left it in – and I relish little mistakes like that, which give it more of an unpolished appeal.

I made a motion and its out on the floor
And it’s a notion that I'd love to explore
Cause I been tastin’ the love you been wastin’
So baby wont you give it to me...

You’re a lady
And I’m here in the palm of your hand
Such a lady
How much more do you think I can stand?

Not a bad couple of choices for a band you normally associated as background for “getting to third base” in the backseat of a LeSabre, eh?

Bread: Mother Freedom [89]
Bread: Let Your Love Go [63]
From: Bread Retrospective [1996]

Johnny “Guitar” Watson

2008-01-11T21:08:00.001-05:00

He took his name from the 1954 film “Johnny Guitar”, starring Sterling Hayden and Joan Crawford. From there, John Watson Jr. became Johnny “Guitar” Watson and proceeded to pound his highly influential playing style into the then soft and plyable sinews of blues, funk, soul, rap and rock.

I had heard an interview with him (I think on an NPR station) and he said that when he received his first guitar, it was on a promise that he wouldn’t fall victim to playing “the devil’s music”. He immediately broke his promise.

Before George Clinton started dressing up, Johnny did it first, getting all pimped up with wild sunglasses, a gold tooth and fly suits. He was a hipper looking pimp than Huggy Bear.

But, nothing overshadowed his effortless shape-shifting ability to play in any era and not only survive and thrive, but to lead the charge.

Cuttin’ In
He just barely managed to scrape and claw his way into the R&B charts with this cut in 1962. Passionate, raw, even with the violins holding the reins, Johnny is resolute in his determined to get a chance to get a turn. It was this type of performance (and I can easily imagine this going over in an even bigger way unrestrained in front of an enthusiastic audience) in which he easily outdistanced himself, or should I say, he rather individualized and further distinguished himself from the other leading blues men who were mighty giants in the field in the early sixties.

A Real Mother For Ya
Persistent in its arrogant groove, and impossible not to nod to, this cut boosted his reputation to the stratosphere and helped to swell even further the fever for all that is Johnny. I can’t help but remember that when this came out, it knew no boundaries of where it would be heard. Based on the feel alone, this was played without judgment in dance halls, at discos, in damp cellar taverns, at drunken longhaired ‘raves’ deep in the thick woods, at neighborhood barbecues and at rock concert venues to whip the crowd up.

I’m happy to announce that it doesn’t get much better than this.

Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Cuttin' In [169]

From: The Very Best of Johnny "Guitar" Watson

Johnny "Guitar" Watson: A Real Mother For Ya [153]

From: A Real Mother For Ya

Blood, Sweat & Tears

2008-01-05T10:35:00.001-05:00

Man, do I love me a horn band! There’s nothing that can compare to the sounds of trumpets, saxophones and trombones depth charging your blood and straightening your spine!

The feeling of an outright bloody musical scream of ‘Charge!’ right from the beginning of a track has no comparison and indeed, stands ‘loud and proud’ all on its own merit.

BS&T certainly perches on that distinguished mantle of being able to starburst right in your face with their blend of jazz-rock led by the tight horn section and a cast of musicians that can almost make you grovel in awe.

Originally formed with the extraordinary Al Kooper, Al left the band and was replaced by David Clayton-Thomas after the first album. They achieved success on the second album with the tracks ‘And When I Die’, ‘Spinning Wheel’ and ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’, but for me, no individual tracks that they spawned compared in musical might to the following that I’m highlighting off of “Blood Sweat & Tears 3”.

Lucretia MacEvil
What a tour de force that you are to be enveloped by! The crunching, pounding, pulverizing thrust of the opening sequence is as commanding a lead-in as you’re ever going to be subjected to. The voice of David Clayton-Thomas is the perfect repost to the band’s parry and at 1’20 I cannot imagine that another voice devoid of the growl and contempt for Lucretia would ever be able to pull this off.

Devil got you Lucy
Under lock and key,
Ain't about to set you free.
Sign sealed and witnessed
Since the day you were born.
No use tryin' to fake him out,
No use tryin' to make him out,
Soon, he'll be takin' out his due.
What-cha goin' to do?

Ooh, Lucy MacEvil
Honey, where have ya been all night?
Your hair's all messed up girl,
And the clothes you're wearin'
Just don't fit ya right!

Lucretia’s Reprise
This is the follow-up track that you will never, ever hear on the radio. And, be aware – you simply cannot have the above track without having this, the sister track and listening to them one after the other. David once more is the maniacal, screaming accuser with the mad-dog trumpet nipping and ensuing at his heels.

I can almost picture David leaning against a rod iron gate post watching the audacious Lucretia strutting and flashing herself for all to see. But, David will have none of it! Listen to him wail 'stop lying!' and feel the heat from his blistering anger and denial. The horns taunt and scorn her to lowly damnation, but Lucretia, well, she just keeps walking – mighty, confident and thrusting her nose skyward.

Ah here she comes – trucking
Well, Lucy walking down main street, looking down!
Looks like – Waaaaaaa! Talk about it!

Where you been girl?
Stop lying, stop lying, stop lying Lucille!
Ahhh – tell the truth girl!

Blood Sweat & Tears: Lucretia MacEvil [122]
Blood Sweat & Tears: Lucretia’s Reprise [87]
From: Blood Sweat & Tears 3 [1970]

Music for Winter

2007-12-30T12:29:00.001-05:00

Here in Massachusetts, the forecast is for more snow today and tomorrow. This will turn out to be record breaking I understand. Although the snow seems to fall in piles, it has the propensity, so far, to dissipate from the lawns and streets within a week or so. Such is winter this year.

Let me introduce, or reintroduce as the case might be, two selections that are most appropriate and hardly ever heard given their appropriate dues.

Wintertime
A dreamy, hazy, bass-laden, harmonica breezing slice of harmony that is a wonder of songwriting which has a laid back unpretentious sublime texture. Gentle, soothing and quite transcendent this has a feel that at once has you supple and comfortable in a mellow trance but yet is prone to find you more often than not slowly nodding in time. Superb in its atmospheric intentions, this continues to remind me of the time the snow was lazily descending onto my head while I sat placidly stewing in an outdoor hot tub on New Year’s Eve which was hidden within a small town deep in the Vermont woods. It was a cosmic coming together of time, space and music.

In the winter time
When all the leaves are brown
And the wind blows so chill
And the birds have all flown for the summer
I’m callin’, hear me callin’, hear me callin’

The Winter Song
Punky Meadows as a band member is one of the few trivia facts that come to mind when I think of the band Angel. Part of the LA based troupe that included The Runaways. All things considered (timing, the continually evolving state of music and the then current breed of musicians), Angel was one of the right bands at the right time. They were at once theatrical, glam, metal and ostentatious – always dressed in all white. They were ‘hard’ rock and roll that was easily digestible and if not mega-successful, they at least were what we once called a ‘cult band’.

However, conversely to their image, on this track they managed to create a magical triumph of beauty, enlisting the exquisite madrigal vocals of Seraphim and Cherubim. Intoxicating with its restrained swirl of organ, twelve string guitar and exultant bass, it has been perfectly coalesced and tempered just as the introduction of velvet wraiths join in glorious abandon.

Just as I am often entranced by this track, I am just as often perplexed as to why we do not hear this on the radio at this time of year, especially given the subject matter. But, you know my many opinions on the state of radio by now.

By the fireplace, there's a smile on every face.
The ice begins to cling, listen to the children sing.
Looking outside, the city lights all come alive.
People running all around, they fill the streets with a happy sound.

