Play It Again, Max

Addiss & Crofut - ST (Columbia, 1967)

2011-08-02T19:53:00.001-07:00

Here's another in my sporadic posts, and one I have mixed feelings about. Addiss and Crofut were certainly versatile and ahead of their time in their multicultural approach to folk music, but they often strike me as bland and somewhat emotionless. Still the album has its moments, Sita Ram's raga-folk sound is quite pleasing, for instance, and they have the good sense to cover a Fred Neil song.

The duo seemed to have played a lot of college campuses in the early/mid 60s (according to my google search) and had a gig touring the world on a State Department junket. According to a 1963 press release, Robert Kennedy singled them out for praise. So they were performing a while before they released this, their first album. A 2nd album, Eastern Ferris Wheel, is their best release to my ear and can be heard on the Record Fiend blog. Bill Crofut passed away in the late 1980s but Addiss appears to still be around, although I'm not sure what, if any, involvement he still has in music.

Anyway, it's late so I won't ramble. Here's the tracklist
A1 Simple Gifts
A2 War of Words
A3 Innsbruch
A4 Malaysian Flute
A5 Sita Ram
A6 Blues on the Ceiling
B1 A Ballad from Vietnam
B2 I Sing of a Maiden
B3 Non norbis, Domine
B4 To Have a Wife
B5 Mail Myself to You
B6 Crusader's Song (pts. 1 &2)
B7 Joys of Love (Plaisir d'Amour)

Here's the music.

I did recently record a few records to my computer, and while it takes a bit of time to clean them up and get them ready for posting there will be more posts coming including Nils-Aslak Valkeapaa, Vida E Inspiracion, John & Anne Ryder & Elmerlee Thomas).

Randy Holland - Cat Mind (Mother Record Corp., 1972)

2011-03-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

A lot of private press releases did not appear on commercial labels for good reason, but not this one. This is a very nice rock release, with some folk and country inflections, and a good loner vibe. It's not (contrary to some catalogues) psychedelic, but Holland dark and somewhat snotty delivery and some smokin' guitar make it stand out from the pack.

Most of the songs were writtne by Holland with the exception of a couple by Lew Alpaugh (who also did the arragements on the record), a nice Mickey Newburry cover ("I'll Remember the Good") and a rollicking "Muddy Water" by a F. Wright (not sure who did that one originally, or whether it appears here for the 1st time, although it sounds like it could have been a country song circa late 60s). The record was recorded in Bound Brook, NJ and the record company was located on George Street in New Brunswick, NJ (not far from Rutgers' radio station, WRSU, where I spent many an hour in Grad school).

This is the only album Holland recorded but you can read some of his poety on his blog. He ended up in Las Vegas, doing some kind of casino work and running an art gallery. Sadly, he passed away earlier this year--you can read the obit here.

Here's a track list (and can someone please tell me why I'm no longer to paste text into blogger post entries?!?!--guess I have to retype)

Side ONE

Bless the Nake Days

Colours of Sad

Song for a Rainy Tuesday

Make Me Flowers

Muddy Water

Side TWO

I'll Remember the Good

Cat Mind

Indian Blues

Ladybug

Take My Hand

I hope you enjoy the record.

I'm hoping this marks a return to regular blogging for me. I've got a stack of records I want to record for you, but my next post may be one of the records that have been "sitting" on my computer for a while (Tipico Nos Grandsea or the Freedom Singers, odd choices I know).

Some news

2011-03-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post with a bit of news and one crass plug.

The crass plug first. I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute some reviews to the book Endless Trip, an American/Canadian companion volume to Galactic Ramble. But even if that weren't the case I would still highly recommend it. A fantastic collection of reviews, both new and vintage, of 60s & 70s era pop, psych, folk, prog, rock, r&b, & even some jazz. It's bigger than your phonebook, even if you live in a major metro area, containing over 3000 reviews, both well-known and obscure. Click the book title to order your copy.

Also, I'm making a major effort to update my links. Getting rid of dead blogs and adding cool new ones. If anyone wants to help by reporting dead links, new links for old blog, or just new good blogs to add, please do. Since every time I check I link I have to go back over the past year's posts (it's been that long since I checked most of them), it takes a while.

Even better, I expect to have a new post up within a week, Randy Holland's Cat Mind album--some very tasty private press, loner rock.

Stephen Spano - Eye to Eye (Adelphi, 1975)

2011-02-19T18:18:00.001-08:00

This has been long overdue. I originally intended on posting this album a year or so back and discovered it was posted elsewhere, and was since informed that the other blog & this post along with it has disappeared. However, instead of posting my rip, which has a skip on one track, I'm posting the one that originally appeared on the sadly demised Good Records NYC blog, with many thanks to the original poster.

It's excellent private press, folk-psych with flute, record, melodica & mini-moog in addition to acoustic guitar & vocals. Spano is still around doing work as an actor as well as a musician and you can find some more information about him here and here. I'll make this review short, since this blog is really on life-support at the moment and just say it's a great record and well worth a listen. Get it here.

I hope to have a news post up in the next couple weeks and a music post once Spring arrives, so I'm not quite done yet, but it's been a long winter and there's a lot going on right now.

Blog Update: Not Dead Yet

2010-09-06T10:58:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let readers know the status of this blog. We're not dead yet, but have certainly seen better days. I have to admit that blogging has not been particularly rewarding as of late, that couple with a backlog of music (in other formats) that I have yet to listen to means that I haven't been making digital copies of any LPs lately. However, I still have a stack of vinyl that I want to transfer to MP3/CD formats, and so I expect that there will be some posts further down the line. Just can't say when, and ceratinly not done regularly. Until then I encourage you to check out the links to many another fine blog--I do slowly, but regularly try to update the links (deleting ones that haven't had a post in over a year and adding new ones I find). Thanks to all of you who have left comments or sent emails.

Fiebre Amarilla - Fiebre Amarilla (unknown, mid-70s?)

2010-06-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

Something different this time. I don't know much about the band or the record, and would probably never have heard it if it hadn't been for the anonymous person up the street who through away a nice little collection of Central and South American lps from the 1970s (thanks, whoever you are). A number of the LPs are pretty cool Latin rock, but many have been reissued in their home countries. That doesn't seem to be the case with this one by Fiebre Amarilla (yellow fever, in English).

Fiebre Amarilla is from El Salvador and is still performing today, but from what I can tell (see Youtube videos below) they've evolved into a more staightforward Latin/Salsa outfit, although still quite good. On this, which I suspect is their 1st album (it's at least self-titled) they perform in a wider variety of styles. In addition to some salsa (including a Joe Cuba cover), you can hear some stone cold funk (check their version of the Beatles' "I Gotta Feeling"), some boogie-rock (check "You'll Belong to Me"), and even a bit of prog-rock ("Introduction"). The band is talented and they some nice vocal harmonies. Songs are in Spanish and English. The whole is a varied and quite tasty release.

Whoever left the album for me didn't place it in the correct sleeve, so I have no cover images for this LP. The picture above is from the sleeve in which I found the record, but is another Fiebre Amarilla album. You can, however, see the band as well as their autographs.

Here is a tracklist
Side A
1. Introduction (Fiebre Amarilla)
2. Let It Bring the Music (Jorge Rivera)
3. I Gotta Feeling (Lennon & McCartney)
4. La Cartera (D.A.R.)
5. Hecho Y Derecho (Joe Cuba)
Side B
6. Por Que No Llegaste Ayer? (German Mangandi)
7. Mananas de Abril (Ele Juarez)
8. Sembre un Poema (German Mangandi & Tony Delgado)
9. Si Yo Canto (Jorge Rivera)
10. You'll Belong To Me (German Mangandi)

Give a listen here.

Here you can check out a couple more recent performances from the group:

Billie Joe Becoat - Reflections from a Cracked Mirror (1969)

2010-04-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

I promised an April post and since I have been too busy to copy an LP of my own, I'm reposting this excellent Billy Joe Becoat album. I think it originally appeared on the excellent Retelephone66 blog, one of a number of fine blog that has been getting hammered lately by DMCA complaints (despite the fact that over 1/3rd of the complaints Google receives are not from legitimate copywrite holders & probably none of the albums he's posted are the property of the artists that recorded them). Hopefully, I will avoid a similar fate since this, like all my current posts, has never been reissued and is only available in used record stores. Anyway, since Redtelephone has reposted some of my "rips" I don't think he'll mind me putting this one up.

Billie Joe Becoat released two LPs, of which this is the first, before leaving the music scene and inventing the 2-wheeled drive bicycle (which, I'm pretty sure, was a much more profitable enterprise). He is another fine African-American folk singer, who has been unjustly overlooked. On this album he sings about people setting the cities on fire, about being abandoned by his lover, and about the lives of the poor and dispossessed. Although he's not without a sense of humor about it too--check his satirical Dylan rewrite on "Hi Fiddle De Fi" and the pointed irony on tracks like "I've Got Everything I Need" and "I'm a Good Man, a Fine Man." The arrangements are fairly sparse, consisting of Becoat's acoustic guitar and harmonica and a rhythm section of acoustic bass and occassional tamborine. His voice is pretty good too. But it's the verbal play of Becoat's songs that are the real highlight here. Give it a listen.

As an aside, the record was produced by Ray Shanklin who was a composer for Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic (both great soundtracks).

On Vacation

2010-02-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update. Actually, I'm not on vacation, although I did get to spend a few days in a hotel while our heat and electricity were off. Now I'm back home buried under 3 feet of snow.

Anyway, it's been a busy winter and I haven't had the energy to post some new music. If you regularly check the blog I'd say come back when Spring arrives--I hope to have another post up sometime in April.

Until then, check the links. I will continue to (slowly) update them and eliminate the dead ones.

Happy new year and all that.

Rabbi Abraham Feinberg - I Was so Much Older Then... (1969)

2009-11-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

I know I said I wouldn't make apologies for late posts anymore, but I do want to complain a bit about why this post is a couple months late. First, Microsoft wrecked by computer--I let one of Microsoft Security's assistants take over my computer in order to fix a problem with a Vista security update that wouldn't properly install and when they were done the computer wouldn't reboot. After many long conversations with new friends from Microsoft in India I reinstalled Vista a couple times and finally got it working again. Then Bitdefender started screwing with me--every time I downloaded a couple files my internet browser would go blank and I'd have to reboot the machine--that lead me to reinstall Vista a couple more times until I figured out the problem was with Bitdefender. They still haven't fixed it but me and a bunch of other irate people expect a fix within weeks! OK--that's my rant. On to this month's post...

This is a record that should have made it into Roger Bennett and Josh Kun's And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl, but didn't. Rabbi Feinberg was a leftie, Reform rabbi from Toronto who got some counterculture cred singing along with John & Yoko on "Give Peace a Chance." He even suggested a couple of lines for the song. Soon after he recorded this album for Vanguard. The back cover of which has a couple of photos of him with John & Yoko in case you missed the story at the time. It also features some biographical information detailing his education, his early singing career as Anthony Frome, the "Poet Prince of the Airwaves," and his peace activism. You can read other versions of his bio here and here.

Rabbi Abraham (or Tony) Feinberg covers a number of excellent songs including Buffalo Springfield's "Flying on the Ground," the Bee Gees' "Words," and Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" as well as some really old oldies like Brahms' "Lullaby." And while he doesn't have a bad voice, he doesn't really have much of a feeling for most of the material. He told John Lennon that he couldn't keep time with "today's music," but I don't think that's the problem. He keeps time OK, but he just sounds too too formal, too classical for this material. Still, there are some interesting (if perhaps a bit dated) production touches on the record, like the echoey background vocals on "I Shall Be Released" and the little spoken political pieces that link the songs (there is no blank space between numbers, so it may sound like some of them end pretty abruptly). And the record does grow on you (or at least grew on me) after repeated listenings--so in spite of its general oddness you may find some things to like.

Here's the tracklist
1. Simple Child Loved
2. Story of Isaac
3. Flying on the Ground
4. Warm Traitor's Breath
5. Words
---
6. I Shall be Released
7. Goodthings
8. Bells of Saint-Pierre
9. Torna a Surriento
10. Brahams Lullaby

And you can get the music here or here. Enjoy.

Barry Mann - Angel, Angel Down We Go ST (1969)

2009-09-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Well, as you may have guessed I'm not posting the Hoover album I promised last time--it turns out it's already available on the excellent PUZZLEDOYSTER blog and I suggest you go over there and grab it ASAP.

Instead, I'm filling a request for an album I didn't post before because it had been available elsewhere--in this case on the 7 Black Notes blog, which unfortunately is no longer active. Since I lost my own recording of this when my hard drive crashed a while back, I am reposting the recording that appeared on 7 Black Notes.

So what about Angel, Angel Down We Go? Well if you're interested in the movie (starring Jennifer Jones and Roddy McDowall, as well as featuring Lou Rawls and Holly Near) I suggest you check out IMDB's page on it. Or check out the trailer. The soundtrack, which may or may include all the music from the film (I have to confess to never having seen the movie) features music by Barry Mann, composed sans songwriter partner, wife and lyricist Cynthia Weil. Mann has co-writing credits for many memorable songs. If you're not familiar, check the Mann & Weil web site. Mann's soundtrack credits are perhaps not as impressive--although the duo did pen most of the music for the classic teen-exploitation flick, Wild in the Streets (a personal favorite).

So I hope you enjoy this soundtrack of groovy music and wacked-out dialogue from a weird and apparently pretty awful 60s flick available here or here.

I'm not certain what I'll be posting next but upcoming posts will include Len Novy, Casey Anderson, Line Renaud, Randy Holland, Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, Florence Warner, and Pete Fountain (I got about 20 of his records at the thrift store recently). Stay tuned.

Bobby Paris - Let Me Show You The Way (1968)

2009-08-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

Bobby Paris began his singing career as a member of the Golden Keys doo-wop group, and in addition to this album on Tetragrammaton he recorded a number of singles over the years (see discography here). Paris typically gets labeled a "blue-eyed soul" singer, but as he's Puerto -Rican "brown-eyed soul" is the more appropriate label. There is no doubt that Paris is a powerful and soulful singer and, as you can hear on this album, he can really belt out a song about a broken relationship.

in addition to singing and songwriting (he composed most of the songs on this LP), Paris also worked as a producer, co-producing Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billy Joe" among other tunes. There's an online interview, if you want more information on his career.

So what about this record? Well, it starts out really strong, and Side 1, which consists entirely of his own compositions, includes some great soul (a few of which became hits on the Northern Soul circuit). Stand-out tracks include the uptempo “Per-Son-Nal-Ly” (which sounds like something Tom Jones could have made a hit out of) and “Out of Key” (which has some more reflective moments between the soaring choruses). However, Side 2 attempts something more and fails in the process. It’s an extended song cycle that feature a couple originals and some classic cuts interspersed with brief spoken passages. There are some good original songs on Side 2 as well, but the spoken interludes, which sound like rejects from a Rod McKuen record, detract rather than add to the experience, and the there’s way too much pathos on some of the covers (you kind of expect him to break down crying in the middle of “Bye, Bye Blackbird”). Paris might get points for trying to conceive a narrative to link the songs, but loses them for his annoying attempts to explain the narrative arc. However, overall this is a decent album with some fine songs and great vocals, but it would have been better if he had attempted a little less. The production could also have been better on this one--it sounds kind of muddy at time--but that may also be because I've only got the mono version (the record was also released in stereo).

Here's a tracklist (although Side 2 is labeled "The Cycle" as a whole and the spoken word pieces also each have their own name, which I've left off here, as they are best forgotten):

a. Out Of Key

b. I'm So Lonely

c. Per-Son-Nal-Ly

d. No No No Girl

e. I'm Not That Kind of Man

f. Going Out The Way I Came In

-------------

g. Let Me Show You The Way

h. You

i. Please, Mr. Sun

j. Tragedy

k. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying

m. Bye bye Blackbird

The recording is (obviously) in mono and encoded with a VBR-extreme setting. You can get it from r-share or m-fire.

In other news, I was also sent a cleaner recording of the first Pollution album, which is now available in place of the older recording. Also, I've gotten a couple requests to post the Angel, Angel Down We Go soundtrack now that's it's no longer available on another blog, and will try to do so in the coming months. Stay tuned for more good music--I picked up a bunch off odd folk records at a thrift store recently and still have a backlog of records I wanted to post from before. Next up, though, is the 1969 country/rock release from Willis Hoover entitled Hoover.

Len Chandler - To Be a Man & The Lovin' People

2009-07-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but to make up for the delay I'm posting 2 albums, both by Len Chandler and both released in 1967. They're also the only 2 albums he released under his own name. To Be a Man is my own recording but I have to thank blog reader Markus (for forwarding the other album to me) and his friend Steve for recording it.

Chandler was one of a number of African-American folk singers/songwriters who were performing during the 1960s, but with the exception of Richie Havens most of them aren't that well known today. Chandler was a classically trained musician (oboe was his first instrument) who didn't get interested in folk singing until he was in college. His first performance of folk songs were actually sung with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (he performed "Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair" and "Wayfaring Stranger"). He started writing songs for Broadside and got involved in the Civil Rights Movement, and then got a record deal with Columbia. Among his compositions was the godawful novelty number "Beans in My Ears" as well as some songs written in support of the Black Panther Party. (You can check his full discography here, but other than a later e.p. and his work on the Credibility Gap comedy album, it doesn't go much beyond these 2 releases). He seems to have focused more on songwriting during the 1970s, and was a founder of the Alternative Chorus-Songwriters Showcase. He also moved to LA.

Of these 2 albums, To Be a Man, is the first and (to my ears) weaker of the two. It's a more traditional folk album, featuring him and his guitar, but is perhaps too traditional, and while I don't believe he cops any of the riffs here it does sound like a lot of other records you may have heard before. Chandler's faults as a perfomer are also more glaring--his vocals are often too formal and I, for one, wish he would loosen up a little (as he does sometimes on the other release). His guitar playing is fine but not exceptional, and his songs are also a bit generic at times. He's at his best here on bluesy, uptempo numbers like "Feet First Baby" (about an ornery natural-born fighter) and on the satirical "Hide Your Heart, Little Hippie.” When he tries to be poetic he meanders and the results are kind of confusing (as on “Shadow Dream Chaser Of Rainbows” which goes from images of “moths deep inside [him]” and the “fires [he's] been drawn to, to learn” to people following rainbows for an imaginary pot of gold, which really isn’t as valuable as a shadow because soulless people have no shadows, or something to that effect.

On The Lovin’ People, he has the benefit of a good backing band consisting of Pretty Purdie on drums, Artie Butler on organ & piano, and Joe Mack and Bill Salter on bass. The band, who play both loose and funky without ever sounding sloppy, helped produce a more laid back vibe and Chandler sounds more relaxed than he did on the earlier album. He has some better songs on this one, too, such as the title cut warm, poppy number about...well, “Lovin’ People,” on which the presence of a chorus (made up on the spot of people who had gathered to provide assistance to a mothers’ help organization) also helps temper Chandler’s unfortunate tendency towards over-earnestness. “The Naked Fool” is about a relationship gone bad, which doesn’t have anything new to say but will have a few toes tapping. “Sold Out, No More Reservations” is an interesting number about a male groupie, and “Bound to Fly” has a nice soaring quality, and Chandler’s lyrics and delivery mesh well on it. If anything the problem here is that Chandler is sometimes eclipsed by his backing band—check “Behind Your Eyes” where the band goes off on some nice free jazz-psychedelic tangents while Chandler seems to be trying to channel Sammy Davis, Jr.

