Some more reposts

Stephen Whynott - From Philly To Tablas (1977) http://ul.to/ju6nre9v

St. George & Tana - Is Now! (1967) http://ul.to/eyhxoxpt

David Stoughton - Transformer (1968) http://ul.to/v0iksqk3

Serfs - The Early Bird Cafe (1969) http://ul.to/li5g7c6p

As you're probably aware by now, this blog is essentially inactive. I have had requests for reposts over the past year or 2, and here are links for them, but no new material coming.

Andy Zwerling http://ul.to/dqvm8ttk
Bill Tinker http://ul.to/wd7dhn1r
Brian Briggs http://ul.to/gpwlmp4f
Bruce Murdoch http://ul.to/r1rfbozw
George Stavis http://ul.to/cuze6wt2
John Randolph Marr http://ul.to/9a7xa3c1
Rainbow Band http://ul.to/tf708n1k
Yanoska http://ul.to/gyyn5nrq

I'm going to try to repost all of the albums that have been requested over the past year, starting in reverse order with Frank Gallup, which you can get here

http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/20361765/file.html

1dollarscan

OK, this may come out of the blue since I haven't posted in a while and the post really shameless whoring for credit, but still I wouldn't recommend this if I didn't think it was a good deal.

I've been focusing more on book scanning and less on copying music, but since I don't own a scanner 1dollarscan has been a big help. I don't think you'll find a cheaper and easier way to scan old books you no longer want on your shelf (not so good for those pricey volumes you want to keep, as they do cut the bindings in order to scan). The price is $1 per 100 pages and you have to pay extra for certain bells & whistles. I would just go with the basic scan. Their standard OCR is not very good and I've found I get better results applying OCR myself (that's optical character recognition, BTW). They do have a pricier OCR option, which I haven't tried.

You can find them online at http://1dollarscan.com/

Also, I should have a couple music posts coming that someone sent me. I haven't given up on recording & posting my own LPs yet either, but having lost a number of megaupload links I've a little leery to commit to doing it right now (and also really busy).

Addiss & Crofut - ST (Columbia, 1967)

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)

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

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)

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

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?)

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)

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

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)

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)

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)

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

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

1. To Be A Man
2. Feet First Baby
3. Nancy Rose
4. Bellevue
5. Missionary Stew #2
6. Keep On Keepin' On
7. Shadow Dream Chaser Of Rainbows
8. Hide Your Heart, Little Hippie
9. Roll, Turn, Spin
10. Time Of The Tiger
11. Takin' Me Away From You Train
12. Quittin' Time

And here's the list for Lovin' People

1. Bound to Fly
2. The Naked Fool
3. The Lovin' People
4. The Warmth of You Beside Me
5. And Still I Dream
6. Behind Your Eyes
7. Touch Talk
8. Sold Out, No More Reservations
9. I Couldn't Keep From Carin' After All
10. 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)

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)

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?

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)

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.