There's a feeling in the air, feel the spirit everywhere.
Winter winds on heaven and earth.
Hear the Angels join the choir, let them take the music higher.
Through winter days on heaven and earth.

Steve Miller: Wintertime [92]
From: Book Of Dreams [1977]

Angel: The Winter Song [38]
From: White Hot [1978]

Lonely Christmas

2007-12-15T12:35:00.000-05:00

The tone and timbre of this, the Christmas season, has the ability to deflate and isolate just as easily as its original intention is to elevate and inspire.

As we are to remember the holy sanctity derived from the meaning of Christmas, somehow we tend to forget that there are many among us who can not share, or experience, the blessed senses that are so firmly entrenched and associated with Christmas; seeing children in pajamas running down the stairs much too early in anticipation of presents under the tree, smelling the dizzy scents of dripping, succulent meats, warm, hooded pies, sugared root vegetables, chestnut roasting on an open fire, hearing the crunching and tearing of pretty paper and ribbons snapping, tasting a pomegranate champagne toast or feeling the pursed lips of the first morning kiss after the smiling exclamation of Merry Christmas has been expelled.

For some, they merrily proclaim that this is just another day and it’s no big deal for them to spend it alone – they have so much to catch up on. For others, they dismiss any talk about what they’re doing that day with a smile and distracted avoidance. There are those who fill the day with the excuse that they’re picking up an extra shift or two in order to let those with somewhere to go, or something to do, have their time to do so.

I know someone who bought themselves a packaged container of Christmas cookies from the local chain supermarket, their only present, and ate them Christmas morning while sitting in front of their apartment window watching the day slowly slide.

Many are devoid of cheer because loved ones are away from them through either insurmountable traveling, or emotional, distance or through powerfully bleak, and punishing circumstance.

All have no choice but to experience the surrounding revelry unintentionally from afar, but with their heart and soul fitfully and cruelly writhing and entombed within.

Christmas With No One To Love
With a lovely, swirling B3, Charles, better known for his yuletide standard “Please Come Home For Christmas”, ushers in the day with a longing lament for that someone special to be there with him. His longing could literally be for his sweetheart, but in a broader sense could very well be interpreted as the blinding, empty, cold stinging for his children, or the warm, calloused-hand embrace of his father once more, or even for his God to acknowledge him in a moment of diving intervention by sending “tidings of comfort and joy”.

He sings of being alone, even though the paramount importance of being among others is impressed and stamped firmly on this, the day we call Christmas.

Christmas can be a sad affair
When there’s no one to love you and no one to care
Make wonder when this Christmas finds me lonely
Wanting you

Carols being sung by a choir
Candy and toys and a tree near the fire
Makes me blue
When Christmas finds me lonely wanting you

One Parent Christmas
The horror of not being able to provide enough consistently throughout the year is only more unfairly magnified on this one day when there are small ones, caught up in the seasonal frenzy, who need only look around themselves and see what a huge event all their friends make of Christmas. The unenviable burden of forcing ones self to place a mask of happiness and excitability on their face and actions so that others can be happy and excited has to be close to madness when the situation they find themselves in is anything but.

My money is tight, but not so tight as my time
Tried to get it all done, and still have peace of mind

Stretched out a few dollars, check out all the list
I ride all over town trying to find her big gifts
Pick out the tree, put up all the lights
Trying to make Christmas, make it feel merry and bright

I clean the house shiny
Then I cook all the meals
But so very tired, tired and lonely I feel.

It’s so hard making Christmas

In a one-parent home

Charles Brown: Christmas With No One To Love [102]
From: Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs [1961]

Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women: One Parent Christmas [47]
From: The Alligator Records Christmas Collection [1992]

Addendum: As can be expected, there continues to be a stunning array of tracks offered from my many online friends that will surely dilate your pupils in amazement! Believe me - not the usual, same ol' droning you'll hear everywhere else. Look on the right hand side of this blog for a complete list of those that continue to influence, and entertain, me.

The Holiday Blues

2007-12-08T21:41:00.000-05:00

Ah! Just in time to mingle with the mirth, merriment and sentimentality of Christmas come the “Holiday Blues”. Working in the Healthcare field I know all too well how powerfully the blues hit some folks out there in the general population during this peak season of holly jolly bliss.

Those that are down and out in some capacity find that the hardest time to keep nose above the frothy surface is during the holiday season when every newspaper ad, every TV commercial, every store and every window display centers on “the spirit of the holidays”. Every establishment you walk into has piped-in Christmas music and all the radio stations started playing the same Christmas songs over and over even before the last Hershey’s kiss was dropped into the last plastic pumpkin on Halloween night.

Depression – specifically, suicidal type depression, is sometimes thought to be at its zenith this time of year, and it reaps a bountiful harvest of those who cannot withstand the overpowering crush of not possessing the spirit of the season that surrounds and punctures their psyche with daggers of unimaginable guilt, sticky, black sorrow and a feeling of zero gravity helplessness.

Quick facts about suicide: men do it violently, such as with a gun; women do it quietly, such as with pills. In the Healthcare field one saying still remains true – callers never jump, jumpers never call. You know one of them. Maybe you know two of them. Most likely they’ll be the ones who smile and laugh in order to fit in, and have a slightly detached ambiance about them.

Better Off Dead
A last lugubrious lament filled with torment. This is the blaring, hot, painful truth from a man who has come to realize that this is not the time for lies or half-truths. He’s been that route and for once in his life he’s going to come clean of conscience. He berates himself passionately, brutally, mercilessly, and justly so. He also freely gives due where it belongs – much too late.

There is no penance for him here after this, his last confession. He’s come face to face with the stinging, teary-eyed reality that he cannot go back.

More somberly and to the point, he cannot go forward either.

Ah, she gave the most, took the least,
And even have the priest come to our home.
And I cried and prayed and promised,
That I’d leave the stuff alone.

Now I must leave what I can’t face,
I hope she’ll find her key to happy home.
Hey, she’s better off without me!
And I’m better off dead now that she’s gone.

Think I’m Going To Kill Myself
This is a whimsical, capricious, tap dancing on the razors edge flirting with life or death. A honky-tonk banter with the Grim Reaper where built up adolescent angst is convinced that the only rational way left to “I’ll show them” would be to die. A give and take, pro versus con, serious but silly, theatrical show of “do you dare me?” that might come to fruition just to show you that I’m serious. But is there anyone who does know with certainty if he will or if he will not? Does anyone take that bet? Is he bargaining with us, or God to call his bluff?

I'm getting bored.
Being part of mankind.
There's not a lot to do no more.
This race is a waste of time.

People rushing everywhere,
Swarming around like flies.
Think I'll buy a forty-four,
Give them all a surprise!

Think I'm gonna kill myself.
Cause a little suicide.
Stick around for a couple of days.
What a scandal if I died!

Baby - it’s cold outside.

Bill Withers: Better Off Dead [152]
From: Just As I Am [1971]

Elton John: Think I’m Going To Kill Myself [92]
From: Honky Chateau [1972]

The Supremes

2007-11-30T19:03:00.000-05:00

I heard, for the one-millionth time (and believe me the LAST), “Baby Love”. It’s not that the song is a bad song – far from it, but I’m just so over hearing one chosen song played repeatedly, ad-nauseum, that falsely comes to represent a great group/band/artist. I wrote awhile back about how radio stations play the so-called ‘100 Greatest of Rock And Roll’ and how they absolutely pound into our heads the one, or two, songs from bands that have put out perhaps a dozen or so albums – as if that one song sums up neatly what the band was all about! It is so frustrating!