Here's the tracklist for To Be a Man

To Be A Man
Feet First Baby
Nancy Rose
Bellevue
Missionary Stew #2
Keep On Keepin' On
Shadow Dream Chaser Of Rainbows
Hide Your Heart, Little Hippie
Roll, Turn, Spin
Time Of The Tiger
Takin' Me Away From You Train
Quittin' Time

And here's the list for Lovin' People

Bound to Fly
The Naked Fool
The Lovin' People
The Warmth of You Beside Me
And Still I Dream
Behind Your Eyes
Touch Talk
Sold Out, No More Reservations
I Couldn't Keep From Carin' After All
The Language of Love

To Be a Man was transferred from a mono copy of the album and the Lovin' People (apparently) from a stereo copy (at least the MP3s are encoded in stereo). The first album is encoded at VBR-extreme and the 2nd at 192k, and I've made available as one DL HERE. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Seraffyn - Of Love, Of War, Of Many Things (1964)

2009-06-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Seraffyn (last name Mork) is, according to his record cover, the "last, great troubador." Now he is certainly not the last, and is greatness is arguable (although the album is entertaining enough), but he certainly seems to have been a troubadour, and a wandering one at that (again according to the record cover). He also was born & raised in New England (not Old Scotland), graduated from Harvard and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and in 1953 won the Folksong Award at the International Eisteddford in Wales.

Seraffyn does a fine job at singing and occassionally speaking his way through some good folk material, an Edward Lear poem, and a song from the Fantasticks (i.e., Early One Morning). Most of the material, though, is British (as from the British Isles) with some particularly stirring tracks on the first side. A few of the selections, particularly the version of the Owl & the Pussycat (a guy has a romantic dinner and sings to his girlfriend, "What a beautiful pussy you are? WTF?) fall short of the standard set by the first few tracks and seem a bit silly by comparison. Still the record is a notch above your average folk record from the period and one has to wonder what happened to Seraffyn, who does not appear to have released anything after this.

Here's the tracklist
SIDE A
1. The War Song of Dinas Fawr (Men of Harleach)
2. Will Ye No Come Back Again
3. The Bonnie Earl O'Mowry
4. The Song of Wandering Aengus
5. Try to Remember
6. Early One Morning
SIDE B
7. The Road to the Isles
8. Little Tiny Boy
9. The Cowboy's Lament
10. The Owl and the Pussycat
11. Cock Robin

The recording is in mono & the MP3s are encoded with a high quality VBR. Unfortunately there are a couple brief skips (covered over as best I could) on the track "Little Tiny Boy." Listen here or here.

John Blair - Mystical Soul (1971)

2009-05-15T08:43:00.001-07:00

Some time ago I mentioned that I had this record but decided not to post it because it was up on another blog (headfonehaus) that is sadly gone. The recording that I'm posting here comes from that site, since mine was lost when my hard drive crashed. I hope headfone won't mind--props to him.

I'm posting this in response to a blog reader request. So here and here you can hear John Blair's 1st album Mystical Soul released in 1971 on the A&R label. John Franklin Ellington Blair (his full name & yes he was supposedly related to the aristocratic Ellington) was (he passed away in 2006) a singer, violinst, martial artist, poet & inventor of the "Vitar" (a combination acoustical guitar and violin). He put out 3 albums of his own unique mix of jazz, soul, and pop-rock music and this is his first. You can hear his 3rd album, We Belong Together, over at the My Jazz World blog. The album features some nice covers (Burt Bacharach, Beatles, etc.) and fine original numbers. I hope you'll enjoy it. I certainly did.

I hope to be back in a couple weeks with a post of an excellent folk record from Seraffyn, the Last Great Troubador.

So what happened to this month's post?

2009-05-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Or how I was kidnapped and taken to the Castle of the Gnomes! Or not.

So what really happend? Well, I was getting Stephen Spano's fine psychedelic outing Eye to Eye ready for posting and did a quick check on Google only to find that it had been recently posted here, on the Good Records NYC blog. Since it's my policy not to post stuff that's available elsewhere I ended up shelving this month's post. I did, however, get a request for John Blair's first album, which had been posted before on another blog but doesn't seem to be available any longer, so I will make some effort to get that up before the month's over. Otherwise, I will definitely have a new post up next month.

Also, I've observed that most of my recent posts begin with me complaining that I don't have much time to post. That seems to be a pretty monotonous theme. So, in the future please assume I don't have any time and I won't complain about it anymore. Also, while I'd like to be posting monthly I can't make any promises--suffice it to say I will try to post as often as I can and as long as I have records to post (which should be for quite some time to come). Thanks for reading and for your comments and emails!

Hank & Lewie Wickham With Johnny Dagucon - ST (1971)

2009-04-09T06:07:00.000-07:00

I'm really pressed for time this month (and probably will be for the next couple as well) so I'm not going to write much about this one. The fact is that I don't know much that I could relay to you anyway. There were a couple songs from this posted on a blog (I forgot which) a couple years back but that post/blog seems to have disappeared. I can also point you to the Wickham brothers Web site for more information about the brothers. You can also pick up some reissued material and some newer releases on CD there, as well as books like How to Play Guitar Well Enough To Screw up Your Life.

I can say this is an enjoyable outing of folk-country-rock stylings released on the King label (better known for its country & soul music). The Wickham's original material tends to be songs of quiet longing and love, many quite good and there are also a number of choice cover songs (including excellent versions of Love's Message to Pretty and Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now--2 of my alltime favorites). They play their guitars well enough and the Wickham that sings listened to plenty of Elvis' records, although he lacks Elvis' voice.

Here's the tracklist:
Side 1
Liberated Woman
But You Know I Love You
Both Sides Now
Tu Solo TuI
t's Over
Mr. Bonjangles
Side 2
Blow the Ashes Away
Fire & Rain
Yesterday, When I Was Young
A Day in the Life of a Fool
Message to Pretty
Angel Fire

I should apologize for the late (for March) post and while I'm at it the crappy cover photo. And the sound on this isn't quite as good as I'd like. I may be wrong but I think my turntable seems to be getting worse. Perhaps someone who knows more about audio hardware can clue me in, but will a bad stylus pick up more noise? Will putting a good stylus on a 3rd rate turntable be a better investment than upgrading to a 2nd rate turntable? Anyway, despite the imperfections I hope you enjoy this album.

Musical Theatre - A Revolutionary Revelation (1970)

2009-02-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

The 1960's (and yes 1970 is part of the 1960's) produced plenty of weird records and plenty of cheesy records, but those musical excursions that combine the weird & cheesy are a rarer lot. This is certainly one of them. So what is the record about? Well according to thel liner notes, "This album attempts to explain in musical form, not only what the youth of today are against but also what they are for....It is a musical expression against the war, racism, violence, poverty, the destruction of our natural environment, inequality, puritanism, and the imbalance of power." Now listening to it for the first time you might miss this. You might mistakenly believe that the record was made to cash in on disgruntled youth who might be fooled into thinking this album expresses their concerns, such as their desire for a "love pill" and their belief that a lack of compassion for minority groups caused Lee Harvey Oswald to become an assassin. And so you might think that what you're hearing is the counterculture filtered through the psyche of an aging, pseudo-hipster, record producer who assumes the voice of a nameless, all-wise, Socratic questioner. But you'd obviously be wrong, or maybe not. It is really difficult to capture the weirdness of this one in a couple paragraphs, so you should really listen to it yourself and decide how serious of a piece of musical theater (I'm sorry, theatre) this is.

Admist all this weirdness and between the spoken word exchanges, there are some pretty cool songs here. Computer World is probably my favorite (sort of a watered down version of Lothar & the Hand People's "Machines") and the Lee Harvey Oswald montage, Reflections in the Life of an Assassin is pretty cool too. The band, made up of some competent session musicians plays it with a straight face (although not as straight as the Mystical Voice & the Revolutionists). Here's the personnel listed on the record:

Written and conceived by Jay Darrow
Paul Griffin - Organ/Piano
Al Gorgoni, Dave Spinozza, Bill Snyker - Guitars
Jimmy Johnson - Drums
Chuck Raney - Fender Bass
Jack Jennings - Percussion
The Musical Theatre - Revolutionists
Howard Newhouse - Mystical Voice

Jay Darrow is the main instigator of this fantastic excursion into teen angst & desire. In addition to writing the script he's cowriter on most of the songs (in most cases along with G. Shayne). I don't know much about him, though, other than the fact that he is also listed as a producer on a number of pop/rock singles during the late 60s by bands like the Harbingers, the Plebian Rebellion, & that counter-culture icon Anita Bryant.

Because the spoken interludes fill up the space between the songs I have not seperated the tracks the way I usually do. Also, this is still a pretty noisy recording and my attempts at noise reduction don't seem to have worked as well as they usually do. Unforunately I think this is because my crappy turntable has gotten crappier. I'm going to try to get a new stylus sometime soon, which will hopefully help. I hope you enjoy this weirdness released in 1970 on the Metromedia label.

And here's the tracklist:

SIDE A
Revolution
We Want
Computer World
You Only Reap What You Sow
Reflections in the Life of an Assassin
SIDE B
There Must Be a Better Way of Life
A Love Pill
Before the Apple
I've Seen God in Many Places
A Revolutionary Revelation

Orriel Smith - A Voice in the Wind (1963)

2009-01-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

I've been particularly busy as of late, so this post comes a little later than I had promised. I hope you'll find that it's worth the wait. A Voice in the Wind is a pretty traditional folk album from a singer who is anything but traditional.

She is a classicaly trained singer whose mother sang opera. Grew up in Washington, DC living across from the Seeger family. Started performing folk songs at Gerde’s Folk City in NY when she was 18 and studying opera singing in the city, and managed to get on the Johnny Carson show (singing “The Russian Nightingale”) before she had a recording contract, which got her signed to Columbia to record this LP and some tracks on a couple of Columbia's All-Star Hootenanny compilations. After that moved on to the Jimmy Joyce Singers and a recording with Ray Conniff live in Japan. She did a fantastic single with Phillip Lambro (Tiffany Glass b/w Winds of Space) that is available on the Fuzzy Felt Folk compilation (highly recommended) and sang on Lambro's soundtrack to Crypt of the Living Dead (also available on CD). Nowadays she performs opera arias while clucking like a chicken, which you do have to hear to believe (my description can't do it justice). Thankfully both The World's Favorite Cluckoratura Arias & Live! From CarnEGGy Hall are available on CD.

On this record she performs largely unaccompanied by her own guitar and occassionally strings under the direction of Walter Raim. The record was produced by Bobby Scott, who helped her select the material (a nice mix of British and American ballads, for the most part).

You can review her full discography here. And read an excellent interview, from Terrascope, here. There are also a couple of poor quality videos from her folk-singing days out on Youtube here and here.

These MP3s (also available here) of the album come from the mono version. Here's the tracklist:

Side A

1. The Deceived Girl

2. Down By The Glenside

3. When I Was Single

4. Over The Hills

5. Been On This Train

6. White Curtains

Side B

7. Black Is The Color

8. Chilly Winds

9. Take My Mother Home

10. Geordie

11. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

12. Red Rosy Bush

Coming sometime next month: A Revolutionary Revelation by the Musical Theatre.

Brenda Wootton - Carillon (1979)

2008-12-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

This month I'm presenting another lp courtesy of a listener, in this case Dave (AKA Jukebox, AKA cathaven) who kindly recorded his vinyl copy of this rarity and sent it my way.

Brenda Wootton is a Cornish folk singer who recorded about a dozen albums between the late-60s and the early-80s. A number of the songs have a pop sensibility more than a pure folk sound, but her excellent voice and good selection of material make the pop songs (like Apple Wine) work as well as the folk numbers. On some of her releases, she sings in Cornish and sometimes Breton (both are Celtic languages, about which I know very little) but all the songs here are in English, although some originate in Cornwall nonetheless.

I first discovered Brenda Wootton through the ýlowek scavel-cronek blog, which has, between African lps and Jackie Chan soundtracks posted 4 of her releases so far. If you like this record, I recommend you take a look at his postings (and even if you don't you should check out his great blog).

You can listen to this one here.

Thanks again to Dave and if anyone else out there has some recordings of vinyl lps that have never made it to CD that you'd like to share drop me a line. I'm hoping there will be another folk post coming at the end of the month: Orriel Smith's hauting 1963 album A Voice in the Wind.

Hilton Valentine - All in Your Head (1969)

2008-12-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here's one I can't believe never made it on CD, or if it did I can't find any record of it. Not even some limited, edition Japanese paper sleeve issue. I know it didn't sell well at the time of its release but it's really an excellent record full of introspective, semi-psychedelic, beautiful pop songs and some great guitar work. Unfortunately I'm a little pressed for time and so probably won't be able to do it justice--suffice it to say if you like the music here, then you'll REALLY like this one.

Hilton Valentine was born in 1943 in North Shields, Northumberland, started playing guitar in a skiffle band (The Heppers) moved on to a more rock'n'roll/R&B sound with The Wildcats and ended up the lead guitarist for the Animals, one of the finest & (as Valentine notes) most poorly managed bands of the British Invasion.

He left the Animals in 1966 when they became Eric Burdon & the Animals and, except for some supporting gigs (on the Keith Sheilds' single Hey Gyp & another single by Natasha Pyne) didn't record again until this 1969 solo release on Capitol/EMI. He then went on another long recording hiatus & didn't release another solo outing until It's Folk 'N' Skiffle recorded under the name Skiffledog, which you should definitely check out (you can listen to samples at the link I just gave). You can see his whole discography here.

Valentine is still performing today, as Skiffledog and along with Eric Burdon and his Web site has more info. You can see a recent performance on Youtube.

Hilton Valentine is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and deserving of many other accolades and honors (whether he's gotten or not). But then again, this record deserved to be a hit, so music, like life, ain't always fair.

Here's a tracklist:
1. Listen
2. Everything Returns to Me
3. It's All in Your Head
4. Little Soldiers
5. Eyes of a Child
6. Sitting in the Sun
----
7. Is There Anything but Love
8. Land of Children
9. Run, Run, Run
10. Peace
11. Girl from Allemagne

This is now available on CD, so the link is down.

Bill Tinker - Inside Out! (Tower, 1968)

2008-11-16T07:32:00.000-08:00

I'll keep this post short since I don't know much about Mr. Tinker. I'm pretty sure that this is his only release, at least under the Tinker name. I have some suspicions, though, that that isn't his given name since there's a liner not on the back of the LP that is either written by "E. Greenburg" or written to thank "E. Greenburg" (the last line is "Thank you E. Greenburg"). But perhaps I'm reading too much into that.

Tinker wrote most of the material ("Silver Love Line" and "Midway" are by Paul McNeil), sang, and, if the photo on the back cover is to be believed presumably played piano and guitar. "Man From Birmingham" was released as the single. The records is a nice, albeit somewhat typical, late-60's pop outing with some semi-psychedelic lyrics, a dash of country twang, a little bit of current events, some harmonica, and melodies that are pleasant if not particularly memorable. I like it and hopefully you will as well.

Here's a tracklist:

1. An Everday Thing

2. Again, Again

3. Midway

4. Man from Birmingham

5. Silver Love Line

-------------

6. Anything You Ask

7. You Could Get High

8. A Very Ordinary Man

9. Dee Anne

10. Son

Play it again here.

WTF happened to my blog colors?

2008-11-14T07:47:00.001-08:00

So I woke up this morning and the colors on my blog had all changed. I've tried to search through blogger help to find out how to change them back & have not gotten any answers. Short of changing/updating my template (which will cause a bunch of other problems), I'm not sure what I can do. I'd like the blue backgroun back again but what I really want is to be able to read the title of the blog! Perhaps some kind blogger out there has some suggestions.

BTW, expect a new post this weekend. Also, if you haven't checked the links list recently I've been adding links for a lot of great, new blogs as well as some weird, not-so-great ones.

Jackie Washington - Morning Song (1967)

2008-09-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

Jackie Washington has had a long and storied career that's still going strong today, and he has performed folk, blues, rock, jazz, and a little bit o soul, performing with the likes of Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Lonnie Johnson, and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.

Jackie Washington was born in Ontario in 1919 and began performing at age 5, singing with The 4 Washington Brothers (the other 3 being his brothers Ormsby, Harold & Doc). By the early 60’s he had started playing folk music and made his way to Greenwich Village, signing soon after with Vanguard Records and appearing on their 1961 compilation New Folks (along with the Greenbriar Boys, Hedy West & David Gude). His first, self-titled solo album appeared in 1962. This was his 4th album and the last of his 1960s recordings. If you want more info on his Vanguard years, you can see a pretty complete discography of that era here.

This was his 4th album and the last of his 1960s recordings. While his first 3 albums featured him performing solo, on Morning Song he ventured more into pop and folk rock territory and was accompanied by Mitch Greenhill & John Nagy on electric guitars, Alvin Rogers on drums and Seldon Powell on alto, with some string accompaniments conducted by Felix Pappalardi.Washington is not remembered today by most Americans (Canadians may have a different perspective) as a top-tier folk artist but he was well known and respected in the early 60s folk scene. Supposedly Bob Dylan, even cribbed from Washington’s arrangement of “Nottamun Town” on the track “Masters of War.”

On the All Music Guide site, Richie Unterberger pans the album (as he does many albums it seems) complaining that the “songs are not good, moving, or very melodic, and his voice is pleasant but no more than adequate.” But while it’s not Dylan or even Fred Neil, I certainly find much to like about the record. There are some really excellent tracks here, including the mock-Dylan satire “Long Black Cadillac” (which Unterberger, ignoring the history between Dylan and Washington, calls a “silly-sounding Bob Dylan sound-alike”) and “A Night in June” (for which he has more appreciation). And while a few of the other tracks are certainly duds, the overall effect is entertaining and just different enough from the standard folk fare of the era to be worth a listen or more. But don't trust my review either, listen to the music and make up your own mind.
Here’s a tracklist:
1. Morning Song
2. Long Black Cadillac
3. Clouds
4. Harry The Rat
5. You Can't Buy Me Back
6. Well Taken Care Of
7. Lily Of The West
8. Phone Call
9. Blue Balloon
10. A Night In June
11. Hello, Anne
12. Esta Navidad

In the future, I hope to feature some other releases by African-American folk singers (I know, technically Washington is African-Caribbean-Canadian) like Leon Bibb and Casey Anderson. Next post, however, will be some cool late-60's pop music from Bill Tinker.