My other gripe would be that, to the casual listener who tunes into the same old so-called ‘Top 100’, they tend to not be able to remember the multiple other hits by the very same band - hits that would be atmospheres more refreshing to hear once again! Why can’t we heat up with “When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes”, or “I Hear A Symphony”, or "Love Child" (my personal favorite), “River Deep, Mountain High” or “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”, or “The Happening”?

Sadder to me than radio stations neglecting to play the deeper, wider catalog, is the fact that you’ll never again hear the lesser known hits - or, the more obscure songs - by The Supremes that have been lost to the abyss.

Like these two.

Stoned Love
Often confused as a reference to drugs, it was actually written as a term for unconditional love – I’m guessing as in ‘written in stone’. This was the first single the Supremes released that did not include Diana Ross, but featured the Jazz/R&B singer Jean Terrell on lead vocals. This did make it to the top ten, and you can hear why – thanks in large part to the contributions of The Funk Brothers! This sounds essentially as if it could have been Diana Ross and The Supremes and I wonder in hindsight if that’s a part of why Jean was recruited. Matter of fact, I wonder if the public at large really knew or really cared given that the song was a big hit? No matter, this richly deserves to be heard more often on the radio.

Stoned Love, Mmm..
Oh yeah,
A love for each other will bring fighting to an end
Forgiving one another

Time after time doubt creeps in
But like the sun lights up the sky with a message from above
Oh yeah, I find no other greater symbol of love

Yeah, don't ya hear the wind blowing
Mmmmm … Stoned Love
Oh yeah, I tell ya I ain't got no other

I’m Living In Shame
Sad story about a girl who grew up poor, married rich and never kept in touch with her mother because she was ashamed about the poverty she came from, and in which her mother still lived. Even after she has a baby, she doesn’t bother to tell mom. You can guess the ending – mom dies and girl regrets what she’s done.

But, the divine tangent here is that even after only a few bars, you can tell that it was off of the same album as “Love Child” – the apple didn’t fall far here! That's a great clue that reveals a little something about the writer, the sessions, the album and the time period it was all put together. This is another of the lesser known Top Ten songs that made The Supremes second to only The Beatles as most popular group from the 60’s.

Ah, in a college town

Away from home a new identity I found

Said I was born elite, with maids and servants at my feet

I must have been insane

I lied and said momma died on a weekend trip to Spain

She never got out of the house, never even boarded a train

Married a guy, was living high

I didn't want him to know her

She has a grandson, two years old

That I never even showed her

I'm living in shame

Momma I miss you

I know you're not to blame

Momma I miss you

Lesson learned today? Turn off those diaphanous, banal, miasmic, so-called ‘Top 100’ stations, and begin anew listening to, remembering, and relishing with enthiusasm, the depth of the musical catalog that great bands have to offer. At least listen to the richness that a comprehensive collection of greatest hits can offer!

The Supremes: Stoned Love [120]
The Supremes: I’m Living In Shame [130]
From: Diana Ross & The Supremes Anthology

Roger Daltry

2007-11-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

Truth be told, I was never a huge Who fan. Don’t get me wrong though; count me deeply nested among the smiling over-buzzed crowd that listened countless times to “Who’s Next” and that can recall all the lyrics to “Getting’ In Tune” and “Love Ain’t For Keeping” to this day. Splintered chips from their catalog still raise a mighty electrical surge within me such as ‘Eminence Front”, “I’m Free”, “Join Together”, “Shakin’ All Over”, “Who Are You” and “The Real Me”. Despite hanging out with Mike back in the day, a real Who devotee, The Who never adhered thickly to me.

As long as I’m telling the truth, neither did Roger Daltry. However, not unlike being charged over a select number of Who tracks, so it is with me and the Daltry catalog. Mike turned me on to Daltry and constantly hit me with The McVicar soundtrack and a number of other releases, to no lasting result. But, nestled within the folds of the offerings were a few tracks where negative hit positive and the spark exploded within me. Mike gave me a musical gift of a lasting impression.

Say It Ain’t So, Joe
Sultry and subtle, like a room that is leisurely filling with an aromatic scent, this stately track will whisper against you and ensconce you within its majesty. Glorious in its layering of gorgeous background vocals, proud, triumphant and spirited drumming, and Daltry’s soothing, raised to resolute storytelling, it is all lovingly and expertly juxtaposed against an ever swelling, determined and lingering climax. This is wondrously magical, buoyed with pure pleasure and of a particularly elevated class of writing and performing that is much heralded, but frightfully all too scarce.

They told us that our hero

Had played his trump card

He doesn't know how to go on

We're clinging to his charm & determined smile

But the good old days have gone.

The army and the empire may be falling apart,

And the money has gotten scarce.

One mans word held the country together

But the truth is getting fierce.

Say it ain't so Joe!

Please, say it ain't so!

We've pinned our hopes on you Joe,

And they're ruining our show.

Avenging Annie
With original honors to Andy Pratt, Daltry, while not adding breathtaking originality, does nothing less than steamroll his personal stamp onto this track much as much you would grab the sledgehammer from the barker’s hand, and swinging from the hips and shoulders, slam the tab that pushes the ball upward to ring the bell at the carnival. As Andy sang from a flowering hippie stylization, Roger revs it, snarls with it and rides atop it.

Well they call her avenging Annie

The avenger of womanhood

She spends her whole life telling lies

These on a mess and over good

She'll take all these spoilt young hippies

Running around playing games

They're surrounding your bed, she'll blow your head

She'll put you through a change.

What you've done to others

She'll do unto you.

Roger Daltry: Say It Ain’t So, Joe [53]
Roger Daltry: Avenging Annie [40]
From: One Of The Boys [1975]

Addendum: As you may have well noticed, I've been remiss in keeping up to date. Let's call it that I've been in a "personal quagmire" which dampens the enthusiasm within and keep me off the computer. To all who have been faithful, I express my most heartfelt gratitude. However, with chin up and noting that days move on, I've found that many great things have happened which should be noted.

Foremost among them is the news that whiteray over at Echoes In The Wind has exchanged vows and rings with his longtime muse! Whole music collections have now been formally merged. May you have many prolonged years of bliss, harmony and peace my friend!

Next is the news that Vincent over at Fufu Stew has yet another delectible mix in the honor of this Thanksgiving. Get thee over there and download these hearty three (!) mixes that are sure to please one and all!

Sammy Davis Jr.

2007-11-03T10:14:00.000-04:00

It’s gushing buckets here near Cape Cod. The rain today has somehow morphed me into a melancholy mood, or more precisely, mellow and downbeat. What to listen to?

Fortunately, while gazing over the main drive I happen to hit upon today’s feature.

I’m doubly glad to feature Sammy Davis Jr. because not only do I actually dig this cat, I’ve read with great interest jeffash over at AM then FM who occasionally features music from his Dad’s collection. This is called inspiration. And, Sammy just seems to hit the mood on the head today.

A founding member of the Rat Pack, Sammy just exudes laid back cool and swaggering confidence. Able to lay down a melody that will crackle even the most hardened heart and able to also make the band stand on edge, Sammy is what’s known as an entertainer.

And, that’s what I want right now, to be entertained. Let Sammy now entertain you.

Here’s That Rainy Day
I can just picture him singing this. On a four-post stool, one heel hooked on a rung. A mike in one hand, cigarette in the other, head bowed down during the intro. Fingers laced in adornments, neck circled in chains, a single molten white spotlight reflecting shards of laser light into the audience. Articulate guitar and soothing, expressive, magical voice pairing to razor cut the placid moment.

Where’s that worn out wish

That I threw aside

After it brought my lover near?

Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day.

Funny – that rainy day is here.

I’ve Gotta Be Me
Only a great man could pull this off, and no one has ever done it with more conviction. Sammy braces against outside forces and determinedly stands his ground on his own terms. Fiercely independent, doggedly focused and spitefully determined, he's willing to stand alone and proud no matter the outcome. Truly one of the greatest themes of all time, I’m not surprised that I can not imagine anyone else able to claim this track. To try would be tantamount to degrading ones self. Sammy without question or doubt is inimitable.

I want to live, not merely survive.
And I won’t give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive.

I gotta be me, I gotta be me

The dream that I see makes me what I am.

Sammy Davis Jr.: Here’s That Rainy Day [92]
Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me [107]
From: The Best of Sammy Davis, Jr. on Reprise [1996]

10CC

2007-10-15T09:52:00.000-04:00

Every so often we all need a complete break from what we usually listen to in order to ‘erase the musical board’ so to speak.

We can think of it as a sort of healthy, refreshing cold-water shock to cleanse the musical palate. We can also tag it with a number of clichés - a clean beginning for the moment, something completely different, a jumpstart – all can be applied to how we occasionally feel when we realize ourselves as being bored by the very tunes we know down inside that we will continue to adore throughout our lives, but have somehow become a little bit stale around the crusty edges at the moment.

We need something to hold us over for a respectable amount of time before we yet again plunge back into familiar waters. Being music fanatics, we all have the elixirs close at hand. We can choose from an enormous variety of formats.

For me, one of those choices continues to be 10CC.

There is a fascinating history of 10CC over at Wikipedia, but the condensed version is that Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Crème formed the band around 1972 after all having been in semi-famous bands beforehand. And yes, their name came from the amount of semen the average male produces in one shot – slightly more. It was meant to say that they were better than other bands – a bigger bang.

Godley and Crème went on to produce groundbreaking videos such as ‘Two Tribes’ by Frankine Goes To Hollywood, ‘Rockit’ by Herbie Hancock and their own ‘Cry’ – morphing in its infancy.

I again encourage you to read more about their facinating history over on Wikipedia.

Good Morning Judge
This is a perfect track for musical refreshment. Sharp as a whip snap this track has you bouncing right from the opening guitar and brain throbbing drumming. Try to convince me that this isn’t a natural for unconsciously reaching over to the volume control and turning it up.

Well good morning judge, how are you today?
I’m in trouble, please put me away.
A pretty thing took a shine to me,
I couldn’t stop her so I let it be.

Alcatraz is like a home sweet home
I’m so wanted and I’m never alone.
San Quentin is the place to be
I’m so happy I don’t wanna be free!

Life Is A Minestrone
Slowly fading in and with so many twists and changes throughout the track this is probably my favorite track by 10CC. This certainly fits the bill when I need to have a change of pace and I’m sure it’ll be one of yours. Put this in your car, roll down the windows and keep that silly grin on your face at the stoplight when others are blaring bland bile while they watch in amazement as you sing along with glee. Priceless.

I'm dancing on the White House lawn
Sipping tea by the Taj Mahal at dawn
Hanging round the gardens of Babylon

Minnie Mouse has got it all sewn up
She gets more fan mail than the Pope
She takes the Mickey out of all my phobias
Like signing cheques to ward off double pneumonia

Life is a minestrone,
Served up with parmesan cheese!
Death is a cold lasagne
Suspended in deep freeze

10CC: Good Morning Judge [51]
10CC: Life Is A Minnestrone [54]

From: 10CC The Singles [1998]

There are a few other points about 10CC that are worth mentioning – take a moment and check out a few of their classic album covers (which by all rights should be included in next year's Vinyl Record Day), and don’t even get me started on what a classic “I’m Not In Love” is - the album version of course!

The B-52's

2007-09-28T12:48:00.000-04:00

At one time they were everywhere – at the parties, in the car, in the parking lot Friday afternoons, on the radio and certainly in the dance clubs. They were a great gasp of fresh air amidst the dark and brooding pompousness of ‘alternative radio’. Again, at one time.

The B52’s were crazy, fun, infectious and danceable for everyone. Standards from them included ‘Rock Lobster’, ‘Planet Claire’, ‘Private Idaho’ and ‘Strobe Light’. Loved them all.

Though there are a lot of good tracks on their first few albums, there are a few that I enjoyed above the others.

Dance This Mess Around
Maybe it’s the very beginning that really intrigues me? The organ and guitar that gives just a taste, a sampling, of the track that helps to pull me in. Maybe the attraction is the way the vocals are sang? There’s not really a need to ‘carry the tune’ so much as it is a melodic proclamation of sorts. Most likely it’s just a damn good song to sing and dance to.

Remember when you held my hand
Remember when you were my man
Walk talk in the name of love
Before you break my heart
Think it over, think it over
Roll it over in your mind
Why don't you dance with me
I'm not no Limburger
Just a limburger

Dance this mess around, Dance this mess around, 'round, 'round !!

Give Me Back My Man
This is another unconventional track that highlights their songwriting skill, along with their ‘Ace card’, vocal and guitar, showing up again. You’ll probably never hear them singing ‘Stardust’, but I’d bet that a lot of artists would have a hard time covering this as well. Insistently and powerfully done this is something that is made for, and belongs on, a random play list.

Her head's in a whirlpool,spinnin' round and round.
If she don't get her man backshe's gonna drown.
I'll give you fish,I'll give you candy,
I'll give you everything I have in my hand.

Give me, give back my man.

B-52’s: Dance This Mess Around (115)
From: The B-52’s [1979]

B-52’s: Give Me Back My Man (110)
From: Wild Planet [1980]

Aerosmith

2007-09-21T21:06:00.000-04:00

When I’m in the mood for blistering, beer-swilling, ear hair vibrating speaker death, I have to admit that Aerosmith is probably my favorite all-time hard rock band.

But, saying that, I also have to believe that Aerosmith, in the last decade or so, has waned a bit in popularity with their original fan base by delivering a series of schmaltzy and forgettable so-called ballads.

I am here to tell you that Aerosmith invented the rock power ballad with ‘Dream On’. There are a certain number of other rock ballads that come near ‘Dream On’, but none are better and there are fewer still that have stood the test of time – given a time period of say twenty years or even more. Get a set of outstanding earphones and play a clean version and you find that you are riding a rock natural high.

So, this has had me thinking the past few days of other Aerosmith ballads that are totem poles higher than their current output. Try these for mighty sound, depth and quality.

You See Me Crying
Right from the opening piano, violins and Hamilton’s guided bass that garnishes, you can tell that this is exactly the right formula for when you absolutely need your hard edge dulled ever so slightly. However, the introduction of Tyler’s vocals breaks it into a commodity that you absolutely must have. In addition, when his voice begins to quiver (classically Tyler style) in the middle eight at 2’24" … well, isn’t this just about everything you could possibly hope to hear for this genre?

No question.

When the violins and whole band together begin to collide in heavenly swirls of sound, they rival the crashing, rushing torrents of bleaching rain in a scene gathered from Jane Austin’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ with swirling emotion. Perry’s gutty guitar never overpowers, but crystallizes the piece – something that would have been so tempting to do. But, he eschews it, and in restraining without sacrificing passion, he meshes it seamlessly with aplomb.

This has it all. The slow flirtatious build up, the powerful mind/body bubbling of desire, the explosive eye-clenching climax and the sultry smolder at the end that is as tender as the last nibble on your neck before falling asleep.

You see me crying
Please say you’ll stick around
And I got to be your lover
Honey, let me take you to town
And I’ll show you everything I know
And I’m never gonna let you down
‘Cause my love is like a merry go round

Home Tonight
On first headphone listen you’ll be delighted to hear a slightly different tone for a piano! Almost ‘clunky’, but very distinctive and harmonious. Once more, the focus of the piece centers on giving you a bite, but without tearing the flesh off.