Pollution - I (1971) & II (1972)

2008-09-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Pollution put out three albums of soulful rock in the late 60s/early 70s--the 2nd and 3rd of which (the most soulful) are presented here for your listening pleasure thanks to the kind contributions of two of your fellow blog readers. (Note: For others of you who have some hard-to-find MP3 copies of good music that is not in-print and never issued on vinyl, drop me a line if you want to see it posted here in like fashion).

Pollution was the brainchild of guitarist and songwriter James Quill Smith (aka Smitty), who appears to have organized the band and wrote a good deal of the songs they recorded. With most of the rest of their material written by other members of the group. On Pollution I, the band consisted of Dobie Gray (Percussion & Vocals), Ronnie Barron (Piano), Terry Furlong (Guitar), Jerry Jumonville (Saxophone), Dennis Kenmore (Percussion & Background Vocals), John Lambert (Bass & Vocals), Richard Lewis (Trumpet, Keyboards & Background Vocals), Christiaan Mostert (Flute, Keyboards, Saxophone & Background Vocals), James Quill Smith (Guitar, Harmonica & Vocals), Tata Vega (Percussion & Vocals), and Mike Reiley (Background Vocals). The lineup changed somewhat for Pollution II, most notably Dobie Gray was absent, but I don't have the full lineup for that one.

The band was managed by Max Baer Jr., son of the onetime World Heavyweight champion and the actor who played Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies. This didn't appear to help their career as much as one might expect since, by all accounts, he was a lousy manager. He did better as a movie producer having put out some profitable gems like Macon County Line & Ode to Billie Joe.

James Quill Smith still performs and has a re cent CD. Vocalists Dobie Gray (who appears on the 1st but not the 2nd of these) and Tata Vega (who appears on both) both went on to productive careers that continue to this day, and at least some of the other band members are still playing music as well. Pianist Ronnie Barron, in addition to his musical efforts, also went on to play the sleazy bartender in Steven Seagal's Above the Law.

Prophesy Records, which issued both of these albumes, was distributed by Atlantic that only had a few releases including a couple Kraut rock bands, a Clifton Chenier album & Quincy Jones' soundtrack for The Hot Rock--odd selection to say the least.

Interestingly, Pollution I won a Grammy for it's cover (done by Gene Brownell). It's a good cover but I like the one for Pollution II better. On the other hand, I prefer the music on the 1st one.

The music on both releases is soul-inspired rock with horns and occassional nods to country rock. I wouldn't call it psychedelic but it definitely draws on 60s era rock as well as period social concerns. The first album is is the funkiest of the two, in part because of the contribution of Dobie Gray, who has a much more soulful sound than the vocalists on the 2ns album.

The first album is in mono and encoded at 128 kbps. The second is at 192 kbps and is in stereo. Both have some clicks and pops and the first album was over-modulated, although I did lower the volume some distortion remains.

Tracklist for Pollution I

Travelin' High (With the Lord)
This Feelin' Won't Last Long
Ballad of a Well-Known Gun
Do You Really Have a Heart
Dry Dream
Underdog
River
Lo and Behold
Mother Earth

& for Pollution II

Hospitals
Vegetable Soup
Polly
The End
How Does It Feel
Why
Sharecropper's Blues
Allen P. Ader
Just the Way
Foolhearted Woman

Get Pollution I here (m-fire) or here (r-share) & Pollution II here (r-share)

NOTE: There's a new recording of Pollution I up with better sound quality. If you enjoyed the album before, you should grab the new file.

Coming next is Jackie Washington's Morning Song album.

Stephen Whynott - From Philly To Tablas (1977)

2008-09-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a somewhat odd release that I think some of you will enjoy. I think it sometimes gets categoirzed as psych-folk but I think that's a bit misleading, there are definitely folky elements and some psychedelic or at least proggy ones too but there are also some jazz influences and the whole thing has a definite downer vibe. At times it reminds me of Tim Buckley, although Whynott's vocals are not in the same league.

The record appears to tell the story of a trip across the US, but it's a pretty uneventful trip. Whynott goes a few places, meets a few people, and manages to sound wistful about it all. There's a girl in Rock Springs who sings, then some flying without a plane, then some other woman who reminds him of a lioness, and then a trip into the mountains while it's raining. The lyrics are kind of trippy and a little annoying, at times, because they don't seem to be really saying anything. However, the overall effect works--you come away feeling something listless and removed.

The record does feature tablas as well as some other odd percussion. It was issued on the Music is Medicine Label in 1977. I haven't been able to find out much about Whynott but he did record four albums after this one: Apology to the Animals, Calico, Geography & Lost Land. Some of these you can pick up on CD if you search for them. This album is also available at a reasonable price.

One note: I'm not sure if I correctly assigned the Gamelan interlude between tracks 4 & 5 on side A to the correct location (with track 4). The Gamelan sound seems to come in again in track 5 but the only silence I could find was between the Gamelan interlude and track 5. The music is encoded as high quality variable bit rate MP3s and the file includes my own crappy photos of front & back covers. You can get it here. (I'm trying massmirror one more time since they seem to be up again & all of my attempts to post on sharbee failed).

I will be posting again this month, as a regular blog reader Mark has made his recordings of the two albums by the group Pollution (featuring Dobie Gray and others) available. My next post after that will likely be a Jackie Washington album (Morning Song) followed by the sole Bermuda Jam album.

Douglas Leedy - The Electric Zodiac (1969)

2008-08-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

In my ongoing attempt to surprise readers, here's something quite different than anything I've posted before. While this is presented as psychedelic music among some record sellers (who will present almost anything as psychedelic) it's really early, avant-garde electronic music from a major figure in the development of computer music. His hair is on the long side, though, and he was influenced by Indian classical music, which also had a big influence on the direction psychedelic music took during this period.

At the time of the recording, Leedy was on the UCLA music faculty and he apparently designed and constructed the Electronic Music Studio there. Prior to that he had been a classmate (at UC Berkeley) and fellow traveler of Terry Riley & LaMonte Young (Pauline Oliveras was a student there too). Although, he had more classical training and less jazz experience, his music also has a modal and repetitive nature (at least on this release) that links him to those better known composers.

More information on Leedy's career is available online here and here and you can read an interview with him from 1974 here. If you want to hear more of his music there's also an orchestral piece, the Quaderno Rosiniano, performed by the San Francisco Chamber Music Society available here.

So what about this record? As the cover notes, it is "A continuum of music of the cosmos resting in a momentary position of influence composed and arranged for Moog and Buchla synthesizers and Ognob Generator by DOUGLAS LEEDY. There is no beginning there is no end no side one no side two." Personally, I'm not sure I see any relationship to the Zodiac in the music, although there may be some esoteric calculation in use relating to astrology. It is a pretty great piece of early electronic/moog music, very cyclic in nature and not overly dissonant (as some of the more early, avant-garde, electronica can sometimes be).

Because of the nature of the music I was not comfortable doing much in the way of noise reduction so you may hear more than the usual level of clicks and pops (it wasn't as clean a copy as I would have liked either). Still I hope you enjoy it (here).

Deena Webster - Hurry, Tuesday Child (1968)

2008-08-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

I was kind of surprised to find that this record hadn't been blogged before (at least that I could find). It's bad enough that it hasn't been reissued on CD. So even though I have some of my own records to get ready for posting I thought I'd take a few minutes to put this one up for you. As suggested, it's not my recording, but was done by FolkPhile (from vinyl) some time ago. FolkPhile is a great collector and poster who has been around in file sharing circles for a long time, posting in newsgroups and sharing in other places as well. So thanks to her (?) for this one.

And what about the record? It was issued on Parlophone in 1968 and features some excellent covers of contemporary folk/pop selections (the Flower Lady, NY Mining Disaster 1941, Colours, etc.) and older, popular folk numbers (House of the Rising Sun, Geordie) accompanied by the guitar playing or by string orchestra (under the direction of Arthur Greenslade). Deena is a British folk singer in the popular style of the day (think early Marianne Faithful or Bridget St. John). Perhaps not an original approach but all well performed. Deena has a great voice and is perhaps a little unemotional at times, but that's nit-picking really. Overall an excellent and unjustly forgotten record.

There's not much information available on the Web about Deena. The only Web page devouted to her is in German and, if the number of Google hits is any indication, she also appears to be popular in Japan.

Here's a tracklist:
A Side
Hurry, Tuesday Child
Hair Of Spun Gold
New York Mining Disaster, 1941
Geordie
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
The House Of The Rising Sun
B Side
Who Will Buy
The Flower Lady
Summer Day Reflection Song
Colours
Tangles Of My Mind
The Last Thing On My Mind

And you can get the music HERE (reposted).

More news and requests

2008-08-17T10:29:00.001-07:00

UPDATE: Got the Joe Clark & Tony George but I still need a copy of my Rabbit McKay post. I hate to resort to extortion but I have a lot of new records to post & little desire to do so if no one can help by reposting this.

I wanted to let people know about another new release by an artist whose first (full-length) album was posted here. Bruce Murdoch, one of the most under-rated folk singers to come out of the 1960s, has a new CD entitled Matters of the Heart, which you can purchase from his Web site. In an interesting contrast to the new Andy Zwerling release I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Murdoch's new music is less political (in the macro sense) and more hopeful than his first album. The songs, while introspective and melancholy at times, still seem to be largely songs of love and acceptance (even in the face absence). You can also preview some tracks on the Web site. For what it's worth, my recommendation is that you get a copy now.

I also need to request a couple of the albums I posted here: Rabbit McKay's Bug Cloth and Joe Clark & Tony George's One Man Bands. My recordings for both of these were lost when my hard drive crashed and I'd like to repost them. I recently heard from Tony George's daughter and am hoping to get some further information on that obscure release. I know plenty of people downloaded both of these, so here's your chance to contribute to the blog by either leaving a repost link in the comments or emailing me one. Thanks, BTW, for the person who reposted Rosemary Haddad.

Finally, I've recorded a few new albums and will try to get at least one up per month over the rest of the year. Next up, by request, is Douglas Leedy's early computer music classic, The Electric Zodiac.

P.S., I forgot to mention that the Bobby & Laurie record I posted will soon be reissued on CD, so grab it now. I'll be taking it down & letting you know where to get the CD when it comes out.

Aesop's Fables - In Due Time (1969)

2008-08-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

This one has been a long time coming, as this was promised about a year ago and this is the 2nd time I recorded it.

Aesop's Fables only released this one album on Chess Record's Cadet Concept imprint and as such it's one of only a couple of real rock records on Cadet Concept (the other I know about is the 1st Status Quo album). The music is inconsistent and varied in style. A lot of it falls into the horn rock genre popular at the time (e.g., Blood Sweat & Tears, Rare Earth), which is not my favorite style of rock music and biased me against actually posting this for a while, but there are some other tracks that go into blue-eyed soul and psychedelic territory and are more to my liking. The band is excellent especially when one or all hit a groove like the organ freak out on "In the Morning" and pretty sublime, psychedelic jamming on "And When It's Over." Lyrically I'm not as impressed. They also cover "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and (to greater effect) Bert Sommer's "And When It's Over."

Robert Gallo who turned out a lot of tax write-off releases has his hands all over cowritting a lot of the songs, as well as arranging and producing. The band consists of

Ronny Alterville -- bass, guitar, backing vocals (1967-69)

Sonny Bottari -- vocals, percussion (1967-69)

Robert DiMonda -- flute, sax, backing vocals (1967-69)

Joe Fraticelli -- sax (1967-69)

Frank Krepala -- guitar, backing vocals (1967-69)

Louis Montaruli -- trumpet, trombone (1967-69)

John Scaduto -- vocals, drums (1967-69)

Barry Taylor -- keyboards (1967-69)

And here's a tracklist

SIDE 1

1.) Lift Up Your Hearts (Barry Taylor - Ronny Alterville)

2.) What Is Soul (Robert Gallo)

3.) In Due Time (Robert Gallo - Segal)

4.) In the Morning (John Scaduto - Robert Gallo - Ronny Alterville

5.) Everyone's Talking (Robert Gallo - Segal)

6.) Spoons Full of Sand
SIDE 2

1.) The Sound of Crying (Sonny Bottari - Barry Taylor - Ronny Alterville - Heins)

2.) What Is Love (Robert Gallo)

3.) Look Out (B. Bottari - Barry Taylor)

4.) I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (Jerry Ross - Kenny Gamble - Williams)

5.) And When It's Over (Bert Sommer)

You can hear the music here.

I should note that you may hear a bit of distortion, especially in the quieter moments. I don't want to go into the whole story--as I know I complain about my computer set-up too much already--but I recently installed an exterior upgrade for my Creative sound card and it has a number of useless features one of which (the 24-Bit Crystallizer) was accidently turned on during recording. Suffice it to say I won't be using it again.

Some News & New Releases

2008-07-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let fans of Andy Zwerling and Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz know that the former has a new album and the latter a reissue.

Andy's new record, Hold Up the Sky, is now available from the artist's Web site and you can sample some tracks on his myspace page. Like his previous releases it features some great pop songs done in a variety of pop styles, ranging from a sort of jazz-lounge track to a couple nice indie pop numbers. Lyrically it may be a bit darker but it all fits together well. I recommend it highly.

Also, the Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz has been reissued on Fallout Records, which is the new imprint from the owners of Repertoire Records. However, like Repertoire I suspect Fallout is a bootleg label and doesn't pay any royalties so I'm not in any hurry to take down the rip I posted, which is my usual policy when one of these records gets a CD reissue. I may do so in a month or so or just won't repost when that link expires.

Finally, I'm set-up again to do some recording from vinyl and as I write this I'm copying the Aesop's Fables lp. Expect to see it posted in a week or 2. After that, I'll try and keep up with a new post every month.

Bobby & Laurie - Exposiac (1967)

2008-06-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Bobby Bright & Laurie Allen were an Australian duo who started performing in the beat-pop vein in 1965. Exposiac is their last record and from what I've read is a major departure from their earlier work venturing into country rock territory with some nice psychedelic and pop flourishes as well as a couple tracks that try to capture a Dylanesque sound. Most of the tracks are originals but there are also nice covers of High Noon and Long Black Veil. All-in-all it's a great record from a group that I expect is pretty unknown to American audiences (not sure how well they were distributed in other parts of the world).

The duo broke up soon after this, although they reformed a couple years later (in 1969) and released a couple singles, also in a country vein. As their discography shows, they also put out a few solo releases. Sadly, Laurie Allen passed away in 2002.

Their backup band, the Rondells, included Wayne Duncan [bass], Barry Rogers [rhythm guitar], John Sullivan [rhythm guitar], Roger Treble [lead guitar], and Gary Young [drums, vocals].

Thanks to Micko at the Midoztouch board (you can find the link in the blog list to right of your screen) for supplying this rip. It's a nice high quality variable bit rate rip from vinyl, as always.

Also, note that the ID-tags for the tracks are incorrect but the seperate files are (to the best of my knowledge) labelled correctly. The file also contains one track, I Want Woman, that was recorded for this album but not included on it.

You can get the music here. Enjoy!

A request and a promise

2008-06-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

First, I wanted to let people know I will have another post (although not my own rip) before the month is over. So expect some new music soon & that's a/the promise.

Second, as you are probably aware (if you read my last post) I lost a number of the rips I had previously posted here. Many of these I could get from the blog itself but there are a few that are not available and, in order to repost them, I'm hoping some of you can supply me with copies. The posts I'm looking for are (1) the Sidewalk Swingers, (2) Rosemary Haddad, and (3) Andy Zwerling. If you don't want to post a link in the comments, drop me an email (you can get the address through my blogger profile). Thanks in advance.

Finally, some news on a couple blog-related topics. I recently got my copy of Kathe Green's Run the Length of Your Wildness from Rev-Ola. It sounds great and I suggest you all buy it. The liner notes refer to this blog, although not by name, as the place the Rev-Ola producer 1st came across this great release. It's nice to now we had a hand it getting it rereleased. Bruce Murdoch also has a new CD coming out, although I still am looking for it myself and when I find out where you can get a copy I'll let you know.

The End of My Blog?

2008-05-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Aaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh! My external hard drive, on which was stored my music rips along with a hell of a lot of other stuff appears to be dead. I had just about finished fixing the Aesop's Fables lp I had promised to post but that's not going to happen now. I could rerip a whole bunch of records and perhaps I will but right now I feel pretty discouraged. So at the very least expect a few months hiatus before I return to blogging. My brain hurts.

UPDATE: Upon reflection and after receiving words of encourgement I will be returning to blogging but definitely need some time to rerip, etc.--so expect a new share in 2 or 3 months (most likely the Aesop's Fables record, since I had promised that).

Bill Hershey & the Almonds - Is There a Doctor in the House/Yogi Man's Bikini

2008-04-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't have time to rip & post an album for you this month, so I dragged out a very-obscure and pretty scratchy single for your audio enjoyment. I can tell you nothing about Bill Hershey & his Almonds except that they recorded this for Gulf Records (which gave it the catalogue number 27). I'm guessing its from the early 60s. Bill Hershey and his gang sound like they could have performed at the Wolf's Den (see picture) and would have fit right in on one of the Las Vegas Grind compilations. These songs include Yogi Berra imitations (or maybe Yogi bear imitations), silly Dracula voices, and lyrics that touch on fun subjects like bikinis and doctors. What can I say except "It's a gas!" Listen here. I'll be back next month with a full album for ya.

Toby Ben - Wake Up To the Sunshine (1968)

2008-03-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

This month's post (and I am on a monthly posting schedule until further notice) is courtesy of "abracadabra" who kindly provided a rip of this soulful, 60's rock record released on the Venture label. Toby Ben was the stage name of the singer who has since recorded under his real name, Jon Ben Berger.

This record features a combination of blues- and soul-inspired music and hippie sensibility that should have given it a wide audience at the time of its release but apparently did not. Perhaps the fact that he recorded for a label best known for its soul records may have hindered him. His about love, loss, hippie chicks (Salliey is a classic in the latter category), the war (Draft Call), and the joy of living (Peace, Wake Up to the Sunshine) are all well-written and touch on the appropriate topics of the day. I also like his vocals, which have a very soulful quality.

Jon Ben Berger's musical career started on the East Coast, where he performed as a folk singer at the Gaslight & the Bitter End. He later headed west to San Francisco where he formed the group Burning Bush and then as Toby Ben. He went back to New York at some point thereafter and was involved in collaborative projects with members of the Phillip Glass Ensemble, director and dancers from Merce Cunningham's troupe. Nowadays he lives and performs in Stockholm, Sweden and has new material available (check the prior link). There's a video online for a cool blues song he did recently for a film about St. Francis (I think) that's definitely worth checking out as well.

You can get the music here.

One other note, I am trying to regularly update the links, which I consider an important part of the blog. A lot of blogs are disappearing and others are going private--in both cases I'm deleting the links. I'm also deleting ones that haven't updated for a year or so. At the same time, there are a lot of new blogs out. The newer ones, in case you weren't aware, can be found at the bottom of the list for each letter but not at the very bottom (as that's where I tend to put blogs that don't feature full albums). If you enjoy this or any other releases please leave a comment or send an email. I think that if I got more comments/emails I might post more often.