For a while, when Rocks came out, when I was coming home after a long night, I’d break this out just to end my night with a good tune. Now, every time I hear it, I think of sitting in my car just outside of my place, car in idle, in order to hear this to the very end.

And baby, drink a cheer to yesterday
And maybe, you’ll drink those tears away

So baby, don’t let go
Hold on real tight
‘Cause I’ll be home tonight
Tonight

Aerosmith. Rock ballad classics. Say no more.

Aerosmith: You See Me Crying
From: Toys In The Attic [1975]

Aerosmith: Home Tonight
From: Rocks [1976]
Total Downloads: 158

A Premature Ending

2007-09-14T09:42:00.000-04:00

It was a bit reckless and premature to announce that it was the last post. Rather impulsive even.

But, I need to continue writing and posting on this blog to keep a bit of sanity is the way I’m thinking most recently. Keeps me busy and ‘off the streets’ as Dad might have said. Should give me a modicum of focus week to week. It’s one pleasurable activity to look forward to as mighty meteorites pummel into soft tissue.

So, with your kind permission dear reader, I’d like to resume posting on Got The Fever. However, be forewarned, that at times the ramblings may seem transparent. Or, they may seem as bleak and barren as an Emily Dickenson soliloquy. The posts may also be rather infrequent.

Don’t Leave Me Now
This is a track that defies description. This is a track that you must experience up close and intimately as opposed to trying to analyze and illustrate. This is a track that you must unconscientiously feel breezing lazily through you when all is quiet and you’re alone, keeping time through the breathing that permeates the background. Compelling loss, towering need and a gut-wrenching, stomach-corroding collapse.

I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer
A beautiful interpretation of a Stevie Wonder composition done with splendor and grace that I’d be so bold as to say bests the original. The track builds strength and intensity as it is played, yet remains elegant and heavy with meaning.

I’d Rather Go Blind
Since I was a wee one, this song has had an impact. Even as a kid hanging his transistor on the handle of his Schwinn, I could feel the gripping cold touch of loss through the Hammond B3 and pulsed drumming. Rod at his best truly could convey colorful depth and meaning through his unique and graceful vocalization and interpretation.

Pink Floyd: Don’t Leave Me Now
Three Dog Night: I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer
Rod Stewart: I’d Rather Go Blind

Addendum: Strange request here - I'm lately (again, that is) getting very into new country music like Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley etc. Anyone know of a good country download site? I can find all kinds of rock and funk, but no search has thus far come up with a site where I can get good country albums. Contact info on right. Thanks to all.

Good Bye Dear Friends

2007-08-26T02:01:00.000-04:00

Apparently, this is the last blog for me here. Thank you for ... well, validating that you enjoy the music. The Pleasure Has ALWAYS been MINE.

Thank you all.

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)
From: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hert's Club Band [1967]

Listen closely on the count on 3 for when Lennon smarmily says 'Hi'.

Thaks to all. I mean it. Thanks for keepng me going.

More than you know.

Got The Fever is One Year Old: Gladys and Chi-Lites

2007-08-22T15:21:00.000-04:00

I am astounded to realize that I have been blogging here at Got The Fever for just over one year.

I was enticed and encouraged by a few people, who have since become online friends, to start my own blog after writing a guest blog for Soul Shower. I was very happy to write and research about the two tracks I chose, and after the response I received decided to try it out myself.

There were a few considerations to grapple with though: I felt that my eclectic and all over the map taste would not translate well and might not be what anyone else would want to download. I also thought that if I got 100 hits a month I would be very lucky and I might be encouraged to continue.

Well, here I am sitting on over fourteen thousand (!) hits in the first year! Judging from the comments I receive, I’ll be damned if there is always someone that already knows, or truly enjoys the music I’ve turned them on to.

I give thanks for all the support that the original online friends gave me (look to the sidebar), and to the many more who have since encouraged me.

I want to post the original blog I wrote for Soul Shower to commemorate the first full music blog piece I wrote. Especially since it’s never appeared here at Got The Fever. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Occasionally, we forget to see where we’ve come from.

Sometimes, in our effort to dig ever deeper into dusty bins hoping to find a gem, we forget that some of our most precious musical cuts are right on a shelve at home, and have been sleeping there for a long, long time. They just patiently wait for the circle to come around to them once more and become reanimated.

The posts today are from 1971 and concern themselves with a mournful longing for the only person who could ever make us feel whole. An intense, electric and joyless hunger for the one unique soul mate who jars and tears at the very fabric of our soul. A futile hope that they could only love and need us even a fraction of what we feel for them. A craving so extreme that you notice yourself, quite suddenly, finding religion and taking the time to pray to God. A love that so engulfs your daily routine, that no matter the task - work, play or idle time - all you can focus on is them.

If I Were Your Woman
The first, “If I Were Your Woman” is from Gladys Knight & The Pips. It’s an all out shameless plea to the man of her heart, begging him to see that she loves him more, even without him, than his present girl loves him. She laments about how poorly he is treated by his present woman and how Gladys places him on a holy pedestal.

Just like we have all done, she shamelessly throws herself at him, hoping that he see her in the same light that we all want to be seen:

“She tears you down darling
Says your nothing at all
But I’ll pick you up darling
When she let’s you fall”

It’s not just the lyrical content with which Gladys relays the message; it’s the earnestness, desire and expert vocalization of longing, which causes us to well up. You can picture this woman sobbing, on her knees, clawing at his pant cuffs:

“You’re like a diamond
But she treats you like glass
Yet you beg her to love you
But me you don’t ask”

She further grieves over what will never be. She describes, from her bottomless soul, how different he would feel with her, all the while knowing how useless all the effort would be:

“You’re a part of me
And you don’t even know it
I’m what you need
But I’m too afraid to show it”

Honestly, who could resist, after hearing the response to “If I Were Your Women”, Gladys singing to the heavens “I’d never, never, never stop loving you”?

Musically, how could it have been presented any differently? From the opening hand-clenching bass riff, to the string arrangement second to none; from the crashing clavicle riff preceding each verse along with the accompanying drum rim shot, to the bongos at 1:15. I dare you to produce an alternative to the crisp, precise and soulful backup vocals of the Pips.

Have You Seen Her
Moving on to our second tale of lost love, let’s consider a man’s perspective with the Chi-Lites, and “Have You Seen Her”.

I’ve heard the opening combo of ultra-fuzz guitar and cascading falsetto vocals described as “the soundtrack that is played when the gates of heaven open wide in acceptance of another soul”. Eugene Record (who sadly passed away after a long bout with cancer on 7/22/05) and Co. are right on spot with setting the emotional picture of a lost love.

He has unexpectedly and suddenly found himself alone and without direction. As if trying to piece together just how the hell he got from having the woman of his dreams beside him, to now aimlessly wandering the streets alone without her, he sadly mourns:

“One month ago today, I was happy as a lark
But now, I go for walks, to the movies, maybe to the park
I have a seat on the same old bench, to watch the children play”

Again, just like we’ve all done, he is in denial that she has left him for good this time, and he tries to remain upbeat and hopeful:

“I keep saying She’ll be back’”

However, every now and then, the frigid, stark realization and clarity of truth unfolds and he moans from the very core of his soul:

“I been used to having someone to lean on – and I’m lost, baby I’m lost”.

But of course, it’s too late. Much too late. And now, the tar-black feeling of guilt and isolation sets itself like a gel in his veins and he cries out in desperation to the world:

“Have you seen her? Tell me, have you seen her?”

He waits bleakly for a signal, a sign – something he can grasp onto, that serves notice that she is coming back. Stubbornly, defiantly, it is not going to happen.

So, life, sadly goes on and he is forced to confront an existence without her despite the world still turning:

“With all the people I know, I’m still a lonely man”.

And we can picture him in the midst of his friends, maybe at a bar, maybe at a party or even at a family get together – surrounded by people, laughter and music all around, but all is drowned out and he is still shocked, and quite alone with his thoughts:

“Have you seen her? Tell me, have you seen her?”

Well, dig on these two aforementioned gems that have been hibernating in your collection from 1971, and rejoice that you can revive the joy and the deep well of emotion that they rekindle.

And if by chance you are discovering them for the first time … bath deep in this baptism and then go forward and preach the gospel of Gladys Knight and the Chi-Lites.

Glady Knight And The Pips: If I Were Your Woman

The Chi-Lites: Have You Seen Her

Addendum: A huge thank you to Ted W. who notified me that a request of mine for 'The Rings' was available on PVAc to 44.1 kHz. The list of what I'm searching for is located on the right. You ever see any of these, please give me a shout. Thanks again.

Vinyl Record Day August 12th

2007-08-11T09:52:00.000-04:00

One of the huge reasons I loved albums is because of the cover art. There is something to be said for holding a sizeable chunk of cardboard (or other material) in your hands while listening to the music held within. In many cases the cover art was as astounding as the record itself – the most famous example being Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The cover not only came in cardboard, but I have a few collector albums (such as a PIL album) that came housed in a round film canister. I also remember box sets, which coincidentally, came out in a box.

To be able to buy your album, and then while listening to it be able to read extensive liner notes was indeed a treat. Not only cover liner notes, but many would come as a fold out, or have inserts packaged along with them. I twas comforting to spend hours getting lost simply reading about the record you bought and in the process begin foraging through the tons of vinyl to read others.

There are also other varieties of the way albums used to come out in. I’ve collected probably over 150+ albums that are called picture disks – albums that are playable that have laser imprinted cover art emblazoned on the vinyl itself. I have everything from Lennon’s “Two Virgins” to Boston, to Frank Sinatra on picture disk. I also have many, many singles - playable on a 45RPM format - that are irregularly shaped. Such as a Tina Turner single (Better Be Good To Me) which fills the entire platter on the turntable, but is cut out along her body to emphasis her long legs. I also have a “Fish Head” single by Barnes and Barnes (who is Billy Mummy from the old Lost in Space TV series) that is cut out as a fish head.

I remember when CD’s first came out and the anemic packaging they came with. At first they all came in elongated cardboard packages. A lot used to try to emulate albums by packing them with huge foldout notes. Of course, most of these would immediately become torn of frayed after the first few attempts of dislodging them from the CD cover itself.

Once again, to the covers; one just cannot get the same experience of gazing at the cover on a CD as you can holding an album.

These covers that I'm displaying are a smattering of my personal best of list showing the more memorable covers. This is by no mean comprehensive, and exclusive to my whim. I'm only sorry you can't see the liner notes!

August 12th is vinyl day – make it a treat for you and take an album to a turntable and marvel at the art and liner notes.

For a comprehensive list of who else is participating with a post on Vinyl Appreciation Day, get on over to the Good DJ at The Hits Just Keep On Comin’

Guest Post: Fufu Stew

2007-07-31T10:17:00.000-04:00

It is always refreshing to have another point of view to help you realize just how much further you have left to grow.

A short while ago, Vincent at Fufu Stew graciously agreed to host this blog. The reason I specifically asked him to host is because he has a certain unique slant on music – he develops lists based on a loose theme that I hungrily devour each time he updates. And it’s with a theme that I challenged him with.

I asked him
”I have something particular in mind which I think plays into your strong suit. I'm looking for a post with a theme of music that could be played while rinsing off the days grime and sweat in a pool. Basically, music that can be played around the pool - something that doesn't require your rapt attention and something that isn't way mellow.”

I went on to add
“Some details: how about maybe 30-45 minutes of music ... all with the purpose of being played around the pool during the sweat entrenched radiating heat of August ... no more than one or two tracks of your choosing that might be (to most others) a bit obscure, but still have that congruity with the theme ... making sure that the music is neither too loud to scream over but not languid enough to fall asleep - all beat music to make someone say "Hey - what IS this track?" ... don't think that they have to have the word 'summer' or 'heat' or water' or whatever in the title ... something we can nod our heads to while sipping beer, flipping the ribs and staring at the one florescent bikini top.”

“I don't need anyone to recognize even 1/4 of the tunes - I'd rather have someone say "Hey Kev - GREAT tune, who does that?" Accessible.”

And guess what? The man has topped himself. On first listen, I knew right away that this was my summer party/brewing/pool/barbeque play list for 2007. This bubbling stew gyrates the hips, tosses the cranium and curls the lips into a smile. WAY more than I expected.

Vincent says
“I think this little mix satisfies the image you're looking for. A chilled out pool party with lots of good food and drink and plenty of good folks digging the sounds.”

Indeed.

I will not be able to express just how fortunate I am, and how honored we are here in blog-land, to have a resource as deep and as knowledgeable as Vincent to generously and willing give of his already overextended time to produce this spectacular guest post here on Got The Fever.

Download with fervent glee this treasure, wait until about halfway through the grill and chill session and lightly toss this one on the speakers. Wait for a short amount of time to go by until someone in the throng perks up and asks if they can have a copy. Burn some ahead of time to allow yourself time to shake your hips around the pool with a burger and ribs platter on one hand, an unconventional beer in the other, comfortable friends and a loved one smirking sideways at the lame way you dance.

Download: “Fufu Stew Gets The Fever" (515)

The playlist for Fufu Stew Gets The Fever:

01-Groovin' With Mr. Bloe-Cool Heat (Forward)
02-Cloud Nine-Mongo Santamaria (Columbia)
03-Feels So Good-Alvin Cash (Mar V Lus)
04-Thinking Black-Ike Turner (Pompeii)
05-Broasted Or Fried-Willie Bobo (Now-Again)
06-Gittin' A Little Hipper Pt. 2-James Brown (King)
07-Wade In The Water-Willie Mitchell (Hi)
08-Mama Soul-Harold Alexander (Bluebird)
09-Babylonia-Ricardo Barrero (Luv N Haight)
10-Hey Leroy, Your Mama's Calling You-Jimmy Castor (Smash)
11-Burning Spear-S.O.U.L. (Metro import)
12-Country Slicker Joe-Young Holt Unlimited (Brunswick)
13-Keep Loose-Jimmy McGriff (Solid State)
14-Hotcha- Brother Jack McDuff (Atlantic)
15-Emavungwini-Miriam Makeba (Reprise)

Get over to Vincent at Fufu Stew and sample his wares. If you're any kind of music lover, you will find his lists a very rare and welcome treat.

Surf's Up!

2007-07-20T16:31:00.000-04:00

There is something to be said about the right genre of music for the mood.

This certainly evokes thoughts of wet salty hair stuck to the back of my neck, hiding beers from the beach patrols in the cooler, the skill of tossing a Frisbee against the wind and not hitting sunbathers, rows of guys sucking in their bellies as bikini-clad breasts and ass saunter by and of just lying there on a towel feeling the heat through my eyelids while the sounds of frothy curling surf lap the shore in the background.

Surf music is spot-on for this moment and nothing else comes close.