John Wood - Turn Of The Century & I'll Come Back

2008-02-16T19:24:00.000-08:00

I must apologize for taking so long between posts but I'm extremely busy with life right now & will continue to be for the next couple months, so don't expect regular posts for a while. I will try to get one up every month--but even that's not a promise.

So what about this record? I guess you could call it "lounge" music. It's certainly instrumental and as the liner notes proclaim"It's not rock, jazz, folk, country, or western." The musical selections include compositions by Herbie Hancock, Burt Bacharach, Riz Ortolani & Joe South (and one original number) and are performed by a trio of keyboards (John Wood), guitar (John Koenig) & drums (John Guerin). The performance is often eerie and sometimes just weird (in a good way). Overall a unpolished (and poorly mixed) gem well worth a listen.

Here's the tracklist:

A1. And I'll Come Back (1:58)
A2. Rose Garden (1:57)
A3. One Teardrop (Una Lagrima) (2:20)
A4. Green, Green, Grass Of Home (2:50)
A5. Till Love Touches Your Life (1:55)
A6. Maiden Voyage (3:05)

B1. She Loves (Her Oleander Tree) (3:14)
B2. A Ray Of Sunshine (Un Rayo De Soil) (2:17)
B3. Alfie (2:35)
B4. (Impressions Of) Throb (5:37)
B5. Love Means (You Never Have To Say You're Sorry) (2:00)

And you can get the music here.

Yanoska - Yanoska (1969)

2007-12-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

The 1st, eponymous record from Michael Yanoska was released on the Epic label on 1969 and has remained out-of-print since that initial edition. It's a fine record of period folk-rock with some nice melodies played well and pleasing (if not ground-breaking) lyrics sung with conviction and, at times, good humor.

Yanoska had previously recorded an lp as part of the Towne Hall Trio and has released a number of other records since the mid-90s. You can get his newest release from CD Baby here.

Here's the tracklist for this one:
Side A
1.May First
2.23 Years and Back
3.Somethin' I Can't Explain
4.California Sundown Queen
5.Song
6.To the Castle of Lord Tim
Side B
7.Don't Say Goodbye
8.Annette's Song
9.Go Down East
10.Today I Wrote a Song
11.Charlotte

Listen to this record here.

IN OTHER BLOG-RELATED NEWS:
For those of you who don't read through the comments...

John Campos, St. George from St. George & Tana, has posted some of his newer musical compositions on Youtube accompanying some bike racing footage.

Sundazed Records has released the first, previously unissued record from Smokey & His Sister--an excellent set of songs as good as the one posted here.

Stay tuned for at least 1 (maybe 2) new posts in January--next up is John Wood's Turn of the Century record released on Ranwood Records.

Cook E. Jarr - Pledging My Love (1969)

2007-12-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

I had intended to rip and post this some time ago but just recently found another, quality rip (thanks to the great Tamara from the 1960s binaries news group) and decided I would post that rather than going another week without a post.

Cook E. Jarr's first album is a pleasant and at times soulful slice of pop music with full orchestral arrangments and occasional choruses. It may sound a bit overproduced to contemporary ears but Mr. Jarr sings it with feeling and generally has fun with the material. He also makes a fine selection of songs to cover including FOUR Tim Hardin compositions (his version of Red Balloon is my favorite track on the album) and versions of Knock on Wood, Pledging My Love, Do You Believe in Magic, and the title cut.

Cook E. Jarr currently resides in Las Vegas where he has a popular lounge act and the same haircut he featured on the cover of this album. He has two more recent CDs available on his Web site. Next time you're in Vegas you should check him out and if you like this give his new CDs Almost Grown & Old School, New School a listen.

You can hear this album here.

I will be back with one more post this month (the self-titled Epic records release from Yanoska) to keep up the new twice a month schedule. I'm also making an attempt to update the links list & have tracked down a number of great, new blogs to add there.

Arthur Miller & all the Little Millers - Hanging out and Settling Down (1971)

2007-11-25T11:06:00.001-08:00

This is not a record by the famed American playwright, even though All Music Guide apparently believes it is (they list it as a spoken word record, which is also incorrect). This Arthur Miler is a graduate of the Ethical Culture School and Oberlin college, an actor, a filmmaker, and a hippie (according to the liner notes of the record). He was also apparently a father, brother & husband (thus the appearance of other Millers on this record). He writes all the songs on this record and sings them as well, which I guess makes him a singer-songwriter too. I believe this is his only album and I could find no mention online of his film work.

There is a definite difference in the music between Side A (aka the Hanging Out side) and Side B (the Settling Down side), with the former filled with upbeat and often humorous tunes and the later with introspective and occassionally sappy numbers. If you didn't guess I like side A more, but some of the tracks on side B are very nice folky love songs. The recording levels are also a little low on Side B leading to more prominent surface noise but I guess we can blame the producer (John Hammond, Sr.) for that. The personnel on the record are as follows

Bob Pozar - Drums

Stanley Schwartz - Piano

Barbara Miller - Vocals

John Miller - Bass, Vocals

Arthur Miller - Guitar, Composer, Vocals, Producer

Paul Motian - Drums (on Tubby Terwilliger)

Tim Jerome - Kazoo (on Tubby Terwilliger)

The track list is

Side A/Hanging Out---Tubby Terwilliger, Chocolate Pudding, Dollar Ain't a Dollar, Down the River, When My Mama Met My Papa, Human Being
Side B/Settling Down---Clear Eyes, Wrong Side of the Bed, Chime Me Down, Another Night of Love, Wonderhouse, Finish the Song

I hope you enjoy this record (reupped again). Please keep the comments coming and click the ad links once in a while. I'll try to get another post up in 2 weeks time.

Rosemary Haddad - Coming Hohm (1975)

2007-11-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

My apologies for being late again with a new post--even on the every 2 week schedule I managed to be a couple weeks late with this one. Also, while I'm apologizing, I should also point out that the sound on this one leaves something to be desired. However, I hope the relative rarity of the record will be compensation enough.

Rosemary Haddad's Coming Hohm is described by one of the reviewers on the Acid Archives site as "one of the best hippie commune albums" and I'd have to agree. Great psych-folk with a joyous message. Some of it sounds like it could be Christian but at other times it's definitely Hindu and all of it is infused with a hippie sensibility that keeps it from ever sounding dogmatic. In the end the message is not so important as the delivery, and Haddad is spot-on with her vocals while still coming off as a amateur, interested in the joy of the experience rather than trying to sell records. Some fine flute, acoustic guitar, and percussion compliment her songs.

Here's the tracklist:
Side 1
Coming Hohm
It's alright now
Spiritual Slavery
The Nest
The Great Siddha
Side 2
I am the Lord
Steady in the Flow
Lady Kali
Sing with your Heart
The Kitchen Floor Song
Reprise

This one is not my rip (thanks to jflyaway for it) and as mentioned it's pretty noisy at times. I did split the original side long rip into songs and started to clean up the clicks and pops on side 1 but then I listened to side 2 and realized that there was just too much noise to really do a suitable job (although I removed some of the nastier ones). So much of the noise remains, but unless your willing to fork over $500 this rip is probably the best chance you'll have to hear this gem.

Frank Gallop - Would You Believe Frank Gallop Sings? (1966)

2007-10-04T12:08:00.001-07:00

Well it's been longer than I'd like since my last post. I've been busy with other things and I don't see that changing for a while yet so for the time being I will be posting new records less than weekly--I promise at least one post a month for now & I'll try for two. I'll also keep the repost coming per your requests (this week I reposted St. George & Tana and Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and His Mystic Knights Band and Street Singers).

So what about Farnk Gallop? He is probably best known for his contributions to 60s-era hit comedy records like You Don't Have to be Jewish & the First Family and for his top-40 novelty number, The Ballad of Irving. He also had a career as a TV & radio announcer and host.

I was always a fan of the Ballad of Irving (perhaps because the bad guy is called "Bad Max"), and this album has a sequel to that song. It also has some somewhat humorous versions of popular music standards and a few other songs that are a bit dated.

The music is in mono and has a few more clicks & pops than I would like. I hope you'll enjoy it or at least be mildy amused.

And remember Irving:
One day Bad Max happened into town.
His aim was to shoot fat Irving down.
Bad Max said, "Draw, and draw right now!"
And Irving drew, drew a picture of a cow.

A short update

2007-09-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

No post this week but hopefully I'll have something for you next week. Just wanted to let people know that the Kathe Green & Rainbow Band records have been reposted. Also the Jim Pepper & The Cake links have been permanently removed--both records are now available on CD & I highly recommend that you pick them up.

Sarofeen & Smoke - ST (1971)

2007-08-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

I had ripped a copy of this record a couple weeks ago but had some problems with the rip. Before I could rerip I found another version (generously provided by abracadabra) that I think is quite good (ripped at 320k) & so I've decided to post that one instead of my own, thus saving myself some much needed time while still bestowing upon you this jewel of an album. Sarofeen's vocal style has been compared to Janis Joplin, Ellen McIllwaine, & the Shocking Blue's (recently deceased) Mariska Veres, and if you like those vocalists you should give her a chance. Even if you don't like that heavy, bluesy 60's female vocal style you should still give it a try. Sarofeen & John Martin (especially the latter) wrote some excellent material for the album and the band (listed below) is strong:
Dave Arliss - bass
John "Zilch" Martin - keyboards, harmonica, guitar
Anne Sarofeen - vocals
Ed "Duke" Shanahan - lead guitar
Jim Watts - drums, pecussion
Anonymous - horns
And here's a tracklist:

Side 1

Susan Jane (John Martin) - 2:23
Cream of Nowhere (Dave Arliss - Anne Sarofeen) - 2:10
It's Love (John Martin) - 3:58
Lady Tragedy (John Martin - Anne Sarofeen) - 3:35
Swamp Man (Martha Velez - Bellinger) -2:15

Side 2

You Make It So Hard (John Martin - Anne Sarofeen) - 2:40
Witch (John Martin) - 2:48
Tomorrow ( Anne Sarofeen) - 4:03
Rocky Mountain Blues (F. Haywood - M. Tucker) - 4:40

Anne Sarofeen also performed on broadway in A Hard Job Being God and later recorded a second album (sans Smoke) entitled Love In A Woman's Heart, which I didn't find as good as this release. Smoke (& Sarofeen presumably) were originally from Auburn, NY, and at least one member of the band, guitarist Ed "Duke" Shanahan continues to perform in that area. He also recordedd with the band Siddhartha (for RCA) in the year before this release and has performed with blues and r&b legends like Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Bobby Comstock, & Bo Diddley. I'm not sure what Sarofeen is up to these days.

You can hear the music here.

I have a couple other bits of news. 1st, (as you can probably see) I went ahead an put some google ads on the blog to help pay for a new turntable. If you get a chance click on one (or more)--the help is appreciated. 2nd, this will likely be my last post until September. I've got some vacation time coming up as well as a lot of work at the moment, so don't expect another post for a few weeks. Hope you all are having an excellent summer!

Cheryl Dilcher - Special Songs (1971)

2007-07-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

A little pressed for time this weekend so I'll keep this post short, in spite of the fact that the album deserves a better write up. This was Ms. Dilcher's 1st album (and also the 1st recording by Bette Midler). Suffice it to say this record contains excellent folk-psych songs (all written by the artist) well performed and certain to appeal to fans of Melanie' or Janis Ian's recordings from this period.

I will refer you to the Cheryl Dilcher web site for more information about the artist.

Unfortunately the record quality was a bit poor in places and there's more noise (at least on some of the tracks) that I would like. As I mentioned before, I think my turntable may be adding to the problem.

Here's the complete personnel:

Cheryl Dilcher - Guitar, Piano, Harpsichord, Vocals

Amedeo Borsetti - Organ, Piano (Electric)

Bette Midler - Voices

David Smith - Flute

David Wagner - Guitar (Bass)

Jim Turner - Voices

John Adelson - Organ, Guitar, Harmonica

John Dee - Producer

Lane Emley - Guitar (Bass)

Mario Garcia - Bongos, Drums

And the tracklist:

Side A

1. A Better Day

2. Mercy, Dear Lord, Mercy

3. Three Wishes

4. Richard Never Cries

5. Do I Have To Wait Very Long

6. Song By a Bird

7. Music Box

Side B

8. How I'd Like To Go Home

9. Cotton Joe

10. Little Miss No One

11. Happy Times

Listen here (REPOSTED).

A question & a correction

2007-07-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

OK, the correction 1st--that is Kathe Green (who recorded the Run the Length of Your Wildness album I posted last July) on the right performing there with Glenn Close on tour with Up With People. Green, Close, Virginia Entwistle and Jennie Dorn formed the Green Glenn Singers who were a central part of the 1st Up With People performances. I had previously said that I thought it was a different Kathe Green in the group. By the way, Up With People is still going strong. Thanks to Kathe/Kate and to her sister Babbie both of whom (indepently) set the record straight.

Now onto the question. First, I should say that the sound quality on my current cheapo turntable has never been great but it seems to have gotten worse recently (not that I every played it much since all I use it for is to record lps for this blog) and so I was thinking of replacing the cartridge with a better one. That's when I discovered that the crappy Sony LX-250H doesn't have a replaceable cartridge. So that leaves me one option, purchasing a new turntable. So is that the question, what turntable should I get? No. Although I am interested in hearing opinions on that subject as well. My question has to do with financing this new project. How would you, my readership, feel about me adding some ads (probably the little Google ones) to help pay for this equipment upgrade. I'm not looking to make big bucks here (on any bucks for that matter) but it would be nice not to be spending a lot of money to bring you this blog. Of course, if I did get some ads up they would only generate money if people clicked on them every once and a while. So that they wouldn't help if people were so opposed to them that they ignored their existence. Anyway, let me know your opinions on the subject. Should I get ads and a better turntable for recording blog posts or just leave things the way they are?

Also, don't worry there is a new music post coming sometime this weekend.

Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz - ST (1969)

2007-07-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Well I managed to get a new record ripped and posted for this week. A fine but not particularly well-known folk-rock outing from 1969 that was on the Cyclone label, from the husband-wife duo of Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz. Cruz wrote most of the songs (with the notable exception of Tim Hardin's "Yellow Cab" & their cover of that song is better than the original). Dunn contributes guitar, and they both sing.

Monte Dunn was well known as a guitarist on the folk scene having played with Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, David Blue, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tim Hardin, and even Cher (among others). Cruz had sung solo and with others. When they married they managed to produce this one record before going back to session/backing work.

The music is excellent folk-rock/country-rock with good vocal harmonies and musical accompaniment (including contributions by Eric Weisberg, Bruce Langhore & Hal Blaine). It has a nice laidback, late-60's vibe and some well-written love, nature, and anti-war songs, which (perhaps unfortunately in the latter case) are not at all dated.

Never in My Life
Order to Things
You Don't Smile Much
Loving You
Self Satisfaction
Outside Looking In
Lullabye
So Much Lovin'
Tip of My Mind
Yellow Cab

Note that track 3 is incorrectly labelled "Loving You" (track 4 is correctly labelled "Loving You" as well) and it should be "You Don't Smile Much."

Listen here (reupped).

More News, Less Music

2007-07-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Since my computer issues are still not entirely resolved I've decided to take this week off (at least as far as posting music goes), but I did have some news about a number of blog-related topics that I wished to impart. All of it totally unrelated to the picture above.

First, it seems I've finally been hit by the deleter(s) and that a number of my older posts have been removed from Rapidsh#@! Never mind that these are unavailable on CD, out of print in other media, and (for the most part) produced prior to 1972 and therefore unprotected by Federal copyright. So I'm in the process of reposting those dead links on Massm-rr-r. So far I've posted new links for Smokey & His Sister, Pete Kelley, Sesame St. Disco & Rabbit McKay.

If there are any other specific dead links you'd like reposted you can also drop me an email or leave a comment & I will try to get them up ASAP. Otherwise I'll just be checking and reposting at my leisure. Also note that the Happy Feeling link has been permanently deleted as I've been informed that a CD reissue is on its way (from superoldies.com although they don't have any info up yet). Since it looks like there will be Cake & Jim Pepper reissues coming out soon those links will also be going away soon.

Also, I recently got an email from Andy Zwerling, who's Spiders in the Night was posted here a little while ago. His 2-CD collection Somewhere Near Pop Heaven is available again from his Web site. While it is quite different from the earlier record, it is also excellent in its own right & a must have for powerpop fans & people who just like well-written, well-performed pop/rock tunes about love and related topics. The record made it into the top 20 in Croatia in 2004. He also has a new record coming out sometime this year.

Finally, in the "where are they now" category here's some fine investigative reporting about one-time teen idols, the Banana Splits. Unfortunately because there is a pretty widely released CD bootleg of their album available I won't be posting it here, but it's still nice to know what happened with the one of the 60's finest TV bands (right up there with the Monkees & the Archies).

Hedge & Donna - All the Friendly Colours (1969) & Special Circumstances (1971)

2007-07-03T11:48:00.001-07:00

I finally decided to reformat my computer abandoning Vista & reinstalling XP (for those of you concerned about my computer problems) and so things here should return to normal soon. In the meantime, I'll try to make up for a lack of new rips (and a lack of time to write a better entry) by posting not one but two Hedge & Donna records. I had request for something by this folk duo a while back, so here it is. As mentioned these are not my rips & thanks go to the anonymous ripper (to be honest I don't even remember where I got them, a newsgroup I suspect).

These are the last 2 records by Hedge & Donna Capers (as far as I can tell). After recording a number of albums together they apparently went their seperate ways finally settling on careers outside music. Don't know too much about what happened to Donna but Hedge appeared in a B horror movie in 1972 called Who Fears The Devil? , which was edited and re-released as The Legend of Hillbilly John in 1973. I haven't seen it but it was based on Manly Wade Wellman's Silver John stories (some of which I have read). He then became a clinical psychologist who works primarily with businesses. If you're interested in reading some more about the duo, by people who've known them over the years, look here.

So what about the music? It's well written folky-pop or poppy-folk, well performed with a component backing band--but neither record strikes me as exceptional (although perhaps I'm just getting jaded).

Of the 2 lps, I prefer All the Friendly Colours, which is the folkier of the two and features some nice covers including Dylan's "I Shall be Released" (listed as "Any Day Now") & Jackson Browne's "There Came A Question." My favorite track though is off Special Circumstances--"The River," a fairly atypical outing on which their band is able to cut lose a bit and get kind of funky.

As I mentioned, these are not my rips & the sound is a little muddy--still I hope you enjoy both of these records (posted as one file).

Also, I recevied a comment that the Happy Feeling is due for a CD reissue & so it the link will be coming down later this week (check the comments for that record for more info).

Blame Microsoft for the Lack of a Proper Post this Week

2007-06-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm still contending with major changes & major screw-ups resulting from a switch from Windows XP to Vista. In addition to the fact that most of the CDs I recorded with previous versions of windows no longer run on my computer, I'm having trouble reinstalling CoolEdit (my software of choice for soundediting--I know it's outdated!). If anyone knows how to enter the serial number for CoolEdit 2000--I have a licensed copy--please let me know.

So enough with the excuses for why I didn't post a record this week--I don't want to leave you without something to listen to--so here is my rip of the opening beatnik jazz poem from the Roger Corman classic Bucket of Blood as performed by Paul Horn and Julian Burton (in the persona of beat poet Maxwell H. Brock).

Life is an obscure hobo, bumming a ride on the omnibus of art!

Burn gas buggies, and whip your sour cream of circumstance and hope.

And go ahead and sleep your bloody heads off.

Creation is, all else is not.

What is not creation is graham crackers.

Brian Briggs - Brian Damage (1980)

2007-06-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

I'm still in the middle of making a long & painful transition between computers, so I haven't had time to rip any new records this week. Instead I've pulled one from my collection of other peoples' posts (another from a newsgroup--props to the original poster).

Brian Briggs real name was John Holbrook and he was (and, as far as I know, still is) a well-respected mixer and sound engineer who worked at Todd Rundgren's Bearsville Records and, prior to that, at IBC studios in London. In his role as engineer/mixer he worked on the Who's Tommy & Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (at IBC) and with Utopia, Ian Hunter, & the Isley Brothers (at Bearsville). He's likely to be the only artist posted here with multiple Grammy wins (albeit not for his own recordings). He also played guitar on the Five Day Rain's sole album, which is available at the great Lost-In-Tyme blog. More recently he's composed music for TV shows & commercials.

So what about this record? Well, for lack of a better term, I'd call it an underappreciated New Wave classic. But really Briggs' knowledge of the entire rock & roll tradition comes into play as he touches (musically) on a dozen different musical styles popular at the time including rockabilly revival, synth-based new wave, mod rock, surf instrumental, and even world-music. Probably my favorite track is "See You on the Other Side" about 2 guys playing chicken with a train on their scooters--it ends as one might expect but its synth percussion, rock-n-roll guitar licks, & 60's pop girl chorus make it rise to the level of grand musical pastiche. There are also great covers of Eddie Cochran's Nervous Breakdown & Terry Randazzo's Goin' Out of My Head. A second record, Combat Zone, came out in 1982, but I guess neither brought the fame & rewards they deserved.

Tracklist:

Lookin' Out
Nervous Breakdown
See You On The Other Side
AEO (parts 1 & 2)
Psyclone
Goin' Out Of My Head
Spy Vs. Spy
Let Me Hear Talkin'
Lifer

You can listen to it here.

Anna Black - Meet Anna Black (1968)

2007-06-17T12:23:00.001-07:00

Well I had actually planned for you to meet Sarofeen & Smoke this week but when it came time to prepare the rip I had made for posting (seperating the tracks, removing clicks & converting to MP3s) I discovered some problems with the sound. Since I'm now in the process of changing over to a new computer I probably won't get to rerip it for a couple weeks, but it is on its way along with the Cheryl Dilcher, which someone else asked for. So instead I bring you another female vocalist, as good in her own way as those previously mentioned.

Anna Black, according to the liner notes, was born in Oklahoma City, is part Chickasaw Indian, and likes/liked sardines smothered in chile. She's against fear, waste, and war. And she cuts her own hair. The liner notes contain some other useless details but I won't bore you with them. What's important is that she has an excellent voice and writes a pretty good song. This record ranges over a pretty wide range of musical territory including some jazz standards (i.e., Gloomy Sunday & Miss Otis Regrets) and a creepy Beatles cover (Eleanor Rigby, which, come to think of it, was covered by jazz singers at the time too).

Black's own songs (the best one's on the record) generally fall into the country-swamp-funk category--think Tony Joe White or "an overlooked gem in the vein of Southern white songstresses like Bobbie Gentry" (which is what the reviewer for the allmusic.com has to say about this release). Lysergia.com calls it "femme folk psych" but that's probably the drugs talking because I don't hear much psych and just a touch of folk here. However, if you want a somewhat funky/somewhat soulful musical perspective on Southern, country living (as imagined in the pop songs of the 1960s) you have some excellent examples here in You-All Come, Muddy Hay & Billy Goat Run.

All-in-all this is a fun, fine record. Black went on to record one other lp the following year, which I haven't heard but would like to.

Here's the tracklist for this one:

Side A

1. Miss Otis Regrets 2. Little Annie Weed 3. You-All Come 4. Hey Now Now 5. The Tullys & the Tolphins 6. Jimmy Ben

Side B

7. Eleanor Rigby 8. Freedom Train 9. Gloomy Sunday 10. Muddy Hay 11. Drinkin' Daddy 12. Billy Goat Run

Listen to it here.

Boa Constrictor and Natural Vine - ST (1968)

2007-06-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well my new computer has yet to arrive but I didn't want another week to go by without a post--and really folks this one was too good to hold onto. Boa Constrictor and Natural Vine were a psych-folk duo who recorded this, their sole record, for Vanguard Apostolic.

Given the current vogue for acid-folk I'm suprised this one is not better known. It has all the elements one looks for in that genre and few others as well. There are some really deranged, acid-drenched compositions like Devil & the Ace of Spades (with its backward tape loops, mornful sax, and downer guitar strumming) as well as dissonant, freaky, rocking, blues numbers like Time is Money. Their music, while it owes something to other folk-experimentalists from the late 60s is also inspired by classic, country blues and at times they come off as a sort of hippie ancestor of garage-blues-rock duos like the Bassholes or Black Keys.

The artist who did the cover, Phoebe Stone, went on to some success as a children's book author & illustrator. Unfortunately I don't know what happened to George & Ben, who recorded this masterpiece.

Speaking of the cover, you might notice an ebay logo in the bottom corner. I actually grabbed this illustration off the Rate Your Music site and they stole it from ebay. Just to set the record straight.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Little David

2. Pig Quick-Finger

3. Devil & the Ace of Spades

4. Son of Kong

5. Down Child

Side B

6. Time is Money

7. Alligator Man

8. Sundown Stick

9. Don't Try To Hide from the Lightning

10. Build Your Wall

The record is ripped from vinyl and encoded at variable bitrate-extreme settings. Because most of the tracks run together it was sometimes difficult to clearly seperate 2 tracks & in a couple of cases I left them combined rather than compromising the integrity of the sound. There was also some soft crackle and surface noise on the record that I wasn't able to clean up (it's actually much easier to deal with sharp clicks and pops) and so it remains in places.

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have. Listen.

News & Stuff

2007-05-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be upgrading my computer system and so I think I will take a couple weeks hiatus from posting. I will though use this opportunity to update my links list.

When I get back I have a number of fine records waiting to be ripped & posted (& I'm willing to entertain suggestions about the order of the posting):

Boa Constrictor & Natural Vine - ST (Vanguard), Anna Black - Meet Anna Black (Epic), Vida E Inspiracion - ST (Decca), Crow Dog's Paradise - Sounds of the Sioux (Elektra), Richard Barbary - Soul Machine (CTI), Harold Alexander - Are You Ready (Flying Dutchman), Douglas Leedy - The Electric Zodiac (Capitol ), Turn of the Century - And I'll Come Back (Ranwood), Monte Dunn & Karen Cruz - ST (Cyclone), Frank Gallop - Would You Believe Frank Gallop Sings (Musicor), Cheryl Dilcher - Special Songs (Ampex), Arthur Miller & the Little Millers - Hanging Out and Settling Down (Columbia), Robert John Gallo - Painted Poetry (Mandala), El Roacho's - The Best of El Roacho's Greatest Hits (Columbia), Hank & Lewie Wickham 0 ST (King), Aesop's Fables - In Due Time (Cadet), Holiday Clocks - ST (Hopewell), Bobby Hebb - Love Games (Epic), Cook E. Jarr - Pledging My Love (RCA), Sarofeen & Smoke - ST (GWP), and some Hedge & Donna (as requested but not my rip).

Also please keep your comments & requests coming.

Dick Rosmini - A Genuine Rosmini (1969)

2007-05-04T08:42:00.000-07:00

A busy week = a short post.

Dick Rosmini was a 60s guitar genius --if he's not as well remembered as John Fahey or Sandy Bull it's probably because he preferred poppier material and full orchestral arraignments. He put out a couple records under his own name & added guitar to a number of others before switching careers to become a professional photographer. Check this discography for more detailed info. He even sings on this, his 2nd record.

Rosmini's earlier Adventures For 12 String, 6 String and Banjo record was posted a little while ago on the excellent Grown So Ugly blog.

Here's a tracklist:

Side A
1. Paradise Thursday
2. The Fool On The Hill
3. Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind
4. Licks For Sale
5. Trains And Boats And Planes
6. El Funko
Side B
7. Let's Go Get Stoned
8. The Duchess
9. People Got To Be Free
10. With A Little Help From My Friends
11. I Heared It Through The Grapevine
12. Wichita Lineman

Listen here.

Joe Clark & Tony George - One Man Bands (1976)

2007-05-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

Here is that private press, 70's. moog-psych record I promised a while back. Although technically I should have only promised half a record of moog-psych (as I will explain).

Now I really know nothing about Tony George (aka Anthony M. George), Joe Clark (aka Joseph A. Clark), or the American Arts, Inc. record label out of Baltimore. This was the 1st (& I suspect the last) release on the label and, as Clark & George play all the instruments on their respective sides as well as listing themselves as composers, producers & engineers, I suspect they also fronted the cash for the record. But I do have opinions.

The l.p. is a split release between two artists whose only common denominator appears to be that they are the sole performer on their side of the record.

The real ace here is Tony George's extended, moog-psych-freakout, "And He Thought" (the sub-parts are labelled in the tracklist below). There is some deep, crypto-religous/philosophical message here but unless you've obtained (however temporarily) some alternate state of consciousness I wouldn't worry about it but just sit back and coast on Tony's sine wave interupted by the occassional rant. Tony asks, "Did you ever think happiness is to know me?" I'm pretty sure the answer before listening will be no (& I'm pretty sure none of you have heard this before), but afterward you may change your answer. Or maybe not. Happiness is not the word I would chose to describe your listening experience, but this is some weird-ass shit.

Joe Clark also performs solo but is certainly using some multitracking as he plays more conventional rock instruments. Clark's side has its moments and the music is fine, but I wouldn't have posted it if it weren't weren't paired with Tony George. Clark generally sounds like low-budget, late-60s/early-70s rock with some psych influences. There are also some odd moments--like the song about America (it was the bicentenial). However, overall, I think Joe would have been better off if he skipped the lyrics entirely. Sometimes they get downright confusing (& not in a weird, stream-of-conciousness, psychedelic way)--e.g., who is being addressed in "Don't Turn Your Back" (the 1st song)--it seems to change part way through the song? Other tracks (like Dreaming of You & Drinkin' 'n' Thinkin'...) are nice enough pop songs but never more than component.

Side J (Joe Clark): (1.) Don't Turn Your Back (2.) Freedom Train (3.) Dreaming of You (4.) Drinkin' 'n' Thinkin' 'bout You (5.) I Feel Her Hand Side T (Tony George): (6.) And He Thought (The Owl-Journey to a Dream-the Mirror-Can I Know You-Descent Into Madness-And He Thought)

If, by chance, anyone out there knows anything about this record (or has even seen it before)--please drop an email or post a comment.

I ripped this from a copy in the WMUC record library & have never seen even a mention of it elsewhere.

Music here.

Happy Feeling - Happy Feeling (1970)

2007-04-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week so I wasn't able to get one of my own rips up & this record was requested some time ago, so here is the self-titled debut (and only album) of Happy Feeling. It's really fine sunshiney, good-time pop music. Unfortunately I don't have a cover shot for the album so instead you get a picture of the band (w/ roadies) in front of their tour bus--but I bet you figured that out already. I also can't supply much info about the band--they're probably best remembered for contributing a member to April Wine. I guess it was one of these guys: Jim Aiello (Vocals), Dan Ferguson (Guitar), Gordie Moffat (Organ), Gerry Mudry (Drums), Bob Wagner (Guitar/Bass), Bob Moffatt (Guitar) .

Here's the track list:
Hey, Little Man ... (2:26)
Still Hill ... (2:38)
Good Neighbor Day ... (3:11)
Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide ... (3:23)
London Towne ... (2:39)
See What I Mean? ... (2:52)
Happy Feeling ... (2:54)
Keep Pushin' ... (2:34)
Walk With Life ... (1:54)
I've Got to Get Away ... (2:52)
Sacroiliac Boop ... (2:12)
If There's a Thought ... (1:48)

As I mentioned it's not my rip (& I no longer know who's rip it was--but thanks) & it does have a bit of noise/clicks--still it's well worth a listen.

NO LONGER AVAILABLE - CD coming soon (see comments).

Gordon Alexander - Gordon's Buster (1968)

2007-04-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

Filling another request here, also from an artist who appeared on the Mystic Males compilation (which, BTW, I highly recommend).

The record was produced by Curt Boettcher (around the same time as the Millennium Begin lp) and Sonny Knight, and fans of Boettcher's brand of California psych-pop will find a lot to savor here. The band is excellent and includes 5 members of the Music Machine and a long list of session plays and guests such as guitarist Al Casey, tenor player Plas Johnson, and Lee Mallory of The Millennium.

As for Gordon, he's a decent singer even if he pops his P's. His songs are good too--all very trippy. I commented recently that J. P. Rags' lyrics (and especially his spoken word pieces) seemed silly. Alexander's could be confused as being silly as well but they're not, they're psychedelic, and probably made perfect sense given the proper state of mind. Here's an example from Thinking in Indian Again:

How is your bind bending, how is your mind bending

I like to fly using my middle eye on a beam to the end of my brain.

I hope you can see the difference.

Tracklist:

Side 1

1. Looking for the Sun

2. Letter to Baba

3. Topanga

4. Autumn Is a Bummer

5. A Bunch of Us Were Sitting Around a Candle in San Fransisco Getting Stoned and I Hope You're There Next Time

6. Waiting for the Time

Side 2

7. Thinking in Indian Again

8. Pupper Theatre 23

9. One Real Spins Free

10. Windy Wednesday

11. Miss Mary

Get the music here.

Bob Ray - Initiation of a Mystic (1968)

2007-04-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

By request, another fine slice of late-60's pop-psych pie, this time from Bob Ray, onetime bass player for Donovan (that's him on Season of the Witch) and later a member of the pop trio Thorinshield. This release doesn't have the sunshine vibe of that band but is certainly as good or better in its own somewhat darker way.

The core band on this one (see below) featured some fine LA session players and the record was produced by Johnny Rivers.

HAL BLAINE drms
JIM GORDON drms
JIM HORN flute, sax
LARRY KNECHTEL bs, keyb'ds
JOE OSBORNE bs
BOB RAY vcls
There's also some strings (as in orchestral) but I don't know who played them.

Here's a track list since the files aren't numbered:
(Girl With the) Cameo Ring (3:55)
Live Today (3:32)
City of Toys (3:33)
Green Green (Big Big River) (3:16)
Smog Song (5:20)
Resurrection (4:00)
Money Tree (3:40)
Personal Movie (2:58)
Woman of the Highlands (4:15)
Right Relations (3:30)
Islands (Poem) (2:10)

This one is not my rip (props to Dancing Gods). It is ripped at 320kps.
Here's the music.

Note: Since I had another record planned for posting this week I think I'll get a 2nd post this weekend, so stop back.

J. P. Rags - Scruffety (1968)

2007-04-10T12:21:00.001-07:00

I think you can best describe this release as lounge music for hippies (or maybe a lounge lizard's idea of hippie music, I'm not sure)--I can imagine someone in the audience asking for some orange sunshine with that martini. A casual listen will suggest that you've found a sweet, somewhat innocent pop relic. However, if you listen closely you'll soon realize that this is pretty silly stuff (lyrically speaking). Especially the spoken word, philosophical interludes--they're downright ridiculous. Rags (real name D. Cox) writes lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on a greeting card and delivers them with a with a childlike (or perhaps childish) quality make him come off as a sort of an unholy cross between Scott Walker (sans gravitas) and Mr. Rogers (with a joint).

Check these lyrics:
I heard a sightless man describe great beauty he had touched
And I admired his sense of smell so very much
Impressed by how his ears could see
I wondered just how it would be
If I could smell her soft clean hair
Upon my pillow lying there

But don't let that turn you off to the record. Silly isn't always bad & this record certainly has its moments. I don't know much about the band but Nilsson contributes a blurb to the back of the lp cover & Larry Goldberg & Doug Cox produced it.

This was a request--I believe based on the Rags track that appeared on the Mystic Males compilation. I liked that track too, but it was on the short side--I'll let you be the judge of how he holds up on a whole album.

Side 1
1. Soul Sunrise 2. Wonderful World of Children 3. Don't Watch Me 4. Something to Think About 5. Portrait of a Soft Woman
Side 2
6. Scruffety 7. Porch Song 8. Bells of Saint Barbara 9. Posession Is 9/10 of the End 10. Talkin' 11. Still Life 12. Let's Get Together Again

Enjoy the music (now reposted).

Curt Newbury - Half a Month of Maydays (1969)

2007-04-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

This week's musical delight is the sole record (at least that I'm aware of ) from Curt Newbury released on Verve Forecast back in 1969. It's excellent, West-coast, folk-rock with a fair amount of country twang and some psychedelic influences (both chemical and musical, I imagine). The lyrics are good and touch on the appropriate concerns of the time (love, protesting the war, hanging pictures--I guess times haven't changed that much). The band (which consists of the majority of the fine psychedelic group, Kaleidoscope [U.S.]) is in top form, and Mike Deasy contributes some smokin' guitar solos. In addition to writing his own material Newbury was also a flying instructor and a licensed hypnotist (although I'm not sure how those activities influenced his musical work).

Here's the personnel, courtesy of Fuzz, Acid & Flowers:

RICHARD APLANALP clarinet

MIKE DEASY gtr, dobro, mandolin

COFFI HALL perc

HOWARD JOHNSON tuba

RON JOHNSON bs

JEFF KAPLAN gtr, organ, bs, piano

PAUL LAGOS drms

RICK MATTHEWS perc

CURT NEWBURY vcls, gtr

TEMPLETON PARSLEY (MAX BUDA) electric violin, hrmnca

PAT SMITH bs fiddle

And here's the tracklist:

Side 1

1. S & C See Me

2. Christ, How Easy It Could Be

3. To Marcia

4. Highchair Blue

5. Let's Hang Some Pictures Tonight

Side 2

6. Half a Month of Maydays

7. Colonel Haygood

8. A Girl Is Just Too Much

9. Maybe Summer Bells

10. Private Jackson Regrets

Music at d*vshare & music at s*ndspace.

Last Words -ST (1968)

2007-03-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell from the cover, the Last Words were a fun band. They didn't try to be deep, or hard, or political, or mind-expanding they just played pop/rock music in a variety of styles. The album consists mainly of (well-chosen) covers and a few competent pop originals that could have been written by any number of other bands of the period. They do interpret the material in original ways. I particularly like their odd arrangements, which often lead to unexpected turns in the songs--like the fuzz guitar freakout in the middle of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" or the languid take, with dirge-like organ, on the Beatles' "No Reply." They do use plenty of fuzz, organ & tambourine.