The kids that live in my neighborhood jostled me into the mood for surf music recently. There are a few skate punks among them and they had their music blaring as usual while they navigated the downhill. But one of the sets had all this music that was way before their time! These kids were listening to the summer surf music of their fathers and possibly their grandfathers! I chose a few directly from the set they were listening to in an effort to spotlight and emphasize that the music has proven to be timeless. They underscore the point I make in the bar to the right titled 'About Me'.

Pipeline
For me, this track by The Chantays is the pinnacle of surf classic. The thunderous reverb and the haunting use of echo chill my spine every time it’s played. Do you realize that it’s been 44 years since this came out? It still sounds as raw and invigorating as it did when I was a kid, let alone what charges it gave to one’s spirit when it came out in 1963! You can picture yourself hovering low over your board, hands out for balance while the crest of the wave curls over and around you – daring you to escape in one piece!

Surfin’ Bird
Probably one of the best representatives of punky garage music brought to you by The Trashmen. As this track was blaring out of the sound cannons of those kids on the street, they were vigorously lurching their heads up and down, twisting their knuckles playing air guitar and working up a frenzied sweat any cardio-guru would be proud of! What little words to memorize were repeated over and over to all in the neighborhood. Again – amazing considering this one came out in 1964! I mentioned this to an older woman at work (she’s about 62-63 or so) and she launched into her dance and air guitar routine, then telling me tales of beach parties gone out of bounds! HER? But damn, this song gets around!

Hawaii 5-0
I remember this TV show in the reruns. I vividly remember the opening spot showing (among a million other snapshots) the hula girl running on the beach tossing off the flowers in her hair. This is another chilling instrumental that so accurately delivers on the mood and spirit of all that is summer on the beach - perfect waves, perfect girls and budget beer. Of course, for The Ventures, this was their bread and butter.

Yea, there are so many more that I could have delivered – most notably from Dick Dale or the Surfaris. But you already have that on your Pulp Fiction soundtrack.

Lie back in the sun. Close your eyes. Hear the pounding of the surf. Hear the giggles of the girls playing in the water. If there’s more to it than that, well, let me enjoy this scene to the fullest first.

But, don’t wait for me.

The Chantays: Pipeline [1963]
From: Two Sides of the Chantays/Pipeline [IMPORT]

The Trashmen: Surfin’ Bird [1964]
From: Bird Call!: The Twin City Stomp of the Trashmen [BOX SET]

The Ventures: Hawaii 5-0 [1969]
From: The Ventures Play the Greatest Surfin' Hits of All Time

Addendum: While sometimes I don't even have the time to look at my own blog, I do want to mention the glowing achievement of a few others. The good DJ over at The Hits Just Keep On Comin' celebrated - what - three years online! A must read, especially with his recent blogs on "A Day In Your Life". Darcy over at Feel It continues to just awe me with his encyclopedic knowledge of material. Quite simply, it is music commentary at its most entertaining. whiteray at Echoes In The Wind brings a smile to me each and every time I get there, based on his posts that bring originality and surprise to the screen. Red Kelly at The "B" Side exhaustively researches a track and gives you a comprehensive but readable lowdown that is pure gold on screen. Homercat over at Good Rockin' Tonight provides humor and an easy writing style that is hard to resist - he's also a faithful purveyor of all that is Canadian rock. Finally, AK over at Soul Shower has thankfully been back for a short while - as always, smart writing about great soul music.

Get to these blogs.
Get to these blogs often.

Prince

2007-07-13T09:39:00.000-04:00

Nothing fancy here, just a post designed to burn off energy via the guitar, and Prince on the fret-board.

I was more of a casual fan of Prince until I met Eric. He’s a tall, strapping, shaved-headed, mustachioed, white brut of a hulk that you would most likely at first glance take for a heavy metal freak. But damn, this guy knew and lived funk! And Prince was his favorite. He’d revel in delight as I turned him on to all sorts of gems, while he in turn would bath me in all that is funk or Prince.

I was re-educated as to how good the man actually is. And what a gifted musician he truly is. The man can swoon. The man can jive. The man can funk. The man can hop.

But I am here to tell you; the man can play that guitar!

Peach
Three chord rock with all the frills of a master musician! A playful romp with an irresistible pounding, he revs up and tears this apart with some snarling fuzz and attitude of plenty. There’s the bass that threatens to spring through the speakers, drums so bright that it sounds like someone pounding on coffee cans, but the guitar solo alone is enough to have you longing to see it live. Heck, the whole guitar track is flawless.

Summertime, feelin’ fine, getting wild
All that’s on my mind
Here she come, dressed in red
Get her done is all that’s in my head
Her hot pants can’t hide her cheeks
She’s a peach

Purple House
I am the first to admit that I don’t understand his obsession with the color purple, but whatever. Here, maybe it’s appropriate enough with how he destructs and re-constructs this Jimi Hendrix tune, to take the liberty of slightly renaming it – spritzing his scent so to speak.

From the opening wah-wah strains (got me already) to the voluptuous and sensual lead he has taken all those present and led them successfully down the path to guitar righteousness. He’s putting on a show here.

Pay attention to the almost gospel feel of the vocal track that calls back and forth making all bounce in their chair. It is at once stunning in its simplicity and grandiose in its power.

Wait a minute, something’s wrong!
This key won’t unlock this door.
I got a bad, bad feeling.
That my baby don’t live here no more.
That’s alright – I still got my guitar!

Prince: Peach (50)
From: Prince – The Hits: ‘B’ Sides, Disk 2 [1993]

Prince: Purple House (64)
From: Power of a Soul: Tribute to Jimi Hendrix [2004]

1776: Original Broadway Cast Recording

2007-07-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

First of all, I want to thank once more the good DJ from The Hits Just Keep On Comin’ for taking time out of his schedule to guest post. Maybe, one day ahead we might be able to try to tap into his brain for another unique perspective. Thank you sir!

This is music that I really want to lay out here before the July season passes. The splendid and stirring original cast recording of 1776 that starred William Daniels, Paul Hecht, Clifford David, Roy Poole, Rex Everhart and Ken Howard. I know that Daniels went on to TV’s ‘St. Elsewhere’ and Howard was later TV’s ‘The White Shadow’. Lyrics and music both by Sherman Edwards. In the debut year of 1969, 1776 beat out Hair for the Tony award!

Very appropriate music for this particular month, but something that I play at least two or three times a year. I can’t tell you exactly why I love it so, but you know what I mean when I say that there are certain pieces of music that you love that not every one else knows. And, especially if you love going to musical plays, you know the rush of being almost involved from the audience.

A quick thought – I’ve seen (many times) the movie version, but it doesn’t really get it right. The music is still fantastic though! As always, click on the pictures for the original sizing. You see a few great shots of the action.

But, Mr. Adams
John Adams is portrayed as the irascible force behind getting the Declaration of Independence written. He was actually one of the main driving forces behind getting the damn document put down to pen. Eventually the primary architect of this remarkable piece of parchment ended up being Thomas Jefferson who wrote it in only 17 days!

This song has Sam Adams going from representative to representative trying to goad them – anyone! - into finally writing it. However, their witty repartees begin to corner him. A thoroughly enjoyable and jaunty tune!

(Thomas Jefferson singing his reply back to Mr. Adams)
Mr. Adams, damn you Mr. Adams.
You’re obnoxious and disliked; that cannot be denied.
Once again you stand between me and my lovely bride.
Oh, Mr. Adams, you are driving me to homicide!

Mama Look Sharp
Very few songs can make me well up in tears - “If I Were Your Woman” by Gladys Knight, “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)” by Melanie and the original recording of “And I Am Telling You” from ‘Dream Girls all rapidly come to mind. “Mama Look Sharp” easily ranks with those above.