Prior to this Atco album they recorded a garage rock single on the Boom label and a blue-eyed soul outing on Atco that managed to crack the top 100 (the A-side of which, Can't Stop Lovin' You, made it on this lp). After it, they released a couple of other singles off the record and then disappeared into rock obscurity. John Lombardo, the singer, held on a little longer with a couple singles produced by Tommy James (of Shondells fame). The All Music Guide says he was the same John Lombardo who was later in 10,000 Maniacs but, for some reason, I think they're probably wrong (come to think of it, they're often wrong but that's another issue).

"The Last Words" track listing
(side 1)
(1) One More Time (John Lombardo) - 2:31 (2) Be My Baby (Phil Spector - Ellie Greenwich - Jeff Barry) - 5:47 (3) Mor'een (Mark Lindsay - Terry Melcher) - 2:23 (4) No Reply (John Lennon - Paul McCartney) - 4:48 (5) A Basket of Flowers (Michael Stone - Charles Conion) - 2:34
(side 2)
(1) The Kids Are Alright (Peter Townshend) - 3:37 (2) Can't Stop Lovin' You (John Lombardo - Michael Byrnes) - 2:14 (3) You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' (Phil Spector - Barry Mann - Cynthia Weil) - 5:45 (4) It's Not Over (John Lombardo) - 2:30 (5) I Wish I Had Time (Michael Byrnes - Dooley) - 2:45

Music available here or here. I ripped this one myself from a mono copy of the record (I think it was released in stereo as well).

Andy Zwerling - Spiders in the Night (1971)

2007-03-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

Since the last repost I got was so popular (and since it takes a lot of time to rip my own vinyl) I'm going with someone else's rip again this week. Not sure who the anonymous newsgroup poster was, but thank you very much for your effort & for turning me on to AZ.

Andy Zwerling has been around the music biz for a long time as a reviewer (for Rolling Stone), songwriter & (as you can hear on this release) a performer. More recently he's recorded with his sister, Leslie, producing at least one double CD's worth of (apparently) great pop and rock'n'roll that I would love to hear if I could find someplace where it was still for sale. But then again I wish someone would issue this record on CD too!

This 1971 album on the Kama Sutra label features some gentle & beautiful psych-folk songs, most featuring just Andy's voice & acoustic guitar. The lyrics have a slightly mystical bent that at times make them seem a bit dated but generally they retain their original appeal. Lenny Kaye (the rock god of New Brunswick, NJ and the man who brought us garage punk) also appears on this release.

There was a New York Times article on Andy a few years back in which he says, "I got a record deal with Kama Sutra, thanks to my friend Richard Robinson. The label gave me 64 hours to make a record, so I couldn't have done my rock 'n' roll stuff." Instead he went for a more introspective, folky sound and pulled it off quite well. Unfortunately, the record was released just after Kama Sutra got bought out by a bigger fish and the record seems to have been forgotten (by the label, at least) in the shuffle.

Tracklist:
SIDE A: Knife-Man/Slicing/Turtles Vs. The Green Ants/It's In The Morning/Spiders In The Night
SIDE B: Sifting Around In A Haze/Words To This Song/Orange Skylights/Branches/Downwaters-Crosswaters

Ripped from vinyl (of course) at 192k & available here. (REPOSTED)

Michael Styers - Bearing a Gentle Message (1980)

2007-03-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

This record gets described as acid-folk by record dealers (but then again they'll describe almost anything as acid-folk these days). It does have some trippy moments and certainly the lyrics (involving Pan, Merlin & willow trees) fit it with the whole acid-folk aesthetic, but the music is probably better categorized as rural folk-rock and (at times) country-rock.

Lysergia.com compares it to Gary Higgins, and while I like Higgins' record better there are points of similarity. Styers is certainly a more-than-component guitarist and his backup group (which features cello & bouzouki among more traditional rock instruments) is strong. The record was recorded in Chapel Hill, NC in 1980 and released the same year as private press lp (500 copies pressed). It's not easy to find and (like a lot of private press psych) will probably be over-priced if do locate a copy.

Here's a tracklist (7 and 8 are bundled together on this rip):

1. Michael Styers - Bearing a Gentle Message
2. Michael Styers - Jaguars in the Jungle
3. Michael Styers - Poppies-Willows

4. Michael Styers - Merlin the Magik

5. Michael Styers - Upper Black Eddy

6. Michael Styers - In Time
7 & 8. Michael Styers - Summer Evening's Chant--Pan's Door

9. Michael Styers - Flora

10. Michael Styers - Another Pretty Song

It is ripped from vinyl and encoded at 320k (which makes for a somewhat large file). Thanks again to the WMUC record library.

The music is available on s-ndspace and d-vshare

Lotti Golden - Motor-Cycle (1969)

2007-03-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I'm very busy this week and so have fallen back on someone else's rip (thanks to the anonymous News Group poster who put this one out there in the ether). Also, it looks like I'll be travelling next week so don't expect another post for 2 weeks.

This is a fine soul record with some psychedelic touches and some weird Satan-biker references. It was released on Atalantic records in '69 and produced by Bob Crewe. Robert Christgau didn't like it, which is usually a good sign--he compares her to Laura Nyro (who he also doesn't like) & I can definitely hear some similarities (at least with Nyro's earlier work) but Golden has an oddness that puts her in a class by herself. Christgau liked her '71 self-titled album better but I haven't heard that one.
After that 2nd lp she appears to have gone on to work as a back-up singer (for Carly Simon among others) and record producer.

There's a poem about Motor-Cycle Michael on the back of the record (images included in link below) that starts with, "Michael was a siren and a street god...and he said chicks called him Lucifer, beacuse when he got wasted one eye would nod out in the corner...and when I wasn't riding his truth machine, anabell and johnny and me...would go down to the eastside docks and watch the jive sun do the boogaloo on the water..." That should give you as good idea as anything about what the record is like. Perhaps the song titles will help too:

(1) Gonna Fay's, (2) A Lot Like Lucifer (Celia Said Long Time Loser), (3) The Space Queens (Silky Is Sad), (4) Who Are Your Friends, (5) Get Together (With Yourself), (6) You Can Find Him

Enjoy the music here

Dorothy Carter - Troubador (1976)

2007-02-25T10:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the delay in getting the files posted for this one. I also should let you know that I may need to be traveling in the coming week(s) and so may miss a post or two.

Now as for this excellent record, Dorothy Carter was (she passed away in 2003) primarily a hammered dulcimer player (although she also sings and plays flute on this record). She was a founding member of the Mediaeval Baebes & also performed on records as diverse as Sun Electric's Via Nostra & the Serious Solid Swineheard is Better Than Homecooked Clapham Junction album. This record is a beautiful collection of folk melodies from diverse times and places performed on dulcimer, psalter &/or flute (by Carter) and accompanied by Sally Hilmer on tamboura & Connie Demby of Ch'in. Carter also sings on a couple numbers. The accompaniment adds a nice Eastern vibe that will strengthen the appeal to fans of acid folk.

Her album Lonesome Dove is available from the Mediaeval Baebes web site. There was also a 1978 album called Waillee, Waillee and a CD entitled Dorothy Carter, 2003. I haven't heard any of those but based on the strength of this thrift store find I plan on tracking down copies.

I ripped this from vinyl and cleaned up most of the clicks and pops--only a couple large ones remain--and I think it sounds pretty good. Its encoded at a high quality variable bit rate using LAME encoding. You can pick it up here.

Enjoy!

Victor L. Perna & His Combo - The Sound of Today (19??)

2007-02-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

After this and last week's post, I wouldn't be surprised if some of you thought that my blog had been hijacked (as unfortunately happened to music blogger Hans Zun recently), but the fact is I'm trying to stretch your musical horizons a little. I like ALL kinds of music including cheesy, Italian, organ combos who perform cover versions of I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman, Hava Nagillah, and I'm A Believer--I hope you do as well. Hence this week's post. Also, I was certain that this one hasn't been posted on any other blog.

I can't really tell you much about Victor or his combo--I believe they came from Milan originrally (at least they are referred to on other releases as Victor Perna & His Milan Combo). The band members are as follows Victor L. Perna (Trumpet-Vocalist), Misino Mussi (Piano-Organ), Franco Dillena (Bass-Vocalist), and Dario Montaldo (Drums-Vocalist). The record was a thrift store find and is a private press release (no label name on the label and no back cover). It was also pretty damn scratchy. Usually I try to remove all the major clicks and pops (a time consuming process that involves going over each song second by second to locate obvious noise) but I kind of gave up on that process pretty quickly with this one--I did remove most of the major clicks and pops but it's still pretty noisy. Also, I recorded this one the first time I listened to it and recorded it in stereo before realizing that it was a mono recording, so you have it here in fake stereo. Finally, because of the sound quality I only encoded it at 192k.

Never fear, there are some fine 60s & 70s pop and psych records in the pipeline (including Dorothy Carter, Michael Styers, the Last Words, the Orange Groove, Trini Lopez, and a truly incredible private press moog-psych outing from Baltimore circa 1976 that I'm willing to bet you haven't heard before).

The music has been reposted (again) HERE

My parents went to this music blog and all I got was this lousy 7 inch

2007-02-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

One potential problem with having so many great music blogs out there on the net (for me at least) is that things I intend to post turn out to be posted elsewhere already. I had ripped John Blair's 1971 album, Mystical Soul and was preparing the tracks (separating individual cuts and going through each .wav file to remove clicks and pops) when I discovered it had already been posted on the headfonehaus blog. So I figured I may as well just point you to that fine blog instead of duplicating efforts.

However, this left me without a record to post so I decided to quickly put up an old 7 inch rip: Randy Starr and His Merry Martian - Hootenany on Mars/Do You Remember the Day (Laurie 3231). The single was released in 1964 and, I'm pretty certain, has never appeared on a CD (not even a compilation). "Hootenany on Mars" is the sort of formulaic, cheesy, novelty number that is sadly missing from the the contemporary music scene. You can imagine the producer (who also probably wrote the song and played bass on it) saying to the engineer (who co-wrote), "Let's take one from column A--how 'bout Space Exploration (Mars)--and one from B--Folk Music (Hootenanies) sounds good. And don't forget the Chipmunk sounding backup vocals. I'd say we've got us a song!" "Do You Remember the Day" is a strange, science-fiction themed folky pop number about the 1st mission to Mars and includes a stirring tribute to the astronaut who gave his life so his crew could survive (apparently jettisoning himself into space because there was too much weight on the rocket--I'm sure those 200 lbs. made all the difference).

I believe this is the same Randy Starr who had a minor hit with the song "After School" (which is available on some compilations) but who never cut an album that I'm aware of. Rumor has it was a dentist from the Bronx. He also wrote some of Elvis' lesser hits (e.g., Kissin' Cousins) and performed on the instrumental classic "Enchanted Sea" by the Islanders. If you want to make certain you can find his email on this Web site.

Here's the music.

J. J. Jackson - Greatest Little Soul Band in the Land (1969?)

2007-02-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted any soul music and this is some damn fine soul music (with jazz and rock moments to boot). I wasn't sure whether I should post it though since, although it hasn't appeared on CD, there was a vinyl reissue a few years back and it is still possible to pick up a new copy if you look hard enough (this rip though was from the original vinyl on the Congress label).

Jerome Louis "J.J." Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, and arranger (and NOT a VeeJay) who wrote music and arrangements for Jack McDuff, Jimmy Witherspoon, the Shangri-Las, and others before branching out to perform his own songs. He recorded a hit (#4 on the Billboard charts) in England in 1966 with his own composition "But It's Alright" using a backup band of British session musicians. I guess it worked well enough for him that he decided to stay in the UK where he recorded 3 lps over the course of 4 years. This is the 2nd and also features a lineup of British (and at least one Jamaican) musicians including members of the jazz-rock fusion band If and one of the greatest trombonists of reggae music. Here's the full line up of the group:

Dick Morrissey - Saxophone, Sax (Tenor)
Larry Steele - Bass
Ronny Stephenson - Drums
Jeff Whittaker - Conga
John Marshall - Saxophone, Sax (Baritone)
Rico Rodriguez - Trombone
Terry Smith - Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
J.J. Jackson - Percussion, Vocals, Main Performer, Keyboards, Piano
Roy Edwards - Trumpet
Bill Egden - Drums
Stu Hammer - Trumpet
Brian Henderson - Organ, Keyboards Terry Jenkins - Drums

And here's the songlist:

1 Tobacco Road (6:08)
2 Tenement Halls (5:17)
3 Something for My People (4:02)
4 In the Same Old Way (2:56)
5 Change Is Gonna Come (6:31)
6 Fat, Black and Together (3:41)
7 Win, Lose or Draw (3:59)
8 That's Woman Loving Her Man (4:23)

And listen to the music here.

Enjoy!

Plaster Caster Blues Band - ST (1969)

2007-01-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

Some of the records I post here are unjustifiably obscure, while others are just obscure--this one falls into the latter category. However, once again I didn't have time to rip a new record (it takes time once you take into account the de-clicking that I have to do) and so have fallen back on a rip I made some time ago and haven't listened to since, probably with good reason. (The record, again, comes from the WMUC library.)

The Plaster Casters, who lend their name but none of their musical talent to this record, were a group of groupies (their has to be a better collective noun than group for groupies but I'm not sure what it is) who were led by Cynthia Plaster Caster and made their name by taking plaster casts of male rock star genitalia. They really have nothing to do with the actual recording, though. Instead what you have here are some generic 60s blues-based rock instrumentals played by a component (if uninspired) group of session peformers that includes some fine blues and r&b players (see line-up below). It fairly groovy, generic rock and blues with harmonica and horns and would have made a component soundtrack to some teen-exploitation film. It doesn't have anything to do with plaster casting or groupies, however. (Though, if you are looking for some songs about groupies, the WFMU blog has a post for you.)

The song titles are fun:

Lanoola Goes Limp, Seven Foot Drummer from Fleetwood Mac, Joint Venture, You Didn't Try to Ball Me (for Frank Zappa), Banks of Barclay, Welcome Hamptons Outstanding, Plaster Caster, Chicago Charva Chapter, Diane's Blue Plate Special, Blues for Big Jimi, Pray Tell Brian.

Here's the line-up:

Bobby Bryant (Trumpet), Arthur Adams (Guitar), Jules Chaiken (Vocals), Max Hardy (Drums), Gildo Mahones (Organ), Gildo Mahones (Piano), Gildo Mahones (Keyboards), Ellen Sander (Vocals), George Harmonica Smith (Harmonica), George Harmonica Smith, Clifford Solomon (Saxophone), Clifford Solomon (Tenor (Vocal)), Bob Thiele (Producer)

Music here.

Messages from John Campo aka St. George of St. George & Tana

2007-01-24T07:58:00.000-08:00

One of the great pleasures of running this blog is hearing from some of the artists whose music is presented. First David Stoughton, then Eleanor Barooshian (aka Chelsea Lee) from The Cake, and now John Campo from St. George & Tana. Be sure to take a look at the comments on that record post (from August) for some interesting reminiscences and information on his current activities.

John Randolph Marr - John Randolph Marr (1970)

2007-01-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

First I should admit I'm not crazy about this record. It's a nice enough pop outing that will appeal to fans of Harry Nilsson's pop records (Nilsson produced most of it, sans credit, and contributed a song), but it's not the best thing I've posted. However, I did rip a copy for someone a year or so back and have kept it as my "ace in the hole" for the day I didn't have anything ready--I guess that would be today.

The music is heavy on the orchestration, with lots of strings and horns and is perhaps (this will be heresy to Harry Nilsson fans) somewhat overproduced. Marr wrote most of the material himself and his songs remind me of some of Randy Newman's less humorous efforts. Dean Torrence (of Jan and Dean) did the cover art.

Here's the tracklist:
Hallelujah
1941
I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now?
Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham
Pity the Man
We Had Something
Sarah
One Shot Lady
Raggedy Ann
Free

The music has been reposted here.

Bruce Murdoch - 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute (1971)

2007-01-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

I didn't want to go another week without a post but haven't had time to rip anything new, so here is a rip of a fairly obscure piece of vinyl that I grabbed off a newsgroup (thanks to the original poster). It's ripped at 320k but doesn't appear to have any noise reduction so you may a few pops or clicks.

Now about the music and the musician, Bruce Murdoch was a Canadian folk singer from Quebec originally who released 2 albums (that I know of) as well as appearing on Elektra's Singer Songwriter Project compilation (which you can pick up on a CD combined with a David Blue album). He apparently taught a lit. course at McGill at one point and later became a high school principal in Alberta.

Richie Havens heard him performing in Canada and signed him to his Stormy Forest and then proceeded to record and poorly produce this, his first lp. The production is pretty poor and on another Web site Murdoch himself wrote, "the album isn't very good. It has many songs on it I still like, but the production wasn't up to par." Everything sounds a bit tinny and at times I'm not sure whether there is a harpsichord playing or a piano. Still it has some excellent songs, and Murdoch's lyrics and passionate vocal delivery make it worth a listen. The album largely features angry political songs and sometimes angry love songs. Some weird touches, like the Hitler speech and war sound fx at the start of "Mary You Are My Friend," are also interesting and the lyrics, like that song's message about fascism in the corridors of power, remains pertinent today.

Murdoch released a 2nd album, eponymously titled, on the Radio Canada International label in 1980--I haven't heard it but the couple of mentions I found on the Web suggest it is better than this one (and I like this one, production aside, quite a bit). I hope you'll like it to.

Also, a quick note on my links. I realize there are a number of dead ones and a number if new ones I'd like to add. Hopefully I'll find time to do that over the next couple weeks.

Sidewalk Swingers - Folk Swingin' Harpsichord (1964)

2006-12-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

This one's perfect for your next hootenany cocktail party. I'm not sure who's idea it was to play a bunch of folk tunes (both new and old) on harpsichord with 12-string guitar accompaniment but they had a certain demented genius in their plan. The producer also got some fine session players to perform: Russell Bridges (harpsichord), Glen Campbell (guitar), Jimmy Bond (bass), Hal Blaine (drums), and Bill Cunningham (banjo & mandolin). Tracks include Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and some old chestnuts like "If I Had a Hammer" and "Greenback Dollar." I don't expect this one to rock your world but it is a pleasant enough excursion into instrumental folk with a bit of country twang. You can get it from medi*fire or o-share.

This will be my last post for this year--but I will be back in January with some new vinyl rips. Happy holidays.

"Click" Horning - Click (1969)

2006-11-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

Looks like this is now available on CD from the artist himself, along with some of his other releases. Check here or here.

Because of that I will be taking down the link for this one.

A bad case of carpal tunnel and a busy weekend is going to keep this post on the short and sweet side. Short, because if you want to find out more about Click Horning I'm just going to refer you to his web site. Sweet, because once again I present a sweet piece of pop music for your entertainment. There are some nice folk and psych influences, and even some sitar (the cut Many Times Jimbo, the best here IMHO, appeared on one of the Electric Sitar Headswirlers compilations). File no longer available--see above for info on purchasing the CD. Click is still performing in the New Hampshire area.

William R. Strickland - William R. Strickland Is Only The Name (1969)

2006-11-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

William R. Strickland is the name of the singer-songwriter-performer who put out this odd record on London/Deram records back in 1969. He plays guitar, sometimes accompanied by the London Philharmonic, and sings about World War 3 (1/2) and computer love (long before internet dating). I guess you would call him a folk singer--he certainly has the Dylan-style sneer down--but the general weirdness of the songs (which he says were largely improvised) lends a certain psychedelic quality to the whole affair. I guess if I had to suggest a point of comparison (and an obscure one at that) I'd say he reminds me of Peter Grudzien without the gay subtext and with a wider range of instruments (there's even a Jew's harp on one track). There is a recent article about him online from the Santa Cruz Sentinal that refers to an older (1976) review that said he was like "a kinky cross between Mark Twain and Lenny Bruce" and that Strickland calls himself "a mix of Willie Nelson and Pink Floyd." Strickland is still performing and you can even hear a recent (March 8, 2006) radio performance and interview on KUSP by him online.

Here's a tracklist for this release:
Side 1: You Can Know My Body (But You'll Never Know My Soul) / Computer Lover / Romeo De La Route / Touch
Side 2: If I Stand Here Much Longer / Opps That's Me!! / World War 31/2

You can grab it online here.

Peter Kelley - Path of the Wave (1969)

2006-11-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

Peter Kelley released two records under his name--this is the first (and IMHO the better). Fuzz, Acid and Flowers describes it as "folk-psych with almost whispered vocals. Songs range from Dylanesque ballads to the monster cut The Man Is Dead (6'56") with fuzz guitar." Which is an apt if rather short description. Most of the cuts feature sparse instrumentation (often just an acoustic guitar is featured) and singing that owes a lot to Dylan's style of vocal delivery (and perhaps something to psychoactive substances as well). The Man Is Dead may be the best cut but is far from typical, but the whole album is worth a listen.

The band/crew on this consists of David Budin (Guitar, Piano, Bass, Saxophone, Producer), Rusti Clark (Viola), Chuck Colin (Trumpet), Danny Federici (Organ), Barton Friedman (Producer), Richard Gottehrer (Viola), Eddie Guzman (Drums), Richard Husson (Engineer), Harriet Jacoff (Piano), Peter Kelley (Main Performer), John Lehr (Guitar), Walton Mendelson, Jack Nailon (Guitar (Bass)), Roy Nievelt (Guitar (Electric)), & Warren Slaten (Engineer).

Here's the tracklist: Apricot Brandy/High Flyin' Mama/Christine I, II/All I Needed/Childhood's Hour/Man Is Dead/In My Own & Secret Way

And here's the music (reupped on mediafire).

Smokey & His Sister - ST (1967)

2006-11-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

I mentioned this one a few weeks back when I posted the St. George & Tana record. If you liked that one you should like this as well. Smokey (presumably his sister as well) came from Cincinnati, OH--he met Dylan after a concert there in 1965 and decided to become a folk singer (at least according to the Fuzz, Acid & Flowers book). In 1966 he and his sister Viki moved to Greenwich Village, which a year or two earlier would have been the place to be (the fact that at least 2 of the songs on this album are about how much cooler it is on the West Coast bear this out). They had a single and then this one lp which came out on Warner Brothers--it features some nice orchestral arrangements and Smokey & Sis harmonizing--sweet stuff overall.

Rabbit Mackay - Bug Cloth (1968)

2006-10-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Once again I present an artist about whom I know very little. I wish I has the time and resources to research some of the albums I post here but I don't so I'm limited to what I can pull from a couple reference books & off the net. I can however recommend this record by Rabbit Mackay & his Somis Rhythm Band to fans of 60's psych-folk-rock-blues obscurities. It was released on the Uni label in 1968. The music is pretty varied with a few rockers and a couple tracks that feature harpsichord. Candy is a blues-stomp that veers into garage rock, while Hard Time Woman sounds more like a Holy Modal Rounders blues outing. Big Sur & John's Lament are gentle psych-folk numbers. Baby Jennifer is in the angry folk singer gets back at old girlfriend genre. West Grogan Dormitory Blues is a more rockin' but similarly-themed number with plenty of snottiness in the vocals. Cool stuff overall. Rabbit is apparently alive and hopefully well and living in California. He was still performing circa 2005, when he had a track on the La Conchita Remember... compilation put together to raise money for mudslide victims.

You can hear this record here (reposted, again).

The Rainbow Band - ST (1971)

2006-10-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

Not to be confused with the Danish band of the same name, this Rainbow Band was an American outfit that released one record on Elektra back in 1971. It never ceases to amaze me that there was a time when major labels put out really good records (technically Elektra was a major at this point, having been sold to Warner in 1970). This album appears in the Elektra catalog between the intriguing Crow Dog's Paradise' album of peyote songs & Mike Heron's fantastic Smiling Men With Bad Reputations record. So why all this talk about the Elektra catalog? Well, to be honest, it's because I know very little about the group that put together this very cool slice of rural, commune psych. I can give you a tracklist:
1. Rama Rama
2. Lotus
3. Sweater Song
4. Simple Song
5. Midnight Sun
6. Song of the Navajo
7. Now is the Time
And I can tell you who participated in the recording (although not what they did):
Mahesh, Pavarthi, Maruga Booker, Nithyan Gefron, Scotty Avedisian, Phil Catanzaro, Ragunath Mancini, Trevor Young, Gary Olerich, Darius Brubeck, Colin Wolcott, Nirmala, Sharon Simon, Lalitha, Janiki Tenny, Priscilla, Victoria, Felix, Anandi, & Shiva.
Some of the names are familiar. Colin Wolcott was a founding member of the group Oregon. Darius Brubeck, a jazz performer in his own right, is Dave Brubeck's son. Shiva is the "One who purifies everyone by the utterance of His name" in Hinduism--Ok, perhaps it's not the same Shiva. However, I can't say anything about the duo who fronted the outfit except that they look blissed out on the cover. This record also comes from the WMUC library--I hope you enjoy it.

Lynn Blessing - Sunset Painter(1969)

2006-10-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

I promised weekly posts, so even though I'm incredibly overworked this weekend here you go. Just don't expect a lot of commentary--perhaps I'll add more at a later date.

Blessing was (he passed away, sadly, in 1994) a jazz & rock vibist who played in Advancement and the Cosmic Brotherhood as well as appearing on some Gabor Szabo releases. The album is almost entirely instrumental & features some cool covers (the Who, Judee Sill, Dylan, Beatles, Byrds) & nice originals too. A mellow 60s vibe that moves between jazz & rock without commiting to either & without falling into the lounge category. Enjoy it reposted HERE.

Jim Pepper - Pepper's Pow Wow (1971)

2006-10-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

First off, this isn't my rip--it's another newsgroup grab. I wish I had kept track of the name of the poster but whoever he/she was he/she has my eternal thanks. This is a great record. It's criminal that it isn't available on CD--one online discography for Jim Pepper mentions a private label CD but I have been unable to find any further info & I believe that it was a bootleg recording.

Today Pepper may be better known among fusion jazz afficianados than fans of pop music who if anything only know his oft-covered hit "Witchi-Tai-To," a peyote chant Jim learned from his grandfather. A number of the other songs on this record are credited to his father, Gilbert (Gil) who plays on this records. So this is record that reflects (at least) three generations of musical input--really it reflects a lot longer tradition. Pepper was an American Indian--if you couldn't guess from listening to the record--his father was a Kaw and his mother a Creek. And this record is still, in IMHO, the finest fusion of American Indian musical traditions with other American musical styles. Pepper's first recording was as a member of the pioneer jazz-rock band (I hestitate to call them fusion) the Free Spirits. He also performed on a couple of rock records, Sandy Hurvitz's album and a single Fugs track, but most of his work was decidely jazz. He played tenor sax and flute with Don Cherry, Paul Motian, Larry Coryell, Bill Frisell, Mal Waldron & Charlie Haden among others (both as a leader & a sideman) and many of those recordings are in print. He has a fine full-bodied tone on the sax (which you can also hear on this record, which is now available on CD (and hence no longer available on this site).

Pepper's Pow Wow is an album that's harder to pidgeonhole. There's some jazz here and music that's in a Native American tradition but there's also more than a little pop, rock, gospel & soul going into it. It's one of those records that really defies genre but in a way that makes in appealing to fans of all the aforementioned styles. It is also one of the most uplifting records I've ever heard in spite of addressing subjects like America's genocidal campaigns against Native peoples and the continued racism against the American Indian. Overall it's just an exceptional album.

Jim Pepper passed away Feb 10, 1992 in Oregon, the state where he was born and raised. May he rest in peace. There is plenty of information available about him on the Web and there was a documentary about him a few years back. There's also a fine discography available from which the following information was taken. Note that the tracklist doesn't exactly match the rip I'm providing--I believe it's because 2 of the Witchi-Tai-To tracks are combined in these files.

Jim Pepper - PEPPER'S POW WOW
1. Witchi-Tai-To [chant 1] (Kaw traditional)
2. Witchi-Tai-To [song] (J. Pepper)
3. Witchi-Tai-To [chant 2]
4. Squaw Song (Gilbert Pepper)
5. Rock Stomp Indian Style (G. Pepper)
6. Senecas (Peter LaFarge)
7. Yon A Ho (G. Pepper)
8. Slow War Dance (G. Pepper)
9. Nommie-Nommie (Charles Gabriel/J.M. Black)
10. Newly-Weds Song (G. Pepper)
11. Fast War Dance (G. Pepper)
12. Now War Dance (G. Pepper)
13. Drums (LaFarge)
Rec. 1971, Apostolic Studios, New York
Jim Pepper, voice, tenor and soprano saxophone, percussion; Gil Pepper, voice, percussion; Ravie Pepper, flute, voice, percussion; Larry Coryell, electric guitar; Tom Grant, piano, voice, percussion; Chuck Rainey, electric bass on 1, 4, 8, 9; Jerry Jemmott, electric bass on 2, 5, 10; Billy Cobham, drums on 1, 4, 8, 9; Spider Rice, drums on 2, 5, 7, 10

An Update & A Promise of More Music on Its Way

2006-10-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

My month off from blogging has passed quickly. Expect a new record this weekend. After that, I've got weekly posts lined up for October & November & at least half of Decemeber. Also, I try to stay on top of my links (removing dead ones & adding new ones) but it isn't easy to keep up with so many blogs (& I've only linked to the ones I like--I've found a lot more), so if you see a blog that's been down for more than a couple months let me know. I do make an exception for blogs that have moved to a new location but leave their archives on the original site, so no need to mention those.

I do have a question concerning which sharing service people prefer. I've had complaints about a few of the ones I've tried but r****share (the preffered service for bloggers) also has a lot of problems, not the least of which is their willingness to remove posts without question. Let me know what you prefer (perhaps I can set up an online poll).

During my hiatus I was happy to receive some emails from David Stoughton. He OKed my posting of the 1st one & so I'll put it up for your edification:

You might be interested to know that your blog made "GoogleAlerts" today. The eponymous David Stoughton is still alive, silly and pretentious.

Your preference for the more outrageous pieces is shared by a lot of weird people (my kind of people) who have a taste for the outrageous stuff we were able to get away with in the late '60s.

As you suggest, a number of CD re-issuers have tried to get the rights to Transformer, but are unable to for the reasons you state.

I was recently contacted by Elektra U.K. (Rhino) that they are putting out a boxed-set CD package of "The Holzman Years" at Elektra, and are including "The Sun Comes Up Each Day," from Transformer. Personally, I'd have preferred something more radical. But nobody asked for my input. At least they invited me to write some notes for the reissue, regarding what life was like back then in the music biz.

It was a hell of a lot cooler than it is now, that's for sure. The music (Beatles, Hendrix, et al.) was cooler, too.

Needless to say, I was a little embarassed by my "silly and pretentious" comment and after thinking about it I wish I had said a few more positive things about the record as well. As I mentioned to him, I find the Beatles silly & pretentious at times too. I do appreciate though his willingness to experiment (& on a major label debut)--he could have made a safer record that would have sold better--but he took chances and that makes his a record worth listening to years later. I'm glad to hear he's still around and seems to be doing well.

The Cake - A Slice Of Cake (1968)

2006-08-31T04:39:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: I received notice from Eleanor Barooshian (aka Chelsea Lee) that The remaining 2 members of The Cake will be performing in NY City at the B.B. KING LOUNGE on 11/27/06 as part of a tribute concert for Jimi Hendrix.

Here's another group that should be better known than they are. The Cake put out two remarkable records that stretched the concept of the "girl group" sound into the realms of baroque pop and psychedelia. Their 1st effort, Cake, was already posted at the Palestinian Light Orchestra blog. I presented here their second and I believe better outing. I say better because I find it a more consistent release. The 1st album has some excellent songs but as some reviewers have noted it sounds like it was recorded by three different groups. On A Slice Of Cake, the Cake composed almost all the songs themselves (with the exception of the opening track, a nice r&b medley & a trippy Dr. John number) and the music is more consistently original in its arrangements and delivery.

The three members of the Cake (Jeanette Jacobs, Barbara Morillo and Eleanor Barooshian--the order they appear in the photo above) formed in NYC in 1966. After the band's break-up, Eleanor Barooshian (now Chelsea Lee) and Jeanette Jacobs sang back-up for Dr. John in his Nightripper period and Ginger Baker's Airforce. Ms. Jacobs also appeared on Hendrix's Electric Ladyland album. Barbara Morillo continued to perform in a number of rock and jazz groups and released a CD as Barbara Morillo & Shrine in 2004. Eleanor Barooshian aka Chelsea Lee also has some music projects in the works (see her blog) and started a Cake Web site--it doesn't contain much info on the group but she does seem open to emailed questions. Sadly, Jeanette Jacobs passed away in 1982.

Here's a tracklist:

Have You Heard the News About Miss Molly? 2:44
P.T. 280 2:15
Sadie 2:26
Tides of Time 2:09
Walkin' the Dog/Something's Got a Hold on Me/Big Boy Pete 4:08
Extroverted Introvert 2:26
Under the Tree of Love and Laughter 1:15
Annabelle Clark 3:10
Who Will Wear the Crown 2:00
Island of Plenty 2:45

Both the Cake albums are now available on CD from Rev-Ola and so are no lonver available on this blog.

David Stoughton - Transformer (1968)

2006-08-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

I don’t know where he came from and I don’t know where he’s gone, but David Stoughton made one weird and arty psychedelic record for Elektra records back in 1968: Transformer (available here).

This is definitely Stoughton’s show. In addition to performing, he wrote the songs and produced the sucker. Some pieces are songs, sort of in late-period Tim Buckley style (but missing Buckley’s vocal skills & songwriting ability) while others are weirder experiments in sound collage (The Anecdote of Horatio and Julie) or extended semi-classical psychedelic (or is it semi-psychedelic classical) concertos (I Don't Know If It's You). Personally, I prefer these more experimental pieces—his other songs, lyrically at least, generally seem a little silly and/or pretentious (a bad combination).

As always, this record is unavailable on CD and is unlikely to appear in that form any time soon. Polygram owns the rights to the recordings and have no interest in releasing it on CD in spite of requests by fans. They also, from what I have read, appear to be asking an exorbitant amount for other labels to issue it and because we’re talking about a major label it’s unlikely anyone will put a copy without securing the rights. Unfortunately major labels are only interested in a recording if it will make lots of money but remain paranoid about keeping the rights to any recording they have, so if you want to get this album you’ll have to search ebay, etc. for a used copy (which can run anywhere from $10 to $60). Again, props to the WMUC record library.

Tracklist and performers below

1 The Sun Comes up Each Day - 3:59
2 The Summer Had No Breeze - 5:10
3 The Anecdote of Horatio and Julie - 8:00
4 Saving for a Rainy Day - 4:51
5 Evening Song - 4:25
6 I Don't Know If It's You - 10:00

Peter Chapman - horns (1968)
Devi Klate - vocals (1968)
Joe Livols - drums (1968)
Mal Mackenzie - bass (1968)
John Nicholls - vocals (1968)
David Stoughton - vocals, guitar (1968)
Steve Tanzer - flute, piccolo (1968)

I’ll try to get another post in next week, but after that I’m off for the rest of September but you’ll find tons of great music in the sites linked over on the right side of the page (that’s your right, not mine).

Disco Muppet Double Feature

2006-08-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

This post if a first for me in a number of ways. It's my first request (from my lovely wife). It's the first time I've posted 2 albums at once. It's the first (and second) time I've posted records that weren't my rip (thanks to the anonymous newsgroup poster). It's the 1st post performed by celebrities. The 1st post performed by puppets (or muppets to be more exact). I could go on. All that said, these are 2 albums that should never have been allowed to go out-of-print even if disco is dead (and I'm pretty sure it isn't, it was just sleeping).

First let me say that these records do not represent some celebrity attempt to cash in on the latest popular culture trend. The muppets were made to disco. Offstage (and sometimes on) they embraced a hedonistic, devil-may-care attitude that said dance the night away and worry about tomorrow when it comes (just be careful you don't drop your cookie). And as Eugene Chadbourne said in his Sesame Street Disco review on All Music Guide, "Nobody looks better in disco duds than Bert and Grover..."

Sesame Street Fever, the first Muppet disco album, was released in 1978 by the Children's Television Workship. The LA weekly says it had "the best album cover ever" and they may be right. Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees guest stars but to me Cookie Monster is the real star (on both of these albums). The 2nd record Sesame Street Disco came in 1979 and may be even better than the 1st (although the cover isn't as good)--it certainly features the best song here, Me Lost Me Cookie At The Disco. It's more poignant than any song of lost love when Cookie Monster sings "Me lost me cookie at the disco...Me lost me cookie to the boogie music."

Here's the tracklists for the 2 records:

Sesame Street Fever (1978)
1. Sesame Street Fever
2. Doin' The Pigeon
3. Rubber Duckie
4. Trash
5. C Is For Cookie/Has Anybody Seen My Dog?

Sesame Street Disco (1979)
1. What Makes Music?
2. Me Lost Me Cookie At The Disco
3. The Happiest Street In the World
4. Sing
5. Disco Frog
6. Doin' the Trash/Bein' Green

If you're interested in seeing the rest of the Sesame Street discography go here. This discography doesn't mention any CD releases for these 2 records but I read one site that claims there was a Sesame Street Disco CD--I haven't been able to find one for sale though (perhaps it was a bootleg). If this was the case, though, I can pull down that release since I've posted the 2 lps seperately (& not on Sendspace this time). Here's Sesame Street Fever and Sesame Street Disco. I almost forgot, if you want to see Kermit's video for Disco Frog it's available on Youtube here.

Next week a return to more usual fare with David Stoughton's Transformer album. After that, a few weeks vacation to be followed by some more great music.