This is told from the point of view of a soldier (a courier of General Washington with only servants to listen) who has seen his friends shot on the battlefield. The second half has his friends singing tenderly of how they’ll bury him. I’ve heard it said that even grown men whisper for Mom as they die in combat. This vividly paints the personal emotional burden of youth violently extinguished - a stingingly poignant and deeply emotional song of the loss of life during war. And, he’s singing to his Mother to come see him before he dies.

Them soldiers they fired,
Oh Ma did we run!
But then we turned round,
And the battle begun.
Then I went under,
Oh Ma, am I done!
Hey, hey, Mama look sharp.

My eyes are wide open,
My faith to the sky.
Is that you I’m hearin’,
In the tall grass nearby?
Mama come find me before I do die!
Hey, hey, Mama look sharp.

Is Anybody There?
After the final document is written, changes are made. Changes by the score. Not much different from what happens with legislation even today. But, what is pissing off Adams this time is the ‘watering down to please everybody’ frenzy. Especially when language is taken out that outlaws slavery. He sees the bar being lowered a degree at a time and is filled with rage and anguish. Thinking on this, I am always amazed at how towering the bar stands now – imagine how unattainably lofty it must have been in its original state?

They want me to quit; they say
John, give up the fight.
Still to England I say
Good night, forever, goodnight!
For I have crossed the Rubicon
Let the bridge be burned behind me
Come what may, come what may!

Is anybody there? Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?

But, Mr. Adams (10)
Mama Look Sharp (12)
Is Anybody There? (10)
From: 1776 - Original Broadway Cast Recording

Addendum: I want to yell to everyone about the great Jazz mix over at Fufu Stew. He continues to WOW me with his tracks, but this one really has me bouncing on the way to and from work these last few days.

Guest Post: The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

2007-07-01T11:03:00.000-04:00

I often wondered what it was like for a DJ to have to hear the same songs over and over again. More specifically, can a DJ play the same songs shift after shift, day after day, through a whole season and ever have one or two become a great memory or a personal favorite? Especially in summer when so many of our memories are tied to cookouts, friends, end of school, vacations, parties, the beach and, most certainly, the soundtrack to the summer that is always on the radio?

I am fortunate that I have someone that I know online that is an actual DJ. J.A. Bartlett runs his own blog over at The Hits Just Keep On Comin', and I have mentioned him in this blog many times before. He is one of the major forces who left comments and emailed me personally, encouraged me to start up my own blog after guesting elsewhere. So, I wrote and asked him the very same questions I ask above – I wanted a perspective that is unique - a view from the voice over the airwaves. Fortunately, he has been kind and gracious enough to take time to write us of that experience right here on Got The Fever.

It is with great pride that I present for you, on this holiday weekend, the good DJ.

(Let me say before I begin: Few bloggers write about their music with as much passion as Kevin here at Got the Fever, so it’s both an honor and a challenge to be invited to take up space on this holiday weekend.)

The summer of 1986 was my last great radio summer, although it wasn’t my last summer in the business. I worked in Macomb, Illinois, at a typical mid-80s Top 40 station. We were slammin’ the hits, the ballads, the dance music, and the rockers - your Billy Oceans, your Janet Jacksons, your Van Halens - with a few album cuts thrown in at night, all aimed squarely at the students attending Western Illinois University. By that time, I’d been in the business four years, not counting college. I was the program director, and since late in 1985, the morning-show host. In fact, I was the only full-time DJ on the station, which was run the rest of the day by computer, with all the music on giant reels of tape.

As a DJ, I was largely self-taught. I’d gotten precious little outside guidance at my previous job, and I wasn’t getting any at this place, either. As a result, the morning show kind of blundered along. I played a lot of music, my newsman and I cracked wise, or tried to. I am guessing a lot of what Mitch and I thought was funny was probably fairly stupid. There were no ratings in our market, so we had no idea how many people were listening. But based on one small-town radio metric - are businesses buying advertising, and once they buy it, do they buy it again? - we felt pretty confident.

By summer, we had another metric we could rely on: The station was becoming an important presence around town. People who put on community events wanted us to be involved. We would provide promotional muscle in advance of an event, but our presence seemed to stamp the events with an extra degree of importance. That spring, the university put on an all-day rock festival on campus. I took the station vehicle and camped out all day, doing some on-air reports but mostly just being there. It was the first time in Macomb that people ever seemed impressed with my personal presence - the first time it became clear to me that I was a local celebrity. We promoted the infamous Hands Across America event held that Memorial Day weekend. It was cheesy and doomed to fail - we couldn’t even link Hands Across Macomb - but it sounded good on the radio nevertheless, as we broadcast from different spots around town and tried to get people to show up there to fill in the gaps. Sometime in July, Mitch and I did play-by-play at a celebrity cow-chip throwing contest. We took it as a golden opportunity to tease nearly every contestant, all of whom were prominent figures in the community, live on the radio. That we felt comfortable enough to do it was a measure of just how entrenched in the community our station (and Mitch and I) had become.

The Mrs. and I were rattling around in a big ol’ rented house, the first house we’d ever lived in together. (It had the first lawn I was ever responsible for, and a corner lot at that. I remember coming in one time after mowing it and telling her, “We must have children immediately,” so I’d have somebody to mow it for me.) She worked at the radio station, too. Working in the same office was never a problem for us; we’d met in a radio station, after all. We had a rule that what happened at home stayed at home, and it must have worked. There were several people around the office who didn’t know we were married. Many of our summer evenings were spent watching Cubs baseball on TV, although I didn’t usually see the end of night games: I suffered from what I call “morning man’s disease” - the inability to stay up much past 9:00, a consequence of getting up for work at 4:20 every morning. (I got up at 4:20 because 4:15 was just too early.) As a result, I treasured my Sundays, because they meant I could sleep decadently late - although that usually meant 7AM.

What about the music? It was the summer of movie songs: “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins and “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin, from Top Gun; “Glory of Love” by Peter Cetera from The Karate Kid II; “Live to Tell” by Madonna from At Close Range; “Love Touch” by Rod Stewart from Legal Eagles; “Modern Woman” by Billy Joel from Ruthless People; “Sweet Freedom” by Michael McDonald from Running Scared; “If You Leave” by OMD from Pretty in Pink, and likely a few more I’m forgetting. Individually, few of them are memorable. (Rather like the movies from which they came, although I remember liking Ruthless People and Running Scared.) Collectively, they form the backdrop on which memories of that summer are projected.

If forced to pick a favorite song from that summer, I’d have to cheat a little. “West End Girls” by the Pet Shop Boys had come out in the spring, but we kept playing it far into the summer, and it can still put me back in the living room of our big ol’ rented house with my radio station blasting from the stereo. But the song that brings back the summer most vividly is an entirely different thing. Summer songs are supposed to represent either the feeling of roaring down a highway with the windows open and the radio up (which “West End Girls” can do), or the sweetness of summer romance. This one is neither of those. It reminds me, instead, of the day-to-day work of a radio guy in the summer - a show every morning, the various tasks of programming a station all day, an event broadcast every weekend, those precious moments of leisure at home. It was the only life I’d ever seriously wanted for myself, and even though it had brought me to a nondescript college town in the middle of nowhere, that was merely the price I had to pay for the life I wanted to lead. Why “No One Is to Blame” should remind me of all this, I don’t know. It just does, and it has for 21 years now.

Pet Shop Boys: West End Girls (18)
Howard Jones: No One Is to Blame (13)

Addendum: I quickly looked up what stations might be in the general area and came up with this: http://www.radiomacomb.com/