Serfs - The Early Bird Cafe (1969)

2006-08-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

Originally from Kansas, the Serfs were a fine soul-rock band who occassionally branched out into jazz (check their cover of Miles Davis' All Blue here) and blues. They issued this single album on Capitol in 1969 and there was one single from it. A few of the members also performed on Hendrix's Electric Ladyland lp. There's already a pretty good bio (with photos) on the Web here so I won't bother repeating it all. In addition to the Miles Davis cover they also do fine interpretations of Dylan (Like a Rolling Stone) & the Spencer Davis Group (I'm a Man). The rest of the numbers are all originals. They're a tight band, perhaps with a little too much horn work for some tastes. Not as funky as the Africa record I posted earlier but still doing a fine job of melding 60s-rock, soul & jazz influences into a cohesive & entertaining release. As always, this album isn't available on CD but you should be able to pick up a copy used for $15 to $25 range. Enjoy it reposted here.

You can comment now!

2006-08-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

I was just informed that it's been impossible for anyone to leave comments on the blog--so no wonder my requests have gone unanswered. The problem has been corrected & I look forward to your comments & requests.
Max

St. George & Tana - Is Now! (1967)

2006-08-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

I was intending on posting the soundtrack to the 1969 exploitation flick, Angel, Angel Down We Go. A great soundtrack that I had just ripped. But on investigating further I found it was alread up at the 7 Black Notes blog (a great blog with many cool soundtracks for your entertainment). My philosophy is that there's no point duplicating efforts so I dug up this obscure folk-pop gem instead.

I can't tell you much about St. George or Tana or their sole lp release. They did but out a great record that reminds me of Jim & Jean (hopefully that reference isn't too obscure to be of help) or Smokey & His Sister (and even more obscure duo, who's album I may post sometime). Just listen & enjoy some pleasant vocal harmonies, slightly psychedelic moods, and some jangly guitars all right here at an updated link.

Comments, as always are welcome. I don't want to sound desperate here but I haven't gotten one yet. I was happy to see though that my Harry Matusow rip got a repost at the WFMU blog.

P.S., Got a better cover image. The cover (still) isn't included in the file I posted.

Kathe Green - Run the Length of Your Wildness (1969)

2006-07-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

Another busy week so another short post... This is a record I think should be better known especially with increased interest in psych-pop/sunshine pop from recent years. OK the cover doesn't looks very sunshiney and it's true that there is a dark quality to some of the songs but I think that just adds to the appeal for me. The orchestrations backing Ms. Green's vocals are grade A and that may be due in part to the producer Wayne Bickerton who was the house producer at Deram records for many years. My favorite track is Primrose Hill--an upbeat, unabashedly pop number with a rousing orchestral finish. From what I could gather Kathe Green had a small part in Peter Sellers' The Party & sang the title song for Die Screaming Marianne. She is the Kathe Green who sang on the Up With People record (which I may post some day). If you have anymore information, want to say hello, or would like to make a request please leave a comment.

You can now hear the music on a new CD from Rev-Ola & so it is no longer available here.

Morganmasondowns - ST (1970)

2006-07-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

I don't have a lot to say this week.

Morganmasondowns is a band I know almost nothing about. They produced, however, a fine album of American hippie folk-rock with certain pop and psych inflections. The trio (Morgan, Mason & Downs—get it) of 1 woman and 2 men have some very nice vocal harmonies and songs about flowers and fairs and the rotating earth. The record was produced by Allan Nicholls who I believe is responsible for a number of Robert Altman soundtracks (although not my favorite one, Short Cuts).

Here’s a tracklist:
1) Heather Morning (4:12)
2) Home (3:49)
3) Knowing (3:10)
4) Come With Me (3:50)
5) Time Is at Hand (4:37)
6) Daffodil (3:40)
7) Ah, the World Goes Round (2:40)
8) Sea Song (2:30)
9) Listen to the Time (3:39)
10) Day of the Fair (2:57)
11) Lullabye (3:07)

Here’s the music.

Bobby Jameson - Working (1969)

2006-07-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

By request, here's Bobby Jameson's 1969 album Working (released on GRT Records & sadly unavailable on CD). The blog, Palestinian Light Orchestra, recently posted his 1967 album Color Him In and his 1st album, recorded under the name Chris Lucey (Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest) is available on CD from Rev-Ola. Of the 3, the Chris Lucey release is my favorite but all of them are worth a listen--in fact repeated listens.

I'm a little pressed for time so I'll just clue you in to a few good links. If you want a bio, there's one here. The photo above, of Bobby singing Vietnam!, is nicked from a fine Frank Zappa Web site, which also has some good biographical info & the most complete discography I've seen.

Here's s tracklist & list of performers for the Working album lifted from this The Band Web site:

1. Palo Alto (Jameson,R. P.)
2. Norwegian Wood (Lennon,John/McCartney,Paul)
3. I'll Be Your Baby (Dylan,Bob)
4. The Weight (Robertson,Robbie)
5. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Dylan,Bob)
6. Gentle on My Mind (Hartford,John)
7. Broken Windows (Jameson,R. P.)
8. Singing the Blues (Endsley,M.)
9. Ain't That Lovin' You Baby (Reed,Jimmy)
10. Bout Being Young (Jameson,R. P.)

The players:

Ray Kelley, strings
James Burton, dobro
Mike Deasy, guitar
Red Rhodes, steel guitar
Bobby Jameson, piano
Israel Baker, strings
Ben Benay, guitar/harmonica/arranger
Fred Borkgren, engineer
Bobby Bruce, strings
Roy Catron, horn
Steve Clark, producer
Harold Dickrow, strings
Jesse Ehrlich, strings
Sid Feller, arranger
Toxey French, drums
Nathan Gershman, strings
Jerry Grant
Michael Henderson, arranger
Jim Horn
Richard Hyde
Armand Kaproff, strings
Bill Krudsch, strings
Leonard Malarsky, strings
Ollie Mitchell, horn
Jerry Scheff, bass
Sid Sharp, strings
Tibor Zelig, strings

A great record--once again from the WMUC archives.

Because a number of blogs have been having problems with R-----share removing their posts I've decided to try a different service. I'm not particularly afraid people will want to remove the obscure lp releases I'm posting here but R----share deserves a boycott by bloggers everywhere.

I've also switched back to compressing the files with RAR--if anyone prefers ZIP they can leave a comment. Finally, speaking of comments, if you like the music posted here or have a request for something that's unavailable on cd, please leave one. Some comments would make me happy. Oh, the music is HERE (reposted).

Africa - Music From Lil' Brown (1968)

2006-07-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

There's some very soulful psychedelia--or is it psychedelic soul--on this slab of vinyl. From the opening of the 1st song (Paint It Back) this is clearly a keeper--the song starts with some Latin percussion (nice set of congas) & a few well placed guitar chords. Then it adds a soulful electric guitar to carry the melody, a bass break, some weird laughing & what sound like a guy popping his mouth with his finger. There are a few vocal snippets (some seem to be in Spanish but I can't really tell since they're not all that clear). Later you do get some other vocals that are clearly distinguishable in the mix: some of the nah-nah-nah chorus, a "paint it black" chant, someone singing about being "out of my mind," a bit of the rest of the chorus ("I see a red door..."), and the some signing ("the old lady sure looks good to me") that I'm pretty sure belongs to another song (although I can't recall the name of it at the moment). Really though it's the instruments that carry the song--all very laid back and hip and both soulful and trippy. The rest of the record doesn't disappoint although Paint it Black remains my favorite track. You also get covers of Light my Fire and a Louie-Louie/Ode to Billy Joe medley that really hits the spot. Some cool orginals as well: a soulful Here I Stand & the funky Widow. Throughout there's plenty of cool rhythm breaks and some fine guitar work.

You may have noticed that artwork & title reference The Band's Music From Big Pink but it does seem the Lil' Brown was a real place. Group member Rip Spencer notes (in an article on the Valiants, linked below), "We used to rehearse at Gary Pipkin's house and he had this little brown shack, a playhouse in the back yard, for his kids."

The core group of Africa started their music career as members of the doo-wop band the Valiants--there's a great history of their various transformations available on the Web here.

This album was produced by Lou Adler and released on Ode records (a subsidiary of Columbia). It was, unfortunately, their only release. However, a second album's worth of material was recorded for MGM but never issued--another music industry crime since if it's half as good as this I'd rush out and buy a copy. You can't get this album on CD (another crime) but you can download it here.

Next week I'll be posting Bobby Jameson' Working album from 1968, which was requested by TBA on his/her great blog: Palestinian Light Orchestra

In coming weeks I'll also be posting the soundtrack to Angel, Angel Down We Go & Kathe Green's Run the Length of Your Wildness. I'm trying to keep a steady pace of 1 record a week so as not to burnout. If you like what you hear or have any requests please leave a comment.

George Stavis - Morning Mood (1986)

2006-07-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

OK--I had a nice post with links and commentary and the computer froze & it was lost--so here's the abbreviated version--in the future I write the posts 1st and then paste them in here.

I should start by noting that this is certainly not George Stavis' best work. I loved George Stavis 1st solo album, Labyrinths (originally released on Vanguard and available on CD from Arkama). If you don't have it run out & get a copy. Robert Christgau said about it, "I don't know much about Oriental-influence banjo music, but I know what I like." I'm not a big fan of Christgau's but I also know what I like and I liked that album. Stavis' banjo improv on that 1st album rivals the guitar work of John Fahey and Sandy Bull from the same era.

Stavis' groups efforts are also well worth further investigation. He was the best part of 60's rock band, Federal Duck (their album is available on CD from Radioactive Records out of the UK) and was also in the group Oganookie (which I haven't heard but have heard good thing about)--both prior to recording his Labyrinths album.

Which bring us to this album, Morning Mood, released on Aspen records in 1986. Unfortunately this gets labelled a "new age" record sometimes. I also saw it once described as "Windham Hillbilly"--a witty but not quite fair description. In fact its more of a modern bluegrass outing reminiscent of some of Bela Fleck's work. While those expecting a sequel to Labyrinths will be disappointed, the record still has some bright moments: his new version of Finland (a song he first recorded on Labyrinths) & the track Goblins stand out. A lot of the rest of the record is more straight-forward bluegrass with some jazz and even classical elements.

So given my own ambivalence about the record, why post it? Well to help completists and fans of Stavis' other work hear a rarely heard record without having to shell out $10 to pick up a copy on ebay. Also, in spite of the fact that the material here is not as interesting as his Labyrinths release, Stavis is still an excellent banjo player and fans of the instrument and of bluegrass will probably find something to like REPOSTED HERE.

The other performers on Morning Mood: Darol Anger, Alex de Grassi, Miker Marshall, Stan Poplin & Bob Stern.

The music is ripped from lp (with some noise reduction/click removal) at 224kbps. Again, from the WMUC music library.

Harvey Matusow's Jew's Harp Band - War Between Fats and Thins (1969)

2006-06-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

In the world of music Harvey Matusow may best be known as the man who testified that 3 of the 4 Weavers (the 1940s-50s folk group) were members of the Communist Party, resulting in their being blacklisted and slowing an otherwise soaring career. He later apologized to Pete Seeger for it. The apology was accepted.

Matusow also recorded this twisted piece of vinyl in 1969 while in exile in England. Supposedly the group was on LSD at the time and I can believe it. This record certainly fits my definition of psychedelic music but does not have a lot in common with your typical psych band. For one thing there are no electric guitars or drums or keyboards--instead you have a variety of Jew's Harps (referred to sometimes today as Jaw Harps to be more PC), a few odd percussion instruments (but NO DRUMS!), and vocals (typically spoken). Matusow plays the alto tenor Jew's harp. The group also features Leslie Kenton, the daughter of jazz legend Stan Kenton, on vocals and metronome; Claude Lintot, who was 79 at the time of the recording, on auto Jew's harp [?]; Anna Lockwood (aka Annea Lockwood--more on her below) on acoustic guitar and bells; Rod Parsons on a variety of Jew's harps and bass; and Chris Yak on a variety of Jew's harps but not bass. The vocals consist of stream-of-consciousness storytelling, some nice chanting (check out Afghan Red), and a couple personal ancedotes (such as one about the day Matusow was released from prison).

The album was recorded in England. The band's single (Afghan Red b/w Wet Socks) was the fourth and final one released on John Curd's Head label. The album was also initially released on that label and then released in the US on Chess Records (yes that Chess Records).

Selections from Harvey Matusow's autobiography are available online (http://www.ibiblio.org/mal/MO/matusow/indexa.html) detailing his involvement in the Communist Party & the early folk-song revival movement, his work as FBI spy (informing on folk singers & labor organizers among others), his work for Senator Joseph McCarthy, his joining the Mormon church, his recantation of his testimony against the Reds, his leaving the Mormon church, his babysitting for Jason Robards, his going to prison for perjury (where he got to know Willhelm Reich and Frank Costello), his involvement with the beat scene, his working for the East Village Other, his meeting Timothy Leary & taking LSD, his turning Bobby Kennedy onto acid, his hanging out with Dick Gregory at the Improv in NY, his making movies with Yoko Ono (and involvement with the Fluxus group), and his writing a book on the dangers of computers (which also details some early hacking techniques)--all of this before he made this, his first album. His subsequent musical works were either meditative music or children's records. After recording the album, he returned to the US, rejoined the Mormon church, became Cockyboo the Clown and hosted a public access tv show in Utah (the Magic Mouse Show, which was the first American program to feature an appearance by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama) among other things.

Matusow's biography, odd as it is, may also be a bit self-serving so if you want a more critical perspective there is also an online commentary on his obituary here.

If you want to hear more of Harvey Job Matusow's voice, there is an online interview with Harvey & cellist Charlotte Moorman here.

One curious side note--I believe these are the first recordings to feature avant-garde composer Annea Lockwood. Her Glass World record is a fantastic exploration of the sound possibilities of glass instruments and her album Thousand Year Dreaming, a musical response to the cave paintings at Lascaux, is one of my favorite "ambient soundscape" recordings. If you want to hear some more of her work, there is a live recording of her with Thomas Buckner here and another recording under the name Anna Lockwood [I think it's the smae person based on the music] here.

Again, a record from the WMUC vaults. As before the music is loaded as a ZIP rather than an RAR file since I heard that Mac user's have trouble with the latter. The files are coded at 224k. Available here

Enjoy!

On the links

2006-06-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not into golf. I just thought a comment about the blog links was in order. I've tried to be both comprehensive and selective here. Since I like all kinds of music, you will find links to all kinds of blogs--as long as they share music & share good music (defined as music I would download). When the blog shares singles or select songs, I've identified that fact by noting that its "not lps." I've also avoided blogs that share mixes--no matter how good--for purely arbitrary reasons. Finally, I tried to only include blogs that are being updated or look like they may still be updated (e.g., if the blogger noted that they were taking a vacation)--I made an exception to that rule for blogs that have overflowed one site and started again on another so you can see their past posts. I will continue to update the list and if your blog is linked I would appreciate a return link.

Expect another music post tomorrow.

Max

Just Vandy

2006-06-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well I'm starting with a bang (even if no one notices it yet)--here's the 2nd post in 2 days--expect the whimper to follow. Vandy is a really fine acid-folk female vocalist--nothing too complex but very well executed. The album Just Vandy is on the Eleventh Hour label and came out in 1972. Beyond that there's not much I can tell you except that this is a record that should be better known. She picks some great traditional material (e.g., Gypsy Rover, Wayfaring Stranger) and some nice newer stuff as well. Here's a track list:
1. Vandy - Gypsy Rover
2. Vandy - Wishing Well
3. Vandy - If I Were a Carpenter
4. Vandy - Carolina on My Mind
5. Vandy - Here I Am
6. Vandy - Closer
7. Vandy - Dona Dona
8. Vandy - Where
9. Vandy - Wayfaring Stranger
10. Vandy - Greensleeves

Again this one is from the WMUC record library. Ripped at 192k with light declicking & noise removal. ARTWORK now posted. Reposted here.

Enjoy! Coming soon George Stavis' 1986 lp Morning Mood (his 60s album, Labyrinths is a classic & is available on CD) & Harvey Matusow's Jew's Harp Band from 1969.

Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and His Mystic Knights Band and Street Singers - Moldy Goldies (1966)

2006-06-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on posting my links but decided to get this up first. I listen to all kinds of music--and I mean all kinds--so you will see links for jazz blogs, psych blogs, bossa nova blogs, etc. here. For my first post I wanted something that everyone might dislike equally (although there are probably some perverse souls out there who will really like this). This is a record of half-assed covers of some 60s hits with bad singing and bizarre instrumentation (a lot of kazoo on this one)--sort of the Mrs. Miller of rock bands. Most of the people involved in the record wouldn't even put their real names on it. One exception is Charlie McCoy who is an ace harmonica player with a couple albums of his own. The band list is as follows:

Mac Gayden (Guitar), Col. Jubilation B. Johnson (Main Performer), Brenton Banks (Violin), Wayne Butler (Trombone), Kenneth A. Buttrey (Drums), Kenneth A. Buttrey (Tambourine), Kenneth A. Buttrey (Bottle), Henry Strzelecki (Bass), Henry Strzelecki (Mouth Organ), Charlie McCoy (Guitar), Charlie McCoy (Harmonica), Charlie McCoy (Trumpet), Charlie McCoy (Bottle), Jerry Smith (Piano), Norma Jean Owen (Vocals), O.X. Bellyman (Tuba), Montezuma Lovechild (Percussion), Juilation Johnston (Sousaphone), Juilation Johnston (Bandleader), Sir Wallace Bile (Dancer), Swine Halbstarker (Violin), Tonto Levine (Wind Instruments), Taps Tidwell (Trumpet), Hargus Robins (Piano), Hargus Robins (Bottle), Durl Glin (Tambourine), Durl Glin (Vocals), Princess La Mar Fike (Vocals), Tummy "Mole" Hill (Vocals), Mortuary Thomasson (Engineer)

Hope that helps. And I hope you enjoy the Col. Jubilation experience. The record is at 192k and was recorded & declicked (sparingly) using Cool Edit. Sorry but there's no artwork.

Listen HERE (finally reposted, sorry about the delay!).

Well it seems like everyone else is doing it...

2006-06-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

I must have links on my computer for over 100 music blogs by now--I'll post the best ones here as soon as I figure out how--so I thought it might be time to try my hand at it. I don't have much time (fulltime job, unfinished disseratation, newborn baby, etc.) but will try to get some good music up in a quick and (probably) sloppy fashion. I hope to post original vinyl rips of music not available on CD and perhaps the occassional rare/out of print CD as well. The music will be available for a limited time and if you are the performer or copyright holder I am happy to take down the links if you request. The music will be in MP3 format with bitrates of 192 or higher.

I expect the first post within a day or so. I'm thinking Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and His Mystic Knights Band and Street Singers Moldy Goldies album put out on Columbia records in 1966. This, like many of the vinyl rips I'm going to post, comes from the WMUC record library--that's the University of Maryland's station in College Park, Maryland--10 watts of free-form radio. I'm an occassional dj there & one of the record librarians. You can listen online to the what's currently playing on WMUC and to the past weeks programing if you're interested. I haven't djed there in a while & probably won't for a while longer (fulltime job, unfinished disseratation, newborn baby, etc.) but they have many a fine program.

Take care all & enjoy the music when it arrives,
Max